Mystery Tattoo | Norenmin

Chapter 2: Huang Renjun

There were rumors about Huang Renjun, the small Chinese male from the art department. But not all of them were good.

"I heard he deals drugs to people in the downtown area."

"I heard that last Friday he went to Nakamoto Yuta's party and slept with 5 girls, within the same hour."

"I heard that some high school kid looked at him wrong and he's in the hospital now recovering."

"I heard that the reason he carries his art bag around with him all the time is so he has weapons."

"Yeah, I heard he carries a bunch of metal tools in his bag to stab people with."

"I heard he murdered someone."

None of this, of course, was true. Huang Renjun was in his second year of college and after picking a fight with the guy who called one of his friends a faggot during his first year he got labeled as "unruly" and "rebellious." He didn't mind though. He had his friends and he had his job, a tattoo artist in a small spot downtown.

His friend Sicheng had opened it around two years ago and had offered Renjun a job as soon as he had rented the building out to begin renovations. Sicheng had seen Renjun draw, paint, sculpt, and design thousands of projects and quite honestly wouldn't have opened the shop if Renjun hadn't agreed to work with him. But he would never tell Renjun that.

Renjun needed to get his degree. Ever since he had started at Sicheng's place, affectionately called NCITY, he felt obliged to get credentials in order to boost his experience and seem legitimate. Sicheng had tried to convince him several times that he didn't need to get his degree but had stopped trying to convince the steadfast male.

Even though Renjun had taken dozens of classes to become certified to tattoo someone he still felt he should have a college degree backing him up. However, seeing as a majority of their clients were college students, none of them ever checked for Renjun's credentials, but of course, he made sure all of them left extremely satisfied.

The small tattoo shop, NCITY, had gained more popularity as it neared the end of its second year. Mostly due to an idea that Sicheng, Renjun, and Renjun's friend Chenle had come up with while drinking (apple juice of course). They called it the 'Mystery Tattoo.' The client would come in and tell either Sicheng or Renjun that they wanted a 'Mystery Tattoo' and would tell them where on their body and let the tattooist ink whatever they wanted.

This, obviously, became a huge dare between college residents at Neo Zone University.

Renjun had tattooed many of the students with his mystery design. Yet, they still gossiped about him like he hadn't tattooed their ass with a picture of a Moomin on Saturday night.

He sighed as he maneuvered the hallways of the smaller university, trying to get to his class without looking at anyone, lest they spread rumors that he did something to them. Renjun managed to arrive at his art room without any problems and slide into his seat at the back of the classroom. He didn't like anyone watching him while he worked, it seemed too personal.

His eyes shifted over the other students who were messing around as they waited for the teacher to arrive. His eyes stopped for a second on a pink-haired boy who was looking down at his phone smiling before he looked at his own phone. A couple of seconds later their teacher arrived and placed all his stuff down before clapping his hands and announcing a new project.

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The bell rang signaling the end of the class and Renjun packed his stuff up quickly, racing to get out of the room. It wasn't that he hated the class, quite the opposite, but he hated being around other people and their useless gossip.

Renjun began to head to his dorm before receiving a notification from his phone and he quickly changed his course. He soon arrived at another class and peaked into the doorway, met only by the clacking of keys and the stares of a couple of students.

"Injunnie!" He heard his friend's loud voice shout before his green hair came into view. Renjun gave Chenle a warm smile before ruffling his hair as they exited Chenle's classroom.

"How's your class going?" The older asked and the younger turned to face him with a pained expression.

"Is it too early to say that I want to kill myself?" He cried and Renjun gave a short laugh.

"Not well I'm going to assume." Renjun mocked and Chenle hit his arm in desperation.

"I've already got three projects that I'm probably going to need to code overnight for and people keep talking to me! Do I seriously look like a person who people can talk to?!"

"Yes."

"Shut it shortie," Chenle grumbled and Renjun raised his eyebrow, "Don't try to fucking deny it you punk I'm not in the mood to deal with liars."

Renjun raised his eyebrows even more and opened his mouth to make a remark but someone had bumped into Chenle making the student drop his bag and rush to pick it up.

"Sorry I didn't mean to bump into you I-" the blue-haired kid had started to explain but Chenle cut him off.

"Watch where you're going next time." He remarked coldly before turning away but Renjun didn't miss the blue-haired kid's expression fall. He said another small sorry before continuing on his way and Renjun looked back to Chenle who was looking at Renjun as if to say 'Let's go' and Renjun sighed.

"You could have been a little nicer, It's obvious he didn't mean to bump into you."

"Yeah," Chenle sighed a little and looked in the direction the stranger had disappeared to, "I guess I was a little too harsh."

"He literally looks like a baby. It's like you just kicked a baby." Renjun said pointedly and Chenle frowned at him.

"Damn I get it. If I come across him again I'll say sorry."He huffed and grabbed Renjun's sleeve. "Now let's go I want to take a nap before my next class."

"I don't care if we're roommates if you don't start sleeping in your own bed I'll seriously take your key and lock you out," Renjun warned the younger Chinese male but he just rolled his eyes and dragged Renjun off into the rumor infested hallways.

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Thank you for continuing to read! Hope you guys have a wonderful day!

Here's my smiley face for this chapter :)

Stay safe and healthy, love you all!