you were sitting with your group of friends who you learned were: choi eun-ji (the dark brunette), kang ha-yun (the short haired brunette) and yoon nabi (the blonde with longer hair).
you were slightly paying attention to their conversation but you were mainly focused on your phone.
"hey y/n who's your secret friend again? i forgot." eun-ji asks.
"can't say." you put your index finger over your lips. your class decided to do an event where you draw a name from a hat and that person becomes your secret friend—you have to get a gift for them, it's basically secret santa—and your secret friend happened to be eun-ji. you wanted to surprise her since she's been very caring and understanding from the start.
"awww c'mon we won't tell anyone pleaseee." nabi says.
"well actually, it's one of you guys but that's all i'm gonna say."
they all went 'ooooo' before looking at each other trying to guess which one.
"guys, the results of the math test are out, so check yours!" a classmate entered the classroom and put up a piece of paper on the board. everyone started lining up to see, except for su-ae.
"you're not gonna check yours, su-ae?" you ask her.
"no, i'll be in the lower half anyways. i've already predicted it, it's impossible to be upper-half rank." she shrugs trying to act cool, "plus art school rarely uses math."
"but kang ajin is in the upper half. don't you both go to the same art academy??" su-ae's friend speaks up, seeing right through su-ae.
"i'm originally good at everything." ajin poses.
"good for you." su-ae rolled her eyes.
"hello. the following students please gather in the teachers' office. 2nd year class 1, kim seungcheol, 2nd year class 2, lee ahreumeum, and jung seonho, 2nd year class 3 shim su-ae and kim y/n, 2nd year class 5 kim kyumin, 2nd year class 8, lee yeoungho, 2nd year class 10, baek dohwa." an announcement came from the speakers.
'there's no way...i studied so hard though (you didn't) mom's gonna be so disappointed.' you think to yourself.
——
"so from the very beginning! it's very basic! starting with addition and subtraction-" the teacher gets cut off.
"sir! i'm a science major!" a guy in front of you announces.
"your major is not the problem right now. the bottom rank for science and liberal arts majors are the same, okay?"
two girls walk in and start making fun of all of us for being bottom rank. which activates su-ae's hair curtain skill. she manages to hide her face immediately.
dohwa notices this and smirks, "why? are you embarrassed?"
"then, you're not embarrassed?" she glared at him.
"well i'm a trainee. trainee's don't have time to study." he replies. you scoff in return which makes him look at you. "liar." you mouth, before turning your attention back to the teacher.
"oh, eunhyuk is here." the teacher says and su-ae freezes. "wait a minute."
"yes." eunhyuk replies. he turns and makes eye contact with su-ae. he was about to reach his hand out but ra-im comes out of nowhere and stands in between them, of course.
a couple of boys call out her name and say something stupid by the looks of others, obviously not important enough for you to listen. and then ra-im turns to eunhyuk and starts pouting while pointing at her forehead.
"pick me, choose me, love me!" you mumble.
"what?" dohwa asks.
"how do you like that girl." you wonder.
"i don't like her. what made you think that?" oh yeah you forgot that he's supposed to like su-ae right now. but anyways wasnt he always touchy feely with her and flirting with her?? you just roll your eyes in return, he can be so oblivious at times.
"sorry for the wait. congratulations first, second, and third rank of our school! you're going to get a scholarship soon, so tell your parents in advance." the teacher praises.
"every thursday from now on there's going to be a make-up class for an hour after school, so don't skip it. and make sure not to end up in the make-up class next semester, okay?"
"yes ma'am..." every student responds.
"since it's starting today, don't make excuses that you didn't know about it. now go back to class!"
—after school—
first person p.o.v:
all of the bottom rankers gathered in a class where a teacher has to teach us everything from the start. and if i'm being honest, it was boring as hell.
"since i explained it all earlier, you must be able to solve this, right?" the teacher announced and i turn to see su-ae panicking, relatable. but it's not like i actually have to do it.
"and just so you know, you're not going home until you solve everything. understand?" the teacher opens his mouth again.
oh shit. i'm screwed.
slowly people start leaving the classroom, one by one, after finishing the work. until finally the clock had reached 6pm and it was just me, su-ae, dohwa, and the teacher left.
"i won't be able to go home because of you three!" the teacher snapped. yeah, think about how we feel buddy.
"leave it in the teachers' office as soon as you finish and...i'm confiscating your phones so that you can't cheat!" he grabbed each of our phones and walked back up to the front of the class, getting ready to leave.
"ah, sir! that's ridiculous...!" su-ae spoke up.
"woah...how could you do that to a student..." dohwa added on.
"the thing that's ridiculous is you three not being able to solve those easy questions, even after hours." he yelled. "i'm going to punish you for every wrong answer, so don't fill it out randomly." he eyed us before leaving the classroom and closing the door shut.
a silence fills the room before dohwa speaks up, breaking it, "shall we do it together?"
—
it's now 7:50pm, the sun's setting and i'm nowhere near finished.
"finished!" su-ae yells putting her hands in the air and standing up. i give dohwa a look which says 'we need to hurry' and he returns it.
"please share." dohwa and i say at the same time.
su-ae looks over at both of our basically empty sheets and says, "woah i know i'm bad, but you two are..." she pauses, then sighs, "just hand it in and receive your punishment."
"wow, you're too good for your friends now??" i joke.
"i don't want to get punished because i gave you a cheat sheet." she says.
"you're so heartless." dohwa smiled while furrowing his eyebrows.
"i'm going first." she grins and then walks over to the door. she reaches for the handle and pulls but all you can hear is a loud thud every time she pulls. now i remember...this is the part where they get locked in a room, i've always been told i had a bad memory.
"n-nooo!" she cries out, starting to look for other ways to get out.
"looks like the almighty and great su-ae is stuck with us." you laugh. but she doesn't hear and is too focused on the windows.
suddenly she turns her head around to look at us, with a confused expression.
"why are you so restless?" dohwa smirks, resting his head on his right fist.
"what?! ...you're just sitting around as if it's got nothing to do with you, huh?!" she looks defeated, walking over to us.
"it's too late for me. that damn manager must be barking like crazy right now." he sighs, angrily. "no doubt he'll nag my head off next time. he's such a bully"
now in front of us, su-ae has this expression on her face and i'm about to open my mouth when dohwa opens his first cutting my train of thought off, "you must be thinking 'he himself is a bully' right?"
"n-no!" she lets out immediately.
"i think it's true though..."
"t-that's enough! we should be thinking about how to get out of here!" she changes the topic. what's this? it's like i cant even get a word in. once they start talking to each other, the conversation flows so perfectly it's almost impossible to interrupt. this must be the flow of the webtoon.
after a while of us searching for ways out, we finally give up realizing that there's no way out except for the windows. but we're on the second floor.
"there's nothing...no way out...other than here." su-ae says what i was thinking out loud.
"but we're on the second floor." i reply with a sigh.
she peaks her head out the window to which dohwa replies with, "you want to go like that?" not even acknowledging that i said something.
did they both just ignore me? again?
he leans in closer to her face and puts his left arm on the ledge beside her, practically caging her in against the window. i feel a twinge of pain in my heart, as i stand there—beside them—in silence.
"i don't want to go out, though." he beams.
they start bickering—and i move back to the desk i was sitting at before and sit down silently—but stop when the school lights turn off.
"woah. this is driving me crazy. they even turn the lights off??" su-ae places both of her hands on the window. by this time dohwa had already moved to lean on the desk he was sitting at before.
theres a silence.
"i have three part time jobs." he lets it slip out of his mouth. he's only looking at su-ae. his eyes are lit up, but not for me...for su-ae. he hasn't even looked at me once...and i know we're not together but it still hurts.
ah...i'm not included in their conversation am i? have i ever been included in their conversations today? it feels terrible, you know...being excluded...like i'm not wanted. like i'm back to square one, where su-ae disliked me and dohwa (probably) thought i was annoying.
they kept on talking but i put my head down—not wanting to be here anymore—starting to feel like the world had no room for me. this webtoon had no room for me, a side character who's not even from this world.
suddenly dohwa starts laughing really hard and it makes my head hurt.
"i was curious what your reaction would be." he paused. "but the answer isn't as bad as i thought." i didnt even have to look up, i could already hear the smirk in his voice.
"my boyfriend cheated on me with my friend." su-ae opens up.
.
.
.
they've been having a deep conversation, not even talking to me once. maybe they thought i was sleeping...? or maybe they didn't care about me at all.
"hey, dohwa...i need to go to the bathroom..." su-ae revealed.
after a few seconds i heard a thud and raised my head up off the desk when i heard su-ae yell, "that wacko!!!! baek dohwa!!!"
i realized he jumped out of the window and immediately got up, worried he hurt himself badly. i ran to the window after su-ae and looked out to see his eyes shut and him sprawled across the grass.
"dohwa...?!" you squeak out.
"oi i know you didn't hurt yourself." su-ae crossed her arms. he opened his eyes when he heard that and giggled a bit. "hold it a bit longer. i'll go up there soon." he shouted.
"are you mocking me?!?" su-ae yelled back but he was already walking on the track making his way to the entrance.
"oh! y/n, you're awake now." su-ae says finally realizing i'm there. am i that invisible?
"yeah..."