Wonyoung was the first to get up. They'd all slept in haphazard positions, collapsing onto each other in all manner.
"Kwangbae," she whispered, crawling over Minju, "it's six o'clock- get going! You might reach late!"
Monday.
Hyewon jolted awake, rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and shook Sakura awake. She buttoned her school shirt quickly and slipped an arm through her blazer before tapping Eunbi to let her know they had to go now.
Sakura got ready in record time and kissed Chaeyeon's forehead.
Hyewon was already slowly driving up the hill as Sakura ran up to the car and dived into the back seat.
...
Sakura shied her gaze away from Miyun. She was on her phone, like most of the students, except she was the only one alone. Seunmi and Jiwoo were with another group of girls.
"Good morning," Jaeyeong yawned lazily, sitting leaned back in his chair. He had his phone in his hand. As the girls pulled their chairs up to his desk, he tucked it in his pocket.
"Any news on Daeman?" Sakura asked urgently, leaning forward.
"He's doing good. Actually, I was just talking to him," the boy said. "Wanna?"
He tapped on a small camera icon. Daeman picked up almost immediately.
"Hey, Sakura-ssi wants to check up on you," Jaeyeong chuckled. He handed his phone to Sakura.
Daeman looked good, hair neat and in a white and blue hospital-issued shirt. The edges of a patch peeked through the neckline.
"Are you doing okay?" he asked.
"Daeman!" Hyewon exclaimed, snatching the phone. "When are you getting out?"
"Uh... next week, Monday... yea, next week, Monday. In time for the trip too!"
Sakura sunk a little. "Oh."
"Don't worry, I won't let myself get hit with anything this time," he said. "Promise!"
Suddenly, the phone was snatched from Hyewon's hand.
"Shh! Daeman-ah we've gotta go, teacher's in," Jaeyeong hissed. Daeman clucked his tongue before Jaeyeong ended the call and stuffed the phone into his bag.
"Good morning, class," the teacher said plainly. It wasn't Professor Kim.
The substitute was a woman in her early twenties, with dark hair in a bun and a navy blue blouse and loose, comfortable pants.
Sakura slapped her hand over Hyewon's mouth before a syllable of word could escape it.
The woman uncapped a blue marker and scrawled down letters on the whiteboard.
권 선생님
"Professor Kim is out sick today," she said crisply. "I'll be substitute for today. I'll allow phones and books, but keep the noise down."
Ms Kwon - Eunbi - shot Sakura and Hyewon a look before walking out of the class.
Sakura stood up as casually as she could and followed Hyewon out.
"How did you even get the job?" Hyewon whispered.
"Just because I got it doesn't mean I know how I did it," Eunbi said. She scratched her nape. "I just scratched my way in because, well, Miyun. I thought she might try again."
Sakura flung her arms over Eunbi and hugged her. "Thanks," she muttered.
"Now get back into class before they suspect something fishy," Eunbi said, before heading back in.
Jiwoo pulled up her chair to Hyewon's desk.
"You know?" she whispered, one hand covering the space between their close faces.
"Know what?" Hyewon furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Miyun's attack on Sakura and Daeman? It's all over school," Jiwoo said.
Hyewon nodded acknowledgingly. She scrolled through Instagram and Twitter with a bored expression until Sakura pulled up too.
"So is everyone just going to pretend she doesn't exist now?" Sakura asked, tapping on Spotify. She plugged an earbud in, the other hanging above her lap as she leaned over lazily.
"I guess..." Hyewon mumbled.
Sakura looked at Miyun under the guise of leaning and resting her head on Hyewon's shoulder.
Red streaks in dark hair, falling over a fairly pretty face. Shoulders covered by the school blazer which she used to tie around her hips. Eyes glued to her phone screen. No circle of friends, no loud laughter.
She let out a small sigh and said softly, "Don't you pity her, though? All because of only one person, she has no friends now..."
"Don't blame yourself," Jiwoo snorted. "She had it coming the second she started picking on you."
Hyewon nodded in agreement, although a small twinge of pity twisted in her chest.
Eunbi walked in with an announcement: "Professor Kim has requested you all make a mind map regarding your school trip next week."
A girl stuck her hand up. "Elaborate please?"
Eunbi cleared her throat softly. "Make a mind map of what you're going to do during the trip regarding the goal of it."
Jiwoo pulled out a drawing pad. She flipped to a new page and tapped the end of a mechanical pencil on the paper.
Hyewon unzipped her pencil case and brought a pen over. She scrawled a point down and passed the pad to Sakura.
Sakura looked at it for a while. She recalled her previous idea from the day the whole group had been discussing together and wrote it down with Hyewon's pen.
"Miyun," Hyewon called out. There, again, was the soft inviting voice. "We have to discuss it as a group. Daeman isn't here, so we only have four members. Sit here," she said, gesturing to a space beside Jiwoo.
Reluctantly, and not without a subtle noise of annoyance, Miyun grabbed a pencil, dragged her chair to beside Jiwoo, and sat lazily with her elbows on the desk.
"I see you're missing a member," Eunbi said, stopping behind Hyewon. "I should lend a hand here."
Hyewon hoped Eunbi would go away, because she did not need it right now.
But to her dismay, Eunbi brought over the teacher's chair and sat between her and Sakura. She let out a groan inwardly.
"You know about Daeman, don't you?" Hyewon whispered.
Eunbi coughed. "You talk a lot about stuff that happens in school when you're drunk."
Hyewon reddened, remembering the wine from the previous night. She rolled her eyes. "Fair enough."
Sakura chuckled beside her and playfully pelted Hyewon with light punches.
"Can I see that?" Eunbi said, taking the drawing pad from Jiwoo. "Oh. This isn't bad!"
Hyewon beamed. Jiwoo drank it in, because happy eye-smile Hyewon was not common. She gaped, lipstick-less mouth open. Hyewon reached out and closed it with her fingertips before grinning at Eunbi.
Miyun said suddenly, monotone, "Write down we could get rid of unwanted creatures."
She picked a flake of polish off her thumbnail.
Sakura stopped breathing, stopping mid-inhale.
Eunbi glared at her and her lips parted. Hyewon sensed it and squeezed her thigh under the desk as a warning.
She exchanged looks with Hyewon, and, defeated, she sighed. "You're supposed to find ways to save the wildlife, not kill them," she grunted.
Sakura exhaled in relief. Hyewon pat her back.
...
The school day blew by faster than they expected.
Hyewon and Sakura headed to the door to leave, bookbag and backpack slung over their shoulders, when Eunbi almost tripped Hyewon with her stuck-out foot.
Hyewon frowned and shot Eunbi a look. Sakura shot them both a puzzled stare.
Eunbi had meant to. "Stay back, I gotta say something," she whispered urgently as a boy rushed by.
...
"What did you want to say?" Sakura asked, sitting down on a desk in the vacant classroom. She swayed her legs leisurely.
"Miyun isn't the hunter," Eunbi said. It was almost a whisper, doubt hitching her breath.
"Then why is her name in the records?" Hyewon asked, raising her voice. "It- it can't be! Yujin got her uncle and everything! Miyun-"
"Yea, that's why I came to substitute," Eunbi muttered grimly. "This morning Yujin got a call from Tae-i."
Sakura froze. Her legs stopped swinging.
"Her name is in, but she's not working there. Someone else is working under her name." Eunbi clasped her hands together anxiously.
"Well, then, that isn't a problem. If it isn't Miyun, Kkura is safe, and-"
"No, no!" Eunbi grit her teeth and her intertwined hands clenched. "Listen. Song Miyun's family is an extremely hidden family from society; only her father's face and name is known, and that's only because he's a doctor in a big ass hospital.
"No one else knows the name Song Miyun except for this class and Professor Kim, and that old idiot's history according to Tae-i is comprised of working as an accountant and a teacher.
"Put the pieces together, Kang Hyewon! Miyun isn't the hunter!"
"So..." Beads of sweat collected on Hyewon's upper lip. "That would mean..."
"Someone else in this class is after Sakura," Eunbi said angrily.
Sakura's blood froze.
Her arms trembled and the world swayed.
"Sakura!"
She slumped off the desk.
The world swirled into a blur, and then she saw nothing more.
...
A/N yall like the plot twist?