Chapter Text
With a heavy sigh, Jongseong shoulders his school bag and shuts the car door behind him, hearing the car drive off into the seemingly never-ending road surrounded by an array of evergreen trees.
Up until two days ago, Jongseong had been in USA. He was a student at a prestigious high school, popular among other students, liked by all the teachers. Life was good there. But suddenly, his parents had to move to Korea for business purposes. Jongseong was severely against the idea of leaving his comfortable life behind for some weird boarding school in the literal middle of nowhere. Alas, like most things in his life, he had no say in the matter.
In front of him is the tall, imposing boarding school; Decelis Academy. The structure is dull and drab, the overall vibe gloomy and desolate. He guesses it's supposed to be that way, taking into account the age of the building. His mother did say it's known to be highly exclusive, only the best of the best attend this school. Jongseong had visited it yesterday to drop off his stuff at the dorms, but he stayed in the car as he was too pissed off at the sudden change in his easy life.
He's no longer Jay Park, but Park Jongseong, just one more thing to get used to added to an already extensive list.
He shakes his head, takes a deep, composing breath and enters the building. The structure inside is not much different from the outside. It reminds him of some old castle, not in a royal way, meaning that it's just really old fashioned. The students he sees walking in the hallways and in the grounds are all wearing the same dark blue and grey uniform as him, the badges on the blazers signifying their year. His own yellow badge identifies him as a senior.
Jongseong's classes are all a bit further away, which gives him some time to explore more of the school and memorise the layout. Most of it is just classrooms, laboratories and staff rooms. The main auditorium is on the first floor along with the cafeteria. The library and most of Jongseong's classes are on the second floor. The dorms are in a separate building across the main yard on the left. It's undoubtedly larger than his old school, but that just means more walking.
By the time he's halfway up the stairs, the bell has already rung, the students rushing about to reach their classes. He finally reaches his class, stopping at the entrance. The teacher glances at him and nods with a small smile, so Jongseong enters the class and stands at the front awkwardly.
"Everyone, we have a new student joining today," she announces, making the chatter in the classroom dying down. "Please introduce yourself," she says, gesturing to the students with a wave of her hand.
Jongseong clears his throat, running his gaze over the class. Most of the students just stare at him blankly, making him feel more awkward than he already does. "Uh- my name's Ja- I mean Park Jongseong. I'm from The States," he says with a short bow. His Korean is a bit rusty, but he can still manage to hold conversations.
The students start murmuring among themselves, which unnerves him a bit so he's grateful when the teacher quiets them down. "Thank you, Jongseong. We hope you adjust well here. You can go sit in that empty seat beside Jungwon," she tells him.
Jongseong follows her gaze to the vacant desk and chair beside the window and shuffles over to the seat, sitting down and putting his bag down beside him after taking out his textbook and a pen. The class is alright, it's History, something he's not too interested in, but can still manage an A in.
During the lecture, he glances to the side at the boy sitting at the desk next to him, Jungwon, if he remembers correctly. He looks a bit young to be a senior, his features slack with obvious boredom. From what Jongseong can observe from his side profile, his eyes are a unique but attractive shape, nose straight and lips pursed in a bored pout. Every once in a while, he brushes strands of dark brown hair away from his eyes.
Jungwon turns his head, catching Jongseong's gaze. To his surprise, he smiles at him, revealing a set of deep dimples. Jongseong smiles back with a small wave before going back to taking notes again. Most, if not all of his friends back at his old school were people he had known since preschool. So he's not sure how to make new friends all over again.
It's just one year, Jongseong tells himself. Just one year in this school and he'll go back to The States to attend college there.
All he has to do is study well and stay out of any kind of trouble, then it should be smooth sailing from here on out.
-
About two and a half hours later, it's lunchtime. Jongseong gazes over the huge cafeteria with a lunch tray in his hands. Most of the tables are already occupied by students. He decides to just sit at one of the tables on the left which has only two boys sitting at it. He gets a few curious glances on the way that he just brushes off.
He sits down on the corner of bench and takes out his Math textbook, trying to catch up on the work he missed between bites of food. He's only one and a half week behind from the rest of the class, so he thinks he'll catch up in less than three days if he works hard enough. As he's working on the problems, he hears a soft voice.
"Hey, can I sit here?"
Jongseong looks up to see Jungwon standing across the table, a pleasant smile on his face. He nods, moving aside his textbook so Jungwon can put his lunch down. "Yeah, sure," he replies, more than happy to have some company.
"Thanks," says Jungwon, taking a seat. He glances down at the array of notes on the table. "So, how's day one at Decelis?," he asks Jongseong, curious cat-like eyes stuck on his face.
"Not too bad. It isn't much different from my previous school to be honest," he tells him with a shurg.
Jungwon hums around a spoonful of rice. "Do you need any help?," he asks, referring to the equation Jongseong is stuck on.
He laughs a bit and shakes his head. "Uh, no, it's alright. I'll just-"
Jungwon just smiles and takes his pen from him, turning the notebook towards himself. He wordlessly solves the problem in a few seconds and hands the pen back to Jongseong. "I didn't skip a grade for no reason, you know?," he says, his dimples popping out as his smile widens.
Jongseong raises an eyebrow in surprise. "I thought you looked kinda young to be a senior," he says, jotting down another question.
"I get that a lot," Jungwon giggles. He pauses for a bit, his smile sobering down. "Sorry if you feel weird about me just coming up to you out of nowhere. I haven't gotten used to eating alone yet."
Jongseong looks up from his notebook with an easy smile and waves off Jungwon's words with a flick of his hand. "I'm actually quite relieved to have some company. I'm not used to being alone either," he tells him truthfully. "What do you mean by not being used to it yet? If you don't mind me asking," he can't help but ask. Sometimes his own curiousness annoys him.
Jungwon shakes his head and leans his elbows on the table. "It's alright, I don't mind. My best friend, Lee Sangwon, left school without even telling me about a month ago. I haven't been in contact with him since then," says Jungwon with a sigh. "I know it makes me sound like a loser," he adds with a chuckle, "But he was my only friend. I've always had trouble making new friends. So, I've just been a bit lonely since he left."
Jongseong nods in understanding. "I can imagine how that must feel. I left many good friends when coming here too. We can be losers together," he says with a grin.
Jungwon laughs, his eyes crinkling at the edges. "Sounds good to me, Jongseong hyung," he says.
Jongseong huffs out a surprised laugh which almost makes him spit out his food, which in turn makes Jungwon laugh again. "Now that's new. No one has ever called me hyung before. And I've been called by my English name, Jay, for most of my life."
"Ah," Jungwon nods, then hums pensively before saying, "Then I'll just call you Jay hyung."
Jongseong smiles at that, looking down at his notes again when Jungwon beams at him with his cheek resting in his upturned palm. "Jay hyung," Jongseong repeats. "I like the sound of that."
"Um- I was wondering if you-"
Jungwon's words are cut short when there's some commotion in the cafeteria. Though 'commotion' at Decelis Academy is just an increase in the monotone mumblings of the students. Jongseong looks up to see five boys making their way to sit at the now empty table next to the one he and Jungwon are sitting at. The boys and girls sitting at that table all scramble away when the five boys approach it.
There's a strange aura around them, something Jongseong can't yet exactly pinpoint yet. He leans forward and asks Jungwon in a lowered voice, "What's that all about?"
Jungwon glances at the boys then back at Jongseong. "Get used to seeing that. They basically rule this place. You know those three right?," he asks, referring to the boys sitting on the left side of the table.
Jongseong nods with a hum. "Yeah, all three of them are in our class."
"The one in the middle is Lee Heeseung. Top of the class, student council president," Jungwon tells him. There's an extra golden badge on Heeseung's blazer to signify his position. "He used to be friends with Sangwon, who was the vice president, but I haven't really talked to him since he left."
Jongseong glances at Heeseung again. Everything about the guy just screams golden boy, shoulders straight, eyes sharp, not a thing out of place. "Were you two close?," he finds himself asking.
Jungwon scoffs and shakes his head. "Not at all. He isn't close to anyone, in fact. He's only around people he can benefit from. Those two guys on either side of him belong to two of the richest families in Korea."
"Really?," Jongseong asks with wide eyes. His mother wasn't lying when she said this place is for the best of the best only.
Jungwon nods. "Mhm. The one on the right is Park Sunghoon, he comes from a line of world famous athletes. I think he's practicing to compete in some upcoming figure skating competition or something like that, I'm not sure. That's why he takes days off regularly. And the other one is Sim Jaeyun. His dad owns half the malls in Seoul and Gangnam."
"That's..insane. No wonder they all stick together. But what about the other two? They're juniors, right?," Jongseong asks, noticing the blue badges on their blazers.
"Right. I don't know much about them. They just started hanging out with them a few weeks ago," Jungwon says, stealing a roll of kimbap from Jongseong's lunch tray, which the older boy pretends to not notice.
Heeseung, Sunghoon and Jaeyun don't talk much, the only ones talking and laughing are the two juniors sitting across the table. The other three just observe them silently, saying a word here and there at most. They haven't touched their food either.
"How do you know so much about them?"
"Sangwon used to hang out with all five of them a lot before he left school. He used to tell me about them. I haven't talked with any of them except Heeseung hyung."
Jongseong hurriedly looks away when one of the juniors, the one with blond hair and a blindingly bright smile, catches his eye. He doesn't want to seem like a creep on his first day. "They're kinda strange," he whispers under his breath.
Jungwon nods in agreement. "I know right?," he agrees, eyeing the last of Jongseong's lunch. He just sighs and puts it all in Jungwon's tray who smiles in victory, eating it up right away. "Sangwon told me they usually sneak out to the woods behind the school building at night. And that they go to Heeseung hyung's house on the weekends."
"What business do they have in the woods at night? Do they perform sacrificial rituals under the moon or what?," he asks with a frown.
Jungwon laughs brightly, which makes Heeseung glance at him for a spilt second. Jungwon doesn't catch it but Jongseong does. "They may be weird but I don't think they're the literal spawns of Satan."
Jongseong snickers. "Yeah, maybe that's a stretch. But you never know, do you?"
And sometimes it's better to not know, supplies his mind. But Jongseong is curious by nature. He doesn't think twice before digging into stuff that seems unusual. That's mostly why he's always dreamed of being a detective. He can't sleep at night if there's something on his mind bugging him relentlessly.
The bell rings, so Jongseong and Jungwon walk together to their next next class. He didn't expect to find a friend so easily on his first day, but he's very relieved. Jungwon is amiable, laidback and easy to talk to, so his day goes by quicker than he expected.
The two are on their way to the dorms after their last class is over. "Town's a bit far from here. What do people here do for fun anyway?," Jongseong asks Jungwon as they make their way across the yard.
"Fun and Decelis Academy are three words that have nothing to do with each other, Jay hyung. The most fun you can have is in your dorm room if the wifi is working well," Jungwon says with a chuckle.
"But we're in the middle of nowhere. The service must be shit here," Jongseong comments. He should feel weird cursing around someone who's a year younger than him, but he has already found out that Jungwon's vocabulary is way more colorful than his own.
"Exactly," Jungwon deadpans. "Maybe that's why those guys feel the need to go do shady stuff in the woods at night. Sacrificing lambs under the moonlight must offer a killer time."
Jongseong laughs, covering his mouth with a hand. Good thing Jungwon's sense of humour matches his. "Drinking the blood of the innocent might get you drunk faster than shoplifted soju," he adds making Jungwon laugh as the enter the dorm building.
Sangwon leaving the school unexpectedly must have been the reason Jongseong got enrolled so easily, meaning his parents had been planning this a while back. Sangwon and Jungwon used to be dorm mates so he'd been hoping he'd get roomed with Jungwon but that's not the case, sadly. Jungwon's room is a floor lower than Jongseong's so he tells him he'll see him later after exchanging numbers.
He takes a sticky note out of his pocket on which his dorm number is written and finds it after few seconds of searching. Pushing open the door, he sees that the dorm is a bit bigger than he thought it'd be. The right side, which he assumes is his, is empty for him to personalise.
But before he can step inside, he feels an ice cold hand on his shoulder which make him gasp in surprise. It's December so it's undoubtedly cold outside, but the touch was unnaturally cold enough to reach his skin through his clothes. He turns around to see a familiar face smiling at him. Park Sunghoon.
"Hello, are you my new dorm mate?," Sunghoon asks. His stare his unnerving, just like his distant smile.
Jongseong nods. "Uh, yeah. That's me, Jongseong," he says, stepping inside and putting down his bag on his bed.
"It is nice to meet you, Jongseong. I am Park Sunghoon," Sunghoon says, stepping inside as well and closing the door behind him.
What an odd way of speaking, but everything about Sunghoon is odd. His side of the room is meticulously clean. The covers on his bed are folded neatly, his sneakers on the side of his bed and the books on his desk are arranged according to their height and color. It looks untouched. Jongseong imagines all his clothes are in the same state as well.
The only thing keeping his side of the room from looking like it's straight out of an Ikea catalogue are the silver and gold medals hung up on the wall.
"That's quite an impressive collection you've got there. Are they all yours?," Jongseong says, shrugging off his blazer. The bags he had dropped of yesterday containing clothes and some books are on the side of his bed, so he unzips one and starts unpacking.
Sunghoon turns his head to look at him before he glances at the wall. "Those are my medals," he says, voice monotone and empty of any life.
Great, his dorm mate is a weirdo. A rich, overwhelmingly handsome, talented weirdo, but a weirdo nonetheless.
"I heard you're a figure skater. That's cool," he says, stacking up his clothes and stuffing them in the closet. Sunghoon might be a clean freak, but Jongseong isn't even close to being one. He hopes Sunghoon's cool with that.
"Yes, I am a figure skater," says Sunghoon, neatly hanging up his blazer and lining up his shoes.
"I used to play basketball back at my old school. Even made it to the national school team," Jongseong tells him. "How old are you by the way? I'm 18," he says, putting aside a hoodie and a pair of jeans to get changed into.
"I am 18 years old too, in human years," replies Sunghoon before he wordlessly goes to the bathroom to get changed.
Jongseong sighs with a shake of his head, finishing up with unpacking. Not questioning Sunghoon would be better for his sanity. He has to put his books on the floor beside his bed for now until his own desk arrives. He could ask Sunghoon if he can put them on his, but he might not appreciate the mess.
After he's done with lazily putting on the bedsheet and folding the covers, he walks up to where Sunghoon's medals are hung up. Jongseong thinks he's been competing for quite some time now, because there's a lot of medals.
He leans forward to take a better look at one of the gold ones, squinting his eyes to see the writing engraved on it.
Annual London Men's Figure Skating Competition, 1969.
Jongseong frowns in confusion. That's more than 50 years ago. He looks at the one next to it, this one dated 1971. There's no doubt the medals are Sunghoon's as his name is engraved on them as well, unless Sunghoon has a relative of the same name, which is highly unlikely.
"What the hell?," he whispers to himself.
Before he can observe further, Sunghoon walks out of bathroom, changed into a sweater and black pants. "I am going to see my friends," he says after putting his uniform in the closet and pulling on his shoes. He walks up to the door, exiting the room.
Jongseong decides to stop thinking about it for now, instead getting changed out of his uniform. Him and Jungwon are supposed to meet downstairs in the common room. Jungwon told him he can help him catch up on the work he missed if he wants, to which Jongseong agreed gratefully.
The common room is an expansive place with rows and rows of chairs and tables. It looks more like a library than a place for kids to hang out. It's kinda depressing in Jongseong's opinion, he never thought he'd miss seeing some actual colors except black, grey and brown.
He has to wait for a few minutes before Jungwon shows up. They take a seat and start with Korean Language which Jungwon says is the easiest subject.
"Who's your dorm mate, Jay hyung?," Jungwon asks as he does some questions for Jongseong while he's reading the chapter.
"Park Sunghoon, if you can believe it," Jongseong tells him. "He's weirder than I thought."
"Well, the third floor is where the more expensive dorm rooms are, so it makes sense. Oh, speaking of that when were you planning on telling me you're crazy rich?," Jungwon asks with a scowl that's supposed to be angry but to Jongseong he just looks like an annoyed kitten.
Jongseong shrugs, looking back down at his textbook. "Whenever I tell someone, they start treating me differently. I guess I didn't want you to," he says with a sigh. "I'm sorry," he adds.
Jungwon is quiet for a few seconds before he says, "It's okay, I understand." He then leans forward in his seat and smacks Jongseong's arm.
"Ow!," he exclaims, making the students in the common room look at them in surprise. "What the hell was that for?," he hisses, rubbing his arm with a frown.
"For assuming weird shit. I'm actually kinda hurt," Jungwon replies with a small pout.
Jongseong scoffs at that. "The one hurt here is me, you brat. Why'd you have to hit me so hard? We just met today. Is this the way you treat your hyung?," he rants.
"I actually did taekwondo when I was younger," Jungwon tells him with a proud, dimpled grin. "I bet I could knock you out if I tried."
"How about you taekwon-don't ever even think about doing that." Jongseong shakes his head as he goes back to reading.
Jungwon laughs. "That was terrible."
"Your face is terrible," Jongseong fires back.
"My face is quite alright, thank you very much. You look like that red angry bird."
"Yeah? You look like Grumpy Cat minus the cuteness." There isn't much truth in that, but Jongseong would never let Jungwon know that.
The two bicker more than focusing on the work but they still manage to get a lot done by the time they have to eat dinner which is served in the common room. After that, decide to call it quits and head to their rooms.
"Man, today was a long day," Jongseong says offhandedly as they head upstairs to where Jungwon's room is.
"Make sure to get your beauty sleep, god knows you need it," Jungwon says as they walk up to his room.
Jongseong rolls his eyes and bumps his shoulder into Jungwon's, making him stumble with a squeak. "Don't forget to turn the lights off before looking in the mirror if you don't want the scare of a lifetime."
Jungwon scoffs. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," he mutters and opens the door to his room. "I'll see you tomorrow, hyung," he says with a smile.
Jongseong tells him to sleep well before he heads up to his own room. He sees that Sunghoon isn't back yet. He wasn't in the common room either and it's twenty minutes before lights out.
As he steps in further, his eyes land on something that makes him inhale sharply. There's a trail of drops of blood all the way from the door to the bathroom. As he walks up to it, he sees that the lights are already on. Something like the sight of blood doesn't scare Jongseong, he's not squeamish either. But he's still wary to go check the bathroom.
There's muffled voices coming from behind the closed door. One belongs to Sunghoon while the other is unfamiliar.
With a deep breath, Jongseong reaches forward and turns the doorknob.
As he expected, Sunghoon is there with one of the juniors he saw earlier today sitting next to the blond one. Sunghoon is busy crouched down cleaning the frighteningly large amount blood on the bathroom floor while the junior is frantically washing it off his hands and around his mouth all the way down to his neck.
Jongseong's feet seem to be stuck at doorway, his eyes wide as he looks at the scene in front of him. "Wha- What's going on here?," he manages to speak up in a shaky voice.
Sunghoon and the junior's heads snap up at Jongseong's voice. Sunghoon looks surprised to see him for a second before his expression relaxes again. "Oh, Jongseong, you are back," he says, then looks at the junior who looks way more shaken up than Sunghoon, almost as if he's gonna burst into tears. "This is Ni-ki. He had a nosebleed."
The blood in the sink, on the floor and on the junior, Ni-ki's, clothes doesn't seem like it came from a mere nosebleed, but Jongseong pushes the thought in the back of his mind for now.
He steps inside and up to Ni-ki, grabbing a washcloth from the cabinet. "Let me help you," he says, hurriedly cleaning off the blood from his hands. Ni-ki startles at his touch but lets him help him while Sunghoon calmly cleans the floor.
"Do you feel dizzy or nauseous? Should I go see if there's someone in the nurse's office?," Jongseong asks Ni-ki, genuinely concerned for the boy who's shaking like a leaf.
"I- I don't thi-" Ni-ki begins, but stops when Sunghoon turns to looks up at him with a sharp glare. Ni-ki shakes his head, tugging his arm out of Jongseong's hands. "I'm fine," he says.
"But-"
"I think you should go back to your room and get some rest, Ni-ki," Sunghoon says, standing up. His words sound more like an order than a suggestion, the look on his face hardening when he looks at Ni-ki.
Ni-ki nods hurriedly and wordlessly leaves the dorm. Sunghoon just leaves the bathroom and starts cleaning the drops of blood on the floor of the room.
Jongseong helps him clean but remains on edge. "I really think we should call for help, Sunghoon. He looked pretty scared."
"Ni-ki will be alright. He is not hurt," Sunghoon replies, going back to the bathroom to rinse the bloody washcloths after taking Jongseong's too.
Jongseong just sighs and sits down on his bed. He can't help but have a strange feeling about this. Sunghoon looked way too calm, as if this is an everyday thing for him, as opposed to Ni-ki who was totally out of it.
Sunghoon comes back from the bathroom, now changed out of his bloodstained clothes. "I am going to see my friends," he says again, heading for the door.
"But it's past lights out," Jongseong says with a frown.
"Good night, Jongseong," says Sunghoon with a barely there smile before leaving the dorm. Jongseong thinks he catches two identical wounds on Sunghoon's wrist but he thinks he just imagined them.
He decides he's way too tired mentally and physically to question his strange dorm mate any further and just changes into some comfortable clothes, ready to go to sleep.
All in all, if he looks past the depressing atmosphere, huge workload, Sunghoon as a whole and being away from his home, the only good things about his new school are Jungwon and the fact that he doesn't have to worry about fake people who'll only befriend him because of his family background and popularity.
People here don't care about anyone else's business other than their own. He's pretty sure if a kid went missing, no one would even bat an eye. Which is probably why Sunghoon is able to sneak out of the dorm building so easily. But what about the guards at the entrance?
Jongseong shakes his head, willing his incessant thoughts to quiet down and let him sleep already. Sometimes he thinks his over-analytic mind is a curse put on him for sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. But he really can't help it when Sunghoon and his friends are being so damn shady.
Maybe he should tell Jungwon about what happened tomorrow. He said his friend got close to them before he left school. He might have some answers. He promises himself that will be all, he won't try to dig any deeper. He has to focus on his studies, that's his number one priority.
Just one year, he reminds himself. One year and he'll be far away from here.