The 143 bus was packed. It was a river of dark blue Kirin blazers, all heading in the same direction. Jun-seo, Ha-neul, and I were forced to stand, gripping the overhead straps as the bus lurched through the morning traffic.
If Jun-seo was the sun, then he and Ha-neul together were a binary star system. They stood side-by-side, Jun-seo reviewing a student council agenda on his phone, Ha-neul staring blankly out the window, her headphones on. The other Kirin students on the bus gave them a wide berth, a bubble of respect.
And I was the weird, un-uniformed planetoid caught in their orbit. I was literally standing right next to them, but I was invisible.
The bus, which had been crawling, suddenly slammed on its brakes to avoid a taxi. Physics took over. Ha-neul, who had been leaning slightly, lost her balance completely. She stumbled, a small, surprised gasp escaping her, and fell forward—right into Jun-seo.
It was... the scene. It was every K-drama, ever. The sudden stop. The girl falling. The guy catching her. Jun-seo's reaction was instant. He dropped his phone, catching her securely by the shoulders before she could crash into him. His other hand instinctively went to the pole behind her to brace them both.
"Whoa," he said, his voice low. "You okay?"
"Fine," Ha-neul muttered, pushing herself upright, her face flushing a faint pink. She was flustered. Actually flustered.
"Be careful," he said, his "president" voice softening as he steadied her.
I just stood there, watching. My stomach did a weird, tiny flip. It wasn't butterflies. It was more like... one, single, dead butterfly. That familiar, cringey, oh-so-familiar feeling. I had watched this exact scene play out a hundred times on my laptop screen.
And here it was, in real life. I was in the K-drama.
The moment was broken by the whispers of two girls standing behind me. They weren't even trying to be quiet.
"...seriously, did you see his lip?"
"I know! And Myung-Dae's nose has a plaster. I heard they went to the nurse's office. A first-year said it looked broken."
"What was it even about? I heard it started because of the new kid. The Ukrainian."
My entire body tensed. My ears burned. I could feel Ha-neul stiffen beside me. Jun-seo just sighed, a long, weary sound, and didn't look up from his phone.
The first girl leaned in.
"Myung-dae brought up Jin-woo again." The second girl gasped.
"No. He didn't. On the first day? Aigoo, they're never going to let that go, are they? Weren't they best friends?"
"It's always about Jin-woo with them..."
Before the girl could finish, Ha-neul moved. She turned, just her head, and fixed the two gossiping girls with a look. It was a cold, silent, surgical-steel glare. It was the look she'd probably given me yesterday, but now it was weaponized. The girls' conversation choked and died. They both snapped their heads forward, their faces suddenly bright red. Ha-neul turned back to the window, her headphones still on, as if nothing had happened.
The rest of the ride was silent. We got off the bus with the wave of students. The atmosphere as we walked through the grand front gates of Kirin was completely different from yesterday. Yesterday, I was an anonymous foreigner. Today, I was infamous.
The whispers weren't just on the bus. They were everywhere. As I walked through the main hall, I wasn't just stared at; I was pointed at.
"There he is..."
"...the kimchi guy..."
"...that's 'Mountain'!"
"I saw him in the gym, he dunked it..."
"I heard he shoulder-checked Myung-Dae before the fight..."
The gossip feed had clearly been working overtime.
I walked toward my locker 214, my head down, Jun-seo and Ha-neul having already split off for their council meeting. I just wanted to get my books and hide in homeroom. I rounded the corner to my locker bank and almost ran into Yoo Chae-rin. She was at her locker, just a few doors down from mine. She was in a fresh, pristine white blouse, her hair perfect. She saw me. Her eyes narrowed. She didn't say a word. She just gave me a look of such pure, undiluted disgust that I almost took a step back . Then she slammed her locker door, the sound echoing like a gunshot in the hall, and stormed off.
Okay, I thought, my stomach twisting. So she's still mad.
I fumbled with my locker code, my hands shaking. Just get to class, just get to class.
"Well, well, well. Look who survived Day One." I jumped, dropping my history book. I turned. Kang Min-ah was leaning against the next locker, her pink phone in hand, a massive, delighted smirk on her face. She'd clearly been waiting for me. "Good morning, Mountain," she said, her eyes sparkling with mischief.