"Nam Dae-hyun! Nam Dae-hyun!" the crowd cheered in unison.
The indoor stadium was filled with roaring of students as the basketball match went on. The sound of screeching footsteps and pounding ball echoed throughout the room.
A tall guy in white jersey rushed solo through the enemy team like a wind. As he approached the basket, he leaped and kicked the air, jumping a few meters above the ground. Everything looked as if time slowed.
All attention focused on him. Enemy players with widened eyes and the crowd muted. Everything was dead silent in tension for a brief moment. He held the ball in the air just before smashing it downwards, dunking into the basket.
He dropped down to the floor with an arrogant smile on his face as the ball bounched behind him.
The game clock buzzed and the crowd shouted like animals. The guy's teammates went running at him, carrying him up with warcries of victory.
"Nam Dae-hyun! Nam Dae-hyun!" his teammates shouted as they carried him in the air.
His teammates eventually settled down from the hype after a moment.
Dae-hyun rushed over near one side of the stadium seating. His head raised up at the higher seats, his eyes looking at Eun-hee and her friends.
"Sarah Chen!" he cried, "I <3 YOU!"
He slipped off his jersey, exposing a sweaty muscular build. He grinned courageously as girls shrieked in the background. The crowd was once again charged up and started shrieking like maniacs. Suddenly, all eyes were pointed at Sarah as she sat there, dumbstruck.
"WOOOO!" his teammates boomed behind him.
From faraway, his voice echoed.
James sprayed out his drink with a sudden shock. His head faced down as he coughed off from choking.
"Whoa, look that that guy, quite expected from the cool douchebag type like him though," Philip commented, looking at the half naked dude from far away.
"What's with you?" Nathan asked, his eyes staring at James with a puzzled look.
James looked nervous. His eyes wasn't keeping consistent eye contact. The others soon noticed as well and looked at him weirdly.
"It's nothing," James replied, showing a forced grin.
Meanwhile...
Sarah had an uncomfortable half smile. Her friends were stunned by how bold this guy was. They all stared at Dae-hyun with blank faces as he stood straight, waiting for her reaction.
"Em.. I'm sorry- but you're not really my type.." Sarah apologized.
Dae-hyun's confident smile disappeared. "What?" he scoffed in disbelief that a girl rejecting him is possible.
The loud cries slowly faded. The situation went awkward. Whispers started growing among the crowds.
Dae-hyun lowered his arms, looking back at his teammates, who had expressions of pity taped on their faces.
His head started boiling in embarassment and frustration. He let out a heavy breath.
"What are you looking at?!" Dae-hyun yelled at his teammates.
They all cowered in fear like his pet dogs.
Daniel and the others were watching Dae-hyun getting rejected infront of the whole crowd. The five of them snickered silently like robots as they watched him suffer.
"Phew," James sighed in relief. A faint smile was on his face.
"What are you so happy about?" Philip questioned.
"Nothing," James' back straigtened like a stick.
Daniel smiled as he noticed something with James. His eyes darted between the four others. They noticed the same thing. They were all smiling silently, knowing what exactly the others were thinking.
"GHEHAHAHEHA!" Eun-hee bursted to laughters, her hands grabbing her stomach in pain off laughing.
The other two had stern expression, but they couldn't hold it and quiet giggles leaked out their mouths.
Eun-hee stood up and twisted her arms around Sarah, "Let's gooo. We need some celebrating to do- you just embarassed the school's biggest jerk!"
Sarah's tense face faded and a smile curled on her face.
Then the four girls went out as the crowd began to disperse. It was break.
Meanwhile...
◇
"Sheesh, I'm not sure what to eat," James scratched his head.
The rest of us were behind him, signalling each other with our facial expressions.
"Since the rest of us have our lunch ready, we'll just wait over there for you," Phil gestured with his head to an empty table, his hands carrying a tray.
"Oh, ok then," James replied.
We sat down quickly, not being able to hold our mouths shut anymore.
"Alright," Phil continued, "our big guy here definitely likes that girl."
All of us had attentive expressions as the intriguing conversation went on. I didn't even need to hop into his head to know that he likes that girl. It's impressive to know that James actually likes a girl. That timid guy never showed any interest to any girl before. interesting.
"So, who's that girl?" I asked.
"What?" Phil scoffed,"you don't know Sarah Chen from class 3-K?"
Phil looked offended. His brows were frowned.
"She's in the hit list," Phil stated.
"I have to admit, she's an SS rating," Ken commented, nodding his head in agreement with himself.
"Wait-" Nathan interrupted,"you mean THE hit list?"
The hit list. A sacred list of names written by our seniors a couple of years ago. The list was passed down from generations to generations and until now, names are still being written. All the boys of the school are aware of this hit list but none has ever spoken a word about it. It is something we do not speak of.
Phil nodded with a stern expression, "So, how are we going to help our friend here? A line of guys wants to date that girl. He's just one of those guys."
So apparently, this girl's on the hit list. I've seen her around, but never interacted. I did notice that she was quite pretty, but meh, it's safe to assume that most girls in this school are relatively good looking, so personality is something more important in my opinion.
"Ah guys, sorry I took awhile," James came out of nowhere as he dropped his tray on the table.
We were startled. Everyone looked away to seperate directions, acting like nothing was going on. Phil, like an idiot, had his head wandering around as he whistled.
We ate normally afterwards and had usual conversations.
I was about to take a sip off my glass when I noticed it was already empty, left with melting icecubes.
"I'm gonna go refill," I got off my seat.
The dispenser should be around the corner in the canteen. On the way, I passed through the open space that led to the outdoor seats.
Then I saw a girl. Her long hair was blown gently by the breeze and she had light skin that shimmers with the sunlight. She was giggling, together with her friends. It was that girl, Sarah Chen.
She was with two other girls. One had a curly hair that was dyed brown. Her arms were slithering around the air like flies, seeming like she was telling a thrilling story. She seems like the energetic one.
The other girl had her hair tied into a messy bun. Her uniform was hidden under a sweater and she looked a bit messy.
"Hey," a voice called,"you- the guy who passed out yesterday."
I snapped and turned to the source of voice. A girl stood a few meters from me. It was Ye-rin. The girl who's mind I entered yesterday. I almost forgot about her.
She looked at me with her black piercing eyes, her short hair partially covering one of her eyes. She wasn't wearing her blazer, leaving a plain white uniform with a navy blue tie.
"Would you mind not staring at Sarah? Five boys already tried this week. You probably saw what happened before break," she said coldly, "just stay away."
"Wa-wait, you're mistaken," I stuttered,"I'm not up to anyth-"
She walked passed me, ignoring what I was saying. Then a piece of paper slipped off the notebook on her hand.
It glided through the air, landing down on my feet. As I saw a glimpse of a sketch, my heart dropped like a malfunctioning elevator.
It was, a sketch of a hooded owl man. That's.. Me. I picked it up, taking a closer look.
She doesn't seem to know that it was me, better not say anything.
"Hey, I think you dropped som-" she natched it off my hand before I had the time to react.
She put it back inside her notebook. She glanced at me with a panicked look, her face slightly red. Then she stomped away from the scene.
Why did she draw me? Or rather, me, posing as that thing. I could only look at her as she ran off to her friends.
◇
Minutes later...
"Ye-rin!" Eun-hee gestured to come closer with supressed whispering, "isn't that the guy who fainted yesterday?"
"What?! Where?" Ji-soo glanced around.
"Yeah. That was him," Ye-rin replied, taking a seat.
"What were you doing with him?" curiosity sparked in Eun-hee's eyes.
"N-nothing. I just bumped into him," she said.
"Uhuh.." Eun-hee squinted her eyes in disbelief.
"Hey, what's that notebook for?" Sarah noticed.
Ye-rin's eyes widened as her eyes darted everywhere. She just gave an awkward look without answering Sarah's question.
"N-o-v..." Ji-soo tried to spell out the text written on the book, "A novel?"
"Whaatt??" Eun-hee reacted,"you're writing a novel?"
"Ooo! That's cool!" Sarah said enthusiastically, "What are you writing about?"
Ye-rin's cheeks were flushed as her eyes kept looking downwards. Her posture turned stiff with embarassment.
"It's... fantasy," Ye-rin muttered quietly.
"Whoa.. that's impressive," Sarah complimented.
"I didn't know Ye-rin likes to write," Ji-soo said,"that's niicee."
A small smile curled on Ye-rin's face, knowing that her friends were supporting her.
◇
Hmm. So she's got a sketch of me. Maybe she likes drawing too? I could've done better though hehe. I wonder what I should do about it.
I should take another peek into her head. Maybe there would be more interesting stuff to unveil.
I shrugged my shoulders and continued my way to refill my glass.
◇
Hours later...
The rest of the day was just as usual. Nothing interesting happened. The time that felt like a thousand years finally passed and it was time to go home.
The sky was dark blue and the clouds were gloomy. Students were on their way out of the front gate, strolling out like ants out of their colonies.
"I'll be going that way, see you tomorrow," Sarah said, pointing to the opposite direction the rest were going.
"Byee!" the three girls waved.
The five guys went to the bus stop outside of school. Just like a lot of other students at the school, these guys were foreigners. The five are all chinese descent and had came all the way to Korea to study at an international school. They live together in a rented house without any adult supervision. Quite of a fun way to spend their years in high school.
When they arrived back home, without a single word whatsoever, they all went on their way to deal with their own things.
The rest lined up to the toilet with their towels and change of clothes while Philip directly hopped onto the couch. He rested his legs on the table, getting comfy as he turned on the television.
After some time, the others were done taking baths, clean and tidy with their home clothes.
"Sheesh, take a bath man," Nathan sniffed a stinky reek as he dropped himself to the couch.
Philip didn't reply, his eyes nailed to the television.
Hime hime! Suki-suki! Daisuki! ~
A squealing girly voice was singing from the television.
"F*ckin weeb..." Nathan stood up and walked away.
Someone was in the kitchen. There were the sound of fizzing oil and wonderful scent of something cheesy. It was James. He was making a generous plateful of cheese grilled sandwiches.
On the hissing pan were sunny cheese melting on browned toasts. He was flipping the toasts, getting both sides grilled and crispy.
"Checkmate," Ken said as he put down a black rook, cornering the white king on the spot.
"Damn it," Nate complimented, "fine, you're good. You're good."
Ken gave a confident smile. The chessboard was on the dining table, right below the warm hanging light that set a spotlight directly onto the chessboard.
"Dinner's ready," James put a rather large plate full of the scrumptious grilled cheese sandwiches.
"Thanks," Nathan snatched a sandwich.
"Olala," Philip suddenly emerged like a dog sensing a snack.
"Hey, where's Daniel?" James wondered.
"Probably in his room, I think he's busy with some stuff," Ken replied, munching on the food.
"Ah hot! hot!" Philip mumbled with his opened mouth.
"Souls can be seen up to a distance of 10 meters-" Daniel murmured, taking down notes on a notebook.
His room was engulfed with darkness with the desk lamp being the only source of light. His attention was completely focused on his "research".
Several pages had been filled with written notes regarding experiments and laws of his ability. A few hours had passed. It was already 8 p.m. and he was still working on it.
Knock knock~
James cracked open the door.
"Daniel?" James asked.
"Yep-" Daniel replied without looking.
"You still busy?"
"Apparently so."
"Oh. Then here's dinner," James gave out his arm, offering a plate of sandwich.
Daniel glanced back.
"Oh," he stuttered and stumbled off his chair, "thanks man."
"Yea no problem," James smiled, closing the door behind him.
◇
Alright. This is plenty of research.
I flipped through the pages filled with rough sketches and notes. Oho, for once, I felt proud of myself.
My eyes were baggy and my ass felt as if I've been sitting on a solid rock.
So! My ability. This strange ability that allows me to travel into minds. I still have more to explore and experiment with. So far, only Ken knows about this. I think it's wiser to keep it quiet for now.
So to explain it from the basics. A person's mind can pretty much be in any kind of form and shape. No explicit answer to that.
Usually they have themselves inside their heads. Considering that brains are like pocket dimensions, we are the one and only inhabitant of those "worlds". Basically it's like the physical form of our consciousness inside a vessel, which is our brain.
Oh! Pocket dimensions.
That sounds good.
Maybe I should call these lights I see as pockets instead of souls.
These pockets are all different from one another, both in shape and color, so if I can memorize specific pockets, I should be able to know where I would be going, but so far, I've only remembered 5 pockets, in addition to that girl, Park Ye-rin:
Ken is blue
Nathan is emerald
Philip is blazing red
James is golden brown
and Ye-rin is violet
Now, an interesting thing that I can do in someone's mind is that I can change my own shape and appearence by will. That will come useful for my next plan. It's driven completely from curiosity.
I'm still wondering what might be going on inside that girl's mind and for what purpose was that sketch for?
And my identity wouldn't be revealed. Just like what was in her sketch, I will change my appearence.
A tall hooded figure with a face of a white owl.
◇