Jisoo panted as she entered the girl's comfort room making sure it was empty before locking it. She fished out her pen from the pocket of her skirt taking a deep breath to calm herself before writing the name she got on the blank page of her notebook.
She froze realizing who it was.
'N-no way… That boy was…'
Min Yoongi…
One of Demian University's most beloved students was hosting a Demon, and he almost killed her!
"Saeron…" She called to the angel "Are you there?"
A ball of bright light suddenly materialized in front of her. It suddenly exploded into a shower of white feathers creating the silhouette of a girl whom she knew very well.
"Jisoo, are you alright?" Saeron asked worriedly "I'm sorry I wasn't able to appear in front of you sooner, the demons have created a barrier right now so I'm having a hard time using my magic in this place. I wouldn't have known where you were if you hadn't called my name."
"I found one." Jisoo told her, anxiously walking back and forth "Min Yoongi, he's hosting the demon of sloth."
Saeron's expression paled her eyes glinting with worry. "Did he hurt you?"
"Well… almost, but I managed to save myself by uttering the spell you gave me." She said.
The angel's face flushed with guilt. She took Jisoo's right wrist and placed something on it. "I was supposed to give you this before you left but I forgot. I am so sorry."
Jisoo's forehead creased in puzzlement as she stared at the trinket given to her. It was a silver bracelet embellished with eight, small pearls, one of them was slightly bigger and had the shape of a Crescent moon.
"The Demons are looking for you too, Jisoo. You aren't the only one looking for them." Saeron said.
"W-what do you mean?"
"You set them free, so they are bound to grant you anything you want in exchange for it. They are weak and currently blind but they know the taste of your flesh. A slight touch of your skin and they'll know it's you."
'Is that why Yoongi knew who I was earlier?' But if they are bound to grant her wish then—
"The demon just said they'd grant me any wish, can't I just wish for them to go back?" She asked feeling a bit hopeful.
"No, that is not how it works, unfortunately." Saeron shook her head sadly "You can't wish for them to go back and you can't wish them for anything,"
"W-what?"
Saeron grabbed her by the arm in surprise "Please promise me you won't wish anything from them, Jisoo. It is dangerous to wish something from a demon. They might keep their promises and give you anything your heart desires but you will always be the one sacrificing something in the end."
Jisoo nodded nervously at the thought "I promise."
"The bracelet will prevent the demons from knowing you're the witch who freed them when you touch their hosts. You must not take it off for your safety."
"I-I won't," Jisoo promised.
Saeron bit her lip anxiously "There's still a lot of things we need to talk about but I don't have much time so I'll tell you later."
"Wait a minute—"
"I'm sorry, I have to go. I can't stay for too long because of the barrier."
"Saeron—"
"I'll see you later Jisoo!"A warm smile tugged on Saeron's lips before nodding "Be careful…" She said before disappearing into feathers.
Jisoo came out of the comfort room feeling exhausted. Her eyes went to the bracelet given to her by Saeron, a tinge of worry rushed through her as she grazed the gemstones decorating it.
How is she going to identify the demons if she kept the bracelet? The only reason she identified Yoongi as a host was because she was not wearing it when he touched her.
She bit her lower lip at the problem. She almost died just meeting one host. It scared her, what will happen when she finds all of them.
"Hunting Demons sucks…" She uttered to herself as she made her way towards her classroom.
"Hey!" A familiar voice called making her turn back. It was the working scholar from earlier, the one she helped with the apples.
"H-hey…" She uttered flashing the same faint smile he gave her.
"I didn't see you at the school canteen today. Did you have your lunch?" He asked looking concerned. "You look tired."
"R-really…" Jisoo's eyes widened in surprise as she swept her hair back, trying to make it look less messy than it already was. Was her exhaustion that obvious? Argh! She should have checked herself in the mirror before she left the comfort room.
"I didn't have time to eat lunch, I was busy with something." She told him.
"Oh… "The worried look on his face suddenly lit up "It's a good thing I brought a box of apple pie then." He smiled.
Jisoo's mouth suddenly watered when he raised the box in front of her, she could feel her stomach cry all of a sudden.
"I haven't eaten my lunch either," The boy said "Would you like to share it with me?"
"R-really? You want to share?" She said in surprise.
"Yeah." He chuckled "But first we should introduce ourselves. I noticed we don't even know each other's names yet."
"I'm Park Jimin, a Senior." He said raising his hand for a handshake.
Jisoo fought the urge to look surprised. She met another beloved Demian student.
"Kang Jisoo." She smiled back accepting the handshake "I'm a transferee and a Junior."
Jisoo gratefully accepted the piece of apple pie Jimin offered from the box he had placed on the table, a smile curved up her lips as she took a bite of the food.
Her eyes scanned the place they were in shifting her attention from the glassed rooftop, white tables and chairs and the variety of potted plants around them. It was a greenhouse inspired café.
Really, Demian was for those with deep pockets, she can't believe the school actually thought of making one.
"It's a quiet place, isn't it?" Jimin suddenly uttered taking her attention "This place rarely gets any visitors so it's sort of became my go-to spot when I want some alone time." He grinned as their eyes met "I'm sharing it to you."
Jisoo felt her cheeks heat up "W-wow, thanks." She chuckled faintly feeling a bit warm-hearted. It's not every day that a person shares something with her, especially a place they think is their safe haven.
Also, Jimin isn't exactly just a person in Demian, he's one of the school's popular students. For someone who's been showered with attention, he seems to be humble and kind, and that makes him likable.
"It's not a big deal, really." Jimin laughed. "This cafe was meant for everyone." He said as his eyes scanned the empty tables beside them "It's supposed to be a place where the students could hang out and have some tea or coffee but because it's a bit far from the school buildings people rarely come and visit."
"Well... that and they have to make their own coffee." He laughed looking back at the counter where the coffee maker was.
"Huh…" Jisoo uttered in disappointment "That sucks, if my last school had a place like this, I would have taken my time coming here."
She meant what she said. The café wasn't even really that far from the school buildings, it was a freaking 5-minute walk. Jisoo was betting that the only reason students rarely came was that they forgot there was one.
The café was situated outside at the back of the school and there were already enough of them inside the buildings for the students to hang out with.
The school bell rang indicating the end of lunchtime and Jimin let out a sigh of discontent as if the time he had as a break wasn't enough for him. "That was fast." He said as he stood up stretching his arms. "Don't you think?"
"Breaks are rarely enough for you when you're a student." she laughed as she too stood up from her seat.
"Right." Jimin agreed. "Well, I'll see you next time then." He grinned waving her goodbye as soon as they got out of the café.
"Yeah." Jisoo smiled back before watching him take a shortcut to his class, and she too hurried off using the main path. The trees around her gave shade as she walked-ran towards her building.
Jisoo was already on the floor where her classroom was located when she noticed most of the people around her whispering. Some hurried off past her to join a group of students who were already huddled up in front of a classroom door.
The nervous expression she had in her face for being late immediately vanished into curiosity when she saw the number above the classroom the students were all gathered. It was the class she was supposed to be in.
"Hey did you hear?" She caught one student say to her friend "There's a fight going on at class 27-D."
"Oh no, that's the class Kookie is in. What's going on?"
"It's—" Jisoo hurried off to the classroom before the student could explain.
"E-excuse me." She uttered. She slipped through the huddled group until she was right in front of the door where she could see what was going on.
"Wow, Who knew Kookie was actually a fighter?!" the girl behind her uttered.
"Jihwan must not have expected that." someone replied.
Jisoo's eyes landed at Jungkook with the same irritable expression plastered on his face when she saw him this morning. The boy wiped off the blood from his busted lip as he matched the dangerous glare of the person in front of him.
She could guess Jihwan was the same boy currently on the floor. He looked pretty beaten up with a swollen eye and a bleeding nose but his deadly gaze was enough to tell her, or anyone in the room that the fight was far from over yet.
Jihwan let out an amused laugh as he got back up "What's wrong, Jungkook? You never had the guts to pick a fight with me before, so why are you acting now? Is it because you finally have an excuse?"
Jungkook smirked "An excuse? Believe me, I've wanted to smash that face of yours the moment you stepped into this school and started acting like an ass. I have loads of excuses I could use to punch you."
"You didn't have the balls to do it then so why now?" Jihwan spat.
"Oh, I see, it's because everyone's watching. You want to be seen as a hero, don't you? That's a good idea right there…" He nodded mockingly "I could see the headlines of the school newspaper tomorrow: Jeon Jungkook, Demian's favorite schoolboy saves a fellow student from bullying."
"Right, that's what you're going for, aren't you? The magazine headlines weren't enough, you want more recognition from the school too."
"Why?" Jungkook chuckled in amusement catching Jihwan off guard "Are you jealous? Does your father still keep on comparing you to me?"
"Ahh… so that's why you keep on beating a different student in front of me every day, to boost your ego." the students around them gasped after Jungkook's words, some of them starting another round of whispers.
"Woah, all this time I thought he just liked bullying Jisook but now that I think about it Jungkook was really always there whenever he beat him up." The girl at the back whispered.
Jihwan's ears turned red in embarrassment but he managed to retain the angry expression he had, his shaking fists Jisoo could tell were aching to throw a punch.
Her hunch was true because not a second later Jihwan's fist was up in the air but it failed to hit the target because Jungkook had already dodged it inches before it landed on his face.
"I hit a sore spot, didn't I?" Jungkook taunted before throwing a punch that landed straight on Jihwan's stomach causing him to stagger back and fall. Jisoo could see he was already weak, another punch will put him unconscious.
"I'm not fighting you right now because I have an excuse. Your face just looked especially annoying to me today so I decided to land a punch on it." He said grabbing Jihwan by the collar before letting him go harshly.
The room went quiet all of a sudden, the fight was over, that was what the other students thought as some of them went back into their respective classrooms but Jisoo has always had a knack for reading a person's expression and body language when she focused herself into it.
She was the only one who noticed how Jungkook's angry expression turned darker. His hands instead of relaxing were still closed into fists, his knuckles turning white. He was restraining himself from punching Jihwan again.
For a second there Jisoo thought his self-control failed and the punch that she was dreading Jungkook might throw will happen but he suddenly turned back facing their direction. It made her take a sigh of relief.
Jisoo watched as he hastily grabbed his broken glasses from the foot of a table, wearing an expression that seemed too calm for someone who had beaten somebody up until they're almost unconscious.
She didn't think there was anything Jungkook could do anymore that could surprise her but she was wrong because his eyes suddenly turned into a deadly glare as it met hers for only a second before he walked past her to leave the room.
'What was that?'
"Oh my god! what happened here?!" Their teacher for the period suddenly came in, her eyes wide with shock after taking in the current state of their classroom. She was especially horrified at the weak state Jihwan was in. The class was still silent, afraid to say anything.
"Jihwan, What happened to you?! Who did this?" She asked, frantically kneeling beside him to help him sit properly.
"Is no one going to answer me?!" The teacher snapped at everyone "Do I have to suspend this class before I get anything out of you?!"
"M-miss." A student with a busted lip and a swollen cheek raised his hand. Jisoo saw the nametag on his uniform.
He was the student Jihwan was bullying in front of Jungkook. "It was Jungkook, M-miss." He uttered, "B-but it wasn't really his fault, he was saving me from Jihwan's bullying."
The teacher went silent before giving out cold orders.
"You two!" she uttered to the two male students near the door "Help me bring Jihwan to the clinic. You'll go with us too, Jisook."
"And you!" The teacher's eyes met Jisoo's surprising her.
"M-me?" She uttered wide-eyed pointing to herself.
"Go find Jungkook and bring him to the clinic too. I'll be waiting for him there."
"B-but—"
"The rest of you arrange the tables and chairs if you want me to be forgiving the next time we meet." She uttered grimly to the class before making her way to the clinic with the others.
'Why me?'
"Where am I supposed to find him?" Jisoo muttered to herself before sighing tiredly. She wanted to sit on a bench and rest but she was afraid to get in trouble if she didn't find Jungkook sooner.
'Wow, it's my second day in school and I'm already going through so much.' She thought.
"Why do you have such a long face?" Hyeri's voice snapped her out of her thoughts and her eyes widened in delight at the sight of her friend's face the same time a light bulb lit up her head.
Hyeri might know where he is.
"Oh, I'm so glad to see you right now!" Jisoo said grabbing Hyeri on both arms.
"Really? Me too!" The girl chuckled in amusement.
"Do you know where Jungkook goes on his free time? Please it's urgent!"
Hyeri's eyebrow rose curiously at her, she looked like she had a lot of questions to ask but chose not to, her friend smiled at her teasingly instead. It seems like Hyeri's definition of urgent is not the same as hers.
"I would say at the library but sometimes he hangs-out at the gazebo too—"
"Okaythanksihavetogobye!" she said before dashing out of the building leaving Hyeri with a puzzled expression on her face.
Jisoo was right to follow her instinct. It was just logical to find Jungkook at the gazebo after all. It was farther than the greenhouse cafe so it was easy to guess that there won't be any students there. It's just the right place for someone like Jungkook to be at right now.
She found herself propping her hands on her knees and catching her breath as her eyes landed on the boy who's back faced her.
Jeon Jungkook was standing at the end of the gazebo, one hand pressed on his temple while the other rested on the post next to him. He didn't look good, Jisoo thought. The guy was sweating profusely, and the pain on his voice was evident when he let out a groan.
"A-are you okay?" She asked out of concern as she slowly approached.
Jungkook swiftly turned to face her, the surprise in his face immediately vanishing into anger as their eyes met.
"Who the fuck are you?!" He demanded, his cold voice stunning her in place.
He was definitely not shy, and definitely not the introverted Jungkook Hyeri had described.
"Why are you yelling at me?" Jisoo asked her voice laced with annoyance "I was just asking if you're okay, you're supposed to answer with yes or no."
"Why do you care?!"
"I was just worried--"
"I didn't ask you to be so fuck off!"
Jisoo was caught off guard when Jungkook grabbed her by the collar, his eyes glaring dangerously at her. There was an air of hostility around him and that made the ends of her hair stand up.