In the lively city of Seoul in South Korea, there walked a lad in a school uniform and earphones, heading to his new school in silence, ignoring everyone around him.
A fight had just broke out earlier and this lad didn't even bother to look at them and just walked through it like nothing happened.
Just as he was about to cross the street, a child arrived to his side and looked at him with it's small innocent eyes.
"Um... Could you help me... cross the street along with the next two intersections? I can't cross the street when I'm alone..." She asked while tugging the sleeve of the lad's jacket.
"Find someone else. I don't have time to help." He replied which seemed to have frightened the little girl a bit.
The lights turn red and he crossed the street, leaving the small girl behind him. But a lass who wore the same uniform as him knelt beside the small girl while smiling.
"I'll help you cross the street. I still have some time before school starts."
Once the lass who wore the same uniform as him finished helping the little girl cross the streets to get to school, and after helping the little girl get to school, she heads to school as well.
Once she arrived at the classroom, she was late enough for the teacher to start homeroom classes, but only for a few minutes late.
"Miss Yeon Seongah, you're late which is quite rare. Give me an explanation as to why you are late."
"Sorry, Miss Park, I had to help a girl get to school." The girl whose name is revealed to be "Yeon Seongah" explained her reason to their teacher with an awkward laugh.
"I see. I'll let this off for once. Don't let it happen again." Miss Park let out a sigh with a smile on her face.
Not a single student or school staff in Myeongil High School doesn't know about Yeon Seongah. She is considered as one of the people who has the kindest souls and smartest minds in the High School along with a good looking face.
"I didn't have a lot to say today, anyways. We just had a new student transferred today and he's sitting next to you."
Seongah looked at the back of the classroom to where her seat is located and saw the same lad from earlier, staring at the window.
"Ah, you're..."
"You can go to your seat now, Seongah. You still have classes coming up."
Seongah walked to her seat at the back of the classroom and sat beside the lad she recognized earlier from the intersection.
"Good morning."
"Morning."
The lad replied with a cold tone in his voice and he also seemed uninterested to start a conversation which disappointed Seongah, but for some reason, she still wanted to start a conversation.
"What's your name?"
"Youngjae. Ahn Youngjae."
"I'm Yeon Seongah. Nice to meet you!"
With a smile Seongah expected another reply from the lad who introduced himself as "Ahn Youngjae," but her expectations were betrayed.
"Not much of a talker, huh?"
Seongah thought to herself while she figured out how to make Youngjae a bit more talkative.
"Why'd you transfer here?"
"Nothing much. I just felt like it." Youngjae replied with the same cold tone in his voice which Seongah feels like she should get used to if she wanted to talk to him.
"Oh, what's your Line ID? I should add you to the class groupchat."
"Line ID?" Youngjae tilted his head with a clueless look on his face which surprised Seongah and the students who overheard the conversation between the two.
"A-Ah, it's a messaging app that everyone uses nowadays."
"Such things are futile to me. However, if it's needed for school, I would be willing to create one later."
"I see... If you need help, you can ask me."
"I don't intend to bother you or anyone in this classroom."
Just as Seongah was about to reply to Youngjae's statement, she hasn't notice that their advisor had already left and their science teacher already arrived and greeted them which cut her off.
Later at the cafeteria, Youngjae was walking with her friends to look for tables to sit at after getting food from the counter.
"The cafeteria looks pretty crowded today..."
"There's a table there, but there's a guy sitting there. He looks scary... I don't think I can muster up the courage to ask him if we could sit there."
A friend of Seongah named "Hyejin" pointed at a certain guy sitting alone in the corner of the cafeteria while reading their math book.
"Ah, that's the new transferee. And the new guy sitting next to me."
"H-How'd he do? He didn't do anything violent to you, right? Or worse—"
"It's alright, haha... He didn't do anything bad, although he was quiet and his replies were cold."
Seongah tried to comfort her timid friend with a smile and a massage on her shoulder while her two other friends stare at Youngjae.
"He looks cool to me, though with your description of him, he seems like a tough shell to crack."
Another friend of Seongah named "Yoojin" gave her opinion about Youngjae, but was then followed by another friend of Seongah that stood out from the group the most because he was the only boy.
"I know him. We studied in the same kindergarten. You three would never guess how many girls cried because of him."
"I'm torn between believing what Seongah and Jihwan said that I don't know which one sounds more trustable. But knowing Jihwan, I'll trust Seongah."
"Hey, Hyejin. We've known each other since elementary school, but you still took her side?"
"Let's just go ask if we could sit there. We have no choice." Seongah walked towards the table Youngjae sat.
"Hey, Youngjae. Fancy seeing you—"
"If you're asking if you could sit here with your friends, go ahead."
The four friends slowly joined Youngjae in his table with a dumbfounded face, not knowing if he overheard their conversation or he just predicted it.
"I couldn't believe it when I heard you transferred here, Youngjae."
"Who are you?" Youngjae questioned Jihwan which shocked him to the core as seen in his face.
"Y-Youngjae! You really don't remember me?! We sat beside each other during kindergarten!"
"Ah, you're the annoying one." Youngjae replied without even giving Jihwan a short glance.
The three girls tried to hold their laughter as Jihwan desperately tried to fix his own image in Youngjae's eyes.
"Now that I remember, the girls from the other class were talking about him. They were asking if he had a girlfriend."
"Oh! That's an interesting topic for a friend I haven't seen in a long time!" Jihwan smacked his palm while smiling.
"Do you have a girlfriend now, Youngjae?"
"I don't plan in getting one."
"Haha! Why so blunt, dear friend? Surely you plan to have one and not become a eunuch. Unless you swing that way. Do you have a boyfriend then?"
"I don't have any interests in getting in a relationship."
"I'm done eating." Youngjae closed the book he was reading and stood up with an empty tray in his hand.
"When we just arrived, dear friend?"
"I missed the part where that's my problem." Youngjae finally walked away with the empty tray to return to the counter.
"Sheesh, he's so cold just like before as a child. I thought he had changed after ten years." Jihwan crossed his arms while pouting.
"There should be people he warms up to. Surely, if we befriend him, he'll start warming up to us too." Yoojin suggested with a bright smile.
"Seongah? You seem... bothered."
They look at Seongah who was about to eat, but froze as if time stopped on her.
"Where and when... did I hear those words before?" Seongah wondered, remembering the same exact words Youngjae said with a different scene playing through her mind.
"She must have remembered some kind of drama show..." Jihwan suggested while taking some food from Seongah's tray.