Sometimes I regretted my choice of school.

My face slammed into the desk and the fist gripping my hair pulled it back, my nose dripping blood onto the phone.

He glared at me, gritting his teeth while I was trying my best not to let my eyes water. 

"You had one job, just one."

He slapped me.

"Beat the boss for me."

Slapped me again.

"How - how in fuck's name did you fuck that up?!" Letting out another roar of anger, he slammed my face against the desk once more.

"All you had to do was beat the dragon bastard, but noooo, you had to die and drop all my loot-"

I let Jaehyun carry on his rant, neglecting to mention that it was his slap to my shoulder that had made me fumble the controls and die in the first place.

"I'm sorry," I muttered. There was blood in my mouth and it was hard to talk.

He paused, and then pulled his face closer to mine. "You're sorry? You're sorry!!" He raised a hand and I instinctively flinched. After a few moments with my eyes closed and feeling no impact, I opened one eye. He'd seemingly calmed himself down and looked at me.

"I'm so-"

"Give me your phone." He cut me off.

"What?"

"Your phone. Give it to me."

I had no choice. Digging it out of my pocket, I dropped the phone onto the desk and he finally let go of my hair. I sank into the chair, having to forcefully stop myself from sighing. 

He looked over my phone, and then spoke again. "You dirtied my phone. Only fair that I dirty yours."

He spat on it.

I grit my teeth, grinding them with rage. This bastard wanted to talk about fair! After everything he'd done!

I felt a hand around my hair again, and I glared up at him, anger scarring my features.

"You're making an expression like that? At me?" With a final roar he slammed my face onto the phone, an audible crack resonating around the room. He laughed and walked out, pocketing his phone along the way and leaving me alone in the classroom.

In the face of events like this, normal teens would have cried. I'd stopped crying long ago, and so, I merely took my tissue out and wiped my nose clean and then remembered the phone.

It was cracked at the top, from where my nose had crushed into it. I wiped its remaining saliva away and sighed.

How much did screen repairs cost again? 

Slowly getting out of my chair, I quietly left the classroom.

Limping my way towards my locker, I winced with every step I took and then wincing as my face grimaced. He was never usually that bad, maybe a few slaps or a bit of being thrown around. I wonder what had happened, no one gets that angry over nothing

The spare lockers were in the storeroom near the foyer, except no one ever used them since there were more than enough to go around. 

But the very fact that no one used them, made it perfect for me to use. My books wouldn't get stolen, my tablet wouldn't get broken. Maybe my phone wouldn't have been cracked if I'd left it there.

There was no point in getting it repaired if it would just happen again so I set aside the thought of going to the repair shop.

Looking around, I set my eyes onto the small cardboard box on the top of the lockers, quietly swiping away the small key underneath it. With a small clink, the locker opened and I took out some tissues. 

Sticking a tissue into each of my nostrils I pinched the bridge of my nose and held my head up. Fuck. It didn't seem like the bleed was stopping anytime soon.

I sighed and then rested my head on the locker, slowly sliding down until I was on my knees.

Flickers of anger swirled around my head but were quickly squashed down by the pain.

It had been a few months now. Jaehyun and his fucking friends, those bastards had somehow chosen me to be their slave. Whatever happened to the old one I don't know. Obviously I hadn't taken it without a struggle but slowly, they'd began to destroy me from the inside. One or two people I could fight against, but a whole gang? I'd been forced to carry food, drinks, spend money, be their fucking shuttle.

It was a new school as well, and no one would want to be friends with a shuttle. My parents had worked hard to get me into this school, and I couldn't ask for a transfer so soon. I thought that I'd be able to handle it but I was slowly losing it.

My mind, my sense of self, slowly but surely, the only thing remaining of me was just my name.

Geon Park.

That was when a holographic window flickered to life before me.

[Ching!]

[Feeling empty?]

[If you've lost yourself then we can give you another!]

[We can give you the strength of another soul, another man!]

[Funnily enough, even your names are similar.]

[Well… wanna give it a go?]

A bitter laugh escaped me. Did I have anything left?

"Yeah sure," I whispered, "Why not."

[You won't regret your choice!!]

[Enjoy the future, Gun Park.]

The window disappeared just as quickly as it came. Ha, what bullshit. Even my hallucinations didn't want to stay around me.

I laid there for a while, on my knees until eventually, everything turned dark.

The ceiling rushed up to meet me and I blacked out.