Chapter Text
Chaeyoung steps out of her ferrari, and walks along the path towars her school. She thinks to herself,
Chae's: It's my destiny to have girls and boys obsess over my looks
a girl on her side taps her on her shoulder.
" why haven't you answered my calls? "
she turned and said " I'm too busy for you. "
She flips her hair and continues to walk along the flowery path to her school. She's used to many people staring at her while she walks. All of a sudden, a volleyball flies at her. Thankfully, it landed on the floor before rolling towards her. She stops it with one foot and turns around to the girls playing football in the garden.
"W ho the hell dared to throw this ball at me? "
But when she saw who it was, she smiled sweetly.
" Hey chae, pass the ball to me! " the girls motions to herself and Chaeyoung, but the latter ignored her and kicked the ball into the bushes
girl: damn, I'd be angry if someone else dared to ignore me but it was Chaeyoung so never mind
Chae's: thank the heavens your ball didn't hit me in the face or else...
She walks up to the stairs but was stopped by a guy who rode a motorcycle. the guy threw a helmet at her and motions for her to ride with him, but she threw the helmet back at him. Some girls bumps into him and runs off, afraid of being chastised by the said guy. Chaeyoung sees a lovely keychain on the floor and picks it up. She gives it to Jeongyeon, assuming the light blue lovely keychain was hers.
A moment later, she finds herself inside the school and instantly sees her friends waving at her.
" Chae, over here! " Dahyun waves a little too excitedly.
She walks to the place where her friends are and joins the conversation.
" Are you that excited to see me? " she smiles at her friend who's smiling at her and hugs her.
" Of course we are, who wouldn't be? Your operation just finished. " Lisa looks at her.
" Mina wouldn't. She hates me " she sadly says to her friend, but after a second she thinks.
'did I have an operation?'
chae's: But I don't remember anything...
she brushes the thought away. Suddenly all the people in the corridor starts screaming, including her friends.
" It's M4, kyaa! "
" omg, they're all so beautiful asf "
" Yoo Jeongyeon!!! "
Various screams of the fangirls echoed around the corridor, while M4 walks. M4 is composed of the 4 most famous girls in the campus, namely Yoo Jeongyeon, (helmet girl), Hirai Momo (the soccer player earlier), Minatozaki Sana (japanese beauty) and Myoui Mina, Chaeyoung's own fiance who ignores her stares and just continues walking towards their room. They mostly ignore the screams of the people around them because they're already used to it.
But all of a sudden, a clumsy girls careens straight at Yoo. She crashes into Jeongyeon and they both fall to the ground, bumping each other's lips. Jeongyeon complains.
" Look at this " Yoo motioned to her uniform and brushes the dust off it
Jeong's: you messed with the wrong person
" You ruined the art supplies. Do you know how expensive that was? "
they both look at the messed art supplies on the floor. Meanwhile, Chaeyoung was helping the girl stand up and snaps at Jeongyeon,
" Just because you're a member of this stupid group doesn't mean you can bully someone that easily! " she glares at the four. Jeongyeon doesn't look bothered, and Mina just looked at her boringly. Momo was kind enough to help the girl pick up and fix the art supplies, and smiled at her after.
chae's: stupid group, why do people idolize a bunch of douchebags?
As chaeyoung storms off, she hears something weird in the back of her head, like a page flipping. things around her go staticky and when she turns around she saw the students in the hall frozen in their places
chae’s: what the hell?
she hears the sound again, much louder than the one earlier.
flip.
Just as she was starting to think what the heck is going on, the said sound didn't give her much time. All of a sudden she finds herself transported into her chair inside the classroom, with all her classmates and friends goofing around her.
chae’s: did I just teleport?
To her surprise, there's a message on the board saying that it's the first day of the midterms. 'Just earlier was the first day of the class, but it's already midterms? what the?' Chaeyoung thinks to herself.
" Dahyun” she calls to her friend who's doing her ridiculous eagle dance again in the front.
" What why? " she stops dancing and goes to where chaeyoung is sitting.
" Is it already the first day of midterms? "
Dahyun looks at her as if she wasn't right in the head. " Of course it is, you pabo! " Dahyun reached inside her bag and pulled out her calculus book.
" Look at your book, it clearly says you studied again until the middle of the night! " her other friends pointed at Dahyun's own textbook and chastised her of not studying properly and that she might fail if she gets a D on the exams.
Meanwhile on the other side, Chaeyoung thinks if she really studied. If she studied, why doesn't she have any recollection of it? She pinches herself in the cheek to see if she was dreaming or not. She doesn't wake up which means that she isn't dreaming.
chae’s: eh?? what's happening to me?
She hears the sound again when she looks at the board in contemplation.
Flip.
And now, the message on the board says that it's the last day of the midterms.
chae’s: I must be going crazy
Rose taps her on the back,
" Hey, wanna go out with us? We're going to drink our asses off ."
" Yah! don't you know that alcohol is bad for Chae?! " Dahyun reprimands the girl and tells her to go away.
" Hey, isn't it still the first day of the midterms? " Chaeyoung asks her.
" What the hell man you must be going crazy because of studies ." Dahyun laughs at her.
" Yo guys my video just reached a billion views! " Rose exclaimed while looking at her phone in awe.
" It's all because of jeongyeon's popularity " her other classmates told her.
" Wait, what video are we talking about here? " Chaeyoung looked lost. Her other classmates looked at her as if she was an alien from another planet.
chae’s: here they go again... what's with that look anyways?
" That video where our Jeongyeon was assaulted by some girl transferee from who knows where, how come you don't know? " Lisa dramatically asks her and then looks disgustingly at Im Nayeon, the girl who crashed into Jeongyeon the other day.
" Come on girl, don't look at her like some kind of disease! and don't call Jeongyeon yours because she never belonged to you " defends Chaeyoung, because she believes it's her role to defend those who're bullied.
After politely declining the others' offer to get wasted tonight, she walked to her ferrari and drove away from the campus. Suddenly, she feels her head and temples ache. She reached inside her bag for her medicines and took them one by one. 'It's such a hassle to take so many pills for this stupid disease' she thinks to herself.
chae’s: I'm so tired of being sick
' wait a second... what if what's happening to me was caused by the medicines?' the thought suddenly crossed her mind. She decides to ask that to her doctor tomorrow, during the check up.
[ TOMORROW ]
Chaeyoung looks worried as she walks down the hallway to the doctor's office. She didn't have anyone with her because her dad and mom was busy with work, and her oh-so-called fiance hated the hospital (and her) so she didn't invite her.
She opens the door and greets the doctor inside, " Hello Doctor Hwang " with a smile.
The said doctor motioned to the seat beside him, signaling her to sit beside his table. The doctor discussed with her that her brain is gradually getting better due to the new drug she's on, and that reminds her of the question she was supposed to ask him.
" Doctor, is losing my memory a side effect of the drug? "
But to her dismay, the doctor just laughed at her and told her it wasn't. He added that maybe the memory loss is because of the stress of studying and she should sleep earlier as it might affect her brain, again. The doctor also assured her that she wasn't going crazy because of the drug. He also reprimanded her playfully, telling her that she should read fewer comics.
" Is Mina stressing you out? " the doctor suddenly asks her.
" Nah, maybe it's just me " she denied, hoping that he won't notice how down she was because of the said fiance. It worked out for her, as he didn't notice the subtle change in chaeyoung's mood.
" Okay, tell us if she is! " Chaeyoung got ready to leave the office. She bid him goodbye and drove to her house. As soon as she was in the bed, she started searching for symptoms of memory loss but she couldn't find anything
chae’s: argh! these just annoy me more.
On the way to school the next day, Mina is in the car with her father, on her phone. Her father taps her on her hand and motions for her to look at him.
" Why didn't you accompany Chaeyoung to the hospital yesterday? " her father looked angry. She's also starting to get pissed at her father, who sees Chaeyoung as his source of income.
" I'm sorry dad, I didn't know she was going out yesterday "
" You should've known! You're her fiance! " her father hit the seat in front and glared at her angrily. She thought of a biting reply but kept her mouth shut because she knows it might trigger her father more. She hung her head low and didn't say anything.
mina's: using your sickness every time, it's getting boring
They were nearing the school, and as soon as she was out the car, her father saw Chaeyoung also getting off her ferrari. Her father called Chaeyoung over and the latter obeyed him.
mina's: here she goes again...
chae's: damn this sickness, I didn't wish for this okay
" I heard you didn't bring Mina with you to the hospital yesterday, why? " her father smiled at Chaeyoung, and she knows it's fake. Mina hates him for pretending, when in fact he just sees Chaeyoung as his money.
" I'm sorry Mr. Myoui, I didn't know she was free yesterday "
" No need to call me Mr. Myoui, after all we're family " he laughs heartily, even though it's a forced one. Mina scoffs while looking at her phone, and her dad looks at her disapprovingly.
" Why don't you walk chaeyoung to the school? You're going the same direction anyway " Mina's father smiled at her, and she can detect there's a hint of threat behind those words. She has no choice but to obey. They bid him goodbye and started to walk together, the student's stares following them. Once they got out of earshot with her father, Mina stopped holding Chaeyoung's hand and stopped in front of her.
" Why didn't you tell me you were going to the hospital? " Mina looked frustrated.
" I know you hate me and the hospital " Chaeyoung replied defensively
" You know and yet you use your sickness to get attention from me. Is that how you rope in your first love?! " Mina exclaims, looking frustrated. "I know we're engaged, but why are you using my father to hold me hostage? It's fucking tiring. " Mina has a lot more to say but stops herself when she sees Chaeyoung's hurt face.
" Look, I don't know where you got that but I am NOT using your family to rope you in. It was your father's idea to get us engaged to each other! It's not like I want to get engaged with you " Chaeyoung retorted.
" Why, don't you love me? It's been over 10 years, isn't it? "
" God, you're so full of yourself " chaeyoung sighs and leans to the wall.
" I only went to the hospital because I was experiencing strange things, like losing my memory and hallucinations. "
" Other than that, are you okay? " Mina impatiently taps her shoe.
" YES I AM " Chaeyoung storms off angrily because her fiance didn't have the least bit of consideration for her.
Chaeyoung is now inside her classroom, and she tells Lisa about her weird symptoms and the latter tells her to stop pretending since everyone in the campus knows she likes Mina. ' Huh? ' chaeyoung thinks to herself. while she was thinking, all of a sudden she hears the strange noise again.
flip.
all of a sudden she's teleported in the gym, wearing tracksuits and holding a banner that says "Go Mina my baby!!" No matter how she tries to put the banner down, somehow her hands won't let her so she smiles awkwardly and tries to cheer her oh-so-called fiance. She has no memory of what happened earlier, and how she got in the gym. She hears the strange noise again.
flip.
and now she's teleported in the arts classroom, without knowing why or how she changed from a tracksuit to her ordinary uniform. she finds her desk full of Mina's pictures, and she also finds herself holding scissors in one hand and Mina's cut out in the other.
chae’s: what the fucking hell?
" Dahyun, what are we doing? " she looks at her seatmate doing the same thing, only with Sana's pictures.
" For the millionth time chaeyoung, get a grip will you? we're making love cards for the ones we love. look! " She showed chaeyoung pictures of Sana scattered all over her desk. 'oh, that's why I was holding Mina's pics' Chaeyoung thought.
'but that doesn't explain how or why I'm here...'
" Why am I making these with Mina's pics? " she asked again.
" Chaeyoung, we all know you're whipped for your fiance " dahyun teases her.
chaeyoung thinks in horror, 'something is wrong with me... '
Over time, chaeyoung experiences more weird teleportation experiences and hallucinations, adding that to the cases of memory loss. She thinks she has a problem with her brain yet again, and worries that she seems to be worse when in fact she was getting better (or so the doctor says)
Now, she's in the school library with lots of books in front of her. Chaeyoung stretches and looks at the window. She sees a beautiful student contemplating a scar on her wrist. The said student watches chaeyoung pulling out a few books on the shelves then sits on the floor, reading and searching for symptoms of memory loss.
Chaeyoung sees a book floating on the shelf, titled 비밀. She pulls it out and sees panels, as if she was reading comics. She stumbles, bewildered by the scenes flashing through her mind.
'Mina grabbing her arm... nayeon tripped in the bathroom... jeongyeon helps her up while the students record...'
chae’s: what was that all about?
All of a sudden she can feel her wrists being grabbed by someone. when she looked up, she saw Mina glaring at her.
" Why did you follow me here? " Mina accuses her.
" What the hell, I didn’t follow you here! " Chaeyoung says in confusion because it happened just like in her vision. She manages to escape Mina's hold and runs out of the library, Mina going after her but was stopped by Irene.
" How did you manage chae all those years? "
but Mina just ignored her and stared at the student who's staring at her and chaeyoung earlier. She yells out an angry " OI " but she couldn't see the name of the said student because of the sun's reflection.
Chaeyoung goes to the bathroom to wash her face, and she hears something inside one of the cubicles
" Go ahead! You think you can bully me like that huh? " and she sees Nayeon soaking wet. Chaeyoung tells the girls who bullied her to go out and suddenly a packet of wet wipes appears magically in her hands. She fusses over Nayeon and wonders why, when she should be more concerned for herself. After drying nayeon, she left her and went up to the rooftop
" What the hell is happening with me?! " she shouts at the sky, unaware of the sleeping Jeongyeon on one of the benches
" Dammit, is this how you treat Mina? !" Jeongyeon snaps at her.
Chaeyoung just shoos her away from the rooftop, locks the door and goes back to worrying about herself.
When Chaeyoung is going to the cafeteria for lunch, her friend Rose is fussing beside her saying that the magically beautiful server is here, dubbed as " jokbal elf " because the worker only serves at the cafeteria whenever there is jokbal.
Jihyo seems to notice that Chaeyoung is down, so she serves her more jokbal.
" Gosh, I can't eat when I keep losing my memory "
and Jihyo looks at her weirdly. At the sight of some curry, Chaeyoung remembers the vision she had of nayeon being tripped and thinks out loud ' I'd rather not get curry on my shirt here ', and Jihyo shoots her another strange stare.
Just when they were starting to eat, they saw some girls harassing Nayeon for being admitted to the school due to a scholarship from the Yoo family. A professor saw it and stopped the bullying. Just as Nayeon stands, Chaeyoung exchanges her still full lunch tray with Lisa's and runs to stand up in front of Nayeon.
but Nayeon still tripped, and they both toppled over on the floor, covered in curry just like what she saw. Jeongyeon saw some students recording and smashed their phones one by one, and held a hand out to help.
In class much later on, she finds Jeongyeon staring in her direction and assumes that the latter was staring at her.
" Prof, can I go to the nurse's office? I think I'm sick " she asked permission and was granted.
" Take Mina with you " and just like that, everything went downhill.
Mina didn't go with her to the nurse's office. No scratch that, Chaeyoung didn't even go there. Some students of the class can see her gesturing to nothing in the hallway, so Mina decides to take action.
" You really have a weird way to ask for my attention don't you? " Mina half shouted at her.
" What the fuck? I wasn't asking for your attention! Why are you always rude to me? "
" Because I don't like sick people. You're just wasting your time because I don't like you. " With that, Mina turns away and goes back to the classroom.
Chaeyoung didn't want to go back, so she goes out to the catwalk and just stands there pitying herself for not saying something at that moment. She covers her face with her hands and peeks through her fingers.
at that moment, she sees a portal in front of her, floating in the air.