Chapter Text
It was only a single drop of blood, yet it still burnt.
The boy quickly wiped his hand on his shirt to get rid of the red, but the feeling remained. He knew what he had done. He still couldn’t believe what he had done.
He didn’t think things could get any worse until he heard the door slowly open, letting in whatever light still remained in the dark and dingy apartment.
Leaving the boy to have to face whoever’s life he had forever ruined with an ignorant mistake.
“Hyunjin! Hwang Hyunjin!”
That dark room had felt so real that Hyunjin’s eyes almost stung from the light coming through the window next to him. Not to mention his neck was a complete goner with the position his head was in on his desk.
“H-huh?” Hyunjin intelligently said, putting himself back into a sitting position. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he could finally see his math teacher standing in front of her desk, her hand holding out chalk to him.
“Hopefully your need to take a nap means that you’ve done the homework problems from last night and can therefore solve the problem on the board,” she said, not amused in the slightest.
Hyunjin stifled a groan. He had fallen asleep in class. Again. How many times had he told himself he’d stop doing that?
“I’m really sorry, miss, it won’t happen again,” Hyunjin quickly said with a bow. He couldn’t get on the bad side of any of his teachers. Not when he was this close to finally graduating.
The fatigue on his face must have been apparent because his teacher’s expression turned sympathetic. “Apology accepted. Now go do the equation.”
Luckily, Hyunjin had done the homework problems the night before (in the middle of the night near a dying lightbulb but hey, calculus wasn’t picky). He quickly solved the problem and returned to his desk, wishing desperately that someone would pour a gallon of water on his head if that was what was going to keep him awake.
“Good job, Hyunjin. Now, let’s address the other sleeper in this class.” The class let out a laugh, everyone knowing who the teacher was referring to.
“Han Jisung, get up!” All eyes immediately went to the boy at the back of the room, who had put his head on his desk at the beginning of the class and had no plans to get up. Hyunjin knew that Jisung didn’t fall asleep in class out of sleep deprivation or anything of that sort. It was simply to show how much he cared.
Jisung opened one eye and looked at the teacher in front of him. “No thanks.” He turned his head in the opposite direction and continued to be a statue.
The teacher rolled her eyes but unfortunately, as everyone knew, this wasn’t a rare occasion. “If you think detention is more amusing than math class, then be my guest.” She put the slip on Jisung's desk. Jisung didn’t even give it a glance.
Han Jisung. High school senior and living the school life that, in a way, every kid wanted. He just didn’t care. He arrived at school when he wanted, if he arrived at all, left when he saw fit, and spent his free time pulling all-nighters with all the other rowdy crowds or hanging out in the city square pulling off dares that only those with a death wish would even consider. However, he studied hard enough during exam times to be able to guarantee himself a high school diploma despite his carefree life. Jisung was quite friendly to Hyunjin and while Hyunjin appreciated that, Han Jisung was not the influence Hyunjin needed.
Though he was one to talk. With the kind of life Hyunjin led, Jisung’s misdeeds looked like those of angels.
“Honestly. You kids live in one of the most prosperous cities in the world, have all the best opportunities at the tip of your fingers, yet there are still those of you who don’t mind throwing it all away,” the teacher said, going on a rant with pointed stares at an unbothered Jisung.
“If the city council just bulldozed the Alley, everything would be perfect,” one of Hyunjin’s classmates chimed in.
“Dude, there are people living in that dump, you can’t just demolish it,” someone else said.
“You mean the low lives and gangsters? There’s nobody in the right mind who’d actually live in that place.”
“Isn’t there some kid in the junior year who lives in the Alley?”
“Oh, you mean Yang Jeongin? The kid’s a complete freak, trying so hard to fit in and so scared of everything. Probably all messed up from whatever fumes people over there are breathing instead of air.”
“Okay guys, back to topic.” But the teacher made no attempt to defend any slander against the Alley. No teacher did. Because it was all true.
Hyunjin felt his stomach churn, the same way it did whenever anyone brought up the Alley. There were days when he’d wish himself into a different person, being able to make jokes with the other kids about that place. To be able to see the Alley as nothing more than a sector filled with drugs and violence, a curse on the city that would never affect him.
But he couldn’t. Hyunjin knew far too much about the Alley, way more than a regular teenager should ever know.
But the only thing he could do was sit straight in class, force his eyes open, take notes, and pretend he knew nothing.
Yang Jeongin thought his hand was going to fall off at this point.
He knew the answer to every problem. But so did another kid. It was the perfect excuse for his teacher to avoid choosing him. Yet Jeongin kept on trying. He hadn’t furiously studied the textbook chapter late into the night to be bested by his fellow classmates who probably skimmed the whole thing and called it a day.
Finally, Jeongin’s hand was the only one in the air. There was no other excuse to not call on him. His teacher looked at him, almost seeming bored. “Okay, Jeongin, come up and solve the final problem.”
Jeongin walked up to the board, avoiding eye contact with his classmates, who were most definitely using the time to whisper about their favourite topic. Him.
Jeongin studied the challenge question. He knew he could do this, he just needed some time to-
“You’re wasting class time, Jeongin. You have ten seconds.”
Ten seconds for a problem that required at least a minute. Made sense. When it came to Yang Jeongin, everything became fair.
“Times up, very disappointing, Jeongin,” the teacher said, Jeongin only having worked his way through the second line. “Class, let this be a reminder to you to only volunteer for questions you KNOW you can solve.”
Jeongin struggled to keep the red from his facet. When he hadn’t done anything wrong. Going back to his seat, Jeongin could hear the laughter and whispers all around him, like the buzz of a fly you can never get rid of. Jeongin had learnt to put up with that buzz for quite some time.
God, what had he ever done to deserve this treatment?
Oh right, he had been born in the wrong place. He had had everything taken away from him. And he was existing. That was reason enough in this ‘glamorous city.'
But the only thing Jeongin could do was sit straight in class, take notes, and keep a smile on his face to hide away the struggles of being an Alley kid.
Nila was a beautiful city.
Everyone loved calling it the ‘gem of Korea.' It was perfect. Jobs on every corner, spacious housing that costed practically nothing, top schools a bus ride away, lots of greenery that contributed to the aesthetic, and a close-knit community, despite the large city life.
Hyunjin could almost find himself loving this place. Almost.
Unfortunately, near the very center of town, stood one certain sector of the city. Its rough and dirty pavements clashed with Nila’s manicured lawns and paved roads. Its dingy apartments clashed with the spotless and welcoming townhouses. It was almost like the sky above that area refused to be as blue as over the rest of Nila.
This was the Alley. Nila’s ‘curse’ that was feared and ridiculed. A place that people ignored and paid attention to at the same time. A wild card that never brought good luck.
Many people disliked it. Hyunjin freaking despised it.
“Hyunjin, yo Hyunjin!” It was Jisung, catching up to Hyunjin as school let out. “Are you coming to the party tonight?”
The fact that Hyunjin had been invited and even reminded of it was such a nice gesture that Hyunjin’s heart sank at his inevitable answer. “Sorry, Jisung. I’m too busy.”
Jisung groaned. “Again man? Look, I know we’re not friends, but it’s not hard to notice that you’re absent from every get-together event there is. This is senior year! Live a little!”
Hyunjin gave a sad smile. “Maybe next time.”
Jisung shrugged and then ran ahead to catch up to his friends. Hyunjin wondered what that was like, to be able to happily run off to an evening of dancing, laughter, and even a few drinks if they were really daring. A regular high school student, huh? Jisung was right, that was a life Hyunjin should be living.
His phone rang.
C
Knowing immediately who it was, Hyunjin answered the call. “Talk to me.”
“I have tonight’s assignment. Meet at the usual place.”
Hyunjin nodded, the protocol very familiar to him at this point. “I’ll be there.” The call disconnected.
Hyunjin sighed and went to the bus stop to face the evening in store for him.
Because unfortunately for Jisung, Hyunjin was far from a regular high school student.