Chapter Text
It was late August, and the sun was refusing to make way for the moon. Everyone was bustling to get out of the train station as soon as possible, hurrying to meet their loved ones and their comfortable beds. Everyone but one boy. This boy sat on a bench and waited, two large suitcases at his feet.
He glanced at his watch when each train arrived. As if the scene looped, everyone rushed out, but this time, one boy glanced around nervously, backpack high on his shoulders and eyes tired. When he saw the boy waiting, he walked over and waved awkwardly.
"Chan?" he asked.
"Yup. Hi Hyunjin, nice to meet you."
Hyunjin simply nodded and sat down on the floor to the right of Chan, back resting against the bench seat. Chan raised his eyebrow in question, and Hyunjin shrugged. "I've been sitting in a seat for the past four hours. Sue me if I don't want to wait in that same position for who knows how long waiting for the last person to complete the trio."
"Fair enough," Chan laughed, swinging his legs up so he was lying across the bench. With his forearm covering his eyes now, he said, "Changbin's train should be another forty minutes."
Fifty minutes later, the sun had finally yielded to the moon's insistence. Hyunjin and Chan had switched spots somewhere in that time, and both got up when they saw the last train of the night pullingng in. As if parting the sparse crowd getting off the train, the third boy walked straight to them without an ounce of trepidation, bag slung casually behind his broad back.
"Hi. Name's Changbin. Sorry for making you guys wait so long."
"Hey. I'm Chan, and this is Hyunjin," Chan pointed. Pulling out a map, he waved to the exit and said, "We have thirty minutes before curfew. If we want to make it to Saiyan on time, we'd better start walking now."
Walking into their dorm room, they looked around. There was a bunk bed against one wall and a single bed on the other side. A desk was parallel to the wall at the foot of each bed, and a third one was situated between the heads of the beds. It was a bit cramped but had potential.
Despite having had the longest journey, Changbin had the most energy, bustling in and throwing himself on the single bed.
"You snooze, you lose," he laughed, good-naturedly.
Chan sat down on the lower bunk bed. "Damn. Is this a bed or a rock?"
"Can't do anything about now, can we? Changbin replied, getting up and swinging his bag on his self-proclaimed bed. "We are in Saiyan, so we have to study. Whether it's a bed or a rock, we have to sleep." He turned around to them then, putting his hands up, "Hey, you guys can quote me on that. My very own proverb!"
Hyunjin scoffed, "I think you're a little tired. I'm going to do minimal packing now."
"Same here," Chan agreed. "Packing is future Chan's problem."
"Don't see me complaining," Changbin said, immediately lying down on his bare bed, arms behind his head. "Also, if you guys snore, let me know now. I'll put cotton in my ears."
Chan and Hyunjin ignored him, setting up their beds.
Within a couple of minutes, however, Changbin was up again, causing Hyunjin to sigh. "You guys are so loud, I can't sleep."
"Changbin," Chan said, gently, "We have to unpack some if we have any hope of a smooth morning before class tomorrow."
"Yeah, yeah," Changbin waved him off. He opened the window, sitting on the sill. "Hey, who is that man standing over there?"
Hyunjin and Chan made their way over to Changbin to see, and sure enough, there was a man there. He was in front of a large lake, with the overhead lights gently illuminating him. He seemed more like an apparition, stock still, but with a magnetizing presence to him. He had a long black cloak on and seemed to just be…contemplating.
Chan finally speaks, respect evident in his voice, "That is the headmaster of Saiyan. The equally dreaded and respected Lee Minho."
As the three new kids in the grade, Changbin had expected them to be hazed. For the first two days, he tensed when anyone other than Chan or Hyunjin came up to him, and once even put his fists up when a boy came to sling his arm around him. Turns out, Wooyoung had heard him telling Chan what his next class was and wanted to walk with him there, and even took the seat next to him.
Their classmates were weirdly welcoming and took the trio under their wings. They told them which hallways to avoid, which teachers would humiliate you for being even a minute late, and which were firm about curfew (the answer was all of them). Changbin figured it was because trauma had bonded the study body, and they saw no need to create any initial animosity with the newcomers.
It was during lunch that they told them about the dreaded assembly that would happen at the end of the week. "Headmaster Lee will drone on and on. Do not let his good looks fool you. The man's a drab. He's great to look at, but there's but so much looking one can do when you're stuck in that godforsaken hall for three hours," Wooyoung said, swinging his head down into his arms on the table.
"They have never once skipped an assembly. It is the same time every year, and it is the same speech every year," Yeosang added, sighing.
"What do they say?" Hyunjin asked, no longer interested in his food tray.
Wooyoung picked his head back up for a moment, "I could recite it from memory, but it doesn't matter. You will find out soon enough."
"Not too soon. We still have a couple days," Chan said optimistically.
Chan was wrong. It was too soon. It was suddenly the end of the week, and they were making their way to the main hall. Changbin ran up to stand between Hyunjin and Chan, watching as the hall was filled with two hundred boys in the same red and black suit jackets. The hall looked like what Changbin imagined a church looked like (his family was never religious). There were high ceilings and equally tall windows on both sides of the room. In front of the room, there was a space removed, which looked like an altar. I wonder who is getting sacrificed today, Changbin thought grimly. On the wall was the large seal bearing Saiyan's emblem.
Changbin was looking down, messing with his jacket, wishing he could be wearing a t-shirt instead, when a hush swept through the hall. He looked up, and it was as if the man had appeared out of nowhere at the front of the hall. Headmaster Lee.
"Tradition. Honor. Discipline," his words echoed throughout the hall. "These are the three core pillars of Saiyan. The values that will make your tomorrow, and shape your future." It felt as though he was talking to each of them individually and not to the group as a whole. "The previous scholars who walked these halls, who have since moved on, have left high standards for you. Today, all of them are successful men in their respective fields. They are great writers, great businessmen, great politicians," he listed. "But they all have one thing in common. All through their lives, they have followed the principles taught to them at Saiyan. Now, you all have the opportunity to be a part of this great lineage. You have been selected from every corner of the country, and brought here with the trust that you have what it takes to be as victorious." Softer now, he said, "But success does not come easily. Behind every great success lies a great sacrifice. By entering Saiyan's gates, you have left the outside world and its temptations behind. While you are here, Saiyan is your world. We trust you will work with full determination, and you will follow the rules and regulations of this institution with strict discipline. If any student is found breaking these rules, he will be expelled immediately. And please do remember: once you are expelled from here, our and every other institution and university in this country's doors will be permanently closed for you. So if any of you are not ready to take on this sacrifice, they are free to leave right away," Minho gestured to wall, where the students knew the gates rested on the other side. "But if you have decided that you will stay here, then that gate and the outside world do not exist for you anymore."
Minho paused, waiting, but no one moved, so he sighed, "Now I want all of you to think carefully of every word I have said to you, and make your decision."