Always Watch Your Words
From the classroom and cafeteria they visited every day, to the science lab, the library, the gymnasium, and more.
The two nameless seniors' notes had every conceivable location written down in them.
As a first step, the classroom and the library were struck from the list of candidates.
The classroom entries never specified an exact location. Hunting through every classroom without even knowing the grade or the class number was a last resort best saved for when you truly wanted to find something but had no idea where to look.
As for the library, that was where the notebook had been discovered in the first place, and they'd turned it upside down preparing for this festival, so the odds of anything else turning up there were slim.
And so, the first place Suyeon and Yeoncheong headed was the science lab.
"Why the science lab of all places?"
"No particular reason."
With nothing but the fragmented notes in the notebook to go on, there simply wasn't a better option available.
As it happened, even the club activities seemed to be on break. Suyeon waved at her twin sister standing outside.
"Siyeon! Long time no see!"
"We walked to school together this morning, remember?"
Siyeon's curt reply landed on Yeoncheong, who had come along too. After school, Suyeon and Yeoncheong were together again.
Having witnessed Yeoncheong getting dragged around by Suyeon more than once or twice, Siyeon knew exactly what this pairing meant.
"So what is it this time that's got you prowling all over the school?"
"Heheh. We found something super interesting. Don't be too shocked when you hear it."
Suyeon pulled the notebook from her bag and explained why they'd come.
Siyeon's reaction was not much different from Yeoncheong's when she'd first heard it.
"You really think something like that would still be there?"
"It might be. You can't say for sure it's gone either."
Until they saw it with their own eyes, they could prove neither that it remained nor that it was already gone.
Having caught on to why the two had sought her out, Siyeon asked,
"So... since the science lab is on there, you want to search here, is that it?"
"Exactly. That's my twin for you. Sharp as ever."
Suyeon hastily swapped the title under the glare of her twin's piercing eyes. Siyeon stared at her for a moment, then looked away as if to say she'd let it slide just this once.
"...Fine. Do as you like."
Contrary to expectations, Siyeon nodded along readily and offered to help. Knowing Suyeon wouldn't back off gracefully even if she refused, it was a wise call — help them out, and send them on their way faster.
The science lab was full of fragile and hazardous items. Under Siyeon's watchful eye, Yeoncheong and Suyeon began their search, focusing on the spots that normally stayed out of easy reach.
Suyeon muttered behind a hand cupped over her mouth.
"Why is the dust so thick in here?"
"I told you. This is where they shove everything they don't use anymore."
Boxes that had never once been opened, glass beakers so caked in grime the dust had practically fused to them — the shelves were stuffed to bursting with things that made you wonder when they'd last seen daylight.
Yeoncheong parted an abandoned spiderweb and joined the conversation.
"Shouldn't they just throw out stuff nobody's used in ages? Yeesh... this one's become one with the dust."
Siyeon, holding up her smartphone as a light source from outside, voiced her agreement.
"We've brought it up before. But they said the curriculum changed and these are tools we don't use — that they might come in handy again someday, so we can't throw them out."
"If it's been unused this long, I doubt it'll ever see a curriculum again..."
Suyeon came out first, coughing, and shook her head.
"It's not here. Yeoncheong, come out too, quickly. This place is bad for your health."
They did find a few bags of snacks hidden by the nameless senior, but they were all well past their expiration dates and went straight into the trash.
The search of the science lab was more or less complete, and the club activities that had been on break looked ready to resume.
With a word of thanks, Yeoncheong and Suyeon headed for the next candidate on the list.
"I figured the science lab wouldn't have it. That place doesn't exactly have a hide-something vibe."
"Then where in this school does have a hide-something vibe, huh?"
No ready answer came to mind, and Suyeon let the question slide as they arrived at the next location. Yeoncheong frowned and took an involuntary step back.
"You want to search here too? They clean this place regularly — if anything had turned up here, it would've been found ages ago..."
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained. And don't worry. Why do you think I made sure to check the long-shot science lab first?"
Suyeon shot her a wink and led her inside.
Just as Suyeon had promised, the situation Yeoncheong had dreaded never materialized.
The club students were already finishing up at the sink, and the two girls explained their errand to Hasol and the club president with suitably apologetic faces.
"Sure. I doubt there's anything to find, but... search all you like."
With permission so freely granted, Yeoncheong and Suyeon dove straight into the search. Hasol and the club students pitched in, saying it looked like fun, but this attempt came up empty too.
Given the nature of the club, it was an environment where pests and mold thrived if hygiene slipped — and their supervising teacher inspected the place so ruthlessly that everything gleamed no matter which cabinet they opened.
Since they could only search places untouched by human hands, there was almost nowhere to look to begin with.
More searches followed after that.
The art room and music room, which held no luck for Yeoncheong; even the gymnasium where Nayun ran herself ragged every day. They wore their shoes out all over the school, but came away with nothing.
"Haah... is it really just not here?"
"You dragged me into this, and now you're giving up? Hand me the notebook."
The notebook Yeoncheong received had Suyeon's list of locations from the notes, neatly organized.
Science lab, cooking room, gymnasium and so on — lines were drawn through every place they'd already visited. Then Yeoncheong's eyes landed on the cafeteria. That entry already had a solid line through it.
"This one's off the list too?"
"Which one? Oh, the cafeteria. Yeah, there's absolutely nothing there."
Suyeon, chin propped on Yeoncheong's shoulder, nodded.
According to her, the cafeteria had been wrecked by a typhoon a few years back and completely rebuilt from the ground up.
"That's why the cafeteria looks so shiny."
"It's the Chairwoman's handiwork, you know. The quality of the meals went up across the board after that too, and apparently she was worshipped as a goddess around here for a while."
For Yeoncheong, who had long been on casual, friendly terms with Chairwoman Yurim thanks to her father, it was a title beyond imagining.
"Still, 'goddess' might be pushing it a little..."
"Oh, there goes the Chairwoman now."
"What? Where? Where!?"
Perhaps it was the memory of being thoroughly worked over at the festival.
Before Suyeon had even finished speaking, Yeoncheong darted neatly behind her friend. She whipped her head around like a meerkat, scanning the area in a panic.
But everywhere Suyeon had pointed, there wasn't a single person to be seen.
When Yeoncheong shot her friend a burning glare over her shoulder,
"Sorry~ guess I was seeing things."
Suyeon turned her head away, sticking her tongue out. It may have been an ordinary prank to her, but Yeoncheong had just had her life flash before her eyes.
Thwack.
"Ow!"
She punished her friend immediately for the dangerous joke. Suyeon rubbed the spot, wondering if a lump was forming.
"Did that really deserve a hit this hard?"
"That's because you've never been on the receiving end of the Chairwoman. Try it once, and you couldn't even joke about it."
Yeoncheong answered her pouting friend with a dead-serious face.
There had been times she'd assumed her father was exaggerating too. Of course, any such doubt had vanished completely since the festival.
But because Yeoncheong's friend had such a knack for taking a punch — no, for delivering an honest assessment — Suyeon still thought she was being dramatic.
"C'mon... isn't she laying the act on a little thick?"
Only someone who'd been through it would know. Frustrated, Yeoncheong pounded her own chest.
"She's not! I swear it. The Chairwoman could take on three high school girls right now and win, I'm telling you."
"Oh, come on. Three high school girls? No way."
Suyeon smacked her shoulder, saying the joke had gone too far. But Yeoncheong took her friend's words in an entirely different direction.
"You think so? The more I think about it, three's way too few. She'd really need four high school girls to—"
"And what exactly would I be doing with four high school girls, Yeoncheong?"
"HYAAAAK! HEEk!"
The voice of Chairwoman Yurim, from directly behind. Along with a very cute shriek, Yeoncheong was so startled that a hiccup burst right out of her. She tried to hide behind Suyeon again, but the back of her neck was already in someone's grip.
"Yeoncheong, I asked you a question."
Expecting a coherent answer from a girl covering her mouth and hiccupping between gasps was a lost cause. And so, Chairwoman Yurim's gaze slid naturally to the friend standing beside her.
"Or would you like to answer? Your name was... Suyeon, I believe. Am I right?"
"Um... ah..."
Perhaps because Yeoncheong was trembling and reacting so violently,
Suyeon wiped the sweat beading on her forehead, swallowed hard —
When Suyeon clamped her mouth shut, Chairwoman Yurim studied her intently, up and down.
"Ah, they did say there was an identical pair of twins in the second year. Then you'd be Siyeon, not Suyeon?"
Is the school Chairwoman normally this well-informed about her students? Wondering this to herself, Suyeon shook her head.
"No, ma'am. I'm Suyeon."
"Right, that's it. And here I thought I'd mixed you up."
Keeping one hand clamped on the back of Yeoncheong's neck, Chairwoman Yurim gestured near her mouth with the other and gave a light laugh.
It seemed to be a laugh meant to break the tension. Unfortunately, the air stayed every bit as taut as before.
"So then, Suyeon. What exactly am I supposed to be doing with four high school girls?"
Even under Yurim's gentle voice, Yeoncheong shot her friend a desperate, pleading look — please, whatever you do, don't mention it.
Talking that way about the Chairwoman herself was hardly welcome news to Suyeon either. Whipping her long-resting brain back into gear, she scrambled for an excuse.
"The Chairwoman and four high school girls..."
"Yes. Four high school girls."
"What I mean is...! We were saying you could stand right in the middle of four high school girls and nobody would be able to tell you apart!"
She hadn't heard nothing, exactly — just caught a vague fragment about four high school girls.
As such, this was the very best excuse Suyeon could come up with. Yeoncheong, neck still in the Chairwoman's grip, barely kept her face from crumpling on reflex.
"Oh my~ look at this one."
She had, in fact, never said any such thing — but what harm could a white lie do?
It was nice to be complimented on her looks. Chairwoman Yurim beamed.
"Yeoncheong, take a lesson from your friend here."
"Lesson taken. So could you let go of me now, Chairwoman?"
Yeoncheong twisted her body this way and that, but every time she did, Yurim flexed her wrist with fluid ease and refused to let her go.
"Lying on your friend's behalf, too. How noble of you."
Flinch. Yeoncheong's head creaked around.
"...Don't tell me you heard all of it?"
In answer, Yurim simply pointed one finger to the side. As Yeoncheong slowly raised her head, her expression froze solid. There, plastered square on the door, hung a plaque reading CHAIRWOMAN'S OFFICE.
Apparently, their aimless wandering had brought them all the way here.
"Saying things like that here — you weren't hoping I'd overhear, were you?"
"Don't talk nonsense. You were inside — how could you possibly hear a conversation happening out in the hallway?"
Right next door or not, there was a wall between them. When Yeoncheong threw a fit, demanding she stop spouting impossibilities, Yurim's lips curved.
"Weren't you just saying I could beat three high school girls in a fight? Shall we test that theory, starting with two?"
Both Yeoncheong and Suyeon flinched, composure shot.
If Yurim had been listening since that point, there was no wriggling out of it now. Yeoncheong, neck still trapped, wiggled her fingers.
"Please spare Suyeon. Everything was my doing."
This was a friend who had shielded her, after all. Squeezing her eyes shut, Yeoncheong begged for Suyeon's release.
Suyeon was moved by her sacrifice — and Chairwoman Yurim nodded.
"Well, of course. You didn't seriously think I'd do that to a student at my own school, did you?"
"Huh?"
At the refreshingly merciful answer, Yeoncheong blinked. Then she raised her index finger and pointed at herself.
"Um... technically, I'm a student here too..."
"Oh no no, dear. Before you're a student of this school, you're my hopeless junior's daughter. Entirely different category."
Yurim steered Yeoncheong naturally toward the Chairwoman's office. Yeoncheong dug in, dragging her feet across the floor, but with nothing to grab onto, there was no stopping the dragging itself.
"No! That's cheating! What kind of rule is that!?"
"If it bothers you that much, just think of it as me administering the discipline your father can't."
"I'm seventeen! What discipline—!"
SLAM.
The struggling Yeoncheong was hauled into the office. A short while later.
Curious about what was going on in there, Suyeon was just leaning an ear toward the crack in the door when —
"KYAAAAAAAAAA!"
A scream so loud it made even Suyeon, standing outside, jump rang out from within. Thank goodness this was a corner nobody passed by. If anyone had heard it, that scream was a guaranteed call to the police.
As the screams kept coming, Suyeon — who had retreated a prudent distance — suddenly realized something.
So this hallway... has absolutely no soundproofing at all...
It was a fact she was only learning now, because there was never any reason for her to pass by this way.