Beasts Never Miss Their Prey
The silence stretched on. My aunt’s face twisted with disbelief as she finally spoke.
“Who on earth leaked the information…?”
“……Aunt.”
I stood up from my seat.
“I’ll be going now.”
“Huh? Where to?”
“I have to find out who it was. The one who leaked the information.”
“……Wait a second.”
My aunt grabbed my arm, her expression deadly serious. It looked like something had just occurred to her.
“Ijun.”
“Yes.”
“Now that I think about it… isn’t today a school day for you?”
“……Pardon?”
“It’s a weekday. Not a holiday.”
“Aunt, right now skipping one day of school isn’t the important—”
“Hey! School is incredibly important for a student—!”
She seized my arm with a firm grip.
“Aunt. Missing just one day won’t cause any problems…”
“It’s not just one day, is it? You’ve already missed over a week of school, haven’t you?”
“Uh… How did you even know that?”
“Why wouldn’t I know? Your homeroom teacher is my friend!”
“…?!”
What. Was the world really that small…?
The unexpected revelation made me flinch. My aunt, still gripping my arm tightly, glared up at me with narrowed eyes.
“You. Forget about any side trips and head straight to school right now.”
“Look, Aunt. Today is a special situation, so…”
“Special situation my foot. Go. If you end up repeating a grade because you don’t have enough attendance days, neither you nor I will be able to face your mother.”
Ah. She just had to pull out that dirty cheat key…
“Ugh. Fine. I’ll go. I’m going.”
“Don’t just say you’re going—actually go. I’m going to call my friend and check.”
“Yes, yes. I’m going. Going… Ow!”
“You little—! Is that any way to talk to your aunt?!”
“Ah, ah! Sorry, I’m sorry! I’m going! Ow! I said I’m going! …Ow!”
After getting smacked on the back several times for my slip of the tongue, I was practically chased out of the house. I headed straight to school without taking any detours. My original plan had been to pretend I was going and then hunt down the leaker, but after hearing that our homeroom teacher was my aunt’s friend, that option was completely off the table.
What kind of coincidence was this?
“Korea really is a small country…”
Anyway, I arrived at school. Muttering to myself, I opened the back door of the classroom.
—Screeech!
The moment I stepped inside, a few kids near the door glanced at me, then immediately went back to their own conversations.
“So what happened next?”
“Yeah, and then…”
It was the kind of indifferent reaction you’d give a passing cow, but this was nothing new, so I didn’t pay it any mind. I walked past them and headed to my seat.
My desk was in the far left corner at the very back of the classroom.
“Huh? What the—? The daughter-fucker is here?”
The voice came the instant I pulled out my chair and sat down. I didn’t even need to look to know who it was aimed at. I flipped my middle finger at the guy sitting in front of me—Jihoon.
“Fuck off.”
“Already did that. Why are you so late?”
“What do you mean, why? Obviously because I stayed up all night.”
It wasn’t a lie. I really had barely slept last night. Thanks to that strange girl I’d met yesterday, a ton of good inspiration had hit me. By the time I finished organizing it all into text, it was already five in the morning.
“Hey, wake me up at lunch.”
I pulled a few thick textbooks out of my desk drawer. Their covers were soft and they were hefty enough to make perfect pillows. This was exactly why science textbooks were the best. Since science majors wrote them, they couldn’t summarize the core points properly, which made the content drag on and the books end up ridiculously thick.
“It’s already ten o’clock, you know?”
“Yeah, I know. That’s why I’m asking you to wake me at lunch.”
“You’re going to sleep straight from first period through lunch starting in second period?”
“I have to sleep now after staying up all night. I’m going to sleep.”
“Wow, you absolute delinquent… What exactly did you see that was so good you stayed up all night? Share the code, man.”
“You crazy bastard.”
“You’re the crazy one. The guy who stayed up all night jerking off.”
The snickering voice came from above my head. It was a clear misunderstanding, but I didn’t bother correcting him and just let out a quiet sigh.
Sigh…
How many years had he been milking that one slip-up? It was back in sixth grade of elementary school. When Jihoon kept pestering me about why I stayed up so late, I’d half-jokingly, half-seriously told him, “I stayed up doing something good.” Ever since then, whenever I came to school after pulling an all-nighter, he’d start going on about “share the code” or “jerking off,” and it drove me insane.
I couldn’t exactly clear up the misunderstanding by saying, I’m L.J. I stay up late writing manuscripts and can’t sleep.
Sigh.
“……”
Honestly, maybe the real reason I didn’t have a girlfriend was because this guy—who’d been my friend since elementary school—sat right next to me. He might think he was just joking around, but constantly hearing “Is the daughter-fucker here?” and “Did you stay up all night watching something good again?” made the girls slowly start avoiding me. They probably thought I was some kind of weirdo.
—Screeech!
The moment that thought crossed my mind, the front door of the classroom burst open. It flew open with all the drama of a triumphant general returning from battle, and I inwardly clicked my tongue in annoyance. Who the hell opened the door so rudely while people were trying to sleep? Just who—
“Oh, is it time for German yet?”
“It’s not German class yet, is it?”
“German is third period, teacher!”
“……”
Ah. It was the homeroom teacher.
“Everyone, can I have your attention for a moment?”
Clap! The homeroom teacher standing at the lectern clapped her hands to get everyone’s focus. I debated whether to lift my head, then decided to just keep my eyes closed. It was still break time anyway, and it probably wasn’t anything important. At most it would be a notice about club activities we had to choose soon, or something about an external competition.
“Today I have some very, very, very~ happy news for you all.”
“Happy news?”
“What is it, teacher?”
“Is a celebrity coming to school?”
“Not a celebrity—a transfer student! We’re getting a new student in our class~! She’s in the Dance Department!”
“Oh. If she’s in Dance, she’s gotta be really pretty.”
“……Not all Dance students are pretty, are they?”
I slowly lifted my head. I guess I really was a guy after all—when the topic turned to girls, I couldn’t just stay quiet.
“No way. The Dance Department takes care of their students’ appearances like crazy. Plus, a transfer student to our school’s Dance program? Even if she got in because a spot suddenly opened, she’s gotta be at least average. There’s even a rumor that the Dance teachers pick students based on looks.”
“For real?”
“What’s with that reaction? Didn’t you choose this school knowing that?”
“I didn’t know. How would I know something like that?”
“Why wouldn’t you? I heard you got into both Seonhwa Arts High and here.”
“What does getting into both have to do with knowing that?”
“You got into both, so didn’t you pick the school with more pretty girls?”
“No, what the— Who chooses a school for a reason like that?”
“Really? Whatever, forget it then.”
“Is the new student a guy or a girl?”
“Dude. If she’s in Dance, she’s gotta be a girl, right?”
“What are you talking about? There are guys in the Dance Department too.”
“Even if there are, how many can there be?”
“Ahem. Stop fighting! If you’re curious, you can ask after you see her face, okay?”
With just a few words, the homeroom teacher had the whole class under control again. She glanced toward the front door. Everyone’s eyes naturally followed.
And then.
Through the open front door, someone stepped in with light, graceful steps.
“Whoa…”
“Wow…!”
“……Wow.”
A wave of admiration rippled through the class. Me, Jihoon in front of me, and everyone else couldn’t hide our shock at the sight of the transfer student. Her beauty was simply overwhelming.
“She’s really pretty…”
“Her skin is so white. Is she a foreigner?”
“Yeah, she must be a foreigner…!”
“A foreigner transferring to our school?”
“Wow. Our school really is something else. How could someone like that…”
“Alright, quiet down! Transfer student, would you like to introduce yourself?”
“Ah, yes. Of course.”
The transfer student gave a short reply.
……No way.
“Hello. My name is Tachibana Hana.”
Tachibana Hana. She looked at the entire class and continued.
“I transferred from Ewha Girls’ Foreign Language High School nearby. My major is Dance. Please feel free to call me Tachibana. I look forward to getting along with all of you!”
“Oh…”
“She really is a foreigner…!”
“She’s Japanese. Definitely Japanese, right?”
“Alright. Everyone, let’s give her a round of applause~!”
Clap clap clap—!
The entire class started clapping without exception. The reason an Art major like me and a Dance transfer student like her could end up in the same class was thanks to our school’s unique class assignment policy. In first year, students from different departments were mixed together so they could build friendships across majors. It was the principal’s educational philosophy…
But none of that mattered right now.
“Wow. Her physique… She’s definitely mixed, right? Bet she already has a boyfriend.”
“……”
“Why did I choose Art? I should’ve learned dance when I was little. Why did my mom make me learn drawing instead…!”
“……”
No matter what Jihoon was muttering beside me, I just sat there with my mouth hanging open, staring blankly at the transfer student.
No. What I’m seeing right now…
Was this really reality? Maybe I was hallucinating because I’d stayed up all night. Otherwise, there was no way to explain this…
“Tachibana is a girl who came from Japan. She says she’s lived in Korea for a long time, but cultures can still differ from country to country, so please be considerate. As for her seat… hmm, let’s see…”
“……Huh?”
My eyes met Tachibana Hana’s. She recognized me instantly—her hand flew to her mouth in a startled gesture.
“Why? Do you two know each other?”
The homeroom teacher asked, looking at Tachibana Hana.
“Ah… Yes. I suppose you could say… we know each other…”
“Hm? What do you mean by…”
“……Um, well.”
Tachibana Hana began to fidget. As if she were embarrassed to say it, she twisted her body shyly, her cheeks turning slightly pink as she kept glancing at me.
“We… we are…”
“What? What kind of relationship?”
“……”
What was this? Why did I have such a bad feeling…?
“We might end up getting married…!”
“Ah. Married…. …What?!”
“Ehh…?!”
“What…?”
“Huhhh…?!”
“?!”
“……?!”
The entire classroom exploded.