The photo was too dark to properly see what had been captured.
Everything around it was pitch black, and only a faint human shape was visible.
However, the mere fact that a person was in the photo allowed them to immediately recognize it.
The person in this photo was Dana.
Long, wavy hair was vaguely visible, and her small stature and frail frame caught their eye as she stood precariously in the middle of the road.
“Where is this place?”
Ban Eun-hyeol menacingly thrust his phone in front of the unknown male student’s eyes.
His demeanor suggested he wouldn’t let the student off easy if he didn’t speak up immediately.
But even in a situation where most people would be scared into talking, the male student just sat there blankly.
“What’s wrong with him?”
Ban Eun-hyeol, noticing something off about the student, looked around and grumbled, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
“He doesn’t seem to be in his right mind.”
Ji Gang-han approached the male student and waved his hand in front of his eyes. T
he vacant gaze didn’t follow the hand waving from side to side at all.
“What, I’m scared! Shouldn’t we ditch this guy and find Dana first?”
Han Ji-bin, shivering at the sight of the male student, rubbed his arms and anxiously stared at the dark sea.
The waves were crashing violently, likely due to the strong wind.
Just then, Eun Ba-da, who had taken the phone and was zooming in on the picture, narrowed his eyes.
Checking the photo to confirm his suspicion, he showed the phone to his friends.
“This looks like a pier. There’s a pier not far from here, right? Let’s go there first.”
Yeon Ha-yeon and Ban Eun-hyeol, who had been about to shake down the dazed male student for Dana’s location, tossed him aside.
The male student, who had been dangling in the air by his collar just moments before, landed weakly on the sand.
“Ah!”
At that moment, the male student, who had been silent and blank the entire time, screamed.
Everyone’s gaze fixed on him.
With focus returned to his eyes, the male student looked around with a bewildered expression.
When he saw the Four Heavenly Kings and Yeon Ha-yeon in front of him, he gasped.
He seemed to have no idea why he was here with such prominent figures.
“Where is this? Last chance.”
Ban Eun-hyeol, the Rank 1, suddenly shoved his phone in front of the student’s eyes, calling it his “last chance,” and the male student’s face turned pale.
“W-what, what is this… this is my phone…?”
“What kind of nonsense is this now?”
“Wait, he doesn’t seem to be acting, though?”
This time, Yeon Ha-yeon’s patience was wearing thin.
Eun Ba-da blocked Yeon Ha-yeon, who was about to approach the male student with a menacing aura.
“You, what were you doing last before you came here?”
“I… I was playing with my friends at the dorm, then I came out for a call for a bit…”
“And then you came to your senses here?”
The male student nodded vigorously.
Seeing this, Eun Ba-da looked up and met his friends’ eyes.
They didn’t need to speak to know they were all thinking the same thing.
Someone had used mind control on this student.
“Then it’s highly likely that Lee Dana was also affected like this.”
Ji Gang-han, who had been quietly observing the situation, voiced everyone’s concern.
The first to bolt from the sand were Ban Eun-hyeol and Yeon Ha-yeon. Han Ji-bin, Ji Gang-han, and Eun Ba-da quickly followed the two who had simultaneously sprung into action.
Their destination was the pier where Dana might be.
***
I followed the suspicious figures in front of me, rolling my eyes to assess the situation.
When someone approached me, my legs moved on their own, heading somewhere with the suspicious person.
But that was only for a moment.
Whoever it was seemed to have tried to move me with mind control, but since their rank was similar to mine or slightly lower, it didn’t seem to be fully effective.
At first, I was caught off guard, but now I was walking entirely of my own free will.
No one had noticed this.
I was deliberately blurring the focus of my eyes to hide the fact that I had regained my senses.
‘Where are these guys going?’
The destination was the pier.
The waves crashed violently, rising as if to swallow the pier, then breaking repeatedly.
I had obediently followed them to figure out their intentions, but suddenly, one of them turned onto the straight path extending into the sea and began to walk.
‘Should I follow?’
An intense thought flashed through my mind in a very brief moment.
Without further thought, I followed behind him.
My heart pounded.
I had lived my life never imagining I’d get caught up in a situation like this.
Because I never thought anyone would dare touch me.
They definitely brought me here to harm me, but I planned to completely mess them up and return to the dorm in time.
I was just about to figure out what they were trying to do and then strike first, when I heard a click from behind.
Someone seemed to have taken a picture of me.
‘I’ll have to smash their phone too.’
My calm demeanor cracked for the first time due to the conversation I overheard from them.
The guys who had brought me here had been silent the whole time, carrying a heavy atmosphere, and now they were saying something and laughing, but I couldn’t understand a single word.
‘Japanese…?’
It wasn’t Korean.
Given that I couldn’t even understand English, which I’d studied for so long in school, there was no way I could understand Japanese.
In fact, the days I had properly attended my second foreign language class were so few I could count them on one hand.
I had chosen Japanese, but it meant it was no help at all.
It can’t be helped.
Figuring out their intentions is out of the question, so I should just head back to the dorm.
I clenched my fist and pressed my knuckles with my other hand.
There was a cracking sound, and the guys who had dragged me here turned their heads towards me.
There was one woman who seemed to be the leader, and five hangers-on.
They all seemed to be awakened, but it looked like a fight worth having.
I pushed off the hard pier floor and sprang forward.
***
At the same time, as things were unfolding at the pier, Chae Yu-hwan was lounging in the middle of the living room sofa at the dorm, humming to himself.
‘By now, Yeon Ha-yeon should have gone that way.’
Perhaps the Four Heavenly Kings had gone to the pier as well. It didn’t matter to him how many people flocked there.
No, it might even be more fun if the Four Heavenly Kings, and even Do Yi-hyun, went to the pier.
“Hey! The homeroom teacher’s here!”
Chae Yu-hwan’s gaze, as he lay sprawled on the sofa, turned to the dorm entrance.
At the sudden news, the other students started scrambling, pulling things out of their bags and hiding them anywhere.
Thump-
The door opened, and a stern-looking, balding middle-aged male teacher entered.
His strict gaze from the moment he walked in made his purpose clear.
“Everyone, stop what you’re doing. Bring all your bags here.”
The inevitable bag inspection for the school trip began.
Chae Yu-hwan casually picked up his bag and dropped it in front of the teacher with a relaxed smile.
The teacher’s eyes were full of suspicion as he looked at him.
“I don’t know about the others, but there’s no way your bag is empty. Where did you hide it?”
“I didn’t really hide anything. Would you like to check?”
When he said this nonchalantly, the students who had been busily moving between the bathroom and shoe rack moments before all froze.
Just then, the emotional song of a popular hip-hop group started playing from Chae Yu-hwan’s phone.
It was a beloved song used as background music on mini-homepages and as a phone ringtone.
He opened his bag himself, spilled everything onto the floor, and showed the teacher his phone screen.
A call was coming from ‘Father’.
“My father thinks a lot about his son. Can I take this call?”
The teacher, looking displeased but helpless, let Chae Yu-hwan go.
Chae Yu-hwan went outside the dorm, to a dark area where no one was passing by.
He pressed the call button and brought the phone to his ear.
[Did you forget the interim report? Waiting isn’t my hobby.]
The voice of a young man, hardly sounding like a father, flowed out.
A flicker of annoyance crossed Chae Yu-hwan’s face.
“So impatient. It’s just starting.”
[So they met, then?]
“They should have met by now. I confirmed that the guy I used as bait is returning.”
[Good. I wonder if he’ll still be able to arrogantly stick his chin out against an opponent of that caliber, heh heh.]
An unpleasant laugh echoed from the phone.
Chae Yu-hwan, without changing his expression, only moved his index finger to lower the call volume.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what state they’ll return in.”
A devious smile crept onto his face.
[I’ve dealt with the guy I planted in the Yeonhwa organization. Now, no one will know who impersonated Yeon Ha-yeon and provoked the Japanese Rank 2.]
“You’re fast.”
[That fool doesn’t even know who he’s up against, and he’ll probably use his strength trying to save his friend, huh? Hahaha. I wonder how he’ll react when he finds out she’s the Yakuza’s daughter.]
As the conversation dragged on, he started to get annoyed.
“I’ll contact you again once they return.”
Chae Yu-hwan roughly ended the call and put his phone in his pocket.
Someone was coming this way.
The person who emerged from the darkness was Do Yi-hyun. Do Yi-hyun looked at Chae Yu-hwan with a blank expression, then turned his head away indifferently and walked past him.
‘He must not have heard.’
Sighing in relief, Chae Yu-hwan pretended to take a walk along the stone path around the dorm, continuously observing the area where the Gamsung High dorm was located.
However, no particular commotion was visible.
With his hands in his pockets, he hummed his ringtone from earlier.
He walked past the male student who was looking at his phone bewildered and tilting his head.
This was the student who had been unknowingly caught up in Chae Yu-hwan’s scheme and threatened by Yeon Ha-yeon and the Four Heavenly Kings.
A satisfied smile spread across Chae Yu-hwan’s face as he looked at him.