Synopsis: another day, another troublesome school that the ERPB needed to investigate, however, while undercover as a student, Bong Geundae didn’t realize the school has a unique solution for the rowdy students coming in the form of the Science Teacher—-which happens to be Geundae’s… friend?
Pairing: Bong Geundae x Fem!OC
Content Warning: fluff, minor angst with a happy ending, fem!oc, female original reader, japanese fem!oc, traumatized childhood, bad parents, canon-typical violence, bullying, swearing, idiots-in-love, mutual pining, cute, mention of abandonment, slow burn, emotional self-sacrifice
A/N: it’s a bit similar to my ‘The Exchange Student’ but some modifications for a female oc! Just retained the Akanishi last name. Definitely NOT PROOF READ! this is not an x reader!
Word Count: 4.8k
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Essential Original Character Notes:
Name: Akanishi Rin
Age: 28 (Under Assumption that Bong Geundae is 28)
Relation to Character: Former College Classmate; Friend
Additional Info-Lite: A Japanese exchange student who studied at KAIST; met Geundae in high-school with some complex history between them, especially since she was a delinquent
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Why am I always the one going undercover…
Forcefully shoved outside the room due to the building ruckus within the room, a student scrambled to sit up and saw his glasses on the floor, fortunately still in-tact. A loud thud made him hurriedly crawl and grab the glasses to put them on, eyes widened when another student was chucked out of the room, coughing while hugging their stomach. He rushed over to help them sit up, seeing their slight frown and bruising cheek, looking down to see his name-tag, Bong Geundae, shrugging him off and standing up to enter the classroom again.
“What are you doing?” A calm voice made Geundae snap his head up, internally relieved to see a black-suited man with hands in his pockets, tilting his head to the disheveled student before him. Geundae stumbled to his feet, uttering, “Inspector Na…!” Na Hwajin hummed as the disguised inspector rushed to hide behind him, peering into the chaos brewing inside the classroom, Geundae uttered, “What do we do?" “What’s the deal with those guys?” Hwajin asked as he removed a hand from his pocket, stretching the stiffened digits.
Fixing his thick-rimmed black glasses, Geundae peered by Hwajin, pointing to a blonde boy, “That one is Jung Hyunjae, the leader of the class and dislikes strawberry—” Hwajin turned to his left to face the hiding inspector who cleared his throat and pointed to another boy,” And that kid is Lee Yongtae, new transferee and was a delinquent. Apparently they are trying to see who will lead Namyeon High… and y’know, fighting…” Geundae stated, grimacing and hiding again when a baseball bat was chucked nearby.
Assessing the situation, Hwajin clicked his tongue and tilted his neck to hear it slightly popt, “Let’s think of a way to stop them first…” He heard footsteps, glancing to the side with Geundae to see another rushing towards the rowdy room. The two inspectors stepped aside to let the student barge in, yelling, “Shit! Guys, Ms. Rin is back!”
The group of rowdy students all froze before the two inspectors, looking amongst each other with an agonizing dread drawn on their faces. Yongtae heard Hyunjae curse as he broke the silence, “Everyone fix the room! Hurry before she gets here!” Like they weren’t exchanging blows, the group unanimously worked together to arrange the chairs and sweep the floor whilst others tended to their obvious bruises and disheveled appearances. Geundae slightly took a step forward and peered in, in-awe as Hwajin hummed, lips curved into a small smile, “I guess Namyeon High has hope after-all.” “Or someone crazier…” Geundae uttered, facing the older inspector, he asked, “What do we do now? They settled down.”
Catching the duo by the door, Hyunjae marched forward and took Geundae by the arm, alarming him. “Yah, get inside and take your seat!” Hyunjae commanded, pulling him inside as Hwajin quietly eyed the student leader who had sweat beading on his forehead and gritted teeth. Before they could question the student, Geundae felt the back of his collar lifted, feeling like a cat, and was forced to stand on his tippy-toes. He saw Hyunjae let his arm go with fear in his eyes. “I heard everyone was busy while I was away. Honestly, you kids couldn’t even behave yourselves, hm?”
The soft and honey-like voice greeted the two inspectors as Hwajin took a step to the side when Geundae was slightly ushered by the collar to the side. A younger woman with ebony hair and thin-rimmed glasses had given a pointed gaze unmatching her soft smile towards Hyunjae who ran inside the classroom, she sighed and noted the student hooked by her hand and faced the older looking inspector with squinted eyes.
“Ah, excuse me,” The woman spoke and bowed while gently letting go of Geundae who slightly stumbled a step toward Hwajin. As Geundae glanced back at the woman, his eyes widened when she gave a small smile, greeting, “You must be a guardian of one of my students, I’m Akanishi Rin, their homeroom teacher.”
The polite greeting threw Hwajin off, straightening himself and gave a tame smile, “Nice to meet you, Ms. Akanishi—” the older inspector took his ID from under his shirt and presented it forward, “I’m Inspector Na from the ERPB, I will be reporting to Namyeon High starting today.” He stated with his usual aloof tone but noticed Akanishi beamed a small smile, nodding and glanced towards the younger inspector beside him who’d seemingly turned silent over the past few minutes.
“I’m aware since ERPB has done so much for school these past few years,” Following Akanishi’s eyes, Hwajin lifted his gaze towards the tall and nervous Geundae who wore a sheepish smile, she added with a light tone, “but I’d wished circumstances were different… it has been a while, right, Geundae-ah?”
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As Geundae stood outside the school disciplinarian’s office, his eyes looked hollow while holding the strap of his backpack tightly, ignoring the taunting and mockery thrown by the passing students. A group approached him, laughing as they shoved him back as a wince slipped from his lips and slowly steadied his gaze to one of the buddies of they guy that led them there, he said, “There you are! Early in the morning and already in-trouble?” “No kidding! Why didn’t ya’ just do his assignment, ha?!” Another taunted, harshly poking his forehead.
“Don’t bother. Someone’s bound to be expelled anyway.” The boy stated with a wicked grin but Geundae, who was significantly taller, looked down at him, making him reach for his collar and shove him to the wall and cause him to stand on his tiptoes, “You want to look down on me, dumbass?” He growled towards Geundae who felt his eyes glossy and fist cocked by his sides while accepting the verbal lashing of his bully’s friend.
Suddenly, Geundae felt his body lowered as the grip on his collar was let go, making him stumble to the side. Hearing the boy glare and turn back to face the person who defied him, yelling, “Who—?!” The boy’s voice trailed off to see a pale hand with slightly scratched knuckles tightly gripping his wrist, “Y-You’re—” He uttered when he was shoved back to his friends who barely registered his falling figure and caught him.
“It seems you have something to say…” The soft yet stiff Korean spoken out made Geundae stare at the pale hand’s wrist which donned a red-threaded bracelet loosely wrapped around it, eyes widened to trail up the limb and see the ebony haired girl with a band-aid on the side of her cheek. Her orbs darkened despite her calm expression and pressed lips.
“Shit… that girl is—” “Taebyun’s fucked!” “It’s her—” Akanishi.
The boy, Taebyun looked intimidated and fumbled to his feet to apologize politely. The group sputtered excuses while leaving the two students alone. The girl gave a side-glance towards the stunned students who mirrored the fearful expression of Taebyun and skirted away to another hall. Geundae staggered to stand straight when she faced him, his face a mix of fear and concern to see her disheveled uniform and faint bruises blooming around her neck, “A-Akanishi—”
“Leave school for today,” Her voice soft yet stern made him bite back his words with eyes wide, “he won’t stop… so let me fix it.” She spoke with her stiff Korean, gaze softening as his eyes remained glossy. “You can’t fix it. They’re not people who settles—” “Geundae. Please.” Akanishi spoke as she shut her eyes and looked down, she added, “For now, let me fix this. Go home for now.”
Feeling his heart tightened ever-so slightly, Geundae held the straps of his backpack and hummed, “... okay,” he moved a hand out and ushered his pinky out, “promise me, you’ll be okay.” He stated as she fluttered her eyes open and looked up at him, seeing his resolute gaze but furrowed brows, Akanishi smiled and lifted her hand to link her pinky with his, she uttered in a low tone, “Promise…” slowly they parted as he took glanced back at her while walking away. Akanishi felt her chest stutter and lips curve down as she held back the burning feeling of her eyes, uttering in Japanese, “Sorry… Geundae.”
You’re right… they won’t settle without someone getting hurt.
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“According to the other teachers, Akanishi-sshi started working here a few years ago and had been in-charge of many troublesome classes.”
As Hanrim stood across from a sitting Hwajin while she listed off information, she took a few documents from the table and passed it towards Hwajin, “Many of her classes were able to graduate the moment she’d intervened leading for her to become an integral member of Namyeon based from the Board’s statements.” Hanrim explained as Hwajin flipped to the student list that started with troublesome and low graded students had suddenly shifted to average and compliant students.
Hwajin pressed his lips together, pondering. Hanrim put her hands to her back, “I find it a bit suspicious that all her students became obedient overnight. Perhaps it must be a similar case from that greedy Mr. Cheon.” Hanrim proposed as Hwajin flipped through the students, shaking his head, “The patterns might allude to such but these students don’t have any value to someone like Cheon… no wealth, no connections, and certainly not fawned by the public.” Hwajin deduced as he recalled the polite woman that completely reigned the troublesome class.
Clearing her throat, Hwajin snapped out of his daze and tilted his head up to face her who nodded to her left, both turned to face Geundae who was silently sitting before his three monitors, staring at a spot on the desk, “What’s wrong with him?” Hanrim inquired as Hwajin squinted and put the document in his hands down the desk with a loud smack, Geundae snapping out of his faze and looking around their temporary base within the school which was another spare classroom, reeling his gaze back towards the two inspectors staring at him.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Geundae asked as he carefully stood from his seat, side-glancing the area near him before returning his focus on the two, Hwajin pointed his index figure down the document before him, asking, “Deputy Bong seems to know Ms. Akanishi by her greeting a few minutes ago… you know her?”
The computer genius saw their intense gave as he swallowed a lump in his throat, humming, “Well… we met when we were studying… we do talk every once in a while…” “Ah~ then perhaps you can explain why her students are so quick to reform when in her presence?” Hwajin expressed with an enamoured tone, eyes widened briefly as if to say ‘tell me’ and lips curved to an amused smile, adding, “Or is it because of something else that’s making Deputy Bong act so strangely?”
Feeling his heart beat fast for a few seconds, Geundae waved a hand and gave a sheepish chuckle, “I really don’t know a lot about her students’ sudden behavior and boosting their own performance!” He argued, gaze trailing for a moment as Hwajin hummed, lifting the document and directing the other end towards his direction, he commanded, “Then tomorrow, please keep tabs on her classes and see if we can find out why Ms. Akanishi Rin is such a miracle worker.”
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This is so messed up!
Sipping a yoghurt drink before class, Geundae stood inside the classroom and peered from his hiding place to stare across the hallway where a loud crashing noise erupted, seeing two familiar students holding each other by the collar, egged on by the other students. Hyunjae punched Yongtae, seeing him take a couple of steps back before charging at the former to kick him in the stomach, cheers and booing coming from the other students depending on who they support.
“Who do you think is winning?”
The voice asked as Geundae hummed, squinting as he fixed his glasses, “I think Yongtae’s chances are high with how rough—what?!” Geundae exclaimed as he jolted back into his hiding spot and hugged the wall, facing the charming and calm woman that snuck behind him. He held a hand to his chest, “A-Akanishi—” “Tsk, didn’t I say call me Rin? You work for the government but you are still so forgetful.” Akanishi stated with a small smile and shook her head, taking a step back to provide him room to settle down, her left hand tucked into her pocket and the other holding the class attendance book.
With a playful smile, Akanishi furrowed her brows and asked, “Why are you watching inside here? Don’t know who to cheer for?” “T-That’s not the point! How’d you even get in here?” Geundae inquired as she nodded her head back, making him look behind her and see the opened window, he hissed, “This is the second floor, you crazy—” He was interrupted by the attendance book’s back lightly pressed on his lips, staring towards the enigmatic gaze given by the teacher, chuckling, “No swearing, student, didn’t you read the handbook?”
Geundae’s breath hitched when she took a step close, only the book separating their face as Akanishi’s intense gaze remained on him, she spoke into the book, “This would’ve been nicer had you not been dressed as a student. It’s a turn off for me.” His cheeks flushed red as she stepped aside him, chuckling and leaving the classroom. With a shaky breath, Geundae staggered towards the door, peering out to see Akanishi holding Yongtae’s leg and Hyunjae’s cocked fist with ease whilst the other students looked afraid.
“Early in the morning and already sparring… would you mind if I joined or would you all be nice and go back to your classroom?” Akanishi asked with a calm tone but felt more like a command as she shoved the two limbs off, leaving them to stagger away from her, responding, “R-Return to class, hurry!” The students nearly pushing each other to the doorway which made Geundae panic and move away from the busy doorway, heaving an exhausted breath.
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Sitting at one of the many cafeteria tables, Geundae quietly ate his lunch while observing Hyunjae and Yongtae glaring at each other from across the room. Mid-bite into his braised chicken, he was caught off guard when a classmate from his room approached and sat down next to him.
“Mind if I sit here?” the girl asked with a soft, warm smile. Clearing his throat, Geundae nodded in consent. “I’m Yena…” “Geundae,” he replied between chews. Picking up her chopsticks to eat, Yena warned, “You shouldn’t nose into those two, you don’t seem like a fighter.” Keeping them in his peripheral vision, the inspector tilted his head and whispered, “Why? They’re always fighting, but they both seem terrified of Rin—I mean, Ms. Akanishi.”
The girl hummed as she swallowed her food, facing the two, “If you didn’t know, Hyunjae was the first leader of class with a different homeroom teacher—” she picked at her japchae, “---it was a whole thing and the whole school bended backwards for him, sometimes even the teachers… Well, one teacher didn’t.” Yena trailed off, delightlfully sighing at the memory as Geundae asked her, “Why? Who… wait…”
“Yup,” Yena turned to him with a bright smile, “Ms. Akanishi did! She was so cool and requested the board to make her our homeroom teacher. I was hesitant at first when she challenged Hyunjae but seeing her win was amazing~” she gathered her hands together and stared up in a daydream, “Hyunjae stopped acting out starting then and any troublesome student who tried to challenge her lost.” She expressed with a smile, looking back at Geundae who looked at her in-awe and disbelief.
Yena grinned as she gently nudged his side, “You must like her, hm~” Her words made Geundae’s face flush red, exclaiming, “N-No!” “Don’t act coy now, I saw how you stared at her and only a fool wouldn’t notice—save for the idiots in our class.” Yena expressed with a grin and gave squinted at his reddened face. Geundae sputtered, “I-It’s not like that!” She waved a hand at his denials and interjected, “Geundae-sshi, a girl knows when a guy is interested in someone. You clearly had heart eyes—not even these glasses can hide them!” Yena pointed to his thick-rimmed glasses.
As Geundae was about to argue, his mind trailed off as his left hand held the side of the glasses recalling their purpose. He inwardly cursed, Wait… the camera has been recording! Would it really catch me staring at Akanishi?! No, I wasn’t… right? I need to delete the footage today!
With a swift grip, Geundae removed his glasses and snapped them into two, hearing Yena gasp and lift a hand when he shoved them into his pocket. “G-Geundae-sshi, I wasn’t teasing you about the glasses… t-those are expensive…” Yena uttered, feeling guilty when he returned his gaze towards her with a small smile, “No, it’s alright, they were really bothering me… don’t worry.” Geundae explained, returning his focus on his meal, thinking back to when Akanishi was teaching and kept sneaking glances in his direction. She gasped when he stabbed his braised chicken and cautiously looked up at her, “W-Was I obvious?”
The girl heaved a breath, realizing his actions weren’t of malice and stifled a laugh, nodding, “Very. but don’t worry, Ms. Akanishi is very popular with the majority of the school population!” Yena said with a proud smile and crossed an arm over her chest, “Ha~ I think we should be proud that our homeroom teacher is so cool, we can hold it over the third-years head.” She added, making Geundae sigh and lull his head down, partially shocked and in-disbelief over his friends’ reputation. “Hm? Don’t worry, Geundae-sshi, Ms. Akanishi’s lessons are so great that we might graduate!” “M-Might is an important distinction…”
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Walking out the halls, Geundae is surprised to suddenly have an arm hooked over his shoulders, intimidated and looking to his right to see Yongtae donning a scowl unfitting for his pretty and icy reputation. “Uh, w-what’s the matter?” Geundae uttered out, making Hyunjae who had held onto him sigh, “Let’s talk, Geundae-sshi.” Hyunjae expressed, pulling him away as Yongtae strode alongside them, unaware of Yena’s alarmed expression behind them.
“W-Wait, wait, let’s talk this out–” Geundae spoke out as he was thrown into the maintenance room of the school, the air dry and warm due to the exhaust nearby, Geundae braced himself on the wall, staring at the silently fuming duo, “W-What exactly is happening? If I did something wrong, I’m sorry!” He sputtered, silently thinking, They’re just like Cho Inbeom and Park Seonghwan…
Yongtae gave Geundae a pointed glare, making him swallow a lump in his throat. “Yah, transferee, just what are you doing?” Yongtae inquired as Geundae furrowed his brow, making him sigh and add, “Falling or even attempting to like a teacher is prohibited by the school so that fantasy of yours is just another loser dream.” The two noted the lost expression on the disguised inspector, Yongtae took a step close which made Geundae hug himself out of habit, “Don’t flirt with Ms. Akanishi… she worked hard to become a teacher.” Yongtae spoke through gritted teeth.
“No! I-I wasn’t doing that!” Geundae exclaimed, mind reeling, Flirt? Me? With Akanishi?!
Hyunjae scoffed, hardly pushing him away, “That makes this much easier.” “By the way…” Geundae carefully spoke out, glancing at them from his peripheral, “I saw you guys were afraid of Ms. Akanishi and even curse her out. I don’t understand why you’re so protective of her.” He saw Hyunjae’s scowl deepened, making him shrink back to the wall as he prepared to smack his chest like how he scolds his misbehaving friends, “Don’t hit him, Hyunjae-ah.”
Seeing Yongtae’s icy glare whilst he turned and took a step back to the side, “Hating someone for being a piece of shit and disliking someone for reprimanding you are different… especially if that person doesn’t even hate you, let alone acts hostile.” Yongtae stated, making Geundae’s round eyes stare at his eyes briefly softening. The disguised inspector slightly side-glanced towards Hyunjae who huffed a breath and stepped aside, Yongtae added, “Ms. Akanishi may be a piece of work… but she’s a respectable human being who knows how it felt to be biased for being different.”
“Clearly you don’t feel scared since you did something like this, Lee Yongta and Jung Hyunjae.”
The calm and suave voice made the two class leaders shudder, freezing on the spot and not looking back. Geundae eyed the homeroom teacher by the door donning a small smile and removed her right hand from his pocket, “Come here. Clench your teeth and stomach.” Akanishi commanded while beckoning them over, Geundae slightly intimidated alongside them.
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Sifting through the written reports of the teacher, noting the drastic difference between having Akanishi present to when she was absent, the multitude of student violent reports and faculty meetings within the span of four days were astounding. Geundae soon reached the last report belonging to Akanishi which simply states her own students are innocent and not causing trouble. So without Akanishi, they really are like a loose cannon…
Geundae shut the document and saw a box nearby with binders, gently pushing back his swivel chair towards the box, he loomed over it to see the reports from previous years. Picking up the closest one, he flipped it open to see the class picture of a class with Akanishi stood off to the side with a small smile, he gently traced a hand over her face, soon flipping to the next page his eyes saw the little memos and written farewell letters of the students, all rough as he slowly smiled at the thought of Akanishi reprimanding the students and giving them a chance.
Soon, flipping to the last letter, he saw the picture of a student looking disheveled and rough, he read the name, Lee Minae, reading down to his letter which filled the page. Lee Minae talked about his hatred of school because of his bullies and the people constantly believing he was in the wrong. He responded by owning up to mistakes he never made because it was easier until a teacher came and stood up against the board to defend him, not even knowing who he was and why he was there. His initial hatred of the teacher until he heard her similar experience, it made him feel pity and began attending class hoping to prove her worth;
‘... I wanted to prove to her she was wrong about herself and show her friend that she was also worth something… I hope one day she’d tell him the truth of that so-called sunny day… that she loved him to do something so foolish that day.’
Letting out a shaky breath, Geundae’s breath hitched and tears dropped atop the plastic covered print-out of the letter. He felt his heart clenched tightly as he flipped to the last page for the teacher’s final farewell which made him see her small printed picture on the top-center of the page. His gaze staring at the short phrase she’d written down on the empty spot, he read:
‘A pinky promise is a small gesture that carries a thousand words; you may feel insignificant now, but someday you’ll find your purpose and passion in this world.’
Staring at the phrase as his lips cracked a small smile, Geundae let the tears fall as he looked around at the temporary office, scoffing incredulously, “Wah… I’m so stupid.” Moving to run a hand into his hair, he shut the book and roughly nestled it atop the other binders in the box, gaze off into the distance as he recalled the bright smile she gave on that day outside the disciplinarian’s office, he chuckled while sniffling, “We kept missing each other… and to think it’s all because of that small gesture?” he uttered, looking up at the clock to see it was far from dismissal.
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“Akanishi?”
Walking out the school while holding both Hyunjae and Yongtae by the ear, Akanishi glanced to her left to see Geundae wearing casual clothes. She gave him a small smile, “Oh, Geundae-ah, what’re you doing out this late? I heard Inspector Na and Inspector Im had gone offsite.” Akanishi stated as she let go of the duo’s ears, seeing them rub their reddened ears and wince from her peripheral as she watched Geundae slowly approach her, soon seeing his slightly puffy eyes to which she frowned and spoke, “What happened—”
Her eyes widened when Geundae engulfed her smaller figure into a hug, hands reaching his sides while huffing a gasp, “Geundae?” “Can I just hug you a little longer?” Geundae asked, voice low and slightly shaky as she felt her cheeks dusted pink, humming and patting his back. Akanishi saw her students looked mortified and was a few seconds from prying the two of them apart when he added, “I’m sorry I was too slow…”
Akanishi blinked a couple of times as he gently let her go, staring down at her confused expression, Geundae stated, “I saw those farewell letters… and Lee Minae’s letter,” Her eyes widened slightly as he sniffled, adding, “You didn’t have to do that. That day, I let you walk inside there and take the blame… and you probably took many of their hurtful words to make sure it was easier for me…” Geundae’s lips quivered as his eyes burned, making him use a hand to briefly cover the falling tears, nodding and lowering them to face her.
Like an imaginary weight was lifted from her shoulder, Akanishi sighed, “After all this time, I finally got caught,” She lifted a hand to gently swat away the tears from his cheek, “Lee Minae really does have the devil’s luck… to think he’s causing my decades worth of lies crumble this way, Aigoo.” Akanishi expressed, seeing his lips curve to a frown and rested her hand atop his cheek, he asked, “Why did you do that?”
“I pinky promised,” His eyes widened in disbelief when she lifted her left hand to gesture a pinky promise, “if I got hurt or had to leave behind my dream as a computer genius, I just need to keep my promise to you and be okay, even if it was a lie back then.” Akanishi stated as he slightly scoffed, looking confused and took a step back to whip the slight snot falling from his nose. “You are just lying! This must just be a joke, right? You wouldn’t do something risky just because of me—” “Don’t think of me like that, I built myself up to make sure I can look you in the face with dignity,” She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, “Also why would I joke about something like this…”
The inspector looked at him, mouth slightly agape and baffled at her resolute answer, looking towards the two boys and asked, “T-Then, did you really accept these classes because you wanted to help them? A-also, why do you act so rough with them, you can get in-trouble!” Geundae exclaimed, fortunate that it was late and there were scarcely any students. Akanishi shut her eyes, responding with a small stiff smile, “If I get them to listen by smacking them, then it’ll happen! Also, this is to make sure no one ends up like you or me, you romance quack!” Her words made him slightly freeze up, looking bewildered and tears soothing down, she added, “Oi, you graduated from KAIST but don’t understand?”
“I love you, you idiot!”
The two troublesome students gasped as Geundae’s eyes widened at the statement, uttering, “M-Me?” while pointing to himself, feeling his cheeks turn warmer as Akanishi heaved a breath and lightly shook her head with an exhausted smile. “Really?! I didn’t think—I mean I love you too—But I mean—” “Breathe.” Akanishi stated as she cupped his jaw, squishing his cheeks to prevent him from blubbering anymore.
“Do you want to go on a date with me?” Akanishi asked as she softened his gaze, making Geundae hum out, “Yeah.” Slightly nodding due to how Akanishi held him, giving him a smile and letting go of his face. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow,” Akanishi said as she patted his chest, side-eyeing the two students who were preparing to leave, “I have to make sure the boys don’t fight on the way home.” She added, making the duo freeze in place, avoiding her gaze as she stood on her tippy toes and planted a chaste kiss on his cheek before standing properly, “Fighting.” She said as she slowly walked backwards and away from, seeing his cheeks warm and a slightly silly smile on his face.
“Wow, how romantic.” The sarcastic masculine voice made Geundae shudder, seeing Akanishi’s playful grin, hauling her students and forcing them to run away with her, he swallowed a lump in his throat and slowly turned around to see Hwajin with slightly widened and bewildered eyes beside a sly grinning Hanrim, giving him a nod and a thumbs up.
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P.S: I was curious about what it would look like for a female original character when I saw a comment from @worldofmaiko, so yey.
Synopsis: when a rising student in a reputable school is revealed to be tied to a crime syndicate, the door to the underworld is open and Hwajin is left with no choice but to call in ex-yakuzan member—you—however, you didn’t actually expect that your students would let this chance go to waste… especially when a certain inspector is involved.
Pairing: Na Hwajin x Fem!Reader
Content Warning: angst with happy ending, fem!reader, ex-yakuza!reader, canon-typical violence, 3-D Student, yakuza, swearing, friends-to-lover, mention of blood, mention of death, light humor, mention of criminal activity, implied killing, HARDCORE miscommunication, emotionally constipated!Na Hwajin.
A/N: I would say I didn’t base this off best girl Yamaguchi, but that would be a lie hehe…
Word Count: 5.9k
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Silently driving through the busy streets of Seoul in broad daylight, Hwajin stopped before the intersection as the lights switched red. He heaved a breath with a hand atop the wheel, leaned back to the seat when his eyes caught a sight on his left. Two high school students walking side-by-side and clearly a couple as the girl clung an arm to the boy’s while giving him a bright smile. His mind briefly flashed to a distant memory of being a student, patiently waiting for her to come out so they could walk to school.
A loud beep made his eyes widened for a moment, looking ahead to see the light had turned green, glancing on the rear view mirror before switching gears and continuing to drive across. His right hand tightened around the steering wheel, swallowing the bittersweet memory as he heaved a breath, catching sight of the Ministry of Education building, turning his signal lights on and heading into the parking area.
Walking the ivory hall, Hwajin politely bowed to the hard-working employees whilst making his way to the ERPB’s office, pressing his ID to the sensor nearby and entering while greeting, “Good morning~” His polite smile making the rest greet back as he made his way into the glass walled room, seeing a tall guy preparing the large flat-screen TV for his presentation. “Early as always, Deputy Bong.” Hwajin greeted as Bong Geundae lifted his gaze from the laptop with a small pout, huffing out, “Just earlier than you, Inspector…”
“Sergeant Im Hanrim, reporting!” A loud welcoming voice reached their ears as Geundae slightly jolted whilst Hwajin chuckled, turning to see the woman by the door, saluting. “Yah, didn’t I say civilians don’t salute each other?” “Ah, right–sorry!” Im Hanrim expressed before dropping her hands to her side and walking to a nearby swivel chair, “So what is it that we are doing for this week?” She inquired while settling herself onto the seat, the two inspectors watching as Geundae projected a new school and brief information on the screen.
“I’ve been checking the report list and saw this,” Geundae presented another tab over the first slide, showcasing a gossip-worthy headline, ‘Early Education for Yakuza’s in Seoul?!’. Hanrim furrowed her brows at the statement whilst Hwajin placed his palms on the table, leaned over to assess the attached image and general information of the article. “The school is Baekgum High, an all-boys high school. Apparently, it was known as a prestigious school for those hoping to enter Seoul University.” Geundae expressed, putting the article away and showing the school’s exterior and general information once again.
Hanrim hummed, tilting her head slightly, “A student Yakuza? What kind of proof did they find?” “Even I know such groups wouldn’t take a stab at students.” Hwajin added as Geundae looked confused and eyed Hanrim who informed him, “While underground organizations here let students deal drugs, a foreigner wouldn’t try that because of political affairs, you can say it’s a lose-lose for both countries.”
The genius hacker hummed and nodded in understanding, soon moving the slide of the presentation to a student, “Well, the report in the article says the students’ name is Na Minjae and I looked into him to see that he is a top-student and won an olympiad. Suddenly, this issue started to circulate within internet forums.” Geundae explained, the screen showing blurry images of what looks like a student going to clubs and talking with shady individuals donning an indisputable foreign gang mark, the hacker added, “Because he was nearby the area, people connected him as this student.”
The older man leaned off the table, crossing his arms over his chest, Hwajin inquired, “How’s the school situation?” “From what I saw, it looked like an average high-school, but back then it had a similar reputation to Guun High with a certain class.” Geundae responded as Hanrim sighed, uttering, “No wonder they got involved in such trouble…” “But! I did see that a certain teacher was hired back then and suddenly that reputation started to die down.” He expressed, grabbing a document and giving it to Hwajin.
Taking the file, Hwajin flipped it open while Hanrim slightly stood to peer in. His eyes flickered wide briefly to read the name, Kwon Y/N. A name closely intertwined with his strange past, his thoughts drawn back to a cold rainy day. You… Why are you here again?
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Why is she here?
His mind reeled briefly to see a suited woman before him, pointing a gun at him whilst the other hand held onto a bloody picture frame of three people. Hwajin wore his black-operation uniform whilst holding a rifle towards the figure who seemed to have no fear despite the open danger she presented herself. “Yah… What are you doing?” Hwajin asked the woman as he was about to lower his rifle when you shot off to his right, missing but alerting him, “Yah!”
“Don’t drop your weapon for me…” The voice, usually filled with warmth, felt devoid of any emotion, his gaze meeting your face which looked cold with lips pressed together and eyes lifeless, “When did you come back? Gayun-ie was waiting for your call.” You inquired in a plain tone, turning away from him and putting the picture frame down by the table, staring at the people in the image, young teens beaming at a camera with your best friend in the middle as you were to the right and Hwajin to the left.
With a cautious gesture, he held his hands to the rifle, “I’m on break. Will be back inside by the end of the month for work…” Hwajin took a step close towards you, who slightly turned your head to look over your shoulder, “we tailed a member of a Japanese organization here… but this was your house once. Y/N, what… what’s going on?” His voice felt hollow with nerves bundled in his throat.
“Call us properly,” You said while turning towards him, moving your free hand into your pocket then throwing a phone to the ground by his feet to see its back-lid removed and show a tracker-chip, “I’m part of that organization—well, it’s proper to call it what it is… A Yakuza.” You added, watching his eyes briefly widened at the reality of who you were. “I came by to see Gayun, but you caught onto me too quickly,” Your lips gave a small smile, tracing his face as you made your way to the nearby glass door, you teased out, “You really are a Special Forces member.”
Hwajin followed you out of the room to see you’d stood off by the balcony, he asked, “Yah, what happened? Who’s making you do this?” “No one,” Your answer was immediate and looking back at him with a ghostly smile to see his distraught expression, “I tried to avoid it as much as I could, but my family just couldn’t leave it behind… Now here I am, an enemy to my friend.” You explained, holding onto the cold iron bar of the balcony, heaving a breath.
You felt like your heart was being torn apart with eyes burning but blinked the unshed tears away, “I just wanted to see Gayun and you one more time and say thank you for being my friend…” Staring at his eyes, you felt your lips quiver with a silent thought and mouthed, And thank you for making a flower bloom in my heart, Na Hwajin.
“Let’s never meet again, Na Hwajin.”
With a small smile, you lifted your gun and shot the nearby glass window causing it shatter as Hwajin slightly flinched at the sudden action but before he could even react, you had jumped down the balcony and into the cold forest nearby. Hwajin looked over the balcony with you below and away from his sights, your lips let out a somber smile and heaved a breath, turning away to start your trek away from them, away from him.
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After a long and disastrous commotion by Baekgum High’s gates, you finally managed to settle down the boys from their keeping everyone outside the school. Carefully apologizing to the bothered students and faculty who were all intimidated by your students.
“Boys, what is going on?”
As you stood before the front-table and eyed the frowning and guilty looking boys, soon catching the eyes of a cute-faced ginger-haired boy and widening your eyes as if to say, ‘tell me now’, making the boy sigh. “It’s about an article, Ms. Boss! It’s framing Minjae as being connected to a Yakuza!” The ginger-haired voice exclaimed as another boy who dyed his hair brown spoke out, “And then they said they’d invalidate his scholarships to SNU! He worked and studied hard to get them! We feel it’s unfair!” “Yeah! Minjae would never do that!” Another boy spoke out from the crowd, starting to protest.
Your heart dropped at the realization, feeling your hand shaking at the words spoken amongst them. Your hands tightened around the edges of the wooden table, staring at the brown surface and hearing a faint ringing in your ear. Y-Yakuza… why would Minjae be involved—what’s happening? T-this never happened before… what—
A hand grabbed your wrist, snapping you from spiraling further as your eyes trailed up the limb to see a charming boy with doe-like eyes facing the class, “Yah, be quiet!” The class faced him, a mix of shock and worry in their face, your mouth agape as he added, “can’t you see Ms. Boss breaking down here?!” Soon, their gazes snapped towards you, seeing your lips quivering and body slightly shaking with hands stiffly fidgeting atop the wooden table, each looking away and feeling guilty.
“It’s okay,” Your voice sounded softer than when you were asking them minutes prior, giving them a stiff smile before turning to the doe-eyed boy, “Minjae-ah, you can sit down and we can figure this out, hm?” You expressed, carefully removing his hand and putting into your own, gently patting it, you coaxed, “I don’t believe those articles, so you can trust me, alright?”
Minjae gave a pressed smile, nodding as you let him go and take his seat near the back. Standing before the table, you faced each of the students all of which were a mix of guilt, worry and irritation. You let out a sigh, “You all believe Minjae didn’t do that, right?” “Of course, Ms. Boss!” They spoke out, making you smile, nodding while saying, “Then, I’ll see what the school and I can do. For now, your exams are nearing and Ms. Song will be teaching you, behave, alright?” They enthusiastically cheered but some whined, making you shake your head, grabbing your attendance booklet but were interrupted by the door opening to reveal Ms.Song.
“Ms. Kwon, Principal Baek is calling for you.”
Walking towards the Principals Office, you couldn’t help but frown and cross your arms over your chest, He probably already thinks the boys are back to their old ways, that slacker! Reaching the door, you wipe off the frown on your face for a small polite smile and uncross your arms to knock, hearing a faint come-in. Twisting the door handle, you stepped in and took a respectful bow, “Hello, Principal Baek! I see you’ve heard of the rumors and I can confidently say my students didn’t—” lifting your head, your voice trailed off into silence seeing a familiar slightly tall man sat across from the Principal.
Those same aloof and lazy eyes meeting your own widened orbs, you didn’t expect your heart to skip a beat and your voice to fail you. Principal Baek audibly cleared his throat, making you blink frantically and turn towards your direct superior. “Ms. Kwon, I see you have prepared to defend your students again.” He stated, making your pressed lips turn into a small frigid smile, “Because they certainly didn’t do anything wrong, Mr. Principal.” You expressed, hands moving to hold together to which elicited a slight flinch from the old man.
The guest sitting across from him noted his action, making Principal Baek feel embarrassed before sternly glaring at you as he cleared his throat, “Well, it seems we will see if your so-called innocent students are truly uninvolved—” he politely gestured to the man across from him, “---this man is from the Educational Rights Protection Bureau, we’ve partnered with them in-order to identify why such an article was published against our school.” He explained as the man in-question stood up and gathered his hands together, giving a polite smile that made you look grossed out, failing to control your stiff smile.
“I’m Inspector Na Hwajin, I hope we can get along Ms. Kwon.”
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The rain poured harshly, splashed from the ground ricocheting water to the people around but you stood with simply your hoodie on. Standing before a small tree, you stared down at the embedded name for the person it symbolized, Choi Gayun. You felt your heart tightened as your left hand which held a bundle of bright blue flowers tightened, heaving a breath as your knees buckled down to the wet soil, dirtying your pants, you breathlessly called, “Gayun-ie…”
Holding a hand onto the blackstone, you pressed your head atop it, “You promised me we can see each other again… yah,” You uttered, feeling your tears slowly brimming your eyes fall, nose sniffling as you felt your tears mixing with the rain, “Gayun-ie, please come back…” You uttered, choking your words as you started to wail and sob, “I promise I won’t leave you guys anymore… I’ll treat you to that meal you always wanted… I’ll bring Hwajin back from the Military and make him marry you right now… what do I do to bring you back… please, come back–” You begged, a slew of promises and regret slipping from your lips.
“Gayun-ie, I’m sorry I couldn’t save you…” You uttered as your body shuddered from being doused by the rain, adrenalin worn off as you felt a painful throbbing from your side as you winced. Gently letting go of the flowers atop the tombstone, you leaned back, unzipping your hoodie and showing your gray tank-top, red pooling from the left-side of your stomach. You felt your breath hitching, “Should I just…”
Your eyes noticed a shadow falling over you, seeing the rain no longer dropping on your worn body as you lifted your gaze up, seeing a black umbrella. Slightly turning, you faced a familiar man donning a black-suit and a stony expression, you looked down, “I didn’t mean to see you this time…” You uttered painfully, shakily taking a deep breath, “I’ll let you talk to her now…” You said, standing up before the tombstone only to stumble a few steps forward.
Feeling your arm get yanked, your cheek pressed into a warm chest, hearing his heart thump lowly as your eyes turned glossy, “I couldn’t protect her… I’m sorry.” His words slightly shattered your heart, partially because you knew his love for her and partially because you lost the friend you’d cared for. Just for a moment, your eyes shut and tears fell along with your heart which you buried deep in your heart. With a hand, you shoved him away, stepping away from his warmth and the shade of his umbrella, seeing his concerned and alarmed gaze on you.
“You failed us both, Hwajin-ah…” and the only one who can stand by your side is gone…
You saw how your words stunned him, but your face remained stony and cold just as he had before his fragility broke to comfort you. Seeing his slightly distraught and pained expression made you internally wince but swallow the guilt, “You promised her you’d protect her… and I asked you to never see me again… why are you doing this to us? To me?” You let out a cold laugh while using a hand to brush your hair back and away from your face, “if you care and respect me a little… don’t ever see me again.” You added, moving a hand to grab your bleeding wound, turning away as he asked, “Why?”
“Your Choi Gayun’s protector, that’s why...”
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“You sure changed a lot, Teacher—” “Look who’s talking, Inspector.”
Your frosty tone made Hwajin’s lighthearted tone drop as you turned your heel to face him. “What are you doing here, Na Hwajin?” You asked while crossing your arms over your chest, seeing him lift his ID up and present it before you. “I’m doing my job. I never expected to meet you here, however,” Hwajin responded with his usual aloof tone, trying to sound casual but his voice sounded robotic, “we should talk.” He added, but you scoffed, “We don’t have much to talk about, don’t we?”
“Your past being involved here seems to contradict your statement.”
Hwajin watched the masked politeness and calmness fall, seeing your gaze turn sharp and cold, he briefly pressed his lips together, uttering, “I didn’t mean it like that—” “Then! What exactly were you telling me?” You expressed with a slightly deeper tone and darkened gaze, but pressed your tongue into your inner cheek before heaving a breath, nodding as you stated, “I expected a lot from you… I guess I set myself up for disappointment.”
Fixing the sling of your bag, you turned away from Hwajin, “You can look into my background, spew it out or whatever you damn hypocrites want to do, but!” You slightly turned back to peer over your shoulder, Hwajin recalling the familiar gesture from a bitter memory, “leave those kids out of it… they are innocent, and I’m protecting them from what you failed to do.” You said exhaling before turning to walk ahead and leave behind Hwajin who stared at her retreating back, feeling a strange pain creeping in his body.
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‘As per the ERPB’s orders, your class will be handled by one of their inspectors. Don’t come to school today.’
- Principal Baek.
“That old damn slacker!” You exclaimed, chucking your phone onto the floor and sitting up to see you’d fallen asleep on your couch again. Heaving a breath, you kicked your shoes off and stormed to the kitchen to grab a glass of water, gulping the cold drink down as you caught a sight of a few pictures from across the room. Putting the glass cup down with a faint thud, you shrugged off your coat and went into the bathroom, unbuttoning your button-up shirt.
Staring at your reflection, your eyes traced the long gashes on your arms and the scars littered just off to your nape. Lifting your hand to the mirror, you felt the cold glass under your palm as if trying to ground yourself only to hear a loud slashing noise that made you jolt back and step away from the sink, the noise echoing not from your ears but your mind. You felt your mouth let out a loud scream but no noise came as you accidentally knocked a mug nearby as it shattered to the floor by your feet, causing a few slashes on your skin.
Covering your ears, you pressed yourself near the wall, breath hitching when a couple of loud knocks finally broke through your sudden mental deafness. Looking back at the mirror to see your disheveled self, you rushed to splash your face and walked off to the door to hear another knock. Reaching for the handle, you twisted the knob and cracked the door open to reveal him, you uttered, “Na Hwajin?” His gaze landed on your paled face and saw you were planning on shutting the door.
“Wait,” he lodged his feet between the door and used his hand to forcefully keep the door open, seeing you stared up at him with a frown but due to your current state, he managed to push it open and step inside your home, “what happened to you?” He asked and held your arm, looking at your wounds on the feet bleeding. “Why are you—yah!” You felt him lift you from the ground and entered your home, flailing as he remained resilient to your movements, slowly sitting you down on the couch you’d slept on.
“How did you find me?” You asked as he moved towards the end of the hall, annoyed as you called out, “Yah, this is breaking and entering!” When he returned before you with your first aid kit and a wet towel, he gently cleaned your feet despite your initial refusal. You held your hands to the edge of the couch, tilting your head to see his focus was tending to your wound, you asked, “How did you find me?” “I asked the Principal.” Hwajin responded, finishing wrapping the gauze on your feet and facing your slightly annoyed expression.
Feeling his pressing gaze, you carefully remove your feet from his grasp, “Why?” You said as he slowly stood up before you and looked around the room before landing on your sorry-state as you muttered, “You already screwed me over by not letting me go to school…” “Someone’s after you.” Hwajin expressed as your brows furrowed, seeing he wasn’t kidding and tried to stand when he held a hand to your shoulder to keep you sat down. “We dug around and your brother’s name came up, it doesn’t take a lot to realize that.” He added, glancing down to see your distraught expression.
Moving to hide your face into your hands, your mind was sent reeling as Hwajin gently patted your shoulder. “We’ll release a statement that you aren’t a teacher in Baekgum anymore,” your head snapped out, eyes widened and yelled, “Why?!” “You can’t protect them now. Right now, you aren’t helping them but hurting them.” Hwajin argued, keeping his voice calm as you shrugged his hand off. “You… you don’t believe me,” your eyes brimmed with tears mixed with hurt and anger, “do you believe I really would send those boys to the underworld?!” You stated, feeling wronged, but Hwajin remained silent which hurt more than words could have.
“Get out…” Hwajin swallowed a lump in his throat, taking a step to coax her when she stood up and shoved him away from her, “I don’t want to see someone who’d believe the lies of others over their friend!” You yelled, ignoring the pain of your feet and glared at his calm expression, unaware of the storm brewing in himself, he felt his heart clench when she spoke out in a calm tone.
“I hate you… so get out.”
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“Good afternoon—”
His bored greeting was cut when he saw the empty classroom, stepping back to see the number of the class was indeed 3-D before taking a step inside and walking before the table before the board. “They're staking a rebellion.” A slightly deep voice made Hwajin glance to the side to see the reason for their visit, Na Minjae, entering the room, standing diagonally from where he stood. Hwajin let out a scoff, turning to face Minjae, “I see… why didn’t you join them?” “I knew it wouldn’t matter. The principal already sent me a letter to leave so I’m taking my last stroll of Baekgum High.” Minjae responded, giving a small cute smile before walking towards a nearby table and pulling himself.a seat, facing Hwajin on the podium.
“No one believes in this class,” Minjae looked around at the room filled with light splashes of pain from when they played around, giving a small smile as he landed to Hwajin’s figure, “the only reason this class can even exist is because Ms. Kwon pleaded with the board.” Minjae expressed with a distant gaze, making Hwajin briefly hold onto the study planner you’d left behind tightly. “She worked so hard and got a few of my distant seniors to graduate… you know how hard it was for her to even step into this world, right?” Minjae stated, seeing the older man’s eyes flicker wide at the realization which made the student smile.
“Of course we knew of Ms. Kwon’s very dangerous past life… but we never talked about it because we saw how it fundamentally ruined her,” Minjae leaned onto the table, looking down to gaze at his fingers, “the days where she’d be quiet, times where she felt like she was crazy, and moments where she felt alone… so if I have to leave for her, then I'll accept it.” Minjae stated, lifting his gaze to meet with Hwajin’s tame but unyielding gaze.
Clicking his tongue, Minjae slightly leaned close as if telling a secret between the two of them, “Have a little faith in your friend, Inspector… because there’s no telling if her emotions are animosity or fear.”
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Rushing out of your apartment complex, you saw a black van nearby and ran towards it, throwing the passenger door open to see Hwajin in the driver seat, your voice feeling weak as you uttered, “Na Hwajin-sshi…” “Get in.” He said as you sniffled, nodding as you climbed in the car and shut the door beside you. Hearing a faint cough, you glanced back to see the two other members of the ERPB and politely greeted them with a nod that they returned.
As you returned to face Hwajin who remained staring at you, you looked confused and gently wiped your nose, “Your seatbelt.” He uttered, making you look down, rushing to tug the belt and click it over your torso. Only after seeing you were safely seated did Hwajin start to drive, entering the main road. “When did Minjae text you?” “A-An hour ago, I tried calling but no answer and his parents didn’t know where he’d gone.” You responded, fetching your phone and opening your text logs with the student, seeing he hadn’t seen the rest of your messages, making you tear up and let out shaky breaths.
“Can you tell me the number of Minjae-sshi?” Geundae inquired as he opened his laptop to which you opened his information, trying to read it out-loud when Hwajin grabbed the phone and gave it to Hanrim sitting at the back, “You tell him.” He said as Hanrim recited the numbers as he took a glance towards you who looked distraught.
Looking out into the widow, you took sharp inhales as you wiped your tears with the back of your hands. “Please, be okay, Minjae-ah…” you uttered frantically, your chest tightening and hands fisting the fabric of your pants while shutting your eyes, feeling your mind reeling from panic and worry. A warmth engulfed your left hand, causing you to slightly jolt and flutter your eyes open, seeing a callous and big hand holding yours. Trailing your gaze up the limb to see it belonged to Hwajin who drove with his left hand, focusing his eyes on the road.
“He’ll be fine. You can’t be scared now, how can you help Minjae then?”
Your heart slowly mellowed from the panic attack you’d nearly succumb to, nodding as you tried to gently remove his hand but he slightly squeezed your hand as if refusing your action. “If you keep left we can reach him, I think it’s one of those old speak-easies.” Hanrim stated as Hwajin followed the duo’s instructions.
By the time they arrived at the old worn looking building, you had immediately gotten off despite Hwajin’s warnings and barged through the door, eliciting attention from the other ‘staff’. Your gaze turned steely, seeing Geundae take a step back from your suddenly frosty demeanor as Hwajin and Hanrim stood close behind as if to both protect Geundae and back you up. “Oi-oi, if it isn’t the walking corpse herself!” A man entered the room yelling in Japanese as he eyed the small group, he taunted, “I was expecting you… but your company is a little lacking, hah!” Some of the staff chuckled at the mockery but you remained calm, fist balling to your side.
“Na Minjae… where is he?” You asked in Japanese, making the man snicker, “Oi-oi, I never harm a boy who chose to enter my domain… you however are an intruder, Y/N-san.” He expressed as he snapped a finger. A person from the back of the bar hurled Minjae nearby, pinning him down to keep him still, soon meeting your eyes. Minjae called, “Ms. Boss!” His face was a mix of fear and concern for you but seeing him safe and unharmed made you feel relieved, heaving a breath and facing the man.
“Will you…” you spoke in Japanese, eyeing the staff who were ready to act, “return my student?” Your voice was polite and calm, but all hell-broke loose the moment such words were spoken.
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“Ow-ow—” “Does it hurt? Then how did you even go inside such a dangerous place, huh?!”
Standing outside your apartment, you were harshly pinching Minjae’s cheek, the taller boy pouted as you let him go, giving a pointed glare. “I told you to leave this to me—” “---and you promised to come to school the next day. But you didn’t!” Minjae argued, making your eyes widened, huffing a laugh as you slowly turned to glare at Hwajin who decided to look away, Minjae caught your attention as he asked, “Will you be resigned? If you do, I’ll pull out of my scholarships—” “Yah!” “--I’ll never graduate and make Baekgum High another teacher’s hell!”
“She won’t resign,” The inspector caught the teacher-student duo’s attention, both of you looking to see him walk over, “sorry I couldn’t tell you that day, Minjae-sshi, but that was a rumor to keep the press and that organization away.” Hwajin expressed with a pressed smile, Minjae sighed and shook his head in faux disappointment, “Are all Bureau’s this cunning?” “Some of them–ack!” Hanrim whined at Geundae’s nudging, Minjae clicked his tongue and scratched the back of his head, looking at you.
“A week… Will your pay not get docked from skipping—” “Na Minjae, go home.” You interrupted as you grabbed the boy by the arm, pushing him off to the side-walk, “Tell your parents the truth, they know about me, don’t worry.” You said, Minjae humming and turning to the inspectors, politely bowing and saying, “Again, thank you for helping me…” He slowly stood and walked off.
You turned back to see Hwajin still standing there, making you sigh and slowly walk back to him. Standing before him, you stared at him briefly before looking down and lifting a hand to shake with him, “I owe you an apology. Sorry for those words—” You felt your body pulled close as Hwajin hugged you. The warmth made your body freeze up, eyes widened as your cheek was pressed onto his shoulder, trapping your arms between your bodies, feeling gently cup the back of your head to keep you steady, everything felt jittery and endearing, but wrong.
This isn’t right… we shouldn’t be hugging… I shouldn’t be here…
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One of us has to hold our end of the deal… you’re Choi Gayun’s husband. I’m her best friend… let’s keep it that way.
Another clink of a shot glass, Hwajin remained sitting by a table in a local tent-bar, downing several bottles of soju. He’d underestimated his own tolerance or it simply that he didn’t have the will power to feel drunk. Just as he raised a hand, it was held and forcefully pushed down as he looked ahead to see two students, looking familiar. He’d figured it out, “3-D?” He uttered as the slightly tall boy looked at him with a disappointed expression.
“Inspector, are you really going to wallow in rejection here?” The taller boy named Sungji spoke looking exasperated, “My parents said you’d been here for an hour, and with this amount of alcohol your liver is going to hate you!” He argued, gently taking his shot glass away. The shorter of the two named Chan heaved a breath, “You really are hopeless, Mister.”
Hwajin crossed his arms over his chest, leaning on the table as he inquired, “I was rejected by your ‘Ms. Boss’ two hours ago. I think my situation is fairly reasonable, but please tell me your opinion.” Sungji stared at him and threw the alcohol on the ground, tipping the glass upside down, “Inspector, your fiance—no, your wife—is Ms. Kwon Y/N’s best friend, from what I heard they’re almost like sisters. In such a position, how could she ever accept her feelings for you? Her best friend’s husband.” His words made Hwajin silent, looking away and staring at a part of the tent wall.
Seeing his pondering form, Chan hummed, catching his attention despite not looking at him, “Ms. Boss loved you a lot… but when we asked why she never asked you even without Ms. Choi in the picture, she answered very simply…” Hwajin felt his heart thump and pace differently than normal, Chan recalled the words vividly and pitifully from your bright smile.
“No matter what I do or try to say… there will only be one person inside Na Hwajin’s heart, and as painful as it is to admit, it will never be me. It’s better to change that love into hatred so I won’t wallow in it…”
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Exhausted.
That was how you found Na Hwajin by your door, slumped and absolutely tired from the recent cases. It was a few months since you last saw him, mostly due to your own distant behavior during those days. You sighed and opened your door wide, groaning as you bent to squat by him, “Hwajin-ah?” You called, gently shaking his shoulder, “Yah, Na Hwajin, you’ll wake up all sore sitting here.”
Seeing him stir, you retracted your hand to see him lull his head back onto the wall, staring up at you to see your concerned expression, “What’s wrong? Did the case not go well?” You asked, trying to lighten the atmosphere but his gaze remained on your face, making you gently pat your cheek, “Why? Something on my face?” You inquired as he gently reached for your hand, holding it by him as you slightly frowned, uttering, “Hwajin-ah, stop it.”
“Since when did you feel this way?” Hwajin stared at the hand he’d held, slowly stopping resisting as he added, “How long…” You pressed your lips together, staring at his gaze looking lost and confused, “A year after Gayun-ie… the same day we first met,” His gaze slowly looked up to meet your slightly forced smile, “but your eyes remained on her, so I was content with keeping this… to myself.” You added with a calm tone, looking down at your intertwined hands and letting your heart pace.
“How did you keep it for so long…?” “Because I love you… I was content with letting you be happy, even if it wasn’t with me.”
Hwajin stared at your face, shutting his eyes as if feeling a breeze pass by and let him go. “Y/N, I feel strange around you… I wanted to see if I was wrong. If maybe I was mistaking our past for these feelings… but I didn’t realize it was that. I think I’m falling for you.” Hwajin said, unsure and afraid as you stared at him to see his eyes fluttering open, “She’ll always be part of us… but not like this… something constantly hurting us without meaning to.”
The exhausted gaze made you give a small sincere smile, gently patting his hands into your own, “Are you sure you want us and start again?” “Yeah, so you and I can have another chance…” He uttered as he gently pushed himself off the floor and stood as you followed suit, facing him.
“Thank you for giving me a chance to love you.”
~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~
P.S: I have no clue what prompted this, Gokusen influenced this. I got busy real fast now...
GF!Fem!Reader whose secret relationship with one of the ERPB Trio gets exposed
Content Warning: swearing, rude reporters, mention of death, canon-typical violence, mention of climbing down from a high place, mention of character pasts, exposed secret relationship.
Synopsis: another day, another troublesome school that the ERPB needed to investigate, however, while undercover as a student, Bong Geundae didn’t realize the school has a unique solution for the rowdy students coming in the form of the Science Teacher—-which happens to be Geundae’s… friend?
Pairing: Bong Geundae x Male!OC
Content Warning: fluff, male!oc, original male character, male x male, canon-typical violence, bullying, swearing, idiots-in-love, mutual pining, cute, light humor, mention of abandonment, friends-to-lovers, EXTREMELY slow burn, love at first sight.
A/N: I watched a jdrama and ended up created a male!oc that matches with Geundae. Just used Akanishi Jin’s last name for fun, sorry this is not an x reader!
Word Count: 4.3k
= ♥︎ =
Essential Original Character Notes:
Name: Akanishi Reiji
Age: 28 (Under Assumption that Bong Geundae is 28)
Relation to Character: Former College Classmate; Friend
Additional Info-Lite: A Japanese exchange student who studied at KAIST; he and Geundae met during elective courses and trouble, some caused by Reiji himself, eventually befriending each other.
~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~
A loud crash was heard as a black suited inspector looked back to the opened classroom door, seeing a student laid on the ground with their glasses crooked. The inspector tilted his head and looked down on the student who slowly fluttered their eyes open. The student gasped with a small bewildered smile on his lips, he sputtered, “Inspector Na…!” “Deputy Bong.” The inspector responded.
Na Hwajin exhaled through his nose, kneeling down by Bong Geundae who was fumbling to sit up, looking ahead to see the rowdy high-school students simply continuing with their own ruckus. “Inspector, what do we do?” Geundae asked as he fumbled to his feet while Hwajin followed suit, allowing the disguised inspector to hide behind him. Hwajin saw two groups inciting the fight, nodding to their direction, “What’s with those guys?” He asks.
Fixing his thick-rimmed black glasses, Geundae peered by Hwajin, pointing to a blonde boy, “That one is Jung Hyunjae, the leader of the class and dislikes strawberry—” Hwajin turned to his left to face the hiding inspector who cleared his throat and pointed to another boy,” And that kid is Lee Yongtae, new transferee and was a delinquent. Apparently they are trying to see who will lead Namyeon High… and y’know, fighting…” Geundae stated, grimacing and hiding again when a baseball bat was chucked nearby.
Assessing the situation, Hwajin clicked his tongue and crossed his arms over his chest, “Let’s think of a way to stop them first…” He heard footsteps, glancing to the side with Geundae to see another rushing towards the rowdy room. The two inspectors stepped aside to let the student barge in, yelling, “Shit! Guys, Mr. Rei is back!”
The group of rowdy students all froze before the two inspectors, Hyunjae cursing as Yongtae commanded, “Everyone fix the room! Hurry!” Like no brawl happened, the two groups were working together to fix the mess from arranging seats and sweeping the floor to fixing their appearances and bandaging bruises. Hwajin hummed, lips curving into a small smile, “Huh, I guess this school has some hope.” “Or another crazy guy…” Geundae uttered as he took aside, facing the older inspector, “What should we do now? They are settled down.”
Hyunjae turned towards the duo by the door, furrowing his brows to see Geundae outside as he strode over, “Yah, why are you still out here? Get to your seat!” Hyunjae commanded, Hwajin watching him from his peripheral vision to see his slightly sweaty forehead and gritted teeth. Before they could question the student, Geundae felt the back of his collar lifted, feeling like a cat, and standing on his tippy toes to feel the powerful strength of the person, “I was gone for two days and you kids are causing a ruckus again, hm?”
The slightly soft and suave voice greeted the two inspectors but noted the terror in Hyunjae’s eyes, Hwajin tilted his head to peer behind the figure behind Geundae. A younger looking man with ebony hair and thin-rimmed glasses had given a pointed gaze to Hyunjae who scrambled into the classroom before properly facing the older inspector, squinting slightly as he noted the student he had in his midst.
“Ah, hello,” The man spoke and bowed whilst he carefully let go of Geundae who stumbled a step towards Hwajin. As Geundae faced the straightening man, his eyes widened and mouth loosely agape, the man greeted, “You must be a guardian of one of my students, I’m their homeroom teacher, Akanishi Reiji.”
The polite greeting threw Hwajin off, straightening himself and gave a tame smile, “Nice to meet you, Mr. Akanishi—” the older inspector took his ID from under his shirt to present to the teacher, “I’m Inspector Na from the ERPB, I am reporting to Namyeon High starting today.” Hwajin stated with his aloof tone but noticed Akanishi glanced at his fellow inspector, giving a small but charming smile.
“I was hoping you’d come to visit but not as an inspector,” Hwajin followed his gaze to a nervous Geundae, giving a small sheepish smile, “It’s been a while, Geundae-ah.” Akanishi spoke with a lighter tone than the initial greeting.
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As Geundae rushed through the halls, barely dodging some students and turning the corner to meet collide with a figure and falling to his butt. He winced and looked up, uttering, “S-Sorry—” His eyes widened to see an ebony haired boy with slightly sharp eyes and a slight scowl adorning his lips, his words caught in his throat only uttering, “Y-You…”
“There you are!” A booming voice bounced off the walls as Geundae’s body slightly jolted and tried to get up but felt his ankle hurting, hissing. Using a hand to brace himself to the wall as the footsteps neared, Geundae felt a hand land harshly on his shoulder making him turn to face a scrawny looking kid with a wicked grin, “Yah, why are you running? Explain.. Explain why that damn assignment I made you do got a zero score?!”
While he was considerably taller than his peers, Geundae felt pained having to stand on his slightly twisted ankle and lowered his head, accepting the verbal lashing of his classmate, breath turning shaky that bordered on anger and fear.
Suddenly, Geundae felt his body slump back to the wall, seeing a pair of sneakers nearby and trailed up to see a familiar ebony haired boy, now holding his classmate’s wrist with enough strength to break it as he groaned in pain before getting thrown back to a nearby locker with a loud thud. Just as the rowdy boy stood up, asking, “Who the fuck—” “I did it.” The calm boy said as he lifted his right hand adorned by a red threaded bracelet, slightly causing the students who were both entertained and afraid of the rowdy boy to silence themselves.
“Shit, thats—” “Taebyun is fucked now…” “It’s him—” Akanishi.
Before anything could happen, a member of the student council came by to hear the ruckus, a bit intimidated by Akanishi’s presence but actively informed them to head to the Councilors Office. Geundae’s eyes widened, taking a step with his good feet when a hand gently was placed by his shoulder, looking up to meet with the same boy giving him a light smile, “I’m okay. Please go to the nurse.” The slightly low boyish voice struck Geundae in a way it shouldn’t have.
Geundae cleared his throat, nodding as Akanishi let him go, following the student council member to the Councilor, silent and poker faced. Staring at the boy’s back getting farther away, Geundae felt his hand twitch as if to reach for him but looked away, starting his march to the Clinic, hoping his parents’ wouldn’t make a fuss about his injury.
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“According to the other teachers, Akanishi-sshi started working here a few years ago and had been in-charge of many troublesome classes.”
As Hanrim stood across from a sitting Hwajin while she listed off information, she took a few documents from the table and passed it towards Hwajin, “Many of his classes were able to graduate the moment he intervened so the principal and other school board members consider him an integral part of Namyeon.” Hanrim explained as Hwajin flipped to the student list that started with troublesome and low graded students had suddenly shifted to average and compliant students.
Hwajin pressed his lips together, pondering. Hanrim put her hands to her back, “I find it a bit suspicious that all his students became obedient overnight. Perhaps it must be a similar case from that greedy Mr. Cheon.” Hanrim proposed as Hwajin flipped through the students, shaking his head, “I don’t think so… majority of the students aren’t wealthy and they still have some delinquency while under Akanishi-sshi so he wasn’t playing cleaner nor mediator.” Hwajin deduced.
Clearing her throat, Hwajin slightly lolled his head back to see Hanrim nod her head to her left, making him turn to see Geundae who had remained silent by his three monitors, staring to a spot on the desk. “What’s wrong with him?” Hanrim inquired as Hwajin squinted, putting the document down loudly to see Geundae snapping out of his daze and looking around their temporary base within the school which was just another spare classroom, eyes landing on the two inspectors facing him.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Geundae asked as he looked behind him and back to them as Hwajin pointed his index finger to the document before him, asking, “Deputy Bong, how do you know Akanishi-sshi? You and he seemed quite familiar.”
The computer genius scratched his head, “Well, we met when we were studying… I do talk to him every once in a while…” “Then do you know why exactly the students are so quick to reform when he’s present? Does Deputy Bong know why?” Hwajin inquired with an amused tone, giving a small smile as Geundae felt their pressing gaze as Hwajin uttered, “Or is it because of something else that’s making Deputy Bong look astray?”
Feeling his heart beat faster for a few seconds, Geundae stood and waved a hand, “I really don’t know why students suddenly… rehabilitate? Themselves in his class.” He argued as Hwajin hummed, leaning back to his seat, commanding, “Then tomorrow, please keep tabs on his class. Try to identify why he’s such a miracle worker.”
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I must be crazy because of those two…
Walking towards the classroom wearing his school disguise, a loud crashing noise and looking ahead to see two familiar students holding each other by the collar, egged on by the other students. Hyunjae punched Yongtae, seeing him take a couple of steps back before charging at the former to kick him in the stomach, cheers and booing coming from the other students depending on who they support.
Geundae saw Yongtae and Hyunjae preparing another hit on each other when a familiar lock of hair intervened. Hyunjae’s wrist and Yongtae’s leg grabbed by a pair of hands, the students following the limb to see a charming and calm individual, one that made their blood drop to their knees, yelling, “Mr. Akanishi!?”
“Early in the morning and already sparring?” Akanishi greeted and twisted the two limbs in his hands causing Yongtae to fall on the floor and Hyunjae’s arms pinned to his back, hearing them groan in pain before Akanishi let them go, “Inside the classroom, hurry.” He commanded as the two leaders winced and picked themselves up, running inside the room, the teacher moving to pick up the attendance book he’d dropped onto the floor, dusting it off before facing the other side of the hall to catch Geundae still rooted to his spot.
Akanishi walked towards him, slightly leaning forward and waving a hand to snap the disguised inspector out of his daze. “What the, still dozing off while working?” Akanishi teased with a slight smirk, making Geundae swallow a lump in his throat, taking a step back, “I-I wasn’t!” Geundae sputtered out, clearing his throat as Akanishi stood properly and chuckled whilst shaking his head.
Lifting his hand holding the attendance book, Akanishi saw it was nearing class hour and looked up at the taller student, “C’mon, student,” He stated, turning his heel and walking towards the classroom as Geundae slightly smacked his cheek to snap himself out of it but a hand cupped his chin, squishing his cheeks with enough strength and forced him to look ahead facing the slightly furrowed brow and mischievous smile of Akanishi who said, “you don’t want to be late now, right, Geundae-ah?”
Slightly tugging Geundae closer as his face was a few inches from Akanishi, their eyes meeting as he felt the silent intensity of the gaze directed on him. Geundae felt his ears turn warm when the slightly shorter male’s gaze flickered low to his slightly pouted lips, sighing, “Such a shame you are dressed as a student at the moment, it’s a turn off.” Akanishi muttered, returning his gaze to the cute-faced inspector whose eyes were widened, giving him his usual wry grin before letting go.
The teacher chuckled at the bewildered expression of his friend before turning away, “Follow closely, Geundae-sshi.” He expressed, snapping the inspector from his shock and trailed behind him, feeling his cheeks warm and already forgetting the reason he’d come to the class again.
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Sitting alone on one of the many cafeteria seats, Geundae ate the meal silently observing Hyunjae and Yongtae eating at separate tables but glaring at one another. Chewing his braised chicken, he was surprised when another student sat by him, Geundae squinted to see it was another student from his class.
“Sorry, can I sit here?” The young girl student inquired with a soft smile, making Geundae clear his throat and nod, “I’m Yena…” “Geundae.” He spoke between chews. “Don’t pry into those two, they can be pretty nasty.” Yena spoke as she took her chopsticks, starting to eat as the inspector slightly tilted his head and watched the two from his peripera, he asked, “Why? They also fight each other… but they are both scared of Ak–I mean, Mr. Akanishi.”
The girl hummed as she swallowed her food, facing the two, “If you didn’t know, Hyunjae was the first leader of class with a different homeroom teacher—” she picked at her japchae, “---it was a whole thing and the whole school bended backwards for him, sometimes even the teachers… Well, one teacher didn’t.” Yena trailed off, sighing at the memory as Geundae asked her, “Why? Who… wait…”
“Yup,” Yena turned to him with a bright smile, “Mr. Akanishi stood up to him. With a request from the board, he became our homeroom teacher and challenged Hyunjae, ultimately winning,” she gathered her hands together and stared up in a daydream, “every since Hyunjae respected him and anyone who attempted to challenge Mr. Akanishi, lost. He’s so cool~” She expressed with a smile, making Geundae stare at her in disbelief and awe.
Yena snapped out of her daydream, side-eyeing him with a grin that made Geundae feel his stomach churn. “What?” He asked as she nudged his side, “Don’t act coy with me, I saw you were staring at Mr. Akanishi while he was teaching.” “W-What?! Isn’t it normal to look at the teacher when he’s teaching?” Geundae argued, his voice slightly louder before he shrunk from the gazes he’d drawn in, Yena waved a hand at his words. “Geundae-sshi, you can fool others but not me! You clearly had hearts in your eyes—these glasses can’t hide them!” She interjected, pointing to his thick-rimmed glasses.
As Geundae was about to argue, his mind trailed off as his left hand held the side of the glasses recalling their purpose. He inwardly cursed, Wait… the camera has been recording! Would it really catch me staring at Akanishi?! No, I wasn’t… right? I need to delete the footage today!
Yena gasped when Geundae removed his glasses and snapped them into two, shoving them into his pockets. She asked, “Y-Yah, I wasn’t teasing your glasses…” “Hm? I knew… they just felt troublesome. Yeah." Geundae stated as he properly faced his meal, thinking back to when Akanishi was teaching and kept staring at him, making him shake his head and stab a chopstick to the braised chicken, facing an alarmed Yena, he asked, “W-Was I too obvious?”
The girl stifled a laugh, crossing an arm over her chest, nodding, “Very. But don’t worry, Mr. Akanishi gets that a lot, he is very handsome,” Yena gave a proud grin, “It’s the only thing our class can proudly present to the other third-years.” She added, making Geundae choke on his spit, partially shocked and disbelief over his friend’s reputation, “D-don’t feel too bad, Geundae-sshi, we might not be smart but we’ll all graduate just fine with Mr. Akanishi.” “That’s not reassuring…”
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Walking out the halls, Geundae is surprised to suddenly have an arm hooked over his shoulders, intimidated and looking to his right to see Yongtae donning a scowl unfitting for his pretty and icy reputation. “Uh, w-what’s the matter?” Geundae uttered out, making Hyunjae who had held onto him sigh, “Let’s talk, Geundae-sshi.” Hyunjae expressed, pulling him away as Yongtae strode alongside them, unaware of Yena’s alarmed expression behind them.
“W-Wait, wait, let’s talk this out–” Geundae spoke out as he was thrown into the maintenance room of the school, the air dry and warm due to the exhaust nearby, Geundae braced himself on the wall, staring at the silently fuming duo, “W-What exactly is happening? If I did something wrong, I’m sorry!” He sputtered, silently thinking, They’re just like Cho Inbeom and Park Seonghwan…
Yongtae gave Geundae a pointed glare, making him swallow a lump in his throat. “Yah, transferee, what’s your game?” Yongtae inquired as Geundae furrowed his brow, he added, “Do you have some weird fantasy about falling for a teacher?” The disguised inspector felt lost with his words, clearly evident on his face when Hyunjae heaved a breath and strode to him, pulling him by the collar, he spoke through gritted teeth, “Don’t flirt with Mr. Akanishi… do you know how hard he worked to be a teacher?”
“No! I-I wasn’t doing that!” Geundae exclaimed, mind reeling, Flirt? Me? With Akanishi?!
Hyunjae scoffed, hardly pushing him away, “You better not.” “By the way,” Geundae carefully spoke out, glancing at them from his peripheral, “why are you guys so protective of him? You guys are afraid of him and sometimes even curse him out.” Geundae spewed out, shrinking back when Hyunjae was about to harshly smack his chest like how he usually hits his misbehaving friends, “That’s enough, Hyunjae-ah.”
Glancing to the usually frosty and aloof boy, Yongtae’s gaze slightly wavered just enough for Geundae to catch his hesitancy and fear. “Anyone who doesn’t have a home here respects him. Despite his clearly harsh discipline, never once did he shun us for being strays and even spoke up in our behalf… you end up respecting someone you fear because he’s the most humane of all of them.” Yongtae expressed with a firm tone.
“Clearly you don’t feel that scared of me today, Lee Yongtae and Jung Hyunjae.”
The calm and suave voice made the two class leaders shudder, freezing on the spot and not looking back. Geundae eyed the homeroom teacher by the door donning a small smile and removed his right hand from his pocket, “Come here. Clench your teeth and stomach.” Akanishi commanded while beckoning them over, Geundae slightly intimidated alongside them.
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Sifting through the written reports of the teacher, noting the drastic difference between having Akanishi present to when he was absent, the multitude of student violent reports and faculty meetings within the span of two days were astounding. Geundae soon reached the last report belonging to Akanishi which simply states his own students are innocent and not causing trouble. So without Akanishi, they really are like a loose cannon…
The writing felt oddly familiar to Geundae as he saw the way the letters had a slight curve, mostly due to how Akanishi learned Korean and Hangul from two different teachers, the way of writing for the period and exclamation points’ dot looked as if it were a swirl. Wait…
Putting the reports down, Geundae pushed his swivel chair to the left, reaching his backpack placed on the table, searching with a hand to pull out a pale blue colored paper with a small heart on the right corner and his name written on the middle. Flipping it open, he read:
‘Don’t cry. My sun is not won’t rise if I see you sad.
Do not be scared to fighting for what you believe!
Signed ♥︎’
Geundae sighed with his mouth agape, staring at the similar handwriting. Looking around their temporary office, he carefully though of the many letters he’d received signed with a simple heart and how it always coincidentally happens after he meets with Akanishi. He scoffed incredulously, “Wah… I’m so stupid,” Moving to run a hand into his hair, leaning forward as if trying to curl into himself, “We kept missing each other…”
Hearing a distant bell sound, Geundae looked at the time on the bottom of his computer screen, swallowing a lump in his throat, uttering, “No…” Grabbing the colored paper, he stood from his seat, rushing to the door as it cracked open to reveal Hwajin returning from a meeting with the principal, “Oh, Deputy Bong, we—” “I’m sorry, but I really need to go, Inspector Na, I’ll come back in a bit! I’m really sorry!” Geundae brushed past the older man who watched him run away, rushing past Hanrim who furrowed her brows, pointing a thumb back to the disappearing computer whiz, “I have no idea.” Hwajin stated as he entered the room with the confused lady.
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“What’s wrong?”
As Akanishi came out of the faculty room after Geundae knocked and loudly called for him, something Im Hanrim had taught him when in a rush. Geundae scoffed, lifting his hand to show the colored paper, unfolded to show the badly written letter, “What’s this?” Akanishi’s eyes trained to the paper and furrowed a brow, he answered, “A letter?” “Don’t kid around, Akanishi Reiji! I was really stupid not to have realized it was you writing them!” Geundae exclaimed, enough to catch the attention of curious students nearby who started to walk slower in the halls.
Like an imaginary weight was lifted from his shoulder, Akanishi sighed, “Damn, I finally got caught,” He plucked it from the taller man’s hand, reading the letter written by his younger self, cracking a small smile, “How did you find out? You could never find me when you tried before…” Akanishi inquired, lifting his gaze to the slightly scowling figure before him, a tame smile adorning his lips.
“Because I didn’t try… I can’t believe I didn’t notice how you write your exclamation points and periods…” Geundae expressed, still indisbelief, “Were you joking while writing these?” “Don’t think of my like that, you should know I’d never do that to you,” Akanishi stated with a firm tone, sighing and crossing an arm over his chest, he clicked his tongue, “You really are a quack in romance.”
The inspector looked at him, mouth slightly agape and face clearly showing he’d been offended. “Excuse me? I’m not the person that disciplines his students like a dictator!” Geundae put his hands to his hip, “Why do you do that? Are you running a rehabilitation camp for rowdy students?!” He exclaimed, fuming but not caring of the crowd silently watching from far away, pretending to fix items inside their lockers, Akanishi shut his eyes and lips stiffly smiled.
“I smack them because they don’t listen to words. Also, don’t yell at me for redirecting students to a better path, I did this because I didn’t want anyone to end up bullied and hurt like you!” Akanishi exclaimed, Geundae feeling his gaze burning through his previous bravado, feeling small despite being taller and looking at him confused, “Oi, you graduated from KAIST, but you don’t understand?” Akanishi exasperated as Geundae felt his ears ringing when he said.
“I love you, you idiot!”
The hall turned quiet at the confession, Geundae’s eyes widened at the statement, uttering, “M-Me?” while pointing to himself, feeling his cheeks turn warmer as Akanishi heaved a breath, shaking his head with an exhausted smile. “Really?! I didn’t think—I mean I love you too—But I mean—” “Breathe.” Akanishi stated as he cupped his jaw, squishing his cheeks to prevent him from blubbering anymore.
“Do you want to go on a date with me?” Akanishi asked as he softened his gaze, making Geundae hummed out, “Yeah.” Slightly nodding due to how Akanishi held him, giving him a smile and letting go of his face. “I’ll pick you up later,” Akanishi said as he put the letter back into Geundae’s hands, ”fighiting.” He added with a small grin, poking his nose before moving back into the faculty, leaving the inspector alone in the halls, slowly feeling the gazes on him as he used the letter to cover the lower half of his face, walking away.
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“We’re very sorry for causing you trouble!”
As Hwajin watched Akanishi standing between the two troublemaking leaders and shove their heads down to give a 90-degree bow, he gave a light chuckle, “Heol, you two were always at each others’ throat and acting out towards us, who knew Akanishi-sshi would solve it with ease.” Hwajin stated as Akanishi gave a small sheepish smile, removing his hands as the two kept heir heads lowered.
“Some kids aren’t drawn the best cards, If I teach them some skills maybe they can survive with what they were given.” Akanishi stated as Hwajin felt internally refreshed by his response, “Though I guess I’m no different with to you, Inspector Na, in dealing with most problems.” He added, making Hwajin chuckle, humming as he gently patted the two bowing boys’ head, “Well, I guess you’ve learned your lessons well with Mr. Akanishi. Don’t worry, just keep in your lane and don’t bother others, you won’t ever need to see me. Right?” “Yes, thank you.” They spoke, slowly standing.
Akanishi crossed his arms over his chest, tilting his head to Geundae who was hunched over his computer, partially hiding from Akanishi due to being shy and flustered, “Inspector, can I borrow you hardworking hacker over there?” Akanishi nodded to his friend’s direction, Hwajin looking confused when Geundae glanced at him, nervous. His gaze returned to the nearby teacher who beamed a small smile, “He’s running away from our date, if I may take him…” “Please take him, we are free for today.” Hanrim said as she grabbed Geundae by the back of his collar, dragging him over to stand before Akanishi.
With the two students wearing a bewildered expression as Akanishi held Geundae’s hand, pulling him away as Hwajin uttered, “That was… unexpected…” “They are just dense.” Hanrim stated with a small smile, shaking her head at their antics.
~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~
P.S: probably won't make a lot of OC stories, just liked the premise of this one-shot and posted it :)
Synopsis: love is both the most beautiful and painful experience in the world. You knew it well, because you felt all the emotions related to it, hope, happiness, and sadness… only because you watched someone you love fall for someone else, if only I were her.
A/N: The idea came from my own concept which is ‘what if you love someone who is grieving their lover’s death’; first time posting a one-shot/short story here so criticism is accepted for this baby-of-an-author to grow.
Word Count: 3.6k
~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~
The scent of antiseptic reached your nose, eyes fluttering to see the ivory walls and pale green colored curtains drawn half-open. Looking back to the pain by your hand to see the IV inserted on the vein, slowly making you sober up and sit up, the room slightly spinning to see some bags by the couch and a very drowsy looking guy hunched before three laptop screens. “Geundae-sshi?” Your voice sounded low and dry from what seemed to be a long sleep, watching the genius hacker jolt and fumble up from the ground to look at you.
“Noona!” Geundae called and rushed towards you, gaze rimming with tears and exhaustion made you feel bad, “Are you feeling better? Do you remember me? Or the ERPB and the case—” “Yes, I do remember you, Geundae-ah, please calm down before you lose air.” You patted his tense shoulder as he slowly eased by the bed, sniffling as you gaze at the laptop, remembering why you’d even laid on the uncomfy hospital bed and the not-so-pretty argument you had with your friend.
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“Why?! I investigated and we saw the problems, so why can’t we report to that school?”
Your voice boomed through the room as people outside the glass wall glazed to your direction, standing firm before the aloof and tame black-suited man, Na Hwajin. Geundae and Hanrim stood off to the side, slightly intimidated by the two adults staring at each other. “The case requires the assistance of the police because it goes far beyond simple school problems. We can’t deal with it for now.” Hwajin stated in his usual calm tone.
Feeling your hand ball into a fist, your gaze turned heavy, “Again, we can’t again… last time it was because we lack evidence, after that we know too little… Now, we just can’t do it without assistance from the police—” your let out a shaky breath and looked away from him, “---just tell me honestly… is my background a problem now?” Your voice sounded distant as Hanrim’s gaze met with yours, shocked and worried with what she knew. You turned slightly, gazing from your peripheral to Hwajin who had his hands tucked into his pockets.
“Tell me… is it because my family owns it and funds it… that is why you are hesitating?”
Not answering was enough for you to know your guess was correct. You scoffed, cold and indifferent as your hand reached for a piece of paper and ballpen, writing ‘letter of resignation’ on the blank sheet before standing properly. Lift your hand holding the paper, “Please… don’t worry and look into it.” Your stern tone made the trio look concerned as you took a step and smacked it to his chest, his calm gaze meeting with your stormy ones. Stepping away and letting the letter go and fall between you two, you grabbed your bag from the swivel chair and walked out the room, away from the concerned gazes of the employees trying to pretend they’d not heard anything.
Stepping outside the building you’d grown accustomed to, your hand landed on the ID hung on your neck, pulling it off your head as you read, ‘Kwon Y/N. ERPB Inspector’. Looking to the side to see the trash-bins, walking over and with a shaky breath threw the plastic card away before making your way to the main street. You walked far ahead rubbing the sides of your arms due to the cold breeze.
Hearing some commotion, you walked to the gathering crowd near a restaurant, seeing people cheer and coo amongst one another. Managing to peek between the figures to see a woman standing tall and blushing with a bright smile as your gaze landed to the man knelt before her presenting a bouquet of flowers and a golden ring. A proposal.
“---Say ‘I do’! Say ‘I do’!” The crowd chanted as you ended up clapping and chanting with them, giving a small smile. As the woman said yes, moving to hug the man and help him to his feet, you joined the crowd in cheering. Your gaze traced their movements, happy and hopeful as your memory made your vision flicker for a moment to see a familiar couple brightly greeting others and thanking them for their support before the same pair of strangers waved and thanked the crowd.
Turning away to walk to the nearby bus station, you dug your gloved hands into your pocket with a pained smile. Standing by the pedestrian crossing, you stood beside a pair of high-schoolers, cheekily teasing each other and showing off their cute matching charms. Your lips quivered as you saw yourself, standing with another girl as chatting happily, a ringing noise reaching your ears as the light turned red and pedestrians walked past.
Watching the two girls walk away made your hollow heart ache, eyes burning as you sniffled, rushing to cross the road with others, just barely making it to the bus stop and hopping on the vehicle. The light turned green as you stood by the hand-sling hung on the bus, staring out from the window to see one of the students had bid farewell and soon walked towards a boy donning a similar uniform. You inwardly scoffed, Just my luck… the world really has a way to make you lose motivation…
“No,” You shook your head, straightening your posture and letting out a heavy sigh, “I need to investigate that school. If the ERPB won’t then I will.”
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“That was a close one, noona.”
As Geundae fixed your blanket, you beamed him a small smile, nodding as you peeled yourself an apple, “how did you even find me? I doubt those kids made it easy.” You said and sliced the apple in the middle, offering one half to the cute faced deputy. Geundae carefully took the half-sliced apple, “we started investigating. Some of the students helped identify who led the attack on you.” He explained as you bit into the apple.
You felt yourself seething at the fact some students drugged and cornered you in an alley. Roughly chewing the fruit in your mouth, “Did you find them?” Geundae flinched at your darkened gaze, “I will kill them all.” You spoke between chews, making the younger carefully take the knife you’d used to peel the fruit away as you sighed. But your chest felt strange as you hissed, reaching to grab the infusion stand and move the blanket off, “Oh, what’s wrong? You shouldn’t be standing up yet!” Geundae sputtered, moving to the other side of the bed to steady your standing figure.
Tightening your grip onto the cold steel as the other hand reached to your chest, feeling the slow abnormal heartbeat under your palm. “Call a doctor, Geundae-ah… please…” You felt your breath hitch as Geundae gently cradled your figure to sit down and frantically pressed the call button by the bed. Feeling your consciousness drift away and darkness helps to numb yourself from your body.
A strong charge made you gasp for air, coughing as you heard Geundae’s worried calls of your name, eyes looking to see the nearby nurses and doctors calm down to announce you’d been stabilized. Feeling exhausted, you let out short and pained breaths as a nurse carefully put an oxygen mask by your mouth, helping you as an old man talked to Geundae and the hospital staff.
Not long, the room was cleared as the old man and Geundae stood by the right of your bed. Your lips curved into a small smile, calling, “Minister…” “You finally remember I exist… you brat,” Choi Gangseok spoke with his rough voice but his gaze towards you became softer, “what were you thinking? An inspector going out by themselves… you and Gayun are so reckless.” Gangseok voiced, a faint chuckle slipping from your lips.
“Don’t curse her… she’ll nag you for an hour.” You voiced, clearing your throat from its sudden dryness as Geundae grabbed a bottle of water on the bedside and ushering it towards you. Using your elbow to prop yourself up, you thanked him before taking a sip of the liquid, your throat likely thanking you for finally drinking, “So it was you who took me here, Uncle?” You voiced after gulping the water down.
Gangseok stared at you with an unreadable expression, making you crack a small smile and glanced towards Geundae who looked confused and worried. You chuckling, “Don’t look so worried… I have some time left–” “--and how long is this time? It already got shortened, didn't it?” Gangseok interjected as you felt your voice falter, turning away from their gazes to rest the bottle by your bed, soon facing ahead and crossing your arms over your chest, pondering, “6 months.”
As Geundae took a step close, making Gangseok and you turned to him as realization dawned on his face, making you give a small smile and patted his arm that held the iron bar that made up your bed, “Noona… what’s wrong with you?” Geundae asked with his slightly deep tone, shaky and nervous, made your gaze soften and retracted her hands to rest on your lap.
“I’m sick, Geundae-ah… heart cancer, terminal,” You spoke with no hint of fear, already accepting how nature will take its course since you’d tried to ward it off for so long. Geundae’s expression fell as you put a hand to your chest, “don’t pity me too much, look at your face,” watching Geundae move to gently hug you as you pat his back, giving a pointed gaze to the old man nearby, adding “this is why I kept my diagnosis a secret, Uncle.”
The old man stared at you with solemn eyes, the gaze matching the one he gave the day you arrived at his home donning your hospital gown.
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The room was silent as you smiled at the family picture of Choi’s, staring at the bright expression of the young Choi Gayun. You lifted your left hand, only to see the slightly red seeping from the bandages, lowering it and beaming a small sheepish smile to the girl, “Sorry, Gayun-ie… I broke our promise.” You spoke in a low voice, staring at the image before looking down to the small unhung pictures of the Choi family, one picture of you and Gayun sitting side-by-side in your elementary school clothes.
A loud thud made you look away from the picture frame to the old man standing by the doorway, the bag he carried and coat had fallen to the floor. His gaze widened as he called, “Y/N-ah?” You cracked a smile and faced your body towards him, politely bowing as he strode forward, holding you by your sides, “W-what happened? Why are you wearing—did you get hurt? Wait…” His gaze darkened, “did your parents do this?” Gangseok’s voice, usually deep and stern, had blended with worry and anger, making you look down.
“Uncle…” you had wanted to lie just as you did back then, but your eyes turned glossy and lips quivered, “I’m dying…” Your voice barely above a whisper as you felt his hands stiffened, his gaze on you cooling from its initial fury as your eyes burned with unshed tears, “It’s too late to get it fixed.” “What? Did you try to ask—no, let's go to the hospital again, maybe they were wrong…” Gangseok let her go, moving to pick his bag and coat from the ground.
“I have cancer… the treatment can’t help with it anymore…” You stared up, trying to keep the tears at bay as you uttered, “It’s hereditary… and I was the unlucky one to have it after skipping a generation.” Gangseok glanced back at you, seeing your weak body as you stared at him, “Can you comfort me… Uncle?” He let out a shaky breath, moving to stare at your glossy eyes and wrapped his arms around you, letting you rest your head on his shoulder, gently cradling you.
Gangseok sighed, “It’s okay… Uncle is here. So you can let it all out.”
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“You are still a stubborn kid, Y/N.”
As Gangseok heaved a breath, you simply cracked a grin and crossed your arms over your chest, “I just don’t follow orders mindlessly, Uncle.” You stated as Geundae sniffled, shaking his head at your words as he packed his bag, “Anyway, why did you let Geundae look after me? You said you wouldn’t let anyone know.” “Deputy Bong was the one that found you, brat. And his skills can be executed remotely.” Gangseok stated as you pouted.
Zipping his bag and hurling it onto the trolley, Geundae took a step towards the door, “I will be going now, Minister, Noona.” He announced as you nodded, waving him goodbye as Gangseok hummed, “Alright, be careful and keep me updated with the progress of the two.” Geundae politely bowed before swinging the door to the side, shutting it carefully behind him.
You chuckled, “The kid is gonna worry now, Uncle—” you side-eyed him, clicking your tongue, “you’ve gotten sloppy.” You expressed as he walked towards the nearby couch, groaning as he sat, staring at the half-drawn window. Following his gaze, you ask, “Why, Uncle?” “You aren’t getting any better, Y/N.” Gangseok stated with an exhausted tone as your eyes met the elders, “Until when will you keep this up?” He added, the implication clear as your playful expression turned somber.
“We’ve talked about this—” “---do you really not want to tell him the truth?” Gangseok stated as you pressed your lips together, swallowing a lump in your throat, looking away from his heavy gaze. “He’s done everything just as you have… but why is it that you aren’t moving from that step?” The old man spoke carefully but his tone was firm and resolute. You looked to your hands, carefully using your right to tug the sleeve of your left arm, showing old scars that faded away.
“I won’t move… because I’m not her, and I have no desire to be her,” You spoke as you gently let go of the sleeve, exhaling through your nose and fixing your bed, “In this world, I will always cheer for what could’ve been their happy ending… even if I am the one getting hurt.”
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Standing with the help of the infusion stand, you watched the sunrise at the rooftop of the hospital, feeling the cool breeze brush by your body. “Noona!” you turned your head, looking over your shoulder to see Geundae running towards you, huffing a breath as he put a thick coat over your body, “it’s freezing here, why are you outside!?” His worry mixed with exasperation made you smile, fixing the coat as you faced ahead to answer, “It was suffocating inside my room.”
Sensing his gaze, he stood by your infusion stand and stared ahead. “The Minister said you were resigning… and not to tell the others.” Geundae stated as you sighed, silently cursing the old man, he added, “Noona… you like Inspector Na, right?” His words made you stop muttering, letting out a shaky breath as you saw your warm breath.
“Yeah. was Noona obvious?” You asked with a small smile, tilting your head to properly look at him. Geundae shook his head as he fumbled for something in his pocket, soon presenting a weathered letter, small red droplets present as its color darkened with time, Geundae explained, “This fell back at that school, a student saw it fall from your bag and returned it to our temporary office… I was the only one there that time.”
Taking it from his grasp, you held it in your right hand with a small smile, “I wrote this for the first and last time… It was never meant to be mailed, I just wanted proof that I did fall in-love with someone.” “Proof?” Geundae interjected as you let the letter resting in your hands dangle to your side, clicking your tongue. “The day I wrote this letter, I was about to commit suicide.” You heard him choke on his spit, making you smile, “Don’t worry, noona was unfortunately saved.”
You lifted your hand holding the letter and ushered for him to take it, Geundae carefully holding the weathered piece of paper. “Gayun had saved me and made me promise never to do it again… I wrote another letter that day and then left the country.,” You leaned onto the infusion stand, “I told Hwajin to take care of Gayun because she loves him.” Your words made Geundae tear up, standing properly and turning the infusion stand to pat him on the shoulder, “Why? You love him so much too…” He asked as you sighed and gave a pressed smile recalling the day you came to visit Gayun, you felt your heart tightened.
“… because I knew better than anyone that Hwajin loves Gayun.”
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Walking up to the house, you met with Hwaji who was still donning his military clothes, looking anxiously at the door. But those eyes weren’t simply filled with fear. It was hope, nervousness, anticipation and happiness all trying to present themselves but unable to settle. You inhaled, walking over to the man and kicking his leg, making him snap out of his daze and his gaze turned neutral as you gave a disapproving gaze.
“What the… are you really a Captain in the Special Forces, Na Hwajin?” You taunted Hwajin who cleared his throat as he said, “I was preoccupied—” “Likely story, your ears are red as a tomato,” You spoke, moving towards the door and pressing your thumb to the door handle’s lock as it beeped and unblocked, turning towards the stunned man, “Why? Uncle said I’m like another daughter, did you think I wouldn’t know the door lock?” You teased, sticking your tongue out as he playfully rolled his eyes.
You waved him to come inside, opening the door, “Gayun’s home, let’s go see her, Mr. Loverboy.” “Alright-alright, this is why you should never learn a secret.” Hwajin expressed as he entered the home, walking ahead of you as the door cracked open to show the bright smiling face of Choi Gayun, she called, “Y/N-ie! Hwajin-oppa!” Slowing your steps, you watched as Gayun rushed towards Hwajin, hugging him. You found yourself slowly smiling at their interaction.
Feeling your heart tightened, you felt your footsteps grow heavy and your body turn sensitive to the cool air. On that day, standing there on that warm spring day, you saw them in their own world filled with love and hope. You silently took a step back as you buried the feelings you’ve deemed wrong, chuckling as you snapped them out of their warm greetings, “What the, I come to visit and you both are here making me feel single?!” You teased as Gayun let go of Hwajin, rushing to her, hugging her as her body felt warm to the touch.
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The panicked voices reached your ears as your eyes slowly fluttered open to see bright lights and ivory ceiling, turning to the side to see nurses coming and going as a doctor was giving orders. You felt your body turning heavier as the beeping noise of the heart monitor echoed in your ears, lolling your head to your left to see Geundae’s tear streaked face as he was holding his phone calling someone. Feeling your throat tightened, you gently lifted your hand struck with an IV, Geundae taking it into his own, “Noona! Noona, just hold on a little longer…” He pleaded as doctors had seemingly stopped what they were doing.
One said in a low voice, “her body is giving up…w-what do we do?” I finally reached my limit… I’m scared… Gayun will get upset to see me there so young. She’d be disappointed If I were her… She wouldn’t want to see me…
“Geundae-ah…don’t hurt for too long…” You uttered with a soft but shaky voice as he hummed, dropping the phone on the bed, taking your hand into his own, “take care of everyone… and I’m sorry.” Your voice spoke slightly breathless as you heard a distant commotion but sleep was pulling you away, your vision turning blurry and bleak. The door swung open to reveal a figure, your vision blurry but you knew who it was by heart.
Soon, reaching the side of your bed, you called, “Na Hwajin?” Geundae moved aside as Hwajin stood by your bed, you blinked as tears fell. Seeing his distraught expression, you let out a breathy chuckle and said, “Uncle told you… everything, right?” Hwajin’s gaze fell on your pale face, reaching for your hands as he sighed to feel it run stiff and cold, “Let go, Hwajin-ah… Gayun will get mad…” You uttered with a smile as you tried to stretch your fingers to let him go as a single tear fell from your eyes, “I hid it so well… so please let me go for the last time.”
Hwajin let out a shaky breath, he asked “Why didn’t…” “Because I wanted to be wrong…” His eyes widened briefly to see your weak and sincere smile, “And because I knew If I were her, she’d let me love you and get hurt… so I chose for her.” You stated as the heart monitor turned frantic as you felt your body stiffening as your eyes felt heavy, slowly shutting as the heart monitor made a long and steady beeping noise, unaware of the opened letter he’d dropped by his feet…
~
“--I’ve once thought, what if I were her?
I would love you with all I have and cherish you, just like she does…
But you don’t love me; you love her, someone who I also adore and respect.
That is why loving you was both beautiful and painful so I do not regret it,
By the time this letter will reach you, I won’t be able to know if you will shame me or not.
So I will say it for the first and last time,
I’m sorry and I love you, Na Hwajin.”
~
~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~♥︎~
P.S.: I really felt the pain here, why did I write it? because I'm crazy.
