When the weekend comes, a college party is something every fun-loving student looks forward to.
Sunghoon resisted this for a long time, but Somi was not going to give up and dragged him to the club by force. Even though the girl is older than him, he has to admit that they got along well from the very beginning.
In Inhon, she has a bit of a mean bitch reputation, maybe because she bosses around her friends? She's confident and knows what she wants from life, but according to Sunghoon, she's a really nice girl. She's the first person to talk to him, but now she's not the only one he has a good relationship with. After the last incident, when a girl his age was attacked in the bathroom, and he helped her, he became friends with Sullyoon. They sit together in class, feeling very comfortable in each other's company.
The club is bustling with life. Different lights flash alternately, and with every moment more and more people arrive. This is the boy's first time at a party. He usually avoided such places.
Happy Somi brings them drinks, feeling at home in this place. She hands one to Sunghoon, encouraging him to take a drink.
- Handsome, don't tell me you've never drank alcohol, because I'll really think you're an angel sent from heaven...
"And isn't every she-devil need her angel?" he says jokingly, and Somi points at him.
- Yes, yes! You're right! Oh, Lord, how I adore you.
Sunghoon laughs at his older colleague as he watches her down the alcohol in one gulp. He also puts the glass to his lips, slowly sipping the drink.
The lives of the poor and the rich are as different as fire and water.
- When you finish your drink, I'm taking you to the dance floor - says the blonde girl, smiling radiantly.
"No, no way. I can't dance," he replies, waving his hand.
- Believe me, once you finish this drink, you'll know how. - She urges him, so the boy gulps down the rest, feeling his throat burn. Somi grabs his hand, and he looks at her with surprise in his eyes.
- Your hand's ice-cold...
- This is what life with anemia is like - she replies. - Get up, handsome.
Just a moment, and the first drink he drinks makes him feel dizzy. Looking at the laughing Somi, moving to the rhythm of the music, he tries to join her. Alcohol actually makes him not care what others think of him. He dances opposite the girl, unable to stop laughing.
It's a really nice feeling when you can stop thinking about everything for a moment and just have fun.
"Are we going for another one?" she asks. Somi nods, unable to believe he's so fired up.
While they're at the bar, her attention is drawn to a group of people making their way to the reserved table that's literally right next to their seat. The twenty-year-old girl would rather they weren't there tonight, but she can't predict when they'll want to come to the party, too.
Sunghoon is already tipsy, so he doesn't even pay attention to them. Or so it seems to Somi until, sitting in his seat, he suddenly jumps up from the couch and points his finger at youngest sister.
" Sullyoon!" he shouts. The eighteen-year-old girl looks at him confused, and the rest of the group follows her example.
- Sunghoon? - she asks, walking over to him. He puts his arm around her, and Wonyoung almost chokes on her water in shock.
Niki jumps up from her seat upon seeing the scholarship holder's hated face.
- Don't worry, we've had a good relationship since he helped me - explains the eighteen-year-old girl, looking at her friends and sisters. - I would rather not tell you this, but a while ago, the boy who was following me attacked me in the bathroom. If it weren't for Sunghoon, there's no telling what could have happened then...
- That man attacked you, and you didn't tell us?! - Niki looks like a volcano of anger, especially when he looks at Sunghoon. He's definitely not fond of him, since they bumped into each other in the passage to class.
- I would rather not upset you. You treat me like a child anyway.
- What about this man? Is he still going to class?
- No, he resigned after that incident... He is not in Inhon - replies Sullyoon.
- Isn't that weird? - asks a drunk Sunghoon. - From what I've heard, he appeared out of nowhere and latched onto your friend. Now he's just disappeared... He wasn't a scholarship student and no one knew him?
Niki walks up to him and grabs him by the collar of his blouse.
- Are you suggesting something, clown?
- Hey, Niki! - Wonyoung stands up, glaring at his friend. - Have you forgotten what we talked about? Are you getting carried away again?
The twenty-year-old boy lets the younger boy go, just because of Wonyoung. He doesn't like the fact that she's protecting him again. She's never stood up for anyone before... until he shows up.
Somi walks up to Sunghoon and grabs his arm.
- He drank too much alcohol, I'll take him back to the table... We have no intention of disturbing you - he claims.
"No!" Jake shouts, causing everyone to look at him. Wonyoung has the most intense look. It's enough to make the boy realize he has to stop them. "Have fun with us tonight... I don't think any of us will mind."
The blonde girl turns her attention to her former friend, smiling with the corner of her mouth.
- I don't know if it's a good idea, considering past relationships.
"You can stay. I don't mind. I don't hold a grudge against you," the nineteen-year-old girl says, though it's hard for her to say.
- If that's what you think... - She sits down next to Jake, and a dazed Sunghoon looks at them like they're aliens. Sullyoon smiles and makes room next to him, encouraging his friend to sit next to him.
Niki purses her lips in anger, feeling that the alcohol might make her mouth thick.
***
The next drink Sunghoon has had can be considered a lethal dose. That night, he clearly has had enough of alcohol. He sits at a table, dazed, in the company of Sullyoon, who doesn't take her eyes off him. As a good friend, she wants to take care of him, since he helped her earlier. The rest of the company is on the dance floor, but the girl doesn't really like dancing in public. She's afraid of all these horny guys, she doesn't like being touched by strangers.
Her sisters are at their best dancing with Niki. Jake, on the other hand, is having a great time with Somi, and you can sense that something is going to happen between them tonight, considering how much they both have had to drink.
Wonyoung returns to the table to rest.
- Sister, I have a giant favor to ask of you. I know you barely know Sunghoon, but I'd like to go to the bathroom. I'm worried about him because he's drunk, so please look after him for a moment.
The nineteen-year-old girl nods, seeing no problem with it. She would even do it with great pleasure.
Sullyoon walks away, and Wonyoung approaches the boy, who has his head resting on the table. He's drunk, so she takes advantage of this and touches his hair with her hand, gently stroking his head.
- Why do you draw me to you so much? Why can't I stop thinking about you? How is it that my shy sister gets close to you and I can't?
He opens his eyes and looks at the girl with a half-conscious gaze. She pulls her hand away, embarrassed at being caught red-handed.
"This is coming from the most beautiful woman in school," he says in a hoarse voice, blinking his eyes with difficulty. "There's no way you're interested in me. It's not a fairy tale that a princess would like a black knight," he says, his voice growing fainter.
Wonyoung looks at him with wide eyes.
- Why do you claim to be the black knight?
- Because I want to take revenge on the princess for the past - he replies quietly. - You are the evil princess that I should hate, but I can't.
The girl's heart is beating like crazy. She doesn't understand what he's saying, but he's so drunk that she doesn't take his words seriously.
"What if I told you that you're the only guy I want all to myself?" she asks him, but he doesn't answer. His eyes are closed, his breathing even.
He fell asleep.
Sullyoon returns from the bathroom, and her older sister immediately notices that something is wrong. The eighteen-year-old girl looks scared.
- What's the matter? - she asks when the girl sits down next to her.
"He was here. I ran into him after I left the bathroom. There's something wrong with him. He scares me. He's watching us," she claims, pointing at the boy. Wonyoung looks in that direction and could swear she feels an unfathomable fear.
A strange feeling appears in her, as if she knows him, as if she has seen him before, but certainly not in Inhon. It is a kind of fear, a threat. She feels that he is her enemy, although she does not know him.
The young man smiles at her, and that smile sends shivers down her spine.
Who is he?
- I knew it would end like this. That clown drank himself into oblivion! - Niki's unexpected scream snaps Wonyoung out of her strange frenzy. The rest of the group returns to the table, looking at the drunk Sunghoon. - A hopeless, poor guy who can't even drink alcohol. Why did you take him to the party? Don't you have normal friends, on your level? - He asks Somi.
The blonde girl glares at him.
- I'd like to ask your friends about this. Why do they even hang out with you, moron?
- Luckily, Wonyoung saw the light and stopped being friends with you in advance. Jake only invited you to his table because he wants to fuck you - Niki says sharply.
Jake looks furiously.
- Bite your tongue before you speak. It wouldn't hurt you to think from time to time.
- Stop it! - Sullyoon's scream silences everyone. They look at her with surprised eyes, only now noticing that the youngest is terrified. - He's at the club. I ran into him after coming out of the bathroom. He said something terrifying in my ear...
- Who?
- The man who's stalking me!
Niki and Jake jump up, ready to hunt him down and beat the crap out of him.
- Where is he? - Niki becomes aggressive when he's drunk and can't control his anger. - He'll beat his face so much he'll never come near you again.
"He's gone. He vanished into thin air," Wonyoung says, looking toward the crowd of people. "He disappeared."
- He... he whispered that he came back for revenge. What is his problem?
Wonyoung looks at the sleeping Sunghoon with fear in her eyes as she remembers the words the boy said to her while drunk.
"Because I want to take revenge on the princess for the past"