Chapter 14: The Plaster Ceiling with Ocean Wave Patterns

The toll to cross the Han River, the people who wouldn’t let filth like me sit on the seats, the accusations of theft every time.

I showed my ticket…

Then, seeing Seo-jun’s face, the cycle would begin again.

Her strained expression, the mixture of pity and discomfort. Returning to my empty, cold room.

Eating watery cornmeal from a dented pot, staring at a faded photograph of my family.

The drug-addicted kids who had taken over the shack next door, after the creepy neighbor who tried to assault me was beaten by Seo-jun and later died.

The gangsters demanding repayment for a week’s worth of food my parents had borrowed, now inflated to the price of a house.

The gangsters who offered to employ me in a brothel when I was older, the villagers who said I could earn enough to buy a house in the safe zone below the Han River if I just spread my legs.

And the lonely girl, abandoned in that village, walking towards a place filled with people in white coats, offering sweet treats and welcoming smiles.

—————-

“…Ah…”

I stared at the plaster ceiling, patterned with waves. I sat up.

My shoulders and wrists weren’t twisted or bound.

Just trembling.

Had it been a dream? Too vivid to be a dream.

A white bed, soft sheets, the faint smell of antiseptic. A hospital.

Not the lab. Students in uniform walked past the window.

I wasn’t restrained.

The sky was turning red. A sunset. Some people found it comforting. I found it ominous.

Perhaps I disliked the color red. My eyes, the blood, my ability…

Lost in thought, I stared at the ceiling until the door creaked open.

Seo-jun stood there, an awkward expression on her face, scratching the back of her head.

“You’re finally awake.”

“Hey…” The words tumbled out before I could stop them. She didn’t know who I was.

“Why did you leave me?”

She looked at me, bewildered.

“What are you talking about?”

Of course she didn’t understand. She hadn’t changed at all. I had.

I backtracked.

“Nothing. Just… disoriented.”

“That’s understandable. You’ve been out for three days.”

A heavy silence fell between us. Not suffocating, not sad, just… empty.

“Your attendance will be excused. You were injured, after all.”

Would I, would Yoo Ha-rin, the girl who lived in a dusty, neglected shack, have imagined this?

I had expected awkwardness, perhaps even joy. But not this… blank indifference.

Three days. No wonder I was hungry and thirsty. My body felt dry, brittle.

I grabbed a water bottle from the bedside table and drank it down, but the thirst remained.

Seo-jun pulled a chair over and sat beside me.

“There’s been a misunderstanding.”

“What misunderstanding?”

” Hye-yeon, the girl who attacked you…”

“Yes.”

“She thought you were a villain.”

That wasn’t entirely wrong. I hadn’t officially joined the organization, but I had lived with them.

They had promised to send me to school in exchange for information and infiltration.

“Oh?”

“Not ‘oh.’ She…”

“She saw me as disposable. Someone she could kill without hesitation.”

“…”

Seo-jun lowered her head, avoiding my gaze.

“But they caught the real culprit. They found the missing students from your class. Or rather, they found… traces.”

I had left them somewhere, while wandering the streets, high on drugs. I couldn’t remember where.

“The real culprit?”

“Yes.”

“So, why are you here? You helped her attack me.”

“To apologize.”

“Then she should be here, not you.”

“She… still believes you’re guilty.”

Seo-jun offered a strained smile. I reached out to her, then pulled back, seeing her confused expression. My hand was still trembling.

“She was disciplined for attacking a lower-ranked student without cause.”

“The school punished her, but she doesn’t care enough to apologize to me.”

“…”

I understood. She had seen me with her own eyes. Unless she was drugged or experimented on, she would believe what she saw.

The real culprit… Things like this happened.

A hero needed villains. And sometimes, innocent people were caught in the crossfire.

“I haven’t even asked your name. Can I?”

I smiled, tracing the scar on my cheek, the bandage on my shoulder.

“No. I don’t want to talk to you.”

“I’m… sorry.”

“You don’t have to be. Weak people like us are just… insects to people like you.”

I hated her. She couldn’t even recognize me, just because my appearance and voice had changed slightly.

Why hadn’t I changed my eyes? They were still the same ominous red.

“Maybe I am a villain.”

Her eyes widened. I laughed, a playful, disarming laugh, and continued quickly.

“Honestly, I’m glad those students are gone. They bullied me. Threw rocks at me in class, sharpened pencils… I’m grateful to whoever killed them.”

The words tumbled out, a jumbled mess. I didn’t know what I was saying. Just filling the silence.

“You beat up and torment weaker students in that F-rank classroom, and no one cares. I can only imagine what you do to people like me. We’re not even the same rank. We don’t even wear the same uniform.”

I hadn’t realized how segregated this school was. To me, all ability users had been the same.

Privileged, living comfortable lives, wearing fancy clothes. I should have remembered that Seo-jun wasn’t typical.

“Did you think I would sleep with you just because I’m pretty, even if I’m an F-rank? Just apologize and sweet-talk me, and I’ll spread my legs?”

“That’s why you abandoned me.”

I rushed through the words, not giving her a chance to respond.

“I’m sorry. I’m just angry. Can you leave? I don’t care about your apology. You’re no different than those bullies. At least they didn’t bother me at night.”

“I’ll… come back with Hye-yeon.”

I didn’t care if she came back or not, but the promise, the knowledge that she would seek me out, lifted my spirits.

I smiled brightly, my anger dissipating.

“That would be… nice.”

I had done this before. Forgiven her after a fight, my anger fading quickly.

“Hey…”

She turned back as she reached the door.

“I want peanut caramel. Can you bring some?”

She looked at me, a strange expression on her face, then pulled a peanut caramel candy from her pocket and tossed it to me.

She still carried them.

I stared at the candy, then put it in my pocket. I didn’t like caramel.

Not as much as watery cornmeal.