Chapter Text
A world without you...is a world without meaning. A world with you is a world filled with light. I swear to you...on my very life to keep you far from harm, for you are the only reason my heart is still beating. My beloved. The person whom I truly love. Like flowing water, you gently envelop me. Ever since the first time you had me in your embrace, I've begun to drown myself in you. When I'm reminded that I've met you, those times fill me with absolute bliss... Those times are what I truly cherish...
In a tall, abandoned building, a silvery-white casket lies in the middle of a large, empty room. The casket was embellished with a large golden cross in the centre of its lid and golden fixtures around the edges. Gradually the lid of the casket begins to creak open. As the lid opens, smoke pours out into the room and from the smoke, a shadowy figure emerges. After the smoke clears and the room falls silent, an elegantly dressed young man stands in place, wearing clothes befitting a noble, standing in the middle of the room. He was dressed in a black suit with a golden waistcoat and a white shirt complete with a lace jabot cravat and cuffs. He wore a silver cross earring on his left ear. He has jet-black hair and as he opens his eyes for the first time, his crimson eyes seem to glow as bright as jewels as he looks around the room.
He remains ever so silent as he gazes around the room. He looks over to the door and notices that it is locked so he turns his attention to the curtained window. He slightly raised his hand and the curtains flew open, followed quickly by the window. The young man walked over and stepped onto the balcony. His jacket fluttered in the wind. His crimson eyes gazed out into the concrete jungle of South Korea. The young man was confused by the sight of the city, which begs the question. How long had he been asleep?
The young man looks down at the people below. He was quite high up in an abandoned building so he adjusted his sight to get a better look at the people below. He notices several students wearing prestigious-looking uniforms. A white blazer, a greyish-blue dress shirt, a dark grey tie, and light grey pants. After taking note of their uniforms, the young man steps back and raises his arms. His clothes began to dissolve and were replaced with the uniform of the students below, except with the lace jabot cravat still in place.
******
It was a normal working day. The streets are full of people either going to work or school. One of these people included a young girl who was on her way to school, passing some of her fellow school/classmates. She smiled as she waved a friendly 'hello' to a few of them and all the boys who saw her stopped in their tracks and blushed at the sight of her and stared at her with lovestruck eyes. A beautiful girl with a slender figure, brownish purple mid-back length hair with some tied in a half-braided style pulled with a dark blue thin bow at the left side of her head, fair skin and warm mulberry eyes. Before any of them could work up the courage to approach her, the girl's cell phone goes off in her bag and she reaches for it to answer the call. She could only smile as she knew full well what was going to happen.
"Hi, Ik-Han. What's up?" She happily greeted, only to be met with a nervous-toned plea on the other end.
"Eun-Ji? Could you stop by Shinwoo's place, please?" Ik-Han asked. Sounding almost embarrassed. But Eun-Ji just laughed in amusement, assuring that it was no big deal. Well, at least not today anyway.
"Let me guess, Shinwoo overslept, again, and he needs my help to rush him to school. Again." Eun-Ji said with an amused smile.
"Yeah...that's pretty much it." Ik-Han said, laughing awkwardly.
"Classic goof. At this point, he's probably running for his life to get to school." Eun-Ji said. Holding back a giggle as she could just imagine how frantic her best friend was getting right now. "Let him take the usual punishment and things will go on as normal. I love Shinwoo, but I'm not gonna be his alarm clock or his go-to ride to school."
Ik-Han gave a soft laugh. He had a feeling she would say something like that and knew she was right. This was a Shinwoo problem and they weren't going to help him get up in the morning all the time. "He's gonna be moody about it all day, you know?"
Eun-Ji smiled as she could only wish she could see Shinwoo's face as he rushed to beat the bell. "Ah, he'll get over it. You just focus on getting to school for yourself, okay?" Eun-Ji said.
"Sure. See you there." Ik-Han said. After their temporary goodbyes, Eun-Ji puts away her phone and continues on her way to school. Ye Ran High School. A prestigious academy that also helps support the students' freedom. So as long as they followed the school's rules, of course. While Eun-Ji was on her way to the academy, a little ways away, someone else was also following the few stragglers on their way to school. The young man walks along the street, following the path his mind tells him as he grabs the attention of everyone around him. Some schoolgirls blush at his sight whilst others stare at him, shocked to see someone as posh-looking and handsome as him.
The man ignores the attention and waits for the green light to cross the road. The green light flashes, yet the man doesn't seem to know what the light represents, therefore standing still. However, he learns that the green light allows one to cross the road, free from danger, by looking at other people, who start to cross the road. He sets out and crosses the road gently.
After walking along a bit more, he sees lots of students running past him as they are late for school. He stops. Standing there, he's unable to understand why they are in such a rush. That's when he heard a voice talking to him from behind. "I don't think it's the time to be so relaxed, Pedro's at the gate today." The man turns around to confront the boy face-to-face. The owner of the voice was an athletic-looking teenager with bright red hair and blue eyes and had a bandage over the bridge of his nose. He appeared to be fit and extremely attractive.
When the crimson-eyed man turned to him, the boy freaked out after making eye contact with him. Just by looking at him, the boy knew there was something off about the guy. 'W-what...this guy...!!!' He thought to himself. There wasn't anything unusual about him, but something didn't sit right with the boy. He opened his mouth to say something when his eyes fell on his watch. He freaked out, even more, when he saw the time. 'Oh, the time!! Now's not the time to be talking to others!' He was going to be late, again, and he did NOT want to deal with Pedro. Again. Putting things into high gear, the boy hoisted up his school bag and ran for it. As he runs to school, he shouts back at the man, "If you don't hurry too, you'll be late!"
The boy rushes to beat the bell and be on time for once. However, he then started to slow down. Thinking back to the silent man's appearance. Was there always a guy that was this good-looking at his school? If he was that eye-catching, there's no way he wouldn't be known around school... That was so weird about him. He was so sure that if he was a student there, then he and everyone else would've known about it and then some. Speaking of school, why the heck was he slowing down?! The redhead quickened the pace as the man slowly followed him.
After a short while, the man then stops at the gate of the school. Seeing a plaque engraving on one of the pillars. Seeing it, it read Ye Ran High School. He then heard a man speak in a grave tone. "How dare you be tardy when I'm watching the gate? I can't just leave the guys in our class alone." As the man looks through the bars, he sees a man boiling in anger and radiating some sort of aura. He was a big bulky man with a large 'X' shaped scar across his forehead and had very short hair and an intimidating appearance.
On the school grounds, there stands a great stone, carved with a famous quote by William Ernest Henley: "I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul."
Pedro, more commonly known as Mr. Park, as well as the redhead's main teacher, stands in front of the late students, who are kneeling in front of him. He walked back and forth with a stick in his hand, intimidating the frightened students. Then, he stops in front of the red-haired boy. "Han Shinwoo. You're late again." He stated as he smacked him on the head with the stick. Shinwoo could only chuckle in embarrassment, rubbing the back of his head. His embarrassment deepened when he heard the other students laughing under their breaths.
Shinwoo became flustered, his cheeks turning red as he turned to tell them, "D-don't laugh." But they couldn't help themselves. After all, Shinwoo was pretty well-known for being late from time to time. That's when Shinwoo's eyes went wide when he saw her amongst the other students. A pretty young girl with shoulder-length black straight hair and light brown eyes. Seeing her pretty face, smiling and giggling with the other two girls, made the situation for him that much worse. 'Ugh...In front of Yuna of all people...!!!' Shinwoo thought to himself. Felt all the more stupid now that the girl he had a crush on was there.
"Now, everyone has to run five laps for being late!!!" Mr. Park orders the students.
"Wh-what?" "Five laps??" The students say, already beginning to complain to their teacher. Telling him that it was so early in the day, how hard it was, how it was too much, etc. But Mr Park was a strong man and wasn't going to budge just because these kids couldn't get here on time. That is until he sees Yuna begging him to reduce the punishment and sees that Shinwoo's starting at Yuna with concern. That's when he got an idea and gave a sly grin. Shinwoo took notice of this and saw him grinning at him. Just by looking at his ace, Shinwoo got a bad feeling. 'W-what's up with that look?' Shinwoo thought nervously to himself.
Very soon, his bad feeling was proven right. Because Mr. Park had singled him out and, loud and clear, proposed an alternative. "If Shinwoo runs seven laps, I'll let everyone else go with just three laps."
"What?!" Shinwoo shouted in shock, freaking out at the blatant offer he was throwing out. He wanted to say something but he quickly noticed the rest of the students staring at him, silently pleading with him to take one or the team. "O-oy..." He went. Again, he wanted to say something but he fell silent when he saw Yuna giving him a pleading expression. So, like a man, Shinwoo swallowed his pride and gave a weak smile. "Well...I'll run...I guess. I have enough energy to spare." He cooly says.
"Thank you, Shinwoo!" His friends say as they rush towards him to embrace him in gratitude. When the redhead saw Yuna smiling at him, his mood greatly enhanced as he blushed a little and smiled back at her. However, that smile did not last very long. Shinwoo was now going onto his fourth lap and already waiting for the sweet embrace of death. He was panting heavily and was so close to passing out. He was wobbling all over the place and sweating like a pig. "Maybe I'm getting old, but my body's just not the same... What kind of guy built this field so wide...?" He questioned with an exhausted breath.
While Shinwoo kept on running and getting closer to death, the other students finished up their laps and went back to the stone to pick up their belongings. "Alright, class is starting. Whoever's done with their laps, hurry to class." Mr. Park orders them. The other students all gave a word of agreement and quickly headed over to their first class. As Mr. Park watched them leave, he got the weird sense that something was watching them. Sensing something, Pedro sharply turns around to see the man from earlier standing proudly at the gate. Mr. Park's eyes went wide when he saw him. Not just because Mr Park didn't notice him at first, but also because he looked so calm and in control. Okay, weirdo. What's more, this student didn't say a word to him. He just...stared at him with a blank look on his face. There was an awkward silence as the two stared at each other before the teacher finally broke the tension in the air.
"No way... You came just now?" He asks. But, as usual, the man remained quiet. Once the awkwardness faded away, Mr Park regained his composure. "I didn't realise you were tardy. You're way too confident." Mr Park said, surprised to see another student arriving late for school. Well, class is about to start, so maybe just this once, he'll let him off with a war... Wait a minute. Mr Park took another look at the handsome young man. Looking at the top of his head down to his shoes. "Wait...I haven't seen you before." He said. He walked towards the mute student and crossed his arms. Scrutinising the young man, being sure he had never seen him before. He'd for sure remember a face like his. The crimson-eyed man stayed perfectly silent as he stared at the teacher.
When Mr Park backed away from him, left with more questions than answers, Shinwoo had completed his laps and wobbled over to his teacher. Totally out of breath, he said, "...I'm done running... I'm gonna die." He was hunching forward to catch his breath, so he wasn't aware of what was going on. That is until he glanced up and caught a familiar sight and was just as surprised as Mr Park was. "Oh, you're..." Shinwoo began to say as he stared up at the mysterious man.
"Someone you know?" Mr Park asked Shinwoo, pointing over to the man.
"No. I just met him just a while ago." Shinwoo replied, scratching his head.
"Is that so? So you're saying it's the first time you're seeing him too." Mr. Park said, going into thought. Shinwoo looked at his teacher in slight confusion.
"Huh? It's your first time seeing him too?" Shinwoo asked. But that did make him think. As a fellow student, Shinwoo was sure that he remembered this guy. With a gorgeous face like his, he's bound to be high on the popularity list alongside Eun-Ji. However, because he had never seen him before, and because Mr. Park was meeting him for the first time, that could only mean one thing. "Then he's a transfer student?" Shinwoo asked.
"Hm?" Mr Park went as he looked at the redhead with a raised brow. A transfer student?
"There's no way he wouldn't be known around our school with that kind of face. Check out this silhouette!" Shinwoo says as he gestured to all of the silent man's physique. Mr. Park gave the man another examination, and after hearing Shinwoo's words, crossed his arms. Nodding his head in agreement.
"Yeah, it seems you're right." He said.
"Right?" Shinwoo said, copying his movements.
"You, did you transfer here today?" Mr. Park asked the other "student". There was another awkward silence that hung in the air around them as the man continued to be silent. Yeah, this guy is a total weirdo... After a few moments, the man finally responded. Answering his question...with a nod. Now that they had gotten their confirmation, Mr Park and Shinwoo gave each other a wide smile.
"It would've been better if you said so from the beginning." Mr. Park tells him. He took another look at him, but he couldn't tell if he was from around the general area or if he was a foreigner. "So...where did you come from?" He asked. The mysterious young man fell silent once again. "So, you're not planning on saying anything again? And just right now, you didn't speak but just nodded your head...you just learned that somewhere right? If someone asks you something, you need to respond!!!" Mr. Park sternly tells the silent man with Shinwoo cheering him on in the background.
The young man stared at them for a moment. Figuring that they'll be waiting for his answer for how long it takes, the man finally uttered his words. Unfortunately, he said it in an otherwordly language that was so unrecognisable, Shinwoo and Mr. Park stared at the man like he had grown three heads. What the heck did he just say? Of course, considering that Mr. Park was the adult here, Shinwoo turned to him. Hoping that he could translate or get a rough estimate. "W-what did he say?" He asked.
Mr. Park was left completely silent. He honestly had no idea what he just said. He had never heard that type of language before and had no idea of its origin. Though wanting to save face, Mr. Park turned away from Shinwoo. "H-he...says he's from far away..." He tells him. Hoping he sounded convincing. Thankfully, Shinwoo believed him and nodded.
"Oh~. So he's from far away." Shinwoo said.
"Hmm... It seems he's from overseas. Probably..." Mr. Park said, muttering that last part to himself.
"That's that. It seems he's from our country but there's something off. At the same time, it seems like he's not from our country..." Shinwoo says.
Mr Park was merely coughing to himself. The red-headed teen looked over at the mysterious man once more and asked, "You there, are you perhaps a mix or a foreigner?" To which the crimson-eyed man responded with another silent nod. This makes Shinwoo and Mr. Park spread a wide grin at each other. "Of course. It was like that." The teen said.
"There's certainly a difference between you two. First off, compare him to a short guy like you! Puhahaha!" Mr. Park bellowed out a laugh, pointing out Shinwoo's legs. Of course, the teen didn't take too kindly to that remark. He always knew that Mr. Park had it out for him. Well, two can play that game! Shinwoo copied Pedro by placing his hands on his hips and standing tall.
"Right? I realised it too when I compared myself to you, teacher!!! Puahaha! Compared to you, the whole human race looks different!" Shinwoo laughed. Pretty soon, the teacher and student were sharing a boisterous, wholehearted laugh as if they were lifelong drinking buddies. They stood there laughing away while the quiet man continued to stand in silence as he stared at them with a blank expression. The laughter soon died off very quickly when they noticed he was still standing there. Still staring at them. Great...now they were starting to feel like idiots. They both turned away from him to preserve some shred of dignity. All joking aside, now that they know that this young man was a transfer student from abroad, he needs to be properly set in the course. Hmm...Mr. Park has a class to teach, so...
"Han Shinwoo. Take responsibility and guide him to Principle Lee." Mr. Park tells the young redhead.
"What?!" Shinwoo asked in shock and annoyance. Getting more aggravated that Mr Park had just set him up and left him. Effectively ignoring him and his complaints. "Teacher! How could you just leave?! Oh man~." Shinwoo let out a frustrated groan as he laments how crappy this day has been for him. He just knows Eun-Ji is just smiling it up in class right now. Well...he might as well get this over with. Shinwoo turned his attention to the silent red-eyed man and said, "Cheh~. Hey, you. Let's go." After Shinwoo slugs his schoolbag over his shoulder, they both head towards the school and to the Principal's office. It was kinda awkward since the dude was quiet all the time but at this point, Shinwoo was getting used to it. This exchange student was super weird but he'd seen and met weirder things, so it didn't matter either way.
Inside the Principal's office, a very handsome and elegant man sat at his desk having a cup of tea while reading the newspaper. He was tall and had shoulder-length silky blond hair and bright blue eyes. As he took a sip of his tea, a knock came at his door. "Come in." He said. He almost had to hold in his laughter when he saw Shinwoo open the door. He gave his young student a friendly smile. "Oh~, Shinwoo. For what reason did you come here? Some kind of trouble again?" He asked knowingly.
Shinwoo let out a sheepish laugh as he rubbed the back of his head. "Heh-heh. That's not it. There was a transfer student, so I brought him here." Shinwoo tells him as he approaches the older man's desk.
"Transfer?" The Principal asked.
"The teacher told me to take him to you." Shinwoo said.
"Is that so? Thank you. You should return to class before you're any later." The Principal said, excusing the young redhead. This was a little unusual, he hadn't received any word about a new student coming in today. Hmm, he must've missed the memo somewhere in his flies.
"Yes." Shinwoo says as he gives his Principal a small, respective bow before walking back to the door. He swung his school bag over his shoulder and told his new fellow student, "Try going in. I'll be going now." With a small wave, Shinwoo leaves the silent man behind, making his way to class. The crimson-eyed man watched him go for a moment before he entered the office. His footsteps lightly echoed throughout the room.
The Principal was looking through his documents to double-check if he had been given any notice about any transfer student transferring in. But found nothing of the sort. "Hm~. A transfer student..." He says as he adjusts his reading glasses. "That's weird. There's nothing regarding a transfer student in the documents." Hmm, well, if the student is already here then maybe they can work something out. Now, let's see who this new student is. The Principal removed his glasses and was ready to greet the new face of Ye Ran High School, but when he lifted his eyes, the Principal was shocked beyond belief at the person standing before him. "N-no way...!!!" The Principal said, his breath caught in his throat. He rose from his seat and stared at the young man as if he were looking at a being who had woken up from the dead. No way... Was this reality? Was he gazing upon the person he believed he was?
"It's been a while..." The man suddenly says. Speaking for what seems to be the first time in so long. "Frankenstein."