Work Text:
Maybe Moon Ji Woong does have more to him than he looks, Yu Rim thinks with her hand raised over her head to grasp at the grab handle.
Proof lies before her, he having just offered his seat to the elderly woman which to be fair, most people would do already. But for a teenage boy who comes from a school full of rude and rowdy boys, he has better manners than most.
Yu Rim doesn’t hold back the smile on her lips as she glances at Ji Woong, one hand on the handle and the other holding his aunty’s containers in a plastic bag. Ji Woong grins back at her boyishly, with a sparkle in his eyes.
For a second, Yu Rim feels—
Wait a minute, is that Hee Do running on the footpath?
Yu Rim shakes from her daze, lunging forward to scrutinize her gaze through the glass of the bus windows. Her eyes did not deceive her. Hee Do is running like a horse on the footpath, desperately and keeps looking back to a group of—
Of course Hee Do gets herself in trouble with the gangsters. She always manages to find trouble wherever she goes.
Still, they could lose her from how fast she’s running. Nevermind, they were on motorbikes. Yu Rim’s hands press against the glass as she grinds down on her teeth. Hee Do’s troubles are absolutely none of her own business, why would she want to do that?
Especially when she was perfectly fine, here in the safe bus with Ji Woong. Why would she want to go and help Hee Do, when the girl’s done nothing but wreck her life since she’s gotten here?
Yu Rim slams the stop button connected to the rod holding the seat, before dashing past a confused Ji Woong.
“Stop the bus!” Yu Rim screams, startling the driver to slam on the brakes.
His angry eyes meet Yu Rim’s desperate ones and seems to understand. The moment the bus doors open, Yu Rim bolts out of there. Thankfully, the bus stopped on the side of the road, letting Yu Rim safely jump to the footpath. But the problem lies on the other side of the road, where Hee Do runs from the gangsters’ motorbikes. In a few minutes, she would be as good as dead.
Yu Rim is shocked she can even keep up on her legs. Making a split decision, Yu Rim bounds forward, racking her memory as Hee Do runs across the street to her side. Yu Rim turns the corner before jumping into an enclosed photo booth.
She hears footsteps and pants. Yu Rim recognises Hee Do’s shoes before opening the curtain, yanking the girl in. The sound of the motorbikes pass them and Yu Rim sighs.
“Ko Yu Rim?!” Hee Do practically shouts, breathless.
Yu Rim swears, clapping a hand to her ear. “Holy shit, can you not?!”
“What,” Hee Do takes a moment to catch her breath. “Are you doing here? What — where?”
“Doesn’t matter.” Yu Rim glances over to Hee Do.
Her hair is completely messed up, burst free from their original hairstyle she had worn at school. Hee Do’s face is red, sweat dripping down her face and she gasps for air like a fish out of water.
Yu Rim can’t stop herself from admiring the fencer, even for a moment. She snaps out of it, cursing herself.
“Do — do you think they’re gone?” Hee Do breathes loudly, making Yu Rim set her jaw with a glare.
“Not any longer if you keep breathing so fucking—”
Just as she says it, a veiny hand rips through the side of the curtain, pulling it aside roughly. The pair scream out, frightening the said gangster who had opened it.
“Aagh!” He takes a step back before shouting. “They’re here!”
Yu Rim automatically lunges out of the photo booth, kicking him in the groin. He crumples to the ground with a cry, cursing her. Yu Rim turns around, throwing her hand out frustratedly.
“Are you coming or not?” Yu Rim glares at an awestruck Hee Do, begrudgingly offering her hand.
Hee Do grabs her hand and Yu Rim easily pulls the girl from the photo booth. She hears the rev of motorcycle engines and turns on her heel, running. Hee Do follows after her swiftly, keeping their pace so they wouldn’t lose each other.
“What did you do to get them so angry?” Yu Rim pants curiously between her strides, hearing the engine rev up right on her ankles. “Dive!”
Yu Rim throws herself onto Hee Do, knocking the girl to the ground but thankfully, out of harm’s way from the motorcycle trying to run them over. The momentum leads the motorcyclist into the middle of the road, where a car almost crashes into them, followed by a truck. The truck beeps angrily before the owner gets out.
“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!” He screams, looming over the motorcyclist with his muscular build.
The motorcyclist’s eyes are wide with fear as the man grips his motorcycle. Yu Rim shakes her head, taking it as a cue to move and looks back to realise she’s on top of Hee Do.
“Oh—” A blush obscures her cheeks for some reason as she gets up. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine.” Hee Do replies, averting her gaze, getting up.
Hee Do’s face gets even redder if possible, probably from all the running. Yu Rim doesn’t have time to ask if Hee Do’s okay from how hard she tackled her when the last gangster turns the corner with a screeching halt.
He looks murderous under his helmet, eyes flashing with pure fury.
“That one.” Hee Do says, grabbing Yu Rim’s hand and backing away. “I kinda beat him up with an umbrella in front of all these school girls in a school fight.”
“YOU WHAT?!”
“Time to go!”
Hee Do drags Yu Rim into a running pace that is far too quick for her. She almost stumbles once or twice, swearing under her breath as Hee Do glances over to her in concern. How is she so fast?
Hee Do noticeably slows down to match Yu Rim’s pace, to her embarrassment. To all this, Yu Rim finally realizes she’s been going backwards from where her bus picked her up and they’re nearing the school again.
Again, Yu Rim takes a sharp turn with Hee Do’s hand interlinked with hers. She bursts into her mum’s noodle shop, hauling Hee Do with her. Yu Rim then hides under the counter with Hee Do. Her mum’s in the middle of serving their coach, Chan Mi, a bowl of noodles. She opens her mouth to ask but closes it abruptly when the motorcycle stops outside.
Hee Do’s breathing becomes loud again and Yu Rim digs her nails into her hand sharply to tell her to shut up. Thankfully, she does with a glare. The door swings open with a slam.
Yu Rim gets a good look at the guy who Hee Do angered. He wears a black singlet, boasting his biceps that were bested by an umbrella. His messy hair spills over his goggles, with a silver chain hanging around his neck.
“Are you kidding me, Hee Do?” Yu Rim whispers with a quiet groan. “You got into trouble with that guy?”
“I didn’t mean to embarrass him in front of—” Hee Do starts defensively but shuts up when Yu Rim presses a tight hand over her mouth.
Yu Rim’s wide-eyed glare has her ceasing her resistance.
“Can I help you?” Ms Ko inquires politely as she can but Yu Rim can see she’s shaking slightly.
“Have you seen two brats, girl with long black hair and the other with horrendous bangs?” the gangster demands roughly.
Yu Rim is half a mind to get up and beat him with an umbrella again for the way he talks to her mum.
“They went that way.” Chan Mi says lazily, flicking her finger in a vague direction but away from the shop before agreeing. “Heavy on the bangs.”
Yu Rim hides her smile at Hee Do’s frown as Chan Mi winks at her. The gangster regards her warily before scoffing, hopping back on his motorcycle and driving away.
Hee Do bites down hard on Yu Rim’s hand, who screams out with a curse.
“WHAT THE FUCK!”
“Ko Yu Rim!” Her mum scolds angrily as they both get up.
“Your hand is nasty!” Hee Do shudders.
Yu Rim rubs her palm on her sleeve, hissing. “You could’ve just asked.”
“How many times have I asked you literally anything and you ignored me?” Hee Do retorts.
“Everytime because this is what you do!” Yu Rim flattens her hand to show Hee Do the red mark.
Lightning crackles between the two fencers’ gaze. Yu Rim, again, questions why she even jumped out from the bus to save Hee Do when she would just be ungrateful as ever.
“I thought you two were finally getting along from the way you strolled in here, holding hands.” Chan Mi sighs wistfully.
Yu Rim realizes her hand is still intertwined with Hee Do’s the same time she realizes too. She yanks her hand from Hee Do’s with a scowl, ignoring the burn on her face and the lingering feeling of Hee Do’s skin.
Her calluses from fencing are in the same spot as mine.
“What happened?” Ms Ko asks with concern, walking over to inspect both of them.
“ She got into trouble with three guys running her down on bikes.” Yu Rim points at Hee Do.
“You didn’t have to come help!” Hee Do snaps, pissing Yu Rim off even more.
“But I did! And all you have to say about it is nothing, except bite my hand!” Yu Rim yells.
For a moment, Hee Do’s eyes soften. Yu Rim’s mouth goes dry. For a second, Yu Rim’s heart stops. Hee Do looking at her with something other than anger? That’s new. And certainly, something that Yu Rim could get used to. Then, her expression returns before she scoffs.
“Fine.” Yu Rim can tell it’s grating on her pride as she speaks haltingly. “Thanks for helping. I would’ve probably ended up on my mum’s broadcast if not for you.”
Yu Rim crosses her arms with a smirk. “Yeah. Fencer with horrid bangs from Tae Yang High gets run over by three gangsters.”
“You—” Hee Do starts but then her mum starts.
“Did you deliver the foods for Baek Yi Jin?” She asks.
“Yi Jin?” Hee Do frowns.
“You know Yi Jin?” Yu Rim is suddenly curious.
Why does Yi Jin know Hee Do? He’s four years older than the both of them. Why would she know him at all?
“Oh.” Yu Rim realizes before slapping a hand to her face. “I left them with Ji Woong on the bus!”
“He’s probably taken them then, he wouldn’t just leave your stuff.” Hee Do says.
“Oh my god.” Yu Rim groans. “He said he’s going to his aunt’s. Where does his aunt even live?”
“Oh, you mean Seung Wan’s mum?” Hee Do suggests.
“What?” Yu Rim turns to her.
“Here’s Seung Wan’s pager number.” Hee Do offers her pager to Yu Rim to copy off of.
She exits the building swiftly as Yu Rim finishes typing in Seung Wan’s number before beeping her once. She follows after Hee Do, words in her mouth to ask her for Seung Wan’s address.
She sees the girl looking left and right to check for the motorcyclists before sighing in relief. Then, Yu Rim has to stifle her laugh when she fixes her bangs self-consciously.
“They’re not that bad, right?” Hee Do murmurs, as if to convince herself.
“Nah.” Yu Rim sidles up to her with something of a smile on her face.
They’re pretty cute anyways, Yu Rim thinks as Hee Do stares at her.
“H-huh?” Hee Do goes bright red.
Shit, did I say that aloud?
“Where does Seung Wan live?” Yu Rim changes the subject promptly.
“Oh. I thought you said something else.” Hee Do rubs the back of her neck. “Uh, take that next bus and get off on the third stop, it’ll take you there. You know what, I’ll take you there.”
“Oh, thanks.” Yu Rim thanks her before a moment of awkward silence.
“What the hell is happening?” Hee Do groans, raking her nails down her face. “You’re not supposed to be nice.”
“You’re not supposed to be thoughtful!”
“Okay, then we’re even.” Hee Do crosses her arms before taking a deep breath. “Fuck you.”
“Excuse me?!”
“There’s the bus, bitch! Let’s go!”