Hexed Intention

“He—help me… Help me…”

Jiyoo was gasping for breath, completely exhausted. Yoonmin clicked his tongue as he looked back at her. How could she already be out of breath? They had only run about 50 meters!

Behind them, the sound of light, rapid footsteps echoed down the street. Jian was catching up quickly, probably thanks to her kickboxing or Muay Thai or whatever training. On top of that, her legs were unfairly long. There was no way Yoonmin could outrun her.

“Wait, Yoonmin! Don’t run! I just want to talk! Hold on!”

He glanced over his shoulder at her incredulously. If you were me do you think you’d stop?

What was her deal? Did she actually end up taking it to the school violence committee? Or was she not satisfied with slapping him just once and wanted to hit him a few more times? Regardless, Jian certainly wasn’t bringing good news.

If it came down to physical confrontation, Yoonmin knew he wouldn’t stand a chance. Being a naturally fast runner didn’t matter much when you were an out-of-shape introvert who spent all your time reading black magic books.

But Yoonmin did have one advantage over Jian; he knew the lay of the land. Popular kids weren’t afraid of crowds and always seemed to stick to the main roads, laughing as they traveled in packs. But Yoonmin? He avoided people like it was his life’s purpose. He had walked every sidestreet, back alley, shortcut, nook, and cranny in this neighborhood. He probably knew this place better than the local rats did.

For instance, if you opened the door next to the ice cream shop in the Donga Building, there was a back alley that led out.

“Where are you going?” Jian called out.

That alley connected to a parking lot, and if you cut through the parking lot, there was a playground.

“Seriously, where are we?” she groaned, footfalls slapping on uneven concrete.

Next to the playground, there was a building under construction with a small path the workers used to get to the bathroom.

“What the hell have you been doing to even know this route?” She was far too close.

If you followed that path and took the side trail up the hill, you’d find a detour—

“Enough! Stop, you maniac!” Jian shouted, irritation crackling in her voice.

Yoonmin was starting to feel nervous. His tricks were running out, and he hadn’t expected Jian to have this much stamina. Even when she fell behind, she caught up with Olympic speed. She didn’t even appear to be out of breath.

Meanwhile, Yoonmin was just a weak, out-of-shape reject, and Jiyoo… Well, to put it delicately, she was dead weight.

“I… I can’t… go any… further…” Jiyoo wheezed. “I’m… done…”

Jiyoo was pitifully slow for obvious reasons. She had no body fat, no muscle, and she hated going outside. Yoonmin couldn’t run at full speed while dragging her along. Without Jiyoo, he might’ve already escaped Jian by now.

Wait a second…

A thought flashed through Yoonmin’s mind.

Why am I even dragging Jiyoo along?

Now that he was actually thinking about it, Jian wasn’t chasing Jiyoo. She didn’t even know Jiyoo. Judging by Jian’s personality, she wouldn’t bother with a girl she’d never seen before. So then…

“Jiyoo,” Yoonmin said, sliding to a stop

Jiyoo took a few gulps of air before answering. “Yeah?”

“Why don’t you just stay here for a minute?”

They were in a narrow alleyway, barely wide enough for one person. Yoonmin shuffled around to face Jiyoo.

She was still breathing hard, but her expression shifted. “What?”

“You don’t need to run with me. Just stand here while I lose her, and then I’ll come back. Okay?”

It was a genius plan. If Jiyoo stayed here and blocked the way, he’d definitely be able to escape and circle back.

But things never went as planned for Yoonmin.

“Are you trying to ditch me right now?”

“Ditch you?” he said, confused. “We’re just separating strategically for a few minutes.”

“You’re ditching me!” she yelled, leveling an accusatory finger at him. “I’ve been running along with you even though my lungs are on fire! I’ve been spending all my energy trying not to puke, and now you’re abandoning me because we’re about to get caught!”

“Th—thanks, Jiyoo,” he stammered, feeling as though he’d fallen into some kind of trap. “But I’m serious, I’ll be right back.”

“You’re just using me as a roadblock, aren’t you?” she snapped. “I’m dead weight. You want me to stay here to slow her down. You expect me to go head to head with that terrifying girl alone, don’t you?”

“Well… uh…” He couldn’t exactly deny it. That had been his plan, but it sounded bad when she said it like that.

“I’m totally right!” Jiyoo shouted angrily. “No way, you’re not leaving me behind! If we die, we die together!”

Her arms clamped in a vicelike grip around his waist.

“Jiyoo! Let go of me!”

“No!”

“At least run with me, then!” Exasperation and panic were twining their way through his stomach. “Please, Jiyoo!”

“No! I can’t run!”

“Ugh, Jiyoo!” He tried fruitlessly to pry her off. “Let go of me!”

“Die, Yoonmin! Die with me!” she howled.

In the midst of their scuffle, Jian finally caught up to them. She stopped dead in front of them, staring blankly at the picture before her. A small, red-faced girl wrapped like a spider monkey around the pasty-white school outcast.

“Uh… What are you two doing?”

***

“I’m… I’m really sorry about this morning,” Jian said, the moment they sat down at a nearby café. She hung her head, the picture of remorse. It was Jian who suggested they talk at a café, and Yoonmin had agreed. First, because he figured she wouldn’t hit him in a public place, and second, because he wanted to get something for Jiyoo to eat in the hopes it would placate her.

He hadn’t expected Jian to apologize like this.

“I heard from Haein,” Jian mumbled. “She told me you didn’t do anything wrong. It was all her fault….”

“Really? She said that?” His heart began to pound when, suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his scalp. “Ow!”

He turned to see Jiyoo ripping a hair from his head.

“What—” he said, staring at her. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to curse you, Yoonmin Seo,” Jiyoo growled.

He heaved a sigh. “This is a misunderstanding.”

“What is? Huh? What’s a misunderstanding?”

He fished around in his mind for something to say, but came up empty.

Damn, what do I do? Yoonmin thought. Maybe ordering the sweetest thing this place sold would help. Sugar should make her feel better. As he stood to place the order, Jian pulled out her wallet.

“I’ll pay. It’s the least I can do after what I did.”

“Sure,” he said with a shrug. “Go ahead.”

How many people at school could say they’d had a coffee paid for by Jian Kim? He felt a brief sense of superiority before looking at Jiyoo’s sulky face, which immediately brought his ego right back down.

“I’ll have an iced caramel macchiato and a homemade cookie,” he relayed. “Oh, by the way, does the cookie have peanuts in it? Allergy.”

Jian’s brows shot up. “Yoonmin, you’re allergic to peanuts?”

“No. Jiyoo is.”

“Oh.” Jian paused for a moment. “I see.”

Once their orders arrived, and Jiyoo had a cookie in her hand, Yoonmin immediately launched into an apology, not caring if Jian or anyone else in the café saw him groveling. Right now, she was the most important person in his life. She was his only friend. Unlike that she-devil, Haein, Jiyoo would never betray him—she was a true friend.

She also wasn’t the type to get over things easily. If he ignored her now and kept talking to Jian, she’d stay mad for a month, minimum. No doubt about it.

“I’m sorry, Jiyoo. I didn’t want you to get caught up in my mess and end up getting hurt.” He hoped he sounded sincere.

Jiyoo scoffed. “If you really felt that way, you should’ve run off without me in the first place.”

“That… Well, I was too panicked to think straight.” He shot a look at Jian. “I mean, who can stay calm when someone like her is after them?”

Jian’s eyebrow twitched. She didn’t seem to appreciate his implication, but Yoonmin didn’t care.

Jiyoo considered him for a few seconds. “Fine. But why did you tell me to stand in that alley? You were using me as a roadblock, weren’t you?”

“Roadblock?” Yoonmin mustered the most offended tone he could manage. “A roadblock? Do you think I would really do that?”

“Then why’d you tell me to stay?”

“Uh…” His brain was practically whirring with the effort of coming up with a plausible excuse. “Well, you said you couldn’t keep going, so I figured you could catch your breath there while I shook her off. I was going to come back for you, really. That’s what I meant.”

“Hmm…” Jiyoo regarded Yoonmin with a sidelong look, then began silently nibbling on her cookie.

Crap, did that work? Did that even make sense?

As Yoonmin continued to steal glances at Jiyoo, Jian spoke up.

“You’re more observant than I thought.”

Yoonmin eyed her. “Are you mocking me?”

“No… I guess I just didn’t really know you.”

Yoonmin almost laughed. Of course she didn’t know him. Did aristocrats bother to learn the names of their serfs? In the unspoken caste system that existed at high school, Jian was a Brahmin or Kshatriya, while Yoonmin was a Shudra. They didn’t belong to the same world.

“Looking at you now,” Jian continued, “I can tell you’d never actually say something that crude to Haein. I just made assumptions…”

Yoonmin snorted. “Obviously, you delinquent."

Jian looked down at the table, guilt written across her face. “I know. I acted like some kind of gangster. You were trying to protect Haein, right? That’s why you stayed quiet, even when I was yelling at you.”

Yoonmin’s brows furrowed. “No, it’s not like that—”

“I was way out of line,” Jian interrupted. “I wanted to impress Haein, so I jumped to conclusions without hearing the full story…You didn’t throw the blame on Haein, even after I hit you… but I acted like a thug. I’m trash. Complete garbage.”

What is wrong with her?

Where had the confident, tough Jian gone? Now, her eyes were brimming with tears.

“I’m sorry, Yoonmin, I’m really sorry. How can I make it up to you? Just hit me. Punch me as hard as you can. Then can we call it even.”

Yoonmin felt his mouth fall open. “What the hell are you saying? You really think I’m going to hit you?”

She sighed, eyes shuttering. “Now that I think about it, in dodgeball, I… You know what, hit me twice, okay? Two punches.”

“I said no,” he stated flatly.

In truth, Yoonmin didn’t consider getting slapped that morning to be a big deal. Sure, it wasn’t pleasant, but it also wasn’t his first time getting smacked around. He’d already accepted that this was just how the world worked, and he had settled into simply enduring it.

Besides, even though Jian was acting apologetic, if Yoonmin hit her back, there would be repercussions. Jian’s father was the chief of police. There was no way he’d let it slide if his beautiful daughter came home with a black eye.

“Come on…” Jian murmured, eyes still glassy.

“Ugh, leave it alone,” Yoonmin groaned. “Just drink your coffee and get out.”

Jian’s fingers slid through her hair and formed claws at her scalp.

“Why am I like this? I hit someone who didn’t even do anything wrong, I upset Haein… What would my mother think of me? I’m a total disgrace to her memory.”

What the… Why is she bringing her dead mom into this?

The fact that Jian’s mother had passed away was information Yoonmin did not need. His mind was already spinning. Trying to pacify a sulking Jiyoo was hard enough, and now Jian was on the verge of a full-blown meltdown. The café staff and customers were glancing over at Yoonmin’s table.

They’re probably thinking, “Did that guy just make her cry?” It was spelled out all over the faces turned his way.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Yoonmin muttered to himself.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

Tears spilled from Jian’s eyes. She had begun to rock back and forth, muttering apologies over and over. Yoonmin screwed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. Utterly exasperating.

“Alright, alright, I get it,” he said finally.

“Huh?” Jian lifted her tearstreaked face to meet Yoonmin’s gaze. “Are you going to hit me?”

Was that a hopeful note in her voice?

“No,” he repeated, rolling his eyes. “Let’s just pretend it never happened.”

“Just let it go? But I didn’t even get hit, it’s not a fair trade. Should I get down on the floor and beg?”

“Just drop it already,” Yoonmin grunted.

Ignoring him, Jian began to slide down to the floor. Yoonmin caught her and hastily pulled her back up.

“Let’s just leave it in the past,” he insisted, just wanting this to end. “The moment we walk out of this café, it will be like nothing ever happened.”

Jian wiped her eyes. “What about Haein?”

“That’s none of your business, so don’t worry about it.”

Jian nodded slowly.

“Just… Chill out, okay?”

“Yeah… Okay.”

When Jian finally relented, Yoonmin departed for Jiyoo’s house, his sullen friend trailing behind.

Of course, it took him three hours to bribe and wheedle Jiyoo out of her sour mood.

***

“Yoonmin!” Jian strode to the back of the classroom and grabbed Yoonmin by the shoulder. “Good morning!”

“Ugh, what?” he grumbled. “What’s with you?”

“What do you mean? We’re friends now.” Jian smiled broadly at him.

“Didn’t I tell you to chill out? You’re going overboard.”

Ignoring him, Jian walked off to Haein’s desk.

“Haein, did you see that?” she said proudly. “I’ve completely made up with Yoonmin.”

“Oh… uh… yeah.” Haein looked deeply uncomfortable, standing awkwardly beside her desk.

“I’ll help you and Yoonmin fix your issues too! This time, I won’t do anything stupid, I promise!”

Haein stood there with her mouth slightly open, glancing back and forth between Jian and Yoonmin. After a long pause, she finally responded.

“…Okay.”