THE MISSING

chapter 1| i s s u e s

Friday
October 29, 2021
school

"now students, we all know halloween is coming up this sunday. does anyone remember an event that happened on that halloween night?" questions the teacher.

the classroom stays in silence with confused faces until a boy named jeongin raises his hand.

"yes yang jeongin?" questions the teacher with a small smile

"umm...there was a kingdom around two hundred or three hundred years ago that had seven princes that went missing." says the student jeongin with a bit of nervousness.

"correct. now the seven boys were lee heeseung, park jongseong, sim jaeyun, park sunghoon, kim sunoo, yang jungwon, and nishimura riki." states the teacher with a nod and a smile of satisfaction as she gets up from her start to start her usual lesson and stories to tell.

the girl sitting next to jeongin turns to him with a small smile and holds out her fist to give him a fist bump.

"that was so nerve wrecking. i hate speaking up in class." whispers jeongin

"i know you do, but be proud that you atleast said something." whispers back his good friend, kang hyejin.

hyejin and jeongin have known each other since elementary school due to their parents knowing each other through work. jeongin was always that smart and quiet kid that was shy and awkward. hyejin was similar to jeongin but she was always never afraid to speak her mind out when she had to.

hyejin always didn't understand why she could be bold. she never understood how she can be so quiet, shy, and awkward yet she is never afraid to stand up for herself or others. she was never afraid to pick up a fight when she had to. she would always try to hesitate but something inside would always allow her words and actions to escape.

"what's strange about this story is that when these seven boys went missing at three am of october thirty first, it was reported that, at midnight, their mother...the queen had passed away from a sickness. people have said different things about this story. some people say that the family was cursed, and some say that there's more to the story. but nobody has been able to figure out this story." explains the teacher

hyejin interested in the story raised her hand.

"yes miss kang?" says the teacher

"ma'am, does this castle exist still? like are there ruins of the castle?" questions hyejin

"good question. sadly no one knows what happened to the castle. there are no traces of this place. not even a single artifact was found." says the teacher

"ma'am that's because the story is just a myth. it's not real." laughs a girl named jimin

some group of girls and boys quietly let out giggles.

"psh yeah this story is honestly so childish." complains one of the boys named seon.

hyejin found herself becoming annoyed and angry at the student's childish acts. hyejin looked at her teacher and the teacher seemed a bit sad and disappointed with a bit of embarrassment. hyejin could sense it.

"can you just let her teach?! she's just trying to give us a lesson and make things interesting. you guys are the ones being childish. grow up." explains hyejin with annoyance as she rolls her eyes and looks back at her teacher.