1 : arcade

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You were currently at the arcade, wasting your money on games.

About 1 week ago, you had moved into a new town alone. Your parents had left you at a young age, and you were forced to making a living all by yourself. But you didn't know them that well, so you didn't care. It took ages to save enough money from a part-time job to rent a flat, but you finally had enough, and decided it was time to move out of your aunt's basement

In two days, you were going to go to your new school, Kangbuk High school, and you were pretty nervous. Maybe this time you could make a few friends. But now, your main focus was blasting all the enemies in the game.

The "Game Over" sign appeared on the screen in red letters and you sighed, getting of the chair. It was already 5pm, and you had spent 3 hours at the arcade. You didn't even finish unpacking yet.

You sighed and took a deep breath. Normally, people would use their pcs or phones to play video games, but something about arcades just drew you in. Maybe it was the satisfaction of seeing your name at the top 10 list, or the joycons. 

As you walked out, you passed a male focusing on some kind of 1v1 match. He had really long eyelashes, brown eyes with eye bags, and light brown hair cut into a mullet. A camo green bomber jacket was thrown over his shoulders loosely and he was wearing blue jeans and a white shirt.

He noticed you staring and looked over, "Need anything?"

"I- uh, no...", you responded quickly, avoiding eye contact.

"Come play with me", he pointed towards the seat next to him.

It was 5:07 at the moment, but you didn't think it'd take that long to play just one round with him, so you sat right next to him and started a multiplayer match.

One game lasted to two, and two turned into thirteen.

The score was 3-10 with the man, winning.

You grumbled under your breathe trying not to be a sore loser. He was just to skilled. Perhaps he played the game often.

"Hey, what's your name?", he suddenly asked.

You paused, "It's [Y/n], [Y/n] [L/n]. You?"

"Taehun Seong", he replied.

"I think I may have to go now", you said awkwardly. Taehun had seemed to be having fun while playing with you and you didn't want to spoil that. "It's getting kind of late"

He only glanced at you with a distant and almost cold expression. The atmosphere suddenly became tense and you didn't know why.

Taehun shrugged, "Okay, I have to go too anyway"

You grabbed your bag and headed out the door with Taehun in front of you. The sky outside was pretty dark already, and you had lost track of time. It was already 7:22.

Before starting your walk home, you bowed politely to Taehun, "Thank you for playing with me, it was fun. I hope we can do it again sometime"

"Yeah, maybe"


--


You stood in the middle of the doorway, jaw slacked. The person you met yesterday in the arcade, was in fact your classmate.

Taehun was sitting at the back desk in the middle row, feet propped up on his table. Your other classmates seemed to have some kind of fear for him. All of them steered clear in at least a 6 feet radius of him. You waved at him, but he either didn't recognize you, or didn't care- seeing as you were ignored.

The only empty seat was to his left, so you sat down and waited until class started. You were scrolling through your phone until you heard a commotion next to you. Glancing over, you saw that Taehun was looming over some kids and saying something you couldn't hear.

He seemed to be picking on some of his classmates.

When you first met him, you thought Taehun was a decent guy, a little off his rockers, but not this. You stood up and walked over to see what was happening.

Taehun suddenly kicked the guy's friend so fast, that you nearly missed the attack all together

Thats... Taekwondo isn't it?

You put your hands over your mouth as fear froze you into your spot, unable to move or say anything.

Taehun's victim suddenly took off his shoes and gave the to him, and with a satisfied smirk, Taehun walked back to his desk, barely giving you as much as a glance.

Immediately, you rushed to the guy he had kicked and helped him up.

"Are you okay?", you asked frantically.

He tried to wipe his bloody nose with his sleeve, but the blood kept flowing rapidly, "I'll be fine"

You glanced at the person who Taehun had swapped- no, stolen his shoes from. He was crying. And it was painfully obvious why. Those shoes looked to be at least 334,539 won (300 usd).

You reached into the pockets of your jacket. Did you really want to do this?

Yes, it was the right thing to do.

You pulled out your wallet and took out 390,295 won (350 usd), and handed it to the boy. It took a whole month to earn it, but he needed it better than you did, "Here, this should cover your shoes, I'm really sorry about Taehun"

He seemed surprised that you were giving him money in replacement for his shoes. If you were in his place, you'd feel the same way. The kid stuttered out a thanks and went to go take his friend to the nurse's office, looking back at you before he left.

Forget about the money, it was worth it.

After school was over you walked back home silently, thinking about what kind of job you should take to earn back the money.

You had a rough first day, but you hoped it would get better soon. Suddenly remembering you hadn't unpacked yet, you groaned, covering your face in exasperation. Maybe the hours at the arcade was a mistake after all. 

Suddenly you heard the sound of running behind you and you turned on intuition.

It was Taehun.

You hesitated.

"Hey [Y/n] wait up", he called, stopping once he was beside you.

You had mixed feelings for him, and wasn't too sure of what to think, but stopped anyway.

He suddenly shoved a thick roll of bills into your hand, "Take this, it's to pay back for what you gave.

By this point, what you felt was going all over the place. Is he nice or mean? You couldn't tell, but you didn't like people giving you money or gifts, so you tried to give it back, but he moved his hand away.

"Keep it"

Before you could respond, Taehun stepped in front of you protectively. You peeked your head around him and a group of 3 men approached the both of you.

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