Just like any regular school day, I sat in my seat, bored out of my mind. I simply didn’t understand how some people could be so focused on studying when it was so incredibly boring. Even that girl, Ji-Soo, studied diligently. To me, she didn’t come across as the scholarly type.

  With her appearance, wouldn’t it have been more normal for her to be a social butterfly? She didn’t act like the other girls, which was exactly why I hated her. Without realizing it, I had been staring at her for more than ten minutes. Her diligent, graceful figure as she worked on her homework was undeniably attractive…

  Wait, what was I thinking? Had I gone crazy? How could I think something like that? The idea disgusted me so much that I almost pulled my hair out. Beside me, my friend Ki-Tae gave me a look as if he thought I had lost my mind.

  When I finally came back to my senses, I heard a sound from behind me. Three girls were chit-chatting, but their conversation was highly disturbing. I couldn’t hear everything they said, but they were plotting to mess with the class vice president.

  Wait, the vice president? Wasn't that Ji-Soo? Why were they trying to mess with her?

  I was so curious that I leaned in to eavesdrop.

  But instead of receiving the gossip I long for, I received silence.

  Why had they stopped talking? Weren’t they just chattering a moment ago?

  “Dude, what are you doing?” the leader of the girl group, Mimi, asked, pushing my face away from her desk.

  “What were you talking about just now? You want to mess with the vice president?” I asked.

  “Yeah. You want to join?” Mimi replied with a smirk. It was the kind of smirk that suggested she believed she and I were the same kind.

  I was genuinely curious about what they were trying to do, but the memory of a previous encounter with Ji-Soo was still fresh in my mind. The humiliation. The insults. Not even my mother could humiliate me as much as she did. I knew better than to mess with her again. Still, I figured it wouldn't hurt to just listen to what they had to say.

  “I’ll consider it,” I said. “Tell me.”

  Ki-Tae abruptly shifted his chair around.

  “Let me hear it too!” he chimed in, looking even more excited than I was.

  Mimi and the other girls looked back and forth between us, then nodded.

  “We want to put cockroaches in her lunch, shove trash in her locker, and hide a dead mouse in her desk drawer. That will teach her a lesson,” Mimi declared, clearly proud of her idea.

  I nodded.

  “That’s a good idea,” I replied. After all, it wasn't the worst thing ever, right? In middle school, I had seen plenty of kids go much further than this. Their methods had ranged from public humiliation and death threats to severe beatings and even toilet violence.

  Trust me, they exist.

  Compared to all that, Mimi’s pranks were actually quite cute.

  “No, that would be too easy on her!” one of Mimi’s underlings protested. Her distinguishing feature is a bright pink ribbon tied neatly into a ponytail.

  Mimi perked up. “What do you mean?”

  “It means we’re going too easy on her! Let's beat her up, or at the very least, ruin her gym uniform. You know the PE teacher and how strict he is,” the pink-ribbon girl explained.

  “Wait, that’s actually a pretty great idea! But aren't we getting a new gym teacher soon, though? The teacher is away right now, isn't he?”

  “Well, we can figure that out when the time comes,” the pink-ribbon girl said. She then turned to me, suddenly acting coy. “When that happens, can you help us ruin her uniform?”

  Just as I was about to refuse…

  “Yes, we will gladly do it! You don’t know how much this friend of mine hates that girl!” Ki-Tae blurted out, interrupting me.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” I whispered, viciously pinching his leg. “Who asked you to speak for me?”

  “But isn’t that what you want?” Ki-Tae whispered back, clutching his throbbing thigh in pain.

  “What? You don’t want to do it?” Mimi said, after she noticed my hesitation.

  At her words, I pondered deeply for a moment, weighing the pros and cons. I glanced back and forth between Mimi and Ji-Soo, who was still diligently working on her homework with her friends.

  “Okay, I’ll do it,” I finally answered.

  After all, it felt like reasonable payback, and as long as I didn't get caught, it would be fine, right?

  *****

  The next day, I went to school as usual. I didn’t dare arrive late; after all, there was bound to be an entertaining show.

  I sat upright in my seat, waiting for the drama to unfold. Mimi and her group had wanted to start the day by stuffing death threats and trash into Ji-Soo’s locker, but weirdly, it had been locked.

  Earlier that morning, Mimi had complained, saying something like: “What? This wasn’t how it was supposed to go! Who the hell actually locks their locker?”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Even now, sitting in my seat, the memory of her frustration amused me. But then, I snapped back to reality. The main event was the dead mouse. Mimi and her group had secretly brought one in and hidden it inside Ji-Soo’s desk drawer. Ji-Soo just needed to reach inside to discover her gruesome present.

  At the front of the room, Miss Rosy was getting ready to teach and had already written quite a bit of material on the chalkboard. Around me, the classroom was packed with students. At that moment, Ji-Soo hadn’t discovered the trap yet; she was still rummaging through her backpack. But when she does find it, I believe it is going to be very interesting.

  Would she scream? Would she run? Or would she cry?

  Suddenly, an image of Ji-Soo crying pitifully popped into my head. The thought of her wiping away her tears tugged at something in my heart. I didn't know what it was. Part of me didn't want to see her upset, but for some twisted reason, I also desperately wanted to see her break down.

  I really must have gone crazy.

  I continued to observe her carefully.

  She placed her notebook on her desk, took out a pen, and just as she reached to put her textbook into her desk drawer, she froze.

  My breath hitched. What is she going to do?

  Ji-Soo slowly placed her book back on top of her desk, then reached her hand blindly into the drawer. After feeling around for a second, she seemed to grasp something.

  She leaned down to look, and her eyes widened.

  Mimi and her group immediately wore devilish smirks, eagerly waiting for Ji-Soo to embarrass herself.

  But, completely defying their expectations, she didn’t scream. She didn’t cry. She didn’t do anything they had anticipated. All she did was calmly scan the room, shoot a piercing glare directly at me, and then pause.

  What was with that glare? I thought in panic. I didn’t even do anything!

  Then, all of a sudden, she stood up and grabbed the dead rat. She didn't gingerly pinch it by the tail; she grabbed its entire body in her fist. The rest of the class recoiled with contorted expressions of disgust the moment they realized what she was holding. Ji-Soo didn’t care. She continued marching straight toward me with a look in her eyes like she wanted to swallow me whole.

  Miss Rosy finally noticed the commotion.

  “Ji-Soo, why are you out of your seat?”

  Ji-Soo turned, looking the teacher squarely in the eye, and hoisted the dead rat in the air like a morbid trophy.

  “I’m returning this to its owner.”

  The teacher’s expression soured. Mimi and her group resumed their wicked grinning and chuckling, clearly expecting Ji-Soo to get reprimanded.

  Instead, Miss Rosy waved her hands wildly. “Oh my lord, that is foul! You'd better return it to its rightful owner fast! I can’t bear to look at it any longer,” the teacher cried, turning her face away in absolute disgust.

  Mimi and her friends looked as though they had just eaten dirt.

  “Thank you, Miss Rosy,” Ji-Soo replied politely before turning back my way.

  Wait, why was she walking toward me? I hadn't actually done anything to her yet! Beside me, my so-called friend Ki-Tae scooted his chair away, clearly understanding that my life was over. The rest of my classmates shot me looks of profound pity.

  Eventually, Ji-Soo stopped right in front of my desk. Knowing that I needed to act tough, I stared her straight in the face with a "so what?" expression. Ji-Soo simply smirked and slowly raised the hand holding the rat.

  Wait, she isn't going to do what I thought she was going to do, is she?

  Ji-Soo fell into a stance that mirrored a professional baseball pitcher, gripping the rat firmly. She raised one leg off the ground and hurled the rodent straight at my head with pinpoint precision. I was too shocked to do anything but stare as it flew through the air and smacked me directly in the face.

  Purely out of instinct, I gasped, taking a deep sniff.

  A scent of absolute torture—musty decay, rotting flesh, and rotten eggs soaked in stale urine.

  The whole class erupted into raucous laughter while I clutched my nose in utter revulsion.

  “You crazy bitch!” I yelled.

  “What? You got a problem?” she shot back smoothly.

  “You… you!” I sputtered, pointing a trembling finger at her. “How could you just throw a dead rat right in my face? It’s not even mine!”

  “If it's not yours, then whose is it?” Ji-Soo tilted her head, feigning perfect confusion.

  I briefly glanced over at Mimi and her group, but quickly averted my eyes.

  I was a man; I couldn't sell out my accomplices like that. Yet, even though my glance had been brief, Ji-Soo had definitely noticed.

  “Ji-Soo, enough,” Miss Rosy called out from her desk. “Throw that rat away. It’s contaminating the classroom.”

  At that moment, Mimi stood up so abruptly that her chair scraped the floor. She gripped the edge of her desk, her nails sinking into the wood.

  “Miss Rosy, how can you so blatantly play favorites?!” she screeched.

  “What do you mean? I don't think I'm playing favorites, am I?” Miss Rosy replied dismissively, twirling a lock of hair around her finger.

  “Didn’t you just see the vice president throw a dead rat at our classmate?!” Mimi yelled, her voice trembling with manufactured outrage.

  The teacher nodded slowly as if she finally understood the issue, then turned to Ji-Soo.

  “Right. Ji-Soo, remember to apologize to Jin-Woo later, okay? Also, I will have to punish you. You'll be on classroom cleaning duty after school.”

  Ji-Soo bowed her head slightly.

  “Understood, Miss Rosy.”

  At this point, it wasn't just Mimi's group; even I began to feel anger. How could the teacher play favorites so shamelessly?

  It was as if the two of them were mother and daughter!

  “Teacher! She threw a literal dead rat at my face!” I shouted, joining the protest.

  “Ji-Soo should be stripped of her title as vice president, Miss Rosy!” the pink-ribbon girl chimed in. She clearly thought this was the perfect opportunity to stage a coup.

  “Yeah, I agree!” another of Mimi’s lackeys eagerly added.

  Even with almost half the room turning against her, mostly those who knew Mimi, Ji-Soo remained completely unfazed. She didn't panic; she just coldly observed the situation unfold, acting as if she couldn't care less whether they stripped her of her title.

  Watching her stand her ground, a sudden blush crept onto my cheeks. I froze, staring at her blankly. How could a person be so incredibly cool under pressure?

  My trance was quickly broken.

  “I disagree!” a male voice rang out. I didn't recognize it immediately, so I swept my gaze across the room along with the rest of my curious classmates.

  It was Do-Hyun, the class president. Just seeing him stand up with that disgustingly upright demeanor of his annoyed me. For a fleeting second, I thought about how perfectly he and Ji-Soo suited each other—like a frustratingly perfect match made in heaven. The thought instantly soured my mood.

  Even Ji-Soo looked surprised by the unexpected support.

  Emboldened by his intervention, a girl I recognized as Ji-Soo’s close friend also stood up to voice her support.

  Miss Rosy looked genuinely intrigued, focusing her attention on Do-Hyun.

  “Oh? Do-Hyun, could you please explain why?”

  Do-Hyun adjusted his glasses with a clinical push.

  “Mimi and her friends are being entirely unreasonable by blaming the victim. They are essentially telling us to ignore Jin-Woo’s actions. If we allow this kind of behavior to go unchecked, the bullying will only escalate. Under these circumstances, I believe the vice president’s retaliation was justified and doesn't damage her credibility as a vice class president...”

  Why was he talking so much? I wondered.

  To me, Do-Hyun had always come across as a cold, aloof guy who rarely spoke unless it was about studying. Why had he suddenly decided to give a speech? It made me seriously doubt his true intentions.

  After his declaration, Mimi and her group voiced their displeasure yet again, but this time, Miss Rosy paid them no mind. This only made the girls angrier. Knowing I had lost the high ground, I kept my mouth shut.

  The conspirators and I were forced to swallow our anger in bitter silence.

  *****

  At the school gates after classes ended.

  “So you’re still going to help us ruin her gym uniform when the time comes, right?”

  “What?”

  I blinked, having been too distracted to hear what she said.

  “I’m asking if you’re going to ruin the vice president’s gym uniform with us,” Mimi repeated, growing more impatient by the second. Her expression was dark, and she tapped her foot aggressively against the pavement.

  This time, the words finally registered in my head.

  “I…”