Chapter 32- Dead Silent

The tennis 'courts' were a short distance away from the gymnasium, they were along the way if one wanted to head to the elementary school campus.

Standing on any of the tennis courts that lined up against each other, one would be able to see the football field at the center of the three campuses as well as the west and east wings of the High School which was only a short jog away on the right.

However, the glass windows that reflected the afternoon sun prevented those curious from seeing directly into the High School's wing that was closest to them, which was the west wing.

The middle school was directly across from the high school on the other side of the football field, but it was somewhat difficult to see from the tennis courts due to the distance and the trees in the way.

Even though the three levels of schooling were considered to be on the same large campus, they somewhat operated individually, with only a few of their facility usage overlapping with each other.

Jin-woo made his way to the tennis court that had his class gathered inside it. There were four tennis courts in total and a green metal fence curved out at the top surrounded them. The gaps in the fence were narrow, barely allowing the tip of a human finger to go through it so the tennis balls wouldn't slip through.

Some of the students were leaning against the green fence and chatting, while others were casually sitting on the ground.

As Jin-woo pushed open the unlatched gate and entered the tennis court, he unintentionally noted that some students had already changed into their uniforms.

"Why did Teacher Park leave all of a sudden? The lunch bell already rang, but we're stuck here waiting."

Jin-woo overheard a group of youths' conversation as he walked by them to the back of the tennis court where there were fewer students.

Only a few people took notice of Jin-woo, and when they did and saw the faint bruises on his face and his busted lip, they couldn't help but glance at Seo-joon who was sitting with his lackeys while leaning against the fence.

Jin-woo ignored the stares and soon saw Yoon-min and Micah at the back before heading towards them.

"Jin, where were you? That bastard was here just now waiting even though most of the students had already gathered. He was definitely waiting for you. We thought he went looking for you after he left, did he-"

Yoon-min was discussing the events that happened when Jin-woo wasn't here, but as Jin-woo got closer he saw the bruises on his face, and he went silent. Micah's expression also changed, his brows furrowing deeply.

In English with a bit of a British accent, Micah asked.

"Did Teacher Park do that?"

Jin-woo shook his head as he sat down beside them and leaned against the fence.

Yoon-min, who was leaning against Micah slowly sat up and asked seriously.

"Jin, who was it?"

Jin-woo shook his head once more and said with assurance.

"It's fine, I'm not that hurt. Plus, I'm already plotting my revenge for when school lets out."

Jin-woo tried to brush off the topic, but Yoon-min's eyes narrowed before he said.

"It's Seo-joon, right? Why bother waiting until after school?"

Yoon-min turned to glare at Seo-joon across the tennis court before getting up ready to confront him.

Even though the news of Jin-woo almost dying back in middle school was kept a secret, all of the students knew that Jin-woo and Seo-joon were always in conflict. It was hard not to know when they were fighting almost every day back in middle school.

Yoon-min had to admit at the time he didn't consider this his problem. Even now, if Jin-woo had been bullied by Seo-joon this morning before he had that interaction with Jin-woo, Yoon-min wouldn't have spoken up. However, everything was different now that he got to know Jin-woo and had become friends with him.

But just as Yoon-min got ready to storm over to Seo-joon, Jin-woo quickly grabbed him and said.

"You don't have to confront him, it's not that serious that you have to stand up for me."

Yoon-min looked down at Jin-woo's face and he couldn't help but angrily say.

"Not that serious? Jin, your face is all messed up and there are still footprints on your P.E. jersey. It looks pretty serious to me."

Jin-woo shook his head and wanted to pull back Yoon-min, but Yoon-min shrugged off his hold and got ready to march over to Seo-joon.

Jin-woo panicked and he turned to Micah asking for help with his eyes.

Micah didn't hesitate to quickly grab Yoon-min and forcefully pull him back to sit down.

"What are you doing? Can't you see that you'll be outnumbered if you go over there? Plus, you couldn't fight off a kid in elementary school even if you tried."

Yoon-min frowned in response to Micah's comment, but he actually didn't refute his statement. Despite his lean figure, he wasn't the athletic type.

Jin-woo sighed in relief when he saw that a disaster had been averted. He realized out of the two Micah was the silent and more coolheaded one.

However, Micah's following actions caused Jin-woo to become dumbfounded.

"Let me do it instead."

Micah said menacingly as he stood up, his height of about 1.9 meters casting a long shadow on Jin-woo who was sitting on the ground and staring dumbly up at him.

Jin-woo only snapped out of it and scrambled up to stop Micah when he saw that he was about to charge over to Seo-joon.

Jin-woo felt rather helpless at these two, he really didn't need help in dealing with Seo-joon. Though, at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. No one had stood up for him since Seong died.

Meanwhile, Seong was laughing at the scene off to the side.

However, as Jin-woo was about to rush forward to stop Micah, the faint sound of glass shattering echoed out.

"Oh my god, someone just jumped!"

A female student abruptly let out a cry filled with horror and shock along with the shattering of glass.

The students who were sitting on the ground hurriedly got up and with the already standing students, they all moved towards the edge of the tennis court to look out at the west wing of the High School visible from here.

One of the windows reflecting the light of the afternoon sun was shattered vaguely revealing the inside of the High School. On the ground beneath the window, the body of the student lay motionless with fragmented glass surrounding them.

"Oh my god, what happened?"

"Jesus, did someone really jump?"

"What if someone pushed them?"

"What?! Wouldn't that be murder?"

"Shit, I can't believe someone is dead. This is going to be on the news for sure."

Everyone immediately began talking over each other, expressing different emotions ranging from shock to utter disbelief.

"Police! Someone called the police instead of standing around!"

Yoon-min was the one to yell as he stood with Micah and Jin-woo while looking out at the shocking scene.

Jin-woo instinctively reached for his pocket but realized along with everyone else who did a similar action that they had left their phones in class.

"Damn it, I don't have my phone."

"Wait, you guys didn't carry your phones with you?"

One student in his P.E. jersey asked a few students who had changed into their uniforms. The students in uniforms shook their heads.

"No, I thought I would just leave it in my bag since we were told to gather here by Teacher Park."

"Yeah, me too."

"Even if we don't call the police, someone in the school must have already called them."

One student said, but another voice suddenly spoke.

"Wait, something's wrong, why hasn't anyone gone to check on that person?"

Upon hearing this, everyone turned to the body that fell through the window and saw that no one had approached.

"Wait, now that I think about it, isn't it kind of quiet? It's lunch break but why isn't there anyone outside?"

Another voice spoke up in doubt, and everyone couldn't help but glance at the empty football field which would normally be filled with a few students at this time during lunch.

Suddenly, the atmosphere became somewhat eerie, as if reality had been displaced. It was lunch, and someone had fallen through the window, but the school was still so dead silent.

"Look, there are people inside the building."

One female student said while pointing at the broken window. Inside the west wing of the high school, a few indistinct shadowy figures could be seen rapidly moving back and forth.