🌑Chapter 1:At What Cost?
716 Words
🔶 OPENING SCENE - KINDERGARTEN (FULLY STRETCHED)
The scene opens with sunlight flooding a classroom filled with tiny desks.
The narrator's voice (older Eun Ri) speaks calmly, over soft music:
"Being second... was my destiny. Or so everyone kept telling me."
The camera pans down to a little girl, Mi Rae, sitting at the small corner desk.
Her hair is cut neatly, her eyes big and curious but dull with exhaustion.
Crayons and paper lie in front of her.
Around her, other kids laugh loudly, comparing drawings and stickers.
Mi Rae draws silently.
She colors carefully, staying inside the lines.
Her drawing is a perfect tiger.
Another girl, Seo Joo, with ribbons in her hair, walks over with arrogant confidence.
She carries a drawing of a tiger too-messier, but bolder.
Their kindergarten teacher, Ms. Han, claps her hands.
"Kids! Bring your drawings for the Best Animal Picture Award!"
Seo Joo rushes forward, pushing Mi Rae aside.
Mi Rae follows quietly.
---
🔶 THE FIRST "SECOND PLACE"
Ms. Han lifts Seo Joo's drawing first.
"Oh my! Look at the colors! Seo Joo, you get FIRST PLACE!"
Seo Joo beams.
Then the teacher glances at Mi Rae's picture.
"And Mi Rae... good job. You get SECOND PLACE, again."
A golden sticker is placed on Seo Joo's paper.
A silver one stuck to Mi Rae's.
Mi Rae tries to smile, but her eyes fall on the shiny golden sticker...
like it's mocking her.
Narration (Older Eun Ri):
"Second place.
Pretty, but not beautiful.
Smart, but not impressive.
Wanted, but never chosen."
The silver sticker becomes the symbol of her curse.
---
🔶 THE PARENTS' PICK-UP SCENE
Later, parents arrive.
Seo Joo's mother kneels, hugging her daughter.
"My perfect girl! First place again!"
Mi Rae stands alone, holding her backpack straps tightly.
Her foster mother arrives late, distracted, shouting on the phone.
"Oh-Mi Rae. Let's go."
No praise. No smile.
Mi Rae glances once more at Seo Joo's shining golden sticker.
She whispers to herself:
"Next time... I want gold."
---
🔶 CUT TO: ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (FAST MONTAGE)
Several panels show her life passing:
Running in a race → tape breaks for another girl → Mi Rae gets silver.
Report cards posted → she's always second rank.
Spelling contest → she hesitates, loses again.
Beauty contest at school → "1st place: Hye Won! 2nd place: Mi Rae."
Silver ribbons.
Silver certificates.
Silver trophies.
Silver. Silver. Silver.
Narration:
"Second became my name.
My punishment.
My curse."
---
🔶 THE TURNING POINT - SPELLING BEE ACCIDENT
Middle school.
The school hall is packed.
Mi Rae sits in the spelling bee finals. Only two girls remain:
Her
and the unbeatable top student, Ha Yul.
Word: "Transcendence."
Ha Yul smirks, steps up-
and suddenly sneezes, stumbling over the letters.
Mi Rae spells it perfectly.
She wins.
The hall claps.
For the first time, a golden medal is placed around her neck.
The camera zooms in on her trembling hands touching the gold.
Narration:
"It was an accident...
but it felt good.
So good, I didn't want to stop."
This is the birth of her obsession.
---
🔶 NEW LIFE, NEW NAME
Years pass.
Mi Rae grows sharper.
Colder.
More perfect.
She pushes harder:
late-night studying, skipping meals, sacrificing sleep-nothing matters except being first.
But admiration turns to whispers.
Whispers turn to rumors.
Rumors turn to threats.
And one day... her classmate whose grades she beat too quickly confronts her in the hallway:
"You cheated. I saw your notes. I'll expose you."
An argument.
A push.
A fall down the stairs.
A scream.
Mi Rae stands frozen above the stairwell, trembling.
Narration:
"That day... Mi Rae disappeared."
She drops her notes into a trash bin.
Her reflection in the hallway window gleams cold.
"I became someone else."
She whispers her new name:
"Eun Ri."
The girl who will never be second again.
...................
.....
. "My name is the kind you only hear whispered behind lockers.
Second beauty.
Second in grades.
Second in everything... except the things that matter."
> "People say kids don't remember what happens in kindergarten.
They're wrong.
I remember every detail-
including the sound her shoes made
when I pushed her down the stairs."
> "But if I told you the truth, you wouldn't believe me anyway.
You never do."
.............Dorkylunastories💜♥️........
- Writer
