Chapter one Welcome to Babel High
…NEW PLACE MEANS NEW BEGINNINGS
JUNGWON’S POV
Jungwon hit the brakes of his bike and stared at the massive school where he would be going to spend his final year of high school. The buildings rose high above him, far grander than anything he had ever seen. It was like huge buildings are part of big cities like Seoul. He was still trying to absorb the sight while being lost in thought when a loud car horn disturbed his reverie.
Tilting his head behind, he stared at the line of luxurious cars of different kinds all driving to the front of the school’s main building. Drivers who were all wearing suits stepped out to open car doors as each student climbed out. Some looked bored, while others were glued to their phones. No one seemed even remotely excited.…. You would think that attending the best high school in the country would at least put some spark in their eyes, but the students rather looked bored and tired.
Jungwon released the break-pads from the wheel and peddled into the school.
He slung his backpack across his shoulders as he ventured inside the school. The huge buildings in the school made him stare in awe. Back home, the largest building wasn’t even half this big. Everything here gleamed — clean, polished, expensive. The students in this school were all neatly dressed and moved around wearing the school’s expensive khakis, white shirt and fitted grey jackets.
Thankfully, when he got the scholarship, they had also included the uniform else he doubted he could have afforded it.
The moment he stepped into the school’s main building, the announcing microphone was turned on. “Will all students move to the auditorium immediately?”
Swarm of students came out and began flooding the hallways. They were all headed to the auditorium, he assumed. Jungwon followed, keeping his head down hoping to not stand out. The auditorium, like the rest of the school, was massive with over five thousand sitting capacities with red theater chairs. He slipped into an empty seat in the middle row.
There were two girls behind him who couldn’t stop chattering—they were talking loudly for more than half of the auditorium to hear.
“Look at my hair pin. Immediately I saw it on Haerin, I had to purchase five of them.”
“I made my mum buy me the Gucci sunglasses she had worn in her latest i********: stream. Haerin is so iconic. Look, doesn’t it look great on me? It makes my face look smaller—just like Haerin’s.”
“Ummph,” he heard someone else scoff. “So you follow her on i********:, but you refuse to follow me, your close friend. I wonder what is so special about Haerin that I keep hearing her name everywhere. Everyone keeps praising her and now you two. It’s so annoying. How is she supposedly better than me?” There was an awkward silence after that.
“Anyway, before you guys started talking crap, I wanted to show you my shoes. This is from JIMMY CHOOS unreleased collection. It is the only one in Korea. Guess who wanted to have it but failed.”
“Wow. It looks so nice they haven’t even released it yet.” The girls behind him gushed.
“It was Haerin, but look, now I have the shoes on my legs. This is why I say she is all hype, just some crazy b***h that everyone worships,” the girl mutters bitterly. He had not wanted to listen to their gossip, but he couldn’t avoid it, and they were not exactly being subtle. The girl they were talking about her name was Haerin. Haerin. The name sounded too nice in his head.
The girls continued talking about various things and very loudly, but Jungwon was the only one bothered. Everyone else was lost in their own conversations or on their phone. Even if he wished he didn’t, he already felt awkward and uncomfortable—being the new kid and all; everyone seemed to belong somewhere.
He was more than grateful when the hall filled up and the head teacher finally appeared on stage to address the students. “Welcome to the new session……..” His voice quickly faded into the background as everyone seemed disinterested in what he had to say.
“In the recent international science fair competition, it is with great pride I announce that our school came out on top. So, I would like to invite the student who we are all proud of and made this great achievement for our school, Yoon Haerin.”
The name seemed to have grabbed everyone's attention with loud cheers and screams. If he could recall that was the name of the girl the girls behind him ranted about.
The whole hall was in utter chaos – screams, cheers, applause. Even the girls behind him squealed in joy; guess they didn’t care about what their other friend said.
Jungwon became curious. Who exactly was this girl that could make this entire elite school like that? A girl stood up from the distant front row. He could only see her back view as she walked to the stage. She walked calm and confident. It was like she commanded the room. All eyes darted on her automatically.
When she got on the stage and turned to the crowd. Many people gasped, including himself. She looked unreal.
The mic clicked on like a command, the whole hall went silent. Her voice was nothing like her appearance. It was deep, firm and sultry.
“Thank you everyone. It is always a pleasure to achieve great things for the school, so let us keep up the good work”.
When she stepped off the stage, the whole crowd began cheering all over again with occasional screams of ‘we love you Haerin’ from various people. She had a small smile on her face till she returned to her seat. Whoever she was, it was a wonder how she had made such an impression on these rich, snobby kids.
After her speech, it was hard to get the students to become quiet. The meeting was shortly over, then he went to look for my homeroom teacher. The teacher’s office had name plates boldly written on their desk.
Along with his uniform, a class schedule, cafeteria menu, school calendar and list of extracurricular activities was sent to him, as well as any other information he might require, including that of my home room teacher, Mr. Tae Hwan.
Mr. TaeHwan was in his seat engrossed in quietly sipping on a coffee cup when Jungwon approached. He seemed startled by his presence, so Jungwon quickly explained.
“Good morning sir. I am Kim Jung Won. The new scholarship student I was told to report to you immediately I resumed.” The whole room turned silent. Teachers turned to stare. It was uncomfortable, but he focused on Mr. Tae instead of who was scrutinizing him as well behind his glasses.
He gave a disapproving look before shaking his head and standing up. “Follow me.”
They passed through many classes. Jungwon nervously clutching his bag and adjusting the frame of his glasses until they stopped in the front of a class that had written 12D on top.
Voices could be heard from inside. “Lee Min, could you please tone down your noise?” then Mr. Tae went inside to ask for permission to interrupt from the teacher in the class before he gestured for Jungwon to come in. Adjusting the glasses on his frame once more, Jungwon took steps into his new class. He was face to face with the students, most who were watching him with amused looks on their faces.
Mr. Tae then spoke: “Good morning class. This is your new classmate from….?” He then turned to Jungwon. “Geoje,” he whispered to him. Loud murmurs filled the class. "Silence!" The teacher yelled out, then he straightened himself and continued: “Right from Geoje. Everyone be kind to him. Please introduce yourself.
Jungwon went forward and took a bow. “I am Kim JungWon” He didn’t want to say more about himself. The fewer people in this school knew about him the better. “Take your seat in that empty chair beside the window.”
Some girls gasped and even winked at him while several guys glared as he walked to the seat at the back of the class. The boy beside him was already asleep. Strange, considering there was a teacher present. Should he wake him? He contemplated.
Putting off any more thoughts on it, he decided to just focus on the class. This is different from my other school, so he has a lot to catch on to.
