L.I.A :Two Worlds Apart

2

CHAPTER 2

I stood in front of the homeroom teacher for what felt like too long before she finally lifted her head and looked at me properly, like she was finally placing me into whatever mental list she kept for students like me.

“Dayo Adeyemi,” she said.

“Yes… that’s me.”

My voice came out calmer than I felt.

There was a pause after that

“What was her name again…”

Right.

“Ms. Choi.”

“You’re the scholarship student, right?”

I nodded.

“Yes.”

“Try not to get in the way of ranked students,” she said, as if she was giving me weather advice rather than a warning that shaped my entire place in this school.

I didn’t respond.

There didn’t seem to be anything to respond to.

She had already decided what I was before I walked in.

The rest of it blurred after that. I left the office, following the map in my hand through corridors that felt too long, The halls were louder now, filled with movement and conversation that rose and fell in waves, but even in all that noise there was structure to it.

And then I turned a corner without thinking and walked straight into someone.

The impact was small, but the reaction wasn’t, He didn’t step back but I did.I slowly looked up.

And I knew immediately this wasn’t just another student.

Second-highest ranked.

Park Min-ji, He looked at me like I had interrupted something important just by existing in front of him, Then he tilted his head slightly.

“Do you want to die?” he said, like it was casual conversation.

“Or are you just pretending not to understand where you are?”

He stepped closer.

“Yeah… I really guessing the scholarship student doesn’t know his place yet now do you.”

People were watching now, Just enough that I could feel it

Then someone behind us laughed softly.

“Fresh meat doesn’t usually stay quiet like that,” a voice said.

“But I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t want to lose that pretty scholarship of his.”

Before I could respond, the air behind me shifted

Just enough that everyone else reacted before I even turned.

And when I did, I saw her.

Kang Seo-yun.

She didn’t look rushed. She never did.

“What’s going on here?” she asked.

Nothing about her tone suggested she expected an answer that would satisfy her curiosity. It sounded more like she already knew the answer and was only checking whether anyone would lie badly enough to make it interesting.

“Nothing,” Park Min-ji said quickly, but his eyes stayed on me for a moment longer before he scoffed and stepped back.

Then Seo-yun nodded slightly.

“Get to class, everyone.”

And just like that, the tension dissolved.

People moved instantly, For a second, it was quiet again.

Then she looked at me properly, Just enough to register I was still there.

“Stay away from Park Min-ji,” she said.

And then she walked away like that was the end of it.

I stood there longer than I should have, watching her disappear down the hallway before I finally exhaled, realizing I hadn’t been breathing properly since the moment she arrived.

The rest of the morning passed in a blur.

Dayo POV

By the time lunchtime came around, my head already hurt.

Not because of classes, I barely remembered half of what had been said all morning, It was the school itself

Everything about L.I.A felt calculated, like every conversation, every look, every seat in every room already had rules attached to it that everyone somehow understood except me.

The second I stepped into the cafeteria, noise hit me immediately, Long glass windows stretched across the walls, letting sunlight spill over polished floors and crowded tables, but even with all the noise and movement, the hierarchy was still obvious.

You could see it in where people sat.

Top-ranked students occupied the center of the cafeteria like it naturally belonged to them. Ranked students filled the surrounding tables in loose circles, laughing loudly, talking easily, existing with the kind of confidence that only came from already knowing where you stood.

And at the very back, “scholarship students”

Like someone had drawn an invisible line through the room and everyone had agreed not to cross it.

I stood there for a second longer than I meant to, tray in hand, just watching it all settle into place.

I made my way toward the back anyway, ignoring the occasional glance thrown in my direction as I passed through the room, Nobody stopped me, but nobody moved aside for me either.

The scholarship section was quieter than the rest of the cafeteria. Not awkward exactly, just careful. Most people kept to themselves, eyes lowered toward their food or phones like attention was something dangerous here.

I sat down at the edge of one of the tables and finally let out a slow breath.

Across the room, laughter rose from the center tables again, I looked up before I could stop myself.

And there she was.

Seo-yun sat in the middle of it all like she belonged there more than anyone else in the room. People around her talked constantly, trying to hold her attention for more than a few seconds at a time, but she barely reacted, only speaking occasionally while everyone else listened harder than they probably realized.

Then her eyes lifted.

And landed directly on me Just for a second but it was enough

Because almost immediately, the table around her quieted slightly, attention shifting without anyone making it obvious.

I looked away first, because being noticed by Kang Seo-yun already felt more dangerous than it should have.