They moved with the steady flow of students pouring through the school entrance, the murmur of overlapping voices and footsteps echoing through the hallways, creating that familiar, restless atmosphere that marked the beginning of another ordinary day.
Minho walked alongside them with a slight drag to his steps, his expression already weighed down by a reluctance he didn't bother to hide.
"How am I supposed to get through today…" he muttered under his breath, his voice low and dull with disinterest.
"The day hasn't even started yet. Why are you already like this?" Taehyun said, bending down to change into his indoor shoes.
Next to him, Nau Rin reached for her locker and pulled it open—
—and Halted.
Inside, her indoor shoes lay where she had left them, but they were no longer recognizable in the way they should have been; the fabric had been sliced apart in uneven, deliberate cuts, and across the ruined surface, red marker ink sprawled in chaotic, aggressive strokes that carried no clear meaning, yet somehow felt more hostile because of it.
For a moment, she simply stared.
Just as Seohun was about to pass her, Nau Rin shut the locker with a sharp motion.
Seohun slowed, his gaze briefly dropping to her feet before lifting again.
"You haven't changed your shoes," he pointed out, then glanced toward the clock. "The bell's about to ring."
The two behind him followed his line of sight, their expressions shifting into quiet curiosity.
"You guys go ahead," Nau Rin said, her voice even. Before they could respond, she turned and hurried back toward the entrance.
By the time she reached the entrance, her steps had already turned into something closer to a run, only to be stopped short when a hall monitor stepped in front of her, blocking her path with a firmness that left no room for misunderstanding.
"Classes are about to start. Where are you going?" the teacher asked, their tone sharp but measured.
"I just need to step out for a moment. I'll be right back," Nau Rin replied quickly.
The teacher crossed their arms and stepped aside,
"If you leave, you're not coming back in. The doors are closed now. It's your choice." he added with a hard edge to their voice.
Nau Rin didn't argue.
Didn't try to explain.
She simply stepped forward and walked past them.
The teacher hadn't expected such a reaction; his face contorted into a scowl as he watched her go.
She ran all the way to the nearest convenience store without slowing, the cold air hitting her face as she pushed through the door and headed straight for the household aisle, her focus narrowed to a single, practical need. Without hesitation, she grabbed the first pair of slippers within reach—plain, cheap, and sufficient.
At the register, the cashier noticed the urgency in her movements and processed the purchase quickly, offering no unnecessary words as they handed her the bag.
When she returned to the school, the front entrance had already been locked. She came to a brief stop, then turned and headed toward the back of the building instead.
Behind the school, about twenty paces from the main building, tucked away within a cluster of dense trees that lined the perimeter, there was a quiet section of fence that felt completely isolated from the rest of the school grounds. The metal bars weren't especially high, but the pointed tips along the top made it clear that climbing over wasn't meant to be easy.
Nau Rin didn't hesitate.
She tossed her bag over first, watching it land on the other side with a dull thud, before reaching up and pulling herself onto the fence to climb over.
Nau Rin swung herself over and dropped down, grabbing her bag, and hurried around the building, cutting through the open corridor as she made her way toward the classroom.
She knocked softly on the door and waited. The moment the teacher gave permission, she stepped inside.
And then—
"Hey… what's that running down your leg?" a male student in the front row asked, his brows furrowed in confusion.
The voice cut through the room with careless clarity. In an instant, the atmosphere shifted as every head turned toward her; some students even pushed up from their seats to get a better look, and a sudden uproar broke out in the classroom.
Nau Rin frowned slightly, confused, before following their gaze downward—
and seeing it.
Only then did she realize she had cut her thigh while climbing the fence earlier.
"Disgusting. Don't you know how to use a bathroom?" someone shouted, her voice loud and shameless.
A boy sitting near the window covered his mouth dramatically, his face twisting in exaggerated revulsion.
"I think I'm gonna throw up…"
From the back, another voice called out,
"Did you forget to turn off the faucet?"
Laughter broke out immediately—loud, sharp, and endless.
The teacher slammed his desk.
"That's enough! Quiet down!" he snapped, but the noise only softened, never fully stopping.
Avoiding her gaze, the teacher said quickly,
"Go to the nurse's office. Now."
"There's no need," Nau Rin replied calmly. "It's just a cut."
"Are you sure?"
She walked forward anyway, stopping in front of the board.
"I'll just put a bandage on it."
She didn't look at any of them—not their staring eyes, nor their mocking smirks.
Not the eyes that followed her like something to be picked apart.
Behind her, the whispers lingered.
The teacher sighed, rubbing his temples.
"That's enough. You heard her—everyone sit down."
And then—
in a voice quiet it almost didn't belong in that room, yet sharp enough to cut through every last sound.
"It's alright," Nau Rin said, her voice eerily calm. "Dogs bark, after all."
For a brief moment, the entire classroom fell silent, as if the air itself had been cut cleanly in two.
The teacher stared at her, eyes widening slightly in disbelief—
—and then the noise came back. All at once.
From among them, a boy stepped forward, his expression tightening as he closed the distance between them.
"You… did you just call us dogs?" he demanded, his voice edged with anger.
Nau Rin didn't look away.
She met his gaze directly, her eyes steady, cold.
"And am I wrong?" she replied.
"F*ck—" he snapped, stepping closer—but the teacher instantly moved between them.
"Sit down! I said sit down!" he bellowed, slamming his hand against the desk repeatedly. "How dare you use that language while I am still standing in this room—have you all lost your minds?"
The noise died down slightly, but the whispers and curses didn't stop.
"Everyone—stand up. Bags on your heads."
A wave of disbelief passed through the room.
"What—?" someone muttered under their breath.
"I said everyone," the teacher snapped, their tone leaving no room for argument.
Reluctantly, chairs scraped back as students stood, irritation and frustration written plainly across their faces, the air growing heavier with suppressed complaints and resentment.
The teacher turned suddenly, their gaze landing on Nau Rin once more.
"You," he said, his voice firm and final, "go to the staff room. Right now."
Nau Rin's brows drew together slightly, but without a word, she turned and walked out of the classroom.
Behind her, the students' voices rose in complaint:
"What did we even do wrong?"
"Shut your mouths!" the teacher barked irritably.
As Nau Rin stood outside the staff room, she peeled open a bandage and pressed it over the cut on her thigh. It wasn't bleeding, though a little blood had seeped from the cut.
A few moments later, the teacher arrived and pushed the door open without a word. Nau Rin followed, stepping into the room. The other teachers inside watched them with curious eyes.
The teacher sat down and dropped the journal onto the desk with a heavy thud.
"Do you see the chaos you've caused? Because of you, I couldn't even finish the lesson."
Nau Rin stood still, her expression unchanged as she replied, her tone quiet but steady,
"Is it my fault?"
"Of course it is! You could have just ignored them, so why did you have to fan the flames?" the teacher snapped.
Nau Rin remained silent.
"Do you have nothing to say for yourself?" the teacher pressed.
"I don't think I did anything wrong."
The teacher slammed their hand against the desk so hard that even the other teachers in the room jumped.
"Out!" the teacher snapped, their voice rising. "Go kneel outside the door and raise your hands. Don't move until I say you can!"
The command was cold.
Final.
Without a word, she walked out with a cold, hardened expression. She lowered herself onto her knees just outside the door, as instructed, lifting both arms without hesitation. Her posture remained straight, her gaze fixed forward, as if she had carved herself into stillness.
Time passed.
The bell rang for break, and soon the corridor filled with students moving back and forth, their voices blending into a constant hum of chatter and footsteps. Many slowed as they passed, casting curious glances at her, some whispering, others staring more openly as if she were something on display.
She didn't react.
By the next break, her friends found her.
Taehyun stepped closer first, pulling off his gym jacket and holding it out toward her.
"Put this under your knees," he said softly.
She didn't even shift.
Seohun crouched down slightly, trying to catch her eyes.
"Doesn't it hurt?" he asked, concern clear in his voice.
No response.
Not a movement.
From the side, Minho frowned, frustration creeping into his expression.
"Why did you do that?… just making things harder for yourself."
Nau Rin shot him a sharp look and replied in a low, cold voice,
"Shut up."
Before anything else could be said, the door behind her opened abruptly.
"What are you all doing here? Go back to your classrooms!" the teacher snapped, their voice cutting through the moment.
The three hesitated for a second, glancing back at her—
then slowly walked away. Looking back. More than once.
Inside the staffroom, the biology teacher approached the door and stole a glance through the narrow gap.
"Don't you think that's enough?" she whispered. "She's been out there for an entire hour."
The head of curriculum sighed, a look of unease crossing his face.
"Yes, that's enough. This is starting to look less like a punishment and more like… something else. What will her parents say?"
The teacher remained silent for a moment, clearly weighing their words. Finally, they stood up and pulled the door open. Nau Rin was still there, sitting in the exact same position as before, unmoving, as if time hadn't touched her.
"You're done. Go back to your class," the teacher said curtly, then closed the door.
For a brief second, they hovered in the air, as if her body hadn't quite remembered how to move yet. Then she tried to stand.
Her legs gave out.
A tremor ran through them, numb and unsteady, forcing her to pause as she shifted her weight carefully, trying again, slower this time. Her knees were red, scraped raw from the hard floor, the skin irritated and slightly torn.
She steadied herself, stood up, and—once she had found her balance—began to walk.
By the time she reached the classroom, the teacher's voice was already echoing from inside. She opened the door.
The teacher glanced at her briefly.
"Come in."
The entire room fell into a heavy silence, eyes followed her as she walked to her seat, unhurried, unaffected, as though none of it mattered.
She sat down, placed her bag beside her, and calmly pulled out a bandage from inside. she pressed it onto each of her scraped knees. Once finished, she spread out her notebook and slid her earphones on.
All she wanted was to slip away from this place, to fade out of the noise, the voices, the weight of it all— even if only for a moment.
She didn't look at the board. Her eyes remained on the pages in front of her as she began to write.
Just before the last class began, she returned from the restroom to find her bag empty. She paused.
Then she opened her locker.
Inside—
a bucket filled with water.
Her books, her notebooks, everything that had been in her bag, everything in her locker… all of it submerged, soaked through and sinking.
At that point, even surprise felt pointless.
Nau Rin kicked a nearby trash can, sending it clattering to the floor. She dumped its contents out, yanked the plastic lining free, and turned it inside out. Then, she placed her drenched books and notebooks inside.
As she stepped out of the classroom, she lashed out at the bucket, knocking it over. Water spread across the floor in a slow, creeping spill.
Right as she left, a teacher called out after her.
"Class is about to start—where do you think you're going?"
The voice followed her, but she didn't turn back. A thin trail of droplets fell from the bottom of the plastic bag as she walked, stretching behind her all the way out of the school.
When she got home, she unlocked the door, tossed the bag aside in the entryway, and went straight to her room. After changing her clothes, she came back out, gathered the soaked books, and carried them into the bathroom. She pressed a dry towel against each page, soaking up what she could.
Soon, her floor lay blanketed in careful rows of pages, their damp edges whispering and lifting in the fan's steady breath as they dried.
Nau Rin sat in the shade of the house, eating an ice cream while taking in the scene outside.