A few days later, I found myself slumped over my desk in class, my head resting against folded arms. My eyelids felt like they weighed a ton. God, I just want to sleep more…
The truth was, I'd done this to myself. I hadn't gone to bed until far past midnight, too absorbed in the guitar resting in my room.
Before my reincarnation, I'd always wanted to learn just the thought of strumming out a simple song had seemed so far away, like a dream always out of reach.
But now, thanks to this body's ingrained habits, I could play as if I'd been practicing for years. The way my fingers glided across the strings, the ease of forming chords it came to me effortlessly.
It felt… incredible. Liberating.
So much so that I lost track of time, playing through songs I remembered from my old life until the sky outside my window had already begun to lighten.
Now, of course, I was paying the price sitting here half-dead in the middle of class, my brain buzzing with fatigue and stray melodies. Still, I couldn't bring myself to regret it.
Not even a little.
My head was heavy on my desk, the quiet murmur of the classroom lulling me into a half-dream. The exhaustion from last night's guitar playing weighed down on me, dragging me toward sleep.
Then noise. The dull thud of desks shifting, chairs scraping back, and voices rising. A crowd was forming just a few rows behind me.
I cracked one eye open, catching sight of students gathering in a loose circle, their whispers filled with excitement. A fight had broken out. Two boys, red-faced and snarling, grappled with each other as their classmates egged them on.
Through the commotion, heavy footsteps cut closer. Jung Chulgyu shoved his way past the onlookers, his presence immediately drawing attention.
Without hesitation, he swung his foot and kicked one of the fighters' squares in the back, sending him stumbling into the other. Both tumbled to the floor in a clumsy heap.
"You bastards how dare you fight here!" Chulgyu roared, his voice booming as he loomed over them. "Do you want to die? Aren't you supposed to be friends?!"
The crowd froze, eyes wide. Even the fighters stopped struggling, stunned into silence by his outburst.
That's when my patience snapped.
Lifting my head from my desk, still groggy but irritated, I raised my voice loud enough to cut through the silence.
"Shut up."
The word cracked through the air, sharper than I intended, but it had the desired effect—the room fell still, every eye turning toward me.
Outside the classroom door, Hyorim, Irina, and Jinkyung strolled down the hall together, their laughter light as they spotted a familiar figure.
"Oh! Ji Suwon!" Irina called out, quickening her pace as she spotted him lingering by the doorway. "Why are you standing out here? Did something happen?"
"Where's Seojin?" Hyorim asked casually, glancing toward the door. "Isn't he usually with you guys?"
Suwon straightened, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. His eyes flicked toward the classroom, where muffled shouts and the shuffle of feet spilled out into the hallway. "Ah… it's not really the best time to go in. There's… a bit of a mess in there."
Jinkyung tilted her head, curious. "Mess? Why does it sound like half the class is crammed inside?"
"Yeah, what's going on? It's like a crowd in there," Irina added, craning her neck to peek through the doorframe.
The three girls froze mid-step. The noise inside dipped instantly, like air being sucked from the room. Hyorim's brows lifted in surprise, exchanging quick glances with Irina and Jinkyung.
"…Was that… Seojin?" Jinkyung whispered, curiosity sparking in her voice.
The crowd of students pressing at the doorway only made it harder to ignore. The girls' curiosity deepened, each of them instinctively leaning closer, wondering what exactly was happening inside.
The classroom froze. Chulgyu's voice, rough and loud just seconds ago, was cut clean in half by mine. Dozens of eyes snapped toward me, heads turning as if the entire room had suddenly remembered I existed.
I slowly lifted my head from the desk, irritation still simmering in my eyes from being woken so suddenly. My voice carried again, lower this time but no less sharp.
"I said shut up. If you're going to fight, do it somewhere else. Some of us are trying to sleep."
The two boys on the floor scrambled apart, pale and wide-eyed. Even Chulgyu, who had been mid-rant, stiffened like his throat had closed up. For a second, the only sound in the room was the faint creak of desks as students shifted uncomfortably.
The students make way seeing who was entering. Hyorim, Irina, and Jinkyung stepped in, their chatter dying instantly at the heavy silence.
Behind them trailed Kang Hyuk, Im Yongjin, and Choi Jinwoo The known boss of Sanji High School who'd caught wind of the commotion in the hall and looked ready to break it up.
"What the hell is going on here?" Kang Hyuk's voice cut across the tension, commanding. His sharp gaze swept over the fighters on the floor, then at Chulgyu, and finally landed on me.
The crowd murmured uneasily, shifting to the sides to make space. Irina's eyes darted between me and the frozen Chulgyu, her lips twitching in surprise.
Jinkyung nudged Hyorim, whispering something, but Hyorim didn't respond her attention was fixed squarely on me, her expression unreadable.
Choi Jinwoo stepped forward, his tall frame casting a shadow across the floor. "[Enough. If you idiots want to beat each other up, take it outside. Don't drag the whole class into it.]"
The two fighters scrambled to their feet, heads lowered. Chulgyu clicked his tongue, clearly annoyed, but for once didn't argue back. He stole a glance in my direction before looking away, shoulders tense.
I leaned back in my chair with a yawn, as if nothing had happened, while the atmosphere around me buzzed with curiosity and unease.
My eyes wandered our eyes locked for the briefest moment, steady and wordless. I tilted my chin in a quiet nod small, deliberate.
Choi Jinwoo didn't flinch. His gaze lingered, assessing me with that unreadable calm of his, before he returned the gesture, slow and sure, like he'd understood enough.
No words were exchanged, but something unspoken passed between us all the same.
Then, without a sound, he turned on his heel.
Kang Hyuk and Im Yongjin followed his lead, the three of them slipping out of the classroom, leaving the commotion behind as if it had never been worth their time.
As the noise in the room began to die down, I rubbed at my eyes and stretched, still half-drowsy from my nap. My head turned lazily toward the door and there they were.
Seol Hyorim, Irina, and Jinkyung stood just inside, their expressions caught somewhere between surprise and curiosity.
I blinked a few times, then let out a small yawn. "...Oh, you're here," I mumbled, my voice still heavy with sleep. "Hi."
The casual, almost sluggish greeting seemed to catch them off guard. Irina tilted her head, baffled, while Jinkyung suppressed a laugh behind her hand. Hyorim, though, simply looked at me with that calm, searching gaze of hers, like she was trying to figure out if I was serious or just playing it cool.