Chapter Text
“Shit...” Another blow is aimed towards her stomach and she is unable to do anything to prevent it from coming. The fist makes contact with her, causing her to cough roughly. An elbow slams down on her back and she hits the floor hard.
Siyeon groans, feeling like all of her bones were shattered upon impact. Her opponent slowly rolls her over onto her back to face the ceiling. The face of her professor hovers over her as well. Both faces are contorted in concern for the fallen girl.
“You okay, Lee Siyeon?” her professor asks. Siyeon manages a nod from her position and sits up with some difficulty.
“Okay class, what did you learn from that fight?”
One of the (obnoxious, in Siyeon’s humble opinion) boys raises his hand, “How easy it is to beat up rank one trash?” His group of friends laugh at his comment, but the professor is unamused by their lack of focus. Siyeon clenches her jaw as she stands up, wobbly from the fight. Her opponent, a rank four student, grabs her arm to steady her.
“No. If Lee Siyeon were a demon, you would have already been killed, Park Jaewon. For underestimating your opponent.” the boy in question simply smirks.
“I doubt I’d die from a weakling like her.” He sneered. Siyeon raises her middle finger to flip him off before dragging her battered body to the infirmary. Handong, the chinese transfer student that just beat her up in front of the class, followed alongside her.
Siyeon watches the blonde girl from her perpherical, curious. Handong rarely spoke much in and out of class. She also didn't talk much to other students, let alone be seen with a group of friends.
“Is there something on my face?” Handong asks, breaking the awkward silence as they walk towards the infirmary. Her chinese accent made her korean sound a little strange but it was still understandable.
Siyeon shakes her head, “Just...you don't have to walk me. I know where to go.”
“Oh, I thought that it would be bad manners to let you go on your own. It’s not good sportsmanship.” the chinese girl explained calmly. At least she wasn’t doing it out of pity or to torment the other, much to Siyeon’s relief. It seems that in the few months she’s transferred here, the chinese girl was unaffected by the hierarchy that went on here. Siyeon was glad, because if that meant one less person to bother her while she studied here, the better.
They open the door to the infirmary, stopping their brief conversation there. As usual, Jiu, one of the highest ranked students here, was seated at the nurse’s table. Her pale blonde hair shone in the sun, with her round glasses slipping slightly off her face.
“Ah? Siyeon? Here again?” Jiu’s doctor coat flowed as she pulled the curtain aside to reveal an empty bed for Siyeon.
Siyeon snorted through her nose as she sat down on the bed. The black-haired girl winced as she pulled up her sleeve and pant leg. Jiu’s hands quickly got to work with practiced ease. It was obvious to Handong, who was watching the whole exchange silently, that Siyeon got injured in their live combat class often.
The ranking system of HF Academy was definitely strange to her. But who was she to pass up the chance to study at one of the greatest Hero academies in the world? Even if this academy reinforced this strange hierarchy, Handong needed to be here. She wondered if these two girls felt the same way, seeing as how they are different compared to most people she’d met here.
“Ow ow ow! Be more gentle, will you?!” Siyeon whines as Jiu applied more disinfectant to a scrape in her hand. Jiu shushes the younger girl and tells her to tolerate the pain a little more. “If you’re going to be a hero, shouldn't you work on your pain tolerance a little? What if you stubbed your toe on a rock and you cry like a baby in front of a demon?”
“...Sounds like you’re talking from experience, Dr. Jiu.” Siyeon says mischievously. Jiu rolls her eyes in exasperation. “We both know I’m talking about a certain windy dumbass. We were both there to see it happen. Thankfully, it was a low level demon so some firearms from yours truly took care of the problem.”
“Also, I’m not a full-fledged doctor yet.” Jiu reaches up to flick Siyeon’s forehead. “Ow, this is patient abuse. I’m going to report you to your supervisor.” the two girls narrow their eyes at each other, with Handong standing awkwardly in the middle. She isn’t sure if they are joking or now, seeing how serious they are glaring at each other.
Like telepathy, they both turn to her at once. “So, are you injured anywhere?” Jiu asks with a smile. Handong almost gets whiplash from how fast Jiu’s mood changed.
Siyeon sports an easy smile as she props her legs up on the bed. “Nah, she totally kicked my ass in combat training. Could barely land a hit-” A huge gust of wind knocks the large window open, scattering papers and curtains. A tall girl with wavy black hair comes flying through the window, landing on the ground in front of Jiu. The moment the girl’s body hits the ground, the wind immediately stops.
“What the f-”
Now, Handong’s impression of Jiu was that she was kind. Doctors or people in the medical field in general tend to give off nice impressions. Heck, the pale blonde hair and the resting smiley face were all good signs. But as she watches Jiu place her foot on top the the girl’s head, she wonders if she somehow entered an alternate universe.
The girl squirms under Jiu’s foot, “Ack! that’s my head you’re stepping on you hag!” Jiu give the most sarcastic smile she can muster, making her look a little scary.
“Sorry, I thought you were an annoying little bug that flew into the infirmary-oh wait, you are.” Without any mercy, Jiu gives the girl a little kick in the stomach. “Anyways, get up, you’re making the floors dirty.”
The girl does as she is told, but not without a lot of whining and kicking, making the doctor-in-training even more annoyed. The girl climbs on the bed that Siyeon is sitting on and plops her head on Siyeon’s lap.
“Singnie, that meanie doctor was stepping on my head and treating me like a nuisanceeeeeee.” Siyeon laughs and pats the girl on the head as if she were a dog. “What did you do this time Yooh?”
“Nothing.” was Yoohyeon’s immediate reply. That definitely meant that she did something. Siyeon and Jiu give the girl unimpressed looks when she tried to pout and look as innocent as possible. “Okay fine. I was minding my own business-”
“Doubtful.” Jiu interjected.
“ANYWAYS! I was minding my own business when those girls from last week showed up. So I yeeted myself out of there before things got ugly. Oh! Gahyeonie was there too but I left her behind...oops.”
Jiu sat down on her office chair, sighing before turning to Yoohyeon with narrowed eyes. “And you chose to hide in the infirmary...why? Especially knowing that I’m here too?”
Yoohyeon kicks out her long legs with a happy smile on her face. “Well, I saw Siyeon through the window so...yeah. Besides, not everything revolves around you, princess.” The youngest sneers. Sensing the tension building, Siyeon slams her hand over Yoohyeon’s mouth and drags them both outside.
“We really need to leave now, my uh, table cloth needs to be watered! Bye Jiu!”
As the door slammed behind the two remaining occupants, Dong looks to Jiu with a confused expression.
“Are all Koreans as strange as those two?”
Jiu looks heavenward, “No, just those two idiots.”
--
After finding Gahyeon in the middle of a glitter explosion in the creative arts classroom and dropping Yoohyeon off at her dorm room, Siyeon all but collapses on her bed. Those two troublemakers will literally be the death of her. I mean, who goes and teleports a store’s worth of glitter into the school to see if Yoohyeon is capable of “making it rain glitter”? Lee. Freaking. Gahyeon. That’s who. And for a five dollar bet, no less.
It’s a wonder that the school hadn’t expelled those two for abusing their powers. Well, it was mostly harmless, if they don't count that one time where Siyeon broke her hand…
Siyeon rubs at her forehead, feeling a headache coming on. She’s going to have to find out which stores had their glitter stolen and repay the amount. It was hard work being the pranksters’ babysitter. But she loved her friends to bits and wouldn’t trade them for anything.
(Even if she did joke about trading them in for half a cup of brown sugar bubble tea all the time.)
Her thoughts were broken by the room door opening. A short girl with wine red hair comes in, glancing at Siyeon’s tired form on the bed. “Rough day?”
“Yeah, got my ass kicked by the chinese transfer student in front of the class. You?” Siyeon watches the other girl fidget in front of the door. The girl sighs and approaches Siyeon, holding out both of her hands.
“The kitchen is closed today so I...” the redhead trails off but Siyeon understands her perfectly. She grips the girl’s outstretched hands in hers and pulls her into a tight hug. Instantly, she can see the relief on her face.
“Everything’s alright now, Bora. Want to talk about it?” Siyeon asks, kindly. She rubs her thumbs in circles around the older’s palms. Bora takes a deep breath and shakes her head. Instead, she closes her hands around Siyeon’s larger ones.
“I’m sorry that you have to be stuck with me like this...” Bora apologizes, feeling guilty. If it wasn’t because of her weakness, Siyeon would not have to be forcibly roomed with her like this. It was a strange arrangement, but it worked out for her more than it did for Siyeon.
She felt bad that only she was benefitting while Siyeon suffered even more. But that is a story for another day. For now, all Bora wanted to do was go to sleep and wake up in the next century. She didn't have anymore upcoming missions so that should be okay.
“Night, Bora. Sleep well.”
“Goodnight Siyeon.”
--
True to her words, Siyeon goes into the city the next day to find out where Gahyeon had stolen all of that glitter. The younger girl insisted on going and paying for it herself but she had class, so Siyeon went instead.
The black-haired girl doesn’t expect to run into Handong in the arts and crafts store. “Handong!” The chinese girl turns around at the sound of her name. Siyeon jogs up to her and waves. “What are you doing here?”
“Lee Siyeon, right? I was just picking up some paint. And you can call me Dongie. Hearing my full name all the time sounds weird.”
“Then just Siyeon for me too.” Siyeon follows Handong to the cash register to ring up her purchase. The blonde girl raises her eyebrows at Siyeon since she wasn’t purchasing anything. Siyeon proceeds to explain that she was just trying to help out a friend that was causing trouble. Handong tilts her head to the side, wondering for the nth time if all Koreans were as strange as the people that seem to surround Lee Siyeon.
“Are you one of Lee Gahyeon’s friends?” A deep voice from behind them startles them both. Handong almost uses the paint bottles in her hands to bash that person over the head but holds back in time. Siyeon recognizes the newcomer to be Dami, another rank 5 student at HF Academy.
Dami was well known among the students for entering the school at rank 5 and immediately being sent out on the field to solve crimes. Human and demon crimes alike. The short brown bob and the usual suit and tie were unmistakable. Dami was practically a celebrity with a huge following in and outside the school. Something about her being cool and suave…but Siyeon wouldn’t know. Being the school’s punching bag is a pretty demanding job.
“Depends on why you’re asking, detective Dami.” Dami might be a rank 5 student, but that doesn’t change the fact that her power is very well known: psychometry. The ability to see the past, present, or future of any object that she touches. A useful ability for a detective like her. But not so useful on the battlefield. Meaning that physical intimidation is not likely to be a problem here. Siyeon also felt at ease knowing that Handong is beside her too, in case things got nasty.
Sensing the black-haired girl’s wariness, Dami raises a palm, signaling her intention of not picking a fight. “I was investigating the disappearance of all the glitter in this store. Seemed to be the work of someone with teleportation powers and Lee Gahyeon happened to be one of the suspects. And then you showed up, Lee Siyeon.” the brunette explains.
Siyeon sighs and nods in affirmation. “I’m here to pay for it. The kid’s mostly harmless though. Why are you investigating a petty crime like this anyways? Doesn’t seem like something a rank 5 student would do.”
“...what I do is no one’s business but my own.” her words were sharp but her tone lacked any hostility. She turned her sharp eyes over to Handong, looking her up and down once before addressing her.
“You are the transfer, Han Dong, correct?” Handong nodded, unsure of how to perceive this new person.
“...good luck with the rank 5 exam. Should be easy enough for someone like you.” Dami swiftly turns around and heads for the exit without another word. Siyeon and Handong look at each other, confused and slightly miffed by what had just transpired.
“This Dami person...is she truly a rank 5?”
“Yup. Has been since day 1.” Handong turns to look out towards the exit where Dami walked off.
“I don’t really like that person.”
Siyeon was surprised. Handong seemed like a pretty quiet and decent person, if her trip to the infirmary was any indicator so to hear her say that she outright dislikes someone was surprising.
“I guess her occupation makes her behave that way? But well, I don’t really know her so can’t judge.”
“...she seems...detached. Is she really a hero?”
The two exit the store and walk towards a water fountain to rest and continue their conversation. “Well, when you attend a prestigious school like HF Academy, you meet all sorts of characters. All of them with different reasons for being wanting to be a hero. Or not, in Dami’s case. You might not like some of these reasons but you will have to just live with it. We’re all supposed to be on the same side, fighting against demons and criminals at the end of the day.”
Silence takes over as Handong tries to process Siyeon’s words. It made sense but Handong’s sense of justice was at war with this logic. Rank 1 students are not treated well by higher ranked students, that much Handong could see in her short time here. But then there were people like Jiu, who obviously wanted to help people.
“By the way, I never welcomed you to the school.” Siyeon reaches her hand out for a handshake. Handong takes it. “Welcome to HF Academy, where the greatest heroes are born and where secrecy runs rampant.”
“What?”
“You see, Dongie, rankings and powers are one thing, but keeping your weaknesses a secret should be your top priority. Students would kill to have that kind of information to use you as a step ladder to rise in rankings.”
Siyeon can see that her words are sinking into the blonde girl’s head. She hates to be the one to break the illusion but that was what HF Academy was really like. It was true, great heroes are made here but at a great cost.
The older girl jumps off from her perch to face Handong again. With the sunlight reflecting on her back, she smiles “Once again, welcome to HF Academy.”