The afternoon bell at Shinseong High School always rang with a crisp, authoritative chime, but today it felt like a death knell for everyone except Deku Kwanoh.
In the hallways, students scurried like mice, clearing a path wide enough to fit a luxury car whenever Deku walked past.
He was a paradox wrapped in a neat school uniform.
His collar was buttoned to the top, his tie was knotted with military precision, and his hair was combed without a single stray strand.
Teachers loved him; the principal held him up as a shining example of academic excellence and peer leadership.
Behind closed doors, however, Deku Kwanoh was the absolute, undisputed don of Shinseong High.
He bullied freshmen, terrorized sophomores, and had even put the senior class president in the hospital with a bruised ego and a fractured wrist three months prior.
Nobody dared cross him.
His cruelty wasn’t sloppy or emotional; it was clinical, calculated, and terrifyingly efficient.
”Class dismissed,” the teacher announced, gathering her books.
Deku didn’t rush.
He smoothly packed his leather briefcase, adjusting his cuffs before standing up.
His dark, piercing eyes scanned the classroom until they landed on a trembling figure huddled in the back corner: Kim Yun.
Yun was a ghost of a student.
He rarely spoke, kept his head down, and possessed the unfortunate habit of staring into space with a vacant, unsettling smile.
To Deku, weakness was an offense punishable by pain.
”Yun,” Deku called out, his voice smooth and devoid of warmth.
The classroom emptied in seconds.
No one wanted to be caught in the splash zone.
Soon, only the two of them remained under the flickering fluorescent lights.
”Deku…” Kim Yun called out, without any hesitation”Up,” Deku commanded softly, stepping forward.
“Roof. Now.”
Ten minutes later, the iron door of the school terrace slammed shut against the biting wind.
The atmosphere outside was suffocating.
Heavy, bruised-black clouds had rolled in with terrifying speed, completely swallowing the afternoon sun and plunging the school grounds into an eerie, twilight gloom.
The air smelled of ozone and damp concrete.
Kim Yun stood near the low concrete ledge of the terrace, his school uniform fluttering violently in the sudden gale.
Deku stood a few paces away, crossing his arms with a look of cold amusement.
”You’ve been ignoring my messages, Yun,” Deku said, taking a measured step closer.
“In my school, silence isn’t golden. It’s a ticket to the infirmary.”
Yun didn’t tremble.
Instead, his shoulders began to shake, not with fear, but with a low, bubbling chuckle that escalated into a full, echoing laugh.
Deku frowned, a flicker of irritation crossing his pristine features.
“What’s so funny?”
”You think you’re the king of this world, don’t you, Deku?” Kim Yun turned around, his face plastered with a wide, manic grin that didn’t reach his dead eyes.
“You think cruelty is power. But you’re just looking at a very small cage.”
”Have you lost your mind?” Deku stepped forward, his hand reaching out to grab Yun by the collar and teach him a final lesson.
Before Deku’s fingers could make contact, Kim Yun lunged forward with supernatural speed.
Instead of cowering, Yun wrapped his arms tightly around Deku’s waist.
”Let’s see if your grades save you down there!” Yun screamed over the howling wind.
”What the—” Deku’s eyes widened in genuine shock as he realized what was happening.
With a powerful heave, Kim Yun threw them both over the edge of the terrace.
As they plunged backward into the yawning abyss of the stormy sky, the wind roaring in their ears, Deku’s mind raced with fierce disbelief.
What the fuck?
Beside him, falling through the air toward the concrete courtyard far below, Kim Yun tilted his head back, gave a bright, cheerful smirk, and whispered into the rushing wind, “This all is so fun…”
Before Deku could even process the madness, the sky above them split open.
A massive, blinding white thunderbolt—brighter than a thousand suns—struck the clouds directly overhead, enveloping them in a searing flash of pure, crackling energy.
Deku Kwanoh’s eyes slammed shut against the agonizing light, his consciousness tearing apart as the world dissolved into absolute white noise.