.

Around ten o’clock at night, we packed our stuff and got up from our seats. Since the next day was Saturday, staying a little bit more seemed fine, but there was a problem. We forgot that there was a self-studying session at school tomorrow.

“Gosh, does that makes sense the school has a self-studying session on the weekend?”

“Argh, insane. Just kill me!”

Holding their faces in their hands, Yoon Jung In and Kim Hye Woo moaned and stood up to grab their things.

Once we stepped outside the café, we checked each other’s directions. Only the Kim twins and I lived within a walking distance; the rest of the folks had to take the subway. Still, the twins and I were heading toward the opposite sides, so I just waved my hand at the spot.

Shin Suh Hyun asked me, “Would it be okay to go alone?”

I just nodded without a second thought and replied, “I’m about to meet someone I know and return home together. No worries, I’m not going alone.”

“Sounds good then.”

I asked, “Uh-huh. What about Mina and Hye Hill?”

In response to my question, Mina pointed at Yoon Jung In who was sticking beside her like a loyal puppy.

“He told me that he would walk me back home, and they are… They are a family you know,” said Lee Mina.

“All right. Be safe, everyone!”

Nodding my head again, I checked the time on my phone screen, then shortly after, turned around in a hurry. Shin Suh Hyun’s loud voice resonated behind my back.

“Make sure you don’t go anywhere dark!”

At that moment, I was already running. The time I just saw on my phone flashed through my head.

10:48 pm. Probably we spent too much time bidding farewell to each other. The evening self-studying session at Yeo Dan oppa’s school ended at eleven o’clock at night. It would be better if he could reach out to me before that time. However, waiting in front of his school also seemed fine, just in case.

I usually didn’t try to do something that would attract attention, but today, I couldn’t help since he didn’t keep in touch with me all day long. Something was strange. Did he get upset because I told him that I would hang out with someone else on behalf of him, who wasn’t available today after school?

I shook my head, thinking, ‘No, it isn’t.’ Even if he became annoyed, Yeo Dan oppa would get things straight; he wasn’t a person who would show a sign of disappointment while not keeping in touch at all.

Running toward his school, I checked the time again and gasped, “Eek, what should I do?”

If things proceeded this way, we would miss each other on the way. Slightly biting my lips, I quickly swerved in the end. This was a neighborhood I had been living in since my childhood. All the schools I went to were around this place, so I knew the town like the back of my hand.

Although Shin Suh Hyun told me to avoid dark places, I couldn’t help but run toward the alley, the short path to Yeo Dan oppa’s high school.

The only thing that mattered was that this street had many bars and pubs around while being located nearby the subway line no. 2 and famous schools. Once I jumped into the alley, there were all kinds of noises slipping out from the backdoors of the pubs, just as I expected.

Whenever the cigarette lights came into view, once in a while, in the dark, I ran rapidly to pass them while holding my breath. Swerving once more, a darker and narrower alley soon welcomed me.

‘But if I pass this way…’ I breathed out. This was the only way left until the entrance to Nam Gye High School.

Taking a deep breath, I finally grabbed my backpack strap and jumped inside the dark alley. However, within five steps, I had to stop walking since someone’s voice came out from behind my back.

“Ham Donnie?”

It was such a kind-hearted and friendly call. Although the voice didn’t exist in my memories, it wasn’t negligible even in this urgent situation. Maybe I wasn’t able to remember whose voice it was, but the person would be a close friend of mine. It sounded that much intimate to create an illusion.

I turned around in a daze.

A person was standing at the entrance of the alley that I just jumped in. He was tall and putting one hand in his pocket. The physique and voice definitely belonged to a guy.

I rubbed my eyes. Was he someone in my class or the same high school? Or…

Though there was a leak of light coming from outside the alley, only his gray-brown hair and slightly curved eyes came into view; nothing was detectable on the bottom. His gray jacket was then visible, which made my eyes wide open. I wondered, ‘Eh, isn’t that the school uniform of Sung Woon Science High School near ours? I think it is…’

However, I didn’t have any close friends enrolled in that school.

‘Then we won’t be knowing each other, but why did he pretend as he knows me? Why is he calling me so friendly that way?’ I thought.

At that moment, the boy, who shoved his hand in his pocket, still uttered amiably, “Nice to meet you. You won’t know me, but I’ve felt so happy to see you that I pretended to know you. Are you surprised?”

“Excuse me? Uh, no, um… a little…” I stammered.

I tried to say I wasn’t surprised just to look polite, but that seemed too much, so I just responded frankly. The boy seemed to giggle. Still, it was quite awkward to act this way in a dark alley where things were invisible even each other’s faces.

At that moment, the boy said again, “Haha, you’re so bold. Such a fearless kid.”

My brows met in the middle. He was treating me like a friend just now, but now he was behaving like talking to a very young person. What was with that rude attitude when he didn’t even reveal his identity?

That was when I tried to ask who he was.

“I like a person who’s a coward,” he said.

“What?”

“Because being fearless is never something good. That means you’re less evolved. Get it?”

I had no idea why he brought up the topic of evolution out of the blue. Besides, the sudden change in the way he talked, which sounded sweet and kind like a teacher trying to solve some tackling math question for a kid, was also quite unexpected.

After quite a while, I finally grasped what he was implying. Furrowing my brows again, I said to myself, ‘You just told me that I’m fearless, so that means I’m less evolved, huh?’

Who the heck was he? While I stared at the boy in perplexity, he kept talking.

“What I’m trying to say is that fear is equipment to protect human-beings from danger. If that doesn’t exist, we die ASAP.”

Without making a response, I just stared at him. He looked weird from his hair color to the way he spoke. If I had a little more time, my head would soon start searching for things based on the law of web novels.

However, the problem was that I didn’t have enough time. ‘Jesus, what on earth is he talking about in this busy situation?’ With that thought in mind, I bowed politely.

“Sorry, I’m not buying, believing, or registering for a membership.”

“What?” he asked while looking dumbfounded.

Despite his reaction, I lifted my fist and shouted to myself, ‘Good job, girl!’ That was when I uttered that I would leave and turned around while grabbing the shoulder strap of my backpack.

A regretful voice slipped out from the boy.

“See that? These people always choose the wrong answer even if I’ve spent the time to explain it.” He then added suddenly with a cold voice, “I told you, fearless people die ASAP.”

“Excuse me?”

It was unnecessary, but I looked back again upon a cold premonition striking my nape. Then at the moment, two huge human figures appeared behind the small boy, just like a lie.

One was a woman, the other a guy, who looked quite like good fighters. How could those big people hide behind that small person?! Although, he wasn’t very slim and looked just slender…

While things seemed preposterous, the boy, who looked like a mad scientist picking the wrong genre, slowly turned his back on me. He then spoke leisurely which sounded even mean and nasty at the same time.

“Neanderthal man’s skull was found in the cave where Australopithecus lived. Primitive hominids are always eliminated by the new surviving species.”

At that moment, I couldn’t help but scream, “Excuse me, sir! You pick the wrong genre! This isn’t where you belong!”

This world wouldn’t be somewhere inside a sci-fi novel; thus, why would I have to listen to something about human evolution right now? Was he a member of a religious cult or what?