Four forty-five.
It had been four forty-five for more than an hour.
I was sitting in my chair, resting my chin on my palm as the math teacher's voice went on, fading into a babble.
Just ring, I thought, staring at the clock.
Being seventeen was supposed to be the epitome of your youth, but honestly?
It was just exhausting.
Wake up, wear an ugly uniform, pretend to care about mathematics and go home to sleep, then repeat everything.
My gaze drifted from the clock to the front row.
Specifically, to the person sitting there.
Baek Han-a.
She was currently leaning back in her chair, whispering something to the girl next to her and flashing a bright laugh behind her hand.
Even the sunlight hitting her desk seemed to adjust right to make her hair look like a shampoo commercial.
She was the undisputed beauty in Class 3-A.
While the rest of us looked like zombies working towards the college entrance exams, she was actually living.
She had weekend plans, a flawless Instagram feed, and a smile that never looked forced in her pretty face.
I clicked my pen, and a sudden, bitter level of jealousy formed in my chest.
It wasn't that I liked her.
She was completely out of my league anyway.
This was just unfair.
How did someone have that much energy?
"Stop staring, man. You're creeping me out."
I flinched as a heavy textbook landed onto my desk.
Min-jae moved into the empty seat next to me, dodging the teacher's line of sight.
"I wasn't staring," I whispered, aggressively scribbling a meaningless equation into my notebook.
"Sure you weren't, Kim Suho. And I'm the next president of Korea." Min-jae snorted, leaning in close.
He smelled of instant ramen.
"Listen, forget about Han-a. Are we hitting the PC bang after this or what? Tae-hoon says he finally unlocked that new sniper rifle, and I need to see him miss every shot with it."
"I don't know," I sighed, rubbing my temples.
"I don't have any money, and my mom is already breathing down my neck about my mock exam scores."
"Your scores are fine. Come on, just one hour and besides, you don't want to stick around the school today anyway."
"Why?"
Min-jae's voice changed, dropping into that tone he always used when he was about to spread absolute garbage.
"You didn't hear? The third-floor girls' bathroom is completely shut down. It looks like a crime scene."
I raised an eyebrow.
"It must have been a plumbing issue."
"That's what the janitor said," Tae-hoon chimed in, suddenly appearing on my left and leaning over my desk.
"But that's a cover-up."
"A cover-up for what? Explosive diarrhoea?" I asked..
"Very funny," Min-jae sneered.
"No, seriously. Class 2-A's rep went up there during lunch yesterday and ran out screaming. She said she heard someone crying in the last stall. But when she checked underneath, there were no feet."
"Ah, yes," I said, rolling my eyes.
"The classic 'crying ghost in the bathroom' trope. You guys are seventeen, not seven. Are you really still buying into schoolyard ghost stories?"
"I'm just saying," Tae-hoon defended, crossing his arms.
"It's weird. And the lights up there have been blinking all week. I'm not going anywhere near the third floor."
"Good. Don't go to the girls' bathroom anyway, you creep," I shot back.
Min-jae laughed, slapping my shoulder.
"Just be at the front gates the second the bell rings, Suho. Don't make us wait."
The bell finally rang through the hallways.
The collective sigh of relief from thirty students was palpable. The teacher gave up mid-sentence, dismissing us with a wave of his hand.
Chairs screeched against the floor, and the room instantly erupted into chaotic chatter.
"Front gates in five minutes!" Min-jae yelled, grabbing his bag and running his way out the door with Tae-hoon in tow.
I took my time, slowly packing my bag.
Han-a and her group of friends were already gone, leaving behind a faint scent of expensive perfume.
I zipped up my backpack, slung it over one shoulder, and stood up.
Finally, some freedom.
I took exactly two steps toward the door when the air in the room suddenly... changed.
It felt like walking into a freezer where they store meat.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and the loud noise of students pouring into the hallway instantly became muffled, like I had been plunged underwater.
"What the..." I breathed out, my breath reducing into a visible cloud of white mist in front of my face.
BZZZT.
A sharp static noise rang in my eardrums, forcing me to keep my hands over my ears. I squeezed my eyes shut, groaning in pain.
When the ringing stopped, I opened them.
Floating exactly three feet in front of my face was a pitch-black sphere.
It was the size of a softball, made of a smooth metal that seemed to absorb the light around it.
In the centre of the sphere was a single, glowing red camera lens. It looked like a high-tech drone, but there were no propellers.
I froze, then looked around the classroom.
A few students were still lingering near the lockers, laughing and talking, completely oblivious to the freezing temperature and the floating orb right in front of my face.
"Hello?" I whispered, my voice trembling.
Then a blue screen appeared in front of my eyes, just like those in games.
[System Booting...]
[Scanning Host...]
[Host Identity Confirmed: Kim Suho]
I stumbled back, my legs hitting a desk.
"What is this? A prank? Min-jae, if this is one of your stupid-"
The text on the screen wiped itself clean, replaced by a new, blinking message.
[Exorcist System Activated.]
[Initialising Stream Module...]
[Current Viewers: 0]
"Welcome, Streamer. Your life is now live."