22 — THE ROTTEN REALITY

as the world gets tough, you gotta be ready.

—

"has it ever occurred to you that minhee has to stay as himself in order to survive a year of being a student council president if he gets elected?"

"when he gets elected." hangyul corrects him. "and yes, i do know, but i'll cross that bridge when i get there."

"yah, lee hangyul, he wouldn't last a month if he continues to become someone he isn't," yohan sighs. "why can't you just let him go with his own flow or something?"

"if he does go with his own flow, you really think he could win?"

"yeah, i do." he says confidently. "i trust him. and i trust dongpyo enough for him to choose the guy spontaneously as a candidate—"

"yah, na jaemin!"

hangyul rushes to the corridor, heading towards the pink-haired guy. the boy however wasn't as pleased to see him. jaemin sprints his way forward, pretending like he doesn't know. "jeno-yah!" he calls upon another boy, shifting the attention.

"na jaemin, why are you acting like you don't notice me!" hangyul quickly responds as he follows his from behind. "i know you can hear me, don't pretend like you don't! I have some questions for the election!"

but jaemin still acts clueless, as he grabs jeno's arm and leisurely walks off, avoiding hangyul.

"na jaemin!"

jaemin slightly turns around. "i am jeno!" the latter shoots back before he disappears himself to class.

hangyul frowns, feeling completely obliterated. "yah, what's gotten into him? why did he ignore me just like that?"

yohan crosses his arms. "he's doing exactly what i told him to do."

"which is?"

"don't interact with us." he hitched a breath. "any of us, especially when junho's around. we have to pretend like we don't know that he's an x1, and we have to make sure junho's comfortable enough to talk to him about it. that way, we'll gain information."

"how can we protect him from junho if we can't even interact with him?"

"easy," yohan shows off his phone.

".. your phone will help?"

"nope," he grins. "eunsang will."

—

"lai guanlin," junho's soft voice suddenly emerges out of the silence. "thanks for joining the conference yesterday. what did you think?"

guanlin flutters his eyes confused, his gaze heads back to dongpyo who's sitting right beside him. "uh.. yeah.. conference.. is great."

dongpyo sighs in disbelief. can this boy be any more obvious?

"sad that you weren't able to test out your dna, the earthquake came all so sudden.." junho sighs. "so misplaced, yet right at its perfect timing. some would expect that it's not a coincidence."

guanlin laughs his butt off. "hehe, yeah, hehe. earthquake. hehe." he turns to dongpyo. "seriously dude, you gotta teach me how to do it."

"what, how to lie without looking like you just killed your mom?" dongpyo mutters.

"no, how you pretended to be me!" he whispers frantically. "how the hell didn't he realize you were me?"

dongpyo shrugs. "he's just stupid."

"it's either that or you're just extremely brilliant."

"it's both, guanlin-ah. deal with it."

junho looks at the side, as if he has noticed that he's being talked about. "dongpyo-yah,"

dongpyo turns around, facing the latter. "hm?"

"don't forget the debate briefing today." he reminds him politely. "and tell your fellow 'candidate' to not mutter when he speaks, i can't hear a damn word he's saying."

dongpyo was ready to strangle him. "yah, cha junho—"

"don't talk shit about minhee like that!" yujin cuts him off before he's even able to answer, startling the latter with her sudden appearance. "i shall report to the committee for the foul play of yours, disrespecting another candidate."

junho cracks a smile. "yah, ahn yujin. i didn't expect this at all from you. since when are you apart of kang minhee's campaign team?"

"since, like, a few minutes ago. literally."

dongpyo immediately turns to her, surprised. "wait, what?"

—

"you added her into the campaign team?" dongpyo immediately targets hangyul the second school is over, as they gather in the spare classroom for the important briefing. "ahn yujin?"

hangyul nods expressionless. "uh, yeah? i told you i got a plan."

"yeah, but this isn't it—"

"who did you invite to the campaigning team?" minhee captures their conversation, his hands fumbling the edges of his uniform, biting his lips nervously.

"yohan! i invited yohan." hangyul says ever so suddenly. "he's here to occupy my place, as i'm unable to become a part of the campaign team because of my position in the current student council."

dongpyo decides to cut the bullshit. "no. minhee, he invited—"

"ahn yujin?"

crap. dongpyo turns around to see yohan, yeri, and yujin heading towards them as they engage with each other in a conversation. well this is not the way he wanted to break the news.

"look at yohan-hyung," dohyon whispers to dongpyo's ear with a light smirk. "he just met the girl and yet he's able to converge with her naturally, unlike minhee-hyung who barely even articulate a single sentence without stuttering."

yohan waves his hand towards his friends. "hey, guys! kim yerim, say hi!"

yeri doesn't seem as excited to see them. "why am i here?"

"british citizen katy kim, show off your grooves, girl! we'll be needing you here." yohan pulls the girl's arm along with him. "you too, yujin-ie. minhee— i mean, we need you.. for.. reasons."

"what's the meaning of all this?" minhee looks at them in surprise. "this is my campaign team?"

"of course it is. fabulous, right?" yohan winks at him.

"try not to cry, darling." yeri sultry whispers in english.

"dongpyo-yah, you assembled all these people.. for me?" minhee genuinely looks like he's about to cry.

"trust me, i did not take a part of this. this all must have been theirs," he points at hangyul and yohan. "especially you, yujin-ah, i really did not expect you to be here. since when did you care about these kind of things?"

"since when did you care of the things i care?" yujin jolts back. "i think this is gonna be an awesome experience you know, especially with minhee around.. i get to be affiliated with the student council.. perhaps grab a seat on it or two?"

minhee gives her a thumbs up. "deal."

dongpyo rolls his eyes. "as long as it's not the vice president chair, for that is obviously occupied by me, sweetheart—"

minhee scoffs. "is it really?"

"if you even have any second thoughts about it, kang minhee, i'll make sure you won't win this goddamn thing."

"geez, calm down pyo, i get you."

"yo, this kid has nerves." yeri pats dongpyo's back endearingly. "want me to massage you, sweetheart? you look drenched out."

"oh yes please, noona." sorry for using your face as a disguise for a couple of times, dongpyo apologizes in his heart.

turns out hangyul and yohan's choice wasn't as bad as he thought after all.

"yujin-ah, what about lai guanlin—"

"what is a lai guanlin? i don't know a lai guanlin." minhee interrupts him sharply. "oh my, guess what? our table's already full. lai guanlin can't sit with us. nuh-uh."

yujin grins. "yah, the boy isn't that bad.."

"a friend of a girl—uh, friend, is not.. my friend. i mean, yes, i mean uh, what?" minhee yet again stutters his sentence even when he's face-to-face with that girl.

jealousy really doesn't fit kang minhee, because the more dongpyo looks at him, the more funnier it gets. adding yujin into the campaign team might as well been the worst yet the best campaign strategy planned by hangyul.

dohyon laughs at the older boy without hesitation. "dude, look at him, he's so pathetic—"

"nam dohyon?"

everyone turns to see the owner of the soft voice calling the boy by his name. dohyon freezes. "wonyoung?"

"wait, what is she doing here?" dongpyo asks without even concerning the fact that wonyoung could hear him quite clearly.

"i'm here to represent junho-ssi's campaign team." wonyoung explains briefly with a uneasy look on her face. "uh.. he said that i'll be the representative of the tenth graders, and he asked me to speak in english.. to appeal the teachers."

"i'm doing the same thing.." dohyon mumbles, speechless.

of course, the two huge baby english speakers being pitted against each other. dongpyo immediately understood junho's strategy. that's just great.

"okay, uh good luck to the both of us, then!" wonyoung gives him a wide smile. "nam dohyon, fighting!"

dohyon didn't have the energy to reply the words of encouragement. he slumps in his seat, feeling extremely disappointed. "hyung, you should've chosen her instead of yujin-ssi."

"wait, who is she again?" hangyul asks his team curiously. "am i the only one clueless?"

"hangyul-ah, your brother has a big crush on the school's innocent princess," yeri sums it up, capturing the situation quite quickly. "ha, jokes on you, lover boy. you shouldn't have clowned kang minhee like that."

feeling the bitter taste of karma, dohyon looks down to his feet, engulfed by sadness. yohan puts his hand on his shoulder as a way to calm him down. dongpyo sighs, disliking how the story's unfolding at the moment.

junho's team consists of people dongpyo weren't that close with: ryujin, wonyoung, renjun, chowon, and chenle. chowon and ryujin were the people in the physics olympiad team he used to participated in, and he assumes renjun and chenle are the student exchange boys from china who are apparently lot brighter than his other chinese friend, lai guanlin. from the looks of it dongpyo immediately knew that he has taken all the smart kids to his side, a little hint as to who his target audience is.

he's targeting the smart kids, and by so minhee should target the not-so-smart ones.. which holds a bigger percentage.

perfect.

"okay, i see that everyone's here." jaemin enters the room without a warning, followed by jeno, aka the vice president, aka his best friend. "hangyul-ah, leave the campaign team immediately. you gotta be here by my side, you're the moderator for god's sake."

hangyul scowls, but he did not interfere. "good luck, friends." he sprints towards the front, completing as jaemin's right wing as jeno is to the left.

jaemin clears his throat. "alright, at first i would like to thank you for coming today— yes, junho-ssi?"

junho raises his hand. "uh, jaemin-ssi, for the conversation i had asked for earlier—"

"junho-ssi, let's discuss that matter later on for this is not the time." he simply cuts him off without hesitation. "so as what i was saying.."

"wah, that's so cool." minhee whispers to dongpyo. "jaemin-hyung just cuts him off just like that, basically saying something like don't interrupt me, bitch."

"that's not the case here, what did junho need from him?" dongpyo asks in suspicion. "and why are they still in speaking terms?"

"because i asked jaemin not to ignore him." yohan answers. "a way to gain his trust. it's working, if you ask me."

"hmm, nice move, hyung." dongpyo says sincerely.

"the son dongpyo complimenting me?" yohan grins. "man, this must be christmas."

"so as you can see here, this wednesday we will be holding the presidential debate," jaemin's leader aura felt a little misleading than how he actually is, especially after they witness his crazy behavior a few days before. "please be prepared for this, as this would be the biggest factor to the upcoming result," he subtly glances at minhee. "i want you to express your original ideas on how to make the school better. how to elevate the school's productivity, and how to produce more talented students for the college admissions. for success is a must, and in order to do that, we must gain productivity."

a massive hit in the stomach for someone like minhee. he gulps.

"we're not here as several people, we're here as one school. everyone has a chance into becoming someone special here. not just the intellectuals, not just the superhumans."

yohan turns to dongpyo with a surprised look. man, did he just expose us—

"avoid procrastination, enhance productivity, gain success. it is your mission to make sure everyone realizes so." jaemin shows off his deadly grin. "so are you ready, candidates?"

—

hmmmmmmm i can rly imagine well-spoken leader!jaemin in this chapter hmmm ·̑◡·̑

Talking about jaemin, make sure to check out my new nct dream fanfic 'time shift' if you like scifi things like superpowers, time traveling, etc hehe

150 votes for new chap~

- yuehwa