38 — BUTTERFLY EFFECT

every choice you make leaves a risk to take.

—

"unfortunately, i got some bad news."

seungyoun hates bad news, and when it's compiled with people he's uncomfortable to be with (read: daniel) it gets worse, as it is hard for him to express his actual feelings right on the spot.

"what is it?" daniel asks him.

"things are hectic this week, don't know where it all went wrong." dongwook sighs as he leans his back against the wall. "the teachers are suddenly assigned to a compulsory counseling event, so most of them are gone. seungyoun's here, being the true dear he is, is filling the empty spots— thank you, by the way."

seungyoun nods. "not a problem."

"then there's a lot of conferences i need to take part to— in this busy week with not many teachers are available as backup— i've never been this frustrated." he lowers his head, then glances at daniel. "because of that, i'm devastated to say that i don't think we'll be able to hold your lecture today because we haven't prepared anything for the venue. daniel-ah, forgive me."

daniel flutters his eyes. "ah, that's fine, really."

"you must've had cleared your busy schedules for this, and for that i feel like i'm truly in guilt for wasting your precious time. i wish i could've taken care of it properly, but things has been so out of place that i really have no control of time—"

"dongwook-ssi, please don't feel burdened. i'm fine." daniel smiles. "anyway, this extra time that i now have could be used to take a look around of the school, don't you think?"

"yes, that's what i've been thinking." dongwook raises a finger. "maybe you could help seungyoun with his upcoming classes?"

seungyoun's eyes widen the moment he hears his own name. "i'm sorry, what?"

"you have classes today, right? wait, let me see here." dongwook scrummages through his file of papers, searching for the timetable. "ah, here it is. economics for the eleventh grade, 11-B, it's written here." he turns to daniel. "now that i think of it, you both work at the same field right? your families have their own corporations!"

seungyoun and daniel nods unsurely.

"then i'm sure you'll be able to connect to each other, especially when you're both the same age." dongwook grins. "so what do you say, daniel-ssi? ready to teach a bunch of eleventh graders?"

seungyoun personally wished that the guy rejects the offer, or just simply escapes by saying that he has an important errand to do or something, because seungyoun wasn't exactly in the mood of faking his replies anymore.

but of course, the latter agrees, and now seungyoun's stuck with another hour of confusion and awkward tension.

"so what are you planning on teaching?" daniel asks as he skims through the thick economy textbook. they were heading towards their first class, with daniel starting a conversation to avoid the uncomfortable silence.

seungyoun shrugs. "ah, the basic stuffs i guess. the equilibrium, the history of money, excerpts from experts, those things."

"is that a part of their curriculum?"

"uh.. i haven't checked."

"oh.. so you're just going to wing it?"

seungyoun bites his lips. "you got a better idea?"

daniel shrugs. "how to pay taxes, how to invest in stocks, how to avoid getting tricked into paying something—"

"they're barely seventeen." seungyoun cuts him off.

"so what? when are they going to learn the actual important stuff if it isn't now?" daniel sneers. "i really thought you'll be brighter than this."

seungyoun raises his eyebrow. is this guy really trying to get into his nerves because he's doing a great job at it.

they eventually reached the class, and of course the students clearly did not expect their presence. seungyoun gets a few head turns and whispers, whereas daniel receives a lesser amount as he wasn't quite a familiar face for the students. seungyoun notices two individuals waving their hands to his direction. it was hyeongjun and minhee. he smiles at them giddily. at least there are several faces he definitely wants to see.

hyeongjun was so excited to see him, he was about to jump and give him a hug but he was thankfully stopped by minhee. minhee also gazes at daniel with a certain delight glistening his face. he's definitely happy about seeing him too.

daniel clears his throat to start the class. "okay class, settle down. return back to your seats please, yes just like that. thank you for your coordination." he glances at seungyoun, gesturing him to speak.

seungyoun raises his voice to talk. "hello everyone, how's everyone doing? i hope you guys still recognize me — your senior that just graduated this year." seungyoun smiles. "or if you need something to jog your memories, i'm the alumni who fainted in front of everyone last week."

a few of the students were appalled by his introduction, explaining the familiar face. a girl sitting in front calls out. "are you feeling better?"

"oh yes, thankfully so." seungyoun nods as a reassurance. "though i'm here with a different motive which is to teach you economy during your teacher's absence, i'm also here to let's say claim the stage i didn't get the chance to obtain last week." he turns to daniel. "instead of the other two mates i was with, i brought an interesting blonde dude here with me. daniel, would you care to introduce yourself..?"

daniel steps forward. "hello everyone, my name is kang daniel. no, i'm not here as your substitute teacher, let's just say i'm the.. substitute substitute teacher." from the way he's talking, it's not a secret that the latter seems to have way more experience in public talking than seungyoun. "i'm also here to teach you economics, so i hope you have your ears and eyes open cause this is going to be an interesting class."

brave of him to say that out loud. seungyoun thought. with this kind of tense atmosphere, i don't think we'll be able to break the ice any sooner.

"so uh, any questions?" daniel chirps.

a boy raises his hand.

"yeah, you?"

"are you the one who became the cover of forbes magazine last month?" the boy with the name wonjin asks profusely.

"two months ago, to be exact." daniel corrects him. "last month was the president's volume."

another kid raises his hand. "aren't you like, a corporate heir or something?"

minhee shoots a look on the one who just asked. "yuna-yah, he's not just the corporate heir— he's literally the ceo now."

the girl's eyes widen. "no way!"

"ah, thank you for the clarification, minhee-ssi." daniel glances at the boy in favor.

the class now seems to be much more interested of daniel than the actual subject, and daniel seems to be enjoying the attention. another girl raises her hand. "daniel-ssi, do you live in a mansion?"

"my family's mansion, not mine."

"daniel-ssi, is it true that you own a jet?"

".. family's jet, again."

"daniel-ssi, do you have a girlfriend?"

daniel purses his lips. "no comment."

the girls whisper over the questionable answer as the curiosity arises. another one raises a hand. "daniel-ssi, is it true that you're dating twice's jihyo?"

daniel smiles eerily, then he closes his mouth with his hand dramatically. the whole class gasps, with hands immediately fly up into the air, asking for more.

seungyoun decides to stop the spontaneous crowd before the class turns into a one to one interview. "alright, alright, that's enough." seungyoun says, quickly stopping daniel from answering anymore questions.

daniel seems somehow disappointed, but the latter did not elaborate. the students can't hide their sighs of disappointment either. seungyoun coughs. "alright, thank you. this is a class, not a press conference."

"thank you for... making the class conducive, seungyoun-ssi." daniel says with a sly smile. "i don't know if you guys know, but seungyoun here's not that much different than i am."

seungyoun glances at him confusedly, not sure where this is going.

"he's a ceo— sorry, no. a corporate heir, with a quite established experience, if you ask me." daniel tells the whole class. "cho label. is that right, seungyoun-ssi?"

whispers arises among the students, but seungyoun's sure it wasn't quite the positive type.

'cho label? the ones in soju bottles? his company's bigger than daniel's!'

'ah, so the rumors are true..'

'i always knew he was a chaebol, but i never knew he was the chaebol.'

'isn't his father the abusive type? doesn't that mean...'

'that one friend of his that didn't graduate? wasn't he able to graduate because of help of an insider?'

'he seems powerful enough to ask for a simple request like that, hahaha.'

'the ceo of the company got into a scandal not so long ago, the one about money-laundry. the guy must have been involved.'

seungyoun wasn't able to differentiate whether those were actual whispers or were they only thoughts, but to him it was important to know that the crowd doesn't seem to apprehend a positive response. he shoots daniel a dislike look. what is he trying to achieve here?

"seungyoun-ah, the company's still held responsibility by his father though. that's a relief for him." daniel continues on. "that's why you rarely see him as a public figure just as much as i do, because he basically still has his tasks covered by his dad's executives." he turns to seungyoun. "that means you still got a chance to run away, right? without getting your corporate heir card blacklisted."

'ah, he's a whole lot irresponsible.'

'his father could barely even walk properly, why doesn't he plan on taking over already?'

'maybe he's just a coward..'

"run away?" seungyoun laughs uncomfortably. "don't know if it's best to use that word."

"i see why you do it, though. always seems to be tempting." daniel approaches him slowly. "running away from reality, running away from your responsibilities. running away from the truth that you are having much trouble to believe, even if that means you choose to entertain yourself with false scenarios made up entirely in your head.."

shut up.

"running away seems to be the best thing to do for you, because that's what you've done since the beginning, right?"

stop talking.

"hide behind peasants in cowardice.."

the bell rings.

"alright, that's it for the today." daniel clasps his hand, turning back to the students in a heartbeat. "thank you for being here today, i hope you enjoyed it!"

seungyoun clearly had enough of daniel. i need to get out. now. he quickly grabs his things and leaves without saying his goodbyes, queuing his way out among a bunch of other students. little did he know, daniel followed him from behind— he made sure not to lose sight of him.

stop, please.. just stop.

seungyoun just wishes to get back to his safe haven.

"seungyoun-ah~"

he turns to where he gets called, and the sight of seungwoo, wooseok, and the other boys easily enwraps him in peace and relief. he smiles. that's it, that's my safe haven.

—

omg :o what is a daniel

i wont be active that much in wattpad bc it's exam week!! thankfully i received quite high scores last semester but that means i have to maintain those scores in order to have an ideal score graph :oo those scores can help me get into the university i desire without having to go through any scary tests so YAY it's an important thing for me so i hope yall understand :)

200 votes for next chap:)