You wake up feeling like someone dropped a brick on your chest---- no, not from an actual weight.
It just the... slow-burn dread of being alive in the first place.
You lie in bed for a while, staring at the ceiling and wondering whether you should burn the diary, or maybe throw it in the Han River, or perhaps stuff it in a kimchi jar and bury it in your neighbor's backyard.
After a while of thinking, instead of doing any of your thought up plans, you sit up, reach for your bag like an idiot, and unzip it.
There it is, still black and still way too clean.
You look at it and pause, hovering your fingers over the cover like it's going to bite you,... then you flip it open, hoping that maybe what you read last night was just a dream.
But you're wrong, because the same words are still there.
Horrified, you let out a long, strangled noise, feeling like you're slowly being suffocated by your own shame of something that hadn't even happened yet.
"No," you whisper to the diary. "I will not."
It doesn't respond; OBVIOUSLY.
So you shove it back into your bag, march downstairs, skip breakfast, and leave your house feeling like the world's most cursed human in Korea.
---
At school, things are already bad;
Jisoo is waiting by the lockers, grinning like she knows something you that don't, which, to be fair, is always dangerous.
"Oh look," she says, "it's the school's most honest criminal."
"Don't start," you mutter.
"No, seriously. I heard someone nominated you for student body president after yesterday."
You pause and look at her more directly, "You're joking."
"Okay, I am. But imagine if I wasn't."
Sighing, you turn around, open your locker, grab your indoor shoes and slam your locker shut, hard.
"I need a favor," you say, following her down the hallway toward class.
Yeah you're angry that she played that joke on you, but right now---- today that is---- you have more important stuff on your mind.
"Oh boy," she says. "How illegal?"
"Switch seats with me during Art."
She stops walking and turns to look at you with a very puzzled look on her face. "You sit next to Taehyun during Art."
"Yes. Exactly."
She squints, putting 2 and 2 in her head and narrows her eyes at you.
"What did the demon book say this time?"
You open your mouth, then close it and she grins, realising that her suspicion was right.
"Come on. Tell me."
"No."
She narrows her eyes at you again, but then shrugs, starting to walk away.
"Fine. But no seat swaps. I'm not getting cursed just because you've got creepy hand-writing twins in the underworld."
You groan, running your right hand down your face.
----------------------
Art class is on the third floor, which means you have to walk past the language department and get blasted with the strong smell of expired whiteboard markers.
But that's by the way.
By the time you reach the classroom, your heart is busy doing a slam dancing in your chest and trying to run away from your ribcage.
You slide into your seat as quietly as possible, trying not to make eye contact with the boy sitting beside you.
Yeah Taehyun is already drawing, of course he is.
Not being able to help yourself as usual, you stretch your neck and take a peek to see what other sort of his weird sketches he's drawn this time.
... It looks like a fox- demon hybrid wearing a school uniform and holding a boba tea, and seeing it makes you mostly scared.
... Because it just makes you think of the diary and yourself.
You take out your pencil slowly---- because you'll need it to write during class---- and grip it so tightly that your knuckles turn white.
The teacher for the day comes in, giving a little nod to your homeroom teacher Mr Kim, and then starts talking about 'perspective'.
You pretend to take notes, all while whispering to yourself: Do not look at him. Do not hit him on the head. Don't you dare look at—
Suddenly the pencil rolls and slips right out from behind your fingers and then spins off your desk.
You reach down to grab it but your hand suddenly twitches, and then—
Almost in slow motion, it flies out of your hand, bounces off the edge of your desk, and goes straight into Taehyun's forehead.
It makes a soft bonk sound, and he looks up slowly, very slowly and then you freeze.
You try to say sorry and open your mouth.
"I'm so sorry, hot demon boy!"
You can actually hear people choking on their spit as even you gasp out loud.
A girl near the window falls out of her chair while someone else from the back yells;
"WHAT?!"
Taehyun blinks at you just once and although his expression doesn't change, he stares at you like you've morphed into a different species of the human kind.
You consider dying instantly, like right now.
No funeral is even needed, someone should just bury you in the art supply closet with the broken easels.
Jisoo's laugh cuts through the noise, sounding like a drunk hyena with a megaphone while she literally doubles over in her seat.
The teacher tries to everyone down but it's not use: Your name is now permanently associated with demonic flirting.
Taehyun hands you your pencil without a word and you take it, sinking slowly into your seat and wishing the floor would just open up and swallow you whole.
----------------
As soon as the bell rings, you bolt for the bathroom and lock yourself in the stall, pressing your forehead against the door.
You pull the diary out of your bag like it personally betrayed you, which, to be fair, it did.
Hurriedly, you open it and flip to the next page to see that the ink is still forming.
You watch it curl and twist like a worm as letters begin to form and turn into words.
> You'll ruin Hana's life tomorrow. On accident.
You blink at the page, then you blink again.
Then you whisper, "Excuse me?"
Exhaling, you sit down on the closed toilet lid and clutch the book in your hands tightly.
Ruin her life?
That's a bold turn. From confessions and pencils to full-on destruction?
Hana is your friend. Sure she's overwhelming at times but she's still your friend.
You would never do anything to hurt her in purpose.
Angrily, you slam the diary shut and shove it back in your bag.
You're done, in fact you're OUT.
No more listening to the diary's predictions; Tomorrow, you're going to pretend it doesn't exist.
Going out of the bathroom, walk to the wash sink and nod to yourself in the mirror, splashing cold water on your face.
"Everything will be fine," you say to yourself while staring at your reflection.
Right??????
----------
Later that afternoon, you and Jisoo sit outside on the front steps of the school, watching other students leave for the day.
She's still smiling from ear to ear when she turns to you, "So… hot demon boy, huh?"
You groan but she continues.
"You know he's probably going to draw that now, right? He's going to make it a whole series: 'Taehyun's Demon Romance Webtoon'."
"Stop talking."
"No," she says shaking her head.
"I've got a better title idea; Minjun: Demon Whisperer."
Hissing, you throw your empty milk carton at her but she dodges and says;
"Oh, also. Hana's looking for you. She looked… suspicious."
You literally freeze in place on hearing Hana's name and ask in a low voice;
"Why?"
Jisoo shrugs again, not noticing the change in your behaviour and answers you;
"She was muttering about her tote bag and weird something or something. I don't know, but she was angry. Like, extra angry."
Your hands find their way to your bag strap and you hold it tightly.
You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, but now you know two things for sure:
1. The diary is not done with you.
2. Hana will kill you if you even breathe near her life.
You sigh unhappily.
You just want a normal week and a quiet school life till summer vacation comes, maybe even a decent grade in math.
But no!!!!
Instead, you have a demon diary, a reputation as a pencil-throwing flirt, and a death sentence involving Hana's rage.
You glance at the sky and see that it's getting dark which means you've got to get home soon in case there's a downpour, and you sigh again.
Then you whisper to no one in particular:
"I really should have just left that stupid pen in the Lost and Found."