Forewords
"Ethereal Wish" is a work of fiction, all the places, names, actions, are entirely fictional and out of my imagination (the author). If something from the story: names, locations, actions are somehow related with real names, places and actions, it is entirely coincidental.
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His eyes widening on the celestic beauty of the endless heavenly sight of the dark-blue sky, sprinkled with stars on a cosmic painting.
"A star...?! Woaah... why is it coming in my direction...?!"
It was the end of ninth grade.
Jang was special, but not that kind of special, he was just different sometimes, but mostly casual.
Walking across the hallway of his high school, heading in the morning to attend his class with his backpack that had a small plastic accesory of an cartoon character dangling around on each step made.
The whispers were endless about the characteristics of the young student.
"Who is that?"
"I don't know (turns to her friend) do we really care? (slightly giggles)"
"An anime figurine is hanging from his backpack, wasn't he like 15 (laughs)?"
The rest of them joined the chain of laughs, surrounding him, but he did not care, a good and warm smile while walking in his own shoes was all that he needed, nothing good will ever comes out if he talks back.
But not all of the students had the same type of quitness in them...
Bumping into him, a group of boys, which looked like they were in the grades 11 and 12, apologized to him, by putting themselves on their knees.
"We are so sorry, lord of the darkness world (almost bursts out laughing). Please, do not take our souls in the spirit realm-"
From there on, all of them stood up, continuing their laughs on him.
The leader of the band put his palm on Jang's left shoulder, instantly panicking while rapidly looking away
"Nah, jokes aside (looks back at his boys and quickly looks back at Jang with his chin high up), we good bruh, right (slightly smiles at him)"
Jang glimpsed back at him, looking into his eyes, but constantly changing his look from him to other objects or througout the hallway.
"Alright then bruh (looks at his backpack for a few seconds and sees the small figurine that was attached to the it's zipper) then I will take this (forcinly takes the figurine by ripping it off the zipper and keeping it in his hand)"
Jang saw how the boy looked at the figurine and thought that he would share it, and give it to someone who maybe loves the character even more than him.
"The small figurine wa-was a gift from a friend of mine who passed away a few days ago, please take good care of it"
By saying his share, he took out a napkin from his pocket and blew his nose in it.
"YOOO (exclaimed the boy mockingly, while showcasing the item to the other boys from his band, while taking a careful glimpse at it too), this, now THIS is the stuff"
The boy held the quality plastic figurine right in front of Jang's face and broke it in two pieces, separating the neck from the body, then ragingly throwing it on the ground, he spat on it.
Jang looked at the small figurine with a neutral look on his face, but while he was thinking the situation over, one of the boy's friends kicked the figurine, deep in the hallway.
The boy bumped into his shoulder and started into Jang's eyes one last time, telling him that he is a baffon, a joke and a waste of breath and then made way for his friends to pass too, continuing their path on the hallway.
Seconds after, Jang looked back at the group of boys one last time and pointing out the direction where the figurine was, he told them.
"Oh no (swallows slowly having a small tremor in his voice) I will get it, don't worry"
Continuing his path towards his classroom, Jang spotted his favorite teachers, tearing off the slight upset look on his face and carving a bright smile with an energetic greeting.
Walking near Jang with a bunch of papers handled perfectly, looking throughout them, almost counting each one.
"Good morning, Mr.Hyuk, I love the tie, it suits with the short-type of hair"
Said Jang, hyping pointing with his finger in a tired sense at the hair of Mr.Hyuk
"Good-... thank you (tilts head and gives away a slight chuckle) nephew Jang, my daughter bought it for me, as a gift for being a great father (that's what she said), but you won't see me complaining. You see (puts elbow on a large wooden cabinet, shoulder-lenght hight, and does some gestures with his hands in sign of explanation) the thing with ties is that they are very formal, yes?"
Mr.Hyuk is so cool, he calls me his "nephew" from the day I helped him fix his printing machine
"Yes, of course, I understand what you mean, please continue"
Replied Jang, nodding his head left and right, consecutively, being very careful about every word he says.
"Good, it looks great on people, BUT the downsize of it is that in the mornings, you know, when you brush your teeth and toothpaste accidentally falls down it, it's hard to clean it off, when you spill coffe on it, well, then you are doomed-"
Suddenly, he was interrupted by a woman that came to him, poking him with her elbow into his chest (gently) and waited for him to finish his speech so that she can pass a mug of coffe to him, but she got tired of the quick seconds of waiting and she interrupted their conversation.
"Hyuk, the principal is just about to start the meeting"
Mr.Hyuk left with no words said to Jang, turning around from him and heading his own way to the principal's cafeteria with the women near him, chuckling at what he was saying to her.
Another teacher came out of a classrom and quickly headed towards the principal's cafeteria. Her quick pace was stopped by Jang's presence.
"Good morning, Miss. Kyungsoon, ready for the chess tournament at 12PM? There will be more students participating this year."
Said Jang, hyping himself up, raising a thumbs up from his hand.
"Hello, Jang (scratches the top of her head with her right hand fingers)... um... you know, I have a date with my boyfriend this week, so I can't come, but maybe next year, alright? (slightly chuckles at him)"
"No, it's not a problem, I don't mind, but it would be (looks down and slides his shoes on the ground) so much better with someone so talented like yourself in there"
Replied Jang, having his smile fading away, while keeping his look down.
Jang really likes to meet new people, to talk to people, his energetic self, but he may be the only one that cares.
"Hey (looks down at Jang's shoes, while nodding her head), nice shoes, Jango"
Said the girl after putting her books in a metal cabinet, while giving away a warm smile.
Hana had short but fine hair, with a pinch of pure blonde. Her eyes, if I remember correctly, they were dark-blue, but really really dark-blue-ish. She was one meter and seventy-eight centimeters tall, almost as tall as me. She is really well dressed too, with designer baggy jeans and a lot of accesories, from rings to necklaces.
"Hi-i, th-thanks, I just bought them (chuckles and looks down at his shoes) , I worked a lot for them, I really liked the contrast of the interior matching with the rubber edges, it looks really neat, in my opinion, and if you look really closely, you can actually see the neon particles put there as an easteregg from the creator of these shoes, sir. Lavin Tu.
Replied Jang, pointing at the shoes, raising his heel in the air and then showcasing it, while looking at Hana too.
She looked at Jang his shoes with a zoned-out look.
"Aaaand I was talking too much again... right (puts left hand on the top of his head and widens his eyes)"
Hana giggled after his own reply while fixing her hair with her hand just like a comb.
*Bell ringing*
"I really have to get back, we got that math test I was telling you about"
"The really really hard one?"
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"That one, got to run, cya!"
Jang waved to her as she was leaving, while placing a smile on his face, that slowly faded away with the seconds passing.
*In the classroom*
The classroom was a place where there learned 25 students, with Jang being counted for.
"Yheo, Jang, did you do it?"
Asked one of the boys from his class, not even looking at him, a boy with a double parted hair, with sharp eyes, expensive clothes and an ultimate extrovert lifestyle.
"Matheo, I-I... It's here (hands over notebook) but a few exercices were extremely hard, so I couldn't do all of them-"
Jang took out a napkin from his pocket and blew his nose.
Matheo took the A4 notebook from Jang's hands and slammed it to his head a few times, creating loud thuds of the book impacting the top of his head.
A few whispers started again, but now from the classmates, looking at Jang as spectators.
"That clown show again?"
"Shut up Hen, they'll hear you"
"Do you know what would happen if I did not have the homework done, hm? You don't, I would've failed the class, imagine, ME failing the class because of you, stupid!"
Exclaimed Matheo before slapping Jang's head with the notebook one last time, but this time the hardest.
Jang turns back to his bench and opens his notebook and starts re-reading the formulas before the chemistry test.
Matheo is... complicated, I like helping him, I really want to be his friend. He dresses really well and he has such nice muscle genetics, no wonder he has the most beautiful girl from the whole highschool as his girlfriend. I would like to have a girlfriend too, one that can recite me the formulas... before the test, oooh man, I forgot about the test. I spent all night solving Matheo's Psyhics homework,. It wasn't hard but he had thirty-two assigned homeworks to be done, but what could I do, to let him get a bad grade? Then there would be no more friendship between us, I can't lose my chance with him.
"Jang, come here... (looks at his left at his benchmate, sending him away with a gesture of his hand) yo get the hell in the front!"
Said Matheo calling Jang to him and kicking his bench mate out of the seat.
Matheo did one finger move to Jang, and he moved quicker than the sun in the morning.
Jang took his notebook, a pen and sat down near him, quietly.
"But d-didn't you study for the test?"
Asked Jang, slightly looking at him, with the corner of his eye, playing with the pen from between his fingers, doing small spins.
"You fool, when do I have time to do that, who else will be the best runner in the 200 meter marathon the next summer other else than me?"
As Matheo mentioned now, he doesn't know, but I want to compete in that 200 meter marathon, alongside him, maybe even get a good place too, but maybe, just maybe. Maybe I will be the last one, but at least I got to compete in a marathon with him, that will for sure be the highlight of the summer.
*After the chemistry test*
"Pfew, I didn't know so many words existed, can you imagine, that's crazy!"
Said Matheo, putting his hands behind his neck, laying down on his back, with the back of his seat touching the desk from the back and his legs are put high up, relaxed, on his wooden bench.
"Actually, there are only eighteen groups and seven periods total, excluding the last two rows, which are separate from the others because of their toxic ele-..."
Replied Jang, looking at Matheo with a small pause, interrupting himself
Matheo wasn't even listening to him, as Jang watched back to see his reaction to what he said, with his mind, Matheo was somewhere else.
"No way he ate that, (exclaims) holy damn!
Matheo was watching a video with a girl on her phone.
"Hey, Matheo"
Said another boy from another class, with a really deep voice and a high stature and lazy eyes.
As Jang saw the boy coming up to Matheo, he wanted to go back to his seat.
"I guess I'm just gonna g-..."
"Yeoh, Jang! (extends hands as if he was welcoming him) Come to the roof with me and the others, the professors are releasing dragon shaped kites!"
Exclaimed the boy, hyping himself up and being really joyful when he told Jang.
Matheo responded back to his sentence
"Hey, Oop (turns to Jang) I don't think it's a really good idea, I-It's windy outside and it looks like it's about to rain soon"
Jang put down his dinosaur thermostat and the small chopped up piece of ham sandwitch and looked at Matheo to wait for his reaction, but Matheo quickly glanced at Jang, with a small hunch of worry in his eyes and then looked back at his friend.
On the rooftop, Jang looked around for a little bit, but saw no teacher and surely no kites, only three other students that looked like they we're waiting for him.
Suddenly, Oop broke the silence with next sentence, while hanging his arm around Jang's neck, staring into his eyes
"You seem like a really chill guy Jang, I like that you are (looks away than looks back at him) smart, you are humorous and other things that you already know off"
"Tha-thanks, that's nice of you to say-"
His sentence was interrupted by Oop's next commentary
"You have such a (widens eyes and gets closer to his face, holding him tighter by his neck) BRIGHT future ahead of you (looks away and swipes nose with two fingers), but something I don't understand is that... why do you want a hard life, huh?"
"I don-don't want a hard life, I really do not know what is that you are implying"
"Do not (grunts and charged left hand towards the back, quickly releasing it in Jang's stomach) play tricks with me, geek"
Oop turned his back and charged a punch that went right to Jang's solar plexus.
"Bah-h... haa..."
Transparent liquid was coming out of Jang's mouth, unwillingly, he forced his eyes shut to try to calm the pain that was casted upon him, while suddenly dropping himself on the ground, with his face in charge.
He continued to gasp for air, while holding his stomach with both of his hands.
"Yo, dab me up too, Oop"
Said another boy, smiling and extending his hand, wanting to take a turn too.
Seeing that there were more of that coming on the way, Jang protected his head first and tried to protect the rest of his flesh and bones by crumbling inside him, imitating a shell with his body.
The two of them kicked Jang in the back and in the stomach a few more times, stomping his shoulders with their their shoe heels. Lastly, the other boy grabbed Jang by his shirt, pulling him closer to himself, charging a punch that was targeting his face. Luckily he was stopped by Matheo's words.
"Let's go, that's enough"
Said Matheo, slapping Oop with the back of his hand into his shoulder, then heading back with the rest of them to the iron entry that led to the insides of the school.
Before Matheo would leave too, he glimpsed back at him, his face sunk in, slowly feeling sorry for Jang, but he turned around and went his way, following the others.
Jang was left alone on the roof, watching the cloudy tainted warm blue sky that was passing him slowly, just like seconds pass by minutes and minutes pass by hours.
His glasses were broken, only tiny pieces left, nothing that could be repaired was left.
"I have to get new ones, (drops himself on the concrete floor again) ooh maaan (puts both palms to cover his face and sights softly)