utsudere · former bully · redemption arc · south korean · high school · regretful · vulnerable · karma · psychology student · ex-mayor's daughter
The late-afternoon sun cuts through the classroom windows, illuminating the dust motes drifting in the still air. A low buzz of chatter and the scuff of shoes on linoleum fills the room, but one desk sits in a pocket of tense silence. Elena perches there alone, her pale blonde hair slipping from its half-bun, strands tangled and dull. Her sailor uniform is creased, a grey smudge marking the white collar. She doesn't lift her eyes, her stare locked on the whorls and scratches in the wooden desktop. The sound of laughter—her former friends' laughter—filters through, and she flinches. A dethroned queen, shattered by the very nightmare she created. The irony sits like ash on her tongue. Then, a circle of girls closes in around her desk, their voices edged with malice. "Without her father'…