Trine~ 🌼

| Perfectly flawed yet supremely blessed |

[Trine~ 🌼 @imHISkhat]

Yy!

[🌸 @lilacjieunnie]

Perfect Crown Webnovel
Episode 1: Perfect Crown in Royal School

Dormitory

With the dormitory assignments looming, Hee-joo's mind kept fluctuating wildly. At the Royal School, there was a tradition of living in the dormitory starting from the 7th grade, when students turned fourteen. This old-fashioned tradition was essentially an absolute decree that could not be refused—because the moment you rejected it, you had to leave the school.

Dormitory life lasted for a total of six years, from the 7th to the 12th grade. It was notorious for its strict and conservative rules, to the point where it wasn't uncommon for students to give up halfway through.

It was no wonder. Controlling everything from how they walked to when they lay down in bed was no easy task for teenagers at a passionate age. Furthermore, most of the students at the Royal School were either of noble birth or had grown up in households with immense wealth. Compliance was never going to come easily.

However, there was a clear reward for those who endured. They held the pride of studying under royal patronage and shared that pride with their peers. They moved in all circles of society with a collective consciousness of being elites nurtured by the royal family—spanning politics, business, medicine, the legal profession, the arts, and even deep into the underground.

In this way, they pulled each other forward, pushed each other up, and supported one another in their respective fields. Some criticized this behavior as collective exclusivism, but that only made the closed-off school culture grow even more rigid. After all, a sense of belonging is originally strengthened through hostility toward other groups.

In that sense, Hee-joo looked forward to the dormitory assignment. She wanted to know what it felt like to belong. She was curious about what it felt like to experience a sense of camaraderie with someone other than herself, to win together and lose together, to grow together and face setbacks together.

Normally, people learn these things at home, but Hee-joo couldn't. She didn't have a mother, and her relationship with her father was poor. She did have a half-brother, but...

"It’s better to think of him as non-existent."

Frowning, Hee-joo headed toward the central library. Passing through the unnecessarily glamorous campus, past the fountain surrounded by marble statues on all sides, and as she climbed the marble stairs, a clutter of voices reached her ears.

"Hey, where do you think Sung Hee-joo will get assigned?"

"Probably Baekho Palace (White Tiger Palace), what else?"

"Baekho Palace?"

"She's smart. And she’s got a nasty attitude."

Laughter broke out among the whispering students.

"If she goes there, won't she be completely ostracized? Where else do kids care about lineage as much as they do at Baekho Palace?"

"True. It's not a dormitory an illegitimate child should go to."

"If you look at it that way, is there any dormitory that suits her? She's a commoner and an illegitimate child."

As one male student clicked his tongue and shook his head as if it made no sense, another student chimed in.

"Why, she's still got plenty of money though."

"If having lots of money solved everything, why would the word nouveau riche even exist?"

It didn't take long for the expressions of the mocking students to freeze. It happened the exact moment Hee-joo's small head came into view above the stairs. Soon, her pitch-black eyes appeared, and as they caught sight of her long, fluttering hair, someone swallowed hard.

"……."

One boy had previously tried to trip Hee-joo, only to end up with a broken foot, and another had been choked for mocking her for being clumsy. Learned fear was a remarkably precise thing. Every time something like that happened, the school was turned completely upside down, but nothing major ever came of it. In that sense, having a lot of money was a good thing. While she couldn't avoid bowing her head in apology, it was enough to prevent her from being expelled.

"What? What is it?"

One male student raised his voice. He seemed to want to put on an act of bravado despite not even being able to look her in the eye. However, it was hard to hide the fact that he was nothing more than a terrified little brat.

Hee-joo smirked and took a leisurely step forward.

"Ryu Min-seok."

"…W-what? What do you want?"

"Which dormitory do you want to go to?"

"Huh…?"

"I hope it's the same one as you."

When Min-seok frowned instead of answering, Hee-joo whispered softly.

"There are no CCTVs in the dormitories, you know."

"……?"

"If I were to kill you in there, wouldn't it be possible that nobody would ever know?"

"…You crazy bitch!"

Min-seok screamed in a belated rage, but by then, Hee-joo had already walked past into the library. Her long hair fluttered behind her as she relished the fear of others.

"Jujak Palace (Vermilion Bird Palace)…"

Hee-joo muttered to herself as she checked the notice posted on the wall. Ryu Min-seok had been babbling about Baekho Palace, but her assigned dormitory was Jujak Palace—the guardian of the south, symbolizing fire and summer.

Hee-joo headed toward the dormitory, wearing the red durumagi (traditional Korean overcoat) she had received from the administration office over her school uniform. The dormitories were positioned to match the directions symbolized by the Four Guardian Deities, such as Cheongnyong Palace (Azure Dragon Palace) to the east and Jujak Palace to the south.

The further south she walked, the more students she saw wearing red durumagi. They all had different faces, names, ages, and personalities, yet for some reason, they looked similar. Almost like… siblings.

"Sung Hee-joo!"

Just then, she heard Sung Tae-joo’s voice. He was her older brother, three years her senior, with whom she shared only half her blood. It was unpleasant how strangely similar they looked, yet a sense of relief would wash over her from a completely different standpoint. Unlike his neat and delicate appearance, his actions were foolish to a pathetic degree, so much so that he was constantly facing suspension.

"Pardon?"

— There must be something you want to have.

Biting her lower lip, Hee-joo's mood turned sour. Her father's question wasn't completely out of the blue. Whenever she accomplished something, it had always been Hee-joo's habit to say she wanted to have something. When she was young, it was mostly things like the snacks her brother was eating or the bicycle he was riding, and occasionally, it would be her father's fountain pen.

But those were merely excuses. What she truly wanted to have was her father's validation. Even though she was an illegitimate child, and even though she wasn't a child he had originally wanted... she wanted validation like, "You are magnificent," or "You did well."

"The watch Oppa (older brother) is wearing looked pretty."

— …….

"Please buy that for me too."

Her pride was too wounded to actually say she wanted to be praised. To say she just wanted her father's validation made her feel pathetic for desiring it in the first place. So, she simply acted exactly as her father expected her to. Like a greedy, precocious, materialistic, illegitimate child.

After hanging up the phone, Hee-joo sat on the windowsill. She suppressed her yearning to set down her heart—which belonged nowhere—just anywhere.

From the Royal School Rules
Article 5, Paragraph 1: The dormitories shall follow the names of the Four Guardian Deities, and assignments shall not be changed after they are made.

Article 5, Paragraph 3: Dormitory assignments shall be based on the student's entire time from the 1st to the 6th grade, and this includes assignment performance capability, behavioral development, and evaluations by the faculty.

Article 5, Paragraph 4: Competition between dormitories is permitted; however, mutual slander and defamation of character are designated as grounds for severe disciplinary action.

#아이유 #IU #성희주 #PerfectCrown

[koalanov @artofkoalanov]

I really recommend Omega flask instead of buying the overpriced Hydr*fl*sk??? my iced latte still cold from yesterday morning lmao (28 hrs). It's already a double-walled flask in 450 pesos (540ml)

[Trine~ 🌼 @imHISkhat]

@louieannflores Same te. Lalo na ung mga mutual friends lng naman kaya na-add. Ay ekis agad. Kairita e. Haha

[Analyn Muko @MadamAnalynMuko]

Bakit Matatalo c Sir BBM?

kac mga kapwa ko BBM supporters mga Tanga, pag tinatanong ng "Why BBM?" mga di marunong sumagot...

[Trine~ 🌼 @imHISkhat]

On my 30th, I will :)

[reggie mills @MillsReggie]

I go for maturity, stability, loyalty and peace.

[Trine~ 🌼 @imHISkhat]

So much ☺️

[God is REAL. @GodisforReal1]

Congratulations! Your Prayer has been answered.

[Trine~ 🌼 @imHISkhat]

Been a while~

[Trine~ 🌼 @imHISkhat]

cuttttest evvvvver! 😉

[The Philippine Star @PhilippineStar]

WATCH: This dog is having the best buffet of its life as he was seen feasting on a sack of dog food displayed just outside of a shop in Catalunan Pequeno, Davao.

Don Kurt Damada captured the footage when he was passing by NCCC Choice Mall on Monday. (Facebook/Damada)

[Isko Moreno Domagoso @IskoMoreno]

Hindi po ako governor ng China. Mayor po ako ng Maynila, Pilipinas. No way na harap-harapan niyong aalipustahin ang aming lungsod. Hangga't ako ang Mayor ng lungsod, you have no place here. Hindi po ito katanggap-tanggap sa akin bilang Pilipino, bilang Manilenyo.

[Isko Moreno Domagoso @IskoMoreno]

In preparation for the end game of this crisis, I have asked VM Honey Lacuna and the City Council, na magtabi po, to appropriate P200 million sa 2021 budget na gagamitin bilang pambili ng COVID-19 vaccine. In case po na mayroon na, handa po ang Lungsod ng Maynila.

[risa hontiveros @risahontiveros]

MANININGIL ANG KASAYSAYAN

The non-renewal of ABS-CBN sets a dangerous precedent.
Because gov't allowed politicking in the process of renewing a legis. franchise & succeeded in shutting down a media institution,we have begun to ring the death knell of press freedom in the country

[Isko Moreno Domagoso @IskoMoreno]

Parang may exam lang ah hehe. Yung iba po dyan sanay naman po ata mag-isa. Ty po sa lahat ng food establishments na nakiisa sa protocols ng new normal for dine-in restaurants 🙂

[Trine~ 🌼 @imHISkhat]

@ceej_dv @ribsreprise The F! Hahahahahah

[Loisa Andalio @iamAndalioLoisa]

🍌🍌🍌

[AJ @abrahamjohn24]

"I know no one ask but ABS-CBN is the only Channel that have a 3 o' clock daily prayer. 🙏❤️ #NoToABSCBNShutDown

[Trine~ 🌼 @imHISkhat]

🥺

[🗻 very ia @wontayrland]

when abs-cbn started playing Lupang Hinirang for the last time, the lyrics hit different.

#NoToABSCBNShutDown
#DefendPressFreedom
#IStandWithABSCBN

[DJ LOONYO @DJLOONYO2]

Real is rare.