Big Graduation Mischief

All is dark in the cold night of Hoengseong. The wind is rushing through the snow-covered mountains. In the middle of the mountain lies Korean Minjok Leadership Academy (a.k.a KMLA), isolated.

On the top floor of KMLA’s dormitory building, a single dim light is seeping out into the night. It is coming from a dark storage room of the school cafeteria, where twelve students are huddled up, whispering.

There was a knock on the door. Everyone flinched- except for Summer, who scuttled to hide behind the shelf of tuna cans.

“It’s me”, whispered Blake, peeking into the dark room.

The dead quite room was now filled with sighs of relief.

“You’re late, Mr. Class President”, Seolin accused.

 "Sorry, I just came back from the basketball competition- did I miss something?”

“The morning assembly had been a chaos. They banned our graduation!”

“…and so, we’re planning an escape” added Brian.

“Here, come on in”, said Jihyun, handing Blake a shabby scroll of paper.

Quickly scanning the wrinkled sheet of paper, Blake first noticed the title in bold letters: “Big Graduation Mischief”.

1. Go into the dormitory and ring the emergency alarm bell of every floor.

2. When all students come out to the soccer field next to the dorm, pour a huge bag of flour at the center of the field from an airplane floating above the space.

3. Then throw some ostrich eggs from the rooftop of the dorm.

4. After that, pour Pasteur milk on top of everything, and make a huge dough.

5. Then, like the water fight we do during 'MinjokJae', throw dough balls at each other. Be careful not to hit one's face! This is only the starting step for the "Big Graduation Mischief"..!

6. Then since everyone must have gotten all messed up by the dough, everybody scrapes the dough off their bodies into a huge pile.

 The air was full of anticipation while waiting for Blake to finish reading.

Blake’s reply was “Do you really think this is a good idea? It looks impossible.”

“Well, what’s wrong?”, asked Hajin.

“Where will you get the ostrich eggs?”

“Just finish reading. It goes on to the second page”, said Yeonghun.

7. The executive council takes the dough to the 12th floor of the dorm while everybody washes.

8. After everybody gathers in the gymnasium and the executive council brings in the bread.

9. Then begins the annual dare. Only the people with the most courage, strongest stomach and least rationality attempts at eating the bread baked from the dirty dough.

10. After one student succeeds in eating the bread, the rest of the students eat bread baked by the school bakers. This is the last time they can eat '혼정빵'.

“But that’s disgusting!”, exclaimed Blake.

“If you have a better plan, spit it out”, snapped Hajin.

11. Next, since everyone suffered here from some teachers, we should get a chance to reply them. Go to the lab and build the strongest slingshot possible. Then, visit your "favorite" teachers and go wham their faces with the leftover eggs remaining. What a pleasant surprise! We still have a long way to go.

“Excuse me, but when will we be leaving?”, pipped Hyunbin.

Jaihyun, who had been writing out the plan, looked annoyed. 
“Hang on, will you? I was getting to that part.”

12. This might be the most important part. It is called "fight or flight". Students should cover their whole body with things that were considered "illegal" or "against the school law". For example, women can wear pants, men and wear skirts and all students can wear ball caps, mufflers, earphones, slippers, colorful socks, and accessories. Of course, it is allowed to dye hair and do full makeup. Party time!!

“We could divide work according to the departments”, added Seunghwan.

Kevin took out Jaihyun's pen and added three steps to the list. “Okay then, is this good?”

13. Now that the school administrators have a reason to kick us out, we should prepare for the 'Grand Flight'. The department of broadcast will first make every electronic device go haywire so that the teachers cannot contact anyone outside for help.

14. The department of school library will bring out all the books from the library to build a barricade.

15. The department of physical education will recollect the slingshots and prepare for a heroic fight.

16. All the other students will build a giant raft that everyone can ride.

“That’s unfair though,” interrupted Blake. “Why does the department of school education have to stay last, fighting off the teachers?”

“That’s what they signed up for it, that’s why”, Brian curtly replied.

“But we might not be able to graduate!”, Blake exclaimed.

“You guys get privileges. It’s about time you made some use of yourselves”

Sensing danger, Alicia cut in. “Shut up, both of you, or we’ll be caught!”

She added one more line to the list.

17. Make the slingshots work automatically.

“There, is that okay now?”, asked Alicia.

Joseph was still excited as he snatched the pen out of Alicia’s hands. “Okay, let me make the final touch…”

18. When the huge raft is completed, let all students ride it and start moving the raft, utilizing the high altitude of the dorm, for the final escape from school as the best ending of our "Big Graduation Mischief"..!

“Done!”, exclaimed Joseph.

Blake stared across the room with an odd expression that was distorting his face.

“I’m going to go tell the teacher.”

There was a sudden hush.

“If you tell on us, I am going to murder you”, shot Julie.

Then, there was a real knock on the door.

“Who is that?” asked Summer.

All the students nervously looked around at each other.

“There’s no one left to come…”

“Does anyone else know about the plan?”

“No, I don’t think so…” said Brian quietly.

Then, Blake rose up and walked to the door, opening it.

“Hello, Mr. Kim Meyoung Soon.”