He slowly began losing his senses, but not the ones he used to traverse the world and its obstacles, the abstract ones that guided his life. Sense of wonder, sense of togetherness, sense of joy... his disenfranchised emotions towards the enterprise of life continued and accumulated to the point that being in school already seemed to crush his shoulders with stress. The inevitability that his family would enter a huge debt to send him to college, when he himself believe to be a worthless investment, caused his veins to clog with worry, or, the longing he had to see his friends early in the morning in school, as means to alleviate said stress, yet realising he wouldn't anymore, knotted his intestines tightly.

He took comfort in reading how their life unfolded, if not feeling sorry most of the time:

ParkMasta:

These two hours of homework, per subject, a day, is ing ridiculous!

MightyLu:

Are they timing your time in the bathroom? 'cause that's what my instructors are doing. And forget eating good food, I'm eating this protein drink with this brand of lean food crap that has no taste. ... I'll never complain about eating ddeokbokki again.

Kyungsoo:

You both sound so stressed... and Luhan, you never did, you always finished yours, even ate my portions sometimes.

ParkMasta:

Is this what your sister does every day? How has she not gone insane?

MightLu:

And how does Jongin invest so much time in dancing and not ache? I can't feel my legs and arms!

Kyungsoo:

I can't answer that, Chanyeol, she just does. I don't have the brain capacity to harness half the effort she does in her studies.

Kyungsoo:

Yeah, but I don't think he does it more than 4 hours a day, Lu...

MightyLu:

I'm going to be so busy, they keep increasing my workload!

ParkMasta:

My parents are monitoring my computer time and my phone time, so I'll be scarce too.

Kyungsoo:

Please remember to rest properly when you can.

Some days later...

New Session started by

Kyungsoo:

It's been a while, how are you guys holding up?

Kyungsoo:

I haven't done much these days besides work and school, and hanging out with Yifan every now and then.

Kyungsoo:

Let me know how you two are doing, please.

Kyungsoo:

I miss you.

logged off.

Words carried sentiment, but a lot of it was lost when transcribed on a chatroom, on a mobile screen, with the leaping, smiling dogs as the background. The moment is consistently absent.

It was the start of a new day and month. His pair of friends have been scarce in their chat group, for both have been passed incredible amounts of work, while Kyungsoo himself leisurely continued his average, unostentatious and unimpressive school life and even then, he struggled at times.

He momentarily shifted his attention from looking out at the sky to looking around the classroom to find his class filling up as attendance was about to start.

Another day to survive, he thought to himself, one day at a time

The doors at the northern side of the classroom opened and class quietened and stood up. The teacher, dressed in her ty