Initial Incident
Hit The StageInitial Incident - The first most important event in a play from which the rest of the play develops.
Woo Jiho walked into the campus of Seoul University, proudly holding a skateboard in one hand and an array of books under his left arm, bobbing his head to the beat of the music blasting in his ears. It was the first day of school and he already had most of his classes. All that's left was his elective, which would be much later in the evening, precisely at 5 PM, which was three hours away. In the meantime, he would stop by his dorm room to finally meet his roommate.
Jiho pushed through the doors of the dorm building, greeted with a blast of air conditioning and also with a few people he recognized from his previous classes. He was a social butterfly and had already gotten to know some students.
After riding the elevator, his demeanor exuded less confidence, and was now replaced with more hesitance. What would his roommate be like? Would they like each other? What if he's messy?
Before he knew it, the elevator let out a soft 'ding', signaling him to exit and walk down the hallway to his room. Jiho produced a key from his pocket, pushing it into the keyhole, only to open the door and...
"Hello! You must be my roommate!" a loud voice exclaimed. "My name is Park Kyung."
Park Kyung was a short boy, only by a few inches but nevertheless short. He had a cheeky smile and wore a baseball cap over his golden brown hair, looking at Jiho with eyes wide in excitement. He reminded Jiho of his brother, Taewoon.
"Nice to meet you!" Jiho replied, shooting Kyung a quick smile before glancing around the room. So far, Kyung had done a good job of organizing his items. Jiho's suitcase was already on the side of the room since he had to drop off his belongings before classes started. Kyung had left in untouched, making Jiho feel a wave of relief wash over him. "My name is Woo Jiho."
Kyung saw Jiho as tall, lean, and pale, almost like a vampire. His eyes were sharp and his nose was kind of weird. But after staring for a while, he noticed that Jiho had a cute smile with two very charming, crooked front teeth. His eyes crinkled up in a nice kind of way and his lips were a lovely pink. Jiho didn't seem that scary anymore.
Jiho wondered why Kyung seemed to be daydreaming, so he took a seat on his own bed, smiling with pursed lips as he didn't really know what else to do. He swore it couldn't get more awkward when Kyung did the same.
"So...where are you from? I'm from Seoul," Kyung started off, looking expectantly at Jiho.
"I'm from Seoul too! Cool," Jiho replied enthusiastically, glad to have found something in common. Yet after such an energetic reply, the uncomfortable silence found its way back, settling in the room again.
"You like rap?" a voice suddenly piped in, making Jiho look up at the person in front of him. Kyung was pointing to a CD case that was placed in the corner of Jiho's desk. The CD cover featured the American rapper Nas staring charismatically into the distance. Jiho's eyes lit up as he nodded, and Kyung couldn't have been happier.
"Hey, me too! I do some rapping myself too, you know, just mixtapes here and there," Kyung replied with a lopsided grin. Jiho's mouth gaped in shock.
"Whoa....that's crazy...me too! Are you serious? Like, actual mixtapes and stuff? The old school mics and everything?" he asked incredulously, and Kyung jumped out from his seat, grabbing Jiho's hands while nodding vigorously.
"Of course! You want me to show you?" Kyung asked, motioning Jiho with his hands to his own desk. The two were momentarily lost in their own world, leaning back in their chairs in front of Kyung's desk. Their laptops were brought out and they shoved earbuds into their ears, eager to listen to the verses they each wrote. Their bodies moved along with the blaring yet simple beats of their roughly put together tracks.
After spending almost two hours listening and complimenting each other, Jiho realized that it was almost time for his elective.
"What is yours? Mine is psychology with Dr.Lee. I had his class earlier and it was the most interesting one I had all day. I like rapping but I'm also good at understanding other people. I feel like it'll also help with lyric writing," Kyung explained. Jiho nodded, noting that for some odd reason, psychology seemed like the perfect fit for Kyung.
"I chose theatre, which is taught by Professor Jung. I really like music but surprisingly, there are no music electives here. I thought theatre would be the next best artsy class to choose. Plus, it can't be that hard, right?" Jiho asked nonchalantly, expecting Kyung to smile back at him and nod. He was never the type to worry and was absolutely sure that nothing could go wrong in college. All of his classes so far were splendid, especially his teachers.
"Uh...did you say Professor Jung? As in Jung Kiseok? Or did I hear wrong?" Kyung asked, his eyes widening. Jiho bit his lips. What does he mean? Why does he look so scared?
"Er, yes? Why?" Jiho asked, suddenly feeling anxiety wash over him. Kyung silently re-opened his laptop, typing away at his keyboard before turning the screen towards Jiho.
"Just read it," Kyung ordered, pointing to the "Rate My Teacher" website. Jiho nodded, unsure of what he was about to discover.
Anonymous:
Prof. Jung is very knowledgeable in the area of theatre, but he's very stubborn and strict. He will not hesitate to tell you whether you're untalented or annoying. It's very hard to communicate with him, even when you want help. I graduated from Inha University already, but even then, I'm scared to attach my name to this review.
Anonymous:
Warning: Run away. That's it. That's all you can do. If you can change your elective, take the opportunity right away. Unless you definitely want to get into the theatre industry after graduating, don't take his class. I'm saying this to save the lives of incoming students. You don't want to experience the same hell I did. I didn't even get good grades, and that took a toll on my overall GPA. I wish I could turn back time.
Jiho felt his heart drop and he softly cursed to himself, wishing he had at least read the teacher reviews before picking his classs. He wanted an easy elective, but it looked like he was getting the exact opposite.
"Good luck man. My friend Jaehyo is going to be in that class too, and he's the one who complained about Professor Jung. Jaehyo really wants to get into theatre though so he has no choice. It's almost five so you should head out!" Kyung explained before pushing Jiho out the door. Jiho barely had time to grab his belongings, but Kyung showed no mercy.
"You can't be late, especially to his class. Run like the wind!" he shouted over dramatically, and while walking to campus grounds, Jiho felt determined to have a good first day, no matter what it would take.
As Jiho inched towards the classroom, the sound of mumbling students could be heard. He peeked in through the open door, noting that a teacher was sitting at the desk and that students filled up the seats on the elevated levels of the floor. It was like a mini lecture hall, suitable for watching people act up front. Before Prof. Jung could notice, he rushed in, quickly taking a seat next to a tall, handsome boy. He had long strands of brown hair brushing against his forehead, almost touching the thick eyelashes that guarded his wide, doe eyes. His nose was a bit long, but not in an ugly way like Jiho believed his own nose to look like. It was tall and pointed, matching well with his thick eyebrows.
"Hello there. The name's Jaehyo. What's your name?" he immediately asked, startling Jiho who was hurriedly taking out a pen and paper.
"Oh, uh, my name's Jiho," he replied, fumbling around with his papers. Jaehyo laughed, and then Jiho remembered something from only a few minutes ago. Jaehyo...didn't Kyung mention a Jaehyo being in theatre?
"Hey, do you happen to know a Kyung? Park Kyung by any chance?' he asked, making Jaehyo turn around to face him fully.
"Well, yeah. He's a friend I had since high school. How do you know him?" Jaehyo asked, looking eagerly at Jiho.
"He's my roommate. I just met him about two hours ago and when we were talking about theatre, your name came up," Jiho replied, feeling less frazzled. Jaehyo smiled softly, brushing back his hair.
"Well, I guess I wouldn't be so lonely in this-" he began to whisper, "hell of a class". Jiho chuckled, nodding in agreemen
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