Morning in the girls’ dorm usually goes like this:

1. Jung Soori gets up at 4:30 am and goes for a thirty minute jog. Usually, she stops by the supermarket to get Soo Ri and Shim Jang strawberries.

2. Jung Soori comes back home around 5:00 am wakes up Soo Ri by sticking a fresh strawberry in .

3. Eun Suk wakes up on her own to the sound of her alarm: Sung Joon’s Wake Up from the Flower Boy Band drama.

4. Eun Suk pours a cup of freezing cold water from the sink and proceeds to dip Shim Jang’s hand into it. Shim Jang wakes up, yelping.

5. Meanwhile, Soori and Soo Ri wake up Chan Hee by turning on DJ Doc’s Run To You Full Volume, Plugging Their Own Ears, and Singing Along with It At the Top of their Voices. If that failed, the next song on the list was 2pm Hands Up, and then, finally, the last resort, which always got Chan Hee up: Wondergirl’s Nobody, which annoyed Chan Hee to no end.

6. By this time, Eun Suk had taken a shower, and Shim Jang had devoured all the strawberries. They all sat down to breakfast, with a very grumpy Chan Hee.

7. By the time the van came, all five of them were ready, and Soori had pep-talked everyone enough so that they were not so grumpy.

“Tablo sunbae, today, I’m not going to stay for lessons. I’m leaving”, Eun Suk told him.

“Oh, really? And where are you going to?”, Tablo asked.

“To help a member”, Eun Suk said.

“All right… but I better see improvement… who is it?”, Tablo said.

“Skyler.”

“That kid asked you for help?”, Tablo said, skeptically.

“Well… he addressed our whole group, but I… I felt like I could help him…”, Eun Suk suddenly felt embarrassed… Was Tablo implying that she was way below Sky’s level?

“Why are you my mentor?”, Eun Suk suddenly asked, furious.

“I ask that question to myself every day too”, he responded, calmly.

Eun Suk made to angrily bolt out of the room, but Tablo caught her arm.

“I’m not trying to insult you, Eun Suk. I’m trying to understand you… and why you do music. Why you act the way you do… when you really hate yourself.”

Eun Suk wrenched her arm out of his grasp.

“Just because I wrote that on the note during the Bottle game doesn’t mean you have access to my heart”, she said, and then she slammed shut the door behind her.

Shim Jang and Jae Sun were sitting in front of a café: Shim Jang was drinking bubble tea and Jae Sun was indulging in hot chocolate. A passerby might simply believe they were just friends, but upon closer inspection, he would have found a more curious sight.
Shim Jang was teaching Jae Sun how to spit. Literally.

“Just pucker your lips and muster as much force as you can. It's like you're dramatically kissing the air. Like this. Watch”, and Shim Jang proceeded to spit a delightful glop of spit a good six feet.

Jae Sun looked at Shim Jang hesitantly.

“What is it?”, Shim Jang asked, sensing his hesitance.

“I don’t want to lose the taste of hot chocolate in my mouth…”, Jae Sun said.

Shim Jang was split between scowling and laughing. Instead, she said, “I’ll buy you another hot chocolate. C’mon. Try it.”

For the next twenty minutes, they took turns seeing who could spit the furthest. Shim Jang won, with a wad flying an impressive eight feet two inches before splatting onto the ground.

“Um… this is interesting and all, but what’s the whole point?”, Jae Sun asked, sipping his hot chocolate. His mouth felt rather dry.

“You haven’t figured it out yet?”, Shim Jang asked. Jae Sun shook his head.

“Well”, Shim Jang said, trying to explain, “This is how you feel when you rap powerfully. It’s like you’re spitting out the words. Pah, pah, pah! Each word has a different level of power, but regardless, every single word has to be spit out of your system, cleanly and without anything left on your lips, so that the audience can receive your power and emotions.”

Jae Sun thought about this. He’d never thought of rapping like that before.

“So… this… is how you rap powerfully?”, he asked.

Shim Jang nodded. “Okay, think of it this way. Powerful is what people call you when you look effortlessly in control. Like you aren’t afraid of freedom. When you spit out the words, you’re giving all you got and letting the words go and you're letting everyone know that you’re not afraid to let the words go. You’re not afraid to throw your skills out there. You're in control even when others expect you to be out of control. You're fearless! That’s what people call charisma, that’s what is so attractive to crowds.”

Jae Sun could see what she was getting at. It was about throwing yourself out there, not being afraid, something Jae Sun had never done. Jae Sun had always been in control, only giving as much as was safe.

“Here, let’s go somewhere and practice rapping with this feeling”, Shim Jang said.

As they were leaving the spit-dotted street, Jae Sun asked, “So, if I can spit a decent spit wad farther than you, does that mean I’m a more powerful rapper than you?”

And Shim Jang, who grinned slightly, replied, “We’ll see about that.”

Kyuhyun watched JiHyun strumming away at his guitar. JiHyun’s voice was melodious, as light as sunlight: it seemed to dance with the dust swirling in the sunlight. Kyuhyun closed his eyes, trying to get a feel for it.

“It’s not just me”, JiHyun said a minute later, cutting off his beautiful and relaxing song. “It’s where we are right now.”

Kyuhyun opened his eyes and looked around him. He and JiHyun were sitting in a forest… the trees were slender here and not particularly leafy, so sunlight streamed through the forest. The ground was covered with colored leafs, save for the few flowers and blades of grass poking through here and there. The sound of a creek somewhere close by could be heard, and a few birds were chirping happily.

Kyuhyun felt rather uncomfortable. This was not exactly his everyday environment, and something about the lightness of this place made him feel very exposed here…

At that very moment, JiHyun said, “This place has always made me feel safe. Warm. Like I could tell all my secrets without getting judged.”

Kyuhyun knew JiHyun was trying to teach him something important, but Kyuhyun couldn’t help but interrupt, “Leader, you have secrets?”

JiHyun smiled, but it was tighter smile than usual. Kyuhyun immediately regretted asking him and looked away.

“Yeah, I have secrets. But when I’m here, I feel like they aren’t so bad.”

“Really?”, Kyuhyun said, surprised, “I feel worse here… I mean, not terrible or anything, but just…”

“I know”, JiHyun said quietly, “you feel insecure. You feel like this place can see everything in your soul that you are trying to hide. You feel scared, because you can’t hide here.”

Kyuhyun was quiet for a moment, before he asked, “So what does that mean? That I feel scared here? And what does that have to do with singing softly and sweetly?”

“Hm…”, JiHyun said, thinking. Kyuhyun could tell that JiHyun was trying to think of the right way to explain this to him. So the next words took him by surprise.

“Kyuhyun, sing something”, JiHyun said suddenly.

“Huh?”, Kyuhyun asked, caught off guard.
“Just sing something. Anything.”

“Um… okay…”, Kyuhyun proceeded to sing a few lines of B2ST’s Shock, but stopped. His voice sounded so.. disruptive, so out-of-place here. Kyuhyun felt embarrassed for even trying to sing…

“When you can sing here without feeling out-of-place, I think your voice will be sweet and soft enough for anyone, even for Korea’s best group”, JiHyun told him.

Kyuhyun nodded, and closed his eyes, trying to relax…

“Okay, just… put one foot directly in front of the other and put your hands on your hips…”, Chan Hee was saying.

“Like this?”, Soo Ri asked, blushing as she walked down the “catwalk”, which was nothing more than the sidewalk coursing through the park.

“Better. But just… Hm… You’re so stiff, it looks awkward”, Chan Hee said, deep in thought. Chan Hee walked a few paces herself, just to get a feel for what she was trying to teach Soo Ri.

Soo Ri watched her enviously. Chan Hee looked so graceful, and her figure was blindingly stunning when she struck a pose…

“Look, just… throw back your head and laugh at the world! And then walk forward like… like you’ve got it all!”, Chan Hee yelled, flinging her arms into the air.

“Like I’ve what?”, Soo Ri giggled. This all sounded so un-y.

“Like you’ve got it all!”, Chan Hee repeated enthusiastically.

Soo Ri tried to protest weakly, but Chan Hee kept encouraging her, so she tried. Soo Ri tried to imagine herself as someone who “had it all”. She strode forward, boldly, swaying her hips a little like she’d seen Shim Jang do when she danced…

“That’s it! Okay, keep going, keep going!”, Chan Hee said.

Soo Ri could feel herself work into a rhythm...

“Now cameras and lights are everywhere, but it’s because you’re so flawless, so beautiful!”, Chan Hee shouted.

Soo Ri stumbled slightly. “Chan Hee, I’m not flawless…”

“Yes, you are! You definitely are! C’mon, Soo Ri, you’re the face of Epik Love!”, Chan Hee said fiercely.

Soo Ri took a deep breath, tried to picture Chan Hee’s figure and Shim Jang’s dancing movements. She could be like that, too, she could.

And with that, Soo Ri walked forward, the very personification of y itself, her hands placed gently on her hips as she confidently strode forward, turning her shoulders this way and that way, totally in control… until she reached the end of the sidewalk. And it was then, in the midst of Chan Hee’s enthusiastic applause, that suddenly Soo Ri knew what it was that made Shim Jang’s dancing so hot and attractive… confidence! Soo Ri needed confidence.

“That was fantastic!”, Chan Hee said, beaming. “Okay, now let’s go for some coffee.”

“Where are we going?”, Skyler asked Eun Suk. They were both walking down the most ghetto streets of Seoul, and Skyler had to admit, he was feeling slightly nervous. Eun Suk, on the other hand, seemed to be perfectly at ease as she strolled down the streets.

“You’’ll see”, was her only response.

After Skyler asked another five times and Eun Suk answered the same time every time, Skyler called out, “Eun Suk”, with every intention of turning back, when suddenly Eun Suk said, “Look, Skyler, look at that.”She was pointing at a crowd of people a little ways away, a crowd that Sky hadn’t noticed until now.

He peered at them, squinting to see what it was all about. Was that… dancing he saw?

“C’mon”,Eun Suk, motioning him forward. He followed her, still slightly uneasy. They gradually made their way to the center of the crowd, where the main action was going on. And then Sky realized where he was: a street dance battle.

“And please clap your hands together for The J20’s!”, a man was shouting. Eun Suk clapped enthusiastically. Skyler was slightly taken aback… Eun Suk was so enthusiastic about this, even though she’d seemed pissed when they’d met up in front of the JYP building this morning…

“Watch!’”,Eun Suk was saying to him, so Sky obediently turned and watched.

A man started off with a back flip that nearly had him bowling into the crowd, and then the man started spinning some crazy flares. Meanwhile, two other dancers had launched themselves into one-hand cartwheels, followed by baby freezes that nearly had them toppling over the entire row of onlookers. Then, all of them started an extremely complicated popping and tutting section; their hands were flying everywhere.

“They look so free”, Sky heard himself say. He hadn’t meant to say anything, but despite himself, he could feel the energy rising in him, responding to the crazy dancers spinning and popping and tutting right now.

“Yeah, they are. But look at how synchronized they are!”, Eun Suk pointed at them. And Eun Suk was right. They were completely in sync with together. So free, and yet so together…

“How do they do it?”, Sky asked her.

Eun Suk shrugged and stayed silent until the end of the performance. Sky knew she was thinking.

And when the J20’s performance had ended, Eun Suk turned to Sky, looked him straight in the eyes, and said, “They’re just… in the moment.”

And Sky understood.

“Okay, this time, as you sing, I’m going to harmonize with you. And I want you to be more aware of my voice matching yours, instead of focusing on how your voice sounds”, Soori told Gongchan. They were standing in a phone booth at the park; the place where their voices would reflect back to them.

“Okay”, Gongchan and started singing the main vocals again. This time, as Soori joined in, Gongchan tried to focus on Soori’s voice instead of his. Gongchan felt very uncomfortable doing this, he felt like he was going to lose control of his own magnificent, solo, voice. But he tried to focus only on the pitch of his voice, and then listened closely to Soori’s voice throughout the song.

When the song ended, Soori said, “Okay, now try to sing my part, and I’ll sing the main lines.” Gongchan nodded, and took a deep breath. He’d never done this before. Suddenly, he was nervous.

Gongchan felt small hands on his shoulders. “Relax! You look like you’re going to pass out!”,Soori said. Her eyes were filled with kindness and laughter, reflecting the sunlight that was streaming in the phone booth.

Gongchan nodded, still serious. “Okay, ready?”, Soori asked. Gongchan, with his eyes closed, nodded.

Soori started to sing the main part. Gongchan was momentarily taken aback by the quality of her voice: so soft, so smooth, so alive… how had he never noticed it before? But then it was time for him to harmonize. Feeling majorly forced out of his comfort zone, Gongchan tried to sing Soori’s part. He sounded terrible. He stopped singing, ashamed of himself.

“Okay, maybe what I said was wrong”, Soori said, contemplating. “Here, this time, instead of focusing on one person’s voice, try to focus on the mixing of the two voices. Try to focus on how they… how they compliment one another…”

Gongchan nodded. That sounded better than focusing on only her vocals and singing his part totally blindly. Although, he wouldn’t mind listening to her sing again…

“Okay, do you think you’re ready?”, Soori asked.

“Yeah”,Gongchan said, and then Soori started singing sweetly again. This time, Gongchan focused not only on her voice, but what it meant to him. If her voice sang a note a half step up from his, he had to respond, adjust. Gongchan totally forgot about trying to memorize Soori’s harmony, and simply began to create his own. Just follow her lead, he told himself, and listened to how they sounded together. How their voices danced around each other, held hands, stepped lightly through the notes and beats…

The song ended on a soft collaboration of a C and G. The sweetness of the note lingered in the air…

“Gongchan, that was fantastic!”, Soori said, applauding gently and smiling up at him.

“That was fun”, Gongchan said, surprised, and also relieved that he hadn’t ruined the song this time.

“It was, wasn’t it?”, Soori said. “Our vocals seem to suit each other.”

And for some reason, that sentence made Gongchan feel happier than he’d ever felt.

“Yeah, we’re heading back. What about you guys?”, JiHyun was talking to Jae Sun over the phone.

“You guys will be back in about ten minutes? Okay, cool. We’ll see you there.”JiHyun hung up the phone.

“What did Jae Sun say?”, Kyuhyun asked JiHyun.

“Oh…he and Shim Jang got lost for a bit… but they said they’re fine now. They’re taking a taxi back to YG building”, JiHyun replied.

“A taxi!?”, Kyuhyun said, “Sheesh, how far out did they travel?”

JiHyun laughed softly. “I’m just glad they’re okay.”

“Yeah…”,Kyuhyun said.

“Hey, Leader”, Kyuhyun said. JiHyun looked at him. “Those secrets you mentioned today…will you ever tell me?”, Kyuhyun asked.

JiHyun was quiet for a moment. Then, he said, “Hm… I’ll consider it… If I tell you those secrets, will you call me hyung instead of Leader?”

Kyuhyun looked up at JiHyun. JiHyun’s gaze was earnest. Apparently, JiHyun also felt the awkwardness between the two of them.

“I’ll consider it”, Kyuhyun replied.

Kyuhyun swore he saw JiHyun struggle to hide a smile.

“That was pretty amazing. I’m kinda hyped up to practice dance now”, Sky said to Eun Suk as they made their way back to the YG building. Sky laughed embarrassedly, he never talked so much, but he couldn’t help it. He felt so hyper right now!

“Yeah, I love watching street dancing. It’s always so passionate… never fake…”, Eun Suk said, almost wistfully.

“You say that so… regretfully. Why do you say it like that?”, Sky asked carefully.

“Say what so regretfully?”, Eun Suk questioned him, looking at him.

“About how passionate street dance is… You say it so sadly… Do you feel like your dance is fake now?”, Sky asked. He didn’t know exactly why he was so curious, but he felt himself wanting to know… why Eun Suk was always frowning…

Eun Suk just shrugged. “I guess I just feel like I’m losing myself a lot… and that never happened when I was a street dancer.”

“You were a street dancer?”, Sky said, astonished. This girl, with her uptight smile and unhealthy addiction to cigarettes and alcohol… was that kind-of free dancer? But then he remembered her smile, her glowing face last night… after she’d come back from watching street dancing…

“Sorry”,Sky said quickly, “I didn’t mean to sound rude…”

“Don’t be sorry. I can hardly believe I was that happy once myself”, Eun Suk replied flatly. They had come to the YG building now. Eun Suk pulled open the door.

“After you”, Eun Suk said to Sky.

a/n: :3 i really wish i could comment like you guys. but it would give too much away. D: i hope you guys realize that the story line is usually inspired by what you guys say in the comment box. ^^ So I thought this chapter was more balanced anyhow... in terms of character involvement. =] I love writing this story, and I'm so excited for when you guys all have to do promotional things! Wah! Also, thank you guys for also loving my characters! I was really afraid that you guys would dislike them, but I hope you see that I use them to make the story better?
Anyways,
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE FANTASTIC CHARACTERS! I love all of them! Like, Kyuhyun's refusal to admit that he's scared or nervous. XD In the forest, with JiHyun, he basically tells JiHyun he's scared without telling him. :3 Every character has such lovable traits.