BGM: Shinhwa - I'm Not Tall Enough

"Jaemi! Ya! Jaemi-ah! Wake up!"

You were in the middle of a cringe-inducing, teeny-bopper, fluff-filled dream starring you and the most perfect bias in the whole world when you heard your best friend's voice ringing in your ears. 

"Five more minutes..." you murmured.

Unsatisfied with stirring you up from your sleep with just her voice, Jihye then started shaking your sleeping figure and slapping your to force you to finally open your eyes. 

Reluctantly, you opened your eyes and rolled to the right side of the bed to check the time. Glancing at the Eeyore alarm clock on your bedside table, you discovered it was still early - too early - for you to leave dreamland.

"Geez, Jihye. It's 3:30 AM. Let me sleep," you begged as you rolled back to the other side of the bed to concentrate on your attempt to continue the plotline of your sweet dream.

Putting both hands on her hips, Jihye announced, "But the race is today!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE RACE IS TODAY?!?"

"Here, look!" She held up a leaflet and started reading:

"The Seoul Summer Charity Fun Run for the Benefit of The Republic of Korea National Red Cross. June 20, 2010. 6:00 AM. Jamsil Olympic Stadium in Songpa-gu. Registration starts at 5:15 AM,"

"You can't be serious..."

She rolled her eyes. "Didn't you hear what I just read?"

"But Jung Jihye! How can you sign us up for a marathon with only two days notice?!? We're not even athletic enough to run that race! No, scratch that. We're not even athletic at all!"

You slumped back to your bed, but Jihye vehemently took the blanket off your body, causing you to curl up into a ball.

"Five more minutes..." you murmured.

When you reluctantly agreed to participate in the Seoul Summer fun run with Jihye, you had no idea that it would already be held this Sunday. 

"Ya! Han Jaemi! Don't you want to cross out item number three on the list?!?"

One quick shower and eight bus stops later, you and Jihye finally made it to the starting point of the race: The Jamsil Olympic Stadium in Songpa-gu. Aside from being the venue for the 1988 Summer Olympics and providing a home stadium to Seoul United FC, it is also famous for hosting concerts for immensely popular K-pop artists such as Seo Taiji, H.O.T., and Dong Bang Shin Ki. 

Most SM Town: Live in Seoul concerts were also held in this very stadium. 

credit to VisitKorea

When you arrived, the place was already crowded with the participants, organizers, and spectators of the Seoul Summer Charity Fun Run. It was also surprising that a lot of non-Koreans also flew in to the city just to participate in the event.

It's good to know that a lot of people are willing to wake up this early for a good cause...

While Jihye was filling up the registration forms for the race, you decided to leave her for a while to look for something to drink. Even if you're a tea person, you knew perfectly well that what you need right now is a warm cup of espresso to awaken your senses.

"I'll be right back, okay?"

After a quick stop at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, you went back to the stadium to go find Jihye. You were about to take another sip of coffee from the cup you were holding when a familiar voice from behind made you stop on your tracks.

"JAEMI-AH~!!!"

No freakin' way.

Turning around from your spot, you felt your eyes widen at the sight of two of Happy Bubble's most valued customers: Chanyeol and Sehun.

"What's with the matching outfits?" you asked, referring to the black shirt + green and blue vest + denim jeans combo that the two of them were wearing.

"We're volunteers," Chanyeol proudly declared, a broad smile exposing almost all of the teeth in his mouth.

Failing to notice the RCY logo patched on their vests, you asked, "Volunteers for what?"

"The youth chapter of the National Red Cross," Chanyeol responded, pointing to the RCY logo above the right pocket of his Red Cross Youth vest.

"Oh, so you're not running?"

"Nope. As you can see we have very important duties that we need to fulfill-"

"We're waterboyth," Sehun interrupted, pointing to the huge cooler hiding behind Chanyeol.

"Stop saying that! We're not waterboys!"

Sehun raised one of his eyebrows up, but Chanyeol continued babbling about why he refused to be called a waterboy.

"We're beverage technicians! H2O specialists! We are here to make sure that the marathon runners won't faint or die of dehydration! We're thirst quenchers..."

"Thirst quencher?!? What are you, a bottle of Gatorade?" you joked.

"Like I thaid, we're waterboyth," Sehun insisted with a shrug.

Shaking his head in submission, Chanyeol just went on to ask what you were doing in the Jamsil Olympic Stadium in the first place. "How about you? Are you participating in the race?"

"Yeah... I was practically dragged here by my best friend, though," you admitted before taking another sip of your coffee.

Sehun glossed his lips with his tongue and asked, "Betht friend?"

Geez, Jaemi. Stop looking at his tongue!

"Yeah, Jihye." Oh no! I forgot to buy her a bottle of water!

"Anyway, is it okay if I get one of those," you requested, pointing to the pack of bottled water inside the unclosed coolers. "She asked me to get one for her and I forgot to buy it,"

Chanyeol took a bottle of water from the cooler and handed it to you. "Here you go,"

"Thanks," you said. "Oh and uhm, it was nice seeing the two of you here. Good luck with the waterboy thing,"

You were about to leave the two waterboys when Chanyeol asked you were you were going.

"To find Jihye, of course," you responded.

To your surprise, the two boys carried the huge cooler off the ground and started walking towards you. "Oh, great! Let's just go together. We have to find the others anyway," Chanyeol happily suggested.

"The others?!? Don't tell me all eleven of you are here!"

I wonder if he's here too...

"Nope, just nine. Moonkyu has some family-related matters that he needs to attend to while Kyuwan hyung..." He paused for a while before looking at Sehun to ask, "What's with Kyuwan hyung again?"  

"He'th jutht probably too lazy to get up early," Sehun assumed.

The three of you have been walking around for a good 10 minutes when you finally found the rest of the boys at the far side of the stadium. The image that welcomed you made it quite a struggle for you to keep your jaw in its rightful place.

Oh my dear Lord...

The first one to catch your eye was Yixing. He was stretching both of his arms to his sides so that his body was in a T-formation. With his palms facing outwards, he stiffened his arms and pushed two invisible barriers like Samson did with his pair of pillars. He then started moving both arms counterclockwise, makin