BGM: Shinhwa - Perfect Man

"Please don't hurt me!"

Both of your arms were raised up in the air, uncontrollably shivering. Your breathing was uneven and your eyes were already tearing up in fear. You weren't going to die today, you were sure of that, since your life hasn't flashed before your eyes yet, but that doesn't mean you're going to make it through this day unscathed. 

The man at the other side of the counter looked dangerous. Terrifyingly dangerous.

A plan suddenly started cooking up inside your little head when you remembered about that can of pepper spray inside your bag. You thought that if you took your wallet and your handyphone from your bag and threw them onto the ground, this would briefly distract the mugger because his instinct would be to bend down and pick them up. This, you decided, would help you buy some time to retrieve the pepper spray from your bag and focus on your target before you can spray it directly into his eyes. 

No, it won't work.

Even if you have a can of pepper spray inside your bag, you knew that picking up a fight with the mugger is not the brightest idea right now. Your parents once told you that if you ever found yourself stuck in a similar situation, you should just comply with the mugger's requests and save yourself from harm. 

Your life, after all, is much more important than any material thing you possess.

"Here, take it! Take everything!" you said, pushing your bag towards him.

You were about to give him the contents of the cash register as well, but you figured that even if the mugger decides to let you off the hook and just take the money without hurting you, Ahjumeonie would still kill you anyway once she finds out that you gave away the shop's daily earnings just like that.

While you were going back and forth between fearing your demise and plotting your escape, the mugger was just staring at you bewilderingly. Almost a minute has passed, but he still hasn't done anything yet.

Is my bag not enough for him? Do I really have to empty out the cash register?!?

Out of frustration, you suddenly blurted out, "Just tell me what you want!"

The mugger pursed his lips and scratched his head. The fierceness in his eyes that you noticed earlier was now replaced with confusion. If he wasn't intending on taking away your belongings and Happy Bubble's earnings, you might even consider the idea that he might actually be in a state of panic.

All of a sudden, you saw him reach for the long wooden stick that he brought when he first entered the shop. You closed your eyes, covered your face with your hands, and started screaming. The stick hasn't made contact with your skin yet, but you were already anticipating the pain it would cause you.

Nothing happened. Three seconds have passed since you let out a scream, but you still haven't felt any sort of physical pain... so you moved your fingers a bit to take a peek at what just happened. Tracing the long wooden stick with your gaze, you discovered that it was actually pointing to the Happy Bubble menu posted on the wall behind you... 

...specifically on the picture of a strawberry-flavored bubble tea.

Today was quite unusual. Minseok, for instance, was the only person inside the cloud room. Most days, he was one of the last people to turn up during practice, but since his mother tricked him by adjusting his alarm clock without his knowledge, he ended up arriving two hours than usual. 

♫ Geudaemaneul algetseo, nae soomee da handaedo, 'cause you are the one... ♫

He was busy killing time by practicing yesterday's choreography, which happens to be Shinhwa's Perfect Man, when he heard a slightly perky voice call him out from the door.

"Oppa, annyeonghaseyo!" 

When Minseok turned around to check who the owner of the voice was, he had the shock of his life when he discovered that the person who just greeted him was not a bright-eyed female dongsaeng, but a scary-looking teenage boy.

*Why did he call me oppa?!?*

The manager beside the boy, who was in charge of introducing him to his fellow trainees, suddenly erupted into laughter.

"Sorry, Minseok-ah. He's not very good in Korean yet," the manager said, several seconds after recovering from his laughter. "This is Huang Zitao. He's a new trainee from China,"

"Well, that explains it," Minseok shrugged, before turning his attention back to Huang Zitao. "Ni hao!" he enthusiastically greeted, matching it with a little wave.

The next thing he knew, Zitao started babbling in straight Mandarin. Poor Minseok, who is admittedly not the best student when it comes to learning new languages, found himself panicking and wishing he was with any of the three Chinese boys right now.

"Whoa. Whoa. Slow down, Zitao, slow down. My Mandarin is limited to 'ni hao' and baozi. I have no idea what you just said to me," he confessed.

"JAEMI-AH~"

By now, you were already used to this standard greeting from Park Chanyeol. One by one, the group of SM trainees started entering the Happy Bubble Tea Shop and settled on their regular spot on the corner of the dining area. The only exception