Kyungjong emptied his bag quickly in his room; he didn’t bring a lot of stuff with him anyway. He was taking a stroll around the school after all since it was free of students who would brag how they spent their summer in Hawaii or how they purchased the whole latest fashion line in Paris. Yup the latest thing he needed is to know about things he could not do or afford in this lifetime. He sighed when entered the piano practice room, as he read in the brochure, this room is actually used for vocal lessons. But he did not understand why there are 3 pianos facing the wall and one, the one you would usually see in Opera concerts or big events, the rest looked like a regular ones, was placed bit afar around the corner. As curious as he is, and greedy to try the master-like piano, Kyungjong automatically walked across the room and placed himself comfortably on the velvet chair.  His fingers touched the keys stealthily, as if he was afraid he would break it if he made a sound.

“I would not do that if I were you.” An unforgettable voice suddenly uttered. Causing Kyungjong to jump and move away from the piano quickly, it was only Jihyuk for Kyungjong’s luck. “This one belongs to one of academy students, and a one you should totally not mess with, he might chop your head off if he knew you touched his baby.”

Kyungjong looked at Jihyuk in terror, he did not complete one day in this place yet he was already told his head could be chopped off if he touched a piano.

“I was kidding.” Jihyuk blurted out laughing. “Gosh you should have seen the look on your face!”

“Damn you!” Kyungjong said under his breath. “I seriously was thinking to take the first train back to my place!”

Jihyuk continued to laugh while Kyungjong resisted the urge to march toward him and kick the day light out of him, but before he could do that, Jihyuk apologized and pointed to the door asking Kyungjong to talk a walk with him. “Why did you disappear so suddenly back in the station? You could have at least told me the directions to the academy before you run away like that.”

“You could have text me asking about them, I gave you my number, remember?”

Kyungjong mentally slapped himself, how could her forget about that. Being directed by a smartass like Jihyuk would have been safer than riding with a stranger.

“you are here anyway, right?” Jihyuk replied, “Sorry about that, I’ve got some matters to settle before I get my here.”

“what kind of matters?”

“you don’t want to know.”

“maybe I do want to know?”

“believe me you don’t want to.”

“now you are making more curious, Drug deal? Rubbing a bank? Or maybe eliminating the president?”

“You ask a lot kiddo, and those all are wrong assumptions,” Jihyuk said and ruffled Kyungjong’s hair. “Street fight.” He finally answered.

Kyungjong fixed his hair in irritation, other than his family and a certain person, he gets irritated with someone does that, “you seem to be the type who get in those frequently, don’t you?”

Jihyuk nodded in enthusiasm, seemed to be proud of that fact.

“Well you seem unharmed?” Kyungjong asked.

“Yeah, turned out I was not needed there after all. That’s why I came here quickly.” Jihyuk said while opening a door that led to the academy canteen, revealing 3 boys with lights bruised areas on their skin and bleeding lips. “But are the guys need some nursing.”

“That is the mini boy you kept babbling about?” one of them was squatting on a table shot quickly, his jack-sparrow-like eyeliner highlighted the bad-boy look of his.

“I do not think he would be able to put up a fight.” The was who was standing as if none of 100 and one chairs here fitted to have his empire-level , but Kyungjong thought, admitted at second thought, that if he had a handsome face like his he would not mind doing that too.

“yah yah, who said we will involve him in our street activities?” Jihyuk placed his hands on Kyungjong’s shoulders, pushing him a little toward the guys. “We need a keyboardist; I think he would fit, since Aejong has this talents radar, and a dude from Busan, he must be exceptional! Think of it! With him I believe we can make it to win that rock festival”

“did you even ask to join us at least?” the guy with long hair that reached his shoulders and one side tucked behind his ear, but if you minus that, he looked the most normal between them according to Kyungjong, and that not only because he was sitting in a chair.

“You would not mind joining our band, right Kyungjong?” Jihyuk finally asked for Kyungjong’s permission while looking down on him.

“I would.” Kyungjong wore a sarcastic smile on his face looking upwards at Jihyuk and removed the hands on his shoulders in the process. “I can’t risk my staying here for your personal benefits, sorry Jihyuk.” He moved a little bit away

“Is that so?” Jihyuk dropped his cheery character by Kyungjong’s statement. Kyungjong nodded, mouthed a silent sorry and looked down, and then room fell into silence. He could feel daggers shooting at him from the squatting boy, and a cold breeze from the handsome one, Kyungjong felt he needed to lighten the mood and get out fast.

“I would have made a dramatic exist right now.” Kyungjong rubbed his neck. “But I don’t know the route to the dorms location from here.”

+

The long haired guy volunteered to show Kyungjong the way back to the dorms, Jang Do-il, Kyungjong knew his name. He was less bruised than the other 2, and his lips didn’t bleed so his visit to the nurse would be pointless after all. However, that did not keep the atmosphere between them to be a complete awkward. Kyungjong just turned down an offer to join a rock band, and one of the members is showing him the way back to the dorms. At least Do-il took the rejection better than the other two who kept glaring at him on his way out.

“It is a pity that you can’t join us.” Do-il muttered in a bored tone. “Jihyuk do not pick anyone randomly, anyone.” He emphasized the last word. “You must be something after all.”

“I don’t know about you guys,” Kyungjong held his hands in defense. “But I’m on a scholarship here, any slip and I’m out in a blink of an eye. That’s why I rejected. I need to stay here if I wanted to secure a better life for myself and for people around me back in home.”

“wow,” Do-il said. “You need to fix your accent.”

“w-what?” Kyungjong felt stupid talking about his personal matters and then get remarked about his accent.

“your accent,” Do-il repeated. “you’ll be the source of jokes here if you didn’t fix it.”

Kyungjong rolled his eyes, but mentally he kept that in note. He halted of all the sudden. Causing Do-il sent him questioning look. “This is my room.” Kyungjong clarified.

“You stay in this room?” Do-il looked at the ‘747’ numbered door. “Good luck.” Do-il chuckled and patted Kyungjong on the back, now it was Kyungjong’s turn to shot the other boy a questioning look. “You are roommates with Hajin.”

Kyungjong heart pounded faster upon hearing that name, Hajin.

 “Any chance,” Kyungjong grabbed Do-il’s shirt from the hem lightly to prevent him from leaving. “That guy is called Kim Hajin?”

“Yeah,” Do-il had a slight shock from Kyungjong’s reaction. “He is out of the country at the moment, but how did you know his last name?”

“Oh, nothing,” Kyungjong cursed himself for reacting without thinking like that and released Do-il’s shirt. “Kim is a common name, lucky guess.” He tried to keep this issue under water. Do-il did not buy that but he sensed Kyungjong uneasiness about the situation so he decided to leave it to be.