♡ Chapter 3 ♡

When the final bell rang, Jungeum made sure she was the first one out of her seat and through the classroom door. Had school always been this boring? Her face scrunched into a disapproving scowl as she dodged the streams of students leaving their last classes while gossipping about the day’s events. She hated this place already.

Eager to get away from the school as quickly as possible, Jungeum weaved and dodged her way through the crowd, making her way to the school exit. When she reached the schoolyard, she came to an abrupt stop, suddenly realizing that she was in another self-proclaimed predicament. She disliked school, but she could hardly stand to be at her house with her mother. The image of the tishly dressed women popped up into her mind, and she shivered.

Jungeum absolutely refused  both to  stay at the teenage jail and to go back home. She tried to think of a place where she could hide out until late that evening, but nothing came to mind. She was new to the town after all, and it wasn't like she had any friends she could... A crooked smile spread across her face as she suddenly remembered something. The nerdy kid, Myungsoo, had said something about hanging out after school, right? She most definitely didn't have a problem with him- he'd bought her cookies after all- and anything was better than dealing with her mother's half-hearted questions about her day.

After wracking her brain for a few moments trying to recall where she was supposed to meet Myungsoo, Jungeum sped off to the far corner of the yard where the bench from earlier sat. She was surprised at how relieved she was to find Kim Myungsoo there waiting, just as he had promised. When the handsome nerd grinned immediately upon seeing her, Jungeum felt a twinge of guilt for using him. She shrugged the feeling off and gave Myungsoo a forced smile. What he doesn't know won't hurt him.

"You came!" Myungsoo stood to his feet, hurriedly grabbing his schoolbag, and rushed over to meet her. Jungeum put her hands on her hips and nodded as if to confirm that yes, indeed, she was here. Myungsoo laughed slightly, shook his head, and then settled into a cooler, more collected demeanor that Jungeum hadn't seen him use before, "Follow me."

Jungeum did as she was told, ruffling her hair to keep her hands busy as she practically skipped behind him. As they walked, the litter on the sides of the roads increased and the sidewalks' cleanliness decreased. When the buildings grew noticeably more shabby and broken down, she decided it was time to speak up, "Where are we going again?" Why was he taking her to the rough side of town? Jungeum found herself imagining Myungsoo with multiple other shadowy figures holding guns and selling drugs.

"A warehouse, the rent is really cheap over here," Myungsoo turned to look at her, his eyes shining with both amusement and concern. "Are you scared?" Jungeum narrowed her eyes at him and then curled her hand into a fist, brandishing it as if it were as effective as a knife.

"Me? Scared?" She smiled and boldly walked past him, patting him on the back as she went. "Nah, just wondering why it's taking so long to get there." She smiled and laughed mockingly, "Besides, who'd have the guts to mess with someone like me. This guy-" she gestured to the childish monster on her stomach, "-would scare everyone away. That is, if I don't get to them before they go running."

Myungsoo shook his head at her confidence and quickened his steps, taking the lead again. "Well, I suppose the people stupid enough to bother you are lucky today, because we're here." Myungsoo came to a stop and turned, looking down a dingy flight of stairs leading to an equally unattractive door. His expression softened to a smile resembling a mother who's proud of her child. What does he see in this place? Jungeum watched warily as her guide descended down the steps. There’s no going back now. With a sigh, she followed.

Jungeum was not prepared for what she saw next. When she stepped through the door, the dirty, uncared for impression she'd gotten when she'd arrived was completely swept from her mind. The space was the typical large dingy warehouse, complete with high windows that provided the only form of light. That was of no importance to her, though.  Jungeum was mostly impressed with what the warehouse held.

Directly in the center of the room, the cement floor was covered with a large square of black laminate flooring, which in turn was symmetrically decorated with eight circular, white platforms, two of which were occupied by boys dressed similarly to Myungsoo. Beside each platform was a sort of station, complete with a black desk, a ridiculously high-end looking computer, a rolly chair, and a bean bag. Two more boys were working on the wiring of the farthest computer, while the smallest boy of the five Jungeum had seen swept the area half-heartedly.

A long white carpet highlighted a path down the center of the space, leading Jungeum's eyes to a whiteboard holding a drawing that looked somewhat like an even fancier version of the room before her. Next to it stood another young man who, unlike the others, was staring directly at her. His eyes were wide and a dumb smile was openly shown on his face. After a few moments, he came to his senses and called to Myungsoo, "Hey, L, who's that?"

Myungsoo cast a glance at Jungeum, "This is..." His voice faded and he looked down at the ground.

Jungeum pursed her lips and looked at him expectantly. When he still didn't continue, she realized that they had never had a proper introduction. She'd just known his name from the other classmates. Poor guy was probably embarrassed. A smile tugged at her lips. So why was she almost laughing? She dipped her head to hide her amusement. When she'd recovered she said loudly, "Jungeum. Won Jungeum."

Myungsoo and the other boy winced at the grating sound the name. With a smile the boy waved, "Glad to meet you, err, Jungeum. That's a unique name you've got there. " He gave her a more heartfelt intelligent smile than before, "I'm Nam Woohyun."

One of the boys working at the computer looked up disapprovingly, "It's not just her name that's a bit unique. She didn't even bother to bow." He stood to his feet and gave her a small bow just to make a point. For a moment the two glared at each other. Jungeum had no intention of backing down.

A feminine voice, one even more so than Jungeum's, rang through the warehouse, "Ah, lighten up Sunggyu, we need a bit of spunk around here." Jungeum's eyes flew to the boy sweeping the floor. He smiled cutely up at her, "Lee Sungjong, the maknae of this group. Nice to meet you!"

"Of course you would like anything that opposes authority," the grumpy one from before spoke again. "Kim Sunggyu. I’m the oldest here." Figuring it would be best to get on the leader’s good side, Jungeum decided to give him a respectful bow. Immediately, he brightened and gave her a fatherly eye smile. She blinked at him, surprised at his quick change of attitude. She smiled back. If he kept up this kinder, warmer demeanor, she could learn to like him soon enough.

"Sorry about that," Myungsoo shuffled over to her and whispered in her ear, "Just give him a bit of respect and he'll protect you with his life." He smiled knowingly at her and then pointed to the two boys now dancing on the platforms, raising his voice, "The dinosaur looking one is Jang Dongwoo, the other is Lee Howon, but he goes by Hoya." The farthest of the two stopped dancing and waved at her, shooting her a genuine, toothy grin. The other continued dancing, casting Jungeum an equally honest smile when his twirl led him to face her way.

"I go by L," Myungsoo continued, but Jungeum had stopped listening. She made her way over to the last unnamed boy, who was still focusing intently on his work, and tapped him on the shoulder. He looked up from the wires, jumping a little when he saw how close she was.

"When did she get here?" He laughed an exceptionally unique laugh and backed away, looking to his friends for help.

"A while ago, hyung," Sungjong responded, obviously finding joy in mocking the older boy.

"Won Jungeum," she held out her hand, but the boy was too busy trying to keep himself from giggling.

He glanced around at the others, "Did you hear that? Her name is Won Jungeum." Without even waiting for an answer, he looked up at her with a childish smile, "I like it." He grasped her hand and heaved himself up. His expression changed momentarily to a more mature one, "Lee Sungyeol at your service." He gave her hand a kiss and bowed exaggeratedly. When he  stood upright, the elementary kid-like grin was once again plastered onto his face.

Jungeum pulled her hand away, an extremely light blush of surprise and pleasure rosing her cheeks. "Thank you?" Never mind the bow or the kiss, no one had ever said they liked her name, jokingly or not.

In an instant, Woohyun was beside her, his arm around her shoulders, "Hey Sungyeol, don't hit on her just yet." He pinched her cheeks, shoving his face into hers. "First we need to know, would you fall for a gamer?"

Jungeum blinked at him, not fazed by his closeness. She pulled away to look around at the computers and platforms. Suddenly, everything clicked. Addressing them all for the first time, she questioned, "You game?"

☁ Whisk's Corner^◕◕

I don't know if anyone else cowrites the way Kou & I do, but I absolutely love it. =D Sure, we take quite a while to type up our chapters, but each time we do, I feel completely satisfied. =) This chapter took us about two and a half four hours to whip up from scratch. Now that I think about it, that's not too bad, is it? Never mind. All of the boys are FINALLY introduced. *happy dance- I almost forgot Sungyeol, which isn't a bit funny at all because it's not like he's my ultimate bias of kpop or anything. *shifty eyes- I hope you all enjoyed the descriptions of the room & boys, it was done with much blood, sweat, tears, and thesaurus use. *smilesmile-

There were many moments when I was writing when all I could think about was how they reminded me of macros. In this chapter, the one that I remember most would be when Jungeum's talking about her lunch earlier that day. (COOOKIIIES~) What a sweetie Myungsoo was. *pets- Another is when Jungeum first saw the outside of the warehouse and was silently judging it. (Unimpressed ;D) I apologize for these not being INFINITE macros, but I still hope they will make you smile. =)

One last thing~ Don't hesitate to comment! They make my day~ (Just ask Kou, I always spam her on MSN when I see one. =D)

☁ Pshaw's Corner^◕◕

*coughs- This is most definitely Kou over hurrrr. Not Whiskie filling in because Koutaculous is busy or anything like that. OR MAYBE HOBO JUST DOESN'T EVEN GIVE KOU THE CHANCE TO WRITE AUTHOR NOTES. Kou has nothing to say atm though. So... thanks for all the Sungyeol gifs, Hobo, you know how much I love him. >O>