(A day later)

—Yesung’s POV—

It’s a new day, and now it’s only 5.30am. Jongjin, as usual, is still sleeping like a log. I have to wake him up before we’re both late AGAIN. And then I’ll be nagged at by Leeteuk.

“Kim Jongjin!” I yelled. I heard a few noises of complaint and some banging around before Jongjin appeared in the kitchen beside me.

“Umma, appa! I’ve made breakfast!” I shouted again.

“Hyung, I fell off my bed…” Jongjin whined. He was rubbing his and wincing every now and then. Kekeke babo! How the hell did you even fall for no good reason?

“Why?” I questioned curiously, not looking at him as I was making breakfast.

“You shouted and scared me a little, so I jumped and ended up falling off from the edge of my bed. It’s your fault hyung,” he complained.

Hey, I’m innocent! But whatever, I can’t be bothered now.

“Go wash up while I finish making breakfast. Be quick cause I haven’t washed up yet either,” I told him and he nodded groggily. Teens nowadays can’t handle waking up early. I may be a teen too but Leeteuk has trained me well.

After I fried four sunny side-ups, made some ham and filled three glasses with milk, one with coffee, I went to the toilet and waited for Jongjin to come out. That kid could take ages in the toilet just to fix his hair. I mean you’re not a girl, and your hair is short, so why take so much effort styling it so nicely? Nobody will take much notice of it anyway.

“I’m out~!” Jongjin sang and skipped out of the toilet.

“You can start eating without me,” I told him and walked into the toilet just as umma and appa came out to eat their breakfast. We all begin our day quite early, seeing as how umma has to work at the café, appa has his new eyewear shop, WHYSTYLE, and we have school.

I took about half the time that Jongjin took to wash up before I got out. It was about 5.47am, maybe?

Umma, appa and Jongjin were still waiting for me. That’s one of the reasons why I love my family.

“Morning umma and appa,” I greeted and kissed my umma on the cheek before bowing to my appa respectfully. “Morning Jongjin.”

“Jongwoon-ah, next time just let your brother practice his cooking ok?” umma told me.

“But Jongjin never wakes up early enough to make breakfast! I don’t mind leaving the drinks to him but the food, I have to handle. We’re meeting our friends at the bus stop at 6.45am later and it’s almost 6am. We haven’t even started breakfast yet! And I have a feeling that Jongjin's breakfast will be too high-class for us,” I stated jokingly.

“Ok, let’s start breakfast. Everybody please eat,” appa ordered.

Of course we listened to him and ended our conversation, saving it for after our meal.

“Jongwoon, your cooking’s gotten a little better. I seem to remember that your sunny side-ups were always either overcooked or undercooked, but today, it’s just about right. It’s a good improvement,” appa commended.

I smiled and thanked him before taking a bite of it as well.

It does seem a little more normal, like those that I eat in the canteen every now and then. Maybe Jongjin's kitchen expertise has finally rubbed off on me!

We ate till all of the food was gone and we continued on with our conversation.

“So, Jongjin how was the first day of school?” umma asked. Appa couldn’t be bothered to join the conversation but I know that he was listening, to understand our lives better. My appa just couldn’t express himself very well that’s all.

“It was rather ok but one of my classmates, a twin named Jo Kwangmin, fell during a game of ‘Virus’ and fractured his right finger. He also tore a ligament in his left leg,” Jongjin looked at me sympathetically. My guess is that he might have seen me running off from the canteen? I wonder who he was sitting with anyway.

“Poor kid. But your first day of orientation was fine wasn’t it?” umma asked again. Jongjin smiled enthusiastically at her and nodded.

“Hyung was super helpful! And I managed to a little about his life,” Jongjin blurted out.

I wasn’t going to tell about him teasing me about my small hands and big head, but now that he’s let the cat out of the bag, might as well admit it.

“Oh yeah, umma, Jongjin teased me about my small hands and big head!” I complained, like the little kid that I was sometimes – mentally.

“Jongjin, how could you be so mean to your brother? And in front of the class?” umma demanded. I nodded and pretended to look sad, going off to find my little family of pets.

“Kkoming, Ddangkkoming, Ddangkkomaeng! Your appa is sad,” I sad and went to the corner of our house where the two turtles were. Kkoming came running to me as well, wagging her tail excitedly and jumping up to my face.

I don’t know what happened for the next ten minutes since I was absorbed in my own world, playing around with Kkoming and feeding my two turtles.

When I bought my turtles with my own money, my umma wanted to kill me for it. But hey, I saved it up on my own by eating less and spending less money. On the weekends, I helped out at Handel and Gretel too. Umma gave me my well-deserved pay accordingly.

Our family café didn’t have workers other than people in our family. Nowadays, appa is busy handling his eyewear shop and has less time for Handel and Gretel, so umma called our cousin over to work there. It’s not like she has anything to do anyway. She graduated some time ago and was slacking around at home.

Thankfully, today was a public holiday for most and my appa didn’t have to head over to WHYSTYLE since he could do the paperwork stuff later at night. He would help umma out today as she never has any rest except on rare occasions like one of our birthdays.

So as I was saying, my turtles. They’re land turtles. I nearly drowned all three of them when I tried to make them swim. I regret it now, really. Kkoming was bought in March 2011, so she’s been with me for almost two years now.

“Hyung, its 6.35am already,” Jongjin called to me.

I haven’t changed yet!

I patted my three pets before running into my room to change. When I was done, I grabbed my tie –since all students were required to wear one – wore my shoes, grabbed my bag and headed to the bus stop with Jongjin after bidding our parents goodbye.

By the time we reached, we were late for about ten minutes. The next bus was to come in five minutes and Ryeowook and Kangin were already there.

“Hi Kangin and Ryeowook,” I greeted.

“Good morning Ryeowook and Kangin hyung,” Jongjin said and bowed.

“Good morning,” the siblings said in synchronization.

We didn’t say anything to each other in the remaining five minutes that we waited for the bus. It was a pretty awkward silence, really.

I was so glad when the bus came, but then we kept quiet all over again.

Screw this .

—Ryeowook’s POV—

“Kim Ryeowook! Wake up!” Youngwoon hyung bellowed. His voice was just naturally like that.

I jolted awake and glanced at the digital clock beside my bed. 5.43am.

We were supposed to meet Jongwoon hyung and Jongjin at 6.45am, weren’t we?

I rushed to wash up and change before meeting Youngwoon hyung at the kitchen table.

Our umma and appa worked at the same company, in the same department, and umma was appa’s assistant general manager while appa was the general manager. They were often on business trips to countries like China, or sometimes they went to other parts of South Korea. That’s why, most of the time, only Youngwoon hyung and I would be at home.

“Morning hyung,” I greeted and sat down across from him.

“Morning Ryeowook. Have some bread and jam,” Youngwoon hyung said and helped me spread strawberry jam on a slice of bread before sandwiching it with another slice. He also gave me some honey water to drink.

You see, I’m a singer, right? In school, anyway. So I have to keep my throat in good condition. Thus, Youngwoon hyung would always make honey water for me to drink. Every now and then, he buys pear juice back for me since it’s known to be good for the throat.

“Thanks hyung,” I said and started eating the skin of my bread. I would always eat the sides of the bread before eating the rest of it, and I have no idea why.

“Was Yesung hyung nice to you in class?” Youngwoon hyung asked me.

Yeah sure, he was nice. But I want to be closer to him…

“Ne~. He kept helping everyone in class too and he kept joining my group for games,” I said and continued munching on my delicious bread.

Fine, I’m being sarcastic. Jongwoon hyung was nice, but it was to everyone and not just me. I’m a selfish person, people. Watch out if you go too close to Jongwoon hyung.

“Today, we’re going to mix the classes so that you know your cohort better. Six groups of twenty will be formed, but you won’t only be with your classmates. There will be around three to five people from each class in one group, so everyone gets to know each other. Today’s game was suggested by me, so you better enjoy it!” Youngwoon pretended to threaten me before he patted my head.

Youngwoon hyung is nicer than he looks. He may look like a big, mean guy on the outside, but he’s just a softie. I think I’ve mentioned this before, right?

At 6.27am, we finished eating and hyung taught me how to wear a tie. I’ve learnt it many times before, but I just can’t remember it. Aish.

“There! Remember it ok? I can’t always be here to help you wear your tie you know?” hyung reminded me. I grinned and nodded, hugging him in gratitude before grabbing my bag.

We wore our shoes and hung around at the lift lobby for a while, wondering if Jongwoon hyung and Jongjin would come out soon. It’s not like I don’t know that they live right next to us.

After a few minutes, we decided not to wait for them anymore, so we went downstairs first.

We arrived at the bus stop right on time, and Youngwoon hyung suddenly asked me about yesterday’s incident. What. The. Heck.

“I can’t tell you, hyung. Jongwoon hyung made me promise,” I said and bowed my head sadly.

He seemed a little surprised by my actions but he just nodded and smiled lightly.

“It’s ok Ryeowook. I don’t have to know. Just make sure Teukie doesn’t ask too much,” he cautioned me, knowing how easily I give in when people keep asking about stuff.

Because of his question earlier on, we didn’t speak while waiting for Jongwoon hyung and Jongjin.

Even when they reached at 6.55am, we still didn’t utter a single word besides a greeting.

On the bus, it was the same as well. Why is today such an awkward day?

Sigh, I don’t know anymore. Thankfully, I had my music to listen to, so I saved myself the hassle of thinking about a topic to chat about. The bad thing was that the bus takes 45 minutes to reach our school, and that’s pretty long.

On the bus, I kept casting sideway glances at Jongwoon hyung. I wonder if he noticed me.

-----------------------------------------------

Halfway, throughout the bus ride, I noticed Sungmin hyung get on alone and sit at the front of the bus. My Youngwoon hyung and Jongjin were both sleeping, so I just walked down and called Sungmin hyung to sit with us. There was another seat in our row anyway, since we sat all the way at the back of the bus where it had five seats in the row.

“Ryeowook?” he asked.

“Ne. Come and sit with us,” I told him and tugged his wrist lightly, pulling him tothe seat beside me, which was empty.

Sungmin hyung smiled and gladly complied, knowing that I was trying to be nice since we were probably going to be in the same group for the next two years of my school life.

When we got back to our seat, Sungmin hyung sat down beside me and talked to me about yesterday’s incident. I didn’t want to talk about it, but he seemed to know about how Jongwoon hyung had broken down before he entered the canteen.

“So Ryeowook… I’m not trying to make things difficult for you, but would you mind telling me what happened yesterday?” Sungmin hyung asked.

I sneaked a peek at Jongwoon hyung. He was sitting on the other end of the row listening to music and reading a book. I guess he wouldn’t hear me say anything right?

I nodded and sighed, taking in a deep breath and praying that I won’t be busted.

“Jongwoon hyung ran to the field, where the accident happened, and he just started crying. He didn’t want anybody to see his weak side so he told me to keep it a secret. I’m already betraying his trust by telling you, hyung. Please don’t tell anyone else. I’m sure Jongwoon hyung feels horrible enough that Kwangmin had been injured,” I pleaded.

Sungmin hyung smiled at me and nodded.

“Don’t worry about it. People confide in me all the time and I never leak a secret. Oh, look, we’re already at school. Come on,” Sungmin hyung told me.

I shook Youngwoon hyung awake while Jongwoon hyung woke Jongjin. Then we got off the bus and went to the school auditorium.

When we went to our seats that had been reserved, Youngwoon hyung enveloped Teukie umma in a warm hug almost instantly. They were like the sweetest couple that I’ve ever seen, regardless of whether they’re gay or not.

I don’t quite understand why people are so opinionated towards homouality and biuality. I find it perfectly normal, even endearing to look at. I mean, no matter what their gender is, a couple is together because they love each other. The fact that homouals can get together as a couple proves that their love is strong enough to overcome their fear of being looked at in a different light.  So why do people find them disgusting?

The only thing I don’t understand is biuality. I’m fine with it too, but why do these people have to like both genders? Can’t they just make up their mind and stop being so greedy?

Eunhyuk and Donghae hyungs were already in their respective seats beside each other. The other newbies may not know where to sit, but I’m sure Teukie umma will be able to find a way to inform them about it.

Shindong hyung and Zhoumi hyung were here. So that means only the people in my batch were missing doesn’t it? Assembly starts in another few minutes. If they don’t get here, I just have a feeling that Teukie umma will not be very pleased.

—Yesung’s POV—

Assembly’s starting and four newbies are missing. Leeteuk will go crazy.

Suddenly, Heechul and Hankyung appeared with them. Strange…

They all came to us and greeted us before sitting down and waiting for assembly to start. The ceremony took a short five minutes, just singing the national anthem, saying the pledge and singing the school song.

All the Year 2s were dismissed to go to class except for the six class facilitators, and we went up onto the stage to talk about today’s games.

As usual, Leeteuk went up to the podium and cleared his throat before talking.

“Today, we will be splitting all 120 of you into six groups of twenty. That means that each group should have around three to four people from each class. I’ll be announcing the groups and your respective leaders now,” Leeteuk said and read the entire list. How he does that without stopping for more than a few seconds is a mystery.

All the groups stood in a single file in front of their group leaders. The only people I recognized from my group were Seulong, Taemin, Henry and Minwoo. Everyone else was just a new face to me.

“We’re doing a treasure hunt today, for the next three hours. Your leader has the respective clues and there will be six treasures. Please ask your leader if the location that you guessed is correct before you set off. The first group to complete will get free food for today’s break. Each group should be starting with a different station and make sure you don’t tell your classmates in other groups the answers. We’ll start… now!”

My group’s first clue was ‘ㄱㅇ’, which was supposed to stand for ‘공원’ or ‘garden’. I wonder if the Year 1s even know that we have a garden in the school. Beside the two characters, there was a picture of a turtle. Each group had a different stuffed animal that was hidden somewhere in the garden. I just chose a turtle since I have two of my own.

After debating for a long time, a guy with a Mohawk raised his hand.

“Yes? What’s your name?” I asked, wanting to know them better.

“You can just call me Taeyang. Is it the garden?” he asked.

This kid was pretty good. I nodded and he hi-fived his friend before the entire group went to find the garden. There was about two groups left thinking about their clue.

When we arrived at the garden – I was panting pretty heavily since I hadn’t run in a while and they were rushing like mad – everyone started searching for a turtle of sorts. One kid who went by the name Daehyun wanted to catch the turtle in the pond. Obviously, I stopped him from doing so. The next clue should be with the stuffed turtle.

“I found it!”

I went over to the guy, Key, and took the stuffed turtle from him, revealing their next clue.

It was just a sheet of paper with the word ‘Sherlock’ written on it.

I could see that everyone was racking their brains about it, since it probably didn’t make any sense.

Do you know where the next clue is?

I’ll just let you guess on your own first. Hehehe.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, a guy with shades raised his hand.

“Your name?”

“Yong Junhyung. I’m thinking about the book ‘Sherlock Holmes’, so is it the library?” he confirmed.

This is… whoa. Again, every group would have a different book that was famous enough for most people to know. A group got ‘Da Vinci’; one got ‘Shakespeare’, and so on. It wasn’t the easiest clue, really. This kid really is smart.

We went to the library, which was on the other end of the campus, and they almost ransacked the place to find the book. The librarian nearly chased us out cause there was an acting lesson going on.

After they found the book, they flipped it randomly and a piece of paper fell out. The next clue.

It was a picture of a bowl of ramen. The easiest clue yet.

Obviously, they rushed to the canteen with poor old me chasing after them. I’m getting old and I can’t keep running around like this.

They reached the canteen, where we placed six bowls containing different food. They just had to identify which was theirs. It didn’t take long, and we soon got the next clue which had been laminated to make sure it wasn’t destroyed in the soup.

It was a mini music score for the national anthem, with a seat number next to it. Not many people would know the tune of the anthem just by looking at it unless they were really good with instruments. Yesterday, before school started, Leeteuk had asked for the janitor to help us place the clues in the auditorium after we all left. The group which started first, of course, already had their clues placed. It was under one of Super Junior’s seats so that we could make sure no one found out about it accidentally.

“Is it the concert hall?”

“What’s your name?” I asked in return.

“Just call me Hongki. Is it?”

I smiled at him and shook my head. The kid sighed and nodded, sad that he had guessed wrongly.

Henry started humming the tune of the score to himself. Maybe he wouldn’t be so familiar with the tune of the anthem since he wasn’t a Korean.

I was dead wrong.

“The auditorium.”

I sighed and nodded. This group had too many smart people.

We went there – the other side of the campus yet again – and found the seat that was indicated. They grabbed the clue and handed it to me.

This was my group’s fifth clue already. I wonder how quickly they’ll solve this. It was by far the hardest clue.

It had the words ‘Prince Manager’ written on it. No one would know about the school’s best teacher’s nickname if they’ve only been here for a mere two days. Not even two days, in fact.

True enough, the group stoned there for the next half an hour or more, thinking hard about the clue. They could get a hint if they did something for me, but I wasn’t allowed to tell them this unless 45 minutes have passed.

---------------------------------------------------

45 minutes passed! It’s already 10am and I think I should give them the answer quickly. We have to end this activity and get to the auditorium by 10.45am to ensure that we have time for break. We still had to debrief them first, so it may be a little time-consuming.

“It’s a rule that you guys can get one free answer if you do what I ask you to. But this answer will only be available after 45 minutes from getting the clue that you’ve been stuck at, which means this one. Do you want it?” I asked.

They all nodded eagerly and I thought of something for them to do.

“Since this is supposed to be a bonding exercise, I’ll just get you to introduce the name which you usually go by. It doesn’t have to be your real name.”

I was being lenient. Leeteuk did tell me to think of something that could help them get closer.

“Yong Junhyung.”

“Lee Taemin.”

“No Minwoo.”

“Im Seulong.”

“Taeyang.”

“P.O.”

“Taeil.”

“Lee Hongki.”

“Key.”

“Jung Yonghwa.”

“Kai.”

“Kim Dongjun.”

“Henry.”

“Lee Joon.”

“Daehyun.”

“TOP.”

“L.Joe.”

“Chunji.”

“Jay Park.”

“Ok Taecyeon.”

“Alright. The answer is a teacher. We called him Prince Manager ever since he’s joined the school since he always seems so princely and manages everyone well. I’ll bring you guys to where he’s waiting,” I said and led the way to the staffroom.

When we arrived, Prince Manager was in fact waiting for us already. I think he had been for some time since he kind of dozed off.

“Prince Manager hyung!” I shouted into his ear.

He was the best teacher that anyone has ever known. He always helps us with our work whenever we need it, and we can confide in him. He gives the best advice and is close to all the students in the school, no kidding.

“What? Oh, you guys are finally here. Here’s your last clue. I hope you guys win!” he cheered the group on. Everyone thanked him and we went off to a corner to study the clue. Well, they went to study it anyway.

This clue was relatively simple. It was a drawing – by our beloved Heechul – of a basketball court. There was an ‘X’ marked on one corner of the court, and because Heechul had drawn most of the details to point, it was easy to tell where that spot was.

The problem with this clue was that the basketball court was hidden way behind the school. Unless you’re in the basketball team, it was unlikely that you would know where it is.

We only had a short thirty minutes before the treasure hunt ended, and I bet there are other groups ahead of us.

Frankly speaking, I’ve never known that there was a basketball court in the school until half of my Year 1 life was over. That’s how hard it is to know that such a place exists.

We set off to search for the basketball court, going almost everywhere EXCEPT the back of the school. I wonder how people don’t know to search there. I mean I hadn’t known, but that’s cause I’ve never had a treasure hunt for my orientation.

When there was barely ten minutes left, Chunji caught sight of something that looked like a basketball net to him. He called out to us excitedly and pointed at the court.

“I found it!”

We all rushed there – me being the poor guy who has to run – and they headed to the area of the court that Heechul had marked on our clue.

Kai grabbed the token that signified they had completed the race. Our token was one of a dog that looked like Kkoming. I made it by taking a picture of Kkoming, about a year ago, and going to a shop to make a keychain. All they had to do was cut the small picture around the edges and encase it in two pieces of plastic, stick the plastic together somehow and carve it to shape.

“Thank you,” I said to him and held out my hand for my keychain, which he gladly handed over to me. The key chain was precious to me, just as my three turtle key chains were. I also had a key chain of my previous dog, Sora. I don’t know why I have so many of these, but I just find it very nice to look at, especially when Sora and Ddangkkoma were already gone.

“YAY!” every one of them cheered happily and shouted three cheers for the group.

I called Leeteuk and asked him if any other group had finished. To my surprise, we were the first! Free food for break, including the facilitator! Yes!

“Good news guys! We’re first!” I exclaimed.

Hey, I may not have played, but I still get the free food. I’m a er for free stuff. I must have gotten it from my umma. It’s not a bad trait but it feels a little petty to keep taking free stuff. Either way, I’m going to have free food~!

“Really? Hooray!” Yonghwa exclaimed. He seemed like the choding (elementary school kid in Korean) type. That isn’t too good… I already know enough chodings as it is. Sungyeol, Leeteuk, and Donghyun’s group are mostly all the choding type too.

We headed to the auditorium again where every group would meet and we would announce the winner. I was really happy for my group although I don’t know them at all, with the exception of those in my class of course.

When we arrived there, most of the other groups were already there. Only Heechul was missing.

“Leeteuk, where’s Heechul?” I asked, leading my group to stand in a single file beside Leeteuk’s.

“You know his diva nature. Moreover, he has another diva called Sungjong in his group, so that’s double the diva nature. They’re probably chatting about clothes and walking slowly back here,” Leeteuk told me.

Sungjong as a diva… seems legit.

After a short while, Heechul’s group came into the auditorium. As Leeteuk had guessed, he was talking to Sungjong and walking at a leisurely pace. The only good thing for him was that he had just made it on time.

“So the only two groups that completed the treasure hunt were Yesung’s group and Kangin’s group. Who is the winner?” Leeteuk paused for a dramatic effect. “Yesung’s group!” he gestured to us and clapped his hands, the others following him as well.

Leeteuk majored in variety, right? He’s been training to be a show host ever since day one. I don’t even understand what they do in class. I’ve heard that they do a mock version of variety shows, a different show every day. Then they just repeat the cycle of shows. Every time, two people would ‘host’ the show and they were paired by their teacher.

My group cheered again and started jumping around, getting into a circle and holding each other’s shoulders. I was dragged into it as well, and I swear Ryeowook was glaring Junhyung and Lee Joon on either side of me.

“As promised, you guys get free food for break today. We’ve already discussed this with the canteen stall owners and they’ll give you whatever food you want if you show them this token. Each person is entitled to one and it’s valid only for today,” Leeteuk said and passed the stack to me before I handed it out.

“After break, you will gather in your classes again for bonding games. Your facilitator will lead you throughout this. Tomorrow we will be having the orientation camp. You were already informed that we would be having the camp and it is compulsory. You do not have to pay for anything, just bring your necessities. We will give you a packing list each later, so just follow it and you should be fine. You may go for break now, but you have to eat within your current groups and do not disturb other groups, even if your good friends are there. Assemble in the auditorium tomorrow morning and a bus will bring us to our destination,” Leeteuk said and headed to the canteen with the rest of his group trailing behind him.

I headed to the canteen as well, and Ryeowook sure had a spiteful look on his face. I wonder what’s up with him today. He must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed.

Whee~~ New chappie! :D

Wookie's jealous~! XD

How was it? Ok? I think I kinda went mad trying to find 120 male idols born 1987 and later.... zzzz.....

Well I hope you enjoyed this and I'll see you guys again next week!

Buh-bye! ^^