My it’s been a long time. A little awkward, but  (still) friends

-T.O.P’s 오늘따라 (Today of All Days)

As the years went by, Seunghyun had grown not only physically but mentally as well. Inspired by an old childhood friend he found his passion for music through rapping and song writing. Blessed with a truly distinct sound to his own voice, he began performing underground, going by the name of Tempo. Here he was confident, here he was heard and here his talent was recognized. Maybe this was his true calling, maybe he’d found what he’d been looking for all along but he didn’t get here on his own. Yet now his dream had changed, he wanted to be rapper, a star among others. And it so happens that because of this dream, Seunghyun had made an important decision to not attend college. Neither one of his parents were very supportive of his decision and still tried to persuade him down the path of a more normal life, claiming the superstar life was not all it was cracked up to be. But how would they know? Maybe it was because he was young and the stubbornness was getting the best of him but he was more determined to chase his dream. The best dreams were the impossible ones.

Now at the age of nineteen, Seunghyun was on the lookout for opportunities. He was sitting at the desk in his room, searching for any news on auditions or scouting offers from entertainment industries. Nothing . . . The boy pushed back his hair with sturdy hands, the black locks falling back into place with ease as he in air through his teeth and let out a heavy sigh. In the past few days Seunghyun had felt his luck running out. He had just graduated and had already indicated that college was not happening at this moment in his life. So what was he to do if no opportunities were to show in the next week or maybe month, heck even a year? He couldn’t live off of his parents forever. What if-

Suddenly the ring of the house phone went off, cutting off his train of thought. He could hear the sound of shuffling feet outside his room. His mom would answer the phone so he resumed with his previous task of surfing the web. Yet again he was interrupted.

“Seunghyun! It’s for you,” his mother called, murmuring to the caller that he would answer soon.

“Ye,” Seunghyun said flatly, not really wondering who would bother to call him at the moment. He grabbed the nearby cordless phone nestled on the side of his desk. “Yeboseyo?”

There was a short pause in which Seunghyun repeated his greeting a little louder. “Yeboseyo?”

“A-a . . . Hello. Am I speaking to Seunghyun? Choi Seunghyun?” The caller had answered on the other end. He could tell by the tone of the voice that the speaker was male but he found it even more so odd that the caller knew his name entirely. He could not register the other voice with a face and name though.

“Yes I am,” Seunghyun clarified. “May I ask to whom am I speaking with?”

“Uh . . . yes, um, sorry I was just a bit surprise,” commented the stranger with a light chuckle in between sentences. “Your voice is so much deeper now, I almost couldn’t recognize you.”

“Uh . . . okay,” Seunghyun mumbled as his eyebrows knitted together. Yes his voice was deeper then it had been before he hit puberty but how would the stranger on the other line know that? Was this someone he knew? The laugh sounded awfully familiar in a way too. But even with these thoughts and digging through childhood memories, he couldn’t find a connection. Sounding a bit more serious, Seunghyun asked, “Hey is this some sort of prank? Who am I speaking to exactly?”

“No, I didn’t mean for it to sound-

“Look, I have better things to do than waste my time with some prank caller. If you don’t give me a name soon I’ll just hang up,” Seunghyun threatened in a flat annoyed tone.

“Okay, okay, okay! It’s Kwon Ji Yong.”

“Kwon Ji Yong?” Seunghyun repeated, testing how the sound of the name felt on his lips. He was familiar with the name, he felt sure about it but besides that nothing else was ringing a bell. Maybe today he was just being slow again. “Have we met before?”

“Ah, maybe it’s because we met at a young age that you don’t remember me as well. We used to hang out with each other afterschool a lot. I moved a while after that,” Ji Yong explained. “Sorry for not keeping in touch for so long. It’s hard to forget seeing you standing there in the rain that day.”

Standing in the rain?

“If Ji Yong-ssi is really serious about rapping and willing to try he could be great. In fact he could be greater than great; he could be the best in the world.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

Then a wave of realization overcame Seunghyun as the memories seemed to escape their cage and flooded his mind. He felt bad at that moment, felt bad for not remembering the very person who had given him inspiration. I’m such a good friend, Seunghyun snorted at himself as he facepalmed himself for being an idiot. He asked incredulously, “Ji Yong-ssi? Is that really you?”

“Ah, do you remember me now hyung?”

“Of course. You’re not that easy to forget,” Seunghyun laughed. He wasn’t lying when he’d said that; today was just one of his slow days. “I’m surprised you remember my home number though. It’s been a while since we’ve talked like this.”

“Lucky for me you hadn’t moved or anything,” Ji Yong admitted. “I wouldn’t have been able to contact you if you had.”

“Ah, yes,” Seunghyun agreed. “Speaking of which, why did you call me?”

“Ah . . . Yes, I’ll let you know soon. Can we meet up and discuss over lunch?”

“Alright. Tomorrow then?” Seunghyun suggested.

“That’d be great.” Ji Yong said.

Seunghyun offered his cell phone number to his friend before they said their goodbyes. There was little curiosity Seunghyun had to what Ji Yong wanted to discuss with him but he couldn’t wait to actually see Ji Yong tomorrow. He felt excitement that he hadn’t felt in a while when he wasn’t rapping. Their conversation was enough to make Seunghyun’s day, all stresses from earlier suddenly gone without a trace. It was strange how only Ji Yong could seem to bring Seunghyun this kind of joy, joy that only a friend could bring.

“Seunghyun! Dinner is ready!” His mother announced.

“Ye,” Seunghyun answered before leaving his desk to eat.