Youngbae didn't know how many times he'd tried now. 

He didn't know how many places he'd tried now.

All he knew was that he had run out of options, out of tries, and was forced to resort to the last thing he had in his arsenal.

Publicity.

He'd tried dancing in their dorm - none of the attempts of which had ended well - in any sense, really. He'd tried dancing at other people's homes - like Seunghyun's. That definitely didn't work out, seeing as Seunghyun had nearly chased him out with a fire extinguisher and a bat.

It wasn't his fault he hadn't seen Seunghyun carrying a match. Although he supposed he should've watched where his foot was going...

He was now at his last straw. The last shot at a chance for space.

He would dance outside.

At this point, he didn't quite care if people gawked at him. He only cared about the space - the big, open space to dance and feel free.

So he did it. He took Jiyong's music player and put it on the park bench, pressing the 'play' button and quickly getting into position. He closed his eyes and sighed.

The music drowned out the sound of the birds, the sound of people, cars, and everything else around him. There was nothing but him and his music.

He lifted his arm.

His music was met by his dancing, letting both of them escape into a world made only for them - a world that only existed in Youngbae's head, but that wasn't the point. 

He was finally happy. He was finally free, finally able to dance. He finally had sp - 

"Incompetent young children!" 

A hard blow to the head made Taeyang jump and open his eyes. He rubbed his head gingerly, looking around and seeing a crowd - all of which were standing pretty far from him, though. It wasn't them. He looked around his proximity once more. Two birds, a running dog, an old lady, a water fountain - an old lady?

Another hard blow to the head.

"Ow!"

"Incompetent young children! Always wasting their time making themselves look like idiots, flailing like whatever animal or 'star' you're imitating these days. But to do so in public - oho, you're trying to corrupt the minds of our future generation, now are you?" The old lady shrieked rather loudly, making Youngbae's jaw drop.

He waved his hands nervously, shaking his head. The crowd was growing bigger. "N-no, that's not - "

"And now you dare lie to your elders?!" Her voice grew louder and - if possible - higher in pitch. She began to hit him with her bags - which he could've sworn were filled with heavy cans of food - as she yelled on and on about how bad he was for 'flailing' and 'wasting his time' when he could be at home 'cooking for your wife!'

"I-I'm not married - "

"Don't lie to your elders!" The hitting came faster. "A pretty boy like you must have a wife!"

That was one compliment in a sea of insults. Nevertheless, Youngbae didn't feel any better. 

There went his last shot - fired and battted away at the hands of an old lady.

And to make him feel better, he could've sworn he saw his fellow members snickering at him in the crowd.