March 5, Friday, Afternoon: CLASS 3-B

"Class, before I dismiss you, I want to announce that the school will have an inter-class dance competition--" the teacher says. 

"WOOOOOOHHHHH!!!!!!" some guys shout.

"Ahem... ON APRIL 2. So you've got a month to prepare and practice. Each class must have a representative group-- no limit to the maximum number of people but the minimum must be five per class group. I will leave you to decide on the groupings and I expect a list of the members by next week."

With that, your teacher leaves the classroom.

"Okay, guys, who wants to be in the dance team?" Donghae shouts out.

"Me! Me!" a bunch of guys shout back.

"I'll pass," some say. 

"Okay, I heard more than five voices," Donghae says putting his hands together. "We're good." 

The class begins to disperse. 

"Wait," you say. "Shouldn't you have auditions or at least pass around a list so that people can sign up?" 

Donghae blinks at you. Then looks up at the ceiling as if to think. He looks back at you and says, "Not really, we've never really needed that." 

"What if there are other people who want to try out but can't because you only pick the noisy ones in class?" 

"Haneul, you need CONFIDENCE to dance like *does some hiphop moves* THAT. If they can't even say, 'Oh, can I join?' how do you think they'll fare in the actual competition?" He shakes his head and runs his hand across his neck as if to say - DEAD. 

"Well, that's why you guys should hold auditions!" you say, trying to convince him.

"Ya, if you want to join the team, you can just say so," he chuckles. "No need to be awkward around us anymore." 

"But we could also assess the strengths of people even within our team if we do an audition, you know?"

"Ehh, I'm too lazy to do something like that," he whines. "If you want to do it, then I give you the authority to handle everything. See ya." He takes off and jumps on Hyukjae's back. 

Boys. Sheesh. 

Later: DORM ROOM 101

You are on your mattress in the upper part of your dorm room (the one above the bathroom) and are making the general sign ups sheet for the dance competition. You plan to post it on the bulletin board and tell the others in their rooms to sign up if they're interested to join. 

"What's that?" a voice suddenly asks from behind you. 

"WOH, Heechul hyung, you scared me. This is a sign up sheet that I'm making for the upcoming dance competition so that people who aren't really known yet can try out too." 

"Really? Maybe our class should do that too... Ah, but everyone's so lazy and no one can do this for us!"

"What about you hyung?"

"Eh? Ah well, I'm lazy too~~"

"But I don't know most of the people from your class, hyung, so I can't do it for you."

"Aiiish, never mind," he says as he plops down on his bed. 

"Hyung, can I borrow your printer please?" 

"Ah, sure."

"I'm going to leave this printing. I'm just gonna go somewhere for a bit." 

"Okayyyy."

You go up to the fourth floor of the dormitory building. Sure enough, you hear music playing like before. You peek into the dance studio, expecting to see the chubby guy you saw before but instead, it is occupied by guys from another class trying to make choreography. When you turn around, you see the chubby guy standing beside you watching the other guys dancing inside. His face is forlorn.

"Hey," you say.

"O-oh..." he responds limply.

"Sorry for startling you last time."

"It's okay. I was probably just wasting my time in there anyway." 

You see that he's carrying an mp3 player and he is wearing gym/exercising clothes. 

This guy is so obviously lying.

"What class are you in?" you ask.

"3-C." 

Oh, I think that's Heechul's class. 

"Oh, not too far away. I'm from 3-B. I'm Kim Haneul. What's your name?" you ask as you reach out your hand to shake his.

"Shin Donghee..." he hesitantly shakes your hand.

Then you grab hold of it tight and excitedly tell him, "Come with me. Let's find a place where you can practice dancing." 

"W-WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" he says as you practically drag him along. You run up the stairs, not letting go of Donghee's hand.

"Ya, Shin Donghee, is there a roofdeck on the dorm?" 

"...Yeah there is..."

"Let's go!" you run upstairs to the roofdeck. The ground is pretty smooth except for some rough weathered patches. You find a big piece of cardboard box and lay it on the ground. "Speakers & mp3 please."

Donghee gives them to you and you lay them on the ground some distance away from the cardboard. 

"Do you like dancing?" you ask.

He hesitates and then says, "Yeah, a lot..."

"Then why do you let people stop you from doing what you want?" 

"It's not really that," he says. "I'm not fit to dance because I'm fat. I'm not as agile as the other guys. I tried to join the dance team when I was a freshman but I couldn't keep up with them. They said I had to lose weight, and I tried but it's just so hard! I love food just as much..." 

"So what if you're chubby and you can dance? It adds character!"

"Have you ever seen a fat dancer? Look at Shinhwa and the other famous groups. They all have one thing in common: they're macho. I just can't be like that. Everyone in my family is fat. It's inherited. What the heck do I do about that, huh?"

"Well, if you don't dance now, you'll never be able to dance again in your whole life!" 

Donghee pauses and looks down at his feet, thinking it over.

"All I'm asking is for you to just let everything go and try again. I've seen you practice in the studio and you're really good. I'm not even joking. Even better than some of those dancers on TV." 

"Really?" his face brightens up a bit. "You really honestly think so?" 

You nod. "Now, I want to see those skills up close. I'll teach you a little trick that I do when I need to do something that makes me really nervous. Close your eyes..." you reach for the mp3 player.

"Breathe in, breathe out. Inhale, exhale. There is no one here except for you, the voice that's guiding you, and the sounds around you. Feel the silence. Feel the sound of my voice..."

 You play an upbeat song (Mr. Jackson by Jang Woo Hyuk) on the mp3 player. "... Feel the music." You step back and wait for him to move.

He's pretty obedient. I guess he really wants to do this. I'm glad he's letting me help him out like someone did to me before. :)

The music starts with robotic sound effects. To your surprise, he follows immediately and pop-locks to the sound. His movements are amazingly smooth and edgy at the exact right places. The rhythm changes and becomes more complex but he still follows without lagging behind. 

His choreo is pretty good too. o:

After the song ends and he finishes with a BANG, you clap your hands in awe. He opens his eyes and sees you clapping for him. He tears up and looks down at his feet.

"Sorry, this is the first time anyone has ever appreciated my dancing," he says with his voice cracking.

"Donghee-sshi," you say as you grab him by the shoulders. Wah, so soft~ "You are really really good. You should ask your class's team to let you try out."

He gives you a firm smile. "Thanks so much, Haneul-sshi. I owe you my life." 

"Eiiishhh, don't say that, my arms will drop from their sockets," you laugh in your dialect.

"Are you from Mokpo?" 

"Uh, yeah, haha. Sorry, it comes out sometimes. Come on, let's go downstairs." 

The two of you go down to the 1st floor dorm hallway. To your surprise, the walls are filled with notices to audition. There are fliers from every class. You go to the bulletin board and saw your sign-up sheet, readily posted there, along with several other sign-up sheets for the other classes. 

Oh, Heechul... You're a nice guy after all. :D

There are a lot of signatures under every sign-up sheet.

"It seems that a lot want to dance this year," you say. You point to Donghee's class section sheet and give him a pen. "Ya, come on and sign," you smile.

He takes a deep breath, then puts on a big grin and takes the pen from your hand. He looks so happy and excited. 

Finally, all of his hard work will pay off and he'll never have to worry about people teasing him once he gets out there and shows them what he can do.

When he gives you back the pen, you sign up under your class as well. You turn to Donghee and see him smiling at you. "You dance too?" he asks. 

"Yeah, I used to back then. I just want to see if I've still got it. It's not like I'm going to be able to dance once I start working so might as well do this while I can." 

"Awesome. I'll see you around then. I'm gonna go practice for the auditions."

"See you, Donghee-sshi." 

"Call me, Donghee-ya," he laughs. "You're a good friend." 

I love seeing people reaching for their dreams. Maybe it's because I can't reach my own... Sigh...

You check the garden for Flashlight Guy. He's not there. You enter the dorm room.

"Heechullllieeeee~~" you start to say. But he's fast asleep on his bed, hugging his pink pig pillow tight and looking tired. "Heechul hyung," you whisper. "Thanks a lot." 

You go to sleep.