So sorry for the wait! I went overseas and yeah, no laptop was brought with me to Australia. So, mianhe! 

 

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The sun rose. Most on the citizens are up, getting ready for a busy day. And this hobo wasn’t of the busy people. He was a hobo for god sake. Wandering around, with an empty bottle of soju. He was minding his own business, walking around the streets of Seoul when he accidentally banged into something hard. The heavily bearded man groaned and looked. He had just banged a bus. It looked fancy with all those English words written on them.

 

*****

 

 Lee Taemin peaked at the sleeping boy. Last night, he left his brown coat to cover the other’s shivering body. But it was morning now, and that mushroom haired boy needed his coat back. He squatted down, tugging on his coat lightly only to have the sleeping figure tug back. Taemin pouted. He let out a sigh before pulling his coat, only to fail again.

“Ugh.” The young boy groaned. He had enough of this bull. He grabbed hold of his favourite coat and tugged as hard as he could. He fell backwards but who cares? He got his coat back. And oh yeah, he might have even wake someone up.

“!” the elder was wide eyed and got up immediately.  He blinked a few times before turning to look at the shorter.

“Thangsheen [Dangshin (You)]… Wat sheegun [sigan (time)]? You know, sheegun! [sigan (time)]”

Taemin was speechless for a moment, thinking what on earth this dude wants but then he realized that the other just wanted to know the time. With that he quickly glanced at his clock and informed the once drunk person in perfect Korean,

“Gaeui 8si. (It’s almost eight)”

“What’s that? Is that eight? You know, eighteu eighteu?”

Taemin could only nod.

“ Damn it! The bus is leaving!!!” he screamed at the innocent boy in English. Minho got up and took all the things he could gather around him to get ready to leave.

“Yah! That’s my coat!”

“You can speak English? Sheesh. Why didn’t you say so?” the tall boy threw the clothing back which smacked Taemin right in his face.

“Gotta go.” And with that, he left, leaving a blur boy behind. Taemin looked at his coat. Maybe he didn’t notice it earlier but boy, does that thing stink. It obviously didn’t smell like this before.  Taemin took a small bottle of cologne from his pocket and sprayed its contents all over the clothing.

“Hey, are you familiar with this hotel? The Grand Embassador?”

“Um… yeah, I walked passed it yesterday.”

“Yeah so how do I get there?” Minho asked hurriedly.

“Well, umm… It’s not too far. When you walk out, just turn right. You’ll see a fish-bread shop, then you turn right again. And then you walk underground and get out at the third exit, okay? If you take the wrong exit, then I can’t help you anymore.”

“. . .”

“Once you come up, it’s very easy. You’ll find a sock stand with pictures on idols on socks. Oh and they’re having a sale too. Then you cross the street, turn left, go straight and turn right. And you’ll find it.”

“Well, are you born here or is your wife Korean!?” Minho made a face that said ‘unbelievable’.

“Who could remember all that!?”

“It’s not really difficult–”

“Ugh. Just take me there.”

 

*****

 

It was cold as and Minho decided that he better get a jacket sooner or later. He hugged himself as he crossed the road with a cute, bouncy boy following behind. He glanced at the boy who was stuffing himself up with freshly baked bread shaped like a fish. Minho scoffed.

“Hurry up. Are you Martha Stewart or something? You stop to it everything!”

Taemin looked at him and made his innocent puppy look as he nibbled on the bread quietly.

“So inconsiderate. You know I’m in a hurry!”

‘I wonder who’s the inconsiderate one, bastard.’ Taemin glared at the other and sped up his pace. He turned around a corner and said,

“Why in such a hurry? Here we are.”

Minho smiled but as he looked up at the hotel, his eyebrows furrowed.

 

*****

 

“Okay, everyone is here? All set?” the tour guide asked through her bright pink microphone.

“All set!!!” the whole tour group screamed back enthusiastically.

“Are we missing anyone~?” the happy-go-lucky guide asked again.

“Nope!” they replied back after the looked everywhere to make sure, no one is missing. And of course, everyone turned behind to look at Minho. They saw a figure wrapping itself up with the pink blanket. Assuming that that was the grumpy tall boy who was part of their group, they continued their tour.

 

*****

 

“Hey you. Where are we?” Minho glanced up to see the old building.

“This looks like a castle from the dark ages!” He yelled at Taemin.

“Well, this is the hotel, Grand Embass...” Taemin trailed off because he saw the name of Minho’s hotel written on his bathrobe. He paused for a moment and compared the names of the two hotels. The guy’s hotel was Grand Embassador and Taemin took him to the hotel which clearly written with big capital letters “GRAND EMBASSY”.

Whoops.

“…ssy.” Taemin finished his sentence softly.

 

*****

 

“…two hours ago.” The neatly dressed receptionist informed Taemin in their national language. The boy rubbed his neck awkwardly and looked at the taller brunette.

“She said your tour group left two hours ago…”

“Hey! How could they!?” he told the blonde.

“Wey [Wae] they kaki [gagi (go)] Naega (I) here!” he asked the receptionist, trying to sound all professional. He leaned at the counter.

“Yeah… I’m here, alright.” He blew his fringe up and smirked.

Wtf. And now he’s flirting. Taemin monologue as he shook his head before asking the lady who looked to be grossed out.

“Can you call the guide?” the boy asked in Korean while making gestures with his hand to form the shape of a telephone.

“Yeah, that’s right~ Call her~” he continued doing whatever it was called as Taemin rolled his eyes. Why was he even helping him?

 

*****

 

“Knock. Knock. It’s time to wake up.” The tour guide’s cheery voice echoed inside the bus, waking almost everyone up immediately.

“Now, we’re heading to Seoraksan National Park–”

Beep. Beep.

“Just a second.” The guide told the audience as she reached for her phone in her pocket.

“Yobeseyo?” she answered the call while fixing her short, curly hair. Then she froze when she heard what her caller just told her. The woman made her way slowly to the most back seat of the bus slowly. She went to the pink blanket which was clearly covering up someone right at the moment. She hesitated to pull the covers but eventually she did. And she screamed immediately as loud she could.

Everyone turned to the direction of the scream and the moment they all saw that person, they screamed along too.

The figure under the blanket made an awkward smile, showing his rotten teeth as he scratched the back of his neck.

It wasn’t Mr. Choi.

It was a hobo.

 

*****

 

“How come they can’t pick me up!?” Minho asked, making the younger flinched.

“They said that your tour already went to a different district... And the day that they can come back and get you in the day after tomorrow.”

“What? What kind of service is this?” The tall boy asked no one in particular.

“Once I go back home, I’ll sue them and get all my money back. They’ll surely go bankrupt.” Before they could ask further, the receptionist excused herself and Taemin knew exactly why. She was definitely uncomfortable with the elder. And obviously, he was too.

“Uh… You can always go sightseeing around Seoul first. It’s just two days… So yeah, umm… good luck.” And with that Taemin dashed off, looking at watch, pretending that he was in a hurry. Minho tried to stop him but really, what rights did he have to stop Taemin? The younger left too fast and Minho was lazy to chase after him anyways.