"Since your results on the practice exam are on target, why don't you relax a bit more this weekend and meed up with your friends?"  His mother suggested.  She could be a harsh taskmaster at times, but she new her son's limits.  

     "Some friends from my grade invited me to meet them to mess around and sing karaoke this evening," Jaeseop started.  He had told them that it was unlikely that he could attend, but he had hoped his mother would be pleased with his exam score and let him stay out late.

     His mother thought for a moment, looking at her son of whom she was so proud.  "Hmm, alright," She said, causing Jaeseop to grin.  "But only because there isn't school tomorrow and because you have been doing so well."

    "Thank you, mom," He smiled, "I'll go call Soohyun."

    Mrs Kim smiled as her son quickly left the living room.  He deserved the break.  She knew that this year would be filled with hard studying.  Thankfully, Jaeseop was clever enough to not need expensive tutors, so she and her husband could save up their money for his university tuition.  She wanted the best for her son, and she was willing to do whatever it takes to give him the best opportunities possible.

- - - - - 

    "Is he on his way?"  Kiseop asked Soohyun who had just hung up the phone with Jaeseop.  Soohyun nodded.

    "Should go in and reserve a room?"  Asked YeRin, one of the three girls in the group of teenagers.  The group bickered and eventually the girls went inside.

    "Couldn't they wait?" Complained Dongho, kicking a piece of gravel Soohyun who glared at him in return.

    Jaeseop walked up to them quickly, "Hi, sorry to keep you waiting."

    "It's alright," Soohyun replied, "Let's go in, the girls already got a room."

    "Who else is able to come?"  Jaeseop asked, curious.  He didn't get to join his group of friends as much as he'd like to.

   "Yerin, Nayoung, and Sumin came,"  Dongho replied, acting annoyed. "You're the last one to arrive."

   Jaeseop smiled and wrapped his arm around Dongho's pouting shoulders as they followed Kiseop into the couch filled room.  They were greeted by the girls asking what song they should sing first.  Yerin and Nayoung were the bickering sort of friends, Jaeseop had observed over the years.  They communicated, it seemed, primarily through debates.  Since they had so much in common, their antics  were comically amusing to the others.  Sumin also participated in the arguments sometimes, as she did now.  But she would switch sides and egg them on rather than picking an opinion and trying to persuade the others.  This often caused people who listened to their jabbering to laugh.  Each of his friends had their own charm, in Jaeseop's opinion.  Dongho was a selfish sort of person who worked hard but complained loudly.  Though he was annoying at times, Dongho was secretly sensitive and thoughtful.  Kevin on the other hand, was always looking out for the others and worrying and nagging them.  Eli was often the victim of Kevin's almost-constant yapping, but he handled it very well.  Eli was a bad boy character of sorts, not in a bad way at all, he just gave off that vibe.  When he was with Kevin, they both acted weirder and if Kiseop was there too, they were hilarious.  Kiseop was quiet and sometimes narcissistic, but when he came out of his shell, he was a crazy fool like the rest of them.

     The group settled on a hiphop-pop song that got everybody dancing.  Soohyun then wanted to sing a ballad.  Since Hoon and Kevin weren't there, the off key singing of the group made everyone crack up and giggle.  Jaeseop wasn't a bad singer, but it was hard to measure up to Hoon.

    "Where's Hoon?"  Nayoung asked the others.  Most everyone shrugged.

    "He has a taekwondo tournament this weekend, remember?"  Sumin pointed out.  Dongho nodded like she had just solved a tricky riddle.  Dongho and Sumin were the two youngest in their group of friends.  Though they were all in the same grade, Sumin and Dongho were born in the year after the others.  Dongho looked up to Sumin, though, more than he did his bickering noonas.

    Soohyun went to out to go buy the group some food with Dongho and YeRin.

     "Do any of you want to sing?"  Kiseop asked the remaing three as he flipped through what songs there were.

     "My throat is tired," NaYoung said, stretching.  They had been playing around for nearly an hour and a half.  "Let's just talk."

     Kiseop told them about what he had found on the internet recently.  He liked to go out and take pictures when he could, but with all the time spent in school and studying, it was hard for him to enjoy photography as a hobby.  Kiseop asked Nayoung about the kdramas that were on recently, which prompted a debate over the importance of attractiveness versus the importance of talent in actors and actresses.  Nayoung argued that the famous actors and actresses were so successful due to talent and they just so happened to be beautiful.  Kiseop agreed that talent led to success.  Sumin articulately countered that the casting for lead-roles was highly appearance focussed which meant that the prettier people were more likely to get the better roles and consequently become popular.

    "What do you think, Jae-ah?" Nayoung asked Jaeseop.

    "I find Sumin's argument rather convincing, though I don't watch many dramas so I wouldn't know for sure."

    "You're just saying that because you think we're ganging up on Sumin," Kiseop criticized.

    "Well what she said makes sense," Jaeseop replied. "And she can hold her own against you two, obviously."  He didn't notice Sumin's shy smile at the compliment as he continued.  "It seems like the way it is with super hero movies.  The more appealing story's get chosen to be made into a movie.  However, there are also connections that play a large part because the companies probably owe each other favors and they work together."

    In the end, they decided to settle it with rock-paper-scissors:  JaeMin team versus KiNa team.  KiNa won all three rounds, but Jaeseop and Sumin stage-whispered to each other that the other two were cheating.

    When the others returned with food, the group chowed down and continued talking.  They didn't stay out as late as Jaeseop had thought they might, but he was glad that he had gotten to relax with his friends.