“… You are kidding me.”

That one statement made Myungsoo feel more apologetic and shameful than any yelling his sister could have done. He didn’t dare to meet her piercing gaze, knowing that if he did, he’d have nightmares for the rest of the year. To be honest, he didn’t imagine things would have blown so much out of proportion. He never intended for things to go this wrong. But that was life; nothing ever went the way one wanted.

“I-I really didn’t-” Myungsoo stuttered almost quietly, but in the dead silence, even his breathing resonated like a loud church bell.

Kyungran took a deep breath, and then gravely whispered. “How much?”

“Three?” Myungsoo shut his eyes in pain. “Maybe four?”

“FOUR MILLION WON?” his sister screamed so loudly that Myungsoo jumped in surprise. “FOUR MILLION? WHAT-What exactly did you break in that shop?”

-Four hours earlier-

Myungsoo counted his money again. Combined with his savings, the leftover money he had gotten from Kyungran a couple days ago was just enough to buy him Fedora’s repackaged album that conveniently came with a group poster and a random member poster. Myungsoo couldn’t help but giggle. There were only four members in Fedora, which meant that he had a twenty-five percent chance of getting a Hoya poster. He had not googled what the poster looked like on purpose, because he didn’t want to spoil it for this moment.

With a cheerful smile, Myungsoo entered the CD shop. He quickly found his way to the K-Pop section, and immediately spotted the colorful CD. He immediately grabbed it and skipped to the counter merrily. The shop was almost empty, so there was no line for check out. Myungsoo handed the CD to the clerk. The tall boy, who looked barely older than Myungsoo, raised an eyebrow at Myungsoo’s choice of music, but said nothing.

“Can you please give me a Hoya poster?” Myungsoo asked in what probably sounded like an aegyo gone wrong.

The youth let out a disbelieving snort and said. “It’s bad enough that I have to touch those things, but you want me to look at them? What a joke!”

He threw the two poster tubes to Myungsoo as if they were some kind of trash. Myungsoo bared his teeth at the teenager, but didn’t say anything. Instead, he grabbed the nearest poster and unrolled it. To his great annoyance, it wasn’t Hoya’s poster. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have cared that much, since he liked all the members. If it was Woohyun’s or Dongwoo’s poster, he probably would have let it slide. But he had no such luck—smiling cheekily back at him was none other than Lee Sungjong, the rude guy from earlier that week.

“Aish,” Myungsoo cursed under his breath. “Why did I have to get this one?”

“Would you mind leaving already?” the clerk asked impatiently. “Looking at that makes me sick. Just go and give that horrendous thing to your girlfriend.”

“That’s not for my girlfriend, but for me,” Myungsoo retorted angrily. “Now, can you trade this for something else? Anything else?”

“You listen to that trash?” the clerk asked, his mouth hanging open. “How do you live? Their songs are so bad!”

“No, they’re not!” Myungsoo protested. “Fedora’s the best boy band out there!”

“What a joke,” the clerk exhaled. “Their lyrics are so corny that it makes me want to puke!”

“They’re awesome!” Myungsoo yelled and pointed at the flat screen, which was coincidentally showing Fedora’s “Be Mine” MV. “That song is the best song of the decade!”

“You’re joking right?” the clerk asked, his eyes wide open. “Do you listen to what they’re saying? ‘Do you hear me, oh?’ What on earth is that? I bet I could sing better!”

To prove his point, the boy grabbed the remote lying on the counter and pressed some number. All of the sudden, the song changed (much to Myungsoo’s dismay). He was about to protest when the clerk began singing. If what he did could be called singing.

“OOOOH LOOOOOVE!” he boomed so loudly that Myungsoo had to cover his ears. “WAEEEE IJESEOYAAAA?”

“STOP!” Myungsoo screamed. “Are you trying to break glass or something?”

The clerk looked offended at Myungsoo’s assessment of his singing abilities. “What? I bet I can become an idol too with this voice.”

“Don’t kid yourself,” Myungsoo grunted, shaking his head to get the ringing out of his ears. “Now, will you or will you not change the poster for me?”

“I’m not touching those things again!” the clerk shook his head in disdain. “Those monkeys should be sent to serve in military for at least a decade.”

“Did you just call them monkeys?” Myungsoo’s eyes flared in fury.

“Are they not?” the tall boy sneered. “Just look at them! This Hoya guy always pretends how good he is at everything, but just runs around like a monkey! And what about this Jang something guy? Don’t they call him jungler or something already? He doesn’t look that much different from a monkey, anyway!”

“Dongwoo-hyung’s nickname is Kenyan!” Myungsoo screeched. “And don’t you insult my Hoya!”

“Your Hoya?” the clerk chuckled. “What are you, a hormonal teenage fangurilla? You see what I did? Fan-gurl-illa, like in fangirl and a gorilla?”

The clerk started laughing at his own pun, oblivious to the fact that Myngsoo’s face was probably hotter than the sun at that point from how furious he was, and continued. “Yeah, gorilla fans for monkeys!”

“DON’T—CALL—FEDORA—MEMBERS—MONKEYS!” Myungsoo screamed at the top of his lungs and lunged at the wide-eyed clerk behind the counter. The two of them crashed into the display in the back, dislocating several wooden blocks with expensive casings that shattered on the ground.

“What the hell are you doing?” the shop manager yelled as she ran out of the back room. But the damage had already been done—the counter was completely broken from Myungsoo’s body slam, and so was, unfortunately, the expensive computer system on it.

-Present time-

“So let me get this straight,” Kyungran took a deep breath. “You broke a glass counter, a computer system, and a display full of expensive casings?”

“I might have broken an antique gramophone as well,” Myungsoo peeped.

“ALL BECAUSE OF SOME SINGING IDIOTS?” Kyungran screamed.

“THEY’RE NOT-” Myungsoo wanted to protest, but he stopped abruptly upon meeting her eyes. She had a murderous glint in them that Myungsoo recognized all too well. He shrunk back again in his seat, lowering his gaze.

“Forget about going to music shows this weekend,” she said finally.

“But Fedora’s having special performances!” Myungsoo protested desperately. “Noona, please, I know I did wrong! But please, don’t ground me! I need to go see them!”

“You’re not leaving this apartment until school starts on Monday!” she growled and headed to her room.

“But they’re still calculating the damage!” Myungsoo called behind her in his last attempt. “Maybe it’s not going to be that much!”

“THAT’S NOT THE POINT!” she yelled at him before slamming the door in her room.

Myungsoo closed his eyes in pain. At least it went much smoother than he expected—she screamed much less than he expected her to. Maybe she was letting him off the hook because she was too tired. Or maybe not, he thought, when his sister emerged from her room again, holding what looked suspiciously like handcuffs.

“You know what?” she asked with a dangerous glint in her eyes. “I lied. You are going to get out of this apartment tonight.”

* * *

“Yes, I am being punished,” Myungsoo assured the grandmother passing by. He had to give his sister credit for being innovative in punishment methods. Perhaps working for a broadcasting station had something to do with it, seeing as he was wearing shorts and a T-shirt on a street, handcuffed to a lamppost above his head. He was reminded of those elementary school days, when teachers forced his classmates to kneel in front of their classrooms with their hands raised above their head. He could finally sympathize with his former classmates now that he was in a very similar situation, with his arms raised above his head.

A couple of kids giggled when they saw him, and much to Myungsoo’s displeasure, started poking his body.

“Stop it!” he yelled at them. “I’m not your toy!”

The kids giggled even more, but left him alone. Myungsoo shot a death glare after them, but sulkily lowered his head when he spotted his sister’s head in one of the windows in the building across the street. At the very least, it wasn’t raining that night, he comforted himself. A thunder cracked in the distance. Well, he had definitely jinxed that.

Don't you just wish you could strangle those people who insult your biases? I definitely do, so that's why I made Myungsoo do what he did. I hope that all of you figured out that the tall clerk was Sungyeollie :) You could have guessed from the description in my foreword, or from my last author's note. Another hint was, of course, the "Do you hear me, oh?" part.

I made several references to various things around the web. Sungyeol was singing "Couple" by Sechskies, whose leader is none other than Eun Jiwon, the 1st generation choding. I loved the two's interactions on Midnight Idol! Fangurilla, of course, is from Simon & Martina at Eat Your Kimchi. I just couldn't help! And the monkeys comment is from 1st episode of Reply 1997. You guys seen it? It's my most favorite K-drama ever. The title comes from "That Winter, the Wind Blows," but it has nothing really to do with the drama itself. I just thought it would be an epic chapter title xD There are more references, but you'll have to find those by yourself ;)

Some peope wanted to know more about this "Fedora" group that I made up. Well, this chapter is your answer! They're a quarted composed of Woohyun, Dongwoo, Hoya, and Sungjong. In last chapter, we found out that they debuted just half a year ago, but they're already very famous. It's safe to assume that Be Mine is their debut track, and that it was so popular that Woolim decided to make a repackaged album. Well, that's all you're getting for now!

I'm so happy that so many people liked the first chapter! I can't express how much it means to me, guys! I'll try to bring more awesome writing to you! Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint! Again, this is supposed to be a comedy, so I am exaggerating things. I really doubt any of this would happen in real life, but that's the point of writing fanfiction, isn't it? Anyway, if you like the story, please subscribe, upvote (if you can), and comment (pretty please *winks*)!

In the next chapter, Myungsoo will attempt to sneak out and head to Inkigayo to watch Fedora's performance. But in all the rush and planning, he forgets that his sister works at the very place where the Inkigayo filming takes place. Will he be able to evade her? You'll find out in "Of Stalkers and Celebrities" on March 15th! 

Karma~