A Week Earlier.

As he was looking around, Kim Jongin thought miserably about the misfortune he must bear to sit here, waiting for something he didn’t even want to be a part of. Meanwhile, the source of his suffering was sitting idyllically next to him, occasionally fumbling with his E-M1 and clearly paid no heed to anything other than what was in his hand. Aside from the two of them, there was also a boy (freshman, too, if the yellow pin on his left collar indicated anything) with jet black hair and a bunch of ear piercings, taking uncountable selcas since the second he entered the room. He sat two chairs away from him, grey Gucci backpack on the round glass table.

Jongin peeked at his wrist watch. 15.16. He sighed. Whoever was going to interview them was totally unprofessional.

Thinking that he wouldn’t be getting any attention from his best friend anytime soon, he glanced at the boy once again before coughing lowly. “Hey.”

The boy averted his attention away from his iPhone and offering him a smile, which magically dispelled the intense air about him. “Hey.”

“Kim Jongin from class 1-B. Sorry for not shaking hand. You’re kind of… far.”

“It’s okay.” He dragged his backpack to sit beside Jongin. “I’m Huang Zitao from class 1-A. Here, let’s shake hands.”

The next thing Jongin noticed was that a) he had a voice so unbefitting his face and b) his Korean sounded a bit funny.

“You’re here for interview, too?”

“Aren’t we all?” he smiled. “Journalism interests you?”

Jongin scrunched his nose in annoyance. “Not really. Most definitely not Thunder Herald’s journalism. The ATD columnist had once accused me of something I am not.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

“It’s not like I want to be. This person here,” Jongin pointed rudely at the blond beside him, “submitted my name without me knowing.”

“Oh, stop complaining. If they picked you, which is unlikely, you’ll only take pictures of food, and cakes, and whatever. What’s so hard about it?”

Jongin rolled his eyes. “The point here is, you did this just so you aren’t alone, Sehun.”

“Wow, you’re so smart you actually guessed right.” Sehun drawled.

Jongin heard Zitao beside him giggled but Sehun only stared at the raven-haired kid with blank face before focusing his attention back to his camera again. If Zitao felt offended, he didn’t show it. Jongin sighed.

 “By the way, his name is Oh Sehun from class 1-B.”

“I can introduce myself just fine, Jongin.”

Jongin threw him a look. “But you didn’t.”

“No, no. It’s okay,” Zitao waved his hands in a placating manner. “I’m sure we have a lot of time to know each other, anyway.”

Thank God this Zitao kid was actually nice.

Jongin was about to throw his bestfriend another jab about his rudeness when he heard the door being opened in a rather grand manner and a sunbae barged in. His eyes were droopy but nice and welcoming and he had this weird aura around him, though Jongin couldn’t pinpoint what. Just that seeing him reminded Jongin of his puppies at home.

“You’re not Joonmyeon sunbae.” Jongin looked at his right side and saw Zitao eyeing the senior with a frown on his face.

The senior let out a loud ‘tsk’. “That’s very astute of you, smartie.”

“But the EiC should be the one interview us.” Sehun piped in.

“Wow, look at you all. Still so green but have managed to be so rude. The nation is in the right hands, I suppose?”

Jongin could feel the impending catastrophe and he would be held responsible if he didn’t try anything to delay it. So he produced a very good distraction.

“My name is Kim Jongin,” he offered meekly.

“I arranged this interview, kid. I know each one of you.” He sat in front of three of them. “I’m Byun Baekhyun and I’ll be interviewing you today. And I don’t know why people are suddenly so thirsty of Joonmyeon-hyung’s presence today, but I’ll let you know that he is attending a more important matter right now—or so he said. Any question?”

It was only Jongin who replied verbally. The other two didn’t even emit a sound.

“Are we going to be interviewed like this? I mean, together?” Zitao asked.

“Yes.”

“Shouldn’t this be like, done separately?” Sehun scrunched his nose.

Baekhyun threw his hands into the air. “Just what did I do in my previous life to deserve this? Listen, brats. I could do this to a hundred applicants in a desert in the middle of the day and still find what The Thunder Herald is looking for. That shouldn’t be of your concern. Now are we starting or do you guys still have trivial queries to shower me with?”

Zitao hummed. “Actually—“

“That,” Baekhyun interjected, looking positively ready to combust, “was meant to be rhetorical.”

Jongin dared himself to take a glance at his sides. Sehun and Zitao were pouting and together with their annoying behavior earlier, Jongin wondered at how, despite they couldn’t be any more clashing in appearance, those two could be so similar in everything else.

His reverie was broken by Baekhyun’s loud cough.

“Let’s start with you, platinum blond head.” He said absent mindedly as his hands producing a few sheets of paper from seemingly out of nowhere.

“It’s Oh Sehun.” Sehun countered sulkily.

“Thank you, Platinum Head. The information you just gave me is overwhelmingly crucial. So. You applied for a photographer position in our Travelling column.”

From Jongin’s right side Zitao squeaked, resulted in Baekhyun sending him a judgmental glare.

Sehun nodded. “Yes.”

“How long have you known photography?”

“For as long as I can remember.” Sehun answered, not missing a beat.

“Sadly, unlike you, I cannot remember.”Baekhyun deadpanned.

Sehun rolled his eyes. “Ever since I was a kid, I liked to take pictures with my grandfather’s camera. I, however, had never really learned about anything related to photography until the 9^th grade. That was when I got my first camera; my very own one. This baby.” Sehun lifted his Olympus, showing it to Baekhyun. “Then I started to learn, autodidact, from books and YouTube videos. Until now.”

“That’s all? No proper learning? Like, courses and workshops?” Baekhyun’s eyes darted around Sehun, seemingly searching for something.

Sehun stiffened and Jongin softly put his hand atop of his. He could feel Zitao’s gaze on them— at the gesture.

“I used to.” Sehun said. Short and sharp, as if he wanted Baekhyun not to ask anymore question and to his credit, he didn’t. Maybe he got what Sehun didn’t want him to do, for whatever reason.

“Now, may I see your portfolio?”

“I didn’t bring them. They’re big and heavy.”

Baekhyun blanched. “What? And what do you expect me to do here without your portfolio? Because I ain’t gonna check on your SNS account to see your works, if that’s what you mean. Geez, youngsters these days. I swear they want me to die young.”

Jongin wondered if Baekhyun could hear the low ‘what a drama queen’ that Sehun uttered.

“Relax. I brought my camera, didn’t I?”

Was it possible for a person to look ten years older in a span of minutes? Because that was the impression Jongin got from watching this unorthodox interview. This whole shenanigan should have been interesting if Baekhyun didn’t seem like he had turned into a time bomb, right now.

"You claimed your portfolio is heavy and yet, you brought your camera. That sounds logical."

Sehun shrugged. "My camera isn't heavy, unlike those fancier ones."

Baekhyun closed his eyes for a few second before opening them again. He drew a breath. “You’re lucky my hapkido is rusting. Give that to me.”

Wordlessly, Sehun gave him his camera and just as quiet, Baekhyun started to surf the pictures stored in it. The three of them watched in silent anticipation before the sophomore handed back the contraption to its owner.

“Well?” Sehun lifted his perfectly shaped eyebrow.

“They’re impressive but I can’t decide immediately. I do need to see them in portfolio, Oh Sehun. Besides, there are still other candidates who may have better skill than you. I have to see the rest of them before saying anything.”

Sehun’s face hardened. “But you don’t understand. I need this position.”

“And so do your peers. Students are after extra credits like a bloodhound and The Thunder Herald has been helping them all these years so believe me, I know. But you have to understand. If it were for another column, it would be easy to give you a pass but not this one. The Travelling section has always been the one with the most applicants and I’m sure you already knew this. Just wait for a few days, Sehun. You’re really good in what you do. Have faith.”

Sehun didn’t say anything. Instead, he chose to stare at one invisible dot on the table with his patented blank expression. But Jongin saw everything behind it. So he reached behind Sehun’s back and it gently.

“It’s okay. I’m sure they’ll pick you. Just wait patiently.”

 Sehun only shrugged. “Thank you, Baekhyun-sunbae.”

Baekhyun cleared his throat. “Just hyung is fine.” He then rearranged the papers and half-shouted, “Now. Kim Jongin. I see that you applied for a position in culinary column? As a photographer, too?”

Jongin unconsciously gulped. Damn Sehun. Unlike his best friend, he didn’t have the decent skill to be called a ‘photographer’. The only times he ever touched a camera was when he wanted to take a selca and even that was a rare thing.

And he used the camera on his smartphone, no less.

“Uh, according to Sehun, yes, I did. But first you need to know, sunbae, that I don’t really—“

“You’re in.”

The three interviewees shrieked in disbelief.

“Tone down the girly scream now, will ya?” Baekhyun rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Kim Jongin, no need to feel proud nor honoured because I gave you the position even before I see your works. Not that I believe you have them.”

It was Zitao who voiced the one million dollar question. “Then, why?”

“Because he’s the only one applied for the position.”

The silence that followed was so weird and awkward they could practically hear ravens squeaked in the background. Across the table, Byun Baekhyun’s expression was a mix of relieve and pity.

 “Why? I mean, culinary isn’t so bad, is it? Like, uh, people love to eat, yeah?”

“Do you think all the students had seen the announcement about the recruitment?” Zitao helped, and Jongin had never felt anymore grateful for a person he barely knew because let’s be honest, this situation had suspicious written all over it.

“We put it for a week. And if the travelling column had like, zillion applicants, what do you think? Had the students really missed it?”

“So? It’s not like the column is lacking in popularity aspect. I’ve seen female students creating a fuss every week over the recipes.”

Jongin started to seriously think that this day was probably the worst day Byun Baekhyun ever had. He watched as his senior gently massaging his temples and struggling to even out his breath.

“Okay, kiddies. Listen. I did not make the announcement. I didn’t even know we need a photographer. Effing hell, I didn’t even think Kyungsoo need a partner but this afternoon found me scurrying my to TTH’s meeting room— here, to have you all interviewed. So the least you could do is not terrorizing me with questions I don’t know how to answer because I don’t possess the capacity to do so.”

Obviously, that didn’t satisfy Jongin and he believed his two friends also feel the same. But it was crystal clear Baekhyun-sunbae was so done with today’s occurrence (and all the sass thrown at him, courtesy of Oh Sehun and Huang Zitao) so he didn’t chase any further.

“Okay. I’m sorry.” Jongin bowed his head.

Baekhyun took his sweet time before replying with a careful “I’m sorry, too, Jongin.”

Jongin furrowed his brow and he was about to ask what Baekhyun meant by that but the shorter guy had already moved on to his next interviewee.

“Huang Zitao. You applied for a writer position in travelling column?”

Jongin could sense Sehun shifted beside him.

Zitao grinned. “Yep.”

“Have you ever been in school newspaper before?”

“When I was in China, yes.”

Jongin’s mouth formed a small ‘o’.

“Aside from your school newspaper, do you write anything else? Having your short stories published in magazines, perhaps?”

“Not exactly.”

Baekhyun stared blankly at the foreign student. “And what does that mean?”

“I write poems and I post them on my personal blog. Oh, and fanfic. I write fanfic.” At this, Zitao once again showed his gleeful, childish grin which Jongin started to find endearing.

Baekhyun, though, seemed like he didn’t know how to react, much less shared Jongin’s sentiment. “Fanfiction?”

“Mhmm. Mostly DBSK, One Piece, and only recently I’ve gotten myself into Shingeki no Kyoujin fandom. I mean, I know people probably will sneer at me, but Mikasa and Levi make a good pair.”

Baekhyun shook his head before repeating once again. “Fanfiction?”

“Yep. Most of them NC-17, too.”

He couldn’t hold it anymore and so, Jongin broke in laughter. “Oh my God, you’re cute!”

Zitao’s cat eyes twinkled at the compliment, but he quickly averted his focus back on Baekhyun. “Here, I brought some.”

He reached for his Gucci backpack and pulled something out of it. Turned out, it was a bundle of paper in spiral binder; the thickness was approximately only a centimeter. It had cute little panda doodles as a cover and Jongin could see a ‘Zitao’s Fics: Volume 2’ written in big, bold letters.

“Don’t worry. I always write my fics in English.”

Baekhyun’s eyes shoot straight at Zitao’s and in them Jongin could see a myriad of emotions but the one stood out the most was incredulity.

“Let me phrase it this way. You ask me to read this, which you mentioned are NC-17, here?”

Zitao blinked his eyes, confused. “Uh, it’s okay. You can read them in the bathroom.”

Even Sehun had difficulties containing his chuckle and Jongin might or might not see the tip of Zitao’s ears reddened slightly because of it.

He himself, while desperately wanted to cackle like a mad man, was also getting more and more scared of the redness appeared in Baekhyun’s face for it was not a kind of red that was expected from someone reading something racy. Baekhyun was a second away from exploding.

And that was when the door was opened for the second time.

The four occupants of the room lifted their heads and Jongin saw one of the most pretty—uh, handsome— men he had ever seen. He was familiar with that face just like everyone else was in the school. He was a constant topic in conversations (mostly brought by the female students) and a poster boy for Model Student aside from Kim Joonmyeon. However, not even once Jongin had the opportunity to be in the same space with him.

Lu Han’s eyes twinkled before they zeroed at the sight of person who was sitting on Jongin’s right side.

“You!” he pointed, rather rudely Jongin may add, at Zitao with rounded eyes. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Jongin blinked.

Zitao folded his arms in front of his chest. “Observing your pathetic life up close, obviously.”

“I’m no longer a TTH crew so the joke’s on you, rotten peach. And what is tha—holy . Did you bring your ridiculous here?”

“Excuse you? These are masterpiece, you girly deer!”

“Sure they are. The last one ended up with only one kudos on Archive of Our Own but if that what makes you sleep soundly at night then why not?”

Zitao was visibly vibrating with annoyance and shame. “That was because I was experimenting with unconventional pairings, you stupid . Ugh, I hate you so much.”

Lu Han smiled so fondly and the perfect but abrupt transition scared Jongin to boots. “No, you love me.”

“And frankly I hope the feeling is temporary,” Zitao pouted.

It was amusing, actually, the way they interact and how Lu Han cooed at him but Jongin couldn’t find it in him to marvel at them. He was too flabbergasted at the fact that the two actually knew each other.

“I won’t even ask what you’re doing here, hyung.” Baekhyun started, “I’m more interested in how you two know each other.”

Lu Han frowned and looked at Baekhyun as if he just asked him where babies come from. “Why wouldn’t we? We’re cousins.”

Present Day

Editor-in-Chief Note

What is more exciting than meeting new people? Getting to know them.

I’m sure we’re all familiar with the saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ and many, if not all of us had once fallen victim to it (or maybe it happens to you on a regular basis and if that’s the case, I’m sorry for you). It’s not a nice feeling to experience, being judged by someone who barely know you but let’s be honest: it’s natural. It’s a normal occurrence and we do that to the other, too, whether we like to admit it or not.

We cannot blame those who do. After all, we see what caught our eyes. But the shell often shielded a deviating content and if we turned around and walked away after the first, unimpressive ‘hello’, we wouldn’t know what treasure we may find if we lingered.

We should give them the second chance.

Also, we need to give them a reason to stay.

Regards,

Kim Joonmyeon.

“Where were you last night?”

Baekhyun didn’t waste a single moment to ask his bestfriend as he entered Jongdae’s car. Jongdae only rolled his eyes before ordering his chauffeur to drive.

“Why, did you visit my house?”

“I did. Han-seonsangnim gave us 40 maths problems and I only solved like, ten of them. I’m not even sure I got the answers right.”

Jongdae shifted a bit to examine Baekhyun’s face. “You don’t look stressed, though.”

“Today’s Maths is in third period. I have plenty of time to copy somebody else’s work. But still, I’d really love it if I could finish them before that.”

“Why didn’t you go to Chanyeol’s?”

“He was out practicing with his band. I bet he didn’t even remember he had tons of homework, but whatever.”

“Well, the old man worked late last night so I had to bring him his dinner and I was glad I did. Apparently, some college students had decided to burn down Park Geunhye’s photos ‘in the name of the better Republic of Korea’ in front of The Blue House. It was quite entertaining.”

Baekhyun snorted. “Except that kind of entertainment is getting repetitive and boring. Like, half the country dislikes her.” A pause, then, “hey, I miss your father.”

“Then tell him. Actually a few days ago he had asked about you, too.”

“And what did you tell him?”

“That you’re too busy pining on Chanyeol to spare us two any attention.”

“Yah!”

Jongdae snickered. “I told him you were just going to nag him about finding new wife because apparently I’m an incapable son, anyway. So he didn’t miss much.”

“Still not the best answer.” Baekhyun deadpanned.

“I did tell him about the pining, though.”

“Kim Jongdae!”

 “By the way, how’s the recruitment going?”

Baekhyun groaned out loud and Jongdae braced himself for a long rant about ridiculous freshmen with inadequate skills.

“Exhausting. Some of them are good, and I mean really good but those freshmen aren’t equipped with manners. Some are polite and just downright sweet but they aren’t what we’re looking for. I just can’t get the whole package, I tell you.”

“The one with NC-17 fics, Lu Han hyung’s cousin, did he pass?”

Baekhyun begrudgingly nodded. “He had given me his past articles the next day and they were good. He gave such a touch in every article he wrote. He also sent me his own travelling article about some beach in China. Kid knows his things. And you already knew about Kyungsoo’s new partner.”

There were glint of amusement and anticipation in Jongdae’s eyes.

“I suppose this will be the better form of entertainment I’m looking for?”

“I’ll say.”

Minseok’s eyebrows rose when he noticed an envelope stuck on his desk by a duct tape. Putting his school bag, he yanked the envelope to examine it.

It was glued, though, when he tried to open it. It also looked like whatever inside it (if there was any) was small and thin. He scanned the whole classroom and almost all of his classmates had an apparent confusion painted on their faces; almost, because he could see not everyone got the envelope. Minseok frowned.

“Don’t open them yet.”

The students hastily put the envelopes back and the class representation led his classmates to bow after apologizing profusely.

Lee-seonsangnim only waved his hand and motioned to the envelopes.

“I put them this morning. Before I allow you to open them, first I want to explain your newest project. This project may seem simple but it’s really not. I want you guys to make demonstrations— any scientific demonstrations. You can do anything.”

Minseok furrowed his brow. Wasn’t that too easy?

Someone sat in the front seat voiced Minseok’s pondering.

“I’m glad you consider this easy but there’s one thing about this project. You will not show your demonstrations to your peers in this class. You will do that in front of third and fourth graders.”

Groans and whines echoed through the room.

“What if some of us decided to do the same demonstrations? Wouldn’t the kids be bored?”

“No, they wouldn’t, because you guys won’t even be doing it in front of the same crowd. Next week, you’ll find out which elementary school you’ll be assigned to.”

Someone in Minseok’s far left whispered rather loudly that he hoped he’d be going to nearest district which made Lee-seonsangnim chuckle. Rather cruelly, if Minseok could say himself.

“The schools aren’t even located in Gyeonggi province, kids.”

Now the envelope was making sense. Ironically, no one was interesting anymore to see their partner would be.

 “How will this affect our final exam?” Minseok raised his hand.

“Oh, only by being an insignificant 25% of your overall score.”

Immediately, he heard his classmates whispering amongst themselves.

Minseok exhaled. He was never a lacking student. He’d always been in the Big Five and did anything and everything the teachers tasked him, diligently. But this time, he found himself annoyed at Lee-seonsangnim. If he were going to assign them a project, could he not be more précised and give them detailed instructions, down to a T? And what was with this task? This was basically a social project and would have been well-suited for juniors.

So it wasn’t like he’s going to college, anyway, but still.

Begrudgingly, he opened the envelope and pulled out a small, rectangular folded paper and read the name written on it.

Wu Yifan.

As if on cue, the man himself began to shout to the whole classroom, not minding at all the fact that Lee-seonsangnim was still in the room.

“Please behave like a human being that you’re supposed to be, Kris.” Lee-seonsangnim admonished.

It was weird, to think that even the teachers referred to him as ‘Kris’ and not Wu Yifan. Minseok didn’t know where the nick name comes from, but he supposed that if his birth certificate stated that his name was Wu Yifan, then he shall be called with that. But that was Minseok’s ideal, of course. Despite being classmates for more than a month now, they had never been involved in any kind of conversation.

The main reason would be that they never had a reason to. They belong to the different crowds (as if he had one) and Wu Yifan had never exactly been left on his own devices, anyway. There would be some kind of group of people hanging out around him, never mind that Wu Yifan rarely spared them the time of the day. Also, Minseok mostly kept all by himself in a daily basis.

Minseok had heard about the rumours, however. It was said that the only one (beside his mother) who had enough bravado to call him by his birth name was none other than Kim Joonmyeon. But how could it be? He had never even witnessed the two interact.

“Is replying to my shouting so hard?”

Yifan’s low, tenor voice came so close from behind him that Minseok started to cough, choked by his own saliva.

“Don’t sneak up on people, please.” Minseok beseeched. He turned around and found that Yifan had managed to shun away Ha Hyojin, the original owner of the desk.

Yifan didn’t look a bit guilty. “Man, this is troublesome. I should have chose humanities and social studies a year ago.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

Yifan shrugged. “I was appalled by the fact that I’d have to memorise practically all the subjects.”

Minseok chuckled. “And now here you are, complaining about having to demonstrate things. There’s no winning with you, I guess.”

“There’s no winning with humans in general.” Yifan told him sagely. “So, when is our first discussion? Please don’t say it’ll be now because I’m not engineered to think this early in the morning. I’m planning on sleeping during the first period.”

“It’s like, seven past fifteen.” Minseok shook his head. “Early is five past seventeen, but to answer your question, no. We will not be discussing anything now. Let’s meet after your hours in hagwon.”

Instead, Minseok was met with displeased expression on Yifan’s face. “Oh jeez, I don’t attend hagwon. But if you do, let’s meet at 7 p.m. And if you don’t, after school is cool. I don’t have basketball practice for today.”

Surprisingly, talking with Wu Yifan was easy. Minseok had thought that with the image he had, his family background, and his intimidating presence, he would be hard to approach as other people with high profile usually were.

“Sure. Let’s meet after school, in the library.”

Yifan saluted him lazily before got up and back to his seat.

ASK THE DUO!

We meet again  –TFTE

You sound so eager I’m ashamed I’m only this excited  –JdMaster

No, don’t misunderstand. I was being solemn to show my solidarity for our sunbaes because apparently, they’ve been given some sort of social project which kind of a part of their final exam. Meaning, your GPA is best friends with this project  –TFTE

Ah, I heard that. But SKY will definitely consider things like this for your admissions. It won’t be for a naught. So, no time for grieving//complaining!  –JdMaster

You totally do this to win Lee-seonsangnim’s heart  –TFTE

There are tons of Lee-s in our school so I’d be grateful for any form of accuracy about the subject. Plus, I care about my senior year  –JdMaster

Which hasn’t even happened  –TFTE

But you know what those people say about preparations   –JdMaster

Panda with a Stick wrote:

I heard Lu Han-sunbae is the ‘It’ boy here. Would that change if I told you he drools in his sleep?

Jdae Master: Not so juicy. Give us another.

TooFabToExist: I drool, too, but I’m still flawless. Try again.

Jdae Master: He meant to scream ‘SPILL!11!!1’

Black Soda wrote:

Say, you have long-standing fight with someone very important to you and by long-standing, I mean years of silence. What would you bring her to melt her heart? Or at least as an opening so she would be okay listen to your reason.

TooFabToExist: Are you actually addressing the object of this question as a ‘she’? He’d kick your balls. Wait—it’s actually a ‘he’, isn’t it? Tell me that my speculation is right! Please. What is actually going on between you two?

Jdae Master: I’m quite positive I don’t follow.

TooFabToExist: Shush, JdMaster. Shush.

Miserable wrote:

I’m a senior, and my girlfriend just broke up with me. She couldn’t pick any better time to do that, could she? Now I’m wallowing in self-pity when I should work my off for college entrance in October. What should I do?

Jdae Master: Now, sunbae. What is the better form of revenge than being the best version of you and live well?

TooFabToExist: That’s right. You know this yourself: work your as-- I mean derriere off, destroy your CSAT (in a good meaning), and then go to your ex, saying: “I got into SNU”. That’s badass. Wallowing in self-pity? Definitely not badass.

Jdae Master: Though I feel the need to tell you that maybe, your ex did that so she could focus more on her study.

TooFabToExist: And get into one of SKY herself.

Jdae Master: … We aren’t exactly helpful, are we?

TooFabToExist: Nah, we’re great.

“The biggest dino ever existed?” Yixing scrunched his nose, a huge crosswords laid on the table covering most of his lunch much to Joonmyeon’s displeasure.

Chanyeol gulped down his kimbab before answering “Brontosaurus?”

 “But there were no Brontosaurus, Chanyeol-ah. Didn’t you know?” Yixing put down his pen and fixed him a pitying look.

Chanyeol looked pretty much scandalized. “Nobody told me!”

Joonmyeon had long since given up any attempt to rationalize whatever kind of oddity happen at their table during lunch, so he didn’t even scold Chanyeol for shouting while he was eating (“I was not yelling, hyung!”) or persuade Yixing to set aside his crosswords and finish his meal first (“but Joonmyeonie, this is an exercise to prevent dementia or any neurological disorder”).

All in all, it was almost like any other day in his daily life except for an empty spot across Baekhyun’s seat, who was scrolling down his smartphone screen, grumbling about the needs to change his usual brand of eyeliner (“bloggers are raving about this one from Urban Decay”). Joonmyeon blinked.

“Where’s Lu Han-hyung?”

“He told me he needed to talk to the advisor but that wouldn’t be long. He’ll be here any second.” Baekhyun answered for him albeit distractedly.

“Does this mean he already decided where he wants to go?” Joonmyeon shifted a bit so he could face Baekhyun better.

Not that the said hoobae even realised it.

“Dunno. Could be. He had told me this one time, though, that he didn’t even know if he wanted to take sooneung.”

That was one thing he didn’t understand. Lu Han excelled in his study and he did so not just for the sake of getting good grades; he did because cliché as it would sound, he actually liked studying. He enjoyed it; got some odd exhilaration out of it. But despite it all, he hadn’t made a clear decision about his future which somehow bothered Joonmyeon.

“It’s like you’re running in full speed but you don’t even know where the finish line is.”

 Lu Han’s eyes shone as he laughed in amusement. “That’s weird, Joonmyeon.”

“Oh? That’s the guy!” Jongdae waved his hand at Lu Han who was just entering the dining hall. Lu Han waved back before motioning to the counter. Jongdae gave him thumbs up.

Occupants of the table resumed their activities before Chanyeol choked on his ice tea, earning him disgusted grimace from his friends. That was before he pointed his index finger towards the food stalls direction.

“Someone needs to make a good out of this moment.” He wheezed and Yixing patted his back not-so-softly.

The rest turned their heads around and saw Lu Han was standing in line, slightly bouncing on his heels. He hugged the tray on his chest and looked positively like a kid. That wasn’t strange at all, because they all know Lu Han was a kid except that Kim Minseok was queuing right behind him.

And the star student didn’t even realise it.

Yixing started to clap like a seal while Baekhyun basically jumping up and down in his seat, muttering an ‘awesome, this is truly awesome’. What was awesome about this, Joonmyeon didn’t know but that was just because he didn’t have a single mischievous bone in his body. He didn’t even bother to take a look at Jongdae who was strangely calm and collected.

They had succeeded in staying silent and reserved for full five minutes, which impressed Joonmyeon greatly but he knew the right manner they were showing wouldn’t last long.

“Hey guys, sorry for waiting!” greeting the gang with wide smile, Lu Han ushered Chanyeol to move aside to give him some space. Baekhyun and Jongdae’s eyes flickered behind him before coughing and very well screamed.

“What are you eating, hyung?”

Lu Han stopped mid air, just right before his touched the bench and although he didn’t approve anything his friends might be planning, Joonmyeon got to admit his senior looked so ridiculous right now.

“Uh, I have samgyetang, mandu, and the usual kimchi. Why?”

Baekhyun shook his head disapprovingly. “Why must you do that?” He whined and looked like his pet had been stolen from him. Puppy eyes darting towards a weird direction went unnoticed by the flabbergasted Chinese man.

“What?”

“Did you forget hyung? It’s Monday. We don’t eat samgyetang in Monday, remember?”  It was Jongdae this time, folded his arms like a father disappointed in his son would.

Lu Han’s expression was priceless. “I thought you were going to say ‘we don’t eat samgyetang in spring’?”

“Sorry hyung but rules are rules. I hereby banish you for the day. You can’t sit with us.”

“What rules?” Lu Han shrieked, “What is happening?”

Byun Baekhyun had none of it. Just when Lu Han thought the prank was over, he saw Jongdae raised his arm to someone behind him and his being was instantly filled with horror when he saw at whom Jondae gestured at.

Minseok raised his eyebrows when Jongdae called his name. He blinked unsurely. “Me? You’re talking to me?”

Lu Han thought he had never seen Jongdae smile so sweetly before. He felt like his age had been just reduced by ten years.

“Can Lu Han hyung here sit with you during lunch? He’s being irresponsible right now so he isn’t allowed to sit with us today. Please?”

Lu Han remembered his father had always said that God wasn’t an evil entity. He wouldn’t bestow upon his creations the misery and bad fortunes and so, bad experiences you encountered were actually your undoing. In short, ‘what goes around comes around’ Justin Timberlake wisely told you.

So, Lu Han pondered, was having evil friends his undoing, too?

“Aren’t you hungry, Lu Han?”

Lu Han blinked at the pair of wide eyes staring at him.

“Uh.” He replied in a perfect articulation.

“We’ve been sitting here for five minutes and you haven’t even touched your food. Our recess ends in, like, ten minutes.” Minseok chuckled nervously. “I’m sorry, maybe sitting with me makes you uncomfortable and—“

What? What was he saying?

“What drugs are you on, Minseok?”

No, he wasn’t supposed to word it that way, .

“I mean, it’s okay. I like sitting with you. If anything, I’m sorry about my friends earlier. I don’t know why I was being Regina George’ed.”

Lu Han picked up his chopstick and began to eat though he wasn’t sure if he still had appetite for everything in front him now. His heart was beating at unhealthy pace it scared him. His palms were sweaty he didn’t understand why the chopstick hadn’t slipped out of his hands by now and he could feel Minseok’s gaze on him every now and then.

“You just spoke to me more than five words.”

Lu Han looked up and saw Minseok flashed his gummy smile at him.

“Really?” Lu Han could hear Yixing in his head clucking his tongue in disapproval.

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry. I swear I didn’t mean anything. I’m just a quiet person in general.”

Lu Han was glad his friends were five tables away from him or he would have heard them cackle like mad hyenas. What a lie, they’d scream it out.

Minseok didn’t seem to buy his crap but he didn’t chase after it either, which made Lu Han feel worse.

Lu Han cleared his throat. “So,” he started, “this year is my first experience in being a captain. I don’t think I’m good at it, yet. I mean, I rarely talk to my teammates.” No. I talk with them all, even the second squad.

Minseok slurped his milk. “You’re doing a good job, Lu Han, and it’s been only what, a month? Give it time. Give yourself time.”

Lu Han bit his lip, raking his brain for more topics.

“Why didn’t you join us last year? Or a year before that? You’re a great striker and I remember we had needed one last year because Doojun-sunbae wanted so badly to use a false nine. Why now?”

To Lu Han and to everybody else perhaps, his question was innocent and had no underlying meaning. But Minseok took his time to answer like Lu Han was asking a personal question.

“Because this is my last year here and I want it to be perfect.”

“Didn’t you want a perfect high school life instead of just a perfect senior year?”

Minseok smiled ruefully. “Not everyone is privileged enough to even want that, Lu Han.”

Weird, Lu Han thought, that being a step closer to Minseok only proven to make him even more mysterious and elusive.

 He did it. He got the job.

Well, to be honest, Zitao wasn’t really surprised to hear the news Lu Han-ge had delivered him at dinner last night. Writing had always been a part of him growing up. He wrote basically anything; personal life, national issues, celebrity gossips, fan fiction, poems… He was even the one responsible for recruiting reporters for his Junior High biweekly newspaper back in China.

Lu zi said the travelling column only appeared every two weeks because while Sooman High never considered financial matters as a hindrance, the principal wouldn’t be too happy to see the allowance for Thunder Herald especially gotten higher compared to the other clubs.

“So, you’ll be given ₩ 180,000 on Friday twice a month. You’ll make the itinerary and all the jazz for every trip. You’re allowed to be overbudget, but it’ll be on you because Thunder Herald won’t cover any extra penny. If you happen to spend less than what has been allocated, the balance is yours.”

His cousin might be a Thunder Herald crew no more, but he sure still held some power in the organization. That was why he had the information about who passed the selection and who didn’t.

And so, he asked.

“Then what about Oh Sehun?”

Lu Han had raised his eyebrows at that. “Who?”

“We were interviewed together. He applied for photographer position.”

“On travelling column?”

Zitao gulped down his milk. “Yes.”

“And why would you care about him?”

“He seemed like he wanted this a lot.”

“And the other applicants didn’t?”

“Lu zi!”

It was true, though. Aside from that sweet kid, Kim Jongin of class 1-B, Zitao was pretty sure Byun Baekhyun had told them the truth; about how everybody wanted in. A position in The Thunder Herald was highly sought after because it provided some advantages.

But something he saw that day about Oh Sehun nagged something at the back of his mind. Would he die if he didn’t get what he want—what he need? The way Jongin mollified him sure looked like Oh Sehun was dealing with something more serious than being a part of some elite groups.

Zitao realised that he, for what it’s worth, wanted Sehun to get the job.

“He did. He had brought his portfolio just twenty minutes before closing date, that brat. After we all saw his works, we knew he practically has no one to compete with.”

“That’s good, then. When is the official announcement?”

“A week after the last interview so, like, three days from now.”

“Can I be the one telling Sehun the news?”

“I told you this because you’re my cousin, you idiot. You aren’t supposed to know anything yet.”

“And you are? I mean, last time I checked, you are not a part of them anymore.”

“Ever heard of exclusivity?”

“Can I please tell him? Please?”

“This seems more important to you than it should be, Taozi. Is there something I need to know?”

“It’s just… He looked indifferent but if you see him, ge, his eyes look so sad.  If I had the chance to see how he looked with a smile on his face, I’d be more than happy to take up on the offer.”

And so, here he was; standing at the gate of Sooman High, looking at the opposite direction while endured his body from being knocked aside every now and then by the wave of students exiting the school gate.

The top of Sehun’s platinum blond head was seen after Zitao stood uselessly by the gate for fifteen minutes and the sight had set a newly born giddiness inside of him.

“Sehun!” Zitao waved his hand, enthusiastic.

Sehun didn’t wave back or even smile before he finally stood two meters away from him.

“What is it?” he looked cautious because why wouldn’t he? They had never really talked to each other before and suddenly Zitao stopped him on his tracks with wide smile.

“I got some news for you. This is about Thunder Herald’s interview.” Zitao looked at him expectantly.

“What, you got in?”

“Yes! I mean, yes but that’s not—“

“And you’re here to brag?”

“What?”

“Congratulations, Zitao-sshi. I’m sure you’re good at what you do and I believe having Lu Han-sunbae as your cousin has its own merit. He even broke the news early for you, which is splendid, but what importance does it hold that you feel the need to tell me this?”

“I—“

Sehun exhaled. “I have loads of home works. Gotta go home.” He walked past him and was already good four steps ahead when he heard him.

“I just want you to know that you, too, got in. I’m not here to brag or something. I thought I wanted to be the first person to bring you the good news. Maybe that would bring a smile to your face.” Sehun turned around and saw Zitao flashing him a sad smile. “I just. I just wanted to see it. But I guess I should have known my boundaries. I’m very sorry. Have a nice evening, Oh Sehun.”

“Let’s get started and treat me ddukbokki later” was the first thing coming out of Yifan’s mouth the second he saw Minseok.

“Uh, what?” because the rich one here was Wu Yifan and why should Minseok buy him things?

“Deal.” Yifan nodded firmly, leaving Minseok bewildered more.

He chuckled, nonetheless, because he found the tall Chinese to be amusingly peculiar.

“Okay,” he finally relented and followed Yifan to the library.

At this hour, the library was practically deserted because the students either went to club activities or just headed off straight to hagwon. Minseok chanced a look at his new friend and saw Yifan folded his arms in front of his chest; head turning around every now and then.

Minseok gaped. “Don’t tell me.”

Yifan’s eyebrow shot. “What.”

“Is this the first time you’re here?”

“Of course it isn’t.” Yifan denied rather too quickly. Minseok snorted.

“Okay. Pick whatever seat comfortable for you, Yif—I mean, Kris. I’ll search for anything that can give us idea.”

Minseok was ready to get lost in the sea of books when Yifan’s voice stopped him.

“Yifan.”

Minseok rubbed his nose. “Uh, yeah? What?”

“It’s my name, Wu Yifan, and you shall call me that.”

Minseok tried not to smile, but he was sure Yifan could actually see the pleasantly surprised look in his eyes because then the point guard winked at him in a fashion that he thought was cool but actually looked silly and awkward to Minseok.

He didn’t care how stupid Wu Yifan acted, Minseok decided as he felt warmth inside his rib cage, he was making new friend and that was that.

Minseok was starting to feel frustrated because none of these books gave him a good service. It was annoying. What was so hard about elementary level of scientific demonstrations? He was about to go to another section when he heard Wu Yifan from the next corridor. His new friend didn’t even try to lower his voice.

“Is this going to be a regular thing?”

“What, my ignoring you? It is.”

Minseok furrowed his brow. Why did the other voice sound vaguely familiar?

“No, you’re being like this; cold, unforgiving, and unfair. Are these going to be the new personality?”

“I only act accordingly, Yifan. Now if you’ll excuse me—“

“You know I came back for you.”

“I don’t recall asking you to.”

“Joonie.”

Of course it was familiar. Minseok heard the voice every time the students were gathered in the Main Hall. It was Kim Joonmyeon’s. But Joonie? Joonie?

“Don’t ‘Joonie’ me.” Joonmyeon opened his mouth only to close it again. “Just. Stop, Yifan. I have already put it in the furthest corner in my mind. I—you’ve been forgiven.”

“Oh, have I? That’s good to know. Now that I have my #1 objective covered, I’ll move onto the next and I need you to listen to me. I’m not flying my back to South Korea just to see your back on me. I’m going to make things right again.”

The Student Council president suddenly sounded so exhausted, Minseok listened with slight sympathy.

“Really, Yifan. Let’s stop now.”

Yifan smiled sadly. “I’m sorry. Gonna ignore your plea, Joonie.”

“Not surprisingly.”

Minseok tiptoed a bit closer but still couldn’t see clearly the facial expression Yifan was wearing but he guessed it was that of an unguarded one because Kim Joonmyeon was now staring at the basketball captain with indifferent mask but his eyes were so raw, so vulnerable.

Minseok scrambled back to his initial position and acted like he didn’t just witnessed something fishy about two people that stood in the opposite ends of a spectrum. So the rumour was right, after all. They did know each other.

A bit well, too, if Minseok was to pull any conclusion from the exchange.

“Found anything?”

Minseok faux a small jump. “For the nth time, don’t sneak on me and no, I haven’t.” He looked up only to see the somber face of Wu Yifan. “You okay?”

Yifan shook his head. “m’not.”

“Do you want to go home? We can do this tomorrow.”

“No, it’s okay. I just had the longest conversation in three years with someone, is all. I’m good.”

Well, he obviously wasn’t, but this friendship had been going on for less than a week so Minseok wouldn’t do anything to damage it by asking unnecessary things.

“There’s no need for you to wait for another three days for the official announcement, Jongin,” Baekhyun-sunbae’s voice rang inside his head. “So you can start helping Kyungsoo earlier. Come to our HQ after you finish your class. It’s Friday, so it most likely will be empty because everyone is outdoor. Find the tidiest desk; fourth cubicle from the left right after you enter. Ask for a Do Kyungsoo.”

This was Jongin’s first time in The Thunder Herald’s office. Baekhyun-sunbae was right; the place was deserted and the destituteness of it made the room felt colder. Thunder Herald’s nest was easily the most spacious compared to the other headquarters. The walls were covered with interesting posters and quotes. One desk with a tag read ‘Park Chan-yeol’ on it didn’t even have a centimeter of empty surface left. There was a stack full of CDs and instead of desktop PC this desk had a record player.

Jongin’s eyes darted around to row of cubicles on his left and saw no one. He had wanted to see Kim Joonmyeon-sunbae first because he felt like it was his safest bet, considering the fact that he was new and knew jack about school newspaper but from the looks of it, he wasn’t present either.

Jongin turned around; starting to think that maybe now wasn’t the best time before a voice called out to him.

“Don’t drag your slippers. I don’t like the sound of it.”

Jongin blinked.

“Do Kyungsoo-sunbae?”

What a stupid question, Jongin mentally scolded himself. The tag secured on right of his blazer clearly told him his name. Jongin didn’t blame Kyungsoo for answering his silly question with silence.

“My name is Kim Jongin.”

“I know. I can see it from where I stand.”

It wasn’t the most polite response. What a loss that such soothing speaking voice was used to form less than sympathetic reply. Jongin’s elongated eyes didn’t cut their gaze towards Kyungsoo’s owlish ones while his brain scouring itself for something to say.

“I, uh, didn’t Baekhyun-sunbae tell you anything?”

“Other than his plan on watching unruly mass with unstable hormones screaming their lungs out in the basketball court, no, he didn’t.”

Jongin scuffled his slippers before he stopped himself, remember that Kyungsoo didn’t like it.

“I’m your new partner. I’m supposed to take picture of whatever you’ve created.” Jongin bowed. “Please, take care of me—“

“I don’t need you.”

Jongin straightened his back. “Sorry?”

"I do not need you. I didn't ask for a partner."

“It’s done, though.” Jongin felt indescribably defensive. “The recruitment and interview; it’s all done. You can’t say things like that easily.”

Do Kyungsoo was probably a good inch shorter than him but he definitely knew how to make his presence looked bigger.

“I don’t care. Now if you don’t have anything else to ask or anyone to look for, I suggest you leave.”

Jongin knew he should feel upset, offended, and if he was to be honest with himself, a bit scared. He should walk away, find Baekhyun-sunbae, and told him he quitted—because Do Kyungsoo demanded him to.

So he would do just that. It wasn’t like he wanted to be here in the first place.

 Okay, so, what happened here? Basically nothing. I'm sorry ;__; but now that everyone is here, I can start the actual story.