chapter one

september 2014 + october 2014

The five of them weren't friends, but they certainly were used to each other. 

Taekyung's personality was a bit too much for Charlie, but at the very least, the two could talk about guitar together. Seungtae's general non-pryingness meant he got along well enough with Jeonghan. And Mingu...well, he was amusing himself in other ways. (Namely, by posting selfies to SNS and talking to Jihee.)

Marina was happy enough about the group - they did have quite a nice distribution of talent going on, and five was a good, round number for a group. Jiseul and Jason had finished the album quite a while ago, and Jiseul had even found a deal on a recording studio (for two hours of time in about a month, but in a studio regardless.) Jason was looking for a place to film the music video for the title track. 

For once, it seemed like everything was going well in the Robin studio. So what if the boys didn't have a dorm yet? Marina was still pleased they hadn't accidentally accumulated a group of extremes that would kill each other when in the same room. Though they had only been able to book one music show performance, and that in a few months, at least they would be airing on TV at some point. And anyways, shows in the free park didn't cost any money.

Yes, things were going rather swimmingly - hence, when something went wrong, it should've been expected.

"Alright, guys, we're practicing the acoustics of Entrust, Run, and You're Impressive," Jason said, clapping his hands together to get the boy's attention. Charlie grabbed his guitar, briefly strumming to make sure it was tuned, and nodded. Jihee - being the only person with more than an inkling of technical knowledge on the staff - set up the five microphones in front of a set of stools. The boys sat down (a bit too close for anyone's comfort) and started rehearsal. 

Entrust went fine (the boys were hardly deterred by the squee emitted by Jiseul halfway through it); Run was shaky, but with it being the most recently added song, it was a lot better than Jason expected it to be. (Jiseul still managed to find no fault whatsoever in it.) It wasn't until the title track that things went wrong.

Jeonghan's part in the song wasn't huge - he was the group's main dancer, after all - but the fact that it occured shortly before the chorus made it very noticeable when nobody could hear him. Charlie stopped playing; Mingu got in about three words of his subsequent part before realizing something was wrong.

"Something's wrong. How many times is this? Something's wrong," Jason said, turning to Marina with a frantic expression.

"I can't magically make it better, Jason. Jihee, can you call your guy?"

"Yep," Jihee said, taking out her cell phone. "He's an engineer who owes me a favor."

"What kind of favor we talking about here?" Mingu asked, frowning. 

Taekyung laughed. "Mind being a bit more obvious, hyung? I don't think everyone can see it."

"Guys," Charlie said, attempting to shut the both of them up. 

"It was a while ago," Jihee replied, completely oblivious to the undercurrent as she called somebody up.

The studio went silent, in a rare moment. "Um, hello, Dayu? ...Gosh, no need to be so hostile. You owe me. ...Oh, Yuie's coming with you? Alright. Get over here as soon as you can."

She hung up the phone. "He'll be here soon," she said, grinning.

And, sure enough, the guy showed up with a few minutes later, with a toolbox in one hand. Mingu eyed him suspiciously, while Jiseul's eyes immediately became glued to the younger man behind him. "Oh, he's cute," she said, a devilish glint in her eye. 

 "Ah, yes, the Robin Studio. Barely," commented Dayu.

"Might I remind you that you owe me?" Jihee replied, crossing her arms. "So fix the damn microphone, already."

"You should start paying me for this," he said.

Jihee pretended to think about it. "Nah," she replied.

"Seriously, how do you know this guy?" Mingu asked with a frown. Jeonghan gave him a long, more-than-slightly judging stare. 

Dayu looked at him and blinked. "I'm not into her anymore, dude." 

Taekyung simply laughed at that. Charlie shook his head in slight disbelief; Seungtae looked over at the older boy and nodded in agreement. Jeonghan, characteristically, said nothing.

Jason - who had been far too busy complaining loudly to Marina that everything he ever touched broke - suddenly noticed Jayu, who was still standing near the door, ignoring Jiseul (who had rushed over there once she saw him) . "Who's that?" he asked, confused.

"My brother, Jayu," Dayu replied, though he was still focused on fixing the mic. 

"We have to scout him," Jiseul said, half-joking.

"Well, can he sing?" asked Charlie, shrugging.

Jason perked up at that. "Actual question, right there! Can he sing?"

"Yeah," Dayu replied. "Scouting him might not be a bad idea."

Jayu gave his brother a look. "We literally just went through this. Did we not?"

"Well...well. My brother here used to be a trainee," Dayu explained. "For SM, even, and then JYP later. We were out talking, and wondering about his debut."

Jeonghan raised his eyebrows, wondering briefly if he knew Joohyun. He shook his head lightly.

"It goes down to one thing," Marina said. "Backstory's nice, okay, whatever - can he sing?"

"I personally don't see the need for two mainvos, since I'm me," Taekyung added, though by that point the attention was no longer on the younger boy. 

Jayu sighed and mentally cursed his brother. "Fine." He took a deep breath, a vague memory of his first SM audition crossing his mind, and began to sing.

60 seconds is all I need for this story
You came into my heart
I don't doubt it
That you took me away
The time that wasn't short
You're the kind of person...

For a few seconds the room went silent.

It then promptly exploded. Jason started yelling something about technique, whilst Jiseul was promptly squeeing; Taekyung was vaguely heard complaining in the background. Marina sighed at the chaos, then asked Jayu the only question that really mattered: "Would you like to be a part of Cardinal, Jayu?" 

Jayu thought about it. There was nothing in the studio that had the uber-polished feel that SM did - the chaos was far welcome against having a lot of rules. And he'd get to debut - albeit in a tiny group, one that had slim chances of success if any, but in a group nonetheless. That was far better than what JYP had offered him.

He looked around at the rest of Cardinal and turned back to Marina. "Uh, sure," he replied. Jiseul let out a whoop and seemed to jump about ten feet in the air. 

The dorm was, technically, not a dorm; it was the largest apartment on Lucas's floor, and it still hardly fit the six boys. Three bunk beds had been haphazardly shoved into a bedroom meant for one, and sleeping arrangements were almost completely random depending on the day. 

It was lucky Jayu was a fast learner, and that he'd come at the time he did; he picked the choreography up with practiced ease (Marina assumed that was SM's training at work) and it didn't take much for him to learn the songs, either. The addition of another member made things a bit more rushed in the recording studio, and the photoshoot for the album jacket and music video were even more rushed than previously expected, but somehow, the group had produced both within their time limit.

The fact that the bulk of the work was done, however, did not mean that it was over. Taekyung grabbed another Yakult from the fridge and sat down on the couch. Nobody was asleep. In an hour, Cardinal's official first performance would occur; Marcus (who had been appointed to record the concert) would be coming to pick them up in his inexplicable minivan. 

The only sound in the apartment that night was the faint, rapid strumming of Charlie's guitar; Jayu seemed to be staring out into space, Mingu was doodling something on a receipt, Jeonghan was silent, Taekyung had drank more Yakult than anyone in the world ever and Seungtae was writing something in a previously unseen journal. It wasn't nerves, exactly, that coated the air. Every now and then, Taekyung or Mingu would open their mouths to say something, but they never did. 

No, it wasn't nerves. It was excitement. The paths for them to get to their first performance - even if it was a tiny one in the free park - were long, and here it was, staring in front of them in about an hour. Marina and Jihee had picked up the clothes (variations on a theme of white shirts, grey jeans and danceable trainers); Jiseul and Jason had decided the setlist (Run, Fixed Star and You're Impressive). It would come together so, so soon. But the waiting - the waiting was the most unbearable part of it all. The minutes didn't blend into each other, but instead seemed to stretch out. 

Time couldn't go fast enough. 

Marcus finally arrived an hour before the performance was to start - they were supposed to go back to the studio to warm up before the show. It would be as perfect as it humanly could be; why, it had to be. 

"I can't believe it," murmured Charlie; Seungtae nodded in agreement. 

"I can, and it's awesome," replied Taekyung, who was grinning from ear to ear. 

"We'll be stunning," agreed Mingu with a nod. "Well, any group with me is going to be stunning, but you all knew that."  Marcus scoffed from the driver's seat. Even Jayu seemed to be grinning a little bit; Jeonghan hadn't said anything, but if one were to read his mind, they'd find general good feelings.

The van pulled up the the Robin Studio; the boys rushed out and were greeted by a squeeing Jiseul, a pleased-looking Jason, a smiling Jihee, and a stressed Marina. She looked at the six of them in their outfits sternly. Jason also seemed to have locked his eyes with the back of her head; most of the boys weren't looking at her head on.  "I'm really counting on you not to screw this up," she said, arms crossed. She especially gave a long look to Taekyung, which made the boy stiffen up slightly. 

"You guys have all worked hard," she continued. "So have we. I can understand if you're nervous, but I'm expecting you to be really good at least. You're all talented. You're all good people, and I'm assuming you've done nothing to really mess up your karma - so kill it or I might kill you," she finished with a nod.

Marcus half-heartedly applauded at that, and stopped when nobody joined him. Jason slowly rose from the chair where he sat and asked, "Uh, you all...we should warm up. Charlie, give me an A." 

"That's an awesome way to diffuse the tension coming from a speech," added Mingu with a smirk.  

Charlie took the performance guitar (it was white; his beat-up thing would probably fall apart in a windstorm) and played the note Jason requested; the voices of the boys had variable levels of steadiness, but the note rang out in the studio, shaky but clear.

upperclass themes 2014 ©