epilogue pt. 1

Five years later…

“Ah, Jooeun-ssi, it’s nice to see you again.”

I smiled at my therapist. “Umji unni, I thought we agreed the first time we met not to be formal with each other.”

“Jooeun-ah, it’s been so long since I last saw you that I forgot.” She winked at me. These were the same three sentences that we went over each time we saw each other. Lately, her words were true though. It had been a long time since I had last seen her.

“So, why are you here today?” she asked gently.

Minseok’s mother had diagnosed me with mild anxiety (although I had always known I had it), and had suggested I get a therapist in Korea. Not just for my anxiety, but for my trauma of what I had been through. She probably knew that it might be more comfortable speaking with someone who wasn’t the mother of a boy I potentially had a crush on, and maybe someone closer to my age. I had met Umji five years ago now, just a bit after I had started the second semester at SM Academy. Umji herself was very knew at being a therapist, having just debuted as one-she was, after all, only six years older than me. However, she had grown to be a very close friend of mine, as well as a well known therapist for her skills. I was lucky to have found a therapist that matched me the first time I had gotten one. I knew many were not so lucky.

“Well… you know that one time I told you about my love life?” I asked, scrunching up my face a bit in awkwardness.

Her face lit up. “Oh, those twelve boys who you said you were in love with and who were in love with you?”

I cringed at how that sounded. D*mn, I sounded like a . But anyone who knew us truly understood that it wasn’t like that at all.

“Yeah… well… I came to talk to you about that.”

She grinned slightly. “I’m your romance counselor too now, huh?”

I blushed, rolling my eyes. “Shut up, I’m paying you for this.”

“Yeah yeah… anyway, why don’t you start off by telling me about them?”

I sighed. “Okay… well… might as well… I’m going to start off with the one that you probably heard the most about from me. Do Kyungsoo.”

“J-Jooeun,” a shaky voice came from my phone.

“Soo oppa? Are you okay? Where are you?” I asked, panicked.

“I’m outside the school,” he sobbed, his short breaths suffocating me with fear.

Stumbling out my dorm room, unable to answer Wendy (my new dormmate)’s questions, I told Kyungsoo to wait, and that I was coming. I ran as fast as I could down the stairs of the dorm building to the school gates, flashed my ID card at the guard and skidded, swerving my head in all directions to see where Kyungsoo was.

He was crouching with the phone hanging loosely in his hand, looking lifeless as tears dripped down his face.

“What do I do, Jooeun? I feel like I’m choking… Jooeun, I think it’s back.” The total fear in his eyes as he looked at me broke my heart, and terrified me as well. I didn’t know what to do. Just because I had a therapist didn’t mean that I was a therapist. But I wanted to help him in all the ways that I could.

I pulled him up with my hands so that he was no longer crouching, before pulling into a hug, holding his trembling body in my arms. “I’m going to help you. Don’t worry, everything’s going to be okay. I swear to god, I’m going to help you and I’m going to be with you for every single step and you’re never going to be alone, okay?”

“Soo oppa, this is Therapist Lee. Therapist Lee, this is Do Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo bowed at him, swallowing visibly. It was obvious that he was nervous at the prospect of telling someone everything he had felt-of exposing himself in such a way to someone he didn’t know very well.

Therapist Lee smiled at him kindly. “Would you prefer conducting this with or without Jooeun-ssi?”

Kyungsoo glanced at me, hesitating a little before speaking. I took his hand, reassuring him that I would be happy with either decision he made.

“With.”

I didn’t want to, but every single year, at graduation, I had cried. This year was no different. This year, Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Jongdae were graduating. Another generation leaving us behind, I supposed. After this, I only had one more year at SM Academy. The first year had been the best. The thirteen of us together? It had made everything perfect. It was still nice with just ten of us, and then eight of us, but it hadn’t been the same. But now, it’d be down to four; Sehun, Kai, Tao and I.

I struggled to fight back tears, knowing that my quest to do so was hopeless. As the ones I couldn’t help but fall in love with walked down the aisle, the bouquets in my arms trembled. The others had come, too. It was one of the rare moments in which all thirteen of us were together again.

I couldn’t help the sense of nostalgia and melancholy that washed over me as I remembered what our days as thirteen had been like. All those simple moments that I had taken for granted, laughing about stupid things; but overall happy.

We had all grown so much, but the past was something that we truly couldn’t go back to. Although I was still in a place where I was free of stress (schoolwork barely even counting as stress in the ‘real world’), the others weren’t. They all countlessly told me to enjoy high school while it lasted, and that university (for the ones who’d decided to go), work, and that the ‘real world’ in general was really hard.

Things hadn’t turned out the way we’d expected it to. The world didn’t always give in to the dreams and fantasies of mere highschoolers.

“The valedictorian is Do Kyungsoo! Kyungsoo has been a model student, always modest and hardworking, reaping good results. Please, a round of applause for him!”

I smiled, clapping. With a single blink, the tears rolled down my face. He had grown so much. He was still in the battle with depression, but he was getting so much better. I was so proud of him.

“It feels unreal to stand here, graduating from SM Academy already. When I first got here, I was but a shy boy, and the only time that I truly felt confident was when I was singing. I know for many of you it was the same, but maybe with a different medium; with acting, or with dancing. Nevertheless, music was what got me to connect with so many more people here, and helped me gain the courage to make new friends.” I saw him glance towards Jonghyun, Ryeowook and Jinki. “Of course, another thing that helped me feel like I belonged were my friends that encouraged me to come to this school in the first place.

“I feel like we’ve come through such a journey to get here; all of us have experienced our own hardships and overcome them. Jongdae got into a car accident that almost paralyzed him waist down, but here we see him standing.” Everyone’s eyes went to Jongdae, obviously remembering when that had happened. “I myself, as some of you know, am currently in a battle with depression, and I believe I am overcoming it. But it’s only with the support of my friends and teachers here at SM Academy that I’ve been able to do so. SM Academy helped me realize how valuable friendship really was, and what love was.” His gaze lands on me, a soft smile on his face.

It’s not like the competition being stopped didn’t cause an uproar at our school. It was their tradition, so for them to stop it had been quite a scandal. It was a well known fact that each and every one of them was in love with me, and a not so well known fact that I was in love with each of them as well. I can feel people’s gazes on me, sad smirks on their faces.

“Three years ago, I would never have been able to gather the courage to tell you all that I was fighting depression. Three years ago, I would never have been able to show you my battle scars,” he said, pulling back his sleeve, gasps being made all around, “that prove that I’m winning my battle against depression. But someone came and changed that. She really changed everything for me. The future is unsure for all of us, and we’re all worried about how we’re going to find jobs in this time and age when jobs are so scarce. But amidst all of that madness, when we step into the ‘real world,’ I hope that you will be able to find someone who will be by your side forever. I hope that you will be able to find someone who will listen to your worries, who will support you in every decision, who will be so imperfectly perfect as she is to me.

“Time passes, and nostalgia grows as it does… I will miss every single one of you and remember this day with longing eyes in the future, but I hope that we will all be able to make more beautiful memories with the people that we love that we will be able to look back at fondly. Let’s make memories worth feeling sad and nostalgic about. I’ve made countless ones like that at my time here at SM Academy, and I know countless other people will in the future. We are all terribly talented, and I know that we will all be able to achieve our dreams, as long as we gather the courage to try.

“So let’s all be brave and try. Thank you, SM Academy for the amazing four years. I’ll miss you all.”

“Kyungsoo oppa!!!!”

“Jongdae oppa!!!”

“KYAAAAA!!!!”

“Oh my god he’s so hot!!!!!”

I covered my ears with both of my hands, fighting to keep my position at the front of the crowd. It was their debut. One year after graduating from SM Academy, they were finally debuting.

The backtrack of their song started playing, and the dark stage was suddenly lit up as two spotlights were shone upon two boys, both holding mics. I couldn’t help but smile as I saw them.

The song flew by too quickly, and after it was finished, they both stood up and bowed to the crowd. Their eyes lit up in recognition when they saw me, and Jongdae gave a not so inconspicuous wink in my direction. The fans surrounding me, all thinking that it was meant for them, started screaming and jumping up and down. I winced at the loud volume. Geez, weren’t their voices dead yet?

Despite all this, I couldn’t help but grin at Kyungsoo when he glanced in my direction, winking at him just like Jongdae had done to me just moments before. His ears started getting red, but it was obvious that his smile grew immensely.

“The company wants us to start writing our own songs, but I can’t do it! None of my songs sound good enough,” Kyungsoo mumbled.

“The way I do it is… I just channel my past, my emotions, my memories into lyrics and music… I don’t know if that makes sense. Here, let me put it this way… what do you feel the strongest about? Write about that.”

“You,” he said, a small smile on his lips.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, then try writing a song about me. Let me be your muse.”

He grinned slyly, before gently taking my hand. “Inspire me then, Kim Jooeun.”

I ignored the blush that was starting on my cheeks.

“Kris Wu. Wait no, he’s known as Wu Yifan. But also used to be called Li Jiaheng? Or Kevin or something? I don’t even know, to be honest.”

“I don’t know what to do,” he said, his head in his hands. “I feel like I’m betraying them.”

I was silent, before answering him. “You know, oppa? Once you graduate, we can no longer really dream about things. A twelve membered boy band? I mean, all of you dreamed for that, and hoped for that… but how likely is it that one entertainment company will take you all, and debut you all together? It’s not like you can just debut without an entertainment company organizing everything, right? Once we leave school, off into the ‘real world,’ we have to face reality. And they all know this. They would understand if you did debut as an actor instead. That’s what your dream always was, right?”

He nodded, looking quite torn.

“And I’m sure you won’t be the only one… you may be the first, but you won’t be the only one…”

“What? You’re not auditioning?” asked Minseok, shocked.

Kris’ eyes darted back and forth, his nervousness obvious. “I’m probably not going to make it anyway, and also—”

“Well you’re definitely not going to make it if you don’t audition at all!” exclaimed Luhan, obviously quite upset with what his friend had just stated to them.

“Ge, it’s our dream to debut together,” whispered Tao.

“Let the man ing finish, guys,” I interrupted, holding my two arms out for emphasis.

He gave me a grateful look, before continuing. “To tell you the truth...” he swallowed, “I think I’m more fit to be an actor, not an idol.”

There was complete silence, a silence that obviously terrified him more than a bombarding of questions would. His fists were clenched up—not from anger, but from pure nervousness. I had never seen him like this before.

I quickly took one of his hands in my own, unclenching his clammy fist. He seemed to just realize that he had been clenching his fists, and quickly unclenched the other. I smiled up at him, patting him reassuringly on the back of his hand.

Finally, Jongdae spoke up. “Guys… I’m probably not going to end up debuting with you guys, either. Some of you are dancers, and I… I can’t dance anymore. Not what idols are expected to dance at this day and age, anyway.”

“Hey, guys?” I spoke up. “It’s us against the world. If we get set against each other, who’s gonna have our backs? Let’s support whatever decision anyone makes, as long as it’s not selling meth or something.”

“D*mn, too late,” said Baekhyun, a completely serious expression on his face, before he cracked into a grin.

“Wait, I know Baekhyun is officially kicked out now, but is it okay to buy meth from him? Or does that rule us out, too?” Chanyeol asked, hand raised in the air as if he was asking a teacher.

I rolled my eyes, grinning up at Kris. He smiled gratefully back.

“It’s really hard,” he whispered through the phone. “I don’t know why my stupid brain won’t memorize the lines, and I freeze whenever I have to say a line, even if I do know what it is. I hate dragging everyone on set down, and filming is just so long.”

“Kris, if there’s anyone who can make it through this, it’s you. If you give up now, there’s nowhere to go. You have to just keep on trying, until you get better. You know, Jackie Chan wasn’t always a good actor. It’s through experience, mistakes, and practice that he got better. You’re going to get better too, just believe in yourself. And hey, if worse comes to worst, you’ve got your supportive EXO family, your mother, and… me. If it really gets too much to bear, you can always start anew with something else.”

“Thanks, J.E. As expected, your advice is the best.”

“Hey, surprise, though? I think I’m seeing you soon.”

“And one of our main composers for the movie’s OSTs, J.E. She is new to the country and speaks very limited Mandarin, so please treat her well,” the translator whispered into my ear. Apparently that was what the director of the movie had said in Mandarin.

Kris’ face was a mix of surprise, delight, and disbelief. I smirked towards his direction.

The director said something else, in which the translator quickly translated as, “she’s here on set to learn more about the kind of feel we’re going for, for the different songs.”

I bowed to the staff and actors, introducing myself in awkward Mandarin.

As soon as the director left, Kris came to my side.

“What are you doing here?”

“Didn’t you hear what the director said? I’m here to assess what kind of feel the OSTs are supposed to have.” The indignant expression on his face made it hard for me to keep a straight face.

“But then you have to see me kiss someone!”

I rolled my eyes. “I do believe that’s your job, Kris.”

He stared at me with a puppy dog expression. I wasn’t exactly sure what that puppy dog expression was supposed to express, or what he was trying to tell me, but I did know that it was adorable.

“Oppa!” I whined, averting my eyes from his own.

“What, am I too cute for you?” he asked, finally holding out his arms.

I took a step into his arms; he easily folded them around me, causing murmurs from the staff and actors around us. “Are you sure this is allowed?” I whispered to him, still hugging him. “You are a top star and everything.”

“I don’t even care,” he whispered back.

I breathed him in, burying my face into his chest. “I missed you.”

“Missed you too, J.E.”

“And… Kim Minseok.”

“How’s the trainee life, oppa?” I asked over the phone.

There was a pause of silence, and then a sigh. “It’s hard. It’s really hard. They teach us everything between English and how to sit properly. Singing lessons three hours a day, dancing lessons six hours a day… language lessons one hour a day, and everything else for the remaining two hours. I don’t know how much longer I can last, Jjoo…” He sounded exhausted. “I miss you and the others, too. At least I have Luhan here with me, but it still feels lonely.”

“Are you at your dorms right now? I’ll come visit,” I suggested.

“It would be amazing to see your face, to be honest. But I’m not sure if we’re allowed having visitors. There’s a café right in front of our dorm, why don’t we meet there?”

In thirty minutes, I was at the café in front of the dorm.

Minseok was alone. “Sorry, Luhan is really sick right now, I don’t think he’ll be able to come out.”

It was really nice to see him again. He, Kris and Luhan had graduated; Kris had been accepted to an acting agency, while he and Luhan had both been scouting to an idol agency. It was a fairly well known agency, so it wasn’t shady or anything. The only problem was, a male group had debuted only two years earlier, meaning that they would have to wait awhile until they’d be able to debut.

He looked much skinnier, and had bags under his eyes. “Oh, come here,” I said, opening my arms wide.

He came over, burying his face into my hair, breathing me in. “I missed you,” he whispered.

“I missed you too,” I replied.

“If there’s something about DESTINY, it’s the brilliant teamwork they have. It clearly shows up in their choreography when they dance. The members of DESTINY have all known each other from a young age, graduating from the same middle school and high school. They are great friends, and it really seems like destiny that they made it into the same agency and were put into the same group,” the first MC joked.

The second MC cringed. “That wasn’t funny, Kwanghee. Anyway, DESTINY, please introduce your new hit single, The Beat.”

Junmyeon, the leader, took the mic first. “It’s a hip hop song with a sweet melody written by BTS’ Suga and rising composer J.E. The song is very upbeat; however the lyrics are very sad, and I heard that many cried after watching the music video. Minseok hyung?”

Minseok took the mic from Junmyeon, smiling brightly at the camera. “Well, when many heard the title of our song, they figured it was literal, meaning the beat of the song. And while part of it does mean that, the main meaning of the title is for a heartbeat. Contrasting the pretty melody, the lyrics are a letter from a dying lover to a much alive and heartbroken lover, and how the dying lover’s heartbeat will always live on with the alive lover’s own. In my opinion, the lyrics make the song hauntingly beautiful.”

“Why don’t you sing some of it for us?” the second MC suggested.

Minseok passed the mic over to Luhan, their main singer.

“Can you hear it?

Our heartbeats beat as one.

Can you see it?

My heartbeat beating the battle of life and death.

I may be gone but

I’m with your every breath.”

“And on Jung Joonyoung’s SHIMSHIMTAPA today we have DESTINY’s own Minseok, and rising composer J.E!” said Jung Joonyoung, a solo rocker who I held in high esteem.

“It’s fate! Annyeonhaseyo, this is DESTINY’s Minseok! It’s an honour to be here, I’ll try my best!” Minseok waved to the camera with a bright smile.

“Annyeonhaseyo everyone, I go by J.E.” I meekly waved at the camera, smiling sheepishly.

“Minseok-ssi, your real name is Minseok, correct?” Joonyoung asked.

“Yes, that’s correct. We did consider going by a nickname of mine, Xiumin, to appeal to the Chinese audience, but in the end we decided to go with Minseok.” He glanced at my direction, and I had to hide a grin.

“J.E-ssi, I’m sure that J.E is just a stage name?” joked Joonyoung. “What’s your real name?”

“Ah, I go by Kim Jooeun,” I said, laughing.

“But I call her Jjoo,” piped in Minseok.

I shot him a panicked look. His fans knew that I was close with everyone in DESTINY, but was it really okay saying stuff like this?

“Ah, yes, I heard that the two of you are very close?”

“Well, Minseok oppa is my sunbae at SM Academy. A well known fact is that every member of DESTINY graduated from SM Academy, which is the reason I am close with them.”

“Tell us, Jooeun-ssi, what was Minseok-ssi like in high school? What was your first impression?”

I thought back. “Hm… well Minseok oppa was always very kind. I remember thinking that he was very short for his age.”

“Yah! You’re shorter than me!” he exclaimed, pouting slightly.

“Then, Minseok-ssi, what was your first impression on Jooeun-ssi?”

He was silent, looking deeply into my eyes. I tried sending him silent messages to remember his image as an idol. He couldn’t afford getting into a scandal with me. “I remember thinking that she was very short.”

“Oppa!” I huffed.

Joonyoung laughed. “Were you really close in SM Academy, or did you start getting closer when you started writing the songs for DESTINY’s album?”

“We were really close! Minseok oppa had this group of friends from middle school, all of whom have become famous, surprisingly, and I just joined their group somehow.” I emphasized the somehow, rolling my eyes at Minseok who could only grin sheepishly back. “All members of DESTINY, actually, and both members of duo LYTE… hmm, actor Wu Yifan, as well as two Youtubers who go by Yeol & Baek, although their full names are Chanyeol and Baekhyun. We were a really odd bunch, I guess, twelve guys and one girl, but it worked, somehow.”

“Are you still in touch with all of them?”

I beamed. “Of course! I see the members of DESTINY fairly often because of the contract I have with their company to write songs for their first two albums. Their second album is coming out soon, all SOULMATES pleases look forward to it! As for LYTE, I have a song written for their upcoming album, which I know FYREs are really looking forward to. We meet quite often to talk about music and life in general, since we live in the same neighbourhood. As for Fanfan-sorry, Yifan oppa, he’s doing promotions in China so it’s hard to see him, but while he was filming his Korean movie, I saw him quite often. We still contact each other often, though. And Chanyeol oppa and Baekhyun oppa needed backtracks for their skits, so I wrote some for them. I see them quite often as well; Seoul is a small city.”

“How about you, Minseok-ssi?”

“I don’t care about any of them, as long as I get to see Jjoo here.”

I glared at him, a faint blush on my cheeks. You’re an idol, I mouthed to him, turning my face to an angle that the camera wouldn’t be able to see. The company is going to kill you.

He just grinned back at me. Boys were so stupid sometimes.

“Hm… there’s also Kim Jongin.”

“Hey hey hey!” I screamed, hiding behind Tao.

“Leave Joo Joo alone!” Tao said, putting his arms out to prevent Kai from approaching me.

“No, she needs to get punished!”

“Joo Joo is innocent leave her alone!”

I grinned sheepishly. “Well, maybe not that innocent.”

Kai held out his phone in shock. “How could you post this picture of me on Instagram? I look terrible in it!”

I laughed. “You look cute, don’t worry.”

He blushed, but still had a slight pout on his lips. “I’ll forgive you if you give me a kiss.”

“No way!” Tao interrupted, shaking his head wildly. “I’m going to be her first kiss.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, technically Hoseok oppa was my first kiss?”

“WHAT?!” they both exclaimed in unison.

“Well you can’t exactly have expected me to date him and not kiss him,” I said, quite amused at their reactions. “And I swear Jay said something about that when we had that Christmas thing three years ago.”

“I’m going to punch that prick,” muttered Jongin. “He was such a that day.”

“True, but we’re all good now. He apologized, and we’re friends again.” I smiled. It was never nice having bad relationships with people who you once were close with. I had felt a lot better after we had decided to forgive each other-though why he had to forgive me, I had no idea. Well, I had been a to him without asking for his explanation.

“Kiss me!” Jongin changed the subject. “On the cheek, if you’re shy.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I swear this led to something else last time.”

He had a mischievous glint in his eyes. “I swear I won’t do anything.”

Tao shook his head. “Don’t listen to him, Joo Joo. He’s an evil man.”

Jongin moved to stand in front of me, and I rolled my eyes as he turned his cheek towards me. “I swear to god, the things I do for you…” I muttered, shaking my head, as I leaned forward to peck him on the cheek.

He turned his face quickly, and I ended up planting my lips on—Tao’s fingers.

“No way in hell!”

Jongin had grabbed me the exact moment we’d heard that we were going on an MT. Unfortunately for Sehun and Tao, only Jongin was in my ‘homeroom’ class, so Jongin had the first opportunity to ask me to be his bus partner. I had agreed, rolling my eyes.

The bus ride was supposed to be five hours long, and we’d spent the first hour and a half watching a movie together.

Now, we talked in hush voices, as some people were already asleep.

“What are you going to do after all this?” I asked softly, staring at our linked hands resting on the armrest that separated us.

“If I don’t end up being scouted to a company, I guess I’ll audition. I don’t know what else is left for me in this world if I don’t dance.” He made comforting circles on the back of my hand with his thumb. “What are you going to do?”

I sighed. “I don’t know… we’ve only got two months left, and then we’re going to have to face the real world. I’m not sure if I’m ready for that.”

He hummed, a sign that he was listening to me.

“I love music. I honestly can’t see a path without it. But I don’t know if I’m cut out for Korea’s music industry, or if I even have enough talent.”

His thumb stopped in the middle of its path. “Joo Joo, you are overfilling with talent. You have an amazing voice—you can really sing, as many people who’ve heard any of the songs you’re featured in have said, and you can really write songs. When you write songs, you fill them with so much emotion that there is no way the listeners can not feel moved,” he paused, before continuing, “there are a lot of people who are amazing singers in this country. There are also a lot of people who are amazing songwriters in this country. But few of them can convey emotion in the way you can, through both your singing and songs.”

I opened my mouth, about to argue, when he cut me off before I could even start. “Of course, whether you’re cut out for the music industry here in Korea really depends on how strong your will is. You’ve seen your oppa and Suga sunbaenim; they’ve come through a lot of sh*t to get to the popularity they are at right now. Whether you decide to become a singer or a producer, there’s gonna be different difficulties you’re going to have to face. What decides whether you’re cut out for the music industry or not is if you decide to be stubborn and keep on trying, no matter what happens. And I really believe that you have the will and stubbornness to do that.”

I sighed, resting my head against his shoulder. “Thanks, Kkamjong. I think I needed that.”

He squeezed my hand. “No problem, Joo Joo.”

“Here, I want to hear you call me sunbaenim,” Jongdae said, cackling.

“Shut up,” said Luhan, a dumb grin on his face.

“Guys, stop fighting! Let’s cheer for DESTINY’s debut on three. One, two, three!” I yelled, and everyone cheered. “Now you guys need to do your first place speeches.”

Everyone laughed, scoffing. “Joo Joo, we debuted today. There’s no way we’re going to get first place any time soon,” said Tao, laughing.

“You never know,” I teased. “Do your first place speeches. Kkamjong, you first.” I the soju bottle in his direction, and he took it, rolling his eyes.

“Uh. Well. It’s been a long journey coming here, and there’s so many people I want to thank. To our amazing fans, thank you. To our company for always being patient with us, thank you. To SM Academy, the school that taught us the ropes, thank you. But mostly…” I could see his eyes fill up with tears already, and the room went from a cheery atmosphere to a serious one in a second. “T-thanks to my brothers, EXO, who’ve always been by my side. Even though our dream of debuting together wasn’t fulfilled in the end, I’m still glad that our friendship remains strong. You’ve taught me so much, so ing much,” his speech was interrupted by Sehun’s choked mutter, you’re not allowed to swear, , “and I’m so thankful for all of you. And also… our Tree of Life, what could we have done without you? Always the shoulder that I could cry on, always the one to notice when I was down, always the one to make me smile… I really couldn’t have gotten to this spot without you; without any of you. Thank you so much.”

He put down the soju bottle with a soft but clear thunk amidst the silence.

Which was, of course, shortly shattered.

“Ah, you lovable jerk!”

“Why’re you making us all cry already, huh? You just debuted!”

“You made Jjoo cry, what the ?!”

A/N: Yup, it's been a long time... sorry about that... exam season, and then summer school, and overall I've just been super busy. But yeah! Summer school ends today, so hopefully you can expect the rest of the epilogue by the end of this summer.

I've decided to split the epilogue into three parts. This is part one, and I'll hopefully get the second part by the end of this week or sometime in the beginning of August.