She had never sneaked out before. It wasn’t something that Kim Haneul had ever wanted to do until that night. Looking out the window of her room, the darkness seemed to possess some secret that eluded her. Under the light of her bedside lap she tugged on her jeans and tossed on a ratty shirt from the bottom of her closet. Although the clock read 2AM, she could hear laughter from nearby apartments, and the sound of traffic down on the streets. This was what living in Seoul was like.

Twisting her long hair into a ponytail with ease, Haneul cracked open the door of her room, peering out into the hallway. Empty, thankfully. Trepidatiously, she crept to the entryway of the small apartment, taking care to feel for the coffee table lest she bumped into it and woke up her parents. Stuffing her foot into her pair of thick leather boots, Haneul grabbed her set of keys and finally closed the metal door with a gentle clank.

They lived on the fifth floor and since it was a fairly cheap apartment complex, there was no elevator, only a long winding staircase. With a satisfied smile, Haneul breathed in the chill air and started her way down. It was getting stuffy at home.

Outside, fluorescent lights lit the streets.  With no particular destination in mind Haneul wandered towards the main road. Despite the late hour, there were a few old men milling about, the haze of their cigarette smoke illuminated in the dusk. They probably had a fight with their wives, Haneul thought offhandedly. She walked past them, and turned into a convenience store. May as well buy a snack. Picking up a packet of gum she spotted a few students arguing over which beer to buy. They were obviously underage, although people were never, or rarely carded. Delinquents.

The check-out lady scanned the packet, “1500 won.” She recited idly. Haneul felt into her pocket for her wallet, discovering too late that she had forgotten it at home.

“Um, I’m so sorry, I think I’ve forgotten my”-

“It’s only 1500 won,” the lady interrupted irritably, “You must have some change on you.”

Haneul felt her face growing hot, “Well”-

Four large bottles of beer clanked onto the counter, “She’s with us.” Haneul stared at the trio next to her in bewilderment. There stood a boy with dyed brown hair, pulling crinkled notes out of his wallet. He had beaming smile, and his soft hair flopped into his eyes despite him pushing it away incessantly.

“O-of course.” The check-out lady was clearly smitten.

Leaning against the counter beside him was a girl with long black wavy hair. In spite of the weather she wore 4 inch heels that accentuated her model-esque figure. The last boy in the group was the most eye-catching, sporting a mop of bleached blonde hair that caught the light. He glanced at Haneul briefly, before continuing his heated discussion with the girl about the merit of purchasing a bottle of Johnnie Walker.

As the group walked out of the store, Haneul trailed after them helplessly until they were away from the curious eyes of the shopkeeper.

Bowing, she thanked them in a rush, “I’m so sorry for the trouble! Thanks for helping me out when you didn’t have to!” She turned around, ready to hurry home, but was stopped when the brown haired boy grabbed her by the arm. She could feel her heart in as she tried to conjure up an appropriate response.

“You forgot your gum,” he handed them to her, smiling politely, “Where are you headed to?”

Haneul fumbled for a reply, none of which seemed particularly cool. “Home.” She finally decided upon, feebly.

“Well… I’m Baekhyun, that mean-looking girl is Yoonji, and that scowling boy is Sehun.” The pair waved nonchalantly, still stuck in a discussion which at that point seemed to be nearing a quarrel.

“My name’s Kim Haneul, I’m just out on an errand.” She replied, pointing into the alley where her apartment complex was down.

Baekhyun nodded, as if weighing her answer, “Why don’t you come with us? If you have nothing better to do. The night is still young after all.”

She hesitated, trying to thinking of an excuse not to join the attention-grabbing trio.

“Yeah, you should come with us,” Yoonji prodded, losing interest in her previous conversation, “I’ve had enough of these guys talking about video games, race cars and basketball. I need someone who can understand my sensitive feelings.”

“Oh, please.” Sehun remarked sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Baekhyun darted his head towards the direction they were going “Well, come on.” Haneul faltered before following along. Truthfully she didn’t want to go home just yet. There was something liberating about walking along the street in the dead of the night, while nearly everyone else was asleep.

“What school do you go to?” Yoonji asked, slowing her pace so they were walking side by side.

“The all-girls school about 8 blocks away, near the children’s park.”

Sehun turned his head back, joining the conversation, “That a coincidence, Yoonji also goes there, don’t you?”

“Yeah, class E, 3^rd year.”

Haneul frowned, “I’m 3^rd year and in class B, but I’ve never seen you around…” With how pretty she is, you’d think the whole school would know her.

Baekhyun grinned, “She barely shows up for class, misses us too much, always coming to our school trying to get us to hang out with her.”

“Whatever! I only went there to visit my boyfriend...” Yoonji’s expression immediately changed, and an awkward silence ensued, “I mean ex-boyfriend.”

“ that guy! You were too good for him,” Sehun suddenly shouted encouragingly, while Baekhyun nodded in agreement, “Come on, let get these drinks open!”

Holding the beer under the sharp edge of a nearby window, they opened each bottle one by one, handing them out. Haneul sipped it tentatively, wincing at the unexpected bitterness. She had thought it would be sweet like soda, certainly not this strong.

Yoonji took a large swing, “That cheating bastard, I’ll kill him the next time I see him.”

“He cheated on you?! But you’re gorgeous!” Haneul exclaimed in shock.

Yoonji smiled in reply, while both Baekhyun and Sehun sighed. Her ego was high enough as it is.

“You have great taste, I have to say,” She replied proudly, flicking her hair back, “Let me just tell you now, men are absolute dogs. They can never get enough, even when they have a perfect girlfriend, they’ll just waste it”-

Baekhyun swiftly interjected, stopping the endless rant that likely would have followed, “We’re going to the livehouse in the downtown area. Have you been there before, Haneul?”

“No, I haven’t been to a concert before. I’ve always wanted to go, but school is always in the way,” taking her phone out of her pocket she checked the time again, 2:33AM, “I had no idea there were gigs this late.”

“Usually there isn’t, but Sehun has a mutual friend with someone in the band, and they heard we were fans so we got invited.”

 Sehun looked at his watch, “It starts in about 10 minutes so we should probably hurry up. It’s still a bit away, I’ll call a cab.”

The livehouse was a 15 minute drive away, and easy to spot from a distance due to the flashing sign. The actual entrance to the livehouse was understated though, with only a staircase flooded in red light leading to the basement.

“Looks like they’re nearly about to start.” Sehun observed, jogging his way down.

“Usually there’s a queue of people on the steps.” Baekhyun clarified, waiting for Haneul to keep up. Although she had always longed for a place like this, this was a completely new environment to her. Until then her life had always been wake up, go to school, go to cram school, come home, study, sleep.

At the end of the steps there was a long red-carpeted hallway, decorated with black chandeliers, and mortar brick walls. The most peculiar, yet fashionable people she had ever seen stood idly by, waiting for friends. Amongst them were people with countless facial piercings, the most vividly tattooed arms, and incandescent coloured hair - made even more striking by the red hue of the lights.

From there, there was an array of lockers that you had to rent, and further down the hall to her right was a bar which sold drinks for ridiculously expensive prices. They hurried down the passageway, past the merchandise shop to, finally, the entrance of the actual venue.

“Do we need tickets?” Haneul asked, remembering that she had no cash whatsoever.

“Don’t worry about it,” Yoonji replied, “We’re really close with the people here.”

Seeing the tickets were being collected at the doors, Haneul hesitated, “But”-

“My dad owns the place,” Sehun explained matter-of-factly, “The guards know me very well.” As he said this, they slid by effortlessly into the crowded hall. The room was b with an array of people, most of which were university students, years older than them.

Yoonji pushed her way to the front, “I want the music loud.” Making half-hearted apologies to the glaring bystanders, Sehun shadowed her dutifully, “This always happens.” He grunted, grimacing at the inconvenience.

Haneul started in their direction, but then looked up at Baekhyun who remained, “Aren’t you going to follow them?”

“The view is better up front, but the sound is better back there.” He guided her by the crook of her elbow, and led her to the very edge of the room onto a raised platform.

“Won’t it be hard for us to find them?” Haneul asked, squinting to follow their direction in the crowd. They were already had the front, leaning on the railings.

Baekhyun shook his head, “No, we always tend to get split up like this. We usually meet up by the lockers later on.” Suddenly the lights dimmed, and the chatter died down, only to be followed by a piercing scream as the opening act began.

Thirty minutes of screamo-rock mixed with dubstep, mixed with rap then ensued. Haneul winced, this was undeniably terrible.

She pulled Baekhyun’s sleeve, and he leaned down to her, “This is really bad.”

“What?” He mouthed, all sound drowned by the relentless wail of the lead singer.

She inched closer until her breath brushed against his ear with a slight tickle, “This is really bad.” Not expecting the close proximity, Baekhyun grabbed his ear self-consciously, blushing, although Haneul failed to notice in the dim. Regaining his composure he agreed, “Yeah, I had no idea the opener which this bad. Don’t worry, the main act will be on after this song.”

When the lights went completely off for the second time, the crowd erupted in cheers. Haneul, feeling an unexpected frisson of excitement, gripped onto Baekhyun’s arm in anticipation, realising her mistake a second too late. This resulted in an awkward moment where Baekhyun was unsure how to react, and Haneul, not knowing if it was more awkward to let go or hold on, felt her heart leaping in bounds.

She loosened her hold, “S-sorry”-

The cacophonous music burst out into the venue, and a roar echoed through the basement. From the soles of her feet, throughout her whole body she could feel the restless souls in the room resurrect. The beat of the drums gave electric shocks to sleeping hearts, and the guitar set a voltage that left them reeling. They were all dead before, but now they felt themselves sputtering to life. They hung on the thin electrostatic pulse that washed away their troubles.

Haneul and Baekhyun turned to each other simultaneously, experiencing the miracle at the same time. In that moment it was as if they could look into each other’s soul.

Beneath his happy-go-lucky, cheerful façade there was an uncertainty and ache that he thought was never worth sharing. Underneath her inhibited, perfect-student image, there was a need for freedom and a life that just seemed beyond her reach. Within the sound they became who they wanted to be; a lover, a dreamer, an artist, someone remarkable.

Later that night she would ask him what that opening song was called.

“Awake.”