29th of November, 2005, 5:30 pm

 

 

 

Their feet hit the pavement with rapid movements, every step echoing off the narrow alleyway in startling volume. The youngest of the five boys flails his arms around for a moment, trying to regain his balance on the slippery ground, causing his older friends to laugh and almost topple over, while rounding the next corner.

 

“Faster... Faster...” huffs the scrawny looking kid leading the way, not entirely succeeding with containing his laughter though. Their Maknae is annoying and his laugh can be obnoxious at times ( especially at 3 in the morning) but he's also fun to be around, it never gets boring with him and he's always making his Hyung's smile, even on the most stressed of days. He loves their Maknae.

Sure, he is mean to him, sometimes, always teasing and always making him work the hardest, but only out of love.

 

He couldn't bear to see one more of them go, even though he doesn't show it, he cares for them all. Even that annoying little brat. He wants their youngest to make it.

Together with all of them.

Them five.

Always.

 

He fastens his speed, using shortcut after short cut. Left, right, right, left, second to the left, skipping the next parting, than right again, his sharp movements and fast limbs seemingly melting and becoming one with their surroundings.

 

 

They are in Itaewon.

 

And there is no one, in the whole of Korea, who knows Itaewon as well as him.

 

The boy with crooked teeth.

 

He slows down for a moment, thinking. He can still hear them, they are close, following tight on their heels. The adrenaline is rushing through his veins and his heart beats real fast, he feels like he is in an action movie, even though they are just hiding from their managers, their dorky and goofy managers and not some movie villains.

 

Quickly casting a decision he picks up on speed again and grabs the youngest by one arm, pulling him along quickly and urging the rest of the guys on, to pick up on speed as well, their manic laughter resonating through the small alley.

 

They run for a while, blood pumping through their heads and clouding their every thought. He just wants to rest for a moment. He's tired.

 

The five boys move down some more alleys, losing themselves deeper and deeper into the maze that is their city. Their home.

 

Are they still in Itaewon? Or another part of Seoul?

 

The lanky kid doesn't know and he doesn't care.

 

He's a boy and as much as he loves being a Trainee even he needs some time off, from time to time. And if their managers don't succeed in getting that for them than it is his obligation to get for them, what all of them need.

 

Even YG's golden boy.

 

A boy. With a bright future ahead and a way too heavy load of obligations and expectations laying on his young, frail shoulders. He's the company's future. The golden boy.

 

But still,

 

just a boy.

 

He breathes heavily and cackles lightly.

 

He didn't have as much fun as today, in months.

 

The tallest out of the five, is the last one to round the corner and come to a skittering halt mere centimeters behind the shortest one.

 

“Hyung! Be careful!” The short one exclaims, his cornrows angrily bouncing up and down as he scolds the older one.

 

His Hyung was too much sometimes and even though he was supposed to be the oldest, he behaved more childishly than the rest of the group combined.

 

He was a chain smoking, binge drinking Gangsta Rapper. Yes. But he was also a Bear Brick collecting, ice cream loving, mismatching socks wearing, Mommas Boy. An overgrown child caged into the deep voiced body, of a slang word spitting rapper. What were the odds? Youngbae smiled slightly.

 

“Sorry. I forgot for a moment. Just how short the hell are you, by the way?” The tall one exclaims, looking down at his short friend, his warm, deep brown eye's narrowing in concentration, as if he was solving a complicated puzzle.

 

He really loves Youngbae, but how is it possible for such a short person to have so much rage stored up? He was the nicest and kindest boy Seunghyun had ever met, almost never angry, but he was pretty charismatic and once you'd mention his height he'd explode with anger. He smirked.

 

“Ouch!”

 

Right.

 

Why did he have to think out loud again?

 

“Psst!” The same scrawny kid from before steps in again, hushing his friends down in frantic urgency and gesturing them to hide in a small gap between wall and trash container.

 

The tall and oldest one couldn't help but think how good it was that he lost some weight. It would've been problematic for him to fit into the gap, some months ago, he muses.

 

“Aish! Daesung, watch where you're going!” It's the youngest one this time, exclaiming his displeasure loud and clear for everyone to hear.

 

“Seungri...” Growls the same scrawny kid from before, his eyes closing in on his favorite victim dangerously, almost menacingly.

 

“Don't. Forget. The. Hyung.” He growls. “Also, didn't I just tell you to quieten the down!” He hisses the words out in spite, clearly angry and annoyed with his companions.

 

“Alright, alright. No need to get y Leader Hyung...” The youngest one mumbles under his breath and flinches when it didn't get unnoticed like he had hoped it'd be.

 

“I'll show you what's y you little brat!” The scrawny kid, no, Leader, spits, furious and outraged by the disrespectful tone of his youngster.

 

The tallest and apparently oldest one makes a move to step in and is rudely interrupted by another set of feet hurrying around, slowly nearing their hiding spot.

 

5 heads turn towards the direction the sounds were coming from, intently listening and waiting for the intruders to leave, with bated breath.

 

Steps, shouting and some rustling nears, lingers for a moment and passes by just as fast as it came, two heavy sets of feet scurrying off in a hurry, leaving nothing but a trail of profanities and cuss-words behind. The boy with the smallest set of eyes, Daesung, slumps against the trash container in relief, his breath coming out in ragged puffs.

 

He's the shyest out of them, always friendly and never without a smile.

 

His father wasn't too fond of him joining YG Entertainment, the future he envisioned for his son not at all including the world of glitz and glitter. No, not in the least.

 

Daesung, however, the faithful kid who never once before disobeyed his parents, strived and worked hard for his dream to come true, for the first time in his life ignoring his parents commands.

 

“That was a close call.” He sighs, looking at the other guys, relieved to see that their charismatic leader had calmed down for a bit.

 

To be honest here, he was scared quite a bit, the first time he met their leader. That intense gaze, that dedication, that fire burning behind blazing hot, passionate eyes. Yes. He had been hella scared of Kwon Leader.

 

But Kwon Jiyong was a nice guy.

 

Sure, he was disciplined and a cleaning freak, bordering obsessive. He was a nagger and very strict with his teams members, but even though Daesung didn't understand at first, he did understand now.

 

Kwon Jiyong cared for them more than anyone else, in the world.

 

Kwon Jiyong wanted for them to make it.

 

All five of them.

 

Kwon Jiyong was a good leader.

 

“Yes. It was. Come on now. We don't want to get caught, now that we are that close to at least one more day of freedom, do we?” Jiyong snaps, his patience wearing thin.

 

“What's going on with you today? You are even more snappy than usual...” Youngbae hesitantly asks, seriously worried about his best friend.

 

“I just...” He musses through his hair in a frantic motion, his hair as discarded and scattered as his mind. “Look... I'm sorry I snapped at you a lot lately...”

 

“You are not still blaming yourself over Hyunseung being kicked out, are you?” Seunghyun asks.

 

Youngbae's eyebrows rise up high, hearing that. He didn't even think of that and yet his Hyung, the one who he thought was the most oblivious out of the five of them, did.

 

“Do you?” Youngbae turns towards his best friend and leader again, surprised.

 

The confident, strong Leader act drops for a moment, leaving only a vulnerable, insecure boy behind.

 

It was the first time they had seen him like that, G-Dragon gone, for the tiniest of moments, letting Kwon Jiyong show, the boy who had been well locked up behind closed doors and masquerades.

 

Seungri wanted to slap himself for a moment. Of course he felt just as pressured, as they felt. Probably even more, considering he was their leader.

 

Looking at the guilt stricken faces surrounding him, he wasn't the only one who seemed to have forgotten about their leaders extra duties.

 

Jiyong had done well in making them forget.

 

“Ji... that was not your fault, we all know that, don't blame yourself... Hyunseungie wasn't ready yet...” Seunghyun mumbles, patting his oldest friends back.

 

“I know... I just want us all to make it. But come on now... This is probably our last chance for a while to get some time off together.” He swiftly turns around, shaking the guilt off his shoulders for the time being.

 

He'd get back later to it, when he'd be alone in his room.

 

They left the maze of alleys and dead ends, making their way towards the market, eager to soothe their growling stomachs with some tasty and most importantly cheap food.

 

“Hyung... what are we gonna do afterwards?” Daesung asks, his mouth overflowing with food, his words almost unrecognizable.

 

“I guess we should head back... we have no money left anyways...” The leader sighs, being a trainee is not at all easy.

 

They finish their respective meals in silence, the nice ahjumma, at the food stall, packs their leftovers into a plastic bag for later and they bid goodbye, slowly making their way back towards where they came from.

Seunghyun and Jiyong up front, the both boys are the only ones to be trusted with finding the way back through this maze of a city.

 

“How are you both even able to find your way through this?” Youngbae muses, no clue as to where they are at the moment. If Jiyong and Seunghyun were to left them, the remaining three would probably never be seen or heard of again.

 

“We hung out a lot here, ever since we were little.” The oldest turns around, smiling at his younger friend.

 

“Yeah... I saw Seunghyun hyung the first time in one of these alleyways and to be honest he scared me more than everything in here ever did before.” Jiyong chuckles as his hyung tries to lunge for him, loudly laughing along though.

 

Seungri and Youngbae cackle gleefully, Daesung's eyes crinkle in amusement while he's swinging the bags with their food up and down, all three of them enjoying the show.

 

The leader and their oldest continue to bicker for a few minutes, quietly sharing some inside jokes and memories from before they met the rest.

 

This is where they are now, the five of them.

 

It's not always easy but they are together and Seunghyun can't help but think that there is no place he'd rather be, no people he'd rather spend his life with.

 

“Hyung?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Someday... someday the both of us will share a stage and the fans will roar whenever we get up! Seunghyun! They'll scream! Seunghyun! And thousands of light sticks will move along with it, in perfect harmony...”

 

Seunghyun's eyes trace his younger friends face, so full of love for life and music. He tries to imagine the sea of light sticks and to his surprise it isn't hard at all. In his mind, they look like Jiyong's glistening and sparkling eyes. Beautiful.

 

“Don't you think that'd be nice?”

 

Seunghyun snaps out of his trance, hastily breaking eye contact, he had been out of it and staring too long and hard again.

 

“Yeah... that'd be nice.”

 

Their fans will be so lucky to be the cause of the dragons happiness.

 

Seunghyun hopes they'll appreciate the stars in his eyes, just as much as he does.

 

 

 

“Hey... What is this?”

 

Seunghyun crashes into someone and looks up to find Jiyong tracing the outlines of a rusty, old door, apparently leading into an old warehouse of some kind. The door is slightly ajar and the younger boy starts pulling at it.

 

The tall male frowns, watching his friend. He feels uneasy about the scenery.

 

It must've been almost 10pm by now, they are in an deserted alley and about to break into some old, abandoned warehouse. With his luck probably the current residence of some murdering maniac.

 

“It... doesn't... Budge!” Their leader huffs, hands on his hips.

 

“Leave me some room... you can't do much with those noodle arms of yours.” Youngbae sighs.

 

Jiyong only throws him a look and steps aside for his best friend to take things into his own, far more muscular, hands.

 

His curiosity wins over his anger.

 

“There you go... it's open.” Jiyong sticks his head inside, eyes scrunched together into a thin line. It wasn't of much help though, he could barely see in there, the pale moonlight hardly enough to see the outlines of some stapled boxes and piled up planking's.

 

The sound which led him to the door in the first place is still there, coming from the far end of the empty hall.

 

He pulls at the door a bit more and hesitantly makes his way in, the other four following straight.

 

“Jiyong! Wait!” The urgency in the tall rappers voice makes them all stop and turn.

 

“I don't have a very good feeling about this...” He says slowly, his eyes observing the dancing shadows on the wall.

 

“I think Hyung is right. We shouldn't go in there...” Daesung agrees, swallowing harshly.

 

“Nonsense... This is an empty hall... what could happen?” Their youngest scoffs, as always going with their leaders decision. “What are you guys afraid of? Getting arrested by some stray cats?” He chuckles a bit, turning around again to follow Jiyong, who had already started moving forwards again.

 

“There's this sound again...” Youngbae muses.

 

“I think it's coming from those boxes...” Jiyong answers, looking at his best friend.

 

He walks to the left corner, of the building, the one farthest from the exit; Seunghyun notices uneasily; and starts to claw at some carton paper and wooden bars, hastily pulling and pushing them away.

 

His bony arms move with determination, the cascading moonlight from the windows above making his skin glow eerily and painting pretty shadows on his soft, feline features.

 

Youngbae and Seungri start to help him out, the three of them joining forces and managing to clear the spot from all leftover trash.

 

Seunghyun and Daesung watch with caution as their three friends make some steps backwards to examine the thing in front of them.

 

Revealed is a blinking and beeping machine.

 

“What is this?” Jiyong wants to get closer to the machine, the hands on his back not strong enough to win over his nosiness.

 

He leans forwards, carefully observing every display, button and wire.

 

“J-Ji Hyung...” The maknae stutters, his nerves finally giving in, too.

 

Jiyong doesn't spare them a single glance, excitedly moving around the machine, the distance between him and the beeping thing decreasing with every second.

 

“I don't think you should touch this...” Seunghyun tries to reason with his best friend, his guard up as high as it can go, as his gaze is nervously flickering back and forth between the exit and the machine and Ji-

 

Seunghyun groans inwardly as he sees his friends bony fingers reaching for the machine, first hesitantly and than more bold, his flat hand touching the cool metal beneath his skin.

 

“See? I bet it's only a vacuum cleaner or something like that.” He turns around, hands still on the unknown machine and throws his most reassuring gummy smile at his friends.

 

Turning around again he starts to get more experimental with his touches, his wandering hands pulling on wires, plugs and tapping on some blinking displays.

 

His eyes catch a big red button, he assumes to be the power or start button.

 

“Jiyong... I don't think that you should touch that...” Youngbae mumbles nervously, his feet shuffling back and forth with anxiety.

 

His eyes twitch nervously when he sees his best friend pushing it with vigor.

 

The air around them starts to whirl and they see some electricity angrily running up and down between the machine and the buildings roof.

 

There is a loud explosion, a bang and some smoke covering the area Jiyong just stood in.

 

“JIYONG!!”

 

The last thing they see is their leaders scared and confused face, disappearing into a thick cloud of smoke.