mansae
Apartment Block 17
[APARTMENT #211; Lee Seokmin, Lee Chan]
“Hey Chan, aren’t you going to eat breakfast?” Seokmin poked his head through the door of his little brother’s room. Chan had his laptop open in front of him, his head buried in his arms in a look of utter defeat. “What’s wrong?”
Seeing that his brother wasn’t going to move anytime soon, Seokmin walked over and peeked at his laptop screen. It displayed an official looking email from Pledis Performing Arts High School, along with a bunch of intimidating looking numbers and red text.
“They just mailed us our exam results from last semester,” Chan mumbled through the cover of his arms, “I did well in most of my subjects, like I thought I would’ve... but I failed maths.”
Seokmin pulled a face of sympathy and patted his brother soothingly. He definitely understood the feeling of failing a test you studied so hard for. Seokmin reasoned that it must’ve been the countless hours into the morning studying that overworked the boy a little too much.
Chan lifted his head up and looked at Seokmin. His eyes were sunken with tiredness and stress. “I think I should get a tutor. I have no idea what I’m doing and I’m not studying as well as I should be,” Chan said.
“I can ask around, if you want. I would try tutor you myself, but we both know I’m not the best at maths,” Seokmin laughed sheepishly.
“Yeah, I’ll look around as well. I just really want to keep my grades up,” Chan sighed. “Oh, and do you mind not telling mum and dad about this?”
Seokmin knew that news of a failed exam wouldn’t sit well with their parents. It had taken much begging and assurance they would keep up with their education to convince their parents to let them move to Seoul. Seokmin had also been trying his best to keep up with schoolwork and idol training; he wanted to be a good role model for his younger brother. But it seemed like the stress from the previous semester was finally catching up with both of them.
“Of course I won’t. I know you’ll get those grades back up in no time! It’s just one exam, anyway,” Seokmin smiled. If anyone was diligent enough to pull through this, it was Chan. “No use moping around. Go eat breakfast.”
Dragging Chan from his desk and into the living room, Seokmin plopped down a bowl of hot porridge in front of him. They both ate in silence, while Seokmin scrolled through the daily news on his phone.
Mewtwo makes its second appearance in New York; a stampede of desperate PokéHunters disrupts traffic in order to capture the legendary Pokémon
Ever since the Mewtwo fiasco a few days ago, Seokmin and Chan had lost the will to play the game as obsessively as they did. They had occasionally opened the app during training breaks, but otherwise, they had relapsed into their usual routine of eat, sleep, train, repeat. Seokmin continued scrolling, eyes catching another recent news article.
Popular arcade chain “MANSAE” opens up a new branch in the Shining Diamond Mall
“Hey, a new arcade just opened up at the mall!” Seokmin said excitedly. Chan raised an eyebrow. “It’s called ‘Mansae’. Sounds pretty cool! I haven’t been to an arcade in years. Since we don’t have training today, wanna go check it out?”
“I don’t really feel like going out,” Chan said dejectedly, “Maybe next week. You should go and check it out though. Tell me how it is!”
Seokmin knew that Chan was pretty stubborn sometimes and preferred to be left alone to figure things out himself. “Alright, then. Call me if you need anything. I’ll be back to cook dinner.”
“Cool. Thanks, bro,” Chan collected up the dishes and proceeded to wash them in the kitchenette. Seokmin grabbed his bag and left the apartment.
Upon reaching the lobby, Seokmin saw Junhui and Minghao walking in at the same time. They were both carrying bags overflowing with groceries. “Hey, guys!” Seokmin waved.
“Oh, hey Seokmin!” Junhui smiled, waving the hand holding the grocery bag, as the other was holding Minghao’s hand. “We were just going to call and ask if you wanted to come over today and play something.”
“Oh, I’m actually heading out to the new arcade that apparently opened at the mall,” Seokmin said. “Wanna come?”
“There’s a new arcade?” Minghao asked.
“Yeah! It’s called ‘Mansae’. I read about it in the news just now, so I thought I’d check it out since I have nothing better to do anyway,” Seokmin explained.
“Oh, we’ll pass. Minghao wanted to have a chill day today,” Junhui said.
“Aw, alright. You better come with me next time, though!” Seokmin grinned. Waving goodbye to the two Chinese boys, Seokmin exited the apartment block and crossed the road to the Shining Diamond Mall.
-------------
[APARTMENT #607; Wen Junhui, Xu Minghao]
After dumping their newly bought groceries in the fridge and pantry, Minghao collapsed onto the living room couch next to Junhui, who had begun to surf through channels on the television in search of something worth watching.
“What do you want to do today?” Junhui leant his head on Minghao’s shoulder, stopping on a channel that was playing reruns of ‘Running Man’.
“Just stay like this, I guess. Maybe put on a chick flick we can cringe over,” Minghao suggested.
Just as Junhui was about to sift through his extensive collection of chick flicks - which he kept in a neat stack next to their bookshelf, despite insisting that he didn’t care about them that much - his phone started ringing with the ringtone he had set for Wonwoo. He rejected the call; it was no doubt another call from Wonwoo ranting about Kim Mingyu.
“Hmm, it’s my turn to pick a movie anyway,” Junhui smiled, having decided on the cringefest they would watch that day.
Pulling himself from Minghao’s warmth on the couch, he squatted, knees cracking, and carefully pulled out one of his favourite American romcoms from the precarious stack of DVDs; She’s the Man.
Minghao started laughing as Junhui turned the DVD player on and inserted the movie. Wonwoo had just texted him, after Junhui had rudely rejected his call.
swagwoo now
ming!!!!!!! your boyfriend rejected my call... rude.
swagwoo now
i know he’s sick of my rants but this is what friends are for
After some grumbling from Junhui, Minghao replied.
Today 10:34 AM
me
> jun says he doesn’t care if mingyu started eating without you that one night
> “get over it and stop being so ing salty”
> is what he said
> he doenst appreciate u making him into into ur advice friend
> bc advice friends are always the second leads in chick flicks who dont get good endings or something
> idk i dont understand his mumbling
swagwoo
> are you implying that my life is a chick flick
> no.
> it’s not about that one time he started eating without me i promise
> turns out he saved me some food anyway
> maybe if jun didn’t hang up on me he would know that! :(
> also.. i’m not... salty? whatever that means??
swagwoo is calling...
Junhui had sat back next to Minghao and was reading the text messages along with him. Ignoring his protests, Minghao accepted the call from Wonwoo and turned the phone onto speaker. “Hello!”
“I can always count on you, Minghao,” Wonwoo said thankfully. “It’s not like I have anyone else to listen to my rants.”
“Rant to Seokmin,” Junhui muttered, “If this continues, I expect some compensation for my time. And Minghao’s, too.”
“You know you love me, Jun,” Wonwoo said playfully, “Please. I just need someone to talk to.”
“Talk to Mingyu, then?” Minghao suggested sarcastically.
Wonwoo sighed. “He’s asleep, anyway. You know what? He asked me to wake him up at 8AM for some drama rerun.”
“It’s already 10:30, though,” Junhui said.
“Exactly. I shook him awake with as much force as I could gather, but he told me to go away in his half-asleep state, so I just left. He hasn’t woken up yet. It’s like this everyday! His sleeping habits are worse than Jun,” Wonwoo grumbled.
“Not everyone is happy to be awake at 8AM, Wonwoo. Even for a drama rerun,” Minghao laughed.
Wonwoo went on to rant about how often Mingyu sneezed - “You won’t believe how many tissue boxes I’ve had to buy!” - as well as how often he pestered Wonwoo to help him out with studying, acting, even asking how to use the public washing machines in the lobby of the apartment block. Mingyu was also constantly approached by girls wherever he went; Wonwoo claimed he was annoyed by that because Mingyu would complain about it, but Junhui thought that there was much more beneath the surface.
“Dude, you’re the one who chose him as a roommate,” Junhui sighed. The line went silent.
“Well, I’ve told him to ask you for acting practice but he doesn’t want to bother you. He’d rather bother me, but not you?!” Wonwoo continued, ignoring what Junhui said.
“Is there nothing good about Mingyu?” Minghao switched lanes.
“Well, he can cook well. And he managed to fix the wonky kitchen cupboard door that’s been bugging me for months,” Wonwoo said thoughtfully. “But he’s so clumsy. I don’t understand him. He keeps stealing my clothes. His choice of shampoo is really weird - he buys old lady shampoo for God’s sake, and it smells like rotten grass. He laughs so loudly and he even snores-”
“You know, Wonwoo...” Junhui cut him off, rubbing his temples. As much as he cared about Wonwoo, the boy could be really stupid sometimes. “I don’t think I’ve heard you talk this much before. Ever. Not even when you’re talking about your favourite books,” Junhui smirked, not that Wonwoo could see it through the phone.
Wonwoo paused before continuing. “He just drives me insane,” he sighed, “I never thought I’d find someone this annoying. Knowing you and Seokmin, that’s saying something.”
Junhui faked a gasp. “Firstly, I’m offended,” he began, applying a sickening parental tone to his voice, “Secondly, I’m pretty sure that anyone listening to you right now would agree that you probably like him very much.”
“Were you listening to anything I was saying, Jun? He’s a-nnoy-ing.”
“I’m saying this as a friend, Wonwoo; but you’re so stupid,” Junhui said bluntly, eliciting a chuckle from Minghao. “You complain endlessly about him, yet you have never said that you wish he wasn’t your roommate. It’s your first time living with someone else, so try to at least get used to it.” And stop denying your feelings, you oaf.
“Well I guess, but-” Wonwoo was interrupted by the sound of a door opening. He swore under his breath. “Never mind. He’s awake. I’ll talk to you later.” The call ended, followed by silence throughout Junhui and Minghao’s apartment.
“Right. Okay,” Minghao broke the quietness tentatively.
“I would try to help those two, but I feel like they’ll figure it out eventually,” Junhui sighed. “I don’t think I told you, but Mingyu texted me a few days ago asking for advice on Wonwoo.”
“Advice?” Minghao questioned curiously. Junhui pulled open his conversation with Mingyu and showed Minghao.
Thursday 7:12 PM
mingu the chingu [a/n; ‘chingu’ is ‘friend’ in Korean ^^]
> hey, junhui
> um... this is kind of awkward but
> I need some advice
me
> oh sure, what about?
mingu the chingu
> it’s about wonwoo
> since you’re like, his best friend... I figured you’d be the best person to ask
> is wonwoo always this... reserved?
> seokmin told me that wonwoo doesn’t like loud people
> does he hate me? or is he always this cold
me
> nah, it’s not you, its him
> it took me ages to get him to open up to me
> i guess he felt sympathetic for me since i was chinese and i had no idea what i was doing
> but trust me, once he opens up to you, he’s incredibly talkative and adorable
mingu the chingu
> wonwoo, adorable? man, i’d love to see that
> i mean
> in a platonic way ...pla-to-nic >.<
> it’d be a change from the emotionless look he gives me all the time
me
> the only advice i can really give you is to keep talking to him
> he’ll break eventually
> i mean thats what i did and it worked eyyy
mingu the chingu
> alright, i hope so
> but i guess it has been getting better? he talks to me more often now and his face has upgraded from a frown into a poker face
> he gets mad at me sometimes for random things though
> like when he saw me eating dinner earlier this week...
> he told me he’d be late home, and he said i could go ahead and eat without him
> so i did, but he got back a bit later and was all like
> “you actually started eating without me???”
> but when i gave him his share of dinner he was all fine lmao
> is food the key to jeon wonwoo’s heart????
me
> that, and books
> buy him books or something
> oh wait no, i mean read the books he reads so you can talk about it
mingu the chingu
> oh good idea!!!!
> i’m not that good at reading though >.<
> but i’ll try :D
me
> wonwoo isn’t... the best at expressing himself
> he’s hella awkward, basically
> he may come off as cold, but he’s really caring inside
> took me months to figure that out but
> yeah. he’ll open up to you eventually :)
mingu the chingu
> thanks hyung!!!
> i hope so. i wanna get to know wonwoo more ^_^
> oh yeah, about the play auditions you keep talking about
Junhui stopped scrolling and pocketed his phone.
“Wow, I never knew you could be such a nice and caring hyung,” Minghao teased. “You sound like you actually want the best for Mingyu and Wonwoo.”
“Well, it would be good to see a less grumpy Wonwoo every now and then. I feel like Mingyu could really be good for him,” Junhui said. “You hear how passionate Wonwoo gets in his rants about Mingyu. Ever since that boy moved here, I’ve seen so many different sides of Wonwoo already. It’s refreshing.”
“Hmm, but I feel like I want things to speed up,” Minghao said. “Why don’t you tell Mingyu to take Wonwoo to that new arcade Seokmin mentioned?”
“You’re right! Arcades can do wonders for budding relationships,” Junhui grinned and high-fived Minghao. He pulled out his phone again and texted Mingyu.
Today 10:45 AM
me
> yo mingyu
> have you heard about that new arcade in the shining diamond mall?
> you should totally take wonwoo there!!!
> let him have some fun ;)
mingu the chingu
> ARCADE ????
> IVE ALWAYS WANTED TO GO TO ONE :O
> ok sure !!!! :DD thanks hyung!!!
Today 10:47 AM
mingu the chingu
> wonwoo actually agreed omg
> wish me luck!! :D
> hopefully i can get him to acknowlegde me as a friend today
> are you and minghao going aswell?
me
> nah, we’re gonna be chilling at home
> so go have fun with wonu
> good luck bro ;))
-------------
[APARTMENT #717; Choi Seungcheol]
“Oh hey, Jeonghan,” Seungcheol greeted as he opened the door. The long-haired teenager was standing in the hallway carrying a medium-sized painting, its canvas backing facing Seungcheol. “Is that for August’s rent?”
“Yep. Hope you like it,” Jeonghan grinned and turned the painting to face Seungcheol. It was painted using oil paints and was heavily textured. The subject of the artwork suddenly made Seungcheol feel hungry; it was a plate of sushi and egg rolls.
“Why did you decide to paint this?” Seungcheol questioned. “It’s gonna make me hungry every time I look at it.”
“Jisoo did a hilarious impression of an egg roll** the other day and it inspired me to paint this,” Jeonghan laughed.
“How... you know what, I won’t ask,” Seungcheol said. He never really understood things that happened between Jeonghan and Jisoo; though they both seem quite normal individually, it’s a different story when they’re together. “Thanks for the painting. I’ll probably put it up in the lobby, since it’s currently lacking an artistic showcase.”
As soon as he bid Jeonghan goodbye, he saw Hansol and Seungkwan sauntering up the hallway towards his apartment. “Yo, Cheol!” Seungkwan hollered in his trademark English.
“Hey! Haven’t seen you guys for a few days,” Seungcheol said. After being beaten yet again in Pokémon Go by ‘hoshi’, Seungcheol had pretty much given up. As a result, both Hansol and Seungkwan also lost interest in playing; almost like Seungcheol’s lost interest caused a butterfly effect. Seungcheol didn’t know who ‘hoshi’ was, but he both hated and admired the guy. But Seungcheol heard from others that as soon as ‘hoshi’ seemingly captured the Mewtwo, he disappeared from the radar. The Gyms were now being overtaken by the other teams. Not that Seungcheol really cared anymore; his obsessions tended to change more often than a teenage girl changed boyfriends.
“Yeah, we wanted to let you cool off for a while,” Hansol said hesitantly. “But we’re here to ask you if you wanna come to the new arcade that just opened up in the mall!” he continued in an upbeat tone.
“New arcade?” Seungcheol questioned.
“Yeah, we heard about it on the news this morning. It’s called ‘Mansae’!” Seungkwan said.
“Oh, well come in first. I still gotta eat breakfast. But yeah, I’d love to go! Haven’t been to an arcade in ages,” Seungcheol smiled. These two really knew how to cheer him up.
The two followed Seungcheol into his apartment and sat down at his dining table while he pulled out some cereal and milk. “Hmm, should we invite some other people? The more the merrier,” Seungcheol wondered.
“If you want, I guess,” Seungkwan said. He and Hansol had both taken out their phones and begun scrolling through them; probably Instagram or something.
“I’ll invite Soonyoung; he seems like the arcade kind of person. Maybe Jihoon too. You know them, don’t you?” Seungcheol asked.
“I know Soonyoung,” Seungkwan said, “And I know Jihoon is his roommate. But I’ve never talked to him before.”
Hansol shook his head. “I've met Soonyoung a few times. But I don't really know him. Or Jihoon.”
“Oh, I’m sure you guys will be great friends,” Seungcheol grinned. He opened up the group chat he had with Soonyoung and Jihoon to invite them.
Today 10:50 AM
me
> yo guys
> theres apparently a new arcade in shining diamond
> wanna join?
soonold
> oM G NEW ARCADE ?!?AS?D
> i wanna goooooo
> but uh
> i was sick a while ago right
> and bc jihoons in the same apartment
> hes kinda ...sick.. now??
jibooty
> this idiot gave me the flu and i feel like
> so sorry, cheol
> blame soonyoung
me
> oh damn ok
> get well soon :o
> soonyoung stop making jihoon’s life so hard
soonold
> iM SORRY D:
> I DIDNT MEAN TO I SWEAR
> i would go but i shld probably stay and make sure jihoon doesnt die
jibooty
> damn right you’re not leaving me here alone
> oh by the way, can you get me water
soonold
> im like next to u rn why dont u just ask me out loud ???
jibooty
> just get me water
me
> lmao k bye guys have fun staying home ;)
> we can go together when jihoonie’s better :D
jibooty
> stop calling me jihoonie
soonold
> jIHOONIEEEEE<3 ;) :P :3
me
> jihoooonnieieeeeeeee:)
> fight me
> u wont even be able to reach my face anyway;)
jibooty
> -_-
soonold
> LMAO UR LUCKY HE’S BEDRIDDEN RN CHEOLLL
“Looks like they can’t come,” Seungcheol said sadly. “You’ll have to meet Jihoon another time. Trust me, you’ll love him. And he’ll love you too. And Hansol, I’m sure you’ll be great friends with them both.”
“Oh, that’s too bad then,” Seungkwan said. “So, I guess it’ll just be us three!”
Seungcheol really enjoyed setting up friendships and relationships. It was pretty much like shipping in real life. He had known Seungkwan, Hansol, Soonyoung and Jihoon for quite a long time now, and he was sick of them all acting like they were still friends with their roommates. At least to Seungcheol, he definitely knew there was something more behind their façade of friendship. He really did feel like the four boys would be good friends; they all loved music and performing and they were all hopelessly oblivious of their own feelings.
“Oh my God,” Hansol sighed suddenly. He was frowning at his phone.
“Don’t say ‘oh my god’, Hansol,” Seungkwan tutted. He leant over and peeked at what Hansol was looking at on his phone screen.
“What is it?” Seungcheol abandoned his half-eaten cereal and joined the two. Hansol was looking at an email; it was from Pledis Performing Arts High School.
“I failed my maths exam,” Hansol said dejectedly. Seungcheol saw that indeed, his maths mark was in the red, but all his other subjects had relatively high marks. Especially English; 98%. “I should probably spend more time studying, to be honest.”
“Do you want to get a tutor, maybe?” Seungcheol suggested.
“Yeah, that would be a good idea. I don’t think I’ll go to the arcade today, then,” Hansol murmured.
“It’s OK, we still have lots more holiday time,” Seungkwan said positively. “Maths isn’t that important, anyway.”
“Amen,” he high-fived Seungkwan. “Anyway, you guys go ahead. I should probably start taking my studies more seriously.”
“If you say so. Won’t be fun without you, though,” Seungcheol said.
“Do you want me to help you?” Seungkwan offered.
“Nah, I’ll be fine by myself,” Hansol insisted.
He smiled sadly and followed the two out of the apartment after Seungcheol finished his cereal. They waved goodbye as Hansol left the elevator at the 1st floor to return to his and Seungkwan’s apartment.
“I hope the arcade is good! Not one of those lame ones with like, two games,” Seungkwan said.
“Yeah, I really hope there’s one of those dancing games! I used to play them when I was a kid, but since I moved here, I haven’t seen one before,” Seungcheol said.
They exited the apartment block and hopped across the road towards the Shining Diamond Mall.
a/n;
** the egg roll thing is from Battle Likes ep3 where Jihan were MCs and it was so adorable omg (i need more of their flirting ^^)
okokok so svt’s solo concert pt1 was yesterday and i’m freaking out over the fancams and pics pls excuse my fangirling here
lkjsldkjsad wELCOME BACK WONU<3
mEA NIE ALSKDJSLKDJ
hip hop team<3 also blond seungcheol is back wat even
this prtty much sums up soonhoon to me
ok anyway im trash sorri goodbye:) thnx fr reading<3
Comments