Moon Byulyi was a street-smart girl. Living in harsh environments and making do with what little she had, she figured early in her life that her biggest enemy and her most efficient tool were people. She learned how to get what she wanted, she learned how to get rid of what she didn’t. She never enjoyed reading books, but she read people as easy as ABC. 

She was always sure of her judgment, and this time it was no different: the raven-haired guy sitting in front of her must be new to all of this. It seemed to Byulyi that he just turned legal, and somehow decided a school night was a good time to try alcohol for the first time. By himself. In a dingy bar that even for Byulyi was too suspicious to be hygienic. He was probably already regretting his decisions as he fidgeted on his chair.

Byulyi decided she was feeling generous, and would entertain the melancholic young man, at least until she get busier. Although if Byulyi was more honest, with it being a Tuesday night and the place’s general lack of ventilation, she doubted there’d be any addition to the current list of bar-goers — just this guy, and an old man occupying the corner booth to cry silently on his own.

Byulyi set down the glass she was wiping. “So, can I get you anything?”

Byulyi’s generosity sagged into pity as she watched the guy fidgeted even more. Byulyi was sure she caught his eyes traveling around, without doubt looking for some wall-mounted menu as if this was McDonald’s. 

Byulyi hoped the smile she had on her lips was not too cold that it would chase the guy away. “How about a glass of chocolate milkshake? It’s not officially a sold drink here, but I like to have some when I have my break and— that’s not the point. Anyway, want some milkshake?”

A grateful look washed over the guy’s face and he nodded vigorously to Byulyi’s offer. Suppressing a snicker, Byulyi turned to prepare her special recipe. She was halfway to her secret stash of chocolate bars under one of the counters, when the bell on the bar’s door dinged, signalling someone entering the place.

Now, this one was a regular. Well, not a regular regular, but Byulyi had seen her a bunch of times before — always dragging her guitar case, arriving while gasping for air like she just ran a marathon. Some weeks she’d come every single day to try different drinks, or  sit around ordering nothing. Some other weeks she was completely no-shows — there was one time when she disappeared for five months and came back as if nothing happened. Of course, she never told Byulyi about her whereabouts. There was no reason to.

Byulyi then started to appreciate the girl’s being there in the rotting bar; her chatty mouth and charming smile really did brighten the place a bit. They never introduced themselves to each other, but Byulyi had learned her name, Ahn Hyejin. And Hyejin probably already caught up with Byulyi’s name too.

“Are you making milkshake?” Hyejin accused Byulyi as she trudged to the bar, sitting on the stool next to the sad guy despite there being more than enough empty seats around.

Byulyi grinned, resorting to bribery so Hyejin wouldn’t rat to her manager. “Want some? On the house?” 

“Sure,” and without missing a beat, “And you are?”

Byulyi watched from the corner of her eyes as the guy visibly gulped. She wasn’t at all surprised that he seemed flabbergasted in Hyejin’s presence. It wasn’t the first time Byulyi saw Hyejin wielding her charisma to catch random people off guard.

“I’m Joshua,” Byulyi had to strain to listen his small, timid voice, “Hong Joshua.”

“I’m Ahn Hyejin,” A hairflip, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around. Are you new to this neighborhood?”

“Uh. No. I just.. I rarely go out.”

“A homebody, huh?”

Byulyi tuned out the two voices. She would be on high alert if they were one of the business insiders who occassionally visit the bar just to ogle at her, completely oblivious that Byulyi understood the sophisticated terms they used, and she knew how to use any kind information for her own benefit, and sometimes, safety. But they were just a couple of kids. And one of them was Hyejin, who was famous for finding the most obscure topics to make small talks of. Byulyi took her sweet time preparing the drinks, even went as far as decorating the glasses with sprinkles and choco chips. They wouldn’t be waiting anyway.

“So, you like this guy and want him to notice you?” was what Byulyi heard first thing when she took the tall glasses to the kids. She was right. They were just talking about trivial things.

The guy — Joshua — took a sip from his glass and nervously nodded. “Well, I guess you can say so—“

“And you think you will probably stumble upon him in one of the bars?”

“It’s not like that—“

“Dude,” Hyejin patted Joshua’s shoulder with a frown, “That won’t do. You can’t just go search for him. Make him search for you.” 

Byulyi was impressed by how crafty Hyejin was. She must’ve fished a lot of confession from Joshua in such a short time — quite a lot that Hyejin could already deduce the problem and give advices to this total stranger. After a couple of years knowing her, Byulyi took it as one of Hyejin’s best qualities.

“What’s his name?” Byulyi in for her own amusement, “I may be able to help. I know everyone who frequents this bar.”

Joshua’s face turned crimson, but he tried maintaining eye contact with Byulyi as he sputtered, “It’s a.. He’s.. uh.. his name is Jeonghan.”

Byulyi scanned her own mind for the name, but she couldn’t remember anything. “Ah. I don’t know any Jeonghan. Sorry.”

Hyejin snapped her fingers. “Listen. You’re not a damsel in distress waiting for someone to save you, aren’t you?.” She tsked “You have to make him notice you, instead of sitting around waiting for him to hit you up. See, how about a makeover?”

“A… makeover?” Joshua asked, and Byulyi almost wanted to hit his head for falling into Hyejin’s whim.

“Well, you never touched alcohol and tonight marks the start of some crazy bar-hopping. You’re pretty much on the way to changing your lifestyle for this man, right?” Hyejin challenged, “So why not go big? Why not change your appearance too and make it all out?”

“Changing my--”

Hyejin shook her head, raised a finger, gulped all her milkshake in one go, and finally stood up, pulling Joshua with her. “I was about to change mine too tonight, so why don’t we do it together?” she grinned.

It was only then that panic finally registered in Joshua’s face “Change it.. in what way, exactly? Hey? Hyejin?”

Hyejin was already dragging a reluctant Joshua out of the bar, and Byulyi faintly heard her screaming, “We’re going to change our lives!!!”

Byulyi couldn’t help but smile at the vigor. It must be nice to be so young. Oh, and also, at Joshua’s barely-touched glass of milkshake. She grabbed a fresh new straw and took a sip from the glass, watching the old man in the corner booth wiping his nose with a beige handkerchief.

Kwon Soonyoung had known Ahn Hyejin for a few months now. She was scared and unsure during her first visit. And after her fifteenth, she relaxed — but still unsure. 

She had lied down on what Soonyoung liked to call his “operating table” numerous times, but she always pulled away, seething and stressed out before the needle even touched her. She’d tell him that she had a better design in mind that she wanted, but Soonyoung knew she was just stalling. They had gone through more than 60 revisions — Soonyoung didn’t keep count, of course — and it was all to no avail. It was just the same word, in different fonts, sometimes with a decorative element, be it a bird, a flower, a tree. It was always the same word.

Hyejin had visited so often that everyone in the parlor had warmed up to her. Wonwoo, for one, was more than glad to find someone who shared almost the same amount of passion as he did for heavy metal — and Wonwoo was rarely happy. Junhui took the opportunity to hit on the girl once, only to surrender to her demands and ended up teaching her Chinese sometimes, when they both didn’t have anything else to do. Soonyoung, of course, couldn’t help getting acquainted to his regular client, although she couldn’t be counted as a client if she wasn’t inked yet.

There was just something about her that reminded Soonyoung of his little cousin. And so it surprised him when Hyejin opened the sticker-infested door of his parlor with a guy in tow. Soonyoung never thought Hyejin would be the type to have a boyfriend.

“I’m ready!” she announced in a voice loud enough to let the whole neighborhood know.

Soonyoung leaned back on his swivelling chair, cocking his head. “Are you sure?”

“Yes!” Soonyoung could see the determined fire in Hyejin’s eyes. “I’m sure because he’s going to get a tattoo with me!”

It seemed to Soonyoung that the plan was news to the guy. “What?! Hyejin! I am NOT getting a tattoo!”

“Yes, yes you are,” Hyejin eyed the guy sternly, “That’s one way to catch a bad boy’s attention.”

“Catch whose attention?” Soonyoung sat up straighter, “So you guys are not, like, a thing?”

“No,” Hyejin leaned in, half-whispering, “He likes this badass, see. A band person. A guy with a huge motorbike and like, all these combat boots and macho leather jackets.”

“Hyejin,” the guy struggled, trying to break free from Hyejin’s firm grasp.

“Hoshi, you HAVE to help me convince him that this is the only way!” Hyejin whined, using Soonyoung’s artist alias, the one he had on the sign in front of the shop.

Soonyoung looked at the guy in Hyejin’s grip, who looked back with wide puppy eyes. That was adorable, but Soonyoung knew better than to go against Hyejin’s wishes. His only option was really just to play along. “Well, Jun probably has some handcuffs and who knows what other forms of restraints he keeps in the back closet..”

“He has what?” Hyejin asked before doubling over with laughter, enabling the guy to escape.

“I’m going home,” the guy stated. 

Hyejin quickly scrambled after the guy and seized his arm again. “Don’t go,” she whimpered, “At least keep me company until I got it done?”

Now, Soonyoung wasn’t the best in reading atmospheres. In fact, he usually misread situations so badly that it wasn’t a rare occurrence for him to stop getting invited to outings by his friends. But he knew Hyejin’s persuasion skills, and considering that she succeeded in dragging the guy all the way here already, begging him to stay for a bit wouldn’t be too much work for the little devil.

Sure enough, the black-haired guy sighed. And so he ended up sitting across Soonyoung’s operating table, watching him prepare everything.

“We’re going to do with the last design you sent me, right?” Soonyoung asked Hyejin, who was lying down, from behind his surgical mask.

“Yeah..” Hyejin paused, “Wait. No. Don’t use that one.”

Soonyoung frowned, “Then what do you want me to put on your arm? A doodle?”

The guy snorted from across the room, while Hyejin looked deep in thought. “Give me.. a quote,” she mumbled, “A really good quote… That gives out that feeling of confidence because that’s what I need.”

“‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away’,” Soonyoung suggested, “That one sounds really confident for me. I mean, what the hell do apples even--”

“‘Paradise is where you are’,” Hyejin decided, “In cursive.”

Soonyoung randomly scribbled the words on a piece of paper. It wasn’t even an half-assed attempt, he didn’t try at all. It was just his regular cursive writing, and yet Hyejin beamed when she saw the design.

Soonyoung got to work right away, not ignoring the look on Hyejin’s friend’s face. This was one interesting guy, whose face could contort from amazement to disgust to pain to envy in a matter of seconds. He was so interesting that Soonyoung couldn’t refrain from messing with him a bit.

“You know,” Soonyoung started, and the guy almost jumped from his seat, “I’m not saying she’s completely right, but tattoos are definitely a thing for the kind of guy she described.”

“How would you know?”

“My boyfriend is… that type too,” Soonyoung grinned, “I don’t like to generalize but tattoos for them are like marks, see. It’s their own cult belief. I have a book on what kind of symbols you need to delude them into thinking they’re in love--”

Someone smacked Soonyoung’s head and he let out a cry, but broke into a smile when he spotted his assailant.

“There’s nothing like that in this world,” Wonwoo huffs, smelling like cigarettes and slurring like he just had a couple crates of booze, “Don’t mind this idiot. I’m Wonwoo,” he offered a hand, which the guy quickly shook.

“I’m Joshua,” the guy replied, reminding Soonyoung that he actually hadn’t introduced himself. But it was way beyond comfortable introductory time, so he just let it be.

“What kind of tattoo do you want to get, Josh?” Wonwoo asked, sliding to the seat next to Joshua, taking a cigarette out of his jeans pocket.

“No, I’m not getting any tattoos.”

“You look like you want to, though?” Soonyoung inwardly smiled at his boyfriend’s smooth talking. It could score them a new client tonight.

“I’m.. I guess I’m just amazed,” Joshua admitted, “To have something permanently embedded on your skin like that.. And also, in a split-second decision. I just want to know how it feels like, you see.”

“There’s no way to know how it feels like,” Hyejin pointed out, “unless you try it yourself.”

“That’s true,” Joshua chuckled, “I don’t think I have enough courage and commitment for that.”

The room fell silent.

“Then, how about a piercing?” Wonwoo broke it with his low voice, “You don’t have to worry about it not matching your clothes, since you can change it anyway. And if you come to hate it, you can just ignore the punctures until they close on their own.”

“Punctures can close by themselves?”

“Takes time, but your body’s always generating new cells. Or something,” Wonwoo took one long drag from his cig and puffed out a smoke.

“You’ve got a point,” Soonyoung watched Joshua fell into thoughtful silence, his face serious. He looked like he was really considering Wonwoo’s suggestion. Soonyoung smirked under his mask, turning to concentrate more on the thin lines on Hyejin’s inner arm. Just a few more and he’d be done. Soonyoung counted to himself. 3… 2… 1….

“We’re done!”
“I’ll do it.”

“You will?!” For some reason, Soonyoung was not surprised that Hyejin seemed much more excited about Joshua’s future piercing than Joshua himself.

“Sure,” Joshua shrugged, “I went to a bar for the first time in the 23 years of my life, so why not get a piercing on the same night, right?” he said confidently.

Soonyoung looked at Joshua in shock. “You just went to a bar for the first time in your--”

“That’s the spirit,” Wonwoo cut him, sending him piercing gazes to stop Soonyoung from saying more, “What kind of piercing should we get you?”

The question flushed Joshua’s confidence down the drain. “What kind..? Are there many kinds of piercings..?”

“There are, Joshua,” Hyejin told him with a smile, “But for you, just the kind on your earlobes is enough for tonight.”

Wonwoo nodded, taking it as his cue to get his gears ready while Soonyoung cleaned Hyejin’s arm. Joshua didn’t want Hyejin to stick around to see him getting punctured — must be done out of anything left of his pride after he had the girl making life-changing decisions for him. Hyejin fortunately didn’t mind, and instead followed Soonyoung to retrieve Jun’s collection of accessories for sale.

When Wonwoo finished dealing with Joshua’s ears — he didn’t make a peep, so honestly Soonyoung was a bit surprised — Hyejin was in the middle of paying for both her and Joshua’s fees, plus a pair of black studs.

“Try this on,” Hyejin urged Joshua, who at first seemed reluctant to put them on and ended up liking his own reflection on the full-length mirror next to Soonyoung’s counter.

Soonyoung let out a low whistle and earned another glare from Wonwoo. “You look good, really good. Just need a bit of touch up though,” Wonwoo told him, plunging to the backside of the counter to retrieve a bottle, “It’s an eyeliner. New. I just bought it this evening but it seems like you need it more than me. I’m not going to teach you how to wear it, though. You can look up tutorials yourself.”

Joshua was at loss for words. Soonyoung already took him as the kind of goody two shoes raised by magnificent parents, who only gives and never receives. So he added the blow by adding to the bunch of freebies, a lollipop. “To help you digest what just happened,” he added with a wink.

Joshua looked at Hyejin, who just smiled, at Wonwoo, who just smirked, and Soonyoung, who just grinned. There really was too much to process. In the end he could only muster a tired sigh, a genuine smile, and a “thank you” that betrayed his feeling of getting his personal space invaded so much.

“I should repay you all,” he stated, “Next time.”

Hyejin shook her head no, “Josh, listen. You don’t owe us anything, okay? I’ve been wanting to get inked since forever but I always chickened out. Meeting you at Byul’s place when it was supposed to be empty, it was destiny. You were sent to help me change and move on.”

“Move on?”

“So really, it’s more like you’re the one who’s doing me a favor,” Hyejin stiffled a giggle as she pushed the parlor’s door open, “But if you want to feel indebted, then just tell me how it goes with that dude the next time we meet. In minute details.”

“Okay, it’s a deal,” Joshua agreed, stepping into the curb outside in time with Hyejin.

He turned around and took in the sight of the parlor for the last time, especially the two lovebirds inside -- one with electric blue hair and intricate tattoos all over his arms to his neck, and the other, a dude with jet black hair and jet black soul and a jet black pentagram right on the back of his left hand. Behind them, neon lights flicker, forming the word “Hoshi” brightly.