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Chapter 20

  Now saturday, i'm trekking the familiar path leading to the block where Cube Entertainment, practically my second home, is located at. It's currently 9 in the morning. Despite the early hour in a freakin' weekend, I already received 4 calls from my hyungs;  2 from Minhyuk Hyung, 1 from Eunkwang Hyung and 1 from Peniel Hyung. All asking the same questions, 'Where are you? 'What time are you arriving?' 'Are you even up yet?'. What annoyed me even more was that the first call came around at 6 am. Geez. Can't they let a guy sleep? 

  I was actually planning on coming here around lunch time, wanting to indulge myself with sleep. But my hyungs had other plans, I guess. They wanted me at the company early since their sunbaenims, particularly 4 minute noonas, have schedules later today. Noonas wanted to see me, they said. It's been a long time I guess so it was understandable. When Minhyuk hyung reasoned it out, I can't really say no. 

  I was a few meters away from the company when my phone rang. Again. Groaning, I fished it out. The caller ID read 'Hyunsikie Hyung'. Can't they go on half an hour without calling? I can literally see the outline and sign of Cube! 

  "Hyung! I'm already near! Tell the other hyungs to stop calling already! It's annoying!" I kind of exploded right there. Though, Hyunsik Hyung wasn't a bit offended by what I said. He even laughed. 

  "Sorry, Sungjae-ya. You know how paranoid they can get. More specifically Minhyuk Hyung and Eunkwang Hyung. They wanted to make sure you wouldn't back out." I rolled my eyes at that. Back out? If he's referring to the contest, then they're wrong. My mind is already made up. I'm joining. If he's pertaining to me coming to Cube, after almost 4 months of not dropping by, then they're also wrong. The only reason why I haven't come by for those months was because I was laying low. My classmates, 'friends' rather, were trying to keep me close to them. They kept on inviting me to hang out and stuff. I needed to be extra careful not to draw any unwanted attention to me. Especially after finding out that the girls like hanging out around here. 

  The company is situated at a rather busy street in Seoul, surrounded by big malls, famous cafes and known restaurants. I might ran into them in this area. Or worse, they might see me leave or enter Cube. I did told my hyungs this. That's probably the cause of their paranoids. They think I would chicken out. 

  "Geez. I won't. I actually just entered the cafe. I'll see you guys in a few." Which I did. The fresh aroma of coffee entered my nostrils as I opened the door of Cube Cafe, the small bell ringing just above my head. It was the same as usual. Cube artists' merchandises decorated every corner of the place, their group pictures hung and covered majority of the walls. There aren't a lot of people inside. Only 4 or 5 table were occupied, each with no more than 3 people sitting on it. The projection on the wall at the left corner of the cafe was showing one of Beast' hyungs MVs. I didn't waste time in observing the area, I knew it by heart anyway. I immediately went over the counter. 

  "Hey, hyung." I called over to the guy behind the cashier, who was busy with the register. He looked up and a smile immediately formed on his lips. He's been working here for years already. Being a frequent customer, I had gotten to know him. 

  "Sungjae! It's nice to see you, kid! Been a long time, aye?" We quickly fell in a comfortable conversation. There wasn't that many customers so we didn't have to worry about me holding up the line or him being distracted from work. I leaned on the counter and gave him a grin. 

  "Yep. It's been months. I was kind of busy so I didn't have time to drop by. How are you?" We exhanged a few more friendly words after that. At least 5 minutes of catching up, only did we remembered that we weren't really in the right place to be chatting. He's still at work after all. 

  "The usual, right?" Nodding my head, he quickly went off to fix my drink. When he was gone, I scanned the cafe one more time. My eyes landed on another worker I'm quite familiar with. For a brief second, our eyes met. We both exchanged friendly smiles and a wave. She even made a face, pointing at her watch and throwing her arms up in a frustrated manner. It might have looked weird to some but I understood. 'I'm still on duty so we can't catch up. Urgh. Annoying shift.' It made me laugh. Not a minute later, hyung came back with my drink. Iced Coffee. I thanked him and promised to drop by more often. On my way upstairs, I made sure to approach the noona from earlier. We exhanged high fives when I passed by her. 

  The actual company and entertainment starts at the second floor of the building. Bounding up the set of steps, I swiped my company ID on the high tech lock on the wall near the door. I don't real