Section One: [J e o n g i n] Hidden

Jeongin needed some time. Alone. He sat atop the second story of a parking structure somewhere in Seoul, his phone powered off. He was too nervous and unprepared to go out of Seoul, and he actually didn't even know what he was really doing. He was hungry, and he wanted to go home, but he didn't want to head home just yet; he was trying to prove a point. Rude remarks of his peers were getting to him, and although everyone was telling him to ignore it, he couldn't bring himself to. It was their remarks that just added onto the self-consciousness that made him want to hide from all of humanity. 

He wanted to cry.

Jeongin knew that he was being a big hassle to Woojin and the rest of the boys to have to use up their time to look for him, but he knew that if he went back to Woojin he would only be there for emotional support, but he would be unable to help. Or so he thought. It was just that Woojin hadn't done anything about the bullying yet because Jeongin had a habit of keeping everything to himself and pretending that everything was okay. 

Opening his small bag, Jeongin pulled out a bag of honey butter chips that he had saved from the study session he had with Woojin the previous day. The previous night, he had stayed in a rented study room, common in Korea although Felix mentioned that he had never heard of one when they last talked. 고시원 , Jeongin recalled telling Felix. He needed to go back to Woojin by night though; Woojin had his wallet so he couldn't pay for another night at the room. He stood up, walking down the slope to the parking structure ground level, munching silently on the chips. They'll find me, right? Jeongin thought about the group searching for him. Am I causing them too much trouble? Then came the feelings of guilt. Now Jeongin was making his problems affect the others too. As much as he wanted to go home, he didn't want to go back to his classes. Even though many days of school had been cancelled recently, he couldn't get what his classmates said out of his head. They cussed at him, they made fun of every little thing, they told him to end himself, but Jeongin pretended that it was okay. He would get himself so used to smiling because they insulted his rude resting face. Due to this, Woojin wouldn't even notice a thing. He probably thought it was getting better because Jeongin stopped mentioning anything about his social life when he was with Woojin. 

Jeongin was going to power on his phone. He couldn't hold up. He needed someone to talk to. He was going to let someone find him. He sighed, pressing the power button, and then he sat down on a bench, waiting.

Section Two: [F e l i x] Found

Felix had decided to break off from the rest of the group, telling Woojin that it would be quicker if they dispersed. Chan told him that it would be okay as long as they went back as a group by sunset, which meant Felix had about four hours to search alone since it was only 2 pm. Felix decided to head back in towards the middle of Seoul. He walked past buildings and parking structures until he saw a body laying down on a bench. Felix hesitated and considered walking in the other direction before remembering what Chan and Woojin had described before they spread out; a black coat, blue shirt...

It was cold, but the snow stopped. Felix moved closer to inspect what the person was wearing, and it matched Jeongin's outfit perfectly; it was Jeongin. Felix ran over to the side of the bench, brushing the thin layer of snow away from the bench. Shaking Jeongin's shoulder, Jeongin slowly sat up, his cheeks red from the cold. 

Felix brushed the small flecks of snow off of Jeongin's shoulders. "You okay?"

"Hmm." Jeongin rubbed his eyes. "Wait, don't tell the others that I'm here yet. I want to talk to you first because it would be too much to tell everyone together."

Felix sat next to Jeongin on the bench, the snow beginning to fall again. "Okay? Go ahead, I'm listening."

"I'm being bullied, Felix. And it's getting worse. I tried telling Woojin about it, but he's not doing much about it because I don't think he knows how bad it is. I try my best to hide it from him because I don't want to cause him any more troubles than the ones that he already has from his classes and his jobs at the cafe, but I just really need someone to talk to about it. Anyways, you know my c-constant smile?" Jeongin's voice was getting shakier as he continued talking. This was a lot for Felix to take in, and Jeongin could tell from his expression. "From your expression, I can guess that I was doing a good job of hiding all of this."

Jeongin continued. "My smile... it's because they told me that my relaxed expression was ugly. I was out on the field and when I came back into the locker room, they were cutting up my pink shirt because I had accidentally left the shirt hanging out of my locker. They-"

"They?" Felix interrupted, his anger and confusion growing. "Who's 'they'?"

Tears began rolling down Jeongin's cheeks. "Some others in my class."

"So that means that Jisung and Minho know them too?" Felix had just remembered that Jisung and Minho attended Jeongin's school. 

Jeongin nodded slowly. "They don't target Jisung and Minho, but I don't want Jisung and Minho to get involved because I don't want them to be targetted either."

"Do you want to talk to them about it?"

"I my phone, so I'm just going to wait for Woojin and the others to find us. I'll probably tell Jisung and Minho. Should I?"

"If it will help you."

"Okay. Thanks, Felix."

"Also," Felix had remembered what Mr. Sohn had told him. "Don't let people see that you are affected by their judgments. When I played at my last competition, of course, I was insulted by other students, but I didn't let that bring me down." Felix had also just remembered that Mr. Sohn was probably wondering where he had disappeared off to. But then again, Felix had much more to accomplish rather than sitting down and playing a genre of music that he didn't really even enjoy as much as he used to. 

"Ok. But it's difficult for me to ignore them. It's kind of just... my personality, you know?" Jeongin sighed. 

"Just do your best and know your limits."

Jeongin dug his feet into the snow, sniffling and wiping his nose. Felix pulled out a pack of tissues for Jeongin as he heard a voice from behind him.

"Jeongin!" the voice called. Felix turned around to see Woojin waving, beckoning the others towards the bench. "Felix, you found him? How come you didn't tell us?"

Jeongin looked up at Woojin, Woojin's expression softening at the sight of the younger. "I didn't want him to."

"Jeongin? Are you okay?" Woojin rushed over to Jeongin's side.

"Yup." Jeongin let out a harsh cough. "Okay, maybe not."

The sun began setting as Jisung rushed over, Minho's jacket draped over his shoulders. "Let's get somewhere warm first. Studio?"

---------------------------

"Well, now there's nine of us in this little studio, so let's move over and make some space," Chan laughed as he closed the studio door behind him after the others entered.

Felix sat to Jeongin's right side on the couch, Woojin on Jeongin's left. Jisung clung onto Minho on two of the chairs by the table, and Seungmin and Hyunjin sat together on the floor. Changbin sat by Felix's legs and Chan was seated on the monitor chair; it was packed, yet comfortably cozy. Though Chan had done his best to get the studio super warm, Jeongin was still shivering. 

"Jeongin lay down. You're sick." Changbin handed Jeongin a hot pack and fluffy pink blanket, which immediately brought a small smile to Jeongin's face. "Yeah, I love that blanket too," Changbin laughed seeing Jeongin's reaction. "You can borrow Gyu today if you want too." Changbin placed his Munchlax stuffed toy next to Jeongin. Felix and Woojin moved to the floor to make space for Jeongin on the sofa, and Seungmin and Hyunjin did their best to move over and make more space. 

Jeongin held the hot packs to his cheeks. "Thanks, Changbin."

"Does your throat hurt?" Chan asked. "Need water?"

Jeongin nodded. "Only a little, but it'd be nice to have water."

Felix lightly poked Jeongin's shoulder. "Is it okay if I tell Jisung and Minho about your situation?" he whispered. 

"Yeah, that's fine. I will tell Woojin myself after I take a nap. You could tell Chan, Seungmin, and Hyunjin too; I don't really mind, as long as they don't get hurt trying to involve themselves. Okay, I'm napping now." Jeongin rolled over, snuggled in the warm blanket; Gyu plushie in his arms. 

Chan raised his hand, getting the attention of all of them. "You guys know that there's most likely going to be classes tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow is Wednesday, huh?" Changbin shrugged. "I might just skip. Preliminaries matter more."

Felix hesitated before nodding. "Me too. Skipping?" He turned towards Seungmin and Hyunjin.

"I'm going," Hyunjin declared. "I have a test."

"Oh yeah, the unit test! I didn't study but I could at least be there... right?" Seungmin scratched his neck.

"I'm skipping, obviously," Jeongin mumbled, adjusting his neck position. Jisung and Minho nodded, signaling that they were going to skip.

Felix stood up, motioning for Jisung and Minho to come into the other studio room. "Jeongin gave me permission to tell you what's happening." Jisung and Minho followed him into the other room, sitting down on the floor across from Felix. "So anyways, Jeongin told me that he was being bullied." Felix did his best to describe what was happening as Jisung and Minho stayed attentive, taking all the details before Minho's eyes widened. 

"Wait a minute." Minho tilted his head. "I think I know who you're talking about. The bullying group?"

Jisung tried to recall the others in his class. "Wait, who?"

Minho looked at Jisung. "The Double X Trio? They have a whole squad of supporters in our class, but they're extremely cliquey. Once someone gets in their way once, they target them practically forever."

"Oh yeah." Jisung scowled. "Them. Don't they rap too?"

"I think so. One of them used to stay at the dance room with me after school, but we didn't really talk." Minho had forgotten their names, but he hadn't forgotten how rude they were. He would never have thought of the Double X Trio targetting Jeongin.

Felix showed a worried expression. "What if they're at preliminaries?"

"Well I guess Changbin, Chan, and I just have to defeat them. Preliminaries are just the first round, so I guess we have to aim for winning the whole competition, huh?"

Section Three: [M i n h o]

It was snowing that Wednesday morning, and Minho let Jisung, Changbin, and Chan practice their rapping stage presence at the annex. Felix insisted on tagging along with Minho and the trio because he wanted to help. There was more room at the annex to move around. Chan let Woojin and Jeongin stay behind at the studio, and Woojin was in charge of taking care of Jeongin, whereas Seungmin and Hyunjin were at school to take the tests that they had just remembered about the previous evening. 

"Chan, there's a table over here to set down your laptop. I have extension cords so that you could connect it to my speakers," Minho offered.

Chan walked over, placing his laptop on the table. "Thanks, Minho. By the way, all nine of us will be able to stay in a suite across from the Mirror Complex so that we could attend rounds more easily if the second round happens to be at the Mirror Complex too. I'm guessing all of us will be missing classes for this competition?"

The group snickered at their newfound ignorance for the classes that used to be their first priority. "Knowing Hyunjin and Seungmin," Felix started. "They'll probably attend classes up until the day we settle into the suite." 

Jisung smiled. "I think Seungmin told me that today is the last day they will attend because we're settling in tomorrow, right? Preliminaries are on Saturday, and then the second round is the following Saturday if we make it."

"Yes, we are settling in at the suite tomorrow, so everyone needs to get their things ready." Chan plugged the cord from his computer to the speaker. For preliminaries, the trio would be doing the same performance from the last Ugly Junction performance that they had; the trio would rap "힘이 돼 ", Changbin would rap "If", and Jisung would rap "I See". However, second round, they had prepared two tracks that they had worked on for the third mixtape: "Matryoshka" and "Double Knot". 

Changbin clapped his hands. "Okay, let's get to practicing!"