Chapter 3

Student Activities

The bar crawl had gone fine, he and the rest of his group spent the evening navigating through the city visiting the different bars, gathering clues for a task that could only be solved at the last stop. Although drinking weren’t encouraged as it was more of a city tour were most of the members of his group very drunk by the time they got to the last stop. 

Having diligently made note of each key word on his phone had Seungyoon no issues with putting them all together to a sentence. When Zico announced that they would gather to try to make sense of it all did it quickly become evident to him that even Zico had missed a word. 

He let them struggle for a while, amused by how the drunk ones were the ones trying the hardest. He didn’t think they would actually manage to work it out without him because the word they were missing was heal. 

Coughing and holding up his hand he said: 

    "With music we can inspire and create, but also heal, never forget that" 

The ones who were the drunkest began protesting, but Zico and a couple of others cheered. 

    "Ah heal!" Zico exclaimed and walked over to him. "It’s good that someone has been paying attention" he continued and grabbed him by the shoulder hugging him from the side before pulling him to the middle of the group. 

    "Everyone thank Seungyoon, we now got a complete sentence and we can either go home or get completely smashed. It’s all up to you!" Zico said in a voice closer to yelling than speaking to make sure the whole group heard him. Everyone cheered and a few gave Seungyoon a thumbs up or offered to buy him a drink, but he thanked them thinking of going home. 

That was when Jihoon along with a few guys he didn’t know came over. 

    "Finally you finished your school duties, took you forever" Jihoon complained and a couple of the other guys agreed in a very animated way making Seungyoon suspect they had already been drinking for quite a while. 

    "Would have taken me much longer if Seungyoon didn’t help me out" Zico said, still holding him in a tight grip by the shoulder. 

He just waved it away, 13 pubs and bars later there were no way one could have memorized all the words without writing it down with everything that had happened. 

Having just wriggled free from Zico’s grip who was telling Jihoon about how one of the guys in their group had tripped over a water fountain and knocked out a tooth he ran directly into Seunghoon. 

Seunghoon ruffled his hair and asked if he was going to tag along home as if he was some long lost puppy that Seunghoon just had found. 

Tired from the evenings long walk around town he quickly agreed and they made their way through the crowd. He wondered if it was fine to just leave the other two without saying good bye, but then again they were all adults. 

Leaving the crowded bar the crisp autumn air felt great not just for how cool it was against his clammy skin, but also for the silence. 

    "How did it go today?" Seunghoon asked and buttoned up his denim jacket as they made their way through a small park separating them from the road where the busses stopped. 

    "Good, good" he replied, so much had happened he was struggling to remember it all. To his surprise was it the moments spent with Mino that stood out the clearest in his mind. 

    "Did you make any friends?" Seunghoon asked mockingly as they arrived at the bus stop. 

    "Mino drove me to school after making fun of my bandaids" he began, planing to summarize all his interactions, but Seunghoon interrupted him. 

    "How lovely of him, I hope he drove safer than the last time I rode with him" Seunghoon said sounding mildly annoyed. "We almost hit a cat, can you imagine? With a scooter.." 

Imagining it he tried to with hold his laughter. Scooters weren’t that fast, so either Mino was driving way too fast or the cat must have been especially fat or stupid, or both. 

    "The cat was huge too, hard to miss. Maybe we should make him check his eye sight" Seunghoon mused sounding more like he was talking to himself. 

    "Maybe" Seungyoon replied as just then had their bus arrived leaving no time for a longer reply. 

They hopped of the bus at the stop by the convenience store so that Jinwoo could keep them company on their way home as well. He asked the same questions as Seunghoon and so he had summarized yet again. 

    "Gambling with your life riding with that one" Jinwoo said calmly as if it was no big deal. "We have all experience his driving" Jinwoo continued taking a bite out of an apple he had brought home from work. 

    "I’d rather walk" Seunghoon said grumpily and Jinwoo nodded in agreement. Seungyoon didn’t agree with them, he had rather enjoyed their ride together, but that he kept to himself. Instead he let Jinwoo rant on about a upset customer who kept coming back to nag him about the same issue every shift he had worked that week. 

They were close to their apartment when Seunghoon who had been talking about bringing his dog to the apartment from his parents place suddenly changed the subject: 

    "By the way, did you spot Mino with that woman at the bar? I didn’t really get a good look at her, just the long black hair" 

Jinwoo looked intrigued by this and turned his attention to him for more information.

    "I didn’t spot him at all" he admitted trying to think back to the bar, but he had been so focused on his school friends and Zico to notice. "Maybe he met one of his fans" he mused remembering the letter from earlier. 

    "Pffff fans? Really you think?" Seunghoon laughed, but he seemed to consider it a possibility too. Jinwoo and Seunghoon then proceeded to recount their memories of the concert Mino, Zico and Jihoon had been part of earlier in the year. 

    "It was a pretty big crowd too, I was really surprised at that" Jinwoo finished having explained about the different artists and how Mino had ended the whole thing with a solo performance. 

They arrived back home to find Jinwoo’s cats both sleeping in the sink. Jinwoo scooped them up and brought them to his room before returning wearing sweatpants and a oversized t-shirt. 

    "Not going to sleep?" Seungyoon asked while watching Jinwoo curl up on the couch with a blanket. 

    "Nah, there was a new episode of my favorite drama earlier tonight. Feel free to join and watch" Jinwoo explained reaching for the remote on the table. It was just out of reach and so he went over and handed him the remote. 

    "I’d love to, but I got school tomorrow morning again" he replied with a sigh. He was already pretty tired and so he headed to the bathroom to shower before going to bed. 

When he returned from the bathroom a short while later had Seunghoon joined Jinwoo on the couch, but he was already fast asleep resting his head on Jinwoo’s lap. Jinwoo didn’t seem to pay Seunghoon much attention at all, just patting his hair absentmindedly as if he was one of his cats while watching his drama. 

He said good night to Jinwoo who gave him a small wave without taking his eyes of the screen. Then he wobbled exhausted down the hall to his room.

Rolling into his bed he set the alarm and wondered what the next day would bring because his first day as an university student sure had been eventful. 

Mino walked with staggered steps up the stairs to their apartment building. He was supporting Jihoon’s body with one arm around his waist while prying the front door open with quite some effort. 

    "You really had to take that last challenge with the shots didn’t you?" he muttered under his breath propping his friend up against the wall inside the hall while he shut the door behind them. 

    "And Zico just had to see the last of the students home, leaving me to deal with you" He said disgruntled dragging Jihoon up from the floor who looked like he was about to fall asleep. 

    "I’m sorry, I’m sorry" Jihoon mumbled trying to straightened up as Mino opened their apartment door. "I don’t usually drink a lot" Jihoon mumbled. 

    "No thats true, and this is why you shouldn’t" Mino replied rubbing his shoulder which was aching from supporting Jihoon all the way home. 

He watched as his friend made his way to his room, heavily supported by the wall. When he reached the door he leaned on it too heavily and fell over. 

    "For gods sake" Mino grumbled and helped him into bed. He then went to fetch Jihoon some water, but when he returned was it already too late. Jihoon was snoring away already fast asleep. 

He left the water on the bedside table and headed over to his own room. Taking out his phone he saw a message from Zico asking if they made it back home okay. He responded with a thumbs up before changing out of his clothes and into his pajamas. 

His cat was meowing from her spot by the window letting him know she had needs that needed tending to as well. 

    "Yes, yes, rely on me" he mumbled and refilled her bowl with food and fetched her some fresh water. Looking at the clock in the kitchen he noticed that it was way past two in the morning already. They were lucky that there was no school the next day. 

Finally rolling into bed after a quick stop by the bathroom he began wrecking his brain to try to remember what song it was that he had kept humming all afternoon. He remembered the melody well, but only parts of the lyrics. Was it something he had heard at the bar? 

Then it dawned on him. It was All of Me, the song Seungyoon had been singing for them earlier in the day. 

    "That guy can really sing" he told his cat who was laying curled up on a pile of laundry on the floor. "He is really cute too, the way he listened to us talk today with puckered lips like that" he said the last part out loud as he was thinking it and was surprised at himself for even thinking it. 

He didn’t have for habit to think that guys were cute, that girl at the bar had