The next day was a Saturday, and Kyungsoo had woken up leisurely by half past nine in the morning. To his dismay, the pile of school homework that had been delivered to his home was glaring at him on the work table in his room, when he would much rather be going over the design sketches and even drawing his own.

He turned over to his side and took hold of his phone, ignoring hundred—even thousands—of notifications from random people tagging him in all platforms of social media and decided to do a post as he hadn’t done so in a while.

He trimmed a very short teaser of himself from a recent photo shoot, where he tried on one outfit himself, and his marketing team could check the reactions to his posts. So far, even if he was no model by any means—he only stood 173 centimeters—people seemed to respond to him as the face and founder of Gravity, a hip and mainstream clothing line catering to the mid-to-high range millennial audience.

He did it in less than a minute and posted the 2-second video on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok, Snapchat and Youtube simultaneously, writing the caption: New Collection: Coming Soon

And all his social media accounts erupted, so he turned off his phone after that and reluctantly got up from bed.

He scowled at the textbooks on his table, clucking his tongue as he grudgingly flipped through the pages with much disinterest. His teachers even marked the sections he needed to make up for on the days he’d missed and there were so many! He wasn’t going to apply any of the theories inside those books to his reality, anyway, so what was the point of even doing them?

Just then he heard a knock on the door.

“Kyungsoo-yah?”

He sighed and opened the door, bracing himself for the inevitable. “Annyeong, Omma.”

Mrs. Do only looked at him grimly, and handed him a glass of milk. “You haven’t had breakfast yet. Would you like to eat something?”

Kyungsoo shook his head and took a little sip from the glass, just to indulge his mother, who would give him his milk every morning, every day for the last 18 years, possibly in the hopes that he would still grow taller.

His mother followed him inside the room, sitting on the bed as Kyungsoo went back to his work table, opening the folder of Yifan’s redrawn designs instead.

Mrs. Do watched her son, still a little bit dismayed at his rather flippant attitude, knowing that Kyungsoo was ignoring his school work. “Your father is just answering some emails, but he’s going to come up here and talk to you.”

Kyungsoo didn’t even look up from the drawings and nodded. He knew his father’s lectures were going to come anyway. And just like before, he would listen to him, behave until his parents’ anger dissipated and then he could do whatever he pleased.

While waiting, he took a pen and listed down his comments on the much improved sketches. He gave more criticism than compliments, but he did manage to insert some positive feedback where he thought the credit was due.

“Do you understand why we’re disappointed in you?”

Kyungsoo’s big eyes flickered to over to his mother now, as similar brown ones gazed at him in concern. “It’s because I’ve been absent in school.”

“Well, why are you doing this then?”

“I’m really busy, Omma. I’m up to my neck preparing for the Winter Fashion Week next month and school just doesn’t fit into my schedule right now,” Kyungsoo tried to explain, exasperated himself. “Can I just... stop attending... maybe for a year, just so I can concentrate on—”

“You’ll do no such thing,” Dr. Do interrupted, entering the room and causing Kyungsoo to shut his mouth. He sat down beside his wife, who was merely shaking her head at their son’s bullheadedness, and stared sternly at him, to make him listen. “You’re three months away from graduating. If you stop now, you’re going to have to repeat grade 12 all over again, which is both a waste of time and money.”

“That’s precisely it,” Kyungsoo debated, feeling a little braver now. He would commend his parents for allowing him to speak his mind and express his side—up to a certain limit. “I’m already simultaneously running three businesses, and eventually, you want me to take over Do Labs too. I don’t mind that, but I am focusing on Gravity right now, and I want to strike while the iron is hot because people are clamoring for it and it’s doing so well.”

“Araseo, your Omma and I will give you that,” Dr. Do affirmed. “You’ve accomplished so much at your age, unprecedented in many ways. High school should be a walk in the park. You can delay going to university for as long as you want, but if you postpone high school, it would be harder for you to continue as you get more and more involved in Gravity. If it is doing as well as you say it is, then expanding will only be imminent and high school will be put on the back burner once again.” Dr. Do frowned as Kyungsoo’s brows furrowed, as if he were speaking an alien language to him. “Is any of this sinking in?”

“Yes, and no, Abeoji,” Kyungsoo answered in frustration. “I just feel held back by the education system; that I can’t apply what I’m being taught there. I’m learning the skills I need more efficiently as I go along running Gravity, enabling me to stretch my capabilities in all aspects of the business—from concept to creation to marketing... School... doesn’t teach me those things, at least in a way that I need it to.”

Dr. Do had to relent, as Kyungsoo did have some valid points. Maybe there was a way to compromise. “I have talked to Heechul last night and he informed me of the upcoming events that you would need to attend once your Winter collection is launched, and you would indeed be very busy in the first quarter of next year.”

Mrs. Do turned to her husband suddenly, as an idea sparked in her. “Yeobo, what about online learning? Maybe we can talk to Principal Lee Sooman to see if Kyungsoo can continue completing his requirements online instead, so he can still catch up and graduate with his class?”

Dr. Do had actually considered this before, but hadn’t mentioned it, in case Kyungsoo still agreed to physically attend his classes. He glanced over at his son, whose angry stance appeared to have mitigated a bit.

“I guess that would be... a little bit more bearable,” Kyungsoo conceded, although still not too thrilled with the idea, his eyes casting over his textbooks dismally.

There really was no escaping them.

“Actually, Principal Lee Sooman has also given that option, so we just need to confirm with the school and check when you can start,” Dr. Do informed them. “However, he also told me that your grades have been slipping and that you need to pull A’s and B’s for you to qualify for graduation in these last three months.”

Kyungsoo pouted. Where would he find the time to concentrate on those books, if he was going to work on his clothing line at the same time?

“I’ve hired you a tutor.”

“WHAT?!” Kyungsoo whined, taken aback. Was he even going to be consulted about this? When did this plan of his father even start??? “Andwaeyo, Abeoji!”

Having a personal tutor would mean having a fixed time for studying, and he certainly couldn’t see the flexibility in that arrangement.

“He’s our new intern for Do Laboratories, and happens to be an excellent student. He graduated from the same high school four years ago and even Principal Lee Sooman couldn’t stop raving how brilliant he was then. He can do his internship at the laboratory in the morning while you attend to whatever you need to do at the Gravity office. I’ve worked this all out with Heechul-ssi, and he made sure to construct a more feasible schedule for you to get school work accomplished as well. Your tutor can then meet you in the afternoon to go over your lessons,” Dr. Do proposed, raising a brow at Kyungsoo as if waiting for him to challenge it. “With a tutor’s help, I’m sure you’ll be able to juggle both.”

“Abeoji, I don’t need a tutor,” Kyungsoo complained. “I’m not dumb!”

“We know you’re not,” his mother soothed, sighing. “But it’s to help keep you on track, in case you feel that the school work is getting too overwhelming.”

Kyungsoo scoffed. “It’s really to keep an eye on me, you mean.”

“We’re trying to meet you halfway here, Kyungsoo-yah,” Dr. Do said, almost to the point of giving up. “Will you do your part, too?”

That exhausted tone of his father and the sight of her mother getting teary-eyed melted his resolve. He glanced away, his own eyes watering as well. The last thing he intended was to be such a burdensome son to them, but it was so difficult to make them understand that he was trying to stand on his own two feet, so they should just trust his decisions...

He just wanted his parents to have faith in him.

Just once.

“De,” he whispered, waving the white flag now. “It’s just for... three more months, anyway.”

“Araseo,” his mother told him softly as his father stood up from the bed. “We know you’ll do your best, like you always do.” And Mrs. Do went over to plant a soft kiss on her son’s head.

Kyungsoo closed his eyes at the momentary, tender contact.

“Now, you can spend this weekend answering your study modules, because Principal Lee Sooman is expecting at least a couple of them to be submitted on Monday, 5 p.m.,” Dr. Do told him, about to exit the bedroom.

Kyungsoo’s mouth dropped, about to oppose, when Dr. Do turned around to give him a look that said he wasn’t kidding around.

Mrs. Do looked at his son sympathetically. “I’ll have your nanny bring up your lunch, okay?”

Kyungsoo glared at the door as his parents closed it behind them. This was worse than being grounded. He petulantly took his history textbook and threw it on the floor.

No way was he doing those damn modules.

***

That Monday, Shin Hye aghassi was so nice to him that Chanyeol felt slightly more at ease being introduced to his mentors who would take him around the facility and give him an overview of how the laboratory operated, with restricted access, of course. Seeing that the new intern was in good hands, she bowed to them and left to attend to her duties.

Chanyeol eagerly soaked it in, all of it. If other kids dreamt about going to Disney World or Universal Studios, Do Laboratories was that fantasy land for him. He could stay in this vast playground all day and not mind if he overstayed.

He couldn’t hide his excitement when Dr. Jung Yunho handed him his own lab coat, that the scientist had to laugh at the newest intern’s childlike expression. “I have a feeling you’re going to like it here,” he declared as his colleague, now fellow mentor, Dr. Shim Changmin agreed.

Dr. Shim then put on Chanyeol’s access card around his neck, secured by a lanyard. “Make sure you leave this access card in your locker before you leave for the day, because we can’t take it out of the premises.”

Chanyeol nodded vigorous, holding his access card with both hands.

Just then, they bumped into the vice-president of the company, half-Korean expat, Mr. Argus Riley. Dr. Jung and Dr. Shim appeared surprised and immediately bowed in greeting, with Chanyeol belatedly following.