Horyeong woke up around 3 am and couldn't go back to sleep, so he grabbed his phone and to his dismay, it was dead. It would be rude of him to turn on the light to find the charger, since Daun was still sound asleep, curled up on his own bed, so that left Horyeong to stare at the basement ceiling for what surely felt like hours but was probably five minutes.

 

It got pretty boring, though, so he decided to just leave the room and headed upstairs to the first floor, bumping into the walls once or twice since it was still freaking dark.

 

When he opened the door, it was definitely more lighter in the kitchen, which is where the door to the basement was; there were windows, so the room was illuminated with moonlight with no trouble, which also gave him the ability to see his mother on the kitchen table, a glass of water in front of her. 

 

She got startled when she heard him open the door, making noise. “Horyeong, what are doing being up at this hour?"

 

Horyeong shrugged, pulling out a chair to sit down. “I woke up and I couldn’t go back to sleep.”

 

She nodded in understanding. “And your brother?”

 

“Nah, Daun asleep as always, you know nothing can ever ruin his sleep schedule.” Horyeong looked out the window, where even in the dark he was able to see some trees outside. “What are you doing up at this hour?”

 

“Oh, nothing, son,” his mother said, waving him off. “Don’t worry about me.” She took a sip of her water, gulping before speaking again. “How are you guys feeling about the move?”

 

“Eh, I mean nothing really for now,” Horyeong explained. “I mean, we haven’t exactly gone out to explore this weird island-”

 

“Oh, I’m sure you guys will love it,” she said. “Why don’t you guys go exploring tomorrow?”

 

***

 

“I don’t want to go exploring,” Daun said in the morning, staring at his bare feet, pouting. “I didn’t even explore Seoul, what makes you think I’ll go out here?”

 

“Okay, first of all, it was mom who said it would be a good idea to go outside.” Horyeong took out a pair of his sneakers from one of his boxes, now digging around through his bag of clothes trying to find socks. He was still wearing the same outfit of yesterday, so he felt a bit icky, but it was 8 am and it would be weird to just start showering when everyone was still asleep (including his mother who eventually went back to bed.) “Plus, we don’t have to meet people, we can just go to a restaurant or something.”

 

Daun sighed, getting off his bed to open one of his boxes. “You’re paying.”

 

“Wait, why am I paying?!” Horyeong exclaiming, lifting up one of his sneakers to get ready to throw at Daun. “I only have two dollars.”

 

“No you don’t, I saw your wallet.” Daun pulled out a pair of flip flops and set them on the floor, putting them on. “I doubt Jeju is more expensive than Seoul.”

 

“I don’t know, Daun, it is a vacation location for many people.” Horyeong grabbed his wallet and phone off his bed; thankfully, he had been able to charge his phone earlier after Daun woke up, and it was at a good 78%. “I’m still not paying for you, though.”

 

Daun rolled his eyes, heading up the stairs. “I’m not having my honeymoon here, ever, that’s for sure.”
 

“Isn’t your honeymoon going to be in Iceland or something?” Horyeong asked, following his younger brother up the stairs. 

 

Daun turned around to glare at him as he opened the basement door. “Where in your mind did you get Canada from Iceland?”

 

“You know, the cold place with ice?”

 

“No, dummy, that’s Greenland, which is next to-” Daun was interrupted as he bumped into his dad, who was passing by the basement door. “Ow.”

 

“Oh, wow, boys, you’re up early,” his dad said, frowning at Daun who was rubbing his head. “Come on, it wasn’t that bad.”

 

“I could have fallen back on the stairs and died,” Daun grumbled. 

 

Horyeong pushed Daun to the side in order to see his dad. “Daun doesn’t want to see Jeju Island.”

 

“Oh, that’s a good idea, you know, go out and see the city,” their father agreed, opening the fridge and pulling out his coffee creamer. “We also have to get you guys registered for school next week-”

 

“Not school ,” Horyeong groaned, hitting his head on the wall. “I don’t want to start senior year.”

 

“Education is important, Horyeong, don’t forget that,” his father reminded them. “Just remember guys to come back before dinner and to have battery in your phones, and be careful-”

 

“Dad, I really doubt Jeju Island has more crime than Seoul,” Daun said. 

 

***

 

“I’m starting to wonder if Jeju Island has more crime than Seoul,” Horyeong said while the two were walking downtown to where the shops were. “That’s the third street fight I’ve seen.”

 

“To be fair, we never did go out in Seoul,” Daun reminded him, trying not to look back. The last thing he needed was for those teenage boys to think he wanted to pick a fight with him as well. Daun was pretty sure a strand of spaghetti had more stamina than him. “You only went to hang out with Zeth and Seulchan.”

 

“Yeah, they’re nut jobs, not gonna deny it.” Horyeong remembered how in the morning, those two spammed the group chat like fifty times arguing whether Jeju people preferred pancakes or waffles. Horyeong had long ago given up reminding them that DMs were a thing, since they claimed that they didn’t want anyone to be left out. Just Horyeong’s sleep schedule, he guessed. 

 

Daun started hitting Horyeong’s shoulder with his fists. “Hey, Horyeong, Horyeong, Horyeong, let’s go to that shop right there."

 

He pointed to the sign above a small place, stating it was an ice cream parlor. “Ice cream? In the morning?” Horyeong reminded him.

 

“Ice cream has no curfew.” Daun grabbed his wrist and opened the parlor door, pulling him inside. “Plus, this is the cheapest thing you can buy me, what’s a cone gonna cost, 5,000 won?”

 

“That can literally buy us a big bucket of ice cream and a box of cones,” Horyeong argued but let himself be pulled into the parlor. He was craving chocolate anyways. 

 

The ice cream parlor was pretty empty, save for a group of teens sitting near the window and two families. There wasn’t a line either, so they went straight to the glass counter, Daun pressing his hands against the glass to stare at all the flavors. 

 

“Yo, they have mocha as a flavor,” he told Horyeong, pointing at a container. “Look, watermelon-”

 

Horyeong shrugged, pulling out his phone. He was going to get chocolate anyways, he wasn’t someone like Daun who liked to try new things. No, he was perfectly fine with his one flavor and rainbow sprinkles, thank you very much. And he was a very strong believer of hating strawberry. 

 

A guy who looked to be around their age came to the register to take their order. “Hello and welcome to Kim’s Ice Cream Parlor, I’m Haneul, how may I help you today?”

 

“Ooh, can I have a scoop of blueberry cheesecake and one of raspberry flavor on the biggest waffle cone you have?” Daun asking, pointing to the respective flavors. “And give me a lot of strawberry syrup.”

 

“I’ll just have two chocolate scoops,” Horyeong said. 

 

Haneul wrote their orders on a stack of post it notes. “Okay, that’ll be 8,140 won.” He said. “YO, HYOGI, COME HERE, WE MAKING ICE CREAM!”

 

“Can you pay for me, please,” Daun said, pouting. “You’re the older brother.”
 

Horyeong someone behind them choke on their ice cream. He turned around to see the group of three teens, where one was patting on the other’s back.

 

“Just this once for being our first day at Jeju,” Horyeong gave in, pulling out his wallet and taking out a 10,000 won bill. “You owe me.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, enjoy your boring chocolate.”

 

An employee came out of the double doors, a lot shorter. “Now what do you want, Haneul?”

 

“Shut up and make these two orders,” Haneul said, taking off the post it note from the stack and sticking it on Hyogi’s forehead. “Mom said you have to stop being lazy during work.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever,” Hyogi said, taking the post it note off his head and looking at it. “Yo, the blueberry cheese cake SLAPS!”

 

Next to the ice creams, there was a tray filled with different stacks of cones, so Hyogi took one out and slid the glass lid, grabbing the ice cream scooper to make Daun’s order.

 

Meanwhile, Haneul took the 10,000 won from Horyeong and gave him back his change. “I hope you guys enjoy your ice cream.”

 

Horyeong took the change and stuffed it in his pocket while Hyogi gave Daun his ice cream. “Here you go.”

 

“Thanks.” Daun gave it a big bite, which made Horyeong cringe inside. “Yum.”

 

Horyeong was handed his own ice cream, so they went to sit down at one of the small, empty tables next to the windows, about a table apart from one of the families and the group of three teens. 

 

Daun kept taking bites of his ice cream, looking out the window while Horyeong gave a few to his own. He had to admit, it was some pretty good chocolate ice cream. 

 

“We should go back home when we’re done,” Daun said between bites. “I’m pretty sure I’m going to be stuffed.” 

 

Horyeong nodded. “Yeah, I’ve had enough of Jeju for one day-” He stopped when he saw a guy stand behind Daun, fidgety. “Uh, Daun?”

 

“I already told you I don’t care if there’s a spider behind my face,” Daun said, taking another bite of his ice cream. “It’s just an insect, anyways.”

 

Horyeong pointed behind Daun. “Daun.”

 

“Jesus Christ, what , Horyeong-” Daun said, looking behind him to see one of the teens standing behind him, a piece of paper and pen in hand. “Uh… hello?”

 

“Oh, hey, you-you said your name was Daun, right?” The guy said. “Do you happen to go to our high school?” 

 

Daun frowned. “I thought it didn’t start yet.”

 

“No, it doesn’t, it starts next week, but there’s a petition we’re trying to start,” the guy explained. “I’m Hwalchan."

 

“Daun, and this is my annoying brother Horyeong-”

 

“ExCUSE ME-”

 

“And we just moved here…” Daun trailed off. “What’s it for, anyways?”

 

Another guy came up behind him. “Hwalchan here will give you all the jargon, don’t listen to him, it’s just to stop favoring all the smart kids.”

 

“I don’t give jargon, Jae I!” Hwalchan yelled at him, pushing him away. “Go hang out with Uiyeon or something!”

 

“That over there is just ogling at Haneul, he’s no fun,” Jae I explained, pointing at the guy who must be Uiyeon. “Look at him, his sundae is even melting!”

 

Uiyeon was indeed staring at the employee who helped them earlier, Haneul, who was now yelling at his brother Hyogi who dropped a bag of chocolate chips over the floor. 

 

“Look, can you guys just sign it, please?” Hwalchan said back to Daun and Horyeong placing the sheet on their table. “The school here is hell, I’m just warning you.”

 

“ You have it easy, you’re salutatorian,” Jae I argued. “All the teachers love you.”

 

“Because they practically force me to do their taxes!” Hwalchan exclaimed.

 

While those two continued to bicker, Horyeong grabbed the pen and paper and read over it. It looked simple enough; all it asked was for name and-

 

“Uh, I don’t have a school email yet,” Horyeong told Hwalchan, handing it back to him. “Sorry.”

 

“No, it’s okay, if I see you guys in school, I’ll give it to you then-”

 

“HWALCHAN!” Haneul came from behind the counter, a spatula in hand. Why he had a spatula since he did ice cream, Horyeong had no idea. “Stop messing with the customers, do you want me to get grounded again?”

 

“Tell your parents it was Hyogi’s fault,” Jae I said. “Besides, you said we’re not friends anymore since I ate your lasagna.”

 

“Which you have yet to pay me back for.” Haneul grabbed Jae I and Hwalchan’s ears, ignoring the two and their yelping. “Now go help Uiyeon over there, it looks like he’s in a trance.”

 

“You’re so ing dense,” Jae I muttered, waving to Daun. “See you guys in school, then.”