Chapter 1

It was raining, the flight got delayed so instead of sleeping at home as he expected to be by this time, Hoon is still in traffic. Hoon is seated at the back seat of the car and his head leaning at the window. His brother, who is seated in the front passenger seat, and driver picked him up at the airport.

Hoon was silently watching a video of Jinu. It was the first choreography Jinu made for Mino during one of his appearance in a variety show [A/N: Link of the reference video below]. Luckily, his older brother cannot see what he was watching as his brother was seated in the front passenger seat. He didn’t want his brother to see that even after all this time, he is watching videos of his brother’s favorite student.

“How long are you staying?” Seunghyun asked looking at his younger brother through the rearview mirror.

“I don’t know. Maybe two months.” Hoon glanced at his brother for a while before returning his gaze to his phone.

Unknown to Hoon, Seunghyun can actually see what he was watching through a reflection on the window. The reflection was blurred by the continuous rain falling in the window but Seunghyun has previously watched that video that he knows who was on it. It was his favorite student who is now a famous celebrity, Jinu. Seunghyun knows too well that when Hoon has his earbuds on that he doesn’t want to be disturbed in his little bubble. So he did not probed further about the video. Besides, he can see that his brother is not up to talking to him, especially about Jinu.

Hoon had been watching videos of Jinu for the past 2 hours after he saw his face in a make-up advert in one of the duty-free shops in the airport. After finding out that Jinu opened up a Dance Studio, he avoided looking for any news about his old friend. But now that he is in Korea, his curiosity got the best of him.

As he has been watching Jinu’s videos, most of his recommendation list were his videos. Most of them, he has watched already like the video of Jinu dancing a piece choreographed by one of his crewmates. He looked happy. A newly uploaded video of Jinu’s recent interview showed up in his recommendations and the title got him more curious, “How Kim Jinu started and his friendship with superstar Song Mino”. He thought about how far back of his beginnings will Jinu say in the interview. If it was from the very beginning, he was part of it, he and his brother, and not a very good part. Hoon clicked the video.

The interview was being made in what looks like one of the practice room in Joyous Dance, the Dance Studio Jinu owns. The Joyous Dance logo prominently their background. The interviewer was Gaby, a young female dancer who also vlogs about famous dance competitions. Hoon already met her in one of the international competitions he joined.

The question was how Joyous Dance started. “Ironically, I actually started Joyous Dance when I was in a lonely dark place. It stemmed from a series of failures but reborn with the arrogance of perseverance and determination.” Jinu smiled but his eyes were sad.

“Wow, nobody would think the now famous Joyous Dance was a product of failure.” Gaby asked.

Jinu bowed his head before facing Gaby again while answering. “It was. I was working multiple jobs then. Though teaching dance was also my dream, it was a different dream I was pursuing and saving up for during that time. But then I totally failed. So, I have this savings with a lost purpose.”

Gaby curiously asked, “What was that dream? I mean, I’ve witnessed how talented you are from the beginning. You are right, determination and perseverance in your eyes that time was like fire. With that, it’s very unlikely for you to fail.”

“I actually wanted to study contemporary dance abroad. But some personal things happened and I was not able to go. But I have no regrets now. If I was able to go then, maybe I will not be how I am now.” Jinu smiled and he continued, “After graduation, my friend Seulgi and I decided to open up Joyous Dance with both our savings. At first, we were the only ones in Joyous Dance but we met new friends and reunited with old ones like Deuk, Don and Irene who joined us.”

“It’s difficult to establish anything in Korea from scratch. How was your first days? Did students lined up after seeing your face? There are rumors you were popular in your part time jobs.” Gaby laughed a little.

“Oh no. We started with two students and 3 teachers, Me, Seulgi and Jay.” Jinu laughed, a hint of reminiscing can be seen from his face. “I guess the recognition and attention Joyous Dance is receiving started in our 8^th month. We joined a dance competition. We were crazy, we signed up without an established crew. Luckily, we were able to recruit enough dancers and students to complete the crew. We only had about two weeks to practice our piece and a solo performance for the competition. No one knew who we were, we were nobodies. We lost in the solo performance but we won first place in the group performance.” Jinu slightly tilted his head when he said they lost the solo performance.

“I saw your solo performance. It was, hmm, what I felt when I watched it was heartbreak. You were taking the audience to your own emotion. It’s a shame the piece did not won, I really love it.”

“I mean, I was up against Luffy from One Piece.” Jinu laughed. “That One Piece inspired solo was very creative and very enjoyable to watch. With my piece, I didn’t have enough time to prepare a solo so I just performed something I made months before and it’s just me being sad.”

“Yes, you uploaded a video of you performing the same routine in your account. I may or may not have contributed about a few hundred views as I watched it on repeat.”

Jinu smiled, “Thank you for liking it. Hearing the dance made that impression -.” Jinu was nodding, a sense of satisfaction seen in his face. “I guess I did good in conveying the message.”

Jinu nervously laughed and continued, “After the competition, Joyous Dance were contacted by Mino’s agency. I can confidently say Mino ignited the fire in Joyous Dance.”

Gabby nodded in agreement, “I remember that your first tv appearance was in Infinite Challenge as Mino’s back up dancers.”

“Yes, we choreographed for his song with Haha entitled ‘Shoot’.”

“Speaking of Mino, fans are noticing how close with each other you became.”

Jinu straightened his seat and his eyes glanced at someone from behind the camera before returning his attention to Gabby, “Yes, we have become close. He is friends with everyone in Joyous Dance. Mino, hmmmm…. He is a nice person and it’s not difficult to genuinely like his person.”

Hoon abruptly closed the video. He should stop watching Jinu’s videos. It’s been four years since they last talked, since they were last okay. He admits his guilt is still there when he hadn’t properly apologized to Jinu yet for what happened. Will he be able to do it now that he’s in Korea? He closed his eyes and tried to sleep. At least for now, he is content knowing Jinu is doing great.

Endnotes:

Again, I am falling for Huang Xiao laoshi’s talent so most links and references of performances are from him.

The link on the inspirational reference of the choreography video of Jinu on Mino’s song “Shoot” Hoon was watching during his car ride. I found this video by accident after thinking about this story. I was so happy I wanted to include it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSTaqGWs8to

Meanwhile this is the video Hoon watched that I imagined Jinu dancing with some of his crewmates. Allow me to imagine Jinu as Huang Xiao laoshi (the one wearing a white cap in this video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soeg0y39TII