Throughout most of his life, Howon had always felt like he never belonged. It started back when he was still in Busan, when he knew, deep inside, that he wasn’t meant to be learning mathematics or sciences in school like the rest of his classmates. He was twelve years old when he started dancing - it all started when he joined his older brother watch an American documentary on the b-boy culture. 

He was sixteen when his parents told him that he should focus more on school instead of dancing, which made him do the opposite. You know what they say, a strict parent only teaches their kids how to lie better. Howon started skipping classes. 

A little less than a year later, when he was seventeen, his parents found out that he had not been attending school and gave him a good beating. He was twelve days shy from his eighteenth birthday when he decided that he was done being misunderstood and he decided to drop out of school and ran away to Seoul. He did all of that only with a back pack and twenty five thousand won. 

He slept on the bench of an empty bus stop that night. He had no home, and he thought he would never need one anyway. He got himself a job at a convenience store and at night, he would find different spots to sleep or he would stay over in a bath house. Howon started finding dance crews to join and they would perform on the streets. He wasn’t sure if this would get him anywhere, but at least he was doing what he liked without having to hide, for once. The dance crew broke apart after his fourth month with them and once again, Howon was on his own. 

That was until, during a cold January, after the end of his shift at the convenience store, a young man approached him. 

“You’re one of the dancers that performed in the streets in Hongdae, aren’t you?” 

The man was slightly taller than him and he wore silver rings around his fingers that complimented his black blazer. Howon thought he must be someone rich. 

“Yes,” 

“You should come with me, I’m building an idol group and we need a dancer,” 

“I’m not interested being a part of an idol group,” Howon said. 

The man nodded, “So, what are you interested in?” 

“Dancing,” 

“You’ll get a lot of chances to dance, and choreograph,” 

Howon was quiet and then he shook his head, “I just want to dance,” 

“And where has that mentality taken you to? The streets of Hongdae?” 

“At least I like what I’m doing,” Howon defended himself.

“You say that now,” The man scoffed, “If you keep on playing small like this, you’ll still be in the same street doing the same thing in five years. I doubt you’ll still like what you’re doing. If you take my offer, I can make you a world star in five years. You can leave after that if you want, I don’t care, but you’ll have a brighter future,” 

Howon didn’t respond again. Truth was, he was tired of figuring out where to sleep for the night and the money he got from working in the convenience store won’t afford him a bedroom anytime soon. 

“You can think about it overnight,” the older man said, “Stop going to the bath house, you can sleep at my place,” 

Howon was wary, but after all, he had nothing to lose. So, he followed the man, who he later found out that his name was Lee Jaesok, to his house and he spent the night there. It was his first time in months that he slept in an actual bed and he started to question his decision. He quickly brushed those thoughts away - he had too much pride to go back home to Busan. The next day he told Jaesok that he would be a part of his group. 

The first person that Jaesok introduced him was a narrow eyed boy called Kim Sunggyu. Sunggyu had been with Jaesok’s company for two years now and Howon wasn’t a fan of him. Howon felt that Sunggyu was too rigid and bossy - he was also bad at dancing and he couldn’t believe Jaesok was thinking of putting them in a group together. 

One day, after one of their full day of practice, Howon found out that he had twelve missed calls from his younger brother - the only member of his family that was in touch with him. The practice room was already empty when he called him back. And that was when he found out that his dad had been in a major car accident, and was hospitalized. 

“Hyung, you need to come home, please,” 

“I- I can’t,” Howon replied shakily. His knees felt weak and he let his body fall down on the floor. There was no way Jaesok would let him go back to Busan, nor did he have the money to buy a train ticket. 

“This might be the last time you see him,”

“I’m sorry, Jin Ho,” 

Howon had nothing else to say, so he hung up, not wanting his brother to hear him cry. He wasn’t sure how long it had been since he started sobbing with his arms above his knees, curled up on the ground, when someone entered the room. 

“Howon?” 

Howon quickly wiped his tears at the sound of someone calling him. He saw Sunggyu standing in front of the door - he was the last person Howon wanted to see. 

“Sorry, I’ll get going,” Howon quickly stood up and packed his stuffs. 

“No, what happened?” Sunggyu blocked the door with his body, stopping Howon from escaping his question. 

Howon was hesitant to share and only shook his head as he stared on the floor, “It’s nothing,” 

“I know you don’t like me, but you can trust me,” Sunggyu insisted, “Just let me help you,”

Howon wasn’t planning to cry again, but he broke down in front of Sunggyu and he couldn’t stop the words coming out of his mouth. He told Sunggyu how his brother just called to be the bearer of the bad news, how he was missing home but he never wanted to call his family and how he was starting to q