The noontime day was a scorching eighty degrees. May of the school’s athletic teams were on their fields working out and practicing drills in their matching uniforms. There were barely any clouds in the sky, but the easy-going breeze was a nice compensation for the scorching weather.

            “Are you nervous?” his mom’s voice echoed through the car while she turned around to look at her son in the backseat.

            “I don’t think he’s nervous. He’s a Choi, he’s going to be perfectly fine.” His smiling father chimed in as he looked in the rearview mirror at his melancholy son who was staring out the window with a blank expression on his face.

            “You’re going to do so well.” His mother said with a smile as she sat forward in her seat and looked ahead at the road again. “It was so great that you were accepted on a scholarship.”

            “I just hope I can make the team. Then I’ll be able to keep the scholarship.” He spoke in a melancholy voice.

            “With those long legs of yours, you’re going to be the top-athlete.” His mother clapped with joy, clasping her hands together when she was done, desperate to make her son happy.

            “I don’t know.” He said with a sigh. “This is a school for the best of the best. What if my best is the worst on their team?”

            “You’ll still have made the team, then!” His father loudly joked and they all let out a laugh.

            They arrived on the large campus and drove through two towering, black iron gates that held onto a high stone wall. It felt like Hogwarts: a castle-looking exterior with high towers and immense courtyards in the front. Getting to the entrance, two men opened the door for them on either side and greeted them kindly. He stepped onto the cobblestone walkway and went to the trunk of the car and after opening it, took a few bags along with the men who opened the door. His parents and he were escorted to the main office, where they received his rooming keys and were guided to his dormitory.

            The dark-haired boy stared upwards with his dark eyes at the tall ceilings and ornate decorations and tapestries that lined the walls and below his feet was a long, red-colored rug lined on the edges with a gold design. They went up a set of large stairs with neatly-polished banisters and down a few more hallways, turning left twice and then right once to where his room was.

            “This place is huge, do people ever get lost?” he asked one of the men who helped him carry his things to his room and they told him that once in a while someone will get lost but it is almost impossible to do so.

            His parents helped to unpack his things into his room and said goodbye to their son. He had a room that was relatively fair-sized and it was plain, but he didn’t mind. It would have to be his home-away-from-home for now on. The entire school was large, however, and if he hadn’t asked a lucky passerby where the exits to the fields were, he might not have ever found it. He lightly jogged towards the group of students running on the track.

            When they passed his position, he raised his right hand halfway and said, “Excuse me?” but not a single one of them stopped or even looked in his general direction. “I’m here to try out for the team!” he yelled at them and the person in the front of the line yelled something and they slowly jogged around the track and when they were back at his position, the member in the front of the line excused herself.

            “You’re here to try for the team?” she asked with an attitude as she walked over to a cooler and took a water bottle from it, her face sweating from the heat of the day and the workout.

            The glint of the whistle around her neck caught his eye as she brought it to and blew on it. Suddenly the team finished the lap in a sprint and each grabbed a water of their own and lay down under the trees nearby to catch their breath. They were all in a sports uniform colored a deep red with white, gold and black detail.

            “You’re late.” She said to him looking him up and down. “You think that you can just walk up late to practice and expect to have a try-out?” she walked up to him and looked at him in the face, as tall as he was, and stared him down intently and he studied her body over, looking over every detail with his large, brown eyes.

            Another bead of sweat dropped from her forehead past her well-kept brows and her dark brown eyes which seemed black as she faced away from the sun as it beat down from behind her. She shook her head from the sweat, her long, straight ponytail swaying from side to side, her dark brown hair catching light in the sun- glints of gold and red interlaced here and there caught his eye. Her outfit was comprised of a short sleeved under armor tee and mesh shorts, both in a gold and white color – the school’s colors- and both were full of sweat from the heat of the day, but they were different from the others, signifying she was of some status. She was not thin like a lot of girls, but nor was she heavy. By the way her body was formed, she was an athlete: her legs were larger and muscular, and her shoulders were well-shaped and her arms were toned- a type of girl he wouldn’t want to get in a fight with.  

            “What are you looking at? The fact that I’m not ulzzang thin… does it bother you?” she said to him while she put her hand on her hip and shifted her weight to her left leg. She then crossed her arms and he stepped a step back.

            He hadn’t noticed that. It wasn’t her weight that concerned him, but her as an entire body. He tried not to stare at her for too long and looked at the ground out of nervousness. His stomach began to churn.

            “If you want to try out come tomorrow when we start.” She said as she walked towards the team.

            “What time?” he called to her.

            “Six AM.” She yelled without turning around and he wiped the bead of sweat that had formed on his face.

            Feeling defeated, he returned to the school and took a walk around indoors. He returned to the entrance after retracing his steps and began again there. There was a boy walking down the hallway with a few bags in his hands, struggling as he was walking. Hurrying, he grabbed a falling bag with a smile and helped him with two of them, easing his load.

            “Thanks.” He laughed. “I’m JiYong.” He said to the boy. “What’s your name?”

            “MinHo.” He smiled as he shifted the bags on his shoulder.

            “Where are you from?”

            Their conversation continued as they went through two sets of doors and found themselves at a stairwell. MinHo began to climb the steps and turned to continue talking when he saw that JiYong stopped at the bottom.

            “Are you tired?” MinHo laughed.

            “No, I’m getting my keycard out.” JiYong laughed as he pulled a wallet from his back pocket and waved it over the keypad on the wall. MinHo watched as the doors of the elevator glided open with ease and JiYong stepped inside.

            “Are you coming?” he laughed and the tall boy stepped down the stairs and entered the elevator. Ji waved his wallet in front of another sensor on the elevator and pressed the button labeled ‘3’.

            “You have a keycard yet?” Jiyong asked as the doors closed in front of them.

            “They said I will get it soon, so I have to use the stairs for now.” MinHo smiled as he jumped his shoulder to get a better grip on the bag.

            The elevator rang a light bell and the doors opened once more. They exited and turned a right down the hallway and after passing two doors, stopped. Ji took his wallet and swiped it once more and the door unlocked allowing him to enter. They took off their shoes at the entry way when they entered.

The door opened and MinHo’s eyes grew larger than they already were as he exclaimed, “Your room is huge!”

            “It’s kind of small compared to some of the others.”

            “Small?” MinHo asked to himself in awe as he looked at the large, empty room, taking a step around. “Where is the furniture?”

            “I have to pick it up from the storage unit. They wouldn’t let me keep it here over the summer.”

            “What year are you?” he asked as he put the bags down next to the ones Jiyong had put down

            “I’m a senior.” He smiled at the boy as he fell backwards on the bed, his arms outstretched in either direction. “You?”

            “I just transferred as a junior on a running scholarship.”

            “Running?” JiYong looked at MinHo with a face of ‘are you sure?’ and then laughed, raising his head up and down quickly for each word. “Good. Luck.”

            “Why?”

            “Have you met the coach yet?” he looked at him.

            “I think I just did but she seemed like she was a student.”

            JiYong stood in silence as he looked at the tall figure before him with narrowing eyes, nodding as he said, “You have a lot to learn.”

 

            It finally came the next day, many more people moved in around him, and his legs were sore from walking up and down the stairs and as much as he wanted to go to try-outs, the weather was horribly stormy and he was hesitant. He walked outside at one minute after six to a most unkind-looking face waiting for him in the pouring rain. Her arms were crossed and her eyes pierced into his very soul from under her uniform-colored wind-breaker’s hood, smacking her gum to the tune of his demise.

            “You’re late.” She said to him with a stern voice and he looked around and saw the rest of the team had already gotten there and were waiting.

            “By a minute.” He spoke back and one person on the team let out a sigh.

            “Arguing with me now?” she said with an unusual tone. “Well then, what’s your name?” she smiled at him.

            From the corner of his eye he saw one of the teammates shaking their head ‘no’ to him.

            “Choi MinHo.” He said as he looked down from his tall stance.

            “Thanks do your new friend Choi MinHo,” she turned to the team, “We will be doing fifteen laps and for arguing, you will be doing sprints as well.” She smiled and the team looked at him with anger in their hearts and they expressed it vividly on their faces. The rain was a vertical wall from the heavens.

            “As always, I’ll do six with you and then I’ll watch you from then on.” She said and blew the whistle and the team got into lines on the track, three members in each of the five lanes. “The way this works, for the new members out here, is that when you do a lap, you will change to the next lane and so on and so forth. When you are done with your fifteen laps, we’ll have a sprinting race to test your speed.”

            She blew the whistle and they began to do a light jog around the track in their soaking wet clothing. When she completed her sixth lap, she stood alongside the track and watched as the members continued, some struggling more than others because of the added weight.

            “Keep your back straight.” She would yell over the rain as well as other helpful tips to keep them running efficiently. “Don’t kill yourselves, if you honestly can’t run anymore get yourself off of my track and come next to me.”

            “I have to continue.” MinHo thought to himself. “Even if I hurt, I want to prove to her that I won’t give up.”

            “You tired, MinHo?” she called to him.

            “I wonder if she can tell even in the rain?” he thought to himself and yelled ‘no’ to her.

            They had completed their laps and were allowed to rest and drink water as the rain continued to fall with no sound of thunder in the air still.

            “On the track.” She called as she blew the whistle and the team jogged to the starting line, their shoes squishing under their feet.

            She called out names and those five would line up and when she blew the whistle, they would run to the end of the straightaway of the track, where she was standing and would mentally record who was the fastest of the group.

            “Last four.” She called, which included MinHo. “I’ll be running with you. Don’t go easy on me.”

            “Don’t you go easy on me.” MinHo said as a joke.

            “Oh so you’ve heard?” she smiled as she readied herself and another member of the team who had finished their sprinting called to them to begin and they set off.

            The end was a close finish between herself, MinHo and a third member, though MinHo ultimately won.

            “You beat me.” She said to him with a slight smile. “It’s those long legs of yours, you gazelle.” She slapped his back hard and he let out a slight smile.

            “We’re done for today, but I think bonding is in order for now. When school officially starts, I’ll post the roster as usual to if you made the team or not.”

            “Will we train with you until the beginning of school?” he asked.

            “If you want, but it will be your loss if you don’t and I don’t tolerate late arrivals, so make sure you are ready by six if you’re serious.” She said to him.

            “What’s your name, I meant to ask?” MinHo questioned.

            “Kim Ra Im.” She said. “I’m a senior, so that makes me your sunbae, junior.”

            He stood there in shock.

            “How did I know?” she joked with him, a smile on her face, “I do backgrounds on everyone I come across. Just a personal preference to know about the people I have to interact with. Sometimes it gives you and advantage, you know?” she shrugged with a smile and led the team to the school.

            They all went inside as she held the doors open for them and met in a meeting room once they had dried themselves off and changed into their dry uniforms. MinHo was given an extra one for the time being.

            “I’m pretty confident in all of you and I see no real reason to cut any of you, so consider yourselves part of the team. And since that’s the case,” Ra Im spoke, “I think proper team bonding is in order.”

            “What should we do?” a member asked.

            “Let’s play a few games. The first is my game. A few of you who have been with me know the rules already, but I will explain to the new members: Basically I’m going to let you me out in any way possible, and from tomorrow on, we will not remember it, nor will we hold a grudge against anything the other person says. MinSeop, you are one of our senior members, please give a demonstration.”

            “You’re a .” MinSeop said with a smile on his face and confidence in his voice.

            “I can accept that.” She nodded. “The point of this is to know your own flaw so you won’t be on a pedestal since you know each other relatively well for the most part, and for the new members, I want you to state your own flaws. Recognizing these can help you grow, too. We’ll start with me because I’m perfect and it will go by quickly.” She chuckled with the flick of a wrist.

            “You’re too hard on yourself and you overdo it sometimes even when you’re not supposed to.” One boy spoke up.

            “You take things too seriously.”

            “You’re a .” MinSeop repeated and people laughed.

            “I hate you for your boyfriend.” One girl said with pursed lips and a roll of the eyes. “Because you’re breaking the rules.”

            “And by tomorrow I won’t remember that and will continue on with my life.” She smiled.

            Everyone in the room continued like this until no one had any more to say. She excused them from the meet and she called MinHo back to wait with her.

            “So you’re new here, tell me about yourself.” She said as she slowly sat in a chair and showed a face of relief once she did- she looked as if she was in great pain even sitting. She took out a cellphone from her pocket and looked at it with steady eyes reading the message she received.

            “Oh.” MinHo said sitting across the table from her in a chair. “About me? Uh.”

            “Never mind.” She stood with visible pain her face. “I suddenly lost interest.”

            She walked out of the room, leaving him there. He sighed and left the meeting room and saw her, following her from a distance to learn how to get out of the athletics portion of the school. When they were in the main hallway again, he recognized it and ended up following her up the stairs to the third floor to where his room was.

            She turned the corner first to a long hallway with only a few doors, turned twice more and found himself in the hallway where he had helped Jiyong unpack and he looked down the hallway once more after being sidetracked and saw she was gone, but heard no door closing or opening. He walked down the hallway casually; his hands in his borrowed sweatpants pockets and looked around. Nothing was out of order and he shrugged but as he went to turn back, he looked at the walls to observe their beauty. The end of the hall had a large floor-to-ceiling wooden carving detailing a picture of a wilderness scene that stood between two doors that looked as if they had been untouched for many years. As he observed, he counted twelve animals. He touched the fox that was carved out and noticed a little notch below it and touched it. It felt unusual as if it had been chipped and repainted. Shrugging, he stepped back, his hand still in the notch and pulled on it by accident, for it was stuck. The wall pulled forward and opened slightly. His eyes opened wide again.

            Looking around him to make sure no one was looking, he pulled it further when he saw the coast was clear and the large wooden structure swung on a hinge like a door. He peered behind it and slipped into the hallway that was opened for him, shutting the door behind him. There was no light and he felt his way through the dark stairway, wood by the touch. He reached the top and there was visible light coming from a few windows, and on his left was a door left ajar. He walked through it cautiously and found himself in a dark room, a few windows lighting a path. He walked forward and then to the right, where he noticed another door open to a long, dark hallway. He blindly followed it, the stone halls smelling of must and dampness made him wonder if he was to get lost, who would know? He began to hear voices and followed them, quickening his pace. At the end of the long, twisting hallway, he slowed down as there came a light at the end. Cautiously, he crouched to the ground and avoided the cobwebs above him at the same time. As he continued on his path, he observed the two speaking voices.

            “School’s starting soon. I hope we won’t run into trouble. We’re almost home free, you know.” He heard a girl’s voice. It was a soothing voice to his ears and he stopped moving so he wouldn’t lose her words and took a seat on the ground for a minute. “Senior year- we did it. No one figured us out. That’s such a great thing. I feel we did our ancestors well.”

            “Yeah.” He heard a male voice, deep and sultry- one that he was sure women would fall for. “It’s funny how we ended up like this, in this whole secret group thing. I wonder if anyone really suspects.”

            “I think as long as they believe the Grey Fox is a complete fake, and then we’re in the stretch.”

            “Grey Fox?” MinHo whispered but his words echoed and he covered his mouth quickly, his eyes wide. He tuned and stood to leave but a hand grabbed him at his collar before he could think and dragged him through the remainder of the hallway. His eyes were blinded by a handkerchief of some sort and he was sat in a wooden chair, his hands feeling the ornate armrests as he sat there. It was comfortable and large, the chair, something he imagined would look like a throne if he had seen it.

            “How did you get in here?” the female voice asked him and he felt nervous. She sounded far away.

            “I found this wooden door and I was looking at the carvings,” MinHo explained. “I felt this ridge near the one of a fox and I pulled on it when I was walking away and the door just opened.”

            “I just opened?” the male voice asked, who was standing or sitting beside him, he couldn’t tell for it was black as the darkest time of night underneath the blindfold.

            “I promise.” MinHo said and there was silence.

            “MinHo this is all a dream.” The female voice said to him and he looked in the direction it came from. He listened as her footsteps came closer to his location.

            “I don’t think it is.”

            “It is a dream and you should sleep.” She said and he was going to speak another word but a cloth as placed over his mouth and he held his breath, closing his eyes tightly. He let his head fall limp.

            “That was close.” She said when she removed the rag from his nose and mouth. “I hate having to use these. I feel so lethal and I always worry that they won’t wake up.”

            “He’ll wake up.” He assured her, standing from his chair. “Do you know this kid?”

            “Yes.” She looked at him, taking off the blindfold from his eyes. “His name is Choi MinHo. He tried out for my team a few days ago. Quite the runner: his long legs just take him that much farther. He’s quick, too. A little more quiet than I would have thought, but he’s an alright kid so far.”

            “If I didn’t know any better I’d say you favor him already.”

            “He’s the human form of a gazelle, of course I favor him.” She chuckled. “Now get him out of here before he wakes up.”

            “Do you know where his room is?” the male voice said as he hoisted the boy onto his shoulders.

            “No, but I’m sure it’s in his pocket.” She said as she reached into MinHo’s pocket with relative ease, pulling out his ticketed keycard. “Not even an auxiliary pass yet.”

            “So where is it?”

            “It’s right down the hall, a silver room.” She said and the two of them went to the room. Unlocking it with the key pass, she opened the door for her friend and he brought the boy into the room and put him on the bed.

            “His room is small. Is he a sophomore?” he asked her, his dark brown eyes observing the plain arrangement of the room.

            “No. He’s a junior by rank.”

            “A junior with this kind of a room?” he asked.

            “Don’t ask me, I wasn’t the one who put him here.” She said as she threw his keycard onto his bed beside him. “Now let’s leave before he wakes up.” She said and motioned for him to leave and he was curious as to why but she silently told him again and he closed the door as she waited in the room, her arms folded across her chest.

            When the door closed, she waited. A minute after the door was closed, his head sprang up and her suspicions were true- he had held his breath long enough. Jumping up from his bed he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her there. His face became red.

            “So you were awake for the entire thing, huh?” she narrowed her eyes at him.

            “Are you going to kick me off the team?” he looked at her with great concern.

            “Kick you off the team?” she said loudly and followed her statement with a laugh. “You find out the school’s biggest secret and you’re only worried about being kicked off of the team? Choi MinHo what is wrong with you?”

            “Wrong? I’m not the one keeping secrets.” He looked at her from his seat on the bed.

            “Look, MinHo. If you tell anyone it could jeopardize a lot of lives and I mean in a real life and death situation. You cannot tell anyone. You have to promise me that you’ll never tell a soul and you’ll keep it until you die, do you hear me? You have to promise that you’ll forget this incident.”

            “I promise.” He nodded his head furiously.

            “If I find out,” she said as she put her hand on the door handle. “That you told someone and my secret was spilled, I will personally make sure that there was never a Choi MinHo in this school, or in this city, this country or on this earth.”

            “I’m sure my parents would notice.” He said as she opened the door.

            “Your parents wouldn’t exist, either.” She said without turning to face him, leaving the room soon after.

            He was confused, and let himself fall back onto his mattress cover, a deep green that reminded him of the walls in his old bedroom.

            “A secret society?” he asked himself but tried not to think of it and picked himself off of his bed to shower.

 

            Before school officially began in August, the weather was in a standing heat wave which made the temperatures soar higher than in previous weeks as a final hoorah before it began to turn into the chill of fall. Kim Ra Im spared no time in getting the team out early to the track before it became hot but she wouldn’t run with them. She would wait until they were done around noon to begin her running, so she would work in the heat.

            “Why does she run in the heat?” MinHo asked himself. “Does she want to cause herself more harm than good?”

            It was the following day that they had gone out early once more and someone new joined them.

            “Hey, I thought I’d come and join you today.” The boy said and MinHo looked at him with narrowed eyes towards the ground, listening to his voice; it was familiar.

            “Hey there.” She smiled at him and gave him a loving hug. “This is my friend Choi SeungHyun.” She smiled greatly towards the team.

            SeungHyun raised his hand halfway in a hello with a small smile at the side of his mouth. “Are you going to run, too?” his silky voice sounded in the foggy morning air.

            “I’m going to run later.” She smiled.

            “Why do you pressure yourself with the heat when you can run when it is still cold out?”

            “Because I’m frustrated about a lot of things and you know how much I appreciate running.” She smiled at him and blew the silver whistle at the team, who lined up on the track and began to run.

            “I really came to watch your favorite new player.” SeungHyun joked with a smile, looking down at his shorter friend as she carefully observed her team.

            “He certainly is a favorite. Just look at him go. He puts his all into it. I can tell he doesn’t enjoy it for the sport, but I think he enjoys it because it pays his bill.” She smiled and blew the whistle again.

            “Does he know?”

            “He does. But he said he wouldn’t tell. I don’t know him well enough to say this with one hundred percent confidence, but I think he’d keep the secret.” She said to him, looking at him as he face towards the track.

            When the team had finished, SeungHyun had left and Ra Im took her position on the track. The sun was high in the sky and she began to run at great speeds, too daring to be healthy.

            “Don’t you think she’ll get tired doing that?” MinHo asked Minseop as they walked to the locker rooms.

            “She likes running when her mind is filled with things. It somehow gives her relief. She’s been like that since I’ve known her.”

            “Won’t she get dehydrated, too?” MinHo asked as he looked back once more before entering the door.

            “Well, aren’t you a little too worried?” Minseop laughed at him and MinHo shed a smile to please him. “She’ll be fine. She knows what she’s doing. If it pleases you, you can go and watch from the hallway  and you’ll be able to watch her and make sure she’s alright.”

            “Thanks.” MinHo said before he stripped himself of his shirt and stepped into the locker room showers, washing himself of his sweat. After drying himself and changing into dry clothes, he went to the hallway and looked out the window, but saw no one running. “She must have gone inside already.” He said aloud and continued down the hallway, but stopped for a moment and returned to the window to look once more. He saw she had been running on a portion of the track masked by the large bleachers extending towards him. He watched as she ran faster and faster around the track.

            “She over-exerts herself, you see?” Minseop laughed and caught MinHo off guard for he thought he was alone. “She’ll kill herself doing that one day.”

            MinHo watched on as Minseop walked on, and turning his attention to Ra Im once more, he watched as she ran. She then tripped as she came to a straightaway.

            “Ra Im!” he called out and ran back through the hallway. Pushing out of the doors the heat hit him like a wall but despite its intensity he made a fierce dash towards the track. The heat intensified with the beating of the sun as he ran towards her, as she lay on the ground still.

            “Ra Im are you alright?” he knelt down beside her taking her hand to hit it lightly.

            “Did you pass out again?” Minseop, who had run behind MinHo, stood over her in the direction of the sun as to shade her face. “You know why you shouldn’t do that, stupid girl.”

            “Don’t call her that!” MinHo glared.

            “I’m her brother, let me be.” He glared back at the tall boy.

            “B-brother?” he asked as Minseop took the hand that MinHo held and used it to pull her up and hoist her on his back. With a small grunt, he began to move towards the school.

            “How are you two related?” MinHo asked as he lightly jogged to Minseop’s side and then walked with him towards the school.

            “She’s my sister and I’m her brother- could you open the door for me?” Minseop stopped moving and MinHo pulled open the door and held it open for him so he could bring her in.

            “Will she be alright?” MinHo asked as they walked into the school.

            “She does this all of the time, but one day I won’t be there to pick her up and I fear that she’ll be left alone on that hot track and suffer for it.” Minseop said as he placed her down on a bench, tired from carrying her and because her body was still at a high temperature, he was beginning to feel the heat as well and wiped his sweat with a cloth he had in his pocket.

            “So how is she your sister?” MinHo asked.

            “What, because she’s – she’s different or something to you because she doesn’t look full Korean?” Minseop let out a disappointed sigh. “Everyone picks on that about her.”

            “I wasn’t-“

            “You were,” Minseop interrupted, “I’m not holding it against you. It’s just what people do. When she was born, her dad was a traveler, so she was left with our mother here in Korea. She was born with a birth… defect I guess you could call it. She went to the United States to live with her grandparents and get studied and try to fix it. She learned a few languages there and came back when she was seven. She’s lived with us ever since.”

            “She’s done a lot.” MinHo said. “Do you want me to carry her?”

            “Look, I don’t know you, so don’t get this the wrong way or anything but I don’t want a stranger touching my sister. It’s weird.”

            “Oh.” MinHo said half defeated. “That’s fine, I understand.”

            “But could you open the elevator for me?” he said as he hoisted her into his arms once more. “I don’t think I can do that.”

            After much struggle, Minseop and MinHo brought her to her room, which was across the hall and a little ways down from where JiYong had placed his bags, and he took the card out of her pocket and handed it to MinHo, who opened the door. Putting the card into the holder turned the lights on and he was speechless- the room was fit for a queen. His jaw dropped.

            “Is this really her room?” MinHo gazed at its beauty.

            The room was indeed large, larger than any he had seen. What made her deserve such a room as this? When you walked in, there was a staircase in front of you that went upwards to a room that he could not see into. On his immediate left, there was a small, open kitchen with a full stove, large fridge and plenty of counter space atop the maple wood cabinets. Past the kitchen and the large mirror that hung on the wall was a combined dining and small living area which held a large couch, a smaller love seat and a fair-sized coffee table made of the same maple wood in the center; the dining area held a table large enough for twelve people as well as a bookcase and a shelf for various knick-knacks. A light classical music track was playing in the background, it sounded as if it was coming from every inch of the walls for every note was crystal clear as if you were standing in the room with the orchestra itself.

            Minseop climbed the stairs with her in his arms and MinHo followed. Her bedroom was large and spacious, with a queen sized bed against one wall crisp and clean white sheets covered the dark wooden frame that peaked out from under at the foot and the head of the bed. Minseop placed her on the bed for a moment while he walked to the bathroom, his sock-covered feet barely making a sound on the wood. He began to run the bathwater in the tub.

            “MinHo, do me a favor?” Minseop called as he sat on the edge of the tub, his hand under the running water feeling its temperature go up and down as he turned the handles.

            “What?”

            “Go get me ten bags of ice from the kitchen. Just tell the woman there that Lee Minseop sent you and she’ll be fine with it. She might even try to give you thirteen bags, but only get ten.” Minseop smiled at MinHo.

            “Lee?” he asked.

            “Just go, please. When you get back knock and I’ll let you back in.” he said as MinHo descended the stairs.

            Putting on his shoes, he opened the door to leave.

            “Ah Ra Im, I was just lo-” a male voice said and then stopped short. “What are you doing in Kim Ra Im’s room?”

            “I was just-”

            “Are you trying to seduce her?” he looked at MinHo with narrowing eyes, a deathly stare, his stance becoming taller and his nose ascending.

            “N-no.” MinHo shook his head. “I was going to go get bags of ice, Minseop sent me.”

            “Minseop? Is he there?” the boy rose his eyebrow, his whole face turning with the expression. “Ice for what?”

            “Can you tell me where the kitchen is SeungHoon?” MinHo asked.

            SeungHyun’s expression dropped as he only gestured down the hall with his hand and one of the boys who was with him laughed, hitting his arm.

            “SeungHyun, I’ll take him, don’t worry.” He laughed and went to MinHo, grabbing his wrist and pulling him violently down the corridor.

            “Don’t worry about him, he just cares too much for Ra Im. I’m Kim Kibum, by the way, but everyone calls me Key. I don’t really know why,” he rolled his eyes as they walked towards the elevator, “I’m not from overseas or anything but it just stuck. A lot of people call me Almighty Key, too. Mostly girls.” He shrugged with a devious grin on his face as the elevator door closed.

            “I’m Choi MinHo.” He introduced himself.

            “Are you wearing insoles?” Key asked bluntly as he opened the door to the kitchen, not bothering to hold it open for MinHo who was right behind him.

            “No, I’m naturally this tall.” MinHo smiled.

            “Oh.” He replied condescendingly.

            “Hello!” Key smiled and bowed politely at a woman as he entered the room.

            “We need thirteen bags of ice, please.” MinHo said after he bowed. “Oh, ten. Not thirteen.”

            “What for?”

            “For me, I need them.” Key pleaded with the woman.

            “No, it’s for Ra Im. Minseop sent me to get ice for her.”

            “Did she collapse again? That girl is going to get in a lot of trouble one of these days.” The woman fussed and pointed to the freezer. “Take as much as you need and return the cart when you’re done.”

            MinHo opened the stainless steel door and a gush of frozen air overtook him and his body shook. He looked inside and saw bags of ice lying on the floor. Taking the cart from outside, he put the ten bags onto it and pulled the cart out of the freezer with no help from Key, who was standing outside waiting for him.

            Key held the door for MinHo as he pushed the cart out into the hallway and swiped the pass and the doors opened, revealing the elevator once more. Pressing the number three, the doors closed and they began their ascent.

            “So this is your first year here?” Key asked as he observed himself in the mirror of the elevator, fixing his hair over and over by taking small strands and arranging them perfectly. He turned to MinHo and waited for an answer. “You don’t have a chance with her so stop falling in love with her already, alright?” Key yelled and startled the distracted boy.

            “I wasn’t thinking of that.” MinHo looked down. “This is my first year here, yes. I’m a-”

            “Junior, I know.” He turned with a roll of his eyes and fixed his sweater before the bell sounded and the doors opened he quickly exited the elevator before MinHo and walked ahead of him towards the door, knocking on it.

            SeungHyun was leaning against a door on the opposite side of the hallway, his hands folded in his chest with a fearsome expression on his face, his lips pursed.

            “It’s about time you got back.” Minseop yelled as he opened the doors.

            They carried the ice up the stairs by lifting the cart backwards up them once by one. MinHo carted the ice into the bathroom, where he found Ra Im sitting in the tub looking ill, but she was awake.

            “Can you stand?”

            “Can I stand?” she mocked. “I can stand. Of course I can stand, who do you think I am?”

            She carefully stood in the tub and they loaded four bags into the bottom and she lay on top of it, grimacing at the cold and the pain she was feeling.

            “I’m glad you’re cooperating.” Minseop said as he cut another bag with a knife, pouring the contents into the tub over her body. She gripped the tub with her hands, her nails scratching against the surface as she tightened her grip.

            “It feels good and bad at the same time. I’m both in sweltering heat and in freezing waters. I’m just really tired, too.” She said as she closed her eyes and then opened them again.

            “So that’s what the ice was for.” SeungHyun casually walked into the large bathroom with them, and despite there being three of them outside of the tub, there was still plenty space between them.

            “What is this, a garden party?” she questioned and made a face when another bag of ice was poured on top of her.

            “I told you it was true.” MinHo looked at him with an upset face.

            “Shouldn’t you be returning your cart, junior.” SeungHyun spoke down to him, looking at him from the edge of his nose.

            “I’ll need a pass, then, Key.” MinHo held out his hand and Key looked at him bluntly. Minseop gave him his pass and MinHo left the room, heading down the stairs and out the door once he put his shoes back on.

            “So you collapsed again, huh?” SeungHyun asked as Minseop left to throw away the empty ice bags. “I think at this point you want to kill yourself.”

            “I was just frustrated.” She said as she lay her head back on the tub.

            “About?” Key asked as he hoisted himself onto the counter and sat there, leaning gently against the mirrored wall.

            “MinHo found us out.” She said. “I thought I had put him under when I put the cloth to his mouth, but he held his breath like I thought he did. I caught him on it later. It bothered me so much I needed to run.”

            “But you can’t run.” SeungHyun protested.

            “I know that. But I needed to.” Ra Im huffed. She made a fist with her left hand and hit the edge of the tub. “My leg gave out again. Why does it do that, why can’t it just be fixed?”

            “It can’t be fixed. You have to let it heal.” Key laughed at her.

            “It was healed. It’s not going to get better. The doctor said I have to stop running at all this year. I think maybe I was hoping to get in as much running as possible before-”

            “-Before what?” SeungHyun interrupted, his voice going to a yell, “You died?”

            “Shut up or get out!” She yelled at him and he stayed put, crossing his arms once more.

            “What’s all the yelling for?” Minseop questioned as he returned to the bathroom. “Besides, you’re supposed to only be in there for another twenty minutes or so.” He looked at his phone which he took out from his back pants pocket to check the time.

            “SeungHyun wants me dead.”

            “I never said that.” He argued back with a laugh. “For that I’m going to raid your wine cabinet.”          

            “Don’t touch the reds I’m saving those.” She tried to get out of the tub to grab him but her brother held her shoulder and she shrieked in pain, startling Key and SeungHyun. Minseop’s face was bitter with fear for his sister.

            “Sit still.” He cautioned.

            She showered and laid herself in her bed, arms folded as she could not fall asleep. The bell at her door rang and she looked at the door that lead to the stairs, wishing she could have someone open it for her. With a huff, she got out of bed and yelled at the door when the bell rang a second and third time. She had formulated who was behind the door before she opened it, but to her surprise, she was wrong.

            “Well, this is a surprise.” She smiled at them.