“I’m glad the ten of you could join me early today.” Her voice echoed through the dimly lit meeting room, their oasis away from the chaos of school that only they knew about.

            “We’re all here.” SeungHyun walked casually to his wooden throne-like chair and putting his hand on the top of the ornate carvings of the chair, swiveling it around as his body traveled, and sat himself in it, his hands moving to the lavishly carved armrests. “What is this meeting about?”

            “SeungHyun, Bom, Jiyong, Zico, Kris, Amber, Tao, TaeMin and Kibum: I have asked you to gather for the first meeting of the year, which will also unfortunately be my last for a while.”

            The group was stunned and the silence in the room became deafening and unnatural. The walls seemed to close in and the darkness around them became an abyss. The chairs creaked as they moved out of nervousness for her next few words.

            “Will you be back?” Key’s voice pierced the silence like a sword as he asked with deep concern in his voice, his eyes never leaving hers watching their every motion as she focused on the members seated before her.

            Her chair creaked and she slowly stood and looked at their old round table, which had clearly been in a few battles of its own with nicks indented and pieces missing; their respective animal was nearest them, she took a minute to touch the carving of the fox that was in front of her. She looked at her silver fox-head ring. “No.” she touched the ring with her other hand as it sat on her finger, staring with its two jeweled eyes. Looking up, she looked at Minseop, who was asked to come as he was not part of the membership.

            “I’ve asked you to come, Minseop, to ask if you wanted your position back?” she took the ring from her finger and held it out in front of her but he remained standing at the opposite end of the table, his hands in his pocket.

            “I don’t want it.” He said looking at her from the side and then returned his vision to the black void ahead of him. “That ring is yours. It was passed down to you.”

            “I want to give you the team.” She said and he choked, holding in a quick breath; a tear fell from his eye and he wiped it with his sleeve. “I want you to push them. Push MinHo. I know he won’t like this. He’s attached to me. Push him until he breaks. When he breaks, kick him when he’s down. Make him angry with you. His anger will fuel his desire to run.”

            “I won’t do what they did to you.” Minseop said before he clenched his hands in his pockets and began to leave. “If that’s all, I’m leaving.”

            “That’s all for you.” She said and he left through a separate entrance than they had come through.

            “Will you be back?” Key repeated with the same tone, shifting nervously in his chair, the creaking unsettling.

            “Probably not until the very end; I don’t know how long my medical leave will be.”

            “Medical leave?” Zico asked, putting his feet on the table over his animal- a badger. “For what?”

            “My condition. All of you sorry animals can’t seem to remember the reason I can’t run anymore. I get tired just going up the stairs, that’s not normal.” She smiled at her pun.

            “Yeah, because you should be taking the elevator.” Amber joked and everyone laughed, lightening the mood more.

            “You know what I mean. I want you to vote on your leader. I can’t choose. I would choose all of you if I could.” She smiled. “I want you to choose now. I’m going to pack after this and I want to know in which one of your hands you’ll end up in so I can check up on you once in a while.”

            The vote was unanimous: SeungHyun.

            “I’m glad to know that a Choi will be taking over.” She smiled as she put her hand on his right shoulder, for he sat to her left at the round table.

            “We’re going to be missing three prominent members of the past now.” SeungHyun stood as he looked at the table. “You are leaving, so the fox will no longer be present, like the bear and the wolf before you, having passed their ranking to you, and now onto me; the weight of three members now rests on my shoulders to bare this burden. I will accept it and do my best.”

            “Leader of two prominent groups in the school, do you think you can handle it?” Tao looked at him from his side of the table.

            “The Eagles and Night Shade.” He said with a smile. “I think I can.” He nodded and they smiled back at him, not having noticed that Ra Im had vanished.

            “Where did you go?” SeungHyun yelled, his voice echoing through the tall steeple of their secret fourth floor hide-out. “Just like her to vanish into the dark without so much as a sound.” He said under his breath.

            When the members had dispersed, Kris made his way through the upper floor tunnels to her room and walked in without asking. She turned to see him coming through the entrance, and smiled, then turning to pack her clothes in a suitcase once more.

            “When did you decide you were going to leave?” he asked as he stood there, his hands in his pockets.

            “Last week, when I collapsed. Minseop called our doctor who then called me and told me I should go for tests because I’m not getting better.” She turned to him with a forced smile, a small one that told him she was both worried to leave but happy to get help.

            “What about school?”

            “They’ll teach me there. It’s honestly not a problem.” She said focusing again on packing her things.

            “What about you?” he asked walking closer to her, looking into her bag and chuckled as he spotted a stuffed animal in one of the corners, pulling it out with one hand.

            “What about me?”

            “You still have this.” He chuckled at the bandana-wearing dog. “I remember when I gave this to you. It was my favorite thing in the entire world back then.” He smiled widely like an idiot with no sense of the world. “It pained to see my best friend in the entire world cry so I gave it to you and you stopped after a while. You wouldn’t give it back, though.”

            “Do you want him back?” she smiled, and chewed the corner of her lip as she looked at him observing the doll.

            “No. I want you to keep it.” He looked up at her and then down at her suitcase, placing it in the corner once more. “Think of me.”

            “How could I not? You’re constantly in here.” She tapped her chest. “You’re the best friend I could ever ask for, honestly.” She closed the suitcase and locked the two side locks.

            Turning to him, he pulled her quickly into a hug and held her tightly, his eyes closed as he embraced her. She let out a little smile and embraced him back tightly. “I’m going to miss you.” He said as they hugged but she did not give him a response. “I said I’m going to miss you.” He said and opened his eyes, pulling away from her for a response.

            “I’m thinking.” She said.

            “About what?” he laughed. “You’re always thinking.”

            “About the time you punched that kid in the face. You hugged me just like this back then, too. You were so scared.” She let out a smile.

            “I hated that they picked on you. They also cracked a bottle on your knee and ruined it, how could I not be concerned?” he showed a sweet smile to her. “Do you want me to take your bag for you?”

            “I can get it.” She reached for it the same time as he did, but he beat her to it and took it for her. “I said I can get it.” She complained lightly.

            “I’m going to take it.” He stuck his tongue out at her and left the room before her.

            She followed him down the stairs and put on her shoes before they left the room, the lights turning out behind them. “I already know who’s going to get my room.”

            “SeungHyun?” Kris spoke as he waved his pass in front of the elevator doors. “Because he’s the leader now, right?”

            “No, someone new.” She looked at him and his face dropped as the doors closed.

            They stood in silence as the elevator descended to the first floor. Kris dropped the suitcase on the floor and gripped her in a fierce hug, his eyes shutting tightly. From them each a tear fell. She began to cry softly as she stood there in the hug. The elevator doors opened and they stood there for a minute, before he let go and shed a sorrowful smile for her, and picked up her bag. The doors were about to close, but she held it open and then put her hand on his chest. With her other hand, she took the bag from him and all that he could do was stand there. She pressed the number three for him, the elevator rang a bell and the doors began to close on him.

            “Goodbye.” She whispered as the doors closed in front of her, bowing slightly.

            Submitting her key card to the office, she bowed goodbye and left through the two-story doors. She gave her suitcase to the driver of the car and he also opened the door for her. She looked back at the school once more before entering the car.

            “Don’t be sad, Miss.” The driver smiled and she forced a smile for him.

            As they drove down the road from the school, she looked back once more to see Kris running after the car as fast as his legs would take him, and halfway, stopped as he was defeated, bendt over with his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath. All she could do was shed a smile, and wave through the window, hoping he would see.

            Kris yelled into the air out of frustration.

            “Are you alright?” Minseop casually walked to Kris in the road, his hands in his pockets.

            “I just lost my best friend.”

            “I lost my sister.” Minseop said with no emotion in his voice. “I have a feeling she’ll be back soon. She’ll miss it too much.” He chuckled. “Just like running. She missed it so much she almost killed herself doing it. It’s weird with her,” he said as they walked back together to the school. “She’ll do anything for what and who she loves. Why do you think she kept that stupid stuffed animal all these years?”

            “What?” Kris asked in disbelief as they walked together to the outdoor courtyard and sat on a bench.

            “You should have told her when you had the time.” Minseop smiled. “It was so blatantly obvious that I thought that one day you would just spill it. What was keeping you?” he stood from the bench and left Kris to think about those words.

            With a huff, Kris threw his head back and then cringed in pain, for he hit the small tree that the bench rested against. Brushing his head with his hand, he leaned it against the tree gently.

 

            It was one week later when SeungHyun, who lived across the hall from Ra Im, noticed someone with a keycard entering her room with a suitcase.

            “Excuse me.” He called out in his deep voice and they stopped at the sound in the doorway to turn around to face him. SeungHyun was taken back a ways at the sight of this boy. Walking casually to him, he looked the newcomer up and down. “Do you live here now?” he asked the boy.

            Nodding first, he said, “Yes. I understand this belonged to someone that you all cared for deeply, so I will try not to mess things for you. But I do live here now, that is correct. Nice to meet you,” he put his bag down and smiled, “My name is Song MyungDae, a senior.” He bowed. “I hope we can be better friends, sunbae.”

            SeungHyun bowed in return to him and narrowed his eyes a bit. “Have we met before?” He said stooping down slightly so their eyes were level and he stared into them for a while. “I know you from somewhere.”

            “No, I’m afraid we haven’t met.” The boy smiled and scratched his nose.

            “I’m SeungHyun. A lot of people call me TOP because I’m number one in this school.” He held up a finger at his words and then put his hand in his black dress pants pocket once more, walking down the hallway. The boy looked out the door and watched and felt sorry for him but shrugged.

            Going upstairs in his new room, he put his suitcase down near the bed and jumped on it, lying on his back as he felt the covers. Sitting up, he looked and on the side table was Ra Im’s fox-head ring. “Wonder what this is still doing here?” He said and took the ring, fitting it on his left finger. The fox was too much, and he turned it so the head was inside the palm of his hand, only exposing the band on his knuckles. Being distracted, he almost missed the knock that came at his door. Going down the stairs, the knocker called again, “Noona?”

            Opening the door, the person on the other side threw themselves onto him and his eyes opened wide.

            “Noon-” they paused their words and backed up, their face turning red. “I’m sorry.” He smiled bashfully, “I thought you were Ra Im noona.”

            “No, I’m MyungDae, Song MyungDae. Are you my sunbae, too?” he asked.

            “I’m a junior, you don’t have to call me sunbae. I’m Lee Taemin; I live down the hall with my hyung Key.” He pointed roughly with his right hand.

            “I see.” He nodded. “Do you have free time?” MyungDae asked with a smile. “I don’t know anything about the school and I’d like to know before school starts.”

            “Okay.” Taemin nodded quickly with a cheery smile, nodding on the word and a bit after.

 

            “What do we do now?” Tao complained to his roommate.

            “Nothing.” Kris said with a stern voice, looking up from his bed, the ceiling had never looked more interesting and he studied it.

            “But we can’t just mope around.” Tao kicked Kris’ bed with his foot. “I’m going to go to the dojo, do you want to come?”

            “I guess we can go, but I’m really not in the mood.” He sat up from his bed.

            “Then you can just watch me.” Tao said with a bright smile, grabbing Kris’ wrist and pulling him from the bed.

            Being pulled still, they made it to the dojo, where others were practicing with their teams. Kris stood on the sidelines to watch them, uninterested in anything of the day.

            “And this is our dojo.” Taemin spoke as he opened the door and walked in with MyungDae, who was amazed at it all.

            Kris looked over to see who had entered and at the same time MyungDae looked to him, the motion in his peripheral vision caught his attention. They looked at each other and MyungDae bowed a little bow and Kris rose his hand, uninterested in meeting new faces.

            “Hyung,” Taemin said with a smile, “this is Song MyungDae. He’s staying in Ra Im noona’s old room.”

            “I don’t like him already.” He said with an attitude in his mind. “Nice to meet you.” Kris said and MyungDae nodded and said the same with a smile.

            “Come on, there’s a lot more to see.” Taemin smiled and he led MyungDae out of the dojo.

            “Hey.” Kris called. “I’m bored of this; let me do this tour for you.” He smiled at Taemin who looked more than relieved and scurried out of the dojo before Kris would be able to change his mind.

            It was silent for a minute as they aimlessly walked down the hall, their hands in their pockets.

            “Look, I know you hate me.” MyungDae looked down at the ground. “I took your girl’s room, I get it.”

            “It’s not that.” Kris spoke with the shake of his head.

            “But it is. I can see the type of person she was and I’ve only just met three people. She was loved by everyone and I know I can’t take her place, and it’ll be hard for me because I live in that room now, but I’m going to try my best. I don’t want you to be mad at me. If it will make you feel better, you…you can hit me.”

            “Hit you?” Kris was taken aback by his words. He looked at him intently as the boy stared at the ground.

            “Just go ahead. Punch me or something. Make yourself feel better.” MyungDae looked up without raising his head.

            “I’m not going to hit you.” Kris shook his head. “It’s not your fault I’m bitter today. I’ll be better tomorrow, you’ll see.”

            “School starts soon. Are you nervous?” he asked as they walked down the halls again.

            “I am again.” He said as he unashamedly stared at the walls an expressionless face. “I thought I was so sure, but now that I don’t have my le-” he paused himself for a moment. “My best friend is gone and I feel empty.”

            “I know how you feel. I lost all of my friends when I came here. I feel very empty. Like a new glass waiting to have something poured in it. But I find that the longer I waited, the more I knew that I couldn’t hope for anyone to fill it- I have to fill myself.” He picked his head up and looked Kris in the eyes, who reflected deeply on his words.

            MyungDae began laughing and covered his mouth and turned away.

            “What’s so funny?” Kris asked.

            “I’m sorry.” He apologized through his fingers. “I laugh when I‘m nervous.”

            “Why would you be nervous?” Kris asked, narrowing his eyes as he took a step closer to the boy.

            “It’s nothing against you, it’s a personal issue. Please excuse me.” He said before taking off down the hallway, not sure which way he was going.

            MyungDae ended up at the dojo again and watched the martial artists work all in the same room, some of them quiet, some of them yelling commands or shouts when certain moves were performed- the entire thing was amusing to him.

            “Do you want to join?” someone asked him and he shook his head and said a polite ‘thank you’. “Are you sure?” They asked again and he nodded.

            “Are you new?” They smiled.

            “Yes, I just arrived today. The dojo fascinates me.” MyungDae looked at the tall , gold-colored ceilings.

            “If you’re new, you want to get recognized, right?” he asked. “You should try out for the tournament. It’s the opening ceremony for the school year. You’ll get recognized quickly in the school and it’s a lot of fun.”

            “What if I’m not good?” he asked with a smile on his face, imagining all the things that could go wrong.

            “Then you’ll give the crowd a good laugh. But if you’re any good, you can win an award for it.” He said. “Why not spar with us today, and make your decision after?” he suggested and the idea sounded fair enough for him and he agreed.

            He was given a pair of clothes to change into, and when he returned from the locker room, he found a boy on the mats waiting for him. The one who had come over to him before and talked was standing beside him.

            “Yah! MyungDae!” he called with a wave of his hand. “Come here.”

            Lightly jogging to the mat, he bowed at the two, who bowed back.

            “My name is Shin KwangSun and this is Huang Zitao, he will be your sparring partner today. You don’t have to talk much because he is only versed in Chinese.” KwangSun said to MyungDae who bowed at the boy.

            “So, only Chinese?” MyungDae spoke to him in Tao’s native tongue. “A little odd for an all-Korean school, don’t you think?”

            “You can speak?” he asked before beginning to stretch. “Can you understand as well?”

            “Yes, I can speak and understand.” He smiled as he stretched his legs on the floor. “I spent three years in China traveling and learning. It was great, really.”

            “What were you learning?” Tao asked as he took his place on the mat.

            “Different martial arts, the language, the culture.” MyungDae smiled. “It was exciting, but let us begin.”

            Bowing to each other, Tao took the first step towards MyungDae and swung his leg over his opponent’s head, who ducked in a cowardly manner, hitting the floor. MyungDae stood up again and put his hands out in front of him, unsure of Tao’s next move, unwilling to move himself. Tao took another step and used his hand to flank MyungDae, and then hit him with the opposite leg quickly, causing him to hit the ground and hold his side in pain. Tao stood and shifted his weight onto one leg and had a serious expression on his face as he looked at the boy and then a smirk formed, and he began to laugh uncontrollably. Clutching his stomach, he bent over in laughter at the sight.

            “Are you really going to try and compete? I barely hit you!” Tao laughed as he fell onto his back, trying to relax himself and catch his breath.

            “You hit a sour spot.” MyungDae complained as he cringed while trying to stand.

            MyungDae rolled onto his stomach, relaxing himself. Putting his hands underneath him, he began to push himself up, but Tao took the opportunity to sit on his back. MyungDae struggled to push himself up with the added weight, and grunted in frustration.

            “Get off of me.” He complained as he fell to the cushioned ground.

            “Only if you promise you won’t enter the competition.”

            “I want to enter!”

            “Then fight like a man!” Tao laughed, putting his hands on MyungDae’s back, pressing down.

            “Just get off of me.” MyungDae told him and when Tao told him ‘no’ and shook his head with a grin, MyungDae rolled over and threw Tao off of him and stood up, holding his hands out once more.

            Tao made quick of him and he was on the floor once more, but this time Tao left the mat with a cocky smile on his face. Walking to the wall, he picked up a water bottle he had placed there before their match and after opening it, drank from it. He looked at MyungDae who was just getting up from the mat again and rolled his eyes.

            “Do you want me to teach you some things so you won’t die?” he yelled to him as he put the bottle on the floor again. Walking to the boy, he looked him in the eyes and waited for an answer.

            “I’ll be alright.” He held a hand up and went towards the stairs to the second floor.

            “He’s horrible.” KwangSun walked up to Tao on the mat, crossing his arms and watching as MyungDae walked up the stairs.

            “He’s going to be a great laugh though.” KwangSun chuckled as MyungDae came back downstairs looking lost and confused. “Let me go help him. Apparently he can’t find the way out.”

            “Someone took my uniform.” MyungDae frowned and both he and KwangSun returned to the upstairs locker room to find them and they found that his locker had been infiltrated, the lock was broken and the locker was empty.

            “I’m sorry, I was up here the entire time, I don’t know how they could have gotten in.” Sun shrugged at him. “Go to the school uniform room and ask them for a replacement. I’ll send over an email to tell them the story, so you don’t have to worry.”

            “Thanks.” MyungDae shrugged and left the dojo towards the uniform office clear on the other side of the school.