Seunghyun woke up with his head throbbing. He slept what seemed like 15 minutes. He couldn’t decide whether to go to the breakfast table or to lie there feigning oversleeping to run out the door. He voted for the second one. He couldn’t bear his mother avoiding his gaze and his father giving him a few choice words.

He tried to think of some kind of plan. Should he get a tutor? How?  Tutors cost money and he could never afford to go to a Hagwon. Should he get a job to help lessen his family’s burden? That would just make him more likely to fall asleep in class. He rolled over, rubbing his eyes, wishing the heavy feeling he had around his eyelids would go away. He resigned his position off of his bed to get into a fresh uniform. Sighing he placed his rapping notebook into his bag more carefully than he would normally. It was bittersweet that Teddy looked at it for him.

He swung his bag over his shoulder preparing to make a break for the front door to grab his shoes and be off. It would be tricky. He wasn’t the fastest person or the sneakiest person. He just had to hope that they were all engrossed enough in some other topic that they wouldn’t stop him to eat. Seunghyun took a few deep breaths and tried to prepare himself for a stealthy sprint.

Seunghyun threw open his door and bolted past the front room and the kitchen. He looked over his shoulder only to realize no one was there. He blinked twice. The table was bare and the house was quiet. He looked at the clock. 6:43 am. He was definitely late. It wasn’t Sunday. Was his mother that mad that he wasn’t doing well in school that she didn’t make breakfast? That didn’t make sense. His father and sister would at least eat before starting their days. She would have just not given him a bowl at his spot at the table. He was confused.

After 10 minutes of standing there and thinking, he decided to call Jiyong. He called the number and hung up the first 3 times. After the third time he beat his head. Come on. It’s not that hard. He called again. This time they answered on the first ring.

“Yobesayo?” A woman’s voice answered.

“H-hello, may I speak with Kwon Jiyong, please?” Seunghyun stuttered.

He heard rustling on the other end of the line. That was a good thing, right, that they didn’t hang up? He heard her speak again in a soothing tone. “Jiyong-ah. You have a phone call. And shouldn’t you be getting ready for school? It’s Thursday.” Seunghyun heard a moan on the other end and smiled.

“Mmm?” A sleepy voice said on the phone.

“Jiyong? It’s Seunghyun, you know from school and work?” He said, afraid that he wouldn’t remember him.

“I know. Why are you calling so early?” He sleepily grumbled. Jiyong was obviously not a morning person, not that he blamed him.

“Well, my house seems to be lacking life and I wondered if maybe there wasn’t school today, or something.” Seunghyun asked.

Jiyong mumbled something incoherent before yelling away from the phone, “Omma! What is the date today?” “March 1^st.”

“Seunghyun, it’s a holiday today. Call me later so we can hang out. Now let’s go back to sleep though.” Jiyong slurred before yawning audibly into the phone.

Seunghyun smiled, feeling a little relieved that there was no school and he would have something to do besides sit around his house awkwardly after that fight, trying to ignore his parents’ nagging for him to study.

“Arasso. I’ll call you later.” Seunghyun said before hanging up and flopping back onto his bed. He thought it was weird that no one was moving around at the early hour. The relief washed over him and he felt himself smile. Grabbing his hugging pillow he fell into a relaxed sleep.

Seunghyun woke up a few hours later and changed into jeans and a t-shirt. Hmm. Better put on another one. He stumbled into the kitchen to open the rice maker and spoon out a giant bowl of rice. He opened the fridge to put a few kinds of kimchi on his rice before stuffing his face, not even bothering to sit down. Two bowls later he migrated to his room, glad that no one came into the kitchen while he was eating.

He grabbed the phone off his desk and took a few deep breaths before calling Jiyong again. He listened to the tone nervously before someone answered on the other end.

“Yobesayo?” came a cutesy young female voice. Seunghyun’s blood froze at the voice. He wasn’t used to talking to girls.

“I-is Jiyong there?” Seunghyun stuttered nervously.

“Ne. I’ll get him,” she answered before giggling, making Seunghyun blush. Who was this girl, being so forward and flirty on the phone with someone she didn’t know?

“Mmm?” came a more awake tone of Jiyong’s voice over the line.

“H-hey, Jiyong. It’s Seunghyun.” He said while fidgeting and pulling on a string on his bedding, a nervous habit of his.

“Hey! You should come over today! I’m really bored.” Jiyong said cheerfully. Seunghyun sat there stunned. He had never heard him so energetic. He had only seen him exhausted or sick or stubborn. It would take some getting used to.

“Sure…” Seunghyun said slowly. “Where do you live again?”

Seunghyun wrote down the directions on a scrap of paper on his desk and looked around his room for things to bring with him. He grabbed his cd and cassette players along with tapes and cds. He glanced at his action figures. Should he take one of them with him? What the hell.  He grabbed a couple to put into his bag along with Super Mario 64, just in case he had a Nintendo, and put on his hoodie.  He walked towards the door before he stopped. He hadn’t seen anyone all day but he still felt guilty for what happened the night before. He turned around and wrote a small note to stick to the refrigerator. “Gone to my friend’s house today. He lives only 5 minutes from here. I’ll be home after dinner. –Seunghyun”

Seunghyun walked instead of taking the bus or his mother would become outraged at his bus pass becoming empty so quickly. It also gave him a little more time to think and try to relax.

Jiyong’s building was a lot nicer than his. It wasn’t in Gangnam or anything but it was nice. He went to the door to push the buzzer for the apartment Jiyong told him. He pushed it, feeling really out of place. He was instantly buzzed in. Seunghyun opened the door and went to the 3^rd floor. Jiyong was waiting outside his door for him with a smile on his face. Oh crap.

“Hyung!” Jiyong called. Seunghyun’s stomach did flips. Jiyong had never called him hyung before. Does he really think of him like that now? He didn’t know how to feel. He just waved back because his mouth couldn’t seem to open.

“Hyung! I’m glad you came. What took you so long? I was going nuts in there. My noona is visiting today after just starting university and as close as we are, I just wanted to excuse myself from all the awkward talk about where I was going to go to school.”

Seunghyun nodded. He could only imagine what it would be like for him when his noona went away for school but still the word hyung was suspended in his brain.

“You okay? You look a little pale.” Jiyong said looking at Seunghyun’s face.

“I’m fine. I just haven’t been sleeping well lately.” Seunghyun admitted. “I see you’re feeling better today.”

“Huh? Oh yeah. I usually get better after some tea and a lot of sleep. Getting sick is my body’s way of telling me that my batteries are running low.” Jiyong said.

Seunghyun was relieved Jiyong didn’t ask him why he wasn’t sleeping well. Bullet dodged.

“We should go inside. It’s a little weird standing out here in the hall.” Jiyong said pulling Seunghyun through the doorway.

Jiyong’s house was very homey. Seunghyun took off his shoes and walked in with Jiyong to see 3 people sitting in the front room talking and laughing. An older woman with short dark hair was sitting on the couch with a man with matching thick dark hair. The woman looked very sweet and caring while the man looked like he could take a joke and discipline you at the same time. Across the coffee table from them was a young woman sipping on tea and telling a story animatedly with lots of hand gestures.

“Omma, appa, noona, this is Choi Seunghyun. Seunghyun, this is my family.” Jiyong said to the addressed.

“Ah! So you are the boy that called this morning!” Jiyong’s omma replied. “You are very polite for your age.”

“Thank you.” Seunghyun answered and bowed.

They all snickered. He must look really awkward. He looked at his feet and twiddled his hoodie strings.

“There is no need to be shy, Seunghyun. We are all really close here. Let me just say, thank you for taking care of him yesterday. He can be really stubborn and hard working. It’s both a positive and a negative thing about him.” Jiyong’s appa said with a smile at the last part.

“Appa!” Jiyong said with an embarrassed look on his face.

“What? It’s true, Jiyongie. You have always pushed yourself really hard. You should lighten up more often. I’m Dami, by the way.” Jiyong’s noona said to Jiyong before addressing Seunghyun.

Seunghyun bowed causing Dami to giggle a little. Jiyong grumbled. “Don’t call me that! I’m not 5.”

He swiftly turned to Seunghyun, grabbing him by the wrist. “Let’s go to my room before they tell you my whole life’s story.”

“Actually…” Jiyong’s appa began before Seunghyun was pulled down the hall into a room at the end.

“I’m sorry. My family can be quite embarrassing.” Jiyong said ruffling his hair awkwardly.

“They seem really nice.” Seunghyun said before looking around the room. Jiyong’s room was really neat; neat enough that it looked like no one lived in there. Seunghyun reminded himself that Jiyong probably only crashed in there after a long day’s work. The bed was made and the desk under the window had a lamp and a cassette player on it accompanying a thick layer of dust. His laundry basket was full, showing some kind of life, along with a freshly used mug on the floor.

“It isn’t much,” Jiyong admitted.

Seunghyun shrugged. “It serves its purpose.” He said indifferently while sitting down and opening his bag.

“What did you bring?” Jiyong asked looking from above into Seunghyun’s bag.

Seunghyun pulled out all of his tapes and CDs before letting his nerves take over and shutting the bag quickly, hoping Jiyong didn’t see the rest.

“Aww, come on, hyung. What are you so shy about? It can’t be that bad,” Jiyong said before lowering himself by Seunghyun’s ear, whispering “Is it ?”

Seunghyun felt his whole head be set on fire. He shook his lowered head, hoping by some magical circumstance, that Jiyong didn’t see how red he had become. Jiyong laughed and pulled the bag out of Seunghyun’s loosened grip, looking inside. Seunghyun peeked up to see Jiyong smile, taking out the toys and the video game.

“If only we could play this now. Our Nintendo is in the front room and I haven’t played this game in ages.” Jiyong said.

“Really?” Seunghyun said perking up a little. There was still no verdict on the toys until Seunghyun saw Jiyong pick one up making him fly, complete with wooshing sound effects.

“There is only one hope left for mankind!” Jiyong announced before looking at Seunghyun’s stunned and happy expression. “What? This guy is obviously the hero, that means you have to be the bad guy.”

Seunghyun picked up the other figure, pushing the figure into a tough pose. “You won’t defeat me! World domination is within my grasp!”

Jiyong and Seunghyun played with the figures for a long time before Jiyong opened a drawer filled with different figures, including a few of those little bear figures. Seunghyun was drawn to them and picked one up, resting it in his hand.

“I’m glad you found the one in your bag. I didn’t know if you still liked toys or not.” Jiyong quietly admitted.

“Of course I do, but they aren’t toys, they are action figures. What are these bear things called anyways?" Seunghyun said while making the bear silently fly around in front of him.

“They’re called Bearbricks. They were just released in Japan not long ago so of course it was hard getting them.” Jiyong informed the other.

Seunghyun nodded. It was hard getting things from Japan. Forget about toys, Japanese music was impossible to get your hands on with the ban that was in place.

“I really like these.” Seunghyun admitted, softly smiling.

“I’m glad.” Jiyong said, returning the smile.

They sat in silence for a while before things started to become uncomfortable and Seunghyun looked away, leaving Jiyong to the pile of Seunghyun’s music.

“Where is all of your music?” Seunghyun asked him.

“Huh? It’s in the bottom desk drawer on the left.” Jiyong said looking at all the tapes.

Seunghyun opened the drawer to find it all rather organized. There was a lot of American hip-hop, both old and new, mixed with Korean artists. Wu Tang Clan. Sir Mix a Lot. New Kids on the Block. Ja Rule. Nelly. Usher. Jay-Z. Where did he get all of these? Most of them weren’t bootlegged, unlike his.

“Yah! I can barely read the track lists on these tapes! Where did you buy these, Thailand? It’s like they have no grasp of Hangul whatsoever.” Jiyong complained.

“So, what do you want to listen to?” Seunghyun said, looked over the wide selection of tapes in front of him.

“Let’s just go play the Nintendo. I’m sure they are done talking by now and I can’t wait to see you fall into the lava. Dibs on Mario!” Jiyong said smiling before running out of the room with the game.

Seunghyun smiled and ran after him. He was usually second player anyways because his noona always wanted the top screen and Mario.

The next several hours were spent with Jiyong trying his hardest to trap Seunghyun and force him into the water, air, or lava below. Every time Seunghyun fell, Jiyong laughed and Seunghyun scrunched up his face in protest. Soon Dami was watching them and laughing as well.

“Seunghyun, this is why we no longer have this game in our house. Jiyong liked to do this to me too.” Dami told him.

“Yah! I was wondering where my game went! You hid it, didn’t you?” Jiyong said, chasing his noona around the room, trying to smack her with the controller or at least kick her in the shins for her indiscretion while she screamed gleefully.

Seunghyun sat there laughing to himself while Dami, being several years older, was being chased by her smaller younger brother. It was like a cartoon in real life. He looked at the clock and sighed. It was after 9 pm. He should be going. His stomach grumbled in agreement.

“Hey, Jiyong. I think it’s time for me to head back.” He told the occupied boy who had somehow pinned his sister and was about to spit in her hair while she screamed.

“Really?” Jiyong said, looking rather disappointed. He sighed, getting up and releasing his sister who ran away. “Well, at least let me walk with you to the door.”

Seunghyun walked to put his shoes on. Jiyong sat by him, watching him double knot his sneakers laces.

“Hey, Seunghyun?” Jiyong said quietly, still looking at his sneakers.

“Mmm?” Seunghyun acknowledged.

“Do you want to ditch school with me tomorrow? I’ve always wanted to but never had anyone to do it with.” Jiyong said, poking at a random house slipper.

Seunghyun sat there for a moment to think. He really wanted to spend more time with Jiyong but with his grades and his parents suffering at his expense, it was a large thing to ask, until he came up with an idea.

“Okay.” Seunghyun said. “You have a deal, but only if you tutor me in math. I’m doing really terribly in that subject, believe it or not.”

Jiyong smiled at his request. “Sure, hyung. I’ll do whatever I can.”

Seunghyun stood up. “Well, then I’ll see you tomorrow. Where do you want to meet?”

“Let’s meet at my bus stop. Yours might make your parents suspicious.” Jiyong told the older.

Seunghyun nodded, tightening the straps on his bag.

“Travel safely, hyung.” Jiyong said.

“I will, Jiyongie.” Seunghyun said.

“Yah! Don’t call me that! I don’t even like my noona calling me it!” Jiyong protested.

“Arasso, Jiyong-ah. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Seunghyun said turning away and walking down the hall to his bus stop. Tomorrow was going to be a really great day.