“Geojismal,” Seunghyun uttered, his jaw dropped. Isn’t this the company Yang Hyun Suk, from Seo Taiji and Boys, founded? How did this little kid get a job here? Was he a trainee? Did he know Seo Taiji and Yang Hyun Suk? Could he rap? Didn’t 1TYM have this label? What was Jiyong’s job here exactly? He had so many questions but none of them seemed to come out of his mouth.

Jiyong opened the door and Seunghyun mindlessly followed him inside. There wasn’t much to the place he soon realized. There was a front desk area and 2 short hallways on either side with walls covered in old-fashioned wood paneling. Jiyong took the hallway on the right, smiling and bowing to the lady at the front desk as he walked by. Seunghyun copied him and followed close behind. They passed a door where he heard people talking and joking with each other. Behind another one he heard heavy bass. Finally towards the end of the hall there was a little nook where a refrigerator, a washer/dryer, a sink, a shelf full of bottled cleaners, and a hamper were hidden.

“Have a seat,” Jiyong gestured to a folding chair next to the refrigerator.

Seunghyun sat down, still in shock. Jiyong took a bunch of towels out of the hamper and placed them in the washer with a large scoop of soap and turned it on before checking the refrigerator, counting something inside. Looking satisfied he closed it and huddled on the floor looking at Seunghyun’s face.

“So, my job here is that I give water bottles and towels to the artists during dance practices and when everyone is done I clean up the practice room and the recording studio. They can be quite messy. I also wash the towels when they are done with them but last night they stayed so late I just thought I’d come early today to wash them,” Jiyong explained.

Seunghyun was finally coming to grips with all of this. At least he was enough to start talking to Jiyong and asking questions.

“So, how did you get this job?” Seunghyun asked.

“Well, I have always worked with music somewhat. I used to sing in a group when I was younger but the label disbanded us without telling us. I was heartbroken. I loved singing. Not long after I became a trainee with SM Entertainment but only for dancing. Not long after I heard hip-hop and been hooked on it, especially rap. SM just didn’t seem to have the sound I liked. I took a rapping class. So when Sean from Jinusean talked to my parents about my rapping abilities he had seen featured on People’s Crew album, we talked with him about my possibly working here. So, here I am. I make hardly any money but being able to see these guys work gets me pumped everyday. I don’t know if I’d ever sing again but rapping isn’t singing really,” Jiyong explained with his eyes shining.

Seunghyun was in awe. He never would have guessed Jiyong was so…mature. It was like he was a 30 year old in this little kid’s body. Seunghyun often felt the opposite. With each passing year he struggled to grasp that he was a whole year older. While some boys his age abandoned their action figures, Seunghyun kept buying them with money he saved up. He liked to play with them just like he used to with his friends.

Jiyong looked up at Seunghyun’s face “10 won for your thoughts?” He asked.

“Yah! That’s like nothing. You saying my thoughts aren’t valuable?” Seunghyun complained.

Jiyong smiled, shaking his head. “Ahnee. I’m just curious what is making your face look so pale all of a sudden.”

Seunghyun looked down at Jiyong’s confused and worried face.

“I’m just overwhelmed by all of this. When you said part time job I thought you meant delivering newspapers or something.” Seunghyun admitted.

Jiyong smiled again. “At this hour? Get real, Seunghyun,” he scoffed at Seunghyun’s naïve thoughts.

“So, do you rap then?” Seunghyun asked, butterflies attacking his stomach.

“Yeah, a little. I took a class but it’s not like people who teach a class on rapping are really great rappers.” Jiyong said looking at his feet. “Do you rap or write lyrics?” Jiyong asked.

“More than I’d like to admit. I just like how I can write poetry and fit it to a beat. It just gives it so much more…”

“Emotion.” They said together.

Jiyong reached for his backpack and opened it to pull out a red notebook.

“Here,” he said, handing it over to Seunghyun.

The cover had just 3 English words: Jiyong’s rapping notebook, written in permanent ink. Seunghyun softly ran his fingers over the words feeling his heart beat faster, excited to see what was held inside. He opened it to find pages and pages of scrawls and crossed out lines, side notes and beat ideas. Seunghyun was amazed.

“Jiyong-ah? Can you bring us some water? We’re dying in here. The fan is dying again,” a voice called out from one of the rooms.

“Ne, Hyung!” Jiyong called grabbing 5 bottles from the refrigerator and running towards the speaker.

Seunghyun could hear them talking about something in the background but he was too focused on Jiyong’s notebook to pay too close attention. Seunghyun’s raps and poems held moments in time, like if time could stop and you could look around. Jiyong’s told stories that were so emotional that you get caught up in them.

Page after page, Seunghyun read. He didn’t even notice Jiyong come back and pull out his homework to work on while Seunghyun read. The words themselves were beautiful but pairing them with the beats he had chosen made them magic. He found his toe tapping to the beats and his lips quietly rapping the words on the pages as he read.

“Seunghyun?” Jiyong asked, poking the older student.

“Huh?” Seunghyun asked, being snapped back to reality.

“Do you mind if I have my notebook back for a moment? I just had a really great idea and I don’t want to lose it.” Jiyong asked in a semi-pleading tone.

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Seunghyun hurriedly said, embarrassed from becoming so buried in Jiyong’s personal lyrics when he barely knew the boy.

Jiyong took the notebook and turned to the next blank page towards the back. He took out a pen and started letting it fly across the page for several lines before stopping to think. His mouth puckered in a pondering pout that kind of looked like a duck’s beak, his eyebrows knit together in thought. He crossed something out and made an arrow moving one line between the other. He bit on the cap at the end of the pen, closing his eyes and putting his hand over them. His toe tapped and he muttered softly to himself. He snapped up suddenly writing a little more.

Seunghyun knew Jiyong didn’t hear the dryer buzz so he got up and got the towels out and folded them neatly, looking over at Jiyong, deeply engrossed in his ideas, over his shoulder. It made him smile a little smile to himself. Maybe his noona was right, maybe he was like him. He wasn’t exactly like him. Seunghyun never became a perfectionist over his raps but it was kind of cute how Jiyong cared so much. Wait. Cute? Seunghyun shook his head. Jiyong is cool, not cute. This isn’t right. Seunghyun grabbed his hair in his hands and rubbed his forehead with his palms. He finished folding the towels before sitting down and looking around at anything but Jiyong. Eventually his eyes landed on Jiyong who was looking at him like he was crazy.

“You okay there, Seunghyun?” Jiyong asked him cautiously.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine,” Seunghyun said a little jumpy sounding.

“Thanks for getting the towels done. I kind of get really into my lyrics.” Jiyong said while rubbing his eyes.

“It’s the least I could do. You have been doing all the work tonight when I said I would help you,” Seunghyun said, looking at his feet instead of at Jiyong.

Seunghyun felt a hand on his shoulder and his eyes bulged when he saw Jiyong’s face a foot away from his.

“Really, thank you for understanding. It’s rare to find someone who gets why I’m so obsessed with this stuff,” Jiyong said with a serious tone and a small smile.

Seunghyun felt his face going red. He brushed Jiyong’s hand off of his shoulder. He cleared his throat.

“What about all of the people you work with? You seem to talk with them just fine,” Seunghyun said.

“Yeah. They’re nice but they’re a lot older than me. It’s hard to talk to them about more than their asking how my studies are going,” Jiyong said grabbing a water bottle from the refrigerator.

Seunghyun didn’t fully understand. He had friends 3 years older than him and they got along just fine and he was nowhere near as mature as Jiyong is.

Jiyong looked at his watch and went to turn on the water at the sink.

“Everyone should be wrapping up in the practice room soon. So get ready to get busy cleaning, Seunghyun,” Jiyong warned.

Seunghyun wasn’t a really messy person but he wasn’t exactly Mr. Clean either. It took considerable nagging from his omma to get him to do his weekly chores. He mentally moaned but he really hadn’t done much to help Jiyong so this was his chance.

Everyone seemed to be gone expect Jiyong, Seunghyun, and the lady at the front desk after an hour. She must be the one with the keys for the place. It was around 10:30 pm. Jiyong and Seunghyun had donned bright rubber gloves and Seunghyun was gathering the empty water bottles off the floor and bagging the trash from what looked like Chinese take out food. Jiyong wasn’t kidding about them being messy. They even left their chopsticks on the floor.

“Quite a glamorous job you have here, Jiyong,” Seunghyun said sarcastically as he tied the trashbag and threw it outside the door to the dance studio.

“Yeah. Kwon Jiyong: maid to the stars!” Jiyong dramatically announced with his arms spread out wide.

Seunghyun snorted and rolled his eyes. This kid was kind of crazy. It kind of made him smile.

“Kinda catchy, isn’t it?” Jiyong asked, nudging him in the ribs with his elbow.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re amazing, your sweepiness,” he said mockingly about Jiyong and his push broom/mop.

“Yah! This broom is pretty amazing! Without it, I would be here a lot longer,” Jiyong jabbed back at Seunghyun.

“Okay, okay. So, what do we need to do next?” Seunghyun asked.

“Go to the shelf out there and grab 2 spray bottles of the green cleaner and a roll of paper towels,” Jiyong said running around the room at lightning speed with his broom/mop collecting all the little dirt particles. Seunghyun had to admit it was pretty cool.

Bringing in the cleaner, he found Jiyong crouched over something. He looked over and he was fighting with a piece of gum that was stuck to the floor.

“Those stupid bastards. They couldn’t spit it out in the trash can 5 feet away?” Jiyong grumbled to himself.

Seunghyun snickered at the frustrated boy fighting with the gum. It looked really funny and Jiyong getting mad at it was only making it funnier.

“Yah! Get started cleaning the mirror! I’ll be there to help you once I get this off the floor,” Jiyong quipped.

Seunghyun started spraying and wiping at the glass, trying not to focus on his reflection. He was 1.62 meters tall and 25 kg more than he should weigh. His glasses were chunky and his acne was painful. He really didn’t like looking at himself. One person last year looked at him up close and got really freaked out by his eyes. He kept saying they looked like the eyes of a murderer and wouldn’t sit next to him. So, maybe the chunky glasses were for the best.

Jiyong got up with a growl. “I think that gum is going to become part of the building. It won’t come off.”

Seunghyun smiled at Jiyong’s conclusion about the gum. It made him glad that he could ease up on something. That he didn’t have to have everything perfect but gave it his best. Jiyong grabbed the other bottle and started on the other end of the room. Seunghyun watched as he sprayed and wiped so quickly, reaching up as high he could reach on his tiptoes. His shirt rode up to reveal his blue boxer shorts. Seunghyun quickly looked away before he was caught blushing. Why was he blushing anyways? He wore boxer shorts. His friends wore boxer shorts. None of those made him blush. Why did Jiyong’s?

Jiyong was quickly getting closer with his high-speed cleaning action. Seunghyun didn’t know whether he should work harder to help him and get closer to him in the process or just stay where he was. Jiyong was in the zone again so he stayed put he may not notice. The option was tempting. He kept cleaning though, not wanting to risk seeing what Jiyong’s frowning face looked like.

“All done here!” Jiyong announced. “Now, I’ll quickly pick up in the recording studio. You go and put the towels in the hamper. It’s too late to wash them again.”

Fifteen minutes later they were outside and Jiyong was waving to the lady from the front desk and apologizing for her leaving so late. She said something about it not being a big deal and walked off in the opposite direction.

Seunghyun spent the rest of the trip home with Jiyong in silence, occasionally glancing at the boy who was dozing in the seat next to him, his eyelids fluttering and his head bobbing up and down as the train and bus moved.

Getting close to his stop, he shook Jiyong awake. He swatted his hand away.

“You go ahead. My stop isn’t here for 5 more minutes.” Jiyong muttered sleepily.

Seunghyun smiled at the boy whose face looked completely drained, his pink lips dry from staying open the whole ride.

“Sleep well, sweet cherry blossom,” Seunghyun whispered as he got off the bus.