“Good morning, my name is Lee Kwang Soo.”

He remembered the day he first entered school. His height made people stare at him, something he was already familiar with a few years ago. He weaved through the new environment with ease, following the location arrows and arriving at the school office. The school clerk was a bit taken back to see him, too, but she paged for the student president nevertheless, providing Kwang Soo a guide around Running High.

“Nice to meet you! My name is Yoo Jae Suk.”

Jae Suk remembered the first day he met Kwang Soo. He was seriously tall, but he was informed that foreigners could be taller than the student in front of him. He may look intimidating if he wanted to, but Kwang Soo just gives off the definition of an aura of a guy who could be forced into submission easily. The student president decides to keep him under his wing, like almost every student in this school, shielding him from harm that comes his way.

“Welcome to Running High. I’m Kim Jong Kook.”

The athlete managed to catch the tall and short duo walking around the school campus after football practice the exact same day Kwang Soo reported in to this school. Kwang Soo bowed politely, in which Jong Kook returned it with the same degree of respect for a junior. He was confused with Kwang Soo’s gaze before he realized that the taller boy was probably staring at his bare muscles, which was glistened in sweat and dirt from all the training. It took Jong Kook to ask Kwang Soo if he liked what he sees to make the younger student squirm away from within an arm’s distance from himself.

“A new student! My name is HaHa!”

It was a typical response. Kwang Soo laughed at HaHa’s name. The yellow-hoodie wearing boy was apparently cheered more than disheartened when the taller teen giggled into his hands. Yes, my name is HaHa, like hahahaha you all can laugh at my name but you’ll never be as awesome as I am, HaHa had said, and the taller boy just got happier. Even the grasshopper president had also joined in the laughter. They exchanged names and Jae Suk continued his tour for Kwang Soo around the school.

“Hey. Name’s Gary.”

The self-crowned rapper was jazzing to the beats of his navy blue headphones when he knocked into Jae Suk and Kwang Soo. He had no intentions to greet them, knowing that Jae Suk is probably doing his student president duties, but said president introduced Gary to Kwang Soo anyway, making Gary lose all the tempo and feel he’s been building up. Expressing nothing about this, Gary greeted them with a peaceful expression. Then when Kwang Soo listened to the music that Gary is listening to, he started showing Gary some of his dance moves, one that people usually called the weird robotic dance. It gathered quite a crowd, and Jae Suk had to tear the duo apart before they could give out free dance lessons to each other.

“I’m Ji Hyo and I hope we’ll get along together from now on!”

To say that Ji Hyo is the Ulzzang (best face) of Running High isn’t even an assumption. It’s the truth. The beautiful, silky hair that cascaded down her shoulders, the warm, shining welcome smile, and the cheery personality was everything a woman should need. But then when Gary headed their way Ji Hyo immediately turned into yelling mess. Where had you been, she had shouted. I’m looking for you, she had continued. She would have assaulted Gary with more harsh words, if the self-proclaimed rapper didn’t gently seal her lips with his. That’s the power of Monday Couple, Jae Suk had commented.

“The name’s Ji Suk Jin, hello.”

The polite, bespectacled guy had the most normal greeting to Kwang Soo. It seemed that way, until his phone beeped and after he checked it, he groaned in exasperation. Jae Suk said something about giving up on stock markets because it was hard for students their level to understand the hidden mechanics and the tips and turns of it. Suk Jin retorted him by saying that that was his way to learn how to make money and that the president is stupid or anything. Kwang Soo is too immersed in the charts and numbers and data displayed on Suk Jin’s cell to focus on the supposed best friends’ conversations.

With this gang of highly personalized and unique friends, what could go wrong? Kwang Soo reflected and smiled to himself in the back of his hand once again.

~TBC