Seungah, Daehyun, and Suho spent the rest of the day thinking of what to say. Well, Seungah and Suho did. Daehyun lazed around his house the rest of the night watching the soccer game.

 

When the next day came, the three, as well as the rest of the student council were excused early to prepare for the assembly and to get it set up. Housing and the other dancers were already practicing.

 

Seungah walked around the corner and found Suho reading over his paper and reciting it quietly to himself. "So, are you ready? You're not nervous are you?"

 

Suho snapped up his head and shook it. "I've been giving speeches for a while now. How about you?"

 

"Not really. I think I've got it down. It's just a page. Not too long." She looked over her shoulder at a messy-dressed person lounging on the bleachers, looking up at the ceiling.

 

Suho noticed and looked too. "I think it's him we have to worry about the most."

 

Seungah shrugged. "I honestly don't know about him, but he's bound to do something." She pouted.

 

"Then let's worry about ourselves right now, huh?" Suho raise his eyebrows and grinned.

 

Daehyun, by chance, rested his head on the side, and saw Seungah laughing about something Suho said. He groaned and got up and walked over. "Yah, yah, yah, don't talk without me here." He let out a breath. "Seriously. I feel so left out." 

 

Suho peeked around. "Where's your speech? Did you not write it?"

 

Seungah snorted. "Of course not. He never does." She mumbled out the end.

 

Daehyun closed his eyes. "I also feel so offended right now." He knocked her head. "What's wrong with you, you're so mean." He pointed to his head with a knowing look. "I'm smarter than you two think. Just watch me."

 

Seungah shook her head, but inside, she knew he would think of something to say.

 

_________

2 years ago

 

"I can't believe you forgot about our presentation!" Seungah smacked his arm. "Are you crazy? It counts for twenty percent of our grade! And you just manage to forget! Unbelievable! How hard is it to write a couple paragraphs about king Yeonsangun?!"

 

"Yah!" Daehyun countered. "In my defense, I had a soccer tournament this whole week!"

 

"I had orchestra and choir concerts too! I was busy too!" She stared unbelievably at him and sat down.

 

Daehyun shrugged. "I could just leave school now and you could say I was sick or something. That way we could push it aside until tomorrow."

 

"But they already know you're at school! You went to your first two classes and were counted tardy! Ugh!" She crumpled up the paper she was holding.

 

"We've got our poster and map and everything, it's just a speech!" He fidgeted, leaning against the wall. "Geez, so temperamental." He mumbled.

 

The bell for class finally rang, making Seungah make wide eyed towards her partner in a worried manner, making Daehyun feel uncomfortable.

 

When class started, they sat by each other waiting for the time to finally come to present unfinished. While Himchan and Youngjae presented their project, Daehyun watched Seungah bite her lip and play with her hands, trying to keep the urge to punch him down to a minimum.

 

Daehyun turned back to the front of the room, where Youngjae was doing all the work, Himchan in the corner checking his nails and whatnot.

 

"And that's how the Joseon period ended." Youngjae ended with a bow and applause from the rest of the room.


Himchan heard it and jumped, not expecting it to be over that quickly, and he put his hand over his chest and bowed too, except smiling and putting his hands up. "Thank you everybody! It was a pleasure to be able to speak in front of you all today!" He blew kisses and made his way to the back where his seat was.

 

The teacher looked up from the top of her glasses, rolled her eyes, and called out Seungah and Daehyun's name next.

 

Seungah shuddered, and felt Daehyun grab her arm and pull her to the front of the room. She would do the best she could to the best of he abilities. She set up the posters and faced the front of the room.

 

Daehyun, like Himchan, sat over in the side, watching Seungah try to remember everything written down and pointing to the maps. It felt fluent to her, if not for the constant worry about the grade. After five or so minutes, three minutes under time, she ran out of things to say, and was about to take down the posters with shaky hands.

 

"Except, you're forgetting something really important." Daehyun spoke up. Seungah snapped her head to him with surprise. "He also took thousands of innocent women to become gisaengs for him." He pointed out. "He also just had a history with violent women as well. I mean, his mother was exiled for wounding his father, and he pushed his grandma!" He reasoned, making the class laugh. "This guy was seriously messed up though. Who in their right mind would already behead an corpse? He's already dead!"

 

He went on for a fair couple of minutes, amazing Seungah's mind. They finished within the time period, and probably got a better score than they would have if he hadn't said anything.

 

After class was over and the two were in the hall, Seungah caught him after class. He blinked at her blank expression. "What?"

 

She opened to say something, but she couldn't believe that he remembered all of that from class. He never seemed to pay attention!

 

"Th-thanks, Daehyun-ssi.." She looked down. But when she looked up, her face was flushed from embarrassment. She grinned. "Seriously, you're the best!" She gave him thumbs up and ran down the hall. She really didn't like being proved wrong, because that meant she had judged something wrongly. Or just judged in general.

 

Meanwhile, Daehyun stood there for a second, feeling warm. "You just did what you were supposed to." He told himself, nodded and walked towards his next class.

 

______

Present

 

 

"Those poor people." Hyosung eyed the students coming into the gym, mumbling and groaning because they wanted to leave school. "I wouldn't want to be here either."

 

Seungah shrugged. "At least you don't have to make a speech." She huffed.

 

"At least you have yours finished." Hyosung nudged. "I heard Daehyun over there hasn't even written his yet."

 

"Yet? He doesn't have time to write anything anymore." She shrugged. "He's an improviser, I don't doubt that."

 

"No one knows better than you!" Hyosung sung and danced her way across the gym to the rest of her group, leaving Seungah to mock her and go back to Daehyun and Suho.

 

Suho swallowed. "You need help?"

 

Daehyun put a hand up. "No thanks, I got this. In any case, I'll just grab a soccer ball and dribble it a bit." He nodded at Seungah, who just looked at him and pursed her lips. He pushed Suho to the front after the principal made his own little talk. "Go out there and show 'em."

 

Suho looked back and halfheartedly smiled at them and then turned his attention to the students.

 

"You worried?" Daehyun asked after a couple of minutes.

 

"About what?"

 

He turned his eyes towards Seungah. "Whether I'll make it or not."

 

"Always over dramatic. It's a demonstration for the school, not a national competition or something." She said. "But no, I'm not." She answered his question.

 

"Oh really?" He smiled. "And why's that?"

 

She watched the students clap and Suho making his way back. "Because." She thought for a second. "You always come up with something to say." She told him and went up herself, leaving Daehyun once again to stand there.

 

He sighed. "Idiot."

 

"What?" Suho looked offended.

 

"No, not you!" Daehyun quickly said.

 

Seungah stood in front of the gym. Her heart was racing, but not from nervousness, just from being in front of a crowd. She loved it, and that's why she got into music. Because she liked performing for people.

 

"...and if you do well enough in the local competition, you can go on to nationals and perform in front of more people. You meet a lot more people from around the country and hear music you might not have before." She continued. "Music and arts are for the learning and captive minds. Thank you." She bowed and ended her speech. In the corner, she saw Jieun, Sunhwa, and Zinger make faces and applaud her.

 

Smirking, she looked at Daehyun, giving him a mental challenge, which he took. They walked past each other, making faces and mocking each other.

 

Suho opened his mouth to say something, but Seungah cut him off. "Just watch and be surprised."

 

The first thing Daehyun did was crack his knuckles and his neck. The gym was silent. "Let me tell you a bit about sports. They're fun, they get you in shape, and they get you girls." He rolled his head and gave them a knowing look. Himchan sat there and hollered, along with a few other soccer players. "It also gives you a rush to play other teams for the winning title. You feel part of a team." He started to get sentimental. "And you look around the field or the court, and you immediately know that you're not alone. Unless you're the ball hogger  that pisses everyone off, but you know." He shrugged and said some more points before ending off. "But the best thing is that if you play your stupid rival school who kept telling you off, you have a chance to kick their fricken asses." He smiled proudly. "And that's why you should join sports, thank you." He bowed, pointed to Yongguk and the others, and strutted his way back.

 

The teachers were still gasping in shock at his last words, but the principal went up, still speechless, and introduced the dancers.

 

Hyosung raised her eyebrows at Seungah who gave her a thumbs up before they started their routine.

 

"Nice one." Seungah eyed Daehyun.

 

He spread out his arms. "Of course! I'm Jung Daehyun!" He hopped on the table until the assembly was over and they could leave.

 

"You weren't kidding about him." Suho caught up with her getting the gym cleaned up.

 

"Well, yeah." She shrugged and leaned on the wall for a second, watching him make his friends clean up with him. "He's an entertainer all right."