Sunggyu lowered his camera with a sigh. Birds and trees only made good pictures once, maybe twice. Afterwards the only way to make those pictures interesting you have to alter the hell out them. And that's not how Sunggyu does it. He hates altered pictures. Once he did a photo shoot for a magazine and flipped out when he found out the company airbrushed the images. He broke their cameras and ripped up their prototypes, screaming that photography was an art and if they couldn't respect that than they didn't deserve to have the tools of the trade. After that he ran out and they haven't been able to find him since. He deactivated his number and got a new cell phone, new business cards, and a new stage name. Well, in a matter of speaking. He decided to just use his real name. Kim Sunggyu.

He got up from the bench and pulled the hat further down, hiding his face. Not that it mattered, since no one knew who he was. He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked down the path, glancing at everything. The world was fascinating. All he wanted to do was capture it. He bumped into a boy with his shoulder and the first thing he did was make sure his camera was okay.

“Oh, sorry man,” the boy said with a smile. Sunggyu just shrugged, but stopped when he saw the boy's smile. It wasn't real. The boy continued to walk and Sunggyu watched, curious about the boy with the fake smile. He grabbed his camera and snapped a picture, focusing on the school emblem on his bag. He wanted to see the real boy behind the fake smile. He wanted to capture him. And now he knew what school he went to. He smiled slightly and walked back to his home, a small studio apartment. He threw his bag onto the couch, placing his camera on the table carefully. The apartment was filled with pictures of people, models, and nature. All unaltered and beautiful.

He walked over to his chair and sat down, pulling his laptop onto his lap and pulling out the memory card from the camera. He popped it in and groaned at the first pictures. They were terrible. He could tell there was no heart in them. He skipped to the picture of the boy and looked at the emblem. He had seen it before, he just needed to remember where. He looked at the different files, hoping that he had managed to organize them in an actually coherent manner. He opened a folder with all the pictures of buildings and sighed. It was one of the larger folders on his computer.

“This is going to take a bit,” Sunggyu muttered to himself. He set the computer a side for a moment and got up. He walked to the tiny kitchen and reached into the fridge, grabbing a beer and a bag of carrots. He walked back to his chair and put his snacks on the table before returning his computer to his lap. He grabbed a carrot and began eating it, using his other hand to quickly scroll through all the pictures. He quickly forgot about the beer as he munched on his carrots and looked through his files, his eyes scanning faster than he can scroll.

It was nearly dawn when he finally found the school he was looking for. Through the night he managed to eat through four bags of carrots and half of his beer. He smiled triumphantly and leaned his head back. He didn't mean to fall asleep and it was the middle of the afternoon when he woke up. He rubbed his eyes and got up, going to the bathroom to shower. He wanted to look presentable. After all, he was headed to a very prestigious all boys school. He took one last look at himself in the mirror. He was missing something. He chuckled to himself and walked back into the living room, grabbing his camera and wrapping the strap around his neck.

With one last check to make sure he had everything, he walked out of the apartment. The school was a couple miles away, so Sunggyu opted to ride his bike. He carried his bike down the four flights of stairs and out of the complex. He started riding it, a smile forming on his lips. He always enjoyed feeling the rush of wind on his face. He rode to the school and locked his bike next to all the other ones and strolled into the office, his hands in his pockets.

“Hello sir, can I help you?” the lady at the reception desk asked. Sunggyu smiled politely and rested his arms on the desk.

“Yes actually. I'm an a photographer and I would like to make one of the students the subject of my next project,” Sunggyu replied.

“Let me just ask the principal. Do you know the student's name?” the lady asked as she stood.

“Um, no, but I have a picture of him,” Sunggyu answered, pulling out a printed version of the picture of the boy he took the day before. She took it and looked at him skeptically.

“Alright, I'll be back in a moment,” she said. She walked into the back office and Sunggyu looked around. The office was tiny and plain, only having a few fliers here and there. The lighting was terrible. He put his smile back on when the receptionist came back into the room with a handful of papers. “The principal said it would be alright as long as you fill these out.” Sunggyu took the clipboard from her and nodded politely as a thank you.

The papers were standard forms; contact information, description of what he was doing, et cetera, et cetera. He filled them out quickly and handed them back to the woman.

“The student's name is Jang Dongwoo. He's a senior in class B. I will call down and let his teacher know you're coming,” the woman explained. She seemed uncomfortable with having to tell him. He just smiled and walked out, heading toward the room. He walked in, bowing slightly to the teacher before standing in front of the class. He saw Dongwoo immediately. He didn't have his signature fake smile, but more of a sleepy look. Sunggyu must have woken him up from a nap.

“Class, this is Mr. Kim Sunggyu. He's a photographer who's going to to be following Dongwoo around for a while. Anyone have any questions?” the teacher asked the class. A couple of hands rose and he pointed at a boy near the back.

“Mr. Kim, why are you following the new kid around? Don't you want to photograph someone with more to offer?” he asked. Sunggyu smiled politely, but was screaming on the inside.

“My decision is final,” Sunggyu answered simply. The boy seemed displeased with the answer, but Sunggyu wasn't going to elaborate. He looked over and noticed Dongwoo raising his hand.

“Don't I get a say in this?” Dongwoo asked, obviously confused.

“I got permission from the school, so no. However if you want me gone after school hours then I really don't have a choice but to leave you alone,” Sunggyu explained. He had forgotten that people usually wanted to be asked permission. He had been working with nature for too long. Dongwoo thought about it and glanced around. Everyone in the class was looking at him. He just smiled brightly at them and Sunggyu resisted the urge to take a picture. His smile was fake again. Sunggyu bowed slightly, tired of the questions and sat down in the back corner of the room. He silently hoped Dongwoo would let him at least take pictures outside of school. He wouldn't get the real Dongwoo when he was trying so hard to be fake in front of everyone else.

The lesson was boring, but that's because he knew most of the information. He had dropped out of school to pursue his photography carrier. He watched Dongwoo carefully as well as the other students. They would snicker at Dongwoo when the teacher wasn't looking. Dongwoo just smiled at them.

When they were released for lunch everyone got up and rushed out of the classroom. Dongwoo walked with a couple of students, laughing and talking with them. They all just smiled at him and occasionally laughed when he did something goofy. Sunggyu took a couple of pictures, wondering if this was what high school was like now. A bunch of brats with lies written on their faces. The boys Dongwoo was with were truly laughing at him, but it didn't seem to be in a friendly matter. Dongwoo got his food and sat with them, Sunggyu sitting a few tables away with a bag of carrots.

Sunggyu couldn't understand what Dongwoo was doing. He was acting overly friendly and borderline idiotic. He was almost embarrassed for the boy. All the other boys seemed to eat faster than they should, using the excuse that they were finished to get away. The all got up at once and passed Sunggyu on their way to the garbage can.

“What an idiot,” one of the boys said with a laugh.

“Yeah, but he's hilarious. I love messing with him,” another boy commented. They all agreed and laughed together. Sunggyu looked back at Dongwoo, shocked at how his expression had taken a 180. His smile was gone and his eyes looked sad as he watched the boys walk away. Sunggyu took a picture quickly. For once his expression wasn't fake. This is what the real Dongwoo looked like. He picked up his tray even though he hadn't even touched it and threw the food away. He came back and sat next Sunggyu, looking him in the eye.

“Why are you following me?” Dongwoo asked, genuinely curious.

“I like your face kid. It'll make great pictures,” Sunggyu replied simply. Dongwoo looked skeptical, but just shrugged.

“Okay, but could you do me a favor and leave me alone when I leave school?” he asked with a smile. Sunggyu just crossed his arms. Capturing the real Dongwoo was going to be difficult if he was just confined to the school.

“Sure. That's fine,” Sunggyu replied.

“Cool. I hope we can get along.” Dongwoo left, Sunggyu watching him walk away. He was in front of other students and acting again. He joked around with a couple more students and Sunggyu just watched while eating his carrots. He was an odd one. Sunggyu finished his carrots and stood up, walking back to the classroom.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Dongwoo would joke with the other students around him when the teacher wasn't looking, but his laugh was too loud. He always got caught and scolded. The other students would laugh at him and he would just laugh with them. Sunggyu actually nodded off partway through the lesson. He woke up just in time to watch everyone leave. Dongwoo was being his cheerful self and Sunggyu actually smiled slightly. The boy was charming, even if it was just an act. Dongwoo glanced back at Sunggyu with a grin on his face before running into a wall. The other students laughed and Sunggyu used his hand to hide his own chuckle.

When all the students were gone Sunggyu got up and walked out as well, looking at the few pictures he had taken during the day. He sighed, not really liking any of them except the one he took in the cafeteria. He walked to his bike and noticed Dongwoo fixing his bike. Sunggyu walked over curious and stood over him.

“What happened?” Sunggyu asked. Dongwoo jumped slightly and looked up.

“My chain broke, it's no big deal,” Dongwoo replied with a bright smile. Sunggyu leaned over slightly to get a better look at the chain, even though Dongwoo was trying to hide it. Sunggyu frowned at the damaged chain. It wasn't that difficult to notice the chain was cut. “I got this, you can go.” Sunggyu held in a sigh and walked to his own bike, unchaining it from the bike rake. He took one last look at the boy before riding toward his home.

He carried his bike upstairs when he reached the apartment building and chained it outside his door. He sighed heavily as he walked into the apartment, rubbing his eyes slightly. He reached into the fridge and grabbed a bag of carrots before placing his camera on the table. He walked into his bedroom and kicked off his shoes, laying on the bed. He put one hand under his arm and the other on his chest, the bag resting under them. He stared at the ceiling, lost in thought as he ate his carrots. That boy, Dongwoo, never left his mind. It wasn't like Sunggyu to get this obsessed with his subject, but then again he had never had a subject so fascinating. He reached for another carrot and was annoyed and shocked to find he had already eaten them all. He sighed and threw the bag in the trash next to the bed. Sunggyu closed his eyes and fell asleep, thinking of tomorrow.