“Good morning.”

Silence.

“I was going to call you but I didn’t have your number.”

More silence.

“Min, I’m really sorry. I got weirdly sick…I was even throwing up! Seunghyun and Min-”

“Look, can we just do this?” Min cut in. “I want to get this done so I can go back to my regular stuff.”

“Please don’t be mad at me,” U-Kwon said weakly.

“I’m not mad. I just should have known better than to ask you out. I’m over it now although in the future you should come up with a better story.”

“But it’s not a…” U-Kwon let his voice fade out as he realized that Min was never going to believe him. With a heavy heart, he joined her across the room to start their practice. He’d ruined everything before it even began.

As the practice went on, U-Kwon was bothered more and more by the frostiness being directed at him from Min. Sure, they weren’t together or anything but he did really like her. How was he supposed to get that across to her without sounding like he was making excuses?

The song ended and started over. Min molded her body to U-Kwon’s to restart the routine. She refused to look at him, which bothered him a lot. He spun her out and back against his body. He looked down at her and completely by instinct, pressed his lips to hers…

The sound of a throat clearing made both parties spring apart guiltily. SunKi and SeungRi were standing in the doorway. SeungRi discreetly gave his friend a thumbs up behind SunKi’s back. The older boy just shook his head with the smallest smile on his face.

“Looks like you two are getting along well.”

“Oh uh…yeah,” U-Kwon said nervously. “Did you need me?”

“I’m treating you guys to lunch. Let’s go.”

U-Kwon nervously bid Min goodbye and hurried off to join the other boys. SeungRi kept giving U-Kwon sideways glances, which the latter ignored. When B-Bomb and Jongup joined the rest of the boys, they left the studio and made their way to a noodle restaurant.

“So boys, this is the home stretch. How do you feel?” SunKi asked as they waited for their orders to come.

“It’s not over until the fat lady sings,” SeungRi said.

“That’s true. Who do you think it’ll be?”

“Is there really only going to be one of us?” Jongup asked. The others stared at him, surprised that he spoke up.

SunKi shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. That doesn’t matter. You should act like there’s only going to be one, regardless.”

“Can I ask a question?” B-Bomb broke in. “Why do you guys dance in red shoes? Isn’t that like, bad luck or something? I swear I remember a fairy tale about that.”

“Oh how I love when newbies know their stuff,” SunKi said as their food came to the table. They all ate in silence for a moment before picking up the conversation. “Yeah, there is a story about a girl who danced in red shoes and eventually had to cut her feet off to keep the shoes from killing her.

“That’s exactly why we dance in the red shoes. It’s a symbol of defiance in a way. We’re saying here we are, look at me! We dare those who don’t understand us to pay attention to us. The girl in the story was punished for her vanity. Maybe we will be punished one day too but for now, we wear the red shoes.”

It was quiet as everyone thought over SunKi’s words. No one had expected that kind of answer from him.

SunKi broke the silence he created. “I want to tell you this before we go into the last round. All of you are capable. Even if you don’t make it here, I expect to see every one of you in a company. Despite the setbacks and problems, this is the best group of candidates that I’ve had in a long time.”

Each boy nodded, feeling a bit validated that they’d made it this far. SunKi wasn’t one for compliments so they knew for him to tell them that was a big thing. For the rest of the meal, the boys talked more about themselves and their lives, bonding for the few moments that they weren’t rivals. All too soon, however, it was time to go back to the studio.

Jongup joined U-Kwon in one of the studios where they began on the routine U-Kwon was supposed to be coming up with for the other. Jongup was not so surprisingly easy to work with. Even when U-Kwon made him do the same trick five times in a row to fix a combination he just did it without complaint. In fact, U-Kwon had to call a break when he noticed the boy looked like he was about to faint.

“You could have asked me to stop you know,” U-Kwon said as the younger boy guzzled a bottle of water.

Jongup shook his head. “I’m fine.”

“If you say so.” The two boys took a few precious moments to revel in the air conditioning before getting right back to it. It wasn’t until SunKi came to check on them that either boy realized it was after midnight. Where had all the time gone?

“You’re the last two here. Normally, I wouldn’t mind leaving you here, but Dongwoo is still on my conscious, ya know?”

Jongup nodded. “Yeah. I think we’re done anyway, right?”

“I think so,” U-Kwon agreed. “At least for now. What time does the studio open?” he directed towards SunKi.

“What time do you want to come? I’ll be here for you.”

“Seriously? In that case, I should be back around five.”

“You don’t quit, do you kid?”

“Nope.”

By now Jongup had quietly tiptoed out the door, leaving SunKi and U-Kwon alone. “Why do you dance?” SunKi suddenly asked.

“I heard this quote before. It went something like ‘To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking’. Ever since then, I knew that if I could do nothing but dance for the rest of my life, then it would be a life worth living.”

A grin spread across SunKi’s face. “That answer, my young friend, has earned you not only my respect, but these…”

SunKi reached into his bag and presented U-Kwon with his personal pair of red sneakers. “I don’t do this for just anybody, but I really like you kid. Don’t make me regret it, and I’ll see you in the morning.”

Cheesing from ear to ear, U-Kwon bowed and reverently stowed the shoes away. He couldn’t wait to get home and show his friends, or to see Min in the morning and show off to her. His dream was finally coming true. He’d gotten the red shoes and everything was starting to work out…yet, as he walked the familiar streets home, he couldn’t help but think of the conversation from earlier in the day and the events of the past few weeks. Were these shoes really a blessing or a curse?