Night was setting in on Jeju-do. The first stars and the moon were starting to come out, and the streetlights and store neons were turning on. And while Sunggyu, Hyemin, and Sungjong walked around Hotel 운명 looking as aimless as possible, the four others were in a hotel a block away, with nothing to do.

Woohyun lied on the hotel bed, hands clutching the blanket around him, eyes staring straight up at the ceiling. He was breathing, blinking, unmoving. From the corner of his eye, he could see Dongwoo pacing around the room floor. He went back and forth, back and forth, as if walking would solve their problems. Through the walls, Woohyun could hear Sungyeol flipping channels on the T.V. He imagined Sungyeol lying down on the bed, leaned back on some pillows, while Myungsoo read a book or perhaps was even setting up those “spy cameras” they had found at Sunggyu’s house.

If only, Woohyun thought, if only I had any idea how Hoya is doing. Or what Sunggyum Hyemin, and Sungjong are looking at. Or where the ing circus family is, for that matter.

After an hour, he sat up straight. Dongwoo was on the veranda, staring at nothing in particular. Woohyun’s eyes moved from Dongwoo to the building across the street, a club.

“That’s it,” Woohyun said, grabbing his jacket and shoes.

Dongwoo stood up in surprise. He had no idea Woohyun had even been awake. “What are you doing?”

“I need some fresh air.”

“Gyu and the rest of them are going to be back any time now—”

“But I need some fresh air,” Woohyun stubbornly replied. He messed with his hair in the mirror and splashed water on his face.

Dongwoo let out a long sigh. He didn’t feel comfortable going out, but he felt even worse letting Woohyun go out by himself, so he also grabbed his jacket and shoes.

“You’re coming?” Woohyun asked.

“Oh please, Don’t act surprised,” Dongwoo replied, elbowing his friend. “But where are we going?”

Woohyun opened the door and took a deep breath. “Somewhere I can clear my head.” He then looked over at Dongwoo and gave a sly smile. “Don’t act surprised.”

-

COMING TO 운명 SUMMER 2013

MAKING A CLASSIC SOMETHING NEW:

CIRCUS DESTINY

WITH WORLD’S BEST PERFORMER ANIMALS

TRAINED FOR THEIR LIFETIME, FOR YOUR TONIGHT!

Sungjong crumbled the poster up in his hands. “Shameless bastar—”

Hyemin covered his mouth when a doorman walked out of Hotel 운명. The doorman stared at the empty spot where the poster used to hang, and then suspiciously at the two of them, but said nothing.

“You two are really great at acting inconspicuous,” Sunggyu whispered as he walked past Sungjong and Hyemin. He smiled at the doorman as if he weren’t with the two, and walked straight into the hotel lobby. Sungjong and Hyemin quickly followed.

“Excuse me, are you following me?” Sunggyu suddenly asked, turning around. He shot them a look and they quickly apologized, as if strangers.

“Let’s go to our room,” Hyemin suggested. She and Sungjong walked over to the elevator and pressed the up button. Two doors immediately opened up, revealing the bellhop waiting inside.

“Room keys, please?” The bellhop held out his hand respectfully. Hyemin and Sungjong looked at each other in surprise. The elevator didn’t even have floor numbers, just a card scanner and a button for the lobby.

“Ah! I left it in my car,” Sungjong quickly lied. “Let’s go out and get it.” He grabbed Hyemin’s hand and quickly exited the elevator. They decided to sit down on the lobby chairs.

“This hotel is impossible to sneak around,” Hyemin whispered. “I bet a receptionist is going to come over and tell us we’re loitering.”

Sungjong lightly laughed, but his face was still serious. “Looks like if they’re keeping Hoya here, we’ll never find out. The elevator and the stairs are both controlled by room keys.”

“Yah, why would they keep Hoya in this five-star hotel? All we need here is to a way into the circus. A cleaning job, or cook?And Sunggyu’s doing just that, see?” Hyemin nodded over to the bar, where Sunggyu had made his way in, and was already chatting with the bartender.

“They’ve been doing construction in the back for forever now, haven’t they?” Sunggyu asked. “Is it for the circus?”

“Yes. Everyone’s very excited for it. Half because of the new entertainment and half because the hotel will finally be at peace again,” the bartender joked.

“Tch.” A woman sitting on the stool next to Sunggyu scoffed at their conversation. “The circus is nowhere near done. Oh, no, not at all.”

The bartender and Sunggyu shared a look before the bartender awkwardly walked away. Sunggyu wanted to do the same, but instead, he asked, “You know about the circus?”

“I know every bit of it,” the woman replied. “And it’s been halted for ages now because of that stubborn boss who won’t let me do my job and put on a show!”

Sunggyu put a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “And who are you?”

She blushed a bit and turned towards Sunggyu. Her voice was mature and so was her figure, but she had a young face and wasn’t nearly as old as Sunggyu had thought before. “For one, I’m not drunk,” she said, picking Sunggyu’s hand off of her. “I am the stage director extraordinaire for circuses—the one and only Park Eunjoo.” Eunjoo stretched out her left arm and did a small bow, as if in front of an audience.

Sunggyu covered his mouth as he muffled his laugh, but Eunjoo laughed at herself as well.

“It’s my first job, actually, and it’s not going that well,” she confessed. She cocked her head sideways and put a finger on her bottom lip as she carefully thought. “I feel very conflicted about it.”

“What’s wrong with the circus? Is it the animals? Or the stage itself? Indoor circus setups can be tricky—”

“You know about circus stages?” Eunjoo asked excitedly. Sunggyu didn’t dare reply—he had already revealed more than he had planned to. “You have to help me, then. My job—my life is on the line!”

Eunjoo’s eyes were big and round, and her face lit up for the first time that night. Sunggyu quickly considered his options and decided that learning about the circus plans was exactly what he needed to do.

“I’m Kim Sunggyu. Nuna, what do you need?”

-

Air smoky. Strobe lights flashing. Bass pumping. Alcohol abound. This was what Woohyun needed to clear his mind.

And, the girl on his arm didn’t hurt.

“I haven’t seen you here, ever,” she said, brushing her hand up and down Woohyun’s thigh.

“You’ll probably only see me tonight,” he said, softly in her ear.

“Such a bad boy!” she giggled, slapping his thigh flirtatiously.

“Such a bad talker,” Dongwoo complained from across the table. He set down his third bottle of beer that night and stared straight at his friend. “We should go.”

“Relax,” a girl clinging onto Dongwoo purred. Another girl on the other side of Dongwoo wrapped her arms around his back and massaged him.

“Yeah, relax,” Woohyun said. “Even in the crazy world we’re in now, we need to let loose every now and then.”

Dongwoo sighed. There was no winning against Woohyun. Not him, anyway. So while Woohyun began to make out with his girl, Dongwoo stepped around the other girls to make a call for help.

“Come on, Sunggyu. Pick up, pick up, pick—”

Dongwoo dropped his phone on the ground. Across the club, is that really—is that them? That’s them—those gangsters. But they can’t notice me—but they’re walking towards… Dongwoo’s eyes followed the gangsters’ gaze and spotted Woohyun, still with that girl.

“.”

The gangsters—Younghoon and Ahin—started running towards the table. Dongwoo had no more time to lose. He raced to the table and, getting there first, ripped Woohyun away from the girl.

“What the fu—”

“—those gangsters are—”

Woohyun spotted the fighters from Gi Company storming towards the two of them, and rushed away with Dongwoo. They pushed their way through the crowded club, around the corner, leaping down the stairs. But Younghoon and Ahin were still gaining on them.

“There’s no way we can out run them again, not in this crowded area—”

Woohyun placed a hat on Dongwoo’s head. Suddenly, they were stripping off their own clothes on the dance floor and switching on clothes from others. The gangsters were lost, and had to scan the room thoroughly, pushing people aside and picking up suspicious ones.

“Now slowly… towards the exit…”

But Woohyun’s words were soon drowned out by, “I SEE YOU THERE, YOU BASTARD!” Ahin stared directly into Woohyun’s eyes and screamed, “YEAH, YOU WERE WITH MY GIRL. THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY, CIRCUS FREAK?”

Woohyun, for a second, was stunned, but Dongwoo grabbed him away and they jumped behind the bartending table. Dongwoo picked up a bottle of vodka and threw it straight at Ahin, but barely missed him. Woohyun picked up some more bottles of whatever was on the shelf and kept chucking them at Ahin as they made their way further back, toward the kitchen, when suddenly Younghoon came out of nowhere and pounced on Dongwoo.

“!”

Woohyun smashed a wine bottle across Younghoon’s head, momentarily knocking him out, giving them time to run through the kitchen.

“Who the are you?!” the chef exclaimed, pushing the two away. But Dongwoo shoved the chef back, making him fall to the ground, and they made their way into the back alley.

“Back,” Woohyun panted, “to the hot—”

“—Watch it!” Dongwoo shoved Woohyun to the side, but got slugged across the face himself by Ahin.

“Think you can out chase me in my city?” Ahin brought his arm back and slugged Dongwoo again. Woohyun went for a punch at Ahin’s gut, but Ahin skillfully caught his wrist and twisted it back.

“And you—you bastard—you forced yourself on my girl,” Ahin hissed. Still holding onto Woohyun’s wrist, he kneed Woohyun’s pelvic area once, twice, three times before knocking him on the floor and socking him across the face.

Dongwoo was able to get up once Ahin was dealing with Woohyun, but got pulled back by Jihyuk. Dongwoo recognized him immediately as the one Hoya was fighting, and thus as Hoya’s captor.

“Where the hell did you come from?” Dongwoo muttered, punching Jihyuk’s jaw. Jihyuk easily dodged the punch and laughed.

“We really underestimated you guys last time. Otherwise you’d all already be dead, or worse—as circus animals.”

Dongwoo angrily went in for another punch, but Jihyuk caught his arm and twisted around his back. Dongwoo cried out in pain and kicked around himself, but Jihyuk still managed to pin Dongwoo down onto the floor. He gave Dongwoo one last blow across the temple to knock him out before cuffing him and tying a bag around his head.

“Manjeok doesn’t want them dead,” Jihyuk told Ahin, who was still beating Woohyun.

“But I do—”

Jihyuk kicked Ahin away and checked on Woohyun himself. Woohyun was badly beat, but still breathing. He turned back to Ahin. “I said, Manjeok doesn’t want them dead. He never said anything about you, even if you’re his nephew.”

The back door of the club swung open, and a recovered Younghoon came walking out. Jihyuk stood up and pointed at Dongwoo and Woohyun’s bodies on the ground.

“Take them to the basement. Separate from the other one.”