L.Joe walked down the aisle looking at the 5 new candidates. He nodded his head as he studied them. “Pretty good,” he said to them.
“Alright,” he clapped his hands for attention. “All of you know how it’s done. Chan Hyun and Ahn Daniel will jump on each of you. If you’re still standing after 5 minutes, then welcome to Sechskies.” Only 2 of the 5 guys lasted the beating. “Okay,” said Sung Hoon. The two newest members to join are...“ “Wait!” a voice shouted, interrupting Sung Hoon. Everyone looked over to see who it is. L.Joe stared at the young boy who was walking towards them. ‘What the hell? Damn! This kid looks like Chorong!’ he thought. ‘I must be losing it. How come I keep seeing her today?’ Sung Hoon looked at the new boy curiously. “Yes? What do you want little man?”I looked at Sung Hoon. ‘Gosh, he developed an attitude’, I thought. I took a deep breath. This is it. “I want to join SechsKies.” A guy I recognized as Bang Min Soo busted out laughing. He placed his hand on top of my head. “You? How old are you boy? 15? 16? And how tall are you now? 5’?” I moved his hand away for him. “No. I’m 18 and I’m not 5’, I’m 5’3.” That remark made all the other members except L.Joe laugh. I looked at him curiously and realized he was checking me out. ‘Oh no’, I thought. ‘Please don’t recognize me’. L.joe held up his hand for the others to stop laughing.

“Hey, if he wants a chance, then we’ll give it to him.” Then he turned to face me. I felt my heart thumping loud and prayed he couldn’t hear it. He placed his hand on my shoulder. Dang, he smells good, I thought as I tried to suppress a smile. “Look kid,” said L.Joe to me. “You have to be jumped on to join. These 2 guys (pointing at Min Soo and Chan Hee) will kick the crap out of you for 5 minutes. If you’re still standing, you’re in.” I nodded my head. I knew I had to last because I’m doing it for L.joe. I stood there as MinSoo and ChanHee began to hit me.ChanHee threw the first punch and it gave me instant pain. He’s even stronger than my stepmom, I thought. MinSoo kicked me and I was knocked to the ground but I kept pulling myself up. L.Joe looked at the helpless boy who was struggling to stand up. He doesn’t understand why but when he looks at the boy, images of Chorong replaced him. Right now in his eyes, it looked like it was Chorong being beaten up by MinSoo and ChanHee. He couldn’t help it. “Stay down!” he yelled to the boy. Everyone stared at L.Joe. Both MinSoo and ChanHee stopped hitting the boy because they were surprised that L.Joe was being nice out of nowhere.

I heard L.Joe yelling for me to stay down. My ears listened but my legs wouldn’t. I refused to stay down. No matter how many times they hit me or how hard, I managed to get up. Finally 5 minutes was over and I was still standing. “Am I in?” I asked in a weak voice. I saw Ji Won staring at me with a surprised expression. “Yes, you’re in.” he said patting my shoulder. I smiled and fainted into his arms. L.joe held the boy in surprise. He realized the boy had fainted. Usually he would let go if someone fainted on him, but this time he held on tight. The other Sechskies members and the 2 new recruits looked at L.Joe in a strange manner. “Uh, hyung,” said Sung Hoon, as he patted L.Joe on the shoulder. “What?” asked L.Joe, as he continued holding the boy. “What should we do about the new recruits?” “Give them instructions and show them to their rooms. We’ll have a meeting tomorrow.” “Okay.” They all left but once in a while, they all would glance back looking at L.Joe, who was carrying the boy in the other direction.Slowly I began to regain my consciousness and I woke up. I looked around and realized I was in the biggest room in the Nam Hotel, The Presidential Suite. “What am I doing in here?” I asked myself. Then suddenly the chair in front of me spun around. L.Joe was sitting in it. I stared at him with wide eyes. I started to panic because I was all alone with him in the room.

L.Joe gave me a sideways glance. “You okay?” he asked. I nodded my head .L.Joe got up out of his seat and walked towards me. He sat down on the bed next to me and looked at me straight in the eyes. “So what’s your name?” he asked. “Ch-“ I began but instantly cut myself off. ‘Stupid, I thought to myself. You almost said your real name!’ I saw L.Joe’s eyes grow wide. “What did you say your name was?” “Min-Sung,” I answered him quickly.
“Oh,” he said and backed away from me. Ji Won stood up and walked towards the window, looking outside. He knew the new recruit was a boy but somewhere inside him wished Min Sung would say his name  was Chorong. He let out a sigh. “There’s a meeting tomorrow. Be there okay?” I looked at L.Joe with his back facing me. It had only been 2 years but I felt as though I couldn’t read what was going through his mind anymore. I let out a sigh myself.
“L.Joe, where do we meet later tomorrow?” Hearing his real name made L.Joe suddenly look up. He ran over to where Min Sung was sitting and grabbed him by his shoulders. “How do you know my real Korean name? No one knows me by that. Everyone calls me Andrew.”

Oh no, I thought. I had completely forgotten that L.Joe had changed his name to Andrew but I thought fast. “I didn’t know your name is L.Joe. All I said was, ‘Gee, wanna go out later tomorrow?’" I felt L.Joe’s grip on me loosen. He had bought the story. When he was not looking, I let out a sigh of relief. ‘I’m losing it,’ thought L.Joe. “We’ll meet in the main dining room tomorrow,” L.Joe told Min Sung. He nodded his head and left. L.Joe walked out to the balcony and looked up at the sky. “I love you Chorong, that’s why it hurts so much that you’re not here.” But the real Chorong had left before she could have heard those words.

Meanwhile back in the hotel lobby... After Sung Hoon and the others gave the new recruits instructions about the meeting, they went back to their rooms. “You think there’s something wrong with Andrew hyung?” asked ChanHee. “Yeah,” said MinSoo. “Did you see the way he held the new guy?” They began to shudder. “No, it’s nothing,” answered Sung Hoon. “You think maybe Andrew is gay?” asked Daniel. “You’re the one who looks gay,” said MinSoo, jokingly. “Shut up!” yelled Daniel as he punched MinSoo lightly. The others began to laugh. Then ChanHyun said, “Could be though. I've never seen him ‘be’ with a girl before.” Sung Hoon lets out a sigh. “Okay, I’ll tell you guys the real deal. But don’t let this get back to Andrew okay?” They all nodded and leaned forward to hear the story. “About 5 years ago, Andrew hyung met this girl named Park Chorong….” “Is she a babe?” asked MinSoo, interrupting. Sung Hoon gave him a look. “Yes, Duckie, she’s a babe.” “Oh, okay,” said MinSoo. “Continue.” “Anyway, Andrew knew her before he met me. It turns out that she was the first person who really ever cared about him and Andrew fell in love with her. But you know how hyung is. He could never tell anyone exactly what’ s on his mind or how he feels. Instead of saying he wants Chorong to be his girlfriend, he said he wants her to be his dongsang...“ “That’s stupid!” yelled MinSoo, interrupting Sung Hoon. “Why did he say that for? She’s a babe!” “Sh..!” yelled Daniel, ChanHyun and ChanHee at MinSoo. Sung Hoon continued.
“Well, Andrew  ended up having this blood ceremony with her. They scarred each other’s back with their initial. It looks like a blood tie but I found out later on that it was his symbol of promised love...“

“Ow.. That must have hurt,” said MinSoo as he hugged himself. Daniel smacked him on the head for interrupting again. “I think they knew each other for a year before they met me. At first I thought Chorong was cute, but by the way Andrew acts, I can tell she was off limits. See, Chorong had this heart condition where air would suddenly be closed off and she wouldn’t be able to breathe. The only way to get air in was by this respirator...“ “The one hyung always carry around?” asked MinSoo. “Yes Duckie,” said Sung Hoon, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, it was either that or mouth to mouth resuscitation. Once, I was walking along the shores with her and Andrew went collecting shells forChorong. One of her attacks came. I freaked out, but I knew what to do. I laid her down and I was about to give her CPR but Andrew ran like the speed of light and knocked me into the ocean to give her CPR.” The others started laughing. “Dang, ain’t he a Romeo?” said MinSoo, laughing. Sung Hoon smiled. “He lovesChorong and didn’t want any other guy touching her. I mean, during school, if any guy talks about wanting to date her, Andrew made sure he didn’t. Oh yeah, Andrew hyung hasn’t always been Andrew. His real name is Lee Byung Hun. The ‘C’ scar on his back stands for Chorong, not he name now Andrew.”

The others opened their mouths in shock. They never knew Ji Won had been this much in love before. “How romantic,” whispered MinSoo. “Shut up hyung,” said ChanHyun. “Quit interrupting!” “Okay, okay,” said MinSoo, blocking himself from Daniel’s hand. Sung Hoon resumed talking. “If there are no more interruptions, then I’ll continue.” He paused for a second and then continued. “The day before Andrew and I made it to Korea, he and chorong were supposed to get married. Andrew didn’t like his dad and there was this feud in their family on who gets the grandpa’s inheritance. Andrew got it of course, and he took it all and left Hawaii. He took me and he was planning on taking Chorong too. When he went to her house, his uncle’s men were guarding the place and he couldn’t take her. He ended up leaving Hawaii without saying goodbye to Chorong.” All of them remained silent. Then ChanHyun spoke. “Last year hyung sent me out to get some news on Park Chorong. She had died drowning.” Sung Hoon nodded. “Yeah but Andrew and I think she committed suicide. He think it’s because Chorong can’t handle living with her stepmom, who was always abusing her. If you ask me, I think Chorong committed suicide because Andrew left her without any reason. I think hyung thinks that too but he won’t say it. I think he blames himself for her death and since then he hasn’t been the same. He used to be nicer and not this touchy. Also that’s why he’s never been with another girl. I mean, we see him flirt with other girls but none of us actually see him ‘be’ with another girl right?” The others nodded in agreement. Sung Hoon continued. “About this new boy today. I think Andrew is losing it. He probably thinks when he sees the boy he sees...“ Sung Hoon stopped talking as he looked up. He finished his sentence with a “...See you later!” and he ran off.

The others looked up surprised. Daniel smacked MinSoo on his head.“What?” asked MinSoo. “I didn’t interrupt!” “It’s not Duckie’s fault,” said ChanHee.
“Look.” ChanHee pointed to where Sung Hoon ran off too.“Aigo,” said Daniel. “It’s that same waitress babe.” “See?” said MinSoo. “It’s because of a girl, not me. You hit me by mistake.” “No, it’s not a mistake. I still wanna smack your head because it makes this cool hollow sound,” replied Daniel as he smacked Minsoo on his head again.“So, wanna go out sometime?” Sung Hoon asked Kyung Hee, leaning near her. She rolled her eyes at him. She answered flatly, “No” and began to leave. Sung Hoon held onto her arm. “Come on babe. Xmas is next month and don’t be a scrooge.”  Then suddenly, Kyung Hee gave him a seductive smile. “I guess. How about we go out on November 31st then?” Sung Hoon smiled back ily. “It’s a date then,” he answered, letting her go. The other 4 walked up to him. “How did it go Mickey?” asked ChanHyun. “Hey, hey, what can I say?” answered Sung Hoon cockily. “I’m the man!” Daniel  gave him a high-five. “Alright!” yelled MinSoo. “When are you two going out?” “November 31st,” answered ChanHee. “Uh, Mickey,” said MinSoo. “What's up MinSoo?” said Sung Hoon. “November doesn’t have a 31st.” “What?” asked Sung Hoon, surprised. He looked at the calendar. November ends on the 30th. He looked around but Kyung Hee had already left. He started cursing while the others try to hold back their laughter.