Sehun is standing in line, waiting to perform his act – tightrope walking – in front of the various circus owners. One of them might see his potential and become his new boss. He is, self-admittedly, not the best tightrope walker the Academy can offer but hopefully, he can perform just well enough to lane himself a spot in a circus. He would hate to have to perform in Everland or Lotte or, God forbid, on the streets of Myeongdong.

The Aerial Stunts Department, which houses Sehun’s specialty in tightrope walking and various others, is big. In fact, it is the biggest in the Academy. The star student of the department, and Sehun’s best friend, Jongin, has already secured himself a spot with all the circuses present. His only dilemma is that of choice. Sehun, on the other hand, has to worry about not getting into a single circus.

Sehun sees Jaebum, a short but muscular guy, step onto the tightrope and begin his walk. Jaebum, like always, is steady and focused, never faltering. He completes the walk with confidence and even adds in a smirk at the end. Arrogant piece of thing, Sehun thinks. Sehun hates that tightrope walking is all about the confidence – there is just no room for any fancy act unlike other aerial stunts like aerial silk or the flying trapeze. Dongwoon, the Arabian-like guy, is next to get on. Unlike Jaebum, Dongwoon has his fair share of bad days but today, he is steady and with his head held high, he completes the walk as well.

Sehun is next. He climbs up the ladder and takes one look ahead. Never look down, that’s the rule. He takes a tentative step onto the rope, and another, and another, and before he knows it, he is already halfway-through. Just fifty more metres to go, Sehun reassures himself but at that very moment, he makes the mistake of glancing towards the ground…

White. That’s all that Sehun can see. It’s quite plain for heaven, Sehun thinks. He thought that heaven was supposed to be much nicer than this. He continues walking for a while and out of the corner of his eye, he sees Jongin. What the hell is Jongin doing in heaven? He takes a step towards him but there’s nothing beneath his foot. Oh god…not again, Sehun thinks, as he falls a long way through the clouds.

“Hey dude, you have finally decided to wake your lazy up I see,” Sehun recognises the voice as Jongin’s sleepy drawl.

He blinks, once, twice, thrice just to make sure and slowly gets up. The table, the chair, his Miranda Kerr poster on the wall, why is he in his room?

“Why are you here? Aren’t I in heaven and why does heaven look so different?” Sehun asks, his eyebrows setting in a frown.

“Seriously, dude, even if you die, you are going to hell and not heaven,” Jongin spits back. “And sadly, you merely fainted so you are still alive”.

“I fainted?” Oh crap, Sehun thinks, he might as well have died. Now he has to decide between Everland, Lotte World and the streets of Myeongdong. Maybe the streets of Hongdae is a possible choice as well…

“Ya and you have been out for four hours. Now get your up, we still have to pack. EXO is picking us up at 5.”

“What EXO?”

“Oh, you fainted so you don’t know. EXO chose you and since I’m such a good friend, I chose EXO too.”

Sehun faints again.

2 hours later

Sehun thinks that this is the start of a beautiful journey as he sits at the back of the car with Jongin. EXO is a new but rising travelling circus that goes on world tours. Apparently, he has somehow finished walking the tightrope looking like a zombie for the remainder of the length and fainted as soon as he got down to ground level. The boss of EXO, one Mr Kim, was really impressed by how he managed to stay so stiff on the tightrope for the second half and decided to take him in. So that is why he is here now, with Jongin, heading towards their new home, the place they will live in for as long as they are needed. Beside him, Jongin is already fast asleep but Sehun is too excited to even notice. Far off in the distance, he catches a glimpse of a lighted white tent with the letter-O sticking out in bright orange light.