Chapter One.

Jinwoo never enjoyed loud noises.
 

The contrast between a small island and the city is far too much for his liking, but this is the life he chose for himself, he doubts his parents would be happy to see him come back after running away to chase his dream. Jinwoo should’ve realized these decisions only go well for movie protagonists. This isn’t a hollywood movie, this is real life, and in real life in he’s lost in the middle of the largest city in his country without a place to stay.

There’s enough cash in his pocket to last him a week on ramen and water bottles, he doubts he’ll be able to become a famous singer in less than seven days. Jinwoo needs a job, something that can keep him alive until he can find a company to audition too. He’s twenty years old, old enough to register in a company without his parent’s intervention, but he doesn’t think he’s ready.

For now, he decides to set up camp in the corner of a pretty busy street. He tries not to dwell on the fact that he’ll have to sleep in a bus stop and focuses practicing his lyrics. City people like street performers, right? It takes his three tries to get the last verse correctly. He’s doesn’t have a guitar to back him up, but he’s confident that his vocals will be good enough to carry to song, or bad enough for people to pity him and give him some money. He takes a deep breath and begins the first verse.

Until he’s cut off by a young man with middle parted hair. “What are you doing in my spot?” He asks, looking exactly like the girls that Jinwoo was scared of in high school. His lips are pressed together and his eyes look like they’re permanently half closed, always looking angry.

“I’m sorry! I can move if you want, just let me- uh...” Jinwoo stammers, shoving his printed out lyrics into his backpack. The man doesn’t look satisfied.

“You see that posted there?” The young man presses his finger to the poster right above Jinwoo’s head. It had a very cartoonish looking drawing of two men, one with especially exaggerated drooped eyebrows and another with exaggeratedly large lips, that reads ‘Kang&Nam. Playing every afternoon on weekdays and every night on Weekends on Just Another Cafe.” Jinwoo isn’t even surprised that he missed it, things are always flying over his head.

The young man keeps talking about his reputation or something, but Jinwoo isn’t listening. His eyes catches a sign right next the entrance that reads: ‘Help Wanted. Night entertainment for weekdays. Please contact the owner for more details on auditions.’ Finally, a of luck. He stands up and goes inside, ignoring the young man saying “Hey! Come back!”

The cafe looks fancy and minimalistic, it reminds him a bit of a designer clothes store, but the busy sound of people makes it a bit more comforting, along with the soft sounds of another man, probably the other entertainer, tuning his guitar into the microphone. His eyes roam over the framed art on the walls, and in the few seconds he spends focusing on a drawing of a cat, he bumps into a much taller and bigger body than his own. Before Jinwoo can even open his mouth to apologize, he feels himself falling back, until he feels a hand on the curve of his back. The man caught him right before his head hit the ground. Jinwoo swallows, opening his eyes to look up at the body that’s still holding him.

“, you ok? You almost fell.” The man asks in a rich, deep voice. He feels like a drama protagonist, but he never thought it would be this embarrassing.

Jinwoo stands up and wipes his hand on his jeans, hiding his pink cheeks from the other man’s gaze. “Sorry, I didn’t see where I was going I was looking at the- Thank you.” He says, catching himself before he rambles on, but the man only laughs. “Its ok. I felt like a main guy in a drama, it was cool.” He keeps laughing and picks up his notebook. Jinwoo can’t break his gaze from him, Minho, he reads from the name tag on the man’s chest, until a high pitched voice calls for him behind the counter.

“Stop flirting with the customers!” The high pitched man yells, apparently the barista from the looks of it, and Jinwoo can feel his cheeks burning. Minho gives him an apologetic bow and returns to work. Jinwoo sighs and looks through his pockets for some money, at least enough for a small cup of coffee and takes a seat. He hears a familiar voice in the background singing something he recognizes from the radio. Its the man from earlier, Nam or whatever he’s called, and he’s good. Very good, much better than him. Maybe it won’t be that easy to get a gig here.

*

A few hours later, after a nerve cracking audition, he learns that it actually was that easy to get a gig here. Due to the fact that he can’t play an instrument very well, he’ll have to be joined by Seungyoon, the other regular performer that plays with the eyebrow man, but he doesn’t mind. At least every time he sings guarantees him enough money to last him a few more days, just not enough for a place to stay.

Jinwoo sips on his coffee. It was on the house after he had to tell Seunghoon, the barista and the man in charge of auditions, why he was there in the first place. He didn’t like being pitied, but he he couldn’t turn down free food either. Now he sits in the far corner of the now much emptier cafe, and skims his eyes along his lyric book. Seungyoon had allowed him to read a few of his lyrics that he thought Jinwoo could sing along too. After reading them, Jinwoo lied about the fact that he also writes songs of his own. He didn’t want to embarrass himself next to someone who obviously writes dozens of times better than himself.

He remembers that Minho was also at the audition, and he clapped when he finished singing. He didn’t even need to clap, but he did. Jinwoo supposes it was just to be nice, but he can’t stop thinking about how he sounded when he told him “I like it, he sings in a really cute way. It’ll probably get us a lot more girl customers.” Jinwoo doesn’t want to attract any girls at the moment, and he starts to wonder if his voice could attract tall men with deep voices instead.

“Hey, mind if I sit here?” Jinwoo looks up at Minho and shakes his head. Seems like he can attract tall men with deep voices without even having to sing. He smiles at himself and hides his lyric book in his backpack.

Seconds pass in awkward silence, both of them staring at each other and wondering who will speak up first until Minho clears his throat and says, “Where did you learn to sing like that?”

Jinwoo stops looking at Minho and starts playing with his fingers. “I taught myself. My father didn’t want me to become a singer and... Well, the usual story. But I would listen to other artists and I would sing along, eventually I started writing my own songs and a friend told me I could make a living out of it, so I believed her.”

“You’ll start making a living out of it tonight, at least. Everyone starts somewhere.” Minho says, and Jinwoo gives him a shy smile.

“Hey, when I was a kid I didn’t think I would be a waiter. I thought I would be making, I don’t know... Marvel comics by now. So far the art that you see on the walls is the farthest my art will ever go.”

“You made them? All of them?” Jinwoo asks, eyebrows raised.

“Yeah, Seunghoon thought it would be a nice way to decorate the place.” Minho runs his fingers through the table idly, as if he’s thinking about something. “I try to focus more on my job these days, drawing has become a hobby, I guess.”

There’s a sudden realization in Jinwoo’s gut that he may just end up working in the cafe for a long time before he ever actually does something else with his career. At least he's safe now, without the constant complaints from his father to keep from doing what he loves. The awkwardness turns into content as Jinwoo silently slides his lyric book into Minho's hands. The taller man asks him if its alright for him to read it. Jinwoo nods and just watches him, laughing at the other's coments. Its the first time he's shown anyone his songs in years, he's surprised that he let a man he just met read every single one of them. At least at this very moment he can ignore the fact that in just a few hours, after his first gig, he'll have to sleep in a train station bench. He think's about Minho's laugh instead.