Pierrot Strike: New Year’s Eve, 11:00 p.m. (Present day)

The night is here—the one they’d all been waiting for. It is, of course, the night that those born in 1997 in South Korea would legally become adults. Everyone goes through this step in life, but uniquely in this country, everyone goes through it at the same time. It’s a community-based concept, and makes recording ages so much easier.

            Ultimately, Yerin and her crew chose to hang out at Pierrot Strike, a pub mixed with bowling alley. The bowling alley for the drunk. Entrance is only permitted to those ages 19 and up; the age restriction is perfect for those willing to celebrate their transition into adulthood with friends. It’s no coincidence that the pub is filled with those born in ’97 tonight. Everyone seems to have the same idea. But of JYP, there are only 4 members.

            Since Yerin chose to go to Pierrot, Yugyeom decided it’s best if the rest went there as well. It was a good idea, too, considering the pub was pretty much re-decorated to fit the New Year’s theme, with a big screen TV hanging on the ceiling corner to monitor the countdown to 2016. Half the room is filled with adults, who feel out of place with all the current minors in the area.

Jimin sits alone in by the bar of the room, staring at the countdown on the big screen. One more hour. There isn’t really anywhere else to look, considering she hasn’t found Yerin in the crowd, and Yugyeom and Bambam haven’t arrived yet. Jimin is normally the type to go crazy, but she feels a little self conscious when nobody she knows is around, so she pretends to scroll through Instagram.

            She feels a little conscious about the way she looks, too. It’s a pub, so half the people are wearing y dresses and the other half is dressed in baggy jeans. Jimin is dressed in black stockings and shorts that are a bit shorter than the usual length she’d go for. Her legs only appear longer with her usual chunky high heels. She covers her legs with her jacket and prays Bambam and Yugyeom come soon.

            Speak of the devils, Yugyeom and Bambam appear just as she thinks of them. Of course, they’re dressed in the very clothes that Jimin saw them in when they met at the company earlier today. The boys see Jimin sitting by the bar, wave at her, and walk over. When they get to her barstool, they scan her up and down. Bambam takes the jacket off her lap to put on himself, and they see her shorts.

            Yugyeom chuckles. “You got changed.” Jimin rolls her eyes, but Yugyeom moves in closer. “You’re wearing more makeup, too. Were you excited for today?”

            Jimin huffs and pushes Yugyeom away. “Yah! So what? I feel self conscious already, don’t beat me up like this.”

            Both boys laugh and Bambam slings an arm around Jimin. “Ha, ha, sorry Jimin-ah, you look fine. Very y.”

            Jimin hits Bambam on the chest and he grunts in pain. Jimin raises an eyebrow in satisfaction. “How about you guys say hi first instead of commenting on the way I look? I know I look y, no need to say it out loud.”

            All three laugh amongst themselves. Jimin feels more relaxed now, having friends by her. Bambam is also relaxed. But Yugyeom—he’s the only one that seems to be sweating buckets under his cheerful smile.

The thing is, Yerin is a frail girl. She puts up a front, but in the end, she is quite delicate. And nobody knows this more than her endless stream of protective brothers—the most protective of which is Ok Taecyeon of 2PM. So during the Christmas party when everyone was saying their goodbyes, Taecyeon had a short, strict chat with Yugyeom.

Hanwoori Food Restaurant: Christmas, 6:30 p.m. (a few days ago)

It had actually been an hour since the party was supposed to end, but most people were only leaving now. Yerin and Jimin had also already gone with Ayeon just a few minutes prior. Yugyeom stood alone by one of the tables, staring into nothing. That is, until Taecyeon walked his way. Yugyeom snapped out of his trance and greeted his senior.

            “Ah, Hyung,” Yugyeom greeted, “What’s up?”

            Taecyeon smiled and nodded a bit in place of a bow. He smiled and looked around themselves, checking the surroundings. When he came to the conclusion that nobody was within earshot, Taecyeon’s smile dropped. All of a sudden, he leaned in threateningly to Yugyeom.

            “Okay, Yugyeom-ah, I want you to listen here and listen closely.” The sudden change in tone freaked Yugyeom out, and he simply gulped in response, not knowing what to say.

            “You’re going out to that pub place that Yerin is going to, too, am I right?”

            Yugyeom nodded.

            “Who’re you going with?” he asked sternly.

            What was this atmosphere? Yugyeom felt like he was being interrogated. He switched to a more formal speech out of fear. “Um… I’m going with Jimin and Bambam.”

            “Alright, so I’m talking to you because Jimin and Bambam don’t seem strong enough. But you, Kim Yugyeom, you’re bulky and tall.” Where was Taecyeon going with this? Yugyeom could only be reminded of the countless students that run away from him because of his build. Taecyeon continued.

            “I warned and tried to stop Yerin countless times. But no matter what, she still insists on hanging out with those creepy- guys on New Year’s.” While keeping intense eye contact with Yugyeom, Taecyeon whipped out his phone. He scrolled through his photo gallery without looking at his screen, showing that Taec knew what the photos were by heart. Yugyeom watched his sunbae’s thumb flip through the photos. They were all pictures of men in their mid-twenties, either smoking or with their arms around multiple women.

            “Hyung, what is this?” Yugyeom asked.

            Taecyeon’s expression may not have changed, but something about his eyes appeared softer. “Yugyeom, these are the guys she’s hanging out with. Yerin doesn’t know, but I looked them up. Background check and everything.”

            “So what are you saying?”

            “They technically haven’t ever broken any laws, but they’re so suspicious. They’re always partying. They look like complete delinquents. The more I tell Yerin not to hang out with them, the more stubborn she gets and the more she complains I treat her like a child,” Taecyeon sighed and he broke eye contact.

            “Well, if she won’t listen to you, then…”

            “Yugyeom, I won’t force her to do anything,” Taecyeon nodded. “No matter how much I hate it, she’s growing up. But I do ask you to watch over her. If these guys act up, then it’s your job to protect her.”

Pierrot Strike: New Year’s Eve, 11:55 p.m. (Present day)

“Five minutes left until midnight!” Bambam yells at the top of his lungs, and the rest of the people in the bar area yell happily in response. Bambam laughs proudly at the response. He leans in to the bartender.

            “Hey, Hyungnim!” Bambam calls to the tender. “Why can’t we order drinks yet? So we can yell cheers right at midnight?”

            The bartender laughs and pushes Bambam’s forehead with his thumb. “Hey kid, do you want to get me arrested?” he chuckles. “I saw your ID like ten times. You’re a minor until midnight, and that’s that. Geez, you foreigner kids sure are something.”

            Hearing that, Bambam leans in again. “Wh… what did you say?!”

            “That’s it!” Jimin announces and pulls Bambam to sit properly in his barstool. “Do you want us kicked out before midnight? What a way to go.”

            Bambam sticks his tongue out. Yugyeom laughs at the duo and chimes in. “Anyway, guys, how many lines did you draw the other day? How many shots are you taking?” He refers to the drinking game Bambam set up during the Christmas party.

            “Ah! I completely forgot that stupid drinking game!” Jimin whines, but ultimately hangs her head in defeat. “Five shots. And that was going easy, too, Youngji Unnie wouldn’t leave me alone all day.”

            “Why, you don’t like Youngji Noona? She’s so nice!” Yugyeom says, almost in defense, but stops when he sees Bambam shake his hands to his neck in a Let it go motion for Yugyeom to not go on. Yugyeom nods and changes the subject back. “Um, yeah, I went down for four shots. You? Bam?”

            Bambam pauses for a bit, causing the other two to raise eyebrows. Finally, he speaks. “Six shots.”

            “What the heck! How?!” Jimin gasps.

            “You guys had your own drama going on during Christmas, but I was having a rough time, too! Do you know how much it to hear ‘You’re turning twenty? You’re so little!’ that often in one day?!” Bambam rants in response, and the other two can only laugh in empathy.

            Just then, they hear the bartender speak into a microphone that sounds loudly to the rest of the room.

“The Countdown begins! Sixty seconds until midnight!”

The whole pub cheers, and the faint noise of people counting down slowly starts getting louder. Bambam joins in to count down the last minute to midnight.

            “Fifty-five!” He pumps his hands in the air, joined by a few others. Jimin and Yugyeom sigh and look at each other. They just know this kid will be a party monkey when he’s an adult.

            Jimin rests on Yugyeom’s shoulder and starts mumbling the countdown with the rest of the room. Yugyeom leans into her and asks, “Are you tired already?”

            “Fifty!”

            “Nah,” Jimin says between counts, “It’s just a shame that we couldn’t find Yerin in the end.”

            “Forty-seven!”

            Yugyeom holds his breath hearing this, and bites his lip. He does hope she’s okay. He hopes these Oppas, these men, have a soft spot for younger women, as opposed to the older y women they had in those photos Taecyeon showed him. “… Yeah.”

            Bambam looks to the two behind him, and grabs Jimin’s face to lift it from Yugyeom’s shoulder. “Yah! No time for sulking! Count down with us!”

            “Forty-four!”

            His excited attitude is infectious. Jimin and Yugyeom begin pumping their fists with Bambam and start counting down with louder, happier voices.

            “Forty-one!”

            “Forty!”

            “Thirty-nine!”

            It doesn’t take long to get pulled into the excited atmosphere of the countdown. They begin counting down to thirty, and down the twenties. By then, most of the pub is standing, heads turned to the big screen’s countdown so they don’t miss a beat. With everyone standing, it’s easier to see through the crowd and to the other end of the room.

            Yugyeom does, coincidentally, look to the other end of the room. The countdown is moving down the tens. And between torsos and bellies, he sees the head of a slim girl, dolled up in a pencil skirt. She’s surrounded by excited elder men, who count down with booming voices.

            “Ten!”

            It’s Yerin.

Now, for a big moment like the last ten seconds of 2015, things tend to move in slow motion. This is no exception. Yugyeom holds his stare to Yerin, who is timidly yet excitedly pumping her fist with everyone else. She really does stand out with her milky skin and general glow.

            “Seven!”

            Her eyes meet Yugyeom’s. Should he look away? She had technically not seen them all day, it would be weird to greet her suddenly at the fifth second. But she holds a stare back. And more than just a stare, she smiles as well. She smiles at the sight of Yugyeom, and at the sight of Bambam and Jimin beside him. But more than those two, she does still hold eye contact with Yugyeom.

            “Five!”

            Yugyeom isn’t sure if he’s still counting down loudly. The sound of the pub is drowned out by his ears trying their best to listen to Yerin’s voice exclusively. He can’t hear her over the crowd—but he does his best to read her lips, glossed in a bright red.

            “Three!”

            The final countdown. Three seconds to go, and their eyes are still locked. Her smile doesn’t look as timid as it normally does. Yugyeom smiles in return, and they count down the last three seconds together, as if they’re having a conversation with one another.

            “Two!”

            Eyes locked.

            “One!”

            “Happy New Year’s!”

The party animals grab confetti poppers from their bags and pop them, causing colored paper to fly everywhere. With the chaos of the new year, people begin to move their bodies again, and Yugyeom loses sight of Yerin. Everyone goes to hug each other, kiss each other, and wear tacky “2016” glasses they prepared.

            Yugyeom snaps out of it when Bambam plants a big, sloppy kiss on his cheek. He then proceeds to do the same to Jimin, who gasps mockingly in response.

            “Bambam! What the heck,” Jimin yells.

            “How about a Happy New Year before you complain to me?” he retorts.

            Jimin laughs and pulls both boys into a hug. “Happy 2016, guys! Welcome to the new year.”

            Yugyeom grins. “Happy New Year, to you guys, too.”

            Bambam pulls them in tighter, and releases when the big screen switches to footage of fireworks popping outside.

            “Well, only one thing left to do, right?” Bambam turns to the bartender, who groans.

            “We can have drinks, now~” Bambam laughs, and the bartender nods. “Yeah, yeah, what do you guys want?”

            Bambam shrugs and turns to the other two. “I don’t know. Did you guys research what to order?”

            The other two shrug as well.

            While Bambam begins to argue with Jimin about what type of shots to order, Yugyeom looks over to Yerin’s side of the room, which is easier to see now that everyone has begun to calm down. She’s laughing. That’s good. The men seem friendly, just like she said.

            But the men are getting a little too close to Yerin. They’re snuggling up to her with a shot glass, and Yerin slowly begins to look uncomfortable. They push the glass closer to her, and she shakes her head politely. But they continue to pressure her.

            After watching for a while, Yugyeom realizes they’re pressuring her to drink an odd drink from outside the bar. The glass looks foggy. Is it spiked? Either way, they don’t appear as friendly as they may have when she first met them.

            Yugyeom stands from the bar and starts to walk over to her side of the room. Bambam and Jimin look up, only to see him heading in that direction. “Where is he going?”

Yugyeom approaches the men. As he walks closer, the men only appear bigger and bigger. And their stubbles and tattoos also only appear bigger and bigger. In total, there’s four of them. But Yugyeom tries his best to keep cool. Taecyeon bestowed this responsibility on him. Yerin looks up first to see him, and the men turn to him after seeing her head turn.

            “Yugyeom-ah!” Yerin looks almost relieved.

            Yugyeom expected the men to approach him with grim and threatening expressions, but they all smile from ear to ear. One of them even speaks with a voice that sounds welcoming.

            “Ah, is this your friend?” one asks.

            “How handsome. He’s very tall for his age,” another adds.

            “Ah, yes. Excuse me for intruding,” Yugyeom bows a little, feeling timid, “But I was looking over here from back in the bar area. And from what it looks like, it seems like you’re pressuring my friend here to drink.”

            There’s a deafening pause, and the men suddenly burst into laughter. “Pressure! No way, Han Yerin here said she’d even let us teach her to drink!”

            Yugyeom raises an eyebrow and mouths “Han Yerin?” Yerin shakes her head, implying she gave the men a fake name. Guess she didn’t trust them completely from the start.

            “Um, well, anyway, her classmates are with me, so I’ll be taking her to her own age group,” Yugyeom tries to conclude and grabs Yerin’s wrist, pulling her to come with him.

            One of the other men tries to pull Yerin’s other wrist back in their direction. “Hey, you can’t just take her. She agreed to spend the night with us.”

            Yugyeom gulps. He’d never been in a fight with big boys like these before. “Um… she said she’d hang out with me if plans change.”

            “Who says plans changed, you little punk?!” the man’s voice raises higher, giving both 97-liners Goosebumps. “Look at you, bleached hair and earrings. Who’s to say you’re any less dangerous than us?! You look like a schoolyard delinquent.”

            This little comment really pierces Yugyeom. He wants to hit this man, this big bulky man, in his crooked nose. Something is pulling him back. What is it? Why shouldn’t Yugyeom hit this man? Ah, now he remembers. He just doesn’t want to prove anyone right. Any of those little freshmen who ran away from him. He wants to stay a big friendly boy, not a scary big delinquent.

The tension is interrupted by one of the waitress. “What the hell is going on here? If you’re gonna fight, take it outside.”

            The men smile politely, appearing much friendlier than they did before. “Ah, no, it’s just a little spat, amongst old buddies. Right?”

            Yugyeom cringes. “Um…”

            Yerin suddenly pulls her wrist out of Yugyeom’s grip, and out of the man’s grip as well. She stands and walks to the waitress, whispering a few words into her ear. The waitress gasps and gives Yerin a concerned stare. Yerin nods in response. The males can't help but wonder if they're speaking through women's telepathy. Ultimately, the waitress scurries over to the entrance of the pub in worry. Both the men and Yugyeom stare at her.

            “What did you say—”

            Before the man can finish his question, two very large bouncers appear behin the four men. These bouncers grab the men by their collars, holding two of the men with one hand each. The men struggle, but the bouncers drag them out of eyeshot, and soon out of the pub as well. All Yugyeom and Yerin can hear are their yelling. After a few minutes, the yelling suddenly stops, and Yerin makes eye contact with the waitress, who bows to her. There’s a silence among them.

            Yugyeom turns to Yerin, who suddenly hugs him lightly.

            “Thanks for coming to help me. I had it covered, but the thought means a lot,” Yerin says, and Yugyeom feels his heart skip a beat.

            “Wh… what did you tell that waitress? For her to call bouncers…” Yugeom asks.

            “Those men thought they were slick, but I definitely saw them slip something into that drink,” Yerin says, shaking her head. She appears calm, but her pale face says otherwise. “Anyway, that’s in the past.”

            Yugyeom just stares at her. Yerin catches this stare after a few seconds, and chuckles. “What?”

            “You always act so strong and stubborn, for an introvert.” Yugyeom shakes his head. “Didn’t we tell you those guys are trouble?”

            Yerin begins to walk towards Bambam and Jimin, pulling Yugyeom along with her. It seems like she’s avoiding the question, but in reality she’s just having trouble coming up with a proper answer. “I mean… I was considering dropping my plans with those guys.”

            “But…?”

            “But Taecyeon Oppa told me they looked like delinquents,” her smile begins to drop. “We hear that a lot at school, don’t we? I wanted to prove him wrong, prove everyone wrong, by hanging out with them.”

            Yugyeom nods. “I guess I can relate.”

            Their seemingly deep conversation ends there, when they reach the bar where Jimin and Bambam are sitting. Jimin’s eyes widen when she sees Yerin.

“Yah! Happy New Year!” Jimin exclaims and pulls Yerin in for a hug. She turns to Yugyeom. “Bam and I were wondering where you ran off to. So you were getting Yerin!” Yerin nods and exchanges New Year hugs with Bambam as well.

            “Hey, but what about those Oppas you were supposed to...?” Bambam asks, and Yugyeom gives him a warning stare. But Yerin responds.

            “Plans worked out in your favor, I suppose,” Yerin says, and nods at her choice of words.

            “Well, the whole crew is here!” Jimin yells, then pipes down to a lower tone and leans into Yerin. “But you have to play the drinking game, too. How many shots?”

          “Ah, ,” Yerin laughs, and squints her eyes trying to remember how many lines she wrote down on Christmas. “Um… I think it was five shots.”

            Bambam hears this, and calls the bartender. “Hyungnim! Five more over here.” The bartender raises his eyebrows and says, “Quite a lot for first-time drinkers.”

            Nonetheless, he hands five shot-glasses over. Yugyeom sniffs the glasses. “What kind of drink did you end up ordering?”

            “Just the recommended sort.” Bambam’s answer doesn’t help much. But a game is a game, so they must all play.

            The four each grab their first shot glass. Yugyeom clears his throat. “Cheers—to our first drinks as adults!”

            The three others yell “Let's drink!” and down their first glass.

The rest of the night is a bit blurry. They don’t remember much of what happened after that.

A/N: Ah, the fated chapter. Well, it's 1:40 a.m. and I shoud probably stop procrastinating on sleep. The next chapter will have a lot in it, so be prepared! Hope you enjoyed this one, see you next time! ^^