The Ultimate Multitudity

Description: Each of them possessed a supernatural skill.  They were assigned into a team to work together.  But, a member was so secretive and when a death happened, everything started to make sense.

Rating: PG-13 (for foul language?)

Characters: Choi Seunghyun (BigBang), Choi Sooyoung (SNSD), Kim Jonghyun (SHINee), Luna (f(x)), Park Gyuri (Kara), Yang Yoseob (Beast)

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in the fiction.  The story is only a narrative and does not involve any real life situation.  The whole plot of the story is written originally by myself.  If there's any similarity to other fictions, it is totally a coincidence.

“It started with a shooting incident.  I was six, at a bank with my mother when a group of armed robbers just crashed in and shot around,” Seunghyun explained.

“That must be scary,” Luna cringed.

“Hell, it was.  I cried, okay, I was small at that time, so it’s legal to cry.  Someone must have thought that I was annoying and tried to shoot me dead,” Seunghyun continued.

“But, clearly that someone failed,” Gyuri said.

“Well, yeah.  The bullet shattered before it could reach me.  The whole gang then shot me but the same happened.  They failed to kill me because the bullets shattered before it could even reach my skin,” Seunghyun smiled.

“Damn.  They must have chickened out,” Luna laughed.

“I would too, trust me.  Like you can’t be killed.  So over powerful,” Gyuri shrugged.

It was normal that the students of the school asked questions about each other’s ability when they were put into team.  It was the school’s curriculum.  During their first year, they will be trained one-to-one with their teachers, to control their supernatural skills before they could be put into teams to learn with other students.  The lack of control of self-power can be destructive to other students.  Hence, only after they mastered their skills the teacher will assigned them into team with peers who had also mastered their own skills.

When Gyuri, Luna and Seunghyun met in class that morning, for their first day of in-group learning session, they asked each other about their skills and when they started to realize them.  Now, they knew that Seunghyun possessed the Earth bending skill.  Just name it, gold, soil, sand, iron and even the radioactive elements will obey him.

“What about you?” Gyuri asked Luna.

“Are you kidding me, Gyuri?  She’s the girl who saved the whole school from fire that occurred last year.  It is impossible not to know her,” Seunghyun stated.  Gyuri covered her mouth in surprised while Luna looked everywhere but them, because she didn’t really know how to accept compliments from people.

“You can control fire,” Gyuri muttered.

“Fire and heat.  And you can transfigure into animals.  You can fly, can be venomous, can be tame and can be dangerous,” Luna complimented Gyuri.

“My skill is lame compared to yours,” Gyuri shook her head.

“Right.  Wait until you transfigure into a snake, or a lion or a dragon maybe,” said Seunghyun.

“Oh.  Are mythical animals included in your transform-into list?  Like unicorn or dragon?”

“Yes.  I’ve tried mermaid before.  But, mermaid’s easy.  Unicorn and dragon need a lot of practice though.  I might end up be a centaur, which is disgusting,” Gyuri spoke and Luna was amazed.

“You are so cool!  I like your skill.  If we can trade, I would trade,” Luna giggled.

“I wonder who the other three students in our team are,” Seunghyun went.

They were six in their team, just like the other teams.  They were classified by the teachers based on their skills.  Each group was assigned members that can help each other, and that was not a simple task since each student came with different skills.

“Am I late?” a boy, munching a bar of dark chocolate, walked to his seat.

“No.   We were just excited to come early to know our teammates,” Gyuri said.

“Good.  Then, I have time to finish my chocolate bar.  I’m Yoseob by the way,” he introduced himself and the others did the same.

“What’s your power?” Luna asked.

“Psychokinesis in Quantum Tunnelling and Telepathic Projection.  I might have another psychokinesis scope, Teleportation.  The teacher is experimenting on me,” Yoseob stated.

“That sounds complicated.  Mind explaining it?” Seunghyun asked.

“Telepathic projection means that I can project what is in my mind for people to look at and quantum tunnelling means that I can move through barriers.  This quantum tunnelling thing makes the teacher think that I might able to teleport,” Yoseob explained.

“And all those happen with your small brain?” Gyuri asked.

“Alright.  Technically, it is not small.  It weighs as normal, like yours.  It is just that I have a larger brain capacity to be able to control things around me by emitting high-energy brain wave, okay?” Yoseob rolled his eyes.

“Chill, dude.  We’re just joking.  Your brain is powerful, of course.  And that dark chocolate helps a lot I think,” Luna said and Yoseob nodded to that.

“I made it in time,” a tall girl, came in without anybody noticing it.

“Wow!  Look!  The fastest girl in the world came later than me to class,” Yoseob said, tone very sarcastic.

“Oh yeah, Yoseob.  I woke up like three minutes ago.  What say you to that?” Sooyoung rolled her eyes.

“Okay.  You’re fast,” Yoseob gave up arguing with Sooyoung.

The whole campus knew Sooyoung.  She moved very fast, a hundred kilometres per second, literally, so fast that she’s not allowed joining the track and field athletes.  That was because even Usain Bolt will never win.

They started introducing themselves to each other again.  As usual, they talked about their skills and how they are trained to control those skills.  They talked about the other students they saw on first year and how powerful their skills are or how lame their skills are.  They talked about a student everyone always talked about, a student who was rumoured to not have any special skill at all, and who was in that school only because his uncle was the President of the School Board.  Although that student was inarguably smart, that he seems to know every single scope of knowledge in the world, the other students thought he could just go to some school for genius normal people, not the school of students with supernatural skills.

“All five are here?” that was the voice of the teacher.

“Yeah.  The other one seems missing the first lesson of in-group training,” Luna said.

“I wonder who the other one is,” Sooyoung muttered.

“It’s okay.  We will begin our lesson today,” the teacher started, “I am sure you already know each other’s skill?”

Suddenly, the door of the classroom was yanked open, revealing a male student, looking like he had not sleep for a week, and holding a bottle of energy drink and also five packets of energy bar.  The moment Seunghyun saw the student, he knew that their team will have problems.  Of course, every team will have problems sometimes because lack of team work, but seems like their group had to take care of a powerless student.  Luna’s face dropped after knowing that this boy will join the team, because most of the days he will look like that, over-tired.  Gyuri had hoped for better because she thought they will have this one student with power of controlling other’s mind.  Sooyoung thought she could just push this guy off the school’s roof and he will just drop dead.

“I am Jonghyun,” the guy introduced himself.

“And your skill is?  Looking tired every day?  Eating a lot of energy bars?  Know-it-all?  Or your skill might be being a nephew of the school’s President?” Yoseob asked sarcastically.

Jonghyun undoubtedly looked very surprised by the treatment he got from his teammates in the first day of his second year.  He swallowed and took a seat at the back of the classroom, since he thought the other students did not like the idea of him being their teammate.

“Class, be nice to your teammate,” the teacher said and continued the lesson. What annoyed them so much was the fact that the teacher did not even angry when Jonghyun was late.  Was it because he was the President’s nephew?

+++++

The fire from Gyuri was so big that Luna had to quickly weaken it, so that it won’t hurt Yoseob and Jonghyun.  Then, Seunghyun tried to throw a huge boulder to Luna, so that it will knock her off.  Yoseob quickly conjured his power towards the boulder, so that it could just quantum tunnelling through Luna and won’t hurt her.  Sooyoung, who were also in the same sub-group of Gyuri and Seunghyun moved very fast towards Jonghyun and tried to knock him down.  It was a surprised to them that Jonghyun could move very fast too, although not really as fast as Sooyoung.  His martial arts skill could be praised too, because he managed to block some of Sooyoung’s attacks.  However, the skill of martial arts is something that a normal human could have.  Finally, Sooyoung choked him down.

“Is that all you have?!” Sooyoung shouted.

“Sooyoung, let him go,” Luna pulled her off him before she could kill Jonghyun.

“Do you think I can kill him?” Sooyoung asked angrily, “He looked so pitiful, so tired all the time and the teachers seem to be very protective of him.  Do you think I could possibly kill him?”

“Chill, Sooyoung,” Seunghyun held her hand.

“I hate him in this team,” Gyuri said as she transformed into her normal human shape after being a Chinese dragon just now.

“He made my sub-group lose this training,” Yoseob said.

“Truth is, whoever in the same sub-group as him will always lose, because he will always be knocked off first,” Seunghyun let his anger lose.

“Alright, I am still here in case you don’t notice,” Jonghyun said.

“And we talked bad about you.  So what can you do to us?  We have our own power and you have nothing, Jonghyun.  If it was not because of me protecting you from Gyuri’s dragon fire, you will be dead by now.  You can’t even do anything when Seunghyun threw that boulder to me.  I was lucky I have Yoseob,” Luna said.

“That is what you want, isn’t it?  To kill me?  To see me dead?  Why don’t you just kill me?  Sooyoung almost did it just now.  So?  Just do it.  Do it now.  Then only you can see my real power,” Jonghyun sighed.

“Don’t tempt me,” Yoseob said, “I can turn you into pieces of atoms in seconds and you won’t be you anymore.”

“Don’t dare me too,” Gyuri went, with the sound of a snake hissing after that.

“Sound like all of you have plans on killing me,” Jonghyun voiced.  He sounded disappointed.

“Oh, hell.  We all do.  But, you can go on killing yourself too, rather than tempt us on doing it, because by tempting us on doing it is already a suicide for you,” Seunghyun raised his voice.

“Believe me.  I have killed myself and watched myself being killed a lot of times before.  And I am never scared of that,” Jonghyun said and he fled, leaving them in confusion.

+++++

“Maybe he has the power of reincarnating himself right on the point of his death,” Seunghyun suggested.

“How can we find out if he really has that power?” Luna asked.

“We have to kill him to find out,” Yoseob said matter-of-factly.

“What if he doesn’t have any power and we kill him?  He will die and we will become murderers.  I don’t want to live my life as a murderer,” Gyuri argued.

“Right?  But, all of you seem so tempted to kill him.  All of you said that in front him.  This is so wrong guys.  I saw his eyes.  He didn’t lie when he said he had killed himself before.  He didn’t lie when he said he had watched himself being killed,” Sooyoung sighed.  She felt guilty to her bone.

“Let’s not talk about this.  We’re having lunch,” Luna drank her cold water.  She had to eat and drink something cold at least once a day to deal with her power.  Every student in the school had their own diet to maintain their skills.

“You developed a soft spot for him, Sooyoung.  That’s it,” Seunghyun said, voice deep and dark.  He gulped his glass of isotonic drink.

Right a second after, Jonghyun joined them at the table.  It was the school’s rule number 148: Students have to eat in their team when they are assigned to one.  Yoseob pretended like he saw nothing while Gyuri and Luna pretended to talk to each other.  Seunghyun fished his phone out of his pocket and played with it.  Sooyoung hesitated for a while before she talked to him.

“Jonghyun, I’m really sorry for what happened yesterday,” Sooyoung said, “I have no intention at all to kill you.  It’s just that…it seems unfair to me that you have to go through the harsh trainings.  It could kill you if you don’t use whatever skill you possessed.”

“It’s okay.  I know you guys don’t like me.  I will ask the teacher to assign me another team or the worst case scenario, I will just not train in teams.  I don’t think the students here like me that much,” Jonghyun munched on his second energy bar.

“I’m just worried if you get killed on training.  That would be so unfortunate,” Sooyoung did not really know what to say actually.  She just felt really guilty.

“Don’t worry about me.  I don’t mind dying actually,” he said.

+++++

It was one of the training sessions where the school wanted the students to showcase their skills and at the same time work in a team.  Each team will be attacked spontaneously when they were in the arena and the key was to think fast and act fast.  If any of the team members could not protect himself or herself, the other team members ought to help.

That day, their team made the biggest mistake in the history of the school.

It was fast though.  They were in the arena, ready for whatever task that will be given to them.  It was the sound of a gun that they heard and Sooyoung already made her swift movements in avoiding those bullets from hitting her.  Yoseob worked in quantum tunnelling himself and the bullet passed through him like nothing.  Seunghyun shattered the bullets before they even came in contact with him.  Luna melted the bullets with her heat.

Gyuri should turn into an ant and hide under the ground or turn into a dragon and fire away the bullet.  But, the panic stopped her from focusing and she knew by right it was the time for her to die, except that she didn’t.  A pair of strong arms held her protectively and the owner was standing in front of her received all the shots.  She opened her eyes wide enough to know that person was Jonghyun.

When the shooting stopped, the whole team realized that Jonghyun was hit, with God knows how many bullets.  Gyuri shouted when Jonghyun slid down, his breath was heavy.

“Shit!” Yoseob muttered.

“Somebody do something!” Sooyoung shouted.

Jonghyun caught Luna’s hand before she could call for help.  Seunghyun looked more frustrated when the teachers did nothing at all, as if it was okay for Jonghyun to die right in front of their eyes.

“Don’t,” Jonghyun had said with very much difficulty, “I will die anyway,” blood gushed out of his mouth.  Jonghyun looked deeply into Yoseob’s eyes, pleading to just let him die in peace.

Tears rolled down Gyuri’s cheek.  She felt like a total fail.  She felt dumb.  All this while she had the thought of killing Jonghyun, but that guy were willing to get himself killed to save her life.  The other members felt like an idiot too.  They should have defended Jonghyun and Gyuri.  That was supposed to be teamwork.  But, they ignored that aspect of the test.  Their group failed the moment they tried to only defend themselves.  The one who they thought was powerless tried to save a powerful member.

Jonghyun made his last eye contact with Seunghyun, and Seunghyun felt like he was going to pass out the moment Jonghyun closed his eyes and stopped breathing.  The teacher called them into their homeroom class, where they had lessons together, although Jonghyun technically will sit at the far end of the class, since they ‘out-casted’ him on the first day of class.  They felt guilty of not protecting him.  They felt guilty of leaving his body behind.  They felt guilty not to at least be kind to Jonghyun even once.

“What do we do?” Sooyoung asked.  The whole classroom fell into silent again after that.

“Fuck this shit!” Yoseob pulled his hair, “I don’t want this to happen this way!”

“Nobody wants this to happen,” Luna weakly offered, as if that would help.

“I feel like a total fail.  He defended us, guys.  He did,” Gyuri sobbed.

“We lost our team member, that is our ultimate failure,” Seunghyun pressed his palm on his eye, feeling a mild headache coming.

While they were grieving, the door of the classroom was burst open, revealing something that was really hard for them to believe.  Jonghyun, all clean without blood, dressed in army uniform, walked into the classroom, while heatedly arguing with their teacher.  Yoseob at first thought it was his telephatic projection, but he knew he couldn’t focus to do anything like that right now.

“You are not supposed to tell them,” the teacher said.

“Then, what do you expect me to do?  Let them grieve over me?  They are my teammates, sir.  They have the right to know who I am actually, okay?” Jonghyun replied.

“But, your uncle won’t be so fond of the idea-”

“They are my teammates.  And you have my word, only they know about this, nobody else,” Jonghyun said.

The teacher looked at the grief-stricken and confused faces of the students.  Then, he looked back at Jonghyun.  He nodded.

“Do what you think is necessary,” the teacher said.

“Alright.  Now, could you please leave us?  I have a lot of explanation to do,” Jonghyun asked politely, if not sarcastically.  The teacher left immediately.  All eyes were on him after that.

“I swear I saw you looking at me right before you died,” Seunghyun said.

“Yeah, right.  I remember looking at you before I died too,” Jonghyun said.

“This is nuts,” Luna shook he head, “You were dead, Jonghyun!  I swear!” Luna felt tears coming out of happiness because Jonghyun was right in front of her, although she had no idea how.

“I’m sorry that you guys have to face all this shit.  But, trust me.  I saw myself dying all the time.  It was never a good experience, but I sort of used to it.  So, I hope you will get used to this too,” he explained like nothing just happened.

“And how is that even possible?” Sooyoung asked weakly.

Jonghyun sighed.  They noticed that Jonghyun looked more exhausted than ever compared to the other days.  But still, they wanted an explanation.

“I’m too tired for this.  But, I think you guys can just follow me to my office and see what I have there,” he gestured them to follow him.

“You have an office?” Yoseob asked, just to make out some conversation, because he wanted to be sure that he talked to the real Jonghyun, alive.

“Sort of have to have it,” he replied.

Their heads were no doubt full of question marks.  But, with the amount of energy he had left, it was impossible to show them what he got.  His final decision was to take them to his office, so isolated at the school’s basement.  He scanned his palm and retinas before the written-in-fluorescent-green ‘Access Permitted’ appeared and the door was unlocked for him.

“Jonghyun, I brought back my body.  It was a total mess, countless bullets,” Jonghyun was greeted with that information and his friends gave him a questioning look.

“Jonghyun, I brought my teammates here,” Jonghyun spoke and his friends were confused again.  Jonghyun was speaking to another Jonghyun?

As they entered the office, they saw another nine Jonghyuns, all dressed up differently, with the one that was dead just now.

“What the hell?!” Seunghyun muttered.  Jonghyun would want to explain, but Gyuri shouted when she saw the dead Jonghyun on the metal table.

“He’s dead!  He’s dead!” she shouted.

Jonghyun quickly pulled her into his arm and tried to calm her down.  She cried into his chest, knees so weak that Jonghyun had to support her weight.  His eyes bore into hers, but his are all calm and convincing.

“Hey, Gyuri.  I’m here, alive.  Okay, yeah.  I am…dead, that’s for sure.  But, I am here, alive.  That’s enough.  And there are another 8 Jonghyuns alive here.  If you want to see more, well…yeah…you can, but I sort of need to replenish my energy to do that,” Jonghyun explained.

“What?” Luna was confused.

“Okay, that is my skill.  I can replicate myself into two, three, or infinity if I want to, provided I have adequate amount of energy.  It started when I was four.  I played piano and suddenly another ten fingers just came out of nowhere and my piano skill got better, if not creepier.  When I was bigger, like ten years old, I managed to replicate my ‘another’ self.  Since that day, my uncle had been training me to replicate more of myself, with minimum amount of energy used,” Jonghyun provided.

“Bloody hell!  You mean these are all you, including that body?” Sooyoung asked.

“Yes, it’s me,” Jonghyun nodded.

“How many Jonghyun can you make yourself into?” Seunghyun asked and he thought the idea was just ridiculous.

“For now, I can replicate into a hundred of me without feeling tired to death, two hundreds of me and will be completely exhausted that I could die,” Jonghyun replied as if it was some sort of a joke to him.  The other Jonghyuns laugh though.

“God!  You have tried a hundred Jonghyuns before?” Yoseob looked like he was about to collapsed.

“Two hundred, yes,” Jonghyun nodded.

“Where are the other…well, Jonghyuns then?” Luna asked.

“Well, here’s the thing.  I can replicate myself into any number and then diffuse myself into one again.  I usually replicate myself a lot in my self-training session, to achieve the maximum number of me possible with minimum amount of energy.  But, on daily basis I usually keep the maximum number of only ten Jonghyuns including me,” Jonghyun said.

“So, is it possible for you to diffuse that Jonghyun into you so that it is out of my sight?” asked Gyuri while pointing towards the dead Jonghyun.  Jonghyun looked at the other Jonghyun and they just shrugged.

“Alright, if that would make you feel better,” Jonghyun said and he looked at the dead Jonghyun, focusing on it.

In a blink of eye, that Jonghyun was gone, leaving a number of bullets and they looked again at the Jonghyun who were explaining just now.  He looked pale on his feet and was about to fell on the floor before the other Jonghyun in a formal suit caught him and led him to a nearby couch to sit.  Another Jonghyun in a Taekwondo uniform passed to Jonghyun in suit a bottle of energy drink and that Jonghyun helped who supposed to be the main Jonghyun to drink.

“You see, for Jonghyun to diffuse back together, it also consumed energy, although a lot less than it takes to replicate.  But, he just tried replicating another 200 of us just now so he is pretty exhausted,” Jonghyun in suit said.

“Well, I am sorry about that,” the main Jonghyun said, “You have to watch me all weak and tired.”

“Hell, this is amazing.  Although the idea is still hard for me to accept but you are so powerful,” Seunghyun finally admitted.

“Why are all the Jonghyuns dressed differently?” Gyuri asked.

“You know, each Jonghyun is assigned to do different task by me,” the main Jonghyun spoke again, “The one in suit is a law student.  He is a Taekwondo student.  I am joining the school for army and so on.  We rotate our task.  So, if today I am an army student, tomorrow I will be a medical student.”

“What is the purpose of assigning different tasks to each Jonghyun?” Seunghyun asked.

“We have one brain.  What the other Jonghyun did or learned, the other Jonghyun will have the same knowledge.  That way, I and the other Jonghyun are able to have more knowledge than everyone else in the world do.  It is a large capacity for a brain.  Sounds complicated, I know, but you guys just have to get familiar with this,” Jonghyun explained.

“No wonder you know so much,” Yoseob shrugged.

“So, which of you were with us on the first day of class?” Sooyoung asked.

“It was me, the main Jonghyun,” the tired-looking, army Jonghyun said.

“If you are tired to death, and can’t replicate anymore for the day, will the other Jonghyun able to do it?” asked Gyuri.

“I can.  But, we sort of know that he is the leader and we are the replication of him, so we respect his right on doing that.  We won’t do it.  It is the matter of self-control,” the Jonghyun in suit said while referring to the army Jonghyun.

“What if he was the one that died just now?  You won’t replicate anymore?” Luna raised another question.

“If the main Jonghyun die, the job of leading will be passed to the second in rank, which is me right now,” Jonghyun in suit said.

“How do you know who is the leader and who is the second-in-chief?” asked Seunghyun.

“The leader is of course the one who replicate.  But, the others’ ranks are sorted out in our brain, you know, since we shared the same brain,” the main Jonghyun said.

The whole team nodded a few times, indicating that they understand Jonghyun’s power and why he kept it secret all the time.  If the other people knew it, people will keep looking for him and kill him until there’s no more Jonghyun standing, because they are just stupidly curious how many Jonghyuns were there.

“When the other Jonghyun was shot, were you, Jonghyuns, feeling the same pain?” Yosoeb asked.

“You have no idea how it hurt.  I wished I could just die and feel no more.  But, it will be unfair for the leader to stay alive and replicate again.  The idea seems bizarre, but we share our pain,” Jonghyun the medic student, in a long white coat said.

“If the main Jonghyun die, and is replaced by the second-in-chief, will they still be the same?  I mean same characteristics?” Gyuri asked.

“We are who I am and I am who we are.  All the same, I am still me,” all Jonghyuns answered synchronously.

“Alright, Jonghyun.  I know that you had one hell of a day, us too, I mean seeing you dying and all.  But, one last question.  What is the name of your skill?”  Sooyoung asked.

“Seriously, I don’t know.    But, the teacher registered it as The Ultimate Multitudity,” the lead Jonghyun shrugged.

__________

heaDeVil^23

Mood: Lazy

Song: Titanium by David Guetta

Writing All Over the Place

Description: Jonghyun wants to write and be a hero.  Will he be able to do it?

Rating: PG-13 (for the cursing?)

Characters: Choi Seunghyun (BigBang), Choi Sooyoung (SNSD), Kim Jonghyun (SHINee), Park Gyuri (KARA), Yang Yoseob (Beast), Luna (f(x))

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in the fiction.  The story is only a narrative and does not involve any real life situation.  The whole plot of the story is written originally by myself.  If there's any similarity to other fictions, it is totally a coincidence.

If I am able to ease it for them, I will do it.  Unfortunately, it is out of my ability and all I could do is keep looking for a hole which will lead me the way.


The noise causes him to wake up and he finds himself still in his seat, in the lecture hall.  The students pack their things and some of them go to the professor, for the never-ending pursuit of knowledge, or just for the sake of an ‘A’.  Some of them find their friends, because they didn’t get to sit together earlier in class because one of them were late.  Some just flee, for food, for bathroom or simply to escape the reality that is so boring and repetitive for students like them.

Jonghyun takes time to realise it is the end of the lecture and he fell asleep throughout it, again.  He looks at his notepad, nothing but his scribble of two sentences, which are not even the notes from the class.  He sighs and he packs his things, silently curses himself for wasting another hour of class.  He should have listened to the professor, or a better suggestion, he should have not come at all.

“You sleep in the class again,” Seunghyun says.

“Yeah,” he shrugs it off.  He sees Sooyoung casting him a worried glance and Yoseob’s shoulders slump.

“Maybe you shouldn’t come at all,” Gyuri says, not in an angry tone but sympathy.

“Thanks, Gyuri.  I figured out that much already,” Jonghyun goes.

“So, we are going for lunch and after that you will go back to your apartment and sleep,” Luna suggests.

“Uh, I don’t know, Luna.  I think I have Fluid Dynamics after lunch,” Jonghyun says.

“You will score even if you don’t come to class, smart lad,” Yoseob says.  Jonghyun rolls his eyes.

“It is a quiz day today, in case you forget,” he says.

“Missing one quiz doesn’t mean you can’t get an A,” Sooyoung goes.

“Thanks, but my dad wants an A+,” Jonghyun replies while zipping his bag.  He flings it to his shoulder and moves quickly to the door, “Are we going for lunch or not?”

+++++

At the end of the day, Jonghyun sits on a bench overlooking a huge pond with ducks swimming in it.  The sight of the water lily floating on the not-very-clear water eases his tired brain.  He smiles listening to his I Pod, to some random piano covers he legally downloads from some random websites.
He takes out his notepad from his school bag and stares at the two sentences he wrote in the lecture this morning.  He also takes out a few textbooks, so thick that they hurt his shoulder everyday carrying them.  Jonghyun doesn’t have the intention to study, not at all.  Instead, he opens the three textbooks into respective pages, where he wrote down some ideas.  He puts them all together in the notepad until they form a plot that makes sense, at least to him.

It is not the first time he faced rejection.  Not even the umpteenth times.  It is his second time, and the worst part about this time is that he has to face it together with the news of his mother’s death.  Perhaps there really is something worse than hell, and this might be it.

His mother had been his inspiration since he was young.  His mother was the one that told him that he can tell story to the world, to make people realise happiness does exist in reality.  His mother was the one that encouraged him to publish his own book and to stand in the same line with writers like J. R. R. Tolkien and J. K. Rowling and Dan Brown and etc.  His mother is gone and his second draft of fiction is rejected and the world still doesn’t end.

Maybe God wants him to try one more time.

Jonghyun wanted to enrol in writing, but what he doesn’t understand is now he is a junior in engineering in his university.  His dad has forced him to take major in engineering and minor in business and by the time he graduates, he has to take over the company.  His mom didn’t disagree with his dad, but told him that he can write while doing engineering at the same time.  He can’t believe that he agreed to that.

When Jonghyun started to be serious in writing his own fiction, his dad showed no sign of objection.  Maybe he knows that he had forced Jonghyun too much in fulfilling his needs or maybe he simply doesn’t care, as long as Jonghyun still takes the path he had shown.  So, Jonghyun has sort of letting himself to be ignorant about his dad too, as if he and his dad exist in two different worlds.
But then, Jonghyun’s first draft was rejected.  It is a story about a son and a father who lived their lives in hatred towards each other.  He told himself that very second that God was punishing him for revealing bad things about his dad.  Surprisingly, his dad was the one consoling him, telling that the reality is not always about harshness, it can be about happiness, just depending on how you view it to be.  His mom told him to not give up.

His second draft is a sci-fi.  This time, Jonghyun sold solely his imagination.  It is not the story of his life, or someone else’s.  He completely made a brand new character, who tried to save the world.  The publisher returns his draft and says that it is too perfect and impossible to be real.  Jonghyun would cut her throat if he had a chance, but right after that, his phone rang and his dad told him that his mom just passed away.  He felt like the world weighed down on him, not just because he lost his only inspiration, but because he wondered how much time he has left.

“You’ve been thinking,” Luna’s voice brings Jonghyun back to reality.

“Oh, hi Luna,” he greets her.

“Writing again?” she asks.  He smiles.

“I’ll make sure this time I won’t be rejected,” he says.

“I’m sorry…you know…about your mother,” Luna says and she throws a pebble into the pond and the ducks swim away.

“Don’t be.  I would wish for her death too, rather than seeing her in that comatose state, hanging between life and death.  Seems a bit too much for me,” Jonghyun states.

“But, you didn’t wish for that.  You wanted her to be alive,” Luna gives in.

“Well…that time I had hope.  But, now that she’s gone, I think it is quite logic that she is dead.  I mean it was a fatal car crash.  The other driver was dead on scene.  My mom survived but was left in coma and to me, she is better being dead.  Less suffering, at least,” Jonghyun sighs.

“I can’t say more.  I can’t put myself in your shoe,” Luna replies.  Jonghyun laughs.

“Perhaps it is more logic to die from a car accident rather than die from a cancer when you always lead a healthy life,” Jonghyun says, “But God always has His reason and I believe His intentions are always good.”

For a moment, it is quiet.  Only the sounds of duck quacking and people around them chatting and laughing.

“How’s your dad taking it?” asks Luna.

“Worse than I am.  I feel bad for him,” Jonghyun provides.  Luna smiles.

“It is good to know that you and your dad are in a good term,” she says.  Jonghyun laughs.

“I hate it when that happens. I hate it when I start to like what he wants me to do.  I hate it when I start to try my best in trying to fulfil his dream, to take over the company,” he tells her.

“Well, I thought you would be happy that you come to like engineering at last,” says Luna.

“I thought so, Luna.  But now I’m thinking, I won’t be able to do it no matter how hard I try, will I?” Jonghyun rests his case.


A hero doesn’t have to be perfect.  He could be weak with all his sidekicks stronger than him.  But, he is still the one that initiates the moves and is the mastermind of all.

+++++

Seunghyun is out, working as a supervisor at the gym.  Students oftentimes work on-campus.  Most of them with the same reason, to gain money to hang out with friends or to get some cool stuff very up-to-date with the latest so-called teen’s needs.  But, Jonghyun knows that Seunghyun doesn’t work for that.  Seunghyun just wants something to do, something that is different than a student’s life full with lectures and books.

Yoseob on the other hand tries to get out from reality by totally drowning himself in games.  He can punch the buttons on the controller for twenty-four hours straight, without food, without sleep.  Seeing his apartment-mates distracting themselves from the tiring reality, although not really escaping, Jonghyun thinks he has to find something to run away from the reality too.  Or he already had, by writing himself as a hero in his third draft.

“Hey, Yoseob,” Jonghyun calls nonchalantly.

“Hey, Jonghyun,” Yoseob says in the same, boring tone.  His eyes are still on the TV screen and his fingers are dancing vigorously at the controller.

“Tell me.  What is your hero-type?” Jonghyun asks, more like forcing Yoseob to give an answer.

“Huh?”

“I said, what is your hero-type?”

“You mean?”  Yoseob could be pretending he doesn’t understand, while he actually doesn’t hear his friend, too absorbed in the game.  But, Jonghyun knows best that Yoseob won’t ever put his friends after his game, ever.  So, he rephrases his own question.

“You know, if you are ever being given a chance to be a superhero and choose your own power and how you want to look like, what choice will you make?” he asks.  Yoseob puts the game at pause.

“Well, I want to be Legolas,” Yoseob answers immediately.  Jonghyun laughs.  He expects his best friend to give a character from the games he always plays.  To become like one of all-time favourite characters from Lord of the Rings is something bizarre coming from Yoseob.

“Why Legolas?” Jonghyun asks again.

“He is handsome and an accurate killer.  You see, he is so style with his bow and arrows and he is very fast in action.  Not to forget, he has sense of sight and hearing which human envy so much.  But, above all, he is beautiful and immortal.  Isn’t he perfect?” Yoseob states the answer.  Jonghyun smiles.

“He is,” he replies, “Because he can live long.”


He might not be as perfect as Legolas, but he is a plan-it-all.  He just needs to narrate and all will be under his control with helps from his loyal friends.


“What about you Jonghyun?  What type of superpower do you want to have?” Yoseob asks.

“I just want to be able to control things around me, including humans, to whom God has given free will to live, to make choice.  If I am able to control things that are going to happen, it seems like I am the most powerful, am I right?”

“But, such thing is out of norm, right?  I mean, you can control things that are going to happen by controlling yourself, not others.  Abusing the power of controlling others can make you become greedy, and if that happens, you are no longer a hero but a villain,” Yoseob provides.

“You are right, Yoseob.  For a hero to make a greater good, he must learn how to control himself, so that will lead others to bring forward the goodness he radiates,” Jonghyun agrees.

+++++

Gyuri calls them for dinner on Wedensday.  Gyuri shares apartment with Sooyoung and Luna, right next door to apartment shared by Jonghyun, Seunghyun and Yoseob.  It has been their unwritten tradition that the girls will cook on Wednesday and invite the guys for dinner.  The guys will have their turn on Thursday.  The other days are up to them to take-out from Burger King or to heat up microwave food for themselves.

Jonghyun runs from the class to the apartment.  The weather works against him.  Jonghyun doesn’t hate snow, but the winter wind sometimes feel like stinging his fingers and numbing his feet to the point he doesn’t even know his feet have ever existed.  Sometimes he feels like his nose has fallen off his face.  His skin dries up and turns purple and his lips always bleed and stain his teeth red, like a vampire.  But, he never hates winter.  He likes it although he can never stand the cold.

He knocks on the door, then rubs his palm together and blows what left of his hot breath onto them.  He hopes whoever behind the cheesecake-colour door will open in quickly.  As though his prayer is answered that instant, the door is opened, revealing Gyuri smiling ever so sweetly to him.

“Hey,” she says.

“Hi, Gyuri,” Jonghyun looks at her with pleading eyes, hoping that she will let him in to enjoy the heat from the heater.

“You are early,” Gyuri says, “It is supposed to be six-thirty.  Now is six-fifteen,” Gyuri states.

“I know.  Got straight here from my quiz section, all my students seem to finish the quiz early today.  Let me in, will ya?” Jonghyun likes working as a TA.  He feels a bit ahead of others.

“Oh, right.  Come in,” she quickly pulls the door wide open.  The wind rushes in and she quickly closes the door once Jonghyun is in.

“Can I use the bathroom?” asks Jonghyun, just to make sure nobody is in the bathroom.  The last time he wanted to use the bathroom, he almost encountered Sooyoung sitting on the toilet but she shouted so loud that he had to close the door immediately.  But, she was enraged by the incident that he was forgiven only after two months of apologizing.

“Nobody’s back yet.  Use it as long as you want,” says Gyuri and Jonghyun immediately jumps to conclusion that the dinner today is cooked solely by Gyuri.

He goes into the bathroom and turns on the tap and enjoys the warm water on his fingers.  Then, he washes his face.  He looks at his reflection in the mirror and quickly, he rinses his mouth with water.  His teeth are stained red again.  He fishes a chapstick from his jeans pocket and quickly applies it to his lips.  He looks just fine again.  He walks back to the living room finding a mug of hot peppermint-choc on the table.

“You know.  If it is too cold, you can always take the shuttle.  Don’t walk in the cold.  You are never good with it,” Gyuri says from the kitchen.

“I would rather run than have to wait for a shuttle in the cold,” Jonghyun replies.

“Call us then.  At least one of us must be able to offer you a ride,” Gyuri offers.

“I’m afraid I might just bother you guys,” he says.  One thing he is really afraid of, being a burden to others until the end of his life.

“No, Jonghyun.  You are our friend and we are glad to help you when you are in need,” she says.  Jonghyun nods.


When people imagine a hero, people imagine someone with good body built.  What if a hero is someone very thin and pale but he is a strategist?  And all he wants to say to people in this world is ‘I am glad to help you when you are in need.’  But people don’t notice that because he doesn’t look hero.  But he still have his sidekicks that can finish his job, isn’t it?


Jonghyun glances at the clock hanging on the wall, showing the time, showing how short life is, and showing how every second with his friend and family is damn important.

“Do you need help in anything?” Jonghyun asks Gyuri, feeling bored waiting for the others.

“I’m done with cooking, but I need to clean the kitchen.  Maybe you can help me with the utensils in the sink?” that is more of a statement.

Jonghyun jumps onto his feet.  He walks to the kitchen and begins with pouring detergent onto the bowl.

“I’m glad to help you when you are in need,” Jonghyun says.

“I’m sorry, but did you just repeat what I said?” Gyuri smiles.

“I don’t think I did,” he replies.

“Because that sounds so familiar to me,” she says and both of them laugh.

Jonghyun use the sponge to absorb detergent-y water and scrubs the oil off the pan.  The way the small sponge absorbs a lot of water never fails to amaze him, never.

“People say that brain works like sponge.  It absorbs and absorbs until it is full,” Jonghyun starts.

“Quite true.  Our brain is amazing.  It absorbs a lot of things and sometimes old things that you had once forgotten just pop-out again.  Our brain continues absorbing,” Gyuri says.

“But, sponge cleans stain.  Does brain?” Jonghyun looks at the clean plates that it reflects back his own reflection.

“Should be.  But, human choose to use it to stain others.  Corruption and never-ending war and lies and whatever stains you can think of.  We don’t use it as wisely as we use sponge,” Gyuri says and she sighs after that.

“One thing that I am very sure of.  Some sponges can have moulds grow on them, and so do some brains,” Jonghyun says and he leaves Gyuri in question mark.

+++++

“You literally write on your MacBook.  As in write ‘write’,” Seunghyun says and that surprises Jonghyun.  Seunghyun comes out of nowhere from his back.

“Well, you are the one who told me to write on my MacBook,” Jonghyun replies.

“I mean write as in type in your MacBook,” Seunghyun tries to talk some sense to Jonghyun.

“You said ‘write’ two months ago.  As much as I am expecting my memory to deplete, it just doesn’t.  I still can remember you say ‘Hey Jonghyun, go write using your MacBook’ and I just did what I was told.  What’s the big deal?” Jonghyun asks back.  His apartment-mate has been nagging and Jonghyun thinks he is going to miss that.

“That is still considered as writing all over the place.  You are still writing all over the place, although I could say more controllable,” Seunghyun states.

Jonghyun always write everywhere whenever some ideas just pop-out for his fiction.  On the wall, on the table, on different pages of his textbook, on Seunghyun’s bed, on Yoseob’s cereal’s box (although Yoseob doesn’t give a shit about it), and on everywhere he could reach, just name it.  Although he will always erase it back when he collects the idea and put it in his notepad, Seunghyun just doesn’t like the idea of Jonghyun writing all over the place.

“It is my MacBook, Seunghyun.  And I will erase it once I assemble all the idea.  Oh, how long have you known me?” Jonghyun stops typing and looks deeply into his friend’s eyes.

“Well, I am sorry if I annoy you, man.  But, I gave you the voice recorder for your birthday.  You can always record your idea.  Easy, just speak into it,” Seunghyun suggests.  Jonghyun sighs.

“Some things are better left unspoken, because when you speak it out, it will be less meaningful,” Jonghyun states.

Seunghyun feels like he is just being slap on his cheeks.  What Jonghyun says is very true.  He feels shameful and he doesn’t know is it because of Jonghyun’s words or he just feel shameful of himself.

“So, you choose to write,” Seunghyun makes a statement.

“Exactly,” Jonghyun nods.

“What is it about this time?” he asks.

“You’ll know, Seunghyun.  One day.”


Sometimes, strength is not shown physically.  But, that doesn’t mean one is weak.  A hero might have a mental strength stronger than everyone else and is able to put himself and others under control.

+++++

It is like another ordinary day where he wakes up with a headache and when he gets down from his bed he feels like he can’t even balance himself on his two legs.  The Earth is like jelly and he is surprised he is able to make it to class.  When the lecturer wraps up his class, Jonghyun feels like throwing a congratulation party to himself for being able to stay awake for the lesson.

He makes his way out on his wobbly legs and trips on his own legs even, just lucky not to make contact with the hard concrete beneath them.  He keeps his face down and covers himself with his hoodie, and people will think he is just having a hangover, while the truth is he just never drinks.  He leads a healthy life, doesn’t he?  He doesn’t smoke, doesn’t involve in sex, doesn’t drink, doesn’t take drugs and eats healthy food.  So, why the hell is he feeling so shit now?

“Hey, hey, Jonghyun!” he feels like falling but then he’s not.  God, is he high?

“W-what?” he manages to say after a while.  He opens his eyes, and he doesn’t even have any idea when the hell he even closed them.  He is walking, isn’t he?  Or was?

“You look like shit,” his stupid brain tells him that it is Sooyoung’s voice and he knows he gets it right when his vision focuses on the girl’s face.

“Oh, thanks Sooyoung,” he says.  He doesn’t know whether he is being sarcastic or he really wants to thank her for noticing it.

“You have no idea, Jonghyun.  You scare the shit out of me.  You were falling at the staircase.  You could have injured your head,” Sooyoung says.

So, he was at the staircase.  Where the hell is he now?  He looks around and he knows immediately that he is on a bench at the side of the hallway.  He is leaning against the cold wall.  That makes him feel slightly better actually.

“I’m tired, Sooyoung,” he means it.  He doesn’t realise how exhausted he has been until he says that very word.

“So…going home?” Sooyoung could be asking, but Jonghyun knows better that it is more like an instruction.  He nods.

“I’ll take you home,” Sooyoung says and she rounds her arm across his shoulder and she is terrified of how thin he is.


Like Batman and Robin, a hero will always have at least a sidekick.  However, it is better to have sidekicks stronger than the hero, but are also nothing without the hero.  That way, they will always need each other.


Jonghyun never fancies the idea of walking beside Sooyoung because God knows how embarrassing it is when a girl is taller than him.  But, this time he will have to let her walk him home, because he doesn’t know where he will end up walking alone.  When he gets to his apartment, he just let himself collapses on the couch.

“You have to explain to me, Jonghyun,” Sooyoung says.  Her eyes are boring into his and Jonghyun wants to look away.

“What?” he asks.

“Well, something is very wrong with you,” Sooyoung says.

“I was drunk, okay?  On a bottle of vodka,” he lies.

“I know you don’t take alcohol,” she says.

“What if I did take it?” Jonghyun still goes with the same reason.

“I know you didn’t,” she says through gritted teeth.

“Jeez, Sooyoung.  I can never lie to you.  Okay.  I stayed up the whole night,” Jonghyun says.

“Yes, Jonghyun.  And Yoseob says it has been for three days straight.  Are you trying to kill yourself?” she seems angry.

“I want to write, when the idea is pouring like Nevada Waterfall,” he states.

“You can always wait for another day, Jonghyun.  You don’t even have a due date for that,” Sooyoung talks some sense into him.

“Oh, you don’t know Sooyoung.  I do have a due date.  And I can never finish my story after that,” Jonghyun says.

“When?  Two months from now?  One month from now?” Sooyoung is frustrated, maybe because her friend doesn’t know how to take care of himself.

“That’s the problem.  Even I don’t know the due date.  It can be anytime from now.”

+++++

The day when Jonghyun decides to give up, it is really meant for him to give up.  He shuts down his laptop, so as his system.


A hero only gives up when he exhales his last breath.  A hero gives up when he closes his eyes for the last time.  A hero gives up when his brain is no longer functioning.

+++++

It is a story of a guy, who was so devastated after the tragic death of his mother.  If only he could ease her pain, he would do it, but he can’t because he was only a small boy, a normal human.   But, on the day he realised all the story that he wrote will come to reality, he smiled again.  He knew it was out of his power to avoid death (to him it was sort of like destined), but he wanted to ease the pain for those who were going to die.  He had friends, all doctor, engineer, lawyer, teacher and entrepreneur.  They did all the jobs, and he wrote it down.  He wrote a story of a teacher who raise funds at school for those with terminal disease, a story of a lawyer who discuss the right for organ transplanting, an engineer who invents machines to save lives, an entrepreneur who is so rich and oftentimes donates for those who need and a doctor who saves lives and eases the pain of passing.  But the guy who wrote had a father who wanted him to be part of the job, not the one who wrote it down.  He was sorry that he couldn’t fulfil that.  He was really sorry.

That book is written in a series.  Jonghyun had it done in series, because the story is long and it touches to the deepest of their heart.  Jonghyun must be so sure that it won’t get rejected and it is true.  The first book of the series which he had sent it to the publisher got accepted, and he was not there to celebrate it.

All this while, they thought when he slept in class, he was dealing with the rejection of his draft.  All this while, they thought the headache was because he stayed up very late at night finishing another draft of book.  But, Jonghyun wasn’t lying, was he?  He really was rejected and he did stay up to finish his draft.  He wasn’t lying.  It is only the fact that he didn’t tell them the truth about how he is fighting for his life.  He is gone, but they are proud of him, because he wrote the whole series in a few months not like Eddie in Limitless, who took powerful pills, but when he was in so much pain.

He gave the honour to send the draft of the second book of the series to Luna.  Luna cries her heart out.  She should have known when they were having the conversation.  He said he won’t be able to fulfil his father’s dream no matter how hard he tries.  ‘But now I’m thinking, I won’t be able to do it no matter how hard I try, will I?’  She should have known.

Jonghyun gave the honour to send the draft of the third book of the series to Yoseob.  Yoseob promises to himself that he will not disappoint his friend.  He is angry with himself because he should have known when Jonghyun agreed Legolas is perfect because he is immortal.  ‘He is, because he can live long.’  He should have known.

Gyuri is given the honour to send the draft of the third book of the series.  Gyuri accepts the honour but she is the worst of them to handle the lost.  She tells herself that she should have known when Jonghyun talked about the sponge with her.  ‘Some sponges can have moulds grow on them, and so do some brains.’  She should have known.

The draft of the fourth book of the series is now under Seunghyun’s responsibility.  Seunghyun knows that how much he wants to curse, it won’t bring Jonghyun back.  He can’t believe he was oblivious.  He should have known when he asked Jonghyun what the story is about.  ‘You’ll know, Seunghyun.  One day.’  He should have known.

When Sooyoung is given the responsibility to send the draft of the fifth book, her knees become weak and she sinks to the ground.  She should have known when Jonghyun talked about the due date for the draft.  ‘Even I don’t know the due date.  It can be anytime from now.’  She should have known.

Jonghyun is still a good son.  He gave the honour to send the draft of the final book of the series to his father.  He is proud and sad at the same time.

To Luna, Yoseob, Gyuri, Seunghyun and Sooyoung.

This is our story.

To Dad.

I am sorry.

__________

heaDeVil^23

Mood: Lazy. And happy, because this time, it is all my biases again.

Two Will Still Be Two

Description: Jonghyun wants to celebrate Christmas but Jinki keeps asking weird questions and that annoys the other three guys.

Rating: So very G.

Characters: Lee Jinki, Kim Jonghyun, Kim Kibum, Choi Minho and Lee Taemin

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in the fiction.  The story is only a narrative and does not involve any real life situation.  The whole plot of the story is written originally by myself.  If there's any similarity to other fictions, it is totally a coincidence.

He scribbles, he reads it again and he erases it.  He scribbles, he reads it again and he erases it.  He scribbles, he reads it again and he erases it.  Those action have been repeated a few times, and Jonghyun thinks he still cannot get the lyrics right.  The pencil is getting blunt and the white snow is getting more and more polluted with the eraser’s dust.  His fingers are getting numb and his nose is getting red.

“I should wear my gloves,” he says while putting the pencil and the notebook at his side.
He lies down on the cold snow. Not even ten seconds he closes his eyes, he feels something hits him in his face, hard and cold.  He sits up immediately and the image of Jinki, grinning sheepishly, comes into his sight.

“Yah!  Jonghyun-ah.  Gotcha!” he says, jumping up and down like a bunny.

Jonghyun is supposed to be angry, but he cannot do that, because it is Jinki he is dealing with.  But, his mind is instructing him to get his revenge, just once.  Ignoring the fact that he is not even wearing a glove, he scoops a handful of ice and compresses it into a ball.  Jinki sees that and is about to run, but he slips on the snow and falls on top of his stomach.  His face is buried into the cold snow.  Jonghyun quickly throws the snowball away and comes to Jinki’s aid.

“Yah!  Hyung!” he pulls the guy into a sitting position, “Are you okay?  Does it hurt?”

“Uh.  Oh.  I hate karma so much,” he says while rubbing his cheeks with both hands.  Jonghyun laughs.

“I don’t even get my revenge yet.  How on Earth did you fall?” Jonghyun asks the older guy.

“Blame the snow,” Jinki answers.

Visible air puffs out from their mouths as they speak.  Jonghyun wonders what the guy is doing outside in the park when he can enjoy the warmness of the heater in the apartment.

“What are you doing here, hyung?” asks Jonghyun.

“I’m looking for you,” he says.  He takes the muffler at his neck and wraps it around Jonghyun’s bare hands.

“Looking for me?”

“You are playing hide-and-seek again,” says Jinki.

Jonghyun laughs again, because of both Jinki’s answers and the way his hands are now wrapped in a piece of muffler.  It feels warmer though.

“I’m here at the open space.  I’m not playing hide-and-seek,” Jonghyun states.

“Doesn’t matter.  Whenever you are not in my sight, that means you are playing hide-and-seek,” Jinki says.

Jonghyun laughs again.  He looks at the older guy.  Jinki might be older, but Jonghyun feels like he is the one who is responsible to look after both of them.  After all, the other three guys in the apartment cannot tolerate Jinki’s weirdness.

“What are you doing out here, in the cold?  Are you stupid?” Jinki asks while playing with his gloves.

“I was writing lyrics,” Jonghyun says.  Jinki’s eyes turn very bright after he heard that.

“Can I see it?” he grins, showing his smiling eyes.

“The worst part is I didn’t write a single thing yet,” Jonghyun tells the older.

“Yah!  Your time was wasted again!” Jinki throws a snowball to Jonghyun.

Jonghyun receives the hit squarely at his face.  He hears the other guy laughs merrily and he remembers that he has not yet gotten his revenge for the first one.  He pulls the muffler away and scoops a handful of snow.  Then, he tosses it into Jinki’s face.  It is officially begins, the snowball fight.  They play like kids, shooting snowballs at each other.  They shout, they fall, they laugh, creating their own version of Dumb and Dumber.

“Stop!  Stop!  I’m tired,” Jinki shouts with all his might.  Jonghyun laughs.  He agrees to stop too, because he couldn’t feel his fingers anymore.

They sit together on a bench at the right side of the park, and together, they see the bald trees with snow sticking on the branches.

“Jonghyun-ah…” Jinki calls him.

“Yes?”

“What if the snow is not white?  What if the snow is green?” Jinki asks.

There he goes again, just a part of his weirdness, asking weird questions.  They always receive questions like that and Kibum, Minho and Taemin cannot bear that part of Jinki.  They say it is better to deal with Jinki’s clumsiness rather that Jinki’s questions.  Oftentimes, they leave Jonghyun to entertain Jinki with his questions and Jonghyun admits that his is used to it now.  The guy is just curious and Jonghyun thinks it is okay to feed him with answers which he thinks will partly makes sense.

“Well…I think the astronauts in the International Space Station will see the Earth as a huge green ball,” Jonghyun answers.

“Why?”

“Snow is made from water.  If snow is green, it must get the colour from water.  That means the ocean will be green and the whole Earth will look very green,” says Jonghyun.  He honestly thinks that is not the best answer, but as long as Jinki is satisfied, that will be okay.

“That makes sense,” Jinki nods a few times.  Jonghyun smiles.

“You know that tonight is Christmas Eve?” Jonghyun asks Jinki.

Jonghyun wishes he could be a schoolboy again, who will get a month of winter break and be able to celebrate Christmas together with family.  But, tomorrow his band mates will have to perform on a Christmas Show.  Jonghyun hopes at least he could have a pretty decent Christmas Eve.

“Yeah…but I guess it won’t be as good as celebrating it with family,” says Jinki.

Jinki feels it as well.  Their hectic schedule always prevents them from having a Happy Christmas.  Not that he regrets living as a singer, but he just wants a one-day holiday.

“We can make it good though,” Jonghyun says.

“How?” Jinki asks.

“Let’s go shopping for grocery.  Then, we can cook tonight and decorate our apartment,” Jonghyun suggests and Jinki is very happy with the idea.

+++++

Five of them are at the supermarket, finally, after Jonghyun shouted at the other three guys right into their ears.  Jinki is in the trolley and Jonghyun pushes it, while Kibum, Minho and Taemin look very much irritated by the situation.  Jinki trips three times on his shoelace for the first ten minutes they are in the mart and Jonghyun decides that he should not walk.  Therefore, there he is, in the trolley, taking in packets of food being given to him.

“Do we really need to do this?” asks Kbum, looking at Jonghyun, with his hand giving Jinki a packet of flour.

“It is just once in a year,” says Jonghyun.

“Who is going to cook all this later?” Minho asks.  Jonghyun looks at him with a stern face.

“Us, obviously,” he replies.  Kibum is glad he won’t be forced to do it alone.

“Don’t involve me in this,” says Taemin.  Ever since he is getting matured, Taemin just never listens to Jonghyun or Jinki anymore.

“You are already involved,” Jonghyun takes a box of spaghetti from the rack and gives it to Jinki.

Kibum, Minho and Taemin do not want to do anything that day, really.  They just want to sit down and play games or surf internet.  Being forced to go to the mart angers them so much and adding to that, Jinki in the trolley is very embarrassing.  An adult, in a trolley?  Seriously?

“I don’t think Jinki hyung should be in the trolley either,” Taemin says.  Jonghyun sighs while Jinki flinches at his words.

“Then you expect me to let Jinki hyung falls a few more times before we get out of this mart?” Jonghyun asks him.  The youngest keeps quiet after that, but his face clearly shows that he is infuriated.

After they are done at the meat section, Jonghyun pushes the trolley to the diary section.  Jonghyun asks Taemin to get a packet of grated cheese and Taemin just grabbed anything that his eyes can see and his hand can reach.  He is about to give it to Jinki when Jonghyun stops him.

“How could you just grab it like that?  You should look at the expiry date,” Jonghyun says.

Taemin rolls his eyes and looks at the packet.  He turns it in whichever way he could until he could see where the expiry date was stamped.

“It is February 28th next year,” he says while giving it to Jinki with annoyed feeling.

Jinki takes the packet from Taemin and looks at it.  It is 28th February, alright.  Then, his mind starts to become active again, thinking about the other day in February, the day that exists only in leap year.

“Hmmm…what if 29th February doesn’t exist in the calendar?” he asks that question specifically to Taemin.

Taemin gives Jinki a do-not-ask-me-weird-questions look, but Jinki seems slow to interpret it.  Taemin sighs and looks at Minho and Key for some help, but they ignores that.

“I really need to go to the bathroom,” Taemin says and he leaves.

“I will get the vegetables,” Kibum says and leaves.

“I am going to get some breads and buns,” Minho does the same.

Jonghyun can only watch them leave.  That is what usually happened whenever Jinki asks such a question.  The other guys will avoid from having to answer it or pretend not to hear it at all.

“Am I asking the wrong question, Jonghyun?” he asks Jonghyun while holding the cheese tightly in his hand.

Jonghyun wants very much to say yes, but he can’t bring himself to do it because Jinki looks so pitiful with that face and cheese in hand and sitting in the trolley.  He looks like a rabbit that couldn’t get his carrot.

“No, hyung.  Not that you are asking the wrong question, but that question might be a bit hard for them to answer,” says Jonghyun.  Jinki is quiet for a while.

“Okay,” he says after a while.  His face doesn’t look happy and Jonghyun feels desperate and tries to find an answer that would partially make sense.

“What was the question again, hyung?” Jonghyun asks.

“I asked what if 29th February doesn’t exist in the calendar,”Jinki said.

“Then I would say that every four years, we will live a day ahead of the Earth’s orbiting the Sun,” he says.

Jinki keeps quiet after that and Jonghyun makes a mental note for himself to Google the answer when they get home.

+++++

Kibum nags at them about how they are supposed to keep the kitchen clean and safe even though they are cooking.  Jonghyun is giving a first-aid to Minho’s ring finger which is bleeding because Jinki had accidentally broken a glass bowl and Minho prevented clumsy Jinki from picking it up with his bare hand and resulting in his own finger bleeding.  Jinki looks like he can’t forgive himself for Minho’s bleeding finger.  Taemin boringly kneads the dough for pizza as Kibum instructed.

“Jonghyun, you are responsible to clean the kitchen afterwards,” Kibum says, with a very sharp
tone, as if giving him a warning.

Jonghyun quickly gets it.  It is his idea after all, for all of them to be in the kitchen cooking.  But, Jonghyun just wants to feel the Christmas more at home.  He really doesn’t expect this to happen.

“Sure,” he answers.

Jonghyun wants to blame Jinki for what happens but again, Jinki shows his pitiful look and Jonghyun is angry with himself for could not get any more angry with Jinki.  He goes on bandaging Minho’s wound with a plaster.

“I’m sorry, Minho,” he says.

“It’s okay, hyung.  It is just a small wound.  Not that I cannot play games with it,” Minho states.

Jonghyun knows Minho is looking at Jinki.  But, Jonghyun is grateful that he doesn’t look at Jinki with that angered look as Taemin did at the mart, but this sympathy looks, because Jonghyun knows that Minho might know that Taemin wants to throw the dough into Jinki’s face.  Jonghyun washes his hand clean from the antiseptic.

“Jinki hyung, pass me that 2kg chicken,” Kibum asks Jinki, but this time to pass something that won’t break in case it falls from his hand again.

Jinki is shocked by the mention of his name, but otherwise, quickly jumps to his feet and grabs the chicken.  He passes it to Kibun along with a question Jonghyun wishes he wouldn’t ask.

“What if 2 is written as 3 and 3 is written as 2?” asks Jinki.

Jonghyun freezes on his spot.  Taemin gives a very angry grip to the dough as though he is imagining it as Jinki’s head.  Minho pretends to rummage the refrigerator.  Key takes the chicken without any thanks, without any word.

“Thanks, Jinki hyung,” Kibum says after a while, “I excuse you from the kitchen now.”

Jinki looks at Jonghyun and Jonghyun looks back at him.  Jinki looks very troubled by that situation and with his shoulders slumped, he walks out of the kitchen.  Jonghyun wipes his hand and quickly follows Jinki.

“Hyung,” he calls him.

“I just want to ask people’s opinions about it,” Jinki states, “You know how hard it was when knowledge was first invented and nowadays, we live in a world where everything is there for us, and we forget.”

Jonghyun smiles to Jinki’s statement.  He knows how the older doesn’t take things for granted and always thinks about them from the fundamental.  He knows that Jinki asks those questions because he is just a curious thinker but Jonghyun still thinks that Jinki should realize it when people start to draw a line.

“Alright, in case you really want to know, this is my opinion.  No matter how many times people change how 2 is written, two will still be two.  Only the symbol changes, the value will still be two,” Jonghyun says.

Jinki smiles when he hears the answer and he thanks Jonghyun for that.  Jonghyun walks back into the kitchen and pulls Jinki along.  When they enter the kitchen, Minho’s eyes meet Jonghyun’s.

“Sometimes I wonder if both of you are really dumb or just pretend to be dumb,” Minho says.

+++++

Jinki is decorating the Christmas tree while Jonghyun is trying to figure out how to deal with the LED lights they bought from the mart just now.  Both Jinki and Jonghyun think that this Christmas should be more colourful the last year, and they don’t mind working it out by themselves.  Taemin and Minho are sitting on the couch, too busy with PES to help Jinki and Jonghyun.  Kibum is busying himself at the computer with me2day.

Minho scores a goal and he shouts and jumps happily.  Taemin throws the controller, luckily it lands on the cushion or Minho will get mad.  Kibum glances at them and smiles.  That is the tenth time Taemin loses to Minho that day.

“Damn it!  I hate PES,” Taemin says.

“Oh, I love PES and I love TV and I love myself,” Minho says.

“I feel like crushing the TV,” Taemin mutters.

“Oh, don’t be like that Taemin.  TV is invented for fun…” Minho tries to get the youngest back to the game.

Taemin mouths foul words and Kibum scolds him for that.  Taemin rolls his eyes and saying something about killing the inventor of PES.  Kibum shrugs it off and saying something about do not kill the inventor of me2day.  Minho and Taemin are just about to go on with the game when Jinki asks again, but this time it is directed to Minho.

“Minho, what if John Logie Baird and Charles Babbage were never born?” Jinki asks while cutting the white and red ribbon.

It is silence for a while, except for the sound of Kibum’s vigorous typing and controller being punched and the football commentator’s voice.  Jonghyun almost thought Minho is pretending not to hear it when that guy suddenly answers.

“I don’t care if those guys were never born into this world,” Minho says while making a face.

“And I don’t care about you,” Taemin says bluntly, seems to be pouring all his angers towards Jinki.

“Nor do I care about your weird questions,” Kibum continues after that.

Jinki freezes.  He looks at Jonghyun and hurt is evidence in his eyes.  He puts down the ribbon and the scissors and walks into his room, shared with Taemin and Kibum.  Jonghyun feels angry.  Why can’t they just answer the question?  The older guy wants nothing but opinions.  He doesn’t demand perfect answers and the three freaking housemates can’t just answer that.  He puts down his LED light and walks to the main plug and pulls off every wire that is connected there.  Immediately, the TV and the computer are switched off.  Kibum, Minho and Taemin looks at Jonghyun shockingly, if not furiously.

“That just shows how much you care if John Logie Baird and Charles Babbage were never born,” Jonghyun says and he walks into the room, where Jinki is now hiding and probably crying.

“What?” Taemin is still clueless about the whole situation.

“Jonghyun hyung is right.  John Logie Baird and Charles Babbage invented TV and computer.  Without them, we will not be able do what we were doing just now,” Minho says, silently feeling guilty towards Jinki.

“And we thought Jinki hyung and Jonghyun hyung are supposed to be a version of Dumb and Dumber,” Key states while looking at the floor.

+++++

They are having dinner together in the kitchen.  After all the things happened during the day, finally they are having dinner as a family, and Jonghyun is really glad that his plan went well, despite all the commotion.  Taemin eats like he is not eating for years and Jinki is happy that he is not angry anymore.

“After a few years, this is the first time my Christmas Eve becomes bright again,” says Minho while chugs down his glass of red grape sparkling.  Jonghyun has strictly not allowed alcohol that night.

“Really, hyung.  I almost forget how it feels like,” Taemin bites his drumstick and Jinki stares longingly at that part of chicken as Taemin eats it.

“You can have mine,” Jonghyun gives his drumstick to Jinki and Jinki exchanges it with his chicken breast.

“Thanks, Kibum.  You are a very good cook,” Jinki voices, for the first time since they have their dinner.

“Nothing much.  Thanks for decorating the house though,” Kibum says, still slightly feeling guilty for what had happened between them earlier.

“I did not do that much,” Jinki says sincerely.

Honestly, he doesn’t think he decorate it that well.  The Christmas tree just doesn’t look like Christmas tree anymore and the wall is full with nothing but silver snowflakes which he bought all-done-just-need-to-paste from the mart.  He also puts a small Santa everywhere in the house just to make it look like Christmas.

“What if Santa really exist?” the question comes out of his mouth before he couldn’t even stop himself and he immediately thinks he deserves to die for asking that question.  Surprisingly, everybody makes an effort to answer it.

“The kids will be happy, hyung,” Taemin says.

“I will go out tonight to see his sleigh,” Minho goes.

“We will have something waiting for us next morning, won’t us, hyung?” Key answers.

Jinki smiles.  But, he is not satisfied, because Jonghyun doesn’t answer his question.  The boy always does, but it seems like he is ignoring it now.

“Jonghyun?” he asks.  The other three looks at Jonghyun as well.

“Oh, I don’t know hyung.  Maybe Taemin, Minho and Kibum will behave better especially towards you because Santa gives present only to good guys,” Jonghyun says and continues with his meal.

Jinki is surprised with Jonghyun’s answer because he doesn’t expect Jonghyun to be that thoughtful.  As for Minho, Kibum and Taemin, guilt develops again in their hearts and they promise not to mess up with the Clever and Cleverer brothers again.

__________

heaDeVil^23

Mood: Hungry

Music: Taeyang - Wedding Dress