Ji Won walked down the aisle looking at the 5 new
candidates. He nodded his head as he studied them.
“Pretty good,” he said to them. “Alright,”
he clapped his hands for attention. “All of
you know how it’s done. Jae Jin and Jae Duc
will jump each of you in. If you’re still
standing after 5 minutes, then welcome to SechsKies.”
Only 2 of the 5 guys lasted when Jae Jin and Jae
Duc were done beating them up. “Okay,”
said Sung Hoon. The two newest members to join is—“
“Wait!” shouted a voice, interrupting
Sung Hoon. Everyone looked over to see who it was.
Ji Won stared at the young boy who was walking towards
them. ‘What the hell? Damn! This kid looks
like Mina!’ he thought. ‘I must be losing
it. How come I keep seeing her today?’
Sung Hoon looked at the new boy curiously. “Yes?
What do you want little man?”
I looked at Sung Hoon. ‘Gosh, he developed
an attitude’, I thought. I took a deep breath.
This is it. “I want to join SechsKies.”
A guy I recognized as Jang Su Won busted out laughing.
He placed his hand on top of my head. “You?
How old are you boy? 15? 16? And how tall are you
now? 5’?”
I moved his hand for him. “No. I’m 18
and I’m not 5’, I’m 5’3.”
That remark made all the other members laugh, except
Ji Won. I looked at him curiously and realized he
was checking me out.
‘Oh no’, I thought. ‘Please don’t
recognize me’.
Ji Won held up his hand for the others to stop laughing.
“Hey, if he wants a chance, then we’ll
give it to him.”
Then he turned to face me. I felt my heart thumping
loud and prayed he couldn’t hear it. He placed
his hand on my shoulder. Dang, he smells good, I
thought as I tried to suppress a smile.
“Look kid,” said Ji Won to me. “You
have to be jumped in to join. These 2 guys (pointing
to Jae Jin and Jae Duc) will kick the crap out of
you for 5 minutes. If you’re still standing,
you’re in.”
I nodded my head. I knew I had to last because I’m
doing it all for Ji Won. I stood there as Jae Duc
and Jae Jin began to hit me. Jae Jin threw the first
punch and it gave me instant pain. He’s even
stronger than my stepmom, I thought. Jae Duc kicked
me and I was knocked to the ground but I kept pulling
myself up.
Ji Won looked at the helpless boy who was struggling
to stand up. He doesn’t understand why but
when he looks at the boy, images of Mina replaced
him. Right now in his eyes, it looked like it was
Mina being beaten up by Jae Jin and Jae Duc. He
couldn’t help it.
“Stay down!” he yelled to the boy. Everyone
stared at Ji Won. Both Jae Jin and Jae Duc stopped
hitting the boy because they were surprised that
Ji Won was being nice out of nowhere.
I heard Ji Won yelling for me to stay down. My
ears listened but my legs wouldn’t. I refused
to stay down. No matter how many times they hit
me or how hard, I managed to get up. Finally 5 minutes
was over and I was still standing.
“Am I in?” I asked in a weak voice.
I saw Ji Won staring at me with a surprised expression.
“Yes, you’re in.” he said patting
my shoulder. I smiled and fainted into his arms.
Ji Won held the boy, surprised. He realized the
boy had fainted. Usually he would have let go if
someone fainted on him, but this time he held on
tight.
The other 5 Kies members looked and the 2 new recruits
looked at Ji Won with queeried eyes. “Uh,
hyung,” said Sung Hoon, as he patted Ji Won
on the shoulder.
“What?” asked Ji Won, as he continued
holding the boy.
“What should we do about the new recruits?”
“Give them instructions and show them to their
rooms. We’ll have a meeting tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
They all left but once in a while, they all would
glance back looking at Ji Won, who was carrying
the boy in the other direction.
Part 22
Slowly I began to regain my consciousness and I
woke up. I looked around and realized I was in the
biggest room in the Nam Hotel. The Presidential
Suite.
“What am I doing in here?” I asked myself.
Then suddenly the chair in front of me spun around.
Ji Won was sitting in it. I stared at him with wide
eyes. I started to panic because I was all alone
with him in the room.
Ji Won gave me a sideways glance. “You okay?”
he asked. I nodded my head. Ji Won got up out of
his seat and walked towards me. He sat down on the
bed next to me and looked at me straight in the
eyes. “So what’s your name?” he
asked.
“Mi-“ I began but instantly cut myself
off. ‘Stupid, I thought to myself. You almost
said your real name!’ I saw Ji Won’s
eyes grow wide.
“What did you say your name was?”
“Min-Sung,” I answered him quickly.
“Oh,” he said and backed away from me.
Ji Won stood up and walked towards the window, looking
outside. He knew the new recruit was a boy but somewhere
inside him wished Min Sung would say his name was
Mina. He let out a sigh.
“There’s a meeting tomorrow. Be there
okay?”
I looked at Ji Won with his back facing me. It had
only been 2 years but I felt as though I couldn’t
read what was going on in his mind anymore. I let
out a sigh myself. “Ji Won, where do we meet
later tomorrow?”
The call of his real name made Ji Won suddenly look
up. He ran over to where Min Sung was sitting and
grabbed him by his shoulders. “How do you
know my real Korean name? No one knows me by that.
Everyone calls me Matthew.”
Oh no, I thought. I had completely forgotten that
Ji Won had changed his name to Matthew but I thought
fast. “I didn’t know your name as Ji
Won. All I said was, ‘Gee, wanna go out later
tomorrow?’
I felt Ji Won’s grip on me loosen. He had
bought the story. When he was looking, I let out
a sigh of relief.
‘I’m losing it,’ thought Ji Won.
“We’ll meet in the main dining room
tomorrow,” Ji Won told Min Sung. He nodded
his head and left. Ji Won walked out to the balcony
and looked up at the sky.
“I love you Mina, that’s why it hurts
so much that you’re not here.”
But the real Mina had left before she could have
heard those words
