mingyu hates working. he hates having to put effort into getting money, when other people live off fat bank account interests or the earnings from blackmailing deals. he wishes his life could be as simple as that, and that he could, well, do anything he wanted at all times, because nothing is out of reach when you are filthy rich. but, alas, for whatever reason his stars didnāt align in such a manner and therefore he is part of the unlucky class that has to sweat every day in order to make ends meet.
and got, he hates being in the working class.
so there he is, in his stupid kristoff costume, nearly passing out because of the goddamn wig heating up his entire brain, and having to deal with annoying children squeaking and screeching all around him while watching over them to make sure they donāt break the ice falling on their butts. one of his many side jobs is tutoring in english skills; one of his clients started a conversation about the skating rink set up in city hall and, much to his infortune, mingyu didnāt pick up where she was going with it until it was too late. after a few corrections on her pronunciation on things such as āiceā and āfree of chargeā, the offer was put on the table. and it was sadly too got to pass up.
mingyu has no trouble with the skates, whatsoeverāheās spent a great deal of his childhood in canada, and, thankfully or not, his family was interested enough in his education to force him to try out all kinds of sports before giving up and letting him sing.
if he had been ignored like most children and left to rot at school learning useless math formulas, he wouldnāt be in this situation, having to carry a huge six year old around the rink in a clumsy piggy back ride.
heād been frequenting the winter festival in his free time. after preparing his best friendsā christmas gifts and the main rush of the season over, it came down to having a lot of free time after school finished for the holidays; so the best solution to his boredom, of course, was to head over to the festival heād first visited with jeonghan.
last time heād come alone to the festival, heād ended up bumping into someone, making a new friend, so today he doesnāt exactly hold up hopes of meeting another new friend, but at least prepares himself for what may ensue, and instead of getting lost in the sparkling baubles and the beauty of the tree, he watches where heās going, stays aware of his surroundings. his nose twitches as he wanders past food stalls, and considering heād made a little money from relatives on christmas day, he can afford to treat himself to a few tasty snacks before the festival ends for another year.Ā
heās chewing on something chocolatey (honestly it just looked good, so he bought it, heās not entirely sure what heās eating) when he pauses and looks back at the charity stall heād just passed. he doesnāt have the charisma, the people skills, to pick up a job temporarily as a salesman (heās a natural in the store, but thatās music, thatās his passion. sadly, heās not quite as passionate about christmas gifts), but he does have the money to donate, and he browses the gifts, now a little late for christmas, mind, but the thought is still there.Ā
thereās a sweet christmas bauble that catches his eye. it would hang pride and place on their family tree, decorated with a clean colour scheme of whites and silvers thanks to his mother. the bauble is clear, not glass, but close enough. in the centre of the sphere, is a brilliant white figure of a reindeer sat atop a field of snow, itās head high and antlers majestic. decorating the inside of the baubleās shell itself, is a pattern of snow falling down onto the ground around the reindeerās feet.Ā
itās perfect, and itās so his motherās taste, that the minute he picks it up, heās digging into his pocket to pay, insisting they keep the change and wrapping it up carefully so it doesnāt get damaged on the way home.Ā
pleased with himself and his last minute buy, and ready to say goodbye to the festival one last time for another year, he leaves with a smile, tucking his scarf up above his nose to fight away the cold and making his way home.
(when he arrives back, he presents his mother with the gift. she makes some unintelligible noises and promptly hangs it on the tree and plants a big kiss on his forehead. he gets the impression she likes it very much.)
Practice makes perfect, right?Ā That was the saying anyway, and one that Seulgi thought applied to most situations, though at this moment, as she laid on her back, wincing up at the night sky, she decided that maybe, ice skating was not one that it did.Ā She sat up, her nose crinkled up in a mixture of dull pain and annoyance.Ā She had come to the rink for the third time during the festival, and had promptly lost her footing, ending up flat on her back.Ā She apparently had been lucky with her ādatesā with Mingyu and Hailey, as confusing, but fun, as those both had been, and had not fallen as harshly as she just had, just some minor ones that were more cute than bothersome.Ā
She attempted to get back up, but found herself not able to do so without some assistance from the dashboard that ran around the rink.Ā Seeing a few younger kids laughing at her, she tried to hide her embarrassment and start skating as though nothing had happened. Despite being embarrassed and not being that good at it, Seulgi was still having a good time. It was a nice distraction to not think about what might be coming up in 2016, graduating from high school and not having a trainee contract waiting for her.Ā She had the grades, she could go to university if she wished, but she also felt as though she should get a job.Ā Knowing her parents, theyād probably tell her to do one or the other.Ā They were big on not splitting your time between things, but to give 110% to whatever your focus was at the time.Ā Her brother wasnāt working while going to school, so she probably wouldnāt be either.Ā She hoped more opportunities would come, and that maybe this time, sheād let her family know she was even trying.Ā
It was cold, but he was sweating. His winter jacket was lying in some corner next to his water bottle. The sleeves were rolled up and he was panting. Other guys beside him were working hard, hammering, sawing, tieing or glueing. The Winter festival was prepared and they all worked quick. Some construction managers walked through the stalls that were build. They told everyone what to do, to wear safety clothes like gloves or helmets, brought drinks and decorating stuff.Ā
Hee Gun coughed when he smelled the scent of the christmas trees. He actually liked the strong, melancholic scent but mixed with the glue and the smell of wood it was too much. A manager stepped to him, giving him a cup of coffee. He thanked and gulped the hot coffee down. Energy refilled! The stall he had worked on was on the final touch. It looked safe and when he and two other helpers stood on the roof it didnāt shoke. Stable work, he praised himself. The only thing they now had to do to finish was to decorate everything. Hee Gun went to the manager who gave him the coffee before, asking what the stall would be used for.Ā
āAh, this one? Wait, just a moment.ā A plan that showed the location of each stall was pulled out of the bag and instantely the manager replied:Ā āThis one will be a star factory. It will be part of the charity area, so people can volunteer to make stars out of glass.ā Stars out of glass? Sounded good. The rapper wiped the sweat out of his face with his forearm before returning to his assembling mates. With short words he explained what the stall will be used for and that they should use stars to decorate the entrance. In the boxes the managers had bought were lots of stars, plastic, paper, golden, silver, glittering and glowing ones. Hee Gun asked the others if they should make a road with glittering and glowing stars that would lead visitors to the stall and if it was a good idea to also decorate the table next to the stall which would be used to handcraft the stars.Ā
The workers continued and everyone had some ideas how to make the stall the most beautiful and dashing one. Wasnāt it kinda embarrassing how guys were determine to attract as much people as possible? But Hee Gun liked it, since working hard was always a good thing no matter what intention they had.Ā
Tomorrow he and Hyelin would have a date. On a Ice skating rink. He clenched his teeth and ruffled through his hair. What should he do? When he asked her out and suggested to go to the Winter festival together, he totally forgot that ne never went to Ice skating before. He never had time to do that and actually he liked warm and hot places more, so he prefered swimming pools or picnic places.Ā
It couldnāt be helped. Since he had some free time due to his holiday he decided to train for tomorrowās date. Hee Gun knew he wouldnāt be able to learn to Ice skate in only a few hours but he hoped to be able to stand in front of the girl. At least for three seconds.Ā
After arriving at his goal, he nervously looked around for a instructor. A guy, few years older than himself stared at him who was standing there, in his borrowed skates, shivering. Then he came over, smiling, doing a 360Ā°rotation before stopping right in front of Hee Gun.Ā āHello, sir. Do you need a short instruction from me?ā Nodding quickly, the guyās hand invited him to the skating area.Ā
At first the instructor tried to show him the right posture and how he had to maintain his balance. Hee Gun bent his knees, the distance between his feet was like the distance between his shoulders and his two hands waved next to his side. He was able to stand on ice. Looking at his instructor and smiling, made him realize that this wasnāt the only thing he had to do when ice skating. The male sighed and tried to slide across the surface to take a step as the instructor explained him the way to do so. But when his nose touched the underground to his feet he knew there was no way he was able to impress his date on tomorrowās date. Impossible.
Well Christmas was fun for about two seconds. Jiyong huddled deep into his oversized coat, his scarf wrapping around his neck and face, keeping him warm but also grossly humid. He walked through the park slowly, each step carrying a thousand thoughts, a thousand memories-- all of them screaming and crying to be forgotten. What he wouldn't do for some soju or whiskey right now.
Christmas night, the world lit up in smiles and music, the town square park covered in rides and games and food stands, all set up next to the ice rink. He'd been here earlier this week, with Minji, which had turned into a perfect disaster, but honestly tonight had been worse. At least he hadn't gotten yelled at or hit that other night. He wasn't even hungry anymore, strolling right past the cooking food.
He wandered over to a particularly large tree and sat down on it's roots, curling up into ball for a moment before getting out some cigarettes. He lit one up like it was the last thing he'd ever do and shut his eyes as he breathed the smoke in. Fuck. It had been such a long day and everything had been fine until he'd gone to see his mother. Wasn't that always the way things happened though? Nah, sometimes he managed to get out of that trailer without the screaming or the violence. If he ever lived long enough to have kids, he promised himself he'd rather cut his arms off than hit one of them.
He swallowed down the tears, blinking them away (the damn useless things) and cleared his throat as he watched the skaters play on the ice. How sweet. He felt unreasonable hatred for them all.
Earlier that week he had gone ice skating with Jieun in the very same spot. A few days later, the ice skating rink and christmas stalls were filled with visitors from every part of Seoul and some more. The Christmas spirit has definitely possessed more then itās fair share people this year.Ā
With that said, unlike a the time he went ice skating with his little miss, Minsoo stood behind one of the stalls. At the back precisely. Usually he wasnāt big on the whole charity work deal, in fact for him labour should be paid; preferable with cash. But alas, after getting signed with Royals and somewhat finally finding structure in his life, Minsoo thought he should at least give back to society one way or the other.Ā
After smiling at the owner of the stall he was currently volunteering in. The old man had asked him to help out some of the other volunteers with creating hand made christmas stars. The influx of customers and holiday shoppers was beyond that everyone anticipated, resulting of making more products on the actual spot.Ā
Minsoo quickly agrees, before joining his fellow volunteers by a large table filled with artsy tools. Nodding politely at them, he recognises a certain individual of the corner end of the table. His smile turning into an excited grin, he ventures off towards the said end.Ā
[ EVENT ] - CHRISTMAS EVENT - CITY HALL FESTIVAL
POWERUP - [ + 2 CHRĀ ]Ā
changjo walks aimlessly, wandering around the festival without much direction. he does this a lot, likes to get lost in unfamiliar crowds. heās always been a stranger, everywhere heās ever been. parts of him prefer it this way, right when itās a little too much and not enough. money weighs heavily in his pocket, his wallet plays an anchor. he doesnāt quite understand why he even bothered bringing his wallet with him. what? was he going to buy a gift? and give it to who?
what a joke.
he sighs, lifting a hand to run through his hair as he struggles with seeing the bright sides of things only to come up with a blank. he curses himself internally for not making the wiser decision to buy gloves or to dress warmer for the weather. heās freezing, and he feels like he might literally freeze to death before spotting a market stall selling hot chocolate as he graciously buys some. he thanks the owner, giving a nice tip, before continuing to walk around. the more he walks around, the lonelier he feels, but at least the lonely is better than the freezing. it gives him something else to think about.
he finds himself wandering for practically an hour at any point. at one time, he spots a kid wanting to buy something, and changjo vaguely remembers offering to buy it for the boy as he paid the stall manager and handed the gift (of whatever it was) to the boy before walking off.
changjo really doesnāt know how much longer he walks after that, just making rounds without really caring where heās going. he bumps into people and apologises immediately, itās to be expected when he really doesnāt have any specific direction. heās justā¦ walking. he spots a market stall, one that catches his eye - which isnāt hard when itās bright without being obnoxious and a little quaint. he finds himself walking over, the stall selling snow globes.
he spots one that sticks out to him, letting out a soft huff of laughter. itās just a christmas tree one with little gingerbread people, but itās perfect. if his eyes glaze over just barely, he doesnāt say anything, instead: he purchases the tiny snow globe, and they place it in a tiny gift bag and itās a little overwhelming, but he doesnāt say that: instead he thanks the lady before leaving. the heaviness in his chest is gone as he makes his way home, through the crowds of people.
his home is an apartment, a tiny too small apartment that is just barely big enough for him and his mom. he chucks his house keys on the kitchen counter, throwing his past empty paper cup that once was filled with hot chocolate as he grabs a water bottle and drinks some of it to get the sugary, thick taste of chocolate out of his mouth. he swallows dryly before placing the bag near a tiny plastic christmas tree on the coffee table.
āmerry christmas to me,ā he sighs out before plopping down on the couch, flipping through channels trying to get the day over with.
if his gaze flickers to the tiny decorated bag more than once in the next hour, oh well.
