Flowerfield ~ Han Jisung ✓

chapter 21 :'c

After finding the rest of the massive group, and buying out ice cream, we all sit down in a big circle on the grass, in the same park. Most of the spectators have left, but we've been approached by a few to compliment the four performers among us.

"Who got mint chocolate?" Jisung throws a question to the group, licking his scoop of solid chocolate ice cream.

Minho, Soyeon, Hyewon, and Yeona all raise their ice cream cones, showing their scoop of bright green with bits of brown. I gag.

"Disgusting, guys."

"You should try pistachio, I introduced it to Tilly and now it's her favourite." Soojin says.

"No? just because it's green doesn't mean it's pistachio. This is matcha," Taerim denies, pointing to her ice cream. "Pistachio's good though."

"I'm good with my strawberry." I say.

"Strawberry is so delicious." Minho agrees.

"Strawberry is too sweet." Seungmin counters.

"We could argue about ice cream all day, but there are more interesting matters to talk about." Chan says, finally bringing an end to this war, "Hongjoong, I'm very curious. What is your song about?"

"Halazia is part of a storyline that I came up with, with my friends," Hongjoong explains in detail, "Where the eight of us are in a dystopian world where the government is trying to take away people's emotions and we have to stop them. It started when we were little and got very complicated as we grew up, so I'll save the time-traveling stuff for another time...but basically, it's about what would happen if we were unable to save the world. Halazia is the name of the new group because the old one perished, and they bring light to the world."

The entire circle falls silent as everyone tries to take in Hongjoong's complicated onslaught of lore.

(a/n: im an atiny but i dont completely understand the lore either so correct me if im wrong atinys)

"That didn't make any sense, did it?"

"Not much..." Felix says, "but that's fascinating."

"Yes. That is so creative, you incorporate actual lore into your songs." Changbin awes.

Although my brain couldn't process the intellectual storyline, that right there was a stroke of imagination and genius.

"Thanks," Hongjoong chuckles, "Soyeon, what was your song about?"

"Ooh, mine is for all the women out there and also a reference to Marilyn Monroe."

"Knew it." I whisper.

"I called it "nude" because that word has been completely reestablished and not in a good way. Nude can mean bare, not hiding anything, showing one's true self...heck, it's even a lipstick shade. But no, the dirty-minded men made it so that every time you hear that word you think "naked women", exactly how they thought of Marilyn Monroe even though she was an intelligent icon, and that's why I included the lyrics "think outside the box". There's more to the word than you think, you just have to think outside the box.

"Far more often than I would like, women are seen as objects who are meant to be pretty and their intelligence and creativity are completely disregarded, especially for singers and actors like Marilyn."

As she goes on explaining, me and everyone else can't help but gasp, intently listening to every insightful word Soyeon is speaking.

"The most important thing is, I wrote this song for women, as a reminder to be yourself and push past boundaries. That's exactly what I did when composing it. In fact, I was fully expecting not to win this contest purely because of my eccentric concept but I didn't care."