𝖷1 𝖨𝗆𝖺𝗀𝗂𝗇𝖾𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖲𝗁𝗈𝗋𝗍 𝖲𝗍𝗈𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗌

11. The Origins Of Everything

The walk to school was a pleasant one this time around. The birds chirping, sun shining. I didn't even mind the conversation with Minhee since I had a lot to ask about.

"Okay, but you're all different ages," I point it out to him.

Minhee looked to the side over at me.

"And, So?" He questions, raising his eyebrows in inquiry. In this angle the morning sun hit him right, complimenting all his facial features.

"Well, how did you all get together?"

"Like how did we meet or how did we start a band?"

I shove my hands in my pockets.

"Both, I guess."

He stays silent, thinking for a moment. He scuffs up a rock with his foot. "It's not that interesting," he begins.

"Just tell me already!" I get impatient.

"Alright, alright," Minhee laughs at my expense, "for starters, I was best friends with Hyeongjun. I've known him the longest. He was in the school's dance club with Eunsang.

"Eunsang was good friends with Junho who was in our music class. And it was just the four of us for a long time."

He stares off into the distance, remembering a lost time.

"One day Dongpyo showed up, he made fun of my haircut and I told him I was surprised that he could even see my hair from that level."

A smile came across my face. I could imagine a younger Minhee saying something like that.

"He fit in with our friend group easily. It just worked so well. Five of us. Sometime early last year we became serious about our interests in music. It was Dongpyo's idea to start a band.

"We had no idea what we were doing," Minhee shakes his head while chuckling, "but we had ambition.

"Dongpyo introduced us to Seungwoo. Seungwoo used to babysit him when he was younger but they stayed close over the years. He's almost a father figure to Dongpyo."

"That's cute," I comment. I thought it was sweet that they were so close like that. Suddenly, Seungwoo's sternness with the boy the other day made sense.

"Yeah. Anyway, Seungwoo also had interests in music and was family friends with Seungyoun who's father owns a recording studio."

"Ah, and that's how you started making your own music." I was starting to see how this all came together.

"Exactly, most of us had ideas of what to add into a song but none of us knew how to actually create one. Seungyoun is amazing when it comes to song making. I don't know what we would be doing without him."

My brain wandered to Seungyoun for a moment as we were in silence. He was the first one to greet me that day. I bet he's spent a lot of time in the recording studio if his dad owns it.

"Should I continue?" Minhee asks, noticing that I was losing focus. I shook my head to rid my head of other thoughts.

"Yes, of course."

"So then Seungwoo and Seungyoun were a part of the band but not exactly in it. They still wanted to help us even if they wouldn't be performing.

"Seungyoun, with a little of our help, created a couple of songs that we played at small gigs that Seungwoo set up for us.

"At some point, Hyeongjun got serious about his dancing and decided to go to a dancing academy. I think Dongpyo went there for some time. That's where Hangyul came into the picture.

"He was one of the older students. Somehow took a liking for Hyeongjun and helped him during classes. Once Hyeongjun told him about the band he got interested but not for himself, for Dohyon, the kid next door that could rap insanely well.

"Hangyul thought he would fit well in our group. He pitched him very well. Bragging about how much of a musical genius he was. With him and Seungyoun, it felt like making songs was the easy part.

"At this point we were getting a lot of gigs. Just locally, nothing big. Occasionally, Hangyul, Seungwoo, and/or Seungyoun would decide to perform with us. Until they started performing with us every time.

"We never officially declared them members. They just became ones naturally."

I liked the way Minhee talked about his friends. They seemed very close. It's amazing how such seemingly different people could get along so well.

We had reached the gates of the school. Our conversation went on as it were.

"Wooseok was different. He came to us. He was only a model, getting few bookings, and really wanted to perform instead. Saw us perform one time and asked if he could join. He's the only member that had to audition. We voted and it was a unanimous 'yes'."

"So your band is really popular then?" I ask. I can't believe that he could perform locally and I never knew. I mean people were asking to join for crying out loud!

Why hadn't I heard anything?

"I wouldn't say really popular, just known locally," Minhee downplays the whole thing. "The last member to join was Yohan. He performed one night at the same club as us and we were really impressed.

"He told us that he hadn't practiced for long but was very determined to make it in the music industry. We offered him to join our group and he accepted.

"That was only a couple months ago. Next thing I know we're making an album to send to Swing Entertainment." Minhee shook his head in dazed amazement.

"Yeah," I start to say something in agreement however Minhee's words catch up to me, "wait, what did you say?"