The Underground - 3RACHA

7

For the past two hours, Jisung had been helping Hyunjin work on his rapping skills. Hyunjin hadn't made much progress in that time, but he had made a start and Jisung realised he wasn't as untalented as he previously thought but rather underdeveloped. Jisung knew Hyunjin would have a harder job teaching him to develop his confidence than he would teaching him to rap.

"It's easy!" Hyunjin proclaimed, sitting on the edge of Jisung's bed, across the room from Jisung who sat in his desk chair as if they didn't want to be anywhere near each other. Jisung listened to Hyunjin as he got up from his seat to draw the curtains and cover up the darkening sky outside, "all you gotta do is tell yourself you're the best and you'll feel the best."

Jisung sat back down, "I don't think so. How am I going to be the best with the likes of CB67 out there?" He asked. After mentioning the rappers name, the memories from two nights ago flooded back to him. He barely remembered it, it could have been a dream, but Jisung was certain that CB67 had walked him home from the nightclub that night.

"You don't have to be the best, just believe you are," Hyunjin rolled his eyes as if it was obvious, "just get on that stage and do what you do when you're alone."

"That's different...there's nobody to judge me when I'm alone," Jisung explained, wrapping his arms around himself, "when I'm on stage I freeze up. I can't say anything."

"So...don't do that?" Hyunjin said, causing Jisung to chuckle.

"That is such a genius idea. Why didn't I think of that?"

-

The first thing Changbin said to Felix when he turned up at his apartment that Friday evening was, "I'm not going."

Felix's smile dropped as he examined Changbin's physical appearance. He had messy hair that probably hadn't been brushed in days, heavy bags under his eyes, scruffy clothes. All of this Felix brushed over as he stepped forward and examined Changbin's face closer. He was only centimetres away from Changbin, eyes staring straight into the others who had started to lean backwards. They were red, pupils dilated. "What did you take?"

"Nothing."

"Liar. Tell me, what did you take?" Felix asked, a sense of urgency in his voice as he straightened up and closed the front door. "Did you get it from your brother? Where is he?"

"I don't...I don't know. I think I found it in my mum's room," Changbin mumbled, swaying backwards and forwards where he stood.

Felix tried to let out a sigh but it ended up sounding more like a whine. "Why?" He asked but Changbin only shrugged. "Changbin, you promised you wouldn't use drugs anymore, not after you almost died last year! Why would you do this?"

Changbin shushed Felix, placing a finger in front of his lips, "you're too loud and my head hurts."

It hurt Felix to see Changbin in this state. He hoped to never see him this way again after he found Changbin nearly overdosing in his bathroom last year. He'd almost died and Felix almost lost his best friend. He made Changbin swear to never use anything again and Changbin had agreed. "I can't believe you," Felix muttered, grabbing Changbin's hand and pulling him towards his bedroom. Once inside, he sat Changbin down on the edge of his bed and told him to stay there. He closed the door on his way out and knocked on the bedroom door that was next to Changbin's.

"What?" A woman shouted.

"Miss Seo? It's Felix."

There was movement behind the door, a scuffling on the floor and a clatter of objects. A moment later the door was pulled open to reveal the mess of a woman that was Seo Changbin's mother. She wasn't high, not as far as Felix could see, but she was definitely drunk. "What do you want? Changbin's in his room or something, fuck off."