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.
