and got, he hates being in the working class.

rkskating — winter festival activities

he’d been frequenting the winter festival in his free time. after preparing his best friends’ 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 he’d first visited with jeonghan.

Practice makes perfect, right?  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.  She sat up, her nose crinkled up in a mixture of dull pain and annoyance.  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.  She apparently had been lucky with her “dates” 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. 

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. 

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 didn’t 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. 

“Ah, this one? Wait, just a moment.” A plan that showed the location of each stall was pulled out of the bag and instantely the manager replied: “This one will be a star factory. It will be part of the charity area, so people can volunteer to make stars out of glass.” 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. 

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. 

It couldn’t be helped. Since he had some free time due to his holiday he decided to train for tomorrow’s date. Hee Gun knew he wouldn’t 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. 

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 360°rotation before stopping right in front of Hee Gun. “Hello, sir. Do you need a short instruction from me?” Nodding quickly, the guy’s hand invited him to the skating area. 

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.

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 it’s fair share people this year. 

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 wasn’t 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. 

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. 

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. 

“Hey hyung~ Didn’t expect to see you here.”

[ EVENT ] - CHRISTMAS EVENT - CITY HALL FESTIVAL POWERUP - [ + 2 CHR ] 

changjo walks aimlessly, wandering around the festival without much direction. he does this a lot, likes to get lost in unfamiliar crowds. he’s always been a stranger, everywhere he’s ever been. parts of him prefer it this way, right when it’s a little too much and not enough. money weighs heavily in his pocket, his wallet plays an anchor. he doesn’t 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.