January 5th, 2001
8:00 am
It was Yubin's birthday, yet he had gone to the company to practice vocals at least two hours before his mother came to pick him up; the other members were in the dorm.
His first hour there was over, and it was time for his medicine, so he left the room to try and get it, but Jerry from Miracle 5 was blocking his way. And worse, he was with his meds in hands
Jerry (birth name: Jae Sihoo/Jerry Jae Fletcher) was born in March 14, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, naturalized in Seoul. He was the Leader, Lead Rapper and Sub Vocalist of Miracle 5, He didn't have as many controversies as the other members, but he was involved in scandals such as saying the n-word in a song, wearing blackface on a live show, and harassing female idols. His father also helped the group run the pyramid scheme to inflate album sales and gain wins.
"Give me back my medicine!" Yubin shouted loudly while Jerry laughed. "I was going to ask you what the magic words are, but since you're so cute when you're angry, here's your remedy. Happy birthday," Jerry said mockingly. Yubin always hated it when they took his medicine.
9:05 am
Yubin's time at the company had ended, and he had already finished showering and getting ready; now, he was just waiting for his family, who had already sought out the other members. He decided to talk to his father on the phone. Yubin always spoke Chinese with his father because his father had Chinese ancestry.
Yubin: 爸爸,早安 (Good Morning, dad)
父親: 早安,仁浩 (Good Morning, Inho)
生日快樂 (happy birthday)
Yubin: 非常感謝 (thank you very much)
你有聯絡過其他成員嗎? (Did you reach out to the other members?)
父親: 是的 (yes)
他們已經在那兒了 (They're already in the car)
你姐姐不去是因為她很忙 (Your sister isn't going because she's busy)
Yubin: okay
After the conversation ended, Yubin went to look at herself in the mirror. He hated his own body, especially after the horrific scar from his stomach removal surgery. "I just wanted to be as handsome as Woohyun," Yubin said to himself, comparing himself to Woohyun too much.
The problem is that he doesn't know Woohyun's reality.
Every day, Yubin viewed Woohyun's CyWorld and believed that those explicit posts that Woohyun shouldn't be making were because he wanted to, because he felt confident in his body, because he didn't have any problem
"So be it," Yubin said, packing up the rest of her things as the car honked. He walked to the door where his father's car was, got inside, and the first to hug him was Yesung, the maknae of the group.
Yesung (birth name: Kim Jongwoon) was born in August 24, 1984 in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul, South Korea. He was slated to be the maknae and the main vocalist along with Youngwon. Yesung was a docile and adorable boy, but also extremely naive, He knew almost nothing about the history of Donghwa, Youngwon, Jumin, Yubin, and Woohyun, which led him to believe that they were the way they were because they felt comfortable being that way, and not because they had traumas.
"Sit next to me, hyung!" Yesung demanded, demanded, until Yubin agreed and sat between Yesung and Donghwa. Youngwon, Jumin, and Woohyun were in the second passenger seat, while Yubin's parents were in the driver's seat. "Donghwa, what are you looking at?" Yubin asked, a little nervous, because he knew that when Donghwa looked angrily at his phone, it wasn't a good sign. "Nothing, just Bogeol mocking you," Donghwa said, referring to Bogeol from Miracle 5.
Bogeol (birth name: Jang Bogeol) was born in June 8, 1979, in Buk district, Ulsan, South Korea. He was the Main Dancer and Lead Vocalist of Miracle 5. Bogeol was the most hated member by K'POP members, and not for a silly reason; he was one of the biggest bullies against Donghwa, making fun of him, teasing him, and ridiculing him to the whole school. To make matters worse; many critics and even other members of Miracle 5 say that he is the least talented member of the group, he was chosen for the debut lineup after only 1 hour of practice against a trainee who trained for 2 years, when Bogeol sang, the other members would move away or cover their ears when it was live. He danced terribly, and yet he had fans who loved Bogeol and defended him tooth and nail.
"What happened?" Yesung asked, and then Youngwon grabbed his hand. "Don't interfere in other people's conversations, Ye," Youngwon stated.
Woohyun, who wasn't paying much attention to the conversation, picked up his cell phone. The first news item that appeared was that two French had been arrested after attempting to export the film "Cinderella Boy" (in which Woohyun had the misfortune to participate) for Haiti, while an Argentinian was arrested for having a copy of the film at home. "What are you looking at, Woohyun?" Jumin asked, Woohyun quickly hid his phone. "N-nothing."
"Cinderella Boy" was a 1999 film produced by Mirae Entertainment (more specifically by its subsidiary "Steam Films") and New Line Cinema, based on a book from Park Hyemi's trilogy "Secret Sugar", However, they altered virtually everything in the book to fit the CEO's pedophilic ideals (So much so that Park Hyemi herself disapproved of the film.) The film ran in theaters for a few months before being banned worldwide in June 2000 and was criticized by both progressive and conservative groups for romanticizing pedophilia too much by portraying Woohyun (who played the protagonist) and actor Oh Youngsoo (who was 55 years old at the time, while Woohyun was 16) having sexual relations. And there was even real evidence that Youngsoo acted inappropriately towards Woohyun backstage.
10:34 am
The car finally arrived at 7-11, a convenience store that sold everything: clothes, food, household goods, medicine, everything! Yesung and Woohyun went looking for kimbap, Donghwa went to buy cigarettes, Jumin was getting household items, Youngwon was asking the employees for help opening boxes containing food, and Yubin had only bought a magazine and one other coat.
"Son, you already have so many coats, why buy more?" Yubin's mother asked... Yubin quickly became downcast. "It's because I wanted to hide this scar..." Yubin whined
"Inho, no scar could make you ugly" Yubin's mother hugged her son, without much success. "I just wanted to be handsome and confident like Woohyun, he posts a lot on CyWorld, he wears clothes he likes..." Yubin teared up.
Suddenly, a woman with black hair and dressed like a detective appeared. "Youngwon, isn't that Park Hyemi over there?" Jumin pointed to the woman, which made Youngwon excited. "Hyemi Noona, give me an autograph!" Youngwon rushed over
Park Hyemi is a writer, lawyer, and director born in Nowon, Seoul, on February 6, 1971, and was about to turn 30 in a month, she was placed in a boarding school at age 14 after her elderly parents died during a robbery, During this time, Hyemi began writing to pass the time and shifted her focus away from her biology studies to start writing, and it worked out well. Hyemi published her first book, "In Joy and In Sorrow, In sickness and in health, in wealth and in poverty..." in 1988, at age 17, when she was still in boarding school. She was best known for her most famous trilogy, "Secret Sugar," renowned for its deliberately unsettling writing, which criticized the romanticization of pedophilia, government negligence, Social exclusion, a disproportionate increase in young people undergoing plastic surgery, and social inaction regarding the exploitation of minors, That's why she was one of the first to criticize Cinderella Boy. Her books in the Secret Sugar trilogy are; "Infanticide on the Han River", "The Senator Who Ordered It", "Priests Are Sinners Too" (this one that "based" Cinderella Boy), "The House of Naked Children" (this one was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature), "Fatal Nobility" and is already writing the sixth book in the trilogy called "Beauty for All".
Youngwon continued asking Hyemi for autographs, but her eyes were fixed on Yubin, as if she knew something all along.
11:56 am
After spending some more time at 7-Eleven, everyone got into the car and went to a restaurant. Yubin's parents were talking about their son's health insurance, while Woohyun, Yesung, and Youngwon were playing UNO, Jumin was reading, Yubin was just staring out the window, and Donghwa was talking on the phone with some call girl "...For God's sake, Gayeon, I already told you I reserved this day to spend with my groupmate because it's his birthday!" Donghwa responded to the woman, who continued demanding that he come.
"Donghwa-hyung is kind of stressed out," Yesung laughed, while Woohyun took the opportunity to block Youngwon, "That's not fair, you're cheating!" Youngwon shouted while Woohyun laughed, "Gayeon, "I couldn't care less if you want to make your boyfriend jealous, I'm not going there!" Donghwa said And then he let her say, "So go sleep with your boyfriend instead of me!" He ended the call
"Inho, "Then your father and I will need to talk to you... about your new surgery," Yubin's mother stated, which made Yubin freeze for several moments. "Come here, how many surgeries will he need? "I can't stand having to leave the leftover food that was meant for him for the rats that live near us anymore!" Donghwa shouted before Jumin slapped him. "Donghwa, dont dare!"
"What? What surgery?" Yubin asked, worried about the possibility of having another part of his digestive system removed. "A woman scheduled a voluntary euthanasia for organ donation... This means that you might get a stomach again." Yubin's mother stated
The other members celebrated.
"Yubin, thats amazing!" Youngwon hugged him "congrats, hyung!" Yesung cheered even louder, Donghwa almost choked while drinking water, Jumin was so happy she forgot about the book, and Woohyun hugged Yubin tightly... And Yubin... He felt a new hope forming, finally, after 7 years since the surgery without being able to eat, he could finally feel like a normal person.
19:00 PM
After a day exploring the city, the group returned to their dormitory. Yubin was in his room, looking at the Bible beside him. Every time something good happened to him, he prayed, thanking God for the achievement, and this time was no different.
"...but even so, thank you very much... Amen." After a few minutes, Yubin finished the prayer, tidied his room, put away the things he had bought, and went to the balcony. His room was the only one in the dormitory that had a balcony. Suddenly, a star began to shine in the sky, and Yubin smiled.