Are You Sure This Is Cold Enough To Wake Him

     Hae Jae-Woo watched Chang Minsu walk off. 'Nice guy. It's too bad he's afraid of social standards.' Hae Jae-Woo stood up, tray in hand, and crossed the room to the garbage can. He dumped his remaining food and placed the tray on the counter.

     Once he turned, an array of voices began to chant, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" and a wave of people darted toward the bathroom. Hae Mina wanted to go see, and since both she and her brother loved to watch a good fight, she hurried to the center of the fast-growing ring of people.

     Hae Jae-Woo squeezed, ducked, shoved and dodged the massive number of boys to get near the center of the semi-circle, but once there, he found another semi-circle created by the members of Nightide, who were blocking most of the view of the fight. Hae Jae-Woo squeezed through a few more people and came out on the side where the smallest member, the nerd, stood, blocking people.

     Hae Jae-Woo, being an inch shorter, tiptoed to see what was going on then decided to slide to the left and look past the nerd's shoulder. What he saw enraged him, for Chang Minsu was thrown by his shirt against the wall. The first boy he'd seen, the biker one, lifted Chang Minsu and plowed him to the wall and held him there while muttering something incoherent.

     Hae Jae-Woo pushed the smaller boy to the side with a fluid and un-harmful motion and hurried into the fight. He jerked against the biker boy's arm who lost his grip and dropped Chang Minsu. He glared at Hae Jae-Woo and the room silenced.

     "What do you think you are doing?" Biker Boy demanded.

     "Me? I'm not the one beating up a student who isn't even fighting back," Hae Jae-Woo spat. Biker Boy pushed Hae Jae-Woo's shoulder so that he stumbled back; then Biker Boy returned his attention to Chang Minsu.

     By now Hae Mina was sick of the nonsense, but she feared her actions would not help her brother any. However, her attitude shifted when Biker Boy reached back to punch Chang Minsu. Hae Jae-Woo grabbed his arm and jerked him around. Before anything more could be said, Hae Jae-Woo released a punch with such a force and accuracy that it toppled Biker Boy over unconscious—which was Hae Jae-Woo's intent to begin with.

     Everyone stood dumbstruck, except for Nightide, who were stepping closer. Hae Jae-Woo brought up his fist, "By all means, if you want to be on the floor unconscious, step closer!" The group stilled. "Chang Minsu, you okay?" he added.

     Chang Minsu forced his body off the ground and stood behind Hae Jae-Woo, "I'm fine, but where did you learn to knock someone out like that?"

     "That doesn't matter." Truth was neither Hae Mina nor Hae Jae-Woo ever liked to mention where they'd learn to fight because they had learned by defending themselves since they were young. He always fought for her, but he never would have interfered with something like this, instead he would have watched and chanted with the other boys. But Hae Mina could not stand for injustice, especially those caused due to social class.

     "You weren't kidding when you said you didn't care what they thought," Chang Minsu muttered.

     "Jae-Woo," the alluring one began with a frown; "this is a direct violation of your contract. Duskin lead him to the room. We will discuss this incident among ourselves."

     The small one Hae Jae-Woo had pushed out of the way stepped forward and began to move onward without checking to see if Hae Jae-Woo followed. The crowd split and departed. Hae Jae-Woo, knowing this was going to end like the worst part of a nightmare, clenched his teeth together and followed like a punished dog. But it was not the fear of these boys that had Hae Jae-Woo worried. Compared to Mr. Kyong what they were capable of doing was child's play.

     As Hae Jae-Woo began to follow, the other members of Nightide lifted the first boy and followed along, however, Hae Mina felt as if they were guarding Hae Jae-Woo from fleeing, which by this point was a high possibility, but Mina had a responsibility and a promise to keep.  She had to remain Hae Jae-Woo and fix this.

     So, she clenched her fist and marched after the nerdy one. The boy ahead of her glided down the cool halls making no sound as his shoes touched the hard floor. His steps were like that of a ghost, soundless and he radiated a mature air that did not fit his childish and nerdish appearance. Which one is he?

     Why hadn't she paid attention to her brother when he spoke of Nightide? The only other thing she could remember besides the band name was their names, but she could not remember whose name belonged to whom.

     The nerd paused in front of a thick brown door with a gold covered knob and inserted a key. With a small click and a shove, the door opened. "Come in, Jae-Woo. We have much to discuss," his collected voice ordered. Until now, Hae Jae-Woo had not realized how silent the hall had been. The young man entered; Hae Jae-Woo followed and found himself in a recording studio mixed with a lounge. The others filed in.

     The young man with the black suit on and the guy in complete white lifted Biker Boy into a chair and dropped him. "Dude, loose some pounds," the alluring one huffed.

     "Cass, you might just need to exercise more, instead of hanging out with your girls," the boy who'd flexed teased.

     "Why would I, Dae-Su? They run after me one way or another," Cass replied grinning from ear to ear. "If I exercise anymore, they'll never leave me be." Hae Mina wanted to slap him for his arrogance, but since her brother would not do something like that, she kept her hands in fists.

     "So, we ready?" drummer boy questioned as he shut the door. With his words, everyone faced Hae Jae-Woo. Nerd stood closer than necessary, but Hae Jae-Woo figured he was trying to figure something out.

     "Well, what do you have to say?"

     "If you want me to apologize, you can forget it. That jerk deserved it and I'll do it to anyone else who tries to make me apologize," Hae Jae-Woo promised locking his eyes with the Nerds. They stood with a few inches separating them.

     "Something's wrong with you," Nerd said. The others stood looking shocked.

     "Like what?" Hae Jae-Woo demanded, pretending to be furious at the accusation. In truth Hae Mina feared he had discovered the secret.

     "You're shorter. You used to be about an inch taller than me."

     "Excuse me," Hae Mina retorted in a way she knew her brother would have spoken. He hated to fist fight when he could argue—he found more fun out of annoying people; "Not like I could help I got in a car accident and had surgery."

     Nerd backed off, "I heard about the accident but not the surgery."

     "Konu decided to keep that a secret," Jae-Woo continued to respond curtly and chose to be as informal as possible.

     "I apologize," Nerd muttered; "So, I guess you have amnesia, too, since you have obviously no idea who you just knocked out."

     "As much as I hate to admit it, yes." Hae Jae-Woo began in a softer tone, "I lost most of my recent memories. I can't recall anything from the past couple of months."

     "What do you remember?" a new voice asked. It belonged to the young man in white.

     "My name, my age, basics, how to play my instruments, how to sing, how to play basketball, simple things I've done for years, and obviously I haven't forgotten how to fight."

     "So, you don't remember me?" the blond drummer question with a pout. He's so cute. Hae Mina complained. It isn't fair. Hae Jae-Woo shook his head. "Oh, no fair. Don't you remember anyone?"

     Hae Jae-Woo shook his head again. "Well, let us begin the introductions," Nerd said.

     "That is Yang Dae-Su." he pointed to the young man who'd flexed; "That is Taeyang Cass, he refuses to go by his real name, so we are forced to call him Cass," he pointed to the boy in the black suit and full of arrogance. "That is Antonio Lucas Jeremiah Lebel. His Korean name is Lebel Jun-Seo but he insists we call him Jeremy." The nerd pointed to the blond drummer who gave a bright smile.

     "That is Rhee Min-Jun," the boy in complete white gave a soft nod. "The one presently knocked out would be Kyung Jiho, and I am Duskin Nighting."

     Jeremy laughed, "His real name is Naiting Tae-Yang, but he grew up in America for a good portion of his life and doesn't like going by the full Korean name."

     Duskin's face gained a tinge of red, "It has more to do with the fact that Cass's family name is similar to my given name."

     "Sure, sure," Yang Dae-Su laughed.

     "Just call me Duskin, please."

     "Whatever. So, who's the oldest?" Hae Jae-Woo asked.

     "Cass, Jiho, Dae-Su and Min-Jun are twenty. Jeremy and I are nineteen. Jiho is older than Min-Jun. Min-Jun is older than Dae-Su. Dae-Su is older than Cass, but only by a few days and Jeremy is older than me by a month and two days."

     "Wait, did you say I knocked out Kyung Jiho?" The sudden realization made her stomach clench.

     "Yes," Duskin confirmed. Hae Jae-Woo groaned. Fantastic. I would knock out the one person I needed to please.

     "So, you've forgotten everything?" Cass inquired as he plopped down on the couch and propped his feet up on the table. Hae Jae-Woo fought to still his tongue, but the words spilled through his lips.

     "Get your feet off the table. Do you know how disrespectful that is?"

     Cass laughed, "Well, that hasn't changed any. Too bad, I miss putting my feet on the table. Anyways, let's get down to business. You broke the contract, so you have to pay."

     The others sat back. Jeremy sat on a stool facing the station. Rhee Min-Jun leaned against the wall, Duskin sat in the chair facing Cass. Hae Jae-Woo remained standing by the table.

     "How so?"

     "You have to wake up Jiho and apologize."

     "No!" Hae Jae-Woo replied and crossed his arms. Doing something like that would just make Kyung Jiho even more angry.

     Cass leaned forward and smiled cruelly, "Yes, you will, because you signed a contract stating if you disobeyed the rules you would gratefully accept punishment."

     "I don't remember that," Jae-Woo retorted.

     "True, but you didn't remember us either, so you will listen and take this water bottle and soak Jiho." Cass tossed the bottle.

     The wet clear bottle landed in Jae-Woo's hands. "No, I won't. We can wait; but if you're so impatient, you do it." He tossed the bottle back.

     "Jae-Woo, use it!" Cass demanded standing and pushing the bottle into his hands. Everyone in the room glued their eyes to the scene.

     "No! Cass, I refuse," Hae Jae-Woo shoved the bottle toward Cass.

     "Do you want expelled from the band?" Cass growled.

     Hae Jae-Woo clenched his teeth. "Fine," he spat. "I'll use it." Cass sat back down with a triumphant grin. Hae Jae-Woo removed the lid and dropped it on the table; then he faced Kyung Jiho but paused before throwing it. Hae Mina's mind churned. If she was going to do it, she might as well make sure it was worth it, so again Hae Jae-Woo faced Cass. "Are you sure this is cold enough to wake him?"

     "Of course," Cass replied, "You have woken him up many times this way. Of course, I never had to fight you to do it." Hae Jae-Woo noticed Jeremy chewing his gum quicker. No one suspected what Hae Jae-Woo did next.

     "Well, let's see!" He exclaimed and tossed the water onto Cass.