Thirty-One

"Hello!" S.T.A.Y bowed repeatedly to everyone in the big now-decorated practice room that had been converted into a Christmas party hall for the sake of the joint event. The cameras had all been set up and the lighting crew was just getting the lights ready. Everyone was hustling about with last minute preparations. In the middle of the room, where a long table had been set with goodies near a tall and elaborately decorated Christmas tree, stood 04:00 am all clad in shades of red, green and white much like ourselves.

While the rest of S.T.A.Y were just a tad bit more formal, I had gotten acquainted enough with them to throw a bright smile and hug whoever was closest. "Sunbaenim!"

"Ah. I still can't get used to your black hair." Youngjae Sunbae said and tapped his own head. "I miss your blue."

"Tell him!" Changmin chimed in at the support. He was standing towards the end of the line of seven members but even though he wasn't in the 'closest' range, I couldn't not hug him.

"Everyone needs a change, Hyung."

"It's like Jeongwoo Hyung completely broke the ice." Minho chuckled, standing next to Mingyu and smiling.

"This is good." Jaehyeon spoke. "We can get closer to each other today."

"I've been looking forward to today ever since we were told that it was happening." Jaemin Sunbae chirped and put on the Santa cap that he had been holding on to till then.

"We have a few things for you too." Baekjae Sunbae picked up a packet from under the Christmas tree and proceeded to take out and hand us Christmas headgear- a Santa cap for Yeojun, a headband with two snowmen atop it for Jaehyeon, another headband with a fluffy-bearded Santa's face in the middle on top of it for Hanseol, a very Christmas-y tiara complete with stars and bells for our leader and reindeer antlers for me which he went ahead and placed on my head.

"Where did you even get these?" Hanseol stared at the Santa's face on his headband and squeezed the cotton a bit, the fashionista in him disgruntled at the thought of wearing it.

"Why? Aren't they cute?" I touched my antlers. They were soft. "But why are the rest of you not wearing anything?" I looked at 04:00 am. Only Jaemin Sunbae was wearing the Santa cap.

"It's our gift to you. You'll have to wear it throughout the event today." Hyeonwoo Sunbae smiled in a way that made us groan.

"I told you we should have prepared something too!" Yeojun turned on us. "Ah! I had told you!"

It was hardly a challenge for us though. We had been seen wearing more embarrassing stuff before. At least, it was hardly a challenge for everyone other than Hanseol who seemed to have resolutely decided to hate Santa Claus.

We engaged in idle chatter for the next 5 to 10 minutes, me sticking close to Changmin, till we were called upon to get ready. The table had been set a little to the back of the room to leave us enough floor-space in front. On being urged to, we lined up on 2 sides- as 04:00 am and S.T.A.Y- S.T.A.Y on the right, facing away from the cameras and 04:00 am facing them.

Changmin was a very accomplished MC. He had hosted plenty of programmes before by himself so it was no surprise that he was handed the cue cards. Once everyone was ready and everything was set, we were given a hushed countdown and they began filming.

I was excited. That was probably also very evident in the way that I was bouncing from foot to foot where I stood.

"Here to ignite your passion!" Changmin called out in vigour and held four fingers sideways to his face as did the others as they bowed and yelled in unison. "We're 04:00 am!"

Hearing them in person like this, they sounded so cool.

Then they cheered and Changmin began talking. "Yes~ So, this is the big Christmas surprise that we had promised all of you. In the spirit of the festival and considering that it would only be special with more people, we have some very important guests with us today."

Yes. Very important. I chuckled and stood still. Yeojun was still dancing a little bit though.

"I'm pretty sure that you've already guessed who these very mysterious backs belong to but let me do my job and introduce them anyway." He turned his body towards us. "Our Hoobae- S.T.A.Y!"

We turned to face the camera- Yeojun jumping while the rest of us were less extravagant- and smiled or made hearts or some sign with our hands while Jaehyeon hooted.

"Everyone!" Mingyu called out and we shouted our intro in unison at the count of three. "Always yours, we're S.T.A.Y!"

Everyone cheered and clapped this time.

"As you already know, we had a cross-group collaboration recently. Myself, from 04:00 am and Choi Jeongwoo from S.T.A.Y released our first single together titled 'For Old Time's Sake'."

He had asked me to pitch in when he mentioned our track so I spoke up. "That's right. 'For Old Time's Sake' is a long overdue dream project of ours. I hope you all continue to love and support our song and everything else that S.T.A.Y and 04:00 am do."

"It is our personal investment." Changmin smiled and nodded at me before looking back at the camera. "And if you stick around long enough today, we might just put up a special performance for you all."

A few cheers arose from our members and I nodded at the camera as if to second what Changmin said.

"But, before all that, we have a line of games and fun activities planned for everyone. Shall we go straight into them then?" He looked around for everyone's agreement which he got immediately.

"Okay. We have one problem though. S.T.A.Y, you're five members and 04:00 am, we're seven. Although I'm MC-ing, I'm also taking part in the games. It's only fair if one of us joins them." Changmin looked at us. "How do we do this? Hm. Volunteers? Will you take volunteers?" He raised a hand and began walking towards us but 04:00 am kicked up a huge fuss about it. Minho and Youngjae Sunbae pulled him back by his arm and shirt respectively.

"Wait!" Minho shook his head. "Jeongwoo Hyung and you have paired up enough. Give the rest of us a chance, Hyung!"

"Sorry, Jeongwoo." Youngjae Sunbae looked at me.

Would it have made a difference had I said that I wanted him on my team?

"Do we get to choose?" Jaehyeon asked.

"You have someone in mind?" Hyeonwoo Sunbae asked.

"Yes." Yeojun spoke this time. "Minho Hyung."

"Me?" Minho pointed at himself in surprise.

"Yes, Hyung." Yeojun nodded. He had actually stopped addressing him as Sunbae because Minho had wanted to be called Hyung.

"Hyung!" Minho pressed both palms to his chest and smiled gratefully, then grabbed the cap off of Jaemin Sunbae's head and flitted over to our side, throwing one arm over Yeojun's shoulder and the other over Mingyu's. "I'm here. I'm on the headgears team."

"I have a say in that as the MC, you know." Changmin said dryly, having been completely shut down earlier.

"Mm? And what do you say?" Minho asked.

Changmin sighed, glanced at me and then back at Minho. "Fine. You can join the headgears team."

"Team Headgear!" Minho cheered.

"Could we think of another name, please?" Hanseol slowly voiced.

"Why? This is fine." Jaehyeon said and caught both Hanseol and I under his arms. "Team Headgear."

"And what do we call ourselves?" Changmin looked at his team.

"It's Christmas. Santa… Elves…" Jaemin Sunbae started listing.

"Snow." Beomseok Sunbae said. "Nun."

"Team Nun." Hyeonwoo Sunbae said.

"Nun Team." Baekjae Sunbae reversed it.

"Oh! Got it!" Changmin perked up and pointed a finger gun in our direction. "Nunchi!"

"Nunchi." Hyeonwoo Sunbae nodded. "We're Nunchi."

"Okay then. Nunchi vs. Team Headgear." Changmin announced.

"Ya! Can we change our team name, please?" Hanseol spoke up.

I would have liked that too. Nunchi sounded so much cooler than Team Headgear. I felt like they had already won.

"No." Jaehyeon said. "It's a funny contrast."

It's a rather stupid contrast, if you ask me.

"Then, shall we start with the first game?"

Some of us begrudgingly agreed against the cheers of the others.

"We have a relay game up first." Changmin began explaining while the staff began setting up for the game as the camera focussed on him. "Since there are six members per team, there will be six rounds." A cameraman went around focusing on the props needed for each round as Changmin went from one round to the next in his narration. "The first round- one team member has to bounce two ping-pong balls into the cup kept on the table. Once that is done, the next team member has to pass their body through a stretched clothes' hangar. Next, one member has to wear the hat kept on the table without using their hands. Round 4- spin really fast 10 times and walk along the straight line." He motioned to the tape stuck on the ground in a straight line of around 7 feet. "And they have to take out a sticker and stick it correctly in the middle of the next member's forehead." He held up a packet of Christmas themed stickers for us to see. "After that, the next member has to unwrap candy with only one hand. The last round- a member has to balance the three books kept on that table atop their head for 8 full seconds."

"What kind of number is 8?" Mingyu laughed. "8 seconds?"

"5 was too short and 10 was too long." Changmin said. "Who goes first? Shall we decide with Rock-Paper-Scissor?"

"Ah. Minsu, you can represent our team. You're the MC anyway." Hyeonwoo Sunbae said.

"Okay." Changmin stepped up. "And from Team Headgear?"

I put up a hand and looked at my members. "Let me go."

"Okay." Jaehyeon nodded.

"Go." Hanseol pat my shoulder and sent me off.

I went to stand before Changmin. "Loser goes first?"

"Loser goes first." He smiled down at me, turned away and raised a fist. I did the same, pressing my back to his and holding up a fist such that we couldn't se each other's hands. The others moved in closer to watch. Changmin chanted. "If you don't do it, you lose. Rock-Paper-Scissor!"

I put out scissors and squeezed my eyes shut. I heard everyone around yelling in excitement.

"Okay. Is anyone changing?" Hyeonwoo Sunbae asked. "This is your last chance to change."

Should I change? I opened my eyes a crack and looked at my teammates. They weren't allowed to tell me what to do but I was hoping to pick something up from at least their faces. They all just looked anxious though.

"I'm… not changing." I held up my scissors.

"I'm not changing either." Changmin said. "Then, on the count of three. One, two, three!"

We turned and I instantly sank to my knees. Changmin had put out a rock. We had lost and had to go first. We took a moment to discuss and then decided our places in the relay. Soon after, the game began.

Hanseol went first. Since Mingyu was our smallest member, we let him go second for the hangar game. Minho offered to do the hat round since he was good at it. Jaehyeon wanted to do the elephant spin and sticker. I chose to unwrap the candy with one hand and Yeojun would balance the books.

There was a catch though. If anyone failed at any round of the game, we would have to start from the beginning. The team that takes the lesser time overall to finish all the rounds wins.

We were off to a great start and we did really well till Jaehyeon's turn came. He spun 10 times and wobbled over the straight line towards me. He pulled out a sticker and hovered it before my forehead. He was still significantly swaying and squinting, trying to figure out which part of my forehead was middle.

"Hyung." I couldn't help laughing when he caught my face tightly by my cheeks and brought the sticker to my forehead.

"Stop moving."

"I'm not the one moving."

"Ssh." He pressed the finger with the sticker hard against my forehead and I felt the defeat wash over me immediately. "No…"

"Again!" Changmin called out and we began from Hanseol again. Changmin was keeping time.

"I… don't think I can do this." Jaehyeon caught my shoulders and blinked the dizziness out of his eyes.

"Hyung." I looked at Changmin. "Can we switch?"

"Go ahead." He nodded, watching the relay progress. I left Jaehyeon in my spot and went over to the 4th position. A few seconds after I took my place, Minho managed to flip the hat using his mouth. "Go!" He yelled towards me. "Jeongwoo Hyung!"

I caught my nose with my right hand after wrapping it around the left. Then I began spinning as the others counted down to 10. After that, I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for a moment before carefully walking over the taped line and reaching Jaehyeon who leaned forward a bit for me. I did not wait to think too much. I practically slapped the sticker onto his forehead with as much precision as I could gain at that point. I must have done it right because Jaehyeon and the others cheered and he continued to try and unwrap the candy with one hand.

I stepped back to move out of their way but thanks to my disorientation, I ended up on my butt. I heard a few people laugh and then a hand gripped my arm.

"Are you okay?" Changmin asked, crouching next to me. He was still keeping an eye on the game but glancing at me in between.

I was not too dizzy anymore but having fallen like that and having had my field of vision shift, I felt a little disoriented again. "Uwah…"

"Jeongwoo?" He called, bringing his eyes to me.

I held his gaze intently to focus again, then nodded. "Okay… I'm good."

He made a confused face and then stood up, helping me up by the arm that he was still holding. Just then, Yeojun completed the final task to everyone else's countdown of 8 seconds. Changmin stopped the timer and went to show it to the staff off-camera and to the camera after ensuring that I could stand by myself. He did not announce the time to avoid manipulation from either side in measurement after knowing the other team's time. Once the time was recorded, he handed the timer to Hanseol. "Let's go, Nunchi!"

"Yeah!" Nunchi cheered and took their positions, having decided on it earlier along with us. Youngjae Sunbae was playing the first game. Jaemin Sunbae was doing the hangar challenge and Changmin had taken the hat game. After him was Hyeonwoo Sunbae, then Baekjae Sunbae and then Beomseok Sunbae was going to balance the books.

Nunchi actually progressed very quickly till the last game. I was certain that our team would lose but then, at the 6th second, the books fell. Shouts filled the room as they rushed to restart the relay. They had had speed going for them though. We had progressed much slower in both our attempts. However, they had completed two more rounds before having to start again.

It was going to be a close call.

Beomseok Sunbae got it right the second time only to be attacked by his laughing teammates after. Hanseol handed in the time and we waited with our teams for the final judgement. The staff member who had made note of both the times then announced. "Team Headgear- 1 minute and 46 seconds. Nunchi- 1 minute and 54 seconds."

"Yes!" Team Headgear cheered and hugged each other. "We won!"

Nunchi watched our celebrations in quiet disdain and once we had settled down, Changmin began speaking. "Congratulations, Team Headgear. But now, we'll move onto our next game. This time, we'll need only two people from each team to play. The catch is that the other team gets to decide which two people play. The game itself is simple. A song will be played and you'll have to dance to it with the original choreography. However, the songs that will be played will be the other team's songs. That means that 04:00 am will have to dance to S.T.A.Y's songs and S.T.A.Y will have to dance to 04:00 am's songs."

I had a bad feeling about this.

"But I'm 04:00 am and with S.T.A.Y." Minho reminded.

"That's why we won't pick you." Changmin said. All of their members were in agreement of that for obvious reasons. "But since Team Headgear won the previous round, they get to decide who performs first. What do you say, Team Headgear?"

"You can go first." Jaehyeon said politely like we were making a special allowance for them.

"And we'll pick…" Mingyu looked between the 04:00 am members. "Baekjae Sunbae and…"

"Beomseok Sunbae." I suggested. Everyone else on our team agreed while Beomseok Sunbae himself looked ready to murder me.

"And from S.T.A.Y, we pick…" Hyeonwoo Sunbae looked around but eventually settled on me. "Jeongwoo."

"Everyone knows that you're the weakest here, Jeongwoo." I face-palmed and told myself. There was nothing unexpected about their decision.

"YoonJae?" Changmin asked.

"No. Hanseol." Youngjae said. "He seems the most unwilling to do this right now."

Caught red-handed, I see. I chuckled at Hanseol. "Too bad." It was a relief for us though. At least one of us was good at this.

NOTE:

Snow is 'Nun' in Korean. Here, saying 'Nun Team' made it sound like 'Nun-chi' to Changmin. 'Nunchi' refers to how one can gauge or understand what other people are thinking.