#rkcharity

[rksoleil]

✧hometown

[ 𝕣𝕜𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕪 + 𝟛 𝕕𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕚𝕟𝕘 ]

If growing up with money has taught Soleil anything, it’s that right people are stingy about opening their wallets, right up until there’s an opportunity to do it under a spotlight where everyone can see just how generous they are. The amount of upper class fetes they’ve been dragged along to, forced into suits with their hair styled Just Right by a professional stylist hired by their mother, both in Seoul and abroad, has given them enough insight into the minds of people with money, and just how to get it out of them.

So when the student council of their university announces a competition of sorts to see which club can raise the most money for a local charity, they aren’t afraid to finally play the ‘I’m rich, you know?’ card.

(Thankfully, the rest of Z0NE and B4SE are right alongside them in the plan.)

The crew is an almost even mix of backgrounds, ranging from the highest echelons (the twins, more specifically, and Mystique, a politician’s daughter), all the way down to those who had experienced true poverty (and Dokkaebi only sometimes makes faces at the frivolity behind some of the expenditure he witnesses, far too used to his small-town rural life). It makes splitting jobs easy, with those with networks to grease up with a promise of positive image setting off to write emails and invitations and put a price on tickets.

Soleil excuses themself from that particular group, leaving Oberon to handle matters on their behalf, and instead teams up with the other members. There’s a stage to secure the use of, odd items to collect for an auction, tickets to design, a dance to choreograph, and a number of other logistical requirements.

It takes almost two months of planning.

(It had originally taken a month, but they had received a more positive response to their ‘pay what you what’ tickets than first expected, which required them to not only book a bigger venue for the performance and auction, but to organise more items to auction off for a second night of the show.)

The performance goes off without a hitch, and Oberon and Mystique hold the crowd captive with their MCing throughout the night, and Soleil finds their belief that most of B4SE should be models instead of street dancers reinforced with the way they dress up and walk the various auction items around the tables of guests (and there’s a brief moment where they don’t wonder if the amount of money goes so high on some items more specifically for the dancer showing them off).

The largest benefactor comes in the form of their own father, announcing that he personally will match the price of the highest bid in any of the auctions as his own ticket price, and Soleil is sure they’re about to break into tears on stage.

It takes them a week to remember this had all started as a way to win a competition at the university, but, by this point, they’re not interested in a competition.

Instead, they gather together in one of the studios on a late Saturday evening and run through all of their totals, and take votes on which charities the money should go to. Dokkaebi, Misfit and Kirin hold the heaviest sway, with their own personal experiences in being less fortunate than the rest and having had to reach out to charities themselves growing up.

Lillia makes the final decision with a suggestion (her first of the night after hiding quietly behind her bottle of beer).

“Give them a third each,” she murmurs, quiet and yet still able to cut through all of their voices. “Take it home. Give it directly back to the groups that helped you.”

No one challenges her.

(Dokkaebi hides his face and watery eyes, while Misfit and Kirin both sweep her up into a tight hug.)

[rkkyungwon]

    ♡ HERE GOES THE CHOO-CHOO TRAIN ♡ ft. @rkyjun

right after having breakfast, kyungwon drives to yeoreum kindergarten where she is volunteering for the day. she’s been spending more time with kids lately; partly as a pr stunt for her newest book, but also because she genuinely enjoys seeing the smiles on their faces whenever she comes to read stories with them. pulling up to the small school yard, she parks her car and walks inside.

her eyes spot a bit more personnel than usual− the school is having a bigger event today. “good morning.” she greets the head teacher. they talk for a short while, the older lady explaining that there are other volunteers today who will help conduct the class and play with the children. kyungwon is going to read them a story after lunch, right before their nap time. prior to that she’s free to join the other volunteers in entertaining the children. additionally, just as her publisher had told her, she spots a filming crew.

“are they the ebs staff?” she asks, curious. the teacher nods, “they will be using some of the footage for their tv program. it’s ebs so we’re hoping more parents would send their children to yeorum.” thanking the teacher, she enters one of the classrooms, noting that a young man has already started playing with some of the kids. another child tugs on her hand as she sets her bag down and she responds with a wide grin.

[rksora]

     REWIND  ⦂  JANUARY  ◞  2020      ━━━━━━━━━       ◞  ❤

in just a few, short days juhee would say goodbye to her first place. while short-lived, it did house many nice memories. though mostly a place to keep herself from the ills of outside, juhee had come to like the closed-in walls and the cramped feeling. if anything, while shuddering from the embarrassment of it all, it had always given her an excuse to not invite people over -- except for the selective few. 

thankfully, juhee has little to pack away. most of her clothes are stored in boxes, already sent over to the dormitory ; the remaining few are folded messily in her spare luggage, of which she was to bring with her when she finally descended upon her new home. the rest that lay in labeled boxes by her feet were to be donated. while not having much, juhee still made it a point to donate when she can. after all, there were always people who were far more unfortunate than she. ( something her mother liked to harp on frequently when she was a child asking why she couldn’t get something like the other kids )

it’s with these few boxes, plus an extra bag of knitted caps she had made over her the last few weeks, that she lugs them with her to the nearest salvation depot ; ready to hand over the items that she had deemed not as used and still of moderate value to be given and worn. if it was just this much, juhee could be willing to part with them. 

she makes it to the shop in due time, lugging the box through the doors with a huff before carefully depositing the box on the floor to be handed over to the workers. the person at the cashier hands her over a form to fill out -- her fingers are quick to work, left hand grabbing a pen to quickly scribble the lines of which needed answering before she returns the clipboard and pen. and just like the year prior, she feels a sense of loss as she watches the worker take her boxes to the back, but it passes as she sees a line of people begin to come in to purchase things. much like her apartment, with the last of her things taken care of, juhee assumes for the best -- maybe this would be her way of starting anew.

hopefully it would come with good tidings, too. 

[rksejun]

✨ GIVE BACK !!

his skills, while legion, have never lent themselves well to altruism. to say that sejun doesn’t care about others would be a lie, but self-sacrifice isn’t a word he’s overly familiar with. there’s always an undercurrent of what’s in it for me? running through his actions. it’s not a crime to want to benefit from whatever you’re doing, is it? 

he’s never been one for charity work, as a result. gets the concept, broadly, but he’s hard pressed to devote time he could be spending on anything else to do a selfless good deed of the day. he won’t be seeking out opportunities to help the community or whatever on his own, but when a request falls into his lap--more like is flung and hits him square in the face--he finds it harder to say no than to say yes. 

“you’ll just be collecting food donations,” his ex-classmate says, handing him a puce vest with the name of her charity organization on the back. “it shouldn’t be too hard for you!” 

“yeah, yeah.” he heaves a sigh and sweeps his hair back. the vest is a little tight across the chest, and he gears up for several hours of discomfort. “you’re buying me dinner after this, right?” 

“sure.”

he grins. “it’s a date.”

“i have a boyfriend,” she reminds him, and sejun’s grin deepens. 

“he can come too.”

rolling her eyes, she gives him a few more instructions and leaves. 

she’s right; it’s not a hard job. sejun keeps a bright smile on his face and entreats shoppers at the busy supermarket to spare some food donations for those who need it. it’s a lot of talking, a lot of complimenting and flirting, a lot of knowing just which heartstrings to tug at, which point to apply pressure on. he’s good at this--convincing others to open their hearts and their wallets for his purposes. that carries its own satisfaction, separate from the charity work itself.

another volunteer comes to relieve him after two hours. “wow,” he comments, peering into the donation bin. “you collected a lot. sure you don’t want to join us full-time?” 

sejun shrugs off his vest and hands it to the man with a wry smile. “nah, i have other things to do.” he pauses, eyes taking on a mischievous glint. “i’ll pledge a donation to you guys when i hit it big, though.” 

“yeah, alright.” the volunteer’s skepticism is clear in his voice. “good luck with that, my man.” 

that’s fine, sejun thinks. he doesn’t fully believe his own words either.

[chaewonrk]

hold on.

       word count: 449. +3 charisma points. rkcharity.

chaewon is happy to be back in seoul - she’s starting to think that next year, if she even ends up celebrating the holidays at all beyond getting absolutely sloshed, she probably won’t go back to london for christmas. it’s becoming more and more obvious that her old friends have moved on.

she used to be the most important, and the most interesting. chaewon would argue that she’s still the prettiest to this day, but that’s about all she’s got on them now. after the initial pleasantries and confirmations that she looks well, that her new blonde hair suits her, the conversation quickly petered out. what gossip chaewon picked up from instagram stories simply hadn’t been enough to keep her in the loop. she missed the city itself though. it was her one friend that was still there for her, even after she’d been gone for so long.

but chaewon’s childhood house still felt too cold and too empty to call home anymore.

if it weren’t for sophie’s kind invitation to her home in brighton, it would have felt truly like a wasted trip from start to finish.

now that she’s as close to being home as she imagines she’ll get, chaewon is feeling the need to do something good - it’s an unfamiliar feeling, but it’s not totally unwelcome. her motivations are ultimately still self serving. she doesn’t want to be good for others, chaewon only wants to be good to make herself feel better. ultimately, as far as chaewon’s concerned she’s still volunteering so her intentions didn’t matter that much at the end of the day.

either way, she’s still standing there in the freezing cold with a donation bucket in her hands, shaking around its contents so far to try and encourage more people to give money to the children’s ward’s refurbishments. chaewon’s made a promise to herself not to check her phone for the duration of her two hour shift, but it’s making the time pass so slowly, especially when nobody seems to be biting. people are too busy trying to get through the big hospital doors to see loved ones or make appointments - they don’t care to see what the tiny blonde’s bucket’s writing says.

by the time someone comes to take over from her, chaewon practically shoves them with the force she hands the bucket over with. she goes inside and collects her handbag from the receptionist, expecting to see her saviour suffering just as badly - but no, not at all. they have a whole gaggle of people surrounding them, wallets open. what was she doing wrong? chaewon barely spares them a second glance.

maybe being good just wasn’t her thing.

[rkchaewon]

hold on.

        word count: 449. +3 charisma points. rkcharity.

chaewon is happy to be back in seoul - she’s starting to think that next year, if she even ends up celebrating the holidays at all beyond getting absolutely sloshed, she probably won’t go back to london for christmas. it’s becoming more and more obvious that her old friends have moved on. 

she used to be the most important, and the most interesting. chaewon would argue that she’s still the prettiest to this day, but that’s about all she’s got on them now. after the initial pleasantries and confirmations that she looks well, that her new blonde hair suits her, the conversation quickly petered out. what gossip chaewon picked up from instagram stories simply hadn’t been enough to keep her in the loop. she missed the city itself though. it was her one friend that was still there for her, even after she’d been gone for so long.

but chaewon’s childhood house still felt too cold and too empty to call home anymore. 

if it weren’t for sophie’s kind invitation to her home in brighton, it would have felt truly like a wasted trip from start to finish. 

now that she’s as close to being home as she imagines she’ll get, chaewon is feeling the need to do something good - it’s an unfamiliar feeling, but it’s not totally unwelcome. her motivations are ultimately still self serving. she doesn’t want to be good for others, chaewon only wants to be good to make herself feel better. ultimately, as far as chaewon’s concerned she’s still volunteering so her intentions didn’t matter that much at the end of the day. 

either way, she’s still standing there in the freezing cold with a donation bucket in her hands, shaking around its contents so far to try and encourage more people to give money to the children’s ward’s refurbishments. chaewon’s made a promise to herself not to check her phone for the duration of her two hour shift, but it’s making the time pass so slowly, especially when nobody seems to be biting. people are too busy trying to get through the big hospital doors to see loved ones or make appointments - they don’t care to see what the tiny blonde’s bucket’s writing says.

by the time someone comes to take over from her, chaewon practically shoves them with the force she hands the bucket over with. she goes inside and collects her handbag from the receptionist, expecting to see her saviour suffering just as badly - but no, not at all. they have a whole gaggle of people surrounding them, wallets open. what was she doing wrong? chaewon barely spares them a second glance.

maybe being good just wasn’t her thing.

[rkchoisan]

adoption day!

( @rkxtaehyung​ )

san was ecstatic when he had gotten taehyung to sign up with him to be volunteers for adoption day at their local animal shelter, and even happier at how easy it had been to convince him (if he could even call it convincing). it was hard to for san to find the time to volunteer as much as he wanted to with his busy schedule and constant dance practice, but he had made sure to put away time specifically to help out at the shelter’s event and had been looking froward to it for months.

truthfully, san was really excited. unhealthily excited. he’d been reminding taehyung every week, and then soon everyday. he loved animals, and the idea of spending his day helping all of the cute fluffballs now around him get homes seemed like the best way to advocate for adopting and saving rescues. plus, the instant gratification and being able to play with cats and dogs all day was nice too.

drowning out the yips and barks in the background, san scribbles his own name down on a name tag, drawing a small mountain beside it and pulling off the sticker to press it over his heart. before taehyung can even ask for his own, san writes his name down on a new tag and adds a cute strawberry doodle to match taehyung’s hair beside it. he sticks the adhesive to the elder’s chest and pats it playfully. 

“how are you feeling?” san asks with a soft smile, bouncing on his heels a bit. “i'm a little nervous... i want all these guys to get homes, you know? i’d take them all if i could...” he mumbles. 

[rkongwu]

|🌱| 성우 & 빈; giving back.

@rkbin

he wasn’t too sure as to how much was too much. seongwu had never been good at gauging those kind of things. he was a tall and well-built guy and he had an appetite to match it. the taxi driver waited patiently while he unloaded the boxes he’d brought with him onto the cart borrowed from inside the nursing home they’d pulled up to. a nice variety of teas, desserts and coffee for the coffee lovers filled the top of the cart with what he hoped was enough to feed the volunteers and the senior citizens. his hand rested on the top of the car door that stood ajar as the last box was emptied from the backset and he smiled at the driver through the rearview mirror.

“thank you so much! you’ve worked hard!” his voice carried gratefully and as the car drove off after he closed the door, he made a mental note to leave a hefty tip. well, as hefty as he could afford. he had taken off work for this after all. pushing the cart up to the entrance of the home, he appreciated the spring weather and the temperate air with just the right amount of sun. he wore a white light sweater lined with red stitching on his collar and sleeves, jeans and a pair of white converses but he wore a white t-shirt beneath just on the off chance the work they were cut out for got a bit too hot.

“bin-ah.” his voice preceded him as he rolled the cart towards the table the other was busy decorating with the flowers he’d brought. “did i bring too much?” he asked, doubts coming forward with a click of his tongue as he parked the cart before he was distracted by the flowers. “but.. these are really nice?!” he looked closely at one of the blooms, asking with playful suspicion. “did you really help grow these?”

[xrksyn]

╌ღ for a good cause 、

with each and every step that soyeon takes, she wonder how good of an idea this truly was. it obviously sounded like the best one when she suggested it to her friend but unfortunately, she soon realised that she has no clue what she is doing; who could imagine that walking dogs for samsung, or anyone else for that matter, would be this scary? conflictive?

“what do i do with this ball of fluff?” soyeon asks with her eyes glued to the puppy roaming the streets in front of her. perhaps the staff weren’t all too smart about giving her a dog so fresh to this world that everything is exciting, but at the same time, the bigger ones frightens her. partly she wants to just, pick it up, but that would defeat the purpose of a dog walk. 

“unnie, i’m scared-- i don’t want to hurt him,” she glances over at eunbi with puppy eyes of her own. it’s for a good cause, she keeps telling herself, she just has to walk him.

╌ starter for, @rkevnbi 、

[rkchoutzuyu]

*Jealousy for charity

starter for @rkapril​

There was a good feeling attached with doing something for others. Tzuyu liked helping and though she didn’t feel like she was directly contributing, she baked as many things as she could: cookies, macarons, brownies and a cake. These were then brought to her table at the bake sale. Before setting shop, she’d stopped by every table and bought something from each one. The direct contribution of giving money. This would go to charity to feed people who were less fortunate. She did wonder why they all didn’t just cook and give them that food. Maybe it wouldn’t be enough. It saddened her that there were so many poor and hungry people. Hopefully her table made enough to contribute a good amount that would feed a lot of people.

Tzuyu was very surprised to see how well it was going and how many people were buying. In fact, some people had told her that they heard others talking about her table and they came over to try her pastries. The number of compliments actually made her quite happy and proud. She, of course, knew that she was good at baking and she did it quite often for her friends. She didn’t expect this much popularity though. Her table was starting to become bare and she was worried that maybe she hadn’t done enough since her table was becoming empty quicker than others. Some other tables she could see from hers had much more product than she did. What had she done wrong? She looked at her cash box and smiled because she’d at least made a good amount to donate. Anything helps, she kept telling herself.

[rkserim]

RKCHARITY; reading to the children at the hospital

the reason junho decides to volunteer at the hospital is more personal than anything. his brother is here doing whatever it is he’s supposed to be doing for medical school. junho never really pays attention either way. the children are also absolutely sweet and wonderful and he quite enjoys reading to them. he just hates having to run into his brother whenever he’s doing his own things. 

( txt from : eunho hyung ) ✉ : chacha, did you get to the hospital safely? ✉ : lemme know when you’re finished your volunteer shift and i can give you some money to get food

the text messages make junho roll his eyes before he pockets his phone and checks in with the staff to let them know he’s arrived to read to the kids today. while smiling politely, the nurse in charge reciprocates a smile back and tells him that they’d excited to see him today. junho grins and nods as he walks on his merry way. 

when he reaches the usual room where a few of the children are gathered, they immediately beam and greet junho in sheer joy and happiness. his heart swells genuinely and he holds up a book, waving it eagerly for them to see. “hey kiddos, look what i have! are you ready to hear about the little prince?” 

so for the time allotted, junho reads the little prince to the children. he makes sure to change his voice to suit each character and he makes sure to keep the kids both entertained and eager to hear what’s next. by the time he finishes reading it, the kids cheer at the ending. with a quick hug to the kids and a goodbye, he walks out as his shift is ending. 

when he runs into the nurse again, junho smiles and bows his head. “see you again soon!” he honestly had hoped that he would make it without running into his brother but sadly that’s not the case because as he reaches the lobby, his older brother flashes him a smile and rushes over after talking to some colleagues to hold on for a second. 

“chacha, you don’t reply to my texts?” 

the nickname grates on junho’s nerves but he smiles politely as he tries his best to look the least bit apologetic. 

“sorry, hyung, i had already reached the hospital by the time you texted me so i missed it when i went to go read.”

eunho, junho’s brother just pouts before it turns into a wider smile. he takes out his wallet and some cash to hand it over. junho accepts it wordlessly. 

“make sure you get home safe, okay, chacha?”

“of course, hyung!”

junho nods and smiles as eunho grins and ruffles his little brother’s hair. they part ways and as junho walks out of the lobby of the hospital and down the street to the bus stop, his face turns into a scowl. he pockets the money he received from his brother and scoffs audibly. “so annoying...”

[exrkumji-blog]

green thumb.

rkcharity with @rksophie

besides the academic incentives in doing a community service, yewon takes pride in a job well done. she’s part of a small team of volunteers tasked with prettying up the grounds around a local elementary school. they’re digging up rows of dirt, planting flower bulbs and pulling weeds. it’s more hands-on than the kind of work she’s used to.

with the part of her arm that isn’t covered by a gardening glove, yewon wipes the sweat from her forehead. “i would say it’s too hot for this type of work today, but the schedule can’t be helped,” she comments, turning to speak to sophie at her side. the other young woman isn’t exactly the most gifted gardener either, so it’s good they have each other to commiserate.

from the corner of her eye, she spots a many-legged insect scurrying out of the hole she just dug. “oh!” yewon exclaims, bending down to take a closer look. “hello, little friend. sorry for invading your home...”

[hyojinrk-archived]

cr. onlyonlyhyo

backdated to 06.08.19, uos’s summer s(e)oul festival

featured songs! twice tooice fancilicious & ed sheeran thinking out loud

at this point, only sheer willpower and an iced americano from around an hour ago is keeping his hand upright and writing, because he has to get this done as soon as possible. even when he’s resorted to switching from his laptop to hand just for the sake of keeping him aware, his mind is slowly starting to become more and more fixated on sleeping and the lovely feeling of his cheek against the soft pillows of his bed. 

even with everything piling up onto his shoulders until he couldn’t take it anymore, the texts still put a smile on hyojin’s face, lighting up his eyes despite the bags that were starting to form under them. his eyelids are heavy under his circle-rimmed glasses, the summer heat blasting in through the slightly ajar window of his bedroom making it harder and harder to stay awake due to the drowsiness it’s carried with it.

with all that’s been going on, he’s almost forgotten about the festival. 

[ msg: pd-nimmie ]

✉ hyo hyung ur performing this yr 2 rightㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ ✉ ppl have been asking ✉ we’re also trying 2 break last yr’s record w ticket money raised ✉ so we really need youㅠ

he’s fairly sure that there’s some kind of saying that the thing that fuels your passion when you’re young will never burn out no matter how much distance you put between yourself and it, but it can’t quite come to mind. instead, he basks in the content feeling of singing with a purpose, even if he’s just on stage for fun and to help others enjoy. he’s even seen some idols once or twice performing at his school for these kinds of festivals, but there was always a special one held towards the end of every semester before summer break; this one, created by the student government, was meant to be more of a pr event for raising money to donate to charities, and thus only featured performances from students in the school.

the focus rotates from every year depending on the urgency of current events, as well as particularly high demand areas of help across all kinds of demographics, so even without the incentive of being able to have the stage to himself, hyojin found himself gravitating towards signups in his freshman year. he’s fortunate to have slowly gotten to know the event runners over the years, the current head of which was a beloved dongsaeng and fan of his. that, along with his presumed popularity for performing rearrangements of popular songs and doing them well, gained him a reputation across campus for having honey-like vocals, a title which his friends take pleasure in teasing him to death about. 

it’s all in good fun, however; he doesn’t quite mind the attention -- he likes it, actually, because it reminds him of home, how everyone back then had known him for something similar, anyang’s sweet vocal prince, always spotted with some kind of instrument, singing some kind of song.

he quickly decides on a song to perform the moment the confirmation comes through and he’s placed on the roster, a classic that wasn’t too difficult to practice or prepare for, and one that suited the vibes of a cool, summer night well. from his experience, most of the acts were spent hyping up the crowd and keeping their energy high for the acts deeper into the night, meaning that there was plentiful opportunity for him to provide a well-needed break from all of the bright, poppy songs. some nice, comfortable acoustic, accompanied by the sweet melody of the ed sheeran song, would certainly be an enjoyable choice. 

❀

perhaps that’s what dug this hole for him in the end, though, because hyojin can barely believe his eyes when he gets another text from the event head, this time with an announcement he’s not sure how to register.

[ msg: pd-nimmie; to ‘summer s(e)oul PERFORMERS’ gc ]

✉ ATTENTION PERFORMERS: this yr we’ll be having a special mandatory theme! [ pd-nimmie pinned this message to the chat ] ✉ by popular request, we have decided to do the theme POP CHARM! ✉ with that being said, we formed two separate teams to perform special dance stages based around the hottest pop songs! ✉ here is the lineup: ✉ team I LOVE IT : shin dawon, cho daeun, kim hana, hwang yuna, moon sihyeon ✉ team FANCILICIOUS :  kim seunghwan, ji jonghyun, moon jihun, han hyunjin, kim hyojin

“ah, what should i do...?” setting down his phone in disbelief, he rubs his forehead in frustration, sighing loudly to offset the slowly growing blush painting his cheeks. 

he’s never been one to back out of things like this, whether it’s because he’s weak at heart or simply because he doesn’t mind that much -- at the same time, though, he’s mildly terrified as to what was to come. the names were familiar enough, and considering the fact that he knew the rest of the members apart from him were part of the same dance team under the school, hyojin wonders if the real reason why he’s there, too, is more of a personal conflict of interest than random selection. 

regardless, he shakes his head, imagining yonghwa’s excited grin while sending the text, undoubtedly awaiting his confirmation eagerly. looks like he was in it for real this time.

❀

the screams are loud, so loud that they make his ears ring, even though they’re already burning up quite enough. self-consciously, he tugs the newsboy cap on his head down to try and cover his ears, the accessory bringing an unfamiliar weight onto his hair from before. the singing solo had gone well, still fresh in his mind from around half an hour ago.

it was nervewracking performing in front of so many people, especially with such a minimal backing except for his voice, his guitar and some guiding vocals, but if he was being honest, there was nothing better than the soothing silence of the crowd as they swayed along to the song, turning the lights on their phones to lift them in the air and wave them, a crowd of white stars listening to his performance. he’s completed the stage with no worries, a warmth filling every corner of his heart at the cheers, even some screams of his name. it’s only once in a blue moon that things like this get to happen, meaning that both the audience and the performers can feel the excitement. it’s a mix of that and seeing someone you know and see on a daily basis get to perform in a way you’ve never seen them do before.

his heart only starts picking up and thrashing around when he has to do the special stage. it had been mortifying the first few days of practice; hyojin had felt like he had walked into the dance studio in the middle of an advanced learners’ class after getting lost as a novice. they were friendly enough, though -- they guided him warmly and well, even despite the fact that he was around their age or older. 

it takes a numerous amount of awkward movements and well timed advice for him to finally get down the dance, another tiring week or two to finally have fun with it. his moves aren’t the most accurate or clean in comparison, but he blends in well enough to not stand out poorly. at the same time, though, he’s sure it really doesn’t matter, because at the end of the day, it was about knowing the dance and seeing them do it, not necessarily execute it well. 

he finds that this is especially true when they finally get on the stage, bowing and doing an entire introduction to mimic an idol group, going down the line and performing a quick aegyo set ( much to hyojin’s initial chagrin, but he’s learned to accept it ). as the music starts and his nerves reach their peak, he decides to just let go and have fun, feeling the grin reach from one cheek to another at how loud the cheers and screams were, almost as loud as the girls’ psy stage. admittedly, the tooice song probably had something to do with it -- they were always hot nowadays, especially with their latest song being so upbeat and fitting of summer. 

as the two minutes of their performance reaches its end, hyojin finds himself laughing, eyes wrinkling and forming pretty crescents. at the very least, once they hold their ending poses and then get off the stage, he thinks that this was probably his favorite iteration of the festival.

now that he thought about it, actually, he’d be willing to do something like this again. he hopes he can do it again. but, of course, that was just another silly daydream.

( perhaps not, though. fate, as capricious as it is, can be equally favorable to you. )

[rkdaehwi]

You better run

@chanheexrk​

How it had come to this Eric wasn’t entirely sure -- his mother had said that he shouldn’t just sit at home all day and do nothing for the summer and thus signed him up for various activities. He tried to argue that he was active and that he was busy and totally didn’t have time to play nanny for a bunch of brats, but it was already too late and thus he had made his way to the orphanage without really knowing what was in store for him.

When arriving he had found it ridiculous. Walk around all day dressed up as a ghost to scare children with something that wasn’t even scary? Only babies would get scared by a haunted house he told himself mainly to gain courage, for he wasn’t a baby, he was adult now. To make matters worse it was charity work, and Eric knew nothing worse than having to work and get nothing in return. He’d make sure his mother paid him back later somehow.

Dressing up in costume was one thing, but actually going into the maze of horror was another. A low tune was playing, sinister, dark, sometimes growling, sometimes the sound of something being dragged across the floor. The dim light made it hard to see where he was walking too and Eric could feel his skin crawl as he tried to find his position. He wasn’t scared. He definitely wasn’t sca-- “AARGH!” A loud shriek left him as he rounded the corner and almost walked straight into a monster if not for the fact that he jumped back in a severe attempt to avoid the creature.

[rkbngchan-blog]

DATE APRIL 2017 LOCATION YONSEI UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

                 just a little dingy band trying to make the world better one song at a time.

— chan had written on a small dry erase board that had been propped up to the band’s single speaker, hooked up to numerous extension cords plugged into some sockets from the ground. ‘we h8 u and ur crew’, despite the group’s admittedly uninviting name to advertise on a university campus (as well as the aussie males’ countless spelling errors), was doing something good today.

yonsei’s campus was never their stage nor audience: they played too many foreign covers of songs that the typical korean university student wouldn’t know or like; they catered to those more so interested in the american pop-rock field that included the likes of paramore and fall out boy. the band had been named after an array of insults hurled at others one night years ago in a bar, but at the bands’ idea to busk for charity money to donate to their schools’, and more frankly south korea’s renowned cancer hospital to put toward cancer research — literally on their campus — was nothing like the image they normally sported.

“hello everyone, we’re we h8 u and ur crew and the next song we’ll be playing is a cover of urban zakapa’s caffe latte,” chan says into the microphone to the passersby, some who had paused momentarily between their time between classes to listen. an overturned hat had been left in front of yerin that over time slowly filled with green and blue dollars. as chan put the microphone back into its stand, the band continued on with its calmer set than usual, opting for a setlist of songs more suitable for a korean university palate, such as epik high and iu. the band was well received by both the korean students and international students alike who took special interest to chan’s english mcing out of hope of reaching a greater audience. later when he would check their instagram account, chan would find that their band gained 60 new followers that day alone.

and when the band would take the hat of money over to donate to the hospital, they’d discover that one patient, as of that day, was in remission.

[rkjibeom]

beautiful days

there were two things that seungmin absolutely loved: flowers and children. at first, he was a little nervous that his boss wouldn’t agree to the idea but after bringing it up, his boss was really for it. seungmin would visit the nearest orphanage. he’s been there before just as a volunteer while in high school, so he’s familiar with those in charge and a few of the kids definitely remember him. it was all in all, the best idea he’s ever had in such a long time. 

eagerly, seungmin gathered the necessary materials he’d need. his boss also graciously drove them over and he was so giddy to be able to share something he enjoyed so much with others. children were also most impressionable and perhaps one day, one of them would love to become a florist. 

once seungmin and his boss arrive and they step out of the car, he’s already bombarded by the kids running out to crowd him. he waves hello to the caretaker, mrs. lee, and grins at the kids. “minnie hyung, minnie oppa, you came back to visit!”

“i did! did mrs. lee tell you guys what we’re going to do today?” when he gets a bunch of no’s and shakes of heads, he chuckles. “we’re gonna be making flower crowns! isn’t that exciting?” when they cheer, seungmin can’t help but feel his heart swell at the sight. children were really too pure for this world. mrs. lee ushers the kids back inside to let seungmin and his boss bring the flowers inside and to set up.

“thanks for donating the flowers to the orphanage. i promise to work extra hours.” seungmin tells his boss after they’ve finished bringing in all the flowers and sitting it on the table. his boss laughs and shakes his head. “you’re one of my favorite employees, seungmin-ah, i trust you.”

he smiles and bows his head in thanks before getting to work. honestly, seungmin thinks that if he wasn’t trying so hard to be an idol, he probably could become a pre-school or kindergarten teacher. aside from being a florist among other things. gotta keep his options open, of course. 

“alright, kiddos, are you ready to make some flower crowns? aren’t these flowers so pretty?” seungmin goes step by step and patiently instructs the kids on how to make the flower crown. there’s no set rule or pattern as to which flowers so he hopes the kids can express their own creativity and individuality of self through this little arts and crafts session. 

seungmin walks around at all the tables and smiles adoringly at all the kids’ work and progress. “waaah, good job, those colors are so pretty together.” he continues walking and he’s never felt so happy and light. after the triple threat challenge happened and his failed audition, seungmin had been feeling down. this was definitely a good pick-me-up. the power of children after all.