Summary: Sometime in the future, when the richest of the rich abandon Earth for other planets, and governments argue so much amongst themselves that nothing really changes, life truly starts at 18. The Final Evaluation determines what post-secondary...
The eight young men approached Mr. River's standard suburban house, and Jeongin was still the most resistant.
"You know how we said we wanted to find help and resources?" Seungmin reminded his only junior. "This is the gold mine of resources."
"I'll be here for you, Innie." Chan reassured him. "Just death grip my arm or hand if you need to get your anger out."
Jeongin grumbled and nodded in spite of himself. He knew this was their best option to further their cause. Minho rang the doorbell, and the familiar chime came out of the camera device.
"Hello!" Mr. River gave a small wave, bowed, then folded his hands in front of him. "Please come in. We'll go to my office."
They followed him to his basement as they took in their surroundings. Some of them were impressed by being in a house at all. Minho was taking design notes for when he built his own home, hopefully with Jisung by his side. As they walked down the stairs and went through the separate door, the walls were filled with things. There were maps, various articles, newspaper and internet versions, and several cork boards that had recently been put up.
"Whoa, is that us?" Seungmin asked in amazement, but with a tinge of fear.
Mr. River got excited. "Yes, it is. I was able to recreate your official Final Evaluation documents."
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"That's cool!" Felix said, walking slowly towards the board with all their faces on it.
"That's kind of creepy." Hyunjin responded, but was also wide-eyed looking at the pictures of his friends. "Not gonna lie though, we're all pretty attractive."
"You're hot in that picture, Min." Jisung looked at Minho, a mischievous look in his eyes. "You should dress up for me like that sometime..."
"Okay, okay, let's keep it PG here."
Changbin let out a small laugh as he looked at the couple holding hands. They started reading the profiles in front of them, making casual observations of one another's evaluations. Seungmin reached out and pointed at the text under Hyunjin's picture.
"Gender unclear? Redacted?" He looked at Hyunjin, who suddenly looked ashamed. "What's that about?"
"Another mistake of mine." Mr. River sighed, and his joy of seeing their reactions to seeing themselves faded away. "Can I tell them, or do you still want to keep it a secret?"
"No, it's time."
Felix gave his friend a side hug. "We'll accept you no matter what, right guys?"
Everyone nodded, and Hyunjin went into the story of his Final Evaluation, his mind recreating it as if it was yesterday.
"My name is Mr. River, and I will be doing your Final Evaluation today. Is there a class you're hoping to enter?"
