Ecstasy

Kim Mingyu

"Hyung... Stop hogging the bong," Hoshi whined as he sat cross-legged and stared at Seungcheol greedily taking his third long hit in a row.

"Chill the fuck out, Hosh," Seungcheol slowly laughed, "there's plenty to go around..." he reached into his pocket and revealed another small bag of weed. Hoshi's cat cut eyes lit up as he grabbed the bag out of Seungcheol's hand and immediately began to light a new bowl.

At the other end of the living room, Joshua was lying down on the couch and staring at a magazine featuring a new K-Pop rookie group. Wonwoo was sitting on the ground with his back propped against the same couch, smoking a cigarette while reading his e-Book version of The Pride and Prejudice on his phone.

"Get a load of these ballerinas, Wonwoo-yah," Joshua said, throwing the magazine on the ground for him to read.

Wonwoo flicked the ashes off his half digested cigarette, put down his phone and picked up the glossy magazine. He flipped through it to the spread that the rookie group was featured in. They were a group of seven pretty good-looking guys.

"What about them?"

"I can't believe these are the types of guys that girls dig, man. What unrealistic expectations. No wonder chicks don't even look at me twice here," Joshua complained. Wonwoo laughed and turned around to analyze Joshua's face. He put the magazine right beside Joshua and compared the two images infront of him.

"Hyung, you could honestly be a K-Pop star if you dyed your hair and put on eye makeup. You have the looks for it. And the charm too." Wonwoo grinned, which caused Joshua to break into laughter.

"Ah... Shut up, you little shit," Joshua replied. He sat up from the couch with a yawn and stretch, looking over at Hoshi and Seungcheol, "Yah... are you two done over there?"

The four friends were all at Joshua's parents place. They had sent him to Seoul to attend high school to straighten him out after discovering Joshua's drug dealing problem in the States. However, Joshua's parents stayed in America while he came to Korea on his own since they both ran businesses there. The only family he had in Seoul were his grandparents that lived down the street in their own separate house which had only one floor and no stairs to accommodate for his grandfather's knee and back problems. The family house that Joshua's father owned was therefore empty. And therefore, it was the group's dedicated drug house.

"Yeah, we're done. Hyung, want a hit?" Hoshi asked, to which Joshua extended his arm from the couch as a yes. Hoshi walked over to Joshua on the couch and passed the bong, he then looked down at the magazine Wonwoo was glancing over.

"You know, I wanted to be a trainee, actually."

"Seriously?" Wonwoo asked Hoshi looking up at him.

"Yeah man, for dance," Hoshi said, "I don't know, I still wouldn't mind auditioning and trying out one day, but I know they work you to death if you're a trainee. I've heard horror stories from friends."

"Say word Hosh, I didn't know you danced," Joshua said, tilting his head back after he exhaled out, "Wonwoo-yah, here." Joshua planted the bong right next to where Wonwoo was sitting.

"Nah, hyung. I'm good, thanks," Wonwoo said, "I actually have a few clients I need to see tonight, so I want to stay sober."

"That's such a lie," Seungcheol scoffed, "even when you don't have clients you rarely take a hit. What kind of drug dealer doesn't use their own drugs?"

"Walter White," Wonwoo thought outloud, laughing to himself. Joshua joined in too, but Hoshi and Seungcheol didn't get the reference. Wonwoo took one last inhale from his cigarette and put it out before standing up.

"I've got a couple errands to run before I make my deals tonight, though. Later guys."

"Wonwoo-yah, don't forget about my party this Wednesday," Joshua piped in before grabbing the bong again.

"Yeah, sure," Wonwoo responded. It was only Sunday night and he hadn't fully decided if he wanted to go or not yet, but maybe it would be fun. He waved bye to the rest of the guys and left Joshua's place promptly. It was just past dusk on surprisingly humid April night in Seoul. Before heading to the alleyways of Myeongdong to meet a few clienteles, he needed to stop by the grocery store to fix up dinner.

Walking up and down the aisles of the brightly lit grocery store, Wonwoo whistled to himself throwing anything labeled "instant" or "microwaveable" in sight quickly to his cart. While staring at a row of chips infront of him, he internally contemplated which bag he wanted. Just as he extended his arm to go with one option, he heard an excited gasp from the end of his aisle and the sound of shuffling towards him. His head quickly glanced toward the direction of the sound and his eyes widened in utter disbelief.

"Jeho!" Yuki screamed out loud enthusiastically waving as he ran to Wonwoo.

What the fuck?!  Wonwoo mouthed out and looked around the aisle in state of a panic for who might've overheard.

"Jeho! It's me, Yuki! What a small world, wow! You're buying things for dinner? I was just grocery shopping too before our deal tonight as well, what a coincidence! This is daeb–" Wonwoo clasped his hand hard over Yuki's blaring mouth.

"What the fuck... I could kill you right now," Wonwoo whispered harshly through gritted teeth, "do you really have zero sense? Don't you dare call me that in public."

Yuki looked at Wonwoo innocently from under his grip and muffled a muted "why?" into his hand.

"Because that shit is for the streets and no where else," Wonwoo angrily replied, his hand digging deeper into Yuki's face, "you too, don't you ever use your alias in such a nonchalant way. Understand?"

Yuki nodded his head and attempted to peel off Wonwoo's hand from his face. Wonwoo dropped his hand and instinctively pushed Yuki away from him. He muttered a barely audible "idiot" before he picked up his dropped chip bag and tossed it into his cart. He began to walk away from Yuki immediately and didn't bother turning his head around.

"Wait," Yuki called out as he jogged to catch up with Wonwoo, "what do I call you then?"

"What... Like what's my actual name?" Wonwoo replied reluctantly, still not bothering to look at him.

"Yeah," Yuki responded.

"Why the fuck should I tell you?"

"Yikes, someone's a bit of a meanie," Yuki smirked, "I'm just asking for your sake."

"Oh trust me, I'm nice enough, but you're just really goddamn annoying," Wonwoo replied back sharply.

"I'm having a pretty hard time believing that, hyung," Yuki teased with another wider smirk.

"Don't call me your hyung," Wonwoo snapped.

"Would you rather I call you Jeho?" Yuki said obnoxiously loud on purpose. Wonwoo responded by swerving his cart hard to the left, slamming the front into Yuki's right hip. Yuki wailed out in pain as he dramatically dropped to the floor.

"Jeho hyung! That hurt... Ah.... Jeho hyung, why, WHY?! Jeho hyung!" Yuki wailed out causing a scene like a giant baby to a newborn mother who had given up in trying to calm down their child.

Wonwoo looked around appalled as heads started turning to their direction. He quickly grabbed Yuki's shirt and pulled him up to his feet, looking at him square in the eyes.

"Jeon Wonwoo. Now please for the love of God, shut up."

Yuki immediately stopped and flashed his satisfied dashing grin to Wonwoo, "Kim Mingyu. Nice to meet you."