Trust

All-Purpose Cleaner

Smiling contently, San sits down on one of the cement cubes in the courtyard to wait for Jongho.

And then the smile drops from his face. Because if the rankings of the singing lessons are out... then all the rankings are out. He can look at all of his preliminary results now!

Hurriedly and with slightly trembling fingers, San pull out his phone. Using the public wifi, he logs into his uni account and clicks on the link to the rankings.

After seconds of eternities the website has loaded, and San scrolls down, down, down... until he finds his first class that's got a ranking system: Mash-Ups.

I've better got some good ranks with all the work I've invested. Maybe he's even made it into the top ten in some other classes too besides singing. Although the chances for getting into the top ten are, depending on how big the course is, kinda lo-

San blinks at the names listed under Mash-Ups on his phone screen. Is this real? Right next to his name there's a cursive 8.

He is ranked eighth – in a class that consists of more than fifty students! San's mouth falls open, and after re-checking that his eyes didn't betray him, he's fast to scroll down further to his other courses.

His rankings are... excellent. There's simply no other way to put it, and despite the fact that it's Tuesday, one of the most annoying and exhausting days of the week, San suddenly finds it very difficult to stop a bright smile from spreading over his face. He's seventh in his minor piano class. Third in Language of the Body, his only dancing course of the semester. And he's first – frickin' first – in Songwriting. Although he shares that rank with a girl called Kyeongeun – but nevermind that, because that still makes him frickin' first in Songwriting.

Songwriting has been the class that he's put the most effort into.

San whoops, and when he gets weird looks from some of his fellow students crossing the courtyard, he smiles at them... well, actually he just looks back at them normally – but his lips are doing a thing of their own, twitching in the most desperate attempt to hold back a big, goofy grin.

"This is the first time you're here before me", a voice to San's right calls. When San turns in the direction, he sees Jongho walking towards him.

Jumping up from his cement cube, San tackles Jongho in a hug. "We've got our rankings! And, oh my god, mine are so good I might even get invited to perform at the Festival of Lights next year!" After all, next year's program is still in the making, and artists, performers and musicians can apply until the end of next week – or rather, they get invited by teachers and the like. San really hopes that, with those preliminary rankings, he's got a good shot at getting an invitation too.

Jongho laughs. "You're so obsessed with this festival." He gently frees himself from San's embrace and starts walking towards the cafeteria. San follows him, jumping up and down only a few more times.

"I wonder who is first in Singing- ah, nevermind, I actually don't." The telltaling mysterious smile on Jongho's face says more than enough. He is first – of course he is. "Congrats!" San flings his arms around Jongho one more time, back-hugging him. "I knew you'd do great even before you applied here, remember?"

"I do..." Jongho makes an effort to lift San onto his back in order to carry him to the cafeteria. It doesn't really work because San is too tall and his feet are dragging in the mud as Jongho continues walking. "I'm also thankful for you encouraging me to apply here. I didn't really know I could make it that far..."