Treasure tales

Junkyu #6: Inner fears

They were always so nice to me. Until...they weren't.

I stayed away...because I was afraid.

A month had passed since the day I last saw anyone in Treasure. The other Treasure members continued to discuss Junkyu's sleeping issues and try to help him solve it, to no avail so far. I did turn up for a couple of zoom meetings, but that was about it. 

At the very least, his issues had become more mild. For some reason, he had been experiencing less dreams as a whole lately. That was good. For all the relief we felt for him, we were puzzled. Exactly why did he suddenly experience an influx of nightmares, which then stopped so abruptly? There was no telling that there wasn't something more sinister at play.

The next time I turned up, Jihoon, Haruto, Jeongwoo and Junkyu were there. I definitely expected Junkyu to be there, since the HQ was his house. As I entered, they gave me a good hearted wave before the four of them returned to gaming. 

"Do you want to join?" Jihoon asked, his mouth stuffed with bread as he kicked a nearby console towards me.

"The moment I start, I will never go back to studying again," I told him as I settled down on the floor(the sofa was filled up) and watched them play.

"Ever the spoilsport," Jeongwoo muttered. I glared at him, and he stuck out his tongue at me playfully.

"Pay attention, Jeongwoo," Haruto elbowed him. I turned to look at the screen and noticed the character Jeongwoo was controlling had died in the time he was talking to me. I stifled a giggle.

"All because I got distracted by Rin," Jeongwoo huffed. He got out of the sofa and proceeded to sit next to me.

"Too bad," I teased back. He feigned annoyance.

"Want some donuts?" Haruto asked me, his gaze still fixed on the screen. Only then did I notice the box of donuts on the table. Each donut was carefully sliced so thatt everybody could share them. I got one piece and handed it to Jeongwoo, who accepted it gratefully. I then took another for myself. I smiled. They were definitely enjoying themselves.

Twenty minutes later, they were finally done. The five of us gathered round the dining table, occasionally helping ourselves to the donut box.

"Good game, bros," Jihoon cheered. "That was exhilarating." He turned to me. "Sorry if we bored you out, though."

I shook my head. "I'm happy too, when I see you all happy," I said with a polite smile. "I like the atmosphere in this group. It relaxes me and distracts me from my daily hectic life."

"Wow, Rin's getting all mushy all of a sudden!" Jihoon immediately pounced on the chance to tease me. Haruto, Jeongwoo and Junkyu were laughing along with him. 

"How's applications going, Junkyu?" Haruto asked when the laughter had died down.

Junkyu pursed his lips. His eyes flicked away uncomfortably. "It's so bad," he admitted it. "Every submission I make is just a reminder of how less I have achieved in life. Gahhh, even if my grades are okay, they look at your CCA, leadership, so on and so forth. I just...haven't achieved enough in life to stand out in anything." He straightened himself, and contorted his face back to normalcy.

"What are you majoring in again?" Jeongwoo wondered aloud.

A look of discomfort immediately re-appeared on Junkyu's face. "I don't know..." He admitted. "I haven't submitted anything yet...till now." He closed his eyes. "The submission portals are closing soon. I might just end up taking a gap year at this rate." He jokingly pulled a face.

Jihoon seemed to have a thought, and then he turned to me. "Rin" he began. "You're studying so hard everyday, so much so that it consumes your entire life. Makes me wonder if you have already had your future planned out."