✓ HYPE BOY 𖥻 심재윤

05. Attention, please!

Both Heeseung and Jake were lucky enough to win a scholarship back in high school, allowing them access to Incheon National University.

On the other side of campus, the same thing was happening to another bizarre duo. Park Jongseong, an Aerospace Engineering student, and Park Sunghoon, a Physics student, were a unique drummer-bassist duo who would perform only electronic dance music and DNB, full of memorable bass lines and heavy beats.

Basically the opposite of Heeseung and Jake. With their guitar solos, melancholic rhythm, and powerful vocals, they were able to steal everyone's heart every time they performed.

One night, they were coincidentally supposed to play the whole night at the same venue because of a booking mistake from the host. The duos argued the whole night, fighting for who was supposed to play and why. None of them ended up playing, resulting in no one getting paid.

At 4 in the morning, they all agreed to forget about that night on a bench under a dimly lit up lamppost, each of them holding a beer in their hands. At the end of the day, it wasn't their mistake, but the host's. They all blamed it on him, getting drunk off of low-quality beer in a wet park, caused by that day's rain.

The four woke up on the humid grass, deciding to skip that day's classes to recover properly in Heeseung and Jake's apartment.

The two bands decided to form a singular band, merging their different styles into a unique sound. Sunghoon's heavy bass lines melted perfectly with Jake's melodious guitar riffs.

And now, they were impatiently waiting to play there. It was kind of ironic to them how four broke students could even manage to play in a luxurious resort in such a luxurious location. But hey, everyone starts somewhere, right?

"When is our turn?" Jay asked impatiently, drumming his thighs with the drumsticks in his hands. He was playing the beat of the song they were going to perform. By now, the rhythm of the song was stuck in his brain.

Heeseung, the leader and keyboardist, crossed his arms, "We're fifth on the list. We still have two people in front of us."

A tall figure approached them, making them all stand up in front of him. Moon Taeseok patted Sunghoon's shoulder since he was the closest to him. It was weird for the boy how open and touchy Taeseok was, but he definitely did radiate that lovely father aura, so he didn't mind that much.

"Are you guys ready?" Taeseok grinned, making his mustache raise along with his lips. The boys looked at him, nodding excitedly.

Heeseung bowed slightly at him, "Yes, sir! We are going to perform one of our songs. We are very excited about it."

The band had been there for around two weeks. What was supposed to be a simple vacation, something to tune off from the busy life of University, had now turned into a summer-long "business" contract.

Taeseok had heard the band play one evening at the beach, around a bonfire, and was extremely impressed by their talent. He proposed that they'd stop at the resort to perform every week. They had to come up with new songs and entertain the visitors, but they would get paid of course.

They couldn't reject the offer, not when back in Incheon, taxes and rents waited eagerly for them. They decided to accept Taeseok's offer, stating that it was definitely better to play on the beach rather than in some crusty pub on the outskirts of the city.

"Your band's name is pretty interesting, actually. Moonland, isn't it?" Taeseok asked, as the boys nodded in unison, "Where does it come from, if I may ask?"

Jake could feel his friends' gaze on him, a sign that he was supposed to reply to Taeseok, "Heeseung and I are Astronomy students. We both are intrigued and focused on the studies of the Moon, so that's where it comes from."