WHO WE ARE, woosan

013: choi san is full of colour

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« you're the light that sets fire
to my grey world »

Christmas was the most wonderful time of the year. Or, at least, that was what was broadcasted all over the news, sequinned into the sparkling decorations that shone through the snowing streets and uttered out of everyone's grinning mouths.

But Wooyoung didn't believe in it, just like how he never believed in the existence of Santa even before his parents could break it to him that the man wasn't real. And, according to him, any season and any day of the month could be the so-called 'wonderful time of the year' -- or maybe he was only trying to convince himself of that so more good days would come in his direction.

Wooyoung liked to think that if he thought about or did good things, then Karma (or whatever system in the universe that decided whether people were nice or corrupt) would hand him immeasurable luck in everything that he put his mind to. Turned out it really never really worked most of the time, but that didn't stop teenaged Wooyoung from believing in it.

It was the last day of middle school before winter break, and Wooyoung had just left school after the particularly gruelling 'pep-talk' his Choir Club leader, Mrs Lee, had decided to dish out after the underwhelming performance of one of their soloists during their collaboration with the theatre kids for the Winter Wonderland play.

"Whatever you end up doing, you have to shine in it. You have to give your all. You can't afford to half-ass anything -- in fact, that is the worst thing you can do. That's just called being a grey crayon. No one likes grey crayons! No one wants them, either. So have life. Be colourful."

That entire speech made Wooyoung think twice about whether this club thing was the right decision for him after all, as he hadn't joined because he had an innate talent for musicality, but because this was one of his dumb conquests he begrudgingly took on in order to gain some new friends. And now, it was turning out to only be a huge waste of time as he was supposed to be let out of school half an hour ago.

Things got worse when Wooyoung arrived at the cafe he went to sometimes after enduring classes that left him feeling even more like an idiot than he'd felt when he walked in, because at a certain point, they just seemed to regurgitate how utterly useless he was with everything that had to do with school.

He took one look at the tacky Christmas wreaths and baubles and fairy lights adorning the populated interior, and at the customers -- both students and adults alike -- laughing and chatting and just having fun with themselves in technicolour without him, and a miniscule part inside him had to wonder if he was that annoying little splotch of grey that no one wanted.

Wooyoung didn't dwell on that thought for long. He couldn't afford to either; he was in the mood for a caramel latte so that he could hopefully warm himself right up before he had to return back to his house.