Chapter Text
“Places, people! Places! Two minutes to curtain!” Feet scurried across the wooden stage with urgency. Voices overlapped with one another. Make-up artists rushed toward the performers to do any final touch-ups as the tech crew tested the equipment one last time. The controlled chaos backstage was invisible to the enthusiastic audience on the other side of the curtain.
“I said, places, everyone!”
Despite being invisible to the artists and crew backstage, the crowd swarmed the area with exhilarating emotions: anxiousness, excitement, and joy. Eagerly waving their colored light sticks and banners, cheers erupted before the most anticipated act appeared.
“GUMP! GUMP! GUMP! GUMP!”
The house lights dimmed down as the crowd’s cheers grew louder. An uproar erupted from the army of fans as four young idols shifted into their spots for the opening song. The stage lights shone on a young idol; his slicked-back hair was soft and dark like black velvet. He wore a yellow letterman jacket with a giant M in cow print. His skin glistened, and a confident smirk spread across his face; everyone at the venue could tell that he belonged on stage.
Three others accompanied him, each with their individualistic charms that swooned the crowd. In front of the boy in yellow was his bandmate, Yos. He had a green vest with a black and white striped button-up shirt. He kneeled toward the crowd. Blocking Yos’ view of the audience stood two of his bandmates: Tae, who wore a bold pink denim jacket, was impossible to miss, and Jang, a slightly older man, dressed casually in a purple hoodie that contrasted his group members’ clean-cut and charming style.
Everyone gave their attention to the idol group under the spotlight, anticipating the performance. The audience fell silent as the first note echoed out of the speakers. A metronome played a familiar tempo through the in-ear piece placed in the young man’s ear.
“With all my heart, heart.” Yos gazed into the crowd. He stood up with a charming smile as he sang, “So babe, listen up!”
The audience watched as the light shifted. The boy in the yellow jacket lifted the handheld microphone toward his mouth, a charismatic smile still resting on his face. The stage light beamed brightly. Hundreds of eyes waited. The young man had spent months perfecting every note until it rang clear, practicing long after rehearsals finished. Each breath he took was carefully polished with the faces of his fans in mind. Even now, centered on the stage, he followed that discipline with hopes that his dedication can turn into something that sounded perfect yet effortless. He opened his mouth, certain the lyrics would flow out with ease.
Nothing. Panic set in as his heart sank toward his stomach. He looked around the stage frantically, darting his eyes between his band members and the audience. He smiled nervously and tried to sing once more, but his voice refused to cooperate. This voice guided him through the toughest moments of his idol career, the one that should have answered instinctively beneath the stage lights. Instead, the silence that replaced where the melody should be was louder.
“Moo?” Tae called out as he rushed over toward him. Worried for his friend, Tae grabbed onto Moo’s shoulders and shook him lightly, “Moo, get up!”
“Huh?” Moo was taken aback by the sudden grasp. He struggled to focus on his bandmate. Tae’s voice distorted as Moo’s confusion grew.
“I said, get up!”
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Moo took a sharp breath in and jolted awake; his conscious presence was welcomed by blinding lights and Tae, who held his hand up high, prepared to smack Moo. “I said, get up, Moo!”
Moo’s eyes widened as he rolled away from the threatening hand. “Oy! I’m up! I’m up!”
Tae shook his head. “Be glad I didn’t smack you earlier! It’s almost noon!” Tae grabbed Moo’s shoulders and yanked him upright.
Confused and also slightly concerned, Moo yelped as Tae dragged him out of bed into the hallway. He attempted to escape the taller one’s grasp. “Tae! Let go! Why are you rushing me?”
Tae stopped as he stared at Moo in complete disbelief. “Are you serious?” Moo thought for a moment, then nodded with the utmost certainty. Tae flicked his finger harshly against Moo’s forehead, making him yelp at the sudden sting.
“We are performing at your university. You know, Sampanthasil University? Ring a bell?” Tae asked, staring at Moo like he could not believe he had to spell it out to him.
Moo looked up as he tried to digest the information Tae provided, like if it was the first time he heard about this. It took a moment for Moo’s brain to process the news this early before he spoke, “Oh…! That’s today?!” Moo panicked, “Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?!”
“Huh?! Don’t blame me,” Tae retorted as he watched Moo rush toward the bathroom to get ready. “We are leaving in an hour! If you aren’t ready, I’ll call P’Jang to collect your ass!”
The sound of Tae's footsteps receded from the door. Moo grabbed his toothbrush and squeezed out a pea-sized amount of toothpaste on top of the bristles. He took a deep breath, looking at himself in the mirror as he recalled what happened in his dream. Was he nervous? Worried? Afraid? It was best not to dwell on it. Moo shook the negative thoughts off and smiled, “That was just a dream, Moo. Don’t worry! You’re a professional idol. You’ve got this!” He exclaimed to himself.
“Who are you talking to?” Yos suddenly called out from the other side of the door.
Moo jumped and dropped his toothbrush on the floor. “Shit!” He scurried to pick up his toothbrush off the floor. “Nature! You know, the birds and stuff!” He yelled in response.
“HUH?” Three boys sat side-by-side on the floor with their backs against a sofa. “How’d they get GUMP to perform for our school?” The boy in the middle, Duang, asked with confusion. His iPad displayed the email he’d just received about his university’s Freshy Night. His two friends peered over his shoulder to read the announcement themselves.
“One of the members attends our university. Moo, right? Did you not send the post of it to me?” Jamie, on Duang’s left, and the tallest of the three, scolded with an eyebrow raised.
“Huh?” Duang furrowed his eyebrows, confused.
Jamie looked at Duang, completely deadpanned. He reached over toward the sofa behind him, snatched a pillow from the sofa, and whacked Duang in the face with it. Duang yelped in surprise, but ultimately failed to dodge the assault to his head.
Pae, on the right side of the mild chaos, took the iPad from Duang’s lap. He scrolled past the headline title and read out loud, “The performance is located at…” Pae zoomed in. “The main auditorium inside the Music faculty’s building.” Pae continued to skim through the email’s details. “So we’re going, right?” Pae asked the other two.
“Nope!” Duang immediately responded with an innocent smile on his face. He had no reason to not attend; he simply said so for the sake of just saying no.
Jamie smacked Duang with the pillow again. Pae paid no mind to it. “Duang is going!” Jamie cheered annoyingly, “What time do we have to be there though?”
Duang pouted and rubbed his sore cheek. He tried to steal the pillow from Jamie while he was distracted in his conversation with Pae. Jamie thwacked Duang’s face once more, then he held it out of the victim’s reach.
“Uh, let me check,” Pae swiped up and his eyes widened. “Shit! It starts in an hour!” He chucked the iPad onto the couch and stood up quickly.
“Huh?!” The other two’s bickering stopped.
Jamie smacked Duang with the pillow once more. “What are you waiting for? Hurry!”
Duang flinched from the hit. He was about to smack Jamie, but Pae pulled Duang away and pushed him toward his room. Duang took a deep breath and smiled brightly. “Okay! I’ll get ready.” He scurried toward his bedroom to freshen up. Duang grabbed a small glass perfume bottle and was about to spritz some on his neck, but halted as a realization hit him. “Wait a minute,” Duang called out, “Why am I the only one getting ready for this?”
“This is your apartment, bro.” Pae laughed. “What are we going to do? Shower and pick a new outfit?”
Duang opened his mouth, but there was no rebuttal. He pressed his lips together and tried to spray the perfume on his neck, but nothing came out. “Huh?” Duang brought the bottle closer to his face. Stupidly, he pressed the top down, and it shot into his eyes. “Ow, ow, ow!” He placed the bottle down on his nightstand and blinked rapidly. Duang blinked rapidly, reaching toward his desk for anything to clean his eyes. He grabbed a tissue and wiped the perfume off his eyelids. Duang faced the mirror and stared at himself for a second before smiling through the stinging pain in his eyes.
Duang exited his bedroom to rinse out the perfume. His friends snickered at the sight of his bloodshot eyes as he headed toward his kitchen’s sink.
“Duang, you stink!” Pae pointed out the obvious and Jamie nodded along in agreement. Duang shot a glare at the two chucklefucks on the floor. The scent wasn’t terrible, though.
Duang slowly walked toward the sink blindly because he did not want to bump into or knock down anything. He stretched his arms outwards, tapping on the counter repeatedly until he felt the faucet. He slid his hand down until he felt the faucet’s handle, then placed his head under the running water. He blinked as water seeped into his eyes and relieved the burning sensation.
“Duang! You idiot!” Jamie called out in-between laughs, “How the fuck did you get perfume in your eyes?!”
Duang lifted his head up and dried his face with a nearby towel. “Well,” he began, “the perfume wasn’t coming out of the bottle, so I brought it closer to my face to see why!” Duang reenacted the scene, bringing the imaginary bottle close to his face. “Then, uh…” He paused for a moment. Duang’s eyes wandered to avoid eye contact. “Then, uh… I pushed down on the top, and it sprayed into my eyes…” He trailed off as he slowly lowered his arms. A wave of heat spread across his face, his cheeks and ears glowing a bright red as the silence took over the room.
Jamie and Pae exchanged looks right before they cackled loudly. Pae laid on the floor as he tried to catch his breath. Jamie leaned his head back onto the couch, taking deep breaths to calm himself. Seeing his friends laugh at his demise, Duang walked over to the two with the same damp towel he used to dry his face moments before. It didn’t take too long for Jamie’s sight to be shielded with the wet cloth. Pae, who witnessed the amusing act of revenge and had just caught his breath, laughed.
“Ha!” Duang stuck his tongue out and pressed the towel further into Jamie’s face. Then, for further annoyance, he flicked his hands in Pae’s direction. He flinched, expecting a splash of water. Fortunately for Pae, Duang’s hands were dry.
As both his friends were preoccupied with being scared and blinded, Duang bolted in the other direction. The culprit swiftly exited the condo after grabbing his keys and phone. The door loudly closed behind him as Duang left his friends behind.
Duang stopped in front of the elevator before his two friends could catch up to him. Once inside, he pressed the ‘close door’ button repeatedly to leave his friends stranded alone. Unfortunately for Duang, Jamie and Pae slid past the closing doors in the nick of time.
“How the fuck are you so fast?” Pae asked breathlessly, leaning against the wall of the elevator.
“Oy!” Duang whined, “It doesn’t matter how fast I am! It’s not my fault you both are slow. Besides, you both have cars, no? Why not drive to school yourself?!”
Jamie, also panting heavily, smacked the back of Duang’s head. “You drove us here to your place with your car. How do you expect us to leave, huh?” Duang thought for a moment; he had no rebuttal. He looked at his two friends, then responded with an awkward laugh before Jamie slapped him once more. “Dumbass.”
Beyond the curtain, the enthusiastic audience’s cheers dulled. Staff dressed in all black rushed from one wing to the other with their clipboards and equipment in hand. Besides the staff, performers filled with anxiousness and excitement crowded the backstage areas. One group near the left wing created a harmonic, gentle hum to prepare their vocals. Another group stood by the vocal group with their own instruments in hand; one tuned and tested each individual guitar string, while another produced rhythms by tapping his drumsticks on any nearby surface.
A door opened amid all the chaos, and four young men entered. The chaos came to an abrupt stop as nearly everyone turned their heads toward the famous Thai idol group, GUMP. Whispers from bystanders filled the quiet area, yet their gaze did not divert from GUMP once.
“Okay, people! Don’t just stand there! Ten minutes to curtain!” A woman shouted into a megaphone, “I repeat, ten minutes to curtain!” Her voice broke the thick, quiet tension, reverting the backstage environment back to its busy nature.
Moo’s eyes sparkled at the surrounding environment. He was unable to stand still, bouncing up and down with a wide grin on his face. Moo's enthusiasm has never faltered, despite the many stage performances throughout his career. His groupmates all shared the same passionate feeling that bubbled up inside Moo. Tae’s wide eyes spoke for themselves, beaming full of glee. Yos’ wide smile reflected his excitement and desire to perform in front of the audience anticipating them. Jang, who at first seemed reserved, reciprocated a similar passion. While not as noticeable to everyone around, GUMP could tell that his heart pounded with excitement.
“Okay!” GUMP’s manager, Joy, called out. “You four are the final act, so we have extra time to get ready. Jang, Yos, go do outfit fittings first, got it?” She looked at the two.
“Okay, Phi,” Jang and Yos responded with a small nod and smile. The two of them excused themselves as they walked to the changing booths.
The manager turned her attention to Tae and Moo. “You two, head toward the hair and makeup chairs over there.” She gestured toward a brightly lit section with multiple chairs and carts with a variety of cosmetic products. Moo and Tae looked at each other, then back at the manager. They nodded with identical grins on their faces.
“Let’s go!” Moo cheered, rushing toward the open chairs. Tae followed close behind with just as much excitement.
“Uhm… excuse me.” A staff member tapped on Moo’s shoulder. “Sorry to bother you, but have you seen— oh! Never mind! I see him. Sorry, sorry!” They apologized as they rushed toward the backstage entrance door.
Tae and Moo exchanged confused glances. “What was that about?” Tae asked. Moo shrugged in response, unsure of what that whole interaction was.
At that exact moment, a young man walked in, dressed in a black shirt with a very low neckline and white headphones over his ears. The other performers gazed over as he took his headset off, while the staff let out quiet sighs of relief. The boy’s eyes awkwardly darted across the room, presumably in a search for staff members to assist him. Makeup artists rushed over to give his fair skin last-minute touch-ups, while hair stylists smoothed his dark bangs into place.
Tae gestured his head toward the newcomer, then turned to Moo asking, “Who is that?”
Moo glanced over at the young man with a raised eyebrow. He felt like he should have recognized him, but Moo hadn’t been very involved with the university lately because the social demands of his idol career kept him away more often than not. “I don’t kn–”
“Qin, here!” A staff member blurted, shoving a microphone and an in-ear into the performer’s hand while snatching the headphones away. “You’re up in two!”
From where he stood, Moo watched the young man, Qin, look down at the equipment that had been handed to him. The young man’s gaze switched between the microphone, in-ear monitor, and the group of staff in front of him. He gave a quiet nod.
The staff ushered him quickly toward the stage. Moo’s eyes followed him. Qin kept his head down, slipping the in-ear monitor into place with one hand while he held the microphone with another against his chest, as if he was preparing himself for his performance.
Then, suddenly, Qin walked straight into Moo.
“Shit– I’m sorry…” Qin took a step back and hesitantly pressed his hands together with the microphone still in his hand to wai and quickly bowed. He looked up, and his eyes widened once he made eye contact with Moo. “Sorry, sorry!”
Moo blinked in confusion. Before he could respond, a staff member guided the other away.
A final call was made for the performers: “Quiet backstage!”
A senior student walked up onto the stage and approached the microphone stand. “Hello everyone!” She greeted with much enthusiasm, “My name is Neth, a third-year student in the Faculty of Fashion. Welcome to the 2025 Freshy Night!” The crowd returned the spokesperson's excitement, cheering loudly and waving their lightsticks. The student cleared her throat. “Let’s start the performances! Please give it up for our singer, Qin, a first-year jazz major!”