you're so golden! || minsung ||

6♕

When the three servants knock on his door as agreed a good few minutes later, Jisung feels slightly better, lighter. Of course, he still felt melancholy and apprehensive about everything that had and was yet to happen in that infinite day, but to sit for a while on his balcony, breathing in the fresh air and watching the sunset glimmering in the bright petals from his neighbors, Jisung felt less tense.

Despite being completely foreign to him, the purple-haired boy allowed Seokjin to help him dress - the butler insisted that the polo Jisung had worn in the transformation was already wrinkled, even if Jisung didn't find a single crease. Nabi and Yumi didn't do much, they just touched up his makeup and fixed some stubborn strands of hair.

Punctually, at half-past seven, Jang-mi knocks on his bedroom door to take Jisung and his three neighbors into the hall. He had already completely forgotten, but before dinner, they were going to watch the special Official News. His stomach wasn't happy.

The sound of twelve pairs of feet, half of them in high heels, against the marble of the stairs sounds like music made by an elegant herd. Even without etiquette lessons, the twelve selected managed to sound pleasantly coordinated. Jisung was surprised.

There are some murmurs, some of the competitors already completely at ease and with friendships made. However, the vast majority remain silent, as is the case with Jisung . He sees Areum's back a couple of meters ahead and smiles that the girl has already found a friend.

As they pass through the dining room, Jisung can't help noticing that the doors are closed. Was the royal family there, perhaps eating their last meal just the three of them for the last time? It was really strange that these twelve people, including Jisung , were their guests and yet, they still hadn't met any of the royals.

The lounge is filled with tables and chairs, together with some very comfortable and refined-looking sofas. After all the selected had settled down according to Jang-mi's orders and directions, someone turned on the big television in front of the hall and everyone watched the Official News.

First, they made the same usual announcements - the promise of building a new hospital in a lower caste, the economic situation of Euphoréa, and the information of a rebel attack somewhere in the East - and then, the last hour was taken up with Hoseok's comments to the images from the first day of the selected ones in the Selection.

It was through these images that Jisung managed to get a better sense of the public's favorite competitors, as they made a point of zooming in on the posters and photographs scattered around the airport terminals. Lee Felix, the chosen boy of caste Two, and Yoon Mi-Suk, the girl of caste Three, are, without a doubt, the most applauded and adored selected.

Jisung looks around until his eyes fall on Mi-Suk, a girl with milky skin and extremely contrasting black hair, smiling smugly when she sees herself on the television screen. She is sitting next to Lee Ha-yun, the blonde girl with blue contact lenses from caste Two, and they are both grinning knowingly at each other as if they'd known each other for centuries. They're extremely beautiful, Jisung couldn't deny that fact. But seeing them together, Jisung knew it wasn't wise to mess with them. Those girls screamed problems and conflict.

As for Lee Felix, he smiled widely too, but from what Jisung interpreted, in a completely different way. Not in the negative sense and cocky of being one of the favorites as Mi-Suk had done, but more because there are so many people showing so much affection for him. For a Two, the clear humbleness surprised Jisung .

"However, it wasn't just the candidates from caste Two and Three who captivated the audience," Hoseok makes his voice heard through the television columns.

Images appear of all selected talking, shaking hands, or signing autographs for the people in the queues that gathered at the airports, until they reach the last caste and pass the images of Areum and Jisung .