apartment block 17

[ 011 ]

adore u park

for the entire morning since the release of pokémon go in south korea, junhui and minghao had been out of their apartment, walking endlessly around the neighbourhood to catch pokémon. the schools had been closed since it was summer break, but they both managed to find many on the streets outside.

soon enough, they both levelled up to level 5 and were able to pick a team; they both picked team mystic. junhui decided to text seokmin about it.

• • •

junhui's phone

Seokmin (donkey k) >
Today 11:23 AM

me
> Guess who just levelled up to 5!!
> Me and Minghao!!! :D

donkey k
> SAME HERE :)
> pls tell me you picked valor???

me
> No we picked mystic duhh
> Did you choose valor??
> You traitor, i thought we were friends

donkey k
> smh valor is obviously the best
> omg anyway you wont believe what just happend to me
> so i was hunting and suddenly a PIKACHU pops up

me
> Wait wtf where? I need a pikachu

donkey k
> it was outside apartment 617 right
> and soon enough that seungcheol dude comes running to me as well

me
> Omg is he playing as well??

donkey k
> yeh lmao so he knocked on the door and this dude comes out. so seungcheol tells him there's a pikachu in his apartment
> and tHE DUDE JUST SLAMS THE DOOR IN OUR FACES

me
> Wait so you didnt catch pikachu ??

donkey k
> NO

me
> Lmao wait didn't you say it's in 617?

donkey k
> yeh it was... according to the radar thingy

me
> Does the floor even matter? Like isn't the pokemon just in that... geographical position

donkey k
> wat??

me
> I mean, wonwoo's in 417. The room two floors beneath?
> So if pikachu's in 617, isnt 417 like, directly below
> So its the same geographical spot or sometjing??

donkey k
> OMG JUN UR A GENIUS BYE

me
> Wait idk if it's legit i was just brainstorming
> Oh ok nevermind, let me know how it goes ??

• • •

"what happened?" minghao asked when he saw junhui laughing at his phone.

"nothing. just seokmin being an idiot," junhui smiled. "alright, let's go take over some gyms! i saw some over at adore u park, which is pretty close."

upon reaching adore u park, a wide expanse of meticulously kept green, with various sporting facilities and playgrounds littered here and there, both their phones buzzed with an onslaught of nearby pokémon to catch.

"wow, why didn't we come here earlier?" minghao widened his eyes.

the pair wandered around, capturing pokémon here and there, until they reached the nearest gym, which was located near a basketball court. minghao was busy trying to catch a fearow nearby, while junhui moved to claim the currently unclaimed gym for their team.

seeing the gym turn blue, the colour of their chosen team, team mystic, was extremely satisfying for junhui. he decided to search adore u park for higher level pokémon in order to help hold their place at the basketball court's gym, as well as go around finding other gyms to claim.

minghao finally caught the fearow, and proceeded to station it in the gym to help hold their place. junhui knew it wouldn't be long before higher level players from rival teams would show up and try to defeat them, but being able to hold a gym for even a little while made him happy.

as they were about to leave, junhui noticed two other teenage boys walking towards them while staring intently at their phones. one had brownish-blond hair and foreign features, while the other had reddish brown hair that was hidden under a blue cap. they both looked like high school students.

"oh my god, hansol! there's a gym here!" the boy with reddish brown hair exclaimed.

"don't say 'oh my god', seungkwan," the foreign-looking boy muttered.

"you guys playing pokémon go as well?" junhui asked, drawing their attention from their phones.

the reddish brown haired boy tilted his head upon seeing junhui's face. "oh, you're wen junhui. and the other guy must be your boyfriend, xu minghao," he said thoughtfully.

junhui was taken aback. he didn't recognise this boy at all. was he supposed to know him? "i'm sorry, do we know each other?"

"seungkwan, it's rude when you do that. you sound like a creep," the foreign-looking boy tutted and
bumped the other boy's shoulder. he then turned to address junhui, as well as minghao.

"sorry, this is seungkwan. he tends to be really nosy and probably knows more about you than you think. i'm pretty sure we live in the same apartment block. he knows basically everyone who lives there. my name is hansol, by the way. nice to meet you," the foreign-looking boy, hansol, stuck his hand out to shake junhui's. as he did, seungkwan took his phone from him and walked closer to the basketball court.

"oh, alright then..." junhui said uncertainly. he wasn't sure what to make of this seungkwan guy. but hansol seemed nice enough. "i'm junhui, and this is my boyfriend, minghao. though seungkwan already knew that..."

"oh, nice to meet you two! are you from china, by any chance?" hansol said, smiling.

junhui rubbed his neck awkwardly. "is it that obvious?" he laughed.

"oh, no! your korean is fine, if that's what you meant. i mean your names sound chinese, so..." hansol smiled sheepishly.

"oh, right. yeah, we're both from china. we're studying at pledis university," junhui said.

"oh, seungkwan and i are going there next year! we're third years at pledis high at the moment," hansol said with an energetic tone.

"is it okay if i ask... are you foreign as well?" junhui asked cautiously.

hansol laughed. "is it that obvious?" he repeated junhui's earlier statement. "yeah, i'm half-american. but i've been living in korea for most of my life," he explained.

"yes! i got it!" seungkwan screamed from behind hansol. he was holding his phone triumphantly.

"were you guys 'moonhui' and 'the8'?" seungkwan asked towards junhui's direction.

"uh, yeah? i'm 'moonhui' and minghao's 'the8'," junhui answered.

"i just overtook your gym," seungkwan smirked.

junhui whipped out his phone and saw that indeed, the previously blue gym had turned into an ugly yellow. team instinct. the new gym holders were 'divaboo' and 'vernon', presumably the usernames of seungkwan and hansol.

hansol whirled around to see the phones that seungkwan was holding; seungkwan had won gym battles for hansol on his phone. "did you get it on video?" he pestered seungkwan excitedly.

"oh, right..." seungkwan had forgotten that they were trying to vlog their first pokémon go experience to upload to their youtube channel. hansol looked disappointed.

"ah, well. that just means we'll have to capture other gyms then!" he said optimistically.

"like we'd let you! this isn't over," junhui said. "that gym won't be yours by the end of the day!" grabbing a startled minghao, the two chinese boys stormed off in search for stronger pokémon.

"bring it on!" seungkwan hollered after them.