February 19, 2001
01:23 AM
The group's alarm went off again; during the training days, the boys were getting only half an hour of sleep, making it impossible for them to train properly. Consequently, the CEO forced them to consume two cans of energy drinks and high doses of caffeine to keep them energized during practice—and, of course, he had completely banned food for two weeks, If they broke the diet, they would be beaten until their leg's bones break
Dazed, Yesung woke up, got out of bed, showered, consumed an energy drink and an extremely high-caffeine coffee, brushed his teeth, got dressed, grabbed his things, and walked to the company with the other guys; halfway there, however, Donghwa pulled out a hidden cereal bar and made him eat it. Donghwa, Youngwon, Jumin, Yubin, and Woohyun might have been able to pretend they could handle anything at the company, but for them, letting Yesung go without eating was worse than physically hurting someone.
(Trigger warning for vomiting, skip to the end of the trigger if you feel uncomfortable)
And there was an even worse problem: Yubin absolutely could not consume caffeine because, after his stomach was removed, his esophagus stopped tolerating it—so he immediately threw everything up. "Yubin!" Everyone rushed to comfort him.
"Yubin, calm down!" Donghwa held Yubin while Woohyun put a water bottle to his lips; Youngwon and Jumin took the energy drink from his hand and threw it away, while Yesung could only watch—unsure of what to do, yet visibly shaken by the situation.
(End of Trigger Warning)
3:58 PM
The boys were waiting for the time when the CEO would speak with the shareholders; that was the moment the members took the opportunity to just be themselves. Since the CEO didn't care much about Yesung, they ordered him to leave early and go eat at home, without a thought for the other boys.
When the right time came, Yesung left the building and ran back to the dorm—but not before downing a bottle of energy drink; he opened the dorm door and remembered a recipe his family made that had been passed down from generation to generation: Raspberry Pudding.
The raspberry pudding held special significance for Yesung's family; when Yesung's grandmother's mother was abducted and forced to become a "comfort woman" at the start of World War II, she recalled a recipe her mother used to make—combining milk, eggs, sugar, stale bread, and raspberries gathered from the forests along the border between Seoul and Kaesong. She prepared this raspberry pudding as a way to remember her mother, and the recipe became a symbol of resistance and memory within the family, passed down from generation to generation.
Yesung carefully set out the ingredients and followed exactly what his mother and grandmother had always taught him; in no time, the pudding was partially ready—all that remained was to put it in the freezer, which he did before going to watch TV, just as an MTV Korea program began airing news about Mirae Boys.
Yesung stared intently at the screen as the reporter kept talking and citing stories from newspapers, tabloids, and websites—one of which even claimed they would be "the new H.O.T."
Yesung's eyes gleamed