❧ Claridge's Hotel

@[D] Shin Hyesung When Jinri was this focused on her work, she generally didn't let anything distract her. But this time, she let her surprise distract her from gathering news. She had noticed from her peripheral vision that someone had come stand next to her, but that wasn't what jolted her from her focus. It was the fact that he was holding a notebook and writing in it, an indication that he was a fellow journalist amongst the crowd of reporters. Interesting. There weren't many journalists these days, particularly those who actually came out for a story when cameras were generally enough to let the public know the ongoings of their surroundings.

She turned to look at him curiously before turning her attention back to the paper in her hands, already cursing herself for missing pieces of the interview. Rarely did she let herself get sidetracked like that, and she didn't have plans to do so again. She started to write again, mentally making a note to catch the man before he slipped away once all the interviews were over.

@[D] Choi Jinri Hyesung tried to keep up with the man, but he walked so fast that soon he got lost in the crowd, and the man was gone. Grumbling under his breath, he decided to return to the front of the crowd where the reporter was standing, interviewing a few others he hadn't noticed before. Dodging people as he moved forwards, he squeezed between two people in the front, before coming out and finding himself standing next to another journalist.

She looked young, much younger than him, and obviously much more into her job than he was. Why somebody would work so hard, he would never understand. Flipping open his notebookd again, he listened carefully, not even looking up from the paper as he began jotting down the important bits and pieces of the interview, instead of everything, shortening it with bullet points and small pieces of information making it easier to keep track of everything. With precise hand-writing, he kept writing, mostly ignoring those around him as he watched and listened and wrote.

@[D] Do Kyungsoo In contrast to the shorter boy across from him, Jongsuk admired London and what the notorious city had to offer. It has been four years since he had moved from Seoul to the renowned capital city of England and surprises still wait at every corner until ambushing him at the most arbitrary moments for him to capture its originality and charm through pictures. From the intriguing, yet captivating, fashion to the little toys carried by children, Jongsuk is attentive to the minor details and does not usually miss a thing. Therefore, he sees pass the large attractions, the ones in which the majority focus their sights on, and leans towards the surroundings that encompass such exquisiteness. Pictures were evidence of the small aspects that is generally overlooked, and Jongsuk wishes to reveal the small beautiful moments - even if such photos were stored and trapped inside his camera for only him to see.

Another disparity between Jongsuk and his so-called “best friend,” is the fact that Kyungsoo would rather not meet anywhere else except for the hotel. Being a photographer, the outside world is half of what Jongsuk needs to capture. Despite their differences of opinions, they had un-officially become close friends, often looking for the other to get rid of boredom. As Jongsuk does not particularly classify himself social, he is not antisocial. A brief, random meeting over a picture led to a peculiar, yet effective friendship.

That is until the pair of friends decided to play Monopoly at the very moment. Long legs sprawled over the fuzzy maroon rug suddenly shifted at the turn of events that did not happen to be in his favor. Jongsuk ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, a crease between his forehead evident to the boy laughing at his horrible luck.

Instead of attempting to reverse the scores, Jongsuk quickly grabbed the camera that hung around his neck and brought it close to his face, directly pointing at Kyungsoo who rolled around the floor due to laughter. A click can be heard as he pressed down on the button and a flash of light disappeared as fast as it appeared.
A rare smile can be seen from Jongsuk’s face when he lowered the camera, satisfied with the picture.

“You look like such an idiot; it’s hilarious.”

@[D] Shin Hyesung Crunching the last of her cone, Jinri squeezed her way through the crowd of reporters, flashing them a bright smile as a way to appease their annoyance at her pressing against them to get to the front. Luckily, the reporters didn't seem too irked by her, some even returning her smile before turning to focus on the person in front of them.

Finally, she managed to secure a spot close to the front, and she immediately began to write, her usual neat handwriting turning into a messy scrawl as she hurried to write down everything that was said. It was times like these that she rather disliked being a journalist, although truth be told, she preferred writing to holding up a microphone and shoving her way to the front to get the interviewee's attention. It was too forceful, and not the way Jinri liked to do the job.

As the people being interviewed were continuously switched, Jinri tried to catch the names of each and every person, and the important parts of their interviews. But that was the second flaw of being a journalist. Not everything can be written down, swift though one's hands may be. Still, there was no time to waste, and she continued to write, more focused on her notepad and listening to what was being said than the reporters and cameramen pushing her around.

@[D] Choi Jinri Hyesung inwardly groaned at the sight of so many people and opted instead to just shove his way through the crowd, ignoring the rude glares and words sent his way. It wasn't like he was hurting anyway, he was avoiding touching them unless he needed to squeeze through. Why was a murder so interesting anyways? So someone died, big deal. Maybe it was because it was such a grand hotel, or the fact that it was such a prestigious person (as he heard when he passed by some reporters muttering to themselves). Sighing in relief and annoyance as he finally reached the front, Hyesung found himself standing next to reporters with cameras and microphones, going over the incident for the news.

That was one reason Hyesung was glad being a journalist instead of a reporter, so he wouldn't have to scamper around and come up with words at the top of his head to sputter into the microphone every now and then.

Looking down at his empty notepad, he frowned, knowing he had to put something down on paper. Hearing the reporter starting to interview someone, he listened carefully, clearly hearing what they were saying back and forth, and jotting it all down on his notepad. It wasn't enough though. No, he needed to interview that man who just walked away from the camera, the one who the reporter only got bits and pieces from for the television. Hyesung, set somehow on getting a more in depth story, moved through the crowd and starting following the man, before he finally noticed another journalist there, in the midst of all the reporters.

@[D] Shin Hyesung her ice cream cone, Jinri made her way towards Claridge's Hotel for her next job. She was slowly getting irritated at the stories she was sent to write about, but it wasn't anything some ice cream couldn't take care of. Granted, perhaps ice cream wasn't the best choice for breakfast, she thought as she saw the strange looks fellow pedestrians sent her. But she shrugged them off and continued on her way.

Her first reaction upon reaching the hotel was to gape and stare in awe, much like a naive idiot. Though, who could blame the young woman? The gray skies and gloomy clouds did not take away from the grandeur of the hotel she was to stay at. Or, perhaps it was grand only in the eyes of Jinri, for no one else seemed to find much interest in the architect of the building. And again, the young journalist was reminded of her purpose at the hotel.

Pulling out a small notepad from her trusty, now worn cross body bag, she entered the hotel and was greeted with the sight of many reporters from various companies, all ready to jot down notes on the event that happened mere hours before. Though slightly intimated, Jinri strode in confidently as she finished the last of her ice cream cone.

@[D] Choi Jinri London. A very boring place if you asked Hyesung. Of course others would tell you tales about how marvelous it was, even romantic, but he found none of that walking the dull, grimy London streets with his notepad and a small muffin he had grabbed from the shop down the street. He was currently walking towards Claridge's Hotel, which he was staying at, but just hadn't checked in yet. It wouldn't be worth his time if he didn't get a story first. The good thing was, the hotel did have story, which provided the reason for him walking there now.

He finished off his muffin, frowning as if he felt he ate to much. Hyesung never ate much of anything actually, it was a miracle to even see him with something remotely edible in his hands. He neither had the time, motivation, nor will power to eat, added on with the fact that he felt he needed to eat less, when in reality he needed to eat more. Shrugging it off though, he flipped open his notepad as he finally entered the hotel, ready to start off the day.

( THIS IS FOR JONGSUK )


Keeping it real here but Kyungsoo thinks London is not that that wonderful as so many tourists seem to believe. London's sky is a vast blanket of grey, grey, and grey which isn't a pretty sight to see if you hail from Seoul where the skyline is brilliant especially at night. The streets of London are always crowded with all kinds of people ranging from locals to tourists. The London Underground is such a fast-paced environment that Kyungsoo frequently misses his trains. It is also home to many majestic and magnificent tourist attractions such as Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, and the Westminster Bridge which are all very amazing to see in real life but the major problem is that they successfully have managed to lure about ten million human beings from all parts of the globe into the city. Do Kyungsoo absolutely abhors humanity and because London is such a fantastic place to visit for a vacation, many people end visiting the brilliant city. This is why Kyungsoo prefers to stay locked up in a hotel room far away from humanity because he firmly believes that he really does not need that sort of negative influence in his mediocre life. So that is exactly what he does this very fine day.

With the unappreciated company of self-proclaimed 'best friend', Lee Jongsuk. To be fair though, it is probably the other way around as Kyungsoo is the one who boldly declares their 'true BEST-friendship of hatred, love and disgusting conversations about _____ion, wait, woah, who said that' on the top of his lungs as he holds Jongsuk's hands as they run together through the green meadows towards the nyan-cat-produced-rainbow at the end of the meadow. After all, out of the pair, Jongsuk is the one known for being the flower boy type, the type who would win every single girl's heart within a bloody heartbeat, the type who would effortlessly ace all classes consistently without studying, the type who would be damn good at all sports. Consequently, for the first two years of his terrible high school life, Kyungsoo labelled the guy as 'Mr. Perfect' and held a passionate abhorrence born out of envy and hatred (then again, Kyungsoo practically hated seven-eighths of the school population, so really, it was no surprise). Kyungsoo snorts at the sudden flashbacks he gets because ha ha ha, Jongsuk still has no idea of this previous passionate abhorrence but ha ha ha who needs to know anyways. Kyungsoo is a firm believer in the sayings 'ignorance is bliss' and 'the past is the past'.

So here they are, chilling like cool, normal people do in a hotel room playing an intense game of Monopoly. "OH MY GOD, YOU'RE ONE MOVE AWAY FROM MAYFAIR SO IT BECAUSE YOU CAN'T ROLL A ONE IN WITH TWO DICE," Kyungsoo shouts, vigorously waving his colourful tiny stack of Monopoly money in the air. "MAYBE NEXT TIME, LOSER, MAYBE NEXT TIME." Kyungsoo's exuberant laughter causes him to choke on air so for two whole minutes Kyungsoo finds himself violently slapping his chest.