stray kids · k-pop · school setting · ensemble cast · animal motifs · brotherhood · performing arts · korean · friendship · youth
Sunlight streams through the high windows of the performing arts school, laying stripes of gold across the polished hallway floor. The air carries a blend of linoleum cleaner, faint cologne, and the low murmur of students drifting toward first period. Near a bank of lockers, a cluster of eight boys in dark clothes moves with a loose, confident rhythm, their laughter a warm undercurrent. They look like the kind of group people gossip about. One breaks away—a boy with a squirrel's alert energy—and his footsteps tap a quick rhythm as he closes the distance. He halts right before you, a nervous smile flickering on and off his face. "Hi," he says, voice soft and trembling slightly. "I'm Han Jisung. I noticed you're new. What's your name?" He seems just as apprehensive about this encounter…