"Why is there a chessboard in here??" demanded Sunny the second he walked in, distastefully ogling the game pieces scattered on the table.

"It's not a chess board," insisted Skip.

Sunny looked at him as if he had just turned into a toaster oven. Skip backpedaled immediately. "Ok, it's a chess board, but it's got nothing to do with playing chess."

Evidently not quite believing this, Sunny scoffed and threw his black bag onto his chair. Today he was wearing a black beret with the interesting combination of an extremely long black T shirt that seemed to be held together exclusively by safety pins. "It's a chess set! Its only purpose is to literally play chess!" he said in anguish. "You know I refuse to be here if you're going to use me to play chess—"

"Ironically," said Won Do, who was sketching something on one of his notebooks and had looked up at Sunny's sudden shadow, "you look as if someone would literally use you to play chess. What are you supposed to be, a pawn?"

Sunny immediately protested. "What makes you think I'd be a pawn? Out of all the interesting chess pieces, you choose a pawn? Why can't I be a bishop or something?"

"You want to head a religious institution?" said Deulgi, who had just walked in. He was trailed by Hyeonmi, who was inexplicably staring through Deulgi's signature binoculars.

"I'm talking about the game of chess," said Sunny hotly. "Skip appears to be trying to get people to play chess—"

"It's for decoration," said Skip exasperatedly.

"Did you buy this from the literal street??" asked Daisy, coming up and looking at the pieces, which were obviously made of plastic. "Bro, the quality is a bit.."

Sunny immediately leaned over the table and started picking up the pieces. "These aren't even the right size," he groaned. "According to the International Chess Federation standards, the king has to be 9.5 centimeters, and the base should be 40-50% of the piece's height— this is—"

Won Do leapt up immediately. "Bro, bro, my thumb is exactly 5 centimeters," he said, shoving a thumbs up into Sunny's face. "Use this."

"Ya, you think I can subtract 5 from 9.5 with my eyes??" said Sunny, putting down the piece with incredulity. "Do my eyes look like rulers?"

Hyeonmi exploded with laughter from his seat at the other end of the table where he had been trying to hang his grey hoodie on the back of his chair without getting up.

Won Do leaned closer and regarded Sunny critically as if he was trying to come to a conclusion about whether or not his eyes looked like they could instantly measure numbers. He ended up bursting into laughter and collapsing into his seat.

"What?? What??" exclaimed Sunny, now extremely riled up. "What is the matte—"

"Your face," said Won Do, briefly closing his eyes as if it was all just too much to bear. "It's funnier up close."

Daisy cackled with laughter. "Really??? Let me try." He too leaned up to Sunny and stared at him intensely, promptly bursting into hysterical laughter.

Sunny sighed desolately and continued airing his grievances over the chess pieces. "This pawn is literally deformed."

"Bro," said Skip. "Bro, for someone who hates chess, you know a lot about the International Chess Federation."

"Are you secretly in love with chess?" asked Pideulgi, who was always interested in these types of storylines.

"Hey, hey, romance and chess are both banned," he cried indignantly, jabbing the table with his finger for emphasis.

"You love me, though, right?" asked Daisy, folding his arms and making an expression that was probably supposed to be both cute and threatening.

"Of course," he said dully, as he had been cursed since birth. Satisfied, Daisy continued looking through his bag, which was this time a crossbody pouch made of faded denim.

The door opened again and Jjim finally walked in, though as soon as he did, he locked the door and anxiously peered out the little window into the hallway. His silhouette was a bit odd, though, and the reason became evident as soon as he turned around.

Daisy started losing it. "Bro," he said, laughing. "Bro—"

"Very nice," said Skip with complete insincerity.

"I had a dream about an alien that looked like that," said Pideulgi seriously, "It came to earth to plant corn."

Hyeonmi had returned to high-pitched and poorly-suppressed laughing, which he seemed to do every time Deulgi opened his mouth. Meanwhile, Won Do, who hadn't managed to utter a single word since Jjim's spectacular entrance, was still simply pointing and wheezing, since every time Jjim moved, fluffy pink antennae on his head bobbed around like the head ornaments of some exotic bird.

Sunny, who apparently was more concerned about the door-locking itself, said "What is this, jail?"

"Yeah, I got arrested for breaking people's hearts," said Jjim, shooting two finger hearts at Sunny. Sunny promptly mimed having an intense migraine.

"Did you really go to class like that??" said Skip, somewhat impressed, now that everyone had gotten a good look at Jjim's interesting choice of headwear.

"Yes," said Jjim stoutly. "And I don't care what anyone says, I'm still handsome," he added, as if daring anyone to say otherwise. Despite his pouting face and the aforementioned fluffy pink antennae, this was, in fact, still the case. He simply looked like perhaps he was shooting a commercial or was doing some kind of cute photoshoot.

"Of course you're still handsome," sighed Skip, his gaze briefly rolling up to the ceiling. He appeared to be looking for some kind of proof up there to satisfy him so he wouldn't have to repeat this daily. "Are you trying to get people to stop asking you to date them?"

"Correct," trumpeted Jjim. "If people are confused, then maybe they'll stop asking me to go with them to dinner—"

"What's wrong with dinner?" asked Hyeonmi, who evidently could not find the problem with this scenario.

Jjim spun around, his pink antennae undulating wildly. "Do you know how bothersome it is to have to head off people who, halfway through eating aglio e olio, decide to mention that you'd make a great husband???"

Sunny choked on his dilute iced americano. "They say that??"

Hyeonmi, who was a bit alarmed at this revelation, replied, "I have never heard that in my entire life."

Jjim sighed. "It's my face—"

"You'd make a great husband," said Pideulgi reassuringly, patting Hyeonmi on the chin for emphasis.

"Is it working at all?" asked Daisy with interest, who had spun around in his chair to appraise the situation. "Because to be honest, you look the same."

"Wouldn't people be embarrassed to ask someone out to dinner if they look like an alien?" insisted Jjim.

"I'd have dinner with an alien," piped up Deulgi. "I'll ask them if they ever heard of corn—"

"The differing oxygen levels in neighboring planets—" started Skip, vaguely gesturing to what presumably were neighboring planets with his hands.

"I suddenly want to eat corn," announced Hyeonmi.

"It might be more effective for you to just shave your head and become a monk," observed Sunny.

"If I became a monk, I'd break the world record for 'hottest monk'—" Jjim immediately countered, sending everyone into a fit of laughter.

"'World's Hottest Monk??'" laughed Daisy, imagining the headlines.

"But then you can tell people it's against your ideology to be bound in marriage because it disrupts your ascent to inner peace—" pointed out Sunny, who evidently was also familiar with the path to monkhood.

"They're vegetarian, though," Won Do pointed out.

"Would you rather eat meat, but get constant marriage proposals, or not eat meat, but live a peaceful life?" asked Hyeonmi interestedly.

"If I could live without meat, I'd be at a monastery already," moaned Jjim, as if his handsomeness was a terminal disease.

"If you change your mind, take this guy here," said Sunny, pointing at Won Do. "His hair is going to fall out at this rate anyways—"

Won Do got up to pretend to punch Sunny in the jaw, the latter of which fended him off by flapping his arm as if he was a whiff of weird air.

"You literally bleached your hair," said Won Do accusingly, pointing to the bits of flaxen hair that were still poking out from under the beret. "You're coming to the monastery too—"

"Well I don't re-dye it every week—" Sunny started.

"—month!!" shot back Won Do, deeply offended.

"Did the delivery guy get lost?" asked Hyeonmi suddenly, realizing that their usual spread of food had not been brought in by the besieged Jjim.

"I haven't gotten any notification," said Jjim, who as usual had been in charge of ordering the menu. He checked his phone again.

"What is it again?" asked Deulgi, yawning slightly, "I'm hungry."

"Jjajangmyeon," answered Skip. "It was in the group chat."

"Daisy is the only one who answered other than you," said Jjim, his eyes still glued to his phone. Suddenly, the phone dinged. "It's here, but I refuse to go down there," he declared. "What if the delivery guy asks for my number—"

"He has your number," said Sunny, with intense consternation, "How do you think you got that message to begin with??"

"Ah.. indeed," said Jjim, suddenly realizing and laughing at himself. Suddenly suspicious again, he added, "All the same, what if he brought a friend in the backseat?"

"You think the delivery guy's bringing friends??" said Hyeonmi, "This guy— He's not dropping off your food on the way to a double date—"

"The other food orders in the back asking for Jjim's number—" snickered Won Do.

"If a beef sandwich asked you on a date—" interjected Pideulgi.

"He's embarrassed because he's wearing weird antenna," said Sunny in a monotone.

"Fine, I'll go," said Won Do, offering to help. He pointed at Hyeonmi and Deulgi. "You two had better come too, I'm not sure how much we ordered again."