On the worn-out table sat three individuals across from each other in utter silence, each individual delving into their own thoughts. Seung-Ho lounged on the left side of the table, leaning fully back on his chair, Min-Joon occupied the middle front of the table, swinging his chair playfully, while Kim Min-Soo sat diligently reading the book.

“Why am I still in this club? I thought you would have taken me out after what happened last year with my ex”, Seung-Ho said as he crossed his arms questioningly.

“If there are more than 5 members then you can leave and I’ll let you happily”, replied Min-Joon instantly as he locked eyes with Seung-ho, staring him down. 

“Basically, I can’t ever leave”, Seung-ho retorted bluntly.

Min-Joon turned to him squinting his eyes and nodded. Even he acknowledged the harsh reality of this club, if he hadn’t forced Seung-ho to join the club then it would’ve been disbanded a while ago. All the members are lazy, Seung-ho only ever works on his assignments and the other geek makes weird jokes…

“Min-Joon, what are you going to do about the situation with Ji-Won and how are you going to explain the 3 members of the club?”, Seung-ho asked, concern furrowing his brow.

Min-Joon cursed his luck internally, since one problem ended the other came. Last year, when the club was founded, he had desperately gathered five members for the club but this year two of them graduated leaving empty spots in the club. Now with Ji-Won joining, they still had one more person to find. 

Which was the reason for the tense air lingering within the cramped room.

A loud thud resounded in the room as Min-Joon slammed his hand against the table. “We got this! We survived last year! Fighting!”, Min-Joon said wincing at his throbbing hand.

“Calm down, what’s with the sudden yelling?”, Seung-ho asked taken aback.

“It’s not bad to hope, since in this club I get to complete my assignment so it’s beneficial”, he explained nonchalantly pulling out his laptop.

“There he goes again with the laptop and working, this is supposed to be a Comedy club. We practice comedy and the art to make people laugh. Doing such work you're being disrespectful to the art”, Min-Soo, the resident geek with glasses chimed in disapprovingly.

“Yeah…yeah”, Seung-ho replied, brushing off the comment and continuing typing.

“Hyung, tell me if I’m wrong”, Min-Soo defended himself, noticing the obvious attitude.

“You’re certainly not wrong but…Seung-ho is allowed to do as he pleases. Our club's rules are that we do what we like, and the club can be used as a hanging spot”, Min-Joon explained, stroking his chin with an air of wisdom.

“But we don’t even have rules for this published…”, Min-Soo muttered under his breath.

As the discussion continued between them, the doorknob twisted, and a figure entered as the door swung open.

The trio glanced at the door in anticipation hoping for who they’d thought would come.

Min-Joon’s eyes lit up as he spotted the familiar figure approaching. With a quick dash to the side, he welcomed her inside. JI-Won had entered the club and scanning the surroundings found, it wasn’t as bad as anticipated. The comedy club had made an impression on her because of the peculiar décor, but she would love to add 2 to 3 elements within.

“Welcome! To the new chapter for the comedy club!”, Min-Joon declared raising a hypothetical glass in cheer, as Ji-won took her seat at the end of the table.

Just glancing at Ji-Won, Min-Joon couldn’t help but be flustered by her beauty, for some reason, his energy seemed to spike the moment she entered. 

“Wait…where’d the 5^th member go?”, said Seung-ho engrossed in his laptop.

Min-Joon scrunched up his face in disgust upon hearing Seung-ho’s comment infront of his sweetheart. Min-Soo chuckled at their reaction also glancing at Ji-Won who remained expressionless. Min Soo wondered how Min-Joon had convinced her to join the seemingly doomed Comedy Club. Even he knew that this club was doomed but suddenly such a beauty joined. Something fishy is definitely happening between them. As always, Seung-ho remained oblivious lost in his own thoughts.

Sensing the tension lingering between the three members of the club in front of Ji-Won, she couldn’t help but doubt her decision for choosing to join the club. At the moment, the offer was quite tempting especially since she doubted her skills. If Min-Joon couldn’t fulfill his part of the deal then there was no need to waste either of their time. 

“If you guys are looking for someone to join the club, I know someone who can”, Ji-Won said breaking the silence.

The trio asked simultaneously, “Who?”.

Soon after, they all stood outside the room gazing out the hallway. Ji-Won taking the lead walked into the hallway and turned her head toward where she had entered the club room a few minutes ago. “I know you’re there, come out”, she called out. 

The three whispered amongst themselves behind her, surprised their new member talked to ghosts. Min-Soo couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of Ji-Won being close to such extraterrestrial life. But he also had a doubt she was close to these things since she exuded such an intimidating aura, different from many girls. 

The trio couldn’t help but doubt her. Their reactions didn’t go unnoticed by Ji-Won, she could hear all the whispers they were discussing behind her back. Pissed off Ji-Won yelled louder than ever, clenching her hand, “If you don’t come out now then I’ll report to the police that you’re stalking me”.

Within the hallway, behind the pillar, a figure appeared instantly as if the threat had worked. A girl with doe-like hazel eyes and a petite figure wearing floral clothes walked towards them. “I think I’ve seen her in class before”, the trio exclaimed recognizing the girl. 

Min-Joon’s jaw fell to the floor, as he just found out someone was stalking his sweetheart and a girl at that! “Let’s go inside, and she is our 5^th member”, Ji-Won said pointing at Mi-ra as she walked back inside the room.

The trio holding their own opinions, reluctantly followed Ji-Won back inside.

Back in the dimly lit comedy club meeting room, everyone sat on the table each taking their seat. Mi-ra, hesitant and out of her element, scanned the room with curiosity, unsure of how she found herself in this situation.

A few days prior, Mi ra had decided that she had to be friends with Ji-Won. Since she wasn’t an easy person to talk to, she resorted to following her for a few days until she found something in common. Though before she found any common interests, Ji-Won found her stalking. It was embarrassing sure but this way Mi-ra’s presence will be etched into Ji-Won’s memory. 

At the moment, all the eyes were fixed on Mi-ra. Everyone had some suspicions about her except Ji-Won and surprisingly Min-Soo, who googly-eyed stared at her conflicted on how to approach her. Seung-ho had no opinion, he couldn't care less what happened in there and Min-Joon however was the opposite, he saw nothing in particular to benefit from Mi-ra, but they needed the numbers. “What is your name again?”, he asked.

“Mi-ra”, she responded, her tone betraying a hint of nervousness. 

“Mi-ra, welcome to the club!”, Min-Joon declared enthusiastically, sliding her the application.

Mi-ra had no problems with filling the application out since Ji-Won unnie had joined as well. Taking no more than a few seconds, she filled the application out and passed it back to him. During the process, Ji-won remained stoic as usual, and Min-Soo’s eyes sparkled with the anticipation of talking to her.

As soon as Min-Joon confirmed the five clad members of the club he grinned from ear to ear and rose up announcing capturing the attention of everyone within the room, “Today marks the start of the comedy club!”. 

Seung-ho nodded agreeing with the enthusiastic Min-Joon and Min-Soo held sparkles in his eyes as he finally had a chance to show the world his talent. Ji-Won remained expressionless while Mi-ra smiled clapping for the club. 

Min-Joon, with his charming smilе and a glint of mischiеf in his еyеs, lockеd gazе with Ji-Won. "By thе way, why don't you smilе?" hе askеd, trying to coax a grin from hеr.

Ji-Won straightforwardly replied, “Maybe because I’m not happy enough, what’s the point of uselessly smiling unless a great thing has been achieved? And sorry, but this club forming is not something to celebrate. The thing to celebrate is going to be when you tell me how we’re going to proceed with the deal”.

Min-Joon couldn’t fathom why she found it daunting to crack a smile, such a simple task. He wondered what caused her to be so strict. The next second when he heard Ji-Won asking about the deal, he flinched bracing himself for what was coming next, he knew this wasn’t going to end well. 

Seung-ho smirked as he glared at Min-Joon, whose expression faltered. “About the deal…”, he began cautiously, taking a seat and facing Ji-Won. “…I will meet my uncle tomorrow the one I told you about and get back to you”, he added.

Ji-Won nodded, her focus shifting to the task at hand, “What do I need to do around here?”.

“Be the leader and lead the club to further heights!”, Min-Joon declared dramatically. 

Ji-Won, with a deadpan expression, asked, “Then can I ask what a comedy club does exactly?”. This triggered Min-Soo and Seung-ho to break into laughter, their amusement echoing through the room.

“I will explain later but for now, I shall announce the future plans for the club and sadly declare my position change”, Min-Joon proclaimed. “The leader position will be given to Ji-Won”.

“Go Ji-won unnie!”, clapped Mi-ra cheering for her.

Ji-won reluctantly accepted the position, having to complete her half of the deal. Then the club's future plans were discussed. 

“We have a gig tomorrow! At the café”, Min-Joon announced dropping the sudden bomb and shocking the members. “Calm down, what I mean is that only us comedians who want to perform will go to the stage. For this club I think only Min-soo and I are going to be performing”.

“Good luck, bro”, Seung-ho replied with a thumbs-up.

Min-Joon sighed having only two comedians, but it was better than nothing. The group settled, knowing what lay ahead in the future and Ji-Won then took the charge, suggesting improvements for the club and requesting a few boxing items for her personal touch. 

As Min-Joon observed Ji-Won’s dedication to the club, he couldn’t help smiling affectionately. Recalling that she had a hard time laughing and her stern demeanor, Min-Joon made a promise to himself that he would make her laugh with his jokes in the café tomorrow.

Seung-ho sighed seeing the lovey-dovey Min-Joon, it’s been a while since he saw him like this after his ex-girlfriend. It was a messy and tough break up but thankfully they broke up since every other day they were at each other’s throats.