It was a sunny afternoon, with Athena's big concert only a day away. Seoul had not forgotten about it, for there were many posters and signs of her concert lined up along subways, city streets, and in numerous parks. Of course, Seoul did not forget Rickenbacher either, for many posters of the band (featuring Iori, no less) had made their way into the city as well, almost in tandem with Athena's posters. Sie Kensou noticed such a poster as he sat down on a bench to eat a meatbun that he had just bought. With one bite Kensou immediately threw the bun into a nearby trash can. "Hmph!" said Kensou. "They just don't make meatbuns like they do in China!" Kensou's grumpy mood after nibbling his pseudo–meatbun was just one of many bad experiences during his trip to South Korea two weeks before. Sie had been on the plane with Athena, along with Chin Gensai and Bao, to give her support for her performance. The Psycho Soldiers team had always supported Athena's concerts, but Sie had supported her the most since he secretly loved her. Of course, Athena rarely noticed Kensou's love for her (either that or she just couldn't care less), so at the airport she gave him a coach ticket while she and the rest of the Psycho Soldiers team sat in first class. "Athena, why do you hate me so?" thought Sie out loud. "Oh, well, at least I have my precious. . . ." Sie reached into his denim jacket pocket to pull out an Athena ticket. After looking at his ticket for ten minutes Sie let out a forlorn sigh. "Oh, Athena. I finally have the key to the gateway of your heart. . . . . but why must you torture me so?" Sie was happy about getting a ticket, but nonetheless, he felt as though Athena had jilted him again. "Why didn't she give me a backstage VIP pass for free? I AM a proud member of the Psycho Soldiers team, after all! But she gave Bao AND that old geezer backstage passes instead of me!" Sie thought for a moment on how hard it was to acquire his prize, waiting in line for hours and hours, only to find that he was in line for some store that specialized in selling "pocket monsters". It took two more wrong lines before Sie found the correct one. "It's just not fair!!!" Sie shouted aloud, scaring many parkgoers. After burying his face in his hands and sobbing for several minutes, Sie stood up from his bench and announced to himself: "I'm hungry."

"I'm hungry," said Jhun to himself as he walked along the busy city sidewalks. Unfortunately, all the crazy Iori fangirls had their money well spent by the time he got to them, so Jhun had visited several of his friends and neighbors instead, hoping to rid himself of "the evil" (referring to his Rickenbacher ticket). With everyone Jhun visited, the same answer was given, and every time he was filled with despair at the sound of the words: "No thanks." Since he had spent nearly the entire day searching for people to buy his ticket, Jhun had forgotten to eat lunch. He knew several places where he could eat, but Jhun wasn't in the mood for much of anything in particular. "I just want to eat something so I can get back to searching for willing buyers as soon as possible!" Jhun declared. So Jhun walked along the sidewalks, hoping to find a willing buyer of "the evil" while trying to find something to eat. Soon afterward, Jhun realized that with each failed attempt to sell "the evil", he became more and more hungry. Eventually Jhun just wanted to eat something. "Guh. I can feel my innards wasting away at my own stomach acid. . . .I gotta eat something but I can't tell if I'm near any restaurants that I know about!" Jhun hadn't realized that his trek to sell his ticket had taken him across the entire city. Then it began to rain.

Unbeknownst to Jhun, Sie Kensou was equally as depressed (and hungry) as he was. Sie walked along the rainy busy streets, not noticing the rain but instead thinking to himself. Actually, he was just complaining on how life isn't fair, or how Athena probably won't go out with him, or how the world hates him, blah blah blah blah etc. "I shouldn't have had to go through all that suffering to get a ticket to one of MY teammate's concerts!" he thought. Finally, his hunger overtook all physical control, and Sie ran to the closest convenience store he could find for something vaguely resembling a meatbun.

"I shouldn't have had to go through all that trouble just to get a ticket to a band that I don't even wanna GO to!" thought Jhun as he wandered around for shelter from the rain. Finally he noticed a nearby convenience store across the street. "I'd might as well eat there. . ."

The convenience store, known to all as "SunSun", was empty except for two people. One was rummaging through the freezer, looking for meatbuns. The other simply picked a random package out of a random aisle, hoping it was eel. One man's hunger overcame all sense of depression, while the other's depression overtook his own hunger. Eventually both men ended up sitting on a city bench just outside the store, thankfully covered by the store's overhang. An electronics shop was next door, displaying many TVs at its window. Both men ate their respective foods. The one man tried his best to choke down his unauthentic meatbun, while the other slowly nibbled on his fermented seaweed (he was unlucky about choosing his meal). The two men did not notice each other for the longest time, until ten minutes into this bizarre showcase the TVs nearby began advertising a commercial for Athena's concert for the upcoming day.

Both men's reactions were the same: "It's NOT FAIR!!" they shouted simultaneously on the bench. Their sudden outburst shook them both out of their seat! Finally Jhun noticed the man who stood next to him was none other than Sie Kensou of the China "Psycho Soldiers" team of the KoF tournaments! Likewise, Sie noticed that the man before him was the Tae Kwon Do newcomer for the Korean team, Jhun Hoon! Jhun's voice finally spoke up amidst the pouring rain.

"Going to Athena's concert, huh Sie?"

"Yeah." I guess you're mad about something that has to do with that, Jhun?"

Jhun smiled at Sie's comment. "Hmph." If you insist, I bought the wrong ticket and–"

"Sh! Listen!" Just then the Athena commercial (it was one of those long ones. . .) caught Sie's attention:

"Presenting Athena Asamiya's PSYCHOLoveLove SOUTH KOREAN TOUR, appearing LIVE with RICKENBACHER (featuring IORI YAGAMI) at the Seoul SANGAM WORLD CUP STADIUM!!! Tickets are sold out for this DOUBLE POP CONCERT SHOWCASE!!! Two of Japan's leading music phenomena, ATHENA and IORI will ROCK YOUR WORLD!!! Happening on Sunday at 8 pm!!

That's SUNDAAAAY!!! SUNDAAAAY!!!!

SUUUUNNNDDDAAAAAYYY!!!!!!"

The last "sundaaay!" rang in the ears of both Jhun Hoon and Sie Kensou. "Say, Jhun, Maybe I was overreacting . I mean, I guess I should be thankful that I'm going at all! Oh, sorry if that seemed offensive to you, having the wrong ticket and all. . . .Jhun?" Jhun Hoon maintained a bewildered expression as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his Rickenbacher ticket. Jhun noticed how he always held the ticket so it read "Rickenbacher". Jhun then held the ticket with his right hand covering the "Rickenbacher" logo. As soon as he had done so, Jhun's eyes widened. The other end read "Athena PSYCHOLoveLove Tour".

"This is. . . .this is. . . ." was all that could come out of Jhun's mouth. Sie also took out his ticket and noticed that he was holding it so that he only saw Athena's logo.

"We both saw what we believed. . . ." Sie said.

"Say, Kensou. . ." Jhun started. "Want to come with me to Athena's concert?"

"Sure thing, Jhun! Wait a sec. . . that means. . . . .we still have to put up with Iori's band!"

Both men shuddered at the thought. But, both men were finally going to Athena's concert with no regrets.

HOW WILL THE CONCERT TURN OUT?

TO BE CONTINUED?