It was the day of national music competitions. Many music students, who were studying instruments, singing or dancing gathered at several places, music halls, where their competition took place. But not only students and judges were there, also a lot of press and journalists came to report about the competitions and the results, because the first three winners always used to get prize money. Most of the students wanted to get that prize and all of them were students of well-known Korean music academies. As usual there was huge pressure on everyone, so the tough atmospheres at the students’ waiting rooms were sensible.
Seokjin was sitting at the waiting room. He was holding one of his shoes in his hands, he was about to reorganize his laces but he dreamed off. He was thinking of Jungkook. He liked him so much but he accepted that the younger one won't like him back for more than a friend since Jungkook had only eyes for Taehyung. "Jungkookie...", he mumbled quietly to himself, "All the time I was looking at you, but you were full of love for Taehyung-ssi only."
Suddenly Seokjin looked up. Nobody heard him talking to himself and he sighed in relief. "Concentrate", he talked to himself, "I must concentrate and have to return to my normal cool self." He put his shoe aside and took a look on his notes. "I'll be fine. I've practiced very hard for today. I need my laces to be perfect..." Then he remembered that he didn't finish his laces. He quickly returned to put the laces in his shoes. They should fit well otherwise Jin had troubles to dance well.
"Next person, Kim Seokjin-ssi", an official said loudly. Seokjin looked shortly at the man and returned to finish his shoes. But he got nervous and his laces ripped. "Kim Seokjin-ssi, hurry up, please!"

At the same time Jimin had finished his competition already. He had taken place at a different competition than Seokjin. At his competition the winner got a scholarship for Julliard music academy in New York. For this competition Jimin was the odds-on favorite participant. But unlike all expectations Jimin didn't won the first place. 
He was standing at the entrance hall, leaning against the wall, holding his neck, while a bulk of reporters asked him questions and wanted to interview him. "Congratulations, Park Jimin-ssi", a reporter talked, "How do you feel about winning second place in hip hop dancing?"
"Second... place...", Jimin mumbled to himself.
"Jimin!", Yoongi suddenly appeared and pushed the reporters away to pull Jimin out of the crowded bulk. He dragged him away from the others and looked worried at Jimin. "What's wrong with your neck?"
"This is the first time I get a stiff neck while dancing", Jimin said with a thin voice, "I barely can move. Why today? Why?"
Suddenly a reporter mentioned a name when an American man appeared and a murmur went through the bulk of people. Jimin's eyes grew big when he heard the name and turned slowly around, still holding his neck, which was still in pain. The man walked straight to Jimin, who bowed deeply to the man. "Professor..."
"Congratulations", the man said, but his voice was kind of cold, "But I thought that you'd surely win first place." Then the man sighed and turned around, leaving again and the reporters used their chances to question him again, while Yoongi just watched him, because he didn't know what he should do.

Taehyung was sitting in front of his laptop, checking the news about the competitions. He saw Jihwan's photo at first, he won first place of one of the competitions. Taehyung kept scrolling down to see more results. "What?", he suddenly noticed something, he hadn't expected, "Jimin in second place?" The photo showed an unhappy Jimin, who forced a small smile on his lips but Taehyung could see that there was no happiness on his facial expression. Then he kept looking and noticed something else. "Eh... Seokjin isn't even listed..."
"Ah, Jin hyung?", Jungkook asked when he sat down next to Taehyung and handed him a bowl with rice and fried vegetables, "I saw him the other day."
"What did you do to Seokjin-ssi?"
"What did I do...", Jungkook repeated and looked down pouting, "I just asked him for advice about my love problems..." Taehyung nodded lightly and looked back on the screen of his laptop. When Jungkook noticed it, he turned to the older one and smiled. "Don't worry, I didn't cheat on you", he said happily but Taehyung just gave him a blank expression, "If you are so worried about me, why don't you chain me up?"

It was late. The sun had set already and Jimin was sitting on a bench in a quiet park. He didn't feel like talking much. He was disappointed about himself and unable to believe that he really failed the competition. 
Since Yoongi picked Jimin up at the competition hall, he hadn't left Jimin. He was so depressed and down and Yoongi wanted to cheer the other one up again. "Hey, Jimin. Here you go", Yoongi said and handed the other one a can of coffee, but Jimin just looked down, trying to hide his tearing eyes.
"I...", Jimin sighed, "I can't possible face my teacher or Taehyung-ssi..." Yoongi sat down next to Jimin on the bench and looked ahead. "Even though I'm the crew leader, even though I practiced so hard and took a break from the dance crew..."
"I don't know what your teacher is like", Yoongi interrupted him, "But Taehyung won't desert a friend because of one failure." Jimin looked at Yoongi, who gave him a confident smile. "I'm sure of it since I'm his best friend, believe me, he's your friend as well, he still believes in you, that won't change." Now Jimin couldn't help but let the tears roll over his cheeks. Yoongi smiled and pulled Jimin close to him, so that he could rest his head on Yoongi's shoulder. "Hey Minnie, don't cry!"

Jimin didn't know how he ended up in a hotel nearby. He sat in the bed, , covered his body with the blanket and a cigarette in his fingers. Jimin was thinking about what happened to today. Yoongi was treating him nicely, cheered him up and then Jimin couldn't help but kiss him. Their kiss bought them into the hotel, having ual . "I'm an amateur...", Jimin whispered to himself, being extremely quietly because I didn't want to wake up Yoongi, who laid next to him, sleeping tightly. "This wasn't my real performance... I want to go up on the stage once more... next time, no matter what... in Rising Star, no matter what I will give my real performance!"

On the next day Taehyung rushed to the rehearsal room in the very early morning. It was the day of the rehearsal resume. Also Taehyung swore himself that he will do his best performance as possible. He knew that he had to encourage some of the members after the competitions again, but he would do all he could.
They practiced the second piece and Taehyung was back being strict to everyone. "In the background you still need to emphasize your moves!", he shouted over the music so everyone could hear him, "Take the two moves smoothly as one! STOP!" The music stopped and the members exchanged looks, most of them hadn't experienced the angry and strict Taehyung yet. "Guys, is that good enough? Listen to the surrounding sounds too" He looked angrily through the group and faced one of the hip hop dance groups. "Just this group. From the middle", Taehyung ordered and watched them dance, "No! Outta sync! Once more!"
"What happened to Taehyung-ssi?", Wonjoon asked shocked.
"Devil Taehyung...", Yoongi whispered.
"He's back!", Namjoon squealed happily to himself and also Hoseok couldn't help but smile about seeing the strict Taehyung again.
Taehyung turned to the main hip hop group, where Jimin and Yoongi were part of. "You guys! On the fifth beat from the middle, connect the moves, that it’s smooth. I want more expression. Don't just follow the notes! You are not soloists, so look at everyone else around! Think about the meaning of each move and express it with your full body!" Some members nodded in agreement. "Alright, once more from the middle!"
Jungkook was sitting on a chair in a corner of the room, watching the rehearsal as he suddenly remembered Jiyong's words, that he couldn't be with Taehyung when things keep standing like they do at the moment. He looked closely at Taehyung, who was totally into choreographing and directing the crew through the piece. His look wandered from Taehyung to his bag, where the piano scores were in, which his teacher gave him. He should have prepared them, but yet Jungkook didn't do anything for it, because he wasn't sure what he should do.

After the rehearsal had ended some members still gathered in the room. Jihwan sat down between some of his friends. "I can't believe this! Five hours straight without a break", he sighed and let himself fell backwards on his back.
"Is that Taehyung-ssi?", Wonjoon asked tired.
Suddenly Jimin started to laugh. "Korea is big after all", he said and everyone else was looking confused at their leader, "I kind of know what Taehyung-ssi wants to do. It's getting interesting."
"Just performing as usual is not enough", Seokjin spoke, who was reading over his notes, "We are not up to his speed at all."
"Jin is back being the samurai", Namjoon mentioned while watching the other one closely.
Suddenly the door opened and Yoongi jumped in. "The advertisement is done!"
"Advertisement?", Jimin looked confused at his boyfriend, who came to him and handed him a music newspaper. Yoongi opened a page, where a huge picture of Taehyung, Jimin, Jin and other members were on. It reported about their upcoming performance at the Seoul city music hall.
"Ehh?" A murmur went through the group and everyone couldn't believe their eyes. Neither had they expected that Yoongi would organize something like this without telling anyone. 
"What's that?", Wonjoon asked and looked over the poster.
"The orient's bright red ruby...", Jimin read the lines under his picture, then he looked at Yoongi, who grinned brightly and nodded to him proudly.
"The young lord of music, Kim Taehyung", Namjoon read out loud the lines about their choreographer, "It suits him well."
"Korea's leading young performers brought together", Hoseok read and laughed happily.
"It's a bit exaggerated, but we have competition winners and Taehyung is Kwon Jiwon's only pupil. So, it had a big impact", Yoongi explained
"Shall we practice now?", Seokjin asked and everyone agreed to him.
"Yes, let's practice! Practice!", everyone shouted in choir and they returned to their spots, starting to practice by themselves.

Jungkook was sitting on the ground, making rice cakes, while watching TV. Taehyung sat on the sofa behind him, sleeping. But suddenly he grabbed Jungkook's upper arm, giving the younger one a huge fright. "Whoa! You scared me! S-S-Seonbae, what's wrong with you?", Jungkook asked worried, while Taehyung was staring at him, breathing quickly, "You look so pale."
"Dream... That dream again...", Taehyung whispered, "Recently, I've been having strange dreams."
"Strange dreams?"
"Probably about airplanes...", Taehyung talked and sat back normally on the sofa, while Jungkook turned to him, to face the older one directly, "As you already know, I can't go on airplanes. Ten years ago, a flight back from Europe made an emergency landing. Since then, I've been afraid to fly. Although I haven't thought about it for a while, lately, I've been having nightmares often. And there's something I don't understand... What was that, I wonder... Damn it!"
"Seonbae, is aviatophobia incureable?", Jungkook asked.
"I've received various treatments like psychosomatic medicines and hypnotherapy, but they couldn't hypnotize me. It seems that I have a strong guard. I've also tried a medicine man, a psychic, everything available."
Suddenly Jungkook remembered the pocket watch, which Jiyong gave him before he left. Wouldn't he be able to hypnotize Taehyung with it? "Seonbae", he pulled the watch out of his bag, "Have you ever tried this with a magic watch? I've seen it in movies." He started to swing the watch in front of Taehyung's face. "You're getting sleepy", Jungkook mumbled.
"Silly!", Taehyung said and his eyes where following the watch, "That's the 'fixed-gaze method'. I've already tried it with a pen-light."
"I see, you've done it before...", Jungkook talked and kept swinging the watch, "But how about a watch?"
"If such a thing works, I wouldn't have...", Taehyung mumbled and suddenly fell asleep.
Jungkook's eyes became round. Was Taehyung teasing him or was Jungkook really able to hypnotize the other one? He laid the watch aside and didn't know what to do. "Seonbae? Please wake up!" Jungkook patted Taehyung's knee but he didn't show any reaction. "What should I do?", Jungkook talked to himself starting to panic. Jungkook looked around, he needed an idea to wake up Taehyung again. "Wake up!", he shouted and clapped his hands once loudly.
Taehyung woke up. "...suffered so much", he ended his sentence like nothing happened.
Jungkook wasn't sure if Taehyung had just tricked him. He took the watch again, starting to swing it in front of Taehyung's face once more. 
"You are getting sleepy... getting sleepy...", Jungkook said and observed how Taehyung slowly fell asleep again. When Taehyung was totally off, Jungkook looked at the watch. Maybe he was able to help Taehyung with this, so the older one was finally able to fly again. Then he would be able to go abroad again, then Taehyung was able to follow his dreams again. But if Taehyung would go abroad, what would happen with him? Jungkook didn't want to be apart from Taehyung and he wasn't sure if he was able to be with him the way he wanted to be. Could he really help Taehyung now?