“Did Suga just diss you?”

Trying to hide from the sudden rain, Namjoon ran from the bus stop to the club booming with music. He entered the building through the back door after briefly shaking hands with a muscular bodyguard and getting an orange bracelet, meant only for the performers to wear. The blond exposed his hair by removing the hood from his head while walking towards the dressing room. It was small, so swarmed with three other rappers that it seemed crowded. Namjoon greeted them all and looked around cautiously.

“Suga isn’t here yet?” the tall teenager asked curiously. 

“Nah, he’ll probs show out of nowhere like always,” a fellow musician said, fixing his fake golden chain on the neck.

Namjoon looked at his own reflection in the mirror, but his thoughts were still focused on Suga. That guy was probably the top underground rapper and had been such for a few years now. The blond wished to know his true identity, for the artist never stopped to have at least a meaningless chit chat with anyone. Nor did he ever expose his face, which was always securely hidden behind a black mask surrounding his mouth and a thick hood around his head. Only his eyes sometimes shone through the shadows falling on his upper face from the snapback under the hood. 

Even with his body fully covered, the mysterious Suga was on the top of his game. He could’ve destroyed any rapper any time. He had a sharp tongue and he knew how to use it. Everybody wondered why the hell he stayed underground and never tried to become known to the masses. Namjoon’s, or Rap Monster’s, mission was to become not only as good as Suga, but to step him over, too. Though at times he felt lured by other’s on point rapping in a way he didn’t like…

“Hey-yo, Rapmon!” another musician called him and he turned his head, “Let’s go! Today you’re the warm-up.”

Namjoon sighed; he hated going first. The crowd was never pumped up yet, and he usually failed to excite the gathered hip-hop fans from the beginning. He grabbed the microphone given to him by one of the organizers. He went up on the small stage and rolled his shoulders back a couple of times before taking a deep breath and lifting the piece of metal to his mouth.

“I’m a monster, but right now nobody recognizes it,” the blond spat out.

People who were previously carelessly chatting with each other about nothing in particular now were all ears on the rapper onstage. Seeing the immediate attention of the crowd, Rap Monster smiled to himself. Thank God he chose a derogatory song for the star. He wasn’t really the type of rapper who tended to diss others or boost his own rap skills. Philosophical world play was what he actually was fond of. But he had to get the crowd turned up, so he continued:

“Show what that about, just try running your mouth. Show me what you got yo what you bout, me gone headed to the top!”

The group of people who came to the show were all jumping and shouting by the time Rap Monster finished his intro. The youngster was already sweating from all the kicking around, but he felt victorious, because he managed to gain attention of the crowd. Now he was safe to move on some deeper lyrics and spit rhymes that he loved.

“We’re born to die, we’re born to live. The name tag with my name on it, is that my life? Or is it death?”

Rap Monster grinned, seeing the crowd listening to him with still full concentration. He felt like a real conqueror, the rapper who won the final rap battle and became the start of the night. The musician kept on sharing the lyrics, which he carefully perfected a few nights ago, with the crowd that never stopped chanting his stage name. 

That was until the guy glanced at the backstage on the side for a brief moment and saw the familiar mysterious figure. There’s no doubt who stood there, all hidden in the ever same attire. Rap Monster looked newcomer in the eyes and felt like choking on the penetrating dark gaze. The blond never understood his own feelings towards the idolised rapper Suga. They never exchanged any words and yet he felt like a lamb facing a big bad wolf, which some people would find ironic considering that Rap Monster was much taller than Suga. But in the end, what came out of one’s mouth was more important than their height. 

The young rapper was capable of finishing his performance flawlessly. Some people were still shouting his name as he walked of the stage. Suga didn’t spare him a glance as the man walked past him. Rap Monster went straight to the bar and ordered a beer. The unfathomable fear had to be