Out of Control

The anger that Taehee felt after the MV shooting which was a complete disaster was firmer than anything he had ever felt before in his entire life. It felt like anger from a completely different planet. When he was taking Toby to the hospital, he couldn’t help but curse internally the entire time. He had known he wasn’t made to be a manager! He had known! He had been good in what he was doing before (or maybe not that good but at least it was making him happy and fulfilled the purpose of enabling him a very comfortable life without any kind of worries). But now he had to babysit seven guys that were out of control! Why did he have to be responsible of boys who tried to kill each other?! Oh right… he had been the one choosing them. And he regretted. So much. Taehee wasn’t even a manager for too long but he felt as if he had already aged 15 years within a few weeks.

That wasn’t it, though. Things weren’t solved that easily and Taehee’s anger should last far longer than that. Once the MV was dropped and the group officially was to make their debut on-stage, the worries just piled up to bigger and bigger heaps. The dynamics of the group were ed up ever since the boys were put together and none of them was willing to be cooperative and help Taehee managing to make things actually work. Kangjoon wasn’t anything of help, he was way too occupied by his own priorities and those didn’t include the well-being of the group. For god’s sake the boys should all be more concerned about how the group was doing! But Taehee felt as if he was the only one who really cared about what was happening!

Not only was he the only one who cared about what was happening to the group, he was also the only one who didn’t try to ruin any opportunity to make things better. Those boys were trying to sabotage themselves at any given opportunity! Jongin was the perfect example for that. When the members had to be concerned about surviving themselves, he was acting like a benefactor, taking all the trainees as a kind of charity he had to take care of instead of worrying about his own group. 


Then there were Toby and Sian. Sian who accidentally almost killed Toby and Toby who in response hated Sian to bits. Taehee had his difficulties stopping Toby to attempt killing the maknae who didn’t even seem to worry about anything bad happening to him after messing with the wrong person. Was he really that blind to not see the dangers lying in the depths of the rapper? Sian had that childish naivety, believing that because he was a cute, little maknae, nobody would ever try to harm him. But Taehee knew the half-Korean member way too well to know that he’d let this go. Nobody who dared messing with Tobias Liebenthal was to stay alive for long. Bangtan could tell a thing or two about it.

Sad fact after all was that Bangwon was the only one who didn't cause the manager too much trouble - but said member of the group was isolating himself the entire day, ignoring any of the drama happening around him, completely concentrating on the music he was listening to. Taehee took it as some kind of silent protest.

“… STOP THE CAR!“, Sian yelled through the entire van from the very back and jumped up from his seat. His voice was belting like an alarm and startled each of the occupants in the car. Taehee almost crashed into the car in front of them because of the maknae’s sudden shout-out.

“What?! Why?!“, Taehee yelled back at him, halfway turning around to face little Sian who was climbing over all the seats to get to the front, the other Black Dragon members obviously not amused about his shoes almost smashing into their faces.

“DUDE! GET YOUR TOGETHER, MAN!“, Geunji was scoffing angrily and got held back by Kangjoon so he wasn’t able to grab the maknae and beat him up.

All of them were tensed. They were currently on their way to their very first live stage and Taehee had made Toby sit in the front to not silently strangle Sian when nobody was watching. Nobody knew when the predator would attack, waiting in the darkness for the lenient victim to just enter their direct scope.

“I forgot my phone at home!“, he told Taehee and sounded even a bit whiny. “…and I wanted to call my parents… they wanted to wish me good luck before we perform…“ The desperation in his voice didn’t found any ground on Taehee. He had told them before in the dormitory to not forget anything.

“Then you should have made sure to not forget your phone in the first place! We can’t turn around again, we have to be punctual!“, Taehee turned his plea down and shook his head. He had enough of those kids always bringing up special requests because they couldn’t get a grip on their lives.

Frustratedly Sian crawled back onto his seat in the back, murmuring his complaints, knowing that everyone could hear him. “…but I was sure I put it in my bag…!“



Next to Taehee, Toby was mumbling something that sounded a lot like “Ut sementem feceris, ita metes.“ But who knew what that was supposed to mean. He was sure though, that it had to do with Sian’s phone going missing.

“Oh … did you see all those people outside?“, Geunji asked once they passed by the masses of people outside and entered the Music Bank building. “Like… THE HECK?!“ The newbie of the group was obviously not used to those masses of people watching performances but on a show like Music Bank who expected anything else than people camping in front of the building? This wasn’t even anything compared to the heaps and heaps of fans that had run down the BigHit United concert hall. Crazy BTS ARMYs. Devoted Arora fans. Next time there might even be Black Dragon followers. Who knew?

“I heard there were even more people a few days ago when BTS was here. Gosh, I am glad they don’t perform the same day as us…“, Kangjoon heaved a sigh while stretching his neck. His voice was a bit shaky as they were walking behind Taehee who led them through the floors, accompanied by one of the staffs. The manager listened with amusement and the hint of a frown on his face.

Jongin was checking the different tags outside the rooms rooms they were passing by which revealed some of the artists that would be performing today as well. “Does anyone know who’s performing today? I just read Hyuna on one of the tags. She’s still promoting?“

The boys were exchanging quick glances but nobody really knew who they might meet. Good thing their manager knew the answer to their question. “GOT7 is promoting Hard Carry, TWICE is there with TT, IOI also is around and you’ll share a dressing room with Monsta X. They’re promoting Fighter, I think.“, Taehee told them and looked behind to see the boys’ reactions. A manager had to know all of this. And granted… Cheolmin had basically thrown all the information at Taehee without him even asking for it.

As he was speaking Geunji’s, Kangjoon’s and Sian’s eyes lit up. But in contrast to them Jongin was looking less excited. “So we are having a debut while there are big names all around us? Yay.“ As he mentioned it, it suddenly dawned on the others and their happiness was replaced by a black hole of self-doubt. “If there were one or two bad groups or very new ones we wouldn’t look that bad… but with all those big names… are there even people here for us? There’s just a limited number of fans allowed to enter, I bet the other fanclubs were quicker than our - if we even have one yet.“

Taehee suddenly stopped in front of one of the doors and when he opened it, the seven members of Monsta X were turning around to face them - instead of two of them whose hair and make-up was about to be done.

“You must be Black Dragon!“, one of the boys with a gigantic big smile greeted the Black Dragon members. Taehee was able to recall him as Minhyuk. Kangjoon was quick in giving an answer.

“And you’re Monsta X, right? Pretty dope you produce.“, Kangjoon answered and Taehee was fighting the urge to facepalm. That was not really the way to great sunbaes but how foolish was Taehee not to brief the guys properly before meeting other idol groups. Back at AOMG Kangjoon must have picked up the habit of talking carelessly as one could to others. Not good. Not when talking to the wrong groups. But Minhyuk didn’t seem to take it that bad.

The only ones to properly introduce themselves were Bangwon, Jongin and Toby with Jaekwang copying what the others were doing when he noticed that there was some professionality indicated. And after the brief introduction Taehee caught Toby straight approaching the Monsta X rapper Jooheon while Kangjoon was further diving into a conversation with Minhyuk who was very amused of the way Kangjoon was speaking to him. 



“Hey Taehee-hyung, there is something in the corner addressed to you.“, Jaekwang distracted the manager who shortly blinked at the visual and then followed him to two big packages that were placed in front of the make-up table that was set up for the group. 



“What’s this…?“ Without hesitating just a second Taehee opened the first one of the boxes. There were a bunch of blue suits and shoes in it, accompanied by a little letter he read out loud. “Congratulation to your debut. A little gift and wishing you lots of luck. - Bang Sihyuk“

Jaekwang was already getting the suits out of the packaging, his whole face lightening up in excitement when he touched the fancy looking fabric of the suits. And the delight was unstoppable when he get out the first pair of shoes. “THE CEO DOESN’T HATE US!“, he blurted out with the Monsta X members looking over at him with confused faces.

“Er…“, Taehee drew closer to him and tried to discretely point out that he had to stay quiet about those issues around other groups, “…of course he doesn’t! Why should he hate one of his groups?“

The visual was about to answer but Kangjoon cut him off, abandoning Minhyuk in the middle of his sentence, the Monsta X member following Kangjoon with his eyes and a dropped jar when he simply walked away from him. “They look great. But we never danced in suits before… that won’t affect our performance, will it?“ His eyes wandered through the room and the others returned his look with a shrug. Learning by doing… that wasn’t the best strategy but the only one they had.

“You really want to turn down a present given by the CEO?“, Bangwon suddenly asked him with raised eyebrows. Not only was it the first time that the producer of the group was speaking, his words also alarmed Taehee instantly.



“Can’t be that different. And I’m pretty sure you’ll still manage.“, the manager reassured them. With all that had already happened to the group… how bad could it still go? There was nothing that Taehee could imagine that was worse than the conditions the group was already working under. His thoughts were more than verified when the boys started getting ready and Jaekwang had to fix the others’ hair and make-up with the other group’s members watching them.

“You don’t have a stylist? Man, that’s bad… how can your entertainment not give you a stylist?“, Jooheon asked, watching how Jaekwang was applying foundation on Geunji’s face who was as always nervously fidgeting.

Taehee could see how some of his fosterlings were looking ashamed to the ground and even Jaekwang, despite being in the midst of working, was tensing up as he heard the comment.

“It’s our concept.“, Toby saved the whole situation, playing his marketing charms at the other group so that even their manager was raising his eyebrows in astonishment. “BigHit is aiming for something completely new with this group. Own production. With everything. We produced our songs, choreographed everything on our own and even the MV was set up with our own ideas. Artistic license. It’s hard work but gives a lot of gratification, seeing the result we worked for with our very own hands.“ Eloquent as ever. And everyone was buying it. Good thing. If there ever had been a moment where the group needed someone like Toby - here it was.

There was not a lot time left for further conversations as Monsta X was pretty soon called out for their soundcheck with only Black Dragon remaining back in the dressing room. There wasn’t even a lot of time left until it was their own turn for the soundcheck but after getting completely ready, the Black Dragon leader grew impatient and looked for something to distract himself. “Hey Taehee, are we allowed to check out the area?“, he wanted to know.

“Not until you performed. Nobody’s supposed to be late.“ Kangjoon wasn’t thinking of…



“Then maybe between our two performances? I mean there’s an hour of break left in between. When we’re done with the styling for that performance, can we check out the area then?“, the leader further tried.

“Just tell him you want to see IOI and TWICE.“, Jongin uncovered Kangjoon’s intentions that got the leader blush in embarrassment.

“It’s not like that!“, he immediately defended himself. “I just want to see some other groups perform as well… only seeing those whose turn is before us feels wrong. I want to enjoy more of the performances myself.“



“Dude, then you should sit in the audience and not here with the performers.“, Geunji commented and Kangjoon gave him the sort of look that alarmed Taehee of the leader getting up to hit the choreographer any moment.

“Dooooooon’t fight!“, Taehee interrupted them. “You are allowed to watch the performances after you’re done, okay?“

If Taehee just had known what the day was going to be like. If he just had known… 





After the soundcheck and shortly before their turn was up to finally perform, everyone was on their phones, calling their families and friends. Taehee was friendly enough to lend Sian his phone so he could at least call his parents. The manager just couldn’t see the small guy almost tearing up because it broke his heart being unable to get some supporting words from his family before setting step on a stage for the first time. Some of the boys got really emotional and even Geunji, who always acted tough, had a sweet undertone in his voice when he was calling his sisters one after another. Only Toby was sitting alone on his chair, his arms and legs crossed while he was looking at the clock that was installed above the door.

“Don’t you want to call your family, too?“, Taehee asked him but the - now red-haired- guy only shook his head with a cool expression.

“What for? To hear some empty words of encouragement when I know exactly what my parents think of this? No, thank you.“ Taehee wasn’t used to hear Toby’s voice actually with that sort of shiver in it that gave away that he actually cared about this and that it somewhere deep inside was stinging him. But also… what could Taehee do about it? Toby was a grown man. If he didn’t want to talk to his parents, then he didn’t. End of the story. He knew what was bothering him but at the same time Taehee knew him and that there was no sense in trying to talk about this with Toby. Addressing Toby about his parents was a dangerous minefield that people in the company tried to avoid the best they could.

 There was no way to describe Taehee’s feeling when he watched Black Dragon perform for first time on a stage, the confirmation that they somehow really had managed to start all of this being right in front of him. The sea of blinking lights in the masses hidden in the darkness in front of the stage was overwhelming. It was unbelievable, the boys already had fans that were screaming fanchants nobody had even thought of. This really was going somewhere. Somewhere good. When Taehee thought that he was taking of a bunch of unprofessional heads, they knew how to hide all of their insecurities and handled the stage quite well. Taehee was surprised of the charisma storm destroying the stage. Sian, Toby and Bangwon owned the stage and even Jaekwang who always seemed lost and awkward during rehearsals had his charms on stage. The little awkward but handsome potato kind.

The moment they got back from stage, all exhausted, sweaty and breathless, Taehee felt like a little girl finally receiving some delicious ice-cream. No, heck, he felt like one of those fangirls down there, screeching the boys’ names. “YOU OWNED IT!“, the not so professional from just a month ago Taehee praised them and he was even jumping on the spot. The boys just smiled weakly and a staff member booted them out instantly to make space for the next group.

On their way out they passed by IOI who were lined up to enter the stage after GOT7 who after the Black Dragon members had left the stage were starting their performance, the heavy beats of Hard Carry booming through the floors. Kangjoon was automatically moving to the beat of the song, Geunji joining him pretty soon, the two guys humming to the song lyrics without knowing what GOT7 was actually singing.

“Damn, I feel like we missed a lot during the time preparing for the debut…“, Geunji noticed and breathed in and out as if he had been captured in a basement the past month and finally got to get some fresh air.



“TAEKYUNG!“, one of the girls they passed by suddenly called Toby and waved at him, Toby waving back at her. Another one noticed as quick and also waved at him.



“DUDE! NO!“, Kangjoon pushed Toby forwards when the boy stopped and was almost heading for the girls. “Not until we’re done performing!“



Oh,oh… Taehee threw a short glance at the two boys, expecting Toby to get mad but he only chuckled, nodded and then followed the other members. Kangjoon might have been a bad leader but he had somehow managed to keep Toby kind of in check when others would have been burnt alive for getting into Toby’s way.

Back in the dressing room, Monsta X was gone. They must have headed out straight after performing and Taehee instantly noticed Kangjoon’s panic of sharing the same fate after finishing their performances. “No, you’re allowed to stay. For a bit.“, Taehee assured him without even being asked. The leader eased up at his words.

“Let’s see what we have in the second box for the second performance!“ This really was a good day for Jaekwang, Taehee had never seen him as upbeat as today. Probably it was because things somehow worked out and even the manager had to admit that not even Jaekwang was doing bad on stage. Jongin and Kangjoon also joined the visual when he unboxed the package.

… and the happiness was gone.

“What’s wrong?“, Geunji asked, already having taken off his sweaty, blue jacket.

“This is not from BigHit.“, Jaekwang explained and held a letter that was added to the content of the package like in the first box in his hands. “It’s from a sponsor. And we’re supposed to wear what is in the box…

“

The way he was looking was speaking volumes. The outfits couldn’t be that great. And indeed they weren’t. Geunji was the first to laugh out loud when he saw everyone dressed up - and he wasn’t even spared from being dressed absolutely ridiculously. The outfits weren’t something that labeled the boys as ‚Black Dragon‘. It rather was ‚We are a circus of idiots‘. But those thoughts shouldn’t be vocalized, especially not by their very own manager.

“We look like retarded idiots.“, Geunji blurted out. So much to that. Not exactly what Taehee had been thinking, but close. “I look like a gay -freak. Look, they even gave me a whip! And this is glittering. What the ?!“ He could have been angrier about it. He wasn’t, however. Because others looked far worse than him. Geunji gave a pretty perfect description of them. “Damn, Toby, you look like a space clown! Wrapped in tinfoil! And Kangjoon, finally they made you find peace with your spirit animal!“ Geunji said it with so much gloat, he couldn’t stop laughing about it.



Kangjoon wasn’t all that happy. He sighed and frustratedly looked at the ground. “I hate sponsors…“, he muttered, looking like a big, sad, furry gorilla.

But Geunji wasn’t done yet. He walked passed Kangjoon and Toby to scan Jaekwang’s outfit from up close. “Jaekwang’s uniform looks like one that Nazi’s were wearing during WW2!“

“So we’re making Toby feel at home now?“

Like a lightning striking Jongin’s comment hit the other members. Only Geunji couldn’t help but laugh all the more.

“Dude…“, Kangjoon gave back and shook his head. Toby just ignored it but Jaekwang, who actually was wearing the outfit that they were talking about, sunk together like a dried plum. It even felt uncomfortable to Taehee looking at him. Being dressed like that and giving the opportunity of the outfit being misinterpreted by the audience wasn’t something that took stress from you. Jaekwang wasn’t the best in taking any kind of exceptional stress and pressure.

“Nonsense!“, Taehee cut their way to gloomy going conversation, “Not all uniforms that look like that are Nazi uniforms! How do you get all that bullcrap into your head?!“, he even railed at Geunji. “Geunji, Toby, Kangjoon, you’re all done with styling, go grab some fresh air! And try not to kill each other!“



“ you, Taehee, I am not leaving this room looking like a monkey!“, Kangjoon talked back at the manager in an uproar about the embarrassing dress-up. And he immediately regretted being disrespectful.

“…did you just say…?!“

With that Kangjoon had crossed a border that got Taehee all fuming and Kangjoon’s eyes widened when he noticed how upset the manager got over his words. “GET THE OUT OF HERE OR I’LL DRAG YOUR PITIFUL ASSES OUT WITH MY OWN HANDS!“

Nothing more needed to have those three troublemakers leave the room in an instant. Taehee thought that from that point he’d have peace. Oh how wrong he was again.

Half an hour later he had to gather up the sent out children again and to his surprise (no seriously, Taehee, how could that actually surprise you?) it was harder than expected. He had to check the floors twice until he found Geunji and Kangjoon in one of the hallways, Kangjoon walking around topless. Good thing nobody else was around, Taehee felt the urge to drag both of the guys out on their ears.



“Just because it worked for Toby doesn’t mean it works for you, too. I’m not saying that it’s idiotic to copy him… oh wait, I do.“, Geunji told the leader but Kangjoon didn’t want to listen.

“It will! We saw what happened! We can copy it!“, he insisted and even started posing half-. “We just have to wait.“

“Wait for what?“, Taehee popped into their conversation and Kangjoon almost stumbled over his shirt on the ground, quickly grabbing it to cover his bare chest with it.

“H-Hyung, what are you doing here?“, he stuttered, trying to get back into the gorilla shirt.

“I should rather ask you that question.“, Taehee gave back pretty dryly. “But no time for that. You have to be back on stage in a bit. Where’s Toby?“ Geunji and Kangjoon shortly exchanged glances, Taehee noticing of course. “Yes?“



“Are you sure you want…to know?“, Kangjoon asked. Taehee answered with a single, warning glance full of anger and the leader gushed out the answer like a waterfall. “He’s in there.“, he said and pointed at one of the doors. “…but you surely don’t want to go in there. They locked the door.“



They? Oh …no… Those boys…!!! Taehee couldn’t even leave them alone for half an hour without Kangjoon running around and Toby disappearing into one of the dressing rooms with someone else. Angry stomps echoed through the hallway as Taehee walked straight towards the door, the name on it driving him even more into madness. Hyuna. Really? REALLY?! Furiously Taehee started knocking at the door.

No response.

Of course! But not with him. Not now. And not even if Park Geunhye, the president, was in there with Toby. Heaven forbid that this would ever happen! “LEE TAEKYUNG! COME OUT IMMEDIATELY! I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE!“



Not even two minutes later, the door opened slightly and Toby got pushed out of the room, his shirt completely ed, his whole make-up being a smudged mess and his hair looking as if he had been on a rollercoaster ride.



Taehee sighed. “This is a joke, right?“ 



He wanted to strangle him. He wanted to strangle them all.

 Taehee’s mood couldn’t be rescued, not even after the cheers for Black Dragon got all the louder when they performed their second song and Jaekwang had been able to rescue Toby’s whole styling last minute. Taehee was in such a bad mood that he cancelled the opportunity for the boys to watch the other group’s performances straight when they walked down the stage.

“BUT WHY?!“, Kangjoon protested, kicking the seat in front of him like an angry kid when they were back in the van. “THIS IS UNFAIR! YOU SAID YES!“



“And you said ‚ you!‘, walked around and allowed Toby to get hooked up. Do you think I’d allow guys like you to ruin their image with other idols by letting them walk around on their own?“, Taehee justified his decision.

“I just wanted to-“ - “Watch cute girls perform, don’t deny!“

Kangjoon stopped kicking Taehee’s seat and crossed his arms, remaining in silence. He even let out a long, disgruntled wheeze before he sunk into his seat in resignation. “Yeah, you, too.“, Taehee added. “God, feels good to swear at you, too.“

“What do you mean Kangjoon was walking around and Toby was hooked up by someone?“, Jongin’s voice rang to the front where Toby started chuckling. Oh man, he was the last to find this amusing. Typical Tobes. Main thing, he had fun. Sure.

“Nothing you need to know.“, Taehee wanted to finish the topic but he didn’t reckon with Geunji.

“In short: Toby banged Hyuna and Kangjoon wanted to copy him so he could bang someone, too.“ Through the rear-view mirrors Taehee saw Geunji turning around to see Jongin’s reaction who just made a very devastated face. Same as Jaekwang and Sian.



“They did what?!“

Geunji laughed. “Too bad Toby didn’t get to talk to some more girls. Sad thing you can’t spread some more STDs, hm?“



From the front Toby just chuckled even louder. “What are you talking about? I got at least two girls texting me again just because they saw me today. I call that a successful day!“ While he was saying that he gave Taehee a mocking side glance. Taehee knew exactly what Toby was indicating.

He couldn’t do anything about it. And Toby was taking all the opportunities to show Taehee that he wasn’t in the position to push him around. Needless to say, it was annoying the out of the manager. While the boys slowly started to open up with each other, Taehee felt as if they were mocking him and just causing more and more problems. Things started to get out of his control.



That was when he wished the moment back where each of the boys was calling their families, being for themselves when Toby only moped around with no one to talk to. It was cruel. But it was better. Bad people didn’t deserve to be happy.

author notes

Been a while again - but here's the new update! Let's all welcome our favorite awful manager Taehee back! And the fact that Bangwon barely appeared in this chapter OTL Let's just put it as this that Taehee is focusing far more on those members who cause him trouble - Bangwon luckily isn't one of them. So yeeeeeeeeeah (next chap more Bangwon, I got this! X'D)
It's late and I don't really know what to further say except for HOLY COW THEY FINALLY DEBUTED. Now their journey really starts - if they don't kill each other before anything can happen. You never know with those idiots. See you next chap which btw will be about their attendance at Weekly Idol.

“ when a flower doesn't bloom you fix it's environment, not the flower. ”