https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wom1pmcJgHo you might want to see the blond guy with metal teeth that will appear in this chapter (and maybe because White Rascals are da they should have their own series)

“Seunghyun-ah don’t lie on your stomach if you don’t want to catch a cold.”

“Aish hyung I’m on my twenties, don’t you think I’m a bit too old for that reminder? Oh thanks~”

Seungri cheerfully took the bowl of popcorn out of his manager’s hands and placed it next to the three remotes he had lying around. The opening song of the sixth anime series he had watched for the day was rolling and Seungri sighed at the powerful screaming of a band named OLDCODEX. It’s a great opening song for an anime with a dark-ish genre that had a lot of insane characters in it. He enjoyed this one, he learned much about how to play insane characters from one of the character.

He carelessly reached over to the pen he had been clicking with his left hand to cross one of bullet points he had for building Lee Changson’s character.

Insanity

“Man, Japanese people are so creative.” Seungri mumbled as he took a handful of popcorn and shoved them to his face. “I mean, Hellsing was insane but Lawless is too. I think I want Lee’s insane to be more like Lawless’, what do you think hyung?”

“Seungri-ssi I just sat down a few minutes ago, I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

Seungri laughed at that, admiring the bluntness of the manager’s words and the nonchalance he had as he casually took some of Seungri’s popcorn too. Having a lady take care of him was great, but still having a hyung manager was the best decision President Yang has ever made, really. Less scandal, more fun, and more people babying him without actually wanting or meaning to.

“But well, why don’t you show me the kind of insane Lee Changson would be?”

Seungri stared at his manager, took off his glasses, and smiled a crooked smile. “Junggeun-ssi you’re going to regret asking me that,” his eyes were wide and his smile was ever-present. Amused, Lee Changson is amused that someone asked to show how insane he was. He practically jumped from his position and reached for the man’s neck, smiling still as he his lower lip. “Do you know that that humans die when their air supply is cut off?”

Kim Junggeun said nothing as Lee traced his long fingers on top of his jawline and down to his pulsing neck, obviously wanting to see just how far he would take this. But instead of settling his fingers slowly, Lee’s smile turned into a smirk as he had both his hands circling the manager’s neck in a quick motion, choking him until he gasped. “But crushing windpipes work too! It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Then he laughed and let the other go.

Lee was satisfied with himself, but when Junggeun-hyung’s coughs lasted longer than a few seconds, Seungri realized that he had gone too far.

“Oh , hyung you okay?” Seungri scrambled to the coffee table and took the glass of water he still hadn’t drink yet and offered it to his manager. “I’m sorry. I just… you didn’t say anything so—“

“Seungri-ah that was amazing!” His manager beamed after he drank the water. “It felt so real, it didn’t feel like the Little Seunghyun I know at all! Yaaa you must have worked hard on this Lee Changson character.” The sincerity of Junggeun’s voice washed over him in waves. He really thought I was good. Lee Changson’s coming to life. Seungri smiled.

“You really think so, hyung?”

“Of course! I know you’re a black belt in what? I guess taekwondo? But you don’t really show that in daily basis so when you use that it felt… bad—malicious—it’s good.” Junggeun hummed to himself. “I don’t enjoy being choked but I gotta admit that was good. HiGH and LOW is a delinquent movie, some action is a must.” The hyung chuckled.

Seungri tackled the man into a hug, crushing him on the sofa. “Thanks hyung! You’re the best!” He beamed, earning a soft laughter that reminded Seungri of his dad. “You’re welcome, kiddo, anyway I still have 2 more Japanese delinquent dorama and another 3 Japanese mafia dorama. Should I tell everyone that you’re not accepting any invitation to party?”

“Yeah, tell ‘em to Jonghoon and Taejoon, they’ll spread it around Gangnam that I’m not taking any invitation to party.” Seungri replied distractedly as he shoved another handful of popcorn to his face. Junggeun-hyung nodded and he took out his smartphone from his back pocket. “You know, I noticed that you didn’t do this much research when you played Han Seungho or Teddy Seo.”

“Hyung I’ve been researching comedian and comedic characters since I’m what, eighteen? I’m practically master of comedy.” Junggeun-hyung snorted. “Naah, you’re still not Yoo Jaesuk-ssi’s level. But what’s different about Lee Changson?”

“He needs to be different from Lee Seunghyun or Seungri… He needs to be someone else entirely.” Seungri’s voice was steely and full of determination, just like the day he decided that he was going to be an idol all those years ago. “Lee Changson is nothing like me. That’s why I’m going to make him the best. And this is my first big picture acting, it should be different.” Seungri’s voice sounded cold, determined, focused and he knew that not many people had seen this part of him before. Odd, acting Lee Changson brought out so much from him that it’s starting to weird him out.

But Junggeun-hyung said it was good. Even TOP-hyung said he was good!

So he was, he was good. But he didn’t need good.

He needed better.

***

Japan was his second home and it felt good to be in a place he felt so familiar with it was practically home.

But even when it felt good, Seungri still felt a certain giddiness on his stomach as Hiro-san introduced him to two members of the EXILE Tribe.

“V.I-kun, this is Akira and Keiji-kun, they will be in the movie as well.” Akira-san was… charismatic. That was the only word Seungri felt comfortable using when he tried to describe the man introduced to him as Akira. His jawlines are so sharp it could probably cut a knife and his eyes were piercing. But it held a certain paternal glimmer there as well so Seungri wasn’t too intimidated by his presence. It reminded him of TOP-hyung, in a way, and Seungri had never been so grateful that TOP was what he was…

And Keiji-san was… handsome. Like all the casts in this movie, apparently. He looked at Seungri with a kind, curious, smile on his face and Seungri smiled back. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, uh…” Okay, family names, Japanese people had to be called by their family names if they didn’t know each other intimately. His mind was working so fast, trying to recall their family names but he came up with nothing. Akira-san was the one who laughed first.

“Kiddo I’m fine with Akira. Been called that by people so much I actually prefer that to my family name.” Big, leather-clad hand found themselves ruffling Seungri’s hair and damn it felt good. Seungri had always loved skinship—it showed him that he is loved, after all.

Keiji-san must have noticed the change in Seungri’s expression and gave him a wide smile as well. “Yeaaah you can call me by my given name too, Seung-chan. I’ve actually went to your concert in Hokkaido and I gotta say, GD’s my favorite in BIGBANG.” Keiji gave him a smirk and Seungri naturally gave him a pout. “Keiji-san noooo! Why do people like GD-san so much? He doesn’t even talk much during our concerts!” Keiji-san laughed warmly. “Kidding. I like V.I the best, obviously, then D-lite second. You guys really want to know more about us Japanese and it’s touching my deepest heart.” He made a face before playfully throwing a jab to Seungri’s shoulder. Hiro-san watched them with a fatherly smile on his face and it was warm. Seungri felt blessed working with them already.

They exchanged more greetings after that, his manager calmly socializing with the staff of HiGH and LOW while Seungri got comfortable with Hiro-san and the others. After half an hour of talking, Hiro-san cleared his throat and looked at the three actors around the table.

“Okay, so the reason why I wanted you to come to Japan a few months before filming is for a few things. First, I think you should meet Akira personally because you two will have a lot of scenes together.” Akira-san nodded, agreeing with Hiro-san, and Seungri found himself nodding as well. “And the second one is, well, I want you to see how Keiji-kun plays Rocky, because I think you two are in a quite similar predicament. But Keiji-kun here is much more experienced than you are, and he has been playing Rocky for weeks now for the drama, I think you could learn a thing or two from him as you build Lee Changson to life.”

Hiro-san handed Keiji-san a cane and the other man’s smile disappeared in an instant. He took out a round sunglasses from his pocket and eyed Seungri from top to bottom in an apparent look of disgust. Seungri held his breath as Keiji-san drew closer to him, expression cold and eyes even colder. “You dare to touch the women in my place and I’ll kill you.” The threat felt so real as the metallic head of the cane traced Seungri’s pulsating neck and he somehow had a vision that Keiji-san—no, Rocky, leader of the White Rascals—will beat him up with that cane if Seungri didn’t comply.

His heart raced, but the other part of him soared to life. Seungri exhaled a breath and slapped the cane away from his face, smiling as sweetly as he could to the leader of the White Rascals. “You should be careful with your words, Rocky-san, you never know whom you are speaking to…” Lee his upper lip in a challenging gesture.

Keiji-san then broke into a grin and he beamed at both Hiro-san and Akira-san. “Did you see that, Hiro-san? Did you see that?!” He sounded genuinely impressed. Akira-san whistled slightly. “Wow you actually did some work already. Hiro wasn’t wrong when he picked you.”

Hiro-san showed him a proud smile. “I know I made the right choice, V.I-kun, and I know you will deliver.”

Lee Changson should deliver more. More life, more slyness, more manipulative, he needed to be better.

Seungri needed to be better.

Better better better better.