It’s really all Joohyun’s fault.

“What do you mean you’re making me go out onto the field?”

Seulgi stares incredulously at Joohyun, ignoring the interested stares from the other people in the cramped room. Joohyun winces, hand going up to twirl a strand of her newly dyed light brown hair and Seulgi feels a little bad; she knows Joohyun well enough to recognize when Joohyun is feeling guilty.

“I’m not making you,” Joohyun argues feebly before visibly straightening up. “I just—You know that Youngjae recently quit because he wanted to focus on making music. We only have Jackson and Minhyuk left to actually track the superheroes in person.”

Seulgi frowns. Two people should be enough, right?

(But really, she knows it’s not.

It's been awhile since the revelation that a fair portion of the population had powers and since then, the media has kept a very close eye on those who decided to step into the public eye with a new name and a desire for justice. Or injustice.

The thing is, along with the increased news coverage came the increase of a warped view of those superheroes; it seemed as if news reporters were often split between either lionizing them or slandering them—there was no in between.  

The Red Velvet, however, sought to do things differently. Joohyun had started the small online newspaper in hopes of providing real, unbiased news about superheroes and supervillains.

“Too often, the things superheroes do are overshadowed by the people they’re involved with,” Joohyun had said when Seulgi first met her. Seulgi remembers sitting across from Joohyun in the small cafe for her interview, captivated by Joohyun’s passion for the subject, enraptured by the idea of working at the small company itself. “Sure, report that Black Light was caught making out with Cheshire but what about all the people he saved from that burning building just yesterday? What about the time Cheshire stopped that bank heist? I think that it’s important that there’s somebody out there who covers moments like these, good or bad.”

So that’s how Seulgi started working there. She doesn’t regret a thing but it’s been hard trying to keep The Red Velvet afloat with the lack of interest in objective news and their lack of workers. Her guess is that people have become so normalized to superheroes that it doesn’t really matter anymore how many people they save if it’s not a massive event or something that affects them personally.

So yes, she knows it’s not enough to just have Jackson and Minhyuk running around trying to be at the site but Seulgi’s more of a behind-the-scenes type of girl and—)

“You’re the most qualified person I know,” Joohyun says softly. “You don’t have to say yes. Really, you don’t. But I’d like you to consider it and tell me whether you’ll do it by tomorrow, if possible.”

Seulgi nods, eyes downcast, but she’s already made a decision.

“They should be here,” Jungkook says, nervously glancing at his watch and almost dropping his camera in the process. He looks more jumpy than normal but Seulgi chalks it up to the fact that Yeri’s with them; it’s no secret that he harbours a massive crush of her even though he seems to find joy in antagonizing her.

“Right . . .” Seulgi trails off. The surroundings are quiet—there are a few people around walking in and out of the stores here but that’s nothing out of the ordinary—and she’s starting to wondering if they should leave or not. It’s been a couple of hours since they’ve arrived because for some reason, she had agreed when Jungkook insisted they come here despite all the superhero sightings occurring somewhere else.

“Forget the Reservoir Idols,” Jungkook had said, naming the most famous superhero team in Korea. Yeri looked mildly offended. “There’s a new superhero team that we can cover and I hear they’re going to be somewhere near Hongdae.”

Seulgi wracked her brain for the name of the new group but came up with nothing. “Who?”

He opened his mouth but hesitated slightly. “. . . Bangtan Boys.”

Yeri had openly scoffed. “What kind of name is that?”

“Excuse you.” Now Jungkook was the one who looked offended. “What kind of superhero team names themselves after an artificial lake?”

“That’s not their actual name. That’s the name people gave them,” Yeri started and , Seulgi already knew that the two were going to get into another argument again if she didn’t speak up fast.

Seriously, the push pull relationship between Jungkook and Yeri was only fun to watch when Seulgi was sure she wasn’t going to get involved.

“Let’s go!” Seulgi had interrupted and oh, right, now she remembers how they ended up here; she had been trying to end the conversation before it could become heated and had just blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.

Great.

“Let’s go,” Seulgi says, casting a glance at setting sun. Yeri glances up from her phone and Jungkook looks startled. “They’re clearly not coming here. If we hurry, maybe we’ll make it in time to see—”

“Oh, look who it is. Grumpy cat girl.”

All three of them look up and Seulgi’s stomach drop when she recognizes the familiar voice and half smile. Jungkook’s eyes widen even more and Yeri actually looks interested for once, if the way she scans the newcomer from head to toe is any indication.

“Um, I gotta go save the world and stuff now so I guess I’ll see you later,” the guy says when nobody responds after a moment. He gives this awkward wave before dashing off. Seconds later, other costumed people follow him but none of them spare a second look at the trio with the exception of the superhero with mint green hair.

“Was that the Boy Scouts Boys or whatever?” Yeri’s the first to break the silence and both girls ignore Jungkook’s cry of “It’s Bangtan Boys!”

Seulgi shrugs. She honestly has no clue what’s going on anymore.

She really doesn’t.

(The next time they meet is on a literal battlefield.)

a u t h o r ' s  n o t e

unedited so apologies for any mistakes. 

also pls offer suggestions on superhero names for bts because i can't think of anything/everything i come up with is cheesy af

also now cross posted to ao3 if you want to read it there!!