∞ THE MEETING ∞

He hates her.

It was a hot and sunny day in Seoul. Mark stood in front of his CEO’s office room waiting for his group’s meeting. He felt extremely nervous his palms sweating, not only because of the heat but also what the manager had said to him minutes ago, “Get ready to meet the CEO Kim Young Min. He said that it will be important!”

 Confused, Mark had hundreds of questions in his mind. Did they not work hard enough? Were their performances not as good as his expectations? Did they have any scandals? Oh gosh! He’s dying to know.

He anxiously walked in circles. Other members stared at him weirdly.

“Hyung, we’re all worried. But you look like you are going to face the scariest monster on earth!” Jaemin looked at Mark with a questioned face.

“We actually are,” Haechan whispered to Renjun who was sitting next to him and earned a pat on the shoulder.

“Gosh! We are standing in front of his office,” Renjun tried his best to talk as quietly as he could.

“I’m just telling the truth,” Haechan pouted at the younger’s reply.

Five minutes had passed, Mark saw two employees exiting the room. One of them was a young woman, probably in her late 20s, holding a sling bag and wearing a nametag with Mnet logo on it. Her hair was tied in a ponytail and she was wearing a thick pair of glasses. A man happily walked out and smiled to the group when he saw them. He was plump and short, wearing a navy cap, and had a friendly eye smile.

 “Good morning. How are you?” The man asked them with a huge smile.

“Good morning,” seven boys bowed respectfully.

“We’ll meet again soon. Your CEO was so hard to persuade!” the man rolled his eyes.

What? Mark asked himself. Why do we have to meet soon?

While he was struggling with his own confusion, Jeno tugged his sleeves, “Hyung, come in!”

Seven boys entered the room and stood in front of the CEO’s desk. Mr. Kim had a serious yet illegible expression on his face. He looked at the boys and carefully eyed each member.

For once, Mark had to agree with Haechan’s previous joke. His CEO was indeed the scariest monster on earth. Mark came back to reality by the man’s cough. All group paid attention to each word he was going to say.

“You guys will have a collab stage.”

That’s it? Mark could see all his brothers widening their eyes and looking at each other with bewilderment. Mr. Lee nodded his head to confirm what he had said.

That’s it? Mark felt relieved, like he had just escaped from the grab of the monster and could finally be safe. The members were able to breathe now.

“With YG’s youngest girl group,” Mr. Lee finished his announcement.

Minutes of silence had passed and the scene looked like a JPG file. Mr. Kim was busying looking at the computer. And the boys? They were standing there like statues.

“WHAT?” all seven shouted at the same time.

“You guys have a great teamwork,” Mr. Kim said.

“We’re so sorry. We didn’t mean to shout at you. We were just…” Mark, being the leader, represented the group to apologize to their inappropriate behavior.

“Surprised?” Mr. Kim asked.

“Much more than that sir,” Mark heard Chenle murmuring under his breath.

Mark couldn’t blame him though! Even the word “shocked” still couldn’t describe their feelings towards this situation right now. He remembered a saying that Haechan randomly created a few days ago that would weirdly suit this problem.

“The feeling of shocked to the point that your body couldn’t move and was misunderstood as a statue for a century and people put you in the museum for the statue exhibition and you got famous without working.” After saying the sentence, that little kid made a V-sign with his fingers.

That was stupid! But why does that nonsense sound so true at this moment? It was the second time he involuntarily agreed with Haechan’s craziness.

Or maybe Haechan is truly a hidden genius…

“You should be, since this is the first time that SM has ever agreed to collab with that company. It must be a shock to the news reporter and all the fans. Well, it was originally offered by Mnet. The stage is for MAMA. You’ll have a chance to show your talents on a famous stage,”

Performing at MAMA! How cool would it be! Mark always dreamt of performing and receiving a MAMA award. It is one of the most important ceremonies in this industry.

“You guys are receiving a huge honor to represent SME to work with YGE, the thing that no one could expect. Work hard to show YG that SM has better artists than them! Surprise the girls with your skills! Make SM fans proud of you. Got it?”

The CEO emphasized each word and showed his determination to prove to his enemy’s company the talents of SM idols. So in short this collaboration was not a friendly project. It was more like a competition between the top 2 companies in K-pop industry. This explained why he accepted the offer.

While the leader was still busy in his own world, he could hear a small whisper, almost inaudible, “It’s great to see you again, princess.”

Mark quickly turned his head to the right side. Only three boys were standing at the direction where Mark heard the sentence. There were Jeno, Haechan and Chenle, from the outside to the inside. Just like the way he solved the questions when he met the multiple choices in his test, he sorted out.

Chenle had a calm expression. He did not show any excitement. OUT!

Jeno was standing at the end of the line, so far that Mark thought it was impossible to hear his whisper. So, OUT!

So he had…