“Hyung,” Yunsung quietly called to the eldest member, Seunghwan, who was currently sleeping. He hadn’t wanted to wake the elder member up, but he needed to tell him something that was important.

 

“Hm…” Seunghwan quietly muttered as he fully woke up, “What’s wrong, Yunsung?”

 

Yunsung sighed; wondering if it was really the best choice for him and his band. Without really filtering what he was going to say, he told him, “I’m leaving the band. We’re not getting anywhere, I’d prefer to join a more popular company, where we’d actually gain fans.”

 

Seunghwan was taken aback by Yunsung’s words - he almost didn’t believe what he was saying. “Yunsung, if we try, w-we can get popular. Trust me, I-I don’t want you to leave, Yun.”

 

“There’s no point in staying. C’mon, hyung, wouldn’t you rather join a bigger, better company, where we’d actually get popular who support us?”

 

“Yunsung, don’t be like this.” Seunghwan sighed, and frowned - although the younger couldn’t see this. “Please, stay. We need you. I need you.”

 

“Seunghwan, I’m not staying in an unknown band. Sure, we could get more popular. But there’s bands that debuted in 2009, like After School, and 2011 like 9Muses, but they’re not known.”

 

“Yes, but, if we try - we could get our name out there. Don’t give up on us this easily, Yunsung. Our songs are getting better. Without U is a good song, we got some new fans from that, remember? We were really happy, reading the comments.”

 

“200,000 views for 3 weeks.” Yunsung told the leader the statistics. “That’s unreal. Girl’s Day made a song 6 days ago and have 5million. There’s no hope.”

 

“Yes, but that’s Girl’s Day. They’re really popular. And, they’re from a very underrated company. But look where they are. Please, stay with us. Nobody else is leaving, and if we get popular, I’d prefer it to be with you. I’d feel empty if somebody left because of our popularity.”

 

“I’m sorry, but, it’s for the best,” He told Seunghwan, who lowered his head in shame. “It’s not your fault, hyung, but I just want to leave.”

 

Seunghwan’s water-filled eyes looked into Yunsung’s pain filled ones. “Are you s-sure? We can talk about this, I just...don’t want you to leave.”

 

Yunsung coughed on some tears before saying, “O-On second thoughts, I might wait a while longer.”

 

Seunghwan smiled before ruffling his hair.

 

-

 

“Guys.” Kyle nearly screamed, “Our M.V for LoveSick’s nearly got 1m after nearly 2 years!”

 

“See?” Yunsung whispered, “That’s crazy.”

 

“No,” Seunghwan corrected him, “It’s just reality. If we train hard enough, and if the fans try and promote us, we can get popular.”

 

Yunsung laughed at this, “Fans? We have, like, 10.”

 

“Nope,” Seunghwan smiled, “We have more than that. Have more faith, Yun.”

 

“Yeah, hyung.” Their maknae, Kangmin, butted into their conversation, somewhat uninvited. “Trust us. We can try.”

Yunsung shook his head, laughing at the maknae’s innocence.

 

“Don’t say anything,” Seunghwan warned Yunsung, who just raised his arms in surrender.

 

“Okay,” He giggled. “Where’s Hyunkyung? I’ve not seen him around lately.”

 

“He’s been practicing.” Milo came in, eating out of a cereal box. “He says if he trains enough, he could post covers on 1thek’s channel and become better known.”

 

“He won’t succeed.” Minsung giggled bitterly, “He knows that, right?”

 

“Shut up! Let the kid dream,” Seunghwan yelled. “Anyway, if he does get us popular, I’ll be really proud-”

 

“But, it won’t happen.” Yunsung smirked, “Because, like, nobody cares about us.”

 

“Oh, come on, do you have any confidence?”

 

“Not really.” Yunsung laughed bitterly, despite the fact he knew it wasn’t really funny.

 

-

 

That night, Yunsung decided he was going to do something about it.

 

He walked over to the CEO’s office, and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” He answered with a sweet voice.

 

“Hi,” He whispered, feeling shy. The CEO, who knew how he felt, just smiled. “I was wondering...could you promote our band more?”

 

“What!?” He exclaimed. He didn’t scream, nor yell, but he just said it quiet loudly, “N-No, I cannot. It’s too much money. Money we don’t have, I’m afraid.”

 

“Well, I was considering leaving the entertainment, anyway,” Yunsung smiles.

 

“Wait,” He pauses, “If you train, we could try and make some more money.”

 

“That’s the thing! We’re not making money!” Yunsung exclaims, and Seunghwan places a hand on his back from behind, suddenly.

 

“It’s okay,” Seunghwan whispers into Yunsung’s ear, which, somehow, calms him down. “Sir, can you do anything?”

 

“Not really, I’m afriad.” He answers the two expectant boys, who face the floor in defeat. “I mean, I could send you to do reality shows, but they cost money - that we, again, don’t have.”

 

“You couldn’t…” Yunsung whispers, “Send out auditions? So more people come, and if a group get popular from our ent, so do we.” Yunsung argues, “Isn’t that a good idea-”

 

“Yunsung.” The CEO says softly, “I can’t. People don’t know us well enough. I barely have enough money to feed my hus-wife.”

 

“Oh.” Yunsung mutters softly, “W-well, if we promote on 1THEK, then-”

 

“YUNSUNG, IT WON’T WORK! STOP TRYING! I’LL DISBAND YOU IN A MINUTE!”

 

Yunsung just stares, as the CEO tries to calm down.

 

“I-I…” He begins, “I’m sorry.”

 

“I thought you’d be nice.” Yunsung says, “But, nevermind. C’mon, Seunghwan, we’re going.” He grabs Seunghwan’s hand, a little forcefully.

 

“Wait, Yun-”

 

“BYE, !”

 

-

 

“Minsung!” Kyle calls, walking through the door, “How’d training go?” He asks, genuinely curious.

 

Minsung sighs, which isn’t a good sign. “Well, ‘twas okay,” Minsung starts; “But, it could’ve been better.”

 

“Ah,” Kyle says, “Well, it can always be improved, I guess. When’ll you be ready to perform?”

 

“W-Well…” Minsung mumbles, “Our CEO said I can’t..?? I was so confused, but, he doesn’t have the money,”

 

“BULL!” Milo screams.

 

“Exactly!” Yunsung yells, “He does! He just can’t be bothered,”

 

“Wow, Yunsung has some brains for once,” Milo snorts, but ends up getting hit.

 

“Can we leave the ent.? I’m not doing this anymore.” Kangmin, the maknae, speaks up, and for once - he’s not ignored.

 

“Can we? I mean, where’d we even go?”

 

“We can easily find one, I’d bet.” Hyunkyung says, but he knows it’ll be hard, since many companies treat their trainees badly, so it’ll be hard to find one where they’re nice and understanding.

 

“Really? Try and find one that treats their idols with respect,”

 

“Well, that’s-” Seunghwan starts.

 

“-No, it’s not.” Yunsung says, “We need to find one, I’m not doing this anymore.”

 

“We’re staying,” Milo says, “I want to stay. If we all stay, but one leaves - they’ll regret it, but, I want to stay; is what I’m saying.”

 

Everyone blinks. “Good luck on your solo then,” Yunsung says and snorts, “Because we’re all leaving.”

 

“We are-” Kangmin tries to say, but Hyunkyung covers his mouth before he can say anything that affects the group.

 

“We’re leaving.” Kyle answers the Maknae, who isn’t really happy about the situation he’s in as of right now.

 

“W-What?” Milo asks, “Really? We’re just leaving like this? Just when our songs get better.”

 

“Without U was ,” Yunsung tells him, “Miro was ok, but, it could’ve been better. Don’t get me started on Nightmare, LoveSick or Target.”

 

“Target was great.” Hyunkyung argues, “And Without U is my favorite song, I know that’s weird but, it’s a bop,” He smiles.

 

“It’s not! If we leave, we can get better songs.”

 

“YOU’RE NOT LEAVING.” The CEO suddenly comes into the room, “If you do, I’ll be keeping some of you.”

 

They all eyed each other, afraid of what would happen if they tried to leave.

 

“We can’t-”

 

“No.” Yunsung shakes his head. “This why we want to leave. We’re leaving.”

 

-

 

The next week, they planned to leave; and the company became broke.

 

They found a company faster than they’d planned - and the managed to get more money than they’d ever got before and their albums were looking better - they were more satisfied.

 

But one problem; they still weren’t popular.

 

“Is this what y’all wanted?” Seunghwan bitterly spits to them all.

 

“N-No…” Kyle mutters, “We wanted to be more popular is all.”

 

“What’s wrong with it?” Yunsung says, with a tinge of annoyance in his tone of voice. “We get treated well, and more people stan.”

 

“No. People left us because we left the company. They don’t like us anymore. Yun - we’re not getting more popular! We’re becoming unknown.”

 

“We aren’t.”

 

“Stay out of it, Kang.”

 

“Anyway,” Yunsung starts, “So what? We’ll find people who like our style of music.”

 

“That’ll take ages, Yunsung.”

 

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

 

=

 

“Y-Yunsung?” Seunghwan whispered, watching as the younger boy shuffled in his sleep, “Baby, wake up.”

 

Yunsung woke up because of the nickname, but when he rose he didn’t mention it. “Yes?”

 

“Are y-you really leaving?”

“No,” Yunsung answered, “I realised, after some thinking, y’all are all I need.”