cнapтer 8: ғaιтн

"Ready, guys?" Jaejoong asked, smiling softly.

"Yeah." I murmured, not rejecting the hands of Yoochun as he reached over to straighten my tie.

"Mhm." Junsu just hummed and took  another check of his attire.

"Let's go."

Cameras rolled and lights flashed, almost blinding me.

"CHANGMIN-SSHI! I HEARD THAT YOU ARE FILING A LAWSUIT AGAINST SM! IS IT TRUE?"

"JAEJOONG-SSHI, IT IS RUMORED THAT YOUR EX-MEMBER CHOIKANG CHANGMIN OF DONG BANG SHIN KI WILL BE JOINING JYJ, CAN YOU CLARIFY?"

"YOOCHUN-SSHI-"

We just sat down, facing them calmly and silently.

It took a while, but they were settled down quickly by security guards.

When our own voice can finally be heard, Yoochun stood up and bowed.

"Thank you for coming this press conference today. I'm sure you have noticed we have a new company aside for the usual trio in JYJ. I am honored to introduce you to our dearest brother, Changmin."

"There are multiple issues we wish to address today, thus I request for your greatest cooperation as we speak. There will be a 30 minutes Q&A session at the end, so please save your queries till then."

Sitting down again, he nodded to me.

"I believe most people here should know me, but for those who don't, my name is Shim Changmin, also known as Choikang (Max) Changmin of Dong Bang Shin Ki."

"The three men beside me, are currently more widely known as JYJ. There may be people who will remember the JYJ lawsuit, three years ago."

"Three years ago, Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu who were members of Dong Bang Shin Ki filed a lawsuit against SM and left, joining C.JES Entertainment under the name of JYJ."

"Today, the main issue why we asked for your 2 hours of company is to announce that I, Shim Changmin, am officially filing a lawsuit against SM."

The area was silent as soft scribbling, typing sounded urgently from everywhere. As media reporters, they can sense the major news behind this exploding revelation.

"As of the reason, three days later my lawyer will be addressing that matter with SM, and I believe another press conference would be held. Rest be assured, I'm certain all of you will be invited." I continued.

"Also, regarding the news that Dong Bang Shin Ki's leader, Jung Yunho, also known as U-Know is in the hospital, I would like to clarify this news as well. Yunho is currently in a coma, and his body is currently stabilized. Whether he will wake up or not… well, no one really knows. I would just like to assure our fans that he's fine."

"Two years ago, me and Yunho signed a legal agreement under the supervision of our lawyer, Kim Soojoon-sshi, that if any sudden accident or even occurred that makes one of us temporarily unable to make responsible decisions, the other would be given full permission to make any decisions with him, on the condition that agreement from the parents are attained. A few days ago I spoke with Yunho's family and they agreed on the lawsuit, thus legally, I announce that both me and Yunho will be filing a lawsuit against SM Entertainment."

"Whether you are a Cassiopeia or a Holyshinki, I hope that you would understand our decision. Thank you." I nodded slightly, ending my speech.

Jaejoong took over, followed by Junsu. It was just the usual tricky negotiations, addressing stuff with the company and media and fans… Stuff that Yunho has to do last time. I lost track halfway, zoning out, wondering how Yunho hyung is doing.

...

"Min!" I felt a gentle jab in my ribs and heard Jaejoong hyung hissing by my ear. "Back to Earth maknae… it’s Q&A time. This over and we'll be done!"

I smiled back at him in response gratefully.

We were bombarded by questions… How Orions and Holyshinkis will react, since both fanclubs were said to be almost mortal enemies; How is Yunho's current state; Plans after the lawsuit; How JYJ feels about adding a new member…

Many asked if we were in contact over the years, if the members hated each other for the lawsuit, whether we planned the lawsuit together…

Then, a female reporter stood up and asked simply, "Holyshinki or Cassiopeia?"

Without a second of hesitation, I told her firmly that the answer will be Cassiopeia.

"I'm not biased against TVXQ's own fan club, but Cassiopeia signifies something… different. It contains all our memories together as five. No matter how hard we had concealed it, me and Yunho miss them. Jaejoong Yoochun and Junsu miss us too. Holyshinkis are amazing, but Cassiopeia means a total different significance to me and Yunho."

I teared a bit when Jaejoong added that he'll take Cassiopeia over Orions too.

Suddenly, a reporter threw us a question we'd never expected.

"What do you guys plan to do your group name? Will it remain as JYJ, or reclaim the name of Dong Bang Shin Ki? Or maybe have a brand new name?"

"…"

We were silent for quite a while, thinking hard.

True, that was something we had never considered.

Keeping JYJ's name will be weird…

But using Dong Bang Shin Ki's name as 4 will just be like how guilty me and Yunho felt the first time after they left and we were forced to introduce ourselves with a "Annyeonghaseyo, Dong Bang Shin Ki-imnida!"

"Faith." Yoochun suddenly spoke.

"Pardon?"

"Faith." Yoochun repeated again. "That will be our name."

"It is something that Cassiopeia always say, Always Keeping The Faith."

"That was what caused those that were left in Cassiopeia to hold on to that thin belief and waited."

"They've waited for so long, based on nothing but just one very simple word: Faith."

"It is a easy thing to say but a hard thing to achieve."

"Over the years, JYJ and TVXQ had gained many fans, but did you know? Although originally, tons of Cassies were lost, after 3 years had passed the number of Cassie who left was actually very low."

"Once, I checked on the internet, this DB5K blog. And there was this poll there asking, which Era did they became a Cassie? And surprisingly, Mirotic and after the lawsuit has a lot of votes."

"When I saw the comments below, I cried."

"There was this person there that said, I regretted not knowing them before the lawsuit. Although it would hurt a lot to be loving them so much when the break up occurred, I want to be there with them since Hug and support them. And go through everything together with them. Love them from the start till the end."

Junsu nodded slowly. "Once, I received this fan letter that was written in English. One day, one of my co-workers in Europe saw it and read a few lines. He then turned to me and told me seriously and said, this is the type of fans you should really treasure."

"He never really told me what the letter meant, so I went to ask another friend of mine. It is a really short letter. But it is very, very precious to me."

"It went like this.

Hey my dolphin boy! How are you doing? I hope you're resting enough! And haha no I'm not a super old mommy fan, I'm only 15 this year! People ask me why do I call five of you my boys when you are all at least 10 years older than me, I just smile and tell them, I just do because that way I'll remind myself, this Cassiopeia who had failed to protect her stars, that I have to stay strong and guide them.

So our dear dolphin, I'm giving you my promise here: From now on, I will be stronger! I will still cry whenever I watch DBSK videos, I will still cry when I see Homin introduce themselves, I will still cry when I'm at a W live. But don't worry, I'll be strong in faith!

I guess you won't even understand what this whole letter is about but it's okay. It'll be kind of awkward if you do anyway! But I just want you guys to know that one day, if you come back, you'll still be greeted by this red ocean called Cassiopeia. No matter how little members we are left with, trust me it'll still exist as long as you guys do. It doesn't matter what names you guys are taking but how you guys are.

Although all of you had matured, music-wise, looks-wise, actions-wise, talent-wise, developments-wise… I believe you guys are still the same little kids underneath. The same little kids that we Cassiopeia love and treasure and swore to protect for life.

I'll always keep the faith, no matter what happen. Take care of yourself and your two brothers, okay? Don't miss your daddy and baby too much keke (and tell Yoochun to stop drinking! He's being a bad boy). Love yall."

"We believe that we can win this lawsuit. Cassiopeia, wait for us." Jaejoong said seriously.