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      J I N  J A E H O O      

— June 13, 2011 | Some upscale restaurant ; Cheongdam-dong, Seoul

I couldn't help but yawn after finishing my plate of ceviche. A birthday party was thrown for Daeho as he had turned nineteen and we "partied" until two in the morning, then Hanbyul and I had to get up at eight because we had to attend a meeting. The party started out as a big dinner that included all of us from Pro Ent (Know-One, their manager Jinhwa, Hanbyul and me, ROT.N, KIXX, UpNDown) and a handful of Daeho's friends from outside the company (Teen Top's Chunji, FT Island's Song Seunghyun, who brought Jonghun with him, and Infinite's Sunggyu, who had also brought along Hoya and Woohyun because, well, why not?). A private room was rented out, courtesy of Aecha and Kyle, and we basically ate and talked for a good three hours. Since Daeho had turned nineteen and was legally allowed to drink alcohol, Kyle decided to treat the kid to some soju, despite Aecha's various protests (she said something along the lines of "no, he's too pure, don't corrupt him"). So, everyone that wasn't a minor had a drink (including me) and we all found out that Daeho doesn't like soju. Instead of swallowing it, he had a major spit take on Youngchan. That was scary; we all thought she was going to do something, but she just stared at him for a minute and then had Jinae accompany her to the bathroom so she could clean up. Soon afterwards, the entire party moved to Know-One's dorm and we watched movies and played Twister with half of us under the influence of alcohol. I woke up in my apartment (which is the next floor up from Know-One's) and I vaguely remember coming in the door and crashing on my couch. This morning I found out that Hanbyul never left and passed out next to her brother on the couch. I'm not too sure about everyone else. Anyway, our [Pro Ent's] parties don't always end up like this; sometimes they're normal and not influenced by alcohol and sometimes they're the opposite, but we try our best to be as responsible as possible. We do have images to maintain.

"Jaehoo, are you listening?"

My manager, Lee Kyuyeon, was sitting across from me with her arms crossed. Hanbyul was on my right, taking a sip of water. We were eating lunch at a new restaurant that had received amazing reviews for its "invigorating South American cuisine". It's rare to find anything pertaining to authentic Peruvian, Ecuadorian, etc. food, so naturally, we had to try it out as soon as possible. I have finished my meal and I am most definitely not disappointed, if I do say so myself.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry. I spaced out a bit," I answered, shifting in my seat to a more comfortable position. Kyuyeon shook her head and picked up her phone. 

"As I was saying," she huffed irritably, "You have to head over to the set tonight instead of tomorrow to film. The director sent out this text during the meeting earlier. Tomorrow morning you have to film for Running Man. Oh, and don't forget to promote ROT.N's debut. As expressed during the meeting earlier, we have to promote them as much as possible without overdoing anything."

"You can count on me." I nodded and smiled. From the corner of my eye, I noticed other diners peering at our table. We were in the corner and slightly hidden by a giant plant, but it is lunch time and the restaurant has gotten more crowded. Still smiling, I leaned forward and lowered my voice: "People are noticing us. We're done eating, right?"

"Just act normally," Hanbyul said in a hushed voice. She waved to a nearby waiter. "Could we have a check please?"

"Certainly, miss." The waiter, whom I could tell was blushing, scurried away. Hanbyul didn't wear much of a disguise which made it ridiculously easy to recognize the nation's princess. Even though she was just wearing shorts and s shirt that looked like Hyunshik's and her hair was in a messy braid, there was no doubt that Ryu Hanbyul was in the room. 

"We'll leave in a bit," she muttered. She lowered her head and leaned towards Kyuyeon so it would be harder to see her face.

"You call that acting normally?" Kyuyeon snorted. "You're going out of your way to hide your face, plus you just made Jaehoo a lot easier to see. It doesn't matter if he's more disguised than you."

"Oops, sorry, oppa." 

I chuckled and adjusted the fake glasses perched on my nose. I carefully glanced around the room. No one was looking at us at the moment, which was good. Hanbyul fished her phone out of her purse and began to fiddle with it, probably so she could look busy. Kyuyeon was definitely busy as she started to call someone. Based on today's meeting, it probably had something to do with Hanbyul's recent appointment as a spokesmodel for Missha skincare and cosmetics or Paris Baguette's offer to have Du Yeonghon film a commercial campaign. She muttered a quick thank you to the waiter when he dropped off the check before going back to her conversation on the phone. Since it was my turn, I pulled out my wallet to pay for the meal when my phone buzzed. I pulled it out to see that I had received a text.

From: Minho
Hey, we're having a dinner party after we film tonight. Bring Hanbyul and some friends!

"Who is it?" Hanbyul asked, trying to get a better look. I raised my phone and showed it to her. She pursed her lips upon seeing the name of the sender and shook her head.

"He sure is persistent," I chuckled, shaking my head as well. "Byul, I don't think you realize exactly how popular you are among guys."'

"Who is it?" Kyuyeon had finished talking on the phone and her attention was grabbed as soon as I said "popular". 

"Lee Minho," Hanbyul sighed, resting her chin on her hand. "He's been hinting that he wants Jaehoo to hook us up for several weeks now, except I'm not interested in dating at the moment. Anyway, because of City Hunter's immense popularity, he shouldn't be seen with another woman besides his mother or Park Minyoung for the next six months. Plus, they'll probably start dating soon."

"You can't go out tonight anyway," Kyuyeon told her as she put her phone away. "It's been decided that you will join Know-One in their photo shoot for Puma tomorrow, so you should try to get a good amount of sleep since you actually can for once."'

"True, true." She nodded her head. The waiter had taken the bill and we got up to leave.  Before people could noticed us, we hurried out of the restaurant. However, as soon as we stepped outside, someone noticed us.

"Oh! D-Du Yeonghon?"

We bowed politely to the young woman who nearly dropped her purse when we appeared in front of her. Rather flustered, she bowed as well and seemed to be having trouble pulling herself together. Kyuyeon hovered behind Hanbyul and me in case more people noticed.

"I'm very sorry to bother you," the woman said quickly. She hesitantly took her phone out. "But may I take a picture with the two of you? It's okay if you don't want to. You must be busy."

Hanbyul and I glanced at each other.

"Of course," I said smoothly. "Our manager can take the picture for you." On cue, Kyuyeon (almost reluctantly) accepted the fan's phone while Hanbyul and I moved to stand on each side of her. I smiled and stuck my hands in pockets as I leaned more toward the woman.

"One, two, three," Kyuyeon droned. As soon as she took the picture, she handed the phone to the fan. "Okay, we have to go."

"Thank you! I am a big fan!" The woman bowed again.

"Thank you for being such a wonderful fan," Hanbyul answered brightly. We waved and walked away, following Kyuyeon until the company van pulled up in front of us. We climbed in (Kyuyeon in front, Hanbyul and me in the back) and buckled our seatbelts as the driver headed to our apartment complex. "Unnie, we don't really have to go anywhere, right?"

"Byul, if you paid attention when we talked about this week's schedule, you would know that you don't have anything else today. I only said that we have to go so a crowd wouldn't develop."

"Ah, yes, that makes sense." She nodded her head. "Silly me."

"Yeah, silly you," I teased, poking her forehead.

"Don't be mean," she gasped, lightly smacking my hand away. I chuckled and tried to poke her again. "Stop it! You're mean!"

"How old are you two?" Kyuyeon groaned, shaking her head.

"That's a good question," Hanbyul mumbled, still trying prevent me from poking her again.

"Ryu Hanbyul, your attempts are futile!"

"You are five years old!"

      Y O U N G I E      

— June 13, 2011 | In a van, somewhere on the outskirts of Seoul

It took a good seven hours to get it done, but we were officially finished with filming for our debut music video. We started filming last week and we thought we were done then, but the director called us back when he thought of something else to make the video look even better. Even though I've only gotten four hours of sleep, I can't complain because everyone is doing their best to make our debut look good. 

"Great job today guys," Jung, our manager, told us. She turned around from the front seat to look at the four of us. "We're going to head back to the dorms so you can clean up, but then you have to the studio to rehearse your songs. It's not a dance practice," she added, seeing how the color drained from all of our faces. "You're just going to sing for the vocal instructor, the CEO, Aecha, and Kyle."

"I'm going to drop dead if I have to dance again," Ava grumbled from behind me. Soojung and Ava were in the back while Jinae and I were in the front. She tapped my shoulder. "Youngchan, can you pass me a banana? I'm starving."

"Here." Hearing a grunt of distaste from Jinae, who strongly dislikes said yellow fruit, I grabbed one of the three bananas from the plastic bag in front of me and passed it to her. She mumbled a quick thank you before peeling the banana and practically devouring it. Unfortunately, her weariness caused her to misjudge the distance between and the banana; she hit the corner of instead and half of the banana fell off and landed in her lap.

"Ah, ," she hissed in English. As if we wouldn't understand what she was saying; everyone in this car except for our manager and the driver understood English. She picked up the broken half and shoved it into anyway.

"Ava, you better not do that in front of cameras, got it?" Jung snapped from the front of the car. Oh. Maybe she does understand English. Well, the curse words at least.

"Yeah, whatever," she mumbled, finishing the rest of her banana. I don't think Jung heard her, otherwise she would've flipped out. I looked to my right and was met with the face of our sleeping leader. 

I recoiled automatically, but relaxed when I realized that even though we were sitting in the same row, we weren't actually sharing a seat (a central aisle divided our seats and lead to the back seat). I crossed my arms and layed my head against the headrest. It's only natural that Jinae would be asleep; she got as much sleep as I did, we filmed for seven hours (so from six in the morning to one in the afternoon), and she was constantly running around as she had to film solo shots, check each take (not that the rest of us didn't, but Jinae was by the monitor the most), and I know there was more that she did, but half of the time I was getting my hair and makeup retouched, so I don't really know what she did every second.

I was just about to close my eyes when I saw Jung take out our CD. Well, it wasn't the real deal. It was just a plain CD with "ROT.N" written on it in Sharpie. Our CD casing and the actual CD itself were still in the process of being designed. Tomorrow the four of us are supposed to write our signatures for the photo book and write up our thank you's and acknowedgements. After that, they'll be submitted to the designers and then we're supposed to get legit copies of the album the week after. Honestly, the idea is a lot to take in all at once, but I haven't told anyone that.

My eyes grew heavy as the familiar drum from "Magnet" started and the car was filled with Ava's and a little bit of my rapping. "Magnet" isn't really much of a lullaby, but I want to sleep. I reclined my chair slightly and pulled the hood of my pink hoodie over my head. Hm, can ROT.N really be like a magnet?

With my heart racing, my eyes snapped open and I looked around wildly. A car? Why was I in a— oh, nevermind. I remember. Groggily, I rubbed my eyes and sat up straight as my heart rate slowed down. I took my phone out of my pocket to check the time. It was two, meaning I had slept for thirty minutes. Wonderful. A little sore (sleeping in a car isn't necessarily the most comfortable thing to do), I turned around and checked the others. Soojung had fallen asleep on Ava's shoulder who was using the older girl's head as a pillow. Turning to Jinae, I saw that her back was turned to me. Whether she was asleep or not, I don't know nor does it actually matter to me.

"We're here." 

And so we were. The driver had parked in the underground parking lot and Jung was the first to get out of the car. I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the door, grabbing my bag and the banana bag before stepping out. Soojung and Ava piled out after me while Jinae got out on the other side. Wordlessly, we marched to the elevator, which was taking longer than usual to arrive. After two minutes of waiting, we were all clearly to tired to be patient.

"I just want to take a shower and have time to get something to wake me up," Jinae whined, stomping her feet. "We still have makeup on! I want to take it off!"

"First one upstairs gets the first shower!"

Before we could even register what was just said, Soojung was already on her way up the stairs. Her short blonde hair bounced as she went out of view. Ava and Jinae gaped at her while Jung and I just stared blankly at the foot of the stairs.

"We live on the sixth floor!" Jinae shouted. I watched her as she followed after Soojung, who was soon followed by a slightly amused looking Jinae. I shook my head as they too disappeared from view.

"You're not going to follow them?" Jung asked, trying not to laugh. She shook her head as the elevator doors opened up. "Ha, why would Hwang Youngchan run up six flights of stairs? Our maknae is too chic for that. Come on, let's go."

I followed her into the elevator silently. It seemed that she was making fun of me, but knowing our manager, she was probably just being her blunt self. I pressed the button for the sixth floor and waited as the elevator doors closed. We passed the first floor, second floor, and third floor. It looks like I won't have to wait for my elders and I'll get to have the first shower for once. I hid a smile and rolled my eyes a bit. That's a refreshing change, literally.

      K A N G  D A E H O      

— June 13, 2011 | Pro Entertainment ; Cheongdam-dong, Seoul

"Sunho actually came up with the base of this around three months ago, but a bit inspiration hit me after the party and this happened. It's great right?"

"It's like I can feel the bass in my soul..."

"Right? Haha!"

"Ah, Kyle-hyung, and then Woojung can come in like this...or should it be Sunho?"

I rested my chin on the leather pillow that I was hugging as I watched three of my many hyungs, Kyle, Myeon, and Hyunshik, arrange bits and pieces of the song we were working on today. Right now, they were working on how to get this unnamed song going. I couldn't help but nod to the beat as they replayed what they'd done so far (which was actually just an instrumental that Kyle came up with earlier). I was sitting on one end of the couch while Woojung was on the other side as he read over sample lyrics that had been written out so far while Sunho was in an armchair and was paying close attention to the conversation going on between the three songwriters/producers/machines in front of us. Although his face was partially hidden by his hood, I could see part of I what I presumed to be a pleased smile.

A little bored, I threw my head back and folded my legs so that I was sitting like a pretzel. Ugh, I can still remember the strong taste of soju. I shuddered and shook my head. Never again, I thought. I don't care if the others tease me for not being able to hold my liquor (even though I didn't actually drink it, I just spat it out); that crap was nasty as hell. I was in the middle of making a face and shaking my head when Kyle turned around to look at us. He raised his eyebrow and smirked.

"No soju for you, huh?" he teased.

"Hyung," I sighed. He laughed and shook his head.

"Okay, okay," he laughed. Turning up the volume on the speakers, he nodded his head along to the beat. "It sounds good, right? This song is making me really excited!"

"Yeah, it sounds good," I agreed. "Are we going to go with the lyrics that Hyunshik hyung has written out?"

"I think we should," Woojung added, setting the lyric sheet down. "They give off a strong image and I think it'd be a great addition to the album."

"We should definitely use them." Myeon crossed his arms and nodded his head. We were all a little taken aback by our leader's sudden firmness, but that faded quickly. He's usually quite withdrawn, but I guess he really likes how masculine the lyrics are. Is he trying to impress someone? Different types of scenarios played through my head and I had to hold back a snicker. I guess he noticed because he turned to me. "Daeho, are you okay?"

"Yes, hyung," I answered quickly. The others gave me a weird look before bringing focus back to the song. They were discussing different phrasing ideas and going through different melodies when Sunho spoke up.

"What Hyunshik has written is great, but it's not much," he reasoned slowly. "It is just a sample he wrote now, so obviously we need more, like for the raps."

"That's true." Kyle tapped his chin with his pencil. He stared at Sunho for a second before grinning. "Something tells me you've got something to say. Am I right?"

"Yeah, you are." Sunho grinned in turn and stood up.

"That's your cue then." Kyle turned back around to face the computer and recording booth. "Show us what you've got." He slipped headphones on and spoke into the microphone as soon as Sunho was in the both and ready to go. "I'm guessing you want me to get the track going." Sunho gave him an "okay" sign moved closer to the microphone. I poked Woojung, who was watching eagerly, and leaned forward.

"Play it from the 2:20 mark," Sunho said into the microphone. Kyle paused before doing as he instructed. A familiar but slightly different beat started up and Sunho closed his eyes before opening his mouth.

"You can't figure out my spectrum // My bass and drum will move you // Put away your cute side and just go crazy — I'm your future // Seeing kids play mindlessly like a circus — I'm sick of it, oh my Jesus // You can beat around a bush, but you're a mouse in a trap // If you're not gonna attack then run away" he rapped strongly, stepping away as soon as he finished.

"That kid just keeps getting cooler," Kyle praised. Sunho walked out, looking a little anxious. "That was good. It fits with the intro we recorded last week. We'll keep this."

Hyunshik patted the older member on the back and both smiled. Ah, there are few things that are just as fulfilling as working on a song and being pleased with the results. Even though we're working right now, it's a lot of fun for the most part. I unscrewed the cap on my bottle of water and took a nice sip. I screwed the cap back on as our three songwriters thought up a melody for the chorus. They grew more and more excited as they got closer to a melody they liked. Kyle jumped up when they all agreed on one.

"Daeho, get in the recording booth before we forget or it changes again!"

"Yes, sir!"

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AUTHOR'S NOTE
Yeah!!
I'm sorry that this took so long! Writing these chapters is a very serious process because I don't want to mess anything up.
Plus, I finished Iris 2, started and finished Dream High, and started Dream High 2
There were various applications that included Dream High 2 as something, so I decided to watch both of them
Ah, I think this came out a week later than I wanted...I'm sorry again!

Du Yeonghon makes their first appearance!
You'll get to read more about ROT.N's dorms another time!!
But I'll let you know that Kylla, Cha Cha, DY, K-O, and ROT.N all live in the same building.
Know-One is working on their album!!
Can you guess the song??? x)

I'd like to say happy birthday to:
Jang Myeon/Yheen (July 31)
Moon Aecha/Cha Cha (August 9)
Ava Kim (August 12)
I had thought about posting things on their birthdays,
But I decided to just center chapters around them on their birthdays based on the time in the fic.

Thank you for reading and subscribing!
And thank you for your comments! You guys are so sweet!!
I'm so grateful to have such lovely readers <3

August 16, 2013