Mallory stood with her arms crossed, scanning over each and every member of the band as they danced and sang their hearts out. Their outfits didn’t match, she noted. Some were in all gray, others in some gray with black, and others in all black. The red head threw an aegyo into the dance as he did his part, near the beginning. Mallory rolled her eyes as the fans below her screamed and cried for him. Pathetic. She thought. The blonde received varying screams, as did the auburn haired child who came before him. Mallory found herself losing interest.

It wasn’t that the performance was bad, in fact it was anything but. The problem was that it was a cookie cutter performance. They weren’t dancing to dance. They were dancing to repeat themselves. There was no change, Mallory figured, from their music video to the moves they did on stage. All staged. No heart. She decided quickly. Judging. She was judging already.

She yawned as she moved to sit. Cute. They were cute. But that was all she saw them as. Their music was fair enough. She liked the beat, enjoyed that it was rap, not all song, and that it meant something, even if it meant nothing to her. Her eyes wandered from the stage, and she found Zhen in the middle of the pit, with body guards on either side of her, snapping pictures as the boys dance. Mallory smiled. Zhen wouldn’t find anything wrong with the performance.

They gave good face. But there were points, Mallory noticed, where their voice cut out. Endurance. Do you really “got em”? It didn’t seem like it. In their defense, they were moving a lot. Mallory in a breath and held it, then slowly released as she watched their feet. No stumbling. No steps out of place. They knew what to do, and they did it without mistake. Impressive. She crossed her legs and waited as the song finished for the next to start.

She judged them most of the night, and felt little remorse for it. It was what she did, after all. It was her job.

“You guys!” Song Yi squealed, grabbing at Zhen’s hand. “That was so good! I can’t believe we saw BTS in concert.” She was practically bouncing as they waited for the stadium to empty out. Mallory still sat in her chair, inspecting her fingernails. She was on the phone with her older brother, who was planning on coming to Korea to visit her some time soon.

Zhen smiled at Song Yi. “Well, you’re going to be talking to them in a few minutes. Please, contain yourself.” Song Yi squealed again, Zhen laughed with her and Mallory shot them a warning look.

“Je vais vous parler demain, oui?” Mallory nodded her head. “Adieu.” And she hung up her phone. Most of the crowd had disappeared, so Mallory stood and stretched. “Are you ready to head backstage?” She asked, and Song Yi squeaked beside Zhen. “You’re going to be professional when we meet them, aren’t you?” She asked irritatedly before strutting to the end of the row.

Just as she took the step out of the row, a bodyguard appeared before her. “Are you Shadow Penman, with Underground Communique?” She rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. Song Yi shot forward and told him that they were Underground Communique. “Please, follow me.” He said, giving Mallory an annoyed look.

The three girls followed behind them and, as they made their way backstage, Zhen took photos of all the fans waiting outside of the dressing room in hopes of meeting the band members. The bodyguard pushed through the throng of fans, gesturing for the girls to follow. Mallory did so, disgusted as she was that they’d had to fight the fans, and was followed by Zhen and Song Yi. Another bodyguard held the door into the backstage waiting room open for them. Song Yi thanked him, since Mallory and Zhen could no longer talk.

Already, the band was waiting for the girls to join them. They stood as the three entered the room. Everyone bowed to one another and then the group introduced themselves, on cue, as BTS. When they made no move to announce who they were, Mallory took a step forward, rolling her eyes. She pointed to the first boy that stood on the far right of the group. “Me?” He asked, and she nodded her head, posing with one hand on her hip and the other still pointed at him. “Uh,” He looked to the others. “I’m… Jimin?” He asked. Mallory’s eyes shifted from him to the next boy.

“J-Hope.” He announced with a smile.

Mallory did not reciprocate as she pointed to the next. “Suga.” Her eyes lingered on him, and she squinted, as if trying to figure out if he were lying or not.

She turned. “Rap Monster.” This one she laughed at, which made all of the boys look confused, Zhen shook her head, and Song Yi began to apologize, but Mallory waved her off.

Mallory turned and pointed to the next boy. “Jin.”

“Jungkook.” Said the next boy, just as her finger pointed at him.

And the last boy, the one who’d done the aegyo that had, amazingly enough, disgusted Mallory. “V.” She rolled her eyes and turned, walking back to Song Yi and Zhen’s side.

“Uhm,” Song Yi started, her eyes on Mallory as she did so. Mallory pulled a notepad from her satchel and handed it to Song Yi. “I’m sorry about that. She’s impatient and demanding.” Mallory pulled out another notepad, for herself, to take down what each member said. “Shall we being?”

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