“Jinujinu! Are you still on 27th floor? Did Mino come out?”

Jinwoo stared at Mino, who mouthed “turn it to speakerphone", and answered nervously, “Yeah, I’m still here. And I think Mino is still in his hotel room…”

Seunghoon cursed. “What a lazy hippo! It’s already past 10AM and he hasn’t come out yet? Goodness gracious!”

Many floors above him, Mino scowled and mumbled, “I’m a what? Seriously - ” Jinwoo shushed him off.

“Sorry, Jinwoo-yah? What did you say?”

“Oh, I was saying the hippo - I mean Mino - is awake, but he’s just -  “

Mino said loudly into the speakerphone in his deep voice, “The hippo says good morning to Jinwoo’s sunbae and he thinks Jinwoo’s sunbae should come upstairs.”

Jinwoo glared at Mino in horror and there was only silence from the other end of the line. “Hello? Seunghoon-hyung? Are you still there?”

“Who was that?”

“It was - “ 

Mino cut Jinwoo’s sentence off. “That was Song Mino. I heard you wanted an interview with me, so you should come here now while I’m free.”

Seunghoon swiftly replied, “Give me your room number and I’ll be up in a sec.”

“2715.”

“Thank you. And Kim Jinwoo, I think you owe me an explanation.” And Seunghoon hung up.

***

“How should I tell him what happened?” Jinwoo walked back and forth inside Mino’s room like an agitated sheep. 

Mino casually leaned back in his chair and said, “Just tell him everything. It’s not like you committed a crime by coincidentally meeting me.” His phone vibrated and there was a text from Taehyun: “Yo, Song Mino, can I go up now? Need to continue my track.” To which Mino replied, “Yeah come here NOW.”

The doorbell rang just as Mino pressed the send button. He signalled to Jinwoo to sit down somewhere before opening the door. “Hi, come in. I’m Mino. Can I call you hyung?”

Seunghoon said, “Maybe. Only after you told me what happened between you and Jinwoo. I will be polite to you because we are requesting an interview, but if you did anything to Jinwoo, anything, I will not let you go in one piece. I’m Lee Seunghoon, by the way."

Jinwoo quickly clarified, “Hyung! No, don’t misunderstand. He didn’t do anything to scare me or anything, we just - “

“Become friends.” Mino answered. “Yeah, I become friends with Jinwoo.”

Seunghoon lifted an eyebrow and stared Jinwoo sitting on a rather messy bed, and the clothes strewn around, before plopping himself on the nearest armchair. “Become friends? By sneaking around and staying in the hotel room together the whole morning? Oh, I would really like to know what you guys exactly did to become friends."

Jinwoo shouted, “We didn’t - “

There was a click sound and the door was flung open from the outside. Mino swiftly moved to the door, “Guys, I invited some guests in. This is Kim Jinwoo and this is Lee Seunghoon-hyung. And guys, this is my friend Nam Taehyun and my manager Choi Seunghyun.”

Taehyun only checked the two strangers out from head to toe and Manager Choi practically glowered. “You invited GUESTS? Do you know what you just did?”

Seunghoon jumped in, “Excuse me, Mino-sshi, I haven’t consented that you could call me hyung.”

The manager glared at Seunghoon. “Seunghoon-sshi, I think you agree with me that your concern is not the main issue here.”

To his surprise, Seunghoon nodded profusely, “Yeah, I definitely agree. You’re not the only one who might want an explanation from these two kids.” He pointed at Mino and Jinwoo. 

Taehyun clicked his tongue and proceeded to sit on the window ledge. “Mino, I thought we were BFF. You could’ve told me earlier that you have such a handsome boyfriend.”

At this point, Mino blushed and mumbled some incomprehensible words. Jinwoo could not take it anymore and stood up. “I’m not his boyfriend! Okay, everyone should sit down and I’m gonna explain what happened, and after that we can talk diplomatically, alright?” He took a deep breath and started, “So, last night, I had to go out but I got lost in the hotel lobby. That's when I saw someone falling down and getting his wrist sprained. He turned out to be Korean, so I helped him bandage his injury - “

Taehyun laughed and started clapping his hands, “Daebak! This is Korean drama material! Continue! Continue!”

Jinwoo rolled his eyes and went on, “Yeah, anyway he gave me some lame fake name - “

“It’s my hoobae’s name! It’s not lame!” Mino cut in.

Frustrated, Jinwoo shouted, “Can you just let me finish? Anyway, I bumped into him earlier this morning and he invited me in (Taehyun whistled) and bought me breakfast (Seunghoon and Seunghyun snorted in unison) and then he told me his real identity. That’s all!”

Seunghyun said, “Okay, so why do we all have to be gathered here? Are we having a tea party?”

Mino cleared his throat. “Uh, so, the thing is, Jinwoo and Seunghoon-sshi are reporters from WINNER Agency, and they want to do an interview with me and Taehyun, so - “

Seunghoon interjected. “Actually, ideally we want interviews and probably some footage of your Japan activities? Something like what you did last time in NAMSONG TV, but we have amazing editing team in our agency, so it will come out awesome. Trust me on this.” He asked Seunghyun, “Would it be possible to get permission from YG? My own CEO already authorised me to negotiate any kind of agreement here if necessary.”

Taehyun wasn’t fond of interviews, but out of the blue he asserted, “Yes! Since their looks are above average, I don’t mind them following us around in Japan. And Jinwoo can be my muse for my next mixtape - his eyes are very expressive…”

The young manager pondered over the possibility. It would be good to have some kind of a partnership with the famous news agency and they could probably give more exposure to the rookies. But he was also aware that Mino had a reputation to keep - Yang-sajangnim explicitly told him to “be swag and don’t act like a pabo in public”.  Well, since Taehyun the diva already agreed, the only thing he needed was YG’s authorization. He told everyone, “Alright, you guys hang out here for a while, don’t do anything stupid while I give YG a call outside.”

The last thing Seunghyun heard before he closed the room door was Mino shouting, “Hyung! Please tell sajangnim that I promise I will be extreeeeeemely careful and I won’t say anything stupid if I get interviewed.” 

***

“So, Jinwoo, what do you think of our Mino here?” Taehyun asked while filing his nails.

Mino retorted, “Shut up, Namtae. Just do your nails and mind your own .”

Jinwoo only stared at them and then asked, “Uh, so how long have you guys been friends? You trained together in YG before, right?”

The sassy diva side-eyed him and gave a lazy smile, “You haven’t answered my question, my deer Jinwoo.” He stuck out his tongue at Mino and said, “My friend there might be curious too, for all we know.”

“Uh…” Jinwoo gulped. “He’s tall, I guess? He looks quite scary at first, but he’s actually quite nice. He’s very gifted with lyrics and rap flows. Yeah … that’s what I think of Mino.”

Taehyun stared at his fingers and examined them closely. “Aww, Mino, you’re ‘very gifted’. Your heart must be fluttering with happiness now.” 

“Well, it’s always nice to be praised for my talent, you know, but seriously your expression is really annoying. Can you stop with your annoying smile?” Mino scowled. “Anyway, Jinwoo, I trained in YG with this insane dude for about 2 years and we stayed in the same dorm. He has always been a bit off. Like, his pyjamas are sometimes more expensive than my shoes. And everyday he will always try to teach me how to pronounce Saint Laurent, Givenchy, Lanvin and all those French fashion houses. Seriously, isn’t it good enough that I know Adidas and New Era?”

Seunghoon squealed, “OMG Saint Laurent? I totally loved the brand after Hedi Slimane took over! I saved up for their biker jacket, you know, but it was sold out so fast. Sigh, life of a poor reporter.”

Hearing this, Taehyun left his throne on the window ledge and joined Seunghoon enthusiastically. “I know right! The jacket was released before I received my first salary. By the time I could afford it, it’s off the market. Such bad timing!”

Seunghoon patted the other's shoulder in empathy. “Let’s just watch the fall/winter 2015 show and see what’s there to buy."

Looking at the two new BFFs, Mino only stared in amazement. He started thinking that introducing them was probably a good idea. Maybe Taehyun could finally find a shopping partner with the same taste and Mino would be out of his intense fashion scrutiny. He inched away from the two fashionistas and approached Jinwoo, who was busy playing with his phone. “Yo, Jinwoo, what are you doing”

“Just texting Seungyoon-hyung…”

“Who’s that?”

“Ah, my boss. He’s WINNER’s CEO. I need to update him on the current situation so he won’t think that I’m slacking off here in Tokyo.”

Mino tensed up. “Is he the one who threatened to fire you? Do you wanna video call him to prove that you are doing your work properly?”

Jinwoo beamed. “Okay! You’re so smart, Mino-yah!”

***

Kang Seungyoon was full - no, actually his stomach was nearly exploding - from brunch. He really appreciated the hospitality of the JYP people, really, but now as a result he was too full to do any productive work. So the young CEO only leaned back on his chair, reading his emails, when a LINE message from Jinwoo popped up. “Boss, are you free for a video call?”

Seungyoon replied with a “yes!!” and added two cute stickers because he still felt guilty for scolding and threatening Jinwoo the other day. In a few seconds, a video call request came in.

“Hi, hyungnim, good morning!” Jinwoo looked as adorable and cheerful as usual, so Seungyoon felt more at ease.

“Hello Jinwoo, how’s Tokyo? Are you and Seunghoon enjoying yourselves?”

“Yup yup all is good! I’m calling to give you an update on my assignment.”

“Okay, anything new? Hoon said earlier that you were on a spy mission.”

There was a laugh that sounded much, much, deeper than Jinwoo’s voice, and Seungyoon heard two people in the background talking about “Fendi tote bags” and “Acne Studios sweaters”. He frowned and asked tentatively, “Jinwoo-yah, who are you with? And where is Seunghoon?”

Mino squeezed his face into the small frame. “What’s up, hyung! He’s with me! And Seunghoon-hyung is here too chatting with Taehyun.” He seemed to borrow Jinwoo’s phone for a while and faced the camera to the two new friends for life. “Taehyun-ah, say hi to Jinwoo’s boss!”

Taehyun glanced sideways, said a flat “hi”, and immediately turned back to Seunghoon to continue their discussion.

Seungyoon shouted, “HOLY COW! Jinwoo! What - why - how - “

The camera shifted back to Jinwoo and Mino, sitting cosily at the edge of a bed as if that’s something they did together frequently. “Uh, boss, long story, I just happened to meet him and now we are friends.”

“Yup, it’s nice to have a friend working as a reporter in a very influential company.” Mino added, hoping that Seungyoon caught on to what he was trying to imply.

Back in Tokyo, Seungyoon’s mouth was still left open. He could not even fathom how everyone suddenly became buddies with each other. 

“So, Yoonie-hyung, now their manager is trying to ask YG whether we can get exclusive reports and all, hopefully their agency gives a green light and we’ll proceed from there.”

Beside Jinwoo, Mino was nodding in a steady beat while smiling widely to the camera. When Seunghoon returned to earth from his fashion planet, Seungyoon intended to give him a call and ask him to explain what exactly was going on in Tokyo. In the meantime, he could only say, “Uh, okay, keep up the good work and tell Seunghoon to text me when he’s free to talk. It’s nice meeting you, Song Mino-sshi.” 

“You too, hyung! Peace!” 

“Noted. Talk to you later hyungnim!” Jinwoo pressed ‘end call’ just as Mino said, “Wait wait wait! Why didn’t you ask him whether you can keep your job?”

Jinwoo scratched his chin. “Ah, for now I have no right to ask him that question. I’m only at the preliminary stage of completing my task, so yeah…”

Leaning his body back so he could lie down on the bed, the rapper replied, “Don’t worry. Taehyun and I will help you guys out.”

“That’s the least of my worries. For now, I’m more concerned that your agency won’t agree to our proposal. Honestly, even I think this is rather sudden...”

Mino jumped off the bed and walked towards the door. “Let me check on Seunghyun-hyung.”

At that moment, the manager stormed in and said, “Guys, YG just faxed over a few pages of a draft exclusivity and confidentiality agreement. Seunghoon-sshi, you should read the whole thing now and let me know whether there is any violent objection to any clause. If not, you should sign on every page and write your details on the last page, and I will go downstairs again to fax a copy back to YG.”

“OMG we did it! Thanks everyoneee!” Jinwoo leapt happily, danced with Seunghoon, bro-fisted Taehyun, high-fived Seunghyun, ran over to Mino, and to everyone’s surprise, hugged him very tightly.