Once upon a time, in a land far, far away…

 

(Ok it wasn’t that far away. And not that long ago either. It was in Seoul, Korea, in the early 2000’s… but let’s focus, shall we?)

 

There lived a boy who was both beautiful and innocent, and surprisingly talented at nearly everything he tried. So much so that his father used to fondly call him his “golden boy”. His father worked for Bangtan Entertainment, the biggest music company in all of Korea, and thus, he grew up, surrounded by the world music and beautiful people. By the time he was 10 years old, he already knew that he too, wanted to enter BE and become an idol. His father acknowledged his desire, but never used his connections to make him get in. No, “you have to work hard and get in through talent, just like everyone else,” he would say, “and you need to be smart so that people don’t take advantage of you, so you must study hard in school as well.” “It doesn’t matter, daddy,” the boy would reply, “I have you to take care of me!” and they would laugh, and the father would ruffle his hair, chiding him that he still had to study seriously.

 

Little did they know, that the boy was very, very wrong.

 

One day, on his way to work, the boy’s father got tragically hit by a bus and died, instantly. The boy, who was only 14 at the time, was overcome with grief. But his grief was stifled as he soon realized that his father had left him with nothing. Still, not being an adult yet, the boy got carted off to his only living relative, a distant aunt who lived in the countryside, who was old and very poor, and couldn’t provide much more than a roof over his head. He lived with her for a whole year, biding his time until his junior high school graduation, and on that day, he took a bus back to Seoul, all his belongings contained in a backpack, along with some money he had collected doing odd jobs while his aunt wasn’t looking.

 

Once he arrived in Seoul, he was overwhelmed with grief and memories of his father, but he made his way to Bangtan Entertainment with one goal in mind: get signed and start his life as a trainee. He quickly managed to get an audition and sang and danced for everyone present. The response was positive. They would accept him as a trainee. There was one catch though: before he could debut, he would have to pay for his lessons at lodgings at the training center, and the cost of all that amounted to millions of Korean wons, which he unfortunately did not have at his disposition. All he had was a measly 500,000won in his wallet, and the clothes on his back. So it was that, with a sad smile, the company staff escorted him outside the building.

 

He didn’t know what to do. His dream was crushed. He had the talent, and he had the drive, but he didn’t have the most important thing: money. He let his whole body slide down the wall of a concrete building in an alley nearby and started crying. What else could he do?

 

After sometime, a door opened nearby and someone came to dump some trash-bags in the dumpster in front of where he’d been sitting. The smell of warm Chinese food drifted through the open door, making his stomach growl loudly. The young man who’d dumped the trash turned and noticed him.

 

“Hey you! What are you doing there? You better not be sorting through the trash for leftovers!” he scolded Jungkook. The boy looked to be a few years older than him – 18, maybe 20 years old at most. He was a bit shorter than our hero, but so skinny that he looked very long, and his dark hair and pointy features, especially in the darkness, gave him a very mean air.

 

“I wouldn’t do that!” retorted the boy, standing up quickly, offended more than he was afraid, and his stomach growled again, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten anything in over 24 hours.

 

“Well, come on in then. Just, use the door like everybody else.” The older boy pointed at the yellow neon side he could see from the street. He nodded and, shouldering his backpack, he made his way inside the restaurant. A short while later, the skinny boy from before came out of the kitchen carrying a steaming bowl of noodle soup and a plate of dumplings. He looked at the other guy with questioning eyes, but the dark-haired one only urged him to eat. He didn’t need to be told twice.

 

“So they turned you down, huh?” asked the other boy, who said his name was Hoseok, sitting in front of him and watching him eat with an odd fascination.

 

Jungkook looked up in surprise.

 

“Don’t act so surprised. We get a lot of your kind,” said Hoseok, waving a hand in a dismissive gesture, “right across from B.E.? We get at least one every few days…. Though they can usually afford to pay…” he finished, eyeing Jungkook’s downtrodden appearance. He looked down at his own clothes, and realized that, after having sat in the dirty alley for a whole afternoon, he was indeed pretty disgusting.

 

“They didn’t turn me down” retorted the black-haired boy.

 

“Oh?” asked the elder, looking surprised, “then why were you hiding in my alley, being all emo?”

 

Jungkook looked down at his food, suddenly not hungry anymore, “they said I passed but… I don’t have any money for the tuition fees…” he replied, sadly…

 

“I see… that’s really too bad…” said the brown hair boy, with fake sympathy.

 

“Well, anyways, thank you for the food. And I CAN pay for that, at least,” said Jungkook, getting up.

 

“Oh no, no…” said the other boy, getting up as well, “and… well… are you a hard worker?” he asked him.

 

“Yes, why?” asked the younger one, curiously.

 

“I thought you were.” Smirked Hoseok, “I might have a deal for you…”

 

And that was the only time that Hoseok was ever nice to Jungkook. Hoseok’s “deal” was that, in exchange for letting him have room and board in the dorm his parents ran at the back of the building, Jungkook would have to work for him at the restaurant, for slightly reduced wages. That way, if he worked hard or long enough, he could save up enough money for his tuition, and apply again in a few months’ time. Jungkook thought that the heavens had sent him an angel and accepted right away. What Hoseok had failed to mention though was that his “room and board” was a tiny room the size of a cupboard in the restaurant’s basement (which didn’t even have heating or air-conditioning) and that his salary was so low, and his working hours so long, that he wasn’t even able to get a second job. At this rate, it would take him ten years to save up enough money to enter B.E.

 

Still, Jungkook never gave up. For months, he worked arduously, slaving under the ministrations of Hoseok, who seemed to enjoy his newfound role as slave-master. There was always more for him to do. Jungkook, clean the kitchen! Jungkook wash the floor! Jungkook clean the windows! He did it all dutifully. He even accepted to start doing some housework at the dorm during his off hours for a little added bonus, which nearly tripled his workload.

 

The work he did at the dorm was the most painful for Jungkook, because most of its residents were kids who were trainees at B.E. If he had been able to pay when he’d first got accepted, he would be staying here too. It made his heart ache whenever he would see a group of them coming back from training and talking about their practices or upcoming debuts; the gossip of who was going to make it and who had been cut; or when he caught glances of them practicing in their rooms. But he wasn’t one to get jealous. He knew that if he just worked hard enough, his time would come too. So he only worked harder, always trying to have a smile on his face.

 

He worked relentlessly for nearly one year. Suffering the demands of Hoseok, his evil boss and landlord, without complaint, and bearing through the bullying of the trainees who lived in the dorm with him. Two of them, in particular, were relentless in their taunting once they found out that Jungkook also dreamed of becoming an idol. Taehyung and Jimin, or the “dreaded 95-line”, as some of the other pensioners called them. They were Hoseok’s favorites, and he often let them off with murder, when he would have scolded others severely for pulling the same stunts they did. Jimin was a short boy with chubby cheeks, an adorable smile and country-boy charm, while Taehyung was tall, with angelic features and a childish exuberance that made everyone fall in love with him. However, it was all just a front since what they seemed to enjoy the most was reveling in other people’s failures, and taunting poor, helpless Jungkook.

 

One morning, as he was sweeping in front of the store before opening time, he saw some workers across the street set up a giant billboard over one side of the Bangtan Entertainment building. B.E. was announcing auditions for an upcoming survival show to decide the next new boyband. Jungkook would have dismissed it if it wasn’t for a small claim at the bottom of the poster, saying that everyone should apply because costs of the competition and training would be paid in full by the company. Not believing his luck, he memorized the audition date and decided that he was going to apply no matter what. He knew that he would also have to request a day off, and did not know how that conversation was gonna go…

 

He waited til the next day to breach the subject with Hoseok. It was nearly closing time and the store was empty except for a few pensioners and the staff. Hoseok sat at one of the tables, chatting with Jimin and Taehyung over a plate of fried chicken. It seemed as good a time as any to make his request. By that time, everyone in the dorm already knew about the contest and was planning to apply anyways.

 

“Hum, Hoseok, can I ask you something?” asked the youngest of the 4 boys, fiddling with his apron.

 

“Sure kid, what’s up?” answered the dark-haired boy with a pleasant smile.

 

“Hum… about the audition…” and he cast a glance across the street, through the windows so that there was no mistaking his intent, “I was thinking… I would like to have the day off, that day…” he mumbled, not looking his elder in the eye.

 

Jimin and Taehyung gwaffed.

 

“You?” laughed Jimin, “you’ll audition??”

 

“As what, their cook?” added Taehyung, giggling.

 

“Come on now, boys…” Hoseok shushed them, “Everyone deserves a chance” he added on a very condescending tone. Still, Jungkook looked up, eyes full of hope. “I don’t see why not,” he added, picking at a piece of lint on his shirt.

 

“Really?!” exclaimed the younger boy, excitedly.

 

“Well yes, my entire staff is planning to audition, so how am I supposed to keep this place running? I guess we’ll just close for the day” he said, shrugging, “speaking of which, can you turn the ‘closed’ sign on?” he told Jungkook, flicking his fingers at him.

 

“Oh my god, thank you!!” exclaimed the kid, running to the door and hanging the ‘closed’ sign after he’d locked the door. “Thank you so much, Hoseok, thank you!!!” he laughed, running back into the kitchen to finish his duties.

 

“You’re really gonna let him go?” asked Taehyung, surprised.

 

The older boy shrugged, “It doesn’t matter. He won’t make it anyways. This way I just look kind because I actually gave him a chance.”

 

“Aaaahhhh…” said Jimin, “hyung, you’re so smart!!”

 

Hoseok smiled and ruffled the younger boy’s hair. “You kids should get to bed too!”

 

For the next week, Jungkook worked extra hard during the day, and he always had a smile on his face. At night, he’d sit in his room and work on an original song he was going to sing at the audition, practicing with his guitar. He didn’t have a tv, or an ipod, or a computer to practice his dance with actual music, so he hoped that just going accapella with a guitar would be good enough. He worked restlessly, and by the following Friday night, after closing shop at work, he laid out the outfit he’d planned to wear on a chair next to his small bunk bed, and placed his guitar against the wall after one last practice, and passed out on his bed without even changing his clothes.

 

The next morning, he got up early and got ready for his duties in the dorm kitchen. Most everybody was already awake and chatting excitedly in the dorm dining room as they ate breakfast. After about two hours, he made his way back down to his room and found it unlocked, and trashed. He ran over to his guitar and saw that it was lying in splinters all over the room. Someone had also cut wholes and dropped a bucket of paint on the nice outfit that he was planning to wear.

 

Rage filling him, he ran up the stairs and into the dining room, still gripping his jacket that was dripping with paint.

 

“who did this?!?!?” he screamed, and everyone turned to look at him.

 

No one dared say a word but he saw Jimin shoot a smirk at Taehyung, who chuckled in his soup.

 

“You!!!” shouted Junkook, making a beeline for the blonde kid with fury in his eyes. Taehyung tried to look innocent but Jungkook grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him out of his chair.

 

“Jeon Jungkook!!”

 

Hoseok’s stern voice resonated across the room and all other sound stopped. Jungkook turned his head towards the doorway but didn’t let go of his prey.

 

“Stop this right now!” scolded the landlord in a voice that meant business.

 

“But he did this!” said the youngest boy, brandishing the paint soaked clothes at his elder’s face and letting go of Taehyung in the process. “They did this! And they trashed my room and destroyed my guitar! Just cuz they don’t want me to go to the audition!” he cried out, in distress.

 

“Well, do you have any proof?” asked the brown-haired boy, calmly.

 

“Proof?!” exclaimed Jungkook in disbelief, “everyone knows it’s them! And they’ve pretty much just admitted to it!!”

 

“I didn’t admit to anything…” mumbled Taehyung, not looking at anyone.

 

“Well if there’s no proof then that’s touchy… and I’ll have to ask you to stop dripping paint on my carpet… the cleaning fee will have to be docked out of your pay…”

 

“ARE YOU ING KIDDING ME?!?!?!” exclaimed Jungkook, losing all self-control and slamming his stained jacket to the ground. “YOU’RE ALL ING CRAZY!! YOU HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE PEOPLE!!” he yelled at all of them, before shoving Hoseok out of the way and running out the door.

 

First he ran. And when he didn’t have energy to run anymore he walked. He didn’t know how long he walked for but then finally when his feet couldn’t go on anymore, he stopped and started crying. He was standing in the middle of a large park and he just stood there, as rich people walking their dogs or taking a stroll with their kids passed by, looking at him awkwardly. Finally, when all his tears had gone, he made his way over to a bench at sat down.

 

A few minutes later, a man came to sit at the opposite end of the bench. Junkook didn’t even look up. The man was young and very handsome. He looked to be in his early twenties, well groomed, and handsome enough to be a popular actor on tv – what with his pink calf-length jacket and fancy sunglasses.

 

“What’s wrong, kid?” asked the stranger.

 

Jungkook just shook his head, not looking up, as if he thought that there was no point in accepting kindness from strangers anymore. He’d learned his lesson with Hoseok.

 

“Come on…” said the man, and something in his voice made him look up. “I was sitting over there before” he said, pointing at another bench on the other side of the track, “been watching you for a while, you look like somebody died.” He said in a warm, comforting voice.

 

“My dream. My dream died.” said the black-haired boy, sounding exhausted.

 

The man in the pink jacket whistled, “Big words for such a young soul.”

 

“I have the talent. I have the drive. Why isn’t that enough??” the kid turned to the stranger with pleading eyes.

 

“What are we talking about here, kid?” asked the young man.

 

And without really knowing why, Junkgook unloaded everything he had been holdin in to this stranger. He told him about his father dying, and wanting to be an idol, about his first audition, which led him to taking up shop at Hoseok’s restaurant. About the year of bullying that ensued, while he tried his best to save up money so he could try auditioning again, and then finally, about the events of that morning, when he’d just thrown everything away in a fit of anger.

 

“hmm… I’ll say, that’s pretty bad...” said the man, thoughtfully, “I’d be crying too.”

 

Jungkook was thankful for the man’s kind words, but they didn’t really help him much.

 

“Why don’t you sing for me?” asked the man, suddenly.

 

“Sing?”

 

“Yes, the song you practiced. I’d like to hear it. And you practiced so hard, you should at least get to perform it today.” He said, to a blinking Jungkook.

 

“But I don’t have my guitar.”

 

“accappella is fine”

 

Jungbook sat silently for a while, deliberating, and then he closed his eyes and started singing softly.

 

“At my house

I was always alone

Dad went to work…”

 

(A/N: He’s singing his cover of “Working” ^_^)

 

The man let him sing his sad, beautiful song to the end. Once Jungkook was finished, he opened his eyes to see that the man had removed his glasses and was looking at him really intensely, which made him a little uncomfortable.

 

“That was really beautiful.” said the man, a little choked-up. And then, giving himself a little shake, he added, “you shouldn’t worry too much about your audition…”

 

Jungkook looked up at him, questioningly, “it’s kind of you to say but…”

 

“No buts…” said the man, reaching into his wallet and pulling out a card, which he handed to the kid. The card read.

 

Kim Seok Jin

Executive Producer

Bangtan Entertainment

 

“I think I can help you.”

 

Jungkook looked up at him again in wonder, clutching the card.

 

 

A few hours later, Jungkook sat in a chair in front of a mirror surrounded by lightbulbs while one girl was styling his hair, and another one applied makeup on his face. He was wearing new clothes too: stylishly form-fitting black jeans, paired up with a fluffy white wool turtle-neck shirt. When the girls finally stopped fussing over him, he brought his face closer to the mirror, not even recognizing his own reflection. He looked like a star.

 

“Wow…” he whispered.

 

A few hours before, after having recounted all his woes and sung for him, Jungkook had found out that his new friend was a high-up exec for the very company he was trying to enter. Jin had told him that, that night, the company was hosting a very upscale party to celebrate its 10^th year anniversary, and there were going to be performances by some of the company’s top artists, and rookies. Jin had managed to pull some strings to get Jungkook a slot in the set too. “If you impress them, you won’t even have to go through the trainee process. Trust me!” he’d said. Trust….

 

“Who’s that handsome devil?” laughed a voice behind him, and Jungkook looked up to see Jin, his fairy-godmother, smiling at him in the mirror, “oh wait that’s me!” he added, cracking up at his own joke, “are you ready?”

 

“Are you sure this is ok??” asked the kid, still worried.

 

“Of course, it’s fine! I got them to bring the soundtrack, you just sing it like you did in the park and you’ll have them at your feet.”

 

“But hyung. Real people are performing at this event! They said Rapmonster is performing!!” he exclaimed.

 

“Oh and you’re not real people?” Jin raised an eyebrow at him.

 

“You know what I mean…”

 

“You’ll do fine kid. Just have a little confidence.” He said, patting his shoulder, “oh! I gotta go!” and then he was off.

 

5 minutes later, he was ushered out on the stage. He walked out to the standing microphone, under the spotlight, to the passive eyes of the guests in the crowd, who didn’t recognize him at all. Two people especially, sitting at a VIP table near the front, looked up to him curiously.

 

“Who’s that?” asked a blonde guy in sunglasses, wearing a long white trench-coat, over his already all-white outfit, “new rookie?”

 

“I have no ing clue” replied the other man. He had short but stylish black hair, and wore an expensive-looking suit, along with several large rings on his fingers.

 

The first bars of the music played and Jungkook placed his hand on the microphone, gently, and started to sing. Halfway through the first verse, all conversation in the room had stopped and all eyes were looking at him. His was like the voice of an angel and everyone was mesmerized. He sang passionately, with his eyes closed; he sang his heart out, and everyone felt chills at the emotions that his voice brought on. Once the last notes had ended, the crowd erupted into cheers, and the young recruit took a bow, before running off the stage.

 

“You’re seriously telling me you don’t know who that kid is?” asked the blonde man to his friend, “cuz like, I want him on my next album!”

 

The dark-haired man waved at a staff member who was standing to attention a few paces away.

 

“Yes, Director Min?”

 

“Find out who that kid was ASAP.” He told his assistant, “and who was the bright son-of-a-b*tch who let him on my stage without informing me.”

 

“Of course sir. Right away” said the staff before disappearing into the crowd.

 

The blonde man laughed, “somebody got that kid up there without you knowing?? Haha… this is awesome!”

 

Backstage, Jungkook was grinning like an idiot. He felt exhilarated. Amazing. That had felt so good!! And everyone had cheered! Applause! For him! He couldn’t believe it. He made his way back to his makeup station and sat on the chair, not really knowing what to do with himself. His cellphone lied on the shelf in front of him, so he grabbed it – if only to distract himself – but suddenly saw that he had a series of messages from Hoseok, flashing on his screen.

 

[Kid, I’m sorry I yelled at you. Please come back so we can talk.] 19:04

 

[Jungkook, where are you? You need to come back.]

[The boys feel bad, we’re all very worried] 20:33

 

[Seriously. Where are you??] 21:47

 

[Ok kid, this is my last offer.]

[If you’re not back here before midnight, ]

[I’m locking the dorm doors on you and you can kiss your job goodbye] 23:02

 

Jungkook looked at the clock on his phone and it flashed 23:51.

 

“!” he thought, jumping out of his seat. The restaurant was just across the building though, he probably had time to make it before midnight, and then he could just come back to the party, which would probably go on for hours.

 

So without thinking, he shoved his phone into his back pocket and ran out of the room. He ran down a hallway, took an elevator to the ground floor, and zoomed past security guards at the entrance who were too busy trying to keep paparazzi from getting in to bother with him running out. He sprinted across the street and barged into the restaurant, the bell tinkling behind him.

 

Hoseok looked up from his stack of paperwork and gave him an appraising look.

 

“Don’t kick me out! Please!” exclaimed the kid, completely out of breath.

 

“Well. I didn’t think you were actually gonna show up.” said his elder.

 

“Hyung please. I only need a few more days!” pleaded the youngster, walking over to Hoseok.

 

“A few more days, huh?” and then he noticed the new clothes and makeup and asked, “did you give up all self-respect and decided to become a host?”

 

“Hyung! Of course not!” retorted Jungkook, offended, and Hoseok chuckled.

 

“Well, fine, get your to bed then. Got work tomorrow”

 

“Actually, I kinda have to go back….” started the younger boy

 

“Go back? Where?! Look kid, if you want to live under my roof, you live by my rules, and curfew is midnight, you know that”

 

“But hyung!”

 

“There is no ‘but hyung!’ that’s it, take it or leave it.”

 

Jungkook looked longingly at the B.E. building, before dragging his feet towards the backroom, which connected with the dorm building.

 

Back in the backstage area of the party, Jin stood by Jungkook’s old makeup chair, arguing with a staff girl.

 

“What do you mean, he’s gone?!” exclaimed the red-haired guy, with exaggerated hand movements.

 

“I’m telling you, he just took off. Like nobody saw him. He came off stage and one minute he was sitting here and then boom! Nobody knows where he went!” she explained.

 

“That makes no sense!” whined Jin, “Why would he leave after a performance like that?! Now Suga wants to sign him, which was the goal, but I don’t even have the kid’s phone number!!” he wailed, and the girl gave him a “that’s not my problem” look, before leaving him standing there alone with his problems.

 

‘I am so ed… Kim Seok Jin… Damn you and your too-nice heart…’ he thought to himself, slamming his fist against the back of the seat.

 

As he did that, something fell off the seat and drifted onto the floor. He bent over to pick it up and saw that it was a card from a Chinese restaurant. He was gonna just toss it back on the counter, but then he suddenly remembered something, smiled, and shoved the card in his pocket.

 

 

The next morning, the mood in the dorm kitchen was really awkward. Some people had passed the audition, and they were pretty happy, but trying to not overdo it in front of those who hadn’t. Jimin and Taehyung, who hadn’t passed, sat at the edge of the table, barking at anyone who came within a 2m radius of them. When Jungkook walked into the room, all eyes turned to him and he just bent his head down as he headed for the food bar.

 

“Oh hey! Look who’s back!” called Jimin with fake cheer.

 

“We missed you!” added Taehyung, snickering.

 

And Jungkook could just tell that the teasing from these two was just going to get worse from now on. But he took a deep breath, and ignored them. ‘If I can just make my way back to B.E.,’ he thought, ‘they’ll recognize me and I won’t have to deal with this crap anymore.’

 

As he made his way back to his seat, Taehyung stuck his foot out, causing him to fall flat on his face, and his tray to clatter to the floor, making a huge mess.

 

“Oh no…” tsk-ed Jimin, “you made a mess again… Hoseok is not gonna be happy…” and his partner-in-crime just laughed.

 

Jungkook stood up tall and looked had him with anger in his eyes but restrained himself. Instead he said, “So, I’m guessing you passed the audition then, hyung?”

 

At that Jimin’s face fell, and a large smirk appeared on Jungkook’s face. Before the elder boy could think of a comeback, Jungkook headed for the door.

 

“Hey!” called out Taehyung, “you’re just gonna leave that there?!”

 

“Yup!” retorted the black-haired boy without turning around.

 

And the two boys were left so dumbfounded that neither of them thought to chase after him. In the end, they bullied a younger trainee into cleaning it for them, since they were all scared of who Hoseok would decide to scream at if they just left it there.

 

Later, around lunch time, Jungkook was busy waiting tables at the restaurant. It was always pretty busy at that time of the day, since a lot of workers from the surrounding office buildings came to take their lunch there.

 

“Hey, did you hear about the party last night?” said one guy, in a group of office workers at the table at which Jungkook was now bringing water.

 

“Are you kidding? It’s all everyone’s been talking about all morning!” said another guy next to him.

 

“Oh you mean about president Min’s Mystery Rookie?” piped the woman in their group.

 

“Mystery Rookie?”

 

“Yeah everyone’s talking about it. It was even in the papers morning,”

 

“I haven’t heard about it” said the fourth member of their group, “what happened?”

 

“Oh well you know there was a showcase for the 10^th anniversary party, right?” said the woman, “apparently there was this one rookie who performed and was totally amazing, but then when the press wanted to interview him, he’d vanished and nobody knew where he was. And then president Min wouldn’t say anything about it, pretending he didn’t know anything either.”

 

“It’s all a big publicity stunt if you ask me…”

 

And then Jungkook couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation because he was called back to serve at another table. But all day, it was all everyone talked about, B.E.’s mystery rookie. Even his dorm-mates were talking about it. Apparently the gossip about it had totally overshadowed the beginning rounds of the auditions for the survival show. Even the evil 95-liners were talking about it, later that evening, as they sat at a table at the restaurant, sporadically ordering food and just generally pestering Jungkook.

 

“Seriously though, who could that mystery rookie be?” Jimin asked Tahyung, across the table. His friend was hunched over the table, replaying a grainy video on his phone.

 

“I don’t know man, all there is online is this crappy video, and it’s so dark, we can’t even see his face.” replied the ashen-haired boy.

 

“But we know all the trainees, nobody back there can sing like that” retorted Jimin, frowning.

 

The bell from the door tinged and a customer walked in, but neither of them looked up.

 

“Maybe it’s someone from the audition?” wondered Taehyung, looking up from his phone and noticing the new customer take a seat at a table near the back of the restaurant.

 

“Maybe…” pondered the kid with the snapback, “but how would they have gotten him up there so fast? No, it’s gotta be someon--- what?!” Jimin stopped mid-sentence as his friend was smacking his hand repeatedly, in excitement, and obviously not listening to him.

 

“Holy sh*t man!” whispered Taehyung, “that’s Rapmonster!!!”

 

“What?!” Jimin’s head whipped around to look at the guy who was sitting in the corner, in a black hoodie and snapback, looking at the menu pensively.

 

“Don’t stare!!” shushed Taehyung, even though both of them continue sneakily staring at him.

 

The star, who’d obviously heard them, looked up and winked. They both turned around immediately, pretending they weren’t looking.

 

Jungkook came out of the kitchen and placed a glass of water in front of the guest without really looking at him and asked, “Are you ready to order?”

 

“Actually, I didn’t really come here for the food.” said the older boy, “I’m a friend of Jin’s.”

 

And it was only then that Jungkook really looked up and noticed the blond celebrity who was smiling at him. His jaw, as well as the tray he held in his hand, dropped down to the floor in shock as he recognized him.

 

“Hey kid,” he smiled. “You know who I am?”

 

Jungkook nodded, slowly and Rapmonster laughed. Hoseok, who had heard the noise, came rushing over and started screaming at Jungkook.

 

“What are you doing disturbing guests like this?! Go on back, I’ll take care of this!” and then to Rapmonster, “I’m so very sorry about him, he won’t trouble you anymore… and your meal will be on the house, of course” he said with a greasy smile.

 

“Actually, I came to talk to him” said the superstar, making Jungkook stop dead in his tracks and turn around. Jimin and Taehyung watched from their seats, open-mouthed.

 

“You did?” said Hoseok, stupidly.

 

“Yeah kid,” he said, standing up, “you want to work with me on my new album?”

 

Jungkook: what?!

 

Hoseok: what?!

 

95ers: what?!

 

Rapmonster laughed and put an arm around the black-haired boy. “Your performance last night was tight, man. Everyone’s dying to get their grubby hands on you! And Suga’s going out of his mind trying to find you and officially sign you before anybody else does!”

 

Hoseok: last night…

 

Jimin: you mean…

 

Taehyung: the mystery rookie…

 

“Come on,” said the blonde man, leading him towards the door, “You don’t have to work crummy jobs like this anymore.” And then he paused to look the kid in the eye and said, “I’ve got you now.”

 

Jungkook couldn’t believe what was happening to him. After all this time, after all the hardships and everything that had gone wrong, his dream was now finally within his grasp, and the biggest star in Korea was standing right here, offering it to him.

 

“If you leave now, don’t ever come back!!” Hoseok shouted at him angrily from the back of the room, breaking the hypnotic spell that had fallen on everyone, as they waited for Jungkook’s answer.

 

A smile appeared on Jungkook’s face and he undid his apron, throwing it to the ground.

 

“I’m done here!” he said, his voice sounding like that of a happy 16 years old kid for the first time in his life, “come on, let’s go!”

 

He walked out of the building, and he lived happily ever after.

 

Well. Sort of.

 

 

THE END

 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Hi guys!

Did you like it? This is my first attempt at a short-story... though it's actually already pretty long, haha... I was wondering what you thought about it since I'm thinking of making it a series. As in, doing other fairytale retellings featuring Bangtan. What do you think? Which fairytale should I do next?

AoH