My journey to stardom was just beginning. So far, one arc of my story is now complete. Then next is so much more. More emotional, more powerful, more intense. In the next arc of my life, I am forced to break down everything I ever thought I was. I was reduced to the very core of my being, stripped of my pride, my dignity, and my integrity. If Hoseok played a part in my rebirth, then he was necessary for my destruction.

    “I would like to begin this meeting with congratulations to our three new confirmed members of Bangtan Boys. Everyone please stand and give them a round of applause.” Production Director Bang Sihyuk gestured to the “maknae line”-as they were now called-sitting at the edge of the long meeting table. Jimin blushed and bit his lip as he took to his feet. He turned inward, shrouding part of his body from the rest of the group of people in the room. Many important men were gathered around that mahogany table, including two veteran managers of Bangtan Boys, a new assistant manager, two of the assistant production directors, and the ceo himself, Mr. Bang Sihyuk. They rounded the far end of the table in order from least important to most important. The rest of the members sat surrounding the maknae line. Jimin sat in between Taehyung and Jeongguk-much to Jeongguk’s annoyance-with direct line of sight falling on Bang Sihyuk’s pinched eyes. He didn’t know if that was just what his face looked like, but his expression always seemed to be scrutinizing. This was supposed to be a joyous event. Why did he seem so bothered by the whole thing?

    “Moving on to introductions, my name is Bang Sihyuk and I am the company owner of BigHit Entertainment. There will only ever be one of two reasons as to why you would see me. One, something good happened-this event here-or two, something bad happened. You do not want to be the second reason, so I encourage you to do everything that is going to be asked of you today. This may be an introductory meeting, but don’t take it lightly. From now on you are in performance-mode. A lot is going to be asked of you. I want you to understand that there is no backing down now that your contracts are signed. You won’t be able to back out when things get hard. Have I made myself clear?” Jimin was almost positive that he was talking to him. His eyes narrowed on him and a distinctive smirk creeped up the side of his mouth when Jimin flinched. This man was a snake. Jimin could tell. A business shark, a shrewd dealer, a devil of the marketing world. Jimin decided right then and there he would not do anything that would get him in trouble with Bang Sihyuk. He was bad news. Bang Sihyuk gave one more passing glare across the members before turning to the man on his side. They exchanged glances before the man grunted and stood. He wasn’t nearly as intimidating as Bang Sihyuk, but he still evoked an erect posture from Jimin without a moment of hesitation. He cleared his throat and smoothed out his suit jacket before speaking.

    “Hello, I am going to be your coordinating manager. My name is Kim Hongmin. For simplicities sake, I will be responsible for detailing and designing your schedules. I will book all of your fan meetings, rehearsals, tours, interviews, etc. There won’t be a day in your lives where you won’t know what you’re doing for the day so long as I have any say in it. My requirements are merely this, I ask that you be as flexible as possible. Conflicts occur constantly, even more so in the life of an entertainer. There will be days where you are working on a choreography for one of your songs, when you find out that the show you would be performing at got pushed up by a week, and you will have to dedicate an extra fifteen hours of practice to learning a whole new choreography. There may be days where I schedule a break day for you, but an interview with a talk show is only available for that day, and I have to cancel that day off. My job is not an easy one, and I would like to make it as convenient for everyone as possible. However, I am not a magician. I do what I can to ensure that you get as much spotlight as possible. We are trying to ensure your success in this business. Sometimes that takes sacrifice. I need you to be as willing and compliant as possible. Do you understand this? Can you promise that you will do this for me?” All three maknae’s nodded frantically. Their new manager sat down satisfied with their response. All eyes moved on to a lean man with small eyes and a full face. His thin rectangular glasses were perched just on the tip of his nose. He looked more like a computer technician in his t-shirt and jeans than he did a businessman. Jimin liked him instantly. He wore a simple, small, unassuming smile and watched everyone openly.

    “My name is Jung Hobum and I will be your general manager. I’m the one who get’s to go with you to every fan meeting, every talk show and stage performance. Every time you boys show your face somewhere, I’ll be there. My job is to be your caretaker and make sure you get to every place you need to be on time, in tact, and with everything you need. If you want to help me out and make my job easier, then feel free to be as responsible as possible. Do that and I think we will get along fine.” Taehyung warmed with his calm stare. He was the only one in the room that wasn’t scowling at him. Taehyung didn’t like the vibes from the CEO or the Coordinating Manager. They seemed too serious, too uptight. Taehyung could tell this guy wasn’t like that. For one thing, he was the only one who kept his lecture under ten minutes.

The next two men who went were decidedly boring and unworthy of Jeongguk’s fleeting attention. He was distracted by things easily, for example, the harshness of the lights. The room had warm cream walls, but the lights made it look sagging and gloopy, like mushy oats. The room was bare, only a flat screen TV at the front of the room with a long wall mounted table under it decorated the space, that and the long oak table that they were seated at and the rolling chairs they were all seated in. Jeongguk figured they’d at least put a picture frame or something up on the walls to add some flavor. Maybe flavor wasn’t really their thing. The CEO  and his assistant production directors were three pieces cut from the same cloth. The managers wore the same blank expressions, and even the newbie seemed bland to him. The long droning formalities seemed to drag like a monotone lecturer at a committee meeting. Jeongguk fazed in and out of their conversation periodically, only offering a nod here, a grunt there, and the occasional “yes sir.”

When the room lost Jeongguk’s interest, he turned his attention back to the only contrasting thing in the room. Jeongguk was amazed that this entire time Taehyung had not stopped moving. He was either rocking back and forth on his chair, bobbing his head, shaking his leg, tapping the table with his finger, or playing with his pencil. It wouldn’t have been so difficult to ignore had Jeongguk not been sitting next to him, but he was constantly vibrating. There weren’t any pauses or stops, just continuous movement. Eventually, watching him out of the corner of his eye made Jeongguk dizzy. Leaning back in his chair, Jeongguk drew his hand under the table and slid a finger up the top of Taehyung’s thigh. Taehyung jumped and nearly slammed his thigh against the bottom of the table had Jeongguk not pressed his leg down. The noise of his movement startled the people in the room, and all eyes turned to Taehyung. One of the assistant production managers-who had been in the middle of an explanation-turned to Taehyung and narrowed his eyes.

“You’re quite active back there. Have something to add about budget limits and payment plans?” Taehyung laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.

“No, sorry. There was a spider crawling up my leg.” Taehyung turned his tight-lipped smile to Jeongguk.

“But I think it’s gone now...” He added. The assistant production director grunted low and turned back to his slide show. When attention had moved back to the screen, Taehyung slipped his hand behind Jeongguk and pinched his side. Jeongguk’s response was a small self-satisfied smirk and a soft huff escaping his lips. Somehow, it didn’t make Taehyung feel any better. Jimin-who had been watching the interaction-grabbed the sleeve of Taehyung’s shirt. Taehyung turned back to Jimin with a questioning look. Jimin’s eyes widened and he nodded to Jeongguk asking what had happened. Taehyung leaned over to whisper in his ear.

“This punk was...aish!” Taehyung pulled his other hand from pinching Jeongguk to flicking the back of his head as, once again, Jeongguk ran his finger up Taehyung’s thigh. Jimin tried to hide his small smile, but the muscles around his lips pulled anyway, but only a little. Funny, it might have gone unnoticed everyone else, but Hoseok had caught it. It was the most innocent thing he had ever seen. Hoseok knew he should have been listening-one of the managers was likely to quiz him and the rest of the elders on what had been said during the meeting-but his soon-to-be dongsaeng was distracting. He sat there nervously in his chair, fidgeting with his shirt sleeve and biting his bottom lip. Hoseok’s hand itched to pat him on his back like he would his older sister. He clenched his fingers to suppress the urge, releasing both his grip and a slight sigh after a short moment. He didn’t know what about Jimin brought out his protective side, but he would need to be careful if he wanted to earn the younger’s trust. Plenty indication of that challenge had been given to Hoseok when they had met his family.

“Three weeks...” Hoseok murmured. Yoongi turned his head to look back at Hoseok. His brow raised in question.

“Huh?” He whispered. Hoseok shook his head and smiled, nodding back towards the assistant director. Yoongi shrugged his shoulders and faced the front again. He tried, really Hoseok did give his best effort to listen to their coordinating manager as he laid down their schedule for the next month. But, Hoseok’s mind was always pulled in the direction of someone it shouldn’t. He itched even more than his palm had before to look at Jimin. He wondered if he was still nervous. There was nothing to fear, really, Hoseok just wanted to show him that. He couldn’t very well do that though without drawing unnecessary attention to himself and probably embarrassing Jimin in the process. The poor boy was so fragile, he might hate the action despite it’s honest intentions. Hoseok wondered if Jimin was still biting his lip, still chafing his thumb along the hem of his sleeve. His fingers were quite small and short if Hoseok remembered, they were probably covered by the fabric of his shirt. His shirt was baggy. It hung over his small frame like a cape. It made Hoseok want to pinch his sides just to see how much fabric the poor boy was swimming in. Hoseok questioned why he wore such big clothing. From what he recalled, Jimin only ever wore sweat pants, athletic shorts-which hung nearly to his calves-and some varying of a t-shirt and sweatshirt combo.

Instead of listening to their dance practice schedule, Hoseok’s mind switched completely to thoughts about Jimin. He didn’t even try to fight it anymore. There were too many unknowns about the kid. There were too many unanswered questions and growing curiosities inside Hoseok. He never was good at being patient. Despite a prominent feeling telling him he shouldn’t meddle, Hoseok still leaned over and tilted his head towards Jimin’s ear. Jimin erected, conscious of both his movements and the other people in the room. Jimin still looked forward, but his eyes darted back and forth between the coordinating manager and Hoseok at his side.

“Hyung?” Jimin whispered.

“After greetings, do you want to meet me in the cafe in the lobby? I want to talk to you.” Hoseok waited for Jimin’s reaction. His forehead wrinkled in confusion as he considered Hoseok’s words.

“Greetings?” Jimin asked instead. Hoseok let one small, low laugh escape his lips. Jimin felt the puff of air tickle his neck, made him sit even more rigidly.

“Yes. You will be making your rounds, you know?” Jimin shook his head just as the coordinating manager slammed his book closed and clipped the fasten in place. Jimin shook his head