We were once at the top, but how low we’ve stooped,
From rookie trinity, to the forgotten group…
And now the dongsengs have raised the bars,
They’ve slayed the charts and collabed with stars.
It’s not fair to us; it’s oppression, you see.
We’re denied what we have the potential to be.
This is injustice, and so we decide,
A course of action by which we’ll abide.
The lightest of which would surely appall…
That Seventeen group: we’ll destroy them all.

Minhyun stopped typing as soon as he realized that netizens would start hating them if he posted this up on the fancafe. He only wrote it as a joke, but he knew how netizens could be. Especially now that Seventeen is like Korea’s cute little baby boy kpop group. It’s Seventeen for crying out loud. They’re “so talented” and “polite” and “sweet” and blobloblobloblo.

Minhyun huffed in amusement. Funny how Korea thinks of Seventeen as pure angels when in reality some members are anything but. Minhyun knew them all too well. He had trained with some of them for extended periods of time.

Sometimes he would watch some of Seventeen’s appearances. Seungcheol is talking about his ideal girl as “pure and innocent.” Minhyun scoffed. Yeah right.  That’s not the Seungcheol Minhyun knew. The ideal girl for the Seungcheol Minhyun knew is a . It was amusing to think of Seungcheol –sorry, “S.Coups”– with an innocent girl.

“What are you doing?” Ren asked Minhyun as he came into the room.

“I was just typing a message to post up on the fancafe,” Minhyun said, “it’s really the only thing I can do for our Korean fans right now because our broke company is abandoning us in Japan.”

“Tell me about it,” Ren grimaced, “the boss is a ing prick.”

“Whatever,” Minhyun said, “I was about to post a poem I wrote, but I figured netizens would take it too seriously.”

“I bet you they wouldn’t even notice. Netizens forgot we exist, remember?”

“Yeah, but I wrote it about Seventeen…”

Ren’s face transformed into one of pure disgust, “oh God, don’t mention those fakers in front of me or I swear I’ll puke.”

“Hey, don’t say that,” said JR, who was sitting close by. JR was much too nice for his own good, and he never said anything against their hoobaes.

The NU’EST members didn’t really talk about Seventeen much amongst themselves at all, but there was this unspoken consensus that they did not particularly like the younger group.

It was not always like that. When they were training together, they were genuinely good friends. But then NU’EST debuted and was kept busy, and so they naturally drifted apart. When Seventeen became popular and their company continuously postponed NU’EST’s comeback in favor of more Seventeen promotions, NU’EST started feeling slightly jealous. And then things went down between the two groups, and their feelings towards Seventeen naturally culminated into one of aversion.

“I hate them,” Ren affirmed to JR, “there, I said it. I don’t care if it’s blasphemous for a sunbae to say it or whatever, but I hate them.”

JR shifted uncomfortably at those words, but he responded: “I understand why you would feel that way, but…”

“Are you talking about Seventeen,” Baekho asked as he entered the room himself, “I heard someone say ‘I hate them’ and I automatically assumed it was Seventeen.”

“Yes,” Minhyun answered.

“Yeah, I hate them as well,” Baekho answered with that characteristic bright smile on his face, as if what he had just said was not in the least bit mean.

“Guys…” JR complained, clearly not comfortable with the unkindness. He looked to Minhyun for support. Minhyun just shrugged his shoulders in response.

“Face it JR, we all hate them,” Baekho told him. “You do too; don’t deny it.”

“I don’t,” JR stoutly claimed, “I think some of them are kind people…”

“Emphasis on ‘some,’” Ren said. “Some, on the other hand, are downright s. I can name at least five.”

JR tightened his lips. It was true that some members of Seventeen really did deserve the title “s.” JR did not really deny that the Seventeen members had wronged them plenty of times.

“First and foremost: ing Junghan,” Ren muttered, “I hate that imposter.”

“First of all,” JR defended, “you’ve rarely spoken to him. And second of all, there are 13 members in Seventeen…”

“Which makes their group name stupid,” Baekho interrupted, “but carry on.”

“And we only know them so well,” JR continued, “it’s not fair to hate them as people, when really they are not the reason we are so bitter at all.”

“ing Pledis,” Ren muttered.

It was all Pledis’ fault, really. Pledis’ CEO let them debut strong, and then gradually abandoned them in Japan, leaving them in the hands of their Japanese company. Their Japanese company takes good care of them; they always have activities in Japan. They have a web show too (which is something that Pledis had denied them for three years).

The only problem with their activities in Japan is that they were limited to Japan. Korean fans are leaving them, sick and tired of waiting for over a year for a comeback. Their international fandom is waning too. Many new Kpop fans have not even heard of them. The “nuest” tag on that fanfiction site AFF is practically dead. The Tumblr tag has like one post a day. They made almost zero headlines that year (except when it had to do with Seventeen, of course). Their latest song had almost not ranked at all in any of the Korean music charts. It’s just a ty situation for NU’EST anywhere outside of Japan.

It was all the CEO of Pledis’ fault; his name was Han Sung Soo, but everyone just calls him Pledisboss. He’s an who plays favorites, who doesn’t even try to give NU’EST a chance to regain their popularity. His favorite last year was Orange Caramel. Now it’s Seventeen. Next year it might be that new girl group Pledis is trying to debut.

Just then Aron entered the room. He looked angry, so angry he was about to burst into tears at any moment.

“What’s up hyung?” Minhyun asked sympathetically.

“I miss home. Stupid boss isn’t letting me take a break this Christmas. He said either I take a break or he’ll postpone NU’EST’s comeback from January to ing March.”

Minhyun sighed, “sorry, hyung.”

Aron had been feeling extremely homesick lately. He had not seen his parents in L.A. in over a year now, and Pledisboss is not even giving him a break from Japanese promotions to see his parents for only a week.

“He had promised me before that this Christmas I would be able to go back and that directly after we work on our Korean comeback,” Aron uttered, “and now he’s saying I can’t go back. He’s just milking the money from our Japanese promotions. Can’t he just sell Seventeen’s underwear or something? That’s probably worth more than our ing promotions here.”

“We get you, hyung,” Baekho said, “we were all just talking about Seventeen and how some of us can’t stand them.”

“I’m don’t give a damn about most members of Seventeen. But I would kick Pledisboss’ if I had the chance.”

“Pledisboss is a prick. I think even JR would agree to that,” Ren turned to the kindest member of the group, expecting him to back it up.

It looked physically painful JR to nod in agreement with what Ren is saying. “Yeah,” JR admitted, “Pledisboss has wronged NU’EST, and I will never forgive him for it.”

-

When NU’EST’s manger gave JR the schedule for the next month, JR immediately flipped to the last pages. Something inside of him told him that he would encounter something unfavorable in those last pages. He just knew it, but he hoped dearly that he was wrong.

He was not wrong. His heart stopped within his chest as he read the last page. NU’EST would not being going back to Korea at the end of this year.

“I think there’s a mistake here, hyung,” JR told his manager, “we are supposed to fly to Korea at the end of December. Comeback preparations are January.”

The manager shook his head. “Sorry boys,” he said, “you have an offer to perform in January in Osaka. You’ll be staying in Japan a while longer.”

Oh no he didn’t, JR thought. Pledisboss had promised they would be back in Korea in January. He promised that comeback preparations would take place immediately. If they delay any further, JR knew that very few fans they had left in Korea would leave them too.

JR would not let that happen. He called the CEO immediately.

“Hello,” Pledisboss answered.

“We’re coming back in January, right?” JR asked. Maybe Pledisboss never intended to break his promise. Maybe they would do their performance in Osaka and then go to Korea to prepare.

“Uh, about that…” Pledisboss began.

“No!” JR immediately yelled. He was not one to yell at his elders, especially not the CEO. But this time, what the boss was doing was just so wrong and so unfair on so many levels.

“Listen Jonghyun,” Pledisboss said, keeping his patience, “Seventeen is the Pledis group that’s on the rise now. We can’t ing afford to invest in NU’EST right now, when we could get 10 times more revenue if we invest in Seventeen. Seventeen will get the January comeback.”

JR felt like crying.

Pledisboss then added: “The song ‘Armor’ that NU’EST already recorded– we’re also giving that to Seventeen and saying that Woozi wrote it…”

“What?” JR could not believe his ears. That song Armor, was written by Baekho’s good friend as a gift. He wrote it specifically for NU’EST. It was a great song; it resembled Face in so many ways. The members of NU’EST were so looking forward to the release of that song: finally, the fans that have been waiting for them to “go back to the Face concept” will be happy. It was a great song with a social message; it had a terribly catchy chorus and a well-integrated dubstep. It worked in Baekho and Minhyun’s wide-ranging vocals, Aron’s poetic English, JR’s raspy rapping and Ren’s soulful voice so well. It was the perfect song, a beautiful gift from Baekho’s friend. It was supposed to be that song that lived up to Face.

Pledis Entertainment had already bought rights to the song. They could do whatever they wanted with it. That includes pretending some overrated Seventeen member wrote it.

“But me and Aron wrote the lyrics,” JR complained.

“No. We’re saying that S.Coups wrote the Korean and Vernon the English. Wonwoo and Mingyu helped,” Pledisboss said, as if he wasn’t just taking a piece of JR’s heart and trampling on it with every word.

“You’re joking,” JR managed. He couldn’t believe the Pledisboss would do that to them.

“Nope. JR, I have to go now.”

“Why are you doing this to us?” JR asked Pledisboss, this time unable to hold back his tears.

“Because that song is too good to be wasted on NU’EST,” he responded and hung up.

JR threw the phone across the room. He was so devastated and angry and frustrated. He had failed NU’EST again. Just when they thought they had a chance to get back into to the game, Pledisboss denied it to them.

-

JR could not find it in himself to tell s the news.

He knew if that he told them, they would go crazy. (He could totally imagine Ren plotting murder). And so JR took it upon himself to fix it. He found no other way to do it then to appeal to the Seventeen members themselves. If the Seventeen members stood up fro NU’EST in the face of this injustice and refused to comply, then it would be okay. Pledisboss would not punish them or pursue any sort of lawsuit against them; Seventeen was Pledis’ saving grace after all.

It had been long since JR had spoken to Seungcheol. Last time was when JR tried to ask Seungcheol to clear up that misunderstanding about Aron calling Seventeen “retards.” He wanted Seungcheol to tell everyone that indeed, at that time, Seventeen and Aron were close, and that Aron did not mean it in an insulting way at all. But no. Seungcheol refused to be involved with any drama.

That was one of the few falling-outs the NU’EST members had with Seventeen. As Aron was being dragged in the mud for “insulting” Seventeen, the Seventeen members did absolutely nothing, not wanting Seventeen’s name to be tainted with drama. That came at the expense of people hating NU’EST and Aron for a good couple of days. Aron apologized of course, but you know netizens. No apology is sincere enough for a netizen.

JR thought perhaps this time would be different. Aron had ed up when he used that word, and it was understandable why the Seventeen members did not want to be involved. They had just debuted after all, and it was not good to be involved with scandal so early on. JR had decided to forget about it.

This time though, NU’EST did nothing wrong. This was clearly injustice, and JR had at least some faith that their past friendship would propel Seungcheol to at least do something about it. The least Seungcheol could do is refuse to take credit for the lyrics.

He dialed up Seungcheol’s number.

“Hey,” Seungcheol answered, “Jonghyun, what’s up?”

“Hey Seungcheol. I hope you’re well.”

“I’m great. I hope NU’EST is having fun Japan,” Seungcheol chimed. Somehow, JR felt like Seungcheol was mocking him.

“It’s a beautiful country,” JR said honestly. “Anyways, I’ll get straight to it. I imagine you heard the song Armor.”

“Oh… I know why you’re calling,” Seungcheol replied.

“It’s our song,” JR affirmed. “It was written for us. You can’t take it from us.”

“Actually,” Seungcheol said, “I think Seventeen would be able to do more with the song. We’ll give it more publicity, and give Pledis more money. It’s no secret Seventeen is more popular than NU’EST. I think you should let it go, Jonghyun.”

Oh you, JR cursed in his head.

“Plus,” Seungcheol added, “think about it this way: the more money Pledis makes, the more likely your group will have a comeback.”

“Pledis has enough money for out comeback,” JR defended, “that January comeback was supposed to be ours. He promised us. Please don’t stand for it, Seungcheol. Help us out. It’s unfair and you know it.”

“JR, do you really want such a good song to go to waste?” Seungcheol asked.

It hurt when Pledisboss said it, and it was hurting now when Seungcheol was saying it. The song will “go to waste” if NU’EST sings it. As if NU’EST is nothing but trash, and any investment in them must be considered a “waste.” JR was angry, but he had a lot of self-control. He gulped all the negative energy in, and asked for something else.

“At least don’t let Jihoon take credit for writing it. It was Baekho’s friend who wrote it.”

“Actually, our Woozi modified the song a bit so that it matches Seventeen. The older one was too NU’EST, you know? So technically, Woozi did kind of write it. And don’t worry, Baekho’s friend will get his name on the song too. He just won’t be the primary producer…”

“But he was the primary producer.”

“Jonghyun don’t go all moralistic on me now. It’s all for marketing and you know it. Baekho’s friend signed the document allowing this to happen. Do you really think Woozi wrote all of those songs Pledis says he wrote? Do you think any idol really writes any song?”

JR fell silent.

“At least don’t take credit for the lyrics. Me and Aron wrote them.”

Seungcheol sighed, “we modified those as well, and so technically we wrote the lyrics as well. We’ll credit you guys for helping though.”

“You ing ,” JR cursed; he could no longer hold it in. “You only care about yourself. You don’t care about NU’EST at all do you?”

“Oh shut up, JR. Your dumb group had their ing chance to shine, and it blew it. Seventeen waited more than three years to debut for your sorry group. Face it: you will never live up to your debut. You will never be popular again. Your group will flop, and when your contract ends, Pledis will disband you. Just wait and see.”

JR was shaking at this point. “Don’t you dare insult NU’EST again, you ,” JR uttered gravely.

“NU’EST are nugus and will always be nugus,” Seungcheol said.

JR had lost his patience at this point. He hung up and threw the phone across the room again. The phone broke, but right now, that was the least of JR’s worries. He was so angry, and so hurt by someone who was supposed to be his friend.

you, Seungcheol, JR thought. the CEO. Pledis.

JR needed to tell s. They need to know just how badly they have been wronged. And if they decided to plot revenge, JR will stand by them.

No one insults NU’EST and gets away with it. Not Pledisboss, and certainly not Seungcheol.

A/N: Phew. That was fun to write. It will be a pretty intense story, as you can probably see.

Also, I’ll just put out this disclaimer now just in case: In no way are these characterizations meant to be accurate! I don't think S.Coups is an , nor do I think Ren is a sadistic murderer that hates everyone.