Show me what you got


“This one has to leave.“, Bang Sihyuk said without any particular expression on his face. He just looked death serious. Geunji noticed how it gave the chills to the young manager that didn’t look that much older than him to start with. He wasn’t even able to wear his tie properly. If that one would be the one in charge of the group… oh phew.

“B-But…“, the manager tried to say something but the CEO was quick in cutting him off.

“I see where all your choices are coming from. Kangjoon and Sian both are BBoys and great dancers, they match well with the potential I see in Toby. In the industry GOT7 already came up with a group with BBoys but those boys have potential. Bangwon is a composer gifted with loads of talent, exactly what we need for the new group. Jongin isn’t that outstanding but he goes well with anything and even Jaekwang has his charms that no one else has. None of the other members have looks that are similar to his. But…“, he paused for a while when he was looking over the file that was about the member that he wanted to drop off the group, “…I can’t see why you added Hyukjae to the line-up. His vocals are really outstanding but they don’t go well with the others and his looks are terrible. He’s going to destroy the whole group’s appearance.“

The manager was suddenly getting all stiff. He looked as if he was feeling responsible for the Korean War. Geunji, however, was sitting on his chair all relaxed. Since he knew he was in for sure, he was watching the scenery with a mixture of boredom and amusement. On one hand he just wanted to get things started as he didn’t really care about who was going to be kicked out. On the other hand it was funny to hear about his future co-members like this. Bboys… there were already choreographies coming up in his mind.

“Is there no way to keep them all and just extend the number of members?“, he asked sheepishly.

“No.“, Bang Sihyuk made his point pretty clear. “If I compare Hyukjae to all of the others, Geunji inclusive, he lacks too much to stay. He might be an extraordinary singer but the others have more to offer than him.“

Manager dude still didn’t look happy. Couldn’t be helped, though.

All relaxed Geunji was watching how the manager tried to convince the CEO to keep the Hunchback of Notre Dame in the group. When Geunji caught a short glance of the data sheets Bang Sihyuk was holding in his hands, he was assured that the CEO wasn’t joking when he said that dude had terrible looks. Geunji wasn’t that much of a princess either, but common… really?

“Seven members, not a single one more. Introduce Geunji to the others, his luggage is ready, you can take him with you right now.“ 

“What did you just say?!“ The guy who looked the most intimidating among the members got up, stumbling towards Geunji and manager dude. As soon as he was closer to them, the heavy alcohol mist which surrounded him reached both. He was standing in front of Geunji like a giant gorilla, his muscles basically pulsing, ready to beat the out of him.

Did Geunji feel threatened? Yupp.
Did he like it? Definitely not.

“I said I took his spot, gorilla boy. Did you really not understand it or are you even more stupid than you look like?“, Geunji bluntly asked him and even started grinning about his own words. Wow, they sounded even better voiced out than just thought.

Geunji never expected the others to like him right away. Or at all. He had never gotten along with GOT7, neither had he with Pentagon. Why should this time be so different, especially under these conditions?

“WHAT?!“, the drunk monkey growled. “HOW DID YOU JUST CALL ME, SQUID FACE?!“

Squid face? Who in the room was the squid face?

“Squid face is leaving the group, you ! Probably because of that face! So who are you trying to insult here? Muscles and no brains! Halleluja, praise the name of the stupid monkey in front of me!“

The fight was step by step escalating, the other members just watching with rounded eyes or dying in their boozing pain. Manager dude had to go between the guys to prevent worse when Bulky Gorilla was seriously about to start beating the out of Geunji.

“SO YOU THINK YOU ARE A BEAUTY QUEEN? SORRY DUDE, YOU’RE NOT! AND I’LL MAKE SURE YOU’LL NEVER BE!“

Geunji was preparing himself to fight back but the manager stopped the bulky guy when he was reaching out to grab Geunji’s collar. “STOP IT NOW! BOTH OF YOU!“, he yelled and went in between the guys. Bulky Gorilla stopped, not daring to touch manager dude which left Geunji with a victorious grin. He was just lucky that the other dude didn’t see it otherwise he really might have gotten at least one or two punches. “All of you! Get up and go to sleep! I’m going to wake all of you up tomorrow in the morning! You have to prepare a debut!“

Those words had enough power to make the gorilla leave while saltily cussing. The little boy that had been sitting next to crying Suza was quickly getting up, following him while the rest was just wearily starting to move. Except that giant dude that was still having his cup being untouched by the manager. Geunji was already sensing who that was.

It was the pampered one.

To be honest Geunji forgot his name because he didn’t really care when the manager dude explained to him about some basics he had to remember when he was starting as the choreographer in the group. That boy had to be the center. No matter what. The manager had made that pretty clear on their way to the dormitory. But who was that dude to deserve that position? Some Chaebol son? Probably. Geunji didn’t like it at all.




While manager dude was taking the Hunchback back to his original place, the newly added member had to unpack his belongings and guess what, he ended up in the same room as the dude that had started crying his eyes out when the other guy had to leave. Crying Suza, who just couldn’t stop sobbing. Pathetically he was sitting on his bed, sniffing like . Geunji didn’t turn around to face the guy directly, he could only imagine how the loss of the ugly duckling must have hit that dude. They must have been close, maybe even besties. Did Geunji feel bad about it? Partly. And it was driving him nuts. It made him feel uncomfortable and all those negative feelings often tried to find an outlet to get rid of those feelings in a very unique way.

“Dude! Stop crying!“, Geunji huffed at the guy who was supposed to be pretty but now looked like a puffy tomato. “What kind of man is crying like a baby because some dude moves out?! This is life, you freaking Suza, shut the up or I’m gonna plug that gapping hole that you call your mouth!“

The pretty tomato face was immediately silenced and looked up at him with his big, swollen eyes… before he got up and left the room.

Good. At least Geunji didn’t need to see or hear this crying mess anymore.

The way Geunji got up the next morning was anything from what he had expected. Okay, he didn’t even know how he was woken up, he was still too drowsy when he walked out of the bedroom with manager dude running from one door to another, yelling into the rooms. The scent of coffee was surrounding him and Geunji just followed his instincts and the coffee scent to find some of the guys from last night already sitting in the middle of the living room… it was practical that the newbie only had to step out of the door to be in the living room immediately. Small dormitory. He could get used to it.

Suza was sitting on the couch, his eyes looking as red and puffy as last night. Did he even sleep? Geunji couldn’t recall the guy getting back into the room after he had left. Next to him another guy was sitting, working on a laptop, his ears covered by headphones while he was sipping on his coffee. In contrast to Geunji and Suza who were sporting the pajama style, he seemed to be completely dressed for the day, already having taken a shower early in the morning.

Geunji was contemplating if he should sit down next to one of them but feeling slightly uncomfortable, he kept standing where he was just now. He, however, regretted his decision when the bathroom door opened and one of the guys came out, only a towel around his hips. Unintentionally Geunji’s eyes were browsing their way up from the towel, keeping stuck at the region that was revealing some defined abs on which some water drops were still running downwards. Ni…NO!

“Dude, get yourself a shirt or something! Never heard of manners?! You PC nerd over there, you too! I’m new here, shouldn’t you offer me a cup of coffee, too, you ignorant piece of ! And Suza, you’re still crying?! WHAT KIND OF MAN ARE YOU?!“

The guy with the headphones looked at the suddenly raging guy with irritation in his eyes while the one with the towel had a rather blank expression and Suza was just staring at the towel guy in a freeze. Now that Geunji looked a little closer at him - and not just at his abs - he realized that he had yelled at the one that BigHit was pampering.

“Manners?“, pampered guy asked, his face muscles didn’t move a bit, though. His face was all blank. What kind of creepy guy was that?!

Manager dude was coming out of one of the rooms with three guys that all looked absolutely terrible, Bulky Gorilla being the one to lead. His hair was a mess, similar to the other guys’ current hairstyles. The only one not looking like a corpse was the tiny one. With his glasses and his tangled hair he looked a lot like a little child in the oversized sweater and they all sat down on the couch, interrupting the upcoming conflict.

“Now that you’re all awake…“, the manager started but then stopped when he noticed pampered guy, “…let’s wait until Toby gets himself some clothes.“

One of the others took the chance to get up and disappear into the kitchen with Gorilla shouting after him. “Get some coffee for me, too, Jongin!“

While the guys called Toby and Jongin were gone, a more than awkward silence started to spread between everyone who were left in the living room. And the person to take care of that was the manager.

“…how about everyone introducing themselves to Geunji?“, he suggested but Gorilla, headphone boy, Suza and kiddo were all giving him a questioning glance as if they were doubting his right mind. “Don’t look at me like this, you have to get along anyway.“

Gorilla was the first to give in rather reluctantly and introduced himself. “Koo Kangjoon, born in 91. I am the leader…and BBoy.“ Three things he made clear instantly. First, he was older than Geunji. Second, he was the leader. Third, he was a BBoy. Geunji got his message. That dude wanted to show him that he had to respect him. He wasn’t that keen on working together with the Gorilla but would manage to do so. What was disappointing to him, though, was the fact that this dude was one of the BBoys Geunji had been looking forward to. All those choreographies he had already been thinking of… with the Gorilla they seemed impossible.

The guy next to him wanted to go on but Geunji interrupted him. If they were going to be like this, he could do exactly the same. “Han Geunji, 93, choreographer.“ Also three things that made the others keep up their guards. Geunji was pretty positive that he was the second oldest when it was Kangjoon who went on introducing the others. He was trying to avoid Geunji starting to pick on them as he was the one who was to be respected most of the members. Headphones’ name was Bangwon, a songwriter that basically could do everything…well, Geunji would wait until he’d agree with that or not. The kiddo aka Sian was the second Bboy and maknae, rather looking as if he just accidentally ended up in the dormitory, being so small that the others despite being of average height looking like giants. And Suza…? Jaekwang, that guy was seriously a pain in the . Visual. Tsk. And worst of all visual only.

Jongin was soon back and introduced as a singer and dancer while he was handing a mug to the leader, giving Geunji some hope at least. This group mostly had some dancers to show off, the only question was if they were good or not. But that Geunji wasn’t in the position to be the one judging the others was soon clear when the pampered boy was finally done and joined the others, looking as if he was about to run down a catwalk. He wasn’t as pretty as Suza but was taking care of his clothes and hair a lot. Suza 2 or what? A guy like that in the center of the group was giving Geunji an unpleasant feeling. But as long as he didn’t have to change his royal diapers, everything was kind of okay.

“This is Toby.“, the manager introduced him, yet the boy went on by himself. “I’m a singer, dancer and rapper. And choreographer.“ Choreographer? The word came so sudden, it felt as someone had stabbed Geunji’s ribs with a knife. Was the diaper princess challenging Geunji?

The newbie tried to read Toby’s face but it was all blank again, almost like the face of a robot. It was even uncanny…

“Just because you say you’re a choreographer, doesn’t mean that you’re a good one.“, Geunji told him off about claiming to be one. He was waiting for the guy to show any emotions but he still didn’t.

“It neither says that you’re one.“, Toby replied and finally caused Geunji to openly feel attacked. The manager was quick in chiming in again, however.

“Now that you all know about each other we should start talking about your debut! It’s soon and we have to work on everything on our own!“, he said and whereas a little unhappy about not being able to counter back at Toby, Geunji listened to what the manager had to say. “Debut date will be the 1st of November. Our budget is very limited so we have to figure out a way to manage all of it. The money we can use is enough to either promote, record a proper MV or produce albums. We have to chose one of those.“



The boys all needed a moment to unterstand what the manager had just told them.

“Aren’t those things all important and necessary? How is that going to work? If the basics fail, the whole concept is doomed, no?“, Jongin asked skeptically.

“How many songs do we have to prepare for our debut stage?“, Toby interrupted Jongin’s question.

“Why is that important to you?“, Jongin asked, a little bewildered about being cut off so rudely.

“Physical albums aren’t that important. We can go with digital singles first. Song by song. That would leave some money for the MV. For MV shoots we need a camera team, a location and someone who edits the video. In my opinion that’s more important. And for promotions… we’ll find some way to promote. Jaekwang and I can ask some of the agencies we modeled for to sponsor us or help us with the promotions.“, Toby explained.

“Your idea with the promotions is too risky. If we don’t promote well, we will fail and the investment in the video and album will be in vain.“, Bangwon voiced out his opinion. “…I don’t really see how we’re going to manage all of this. Plus, a whole album in just a few weeks is too much.“

“Maybe for you.“, Toby gave back. “I’d manage.“

Geunji and Kangjoon didn’t seem to be the only ones who didn’t get along. Toby and Bangwon were currently igniting a fire as much and Geunji was watching them in suspicion. And he had thought he would be the one ruining the group dynamics.

“Maybe I should start assign your jobs first…?“, the manager asked rather himself than the others. “Okay…well, the one in charge of producing and songwriting will be Bangwon. The one to choreograph Geunji. Toby will be the supervisor of those two.“

“Supervisor?“, Bangwon asked with his voice sounding a little more high-pitched than before. “What?“

The manager shrugged his shoulders. “Hitman Bang ordered that Toby works on both and decides when the songs or choreographies are ready to go.“

Bangwon sighed in annoyance but accepted it like that. Geunji was a little more difficult to convince of this system.

“Who said I want someone to supervise me and interfere with my work?!“, he asked cynically.

“Who approved on your choreographing skills? Bang PD-nim. And he approved on me being your supervisor. Just accept it.“ Finally Toby was showing some emotions on his face. That Geunji didn’t like them at all was a different story. With that blatant smirk on his lips that was mocking Geunji intensely, he caused the choreographer to move further towards the bold boy.

“I need to accept !“, he huffed.

“If you want to stay in this group, you do.“, the boy corrected him. Unfortunately he was right. Geunji wasn’t the smartest guy but that much he knew. He had to obey… but not if there was still space to get his will through. And Toby was giving him that space. “But I will let you do the choreographies alone… if you can beat me.“

The others were watching them with widened eyes. “…another competition? Is he planning to win this again?“ Geunji heard the others whisper but nothing was going to make him back off. Dancing was his thing. Whatever competition this diaper boy was coming up with, he would beat him.

“You go teach Kangjoon and me the hardest choreography you’ve ever come up with until now, we’ll learn it today and record it in the evening before the sun sets.“, Toby explained.

“DEAL!“, Geunji barked without even thinking about it.

“Wait, I have to learn it, too?!“, Kangjoon complained immediately. “And why recording?!“

“Wait a minute... who is recording?“, even Taehee was alarmed.

“DEAL!“, Geunji again barked.

Toby was still smirking, completely ignoring that the leader didn’t want to get involved in this at all. “We’re going to upload it on our YouTube channel, promote with it AND see if our choreographer is really worth the sacrifice of Hyukjae. If we manage to learn the choreography perfectly, we win. If not, you win.“, he said and then looked at Taehee. “You know that you'll be the one who's going to record us.“

“DEAL, DEAL, DEAL!!!“

While Geunji was voicing out his agreement to the challenge Toby had just set, the others were wondering about something else that would be pretty important if the really wanted to upload the video.

“We don’t have a YouTube channel. We don’t even have a name for our group, how are we going to open up one then?“, Bangwon reminded the others of the sad fact that nobody had thought about a name. Not even their manager had ever mentioned one.

“Then we have to come up with one now!“ Geunji was all ready for the competition. There was excitement to finally work with the group together and at the same time the will to beat this brat as hard as possible. The others couldn’t share his excitement, though.

“Finding a name is not that easy. We have to have a good one since we’ll keep the name for years.“, Jongin said and added something that was also true. “If we don’t disband after just one or two songs.“

The guessing started soon but even after 20 minutes nobody was happy with the results. The manager had completely stopped trying to talk to the boys as they were yelling at each other whenever someone came up with something new. Names like Heroes, Hit Squad or Big Boys were mentioned… just nonsense. But with other groups and their weird names, there was no help at all to be seen.

“BTS… Bulletproof Boyscouts. Maybe we should go for acronyms as well.“, Jongin finally brought up another idea. “There are a lot of groups like that. BTS, VIXX, BAP. We can do the same. All we need are words to describe us.“

A short, silent pause was signalizing that the boys were all thinking.

“Perfect Powerful Amazing People.“, Kangjoon thought out loud.

“That makes PPAP, I don’t want to be that freaking Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen!“, Jongin immediately refused.

“Then how about Perfect Men Slaying?“, Kangjoon tried again.

“Dude, that makes PMS! NO!!!“

It took another 10 minutes until Kangjoon came up with one more idea. But the idea wasn’t any better than the first first.

“There are group names like H.O.T.“, he stated, “H.O.T are hot. Then what if we’re .Y? .Y is y!“

“…no.“, Jongin and Bangwon refused almost in a choir.

“Can we call our group C.A.N.D.Y instead?“, Sian asked and looked at the others with his still child-like, big eyes.

“Heck no!“, Jongin and Bangwon were joined by everyone else.

Back to normal words regarding the name again, it was the manager’s turn to bring up something that was actually productive. “Why don’t you go for something that symbolizes the group…like a tiger?“

“But there are already K-Tigers, that Taekwondo group. People will mix us up if we go for tigers.“, Toby told the others.

“Then we can use something else. Cats? Pandas?“, Sian asked. Geunji cringed thinking about Koreans referring to the group as cuddly bears. They should go for a manly image, not something cute and fluffy.

“What do you want to tell people by calling yourself a cat or panda? Hey people, we are cute and cuddly?“, he asked the small guy who was about to nod in excitement, not understanding the irony in Geunji's words, “I don’t know about you but if we have to call ourselves after an animal, I’d go for something mighty. Like a dragon!“

“Dragons are not even animals…“, Jongin muttered but got ignored.

“Why don’t we call the group something like… Red Dragon? Red is a pretty nice color!“, Geunji suggested further, starting to like the name pretty much. It was a lot better than Hit Squad, PMS or .Y at least.

Nevertheless Toby was just crossing his arms and shaking his head. “A red dragon might be misinterpreted as the Japanese Force coming over South Korea. Do you want to debut with a controversial name? I don’t.“

“Then how about Black Dragon?“, the manager suggested and the boys all agreed that the name was the best for now. 


When Geunji, Kangjoon and Toby arrived in the company building, it looked like a ghost town. The training rooms were all empty except for the one occupied by Arora. While BTS was busy with promotions for their new album and hit song, the girls were busy training. On the way to their own training room, Geunji caught the schemes of the choreographer in Arora’s. It was a tall and slender person. Could it be…? There was no time to stop and check the instructor further out, the others already reached the room.

“Leggo.“, Kangjoon said rather unmotivated once they were standing in front of the mirrors, waiting for Geunji to start teaching them the choreography. He must have felt frustrated having to work with someone he disliked and who disliked him just as much.

Seeing the two other guys, Geunji felt as if he had already won. Impossible that the arrogant diaper boy and the Bulky Gorilla would learn one of his choreographies in just a few hours. And Geunji was sure he would win when Toby told him about his further plans about the bet.

“I told Taehee to pick us up around 4, so we can drive up to Achasan and record the video over there. It might look cool if we have a nice place to dance with a little nature in the background. Makes a good start to promote.“ He shrugged as if it was nothing. Around 4? He really thought they would learn the choreography in 4 hours good enough to record a video? Geunji wasn’t even sure if they would manage to dance it at all. Toby’s ego was really one of a kind.

But Geunji had to learn that no matter how arrogant Toby was or what kind of super bad leader Kangjoon was, they both were freaking good dancers. Even though Toby was learning a lot quicker than Kangjoon, the leader was slightly better in dancing the whole thing. And both were in synch to the point that it surprised Geunji. They got the moves after his first explanation and naturally got the flow and rhythm of the song. After just two hours the result was already presentable.

The choreographer was watching his two co-members going through the routine over and over again, he felt like a proud daddy watching his child growing up to an outstanding adult.They brought his choreography to life. Geunji felt like falling in love with his very own piece of art. The fast movements, the difficult ones… they all looked smooth when they were dancing it.

“Oh …“, he mumbled, knowing that he had already lost. But for some reason he couldn’t feel bad about it. If the price to see his own works coming to life like this was to let another person joining the process of raising his children, then Geunji was willing to pay it.

It was just to hope that all of the Black Dragon members were capable to score similar results as those two. If this was what the Black Dragon was made of, Geunji could already see it fly up to the sky.

 

author notes

FINALLY! I finally made it to update again! I didn't make it 100% for another Black Dragon Day, but at least I can present you another chapter. I'm not all happy with the result but I hope you still had fun reading it and yeeeey, you got to know the new member and probably one of the worst troublemakers ever, hahaha. Geunji is such a special kid, I love him. His POV was so much fun to write, pls don't get me and the story wrong by insulting most of the characters... that's just typical Geunji.
I am also very sorry for my long absence, I know, Black Dragon should have debuted a few days ago but since I didn't get to write at all I have to catch up now so the story is in sync with the current time again. I am just super awful in keeping schedules x'D
I hope I manage to update on next Black Dragon Day but if not, I will update on Monday after that (because I have to attend another dance competition next weekend... wish me luck!^^) Seeya all (hopefully) soon again!

“ pride goes before a fall. ”