Laugh to Meet
AppreciatedII
Laugh to Meet
Being a celebrity was never an easy job, and much less for being an idol celebrity. People talk. Seokjin knew from the very start that he could never please everybody, but that didn’t make the words online sting any less.
Upon the release of the news that he was cast as one of the lead roles for an upcoming 2017 film, criticism weighed heavier than congratulations on the scale. Considering how Seokjin and his fellow groupmates were quite active on social media, it was easy to see the comments pour in for every article that concerned them. His fingers against his phone scrolled up and down through the comments section and clicked on every article he could find about his film participation. It was odd how a person could get upset from words from yet at the same time obsess over them, just to see what else they had to say, and maybe get a miraculous positive note among the hundreds that had a much more negative tone.
‘I like Jin, sure, but isn’t it too early for him to participate as a lead? I’m more worried about backlash than his performance now.’
‘Wonder how he got casted this fast. Were the producers drawing lots from a hat? LOL.’
‘BTS Jin? Lead? Wow, good luck.’
‘Gongchan shouldn’t have refused this role. He’d do much better.’
‘I read it’s a low-budget film anyway, and considering Jin’s an amateur actor…’
‘Isn’t it unfair for Taehyung then? He started off fairly well with 'Hwarang' as a supporting actor while Jin shoots up as a lead?’
Seokjin bit his lower lip.
‘Honestly, I understand everyone’s concerns, but we have to take into consideration that maybe Seokjin does have what it takes to fulfill this role. I’m a fan and even I’m surprised by the news, but instead of judging him now just because we haven’t seen him act before, why don’t we just encourage him and hope for the best? It’s his stepping stone into the acting world so give him a chance.’
He finally exhaled. He didn’t realize it but he was holding a breath until he found this miracle among the hundreds.
Seokjin took a screenshot of the comment for future comfort. It had been some rough weeks on the online community.
“What did you expect? A fanfare?” A bored voice asked from across Seokjin. The latter looked up to see his roommate, Yoongi, sneaking a lazy glance at him then back to closing his eyes. “People are judgmental, hyung.”
“… What?” Seokjin’s reply clearly showed how much he was still in a haze from reading from his phone.
“You’re looking at the comments again.” Yoongi said. “Put it down.”
Though he was older, Seokjin understood that Yoongi and Namjoon were among the members who tended to have a more mature mindset, thus he was more inclined to listen to them when it came to advice and such.
He nodded and followed the simple instruction as he placed his phone beside him on the bed, and face-down for good measure.
It was an early December morning and a rest day for the whole group, although Seokjin and Hoseok had a meeting in a couple of hours regarding a television show appearance and the others had their own appointments.
Yoongi opened his eyes again and sighed, then rolled slightly to face Seokjin. “Sulking about all of this won’t help you with your film.”
“I know, but it just makes me think that maybe I should have just refused the role as well.”
“Sejin-hyung found you a chance. Don’t let it go to waste.”
Seokjin nodded and tried to give a little chuckle, but failed miserably. “You’d think hate comments are something we’d get used to by now.”
“Well we have to. We didn’t grow up being showered with praises after all.” The dark-haired member took his own phone from his side table and tinkered around with it.
The older member thought for a while before standing up. As frank as his words always were, Yoongi knew what to really say. Sugarcoating would have been sweeter but Seokjin didn’t need that today. Turning to their wall clock, Seokjin took the time as a cue and stood up to grab and put on his sweater. The day seemed like it would grow even colder. After fixing his items in his bag, he smiled a bit more genuinely this time and made to ruffle Yoongi’s hair, much to the latter’s mock irritation.
“Thanks, Yoongi. I’ll see you later.”
“Yeah, yeah. Go so I can sleep more.” Yoongi told him a bit jokingly, casually waving his one hand as a weak goodbye.
“Hey,” Seokjin called as he got to the door. “Hey, look at me first.”
Yoongi groaned but nonetheless put his attention on Seokjin. “What?”
Seokjin leaned over their door frame and put on the best manly face he had at the moment, then said the line with an accompanying rise of his eyebrow:
“If you drink that in one shot, we’re going steady.”
Yoongi stared at him blankly. “… The heck?” He then remembered that famous line, and rolled his eyes. “Are you seriously quoting Jung Woosung at me?”
Seokjin’s face scrunched up in a smile, losing the manly image he had earlier. “Yeah, yeah! What do you think? Can I pass off as an actor now?”
“Sheesh, get to your meeting!” Yoongi threw one of his pillows at Seokjin, an amused smirk gracing his face.
“Okay, okay!” Seokjin laughed and said his real goodbye this time, but not before sending his signature flying kiss at his roommate, which Yoongi made a face at.
As soon as the door closed behind Seokjin, Yoongi sighed loudly and sat up on his bed. He shook his head and snorted at Seokjin’s antics. “Honestly, that guy...” With the phone still in his hand, Yoongi opened some browsers and logged in a couple of websites via his barely furnished user-accounts as he decided to leave his own comments regarding his roommate’s situation:
‘Stop being and just let him act.’
Hoseok’s presence was the complete opposite of Yoongi’s and Seokjin welcomed it fully. After all, there really was no point in moping around over criticisms, and he knew that doing his best in the project was the only way to neutralize the comments, if not overturn them. Hoseok had been more congratulating of the opportunity beset on his fellow member, and he had been telling Seokjin how excited he was for its eventual release within the year.
“Have you read your script already? What’s it about?” Hoseok asked as they settled down in the van. They each took a captain seat opposite of each other and readied for their trip to the Seoul Broadcasting System building in Mokdong. A pre-filming meeting was set for the two of them for their upcoming appearance on ‘Baek Jong Won’s Three Great Emperors’. With BTS stabilizing themselves on the Korean music map, their CEO, Bang Sihyuk, along with their managers and team leaders had arranged for more show appearances for the members. This time around on the ‘Three Great Emperors’, the managers agreed that both Seokjin and Hoseok were the perfect fit: Seokjin with his actual love for culinary and Hoseok with his humorous charm. They were at least bound to do good work for the show.
Seokjin nodded and put his seatbelt on. “Well it’s a love story. The title literally says ‘Romance in Jinhae’. But do you really want spoilers now before it’s all even filmed?”
Hoseok considered it for a moment. “Eh, I guess not. But is it, you know, corny? Like, do you have corny lines?”
“I thought you didn’t want spoilers!”
The other laughed. “Alright, I’ll take that as a yes! I think you’d nail it if it had more dad jokes, though.”
“I don’t think the script could call for my dad jokes.”
“I don’t think the audience would call for it, either.”
“Hey!”
Of course, Hoseok’s finger guns ended that joke on a light note.
Their bickering continued for halfway of the trip until both of them fell asleep when they reached the expressway. The sun had unexpectedly shone brighter that morning and the commute to Mokdong took longer than usual, thus providing them a lethargic feeling within the van that even their manager, Hobeom, fell asleep as well. Seokjin only awoke when Hoseok nudged him as they neared the SBS building. He wondered then how long their meeting would take. It wasn’t as if he had a lot of extra things to do, but he wanted to study his film’s script a little more. He had a week left until the script reading after all.
“Now that I think about it, we never really got to visit their main building much, have we?” Hoseok said after he hopped off the ground and stretched out his arms. He looked up at the glass walls of the SBS building.
Seokjin followed suit and shook his head. “No. We usually performed at the Open Hall.”
“It looks pretty fancy.”
“I think Big Hit is fancier.”
Hoseok laughed. “Bang PD would want to hear that.”
The interior of the entertainment building did not disappoint their initial impressions. Although they have visited a few times before, it seems the company has changed quite a few things with their décor, including the polishing of their large silver pillars and more posters of their current shows lining the walls. LED television sets were also available for viewing commercials and show teasers, most especially dramas. It felt like the first time visiting again for the two members.
After receiving visitor’s passes from the reception personnel of SBS, Hobeom accompanied them inside the building and they all made their way up to the tenth floor of the building via the elevator. The air-conditioning was still turned up quite high as regular company structures would have them, despite the December cold outside. None of them could remove their coats for the time being, even if they wanted to. Upon reaching the designated floor, an employee assigned to them was waiting at the guest area, escorting them soon enough to the conference room where their appointment was to be held. It seemed that they were the first ones there and the SBS employee bid them to take comfort while they waited for the producers of the show. Hobeom excused himself outside, as he had to take a phone call, leaving Seokjin and Hoseok behind momentarily in the conference room.
Seokjin looked at Hoseok and grinned. “It’s kinda fun to think that we’re finally starting to get on more variety shows.”
Hoseok nodded. “Yeah! I wonder which shows we all could go as a group again.”
“I’d want us to go on Infinite Challenge if we can. But for now, I’m glad to be able to get on a show about food.”
“Oh yeah. You always wanted that, right, hyung?”
Seokjin nodded. “How about you?”
Hoseok thought for a while. “Right now, I just want to go on any show where I could do a lot of things, although I have been thinking about emceeing, too.”
“You did great last time at Inkigayo.”
“Exactly why I want to try it again.”
A few more discussions about varieties and live shows started until Seokjin excused himself to go to the restroom. Since they still had some time before the actual start of the meeting, his trip to the restroom was accompanied by some sightseeing within the building. The higher floors had little posters now as compared to the ground floor’s lobby, and this time they were replaced with framed artworks instead and doors for studios and other conference rooms. There was a feeling of professionalism within the walls, Seokjin thought.
As he passed a long hallway towards where the restroom was located, he couldn’t help but hear women’s laughs at the end of it. They echoed quite pleasingly, and one of the laughs was oddly cute. It was the best he could describe it, especially when the laugh turns up a higher pitch to a squeak at every breath. The other one was huskier. Seokjin grew slightly curious as he neared the source.
“The year is about to end but our love for everybody, especially our fans, STAR1, will never stop. Thank you for continuing to support SISTAR and we promise much better music and appearances for the upcoming year.” Hyojung stated, finalizing her speech for the cameras.
Dasom followed suit to fully close the talk. “Bora-unnie and Soyou-unnie also send their love. Please continue to look after us in 2017 as well.”
“Again, thank you. We’re the B. E. S. T., SISTAR. This has been SISTAR. Happy holidays!”
With new music releases come promotions as well as promotion wrap-ups. Hyojung, or more commonly known as SISTAR’s Hyolyn, had just finished her own promotion period for her recent mini-album, “It’s Me”, and thus was invited over for an SBS talk show, 'Access Showbiz Tonight'. Although they had already interviewed her when it was released, Hyojung’s interview this time was to cover how it was like as a solo artist to promote once more on her own and still be quite active with her original group. At the same time, Dasom had been present for the same interview to join Hyojung on discussing plans for SISTAR’s future and competition with rookie groups. Jihyun and Bora had their own activities to attend to, thus the absence.
Their interview finished within the morning and the two decided to have brunch at a nearby restaurant after parting with their company staff. Their manager had bid them his own goodbye to check on over the other managers of SISTAR who accompanied Bora and Jihyun, leaving the two behind on their own.
“You know, unnie, I’m still really proud of you for this album.” Dasom said as they freshened themselves up in the restroom. “I know the physical sales weren’t what we expected, but I’m still proud of you.”
Hyojung smiled as she combed her hair out. The curls she had earlier were a bit too much. “It might sound selfish but I wasn’t really worried about the sales so long as I get to release music that I like and fans like.”
“And you did.” Dasom started to fix her items as soon as she finished retouching her makeup. As always, she wore quite the little amount today as they weren’t performing.
“Thanks, Somie.” Hyojung said as she led the way outside the restroom. “I can’t wait until you, Jihyun, and Bora-unnie release your own stuff, you know. But I feel like you’d be the one with the most surprising output.”
“How so?”
“You yourself know you’re not made for hip-hop sounds. You can do it, of course, but it’s not the genre you’d focus on.”
Dasom nodded in agreement. “Well that’s true. But you know what? I’ll just leave it to your words. Let it all be a surprise.”
“I’d be more surprised if you actually came out with hip-hop, so I’ll be expecting that then.” Hyojung laughed. “I’ll flip if you rap with Mad Clown.”
“I should join Unpretty like you did to test myself out!”
Hyojung’s husky laugh mixed with Dasom’s own high-pitched one filled the quiet tenth floor of the SBS building with both of them forgetting that there could be other people and staff passing by. Yet at that point, they hardly cared. It didn’t calm either of them down, too, when Hyojung pretended to rap about Dasom’s interests of cute stuff and then dabbing in the end. Dasom broke out in larger laughs, holding onto the wall for support.
“You seriously dabbed—“ And the statement couldn’t even be completed between all the laughing and joking. Hyojung was on a roll on her own, after all, and Dasom was her victim for the day.
Hyojung was the first to calm down, surprisingly, while Dasom was only starting to catch her breath, but every glance at her fellow member caused her to chuckle a little more. The only reason Hyojung stopped, however, was because all the laughing caused her to grow a need for the bathroom again.
“Okay, I need to pee again.” She said nonchalantly, almost tossing over her bag to Dasom while she rushed inside the ladies’ room. “Wait for me here, Somie.”
“Don’t take too long.” Dasom called at her, and the only response she was met with was incoherent babbling from a rushing Hyojung. As the door closed, however, Dasom’s focus was quickly shifted towards the approaching young man from the hall.
Seokjin got to the source of all the echoing laughs, and he paused his tracks momentarily upon seeing a senior colleague in front of him. Had she been the one with all the pretty laughs earlier? He hadn’t expected to see her until a few more days, either, but Seokjin found it a pleasant chance to meet Dasom outside of their work schedule. He smiled brightly at her and bowed in respect.
“Good morning, sunbaenim!” Seokjin greeted and, as always, remembered to introduce himself. It also dawned on him then and there how little interaction BTS had with SISTAR all this time. “I’m BTS’ Jin. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
In mutual response, Dasom offered her own smile and bowed (after fully catching her breath, that is), although she realized it was a little harder to do it this time with two bags in her arms. Subconsciously she wondered what could be weighing so much this time in Hyojung’s bag.
“Of course I know you. It’s nice to meet you, too, Jin.” She said, then quickly remembered the recent achievements of the other idol. She gave him a couple of claps of her hands. “And congratulations! I watched MAMA. Those were great awards you received.”
Seokjin’s grin was a mix of happiness and shyness, and Dasom chuckled at the expression. “Thank you! The group is very happy about it.”
“I can imagine so. We’ll be working together soon. I heard it’s your first film.”
He nodded. “It is. I’m excited for the script reading.”
“So am I. It’s quite an interesting story, huh?” Dasom’s talk was cut abruptly as the restroom door opened and out came Hyojung. Seokjin was quick to notice and greet her the same way he did to Dasom.
“Oh, Bangtan?” Hyojung grinned and gave Seokjin two thumbs up. “Congrats on Artist of the Year!”
If being congratulated once by a senior colleague today was already big, having it happen twice was overwhelming enough for Seokjin. He gave another round of thanks, giving deep bows where they were due. Hyojung commented on his politeness. Dasom on her lack thereof (and later reminding Hyojung that she was really just kidding).
Dasom turned back to Seokjin. “You must be busy if you’re here at the building, so we’ll leave you to your work. Unnie and I have to leave anyway. I’ll see you at the script reading.”
“Ah, he’s your co-star?” Hyojung asked, impressed. “Hey, good luck! Acting roles are always great chances for us idols.”
“I’m grateful for it.” He gave them a wave of his hand as they began to walk away. “Take care, sunbaenim. I hope to learn a lot from you.”
“See you on the nineteenth.” Dasom grinned at him as she started heading towards the hallway to the elevators. “Let’s work hard. I'm sure I'll get to learn from you, too.”
Seokjin bid the women his goodbyes, feeling quite happy at the interaction and praise for their group from experienced seniors. At the same time, it seemed that Dasom was approachable enough. Maybe filming won’t be as nerve-wracking as he initially thought. A stirring in his pocket shook him, however, and Seokjin found his phone with a text. It seemed he took too much time wandering the building for his journey to the restroom; Hoseok was looking for him as the meeting would be starting soon.
“Aish—seriously.”
The debate on whether he should go and do his business or hold it in for the rest of the meeting started.
I hope you guys liked it! Feel free to tell me what you think.
A/N:
- My apologies for taking too much time with this chapter. I couldn’t grow content on it until I decided to split it into two chapters. If I extended it, it would have been too lengthy, so the next part is still in progress.
- Again, I am maintaining the use of Korean honorifics.
- I forgot to mention this but I am sort of following the current timeline of activities, starting from November 2016 to the present (and maybe future). Some of these events actually took/will take place (end-of-the-year shows, other performances, etc.), but do understand that there will also be made-up ones for the story.
But I guess you guys already knew that lol.
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