“Hey did you hear? We have a new assignment. Some big group of foreigners coming in for a musical tour.” Your co worker Anna whispered into your ear as you took off your bag and set down your coffee at the big conference table. The phone call you received from your supervisor this morning advising you of the new client and requesting your presence was nothing out of the ordinary, but you were surprised to find several other translators from the firm gathered around the table as well.

Most jobs were small, a few weeks with a foreign dignitary, or some other official from another country, needing their own personal translator services, but usually you did not work with a big team. You figured the musical group had to be large to warrant this many translators.

As you looked around the table you noticed a few more of the translators were of Asian descent than usual and your mind jumped at the possibility of the musical group being one of the popular Kpop or Jpop groups you were a fan of and you quickly put that silly thought out of your head. The last thing you needed was to fangirl about the idea of meeting one of your idols when you needed to focus on work.

“Alright quiet down,” the booming voice of your supervisor Mr. Petrov sounded out through the room and your eyes caught the pamphlet being passed around the table and your curiosity boomed as you caught three letters on the cover of the page you never thought you would see. Maybe it was just a coincidence….there was no way this was real. The very idea was too much to hope for.

Yet as the stack of documents neared where you sat at the end of the table your heart swelled up into your throat.

Written in big bolder letters on the cover you saw it.

2016 World Tour - EXO Planet #3 - EXO’rDIUM
European Leg

Below that was a list of cities and countries and four tour dates spanning a time period of a couple of weeks: Paris, Barcelona, Firenze, Hamburg. By the time the stack was in your hands you had a slight tremble as you gripped the thick stack of stapled papers between your fingers. You saw the familiar group logo, you saw the group picture, their faces smiling back at you…the nine members you knew by name already and as you began leafing through the sheets, glancing through each member name with a separate photo you were sure you’d entered an alternate plane of existence in which down was up, cold was dry, and you had somehow taken all the right steps in life that had led you to this very moment of existence.

Your small translating firm had been hired to join the staff of EXO on the European leg of their world tour. This was beyond your wildest dreams and the longer you read through the packet of information the more you braced yourself for the inevitability that this might somehow turn out to be a dream. Or at least the possibility of you not getting chosen to join the group that would work directly with the members of the group. The staff had to have translators too and there was always the possibility that you would be assigned to the transportation directors or the stage managers.

As you reached the end of the packet, you saw your name, written along with a small group of younger women who you knew well. Women who also spoke fluent Korean as well as English, French, Spanish and various other language from their home countries.

You saw Anna, the excited young woman who excitedly whispered about the group that was hiring the firm when you first arrive to today’s meeting. You saw Maria as well, another young woman who sat with a blank, somewhat disinterested look on her face as she listened to the information Mr. Petrov was dishing out about what each group of assigned translators duties would be.

Your small group of three was listed under Group D and you anxiously awaited the assignment for the job. You knew you would be traveling along with the staff just by the arrangements you saw detailed in the itinerary in the packet and your mind wandered to what clothes and supplies you would need to pack for the trip. For professional meetings with dignitaries and foreign politicians the dress codes were always strict, but perhaps being an entertainment job you could explore a new wardrobe. You tried to push down the idea that you were most concerned with looking your very best for these nine, extremely handsome, extremely famous, extremely intimidating young men who you just might get to meet in person and exchange a few words with.

“And Group D–” Mr. Petrov began, glancing down at his paper, you heard him read the three names listed in this group, landing on your name at the end of the list without even a glancing up at your faces.

“–will be personal translators for the group members of EXO. They will be made available for translation services upon request and each translator will assigned to three members each. I will give you each your assigned members according to the arrangements made by their respective managers.”

You tried your best. You really did. But your mouth dropped open as you looked into the face of your supervisor who had no idea the significance of the information he had just dropped on you. With a forced swallow and a deep soul steadying breath you shoved down with all of your mental fortitude at the overwhelming desire to scream your head off and jump up and down and thankfully your will won out over the insanity that was flying through your brain.

Part of you realized that the three women assigned to the members were the three youngest of the firm and the coincidence wasn’t lost on Laura, one of the older women who worked for the firm.

“Why are we using these three to work closely with the group?” She asked and a few heads glanced around the room curiously, small questioning shrugs on their faces and their eyebrows raised.

“It was a request from the group actually. They wanted young interpreters so they could feel more in touch with their young fans. Most client requests like this are granted.” Mr. Petrov responded in a bored voice, annoyed at having to answer for his decisions when making these assignments.

The meeting was adorned. You had less than one week to prepare and you decided that yes, a new wardrobe was in order. You would get your hair done and you even decided that a trip to the spa was also in order. An opportunity to meet and work closely with EXO, your idols, was the chance of a lifetime and you couldn’t resist the chance to make the best possible impression.

With a skip in your step every single day of the week you prepared and dropped your small house plants with your neighbor to care for during your two week work trip. Never before in your history of being a translator for hire had you been this excited about a job.

The week dragged of course and the waiting made your nerves act up worse than you’d experienced before. Normally you would wake up just in time to grab your bag and head to the airport for the destination city where you would meet your client, rushing out the door praying for light traffic so you wouldn’t miss your flight. But this job was different. You were hyper aware of every single second and the excitement of the upcoming trip had you waking up hours before your alarm rang to go through your list of things you were sure you had already packed.

You made it to the airport with enough time to grab a coffee and nervously fidget at the gate as you watched hoards of passengers walk by, too sleepy and dazed to really pay much attention to anything but themselves. You were awake, you were running on not enough sleep due to the nerves and excitement, but you were much too keyed up to even think about sleep. In less than two hours time you would be landing in Paris and you would be meeting the group members of EXO. You wondered which three men you would get as your assignment and you tried to keep your own personal wishes about your bias hidden deep down inside your chest. You couldn’t let yourself fall into that trap. This was work. This dream job of yours had already afforded you an amazing opportunity that would have been impossible in any other field and you had to be thankful. You couldn’t get greedy now. You vowed to be satisfied that you got to meet them all up close and see their faces in person, hear their voices with your very own ears and possibly even get to shake their hands.
It would be more than enough if you got to exchange a few words with each member.

The flight boarded and landed without incident and you exited the airport with the small group of employees from your firm who joined you on the same flight. You decided your best move was to stick close with the other two women in your group, Anna and Maria, the other two member translators and as you made your way to the hotel.

Travel in a foreign city was easy with so many translators in tow and you easily retrieved your room key and instructions on when and where to report for duty once the members had arrived in three hours. There would be an initial meeting of course, introductions and pleasantries as was always the case with meeting new clients and then you usually just hovered, offering assistance and guidance whenever they needed you. Your phone was basically always on, available at all time of the day and night when the client needed your services. You were used to it, and while you usually weren’t assigned to more than one person, you hoped your group of three would at least travel together so you could keep up with the demand.

You drifted a bit as you settled into your room, finding your lack of sleep catching up to you the second you laid your head down on your pillow and soon your phone was ringing noisily in your ear where it had landed on your bed. You jolted awake, eyes wide and your chest vibrating with the surprise that you had fallen asleep so easily and when you caught sight of the time as you answered the call from Anna, you were scrambling to get up as quickly as you could.

“Where are you? They’re about to come in the door. Hurry and get down here!” She whispered in an urgent voice on the line and you stole a glance in the mirror as you tried to smooth out your hair.

You were out the door in a flash, grabbing your ID lanyard at the last second and you figured you could do three flights of stairs quicker than you could wait for the elevator that seemed to be stuck at the top floor.

You were running while trying not to look like you were running and by the time you reached the small hotel meeting room you could hear voices speaking inside.

you cursed in your head as you quickly pulled the door open and an intimidating sets of eyes flew to the noise you had made opening the door.

You were breathing hard and you instantly bowed out a deep apology to the large group of people that were already gathered in the room, some watching your stumbling and bumbling entrance into the room with what looked to be amused expressions.

Anna gave you a small rueful smile that did nothing for the flames that you felt filling your cheeks and you rushed to stand next to her, feeling her wrap her arm lightly around your shoulders giving you a small squeeze.

“Now that they’re all here…” Laura said, the older woman who specialized in sass and dirty looks gave you one that you honestly deserved at this point and looked down at her sheet of paper with what you were sure were the names of the members you would be working with.

“…we can continue,” She finished and you awkwardly cleared your throat and braved the chance to look around the room.

Although there were some chairs and tables, the group stood, some leaning against the tables lightly with arms crossed over their chests, you saw the faces of staff mixed with the ultra familiar faces of various group members scattered across the room.

Your stomach flipped when your eyes roamed and you met the eyes of one member, Oh Sehun as he looked up from the itinerary in his hand. A tiny polite smile graced his pretty lips for a split second before he looked back down, focusing his attention back on the information Laura was reading off in heavily accented Korean so everyone in attendance understood.

Your head perked up in her direction when you heard her say your name and her extended hand told you it was time for you to give your greetings. Your stomach was in your throat and you bowed briefly before you spoke, letting them all know your name, your age, the languages you were ready to help in and how excited you were to work with each one of them. Your excitement was obvious in your delivery and by the end you were practically vibrating with anticipation. Feeling very much like an out of control chihuahua with absolutely no way to stop it, you opted to merely go along with it. They would just have to believe you were always this damn jittery.

Your mind was a blur when you heard Laura giving a small chuckle at your enthusiasm and you registered the amused smiled of the people around the room. A wide toothy grin from Jongdae had you do a double take at its brilliance and you heard a small snort of laughter from Baekhyun at the end of the room.

“Well you aren’t working with all of them dear. You will have Oh Sehun, Kim Minseok, and