Behind the scenes #1

Love is best served drunk.

The bachelors were all sitting in a big room with a huge round table in it. Every one of them was occupying one seat, some looking rather uncomfortable among the others, some more closed-off. Some just didn’t care at all. Not a big surprise, considering that most of of them didn't know each other. This was a first and after a brief introduction of everyone, the bachelors knew who they'd be spending the next weeks with.

The pink-haired producer didn’t even notice how the men didn't seem to be very interested in each other, when she was passing them sheets of paper and pens.

“All you have to do is write two words about yourself!“, she announced and beamed at them. Juna was sure this would look great on TV.

“What for?“, Kihyun asked as he skeptically eyed the blank paper. “And isn’t this whole sheet a waste of paper? For just two words?“

“It’s for the introduction! And what do you mean waste of paper? The trees will lose their leaves anyway, so we’re even helping to clean up after them!“, she still insisted and went on, “So, one of the words must be a positive trait, the other one a negative!“

On the other end of the table, one of the bachelors leaned back and let out a long “Hmmmmmm“, before he closed his eyes, raised his hands and shook his head. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Words can’t describe who I am. I need a whole video for that.“

“That's exactly what you’ll get!“, Juna agreed and pointed at Changkyun, smiling proudly as if she thought he understood her way of thinking.

“But then two words are still not enough!“

Of course, Juna didn't let Changkyun change her plans and so, after  a while, he was sitting on his place, diligently writing down the words that would describe himself. Just that it weren’t only two words.

“Hey! Did you copy?! Dude, why did you copy?! Now, change it to something else!“, he suddenly started to complain loudly, when he noticed his friend right next to him writing the exact same amount of words on the blank paper.

“I am you, you are me! It makes sense!“, Jooheon argued.

“We’re not the same! Get on the same level as me, first, before you start copying me!“, Changkyun chattered back and started striking out the words which Jooheon had tried to write as cleanly as possible.

Later one pouted shortly before he continued, thinking of own words to describe himself.

Next to them, the probably most handsome one of the bachelors was chewing on the end of his pen. “What’s the coolest possible way to describe myself?“, he wondered aloud, causing Kihyun to frown.

“Jesus Christ, even burnt toast has a higher IQ than you guys together.“

It took Summer forever to get rid of the masses of people following her. It wasn't as bad as for Minhyuk, but it still made it impossible to get close to the actor for just a bit. Not that Summer had a big problem with it. She was here for the exposure, but at some point the fans had torn her away even from the other contestants and when Summer was done taking photos and answering questions, the girls she was talking to a moment ago were gone. This was not how she’d keep the camera focused on herself. And unfortunately she wasn't even allowed to bring her own phone for recordings.

“Eh… hello?!“, she shouted, knowing that it was meaningless. . Why did she forget the names of those girls?! She could remember Ran, since she was a fellow YouTuber but she couldn’t quite put a finger on how the others were called. “…RAN?!“

No answer.

Not even the people that were taking photos with her just a second ago were reacting. It was a funny thing, being YouTube famous. People just cared as long as they could get a photo with you, to prove that they had met you. But once it was done, they acted as if they didn’t know you anymore. Hardcore fans were a completely different story.

Summer frowned.

“RAN?! GIRLS?! ANYBODY?!“, she tried again, this time more desperate.

The club was way too packed and the only people she figured were contestants were the two girls dancing next to that DJ bachelor on-stage. She wasn't going to be the extra in that dangerous looking sandwich. This was a club, it was supposed to be fun. Not a battle field.

As she was looking for anyone to connect with, not even the camera staff was focusing on her anymore, and the only time she saw them was when a bunch of them was running after a bachelor that was accompanied by a red-haired girl. She almost gave up on the matter when rescue appeared in form of a really handsome man. His hair was almost white with ridiculous looking blue tips.

“Hey!“, she greeted him happily, ignoring the fact that she was trespassing the VIP area. Not that anyone cared, but the amount of spread tissues on the floor suddenly rose to a maximum.

"HEY DUDE!“, he was shouting, a cloud of alcohol fumes punching Summer in the face, when he drew closer to her, to shout into her face. The sleepiness in his eyes and the redness on his cheeks were just a few hints of how drunk this bachelor was.

“I’m Summer!“, Summer introduced herself to him. “Cool hair!“

“I DID IT TO STAND OUT!“, the bachelor shouted back.

“Oh, really?“

“I DID IT TO STAND OUT!“

“Yes, I know, I understood!“, the conversation went on.

“I DID IT TO STAND OUT!“

Summer frowned once more. This bachelor was … something. But it was amusing. At least for now.

“DO YOU WANT SOMETHING TO DRINK?!“, he asked her and a moment later he shoved a sticky glass of orange fluid into her hands.

He was… friendly, she guessed. Or this was a very sad attempt to hook up with her. But to be honest, Summer wasn't even sure, if he knew that she was a woman, considering that she was wearing a suit and he was drunk as hell.

“YOU CAN DRINK IT! IT’S NOT DANGEROUS!“, the bachelor told her, grabbed the glass himself and took a big gulp of it. Once he was done, he handed it back to Summer and waited for her to take a sip. “IT’S GETTING HOT IN HERE!“

“So take off all your clothes?“, Summer suggested jokingly and was willing to take a single sip, when the guy suddenly took off his jacket and his shirt and she almost chocked on the drink. “W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!“

“HERE!“, the strange guy put his sweaty shirt into Summer’s hands and then ran outside with a loud “WOOOOOOO!“.

What the hell had just happened?

Hojung couldn't put into words how much she hated stupid people. They were a bother, and bother only. Even when they were as smoking hot as the super drunk guy in front of her. Hojung really hoped for the sake of him that he was only that dumb when he was drunk. To her it was a huge annoyance, nevertheless. Bless his parents for giving him this body, when the brains were missing. Shin Hoseok. She could remember his name clearly, remembering as the handsome "but secretive“ guy from the introduction video. How secretive could a person like him be, when he was revealing almost everything. If he’d let down his pants, he’d be the perfect stripper.

While Hoseok was drunk chatting with Misoon, the area got more crowded. A girl that looked like she was Cinderella in a black dress, running from the horrors of the club, appeared around the corner and when she noticed the three others, delight spread on her face. The closer the girl got, the bigger her eyes became and when she was able to verify that Hoseok was being shirtless, ended up gaping widely.

“Aren’t you cold?“, she asked the bachelor who ended up chuckling.

“I’m smoking hot!“, he voiced out what everyone was thinking. It, however, didn’t protect him from the cold night air.

“Wow, someone really had too much to drink.“, the girl voiced out directly, noticing what just had slipped her lips and looked a bit regretful the next moment. Hoeok didn’t seem to care much. “I’m Chaelee.“, she then introduced herself to Misoon and Hojung.

“I’m Hojung.“

“And this is my friend Misoon!“, Hoseok chimed in, before Misoon could even open . “Hi, I'm Hoseok. ...and this is my friend Misoon!“

“You just told us.“, Chaelee mentioned but the other two girls just shook their heads.

“Don't even try.“, Misoon advised her.

Hojung sighed. What a waste of perfect looks. And a waste of her time as well. There where other people she’d rather spend time with, so what she did was telling the others goodbye and listening to Hoseok telling her once more, that Misoon was his friend.

On her way inside, the blue-haired incarnation of the Grim Reaper was crossing her way, muttering some "Damned Yoo Kihyun! I’ll destroy you!“ and in front of a convenience store, she recognized another contestant sitting, hands clutched around a bottle of water as she looked like she was about to cry. Hojung knew what this was. And she would have loved to get there and get some first-hand experiences out of the woman for her bachelor thesis. Seriously, she was wondering why a person like that would apply for a Dating Survival show.

Unfortunately, this would have to wait. There were more important things to do at the moment. Hojung had to make sure, she’d meet two special persons. Jooheon and Gunhee. When Hojung had entered the club and Gunhee was stepping on that stage, her whole body had frozen. She had been cold, she had been hot, but mostly confused and desperately trying not to break out crying on the spot. There was something inside of her that had started tickling and she felt like she had forgotten about that feeling long, long ago. It was a feeling that was strong enough to numb the anger she was feeling towards her brother.

Hojoon. Pffft. That idiot. Did he really think he could undo the past by changing his name? And then it was Jooheon out of everything he could have picked? There wasn’t much that could have calmed the dragon inside of her that was starving for sweet revenge. At least it gave her much delight to see him around this show, whereas it was much to Hojung’s surprise. How desperate must her brother have been to apply to a show like this? Or was there a secret deal going on between him and their parents that they never even mentioned in front of her? She couldn't tell. But she’d find out soon enough.

The girl was marching back into the club, trying to figure, where she’d find either her brother or Gunhee. Jooheon was still busy having fun on stage with some of the contestants and Hojung shortly eyed them in dissapproval (to be fair, it was her casual expression) before  she decided it would be better to check out other areas first. She didn't quite want to make a scene that openly for the cameras to catch and even though she couldn't find the cameras around at the moment, she was sure, they’d be attracted soon enough the moment she’d meet her brother face-to-face.

It took Hojung a while to find some of the show’s staffs. They were basically camping in some corners, one of the camera camps being close to the bar.

“I’m sorry, have you seen the MC? Is he still around?“, she asked, being careful not to get into the camera’s zoom. The staff she asked, was holding a microphone up in the air and through his thick glasses he was looking at her in confusion.

“The MC?“, he asked.

“Yes.“, she answered, noticing how he suddenly was looking for the other staffs to tell them to direct the cameras at her. “Oh, it’s not like you think. The staffs that are filming the stage asked me to tell you they want him to come over. That's all.“

The audio man was still looking a bit skeptical, but he turned around and asked his colleagues of the whereabouts of the MC. Hojung grabbed the information, that he was hanging around the VVIP area. That was all she needed.

In front of the VVIP entrance, two girls were sitting on the ground, glaring at the bouncers.

“We’re not going to back off, before you allow us to enter!“, one of them in a very extraordinary dress barked at them while her blond friend was trying to hold her back.

Oh. So they didn’t let anyone through?

Hojung tried herself and when she did, the bouncers stopped her.

“I’m sorry, don’t you know who I am?“, she asked them with the most arrogant an cold voice she could bring up. It was her entrance ticket to most things. Being intimidating was so helpful at times.

“Oh? Who are you?“, one of the bouncers asked.

“I'm the DJ’s sister and if you don’t let me pass, I’ll have to get him here with me and he'll very much kick your petty asses out of this place and this business.“

The other bouncer started to laugh, while the threatened one grew angry.

"Oh, really? Then tell your brother I’ll-“

“Is there a problem?“, a male voice suddenly intervened and when Hojung looked up, she felt like a train was running over her.

Seeing Gunhee from up close was completely different from seeing him on that stage. He was so close, she was able to touch him, if she just dared. Seeing him like that, made her think of the times they had laughed together. He had such a nice laugh. It was dorky. But so lovable.

“Hojung?!“, Gunhee exclaimed and his face revealed how shocked he was to see her around. “What are you doing here?! Does Jooheon know you’re here?“

Hearing her brother's name dragged Hojung back to reality and it made it very easy to be cold again. “Eww, you’re calling him by that disgusting name, too? I’m here because I’m part of the show. And I’d very much like to get into there.“, she pointed at the two bouncers and the stairs that led up to the VVIP rooms.

“S-She can pass.“, Gunhee told the bouncers and to the dismay of the unfriendly one, Hojung managed to pass them, giving him some superior look as she gracefully left her ex-boyfriend behind.

It was hard to explain how Iseul felt at the moment. A part of her wanted to celebrate with the others, have a great time and just enjoy herself, but the other one told her to be cautious. Being an idol had always meant to be under constant control of each and every of her actions. Not even by herself. But by the company. Iseul really wanted to break those invisible shackles and she really couldn't wait for it to happen but as she looked around, she knew that she wouldn't be able to achieve her goal, if she wasn't playing by the bachelors’ rules. Unwritten rules, rules of behavior. If she wanted to stay in the game as long as possible, she had to make those men like and keep her. The idol was scanning the room, her glass of juice resting in her hands as she was trying to figure out those bachelors. 

Changkyun was all about the fun in life. He seemed out - going. Even scandalous. Something was telling Iseul to suspect him to be a Hidden Card, but for whatever reason... he just wasn’t appealing to her. Not that it mattered, he was busy getting everyone in the room super drunk, minus Iseul herself, but oh how glorious would it look to have a scandal with this fellow headlining the websites. Maybe later the chance would come. If he ever started to get endearing to her.

Hyunwoo… was an awkward turtle. But he was so handsome and well-known as well. She was seriously contemplating to go for him, if there wasn’t Hyungwon sitting in the exact same room as them. The man with those magical expressions. And gosh, he was so handsome, too! He must have had the most beautiful camera angles and his face was made to be shown on a screen, huge enough to show his face to an entire football stadium's audience.

Iseul’s attention was redirected to the dance floor, where muffled noises were coming from through the glass front. She was able to watch the partying crowd and in its midst actor Lee Minhyuk drowning in the sea of fans. He was smiling the entire time, but Iseul wondered how dead inside he must have been. How sick he must have been of all those people disregarding his privacy. How different was it being an actor from being an idol, though? Actors had it much better, she guessed. But she didn't want to judge without asking him and getting his first-hand experiences shared with her.

“Are you okay, Haebyul?“

The leader instinct instantly kicked in and Iseul stared at the addressed person. Haebyul and Eunha looked totally done with life. And the staffs were about to shove their cameras into their faces.

“Ooooooh! You remember my name! I love you! I want to be with a sweet, sweet guy like you! You have a very weird face, you know? It looks amazing the way you move it! But your face on itself isn’t all that attractive…!“

When the words reached her ears, Iseul couldn’t believe what had just been said. Haebyul was looking at Hyungwon with drunk, sleepy eyes. And Hyungwon… the way he looked caused Iseul to crack. There was a ton of disapproval showing. He must have been so offended. Iseul was laughing silently, trying not to offend the bachelor even more when the shots Haebyul had fired at him must have hurt enough. It was hard, but nobody noticed - except for the cameras.

The situation was bizarre and it wasn’t even over yet. When she watched how Haebyul kissed Hyunwoo, everyone in the room hold their breath (except Changkyun who just applauded). Hyungwon had gotten up and as he left the room, Iseul followed him outside. She could relate to him having had enough of this nonsense, but she wanted to know what exactly was going on in the pretty head of his. Those magical, yet super weird expressions really were something and she wanted to know what caused those to look like they did.

“Are you okay?“, she asked Hyungwon, who was leaning against the balustrade, looking down on the dancing crowd.

“Sure.“, he answered but his face was telling a different story. Seriously, Iseul didn’t understand how his expressions happened to be a whole statement every time.

“Oh really? You don't look like it.“, she told him. “You know... you have a rather expressive face.“

“Do you want to insult me, too?“

“Of course not.“, Iseul replied quickly. “But Haebyul was right when she said, your face is fascinating. It really is.“

“Thank you.“, Hyungwon mumbled, still looking very distraught.

"Don't you want to talk about it? I’m here and the cameras are not. I know, we don't know each other and we've just met… but it might be good to talk about it.“ Iseul felt like being back with her idol group. As the leader, she was used to being the advisor in bad times and the one always caring for the other ducklings. No matter if they got along or not.

"It's just… a lot happening at once. I came here to eventually start dating. But seeing how Haebyul kissed Hyunwoo… it’s an odd feeling.“, he said. “I didn’t expect it to happen that early.“

“I get what you mean. It's so fast. They don't know each other and then… things like this happen all of a sudden. But isn't that the purpose of a dating show? You make out with people and maybe even end up having .“, she told him and his eyes widened when she mentioned it.

Iseul noticed how Hyungwon’s face turned all deep in-thoughts and she tilted her head as she watched him diving deeper and deeper down the imaginary hole. Okay, this was definitely not working the best way on him. “By any chance… do you like Haebyul?“

Hyungwon gave her one of his magnificent, judgmental glances.

“Sorry, I was just asking.“, Iseul defended herself and took a step back. “Feeling any better?"

“No.“, Hyungwon answered.

“Maybe you should try doing it like the others. Drink until you drop or dance until the sunrise. Either way is a better way to invest your time than spending time alone out here like that.“

As she said so, she checked on the room again. The cameras were busy with the drunk kids, so nobody would really care if she’d do something stupid. They were shakily getting up and dancing their way downstairs to the dance floor, Changkyun following them, armed with at least 5 bottles of hard liquor. Hyunwoo was still done for the day and Sohyun was friendly enough to take care of the drunk bachelor. Myunguk in the meantime got up from her seat and moved towards Iseul and Hyungwon.

“May I join?“, she asked, but her smile wasn’t directed toward Iseul, it was all for the bachelor.

Oh right. This still was a The Bachelor - oriented show and women stealing each other’s time with the bachelors was a thing. Iseul didn’t feel like fighting at the moment. The cameras weren’t here to record it, anyway. What she did, was giving Hyungwon a friendly, last smile and the words "Sure, we were done anyway.“

Her body was moving a bit, when she walked down the stairs and the music got louder. On her way another woman, probably a contestant crossed her way and in front of the stairs, the MC was bewilderedly watching the woman. Iseul tried to ignore it. It was time to see, if Lee Minhyuk was the only one who managed to get those fan waves tossing through the crowd.

The dance floor was packed, there was not even an inch of free space and Sara knew Minyoung next to her was itching to raid it and show off all the dance moves she had put on her "Will show on TV what I am capable of!“- list. Well, Minyoung wanting to dance was a lot better than Minyoung wanting to fight the bouncers. Sara had known they wouldn't pass through. And watching how the bunch of super beautiful women was getting in so easily but they didn't, Sara was tantalized by the ugly feeling of being the forever bachelor’s reject once more.

She knew about it all. The comments on social media, the comments on TV when people were still talking about the different contestants, even the newspaper articles that appeared after she got eliminated first. It wasn't even like she was forgotten after the show. She was the reject. The first who had to leave the show. It was a hurtful experience, especially when people of her university came up to her to pick on her. And now she was back, just to be rejected by some bouncers again.

“Shall we?“, Sara asked and Minyoung was squealing in excitement, jump on the spot, then grabbed Sara's arm to rush into the pool of humans.

Sara instantly felt like being caught in a human cage, sweaty and narrow. The DJ bachelor was constantly yelling into his mic, every now and then dropping the most random aegyo lines in between his badass hip-hop slurrs, it caught Sara off-guard. The others didn't seem to bother, however. Especially the two women on the stage, seemed to enjoy his weirdness a lot. One of the gorgeous models was dancing with her cup in her hand, a red-haired girl coming up to her, followed by another one in a purple dress. The two were absolutely drunk and behind them a bachelor with more bottles than he was able to hold in his hands came up, dropping a bottle to the ground. It crashed and the entire floor started to get sticky.

“What’s your name?!“, the bachelor shouted towards the gorgeous one.

“Haru!“, she shouted back but didn't ask for his.

“I’m Changkyun!“

“Cool!“, she replied, turned around and then quickly moved away, to group up with a dancing girl that Sara recognized for some reason. Was she an idol? Or an actress? She couldn’t remember.

“Want some booze?!“, the bachelor concentrated on the two drunk chicks again.

“WOOOO!“, the two reacted and in an instant a huge bottle was passed around.

“Hey!“, Minyoung interacted with them, seeing her chance to get her and Sara’s chances a bit higher by connecting with the Jack Sparrow of a bachelor. “I’m Minyoung, this is Sara!“

“DRIIIIIINK!“, the dark haired woman suddenly shouted and pushed the bottle into Minyoung's hands.

Sara suddenly started to have a bad feeling.

“THAT’S MY SISTER!“, the red-haired one shouted almost directly into Sara’s ear and pointed at the DJ stage.

“Who?“, Minyoung asked her, after taking a big gulp of the bottle. “There are two girls up!“

“THE GORGEOUS ONE!“

Sara thought it wouldn’t help at all, as in this season all the women were equally gorgeous as far as she noticed (it seemed to her like the entire cast was consisting of models only), but when she saw the two women on stage, she knew exactly who the girl was talking about.

Twins. They were freaking twins. Freaking beautiful twins. Why did Sara even bother to come back? Ugh, this was so bothersome.

"Drink up!“, Minyoung suddenly told her and the bottle was passed to Sara.

“What?“, she asked, when the bachelor and the girls started to hoot and the constant choir of “DRINK! DRINK! DRINK!“ was fighting against the loud music.

For a moment Sara looked at the bottle. This wasn’t Season 1. This time there was an actual bachelor around her. How wrong could it go this time? It couldn’t get worse than last time, right?

As Sara took a deep gulp of the bottle, everyone around her applauded, before she started to cough of the strong flavor of Gin.

Yonghwa felt like she was watching a drama, when she observed Kihyun and the Darth Tater. It was beautiful. It was dramatic. Yonghwa felt alive.

“You know I can destroy you!“, the woman hissed at him but the bachelor looked rather unimpressed.

"We both know, you can’t, Kim Sook. Because both of us know that I don’t deserve to be destroyed.“

Stop! Could she just go back to where their conversation started and rewatch this real quick? Thank you.

The bachelor was nonchalantly sipping on his drink, not even looking at the woman. She gnarled and gritted her teeth, until Kihyun looked at her and suddenly shower her an angelic smile. Yonghwa's heart suddenly started to go dokidoki. She quickly looked away and, just from the corner of her eyes, kept following what was going on between Kim Sook and Yoo Kihyun.

The woman just got as startled as Yonghwa and energetically turned around to take leave, when she noticed that the cameras had captured her harsh expression switching to startled for a brief second.

No! Come back!, Yonghwa thought. The person in charge for this really had to make her return! How was Yonghwa supposed to further watch the drama?! What a lame way to end this encounter. She would have solved it differently.

With Kim Sook being gone, tranquility returned. The loud and peppy music was still booming in Yonghwa’s ears, don't get her wrong. But the bar seemed to be the holy place of peace and quiet, compared to the buzzing areas all around her. And it attracted more people than just her and the bachelor. Two girls were approaching. They were already chatting with one another, they must have gotten along already. One of them was gasping when she noticed Kihyun sitting on one of the stools and nudged the other one. Like two lionesses they approached, but shortly before they reached him, one of the camera staff members got in between, tapping on his shoulder and leading him away from the bar. Yonghwa and the two girls watched him leave. Yet another decision she judged the person in charge of this whole thing for, really.

“Soooo close…!“, the one in pink whined. “I could have talked to Yoo Kihyun!“

“It's the same like me being cursed to never talk to Minhyuk.“, the other one said and sat down on the chair that Kihyun had occupied earlier.  “Mr. Bartender, we’re contestants of Bachelors’ Paradise, do we get drinks for free?“

The bartender nodded and the girl was quick in ordering 4 shots of with an Alligator. The one in pink got overly excited because of the drinks and was hooting when suddenly someone approached from the back. The guy was getting to the counter right next to her and she had to swallow half of a squeal.

"LEE MINHYUK!“, the other one exclaimed, still.

The bachelor looked a bit surprised, but smiled gently at them. “Oh, hi.“, he said.

“We’re contestants!“, the one in pink bursted out, “I'm Kang Hayeon! My mother loves you!“

“I’m Choi Ran, hiiiiii~!“, the other one added, and leaned over the bar, so he could see her more properly.

Minhyuk chuckled. He seemed to be surprised of actually meeting contestants, though. It must have been the first time he actually got in contact with them for the entire night. "Then nice to meet you! How do you like it here?“

The three of them started a lively conversation about the club, the show and then finally about him and his acting career. He started demonstrating them his abilities of changing an entire expression by just moving his eyebrows a bit and what kind of emotional impact it had. The little details in his expressions changed every now and then and the vibe switched instantly whenever he did it.

Yonghwa watched him with a deep anchored fascination. To her he wasn't Lee Minhyuk. He was someone else. Someone she had given birth to, yet, someone she was only able to watch from afar. But now she was able to watch him from up so close, see what she had created a while ago. It felt like she was his real mother. Of course, she was not. But in some sense… she was.

Yonghwa got dragged out of her thoughts, when a camera guy asked her to get interviewed and just then Minhyuk, Ran and Hayeon noticed that another contestant had been around the entire time. Yonghwa smiled at them, her imaginary son watching her with surprise in his face when she left with the staff member. 

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