There was no one more deserving of the title of infiltrator and an a la-James-Bond expert in espionage and military warfare and tactics than Lee Seungri, regardless of questionable military experience. His impressive number of covert operations (seventeen, not counting his slight hints and teasing on cam) in bringing two of the dumbest people on love that he had ever met. And it’s not even funny because one was in denial and the other was too afraid of breaking down into giggling fits whenever they meet each other’s gazes.

Seriously. It’s exhausting just watching them make moves on each other, only for them to misread everything and sulk in their bedrooms, bringing forth sadness and desperation within a ten-mile radius.

Unfortunately, he happened to be one of those people who get to be within two overlapping circles of doom, pessimism, and wails of “She doesn’t love me!” and “I think he’s playing with me! Does he think I’m stupid enough to believe him? Tell me Ri-yah! Don’t deny or I’ll burn your food!” every day of the week.

Have mercy on his sanity.

But today was his free day. Seung-hyun hyung was on military enlistment, Youngbae hyung was dating, and Dae hyung was doing who knows what in his free time. Jiyong hyung was on his Motte Act III tour and would finishing his concert in Hong Kong today. Dara noona was back in the Philippines, doing her activities and meeting her friends whom she had never seen in quite a while.

He was sipping his martini and munching on cookies, drinking liquor and eating sweets at 4 in the morning be damned.

Then the door banged open.

Someone must be looking down on him in disdain or one of his exes was a voodoo magician sent to haunt him forever.

Startled, he poured the expensive liquor on his pants. And that was not enough for the nasty bugger who's out to get him: he stood up and tripped on the blanket lying haphazardly on his lap, showing to the world that he was on commando.

YG Sajangnim, or hyung as he wanted to be called by his veteran talents, looked oddly serious as he ignored the blatant display of . He was dressed in his typical I’m-wearing-a-fedora-and-slip-ons-but-I-can-still-make-your-fitness-regime-a-living-hell (which makes one wonder if that was what he wears to intimidate anyone to submit to him and his schemes—heck, he never thought a silly-looking hat could scare someone to do its owner's bidding), one hand holding a suspicious-looking handheld device.

Seungri was afraid to ask how powerful the bomb in his hand was when it detonates.

“Seungri, I have a special mission for you.”

Seungri was still looking at the small device with trepidation. “This is not about the Gundam Seed toy that I broke in your studio, right?”

Eyebrows furrowed, YG hyung asked, “What Gundam Seed toy? I never received one.”

Oops.

Seungri grinned, backtracking so fast because his life depended on it “Uh, nothing, just my mouth blabbing some stupid stuff. Anyway, what do you want me to do, hyung? Set a nuclear bomb on your enemies?”

 

 

It was just five in the morning and Seungri was out of his wits.

“Remind me again why we’re here, hyung."

Jinhwan groaned in agreement as dragged his cup of whatever concoction he had managed to make in his zombie-like state towards him. “Too early, too early. Need coffee. Need sleep.”

He rubbed his temple and sighed. “Because," He dragged the word as he glared daggers at the eleven people YG hyung told him to gather in thirty minutes. "I need you all to be my minions”

Seungyoon, belying whatever praise other have given him for his leadership skills, opened his mouth to ask. Most likely the same question he had been asking for the past hour.

"No. We're not ordering chicken. Be happy I cooked you ramyun, I could have left you to starve."

"But you burned the noodles—"

Seungri stood up and clapped his hands. "Okay! Enough with the sleep-eating!” Chanwoo continued slurping the soup with his cheek submerged in the meal. “Let's go to the meeting room! Stand up and walk. Come now, move your feet. Yah! Hands off the chocolate Seungyoon! Hands off!"

Said room happened to be BigBang's lounge room in YG Entertainment. Seungri rushed inside and occupied the office chair that Seung-hyun hyung used to lord over the other BigBang members and swiveled to face the iKON and WINNER members in their various interpretations of what morning looked like when personified.

Yunhyeong was in his onesie pajamas, hugging a teddy bear half his size against his side. Bobby and Mino were leaning against each other, blinking groggily towards their surroundings. Donghyuk brought the bowl of ramyun from the apartment and was eating noisily, soup flying over everyone. Hanbin had his head bowed down and hoodie pulled up, hiding from the world. Seunghoon had his arms crossed, glaring at everything that moved and breathed within his personal space (his personal space happened to be a 12-inch perimeter, Seungri observed, as the maknae of iKON tried to lean onto his shoulders, only to be pushed off none too gently).

Jinwoo was pristine and poised, sipping on his Styrofoam cup of coffee with not a single wrinkle in his pajamas (Like seriously, how did he even find the time to iron his pajamas?). Chanwoo disregarded the presence of an incensed BigBang hyung and slept on the couch, kicking a sleepy Yunhyeong away from the blanket they shared. Junho, Jinhwan, and Seungyoon were the only ones awake enough to glare at Seungri for the wake-up call.

Chanwoo snorted in his sleep.

A noodle fell off from Donghyuk's bowl.

Yunhyeong started snoring.

Seungri had enough.

He stood up and pulled a spray bottle out of the drawer where he usually hides his stuff away from the hyungs.

Jinhwan flicked his eyebrow upward as the cackling BigBang maknae mercilessly sprayed his dongsaengs to within an inch of dryness. Shouts came from the angry members but Seungri was not having any of it.

"Yah! Wake up! We have work to do."

Confused mutterings. Furrowed eyebrows. A little bit of drool from Yunhyeong.

Yunhyeong yawned and stretched his arms up. "Work? We’re going to have a collaboration, hyung?"

Seungri twitched madly.

He wasted one hour talking about his diabolical plans and it went the other ear! He wanted to strangle his dongsaengs but he lacked bait and manpower for what he and YG hyung had planned.

Fortunately, Seungyoon took pity on the rapidly-turning-purple Seungri (the purple face was worrying like the blood was rushing to his hyung's face in apoplectic rage). The leader of WINNER slapped Bobby and Mino, prompting the two sleeping rappers to fall on top of Chanwoo and Yunhyeong. Jinwoo rolled his eyes at the antics while Junho face-palmed.

Seungri wasted no time (he barely had any left and he would not risk this plan to go up in flames) and brought out papers, pens, and boxes of—

Jinwoo leaned further to inspect the small velvet boxes. “Earpieces? What for, hyung? Do we have an upcoming concert?”

“Not quite,” He opened one and pulled out the black earbud with miniature buttons lines along the of the device. “It’s for a concert but not for us—for the Motte Act III tour.”

Jinwoo looked up from the boxes. “Jiyong hyung’s concert? What for?”

Seungri went straight to the point. “He’s going to make a move on Dara noona.”

Jinwoo nodded absentmindedly. “Oh, that’s nice—Wait, what? Jiyong hyung going to do what?”

Seungri knew he should fear for the Jinwoo and the uncharacteristic pitch his voice had reached but he agreed with the sentiment.

This would blow big in the industry.

Seungri grinned. “Finally, within the realm of living now, eh? But I’m not trying to be funny either. Ji hyung approached Sajangnim about his half-assed plan to come out in public with their relationship. Sajangnim didn’t think it was time yet, but Ji was triggered by suitors, fanboys, and a P.O. Box he'd like to saw off--? Sajangnim wasn’t sure about which postal box earned hyung's ire either but Ji hyung was too furious, saying disturbing stuff about gory deaths under his breath. But in the end, he agreed to let the two perform together in the Manila leg of the tour.”

That woke everyone up.

Mino was nodding his head off when the mention of his noona’s name registered in his sleep-addled mind. He shot up from his seat, briefly noting that everyone was upright, fully awake.

Mino pushed forward. “He’s going to ask noona to perform a song with him?”

“Not just one song—two songs and an encore, but that’s a surprise."

Donghyuk furrowed his eyebrows. "Looks like Sajangnim gave the go-signal, already. Question is: what are we here for? To celebrate or something?"

Bobby thought it was a valid question. After all, the maknae of BigBang did not give them any decency when he barged into their dormitories and grabbed any limb he could grab under the blankets and dragged the protesting boys out of their sleep. And that's not the worst part: in his semi-awake state, he saw the man nick half of the sweets they placed on the table.

But from the widening toothy smile on his face, looking like he was about to offer them to cultists for more chocolates.

Bobby bit his tongue. He'd corner the glutton hyung later.

Seungri grinned. "I'm so glad you asked," He pulled out his phone and showed them a picture of a stage. It was dim, blurry forms of people scattered around the platform. But the message on the giant screen in blaring red.

Act III: Motte.

Seungri raised a hand to stop the questions.

"What you're seeing will be the talk of the year, hitting the trend charts and slaying those wannabe shippers till their ships sink down and down and down," He banged the table, catching the seven boys off-guard. "And perish in the deepest part of the ocean, never to surface again!"

Seungri shrugged as he pocketed his phone. "But that'd be for later, much later, and that’s if hyung won't mess up and crash his beloved ship against an island as big as his unrequited love towards a certain Santoki but that's also a whole other conversation. He has some big shoes to fill so that's up to him and his wits. For now, though, his job's easier: admit his oh-so long pining for our princess while not making a fool of himself when the girl smiles at him, such a lucky bastard. Our job's definitely harder."

Yunhyeong pressed slowly, fearing the manic glint in their hyung's eyes. "Which is what, exactly?"

"Why, make sure he won't do anything stupid, of course! He can't do his plan without any sort of wingman, and mind you, it's not a very well-thought of plan and is doomed to fail the moment noona unleashes that fatal aegyo of hers."

Gesturing to a hundred boxes of earpieces, Seungri shrugged. "His backup, as what he and YG hyung agreed upon, would be someone who can execute the plan without noona ever finding out. Ji hyung planned the grand gestures, YG hired the sneakiest person he can trust with a covert operation that likes of which can drive Dispatch on a frenzy once it reaches their ears, which in this case, is me, and said sneakiest person needs more eyes, ears, and mouths to command everyone to their places so he got you to watch the other variables, which in this case means Jiyong's stupidity, Jiyong's weakness against Sandara Park-induced aegyo-ness, Jiyong's inability to look at said aegyo goddess without forgetting his name, bah blah bleh, you get the point—"

"But he's the ship tonight and we're the sails and the mast. Oh wait, we'd be doing more than that—maybe we should include the wheel and the anchor. Chip in the ugly captain with a hook and his equally-ugly parrot-fish hybrid and we're good to sail."

Silence.

Blinks.

Then Bobby snorted under his breath, "Right. You still haven't explained exactly what we're going to do."

Seungri rolled his eyes but before he spoke, an evened voice caught everyone's attention. "You want us to watch over the concert and help you do damage control if something happens. With those earpieces, we'd get into contact with the stage prod people and work our way behind the curtains to make sure Jiyong hyung won't embarrass himself, and in extension YG Sajangnim, and scare noona away. Is that right, hyung?"

Seungyoon watched as Mino's face slipped into a blank façade.

He knew the kid way better than even Mino thinks. Under that expressionless face was a viper ready to strike the jugular. Will he need some back-up? He narrowed his eyes. 

But, alas, they had escaped from all this and left the poor WINNER leader alone with the wolves. Bobby wouldn’t move a finger without him dying. Jinwoo would just give him the stink-eye and turn the other way around.

Mino cocked his head to the side, gaze unnervingly on the taken-aback expression on Seungri's face. "Exactly that. How did—"

"I heard you the first time."

Seungyoon fidgeted.

Mino's mad—really mad.

Seungri raised an eyebrow. "Very prickly aren't you, kid? That's fine, I need that badass-ery and no-nonsense thing you've got going on, good enough to reign the fanboys within the dancers and producers. In the meantime, I need to divide you into groups, cohorts, partners-in-crime etcetera and—"

"Wait."

Seungri gritted his teeth. "What. Now?"

"We haven't agreed to anything yet, hyung. Give us five minutes."

Junho flitted his eyes from the hardened expression on Mino's face and the determined one on Jinwoo's. These two were the only vocal ones against the plan. Granted, said plan wasn't run by them so they're going by what Seungri hyung was saying. But BigBang’s maknae was not at fault: It was Jiyong hyung and YG Sajangnim's plan.

They're just the people who'd be the puppets on the string.

But Mino and Jinwoo were two of the closest YG dongsaengs of Dara noona. Maybe they're just being overprotective idiots trying to protect noona when they should be protecting themselves from a raging dragon when said scary beast’s plan fails because they're trying to be knights for a woman who can think for herself.

Tsk. Let’s see who’ll win in this one, Junho sighed.

Seungri conceded and tried to position himself to a more relaxed position as he checked his phone for messages from his contacts. The kids won't be done anytime soon.

No worries. They'd come around soon.

Hmm. For now, his other hired people were coming.

While the maknae of BigBang was furiously texting his other recruits, he was clueless on the impromptu group meeting that was happening in front of him.

Bobby, Jinhwan, and Chanwoo made a makeshift circle on the couch, turning their backs and throwing cautious glances at the preoccupied BigBang member. Jinwoo, Donghyuk, and Mino sat on the ground, watching the others position themselves around Seungyoon and Junho in the middle of the couch. Usually, Hanbin would lead get-togethers of the two boy groups of YG whenever there was something going on in the company but the leader of iKON was whispering urgently to a frowning Seunghoon and a giddy Yunhyeong. So, Seungyoon quickly took the reins with Junho following his lead.

And if they looked like old ladies clamoring for some dirty rumor against a neighbor, well, that can easily be ignored.

Junho faced Mino with a frown. "Hyung, have you talked to noona about this?"

"No," He sounded bothered. "We haven't chatted in almost three months. Last I talked to her, she was visiting her brother."

"Jinwoo?"

"Same here. She was active in her social media accounts, and she was doing so many promotions and variety shows that I didn't get the chance to talk to her about…this." He wildly gestured around him as if that explained the mysteries of the world and the shocking news that greeted them today.

Silence descended in the group.

And it was shocking. Maybe it was the fact that they haven't got the chance to talk to her about anything relating to her personal life and were horribly confused about everything or that they did not anticipate their Jiyong hyung mustering the courage that had always escaped him whenever their beloved noona was around but this was confirmation of what seemed to be more than eight years-worth of speculations and half-researched rumors from third-party spectators.

For a long time, all of their closest friends were tight-lipped about anything with Dara noona and G-Dragon in it.

But this was the confirmation that they'd been waiting for.

From G-Dragon himself.

Chanwoo's eyes were bright. "Guys, everything's about to be official."

"."

The one-word curse from Bobby broke the ice. Junho shook his head in defeat as the closet supporters of two of the most shipped idols in idol history gave way to the tremendous wave of what millennials now call "spazzgasm", which basically refers to "twitching all over the floor like an eel rubbed in salt and squealing in an unhealthy pitch".

Chanwoo was doing a very good impression of the spazzgasm. Hanbin was uncontrollably giggling. Bobby kept saying "Daebak!". Jinhwan was smirking smugly, thinking of all the times he received harsh words about Jiyong hyung and how he doesn't deserve to be with his loving noona.

to be them, ha! As if they'd get past the G-Dragon.

Yunhyeong went past the point of no return.

Blag.

"Hyeong-ie! Gwenchana?"

Yunhyeong stared at the wall, a gobsmacked smile on his face. "Am I dreaming, hyung? Did my appler heart just stopped beating?"

Seunghoon sweatdropped. "Ani. It's true. Jiyong hyung will ask noona to be his girlfriend."

The earsplitting shriek did not even stop Seungri from texting. "Jinjja? Jinjjaro? Woohoo! Noona's not going to be single anymore!"

"Aish, yah, pabo-yah, they're not dating yet!"

"Yet," He stressed. "But they will soon! They were just, er, circling each other! Like lions in heat--"

Junho threw a pointed glance at the maknae. "Yah! Respect your sunbaes Chanwoo!"

Yunhyeong was undeterred. "But hyung, he's right! This is a big deal, especially noona and hyung! Ten years of pining and unrequited love and now Jiyong hyung would make the first move! In his concert! In the Philippines! Where Dara noona's second home is!"

Bobby 'hmm-ed' under his breath. "I agree, hyung is risking everything on this one. Whether to make or break it, it won't matter. Everything should be perfect, no room for mistakes."

"No worries, noona won't see it coming."

"That's stupid and you know it."

Seeing their confusion, Chanwoo scoffed. "No one can be that oblivious. Noona knows that hyung likes her but she's clearly in-denial, hard-headed too. It'd take something big before she says yes to hyung. But she’ll see it and will definitely run away. Jiyong hyung should be quick about it because noona is lightning-fast on the pick-up. She'll sense something and run away before hyung takes a step forward."

Yunhyeong shook his head. "And what other perfect timing was there than this concert? Singing together in front of the largest demography of Dara and G-Dragon shippers? Checked. Making the first move and admitting to your long-time girl that you want to be with her without hiding from the public? Double-checked and underlined in red. Noona can't do anything about it, she can't even deny anything. Hyung has all the cards to play."

The others were bickering amongst themselves but Seungyoon was silent as he stared at Mino and Jinwoo, two of the closest YG artists to Dara noona. Almost five years together and they're still closer than most people think. Dongsaengs to a noona, they were very protective of her. Any mention of her name got their hackles rising up in defense and their tails wagging whenever said noona was hanging out with them.

Dara noona was one of the few kind idols who kept in touch with people they met, even if it was only once, just to be a friend to them among the cutthroats in the industry. Seungyoon lost count of the number of rookie idols who expressed their adoration to the kind noona who visited their dressing rooms in disguise just to give her compliments and support. The rookie idols weren't stupid to blab their mouth about the beautiful senior idol veteran who visits them whenever she's present at music shows to congratulate them on a performance done well.

Many people assumed that her fame mellowed down with her age and the disbandment of 2ne1. But they know very well that that's not the case.

Her popularity did not just increase. It skyrocketed.

Which did not rest that well on the two protective dongsaengs.

Jinwoo often complained about the anonymous texts asking for her number, private social media account, next fan meeting, and address. Mino was a quieter dongsaeng but he had sharper claws than . He'd just block the number. For the more persistent ones, he'd tell Youngbae hyung. They'd never hear from that idol again.

Seungyoon looked at their blank faces with trepidation.

"You think he'd propose to noona?"

He was about to call the two silent members when a sudden slap made everyone swivel to look at the source. Seungri hyung slapped Chanwoo on the back of the head.

"Ow, hyung!"

Junho bemoaned the trouble he'd get from the unhealthy number of face-palms he'd do by the end of the day.

Seungri looked unapologetic. “Stop wondering. You’d jinx our asses and where would we be by then? So, you're all in, right? Great! Didn't need your decision, really, but whatever helps you sleep at night—Now, while waiting for a friend of mine to come, let’s go over the plan. You were divided into two groups."

Pulling out a paper with several diagrams in it in chicken scratch writing, most of which went through Yunhyeong's head, Seungri pointed to the group of names under TEAM KISS and under TEAM COUP D’ETAT.

"Jiyong gave this to YG hyung for me to follow. So, KISS group which consists of Chanwoo, Donghyuk, Seungyoon, Mino, Hanbin, and Jinhwan would be flying to Manila today. At 9 in the morning, almost three hours from now--"

"Say what?" Seungyoon sputtered. "But we haven't packed for the trip and Manager-nim won't allow us to go! And we have no ticket!"

"Psh, already taken care of. YG hyung approached both of your managers last night and they packed your things. Passports are already in the immigration. Make sure to pass in the elite express lane. A car would be waiting for you in the tarmac." Seungri turned his gaze to the remaining five people. "Now, for the remaining, we'd be staying here in the building with comms units plugged in so we can talk to the people behind the stage as well as YG hyung if we need him. Mind you, don't you dare lose these babies or you'll get it from me, YG, and a raging dragon, so I'll give it to you Jinhwan because you're the least crazy person in the KISS group--"

"Hey!"

"Connection between servers should be up by 4 in the afternoon, an hour-allowance to give time for any malfunctions, so gather the dancers, stage coordinators, make-up noonas, even the bodyguards, at 3 in the venue without the subject finding out."

"Wait, who is the subject--?"

Seungri glared while snapping his fingers. "Seriously? Come on, it's noona! Anyhow, tell them to activate the comms unit and wear it before noona goes up for the ‘Missing You’ performance. I repeat, before. Not after, not during, but before. Noona would freak out once she sees these things because this ain't normal procedure with the other Motte concerts. Tell them to hide the earpieces with a hat, big set of earrings, a scarf, any accessory that won't look weird or suspicious."

Hanbin could only just shake his head. They're going far for this, they cannot fail.

Seungri grew serious as he met the calm and even gaze of the rapper of WINNER. "You'll be my eyes on this one, Mino. You go with the photography team and keep an eye on the stage, the dancers, band, especially the fans. They're the greatest variable here. Take note of the chants, the screams, reactions—this'll tell us if we'll be pushing through with the plan, with or without hyung's permission."

The rapper was silent, meeting the gaze head-on. Whatever he saw in Seungri's hard expression made him nod, albeit a minuscule one.

Chanwoo raised a hand. "Uh, why do the audience have a part in this plan?"

"Because they'll be the jury. If they're hyped, there'd be positive reactions and noona will be calm enough not to see us coming. If they're not, well, let's just say there's a chance that noona won't come out alive because hyung's fans are crazy, with emphasis on crazy."

Chanwoo's eyes bulged as he nodded frantically.

G-Dragon's fans were crazy. Kwon Jiyong's, on the other hand…

He shuddered.

"Jinhwan, you're in-charge with the stage production managers and make-up noonas. They know you'd be coming to help but some of them who are not from YG don't know that. So be careful because the media, both from Korea and the Philippines, would be up in our and twist the whole thing to an ugly monster before we can even move." Jinhwan nodded, determined to help both his sunbaes. They've been skirting around their feelings far too long to be considered healthy.

"If that happens, that's where you come in, Donghyuk. You'll stay in a secluded room because you got the sensitive part: media control. Watch out for tweets, DMs, likes, hearts, whatever social media platform you can get into. To hype the event, YG hyung made you an account to upload fancams that a plant would send you. That plant would be near the stage, in the Standing V.I.P area, and her recorder is directly linked to yours. Hype the event, spread the word, make the #motteinmanila and #daragon trending in most media platforms."

Donghyuk grimaced at the thought of Dispatch.

"Chanwoo, you're going with the band and sound system group. Your job would be to alert these people to start or end the music, and if necessary, cut the microphone off. Noona won't talk with an audience so watch out for Jiyong hyung's signal. The band won't get the comms unit because they have an earpiece on to hear the backtrack so you'll be the one to pass the signal. Hyung knows you'll be there but noona doesn't, so better come up with a good disguise." Chanwoo nodded eagerly.

"Alright, Seungyoon, you're in-charge with security and stage props crew. Help them prepare everything, from paraphernalia and giant teddy bears to thousands of red rose petals and chocolates made in the tips of the Swiss Alps, you name it, hyung have them in spades. He had them all installed and should be released at the right moment. Take note: right moment. So, there're signals that hyung prepared a month before,"

Here, he pulled a set of red pamphlets and handed one to the overwhelmed boys.

Seungyoon immediately recognized the handwriting that ran across the page.

He was one of the people who saw noona fall, barely held by her sisters as she cried her soul out. Words hurt more than any knife stabbed in your gut, his mother always told him as a reminder to be cautious of a weapon that he can wield without a thought. So, he became one of her confidants, not as close to her as Mino and Jinwoo were, but noona needed ears to hear her cries after all the years she kept everything bottled up inside, so what is one more person who loved her even after seeing her at her worst time?

He should refuse, he should stop the others from following through with the plan. He should stop noona from hurting herself even more.

But…he loved noona too much not to let her be with someone who, he hoped, would be the one to make noona happy.

At what price? A voice in his head mocked.

They could be happy, hyung had changed, he argued with his mind, but he was not sure.

Jiyong hyung's surely not joking around now, Seungyoon sadly smiled as he touched the piece of paper with handwritten words he must've put an effort in, touched signal that would mark what would be a bittersweet memory for him.

I'm sorry noona for betraying your trust. But you need hyung. Deny all you want but I know you need him more than you need me.

Seungri was oblivious to the turmoil burning inside the leader of WINNER. He was on a roll, getting more excited as the one thing he'd been waiting for was slowly coming true. "Study them, memorize them. But keep the pamphlet in your pocket to be sure."

"Lastly, Hanbin, lucky you, you're the only one who won't have to hide from noona. On the contrary, you should stick close to her every step of the way. Basically, you're in-charge with the simplest job yet."

Hanbin narrowed his eyes. "Which is what?"

"Dara Watch. Well, that's what YG hyung called it. And the job is fairly straight-forward: Once Dara noona starts running, stop her. At all costs."

Hanbin started sweating. "Right. Simple."

"Well, that's it! You have an hour before Manager-nim picks you six up at the lobby. If someone asks, tell them you have a photoshoot to go to. They shouldn't know before the concert starts because walls have ears, too."

With that ending note, Seungri began to push the protesting six out of the room and slammed the door shut before facing the remaining members of WINNER and iKON.

 

 

 

The next seven hours ranked high in his "most hectic, stressful, high-blood-inducing, and a word he would not dare repeat lest his mother miraculously hears it from their hometown" moments in his idol career. Being in one of the most-sought out boy groups in South Korea, Chanwoo learned to go with the flow of fame, to do this and do that to make your fans happy and whatnots.

But even he couldn't follow a flow that goes in ten different ways only for it to circle back and create more random ways that you couldn't follow.

That was what happened that day.

Chanwoo was happy, ecstatic even, because he knew there was something going on with G-Dragon and Sandara Park even before he became a trainee of YG Entertainment. But he stayed quiet and just observed the two idols tiptoe around each other, very careful not to create skinships in the few times they had a collaboration stage, but he hoped that there was something.

And in a few minutes, Kwon Jiyong would finally come out in the open, admitting what he had never made clear to Sandara Park eight years ago.

It was every shipper's dream.

The best part was that he got to work behind the curtains, making everything possible. He'd be in on the story of how the BigBang swag leader fell in love with the 2ne1 goddess vocal.

He tried not to giggle but failed horrendously.

Beside him, Donghyuk rolled his eyes, easily guessing what was running in their maknae's head. It has been an hour since they debriefed everyone. Shock was a severe understatement but they maintained a professional air around them, nodding in acquiescence at the series of commands that Mino told them. The earpieces were given and linked to the ones they were wearing underneath the black baseball cap and hoodie.

Jinhwan was a bit skeptical with the black-on-black ensemble they should be wearing, arguing that they looked suspicious and not all of the security detail knew of the plan. Hanbin, on the other hand, was a bit too smug as he hurriedly wore his hoodie and attached the earpiece on the collar of his shirt.

The stage was in a flurry of activity. People were running up and down the corridors, shouting in a mix of Korean, English, and Filipino, narrowly avoiding the overwhelmed idol group as they stared around the place. Stage coordinators were walking around with clipboards under their arms and phones on their ears, occasionally shouting and cursing. But as soon as they saw the group of boys in black masks and hoodies, they nodded and offered a smile before talking back on their phones. A group of men were pushing giant equipment and was that ten bags of confetti--? Each bag was easily three of Yunhyeong!

“Daebak,” Chanwoo breathed as he took everything in.

“Concentrate, Woo-yah,” Beside him, Mino grabbed his arm and dragged the maknae. “You almost got caught by producers from Philippines.”

Together, they caught up with the others in a closed-up passageway, slightly hidden by the racks of designer clothes. They must be near Jiyong hyung’s dressing room, Seungyoon mused.

Mino faced them and lowered his voice. “Alright, Seungri hyung just activated his comms unit, said the others would have theirs activated after half an hour because of some mishap with a baby squirrel—? That I’m not sure, but it has Yunhyeong written all over it. On more serious matters, we’ve got an hour before show starts. Better go to your places, alert your people, and blend in the background before the fans enter the arena. By the way, where’re Hanbin and Donghyuk?”

Seungyoon frowned. “Last I saw them, Donghyuk was dragged away by Manager-nim and Hanbin rushed to where noona was staying.”

Jinhwan choked. “She’s here already? Where is she staying?”

“Been here for the past two hours, or so I heard from some of the dancers. And she’s with Jiyong hyung now since he just finished soundcheck.”

Mino frowned. “Well, let him distract her for a while. We need to move without eyes on us. Seungyoon hyung, you need to be the first to go to position. The security detail would soon be busy and you might want to give them some heads-up before they shoot us or something.”

“Right. Gotta go.”

Jinhwan and Mino were left.

Mino liked to be honest and blunt. He didn’t like the idea of a guy talking to his noona, especially if its Jiyong hyung. After three years, he vividly remembered the pain she went through. What kind of a good dongsaeng was he if he’d let the same person who’d hurt noona back in her life? But he had to bite. He was here already and he agreed to this bold move. Regret was a pleasure he never gave any power over him.

“Gwenchanaeyo, Mino-yah?”

He looked up and met Jinhwan’s inquisitive stare. “Yea, hyung.”

“No, you’re not, but I’ll pretend you are,” The meaningful stare felt like he was stabbed in the gut. “Might as well go with the stage prod managers. They look like they need all the help they can get.”

Mino ignored the heavy feeling in his gut and activated his comms unit.

“Yeoboseyo? Mino-yah? Aish, you rascal! Don’t turn the comms unit off. Are you in position?”

 

 

Junho was left to wait for the call from the manager of WINNER while watching the on-goings in the concert venue with the HD CCTV that YG Sajangnim had set on the fourth floor a month ago. The cams were placed from twelve perspectives, with the stage having three angles for better visuals. The stage was set and a VTR was playing on the big screen, hyping the fans that were slowly trailing in the arena. Soon, fan chants echoed around the arena.

Junho leaned back on his seat. The wait would be short for the visual of iKON because he had a lot of things in his mind to make him preoccupied.

He thought that TEAM KISS had the harder job. An hour later, he realized it was the other way around. Lee Seungri was a slave master, relentless until he got what he wanted, too driven to be deterred, too much of a Daragon supporter even for Yunhyeong, who he thought was on a whole other level already.

But no, the maknae of BigBang would always be the number one wingman of G-Dragon. That never changed even before they debuted, throwing hints here and there for the fans and other idols and celebrities to eat up, adding spice and fueling the fire that started from their first-ever collab music video ‘Lollipop’, throwing the normally-calm YG Sajangnim into a loop and losing quite a few hairs in the process. Even Sajangnim was impressed with the dedication of Seungri hyung in keeping the ship sailing for almost eight years and even before that.

“You think this’ll work?”

Bobby was on the same wavelength of thinking. They were the ones who kept their head intact and were not under the shipper syndrome unlike Seungri hyung, Yunhyeong, and the recently-infected Seunghoon.

Jinwoo suddenly spoke from his other side. “It has to. It just has to.”

Before Bobby can say anything, the door slammed open and in came the missing members of TEAM COUP D’ETAT (Which was still a mystery to Junho; was Jiyong hyung thinking of his album when he made his name or were they about to overthrow someone? Somehow, the second option seemed to be more of the BigBang leader’s style.)

Seungri immediately grabbed a chair and pushed the button on his earpiece. The device glowed green. The others followed his lead and soon were greeted with some static before they heard the slightly gruff voice of Mino.

“—angle on the stage. I need to see everything—yes, binoculars would be great—”

A dark silhouette briefly shadowed the camera.

Seungri began, “Mino-yah, everyone settled already?”

“Seungri hyung? Oh, uh, yes, they’ve been in their positions since four.”

“Good. Jinhwan—”

Curses came from the background. Soon the lilting and light voice of Jinhwan came into focus.

“! You scared the beejeezus out of me, hyung! Damn it, this’ll take some getting used to.”

“Good for you. Any problems on your side?”

“Little but they’re manageable.”

“Got that. Donghyuk? Chanwoo? Hanbin?”

“Clear.”

“No problems here, hyung.”

Silence.

Seungri frowned. “Hanbin? Hanbin, can you hear—?”

Crash.

Junho narrowed his eyes in concern. “Yah, Bin­-ah, what’s that noise? Are you alright?”

“Ow!”

Yunhyeong cried, “Hyung!”

“Shh! Quiet! I can’t talk right now. Noona’s behind me. Earpiece on—”

Static. Then silence.

Seungri cursed. “, I forgot about Dara noona arriving early. Mino, keep an eye on the stage. It’s starting.”

They became silent as the stage opened up for G-Dragon. It was always an eye-opening experience to watch someone conquer the stage like they’re born for it. Songs after songs were played, fans were chanting to the music, the arena was alive and lit up by the crown-shaped sticks that the world had come to associate with the best boyband in the world, BigBang.

But what made the fans endearing to Seungri, Seunghoon, and Yunhyeong were the numerous Daragon banners and 2ne1’s winged heart light sticks. They love their Santoki noona like she was one of them and for that, they couldn’t help but respect and appreciate the welcome that Jiyong hyung received from his fans, V.I.P.s, Blackjacks, Daralings, and Daragon shippers.

Soon, the stage cleared and Jiyong hyung was left on stage for the ‘Missing You’ performance.

They sat up straighter.

Seungri fired rapid commands on the comms unit. “Jinhwan, signal the earpiece. Activate it after noona goes up. Chanwoo, Donghyuk, stand by. Hanbin, near the platform, stay clear, and initiate Plan MTBD. Seungyoon, ready security. Everything’s going to be wild from this moment. From this point on, signal comes from hyung. Mino, eagle-eye.”

“Fans are going wild, hype affirmative and target no signal. Audience clear. Eunyoung gave green. Stage cleared. Targets in position.”

Seungri began to pace, “Good. As of the moment, they’re making googly eyes at each other with ‘Missing You’. Comms unit is activated, make sure they’re hidden at all times! And—”

“What the is hyung doing?!”

Heads turned so fast creaks were heard. They watched with open-mouthed incredulity as the hyung they admired so much for his swag and stage presence began to—

The maknae of BigBang howled in disbelief, “Clapping?! What the is he doing with his hands?”

Snickers were heard on the comms unit but their de-facto leader was on a roll.

“That’s the best that you can do? Damn it, she’s less than a foot away, wrap an arm around her! Are you dumb or are you dumb?!”

Jinwoo had a feeling that his hyung would soon lose it.

And he was right.

Which doesn’t help his hearing capabilities at all.

On the other side of the line, Mino was shaking head with the other cameramen as they listened to Seungri lose his cool.

“What the heck is that signal?! That’s not what we planned! There’s no aegyo signal, right Seunghoon?”

The aloof WINNER looked like a deer in the headlights, “Uh, yea—no?”

Seungri barked as he watched the fans go wild at the aegyo moments that Jiyong was showing, to his unending embarrassment, “Mino, LSR Code Dara Watch, report!”

“Hyung! Is this an affirmative? I don’t know—Woobin-ssi, camera zoom—"

The screams went louder, but not as loud as the screams in the comms unit. The camera focused on the big screen—

“He just put bunny ears on noona! Is he saying to pour the rose petals now? Junho, do a sweep! Hanbin, stand by.”

“Uh, hyung, I’m not going anywhere—”

Junho grunted under his breath as he threw the pamphlet on the table. “No-go, hyung. Jiyong hyung’s just being his usual self with noona.”

Seungri threw a pointed glance at a sniggering Yunhyeong who stopped mid-laugh. “Call Sajangnim. Ask him if I can overwrite commands. With how hyung is going, he’d more likely get a kick in the balls than have noona as his girlfriend.”

Yunhyeong stopped the chuckles that bubbled in his chest as he high-tailed away.

Seungri took a deep breath. “Okay crew, this is the most important part of the evening. In a short while, they’ll be thanking the crowd and hopefully hyung will pull out his tail from between his legs and actually look at noona for at least five seconds without sniggering like a kid on sugar rush and making up signals that wasn’t in the twenty-page pamphlet that he made.”

Laughter resonated from the other side.

Bobby smirked. “I’d bet my savings and Seung-hyun hyung’s beloved paintings that he’d be like a worm rubbed in salt as soon as she looks at him.”

As if the heavens were listening to the conversation, the two idols faced the audience and said their greetings to each other. Even the CCTV cannot hide how red Jiyong hyung was turning.

“Hello,” Dara noona smiled.

“Uh, hi.”

Seungri threw his pillow. "I rest my case."

Seunghoon grabbed Bobby's shoulders. "Look at hyung! He just giggled!"

The amused voice of Jinhwan was heard in the comms unit. "And there's the famous hair fluffing—"

Bobby grinned. "Gummy smile: present."

Jinwoo shook his head in resignation. "It's official, he's in some deep ."

The second camera to the right, labelled West Area Three, spanned the area, showing men in suits stoically standing around a shaking figure. The figure glanced at the camera with a knowing grin. Seungyoon gave a thumbs-up, his laughter heard in the comms unit. "Calm down, Ri hyung. Ji hyung’s just having fun with noona. No signal yet, I checked. Mino’s closing in on the performance with one of the cameramen. Donghyuk’s about to start posting in Naver, Twitter, and IG. Check in fifteen—"

Three of the screens showed movement as the Main Stage-Center camera zoomed. Jiyong hyung and Dara noona were thanking the fans. They cut a striking figure with their red Balenciaga ensemble, tuxedo for the man and lace for the woman.

“They look good,” muttered Bobby.

Hanbin’s face covered most of Backstage-platform camera. The leader of iKON looked puffy and stressed, small aging lines seen with the camera's close proximity.

He spoke directly to the camera. His voice was heard from the speakers and the earpieces. “Yah, Seungri hyung! Easiest job? Tell that to your friend who gave noona energy drinks! Aish, I’ll strangle Jiyong hyung after all this hassle! Why can’t he just say it in a way we normal humans do, but no! He had to have people fly hundreds of miles just to carry hundreds of flower petals to shower his future lady! And I’m not even part of that team! I’m supposed to stick my with noona, dammit! But no, hyung said to go help the producers, just so he could be alone with noona!”

The cheers from the crowd was deafening, drowning Hanbin’s complaints to a mere whisper, glint in his eyes growing more manic.

Jinwoo snickered. Hanbin-nie can handle it.

Room 30 camera showed Donghyuk raising his laptop towards the camera, the familiar web layout of Twitter shown in the bright screen. He circled his thumb and forefinger in an “okay” sign.

At the moment, everything’s going into plan.

Bobby grinned. “I just hope noona won't say anything personal, like missing hyung or something. That would end him."

“I missed this mic…and—,” Dara noona trailed off.

Seungri leaned in. "Noona paused. This'd be good. Wait—"

“I missed you.”

Yunhyeong and Seunghoon slipped into uncontrollable giggles.

Seungri sighed. "And there he goes."

Junho laughed. "She did not even ask hyung for a date and he's spazzing already!"

The maknae of BigBang was half-lamenting on the fact that after more than eight years of teasing, Jiyong hyung still did not get over being flustered when noona was around and half-giddy that his reactions did not change in the slightest.

“Ah! Omo! Omo!”

Pained voices of “Ow! Chanwoo, stop screaming!” mixed in the comms unit.

“—Yah! Stop it, Chanwoo! Your comms unit is still on!”

“Oops! Mianhe, Seungri hyung. But did you hear that? Noona just said she missed hyung! On mic! I heard it! I heard it clear! Didja? Didja?”

Seungri plugged a finger in his ear. “Yes, yes, now stop busting my eardrum!”

Seunghoon did not hear anything because his heart was beating rapidly, almost flying off his chest at the feels he was experiencing with the Daragon ship. And he just had the crash-course version four hours ago. “What? Don’t turn your back on the camera, hyung! She just said she missed you, say it back!”

They gave him weird stares, but doesn’t give a damn.

Bobby pointed his fingers at the West-Second camera, “Gah! Stop hiding that grin of yours hyung! You look constipated!”

Seungri sighed in disappointment. “Yes, that’s it, act like it’s no big deal that she said she missed you in front of your fans. No biggie, it’s normal for idols to say their sentiments in public. Stupid hyung.”

Seungri made a mental note to teach his clueless hyung on how to look suave and cool in front of your girl, break into his head and dig it himself if he had to.

“She’s my noona, but you know, like, she’s really like…she’s still like…still pretty, huh?”

Jinwoo face-palmed. “Pretty? Pretty? Ugh, remind me again why I’m not sabotaging this farce of a wooing and bringing noona’s thousands of fanboys to the biggest protest in the history of South Korea.”

Seunghoon defended his ship. “Hah! You’re just green with jealousy, hyung.”

“Seungri hyung, we’re trending in Twitter,” Junho interrupted the two WINNER members before a fight break out, handing his phone and everyone surrounded Seungri. Donghyuk’s Twitter account had an edited picture of Dara noona hugging Jiyong hyung from behind as the profile picture, as nondescript as a fan account should be. The uploaded twenty-second video of Jiyong reacting to noona’s “I miss you” got almost five hundred re-tweets in three minutes.

Yunhyeong returned out of breath from running around the building. “Sajangnim’s said—, can’t breathe—said okay but—ugh—if necessary only.” After he finished, he lumped down his chair with a huff.

Seungri smiled in relief. “Good enough for me,” He pressed the RANGE button and turned the small knob beside it. The LED blinked red three times before going green.

“Attention, Motte crew. Earpieces are activated. We’re now in Code Red. Keep your eyes on the dragon, any unplanned movement of his may be a signal. Hanbin, be ready to execute plan R.O.D, in case the rabbit goes A.W.O.L.”

“De, hyung.”

Cameras spanning the backstage showed the YG dancers subtly clipping the earpieces on the collar of the back of their shirt, hidden by accessories big enough to hide them but small enough not to be seen as weird. They whispered their agreement, barely noticeable among the screams of the crowd as the ‘Hello’ stage began.

The others were fanboying like crazy, caught up in the awkward yet sweet Daragon moment. Yunhyeong, who just returned from YG Sajangnim’s office, saw the stage and screamed in a very disturbing way. Then he fainted from being overwhelmed with the Daragon “feels”.

They couldn’t deny the attraction that Jiyong hyung felt towards Sandara Park, and in a subtler way, Dara noona’s attraction to Kwon Jiyong. ‘Hello’ was first performed on stage eight years ago, charming the audiences and making them clamor for more. That was when Daragon officially first started.

And what a pair they made on stage—Jiyong hyung played the role of a lovesick boy wanting to talk to his crush but was overcome with shyness really well. Too well for YG Sajangnim’s comfort that he did not allow any ‘Hello’ stage that only had the two idols after the promotion. Instead, he put all of 2ne1 in the ‘Hello’ stage and never left Jiyong hyung alone with Dara noona, afraid that the media would create controversies that were too damn messy to clean.

But he got his hands off on this one.

Jiyong and Sandara are old enough to think for themselves, he said to Seungri when he asked why he was allowing full reins to Jiyong hyung.

The performance was filled with innuendos their “vague but very possible” romantic relationship and almost-skinships to make the crowd go wild. Seungri was left wondering how the CEO of YG Entertainment would react to the Motte Tour’s ‘Hello’ stage.

“You ain't got a girl right now? I'm not,” Jiyong shouted.

Beside Seungri, Junho snorted. "Psh. She did not even say yes yet, hyung."

On the other hand, screams and "Omo! Hyung just said he has a girl! I’m so dead! Dead, I tell you! My soul just left my body!" busted poor Seungri's eardrum.

“Hello, Hello, Meonjeo malgeoreojundamyeon,” Dara noona sang. She placed her arm on Jiyong hyung’s shoulders and leaned cheekily at him. The poor BigBang leader was flustered, didn’t know what to do with himself.

 

Seunghoon was all for it. “Yes, you go, noona! Make the first move! Make the poor guy helpless!”

"Hyung is surely having fun. Look at that smile of his."

Bobby nodded in agreement to Jinwoo’s observation. "Makes me want to push them together so all this would be over already."

Bobby and Jinwoo’s musings were ignored by the other three members. Yunhyeong didn’t get the chance to watch the camera because Seungri hyung was a slave driver and made him read the thick instruction manual some disconnection with two pairs of earpieces in the Security crew led by Seungyoon.

Seungri was busy shouting orders to the dancers.” Okay, ladies, let’s get into formation—What are you doing standing there, Seungyoon? Go back to your post!”

“Okay, keep visual at all times. Throw in some bait to lure the rabbit in. Pull in close—not that close, Taehyung! Aish, this Dara fanboy! Sojin-ssi, how close are they?”

A female voice, slightly panting in exertion as she whispered to her boss while trying not to trip on stage, “Close enough, Seungri-ssi. But Jiyong-ssi still have some space to not get caught.”

“Signal to him if we’re doing it now. Make sure noona doesn’t see you.”

It was silent for a while before the lead dancer spoke, “He said to wait.”

Seungri took a deep breath. “Alright. Just standby.”

The comms unit was muted by Seungri; their ears are ringing from the hours of listening to screams, chants, and Chanwoo’s wailing. The fifteen CCTVs were calm and silent, cameras aimed for the stage was going into plan—no fainting G-Dragon yet so they’re good to go.

Junho felt the hairs on his arms stand, like he just jinxed everything.

Movement in his peripheral vision caught Junho. Looking up from the video, his eyes widened.

He pushed his way through the main console, sending Seungri sprawling near the door as he was ejected from his chair and the others spiraling in the room. Junho did not take notice as he slammed his finger down the SWITCH button and moved the cursor to manual location detection to connect to a specific earpiece near the west end of the area.

Immediately, his earpiece became the main command and was connected to their main vocal member.

“Jinhwan hyung, this is Junho. What’s happening there? What’s the commotion?”

“Junho! So relieved to hear from you. You were out of contact so I couldn’t hear from the comms unit! We have a problem. The make-up noonas only prepared one outfit for noona’s two performances and the encore stage, as was planned, but Jiyong hyung changed the line-up! There’s a surprise stage!”

Junho always tried to avoid cursing, but this time there’s no other mild word to describe the situation.

“.”

The camera on the third row, fourth to the right, labelled West Backstage showed Jinhwan with his hoodie down, gesturing to the ladies and pointing to the door and the racks of designer ensemble lined up along the wall.

The cacophony of voices made it hard to understand Jinhwan but Junho persevered. “Jinhwan hyung, hyung! Can you hear me?”

“—noona, arasso? Yes, yes, I can hear you. What do I do?”

Junho frowned. This was not part of the plan. Not being part of the plan meant they were going into the unknown. And from what he had learned about the leader of BigBang, he deduced that he’d go for flair and dramatics, thus the surprise stage that can happen anytime soon.

Signals were useless then.

The surprise stage could turn the tide, for the best or worst, it can go either way, which makes it even riskier.

One problem at a time, Junho took a deep breath.

Jinhwan’s voice rang clear in the room. “—noona, arasso? Hyung? What did Seungri hyung say?”

The person in question just raised an eyebrow.

Junho rolled his eyes but accepted the fact that he was on his own. Hmm, should they ship the clothes? No, that’ll take days. They need it in an hour and a half. So, no shipping. But, do they have spare—

Junho straightened up from his crouched position. “Let Dara noona wear some of hyung’s outfit. A match of his encore stage ensemble would be better, hype the crowd and brighten hyung’s spirit. Do the noonas have earpieces? I could direct them to what they should do.”

Jinhwan’s relief rang clear in the room. “They don’t have comms units, Jiyong hyung’s team had them, so I’ll tell them,” Murmurs started but Jinhwan stopped them. “Agassi, prepare one of hyung’s matching outfits, arasso? Jiyong hyung would let you borrow one of his outfits, he’d push for it even especially when it’s for noona—Yes, yes, Kamsahamnida. Junho, I got it. Chanwoo-yah, listen—”

“He won’t hear you. I disconnected everyone temporarily.”

“Huh. Fine. Just ask Chanwoo of the song lineup and which one of them seems like the song that hyung will sing for the surprise stage so we can coordinate the outfit.”

“Copy that.”

He pushed the SWITCH button, relinquishing his control back to a bemused Seungri. Seungri patted his back before setting the program before sitting down.

“We didn’t hear anything but I assume it’s fixed already.”

Junho snorted. “Barely. Jiyong hyung changed the setlist.”

“What?”

“He added a surprise stage just before the concert started. Dara noona only had one ensemble and noona’s make-up team was panicking because they were not told.”

“And where did the stage production managers disappear to? To Mount Myoboku?”

“No idea. Jinhwan’s in on it.”

Seungri was furious and with good reason, too.

“What the is hyung playing? We’re not magicians, he can’t want us to do squat without telling us he wanted them done. Damn it!”

Bobby, calm and collected, inserted his two cents. “What’s done is done, hyung. We got it fixed and we’re running smoothly. No use getting angry over what’s finished.”

The ‘Hello’ stage was finished and the crowd was going wild.

“Where you going? Babe! Baby! Baby,” He sang as the intro of ‘Who You’ started.

Yunhyeong’s “Nice touch hyung! Call out to her!”, amidst the whistles from Bobby and the other boys in the comms unit, was heard loud and clear.

The maknae of BigBang smiled sadly.

He was one of the first people who heard ‘Who You’ come to life. It was a time of hurt, depression, and regret for the leader of BigBang. Controversy marred his bright outlook in life so he got into vices that he promised himself he would never touch. He had never seen Dami noona so disappointed and angry, not so much with his newfound friends in the drinking addicts but mostly with how he treated Dara noona. He did regret it as soon as he was sober, but the damage had been done.

The cutting words he said to her in his muddled state messed noona so much that she was never the same when she’s near him. She turned a blind eye, dismissing everything as a joke. She knows, she’s not stupid. She knows what Jiyong hyung was trying to do, what with the hints in variety shows and concerts, showing his reaction on-cam whenever they and not caring to hide. She once said to the maknae that once was enough, twice was a maybe, thrice is too much.

But he owed his hyung. And more importantly, he knows Dara noona needs this one last chance.

Seungri made a promise to himself: if Jiyong hyung messes this up, no help would be coming from him.

But Seungri had other matters to attend to.

The Backstage-platform camera showed the stage prod managers, security detail, make-up artists crowding behind Hanbin and a person who should have been going incognito but was easily recognizable with his mask and hood down.

“Donghyuk! What the hell are you doing there? Get back to your post!”

“But hyung! It’s so hot in the room and I’m bored! I want to see the concert!”

“No, get back—”

“—Sandara, my girl,” He said as an adlib as a small, meaningful smile made its way to his face before he hid it.

Silence. Then, "Well, if that ain't a confirmation, I'd eat my balls."

Chanwoo was relentless. "Omo! Omo! He just said she's his girl!"

"Wait."

Everyone was staring at Jinwoo in confusion.

"That’s the signal—He's going to push through."

It was the calm before the storm.

Then pandemonium.

Everyone was running around like headless chickens, papers flying everywhere as they rushed to do what Seungri hyung commanded them to. Meanwhile, the maknae of BigBang was throwing orders here and there in the comms units, adding the stress and pressure felt from both sides.

“Code Santoki! Code Santoki! Target approaching! Donghyuk, get your back into position! Seungyoon, security team, block the exits, I repeat, block the exits. Don't let her get away. Mino, LSR Code Dara Watch, cameras on zoom, move it! Chanwoo, call Jinhwan! Update on the surprise stage! What—What do you mean you don’t know? Ask your team, you’re the leader damn it! Lead! Hanbin—”

“Hyung, you need to see this.”

Bobby pointed to the West Backstage camera.

“. Junho, focus on the visual. Immediately!”

A voice that was oh-so familiar, so sweet and timid, became the ice that ran down their veins.

“Hanbin-nie, what’s going on? Why are we going back to the dressing room?”

They froze.

Seungri slowly turned the knob.

“Uh, they brought food noona. For you to eat.”

“Why? Jiyong said we’ll be eating outside.”

“Uh, no, noona. He brought your favorite chicken from, uh, Jubilee?"

"Jollibee, Bin-nie. Jollibee."

Jinwoo couldn’t even laugh at Hanbin because of the heavy tension in the room.

“Hyung! Hyung? Are you there? We’re in position but Jiyong hyung changed something again! The dancers are confused! Help!”

“Seungri hyung, we have a problem in the ensemble! Only one Peaceminusone pair and they’re for the ‘Crooked’ stage! The band doesn’t know which song would be played for the surprise stage either. ‘Untitled, 2014’ or ‘Butterfly’, heck even ‘If You’ is possible, anything is possible! ! The said Jiyong hyung would tell them after the ‘Crooked’ stage and by then it’s too late!”

“Hyung! Security team just alerted another car arrived backstage! Jiyong hyung sent them to retrieve a box in his hotel room! They won't tell us what it is! Should I use force and call the police? Hyung!"

"Hyung! Hwanggsabu and Hyoni noona just DM'ed me on Instagram! They want to know what going on. Sajangnim doesn’t want to tell so he sic them on me! What do I do?”

"She's going to the car."

Seungri looked up from his crouched position. "Stop her! We're pushing this through!"

The others went silent as they listened in on their hyung and Hanbin’s conversation. They have minor problems compared to Hanbin’s.

"What am I going to say to her? She's asking me why she needed to go up again."

Bobby cringed. ". She's suspicious."

"Tell some bull. I don't care, just dress her up and put her on stage!”

Jinwoo could see that the onslaught of problems was wearing the BigBang member down. He tapped his shoulder and gestured to the side. Seungri was only too happy to give the reins to visual member of WINNER, who pushed the SWITCH button and activated RANGE.

“Mino, let the dancers follow hyung’s new plan for now, but stay ready for any changes that would conflict the original plan. Everything is crucial from this moment." The camera zoomed closer to the stage. G-Dragon was performing the night away.His instincts were telling him that it was not time for the surprise stage. They rarely failed him so he followed them.

"Jinhwan," The oldest member of iKON looked up at the camera and nodded at them. "Make do with what we have. The Peaceminusone outfit's a couple-outfit anyway, adds more legibility with the claim so no one can claim it's just a major fan service. Plus, hyung will like it so that's that."

"Arasso, Woo-yah."

"Seungyoon, don't alert the police, that would cause mass confusion, complicate things further. Ask them any question that they can answer and start from there, these guys must be included in the surprise stage but wasn't aware that we're part of this, too."

The person in front of the semi-circle of men in suits glanced at the West Parking camera before facing the red hatchback Mazda CX-5 and the two masked people standing before it.

"Okay, got it."

"Donghyuk-ah," The iKON member cursed as he tripped on the extension wire. Jinwoo ignored the stifled snickers from Yunhyeong and Bobby as a lightbulb 'ding-ed' in his head. "Tell them."

The others did a double-take, but Seungri hyung choked on his soda and had a coughing fit.

"What?" He wheezed.

"Hyung? What do you mean?"

"You heard me. Tell them. And while you're at it, message everyone in YG Entertainment that Jiyong hyung's going to do it after eight long years. That way if we mess up, and I dearly hope we wouldn't because of the waste of time, effort, and YG's newly installed spy-cams, then we have a fallback; not as grand as what hyung had in mind and definitely doesn't include any fan service, a bit sly and underhanded but it's one of the oldest tricks in the book so it ought to work."

The others were confused, Donghyuk muttered "I don't understand" under his breath, but Junho, Bobby, and Seungri nodded, eyes bright in realization.

But a gruff voice murmured in the comms unit. "Having very convincing friends does help at times."

"Exactly, you know what I meant, right Mino-yah?"

A disgruntled grunt made Jinwoo smile.

Bobby rolled his eyes. "Right, well, just so you know, this thing between you two fuels the Royal Couple ship of WINNER.”

Ring! Ring!

A box popped out from the console in red.

Seungri's blood froze.

Caller: Chaerin.

It seemed impossible for a teddy bear picture to look threatening, but for some reason, adding the name of the fearsome and swag princess of YG did the trick. Seungri was about to dismiss the call—A terrible move, Junho narrowed his eyes—when the call connected.

"."

"That sounds about right! Now, tell me what Jiyong oppa were thinking?"

Seungri was defensive, and if he was pouting, he doesn't care in the slightest. "It's hyung's fault--Wait, why are you asking me? Ask hyung. He and YG hyung wanted me to BAMCIS the whole surprise!"

"What."

"Exactly what I said. He planned all this and bought giant bouquets of roses and the whole Jollibee franchise--"

"Where is he now? Is he with you? Put him on the phone."

Seungri was sweating bullets at his point. "Uh, you might want to check his Motte Tour schedule."

Everyone was tensed in their seats as their sunbae cursed the living daylights of Jiyong hyung.

"I told him not to do it yet! But the er just had to do it in his concert, huh? Noona's not ready yet! He'd just corner her and she'll run, she'd definitely run, dammit! I'm flying to the Philippines to smack the out of oppa then go back there to do damage control and give Sajangnim a piece of my mind while I'm at it!"

"Uh, Chaerin noona,"

"And--Who was that? Jiwoo-yah? Wait, you're helping these two idiots? Seungri, you bastard! You even dragged our dongsaengs in your twisted games!"

"Chae-cat! Why are you blaming me? It was—"

"Hyung! Noona! Now's not the time! It's time for the 'Crooked' stage already."

A hooded figure in a Peaceminusone jacket and black shorts stood up in the platform. The camera focused on Dara noona’s youthful face. The distinctive sounds of synthesizers and cheers of ‘Crooked’ started the performance with high energy.

"Ugh, this'll be a mess, I'm sure of it. Aish, that oppa! Can't wait for one more day. But it's happening so the best thing to do is hope for the best. Seungri don't you dare mess this up! Your track record's abysmal and your attempts at matchmaking is a pile of bricks. Try adding this to your track record and I'll hunt your down, arasso?"

"I’ll do my best, Chae-cat! Fighting!”

“You better or I’ll do it instead,” She muttered before ending the call.

“Chaerin noona is so scary,” Bobby whispered.

“Why do you think I have anxiety issues?” Seungri whispered back.

Jiyong hyung appeared on stage. Both were in the same Peaceminusone ensemble and it did not escape the fans. Jinhwan followed the instruction well, Seungri thought.

The crowd was alight and energetic as they cheered and chanted both of their names. The song ended with a bang.

“Nice gesture Eunyoung-ah. She's certainly his lady, but he said the ladies."

Bobby leaned forward. “This is the end of the concert, right? They’re bowing already and thanking the crew and all. ‘Crooked’ was the encore performance, right?”

“I think so.”

“Then where’s the surprise stage?”

They pondered at that, wondering about the same thing.

The crux of the event happened at the end of the show.

They watched the four CCTV cameras strategically placed on the columns showing the Hi-Tech dancers bowing to the crowd, confetti raining down on them like snow. Dara noona bowed with them.

But Jiyong hyung did not.

He kneeled down, pulled his hoodie down, and looked up at Dara noona.

Seungri, who was feeling the fire of determination run through him after the verbal lashing he got from Chaerin, started shouting, “I need ears! What are they talking about? Mino, LSR Dara Watch, closer footage! Eunyoung-ssi, you’re the nearest. What are they saying?”

The chants of “Daragon” was so loud that the lead dancer had to shout at the comms unit to avoid getting drowned by the noise. “I cannot hear anything! The crowd is too loud!”

Seungri cursed. “Mino! Eagle-eye on stage! Is there a signal?”

But Mino was drowned by the crowd going wild as the newbie Hi-Tech dancer threw the confetti over them, startling Jiyong hyung and Dara noona from their conversation.

“Mino? Mino? What’s happening? Mino! I can’t get a clear visual!”

Static. Then the earpiece disconnected.

Seungri was about to pull his hair out. Yunhyeong and Seunghoon, on the other hand, were giddy with excitement.

Seunghoon whistled. “Nice touch with the confetti, dancer-ssi!"

"Nice touch? He threw them too early! Did you see East Stage camera? Hyung was pissed off!"

Seungri did not resist the urge. He grabbed his hair and bonked his head on the console. "Why isn't anything going into plan?” He looked up and sighed in resignation. “Ugh. Fine. He started it. No turning back! Eunyoung-ah, throw some on Dara! Yes! Throw some more on those two!”

Jiyong hyung looked to the side and nodded, “Thank you.”

“‘Thank you’? What signal is that?”

Seungri was about to cry. “WHY IS HE MAKING UP SIGNALS ON THE SPOT?!”

“Move it.”

The room was quiet, tensed and ready to spring into action.

Start,” Jiyong waved his arm.

Yunhyeong was jumping in his seat. “Holy cheesecake! He said move it! This is it!”

Seungri snapped into attention. “Chanwoo! Jiyong said to start the music!”

“But hyung! We don’t know which one!”

“He’s staring at you! Move!”

“Which one?!”

“I don’t know! Whichever is programmed next!”

“He’s waving his arm, Seungri hyung! But no one’s moving!”

Junho saw a man waving a bouquet of flowers in West Stage camera, trying to catch hyung’s attention. Seungri saw it as well. “Don’t just stand there, you fool! Go bring the flowers!”

The tall figure of Seungyoon rushed to the man.

But by then it was too late.

“Seungyoon hyung! Noona’s looking at you! She saw the flowers!”

“! Noona’s on to us! Abort Plan 234! Initiate Plan 235! Are the two hundred giant teddy bears ready?”

“We don’t even have a plan 1!”

“Ginalingan eh. May nanalo na. Uwian na! Uwian na! Uwi na ako!” Dara noona shooed the crowd away.

“What the did she just say? Translator, translate!”

“We don’t have a translator!”

Jinwoo gasped. “I know that word! , she said ‘go home’—"

Yunhyeong was hysterical, his Daragon dream slowly slipping away from his fingers. “SHE’S WALKING AWAY! SHE’S WALKING AWAY!”

"Kwon Jiyong! Don't just stare at her! She's about to crush all your plans!"

The comms unit was mad with activity. All the leaders were shouting commands, not caring that everyone was connected to each other and was hearing several different commands at the same time, hoping to salvage Code Red and stop the catastrophe that was upon them. “CODE HOPPING SANTOKKI AWAY! CODE HOPPING SANTOKKI AWAY!”

“IT’S CODE SANTOKKI HOPPING AWAY, CHANWOO!”

“What the are you doing squatting there? Go after her! Tackle her! Hog-tie her if you must!”

It was too late.

Noona left with the confused female dancers.

The disappointment was clear in everyone’s faces.

One of the male Hi-Tech dancers fell on his behind, exhaustion and sadness warring in his expression.

But none more so than Jiyong hyung.

 

“I can’t believe it. Noona ran away.”

“I don’t know whether I should laugh myself mad or cry in the corner for days.”

“I think I’ll cry and stay in my room for a week.”

Chanwoo was in despair. "My ship was almost there! Almost to the end! After eight years of waiting! Bobby hyung, is the offer from your psychiatrist friend still available?"

"Hanbin must be going crazy chasing after noona."

"Well, there's that."

Seungri hid his face in his hands. “Ah, damn. Chaerin-ah will kill me. Oh, and hyung and YG, too. Ugh, why is everything a mess after all that good start?”

Jiyong shooed the dancers away and glanced at the where Dara noona left with a sad smile.

He pulled his hoodie up and walked to the band.

"They look awfully confused—Huh. In the end, only Jiyong hyung knows what the surprise stage was."

“Hmm. Poetic justice.”

"Now we'll never know."

“Naege doraogiga…Eoryeopgo himdeun geol ara,” Kwon Jiyong sang softly, head down as he grabbed the mic for dear life.

". It’s ‘Untitled, 2014’. Damn. He really pulled all the strings."

Everyone was saddened at the turnout of events.

And Seungri was not having it.

“Oh, and now they play the music?!”

Mino's comment did not help at all. “Poetic justice, hyung. Poetic justice.”

He just banged his head on the console.