A week later

 

Kriesha and Hoya spent their time in the practice room again, but their practice session was interrupted by a staff member.

 

“Hoya ssi” it was a lady in her mid 30’s and she didn’t look too friendly “Hi, my name is Jung Hyomin. I’m in the music department, I handle the singer lineup for the company, along with Hodong and a few others.”

 

Hoya took her hand and shook it. “Hello, nice to meet you”

 

“I appreciate you helping out Kriesha as her sunbae, but the company has found a choreographer for her. We have already discussed some things with your manager and we’ve got a lot of projects lined up for you. You’ve been on hiatus for quite some time after transferring to our company, so you need a lot of exposure. Please come with me to the next room so you can look at your schedule, see if there’s something you don’t like” – Hyomin

 

Hyomin walked out of the room expecting Hoya to follow her immediately, which he did, but not before waving goodbye to Kriesha and mouthing ‘see you around’.

 

Left alone, Kriesha decided to practice by herself but she felt a bit lonely. She wished Minju was around but she was busy filming for Produce48. She decided to surf the net instead and check up on her fansite. There were a lot of encouraging messages for her and even some really cute fanart. But then, like anyone who has ever surfed the internet, the more she surfed the more she wandered into the weird side of the cyber world. She didn’t like what she saw next.

 

{What do you think of Kriesha Chu?...}

 

{Who’s Kriesha Chu? Lol}

 

{She’s nothing special}

 

{She’s not too popular, sooner or later her star will die out}

 

{She’s not gonna last long}

 

{She’s a one hit wonder}

 

{She’s never gonna make it to stardom. She needs a group so she can shine brighter and be more popular}

 

{People will forget about her soon enough}

 

 

Kriesha breathed heavily. She should not have seen that. Her eyes began to water and though she blinked back the tears, they managed to escape anyway. Reading those messages made her feel insecure, it made her worry about her career, her future. With shaking hands, she wiped away her tears and took some deep breaths. She decided to get some fresh air and grab some snacks.

 

“What’s wrong dear?” asked the old lady selling carp bread

 

“Ah… I’m just” she couldn’t even finish her sentence, because hurt. She feared if she talked about it she would burst into tears and she didn’t want to cry in public.

 

“You’re an artist from that company right?” the old lady nudged her head to the building across the street “I can see you practicing hard through that window when the blinds are pulled up. I’m not an idol, but I know it’s really hard to be one. There will definitely be some bad days, and maybe some days there’ll be more bad than good. You just have to hold on tight to your dream, alright?” she smiled.

 

“Thank you” Kriesha smiled

 

“Himnaeseyo” the old lady made a fist in the air “Hwaiting!”

 

“Hwaiting!” she did the same hand gesture

 

The following days she, Hoya, and Minju became super busy with their schedules that they barely got a glimpse of each other. Minju started practicing in Pledis building instead of Urban Works. Hoya and Kriesha became busy with their own comebacks. Hoya had his comeback ahead of Kriesha’s and he started a series called “I Am Hoya”. Meanwhile, Kriesha became a tour guide for Arirang’s new show “Travel Agency”.

 

 

Hoya’s Condo Unit

 

“I know it’s been a long time, but I’ve only discovered about this just recently as I was sorting out my brother’s stuff on the day of his 10 yr. death anniversary. These text messages are all I have, so I hope you found out more” Hoya sat on the couch facing a man who looked grubby

 

“These are the information I gathered” the mystery man laid out an envelope filled with pictures

 

“From what I got, your brother was friends with almost everyone. But back then, the competition was rough, a lot of trainees were being dropped from the final casting for the new group. They had to work hard and prove they were worthy of debuting. At the time, your brother was closest to…Yong Junhyung”

 

“Junhyung and your brother were the last two picks. 2 weeks before the alleged accident, Junhyung sent angry text messages to your brother, accusing him of doing dirty tricks to grab the spot, but since your brother wasn’t replying to his text messages he decided to give him a visit. As you can see in this cctv footage the two had a fist fight, you can assume that they were talking while fighting because shortly after Mr. Junhyung left”

 

Flashback:

 

“Lee Sungyeol! Come out and face me!” Junhyung yelled throwing stones at the back door of Sungyeol’s dorm

 

Sungyeol comes out with a mad expression, his hair slightly wet from the shower “What the hell is wrong with you!?”

 

“You backstabber!” Junhyung greets him with a punch “I thought you were a decent person but you’re just as dirty as the others”

 

“What are you talking about?!” Sungyeol pushes him off

 

“I know what you did you bastard” Junhyung stated with a heavy breath “huh! Healthy competition my ! You knew that I was going to get the last spot so you pulled out some dirty tricks!” he lands another punch again

 

Sungyeol returns a punch and yells “Don’t accuse me of something I didn’t do!”

 

“Stop playing dumb with me! Doojoon already told me he saw my name in the lineup sheet. But then the day after that your name suddenly showed up in the bulletin board. I bet you didn’t know, I saw you in Seung Hwa’s office today” Junhyung

 

“It’s not what you think it is”

 

End of Flashback

 

 

“When I tried to dig in some more, I discovered that the cctv footage of the street monitor for the hours between 9pm to 4am, Oct. 3 2009, is missing. Your brother was found dead around 6am, and according to the autopsy report, by that time, he was already 5 hours dead.”

 

“Junhyung removed the cctv footage” Hoya whispered

 

“You’re suspecting that Junhyung might have killed your brother but we don’t have enough evidence for that”

 

“Please look into it further” Hoya

 

“Ne, algesseumnida” The mystery man stood up and headed for the door.

 

Soon as the man closed the door Hoya turned his head to look at a dart board with Junhyung’s face on the target spot. Coincidentally, an interview of Highlight showed up on t.v where the group members were asked to give rookies and trainees some advice on how to flourish in the kpop industry, since they were celebrating their 10^th year anniversary.

 

[ my advice for them is to work hard, practice every day, hone your talents and just believe in your dreams. It might be hard now, but the fruits of your hard labor will be the sweetest thing you will ever taste. – junhyung ]

 

“Or just kill your rivals so no one can be better than you” Hoya took a sip of his beer and glared at the person on the screen “You better make the most out of your remaining days because I’m going to destroy you, your career, and your entire future”

 

 

 

 

 

Kriesha’s Dorm

 

 

[Did you watch my interview?- Junhyung]

 

“Of course!” - Kriesha

 

[Did you hear my message for you?]

 

“Yes” she smiled “Thank you! You always inspire me”

 

[You inspire me too]

 

“I really miss you… when can I see you?”

 

[I got you VVIP tickets to our anniversary concert, we can meet each other there. Oh, and we really should visit mom sometime soon, she’d like it if we came together]

 

“When should we visit her?”

 

[My schedule is a bit hectic right now because of our anniversary so… maybe after a month?]

 

“Set a date on your phone so you don’t forget or overlap it with your projects. I’m a bit packed too since I’m preparing for my comeback and I’ve got a variety show going on”

 

[Alright, I’ll pick a date and send it to you. If it doesn’t work with your schedule we’ll pick another date.]

 

“Okay”

 

[You have to come to the concert okay? I’ll be very disappointed if you don’t show up]

 

“I promise I’ll be there”

 

[Alright, take care. And eat healthy! Stop eating ramen, it’ll make your face bloated]

 

“But I’ve already cooked it… it’s right in front of me, staring at me, begging me to eat it”

 

[Throw it away. I’ll call up some restaurant and have food delivered to your dorm]

 

“Chihihi! You’re the best!” She smiled widely

 

[I know – Junhyung also smiled in the other line]

 

“You know my favorites, love you! Baaaiiii” she made a kissy sound

 

[Bye] end call 

 

She still ate the ramen though. Naughty kid.