Suwon looks around at all of them as Jiwon’s warm embrace engulfs him, feeling tears dropping onto his shirt.  Jaeduck’s tears drips to the ground as he looks at him with happiness. Sunghoon gives him the “killer smile” as Jaejin stands aside, with pride beaming from his posture.   The past 21 years rush past his eyes as he closes them, flooding his head as he relieves them one by one.

***************************

Suwon sat down as he fidgeted his shirt.  He had never imagined that he would be doing this, being in a audition for a idol group for DSP.  He had only followed his friend who went to the same school as him, who wanted to try out for the new group DSP said would ‘be as famous as HOT’.  It was only for fun, something he wanted to try just because. He knew that he wouldn’t get in, so why would he even try? He snapped out of his thoughts when someone snapped in front of him loudly.

“You must be Jang Suwon, am I right?” asks the man in a formal suit with a clipboard with many sheets of paper.  A beta, Suwon notes as he smelled the faint smell of autumn leaves and rain on the man. His thoughts calmed down just a little as he scrambled for an answer.

“Uh, yes,” Suwon replied.  The man nodded and beckoned him to follow him to a room, presumably where he would be taking his audition.  After what seemed to be an endless amount of twists and turns, he finally arrives at the audition room for which felt like it took years, though in reality it only took a few minutes.  The man ushered him inside the room and closed the door silently behind him, a faint click following after. Suwon immediately noticed the judges in front of him sitting behind a foldable table, some which were turning their pages of their thick packets.  He gave a shudder. They were all Alphas, especially the one in the middle he presumed had the highest ranking. But, there was a boy around his age near the middle that seemed more of an omega in appearance next to him. Suwon idly wondered why the boy was here, but focused in to one of the judges addressing him.

“Welcome, Jang Suwon,” one of the judges said.  Suwon bowed, unsure of what to do.

“Let me ask you a simple question.  What are you good at?” the judge asked, looking at him straight in the eyes, which he quickly looked down to think of a good answer.  Thoughts flashed by as Suwon’s breath hitched. What was he good at? There was nothing much, he was just the average guy at school, not too popular but not too shy.  He was okay at singing, and okay at dancing, in his own opinion. The only weapon he had, according to his friends, was being blunt and honest. He feels the judge’s eyes still on him as he knows he has to give a answer..  Suwon takes a deep breath in as he looks up.

“I am not good at anything,” Suwon replied, his mind telling him that he did all what he could.  At least he answered honestly. It would be what the judges thought (though he doubted that he would get in).  The boy next to the president nods and whispers something in his ear, glancing at him as he spoke. The president almost protested, but one glare from the boy made him sigh and say that he was on hold, and he would get a message soon after.  Totally not an omega. So the boy was obviously someone to be feared, Suwon notes dully in the back of his head. The head judge told him that that was the end of the audition and Suwon tried to act surprised, but he knew what the boy said. It was far too obvious.  Suwon bowed and left the room, unanswered thoughts coming and going. He didn’t notice the boy smiling at him with fond eyes, or notice the boy texting beneath the table on his white flip-phone to another boy he would soon meet.

********************************

Suwon got in to the group, according to the message DSP sent him a few days later.  He wasn’t surprised, he didn’t even think much of it. His mother made a fuss over it, though, and congratulated him as well bragged about him secretly behind his back to her friends.  But why was he nervous when he arrived outside of the room where he was supposed to meet the members? He looked at the wooden door in DSP, wondering if he should go in. He finally knocked lightly, hearing a muffled ‘Come in’ from the other side.  He took a deep breath and entered the room. He immediately noticed the boy from the audition sitting in a folding chair, waving at him with a large, genuine smile. So he was a member of the group, huh. Suwon took note of the dark-skinned guy next to him, with dark circles and a threatening and dark aura.  Suwon deduced that the guy was around his age or he was a late bloomer or he was the manager, probably the latter.

“Hello, I am Jang Suwon,” Suwon said while bowing.

“Hello, I am Sunghoon.  This is Jiwonie-hyung, he is the leader of the group,” the boy he met at the audition said while smiling.

“Leader?  Isn’t he the manager?” Suwon blurted out from shock.  He took another look at Jiwon and doesn’t see that he was going to the the leader because of his… well… unkempt appearance.

“Ya, I’m not that old,” Jiwon said, faking a swat at Suwon with an annoyed expression.  Sunghoon, on the other hand, was laughing his guts out.

:”You do seem a little… unrefined, hyung,” Sunghoon managed to heave out, which leaves Jiwon to change focus and attack Sungoon instead.  Suwon smirks at the sight. This was totally worth a try.

***********************************

3 years flew by in a flash.  

Suwon remembered their first meeting like it was yesterday.  Sechskies was joined by Jaejin and Jaeduck, the Busan brothers, a month later and Sunghoon’s childhood friend Jiyong a little later.  They became Sechskies, ‘Six Crystals’ in German (a bad name, but better than ‘Magma’, a unanimous decision made by all of the members). There were many obstacles that came their way, how DSP treated them badly, how they had to follow a path where there were no seniors, how he had to practice to keep his skills up to par with everyone, the expectations.

But it all paid off.  

Soon, the 6 dominated the KPOP industry and became fierce rivals with HOT, legendary fights between the fans appearing in newspaper headlines.  Their songs became number 1 hits and they won numerous music awards, not to mention their huge fan base and sold-out concerts. They were the best of the best and adored by the whole country.  They were at the peak of their careers.

But, the three years meant non-stop shooting and recording and practicing, especially with “Seventeen” colliding with their musical and comeback, as well as having to do TV shows on top of it.  Suwon lost track of how many hours he got to sleep, let alone practice and perform.

It was getting too chaotic, especially when all of them were about to present their second genders, which was near the age of 21.  It wouldn’t be much of a deal since they didn’t live together, thus not having to worry about their ruts or heats affecting the other members.  But it would ruin the balance they had, and if one of them were an omega or an alpha… it would create confusion and disorder as they would unintentionally acted their second gender.  Fans could possibly be more hostile if they wanted to mate with one of the members, increasing privacy invasions and more and more fans sleeping out of their houses (that made Suwon shudder. There were already too much).  No one knew what to do when idols presented. They had to make the first decisions for everyone, for the idols in the future.

Suwon noticed Blackkies trio getting more and more restless as the year progressed, especially Jiwon who was 21. They made more mistakes behind the scenes, getting beaten more by their managers in the process.  Not to mention that they separated themselves from the group slightly, as well as staring off into space with frowns on their faces. It didn’t help that DSP became stricter and stricter with the album sales, as well as their treatment.  Failure for “only” selling 500,000 copies for their latest album because they used to sell millions. Getting a small fraction for the fruits of their work while DSP got the rest. Not getting the Daesang even though they should’ve gotten it, instead going to their hoobaes Fin.KL.  They were seen as money makers for DSP to gain more money to ‘increase their businesses’ but were actually stuffing themselves with the cash. They didn’t get what they truly deserved. Anger boiled in their stomachs, but they planted a smile on their faces on TV. It was for the Yellkies.

But they were all about to burn out.  

All of them.  

They were getting sick of everything.

Suwon wondered when they would all collapse.  He didn’t expect it to come so early.