"Wuah."

Taehyung looked at her. She was staring at Jeongguk as he sang, her eyes filled with admiration. He smiled as he shifted his gaze to his friend as well, feeling a bit proud of him for eliciting such a response.

". . .The DNA inside my veins is telling me-"

Jeongguk's voice slowly transitioned into gibberish in response to the music being stopped. His lips poised in a silly way, he looked at PDogg.

"Try to do that part with a bit more..." PDogg hissed inwards as he tried to think up the word. "Not really arrogance, but sorta like 'yo, lemme tell you what's up', something like that."

The others chuckled a bit.

Jeongguk repeated the end of the line to himself a few times, trying to produce as accurate a tone as he could. "-is telling me- like this? Was that good?"

"Aaalmost..."

PDogg rubbed his chin as he thought about what further guidance he could give. Suddenly, he turned to Soonae with an expression of realisation, causing her to raise her eyebrows in question.

"Soonae-yah, you did it perfectly earlier with the first line!"

Soonae timidly looked from him to Jeongguk, then back to him. "Then..."

"Go ahead, you can do it," the producer encouraged gently. He seemed to have a lot of confidence in her, and this piqued Taehyung's interest.

He leaned back against the door with his arms folded, but avoided looking at Soonae, in case it would make her feel pressured.

She hesitated for a moment, but managed to sing the line, "The DNA-"

"Ah wait, in fact, could you do it from the top? Sorry about that."

"Ah, ne." Again, she prepared herself then began, "I knew you from the moment that I saw you. Almost like we called to each other~"

"kkkhhh," Jeongguk uttered quietly, seemingly pleased with Soonae's voice.

"The DNA inside my veins is telling me... You're the one that I've been searching for~"

"Wuah..." Taehyung breathed. Meanwhile, the maknae gave a short round of applause, nodding his approval.

"Good right?" PDogg asked with a proud grin.

"Eohh I get it now, there's that type of attitude."

"Exactly. Now try it again."

Soonae smiled shyly as she tucked her hair away behind her ears. Taehyung noted their red tinge with a smile of adoration.

 

---

 

"She was looking at you the whole time."

Jeongguk paused in the middle of brushing his teeth and blinked at Taehyung, who had just said this to him out of the blue.

"When you were singing the guide."

"...Ah. Ahhhhh," the younger one responded, his utterances muffled by toothpaste foam. "That person- the student."

"Mwoya... Give a more interesting reaction." Taehyung gave him a light punch as he moved to spit.

"Waaae?"

"She really liked you, you knowww?" He clung to the maknae's side.

"Ah hyung..." Jeongguk complained, shoving Taehyung off so he could properly rinse his toothbrush. Eventually he decided to just ignore his older brother's clinging. With Taehyung stuck to his back now, he waddled out of the bathroom and towards the living room. "That person though," he began, his voice a bit nasal. "She has a nice voice. That song couldn't show it off, but you can tell that she's stable."

"Mm," Taehyung agreed. He lost himself in thought for a moment as Jeongguk bent to pick up something from the coffee table.

"When are you gonna get off..." Jeongguk complained in a murmur, despite his own lack of resistance.

"Yah, it was unexpected, right?"

"What was?"

Taehyung finally released him. "A woman at the company."

"We have female managers... And there's Adora-noona."

"A girl...whatever. You know what I mean."

The maknae grinned.

"She didn't know who we were though. It's weird..."

"Some people still don't know."

"But she's young, and even a music student."

Jeongguk tilted his head briefly with a hiss.

"Alright, alright, it's not a good argument- I get it."

As they headed toward the rooms now, Jeongguk made an utterance of realisation, causing Taehyung to look at him.

"Wae?"

"Come to think of it... How did she end up with Big Hit?"

Taehyung thought about it for a second before a spark of interest appeared in his eyes. "Right? Bang PD-nim wouldn't let just anyone join."

"Ah, but she's PDogg-hyung's student, right? I guess PDogg-hyung knows her."

"Ah right..."

As Taehyung paused in thought again, Jeongguk moved to go to his (Jeongguk's) room.

"Are you gonna play games tonight?" Taehyung suddenly asked, causing him to pause with his hand on the door handle.

"We have the poster shoot tomorrow, hyung." He said, turning to him halfway.

"Ah."

They stared at each other, Jeongguk looking a bit exhausted but expectant, and Taehyung wearing a blank expression.

Without another word, the older one walked off towards his own room.

"Jinjja," Jeongguk said to himself with a chuckle, "this hyung." Shaking his head, he finally opened his door and went inside.

 

---

 

Having noticed that I had taken a liking to the song from a couple days ago, PDogg-nim gave me a chance to work on my own version. As I looked at my phone, I smiled at the unread email containing the audio file.

I focused ahead of me now as I entered the school garden. My laptop bag was a bit heavy, so I shifted it a bit on my shoulder.

Not many people were around today, as expected during summer vacation. The few students that come to school this time of year are those who major in vocals, or classical music. The production students would be busy with their internships, and would rather spend their free time elsewhere unless they really need to use the school's equipment.

As for me? I was here because, well, I liked it here.

Back when I lived in Japan, home was my favourite place; my mom and grandfather were there (at least until grandpa became busy with various music-related things), and I had nice friends. Sadly, I'd lost contact with them when I had to move to Seoul with my dad. In fact, I lost a lot of things when I came here.

Thankfully, I've mostly recovered, thanks in part to Hyejin and music; but there was still this sense of sadness, and I felt it mostly whenever I was in my apartment. It wasn't that I couldn't take care of myself or anything like that. It was just...this sort of loneliness.

I didn't like it, so I tried to come outside as much as possible. I would be surrounded by strangers, but I always felt that it was better than being all by myself.

Although, today, I just wanted to be alone with music.

I felt a wave of relief wash over me as I saw that my favourite gazebo was empty. I quickened my steps, wanting to sit down and put down my heavy bag as soon as possible.

"Aigo," I breathed, setting the bag down on the table and slipping into the bench that curved around it. After taking a few minutes to recover from my walk, I looked around a bit from where I sat. It was quiet and peaceful, and I was grateful for the clouds today.

I started unpacking my things. Spotting something from the corner of my eye, I looked up in surprise, only to find Jeongwon approaching me.

"I knew I'd find you here," he said with a smug grin, tucking his hands into his pockets.

"I just got here," I replied as I my laptop. "Are you sure you're not stalking me?"

He chuckled. "It was just a of luck."

Trying very hard not to say what I had in mind to curb him, I simply rolled my eyes with a smile.

"Mind if I sit?"

I gestured for him to go ahead, so he did.

"What're you working on today?"

"I got my first assignment."

"Ohh, what sort of song are you gonna make?"

"Ah, I got the song's demo, so I'm just supposed to remake it and write my own lyrics."

He gave an impressed pout. "Let's hear it."

"It's really good! But... I can't play it for you," I added with an apologetic look.

"Waae?"

"It's supposed to be released soon. I'd get in big trouble for letting other people hear it now, even though this is just a demo."

"Ahhh, so that's what you meant..." He realised something, "Oh, speaking of which though! I heard that the company you got into is Big Hit Entertainment."

"Eoh. Do you know about it?"

"Not really, but I know that they have this super popular idol group. One of my friends is a huge fan of them."

"Ahhh."

"There's this one Big Hit producer who participated most of their songs and apparently they all turned out well. So my friend says."

"PDogg-nim?"

"Right, that's the one."

I smiled to myself, feeling a bit proud. "As expected."

Jeongwon gave me a questioning look before it occurred to him. "Ahhhhhhh, so he's your mentor! How's it been with him so far?"

"To be honest..." I looked away in thought, then back at Jeongwon. "I don't even feel bad about Yoo PD-nim going abroad anymore."

"Jinjja?"

"Eoh, PDogg-nim is talented, and he's really kind to me." I pouted sentimentally. "Big Hit overall is pretty nice actually. The CEO was great, and the other staff are like family with each other."

"I guess that's the best huh. When everyone gets along."

"Mmm."

There was a pause.

"Hm. Maybe you'll get a chance to meet the idol group."

I looked at him, a bit uncertain of how to respond. Not wanting to take too long though, I gave a thoughtful pout and nodded. "Maybe," I said.

Of course, I had already seen them all before, that day when I helped Kyungsoon-eonni with the lunch order. Then I'd met two members in PDogg-nim's studio.

It just didn't seem like it was necessary to mention any of that; so I didn't.

"Yah, you're disturbing my work."

"You can still worrrk," Jeongwon complained. "I won't say anything."

I made a face at him. It was worth a try.

"Why are you even here today," I muttered, finally logging into my laptop, "You really must be stalking me."

"Yahhh..."