“We are very happy to be debuting,” Gayoung says from her seat next to Hyeonyi a she read the question from the monitor asking how they are feeling after their official debut. Seating order had from left to right Youngae, Jaein, Hyeonyi, and Gayoung in the front with the remaining sitting behind them (Micha, Lim, Youngae, Nanhee).

“We trained very hard and were so happy when our first stage happened-”

“I was so excited!” Hyeonyi interjected while Gayoung to finish the statement. Her smile was big and bright, she was practically bouncing in her seat with unbridled energy compared to the straight-backed and stiff Gayoung next to her. She took Jaein’s hands and the pair both smiled at each other excited. Gayoung just sort of smiled at their antics.

The next question appeared on the screen: Who is the least smart member?

“Oh! Oh its Kyungwon-unnie!” Hyeonyi said quickly, “Right?” Gayoung and Youngae both looked like they want to say something but Kyungwon just nodded.

“Mm-hm! I sometimes don’t understand or pay attention so I miss everything! Our manager gets so annoyed at me sometimes! I also forget to set an alarm so the other members have to wake me up every time!” She and the maknae-line shared a giggle-

She cringed and ended the video early. She remembered why actors talk about not watching their movies or shows. Kyungwon spared a moment to read some of the comments.
 

I’m disappointed. Where’s the energy?

Every time one of the unnies start talking, the maknaes interrupt them. So rude.

Look how regal Seollim looks!

Ugh, they didn’t let my queens Youngae and Nanhee talk much did they?

Youngae-unnie was so cute during produce. She’s so dull now owaaa

They aren’t funny. Riot was funny. Omni are hilarious. Aren’t they from the same company?

Jeez, Gayoung is so stiff. I’d rather hear her sing than talk.

Well, that wasn’t exactly the best review of them, was it? Switching from YouTube, Kyungwon scrolled through some posts under the #coterie tag. Twitter, Instagram, it didn’t matter where she looked, she kept seeing the same thing over and over again: so many screen grabs of her. It was surreal. Her face was everywhere under the Coterie tag. How had these people even gotten so many of these shots? So many posts of “so pretty!” and “she sings so good!” and even “why isn’t she the official visual?”. She expected more fight on Twitter honestly. There really wasn’t any. Some even outright called “Doji” unneeded. Who needs the official visual when you have beauties like Nanhee and Kyungwon? Hell, there was even a whole thread on the useless members and who’d they cut to make the perfect lineup instead. It was dumb. What did these netizens even know about what makes up a good group beyond looks and what they perceive as “talent”?

So many pictures of her.

Not good. Not good at all.

This was not working out according to plan at all. Even with Yongsun telling her any popularity was good, Kyungwon certainly didn’t want that for herself. She’d expected more of their maknae line: both were simply gorgeous and young and gregarious. Heck, she’d even expect to see Gayoung with the amount of hype about her prior to their debut and the Miyeon thing.

Actually, having thought that aloud, Kyungwon isn’t surprised. She’d seen a couple too many posts of people drawing parallels between them and Riot, and sure enough they immediately drew some weird connection between Miyeon and Gayoung. Kyungwon didn’t understand the connection but apparently all of the knetz did. Miyeon = Gayoung, Youngae = Soonah, Nanhee = Haeun, and lastly some had drawn a line between herself and Minji. Aside from the parallels, any other positive comparisons were not there. “Ugh, I hate their voices. Where’s the power vocals?” or “they need double the members to not even equal the grace and charisma of Riot.”

And on top of that, there she was still being ooh-ed and aah-ed over. Maybe in another comeback she could convince them to let her dye her hair to a darker color. The blonde was “stunning” as one commentor said. Kyungwon didn’t want stunning. That word should be associated Hyeonyi or one of the others. Hyeonyi needed to be blonde next. Maybe Kyungwon could somehow incept that idea with someone in their concepts. Let the maknae be the star of the screengrabs and fancams.

But enough with that.

Kyungwon shifted from where she was leaning on the wall outside the practice room. CM had rented out a practice space from JYP. To some, Yongsun’s reach really was terrifying sometimes. Probably the only reason why CM hadn’t dissolved by now honestly. The reality is that Yongsun still had a good business relationship with JYP from either a previous employment with them on a professional level. That, or Kyungwon’s source told her Yongsun was probably friendly with someone high up on the JYP totem pole. Who knows. Maybe Yongsun was a former JYP trainee or something from a while back. The idea of prim and pristine Yongsun dancing the night away to some bubblegum pop song was entertaining enough. Just play some Bubble Pop, put Yongsun in a mini skirt and voila. The talk of the town!

She reread the message from her contact again before forwarding it to Yongsun.

Nothing to worry about. From my sources, the guy in the screenshots doesn’t work for one of the companies there that day. You member wasn’t rude to anyone of importance. There’s already been a shift of folks commenting that he was creeping on your maknae, so don’t worry about it too much. I doubt this will blow up at all honestly. There are plenty of other groups to worry about. Someone’s going to sweep it away because it’s not important.

Kyungwon snorted when she read that last bit. Of course it wasn’t important enough. Who cared if some nobody accosted a nobody idol? Not the tabloids certainly...

She heard their giggles first. One higher pitched and the other more of a deeper chortle. From their tireless training together, Kyungwon is proud to say she can recognize most of her groupmates’ laughs easily. This one she knows for a fact is Jaein, hand over to make her giggle sound more refined and “ladylike”. Lim had scoffed at that declaration when Hyeonyi pointed out how she always did it. Not that Lim ever really laughed too loudly. No, the loud cackles go to Hyeonyi. She did catch Gayoung snort once in a giggle fit when she’d passed her unknowingly. Very cute, but not what she expected from the also normally ladylike giggles she’d come to expect.

Now the other chortle with Jaein’s? Not part of the group, but she knows that chortle almost as well.

The laughter was closer and a moment later around the corner comes trouble. Well, make it double since Jaein is rarely without her partner in crime. Resident would-be trouble-makers the both of them. Jaein accompanied by Dohyun, arm in arm with three plastic bags from the local convenience store between them. She can already see the triangle kimbap and ice cream through the plastic. Lost in their own world of smiles and laughter, neither must have noticed Kyungwon.

A rare moment of seeing none of the uptight behavior they’d been prepped on by their trainers. In particular, Yongsun would be livid seeing them together right now.

Do not be seen with a boy. Especially Omni. Everyone knew why well enough. The obvious reason? Miyeon and how easy it was to be exposed, and how easy it was for everything to come crashing down.

Kyungwon swallowed the lump in .

The less obvious reason? Omni are up and comers, already winning at music shows while only having debuted two years ago. As much as netizens might proclaim they’d love to see collaborations, they were also fickle things. How many times had other idols been exposed and faced backlash? Not that anyone in their little niche had to worry about that as far as Kyungwon knew.

Still…

“Hey! You are like super pretty. You should totally audition for the company!”Were the first words anyone at this sinking ship of place ever said to her. Hyeonyi would say it was fate that someone from their brother group recognized her for her potential, but Dohyun is a simple creature really. His words were exactly what he meant. Unlike some people, Dohyun was easy.

Both he and Jaein basked in the physical contact and endorphins of social connection, so the coupling made perfect sense between these two. Kyungwon fully expected one of them to goof and let slip the true nature of their relationship eventually. No one would be surprised to figure out they were dating. It was just a matter of time.

...still though...

Kyungwon cleared . The “ahem” of made the couple jump. Two pairs of wide, fearful eyes found hers and instantly they both sighed in relief.

“Noona!” Dohyun said excitedly, “It’s just you! I thought your were one of the trainers!”

“Um,” Jaein tried to slide the bag behind her back.

“Oh it’s okay!” Kyungwon quickly said brightly, “I didn’t mean to scare you! Did you bring snacks for everyone?”

“Sure did!” Dohyun reached into the bag and brought out a can of apple juice, “I got this for you. You like these right?” This kind was expensive for how small it was, but Kyungwon loved it all the same, “I’m right aren’t I? You get all smiley when you get one!” Kyungwon quickly turned away and giggled as silly as she could even as her smile disappeared.

“I wanted to buy it for you, but Dohyun-oppa insisted he get it,” Jaein seemed to sulk a little as she spoke, “but that’s okay! I got kimbap for everyone and drinks for Limmie-unnie, Hyeonyi, Youngae-unnie, all the unnies!” Jaein opened the bag to share it’s contents for Kyungwon. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…?

“You’re missing one? Did you drink yours already?” Kyungwon asked.

“Of course not! There’s one for...uh oh,” Jaein’s expression became worried, “oh no, I put away Micha’s...I needed to put one back because I went over budget and just gave the first one in sight back.”

“Why didn’t you say something? I would have bought it for you.” Dohyun reached into another bag they had, “Give her Kaiden’s or Gun’s. They won’t mind giving theirs to Micha-”

“Nonsense!” Jaein pulled away and was all smiles again, “unnie usually only wants water anyways. I’ll just get her some from the fountain and everything will be fine!”

Before Dohyun could argue anymore, Jaein had already bounded into the training room. She did turn to wave goodbye and blow him a dramatic kiss, before going inside. Dohyun’s lips were pursed just slightly, despite the show of affection she gave him. He finally sighed and handed a cider to Kyungwon.

“Does she like this kind?”

“I don’t know,” Kyungwon tilted her head to the side, as if an unsure puppy would, “I don’t think you need to worry. I’m sure Jaein knows Micha best.”

“I’m not sure about that, but I trust you noona,” he put the drink back in his bag, still looking a little dubious, “How are things by the way? I haven’t been able to talk to you much lately! We watched your stage at the dorm. You looked amazing!”

“Thank you! We all worked really hard and without the others, I wouldn’t look nearly as good!”

“Noona, you’re so humble. Everyone knows you stood out the most. I even saw a sign or two with your name in the audience on your last stage,” Dohyun added happily. Kyungwon forced a bashful smile and hid her face away as if embarrassed.

Not good. Even he was noticing her far too much.

“Your blonde hair is also really pretty on you.”

Again, time to get her back to dark hair next comeback, somehow.

She was about to thank him, maybe compliment their Inception stages, and maybe throw in he looked amazing with his dark, longish hair too. No harm in throwing in some truth to the conversation to keep it flowing, right? Even if it was nice to hear him appreciate her appearance, manufactured as it was.

Again, she would have thanked him and added her own compliments.

But then out came Jaeseok and Sihoo, each grabbing one of Dohyun’s arms as they rushed away.

“Bye noona! We’re taking Dohyun!” Jaeseok called back as they kept moving.

“Sorry noona! Ilwoo-hyung just called and Gun will kill us if we aren’t back before the hour!”

“Next time noona!”

The trio were gone before long. Inside the training room someone called for her to rejoin them in a couple of more practices before calling it quits for the day. Kyungwon shook out her bleached blonde hair, smoothed it down, and put on a smile before she headed back in.

“Okay, so the first thing to remember is get that screentime, noona,” Kaiden said as they walked towards the practice space, “Even if you don’t make it to the end, screentime will help you. Not trying to bring up bad memories, but it was the screentime you had on Idol School that probably made Sungmin bring you on.”

“You mean it WASN’T my charming, cute smile?”

“Aw, noona, you know you have the second cutest smile here!” Youngae actually reached over to pinch Kaiden’s ear. He squealed and mocked tried to pull away. She giggled and pulled just a little.

“Spill it! Who has a cuter smile than me Woo? Tell me your secrets!”

“It’s not like that,” he managed to dip away. Kaiden spun around and batted his eyes at her, “THIS smile,” he pointed at his -eating grin, “totally got me to rank 13!”

“Woooow, so so humble.”

“Hey! I ain’t bragging if it’s true!”

“...do you think I have a good shot at maybe debuting as part of the final 12?”

“Noona, if they don’t debut you, then I must have the worst taste possible!”

Sometimes, Youngae thinks back to that last conversation with Kaiden prior to Produce 48. She really believed him at the time. Why shouldn’t she? He almost debuted himself, so it made sense that Circle Media would have a really good shot at their next trainee debuting. Who cared if Idol School didn’t pan out? Or that it was practically from the same company? Circle Media wouldn’t do her dirty like that. They had the sterling reputation of being one of the best companies to actually be part of even if they weren’t perfect. No company is perfect where money is concerned.

Youngae believed her younger fellow trainee and survival show veteran.

She wished she still believed him. She wished she still believed in Lee Sungmin. At the same time, Youngae regretted believing either of them even for a moment. The fall wouldn’t have hurt nearly as bad as it did had she not.

She’d seen the looks Kaiden gave her when their eyes would meet from afar. He came out of the whole ordeal as a clean victim. Everyone felt so bad for him since it meant he was probably supposed to debut and they held him back. That’s how they spun their story. Their former CEO messed up and instead of guaranteeing a debut, both herself and him had not made the cut. She knew neither of them made it, and yet she never heard anyone doubt Kaiden’s ranking. In fact, most probably assumed he was supposed to debut after all. Youngae can’t say she hears the same about herself. Why else would her fellow survival show vet look at her like that?

A lie. All a lie. The brief moment of stardom and invitations to variety shriveled up the day after Sungmin’s scandal. That sad little smile the coordinator gave her after hanging up the phone and turning the car around. CM didn’t even have the ability to fight the legality of a contract breach.

If that wasn’t enough, going back into the general trainee pool was the worst.

No more being called over to join the small groups of trainees practicing together. No more urging to join them for a quick snack break. Heck, even when trainees started leaving and pickings were slim, Youngae found herself stretching in front of the mirror alone. Gayoung, bless her, still came around, but her time was divided for sure. Youngae, aging and not as desireable as she once was, couldn’t even be mad about it. Gayoung was the next Miyeon. The next center and face of their next girl group that Youngae surely would not be part of anymore.

Was any of the laughter and fun she recalled even as genuine as she thought?

The arrival of the newest trainees solidified Youngae’s place for certain. Regal Woonseollim, gorgeous Kyungwon, heck even mousy Micha had left a positive enough impression that Kaiden only said good things when he did speak to Youngae. Nanhee’s arrival was the final nail in her idol coffin. Why would they need Youngae with someone as accomplished as HER?

Debuting and not being sent to the CM dungeon until her trainee contract expired was the most surprising thing for her this year. That was including Miyeon’s snafu.

That’s why when looking over her shoulder from her spot on the ground, stretching, Youngae was still surprised to see the girls behind her day in and out. Aside from Hyeonyi and Gayoung, everyone was new. The “survivor” is what her older sister Youngseo called her in their last facetime call. Yeah, she’d survived but for what?

“Never doubt that I’m not concerned about what the people at this company claim. You deserve to be in my group and I stand by that one hundred percent.”

Sungwon’s words made her feel better at the time, but it did not stop the whispers. Not that it mattered. Their trainee pool was limited, so really what options did Sungwon have, really?

Their practice was done for today. Unlike on the shows where cameras and obviously scripted scenes were being set up, here in the practice room most of their time was spent in general silence as they listened to their trainers. They didn’t practice So Bad as much as they did a few weeks ago. They’d gone on to some music shows and met some idols, but nothing else of note. To be honest, Youngae was rather relieved at how slow things felt for them despite the initial

“Think they’ll push the rest of us into dorms soon?” Gayoung broke into her thoughts while sitting herself next to her on the floor to join her in stretching and cooling down, “It’d make coordinating practice easier.”

“Not really sure,” she shurgged. With Woonseollim, Jaein, and Hyeonyi all at home and their parents not really wanting them to be in the dorm, who knows. Even if they did, they’d still be in different locations. Unless someone springs for them to have their own personal apartment or dorm for themselves, away from the trainees, it wouldn’t make too much of a difference.

“Our pretty-boy manager seems to think we might get a dorm,” Gayoung poked Youngae’s cheek lightly, “what’s with the face? Omni has their own. Riot lived together too up until their disbandment. It’s not a bad idea, really.” Youngae playfully swatted her hand away. Youngae didn’t mind the idea of them living together, as unlikely as it would be. CM probably wouldn’t waste that much money on them. She was more annoyed at who was delivering that message.

“Did you see that Jaeseok and Sihoo snuck in to watch us practice? Yongsun’s rule of not interacting with us isn’t very effective, is it?”

“Jaeseok needs to be careful. The way he looks at Nanhee and the glares she gives him back? He’s asking for trouble.”

“I’ve already told him to not be a and to stay away from our groupmate. He’s not a bad guy, just forward. He hasn’t and probably won’t make a move anyhow. He’s got other things to worry about. I’ll tell him again to back off, later. The last thing we want is someone causing drama. Maybe Nanhee might like the attention? You think it might be possible?”

Youngae turned her gaze to Nanhee walking by them after finishing her own stretches aside. Nanhee paused in her stride to look at the pair looking at her. And Gayoung looked at Nanhee. And Nanhee just kept staring back at Gayoung. Youngae looked between the pair as the staring contest continued. They weren’t glaring. They were literally just staring at each other, mouths slightly opening as if one was going to say something but no one did. Youngae had the sudden urge to clap or something to break them out of the silence. And it continued. This was...awkward...maybe she would need to say something? Maybe a crow would “caw caw caw” any moment to alleviate the silence…?

Thankfully the maknae took care of the issue herself.

“HOSUNG-OPPA BROUGHT US GIFTS!” Hyeonyi exclaimed. She’d bounded up, grabbed Nanhee’s arm, and hugged onto her excitedly. The look of utter shock and then dismay on Nanhee’s face made Youngae finally laugh a little. Hyeonyi’s energy was infectious sometimes. The glare on Nanhee’s face however, didn’t share that amusement.

“Get off me!” Nanhee practically snarled while shoving Hyeonyi off her hard enough that she stumbled back and fell to her .

“Hey!” Gayoung finally was on her feet in action, “Don’t push her around like that!”

“Whatever.”

“What is with you? We’ve been nothing but nice to you since day one and you still treat us like ? Get over yourself!”

“Over myself? You’re the one acting like you are the queen of this group. Mind your own business.” Youngae didn’t dare to intervene. Normally Nanhee never interacted with them except the bare minimum. She’d not seen her ever be aggressive though. This was odd. Whatever Hyeonyi did triggered her something terrible. Even if Youngae said anything, who was she to chide either of these girls? They practically carried the group and-

“Oh off you-!”

“What is happening here? Both of you shut up and knock it off,” Hosung’s stern voice interrupted. Off to the side stood their manager with a box, Micha standing next to him with a couple of bags as well, “Youngae, be the adult here and break them up before things escalate.” He shook his head in disappointment and motioned for Micha to follow him.

Be the adult? What the hell? What was that supposed to even mean? Youngae felt herself seethe even as she helped Hyeonyi up to her feet while Gayoung and Nanhee both stood away from the other. He didn’t even look back at them. The nerve of this man who just prances in as if he knows everything…!

“First things first: you’ve received some fan gifts. The company gave the go ahead for you to receive them. Don’t get too excited; there’s not too many and they look small.” The moment Hosung set the boxes down however, Hyeonyi and Jaein were on it. They quickly pulled the few parcels in it and called out to the member they were addressed to.

It didn’t take long for their exuberance to somewhat fade however. One gift for Gaya, one gift for Seollim, five for Kyungwon, and at the top was six for Nanhee. Most were just little fannotes and cards, but some had inexpensive rings and bracelets, one had a teddy bear. Despite what Youngae expected, Nanhee even seemed a little surprised at the small pile pushed towards her. Kyungwon quickly offered some of the candies to the maknae line, which seemed to mollify them and their smiles returned as they began going through the gifts the others received.

“Hey,” Hosung handed three colourfully wrapped gifts to Youngae, “these are yours. They fell off the top.”

He left to answer a phone call before she could thank him. She carefully opened each one. One was a beaded bracelet that had the words, “Unnie fighting!” on it’s plastic beads. The second was a homemade flowercrown, wrapped neatly and signed by several elementary school students. The final was a tiny stuffed cat, something a kid might put on their backpack. With it came a note from a middle school fan hoping this would bring her good fortune and luck. Youngae took in a deep breath to stop the sudden urge to cry from creeping up.

“Ladies! Listen up. Starting next week,” their manager announced as he ended his call, “you’ll be moving into a new dormitory, not too far from the CM headquarters.”

The room was part silent, part acceptance, and then Hyeoni and Jaein shouting, “COTERE FIGHTING!!!” right next to Woonseollim who rolled her eyes. Youngae shared a look with Gayoung, who gave her a thumbs up and grinned.

Youngae allowed herself a moment to feel that bit of hope she’d thought might be gone for just a moment.

Hosung yawned and stretched in his chair, extending his left leg out and rubbing the soreness from his knee. He was tired and hungry. All he wanted was to go home, curl up with his cat Jiyu, and sleep. One benefit of managing a less popular group he supposed was being able to afford some sleep. From what Woojin had told him, he was practically on call most days and evenings managing Omni. To his credit, half of Omni were a rowdy bunch of idiots. Hosung at least had mostly well behaved idols to cart around. Gayoung generally ran practices, Micha made sure things were tidy, Hyeonyi and Jaein never got into so much trouble to, well, cause trouble, Woonseollim and Nanhee were ambivalent to most things, and Youngae...well, truthfully Youngae just seemed to glare at him when she didn’t think he was looking. He’d somehow earned the ire of a young woman he’d barely spoken a few sentences to. His uncle was entertained.

Hosung should be working in a law firm right now. Maybe even in his father’s for a few years, save some money. Instead he was here again in the idol world because someone needed a manager and the “CEO” was very particular. Hosung didn’t even need an interview when he called and offered his services at his family’s urging. So here he was now: chasing idols in their attempt at becoming famous in an over-saturated entertainment world. Again, he was glad he didn’t have to manage the idiots of Omni, even if he and Gun did game together from time to time.

As much as he wanted to go home and maybe play a couple rounds of Overwatch, his uncle had other plans. And by other plans, he wanted to “spend time with his nephew”. Sungwon not having his own children and projecting onto him was really getting old. “Humor your poor old uncle,” his mother said. Stupid.

Stupid, yes; but that didn’t stop Hosung as he grabbed his coat and left the Circle Media employee break room.

“Oh, hyung, sorry!” Woojin ran into him as he left the room. As usual, the Omni manager bowed and smiled as if there was everything to smile about. Did this fool ever get tired? He remembered someone telling him once he should take better care of his dark circles so he looked as bright as Kim Woojin. It was annoying. So friendly and accommodating to every and anyone. Omni would walk all over them had Gun not put the hammer down the first few times they tried. Hosung didn’t seek out Woojin except in times when they needed to discuss something related to a work issue. With the separation of the two groups being Yongsun’s priority, their meetings had been short and far between. This was an arrangement that suited Hosung just fine, frankly. He had better things to do than chit chat with every person in this goddamned building. That included a couple of the ladies who worked in more administrative capacities. Didn’t they have better things to do than just ask him about his personal life?

On second thought, probably not. CM wasn’t exactly bustling with activity sans Omni.

Woojin around just made things that much harder to avoid people. Someone always seemed to have some errand or request for the other manager. Hosung would like to see one of them try to ask HIM to do any of that trivial crap. It wasn’t like he was hired to do a specific job: not be an errand boy for some lazy s.

Woojin though? Pure pushover. It’s amusing enough when the Omni members did it: at least they were still all working and doing their jobs; and letting Woojin do his. Hosung was pretty sure their manager job descriptions did not include: picking up the break room, picking up a coffee, giving up his coffee because they didn’t like theirs and wanted to switch, picking up a lunch, and so on. No one ever asked Hosung to do those things. He’d really, REALLY like to see someone try.

“Hyung, are you thirsty? I had this extra tea,” he produced a bottle of cold green tea from his bag and offered it to Hosung, “and remembered you were working late. Here!”

Damn this guy for being too nice to shun though.

“Thank you,” Hosung was thirsty.

“What are your plans tonight, hyung? I’m heading home now if you wouldn’t mind some company walking out?”

“I’m meeting my uncle,” screw it, who cares who knew he was Sungwon’s nephew?

“Oh! Are you liking working with family?”

“Not really. It’s a job.”

“Ah, I understand. I used to like working around my sister before...well, you know.”

That he did.

“Anyways, I’ll see you around after the weekend hyung, have a good night!”

...damn.

“Do you want to come with me?” The way Woojin’s stunned expression shifted to happy gratitude almost made Hosung smile in return.

JUST almost though.

Hosung can say he thoroughly enjoyed seeing Woojin squirm under his uncle’s scrutiny. As much as others thought of Sungwon as a professional, hardened executive of an entertainment company, to Hosung he was his Uncle Sungwon who was terrible at giving gifts for anything. Who sends a twelve year old flowers on his birthday anyhow? Sadly for Woojin, he only knew Sungwon as something of his boss.

The first few drinks at the pop-up bar not too far from the company were a terse affair. Woojin pouring for them both hurriedly. It wasn’t until Hosung finally confessed to hating regular soju and asking for a flavoured one that things seems to ease into something comfortable. At Hosung’s expense.

“What kind of drinker are you that you need something sweet to even imbibe correctly?”

“The kinds who would rather you mind your business. Hand it over,” Hosung grumbled and snatched the plum flavoured soju from his now chuckling uncle.

“Woojin! You’ll drink the regular version with me, right? I can’t stomach that sweet stuff our Hosung here loves.”

Hosung refrained from a smart comment as the pair bonded.

A few more bottles of soju in, and the prior discomfort Woojin had seemed to fade away. He was laughing more readily at the jokes made by Sungwon that Hosung preferred to roll his eyes at.

“Half are noisy, the others are nearly non-existent,” Hosung shrugged, “about as difficult as that I guess. I wouldn’t say any of them actually exude star material,” Sungwon opened his mouth to speak, but Hosung added, “Don’t say Hyeonyi. Dear god uncle, that kid has you wrapped around her fingers. I’m telling you right now: none of your choices are good enough to be stars,” he paused, thought a moment, and then added, “yet.” He amended. Despite his reservations, Hosung knew better than anyone a moment would be all any of these girls would need to change their destiny. They worked hard, possibly harder than some of those Omni brats.

“Damn right they are. I stand by my choices. These girls will succeed. You wait and see!”

“...are you planning any variety or fan meets?” Hosung added as he sipped his drink, hidig his smirk when the comment made Sungwon deflate just a little from his bravado.

“Not yet. We’re still trying to see how well their first release was received. Yongsun already shared with me some rather unkind words about them. They’re already getting compared to both Omni and Riot, even with us going towards a more electronic sound. I used to know inherently if a song would be a hit. I was so sure So Bad would be a good jumping point,” Sungwon swirled the soju in his glass a moment, eyes looking off to some unknown point. Hosung imagined that point was somewhere in the last fifteen years or so, “how did I miscalculate so much?”

“Uncle,” Hosung shot down the remainder of the plum flavored soju in his glass, “be fair. You’re not some omnipotent deity who can do no wrong. You do plenty. I have photos of my graduation to prove it.”

Woojin snorted so loud while drinking his suddenly started hacking as soju filled his sinuses. Hosung hit him on his back a few times while Sungwon just roared out in laughter.

“You know, this is nice still. Seeing you both grown up, doing mostly well...it does my heart some good,” both Hosung and Woojin waited for Sungwon to continue as he drank the last of his bitter soju straight from the bottle, “I’m so sorry...for both of you...having to just...be this short of your dreams,” he made a motion with his fingers, showing the short amount he referred to. Woojin tried to interrupt him, tried to say that wasn’t true, but Sungwon slammed his hand down to silence him.

“No! It’s true! Woojin you may have left being a trainee and idol, but I should be making sure you’re better taken care of! It’s my fault everything went so wrong! You’re one of our own for God’s sake!”

“But you didn’t-”

“I should just fire anyone who so much as glances at you wrong! That’s what I should do! What’s the point of being the omnipotent CEO if I can’t do that?”

“That would make you a despot.”

“I damn well will be when I-!”

“Shhh, uncle,” Hosung tried to quiet him as the few patrons of the pop up bar were beginning to look their way, “you’re causing a scene-”

“I should have! Yes! I should have caused more a scene when Sungmin let everything go so wrong. I should have known. I just thought he was so good. That he valued everything we did! I should have listened to Yongsun. She’ll tell you the exact same thing,” his words were beginning to slur together. He sniffed.

“Alright uncle, that’s enough. Don’t start crying. Do you need me to call Ikeda for you? Is he working tonight?” Without waiting for a response, Hosung already had fished out his uncles cellphone from his pocket to find Ikeda’s number to text a message to, “I’m telling him to meet you at the corner of-”

“I shouldn’t be dragging you into this either, you know?” Sungmin slung an arm around Hosung’s shoulders, resisting him when he tried to shrug him off, “It’s my fault. You could have been dancing somewhere else, but instead I pushed you towards-” Hosung managed to shove a very drunk Sungwon off him who then laid his head down on the tabletop. Hosung was not nearly drunk enough to open that conversation.

“And message sent. Ikeda said he’ll be here in about ten minutes. He’s not far. Woojin, please help our CEO to the corner over there so Ikeda can find him. I’ll pay and get us a taxi,” Woojin nodded before helping Sungwon up to his feet.

“I’m sorry Hosungie. Uncle made a mess of our night out. Woojin, I’m sorry. I’ll do better the next time I treat you both out.”

“No, sir, it’s fine. Come on now, up we go!” He took the phone from Hosung for the location, “And hyung,” Woojin looked to Hosung and smiled. Not big and bright, but it looked less forced than normal. That was nice.

“Thank you for inviting me.”

Hosung gave him a nod and waited as Woojin led Sungwon away. His uncle babbled apologies and thanks the entire time. He slumped in his seat, the haze of plum flavoured soju still making his head spin just a little now that the need to be the adult in the room had passed. He rubbed his knee while letting out a long held breath.

“Dancing somewhere else, huh?” He muttered to himself

Hosung was definitely not drunk enough for these thoughts tonight...or ever if he could help it.