Rian slashed the toy sword, trying hard to look determined and angry, “I’m going to meet Moon Sun Baek. I have to meet him, and get my revenge!” she swung the sword around with all her might, then stopped, startled.

            JB eyed the toy sword pointed at his throat. With a flick of his hand, he pushed the sword away. His eyes met hers briefly, and for a moment, it seemed that they were on the verge of saying something. Then both looked away, and, pretending that their argument last time had never even happened, he asked, “What did Moon Sun Baek do that’s so wrong?”

            Rian had to suppress a smile at his sarcasm, “It’s So Ji Sub’s scene.”

            JB frowned, looking thoroughly unimpressed. He told her nonchalantly, “You should practice acting more, else it won’t be you killing So Ji Sub but So Ji Sub wanting to kill you. Really.”

            “Why you-” Annoyance flashed across Rian’s face at his tone, and she stuck her foot out.

            JB yelped as he tripped over her outstretched foot, landing on one knee. He looked up, only to see Rian stick her tongue out at him. Then, as he was about to straighten up, she began to smack him, again and again, with the toy sword, saying in a satisfied tone, “This’ll teach you to be so rude!” Instinctively he covered his head, calling out, “Hey – no seriously, stop it. OUCH! Quit it!”

            “What are you two doing with a  knife in the practice room?” a sharp voice demanded. Both idols froze. Then they straightened up, turning to face their manager-slash-dance choreographer, Hyun Ji Soo.

            Ji Soo eyed the duo for a moment, but they met her gaze unflinchingly, something they both had practice with over the years. Finally, she turned to JB, “You’ve certainly caused some trouble this time, haven’t you, JB?”

            JB was silent.

            “The President wants to see you in his office. Now.” Ji Soo jerked her head towards the President’s office. JB sighed slightly. He walked out of the practice room, where Siwoo was waiting for him. Siwoo reached forward, clapping him on the back, “I’ll go with you.”

            JB glanced briefly at Siwoo before pushing his hand away, “Forget it.” Siwoo stared after his leader’s retreating back as he walked towards the President’s office. Then, after a moment, he decided to just follow JB.

            “Yes, yes of course I understand how you feel. No, you’re perfectly right, we should have watched them more closely. Yes, yes.” the President looked up as JB entered the room. He held one hand up, telling JB to wait as he continued, “No, but…yes, that’s right. No, it was just for their fans, they – no, even if that was the case…” the President listened for a moment more before throwing his free hand up in exasperation, “All right, then. All right. Don’t use any of our kids.” He hung up, and tossed the phone onto the table before turning to look at JB, “So. You’ve given me a very big problem. KBS refuses to use any of our kids for the next five months. What do you have to say about that?”

            JB looked down. The President took that as a sign of submission and continued, “I warned you of the consequences, didn’t I?”

            “I had to.” JB replied suddenly. He drew an MP3 out of his pocket and placed it on the table before him. The President’s eyes narrowed, “What is this?”

            “Our song, Dreaming. It was plagiarized. We had to perform it yesterday, or-”

            “Enough,” the President interrupted as he shook his head. But JB just continued, “This isn’t the first time this has happened. If we keep getting scandals like this-”

            “I said enough!” The President snarled. JB fell silent under the angry gaze of his President. The President breathed in deeply, trying to control himself.

            “There’s something else.”

            The President looked up, hearing the difference in JB’s tone. JB’s eyes met the President’s, “I want to make a solo debut.”

            Siwoo, standing outside the door of the President’s office, stiffened. He leaned forward, listening.

            “Carrying Siwoo…it’s already costing us too much. He’s irresponsible and does whatever he wants whenever he wants. We’ve wasted too much time because of him. I want to make a solo debut.” JB told the President in a frank, straightforward manner. He looked at the President, “You know that my words are true.”

            Siwoo’s fists clenched. He turned away.

            “So that’s why you pulled off that stunt yesterday. You wanted time on your own to practice for a solo debut.” The President said, realization dawning upon him. JB looked down, “I shouldn’t have done things this way, but I had no idea what other method I could use.”

            The President studied JB for a long moment. Finally, he asked, “Do you really want a solo debut that badly?”  

            JB only nodded.

            A small smile curved on the President’s lips. He clapped JB on the back, “You really have changed from the naïve boy you were when you first entered the company. Now, listen to me. Because of the rule that states all minors have to attend a compulsory twenty hours of school a week, we have decided to put all our artists in Kirin Art School, to fulfill this requirement. I give you six months, be it a solo or a group. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

            Something seemed to change in JB’s eyes as he repeated, “Kirin Art School?”

            “Yes,” The President confirmed, “Your old school. It should be a good practice place for you.”

            “But why there? That school is lousy-”

            “Then we just have to improve it.” The President rose, “Get your things. We’re leaving to look at the school in half an hour.” He turned away, dismissing JB.

            For a moment, JB looked like he was going to argue further. But then he turned away and headed out of the office. As he shut the office door behind him, Siwoo suddenly appeared, his eyes colder than JB had ever seen before, “So that’s why you pulled that stunt yesterday. I should have guessed.”

            JB’s eyes narrowed, “You were listening outside, weren’t you?”

            Siwoo smiled bitterly, “Why, feeling guilty about it? You didn’t have to drag me along as your accomplice, didn’t I?”

            JB looked up at him, a hint of impatience in his tone as he told Siwoo, “You should have been glad that I dragged you along, accomplice or not.”

            “What?” Siwoo said in disbelief. He looked away, “You…There was no need for you to make me your accomplice, was there? Don’t you think it was really selfish?”

            “Selfish?” JB repeated. Anger and disgust flared in his eyes as he told is teammate, “Since when did you start about thinking others like that? If you had, maybe we wouldn’t be here right now.” With that, he strode past Siwoo, making sure to slam his shoulder into Siwoo’s hard as he passed.

            Rian stared after JB as he stormed past the practice room. She hesitated for a moment, then strode to Siwoo, pointing the sword at him threateningly as she demanded, “What’s going on? Why’re you two so serious?”

            Siwoo gave an apologetic smile as he replied, “Sorry, but we’ve all been ordered to cease our activities because of us.”

            Rian’s eyes widened, “Really?” Siwoo just nodded. Rian clapped her hands together in delight, hardly believing her luck, “That’s great!”

            Siwoo blinked, “You…you’re not mad?”

            Rian smiled, “Of course I’m not! I’ve been so busy lately, what with all the filming and performances. At least now I can take a bit of a break!” She hit him on the shoulder lightly, her smile bright as she said, “You two…for once I actually like you guys!”

            Siwoo pretended to look hurt as he asked in a wounded tone, “You mean you don’t like us?”

            RIan stuck her tongue out at him playfully. Siwoo chuckled, the smile on his face wide. Then he remembered the conversation he just had with his leader, and the playful cheeriness faded from his face. With a wan smile completely unlike his usual self, he waved bye to Rian, walking back to his car.

            Rian frowned. There was definitely something wrong between Siwoo and JB.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            “What?” Jin Yoo Jin leapt to his feet in disbelief, “You got fired? But you’re the best dancer!”

            Ui-Bong glared bitterly at the ground, “All thanks to that stupid JB…I don’t understand why people even like a jerk like that. Those idols, they think they can do anything they want…”

            “What a jerk!” Yoo Jin agreed.

            Ui-Bong shook his head, “Let’s not talk about that jackass. Come on, let’s go.”

            With that, the two best friends got to their feet tiredly, heading off to class. 

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New chapter up! Not much original plotline introduced in it, pretty much just what happened in the video, although I tried to put in a bit more JB/Rian in it. Plus a little pinch of Siwoo/Rian :) Anyone like Siwoo/Rian? I realise that neither Yoo Jin nor Haesung have appeared much yet; Haesung hasn't even appeared yet. Yoo Jin is has a bigger role in my story, so he's gonna appear more often, while Haesung's role doesn't really expand that much until in a few chapters time...although she'll definitely appear in the next chap.

I saw a couple of pretty good guesses as to why they broke up...But of course, you'll have to read on to find out what really happened. It's really a lot more complicated, trust me. On a side note, did anyone watch Ep 9 and 10 of Dream High 2 today/yesterday? I loved the end where JB and Rian held hands and smiled at each other <3 And it seems like the Kirin pple and the Idols are finally becoming friends. Can't wait for next week!

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