January 2017

Jihoon snuggled closer to his pillow not wanting to wake up, but the sound was too loud. Annoyed, he opened his eyes with a sigh. It was his manager’s incessant knocking.

“Jihoonaa! Yah!”

Another sigh, and he willed himself to get out of bed, trying to shake off the drowsiness from his eyes.

“One minute!” He called out, annoyance clear in his voice.

When he opened the door, his manager, Changmo, burst into view with an impatient look spread across his features.

“What do you need?”

Changmo rolled his eyes, his arms still tucked crossed across his chest. He finally spoke up when Jihoon gave him an impatient flick of an eyebrow.

“You need to see this.”

Jihoon absent-mindedly held the phone that was handed to him, and stole a last glance at his manager before he fixed his eyes on the screen.

“Turn the volume on, I put it on mute.” Changmo instructed the other man as he entered the house and made his way to the couch. He studied Jihoon’s face as the video started to play and had to look away. He knew the sad, disappointed look that was slowly filling Jihoon’s features, which was reminiscent of his early days as a struggling trainee.

Jihoon paused the video midway, his face falling. His latest release, Gang, has just been made a meme.

Not met with this much criticism since his debut as a soloist, he felt the familiar feeling he had which reminded him of two moments in his life: auditioning in his teens and being looked down on because of his looks; and meeting his girlfriend’s parents.

Trying to look unfazed, he faced Changmo with his signature boyish grin.

“Gwenchana, hyung. I’m sure it’ll be okay.”

Changmo just stared at him, not impressed with his acting.

“I know it’s not okay, stop faking it. You worked your off for that song. I guess trends do change.”

Jihoon replied, keeping the big smile on his face.

“Arasso. Then I just have to work harder.” He paused, then added, a little jokingly, “Or maybe I can just quit and live in the countryside, hehe.”

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