The Eternal Cycle I

Jaejoong leaned against a brick wall as the sun beat down on his face. He squinted and turned his head, not only for the camera, but for instinct’s sake. Dressed in a dark cardigan and a slightly open, white-collared shirt, he made micro-movements as the camera went “click, click, click” every few seconds. Choosing to go to northern India for his ELLE shoot had turned out better than a lot had expected. Along the way, some of his staff had complained on and on about how they had lost track of time, how they needed to check the news, and how it seemed like there was nothing around. Hearing all of this, Jaejoong had simply stared out the back of the van while watching an elephant-sized dust cloud trail behind them. 

“Good work Jaejoong! I think we got the shot!”

Jaejoong blinked his eyes once, then twice. The photographer’s words had snapped him back to reality. Even though he was sure he had been spacing out for the past minute or so, apparently the pictures were satisfactory. Jaejoong watched as the director started to click through the shots on the computer, but for the first time, he didn’t join them in monitoring. He just sat there—a little bored and still in awe of his surroundings. He was determined to explore the place. With the sudden urge, he hastily bowed to both the staff and the photographer, nodding when they informed him of when he should be back so that they could move to the next location.

In India, there was peace. Sure, he still had to finish the photo-shoot and interview later, but in general, his life was much more slow-paced here than in Japan or Korea, where if he didn’t have a song to record, he would have a drama to film. He would definitely tell Yoochun and Junsu all about the feeling later. 

★ ☆ ★

As Jaejoong sat in front of the interviewer, he felt more relaxed as usual. The words seemed to flow out of his mouth. Not that he didn’t think before he said anything of course, but the questions were just comfortable for him to answer. They delved into his acting experiences such as with “Dr. Jin” or “Code Name: Jackal.” While explaining his character in “Code Name: Jackal,” Jaejoong emphasized how he shared many similarities with the man he was portraying. Both men were singers. Both men were required to show perfection at all times, so much so that people forgot that they are humans too—naturally imperfect beings. 

Soon the conversation began shifting from his career in acting to his career in music. He made sure to explain that he did not want to leave his musical career, but instead just wanted to give himself more time to do extra things, like acting. With his increased efforts in acting, “more and more people knew about Kim Jaejoong. But to overseas fans, overlooking the group JYJ and still associating me with the past Youngwoong Jaejoong, this is a bit regretful. It is an issue with time. I will have to work harder.”

He decided to conclude the interview by saying that, in the past period of eight to nine years, what remains is eternity. But he doubted whether or not popularity and fame, embracing hope and challenging spirit could be maintained forever. Even with that itching sense of dread though, Jaejoong believed what has fought to remain from the past will forever be eternity. And after that has been immortalized? Jaejoong pondered to himself for a moment before answering his own question internally: Well, then it is just back to the beginning.

★ ☆ ★ 

Yunho set down the magazine on the coffee table in the Inkigayo waiting room. With Changmin across the room, checking himself out in the mirror, Yunho didn’t dare to say anything to him. The now leader-of-one simply looked at the magazine, visualized Jaejoong’s pictures in his head again, and heard Jaejoong’s voice speak the words to him. At once, it clicked. Life was just a cycle. A cycle in which many things pass, but in which many things start again. In this interview, Yunho felt that Jaejoong had made it abundantly clear he was at the beginning of a new cycle. As for his own life, Yunho paused his thoughts to look over at Changmin, Yunho felt like he was at the starting point of a very unpredictable, but hopeful future.

Author's Note: First I apologize for any careless errors. Late night writing as usual. Also this was based directly off of Jaejoong's Interview with ELLE Korea (and his photo-shoot) last year in October. The quote in the drabble is from him. No altering of the meaning of the words there even though different translations may have different sentence structure/wording and such. Also just pretend that this was posted 2.25 hours ago so that I'm on time hehe.