pandemonium

Name: Jung Kyugeum
Age: 19
Previous Profession: YouTube Celebrity

The final member of Pandemonium has been announced, and we couldn't be more thrilled. Jung Kyugeum, a famous internet blogger and YouTube god has been confirmed as the final member of Pandemonium, and you know what this means? YES! It means that Pandemonium is going to be debuting in one month! With an all-star line-up, we're sure they've already gained a lot of attention. We're sure keeping our eyes on them! Fans of Kyugeum have known for quite some time that he was part of the group seeing as he has been regularly updating and posting cool teasers of the other members, but even his most loyal fans were surprised to find that he was the lead rapper! Daebak!

"Kyugeum's talents and charms are always bursting out of him - he is the mood maker of the group. He's so cheerful and fun and goofy that you can't help but smile when you see him. He's very well loved by the staff and the other members of the group, as well as by his individual fans. We hope he'll be able to charm you with his ferocious on-stage charisma the way he has charmed us."

One month later...

One month until debut.

Just one more short month and they'd be standing on stage together, singing their hearts out as they serenaded their fans and showed them how hard they'd been working and how far they had come. And they had come far, through all of their struggles and pains together, working hard enough to stay together as a group and not lose even a member of their now finalized 6 member group. Each and every one of the boys had pushed themselves to their breaking points to do their best, somehow finding the strength to keep it together in the face of their suffering and growing closer despite their bickering and fighting amongst each other. Now, they'd come out of this experience on top of it, weary and exhausted, but nearly at the end of their trials together.

Well, all of them except Jung Kyugeum. He had watched them in the face of adversity; he had seen them struggle and fight with themselves and their own fears and lacking skills, watching them blossom into idols and surpass their weaknesses. They had all started as six boys, six strangers thrown together on a crazy whim by their CEO, faced with nearly impossible odds, and the other five had conquered. But here he was, still struggling to get the choreography down.

He had stayed late nights like the rest of them - even put forth that extra effort and it just wasn't enough. He couldn't help but feel down about the whole situation, seeing as he was the only one who wasn't ready to debut while the others had more or less gotten down their parts so well by now that he didn't know what to do. He had sighed in frustration so many times that night and ran through the choreography again, then again, and then yet again as he still wasn't getting the moves correct.

“Kyugeum, you'll be filming your music videos in a couple weeks and you're in the front of the choreography for a good chunk of Very Good. Not to mention your debut stage is a month away, and you're going to be performing in front of a sold out crowd,” Jangsuk spoke quietly, running through the moves with the blonde and trying to point out the points that Kyugeum couldn't attain. He couldn't help but think gratefully that the choreographer was such a patient trainer, always putting up with Kyugeum's hundreds of mix-ups and countless forgotten moves. The older male never got angry, just calmly corrected the motions and reminded Kyugeum what was at stake every time he felt so depressed about himself.

Yonghwan CEO had already rented out an arena for their showcase concert just a few weeks ago, choosing a venue that would comfortably seat an ambitious 4,000 fans in hopes that the popularity of the individual members would bring fans from other genres flocking in to catch a glimpse of their favorite star-turned-idol. The hope that they were all pinning themselves on was that these individual fans would be charmed by the other group members and would be captured by the group itself. When the boys finally found out the news, Kyugeum thought four thousand people was an awful lot and, even though he didn't really suffer from stage fright as badly as some of the others might be, he was more than a little nervous.

If he was the one that messed up in front of that crowd, tripping and causing a big huge chain reaction that caused the others to fall all over the stage; if he caused the disaster that ruined it for everyone... Kyugeum just couldn't bear the thought of it, and with that in mind, he kept practicing diligently with his usual sunny smile across his face despite how sore his body was.

“Neullie, I need a massage... Everything hurts,” Kyugeum whined later that night at the dorm as he dropped down face first onto the ottoman in front of where Haneul was sitting. The maknae reluctantly glanced over from the television his eyes had previously been glued to and without hesitantion, sighed as he moved off of the couch and toward the ottoman obediently. It was obvious even to Haneul that Kyugeum had been working his muscles to their absolute limits; even if they both made sure that he stretched before hand, the blonde male always came home sore and aching and begging for a back rub from whomever he could corner - usually being Haneul.

Haneul didn't really mind doing so to help Kyugeum at all, though he complained about it sometimes just to complain. He knew the older male needed the comfort, both mentally and physically, since he was obviously stressed out about being the only member that couldn't get the hang of the choreography. While most of their schedules were booked from top to bottom as they drew closer to their debut, Kyugeum definitely had it the worst. He was still forced to update his social media and vlog on an almost daily basis on top of working tirelessly on finishing the final songs on the album, attending the photoshoots they had been booked for, the regular workouts with Youngwoo, and spend tons of extra hours at the choreography studio after the rest of them had already left for the dorm.

Recently, they had been working on keeping their voices strong while they danced the choreography on stage since it was still fairly easy to lose their breath or falter when dancing so hard as they were still rookies. Even worse was the training method as they had to do push ups and sit ups while belting out their lyrics, or run laps while singing - that was really the worst when both Youngwoo and Yoonae were there to make sure that they did both correctly. The vocal instructor was determined to have a presentable group of rookies that would be able to sing without an audio-over, to be able to surpass even veteran idols, even if the boys thought that it was an unrealistic expectation.

“You boys have already defied all of our expectations and gone far above what we could have ever dreamed you would accomplish,” she had spoke to them so warmly with such a wave of affection and love that they couldn't help but to melt under the bliss of her compliment. Yoonae had always been there for them whenever they needed it most; protecting and shielding them like a guardian angel from the other staff members when she felt they had gone too far, making delicious home cooked meals when she thought they needed to eat better, and always being there to encourage them when they felt down. “You can accomplish anything you put your minds to.”

Actually, both Yoonae and Boyoung had both been pillars of strength for the boys as they had fought through their struggles, the two noonas were always there to cheer them up with their motherly or flirtatious natures unlike a certain coordinoona duo. Kyugeum couldn't help but smile to himself as he thought of all the kind things the staff had done for him and the others, and he knew he didn't want to let any of them down with just how much effort and time they had spent on the group. The staff had worked just as hard to push them to be the best that they could be, and Kyugeum could only repay their kindness with his own hard work.

He knew as well that he wouldn't disappoint the others, which was why he needed to pull it together and work harder than he thought he possibly could. At least for now, Haneul's soft hands worked circles of pleasure through his taut arm muscles as he felt himself relax under the younger male's gentle care, sighing in bliss. “Mm, Neullie, you're the best,” he murmured as his muscles slowly began unknotting and unwinding after his long day's work.

Haneul, for his part, just smiled as a mild blush appeared over his cheeks. He was happy to be able to help in any small way he could, even though he would never say it out loud. The others had long since gone to bed, but Haneul had started waiting up for Kyugeum to make sure the energetic blonde hyung made it home safe after each practice session. They always spent a few hours together while the others snored in their beds, happy to have some time away from the hustle and bustle of what was literally Pandemonium between them.

“So, Neullie, I've been wondering,” Kyugeum stated suddenly, interrupting Haneul's sentimental thoughts with rolling over unexpectedly so that he could grin devilishly up at Haneul.

Haneul blinked at this seemingly random statement and withdrew his hands, suddenly feeling a little nervous as he was now face to face with Kyugeum, but the blonde male instantly whined and put his hands back to work on his sore forearms. “What have you been wondering?” Haneul asked warily, pretended to be irritated to hide the real reason behind his blush. Kyugeum didn't notice how much he affected Haneul, however. It was unfortunate and almost drama tragedy worthy really, because the two seemed to have crushes on each other but were too oblivious to the other's feelings.

Meanwhile, through the last five months they had been together, the other members of Pandemonium (including Haeyeon, shockingly) had noticed the interactions between the two and had been secretly trying to drop hints. Even Sangjeon, who hardly got along with the other two occupants of the maknae line, would sometimes randomly tell them to stop beating around the bush and kiss already. It was strange and embarrassing for the two, but it wasn't as bad as the time Taechul locked them in a room together and slipped certain... Tools under the door as he laughed maniacally and skipped away.

But Kyugeum was oblivious to Haneul's budding interest, and Haneul was oblivious to Kyugeum's just as much, which meant they got nowhere with their seemingly obvious relationship. “If TaeSung is the real couple, then who are the rest of us going to be paired with?” Kyugeum asked in a hushed voice as if it was some sort of super duper secret, making Haneul roll his eyes. Ever since Kyugeum had epically ed Taechul and Jinsung last month, he had been theorizing non-stop about the other pairings within the group. He had even asked Haneul several times if he was sure that he wasn't attracted to Sangjeon, to which Haneul could have probably died.

Seriously, there was nothing about that smelly orange haired guy that was attractive, and Kyugeum really needed to get that through his thick blond skull. But Kyugeum always beamed when Haneul disgustedly assured him that even if Sangjeon was the last person on the planet he'd still think he was gross. Haneul didn't know why it made Kyugeum so darn happy, but it was nice to see him smile even if the question was so unbelievable.

The maknae always felt embarrassed when they sat down and talked about pairings and shippings; thinking about all of them made him just feel tired after a while. “Why are we talking about this again, Geum?” he asked with a sigh as he laid back on the couch, suddenly getting that exhausted feeling again as Kyugeum rolled over and propped himself up on his elbows to smile at Haneul.

“Well, you know how fans are. We'll probably have to do fan service based off of those ships,” he clarified cheerfully, his eyes sparkling with entertainment. Kyugeum thought it was incredibly cute when Haneul got embarrassed, since the boy would become all gruff and irritable. But it was true; idols often had to act very close to the person they were most shipped with in order to please their fans and keep the hype alive. If they were boring and not at all charming, they wouldn't be doing their jobs as idols to keep interest in their group.

Haneul shrugged and thought back to that whole embarrassing fiasco in which they completely made unfounded accusations toward the tsundere couple who only liked teasing each other to make themselves feel better about their own crap relationships, "I honestly thought SangSung was real."

Now Kyugeum sighed, shaking his head at their folly that completely turned upside down. He had been pretty sure SangSung was real too, and to see it be something else just made them feel embarrassed on the inside. “Do you think they'll be one of the shipped pairs?” he asked after a moment, trying to see where the appeal in shipping Sangjeon and Jinsung together would come from. They were already told that on stage, Jinsung was going to have to pretend to be cute and shy while Sangjeon pulled on his infamous charms to charm all the ladies. He could honestly see it working, if Jinsung chose to hide behind Sangjeon instead of Taechul; but what was the likelihood of that?

Haneul seemed to be thinking the same thing as he wrapped a blanket around himself, not protesting when Kyugeum crawled up to lay next to him under the blanket, “Nah, Taechul and Jinsung can hardly keep their hands off of each other as is. The fans will pick up on that."

“Yeah, you're right,” Kyugeum admitted with a sheepish chuckle, “And they'd probably see the way Sangjeon is always checking out Haeyeon, too.” It seemed like everything happened around Kyugeum and Haneul as a few days after Kyugeum walked in on TaeSung about to kiss, the maknae then had the unfortunate experience of catching Sangjeon staring intently at Haeyeon like he was going to pounce him at any moment after the muscular swimmer had gotten sweaty and changed shirts in front of them at the dance studio.

He had always been fairly suspicious of Sangjeon having a crush on Haeyeon, but it was only absolutely confirmed that there was something going on with those two when Haeyeon caught the rapper staring and blushed, looking away as he pulled his shirt on. Sangjeon hadn't looked disappointed or mortified that he'd been caught; he had just simply looked curious.

Haneul shifted uncomfortably as the realization suddenly hit him full in the face and his eyes widened. “I guess that means...” he trailed off, blushing a little as Kyugeum sat bolt upright with a bright grin.

“Uh mai gud! It means we're the last ship, Neullie!” he nearly shouted, earning some angry yelling upstairs from what sounded like Jinsung telling them to get their butts in bed. Haneul then grumbled an angry retort as he wiggled his way out of the blanket while Kyugeum grinned and pat him on the head.

“I guess that's our cue to go to bed,” the blonde male said sheepishly and, on a sudden crazy whim of his, leaned forward and kissed Haneul on the forehead. The maknae, shocked beyond belief, yelped and scurried off to his bedroom without managing to even catch Kyugeum's chuckling reaction.

“Oh gosh,” Kyugeum mumbled as he shook his head and made his way up to his own bedroom and the tempting calls of sleep, “He's so cute.” Yes, he had done it on a whim, but a kiss on the forehead was harmless in the world of skinship; it was normal affection between people that had spent such a long time together, wasn't it? He sighed as he dragged himself into the already dark room with a sleeping Haeyeon, knocked out before his head even hit the pillow.

“-up. Geum, wake up. We're going to go work on the choreography together. Come on, the others had their own stuff to do,” Haneul nearly yelled as shook Kyugeum relentlessly to wake him up, determined to help his hyung with his dancing one way or another. He knew Kyugeum was exhausted from last night and let him sleep in until eight, but the others were gone and the house was empty and silent - a perfect time to practice their dancing. Haneul wasn't lonely, but he was bored and felt Kyugeum had slept late enough since the others had been out of the house an hour ago already. Kyugeum stirred for a moment, but only to swat a little at Haneul as the small maknae continued to shake him relentlessly. “Neullie,” Kyugeum grumbled sleepily as he reached out and, in an instant, captured Haneul and dragged him into the bed with him. “Let's just stay like this a while,” he murmured into Haneul's short brown hair, feeling content for the moment while Haneul was frozen in shock.

And then he began struggling, the realization of being caught in such a compromising positin making an instant blush come to his face. “Yah, Geummie! Let me go, we have to go work on your choreography!” he barked angrily as he knocked Kyugeum's heavy arms off of himself and wormed his way back out of the bed, readjusting his messy hair and glaring meaningfully down at the grinning blonde who seemed to be incredibly smug for a half-asleep person.

“Fine,” Kyugeum mumbled as he sat up with a heavy yawn, holding out his arm expectantly and blinking still sleepy eyes at the maknae. Unable to resist, Haneul sighed and rolled his eyes, grabbing the blonde's arm and helping to pull him out of the bed as he wondered how Haeyeon could possibly put up with this every morning. After a minute of fighting as Kyugeum slumped against Haneul and the smaller male struggled to stay standing, the two of them somehow stumbled their ways down stairs where hot coffee was waiting for Kyugeum to help him wake up. Not only that, but there was already speakers set up, an iPod, and furniture moved out of the way for a makeshift dance floor in the living room.

With a dejected sigh, Kyugeum couldn't help but slump in his seat as he sipped his coffee and munched tiredly at an apple that had been left neatly sliced up for him, watching as Haneul bustled about trying to set up the final preparations for their dance practice. The rapper thought that it was a sweet sentiment and, if he wasn't so tired and upset about his poor dancing, he would probably coo and prod at the maknae endlessly for this. But instead, he could merely munch on his apple feeling dismal about his dancing with an impending doom settling in his stomach with every bite of the apple he took.

“Okay hyung, all set. Get up now,” Haneul instructed briskly, wiping a bit of sweat from his brow after all his hard work moving the heavy furniture around and turning around to stare meaningfully at the one and only person he had done all of this for.

Kyugeum's lip now lifted into a tiny little grin, a moment of teasing instantly brightening up his mood. “Hyung? Where is a hyunggg~?” he asked in a sing-song voice, feigning innocence as Haneul had forgotten to call him oppa. Said male simply scowled over at him and crossed his arms, determined that he wasn't going to give in this time and call him oppa; especially not when he was trying to help the older male learn the dance moves. So instead, they quickly engaged in a staring contest, Kyugeum staring at Haneul expectantly while Haneul scowled back.

“... Oppa, get up,” he felt his resolve crack under the pout that Kyugeum was giving in and grumbled begrudgingly while the blonde male now beamed excitedly over at him.

“If Jangsuk can't help me, Neullie... Can you really?” he asked, still celebrating the fact that he had been called oppa by Haneul and even going so far as to pinch the maknae's cheeks as he bounced over and stood next to the boy, trying not to show his skepticism over the situation. He didn't want to show Haneul how worried and upset he was about this entire situation, or to have all of this effort go to waste so easily.

Haneul shrugged and blinked over at him, as if he hadn't really thought of that, but it didn't seem to bother him for very long. “It's nothing as special as that, Kyugeum. It's not that I can help you better than other people can help you, or other people can help you better. Dancing is...” he paused for a moment, searching for the right word as he jammed his index finger into Kyugeum's chest with a grin, hoping that what he had in mind would translate over into words. “Inside you. It's that moment when you forget your troubles and just go with the movements,” he advised almost cheerfully, then blushed and slapped himself on the forehead at just how cheesy it all sounded as he murmuring sheepishly, “Sorry that sounds so stupid."

“Neullie...” he mumbled as a wide smile appeared on Kyugeum's plush lips, still feeling a little skeptical over the whole situation. “I'll try...” Haneul smiled and shook his head, starting the music as he began to roll through the motions - awkwardly at first and with plenty of mistakes left and right. Undeterred, they ran through each song once, then they ran through them all again until Haneul began to notice signs of improvement with each practice. And again, and again until they were both nearly exhausted and the sun was beginning to go down and the other members had begun trickling in.

First, it was Taechul, who returned practically bouncing off the walls since he was more than happy to see the others working hard on the dance. With an excited grin on his face, he immediately changed into a pair of sweat pants and joined the two practicing, followed soon by Haeyeon from a photoshoot, who was happy to try and teach Kyugeum the steps. Jinsung arrived about an hour after those two; he seemed a bit more reluctant to help out and complained that he was sleepy, but was quickly convinced by Taechul to help out. Sangjeon didn't need much convincing (once he saw Haeyeon dancing already) despite arriving so late, and pretty soon the entire group was practicing together in the living room.

Kyugeum couldn't help but thank them profusely as he gulped down the contents of a water bottle, earning confused stares from the others as they couldn't seem to understand why he was thanking them.

Jinsung, who was fanning himself with his shirt, cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. “What are you thanking us for?” he asked as he then moved to the kitchen to begin scooping rice out of the rice-cooker. They were going to be eating a very simple meal that night since they needed to practice, and he'd only cooked up some sauteed vegetables and some tofu for their protein. It wasn't fancy, but it tasted good to the hungry young males as they swarmed around him and devoured it as if they hadn't eaten in days while they chatted.

“For helping me,” Kyugeum responded quickly, between bites of the food and sips of his water, “You guys didn't have to put forth so much effort. You all have your own worries and-”

Haeyeon smiled warmly as he took a drink of the steaming tea that he had made, reaching over to gently pat his roommate on the shoulder. “Your worries are our worries,” he said softly, blushing when the others glanced over at him, “I-I m-mean, that... We w-want to h-help you because-” It became evident that he grew more uncomfortable as he continued, blushing under the scrutiny of the others and hiding his face by sipping at his tea instead.

“What Haeyeon means to say is, we're a team! We do things together. When one of us is having trouble with something, we're all having trouble,” Taechul finished and patted him reassuringly on the shoulder, grinning as Haeyeon agreed what he had meant that all along. The others nodded, some feeling a little embarrassed to be agreeing with such a cheesy sentiment; but it was true none the less. They had started as a bunch of kids tossed together by their CEO, and in a span of five months they had become... Slightly friendlier kids tossed together. They weren't best friends yet, but they were willing to come together and work hard for each other, knowing that it was because they had each other that they had gotten through all of these trials to emerge as one group.

The thought was enough to inspire Kyugeum to work harder as a brilliant grin lit up his features and with his usual chipper gung-ho, he instantly popped up after having finished his dinner to announce that he was going to start practicing again. And just like that, with determination coursing through his veins, Kyugeum began to show almost immediate improvement as he felt the stress he had been holding in for ages begin to dissipate. He was on a team of course, and instead of failing them, he was going to do well for them so that they could all stick together as puzzle pieces into one puzzle.

Meanwhile on the other side of the house, Mayumi and Kyugeum's dog Charles were having another one of their infamous barking fits. Just a few weeks ago, Kyugeum had broke down and asked Sangjeon if he could bring his own dog to the house since he missed him so dearly; seeing Haeyeon with Mayumi had ignited too much jealousy in the normally oblivious blonde. Sangjeon wouldn't have allowed it under normal circumstances, but Haneul had been there watching with narrowed eyes and ready to call out Sangjeon's hypocrisy since he let Mayumi live there. Nevertheless, the rapper grudgingly allowed for the second dog to live there, but still grumbled under his breath at the fact that their entire dorm was going to start smelling like dog soon. Luckily, most of the time, the dogs avoided each other or watched the crazy goings-ons around the dorm, but sometimes (like now) they'd sit and chat about their owners.

“That brat has been staring at my appa again,” Mayumi snarled almost cutely as she had always hated Sangjeon with a burning passion since she had noticed his interest in her precious Haeyeon-appa. She had even purposefully attack him randomly throughout the day, and sometimes steal his socks or clothes and tear them apart when he wasn't paying attention; though her viciousness usually went unnoticed by her target.

Charles on the other hand, was a much kinder and gentler dog, and didn't understand Mayumi's evil streak. “I think everyone is pretty nice,” he commented with a whimper, hiding his nose when Mayumi turned and glared at him. “I-I mean... Haneul and my appa... I think they're nice together.”

Mayumi snorted as she strutted over to begin gnawing playfully on one of Charles' paws and growl out softly, “Are you seriously shipping the humans? That totally figures.”