Zico sat on a table with his legs crossed and looked around at his bandmates, checking on them. Everyone seemed to be well occupied, practicing choreo in the mirrors or finishing last-minute styling. There was one spot in the room that was still, and the leader picked this spot to focus on.
     "Kyung..."
No answer. He spoke up. "KYUNG?"
This  was getting ridiculous. Zico is ignored by no one, much less his best friend. He threw an empty water bottle at the back of Kyung's head and shouted this time.
   "YAH. PARK KYUNG. ARE YOU AWAKE OVER THERE?" Although this was a stupid question. Of course he was awake, there was only a little while left until the showcase and the whole room was filled with nervous energy.
   "Eh?" Kyung rubbed his head and checked his hair in the mirror. "Sorry Jiho, did you say something?"
At this Zico was stunned into silence. He had expected the water bottle to come flying back, and for his friend to laugh and maybe call him a name. The last time Kyung had been this polite to Zico, Kyung had been upset about a ruined (and apparently expensive) t-shirt. Zico quickly went over a mental list of his recent transgressions, as there were always a few at least, but he couldn't remember doing anything to upset Kyung specifically... He felt instantly guilty, and hopped off the table towards his friend. Whatever he had done, this wasn't the right time for them to talk about it. All he could do was cheer Kyung up, and keep him thinking about the upcoming performance and promotions. He stood behind Kyung's chair and smiled at him in the mirror.
   "This is daebak, right? Did you see how many fans are here?"
   "No, I didn't look outside... are there a lot?" He looked worried and started fixing his hair again, but Zico pulled him back into the chair and started rubbing his shoulders. Whatever was wrong with Kyung, the thought of Block B's impending success would undoubtedly cheer him up.
   "Oh yeah, lots. But this is just the start! We have performances all week, and filming for shows. There will be more fans every time! And then they'll probably ask us to do photoshoots and more shows.."
   "Jiho?"
   "And I bet Jihoonie or Jaehyo could get an acting gig, plus we'll have a chance to win all sorts of awards," Zico was getting a bit breathless and staring at a spot in the distance, imagining the group's rosy future, but Kyung still look worried and tried to get his friend's attention again.
   "Jiho, but what if.." but Zico was in full flow now, talking fast in the way only lead rappers can.
   "Maybe we'll even do subunits and collaborations, can you imagine it Kyung? We could do songs with the best of the best! Big Bang! BAP! Even rookie groups! We'll go on world tours! Right? Kyung?" he finally broke off and looked down at his best friend and saw that he was slumped with his face in his hands, and worst of all it seemed he wasn't even listening to Zico's plans for world domination. Whatever was upsetting him was clearly very serious. There were barely 5 minutes left before they had to go to the stage, so Zico decided to just apologize and hope it was enough for now. He circled around to the front of Kyung's chair and crouched with his hands on Kyung's knees.
   "Listen, Kyung, I.." but he got no further before Kyung dropped his hands from his face and interrupted in a tense whisper.
   "JIHO. What if.. what if it's awful? What if one of us trips, or our voices crack? What if we don't win a single award, and after all we did to come back we're not successful at all?!" He stopped and stared at the group's leader, who looked utterly surprised at Kyung's outburst. For just a moment he seemed to consider the idea, and then he laughed so loud that everyone in the room looked towards them. Zico popped up and dragged Kyung to stand up with him, and put a hand on each of his friend's shoulders to stare in his face. He was grinning from ear to ear as he answered Kyung.
   "Who the hell cares, Kyung?! Aren't we having fun? We can provide for ourselves, and our families, and we make cute girls smile wherever we go! We have the best life I can think of!" Kyung's face looked shocked, for about two seconds. Then he broke out in a smile so wide it was impossible to tell he had been upset a moment ago. There were about a hundred things he wanted to say back to Zico, but at that moment a PD stuck her head into the room and announced that it was time to leave for the stage. Zico and Kyung stayed where they were for a moment, grinning, while everyone moved towards the door, and Kyung took the opportunity to say quietly,
   "You're a good leader Jiho." Zico smirked and stood up, pulling Kyung with him.
   "I really am, huh?" And he headed for the door, ducking so that the bottle Kyung threw at him missed.