“Hello, viewers! I am Yoo Jae Suk here for Bright Nights.” The man bowed to both the audience and the camera.

“And I am Go Min-hyun.” His female counterpart on the show bowed, a too bright smile on her artificially full lips.

“Tonight we have two special guests who have been Bad Boys, Good Boys, and even Your Boy. But this year, with their new release of Draco Solis, these stars celebrate more than twenty years as Korea’s shining stars,” Jae Suk proclaimed with his trademark grin. “Please welcome G-Dragon and Taeyang.” Rising, he moved to greet the pair.

G-Dragon moved easily onto the stage before folding into his trademark ninety-degree bow. He then took Jae Suk’s hand, shaking it firmly before moving to stand by the red winged back chair prepared for him. Taeyang entered grinning goofily, holding Ji-Yeon in his arms. Inclining his head, he greeted Jae Suk as best he could with the baby in his grip. A twinkle entered Jae Suk’s eyes as the baby buried her face against Taeyang’s neck. Once the duo was seated, Jae Suk settled once more on his white stool. G-Dragon immediately managed to sprawl – leaning back in the chair and crossing his legs loosely at the knee – while Taeyang settled Ji-Yeon safely in his lap.

“Thank you both for joining us,” Min-hyun said, her voice oozing the sticky sort of charm television personalities mastered so thoroughly. “We are honored that such magnificent artists would join us.”

GD simply bobbed his head and answered with a quick, “Neh.” The transformation between the loving Uncle Ji and the cool G-Dragon was nearly palpable as he wrapped his stage persona firmly about himself. He did not even seem to mind the way Min-hyun was staring holes into his body, as though she could peel back the layers of his red jacket and black shirt to find shining white flesh.

“And you brought a special guest with you, I see. Would you introduce us all to her, Taeyang?” Jae Suk added lightly.

Grinning, Taeyang shifted Ji-Yeon on his lap so she was facing the camera. He then grabbed one of her chubby little hands and waved it. “Hello,” he said, making his voice higher in a parody of the baby’s voice. “My name is Choi Ji-Yeon. Please take good care of me.” The audience immediately cooed at the way the baby Taeyang then wiggled Ji-Yeon playfully in his lap, making the baby giggle brightly.

A flash of confusion flickered across Min-Hyuk’s face before she hid it behind a polite smile. “Choi Ji-Yeon?” she repeated gently. “And why is that you two have such a, uh, special guest with you today? Is she part of your promotion team?”

GD smiled cooly. “Neh. Ji-Yeon is our goddaughter, and we are taking care of her this week. Jae Suk was kind enough to invite her onto the show as well, so we would not be worried after her while filming.”

“Is she.. T.O.P’s daughter?” Min-hyuk’s smile had become tight.

Taeyang nodded, looking as calm and collected as always. “His and Daesung’s, yes. We are very glad they trusted us enough to let us watch after their princess.”

Min-hyuk leaned back in her chair and shot Jae Suk a look that was filled with razors and disgust. “Why did you let them bring her onto the show?” she asked in a low undertone. “An abomination like that has no place on Korean television.”

The room fell still; even the audience did not dare to make a sound. GD quickly recovered from his shock and moved to open his mouth; but, Jae Suk silenced him with an upraised hand. Turning to the woman, Jae Suk gazed deeply into her eyes. “Min-hyun, I think you should excuse yourself from the show today,” he murmured, his usually bright voice hard. “It is an insult to me that you would treat my special guest with so much disrespect. I do not want to see you on my stage again.”

The woman gaped at him. “W-what? But.. she is an abomination! Two men can’t be her fathers. That is not –“

“I am sorry, but did you not hear me?” Jae Suk raised an eyebrow at her. When the woman began to screech curses and insults, he nodded to the security guards, who quickly escorted her away.

GD and Taeyang both left their eyes locked on Jae Suk until the soft choking sound of Ji-Yeon’s tears drew their attention; Min-hyuk’s screaming had upset the baby girl. Immediately, Taeyang began to bounce her on his lap. “You’re okay, Princess Ji-ji,” he murmured. “Everything’s alright. Uncle Jae Suk made sure the nasty lady left.”

Reaching into his pocket, GD produced his iPod and quickly selected a song. As T.O.P’s “Doom Dada” began to play, Ji-Yeon fell still and leaned her head back on Taeyang’s shoulder. At his best friend’s confused look, GD shrugged. “I read the manual,” he drawled.

Jae Suk cleared his throat. “Did you two want to start over or continue going?”

A wide, gummy smile turned GD’s lips. “Let’s keep going. I think our princess won’t mind now that she’s in better company.” He stopped the song once the baby girl had settled the rest of the way down.

“Well, since she has already made such a splash, why don’t you introduce us to Choi Ji-Yeon? And then we can talk about your new cd and have you sing for us,” Jae Suk said, setting aside his note cards for the time being.

“Ji-Yeon is just eight days shy of being a year old,” Taeyang declared proudly. “She actually came all the way to Korea in order to celebrate her first birthday with her family next week. It seemed much easier for the Choi family to come here than for the entire YG family and Daesung and T.O.P's families to fly to the United States.” He laughed easily.

GD grinned and let Ji-Yeon steal his finger to gnaw on. “We are very glad she was able to come visit. Taeyang, Seungri, and I have been waiting to spoil our goddaughter. Daesung is a very concerned father, so he won’t let us baby her too much. But while he’s away..” G-Dragon wiggled his eyebrows playfully. “We’re going to treat her like the princess she is.”

“She is very beautiful,” Jae Suk agreed easily. “Just like a proper princess. And she looks so much like T.O.P – right down to her eyes. Do you know how Daesung feels about that?”

The two performers felt a bit out of their depth; talking about Seunghyun and Daesung’s relationship so openly was something they had never considered. A few veiled questions would have been radical enough, certainly, but this situation was different. Jae Suk was not shying away from the subject at all. If anything, it felt as though the man was inviting them to speak about the matter - to break that ice. “I believe their next child will be Daesung’s biologically,” G-Dragon answered after a moment. “When they’re ready for another one, that is.”

“Yeah, I think it’ll take a couple of years, though,” Taeyang added. “Both T.O.P and Daesung work very hard to make sure Ji-Yeon is well taken care of. I don’t think I’ve seen better parents.”

“Does it make either of you want to settle down and have a family of your own?” Jae Suk asked easily.

Taeyang ducked his head. “You know I’ve been saying for years that I want to settle down and start a family. I can’t wait to be a dad. Watching Daesung and T.O.P has only confirmed that for me.” He snuck a glance at GD.

“Well, I am sure when you find the right person, you will have a wonderful family,” Jae Suk laughed. “So, tell me about Draco Solis. That is Latin for ‘Dragon Sun,’ isn’t it?”

The trio fell easily into the interview; talking about the inspirations for the songs and how the promotion process was different from their either releases. They even addressed rumors that G-Dragon had been approached by an American label that was interested in having him do a release abroad. Ji-Yeon slept through most of the interview, except when the pair got up to perform and Jae Suk took his turn holding her.

At the end of the interview, Jae Suk beamed at G-Dragon and Taeyang – the kidnapped Ji-Yeon still on his lap. “Thank you, G-Dragon and Taeyang, for coming and spending some time with us here on Bright Nights. We hope you and the rest of Big Bang will come join us again soon. I would love to have you, Seungri, Daesung, and T.O.P come on the show.”

G-Dragon’s calm façade nearly broke at that; Daesung and T.O.P had not appeared on Korean television since news of their relationship broke. “I am sure we could do that,” Taeyang cut in smoothly. “Though that might mean you have to spend more time with Princess Ji-ji.” He winked at Jae Suk.

“You act as though that is a trial,” Jae Suk laughed. “Ji-Yeon is welcome on my show any day of any week. She can come back solo, if she wants to. I’d let her!” He bounced the baby on his knee, making her laugh. “This has been Yoo Jae Suk with G-Dragon and Taeyang for Bright Nights. Please give your love and support to their new cd, Draco Solis. And may you always shine!”

When the cameras turned off, the trio made their way backstage – Jae Suk still holding onto Ji-Yeon. Jiyong his bottom lip and turned to face the older man. “Thank you,” he said, folding once again into a bow.

“I was glad you came,” Jae Suk protested gently. “You know I love having my favorite Big Bang young brothers on my shows.”

“For standing up for Daesung and Seunghyun, I mean,” Jiyong added.

Reaching over, Jae Suk gave the songwriter’s shoulder a squeeze. “I knew what you meant, Jiyongie. And I meant what I said when I asked you to bring them on the show with you in the future. I miss my Daesung.”

Youngbae ran a hand through his mowhawk, ducking his head shyly. “I’m sure they’d love to come. But there’s a condition.” He grinned a little. “We have to get pictures of you with Ji-Yeon for them!”

Jae Suk laughed. “I want at least five pictures for myself! If you have the time, why don’t the three of you come over to dinner tonight? Kyung Eun would love to meet Ji-Yeon, and she loves to see both of you.”

Jiyong and Youngbae both tipped into bows. “Thank you, Jae Suk. We would be glad to come,” Jiyong said immediately. “Though..we’ll have to check the baby bible Daesung wrote for us about how to handle Ji-Yeon’s feeding time. We’re still learning a lot about having a baby around.”

“If nothing else,” Jae Suk said with a grin, “Kyung Eun and I could help you with that. We’ve survived raising two boys, and I doubt Ji-Yeon is much different from them, even if she is a one of a kind princess.”

---

So, that’s technically the official second half of “One of a Kind…Mess.” I didn’t get it finished the other day because life got busy. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the Jae Suk cameo. I have a deeeeeeeeep love of Running Man, so I make references to it whenever possible. And, really, I think Jae Suk would be supportive of Daesung and Seunghyun in whatever way he could. I also wanted to address the likely difficult situation ToDae would be in with the Korean media, because I think it would be very complex. Anyway, next chapter features what happens when Seungri joins the party. And it may include more cameos, this time from the YG family.

As always, thank you for reading!