You're the One

-21-

If someone had asked Chan to account for the rest of that cursed day, after his meeting with Mr. Park, he wouldn't have been able to. By Tuesday however, his brain had slowly started working again. Someone was responsible for this, and Chan intended to find that someone and make them pay.

Mr. Park had referred to the Ateez party and said he was approached by an KQ employee. Stray Kids had gone to the party expecting to be among friends, but clearly that had been a mistake. They had been stabbed in the back. Chan still trusted Hongjoong, and decided to call him.

H: Chan Sunbae, how are you? You left so early this Saturday – we missed you.
BC: Drop the honorifics, Captain. I'm calling with bad news. You have a rat on your ship.
H: I have a what now?
BC: Yesterday I attended a meeting with Mr. Park. He was very well informed, about issues that shouldn't be a concern of his, and he got the information from someone at your party.
H: What kind of information are we talking about, Chan? Nothing happened at the party worth sharing, that I know of. It was just another party.
BC: Park finally found out about Minsung.
H: Oh.... Oh, shit! This is bad, isn't it?
BC: Not gonna to lie - it's pretty bad. Needless you say, I'm very interested in finding out who was so eager to inform the owner of my company about this. And then I would like to have a little talk to them.
H: Just a talk?
BC: We'll see.
H: And do you have any suspicion on who it might be?
BC: ...I don't. Will you help me find out?
H: You know I will. No need to even ask. I'll talk to my guys and contact you as soon as I know anything.

They exchanged goodbyes and hung up. When he had been asked if he had any suspicions on who it might be, Chan's first thought had been Seonghwa. But even though Seonghwa had wanted to get in Felix' pants, who wouldn't? Felix was gorgeous, deep down Chan knew that Seonghwa was a good guy. He sighed. There really was no point in speculating any further right now – he trusted that Hongjoong would find the culprit. Both leaders knew that this was unacceptable behavior and needed to be stopped. Artists might not be inclined to help each other, but to actively hurt an artist's relationship with their record company was dishonorable.

He opened his laptop and started his audio editing program. The different tracks in the "comeback" folder stared back at him. 3RACHA was behind schedule, and he felt responsible. They needed more tracks, and they needed to be diverse. Even though he knew all their deadlines, it felt utterly pointless to work on tracks for a comeback for seven of them. Chan felt the darkness deep within him starting to grow, threatening to take him over.

It was no use. He slapped his laptop shut and groaned in frustration. Chan felt like his kids were under attack and that he had failed to protect them. Usually he would deal with his stress and negative thoughts alone, but this time he needed some help. He texted his trainer and asked how soon they could meet. Without waiting for an answer he got up to leave for the gym.