BEHIND THE SCENES

chapter 1: small girl, big dreams

"Oh, right! I remember now!" Hoseok finally added. "Kim Namjoon gave us a promotion and raise following that news... it was no joke."

"Tsk-" Chungha gave Hoseok a disapproving glare as she smacked him on his arm. "Kim Namjoon bujang-nim."

"Kim Namjoon... bujang-nim," Hoseok corrected himself, flashing Chungha an innocent smile before turning back to Jieun. "Yeah- he gave us a huge promotion for that scoop."

"Oh...? Really? Daebak-" Jieun's eyes widened in disbelief. "That's insane... but how did you manage to get your hands on such an exclusive story?"

"You see, that's where the difficulty lies..." Chungha sighed. "It's not easy to find an informant with so much information about a certain incident, and it's even harder to be the ones who find it the first. So it really depends on your luck... but most of the time, we just go undercover to find out more. When people find out that you're a reporter, they're often unwilling to tell you certain things. But when you're one of them, it's a different story."

"Oh?" Jieun raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Mmhmm-" Hoseok hummed along, slurping loudly at his iced coffee. "There was once I had to find out about a crime that happened a while back, so I dressed up as a pregnant lady-"

"Did you say..." Jieun stifled a laugh. "...pregnant lady?"

"That's not the point, Jieun-ssi." But Hoseok chortled, recalling the not-so-fond memory of when he had to sport a huge ass sponge tummy, fake silicone boobs and a itchy blonde wig. "The main point is that, as a reporter, you often find yourself in extremely weird - sometimes even bizarre - situations, but you have to know how to adapt and take control of the situation you are in. And ultimately, at the end of the day, it's all worth it, am I right? After all, every single one of us here wants nothing more than to share as much information as we can to the rest of the world."

Jieun frowned. "But pretending to be someone you're not just to get more information... isn't that a bit... I don't know-"

"Unethical?" Hoseok offered.

Jieun nodded quietly.

"I mean, it's debatable, I guess." Chungha nodded slowly with her arms crossed. "But it's a dog-eat-dog industry we're in - you're not gonna get the success you want if you don't wanna resort to doing such such things - since all our competitors are doing pretty much the same. I guess it is indeed a little questionable though, so if you're not comfortable with it... maybe this isn't the right job for you. It's not that easy, the life of a reporter - people only see our finished product, which is the news broadcast of us sitting down and talking about the worldly events, but not many of them know what actually goes on behind the scenes. It's not an easy job - not at all."

Jieun blinked a few times. Hoseok and Chungha... they were right.

"Ya..." Hoseok frowned at Chungha disapprovingly. "There's no need to make it sound so... scary."

"I'm not saying this out of spite though, Jieun-ssi," Chungha said gently as she patted Jieun's hand that rested on the table. "I'm being very serious, because I wanna give you the best advice anyone can give as someone who has been in the industry for quite some time now. It's extremely tough, even for Hoseok-oppa and I. We really had - and still have - to work very hard to make a good name for ourselves, as well as KNJ News."

Hoseok nodded quietly. "We reporters do have a basic code of ethics we follow - truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, and public accountability. But other than that, it's up to an individual to decide the own limit of their morals when it comes down to retrieving information. I'm sure you yourself knew all this before deciding to join this harsh industry, am I right?"