I Hope Love Is... [On Hold]

Twenty-third Verse

Twenty-third Verse

Sometimes it makes me want to scream
I want to jump up and run away
sometimes it makes me want to cry
I want to hide, where no one can find me...
-translated from “Discontent”
from Future Colors' fourth album Summer Love

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“Agency President will be here in the next few days,” Jungkyu said to Minha. They were both sitting on Jungkyu's bunk, leaning against the wall. Sangmin was asleep and Junhee and Myungseok were busy playing a game on their phones.

“I intend to ask him to change our manager. And I'll ask Jae sunbae to back us up,” he added.

“Huh.” Minha gave him a sidelong look. “It's about time, band leader. But what makes you think he'll listen to you now? Here?”

“Precisely, because he will be here and not at the agency. When we're in Korea, it's hard to get hold of him because he's always busy. But here, we will be able to get his full attention. It doesn't matter if the old man tries to keep us away from him-- this is a big house, but it's not that big.”

“I've been at you to do this for a long time now, remember?”

“I know. Sorry.” Jungkyu gave him a lopsided smile. “But you have to admit, he didn't seem so bad when we first started out.”

Minha snorted.

“”You and I were seventeen. Junhee was sixteen, and the other two were only fifteen. What did we know?”

“We were so eager to please, back then, weren't we? 'Yes, Manager', 'all right, Manager,' 'we'll do our best, Manager,' those were the only things we said.”

“Especially you.” Minha punched him lightly in the arm.

“I was band leader. Of Royal's first idol band. I thought I needed to set a standard.”

Minha made a face.

“I don't even remember when he changed. If he changed-- or if we were the ones who did,” Jungkyu went on musingly.

“I do,” Minha answered. “It was after we debuted. When cuSKYE and the other groups got formed and suddenly we weren't the only group-- well, the only other group aside from Jaeshin-- that Royal had. And he kept nagging at us to stay in the limelight.”

“Even then I thought he was doing it for Future Colors' sake,” said Jungkyu. “That he wanted us to stay popular. Heck, even if he didn't care about us personally but he wanted to be the manager of a really popular band, I'd have understood.”

Minha slowly turned and looked at him.

“What made you change your mind?”

“He got careless.” Jungkyu lifted and dropped his shoulders in a single slow shrug. “That schedule of ours in Japan? Remember that TV show appearance before we had to go home?”

“As if I could forget it!” Minha grimaced.

“It wasn't on our original schedule.”

“Eh?”

“Jae sunbae helped me check. It wasn't on our schedule when we left Korea. We were supposed to return in the early afternoon , right after our CF shoot, so we could rest before the concert. When we got to Japan, he added it to the list. He called Agency President and got his approval, of course-- he convinced him it was good publicity and everything.”