The teasing was at a whole new level when we finally come out to the main room for breakfast.
This time instead of Hoseok being a blushing mess... it's me. He leans back cockily in his chair, taking the ribbing good naturedly. The smirk from Yoongi only has me going redder though.
'You mean you went after him?!' Jungkook asks, acting shocked, though the twist of his lips gives him away. 'He's the scaredy cat! He probably thought you'd eat him up!'
The quick reply from Seokjin shocks everyone.
'He'd be so lucky. She's excellent at that!'
The turning of shocked faces to him has him grinning and blushing.
'Stop staring and eat! I didn't make this for it to go cold or to waste!' Seokjin says into the silence, a blush slowly taking over his face as he tries to remove the stares from him.
'I guess I'll have to try that next...' murmurs Yoongi from next to me, causing the next round of whiplash as he calmly continues to eat, ignoring the stares.
The silence is broken from Taehyung stealing food from Jungkook, causing the next squabble.
Ah, I am truly in this Bangtan Life now.
****
'The lawyers have been getting offers for us.' Seokjin adds into the conversation as we clean up breakfast, looking at his messages from his tablet.
'What kind of offers?' Asks Namjoon.
'You name it, it's been offered. Brand names coming to us directly, other production companies willing to sign us, collabs, other law firms offering to add or replace them, North Korea...'
'Wait, North Korea?!' Shouts about half the group.
Puzzled, Seokjin scrolls back and nods after confirming.
'Yeah, I know weird. They're offering something like sanctuary I think. They don't go into the details with the quick notification, but I am guessing it has to more to do with the quarantine and less with us being suspended.'
Looking at the shocked faces, Yoongi quickly but quietly speaks up.
'Everyone who wants to just ignore the North Korean offer say Bang.'
A quick "Bang" from everyone, myself included, lets Seokjin continue scrolling as the rest talk about what this means.
****
'So do we tell them to contact HYBE or do we let the lawyers handle independent contracts?' Hoseok asks, looking unsure of what he just said.
'I would normally offer to just hand it and all the headaches involved to HYBE, but with us in suspension...' Namjoon rubs the back of his neck, considering the problem.
'Can we even leave the dorm with the quarantine still in place?' Asks Taehyung, getting a nod from Jimin.
'Quarantine will end. And we aren't under arrest, so we can't be held here after it lifts. The contracts likely are for when we have more accessibility to their stages and crews.' Yoongi points out.
'What about the other companies?' I ask quietly. The frowns that grace their faces make me regret it immediately.
'As much as I love my friends I don't want to join their companies.' Jimin says, shaking his head.
'I think we could make a point for having an independent acting company for those of us who have offers for that. BigHit kinda fumbled that one for several of us. I got lucky with Hwarang.' Taehyung suggests.
With Seokjin closing the tablet down he grabs his notebook for the suspension issues and starts writing furiously, trying to catch up with the conversation.
As they go over the details of what to look into with the offers with the lawyers, I head back to my room to grab my yoga mat, unsure of when their powwow will end.
****
Slowly opening my eyes to the bright afternoon light I take in the forms around the room as I settle my breathing.
Namjoon is back out on the balcony, on the phone. Yoongi and Jungkook are going over something on his laptop at the desk. Seokjin is walking the hallway to their rooms, his voice occasionally pitching louder as he talks to someone on his phone.
Hoseok and Jimin are just watching me from the couch, hooded eyes and smirks on full display.
Taehyung is next to me, doing his closing moves on his yoga mat, eyes shut and earbuds firmly in his ears.
Unfortunately while the yoga did wonders for my body, my mind is still whirring.
'Hey, Y/N, can you take a look at this? I want to make sure I understand the English right.' Yoongi raises his voice just enough for me to hear. Jungkook moves away to make space for me as I approach the desk, coming around to look at the laptop.
'What is it you're trying to do?' I ask.
'One of the offers was for a collab with an American musician, and I asked for it to be forwarded to me so I could look into it.' He replied, moving the machine a bit so that I could see it better.
'That's country artist.' I say, getting a quick look at the name attached to the file. 'Have you guys really ventured into that genre? I know NasX's was proto-country, but it was more a middle finger up to the country music media in general than something that fits the usual mold.'
'Not really. We have something like it here, but it's nowhere as popular as K-pop. We've talked to a couple of country artists that turned ARMY while we were at awards shows, but nothing truly more than congratulations and such.' He turned to me, eyes serious. 'I think we could do a writing collab with one or two in this genre, but we aren't comfortable with actually singing in that style.'
I nod, reading further into the e-mail. 'It looks like that they'd be fine with just the writing or musical base collab, but still offer to do a singing mashup later after the quarantine.'
'I thought that was what they were saying, but some of the English is in words I don't know yet.' Yoongi replies.
'Yeah, local lingo is going to be a thing you're going to come across a lot in the states.' I say. 'I'm from a northern state, so we say pop or soda to refer to carbonated drinks, for example. In the south it's much more common to say coke, as in the product... mainly because they are a major factory business there.'
'Isn't Pepsi also produced in the south?' Asks Jungkook from a club chair nearby, obviously listening in.
'Yes... but they're playing second fiddle to Coca Cola.' I reply. The puzzled look at my comparison has me sitting down on my shins Japanese-style to bring my focus to the both of them.
'Second fiddle refers to orchestra positions. First fiddle plays first position, usually is the one tapped to do solo parts, etc. So second fiddle is working hard to catch up to first fiddle, it hasn't made it yet.' The understanding in their eyes turns to a shook expression on Jungkook, but Yoongi smirks in understanding instead.
'So everyone else is playing second fiddle to us right now.' He says, proudly.
Nodding I agree. 'Yep. And for a couple of years you guys were playing second fiddle to whoever was on top of the K-pop industry, but you were more than talented enough to surpass them.' Groaning at my poor knees reaction to being on the floor I slowly get myself up to standing position, staying bent over at the waist to add some stretching to the movement to get the blood flowing better in my legs.
'Do you like country music?' Asks Jimin from the couch, a lip bitten as he watches me stretch, Hoseok nudging him with his own smirk.
'Depends on the decade, the artist, and the story behind it.' I reply, doing my best to ignore the two perverts on the couch.
'What do you mean?' asks Jungkook.
'Before the 9/11 incident country music could've be described as folksy. It's actually the parent music of folk and bluegrass music.' The puzzled looks has me hold up a finger, asking for them to wait. 'After 9/11 the country music turned nationalistic in the extreme, pushing really a specific agenda in the political realm of the Midwest states... not that country music isn't liked all over, it's just predominant in the states that are in the south and Midwest.'
Taking a deep breath I get myself back on track. 'My preference of country really lies in specific artists. I grew up on country artists Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, folk artists John Denver and Jim Croce, and a decent mix of punk, funk, 80s & 90s music, as well as movie soundtracks and a few musical plays my school put on.' A deep breath and I continued.
'There have been a few newer artists in the modern country genre that I like, but they aren't in my music rotation, they don't really fit my personal preferences.' Looking around even the perverted twins on the couch are listening seriously.
'What do you mean they don't fit your preferences?' Yoongi asks.
'I like stories, truths told by the artist. With the folk artists I mentioned they used personal experiences to create story songs that gave the listener an understanding of who they were. With the country artists they told tales and stories with their music, making it feel like you were watching it unfold as they sang. They weren't danceable like modern music is, your music, but it was great to sing along to as you did something else, a chore or driving.'
'Driving is big in the states, yeah?' Asks Hoseok.
'I mean, I guess. It's just a part of daily life there. Public transportation is centered around very specific city centers, buses between are fighting for road space along with all the cars, commercial trucks, and 18-wheelers traveling between points. It's as ubiquitous as street food here.'
'Oobitwitus?' Tries Jimin.
'Mmm.... You-bi-Kwi-tuss' I try to enunciate it by the syllables. 'It's root is Latin, so I can't be sure if it was ever Italian or French, but it means found everywhere and expected to be so.'
The guys murmur the word under their breath a few times, trying to enunciate it.
'Do you think this artist is worth our time?' Yoongi asks. I look at he file again.
'I wouldn't be the right person to ask that. Like I said, I don't really follow modern country music. I mean, I fell down the BTS hole and lost all connections to American radio and the products they try to sell on it.' The smiles from the guys, Jungkook's proud chest puff at my statement, has me grinning. 'You would need a music producer from the states to say if they're worth your time. But who's to say that even they know what you want?'
Yoongi cocks his head at my question. 'What we want?'
'Yeah, a collab is a two-way street. They get something, you get something. I expect it used to be airtime and recognition in the American market, but honestly you guys have the recognition, and are starting to break into the market on your own. What do you want if you collab with them?'
Yoongi looks at the other guys, then out at Namjoon, still pacing the balcony, phone firmly up against his ear.
'Maybe we should figure that out.'