Well, it was nice to ride on that success of NCT for a good, short while.
Maybe, Soo Man-sshi won't demote me too much?
Hopefully... He'll still allow me to work in SM.
... Right?
With a strained smile, Jiwoo walked over to the awaiting boys and Minah. Her nerves were through the roof now, her mind completely occupied of the consequences to come. Maybe if she visits the shaman right after this horrible trip trap, she can save the boys' career one way or another.
"Guys, this is my new best friend, Shim Jiwoo," Minah introduced the moment the girl reached them. With the exception of Haechan, the three youngest all held shocked expressions at her presence. She noticed, but decided not to voice it. "She's our newest addition to the team!"
Regardless of the obvious tension between the new girl and the younglings, NCT's leader was the first to greet her. "Hello, I'm Taeyong, welcome! Please take care of us," he chimed as he held out his hand towards her.
Hesitant movement, but Jiwoo eventually met his hand with hers. "I will try my best. There's also no need for introductions, I've made sure to know who is who."
"Ah, that's great, so you must know about me then?" Japanese member, Yuta, asked next with a wink that threw the girl off guard.
Minah let out a giggle as she stood by bewildered Jiwoo's side for mere support. "Ah, Yuta, please, don't scare her off!" She averted her attention onto the younger. "Where did you just come from?"
A sheepish look crossed the brunette's face as she held up her banana milk. "I was just at the kitchens to grab a drink."
"Oh, so you must've seen Donghyuck, then," Minah quipped knowingly. "He didn't do anything to you, did he?"
Pursed lips. "No. Why would he?"
As she said that, she could see Mark, WinWin, and Jaehyun's faces contort into confusion. They must know that their maknae would be the one to approach her. They knew her, she knew them, a chatty and nosy Haechan would be expected.
"Well, that's good," Taeil responded next with a nod. "He tends to leave a big impression on people. Sometimes, not a good one."
Ha, you sure got that right!
Jiwoo only shrugged in a nonchalant manner. "Well, who knows, maybe he can leave a good impression next time."
"Aw, that's the spirit!" Minah beamed, giving Jiwoo's shoulder a good smack. A smirk pulled at the older's lips as she asked, "That just means you'll be hanging out with us more, yeah?"
The composer eyed her unnie, not believing how stupidly she walked into that. Minah sure does have this skill on putting words Jiwoo doesn't mean into her mouth. She is going to screw herself over one day with mistaken promises.
"We'll have to see," the brunette murmured. "Being an intern doesn't give me that much free time."
"You're an intern?"
The girl's slitted eyes landed instantly on Jaehyun. Her lips were pressed into a thin line from the sudden anticipation. That boy wasn't going to call her out, was he? To admit that he saw her on the seventh floor?
They held their stares for one another for a good moment before Jiwoo bared a small grin and answered slowly, "Yeah, what else would I be?"
"On the seventh floor?"
Omo, I didn't think he'd flat out say it...
The others glanced over at Jiwoo with shock. "Hold on a second," Yuta uttered, a laugh out of his disbelief. "Are you, by any chance, ghost girl?!"
Minah couldn't contain her snickers. "Oh my gosh, Jiwoo-yah, when you told me you ran into them, it was that very day?" She questioned oddly with enthusiasm. "The boys kept going off about meeting a girl in white on the seventh floor."
Jiwoo wasn't sure about how to feel about the situation before her. Will she now always be seen as that ghostly girl that scared the daylights out of them? What a great way to being remembered... Just fly her to the sun then, it would be much better than standing here.
"Hey, you saved their asses then!"
"D-Did I?" Jiwoo mumbled to Minah, snapping out of her running thoughts.
"Yeah, as much as we respect and like Seokju-sshi, he's a strict man when it comes to rules and work," Taeyong explained for her. "If you hadn't told him what you said, all of us probably would be doing extra hours of practice to make up for what our childish kids did." At this, Jaehyun, WinWin, and Mark glanced away out of their guilt. "But, Jaehyun-ah said you ended up being their heaven-sent angel."
Angel?
"Hyung!" Jaehyun hissed out, his pale cheeks flushed a rosy red.
Jiwoo couldn't help but feel flustered at the term too. Just earlier, from Haechan, she was seen as a ghost. But to this boy, an angel? All she did was tell her cousin to put them off with a warning. After all, NCT were her boys, she didn't want anything bad to happen to them.
Being called an angel was stretching it a bit.
"Gosh, no, it's nothing," the dark-haired lass waved off dismissively. "I'm sure Seokju would've listened to anyone if they were like me."
"I don't think he would," Mark piped up for the first time since Jiwoo arrived. "He would punish when he thinks right and us being on the seventh floor was a big violation so..."
"Actually, now that I think about it, he wouldn't listen to an intern, would he?" Yuta pointed out.
Minah then put in, just as she remembered it, "Oh, I forgot! Yeah, Jiwoo's his cousin." All six of the boys gawked at the girl in topic, as if they needed the confirmation.
She just nodded at them. "Yeah, Minah-unnie is right. Seokju and I are cousins."
"Ah, now it makes sense... You two seem so different, though..." Taeil chuckled, scratching the back of his neck.
"God forbid if I'm anything like my cousin," Jiwoo quipped, earning some laughter from the boys. "But seriously... I didn't do anything special, it's honestly still surprising that he listened to me."
Taeyong beamed at her, "Either way, thank you."
All of a sudden, interrupting their conversation, calls were shouted from afar that they will resume filming in a couple minutes, while Haechan was near done to preparing the snacks for the boys. This meant that interacting time was over for the two girls. "Speaking of snacks, come with me to get some?" Minah asked the younger girl, linking her arms with hers.
"Ah, I should really be getting back to what I was doing," Jiwoo cut in, cautiously slithering her arm free. "It's an important task, and I can't waste anymore time on it."
"Wow, you're one busy intern," The older huffed, tucking a strand of her lighter brown hair behind her ear. "But I have a question."
"Shoot."
"What's the seventh floor like? You work for the composers and songwriters up there, right?"
The secret composer bared a small, knowing smile. "It's just... very quiet usually."
"And it's not haunted?"
"Did you also believe Jaehyun?"
At this, Minah shook her head a little too quickly. "Ah, of course not! I'll let you go now, but come back for when we have dinner, okay?"
Jiwoo only nodded before baring her goodbye and hurried away from the area.
She had to admit, her heart was racing faster and faster the longer she had stayed with those boys. If she had stayed a second longer, surely her heart would've jumped out of her own ribcage. It was calming down now, but it didn't decrease her concerns about their futures. "They don't look like guys who would be in a scandal, right?" She murmured to herself. "It's way too early for a scandal, isn't it?"
On the pathway back, she saw something odd at the front of the resting quarters. Curious, she approached, what looks to be, a slip of paper stuck at the foot of the sliding door. She squatted down and noticed it to be a billnote, a ₩5,000. With a gasp, she quickly pulled it out from under the door and observed it.
It was the real deal. She found actual money just lying about. She had her fair findings of coins, but never something as much as this before.
Jiwoo glanced around at her surroundings for anyone who may have dropped it accidentally.
There was no one in sight.
Well, she guessed she'll have to hold onto it for now.
She stuffed the bill into her pocket and entered the building. It was time to get back to work.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
May it be a stroke of luck that she managed to compose yet another song, but it was beginning to wear the poor girl out. Jiwoo placed down her composing notebook and her laptop, and stretched out the exhaustion from her. She hit her limit for today. Maybe if she tried to have a couple hours of rest, she can continue.
... She doubted it.
She barely has the energy to finish the second song. The only time she completed such a task in one day was when she helped compose songs for SHINee's last album. It does help a bit that the five men group were her ultimate bias group.
Jiwoo would do anything for them.
"Maybe I should shift that dedication for NCT," she sighed to herself, letting her long locks free from the bun she had it in for the past couple hours.
She suddenly paused.
There was an aroma.
The girl's head picked up, her nose up to sniff the air. Once recognizing the smell, her stomach rumbled from hunger. "Omo, I smell meat," Jiwoo chimed as she scrambled into her feet. "Is the crew eating meat for dinner?"
The mere thought of eating delicious meat energized the young composer.
"Maybe I'll get a bit and finish up that song." Just as her hand reached the handle of the door, she stopped herself with a gulp. She retracted her hand once remembering the last time she carelessly left the room. "Aish, I can't! I'll just run into them again." She crumpled back onto the floor, pouting for her poor, empty belly. Hands rapidly grab for her phone, so to check the time. It won't be until a couple more hours until NCT Life would finish filming.
A groan.
And a grumbling stomach.
"Should I call oppa?" the brunette lowly mumbled, a little hope in her voice. "Surely he wouldn't let his hardworking cousin starve?..." With a press of the 2 button, speed dial led the call to Seokju. After a couple rings, his low voice came out from the speaker. "Oppa, you think you can get me some meat?"
"Meat?... that's for the boys, Jiwoo-yah."
"Eh? No meat for us?"
"No meat for us, not until later."
"How much later?"
"Not until ten."
Another groan left the young woman's lips. "Ten? That's so far from now!"
"Well, that's how it usually is. Sorry, Jiwoo-yah, just bare it a little bit longer." Jiwoo plopped forward, her face into the pillow below her, muffling even more of her distressed noises. "Oh yeah, Minah told me she introduced you to the boys. How was that?"
She tilted her face out of the pillow. "It... was okay. They were cool to talk to actually." With the small laugh she heard on the line, Jiwoo could tell her cousin was smiling. "Yah, how am I supposed to feel about that? Oppa, I'm still not okay with this! I'm basically sweating anxiety right now."
"Why don't we experiment?" Seokju said all of a sudden. "So far, nothing notable happened to the boys yet, right?"
"Because the bad luck is accumulating right now!"
"That's what you believe, even when you haven't experienced this happening before right?"
Jiwoo paused. "I guess."
"Then come out and chat with the boys more. And we'll really see if something bad comes for them."
"And if it does?"
"I'll take all responsibility."
"Hey! I can't accept that," the girl frowned. "Why risk it?"
"Because I'm very important to the company and them punishing me wouldn't be as critical than if you were being punished. Just come out. You've worked hard enough for today. Do I need to come and drag you out?"
Memories of Seokju throwing her petite body over his shoulder like a sack came to mind. Jiwoo gulped, "Jeez, okay, if you're going to threaten me like that... but what if--"
"Nothing will happen and just join us. Minah and the boys keep questioning where you went to."
"The boys are?" The girl chimed in surprise.
"Yeah, would I lie to you?"
"Actually--"
"Nevermind, don't answer that. Get your butt over here in three minutes then." The call ended right after. Jiwoo glared at her phone, hopefully in some way that her cousin would feel her annoyance. She scrambled up onto her feet, slipped on her shoes, and finally headed out the building.
It didn't take her long to find where everyone was, as the smell of meat was able to lead her there. Sadly, being outside and so close to the food only made her stomach growl louder.
Some of the crew greeted the girl upon her arrival. Jiwoo made her way over to Seokju's side, baring him a frown in greeting, while he smiled in return. "I don't know why I agreed to come out here so easily, it's only making me hungrier," the dark haired lass grumbled, arms crossed over her chest. Now she can see what was going on, she saw that NCT's own leader was in charge of the meat with Yuta and Taeil assisting him... poorly. Seokju then mentioned that the younger four (the very four) were in the kitchen, finishing up the rest of the food.
Jiwoo will admit, they were entertaining to watch.
Eventually enough, the boys from the kitchen began coming over with their pot of ramen and bowls of rice.
The girl groaned just as loud as her stomach did. "Oppa, I think I'm going to die if I continue watching them."
"Just endure it a little longer, Jiwoo-yah."
Crossed arms, she just stood there with a frown to her lips, just as she watched the boys get ready to eat their dinner. She was basically drooling at this point, everything they made looked unbelievably appetizing.
"Jiwoo! Jiwoo-yah~" The brunette scrunched her brows, curious as to why someone was calling her at this moment. She turned towards the voice, and noticed Minah a bit ways away behind her. The older girl gestured for her to come over quickly.
"Ah, oppa, I'll be right back," Jiwoo excused herself and approached her unnie. Without a word, Minah took her wrist and led her towards the back, more to where she remembered the pool was. Reaching that very area, she noticed something unusual. "Minah-unnie, what's this?"
At the cement tables by the pool, there were food set up. No one was around, so why on earth was it just sitting there? "The boys gave some of their food to us."
"Eh? Why?" Jiwoo gaped, glancing at the older in disbelief.
The brown-haired girl just grinned as the two of them approached the table. "I wasn't supposed to say, but Taeyongie overheard your phone call with Seokju-sshi just now, and he and the boys agreed to give us some of the meat and ramen. He also mentioned it was also an apology for the time you met some of the boys on the seventh floor." She sat down, patting the empty seat for Jiwoo to take. "So, eat up and enjoy. The boys' cooking are really good."
Jiwoo was blatantly astonished, but it didn't stop her from sitting down and digging into the food provided for them, satisfying her hunger once and for all. And Minah was right, the food was undeniably delicious.
"I hope you know now that the boys are trying to get close to you," Minah murmured in between bites of rice. "They genuinely like you, no matter what happened in your first meeting. So, how about it?"
"I feel like you're forcing me to be friends with them," Jiwoo chuckled.
"Ey, it's not forcing if you want to be their friends as well."
And, yeah, honestly?
Shim Jiwoo really did want to be their friend too. And, god forbid, she hoped that Seokju's assumptions are correct this time, despite going against her beliefs.