<OST: Start - Gaho>
"Busan... elder brother... SOPA... flour-based food, Taekwondo... Gold Entertainment... living without passion..." Jieun chanted over and over under her breath. "Foundation, contouring, smokey eyes, blush, brows, lip tint-"
"Jieun-ssi!"
Jieun felt a hand tap on her shoulder and swirled around. "Hi! Oh-"
"Hi! You're Jieun-ssi, aren't you?" One of the three ladies standing in front of her reached out a hand and shook Jieun's hand. She had long black hair and straight-cut bangs. "I'm Minnie, she's Miyeon and she's Soyeon. I heard that you're a '93 liner, so feel free to call us just by our names! In turn, we'll call you Jieun-unnie as well. Is that okay?"
"Sure!" Jieun said with a confused smile. Minnie spoke so fast that Jieun could barely recall the names of the other two girls, but she knew she'd get the hang of it after some time. "I think we've met before..."
"Yeah, we have! You were in the dressing room with Seokjin-oppa a couple of days ago, weren't you?" Minnie grinned cheekily at Jieun. "Tell me the truth, unnie, what is your relationship with him...?"
Jieun thought that Yuqi was the only one of the group that was nosy, but it seemed like Minnie was, too. Jieun let out an awkward chuckle. "Nothing, really, Minnie-ssi."
Minnie folded her arms. "Jieun-unnie...?"
Jieun realised her mistake at once and corrected herself with a shy smile. "Minnie... ya."
"That's better," Minnie said with a smile. "Miyeon-ah, Soyeon-ah, why are y'all being so quiet?"
"Hi, Jieun-unnie..." A tiny blonde girl waved at Jieun. "I'm Soyeon-ie."
The last of the three, a really gorgeous girl with extra long hair and really nice makeup, smiled and waved. "I'm Miyeon-ie. We're a bit shy, so we hope you understand."
"No worries, of course I understand-" Jieun smiled and bowed a little at the three. "Please take good care of me."
"They're quite shy, I gotta admit-" Minnie smiled as she held the door open for Jieun. "But don't worry, on Jungkook-ssi's makeup team, you have six of us - the three of us, Yuqi, Shuhua and Soojin-ie. Yuqi, Shuhua and I are more outgoing, while the three of them are rather... reserved. Regardless, you don't have to worry too much, Jieun-unnie! We'll guide you through this and make sure you pass your probation and join us on the team!"
Jieun smiled gratefully as she entered the door Minnie held open. "Thank you, Minnie-ya."
The room was filled with plenty of staff, all getting ready to prepare Jungkook for the variety show he was about to attend.
"The people here are all part of the HMS team, representing hair, makeup and stylists... which are all rather self-explanatory." Minnie explained. "Usually, the six of us makeup artists are put on shifts and three of us are on shift to do Jungkook-ssi's makeup today. Miyeon-unnie is the biggest sunbae here since she's been with Jungkook-ssi since he debuted. She also does his hair as well since she's good at that. Shuhua is another hair stylist-cum-makeup artist, you'll probably see her and the rest some other time."
Jieun nodded slowly. "Ah, I see."
"Please tell me if I'm speaking too fast," Minnie said with a little chuckle as she showed Jieun around the room, while Miyeon and Soyeon began getting ready. "Anyway, today you can just hang around and watch us for a bit, Jieun-ssi. The next time, we'll probably let you try it out or something, if you're confident."
"Thanks, Minnie-ya."
Click!
The door opened and Jungkook came in, together with Seokjin by his side. Jieun began gritting her teeth the moment she spotted him, but put on a smile and lowered her head as he glanced in her direction.
"Oh-?" Seokjin smiled as he spotted and approached Jieun. "Jieun-ssi, you're here! Did you have a hard time finding your way here?"
Jieun stole a quick glance at Jungkook who took his seat in front of the mirror, eyeing Jieun suspiciously through his reflection. But she turned back to Seokjin and flashed him a bright smile. "Not at all, Seokjin-ssi. It was actually pretty easy to find."
"Seokjin-oppa!" Miyeon called from behind. "You can talk to Jieun-unnie later, she needs to come here and learn right now."
"Jieun-unnie...?" Seokjin laughed. "Y'all got along well real quick, huh. I'm gonna drop the honourifics and call you Jieun-ie from now too."
Jieun chuckled. "Be my guest."
Seokjin stole a wary glance in Jungkook's direction and turned back to Jieun with a smile. "You better go now, don't keep them waiting. See you later, Jieun... ah."
That sounded so natural, coming from his lips.
Jieun smiled. "See you later, Seokjin-oppa."
Jieun tried her best to ignore the disgusted look on Jungkook's face as she joined Miyeon behind him.
"Unnie, I need you to sort out the makeup brushes first-" Miyeon said gently, gesturing at the makeup brushed at one side. She began doing Jungkook's hair, curling his voluminous black locks through the flat iron in her hands. "Jungkook-ssi, what kind of hairdo would you like today?"
"Gelled up bangs, please," Jungkook said clearly. "I heard we're doing some sort of physical activity."
"Ah, alright," Miyeon said with a smile. "I'll do that, Jungkook-ssi. Please give me a while."
"Thanks."
Jieun was sorting through the makeup brushes one by one, but looked up in surprise when Jungkook said thanks. He didn't know how to say 'sorry', but he knew how to say 'thanks'? Truly baffling.
"What are you looking at?" Jungkook glanced at Jieun. "Don't you have something to do?"
"No, I'm just amazed-" Jieun scoffed as she muttered under her breath. "So... you actually know how to be polite- I thought you were a rude brat, but I guess we all learn something new everyday."
Jieun had no idea what gave her the courage to speak up so boldly towards Jungkook. Maybe it was her anger towards him that had bubbled over during the past few days, maybe it was something else. Jieun herself had no idea.
"Excuse me, what?" Jungkook scoffed, looking baffled by Jieun's ridiculous comment. "I think I heard you wrong, a rude... what?"
Miyeon nudged Jieun in the shoulder, signalling for her to cut it out, but Jieun ignored it completely.
"Am I wrong?" Jieun carried on, oblivious to the looks and stares she was getting for standing up against Jungkook. "The first time, and the second time too, you ran away, trying to avoid all responsibilities of the consequences you had caused... and not a single apology. If that isn't rude, what is?"
"Excuse me-" Jungkook took a deep breath, holding up a hand to signal Miyeon to stop. "The first incident, you're already here right now, so let's put it behind us. As for the second incident, I was running away before we got caught on camera. I was doing you a favour yet again, and you dare to call me rude?"
"So..." Jieun inhaled sharply. "Are you saying I should be thanking you again?"
"It's not to that extent..." Jungkook shrugged as he picked up his phone nonchalantly. "But if you want to express your greatest gratitude towards me, I wouldn't mind either."
"You-" Jieun was so furious she felt like throwing the makeup brush at Jungkook, but she knew how much it'd cost her. "Wah, really-"
Click!
The door opened and in came Seokjin with a small little booklet in his hands. He approached Jungkook with a smile and handed the booklet to him. During this time, Jieun froze there, taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself down.
"Jungkook-ah, here's your script for today-" Seokjin massaged Jungkook by his shoulders as Miyeon tried to manoeuvre her way around professionally to get Jungkook's hair done. Seokjin glanced at Jieun, who was flaring her eyes at Jungkook through the dressing mirror. "Jieun-ssi... are you okay?"
"I'm- I'm-" Jieun stammered. "I'm not-"
"Does she even do makeup professionally?" Jungkook interrupted condescendingly, not even bothering to glance up from his script. "She doesn't seem like the type - look at her makeup today... isn't it rather... bland? Like, there's nothing special."
Jieun's blood was starting to boil. "You-"
Click!
The door opened once more and a young guy who looked like he was around Jungkook's age came in, together with his staff, bowing politely and smiling at all of Jungkook's staff surrounding him.
Kim Taehyung. K-pop solo artist by the stage name V. Well-known for his outstanding visuals. Has been doing extremely well since his debut 7 years ago. Jungkook's rumoured rival, but no one ever found out why, since both of them ways avoid answering questions regarding the other.
"You said that I was doing a variety show with another celeb-" Jungkook turned to Seokjin, his face fallen. "The celeb was... him?"
Seokjin furrowed his eyebrows, flashing Jungkook a confused smile. "Yeah... why?"
"I can't believe this..." Jungkook muttered under his breath, shaking his head as he looked down at his script once more and finally spotting Taehyung's name on it. "I really can't..."
"Jungkook-ah?" Taehyung approached Jungkook with a bright smile, bowing a few times at Seokjin, Miyeon and Jieun who were surrounding him. "Hey, I'm looking forward to filming with you today."
Jungkook didn't even respond, or even look up. Taehyung bit his lower lip, letting out a nervous laugh as he took a seat to Jungkook's right, fiddling with his fingers awkwardly.
Jungkook closed his eyes as he felt a throbbing pain in his temple. He barely had any sleep last night, as usual. But seeing the guy seated to his right today, it was aggravating his condition... He had a long history with him not many knew of, not even Seokjin - he was in a terrible mood.
Jieun watched Jungkook quietly, sensing that something was off. Seemed like he had a feud with this guy on his right...? The guy seemed nice. Meanwhile, Jungkook was a tyrant. Jieun could see why they didn't get along.
And she still wasn't over the fact that he had looked down on her makeup skills just a few moments ago.
"What did you mean earlier?" Jieun asked sternly with her hands on her waist. "Are you looking down at my makeup skills right now? Is that how it is, Jeon Jungkook?"
Jungkook closed his eyes, not saying a word.
"Just because I don't do elaborate makeup on myself, you think I'm bad at it?" Jieun went on, getting more and more agitated as she spoke her true feelings. "How can you judge someone's skills when they haven't even been given a chance to showcase them yet?"
Jungkook dug his ear with his index finger, his agitation evident on his face. "Why is it so noisy? Did a bee just enter the room or what, hyung?"
Seokjin's eyes darted between Jieun and Jungkook, not knowing who to side with.
"At least give me a chance before talking, Jeon Jungkook-" Jieun offered in a frenzy. "Here's the deal, I do your makeup today - if you are happy with the makeup I do for you, I will stay and you have to stop finding fault with me all the time. If you aren't happy with it, I will leave for good and we're done, once and for all."
The whole room let out a loud gasp.
Lee Jieun, what on earth are you doing? Jieun herself knew she was playing with fire right now. In an attempt to improve her well-being at work, she might potentially lose her only shot at making it to reporting live on television. But she was a reporter, the stakes of everything she did was high. And quoting Hoseok, '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'.
But was it worth it? Hell yes.
"Jieun-ssi, what are you doing?" Seokjin shook his head vigorously, not wanting Jieun to embarrass herself. "Regardless of how good your makeup is, JK will do anything to get you out of here, and that includes being dishonest-"
"No, quite on the contrary, I value honesty and integrity, unlike someone-" Jungkook flashed a dirty look in Taehyung's direction. "I like your guts, Lee Jieun. The stakes are high for both of us, but do you want to make the stakes even higher?"
Jieun was trembling in her boots. "How?"
"Unfortunately, I don't want to be your guinea pig-" Jungkook said coldly as he glanced in Taehyung's direction. "I have already been someone else's scapegoat before so instead, why don't you let that person be your guinea pig instead?"
Taehyung looked up.
"Who?" Jieun asked as she looked around. "Who can be my 'guinea pig'?"
"He's talking about me," Taehyung said quietly from behind Jieun. "And... I'll do it."
The whole room let out yet another gasp.
Jieun stared at Taehyung for a few seconds, wondering why he would agree to such a ridiculous request. But the feud between the two solo artists... Jieun knew it was there for sure. Jieun turned back towards Jungkook, with a confident grin on her face, in contrast to how fast her heart was beating.
"Sure, why not?"
-•-•-
"Later..." Seokjin opened the script and ran it though with Jungkook. "At the beginning, Doni and Coni will say 'Weekly... Idol!' and you are supposed to do the same thing, together with Taehyung-ssi. Then they'll prompt you both to introduce yourselves, and you'll go after Taehyung-ssi. That's it for the intro. Got it so far?"
Jungkook nodded.
"Um..." Taehyung hesitated before leaning over and adding on. "For the intro part, we have to do the same arm signal as them while saying 'Weekly... Idol!'. It goes something like this, I'm not sure if you've watched it before-"
Clang!
Jungkook got up from his seat abruptly, completely ignoring what Taehyung had said to him and moving to the opposite end of the room to escape from Taehyung. Seokjin, who was talking to him, bowed towards Taehyung and apologised a few times on his behalf, while Soyeon, who was busy doing Jungkook's make up, scurried over to his side, looking like this wasn't an uncommon occurrence in her daily life.
Taehyung let out a loud sigh.
"I'm sorry about that," Jieun blurted out before she could even stop herself. She carefully picked a shadow palette from the rack of makeup his makeup artists provided her with. "It must be hard knowing someone like him, huh."
"It sure is-" Taehyung sighed loudly, eyeing Jieun carefully. "You're his makeup artist, but you don't seem like you're on that good terms with him either."
"Not at all, he seems to hate me to the core, and I have no idea what I even did to offend him-" Jieun ranted. "Taehyung-ssi, please close your eyes for a while, so that I can do some eye shadow for you. I'll be giving you a smokey eye look today, and pairing it with some blue contacts to enhance your eyes."
"Sure, Jieun-ssi-" Taehyung said as his eyes fluttered shut. "Eh? For how long have you been working with him?"
Jieun chuckled as she applied the eye shadow to Taehyung using techniques she had crammed in last night, yet the familiar feeling of holding the brush allowed her to apply it with ease, with little to no pressure about the stakes that were at risk. It was exhilarating for Jieun, being able to do makeup for someone after such a long time.
"Um..." Jieun grinned. "Why don't you guess?"
"You both are fighting, but you already look quite close..." Taehyung thought for a while. "So maybe... at least a year?"
"A year?!" Jieun chortled, causing Jungkook to glance over irritatedly. "You're rather far off."
"Eh? I'm far off?" Taehyung scratched his head, pouting a little. "Don't tell me... two years? Two and a half years? Three years?"
"No, you're far off the wrong way actually-" Jieun giggled. "It's less than a year."
"What? Eight months?"
"Lower."
"Six?"
"Even lower."
"Don't tell me... a month?"
"Nope, lower."
"A week?!"
Jieun burst out laughing. "A single day. No, actually - not even a day. It hasn't even been an hour since I started work, Taehyung-ssi."
"You're lying."
"Unfortunately not, that's why what I'm doing right now is so crucial..." Jieun chuckled as she tidied up the area surrounding Taehyung's eye with a brush. "It determines whether I stay or go."
"I have faith in you that you'll stay, Jieun-ssi," Taehyung said with his eyes still closed. "You seem like an awesome person. May I open my eyes now?"
Jieun inhaled sharply as she took a step back and admired Taehyung's finished look in the mirror. Taking a deep breath, Jieun calmed herself down before nodding. "You may open your eyes, Taehyung-ssi. I'm done with your makeup look."
Taehyung opened his eyes, and everyone around them who had heard Jieun's proclamation of war against Jungkook turned to look as well.
A collective gasp filled the room.