<OST: eight - IU PROD. & ft. SUGA>
"Minnie-ya, are you able to contact Jieun-ssi?"
Minnie shook her head with a frown. "I've tried calling her more than 8 times, it seems like her phone is off or her connection is bad..."
"I called JK 18 times already-" Seokjin sighed exasperatedly as he held his phone up to his ear for the 19th time. "I don't know if they're together, but if you manage to contact her and he's with her, please call me - I'm gonna go out to look for him."
"Got it, oppa."
Seokjin burst out of the waiting room on the third floor, dashing down the hallway towards the lift. Him and the rest of the HMS team were waiting in the waiting room for over half an hour, but Jungkook had still yet to turn up. Seokjin had gone park the car, instructing Jungkook to go up and wait for him first, but little did he know that either he had lost his way... or something really bad had happened to him...
Seokjin just prayed that it was the latter.
"Hi, sorry-" Seokjin stopped by the front desk on the first floor. "Hi, sorry- did you see JK around?"
"He came through the front doors a while ago-" the lady said. "But I'm not sure exactly where he went..."
"It's alright, thank you!"
Seokjin ran around the lobby, stopping and asking almost everyone in sight, but to no avail. He crouched by the doors, burying his head in his hands. He was doomed, and he was so terrified that something had happened to Jungkook...
"Hey, excuse me?"
Seokjin looked up and there stood a young lady who looked like she was around his age. Usually, Seokjin would have gotten up with a dazzling smile to speak to her, but right now, Seokjin wasn't in the mood. Seokjin frowned. "Yes?"
"May I know where's Performance Hall 2?"
"Go find it yourself-" Seokjin groaned. "Do I look like I'm some tour guide or something?"
The lady was not having it. "Excuse you...?"
"I have enough of my own problems, can you just, I don't know-" Seokjin grunted. "Leave me alone?"
"Okay right, this ain't it-" The lady folded her arms and looked down at Seokjin with an upset expression on her face. "I was just asking where a place was, how does that warrant such a strong reaction from you? Are you really that rude, or are you just a downright terrible person by nature?"
Seokjin looked up slowly, a look of sudden recognition spreading across his face as he pointed at her. "Hold on a second- your voice-"
"Oh-" Byulyi froze, as she pointed at Seokjin, who was rising to his feet slowly. "You-"
"It's you, isn't it?" Seokjin gasped. "Jieun-ie's roommate who yelled at me over the phone? That's you, isn't it?"
"I- well- um-" Byulyi stammered, recalling that painfully embarrassing incident. "Yeah! It's me! So what?"
"What are you doing here?! Oh, I know- you're JK's anti-fan, aren't you!" Seokjin grabbed Byulyi by her shoulders, locking one arm behind her back and pinned her against the wall. "I knew it at once from the way you cursed him out over the phone that day! Tell me - what did you do to him?!"
"What the hell are you on about!" Byulyi yelled, grimacing and struggling to get herself out of Seokjin's grip. "What on earth are you doing to me?! You better let go of me before I start screaming!"
"JK just went missing and you appeared all of a sudden-" Seokjin tightened his grip on Byulyi. "This can be no coincidence - I'm gonna call the security guards on you soon, so you better hurry up and tell me where on earth did you hide Jungkook!"
"Excuse me, sir!" Byulyi gasped, completely bewildered by her current situation. She turned her head, trying to look at Seokjin in the eye. "Do you think that's possible? Me? A 1.63m girl? To a 1.75? 1.8m guy? And I'm not even here for him - did you forget, I'm literally Lee Jieun's best friend! Can't I just come and support my friend for her first official day at work?!"
Seokjin raised his eyebrows, considering Byulyi's words carefully, but he didn't let go. "How can I possibly believe you?"
"You better let go before I call the cops on you-" Byulyi shouted. "There are so many eyewitnesses around - I'll have no problem getting you arrested for harassment."
Seokjin let go at once, eyeing Byulyi suspiciously. "I still don't believe you, I'm afraid you'll have to stay by my side until I find JK."
"Didn't you say he was missing?" Byulyi massaged her arms, glaring at Seokjin. "Shouldn't your first instinct be to look for him - not arm-locking random girls and accusing them of abducting him? What is wrong with people like you these days?"
Seokjin bit his lower lip nervously. The stress was getting to him, and there was only half an hour left to the rehearsal for the comeback showcase-
"Hyung! What are you doing here?"
Seokjin turned around at the sound of a familiar voice, a look of relief spreading across his face as he spotted Jungkook walking towards him together with Jieun. "Jeon Jungkook! Where on earth have you been for the past few hours?"
"Unnie!" Jieun gasped as she spotted Byulyi staring daggers at Seokjin. "What are you doing here?"
"Jieun-ah!" Byulyi pouted as she ran towards Jieun and linked her arms around hers, still glaring at Seokjin. "Jieun-ah... that guy..."
"Do you want to shorten my life?!" Seokjin took Jungkook by his shoulders, shaking him back and forth. "Where did you go after you alighted from my car and why didn't you answer my calls and where on earth did you get that makeup on your face-"
Jungkook pointed at Jieun. "She did it for me."
Seokjin gasped as he turned to Jieun. "Jieun-ah! This- This- This is his comeback showcase, I know you're finally in the team now, but we literally planned the makeup and everything months ago, you can't just-"
"I told her to do it," Jungkook said nonchalantly. "You guys weren't in the waiting room on the second floor after all and only Lee Jieun was there so-"
"Second?! Jeon Jungkook-" Seokjin let out an exasperated sigh. "The rest of us have been waiting for you on the third floor since one whole hour ago! I told you that it was the third floor, how could you just-"
Jungkook pointed at Jieun once more. "She also went to the second floor-"
Jieun's jaw dropped. "I bumped into you and assumed that it was the right floor, so I didn't even bother confirming the location-"
"You both are loggerheads but when it comes down to being blur blocks, you're literally the same person, I swear! Urgh-" Seokjin facepalmed. "What about your phone? Wasn't it with you? Why didn't you pick up my calls? I literally called you 19 times-"
Jungkook scratched the back of his neck. I guess the connection must be bad or something-"
"Argh! Forget it-" Seokjin hurried Jungkook towards the lift. "Let's get you to fix your hair and makeup and change into your outfit-"
"Ya! Kim Seokjin!"
Seokjin stopped in his tracks, turning around and spotting Jieun struggling to hold her best friend back.
"You better watch out!" Byulyi yelled. "What happened today will not be forgotten easily."
Seokjin grinned. "You watch out."
Then he turned and left, leaving Byulyi fuming mad and Jieun desperately trying her best to hold her back.
-•-•-
"What 'my type'? What 'kind and warm'?" Byulyi scoffed. "That guy... he's the worst person I have ever met in my life, hands down - and I have met a lot, trust me."
"What exactly happened?" Jieun laughed, amused by Byulyi's clear anger towards Seokjin. It seemed like their first meeting was just as unpleasant as her and Jungkook's. "And how did you guys even recognise each other? You've never even seen each other before this-"
"By his annoying voice, obviously!" Byulyi whined. "Ah! It's a long story, I'll tell you later when we go home. It's so upsetting, really. I guess I just have horrible luck with people..."
"What even brings you here, unnie?" Jieun smiled as she gave her friend a tight hug. "I'm surprised... I thought you were busy writing your new novel."
"I was busy, but if course I had to make time to support my favourite makeup artist on her first official schedule-" Byulyi giggled, cheering up a little. "So you did that makeup on his face earlier? Daebak- I had a small glimpse of it and it looks pretty good-"
"Right? Right?" Jieun beamed. "I'm really proud of it as well... Unnie, I'm so glad I didn't lose my touch even after all these years."
"Your makeup was great..." Byulyi grinned as she whispered into Jieun's ear. "And actually that guy doesn't seem that mean to you, plus, I noticed that he's really rather handsome in person - would you like to perhaps... consider developing a relationsh-"
"I can't hear you all of a sudden-" Jieun covered ears. "I better get back to work now, unnie - don't wanna get fired on my first day. See you!"
"Ah, wait-" Byulyi reached into her back and handed Jieun a small lunch bag. "I came to deliver this to you."
"Ah, I love you so much!" Jieun squealed as she hugged Byulyi tight. "Who needs a boyfriend when I have Moon Byulyi? What would I ever do without you?"
"I'll leave first, alright?" Byulyi smiled as she ruffled up Jieun's hair a little. She waved at Jieun as she headed towards the door. "See you later!"
"See you later tonight, unnie!"
Jieun looked down at the lunch bag with a smile, as she hurried towards the lift and made her way back up to the waiting room on the third floor. Seokjin had texted her where exactly the room was a while ago, so she had no problem locating it at all.
"Jeon Jungkook!"
Jieun had her hand on the doorknob, but froze when she heard Seokjin's loud voice coming from inside the room.
"I'm satisfied with how it looks, hyung," Jungkook replied. "Isn't that enough?"
"How am I gonna explain this to Yang sajang-"
"We'll go on stage like this for the rehearsal, get feedback from the PD-nim-" Jungkook said firmly. "We can change it during the two hour break before the actual showcase. But... if there's a need to, I promise to take full responsibility."
"Why are you so stubborn about this?"
It was silent for a while.
"Firstly, there's no time to remove and redo it right now." Jungkook paused. "And secondly, I promised to get along well with her and that means giving her equal opportunities as the rest to prove herself as well. You know that I'm a man of my promises, hyung. I wanna keep this promise."
"Fine-" Seokjin sighed exasperatedly. "Do whatever you want, I give up."
Jieun was completely taken aback by what Jungkook had just said... but in a positive way. Did he just speak up for her...? It was an unexpectedly nice gesture, coming from him.
It felt nice.
There was a huge smile on Jieun's face as she turned the knob and entered the room, helping to prepare Jungkook for his rehearsal.
-•-•-
"Cut! Okay, nice job!"
The producer clapped loudly, and the staff around him loudly to thank Jungkook and his backup dancers.
"Thank you for your hardwork, JK-ssi!" He smiled. "The rehearsal was done with no hiccups. See you in two hours!"
Jungkook bowed a few times, thanking his backup dancers and the staff, then he spoke into the mic, so that everyone around him could hear. "PD-nim, do you have any comments about the stage makeup today?"
The producer looked bewildered by Jungkook's question. "No, it looked great. Why?"
Backstage, Jieun couldn't stop grinning.
Jungkook nodded slowly. "Anything else?"
"Some of our staff noticed that the makeup style on your face is slightly different from that of your backup artists-" The producer carried on. "They felt that the contrast helped you stand out more and I agree with them. Kudos to your makeup artist for thinking of such a great idea, JK-ssi."
"Oh, no-" Seokjin began. "PD-nim, actually it wasn't delib-"
"Okay-" Jungkook held Seokjin back. "I'll convey your message to them, PD-nim. Thank you very much."
"Oh, but here's one more thing - it'd be nice if you could add some similarities in the makeup so that it still looked cohesive. Currently, it's completely different so it makes you stand out a lot - and that's a good thing, but adding some tiny similarities in terms of detail will make you look more like a team, so I think it's a good idea.
Jungkook nodded. "I agree."
"See you later then!"
"Thank you, PD-nim."
Jungkook came down from stage and bumped into Jieun who was backstage, still dizzy with happiness. As the stage staff helped him to remove his mic and tape from his body, the lips of Jungkook curled a little as he watched her immersed in her own happy little celebratory dance.
"Are you that happy?"
Jieun looked up and spotted Jungkook. She smiled brightly at him and nodded. "Mm, like I'm about to fly."
Jungkook realised that he was smiling a little and straightened his face at once, sniffing loudly. He cleared his throat purposefully as he headed towards the exit. "Hurry up and come along, we need to go prepare for the actual comeback showcase in a bit."
Jieun nodded as she picked up her makeup kit and hurried off after Jungkook, heading down the corridor leading back towards the waiting room.
"Ya-" Jieun tapped Jungkook on the shoulder as she caught up with him. She pursed her lips as he turned to look at her. "Why did you speak up for me earlier?"
"Huh? What?"
"Just now, I accidentally overheard you talking to Seokjin-oppa before I went in," Jieun admitted. "I heard you telling him you wanted to give me an equal opportunity to prove myself."
"Firstly, you shouldn't be eavesdropping on other's conversations-" Jungkook halted in his steps and turned to face Jieun. "Secondly, yeah, that's what I said. Did I lie though?"
"I wasn't eavesdropping, you guys were talking really loudly so you can't blame me-" Jieun laughed. "But I do appreciate what you did back there, as well as on stage earlier. It was... well, pretty nice of you."
"I told you I'm not being nice-" Jungkook clucked his tongue as he kept on walking. "I saw your skills on Kim Taehyung's face that day, plus on yours this morning - it's what you deserve. Also, because no one was around I let you try it out, not expecting the result to be this... alright. We didn't have that much time left to the rehearsal to remove and redo it so I managed to keep it, but looks like after PD-nim's comments, I'm likely to keep this for the actual showcase too."
"Yes!" Jieun leapt into the air happily, punching her fists into the air as she did so. "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"
"Don't be so happy just yet-" Jungkook pushed open the door. "You heard what the PD-nim said - there needs to be cohesion. I'll let Minnie-ssi touch up on the fine details instead - you've done more than enough."
"Okay-" Jieun couldn't wipe the grin from her face as she entered the waiting room once more. "I'm still really happy-"
"Jungkook-ah!"
Jungkook looked up as he entered the room, puzzled by the person who was calling his name.
"Jungkook-ah!" Jennie stood in the corner of the room, holding bags of food. She pit down the bags of food and waved at him excitedly. "I'm here to support you today!"
Jieun was taken aback by the unexpected situation.