Begin (JJK) BTS 2026 series Book 3 (COMPLETED)

New Colleague

The phone rings on the bedside table and Jungkook opens his eyes, late in the morning, surprised by the sunlight streaming into his room. He looks around, unsure what time it is, or what time he went to bed after pouring through footage much of the night. He glances at the ringing phone, noting the time, and realizing it's the someone from the company calling. He picks up the phone, and runs his hand through his messy bed head hair as he answers the call.

"Hello?" he says, yawning loudly into the phone.

"Jungkook ssi, this is Binna. I would like to meet with you this morning to talk about the music video," the voice on the other end of the line says. He blinks hard, pausing a moment.

"Who?" he asks, slowly rubbing his eyes.

"Jee BinNa, yesterday you asked me to work on your music video," she reminds him. "I would like to meet with you to discuss it." He remembers now, and he smiles, laughing to himself at how eager she sounds today, for some reason.

"Oh really? What made you change your mind?" he asks, smirking.

"I haven't actually agreed to work on the video yet. I just want to meet, to talk about it, to see your footage, hear your ideas," she reminds him of everything she said last night, but she is not willing to tell him that she has to say 'yes' to working for him now that Bang PD has insisted upon it.

She listens as he pauses on the line, and she looks around the tiny company office she uses when she's making the 'To Do' series. She left the meeting with Bang PD and came straight here to contemplate what this could mean. It feels like a sort of test; if she's willing to work on this video, to back down from demanding to be considered to direct it, then, she may get more opportunities, maybe. It's a risk, but she doesn't see what other choice she has. She sighs, still waiting for Jungkook to respond.

He looks around his empty bedroom, and sees the pile of clothing he dropped at the foot of the bed. He must have come to bed so late he barely managed to undress and, maybe, the wine bottle he finished has something to do with the dry taste in his mouth and the cloudy head he feels now. He swallows hard as he thinks.

"I was going to HYBE to work out anyway, I'll meet you in an hour. At the gym?" he suggests.

"No, sorry, come to my office? When you're done." It's better to be in the more powerful position if she's going to meet with him, it should be on her turf she thinks. "Just to be able to watch the footage, together," she explains. He nods, realizing this makes sense.

***

More than two hours later, Jungkook steps through the office suite hallway at HYBE sipping a matcha tea he got from the cafe on the 3rd floor after his work out. He's a little late, but, he's pretty sure he knows exactly how this meeting it going to go, and he knows she's going to say 'yes,' to working on the video, just like he expected her to last night. He steps up to the door with the same number on it that she text him after they hung up. He knocks lightly, a little musical tap, and he slurps his drink as he almost finishes it.

He waits a moment, giving him a chance to listen in at the door, to listen for sounds of movement inside the office. The door opens quickly and she bows and turns to walk back to her desk strewn with documents and papers, and a time line spread across from one end to the other.

"Thank you for coming." Jungkook steps into the small room, looking around, surprised by the size of it, or lack of the size of it. There is only room for her desk with her laptop computer, and one extra chair. He drops down into it, finishing the matcha and looking at the garbage can at the side of the desk. He drops his empty cup into it, making a loud thud in the empty can, causing her to turn to look at it, arching her eyebrow with a disapproving look on her face. She glances up at him. "I hoped you would bring your edit of the video to talk about." He nods and reaches into his pocket to pull out a drive.

"It's here, keep the drive. You can watch it now, or later," he says as he looks over the photographs on the walls, all still life or landscapes, no personal pictures, and he wonders if she took the photos. Some of the locations look familiar to him from previous travels and he wonders if she's traveled a lot.

"Don't you want to watch it together?" she asks, surprised. He smiles and looks back at her.

"I think you have decided to work on the video, so whether we watch it together, or you watch it later, makes no difference," he says, alarming her with his candor. She bites her cheek to avoid saying what she is thinking, aware that it most definitely wouldn't come out right.

"What makes you think I've already agreed?" She eyes him suspiciously and wonders if he's spoken with BangPD and knows that she was told to work on the video. He smiles, giving her a look of recognition.

"I had a feeling you would," he says quietly. He must have spoken to Bang PD, she thinks, and she blushes with her own embarrassment. Maybe he even set this up. Maybe he got to Bang PD first to make her work on the video. She wonders if he could really do something like that; force her to work on it, and if so, why? But, then, he couldn't know that she was going in to see Bang PD today. She frowns.

"Well, then I guess it's settled. The rest is just a formality," she tells him, stinging from the idea that he must have arranged this and she's playing right into his game.

Jungkook smiles, privately, knowing that she must really want to work with him, or she wouldn't have bothered to call him in and set up this pretense of looking at footage together. They stare at each other from across her small desk, alone in the quiet of this room, each involved in their own thoughts about what this means.

"Shall we talk about the plan for the new footage you want to shoot?" She pulls out a notepad to being taking some notes on paper. He watches her, surprised.

"You don't want to use the computer?" She shakes her head.

"I absorb more information if I can write it by hand, I get a better feel for what you're looking for if I make notes like this as we talk."

"In that case, let's go to the cafe, I could use another drink, and it's a bit cramped in here." He looks around her small office and her messy desk to punctuate his point, and she feels a little shy that he's mentioned it. She swallows hard and she rises up from her chair, gathering her things. She reaches for the hard drive he gave her, putting it into her pocket as he stands to walk back toward the door.

"I'm sorry the office is small, I only use it when I'm in production for 'To Do' so I can be closer to the rest of the team." He nods as she leads him out into the hallway.

"It's fine, but next time we meet, just come to my place." He grins and she stops walking and turns back to eye him suspiciously. She wonders if he thinks she's interested in him, and this idea of working on the video is just a ploy to get closer to him. If he thinks that, nothing could be further from the truth, she huffs. What conceit, from someone junior to her. It doesn't matter that he's famous all over the world, he's younger, and less experienced in filmmaking than she is, and she should be the one directing this video, not him. She bites her lip to stop herself from responding and possibly saying out loud all that is in her mind and ending things right here and now.

He watches her turn back to walk down the hallway, and his eyes look her over as she walks ahead of him toward the bank of elevators. His smile grows bigger as she tosses her long hair over her shoulder and drops another glance at him, quickly looking away. 'yeah, she definitely wants me,' he thinks to himself.