Glow

A Line Drawn

No one expected that we'd ever see the day.

The plaza outside of the new HYBE building is crowded... that feels like too small a descriptor. The plaza is filled to the brim and overflowing.

Yeah, that's better.

The guys are all gathered in the main room. Well, Hoseok isn't here right now, still in the lawyer's office. Plus, Namjoon's phone hasn't gone off yet, so there was hope that Hoseok was clear and everything has been understood.

Each of us are paired off. Jimin and Taehyung are watching one tablet, Jungkook and Seokjin are focused on another.

Namjoon is in his office watching, keeping separate so that he can answer his phone without interruptions if needed... but Yoongi and I are staring, shocked, at the mass of people on the screen of our shared tablet.

'Did someone at the lawyers' office leak what's going on?' Asked Jimin.

'Unlikely.' Seokjin muttered. 'It's more probable that some of ARMY works in the offices that process contract dispute mitigation, and saw ours come through.'

'So they don't know Hoseok is over at the lawyers office right now?' I ask, hope bleeding into my words.

'There hasn't been a call to the police to monitor the area there.' Yoongi says, pointing to the lack of any other news scrolling along the bottom of the newsfeed.

'How did we miss this? How did ARMY plan this out without us knowing?' Jungkook asks, looking shook as he tears his eyes away from the unfolding drama. Silence is the reply.

Said drama was both simple and complex. ARMY has decided to camp out in front of HYBE. Specifically, they came with banners and megaphones, shouting for BTS. None of us are sure if they're doing it in support, challenging HYBE, or upset with the moratorium on the guys doing anything for their fans, but it seems certain that this isn't going to end well for those that are there.

'The police are starting to surround the plaza.' Taehyung points to the heavily kitted out officers and the barriers being brought in.

'Shit.' Yoongi mutters, and we all nod.

'Guys, Hoseok's calling, I'll let you know what's up in a minute.' Namjoon shouts as he cracks his door open to communicate before closing it again.

The guys keep staring, frowning and worrying their lips at the screens in front of them. They nod that each of them heard him, but Namjoon, the call, heck the lawyers, are all a minor concern compared to their ARMY.

I stand and stretch, slowly moving over to the door of Namjoon's Rkive, pacing to see how long his call will last.

'What's faze two mean?' I hear Jungkook ask. I don't even think... my feet skid to a halt behind the couch he and Seokjin are sitting on to peer over their shoulders.

'It means phase two, or the second part of a plan.' I say from next to him. They both nod, not tearing their eyes away from their ARMY. I don't have their earbuds to listen in, so the little noise that I get is too tinny to clarify into words, but I can see megaphones being held up in the crowd, with a person speaking into each of them.

'Shit, this got real.' Yoongi says from the couch I left to move around.

'What? asks Jimin, to which Taehyung just points to a spot on the screen. I move to be behind the two on their club chair, and see what Taehyung is pointing at.

****

ARMY comes in waves. The first line of police quickly gets sandwiched in by the large crowd of the BTS fandom coming as backup. At first this scared the guys, worried for their safety. When nothing happens, and the helicopters covering the incident even zoomed in on several fans sharing food with the officers, the tension seems to leave everyone, the guys laughing at Jimin dramatically melting off the couch in relief.

The next wave of officers come in to surround the crowd, a full block out from the plaza, and phase three is shouted, with more ARMY surrounding these officers as well. The good will towards the men and women just doing their job keeps the tension low, and it looks like the officials in charge have learned the lesson that ARMY was set on teaching everyone: Don't mess with BTS, don't mess with ARMY. 

Killing with kindness is the name of the game.

****

'So, according to Hobi, the lawyers got wind of what ARMY was doing... is still doing, and decided to use it as leverage. This isn't the best look for us, but it's a tool they can put in their arsenal.' Namjoon says as he drops onto an empty club chair.

'When is he coming back home?' Asks Yoongi, frowning.

'They wanted him to stay the night, mostly out of concern with moving him in the midst of all the drama in front of HYBE, but he pointed out the soul bond issue, and there was a quick discussion over how to get him out.' Namjoon says, chuckling. 'The result is to get him a heli over, so instead of going back to the car he's headed up the high rise as we speak.'

The laughter surrounding me has me puzzled.

'Why is this funny?' I ask.

'He's known as a part of the scaredy cat line for a reason. He's not afraid of heights, per se, but the idea of flying in a glass bubble is going to set off his shriek-meter. We might be able to hear him as he approaches!' Taehyung says between gasps for air... laughing.

****

After Hoseok is ushered back into the dorm, allowed to collapse on a couch while looking whiter than even Yoongi, the 95 line is caught up on what ARMY has been up to.

I left to grab my tablet, letting Yoongi show them on his, and return with a question in mind.

How did ARMY get this past BTS, HYBE, and even the newsies?

I pulled Jimin in on my quest, and between the two of us we went through all the social apps they use to communicate with their fans. No joy.

Then we went to the search engines and entertainment apps, looking for a hint of back and forth. Nothing on YouTube, TikTok, Insta, Facebook... dead silence.

Suddenly Jimin and I look at each other, a realization hitting us both.

'You think they went silent on everything else to hide..?' He asks, and I nod.

'But where are they keeping the conversation?' I murmur, keeping my voice low so I don't disturb the rest as they follow ARMY and wait to see what the lawyers are going to announce.

'Do you think it's in something we don't monitor, but they all use?' Jimin asks, his smirk slowly growing.

I can feel the blood drain from my face as I consider his point.

'Umm, I've been so focused on learning your language I've been sticking to downloaded books, not even thinking about fanfics...' I murmur.

We both open Wattpad, me looking through the English versions, him through the Hangul ones. I find a few clues, words of support, addresses for mailing large boxes, but nothing about HYBE or what's been happening.

'I found it!' Jimin shouts joyfully. With all eyes on him he gets up and happily dances a jig around the island we were working at, tablet firmly in hand as he waves his arms above him to his internal beat.

'Jimin-ssi! Careful!' Jungkook scolds him, making the dancer stick his tongue out in reply as he trots back to standing besides me, putting the tablet down slowly.

'What did you find?' Asks Hoseok.

'I found out how ARMY organized this! It was on Wattpad!' He gleefully replies.