Lucid

Chapter 8

POV: Fixer
I left my boots. Shit.

POV: Yujin
I woke up that morning, feeling surprisingly well rested. The first thing that catches my eye is that my curtains are closed, so I reach over and open them. As soon as I do, I only have more questions- why are there hand prints outside of my window? Whatever. I'll think about it when I'm more awake.
I sit up and grab my computer, and start to work on the song concept I'm writing. Before long, though, I hear a knocking on my door. "Come in!" I say without looking up. Gaeul enters, and sits down on my bed, next to my feet.
"I think something happened last night."

I immediately look away from my laptop, concerned.
"What happened?"
"Technically, nothing. I don't have any proof or anything. But it felt odd." That's... not very specific.
"How so? What felt odd?" I ask, hoping to help her organize her thoughts.
"Well, it was too cold. I think someone had a window open. Also, Rei and Wonyoung were talking late in her room and I thought I heard a guy's voice. Plus, something about how they were totally confused to see me felt strange." That is odd, but nothing that can't be explained.
"Maybe they were just watching a video. Or talking to a manager. There's no reason to think they were doing anything wrong." She sighs, and hangs her head.
"Yeah, you're right. I just felt odd. I should trust them better." Ah, crap, that's not what I meant.
"Hey, don't feel bad." I get up and walk to her, hugging her. "You're worried about them. That just shows you care. Don't be mad at yourself." She nods, then leans her head against my chest a moment.

"Thanks." She brings her head up, and look at me. "Alright, you want some breakfast? I'm hungry."
"Sure, let's check with the others as well." I step out and knock on Wonyoung's door. She shouts for me to enter, and I open the door and peek in. "Breakfast?"
"Sure! Thanks Unnie!" She says, while doing her stretches and yoga. I peek around the room, but I can't see anything odd about her room. Maybe Gaeul was just feeling odd.
"Cool boots. Kinda big though." They're a cool style. I close the door again, leaving her to be and I go knock on Liz's door as well. There's no response, so I knock again. The second time, Liz opens the door. Her hair is a mess, she must have just woken up. "Hey, not sure if you're hungry but Gaeul and I are making some breakfast. You want some?"
"Sure. Hey, were you talking late last night? I heard a bunch of chatter." Ah, she heard it too. That's probably why Gaeul was worried.
"That was Wonyoung and Rei." She nods, and then yawns. "I'll see you in a bit." Gaeul walks out from the master bedroom, now with a sweatshirt on.
"Hyunseo wants some. I can't get Rei to wake up." Must be tired still. We'll save her some. I feel like having eggs.
"How about some Gyeran Jjim?" Gaeul perks up upon hearing that.
"That sounds great. Let's do that." I grab the eggs, along with the extra ingredients and get to work. "Hey, can you get some rice too? I think we have some leftovers." She hums an affirmation, and walks over to the fridge. I mix the eggs with the broth, and start pouring them into the bowls. Gaeul pulls out the rice and sets it into a large bowl. "Wait for that, I don't want it to get cold before the eggs are done." She hums again, and starts to put away the clean dishes. I put the egg bowls over the head, and start mixing them all in turn. "Grab a spoon and help me mix." Gaeul keeps communicating in hums, and starts helping me mix. After a few minutes, they're ready, and I place the bowls over each one. "Ok, now the rice." As expected, gaeul hums again. I shout to the others, "food is almost ready!" And I hear Hyunseo shout "Yay!" Wonyoung and Liz both leave their rooms, and a moment later an excited Hyunseo comes out, dragging a groggy looking Rei.

"Good morning, babies! I made Gyeran Jjim for breakfast.
"Thank you, Unnie!"
"It looks great Yujin-Unnie."
"I'm hungry." That's about the responses I expected. They all came and gathered around as I handed out the bowls of eggs. "Careful, they're hot." I say that, even as Gaeul takes a huge bite then starts panting and huffing.
"neomu tteugeoun!" She tries to say, but she can't because her mouth is full of very hot eggs.
"That's what I just said!" I sarcastically yell at her, but I put my bowl down and grab a glass of water for her. She takes it and drinks, then gasps.
"Ahhh, that's better. I didn't think they were that hot. Thanks." She says, raising the glass. Aigoo, this girl. Supposed to be the responsible one, and here she is.
"So what do we have planned today?" Asks Liz.
"Nothing much. We're going over to the company at Eleven to hear some samples so we can decide what to do next. Other than that, we have some free time. Do you guys have anything in mind? While they begin to discuss plans for the day, I suddenly notice- Wonyoung has been peeking at Rei a lot. But Rei's been looking everywhere but at her, avoiding her as much as she can. Did something happen last night?

"What do you think?" What?
"Sorry?" I ask, pulling my focus back go the present.
"Do you have any fun ideas for our next concept?"
"Oh. Nothing yet. Someone said they wanted to do a video where we're all in black, white, and silver outfits, but with each person getting their own color. I liked that one." The group gives a resounding 'ohhhhhhh', sounding impressed.
"But what colors would we be?" Asks Hyunseo.
"Probably, our official colors. We have those, you know." She laughs, shaking her head.
"Right, I forget the colors they gave us. So many official things."
"You know, STAYC got their own scent. They put cards with perfume in every album." Liz says.
"That sounds cool. I wish we had something like that in our albums, something more unique." Adds Rei. Wonyoung leans over to her and whispers into her ear. They aren't very subtle though, so I can tell Wonny is telling her something about putting things in the album. Apparently, Rei doesn't agree, because she shakes her head and slaps Wonyoung's arm while blushing.
"Shut up!" She whispers back, or tried to whisper. She wasn't very subtle. Not sure what that's about, but it seems pretty minor.
"Alright, let's eat. We have stuff to do later."

POV: Fixer
I woke up that day to the sound of my phone going off. Getting out of bed, I grabbed it and read that WM entertainment was calling me. I hit the answer, and said "Fixer. Talk."
"Hello, this is Lee Won-Min and Kim Jin-Min of WM entertainment. We'd like to talk to you about a contract." Ah, perfect timing.
"Local or global?"
"This would be entirely in Korea." Good.
"Dangerous?" That changes how much I expect for the pay, at least.
"That depends on how you complete the contract." Questionable.
"Explain the job."
"A few weeks ago, another major company, RBW, purchased a majority of our shares. However, we're not interested in becoming a subsidiary of another entertainment company. We'd like you to find a way to either return those shares, or make sure they stay out of the hands of anyone who may be attempting to take control of the company's management of idols." Ah, so they don't want to loose their company. Or perhaps they just like their profits being theirs.
"And the pay?"
"We're willing to pay you 2 Billion Won, with 500 million of that up front." Hmmmmm...
"500 million up front, 2 billion afterwards. You keep your idols, your position, and your pride. The public won't know the difference because I doubt RWB will talk about it and you certainly won't. Do we have a deal?" There's a pause. That's normal, I did just ask them for 500 million extra Won. But if they're smart they lowballed me early so that they could raise it to what they could actually handle. And 2,500,000,000 Won is not a lot of money to decide the fate of an entire company.

"Yes, we're satisfied with that. We'll send the money soon. Please get to work as soon as possible." He say, with a slight wavering
"I'll get it done. Leave me to be." I hang up. People always tell me what to do. It's sort of strange, I spent my whole life telling others what to do only to arrive here and have everyone talk down to me. Well, this shouldn't be hard. Split the stocks among people, transfer them all across separately so that Korea's anti-fraud agency doesn't notice, and reconsolidate. I'll keep them under my name for now, until they tell me what to do with them. But that means I have to go to RBW offices and do some rewriting of computers, and I'll probably have to access KRX records as well. If they don't own the shares and there's no records of them buying them, who's going to care if they say they own them. I should have asked for more money, though, I hate paperwork.

A/N- factually correct. I read a recipe for Gyeran Jjim steamed eggs, and also Yujin does call the members "babies." So jot that down.
Also, if you can guess what side character I'm bringing in based on the phone call, I'll give you (idk, something. Probably a name drop in the story)
Anyways Root of Nightmares Day 1 Raid go brrr