The BigHit meeting room holds three people at present. They are quietly listening to prerecorded tracks through speakers connected to their phones. One of the men winces at the excessive snare in the music. Silently he looks at the other two, who nod, having picked up this disruptive sound. He leans over his phone and taps away, green hair falling in front of his eyes. As the track plays on, all three smile as the snare dies down, giving way to the deep thrum of bass.
They can only do so much here. Their phones don't have nearly half the same capabilities the recording room has. They make the changes they can while they're here, and will refine them later when they have the time.
All three were called from an intense mixing session by their manager. They arrived early, hoping for a few moments of quiet before the others arrived in all their rancor and mayhem from singing practice. They fully appreciate their decision when the singers walk in, two bickering, one laughing almost maniacally, and the last making more noise than that he's trying to stop as he reprimands the others. The eldest, the one scolding the others, looks at the three rappers sitting silently, finishes his sentence, and joins them at the table, shaking his head at the uncontrollable trio.
"I'm telling you, toilets don't use electricity!" The youngest protests.
"Of course they do!" Bangtan's baritone singer answers. He says it in an annoyed tone as if he's explaining something very basic to an incompetent child. Even the maknae sounds unsure of his claim now, though he keeps making it. The other '95 liner simply laughs at the sheer ridiculousness of the argument, not caring about who's right.
Though they may have just debuted, the members have trained together for a long time before, and none are strangers to such queer arguments. However, the two will continue through the meeting and past, attacking each other with finger swords and snarky words mumbled through closed mouths. Finally the leader answers, "It depends on the toilet," leaving the two confused but satisfied for the moment as the manager walks in.
"Alright, BTS, take a seat." The manager takes a seat at one end of the table, closest to the door. The members of Bangtan Sonyeondan are in work mode now—no longer the playful young boys they were a few seconds ago. They are musicians, entertainers, artists now, gathered to steal even more hearts and etch their name even deeper in stone.
BTS—Suga, Rap Monster, J-Hope, Jimin, V, Jin, and Jungkook—bow in respect to their manager and take their seats around the table. Just as they settle down, each shifting into their favorite comfortable position in their chairs, ready for a long talk, the PD walks in. He gestures for the members to stay in their seats as they get up to bow. Nonetheless, they do it from their chairs as Bang Shihyuk takes the sear opposite their manager.
"Hello, everyone. I haven't informed your manager of the purpose of this meeting, but you'll be quite excited," PD-nim gets straight to business, skipping small talk. He speaks to them often anyways as he checks up on all his employees, so he knows what's going on.
"You all have worked very hard on your newest album. Though there's still a significant amount of work left to do, I want to give you some more incentive to do it. So here we are, planning out your world tour." He smiles as Bangtan erupts into conversation. The manager stares at him in shock.
Finally Rap Monster gets everyone quiet enough. "One, two, three," he begins. Everyone choruses "thank you" after the countdown, and PD-nim nods in acceptance of their thanks, happy that this group is so cohesive with itself.
"Seoul, Tokyo, and Los Angeles are the obvious choices, and I've had someone compile a list of other capitals and locations to visit for sure, but I'd like to hear your opinions. We can add a few more places if you'd like to go there, given there's plenty of fans there." PD-nim looks expectantly at the members, and is not disappointed as they begin bursting with suggestions.
"Thailand!"
"Busan!"
"No, man, Daegu."
"Africa!"
"Antarctica!"
"Hawaii!"
The manager frantically writes the places down as they're not so much spoken as they are rapped. The members know that most of the places they said will not be granted to them, but it's fun to try. At some point, Jungkook begins saying names of obscure places and the suggestions turn into a knowledge quiz. Who can say the most unknown cities? At some point V starts making up names, making Jimin burst into giggles once more.
Finally PD-nim attempts to interject with the intent of closing the discussion. Until V's eyes light up and he says, "Europe!"
The room is silent. Jimin, who joined last, is also oblivious like V to everyone else's silence. The others know not to bring Europe into any conversation, but no one told the last two members of Bangtan about the silent rule. It's why Jimin breaks into a smile and starts energetically, "Yeah, ARMY is always talking about Eur—"
"NO!" PD-nim is on his feet now, heart racing. He tries to calm himself as he sees V's and Jimin's shocked faces, reminds himself that they didn't know. "No, we just... we don't discuss Europe. For all it matters, Europe is a myth, because you're not going there."
V's face nearly breaks Bang Shihyuk's heart, his eyebrows drawn low in puzzlement and eyes turning red. He's never been yelled at by his boss, and he's shaking a little. It looks like he's being consumed by his large jacket as he sinks lower. Jimin just keeps his face turned slightly, his feelings seen only through the blush creeping up his skin.
Shihyuk stands up once more. "Your suggestions will be reviewed by the travel and statistics department," he says, turning away quickly and walking out faster.
The PD sits in his room alone. Two bottles of soju sit empty on the specially crafted blown glass dining table, and a third loses its contents to Shihyuk as he downs the cheap drink. They're the most effective, strange concoctions of ingredients that he doesn't care to find out about affecting him the most. It's definitely more fun to experience than the expensive wine, in all its ripe bitterness sending his stomach into turmoil.
Shihyuk drunkenly curses himself for not being smarter. The alcohol weakened his mind, and now there's no barrier stopping the memories from coming back. The soju taste is on his tongue now, though, and he satiates his eager tongue with another swig, halfheartedly trying to keep the memories from dragging him under.
He sits on the chair, eyes bloodshot, as the cursed moments play through his mind, as the smell of her minty musk fills his nostrils, and her blue-black eyes burn through his mind.
He'd never been close to her, but she had affected him so deeply. Flashes of a room filled with smoke shimmering back to grey and back again assault him as Shihyuk remembers his young, desperate mistake, remembers as he single-handedly gambled away the lives of seven innocent boys to a witch.
As desperation under the guise of a "it can't possibly be real" joke, Shihyuk had allowed himself to be tempted into visiting a shaman's home. His business, his dream of making a successful, prominent entertainment company was dying, and he was grasping at straws.
He'd nervously laughed afterwards to his friends about it, and then done just as the shaman had told him to do as soon as he arrived back at Korea. He'd quickly assembled a group of seven, watching as they wrote brilliant music, separately.
They were aloof to each other, stiff with everyone, stoic faces the only expressions they wore. Shihyuk quickly tore them apart and started anew. Finally his group of seven was formed, his interpretation of the shaman's words of "social, successful seven". They steadily climbed to the top, and it was when they won their first Daesang that fear struck his heart, and the minty scent hit his nose at the awards ceremony. Someone whispered in his ear in an ancient language native to nowhere; there was no sight of her anywhere. But she was everywhere.
His dreams started sporadically turning dark, and they always ended with her eyes.
She awaited her payment from Bang Shihyuk in Europe, and he had promised her seven souls.
