Salt In My Coffee

Interlude: Change Up

"1," Young Hwan began the countdown and Seungcheol nodded.

"2," Jeonghan lifted up his hand.

"3," Joshua smiled.

"4," Junhui handed the flag with his number on it to the manager.

"5," Soonyoung's eyes crinkled in his trademark 10:10 style.

"6," Wonwoo tilted his head in recognition.

"7," the countdown was greeted by silence. The 12 members looked around the room for the vocal leader, Jihoon.

"Young Hwan nim, we located Woozi," a voice squawked from the walkie-talkie.

"Bring him up here then," the manager brusquely ordered.

"He's sleeping," the staff member replied.

"Wake uri Jihoon up; we're going home soon anyway," the van was ready to leave.

"He seems sick," the observation arrived a minute later.

"Okay, we'll continue the roll call and meet you guys there. 8?"

The 12 members filed out of the dressing room, make-up and mics removed. Concerns about the murder muffin were whispered between the men walking to the unknown location.

Soon, the outlines of the staff members were seen. The back of the head lying on the arm rest of the couch was indeed familiar- Woozi. S Coups and Soonyoung gingerly walked to the short but deadly leader.

"Uri Jihoonie," they tenderly called out the nickname, and the form shifted to a sitting position.

"Is it time to leave already?" the voice was deeper than they were accustomed to. What if, constantly pouring his heart out into his lyrics had left him with throat cancer?

"Yes, Woozi," the leaders of the Hip Hop and Performance teams were worried now.

"What did you just call me?" the reply was harsh.

"They meant Woozi sunbaenim," Mingyu called from the background.

"Sunbaenim makes sense but not Woozi," Jihoon sharply turned to them.

But it wasn't Jihoon. The man in front of them was at least 10 centimetres taller, he had more piercings than the vocal leader did. The only similarity was the hair colour, pink, and the facial features resembling a cat.

"It's Suga sunbaenim," Minghao stared in wonder.

"Where's Sejin-nim?" the man on the couch started looking around, bewilderment in his voice.

"Settle down, everyone," Young Hwan quelled the panic he sensed would bubble. "Uri Jihoon might be with BTS. It's a simple mix-up, which I will sort out now."

The manager took out his phone and started making urgent calls, as he paced back and forth...