“The dark brunette?” Bryan repeated.
“Hmm,” Sally nodded with a hum.
“You didn’t know her fully?”
“Gee, and yet you can memorize the entire continent and capitals of every country?” Ava said in astonishment.
“Hey, I had exams for three weeks. My program is difficult. Plus, she barely answers my missing calls and texts me vaguely,” Sally reasoned out defensively.
“What was her name?” Bryan asked gently.
“Hyun…”
“Huh?” Ava became confused.
“Hyun Aera,” Sally enunciated carefully.
“You sure?” Bryan raised his eyebrows in doubt.
“Yeah. This is her name,” Sally said, showing the contact on her phone forward. She sighed glumly and crossed her arms in thought. “I honestly don’t know. She usually tells me most of the stuff, but as the days go by, she starts to become distant and our conversation has lessened. At the beginning of our senior year in high school, I met her outside the main hall to find the room numbers on our schedule. It turns out we were put in the same classes. She and I sat in the middle and completed our assignments silently. Sometimes, we don’t pay attention to what our teachers are teaching us and sometimes, we do. We hang out after school and during lunch breaks. The two of us were being treated inferiorly by others because we were exchange students, so we guarded ourselves together, but it didn’t last. My parents found high-paying jobs in Boston, Massachusetts.”
Bryan and Ava gazed at their friend as they were listening attentively.
“I didn’t want to move back because I didn’t want Hyun Aera to be left alone there, but I had no choice whatsoever. She made new friends that I never would’ve thought it was them.”
“Who’s ‘them?’” Bryan asked.
“Jimin and Taehyung,” Sally answered faintly.
“Wait, what? Those guys?!” Ava’s eyes widened in bewilderment.
“Yes… After those weeks, I received an emergency call from the police and found out that Hyun Aera made some violations by trespassing on someone's property. It was set on fire that night and she didn’t know how it happened. I couldn’t imagine hearing her voice tremble in panic and luckily, they went further into the investigation and found out that it was a bunch of delinquent students, who started the whole mess to frame her. Even so, I doubt they would force her without an actual reason, which there is…” She explained.
“The question is why would she go with them? Unless Jimin and Taehyung are friends with those students,” Bryan pondered.
“Maybe, but we don’t know for certain. Hyun Aera didn’t tell me the rest of the details…” Sally muttered in distraught and continued on. “From what I’ve known about her, she is very passionate towards the arts and music and she would always visit the rooms when nobody is around. I’ve heard her play once at a school event. The instrument that she usually plays is piano because that was her safest place.”
“She must be talented to be bullied by the popular kids,” Ava stated.
“Who were they?” Bryan queried.
“She never mentioned them specifically,” Sally said.
“Why not?”
“She says that it’s only temporary, she’ll get over it, but I don’t buy it. She doesn’t want me involved because it would worry my parents,” Sally closed her eyes in disconsolation and folded her hands on her lap.
“How? Friends are supposed to be there for each other,” Bryan retorted.
“Not on this one. All I could do is console her.”
“We should ask Jimin and Taehyung since they may know something about her,” he insisted.
“Yeah, but Hyun Aera is not in contact with them anymore,” she implied.
“Why the hell not?”
“Again, I have no clue. I even asked Yoongi and he doesn’t know anything.”
“Jeez… I can’t be the only one who’s frustrated with this,” Ava rumbled and placed her elbow on the pillow.
“Look, we can’t solve this dilemma right off the bat. It’s not as easy as you think it should be.”
“Sally has a point, Ava. If we rush into things, we won’t be able to get the right answers to look for Hyun Aera,” Bryan said.
“So how are we going to find her? She blocked her number and therefore, we could not access her information, nor does she have social media,” Ava noted.
Bryan opened his laptop and began to type her name on Naver search, which popped up in three websites, Twitter and Tumblr. To their startlement, she was in past records; Busan High School of Arts and Music. He scrutinized the pictures of the class and her joining the clubs by zooming into her face. “She has chubby cheeks and has brown hazel eyes.”
“I know! Isn’t she cute?” Sally said, giddily.
“Wait, she also won the contests and prizes here,” Ava gasped in awe.
“She looks so sprightly, eh?”
“Hmm.”
“I found the teachers’ names on the list. We should contact them, but which one?” Bryan queried.
Sally pursed her lips to think and responded lightly. “Ms. Rim.”
“Okay,” he said as he grabbed his phone and dialed the numbers to make a call. He waited until it was answered by a feminine, jovial tone of voice.
“Hello, there. This is Busan High School of Arts and Music. How may I help you?”
“Hi, there. I just want to request for an appointment to speak to you tomorrow. Is that alright for you?”
Sally and Ava were staring blankly at Bryan, who was nodding quietly and muttering in approval to the call.
“Yup, yup. Right, thank you…” he said and put his phone down.
“Well? What’d she say?” Sally beamed.
Bryan raised his head up and pulled a wide grin in response. “It’s a yes.”
Sally gaped their mouth open buoyantly. “Good, what time are we going to be there?”
“By morning,” he answered, whereas his friend was trying to contact her boyfriend, but did not pick up due to their busy rehearsals.
Instead, Sally sent Yoongi a message to inform Jimin and Taehyung about the pictures of Hyun Aera. She was a bit exhilarated to look forward to visiting her high school, even though she only lasted for two months. Her anticipation was running all over body, but her expectations were lowered since she does not want to presume that it was somebody else.
Back inside the building, each member was still conferring about their choices they’ve made. It was for the time being that their responses had made them become conscious of what they did.
“At first, I was debating if I should be a writer or poet, so I decided to follow my other dream and that is to be a music artist,” Mark Lee said thoughtfully.
“I also wanted to be a farmer and do multiple occupations, but my parents encouraged me to do something else,” D.O muttered.
“I wanted to work as a barista,” Xiumin said, slightly chuckling, whereas the others were laughing in amusement and nodding in agreement.
“Oh well, those dreams are just our backup plans,” Joshua said.
Jackson indeed smirked funnily at them, then became a little pensive. “Yes, yes… Leaving our families at around 10-11 years old was definitely the hardest because all of us were so young and pursued careers as idols. I’m thankful that we debuted and achieved success, however, I sometimes think of declining it.”
“It’s not surprising. It’s part of the contract. We all exchange deals with our CEOs because we thought they would give us access to all benefits,” Minghao noted.
“You’re telling me. We just had to take part in their malfeasance. It was repugnant that we allowed any type of abuse upon us,” Chanyeol pointed out, which made everyone in utter silence for a couple of minutes.
Of course, the moments were laid in the back of their heads and it was difficult for them to mention the specific and crucial parts. One of the guys beside them speaks by breaking the awkwardness among them.
“I never liked most of the concepts that they forced us to do. They never gave us the privilege to do what we’ve wanted,” Ten reasoned.
“You’re right, but exactly how do we disassociate ourselves from them?” Taeyong asked.
“As I’ve said earlier, you guys must complete your trial. Whoever passes will surely join the squad and we will discuss it. For those who did not will still be able to be part of the team as backup crew,” Jackson said briefly.
“Say, isn’t your girlfriend supposed to show up?” Baekhyun glanced at Eunwoo analytically.
“Not right now. Why are you all too nosy? Once you see her, please don’t be too ghoulish towards her,” He notified in a slight irritation.
“Okay, okay. I was only asking and of course, we won’t,” Baekhyun said defensively.
“We’ll make her feel welcome,” Taemin said.
“Haha. With those big, pouty lips of yours, she’ll probably think you’re Oli London,” Sehun snorted.
“I call him Oily. It’s just easy to pronounce it that way,” Youngjae chortled, which made Taemin throw a glare at them.
“Boys, boys. Let’s put the frivolous jokes aside and focus, shall we?” Jackson said in a hush tone and sighed as he walked over to the reversible whiteboard and flipped it to show the flow chart. “I know there’s a lot of information written here because that will be the time that we will take action on April 17th.”
“Wait, what’s so special about April 17th? What’s going to happen?” Hoshi furrowed his eyebrows curiously.
“The Awards Show,” Jackson curled a half smirk with an impish reply, which made the others’ skepticism even more abstruse.
They stepped forward as he started to demonstrate the diagram and it was the same night that one of the K-Pop members went in disguise. He was wearing an emerald green hoodie with a black mask, concealing his face, except for his sharpened eyes full of persistence. He quickly snuck out of his house after using the gas bomb to put his guards to sleep.
He hopped inside the car and drove away until he was being followed by the paparazzi. Their cameras were set on the side view mirrors and translucent solar roofs.
They were known as “Korea's Dispatch.” A group of people labeled as annoying to some fans and whose jobs are invariably following celebrities to search for gossip and exposing secret couples when there is barely any.
Unless they are paid not to spread the news or keep it under the table. Either way, it is business.
He checked his rearview and scoffed slightly with a sarcastic smirk. "Tsch. Annoying rats. They’d be thinking I’m dating when I’m not. Idiots."
The dispatch was in the van and was slowing down a bit, but he knew that they were being obvious with their movement.
"You think I'm that stupid, huh? Well, let's see if you can have a little taste of these sweethearts," Sungjae said as he pressed the button to release a huge bubble gum before it made an outburst, full of pink sticky splatters of liquid candy.
The van stopped for a second with others groaning and yelping out in bafflement. The gooey was dripping all over the front window, now that they are unable to see him.
An assistant was pushing the car doors, but the substance was difficult and sturdy to make them open.
“Eat that, suckers!” Sungjae exclaimed and cackled with a howl by speeding his vehicle as far as he could go.
Meanwhile in Hybe Corporation, Jimin was in a private meeting with his CEO, who is sitting across from him on the table.
“Are you ready?” Mr. Si-Hyuk asked.
“For what?” Jimin became puzzled with his leg resting on his lap and hands on the chair.
“Don’t play dumb with me. You perfectly well know that you agreed to take it,” Mr. Si-hyuk scoffed and gawked at him with a deadpan expression.
Jimin was starting to be reluctant about the accord that he was in.
Nonetheless, there was no point of turning back. 304Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVgZkb6xkSG
