51 Welcome Home

May 1st, 2020.

Iris stepped out of the car with sunglasses and a face mask. Her luggage had already been taken over the other day, so she only carried herself and a purse along into the building.

"Wow. It feels like I'm going home after a long time away," she thought to herself as she took in the height of the new building. "But at the same time it's so unfamiliar because they changed buildings yet again, that Big Hit."

Iris chuckled inwardly. As she had once joked to herself, Big Hit had indeed moved to another building by the time she returned. Her time at Big Hit spanned three buildings. Now, the company owned several floors of this new building instead of just one.

And it was a good thing too, for they planned to host more artists and staff. Iris hadn't yet gotten the scoop on the scope of the situation, but besides BTS and TXT, Big Hit had plans for several more new groups. Today, she would learn about the entirety of the schedule.

As soon as the elevator doors opened onto the floor with Bang PD's office, Iris was mobbed by several men, nearly scaring her out of her wits.

"WELCOME BACK!" The members of BTS and TXT shouted as several went up to hug her.

"You almost made me curse surprising me like that!" cried Iris, flailing her arms in mixed emotions.

They laughed and cleared the elevator and hallway for them all to walk.

"Sorry! We were just excited to finally see you again after so long! Don't tell me you forgot about us!" teased J-Hope with his sunnier than ever smile.

Iris shook her head with a warm, big grin. She had missed seeing J-Hope's smile in person as well as all of the other members. A pleasant fuzziness enveloped inside her chest. She truly felt so blessed and overjoyed that she didn't know quite what to do.

"I really am so happy to see you all again! I couldn't ever forget about you all. More like you might've forgotten about me!" she laughed merrily.

"Never!" All of her Big Hit family chorused.

"And look at you all, you've grown up!" Iris directed her words at the TXT members, beaming at how much they had grown in a year as both boys and artists.

"Yes noona sunbaenim~!" cheered Huening Kai as he jumped at Iris with another hug.

"Whoa there! Haha!" Iris ruffled his fluffy mop of brown hair. "And just noona please, no sunbaenim," she added with a wink.

"Yes noona," he smiled, making Iris pinch his cheeks, exclaiming, "So cute!"

"Yes, I'm cute," smirked Huening, making Iris giggle at his cheekiness.

"So how're you all? So much as happened I'm not sure where to begin. I guess first off, your first world tour went well, yes?" Iris looked at TXT. "And you just finished the Persona series tour too." She turned her head toward BTS.

They all nodded, and Beomgyu took it upon himself to speak first. "It was pretty cool and exciting! I never thought we'd be able to have a world tour so soon after debuting! Now there are so many places I want to go for next time! Like Australia!" His eyes sparkled.

"Australia!" chimed Taehyung with a wide, toothy smile. Of course, this man would always love Australia.

"Haha, I'm sure you'll be able to soon someday!" encouraged Iris.

After all, since they were still a rookie group, TXT's world tour consisted mainly of the States, Europe, and other parts of Asia. They had a great start, but their popularity and success were still in the process of blooming. Even IZ*ONE's world tours weren't as expansive as they could be.

"We're glad to finally be done touring," remarked Namjoon. "Although we love seeing ARMY, it takes a toll to travel around and perform so much."

His honesty touched Iris on a deeper, empathetic level. She now knew exactly what he meant after having had so many back to back promotions herself. While being with the fans was invigorating, as a human, they could only take so much before they burn out physically or even mentally and emotionally too.

BTS had it even harder than she did with their various other activities such as the making of their game, "BTS World," back in summer 2019, their movies, and BT21 line. Not to mention, their international affairs like UNICEF ambassadors and speakers at the UN, along with collaborations with various artists and international shows.

It amazed Iris how BTS didn't seem to have a limit to their success. They continually topped the charts and rose to greater and greater heights. With that said, there was only one thing that lurked in the back of everyone's mind. It was the one thing that could potentially stop BTS's upward spiraling success—

Military service.

Although there had been talks of exempting other types of artists, besides classical musicians from South Korea's mandatory two-year military service for men in light of international achievements which increased Korean prestige, no legislation to keep up with the contemporary times had been enacted in time for BTS or other high achieving global artists.

Since it was nearly halfway through 2020, and their oldest member Jin would be the first to serve, this impending bomb was ticking louder and louder. K-pop, like any other musical entertainment industry around the world, was fast-paced and ever-changing.

Other big name acts like Super Junior and Big Bang never quite rose to the level they used to have after serving in the military. Of course, both of these groups had faced other obstacles such as scandals and controversies, but their huge level of success weren't affected by news as much as time itself.

The younger replaced the older. While the older acts became legends, they struggled to compete on the same grounds as the new and upcoming artists in terms of music and awards shows. Such was how music evolved and changed in any corner of the world. No one could escape time. They could only merely mark themselves in the history of time.

"Well, I'm glad that you're able to rest a little now too. It's great to see your dreams and goals come true through all your hard work, but not at the expense of your well-being. I'm sure you all could keep pushing your limits and reach greater heights, but you've all done so amazingly this whole time. You're competing against yourselves at this point!" heartened Iris.

The BTS members laughed warmly. "Yeah, I look forward to sleeping and composing more," added Suga with relaxed smile.

"Oh, great work at producing by the way, Suga!" Iris suddenly was reminded of his success producing songs for Suran, Heize, and other artists. Besides his success as a solo artist under the stage name, AGUSTD, Suga was making a name for himself in other ways.

"Thanks," he chuckled with a side-grin.

"And what about you?" piped Taehyung. "A lot of people were shocked when the Pied Piper MV dropped."

Iris laughed sheepishly. "Ah, I don't know about being shocked. But thanks! It was because of you all that the video got so many views anyway."

"Still, that's great for when you finally debut," interjected Jin.

"Yeah, the girls have been watching that video on repeat since it dropped a week ago." Jungkook chuckled, thinking of the trio of girls huddled over the laptop with wide eyes.

Iris tipped her head to the side. "The girls..? Who..?"

The BTS members suddenly stopped, making the TXT boys take a few steps forward before awkwardly halting themselves when they realized they got ahead.

"Huh? That is.. You don't know about it yet?" stammered Jungkook, abashed.

"Know about what..?" Iris's eyes widened a bit in curiosity. The BTS members looked a little uncomfortable.

Jimin coughed before finishing Jungkook's words. "That is, the girls who you'll be eventually debuting with." He paused for a moment and slowly enunciated, "Cindy didn't tell you?"

"Cindy?!" Iris exclaimed with her mouth ajar afterwards in shock. "My cousin is here at Big Hit?"

They all nodded nervously.

"Here as in a trainee?" The pitch of her voice rose at the end of her words.

"Yes.." replied Jimin, scratching his head as the other members diverted their eyes or nodded for the second time.

Iris was frozen in place as she processed this new bombshell of information. As far as she had been told, she was scheduled to debut as a solo artist after Produce 48, tentatively around the time that IZ*ONE's exclusivity ended. So what was this about debuting with a group and Cindy?!