SIXTEEN

"I'm just glad that you're okay." I told Yo Chul-hyung.

We were in a hospital right now.

Again…

Apparently, when they were out meeting some of the fans in public, a guy suddenly ran towards him and tackled him. He started beating him up while saying Victoria-noona was his.

After Ji-Eun and I revealed our relationship, Yo Chul-hyung also confirmed his relationship with Victoria-noona days later. Obviously, not everyone was happy. Especially the guy who beat him up.

Yo Chul-hyung was also a good fighter. He knows self-defense. But since we have a reputation to keep up he allowed himself to be beaten while quietly defending the crucial blows from the guy. He didn't want to injure the guy to the point that he would be bedridden for life.

"I'm glad you could finally make it. Oww." Yo Chul-hyung as he winced in pain while slowly sitting up.

I quickly rushed towards him to have him lie back down. "You don't have to get up, hyung."

Zhang sighed. "Seriously… How many times have we been in the hospital this month?" He then turned Dominic. "No offense, hyung."

"None taken. Even I'm pissed off coming here as a visitor instead of signing out some papers." Dominic said.

I then changed the topic. "So did you guys find the culprit?"

"No. He got away after ambushing Yo Chul during the fan sign. The security lost him after chasing him down." Jiwoo replied.

Jeong Do walked across the room. "It bugs me a lot. There weren't any CCTVs in the area. It's like his escape route was well-planned."

"It's a well thought-of plan. Someone must be orchestrating this behind the scenes." I replied.

"Zee? Got anything?" Seiji-hyung called out to Zee who was angrily typing at his keyboard.

He suddenly slams his laptop shut and exhaled heavily. I've never seen him so angry like this before.

"It's alright Zee." Jiwoo tried to comfort him.

"No! It's not alright! I've been useless ever since JayB-hyung got attacked! I didn't get to help you guys and just stood there at the corner, watching you guys do all the work!" He suddenly shouted.

There was long silence in the room.

Matt-hyung then approached Zee, "You did a lot actually. You stopped all the websites that were about to share any info about the incident. You corrupted the files from the media so that they won't be able to release it to the public, AND you gave as a lead to where the people who attached JayB were from. You did really well, Zee."

He was crying right now. He was really close with Yo Chul even if they fought a lot. "Still-"

"He's right, Zee. So thank you." Yo Chul said.

The world must be ending. Did Yo Chul just thank him?

"Whoever is behind this must be someone influential to really be able to pull some strings like this." Jeong Do thought.

"That's what I thought too. These two attacks might be orchestrated by the same person and were not coincidences." Dominic agreed.

I nodded. "I think that person is the one who also sent me the 'gift'."

We all discussed what little detail might help with the case.

"Whoever that is. We will find that person and put an end to it." I told them.

_____________

"You wanted to see me, PD-nim?" I asked as I entered his office.

He was busy with a lot of papers on his desk. "Ah! JayB-ah! Come in and have a seat."

I did as I was told and sat down.

"Do you want anything to drink while we talk? This is going to take a while." He asked.

"Tea sounds good." I replied.

He then rang his secretary and asked for two cups of teas to be served. Afterwards, he then started scanning through some paperwork. He must have forgotten that I was there because he suddenly stopped talking.

He then turned his face towards me. "Sorry. I'm just going to finish this one as we wait for the tea to arrive. It'll be a sec."

I nodded.

The secretary finally came in and broke the awkward silence throughout the room. After she left us he then put some of the pile of paperwork to the side.

He then sighed. "JayB-ah, before we start talking business, I have to tell you some of my thoughts."

"Sure, PD-nim." I replied.

He nodded and started talking about his concerns. "You see… I think that the two attacks were not initiated at you as idols but it was more like a personal vendetta orchestrated by someone."

"We thought so too." I agreed.

"Good. In line with that, I just wanted to tell you that I'm really worried for Ji-Eun. She might be attacked any time soon." He said.

As soon as I heard that, I also came to a realization that it was highly possible. The culprit made it look like it was a saesang that caused this and attacked two people from the group which revealed our personal relationship.

Come to think of it. When it was during the fan sign event, Ji-Eun was the original target. I just shielded her from it which got me hurt. Plus, all these fans that attacked us were male. Meaning to say, they couldn't be saesang fans. It was more like they were henchmen.

"You have to protect Ji-Eun from this. I believe that you already told her the truth about you." He said which snapped me back from my thoughts.

I just nodded in agreement.

"JayB-ah. I want you to know that what I'm about to say, I would be saying it both as your uncle and your boss. So I hope you would consider it." He suddenly turned serious.

"Sure… I guess." I replied.

He sighed. "If anything bad happens to Ji-Eun. I will have you two break up. This is for the safety of your careers and your lives. You know who you are JayB-ah. Even you have all the families of the prodigies protect you, there will still be enemies who would dare to provoke you and even hurt those who are around you. So you have to understand why I'm saying this."

I was stunned at first with what he said and even got angry at the fact that this idea went to his head. But I thought about it for a second. It must have been hard on his part to tell me this. That was why he was pretending to shuffle through all the papers earlier. He was really nervous and scared to tell me.

As a businessman, I know how he feels and I know that he's right, but I actually hate that he's right about this. So I better protect her with all that I have. If I fail, then I'm not worthy to be his boyfriend.

"Alright, PD-nim. I understand." I answered him.

He then jerked a little. "Really? That's it? You're not going to complain or fight back?"

I chuckled and shook my head. "Of course not. I understand how you feel right now."

He plopped down on his chair and sighed. This made me laugh a little. He must have been so tense to tell me this.

"So… what were we going to talk about?" I decided to change the topic.

"Oh right! Let's talk business now." He and sat straight.

He told me that the list for the people who will be joining the survival show is now complete. The event venue also have been approved and is already under construction. He showed me the list and sure enough. THEY were all in this list.

"I've already cleared your schedule for the next two days since we'll be meeting the contestants. After your promotion in Music Bank tonight, I want you to make an opening theme song for the show as well as think about the choreography for it. You have to finish the song before tomorrow evening and we'll do the choreography the next day. Any questions?" He suddenly bombarded me with a bunch of tasks which I'm used to by now.

"When are we going to shoot the first episode?" I asked.

"In two weeks." He answered.

I nodded and told him that I'll get to work right away before the promotion this evening. He gave me a thumbs up and I went to our clubhouse to finish the opening theme song. I already went ahead and started producing the song prematurely. I already knew that I would have a huge role for this show.

_____________

"Take 5 ladies." I told the contestants of SIXTEEN.

Surprisingly, PD-nim decided to call them that. What a coincidence?

Two days passed by so fast. I barely got to know everyone in the room. We just ended our practice for the choreography for "I'm Gonna Be A Star" and were about to polish some of the steps. This song was SIXTEEN's theme song back in the previous world.

Surprisingly, PD-nim loved the song immediately.

Suddenly, my phone starts vibrating.

"Hey, babe. I'm currently practicing with the survival show's contestants. How are you? WHERE are you?" I asked.

As soon as the contestants heard that, they snapped their heads at me and started giving me hearts. I shook my head and chuckled.

"You better not be flirting with any of them." She said.

I acted all hurt. "What? I'm hurt that you think of me that way."

She giggled. "Whatever. I'm done with my tour by the way."

"Really? That means I can finally see you. Where are you right now?" I asked.

"Look behind you." I turn around to see her enter the practice room.

The trainees greeted her and she did the same. She suddenly ran towards me and jumped in to hug me. I caught her and started spinning her around. The girls who were watching started screaming and squealing.

The mysterious girl on the other hand just rolled her eyes.

I'm sorry that you had to see this. Anyway, I'm in a different body after all so you won't recognize me anyway.

"This is a lovely surprise." I told Ji-Eun.

She then gave me a peck. "I really missed you."

"I miss you too, but don't do it in front of the kids." I joked.

She giggled. "What time are you getting off?"

I checked my wrist watch as I slowly let her go. "Hmm… About an hour or so."

She suddenly clung to my arm. "Let's have dinner together."

"Dinner? Sounds good." I told her.

"I'll be in my practice room. Come find me if you're done." she then gave me a kiss on the cheek and went out.

"Sunbaenim, treat us to dinner instead of hanging out with IU-sunbaenim." One of the trainees said.

"Ya. Song Minyoung. You better focus on the choreography than other people's business." I replied to her in a joking manner.

They all laughed about.

"Alright, if you do well in the shoot, I promise to treat you guys to dinner." I told them which made them really happy.

"But for now, get back to your formation. We'll go through it again." They all groaned in response.

___________

"Ahh! I'm so scared right now. What am I going to do? What am I supposed to perform?" Lee Chaeryoung who was one of the contestants for the show nervously said as we entered the dance studio to evaluate and assess the situation.

I chuckled and responded. "Hey relax. Don't think about it too much."

"But sunbaenim, I also don't know what I was supposed to do." Lee Chaeyeon, Chaeryeong's older sister said.

"And why do we have to be treated differently like this? Major? Minor? It's so brutal!" Kim Eun-suh said.

Hah…

Even I think so too.

But this is necessary in this industry guys.

You'll never get to appreciate things if you'd just get what you want right away. You have to learn to grow through the hardships.

"How about this? The shoot doesn't start 'til 10PM and it's still almost 7PM right now. Why don't I treat you all to some barbecue? I still owe you that dinner." I told them which made them erupt in to cheers.

"Is IU-sunbaenim also coming?" Im Nayeon asked.

In the previous world, she was an avid fan of Ji-Eun.

"I'll call her when we get there. I think she's still recording for her new album that's coming up." I replied.

She got excited and dragged her trainee friends to hurry them up.

When we got to the restaurant, I decided to buy off the entire restaurant for 3 hours to make sure that other people can't comes in. We were already regulars here so the owner knows who I am. About 30 minutes later, the rest of the cavalry arrived. The members of Alpha came in and joined us. I invited them so we could get to know the trainees better. The girls were really happy that they came. Some of them even wanted a picture and an autograph from them. They all happily obliged.

Of course, I wanted Jiwoo to be his girlfriend as well.

Yeah… apparently Jiwoo and Tzuyu were a thing now which made me really happy. The rest of the trainees started teasing them and went along. But Tzuyu was still as savage in this world compared to the previous one as she shut them down.

About an hour later, IU decided catch up. She was obviously exhausted from work. The moment she sat down beside me she leaned on my shoulder and started falling asleep. Of course, the rest of the people didn't mind it because we all knew how tiring this industry can make one feel.

After 30 minutes of sleeping she woke up and decided to join in on the eating. She also agreed on signing some autographs and taking some pictures. The rest of the trainees were really happy about it. Especially when GOT7 members caught up.

I did this on purpose actually…

Although the show may be rigged and it was really brutal as well, I wanted to let them see that they were still part of a bigger family.

As soon as we got a call from the director that we'll be shooting in a few minutes, we started wrapping things up and said our goodbyes. Of course, I had to separate from the group because I had to bring my girlfriend home.

The trainees went back to the company and my members rode home using the company's cars.

It was a silent ride for me and Ji-Eun.

"You look exhausted." I told her to break off the silence.

"Oh don't get me started. I just want to get home, wash up and sleep." She said.

I chuckled. "Please don't forget to work on your skin care routine."

She rolled her eyes.

"Why? Are you going to fall out of love when this is all gone?" She said as she made a round gesture over her face.

I held her hand. "I'm going to love you 'til the next life."

I then kissed her hand which made her blush.

It went on for a while until we got to her dorm. I walked her to her door and gave her a kiss. We said our goodbyes and I started heading for home.

My phone then starts ringing and I saw that it was Seiji-hyung.

I answer the phone. "Hey, hyung. I'm on my way ho-"

"JayB-ah! You have to hurry home now!" He said as if he was panicking.

"Calm down. What's going on?" I asked.

He then exhaled deeply to relax himself. "It's that so called 'saesang' of ours. He broke in to the dorm and ransacked it."

__________