Managers & Money (2)
Joon-woo held the lip product to his cheek, the lights and camera blared at him like guns. He wore a sly model smile and his shoulder length hair was bleached blonde and curled as it fell against his neck. The circle glasses he wore were lensless to prevent glare, but editing could fix that. Editing could fix anything.
In the waiting room a stylist hovered worriedly over Reggie as he slumped in a plastic fold out chair. He was more pale than usual, more pale than camera-attractive. He balled his hands together and buried his face in them. His leg bounced up and down like he was anxious.
Mi Yong was the first to be questioned. In suit and proper make up, he tried his best to wear an unknowing expression, but a worried one took over. A real worried one. Perhaps that made his lousy acting seem all too convincing.
"Reggie-ssi, is everything alright?" The stylist asked with beads of sweat rolling down her cheeks.
Reggie's reply was delayed, "I… yeah. I just haven't gotten much sleep lately. I'm really sorry for troubling you…" He bowed deeply from his seat.
The stylist exchanged glances with the makeup artists in the room. Panicked ones.
"Can someone go grab Mr. Jeong-ssi?" A make-up artist asked with a frown.
Mi Yong and Reggie exchanged a smug look before Mi Yong trailed off to search for Mr. Jeong. They all knew where he was, and he wasn't anymore to care for the sickly Reggie as he should've been.
Ryeo Hyun and Jung Hyun-Ok were freed from their make-up artists, so they approached Reggie with a shared curious expression.
"Reggie-ah, is this acting or real?" Jung Hyun-Ok asked, placing his hand to Reggie's forehead to check for a possible fever.
Reggie hummed, "Acting…" He whispered into Jung Hyun-Ok's ear. He played a sick man because he'd seen it many times in his seven months as an idol. "I learned from Joonie."
The two nodded and Baek Du-Ho joined the concern train, his make-up all done.
"Joon-woo's a good actor?" Baek Du-Ho asked, a little too loud.
Reggie nodded, "I think he acts his way through most schedules."
Even Ryeo Hyun seemed surprised by the idea, but before it could be expanded upon, the door opened and in came Joon-woo.
Caked in make-up and uncomfortable clothing, he ran Reggie's way without a care for the other people in his way. The stylists and make-up artists cleared the way and Ryeo Hyun pulled Baek Du-Ho lightly by the shoulder to make way.
With a panicked expression anyone would find real, Joon-woo grabbed Reggie's shoulders and shook the elder once.
"Hyung, really, are you okay?" He asked, placing his hand against Reggie's forehead.
Reggie didn't brush Joon-woo's touch away like he did Jung Hyun-Ok's. In fact, it was a nice feeling in Reggie's stomach when Joon-woo looked at him with those faux worried eyes. Even though Joon-woo was doing this for the BGP, Reggie couldn't help but want more of… this. He liked this side of Joon-woo much more than the often cold and straightforward one.
Reggie nodded, taking one of Joon-woo's hands from his shoulder into his hands. He held Joon-woo's hand like a snowflake, like glass.
"I told you to go to sleep as soon as we got home last night." Joon-woo insisted, shaking his head.
Reggie tried to hide his smile. He wasn't a good actor, but he also never claimed to be.
"I did. I went to bed as soon as I could." Reggie insisted, letting go of Joon-woo's hand.
Ryeo Hyun found the scene straight out of a k-drama, everyone in the room did. Though, in ASCEND's mind, all they could think of was how exaggerated this was. Did the BGP have to translate out of the public eye? Perhaps the possibility of hidden cameras or a sasaeng staff member were a large possibility…
–+–
Mr. Jeong didn't show up until after the shoot was over. Perhaps the whole impersonal staff of ASCEND glared at the manager.
He approached Reggie with comfy clothes and an express coffee. His expression wasn't irritated as it had been consistently over the last few days. He just seemed… uncaring.
"Have you stopped taking the sleeping pills I gave you guys? Have you stopped sleeping?" Mr. Jeong scolded lightly. He handed Reggie the black espresso and sighed, "Drink this. You still have a day's work."
Reggie took the drink into his hands, "Yes, I'm sorry Manager-nim."
M. Jeong huffed and turned to Mi Yong, "You need to be better at reporting your members' conditions to me. That's your job as a leader." His voice was slightly raised, so Mi Yong, in front of ASCEND and their staff and even the advert's staff, flinched.
Joon-woo made a telling eye contact with the advert's PD. If the most influential person in the room cared, he could gain pity points like no other. The PD and probably more noticed the almost pleading in Joon-woo's young eyes.
And that was just the first ploy.
–+–
@kpopnews
ASCEND's Mi-Yo faints during airport appearance… read more
135k likes 31.6k quotes 35.6k reposts
"The 'Beach Day' star, on the way to Japan for their Japanese promotion with ATUDE, appeared dazed. About half way through the airport he staggered into his bandmate, K. The star tried to play it off, but various videos of the incident taken by fans have gone viral. Fans of ASCEND, otherwise known as 'Flights', trended tags in cry for better treatment of the group, referencing Du-Ho's health issues just a few days prior. EASY Entertainment is yet to release a statement on the health of Mi-Yo and ASCEND as a whole…."
–+–
@OfficalASCEND
WHO DO YOU WANT TO BECOME?
140k likes 35k quotes 50.7k reposts
@miyongsleft_ball replying to @OfficalASCEND
a cb already? let our boys rest pls
@jkookarchives replying to @OfficalASCEND
The members are literally collapsing?????? Are they insane?????
–+–
@joonsfavguitar
At the fansign today, Joon-ppa, fell asleep :(((
50k likes 10.5k quotes 14k reposts
Attached was an otherwise cute photo of Joon-woo dozing on the table with his arms as a pillow. Mid fansign. He wore a black cat headband and arms of fan made jewelry.
@roon_lifer replying to @joonsfavguitar
EASY ENTERTAINMENT LET ASCEND REST
#STOPOVERWORKINGASCEND #BOYCOTTEASYENT #BETTERTREATMENTFORASCEND
@kookiearchives replying to @joonsfavguitar
EASY ENTERTAINMENT LET ASCEND REST
#STOPOVERWORKINGASCEND #BOYCOTTEASYENT #BETTERTREATMENTFORASCEND
@winners4miyong replying to @joonsfavguitar
EASY ENTERTAINMENT LET ASCEND REST
#STOPOVERWORKINGASCEND #BOYCOTTEASYENT #BETTERTREATMENTFORASCEND
–+–
Ryeo Hyun chuckled against the practice room floor. He held his phone above his face with a sigh.
Jae♥️: Hyung! Is everything okay?
Jae♥️: there's company issues, right?
Ryeo Hyun: jae don't worry about us. we're just
Ryeo Hyun: protesting kind of
Jae♥️: ?????????
Jae♥️: that tells me nothing dude
Jae♥️: hyung? reply pls!!!!!!
Jae♥️: I know u're busy probably, but
Jae♥️: let's meet up sometime
"Is that Jae-ah?" Jung Hyun-Ok asked as he lied down on the practice room floor with a long deep sigh.
Ryeo Hyun nodded, "He fell for our ploys."
Jung Hyun-Ok nodded, "Really? We're great actors then."
"Or Jae is just gullible?" Ryeo Hyun joked, "But still, I think Joonie was right all along. Perhaps a lighter schedule would probably stop all these… health issues. We might drop dead by thirty at this rate."
Jung Hyun-Ok found it as sad as it was true.
The practice room door opened and in came Joon-woo & Reggie. Oftentimes, as the maknae line, they were required to go grab food for the group. Though Joon-woo was often left with nothing to carry, as Reggie would always insist on carrying it all.
This time they had plastic containers of various Korean foods, all health foods of course.
"Did Joon-woo select the food this time? Why is it all healthy?" Mi Yong groaned as he exited the bathroom.
Joon-woo rolled his eyes, "We are preparing for a comeback."
Reggie's expression seemed to disagree, but he still held the tiny amounts of food with ease.
"Tsk… let's just send Reggie with someone else next time…" Mi Yong huffed, his gaze then fell to Ryeo Hyun and Jung Hyun-Ok on the floor. "Why're you guys on the floor?"
"My body is jelly." Ryeo Hyun replied, his biceps poking out of his sweat covered tank top.
Joon-woo and Reggie distributed the food as they frequently did, "Well we're hearing the songs tonight and then learning the choreography tomorrow, so prepare your bodies." Joon-woo commented in passing.
"Says the one that maintains his body the least." Jung Hyun-Ok hummed, breaking out a laugh from even Baek Du-Ho who isolated himself in an almost slumber.
–+–
Joon-woo could barely stand on the scale presented in front of him. Though it weighed the range that was expected of him, he couldn't help but feel that for a guy he was beginning to get far too skinny. It was almost sickly to look at himself in the mirror now, though he rarely did not naked at least.
Though he had begun to see himself as a boy now, and less of a girl, it was still odd and mirrors still freaked him out to no end. He would feel an imposter in this body until his job was over, he figured.
The staff member gave him a large thumbs up and checked Joon-woo's name with green. Joon-woo limped away in his fatigue.
Tonight, Joon-woo and Mi Yong were to pull their CEO aside to request a dinner to discuss Mr. Jeong. Right now EASY Ent had just two groups under them. ASCEND, their money maker, and The Butterflies, a 2nd generation group that raised the company to its medium size. The group was a girl group that were mostly inactive in idol life. Some were actors temporarily, and one even debuted a soloist, however, they all eventually left idol life. Everyone did. Except Joon-woo, probably.
There were already growing tensions between the higher ups, based on how Mr. Jeong had been much more irritable lately. The manager got irritable the more he got scolded for not monitoring ASCEND enough.
They had gotten video after video proof of his verbal abuse, and they had written witness accounts according to Joon-woo's instruction. The last two weeks they had done ploy after ploy. Though it took convincing, the rest of ASCEND noticed that the fan's worry was nothing to worry about.
Though Joon-woo had to sacrifice some of his maknae image to his hyungs for this, it was worth it. More trust was always worth it.