If Time Could Creep

Jin flashed the home screen on his phone to check the date. It had already been a few months since he last spoke to Iris that one time in the hallway. By now, she was already back with IZ*ONE again, busy as a bee, as usual.

He smiled faintly, wondering how many songs she had composed by now. Perhaps, one day, Iris would be heading toe-to-toe with Namjoon, aka RM, the leader of BTS who had a hand in ninety percent of their discography.

She also surely had the prolific composing and producing talent of Suga who roughly wrote a song a day. And of course, both he and the rest of BTS all were similarly interested in making music themselves in order to express their own color and personal voice.

With a sigh, he put away his phone and turned to head back on stage for their rehearsal. But his actions were spotted by a member.

"Hyung, are you okay? You've been sighing all day and looking at your phone, for only a second too." Namjoon wrapped an arm around Jin's shoulders in order to spur a confession or conversation at least.

Jin smiled weakly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Time's flying by is all."

Namjoon raised both of his eyebrows. "You've been thinking about that? Are you getting worried about the end of the year arriving?" He momentarily paused and said more softly, "Now that military enlistment is near?"

While that was certainly pressing on Jin's mind, it wasn't his current reason or source for his restlessness. But this was a more convenient and appropriate excuse that required less explanation. So, Jin just thoughtfully nodded at Namjoon.

However, the sharp-eyed leader detected that wasn't the main reason. Jin was keeping something else that was weighing on his mind from him. But after more than seven years of being together, Namjoon knew not to press the issue for now.

"All right." He patted Jin's back, the pat sounding more like a series of smacks due to Namjoon's typical heavy handiness. But Jin was used to this and Namjoon's overall clumsiness by now, and with his broad shoulders, he hardly felt anything.

Jin also knew that Namjoon suspected something else. They had an unspoken bond between them, a bond shared by all BTS members.

Talks about military enlistment were becoming more frequent between them and their company. Just like how fans were guessing how and when the BTS members would enlist for their eighteen or twenty one months of service, they were all discussing the optimal arrangement for them as a group.

If they went individually, that would mean their contract renewal for another seven years would be a couple years long gone. Thus, it was better to go in some number of groups while maintaining enough members to do some sort of BTS, subunit activities.

In fact, it was partly due to this that they had been splitting up into subunits. While it fit their musical and thematic plans, it also allowed them to experiment about what kind of environment they might be facing with a BTS less than seven members.

The symbolism behind their last album, Map of the Soul: 7 was starkly apparent more than ever.

After Namjoon left, Jin was back by himself. But he would be joined again by a few of his members as they came on and off the stage to practice for their concert. Their tour ended in September, so by then, Jin would have enlisted to serve. 2020 was the last year he had left to enlist and serve, according to South Korean law.

With one last sigh and then a heartening self-cheer to pick himself up, he walked forward toward the stage.

Meanwhile, Iris was walking toward her own stage as well. Her solo stage.

With the year winding down, preparations were on the way for her solo, mini-album to drop. In her off-time from IZ*ONE, she would practice her own choreography and songs. She made use of any convenient stages available to discreetly rehearse.

Her IZ*ONE members would often giggle and poke fun at her for doing this. They also felt very proud of her too, though. Even a little jealous at times too because she was the most outstanding among all of them in terms of composing music.

If they were able to, and had the confidence like Iris to do so, they would also take advantage of the non-exclusivity period to release some solo material.

After all, many groups had members drop individual mixtapes, singles or albums. While this was usually when the group was a few years in, there was no reason that if everything was set up for them, that artists wouldn't take the chance to release something.

Thus, the IZ*ONE members watched with fervent eyes as Iris practiced one of her songs. A few members even came up to dance and sing along with her from a minimal distance without bothering her too much.

Their company and Big Hit Entertainment had come to an agreement about letting Iris debut solo at the end of the current year into the next. Despite the non-exclusivity clause, Iris debuting solo while still being in IZ*ONE was still a little odd.

But they argued it was no different from Chungha or another Produce 101 group member going solo within months of disbandment. The contracts with each successive group had gotten longer after all. So it seemed fair enough.

"Iris-unnie," Jo Yuri trotted up to the other girl. "Will you really be going solo after disbanding? Or does your company have other plans?"

The curious, younger girl looked up at Iris with big, pleading eyes. All of the members had been trying to tease out any spoilers from the Big Hit princess about her company's plans.

"Yes, please tell us, pretty pleasee~" whined Yena cutely with her characteristic pouty face.

"Not you too!" quipped Iris, pinching the now brunette Yena affectionately.

"Might as well tell, or they'll forever pester you, Iris-unnie," laughed Chaeyeon, the only one who knew about Big Hit debuting a girl group.

"Ugh, fine! But if I hear a word of this spill anywhere outside, I'll find you, I swear!" Iris narrowed her eyes and pointed her twirling finger at her eager crowd, evoking bubbles of laughter and giggles to spring forth.