Project Alpha – The First Challenge Part 2

"What can I do for you… Suzy-sunbaenim?" I asked her.

She pouted at me. "Ya! Why are you talking formally? We're not even working right now."

"I apologize, noona." I smiled at her.

This was getting awkward…

So here's the thing…

Back in my previous world, she and I were close.

Like… really… close…

Of course for me, she was like a mother inside the industry. She gave me advice while I work on her music and even patch her up with some directors and writers so she could play a role in a drama.

I even remembered that we were able to plug her in a contract with Netflix and made an action-spy series for them.

Our relationship was tight.

Now here's the unfortunate part of the story. The fans and the media didn't like that. Suzy-sunbaenim was really popular and for her to have a "dating rumor" was a big deal.

Especially for JYP PD-nim. The way JYP treated women in her company was… how should I put it? Umm… intense?

He warned me personally not to approach THE girl in the same company.

I had no feelings for her whatsoever. Yet, when the dating scandal broke loose, she didn't deny it and just went with the flow.

Her company denied it but her actions spoke otherwise.

I was in a bind.

There was nothing I could do, she was the one who would come to my studio and bring food and all these gifts. On her free time, she would go to the restaurant that I was eating at.

The scandal became worse. I had no company to back me up because I was an independent producer at that time.

When I couldn't take it anymore, I talked to her sincerely and told her what was going on.

I didn't know how she took it because she just maintained a stoic face after what I said. She just stood up and left the studio after our talk.

After that… we never spoke again.

Well… unless it was work related.

Now in this world… it was kind of happening again.

She would always ask how I was doing and she would sometimes go to the studio to see me practice.

There were times when she brought food for the members too.

We just took it as a gesture of kindness. She was like a mother to us.

But I wasn't comfortable about it. Maybe because of the memories from the previous world that still haunts me.

I had to convince myself that this world's Bae Suzy was different to where I came from.

Which is actually true…

"JayB-ah, I want you to write a song for me and the girls." She smiled as she said that.

I thought about it for a while and found nothing wrong with her request. But at this time…

"Sorry, noona. I don't know if you've heard but the boys and I are in a reality TV show where we have to pass a set of trials in order for us to debut. If we don't pass all the tests, we might not be able to debut." I sincerely told her.

"Oh… it doesn't have to be now… maybe when you guys are finished with it?" She tried to negotiate.

I nodded at her. "Sure. But for now, why don't you let JYP PD-nim write you a song?"

"No!" She yelled.

That surprised me.

"I mean… no! Have you heard his songs lately? It makes me shiver. Even Mark-ssi and Yugyeom-ssi were complaining to how horrible it was." She rephrased.

I laughed at her reaction. Although she was a year older than I was, she tends to be cute and childish sometimes.

"So it's a promise, okay? An album for us?" She asked.

"Wait… what? I thought it was just a song?!" I complained.

She just giggled and skipped away. "An album after your debut! That's a promise!"

"YA! Suzy-noona!" I tried to call her but she just continued to escape.

This girl though… seriously…

I just sighed and smiled.

At least she's nothing like the previous world's Bae Suzy…

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"Hyung! Over here!" Zhang called out to me the moment I stepped inside the restaurant.

I sat beside him and began grilling some meat.

They were asking about what Suzy-sunbaenim and I talked about. I just told them that it was a secret and they began teasing me.

I laughed at them and continued grilling some meat.

When I looked around, I noticed that there were only a few cameramen and just one producer from the show.

"PD-nim, is it just you guys? Where are the rest?" I asked.

She told me that everyone went home and they were tasked to continue filming until we were finished eating.

They got all the hard work dumped on them because they were the juniors. It's sad how the hierarchy is messing this up.

They don't deserve to be treated this way.

"Why don't you grab a plate and join us?" I invited them and the rest of the members also agreed and began passing the plates.

They politely declined.

They probably don't have much money on them yet. I guess they're new and just started working for the company.

"Okay, just shoot for about 5 minutes more and leave the camera on while we eat. You guys can join us afterwards. It's my treat so you guys better eat." I told them.

They all turned to one another before looking at the producer.

She teared up a little and nodded in response.

The crew then began to set-up the cameras and did as they were told.

Soon the crew slowly began warming up to the members.

"JayB-ssi. Thank you so much for the treat. We didn't expect this one." One of the cameramen said.

"It's nothing. You guys are going to be with us for a while. And besides, since we didn't eat during lunch, you guys probably didn't too. So this is just an apology from us and at the same time a sign of our thanks for taking good care of us." I smiled at them and ordered some more food.

"You know, you are one of the few idol groups that are really humble and would treat others the same way." Another cameraman said.

"Yeah. And for that, we really appreciate it. I hope you guys never changed." The rest of the crewmen agreed.

"We may be idols debuting soon, and you guys might think that you're just members who stick behind the scenes. But I want you to know that all of us are humans and we deserve to be treated like humans. We are the same inside. So please, the next time you see us, don't hesitate to say approach and greet us. We won't treat you indifferently." I responded.

I just said what I wanted to say. We were in the same boat. We are just people trying to reach our goals and earn for a living.

The rest of the night was joyous as we finally broke the ice. Everyone in that room became good friends.

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"Great job everyone! That's a wrap!" I announced.

Everybody applauded while my members either sat down on the floor or collapsed. We finally finished learning the choreography for the song.

"Don't forget. After lunch, we'll head over to the mall to buy our practice outfits for tomorrow. We'll meet here at 7PM tonight to polish the choreography more." That announcement earned a groan from the members. I just chuckled at them in response.

"Hyung… Seiji-hyung and I will head over the tech department to reserve the equipment for tomorrow's shoot." Zee slowly stood up as he grabbed Seiji-hyung's arm.

"Why me?" Seiji complained.

"Because you know those chemical thingies that are inside lights and you're better at managing the lighting than I am." Zee responded.

He dragged Seiji-hyung with him.

It was time for lunch. We need to eat and be ready for tonight's practice. It's going to be gruesome later on.

Lunch went by without any problems. Now that the choreography was done and the equipment's set. All that's left are the sports ware for tomorrow.

Since our privileges for being an up-and-coming debuting group was taken away from us, we rode the bus going to the mall.

I can't wait to finish this challenge then we can finally have our own studio and own company cars.

We soon arrived at the mall and we kept our masks and caps on. But it didn't help since the camera crew followed us.

The producer also asked us to hold some selfie sticks with cameras mounted on it.

Well… I guess we have to survive the mall with our identities exposed then.

The people were curious as to why there were cameramen following us so some of them stalked and followed us.

"JayB-ah, where are we going to buy our clothes?" Yo Chul asked.

"We shouldn't be wearing one brand. It might look like we're being sponsored when we aren't. Let's divide by units and head to different store brands." I instructed.

The crew also divided accordingly. They already knew who to follow this time since it was our third day of filming.

Matt and Woo were with me. The performance unit headed towards Fila since the rest of the teams decided to go for the Adidas and Puma brands.

As athletes, Matt and Woo have received sponsorships in the past and they could attest that Fila was a good brand since the owners were very polite and the merchandise were also very durable. So I went with the experts on this one.

In the previous world, BTS was the group who got the Fila sponsorship and they were happy about it. If a super group in the past life were happy about their contract, then it makes the brand worth supporting.

The crowd that were following us started grow large.

I could see a group of people hesitating to approach us.

"Excuse me? Oppa?" One girl finally called out. We have to be kind to the people since they are our potential fans.

"Yes? May I help you?" I politely gave her a reply and smiled at her.

She looks so young… and… somewhat familiar.

"I was wondering if you are a new idol group. And I wanted to ask for an autograph if that's okay." She asked.

I turned to the rest of the crowd who were expectant with our answers. "We haven't debut yet. But filming our survival show right now. Would you still want our autographs even if we haven't debut yet?"

She smiled at me as she suddenly holds my hand. "Oppa… I know your group will make it big! So may I ask for your autograph?"

"How would you possibly know if we'll be able to debut someday?" I asked her.

"I have an eye for talent. Also… you're very handsome." She covered her face as she blushed.

I chuckled in response. "Alright, alright. I'll give you an autograph."

The moment I said that the crowd immediately pushed each other and formed a long line. Matt and Woo also stood beside me.

This kind of feels like an informal fan meeting.

"Is it okay if we sign around 50 people only? We need to finish filming early so we could rest for our practice tonight. Will that be okay? I asked.

The crowd responded with a loud yes while others were clearly disappointed. "Don't worry. The moment we debut, we promise to cater to the fans as much as we can."

With that the crowd erupted in cheers and squeals. As soon as it quieted down one of the members of the crowd asked, "Are you sure you're going to debut?"

But before I could answer the girl who approached me earlier answered for me, "Yes! They will! I know it! I've never been wrong when it comes to people!"

And with that I began signing the autographs for people. The girl who approached me disappeared before I could sign her notebook.

Too bad… I wanted to at least thank her and know her name.

It took us about 30 minutes to finish up before we headed towards Fila's store boutique.

"Finally… I thought I was going to die of suffocation! But it was really fun! I also got to meet some cute girls. Hehe…" Woo smiled obviously still in a bliss.

"I wonder what Tzuyu would think when she hears that." Dominic tried to tease Jinwoo but it earned him a punch on the shoulder.

They both began to bicker as we went around the store. I had to remind them that the cameras are rolling on us. And anytime, they could use that footage to sabotage us.

"Don't worry… we're not rolling yet. And you're secret is safe with us." One of the cameramen said.

I just realized that we were with the crew that had dinner with us last night. Man, they know how to repay kindness.

"Thanks guys…" I was speechless.

Suddenly, I had a brilliant idea. I immediately texted everyone.

We decided to not only buy for ourselves but also buy two pairs of shoes for each crew member that was following us. The rest of the team also got the message and were excited to treat them as well.

We were already rich to begin with so money is not an issue.

At first, they were refusing to accept the offer but ended up accepting it anyway.

Some of them were already crying because they only had a single pair of shoes because they either had family to feed or children to send to school.

That's when I got another idea. I knew that my friends also got the same idea as I did because I got a text before I could even contact them.

We decided to buy their entire family clothes and shoes. After going out of the store, we dragged everyone to the grocery store and asked them to stop filming for a while.

We decided to buy them 6 months' worth of food and grocery. Seeing the amount of food, we decided to ask the supermarket to deliver it to their homes instead of bringing it.

The crew and the producers didn't stop thanking us until we went out of the supermarket. The crowd was still following us and were in awe of what we were doing for the crew. Doing grocery in Seoul is quite expensive for most people. But we didn't mind. Money is meant to be spent anyway.

Then I remembered that I still had to buy energy drinks later on so I told them to meet me at the entrance.

But before I could enter the store secretly, I heard a person say something. "I knew you were a good person. That's why you're going to do just fine in the industry."

I turned to see who it was and saw that it was the girl from earlier. "Should you be with your mother or something?"

She pouted at me and crossed her arms. "I'm a teenager you know! I'm not a kid!"

I chuckled at her and changed the topic. "So I'm about get some drinks for our practice later. Care to join me?"

"Sure!" She then stood close to me and I froze. She looks so cute! I was now running towards the supermarket as I was being dragged by this teenager.

She definitely needs to calm down. Can't she see that I'm older than her?

I went to the aisle where the drinks were located and got what I needed. "Is there something that you want? Come on. It's my treat."

She pondered for a few seconds before she responded, "Ice cream!"

"And you said you weren't a kid." I chuckled.

"Hey ice cream is for all ages, oppa! People would be offended when they hear you say that!" She defended herself.

"Okay, okay. Let's get these items on the counter." I replied.

We went out of the store after paying for the goods. She shared that she wanted to be an idol as well. But her parents wanted her to play sports instead.

"Hmm… you should go for what you want instead of going for what other people say. It's your life. It's never okay to do something that would look right but doesn't feel right. Go for something that you'd enjoy doing for the rest of your life." I told her what I seriously think. This stems out from what I felt when I left BTS to pursue music producing.

"Okay oppa! I'll do just that! By the way, is it still okay to ask for an autograph?" she said.

"Didn't you already ask for ice cream?" I teased.

Her eyes widened in surprise, "Ya! Oppa!"

"I'm just kidding. Give me your notebook and pen." I told her.

She immediately went through her stuff to look for her notebook and pen, and handed it to me.

"So… may I finally know your name?" I smiled at her.

Her response shocked me to the very core, "Oh… Right! We haven't introduced ourselves yet. It's Yuna! Shin Yuna!"

It's Yuna! From ITZY!

She's so young! I couldn't recognize her because she still has dark hair!

Wow!

Back in the previous world, I was a fan of ITZY!

I practically begged JYP that I would write and produce a song for them.

Why was I a fan?

Well, why not?

They were all amazing dancers and performers. And on top of that, they are really cute!

I was finally able to get the deal with JYP to write and produce their next song and work with them. We ended up creating a hit with ICY.

"Sure Yuna-ah…" I started writing on her notebook just to hide my excitement.

"Kim Jinbo…" She read the name on the signature when I gave her notebook back.

"You can just call me JayB. I'm using that as my stage name anyway." I told her.

She smiled at me before she said, "JayB… oppa…"

After hearing that one I felt a jolt go through my body.

Ahh… she called me oppa… Yuna… called me oppa…

"So oppa, which company do you train under?" She asked as we slowly head towards the exit.

I stared at her for a while.

Please don't make me be reason why you'll train under JYP.

"I'm going to debut soon under JYP Entertainment." I said.

She seemed to be in deep thought afterwards and then she suddenly shouted, "Alright! I've made up my mind! I'm going to audition for JYP Entertainment and debut there so I can be with you oppa!"

Oh no…

People were looking at us weirdly. Please don't tell me they heard that. It sounded weird coming from a 13 year old.

I just gave her a wry smile, "Do your best then…"

She gave me a firm nod before we hear someone call to her. "Yuna-ah! Ya! Shin Yuna!"

There was another girl who stood beside her and who was now angry at her for leaving suddenly. She was also heavily panting.

"Unnie! This is Kim Jinbo-oppa. He's going to debut soon!" She said and that earned a lot more people staring at us.

She seemed to be star strucked as well. She quickly bowed twice and introduced herself to me. "Ah! Hello! I'm Yuna's sister. My name is Shin Ryujin."

"Ryu… Ryujin?" I muttered.

Another one…

"Ya! Shin Yuna! We have to get going! Mom is going to kill us if we miss the bus!" Ryujin turned to Yuna and started scolding her.

"Oh shoot! We're going to go now oppa! I'll see you very soon!" Yuna said as she dragged her sister to the exit.

I was waving at their figures that were slowly getting further away. But before I could walk away, I heard Yuna call out to me, "JayB-oppa!"

I turned to look at her and smiled. I was already a little bit embarrassed by it because people were starting to stare. But it's still so cute.

"JayB-oppa! I like you! Don't get a girlfriend until I debut, okay? Bye oppa!" She shouted and turned around to go to her sister.

The people around me started to snicker and whisper among each other which made me grow even redder in embarrassment.

Why did she have to do that?

I sighed heavily before pulling down my cap and putting on my hoodie.

I joined my friends which were standing near the entrance and were crowded by people. Some of the members were signing autographs while the others were talking to some of the people.

Right…

Let's focus first on what we're dealing with now.

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Everyone was practically exhausted. We finished practicing at around 2AM in the morning and we arrived home at around 3:30AM.

We had to wake up at 6AM because we were going to start shooting for the dance practice video at 9AM.

"Hurry up hyung!" Zee was waiting for Seiji to finish taking a shower.

Dominic entered the room and reminded everyone of the call time. "Hey! We're supposed to be in the cars by now!"

Some of the cameramen were inside the house filming us as we prepared. Everyone was starting to become tense. Dom's right. It's a few minutes past 7AM and we we're supposed to head to the studio before 8:30AM.

Zee rushed to take a shower and Seiji also was rushing to get dressed. Matt helped in preparing Zee's clothes so he could get dress after he finishes showering.

"Okay! Everyone who's ready head for the cars!" I instructed.

So there are three cars that were provided for us just for this day. If we pass the first challenge, it would be ours, permanently.

We divided ourselves by units so we could properly utilize the vehicle. After everyone got on the cars, we immediately rushed for the studio.

Little did we know that there were mounted cameras inside the cars that we're secretly filming what we were doing.

In the Vocal Unit's car…

"Uh… yeah… yeah… bring the beat…" Dom was sitting in the front together with our manager who was driving. He was playing a hiphop beat.

"On the blue corner! We have the champion! MC Dome!" Zhang spoke in English as if he was a boxing ring announcer.

"Yeah! Break it down yo!" Dom played along.

"On the red corner, the challenger, MC Doe!" Zhang announced again.

"I'm seriously not doing this Zee. I'm not doing this." Jeong Do had enough of it. It's always like this when the vocal unit was in the car.

"You're just scared to battle, not because it's a hassle, but because you'll get rattled. So in other words, this won't be a battle!" Dom taunted Jeong Do with a diss.

"Oh it's on!" Jeong Do took the bait.

…

In the Rap Unit's car…

The members of the rap unit were leaning back on their seats as if they were being buried in it. They were also listening to the song that was being played on Yo Chul's phone.

"Loser, loner

A coward who pretends to be tough

A mean delinquent

In the mirror, you're

JUST A LOSER

A loner, a jackass covered in scars

Dirty trash…"

Yep they were singing along to Big Bang's Loser. It became a hit after I sold the song to them. It's a year earlier than it should have but, I believed that it would make the charts. And it did for two months now.

Anyway… the rap unit was still very exhausted but they sang along to this song just to stay awake and warm up their vocals.

In the Performance unit's car…

Jazz music was playing over from the radio but the members were wearing eye masks while sleep. The supposed hype group of the team is taking it slow.

There was not much to do for now but sleep.

We had a long day ahead and we were exhausted from last night's practice so it's time to catch up on some sleep.

But… little did we know that the showrunners have planned something else for us.

_______________

I felt the car stop and I immediately tried to remove the eye masks but was stopped by the manager.

"What's going on?" I tried to get some answers.

"Keep the masks on." The manager said.

Something isn't right here.

I immediately went for my phone but before I could dial it a call came in. I quickly tapped on the answer button and placed it on my ear.

"What the heck Kim Jinbo?! There are people trying to let us wear masks! Who are these people?!" It was Seiji who obviously panicking.

"Are you guys okay? None of you are hurt?" I asked trying to confirm their safety.

"Yeah… we're good." He sighed. "What do we do? They're forcefully asking us to wear blindfolds."

"Let's go with what they want. I'm pretty sure we can handle ourselves." I assured him.

The trip was long and quiet.

Where are they taking us?

Soon the vehicle stopped and we could hear doors opening.

"Get out." A voice commanded.

"Where are you taking us?" I tried to get some answers.

"Just get out and follow my voice." The person said.

We had no choice because I was not sure if there were guns pointed at us or what.

I could feel that they were leading us to a very spacious place since our footsteps were echoing. And base of the number of footsteps, there were a lot of people here. They really outnumbered us.

"Wait here." Another voice that was familiar to me spoke.

The place grew quiet.

"JayB-ah… I'm just waiting for your signal." That was Matt. I guess we're all okay.

"Relax… they're friendlies." I assured them.

I finally understand what was going on.

"Okay. Take off your blindfolds." As soon as she said that, I immediately took off my eye mask. The light blinded me for a few seconds but I was finally able to see what was going on.

We were in a parking lot of some building.

"Welcome! This is the REAL first half of your first challenge." The manager announced.

I knew it… the voice earlier was hers.

"Let me guess… we're filming a low budget music video?" I asked.

She just smiled and nodded at me.

Seriously…

They went through all that trouble.

Matt could have killed them, you know?

"You know I almost killed you guys earlier?" Matt finally voiced out.

They just gave him strange looks and just laughed at him. Right, they don't know the real Matthew Nakrop. They must have thought that he was joking.

Well it's better that way…

"So… your stylists and make-up artists are waiting for you on the second floor. After you are done we'll start shooting your video."

This is actually fine too. It would be close to the real music video of the song. Great!

I got more excited but before we were able to go up to the second floor the manager called us again. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot!"

We all turned to her and see what more she had to say, "Once we upload the video tonight. You have until tomorrow at 6PM to get 10,000 views."

"What th-"

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