As soon as the director yells cut, Seokjin feels a huge weight fall from his shoulders, huffs out a load of air as everyone begins clapping and shaking each other's hand.

He's done. A fifty episode drama all wrapped up. Seokjin couldn't be more relieved.

He bows to his fellow co-stars, smiles and claps along with them as they thank each other for their hard work. Seokjin mentally pats himself on the back. He did well again, he did well.

As the team starts packing up, Seokjin heads over to his style team and helps them load. The more helping hands, the better.

Director Lee Jaesang calls him over as their closing the doors of the van. Seokjin bows to his team and runs over to him. Director Lee claps him on the back.

"Good work Kim Seokjin-ssi," the man says with a smile. "You've worked hard."

Seokjin thanks him, feels the tips of his ears as the production team all agrees with the director and shoot their praises in his direction, many giving him a few thumbs up.

Being the youngest in the cast, Seokjin can shamefully admit that the staff and team all took care of him. It had been his first long series, a family/romance drama in which Seokjin played an important part even if he hadn't had the main role.

"We'll be seeing you at the after-party, right?" Director Lee asks. "After all, you're no longer a minor, you can drink with us and enjoy yourself a bit, no? We rented a nice building in Gangnam, how about it?"

An after-party was honestly the last thing on Seokjin's mind at the moment. And although Gangnam was close to his current apartment, Seokjin would rather not arrive home late.

"I appreciate it Directornim, but my dongsaeng is waiting for me back home."

Director Lee clicks his tongue. "Can't bring him along, can you?"

"Afraid not," Seokjin politely replies. "He's a minor."

"Lucky him." Director Lee squeezes his shoulder sympathetically. "You'll miss it, you know, the days when you weren't allowed past 10 for work."

Seokjin just smiles. He lets Director Lee put in a few extra words in before he bids his goodbye. His co-actors all comment on how they'd wish he'd join them for the after-party but Seokjin declines.

Never again did he want to go to one of those.

The style team left before him. Manager Ahn never showed up. That didn't surprise Seokjin in the slightest. He had basically expected it.

Once he's in the car, Seokjin refrains himself from laughing, recalling the director's words.

His company has never followed the law in terms of working with minors. In the last four years especially, Seokjin had worked in the inhumane hours of the night, all while having to get up early to commute to school the next morning.

He thought graduating would make things better. That he would have more time to rest. Instead, he had been given more assignments. Almost the triple the work Taehyung had to deal with.

It was his fault really. When Taehyung had collapsed due to overexertion Seokjin had told his company he take part of Taehyung's workload. That had been one of his mistakes. But he didn't regret it. No, he never regretted his decision when it came to someone who was like a brother to him. Taehyung was a good kid, someone who deserves a comfortable life.

One where he didn't have to go through the things Seokjin had gone through.

Needing to drop off the van back to the company, Seokjin drives off, following the directions on the GPS. He was tired and the next morning he had an interview with a magazine regarding the drama.

All he wanted to do was sleep. His body was absolutely killing him and screaming at him for a bed. If he was lucky, maybe Jimin would be at the apartment today and give him a massage. Here's to hoping.

Not to his luck, however, the traffic back to Gangnam is packed. Adding on to that, droplets begin falling from the sky, making those on the street drive slower than they normally would. Seokjin sighs, turns on the radio to KBS 제1라디오 on AM 711 and just listens on as he waits for the line of cars to move forward.

There's a lot to think of when you're stuck in traffic. You start thinking about certain things you need to get home to. You think of where you could be right now instead. Seokjin checks the clock, no doubt his co-actors were all sleeping in the back of their celebrity vans, catching some shut-eye while their managers drove for them. Perhaps those who had left before Seokjin did were already at the after-party, drinking and waiting on everyone else to celebrate.

At least Seokjin wasn't jealous of that. Large crowds, underhanded negotiations taking place, powerful people drunk, and no one watching as you're taken aside for a chat.

The hairs on Seokjin's body stand on their own. His stomach churns and his throat is so tight he feels a lump when he swallows.

No. It was a situation he never wanted to be in again.

During his ride, Seokjin focuses on the music, focuses on the announcer's voice when she introduces another song. Tonight she seems to be playing western songs more than anything, something that Seokjin is thankful for considering that he won't understand the lyrics, thus any sad, melancholy songs that may pop up will go unnoticed by him.

This is how Seokjin usually vents. Silently. Just him and some music in the background to clog his thoughts. It's helpful. It gets him through the trip and before he knows it, he's parking into the company parking lot.

Ant Hill Entertainment's hallways aren't exactly empty at this time of night. Many people were working overtime. Others didn't leave because their boss has yet to leave. Seokjin only hopes that at the very least, Manager Ahn hasn't left yet so he can give him the keys to the van.

The cubicles within the office are all empty except for one. Manager Ahn is asleep at his, no one else from his department to be seen. Seokjin walks on over, peeks into the cubicle, sees only the computer screen on with a page opened up to a video of Girl's Generation. No other tab opened.

Seokjin squeezes his eyes shut, inhales. So this is why he didn't show up. He had been waiting for the 6pm release of the new MV.

"Managernim," he says, tapping Ahn on the shoulder. Manager Ahn jolts up from his desk, wipes the drool from his chin.

"Oh, Seokjin-ssi," he grumbles, eyes squinting at him, "you're back."

"Yeah," Seokjin replies dryly, holds out his hand. "Here's the keys." He bows. "Have a good night."

"Ah, Seokjin-ssi, before I forget." Seokjin stops in his tracks, turns around. "Lee PDnim has a new assignment for you. Wants you early in the morning for a quick briefing."

"I have a morning class and an interview tomorrow," Seokjin tells him. Manager Ahn just blankly stares at him. Seokjin sighs. "Right," he says, "I'll tell him myself."

Manager Ahn nods. "Good boy," he says, then turns back to his computer, puts on his headphones. "Good night Seokjin-ssi."

"Good night," Seokjin replies, heads out and gets into his own car to drive home.

As he enters his apartment, the first thing Seokjin sees is a bundle of blankets on the floor, Taehyung and Jimin curled up underneath.

Seokjin smiles at the sight. It didn't surprise him that Jimin had decided to spend the night. He tended to do that often.

Stepping over the bodies, Seokjin moves to turn off the laptop they had left on on the living room table. Seokjin glances at the video they were watching. The only thing he catches are the words "HIT IT" before the closes it and shuts down the computer.

Not having the energy to walk to his own room, Seokjin throws himself on the couch. Doesn't bother grabbing a blanket. His muscles thank him for finally laying down and his eyes grow heavy.

Just a few months of this left, he reminds himself. Just hold on for a few months more.

It 's two weeks later when Namjoon is back at the company building. He heard the new group of trainees started today and was curious to meet them. Wanted to present himself but wonders if that's a bit too much.

Perhaps he'll just take a peek.

His hand is on the door handle when he sees two managers coming down the hall, they spot him, smile. Namjoon smiles back, inclines his head.

"Ah Namjoon-ah," Manager Hobeom says as he approaches him, "PDnim is looking for you. Wants you in his office."

Namjoon looks at his hand on the handle, looks up at Manager Hobeom. "Right now?"

"Yup. Off you go."

He's reluctant, but does as he's told and it doesn't take him long before he's knocking at the door of the CEO's office and he hears Bang tell him to come in.

Bang Sihyuk, also known in his early days as 'Hitman Bang', was the very founder of BigHit Entertainment. He's a lyricist, having worked with JYP as a composer, arranger, and producer when the company had been starting up. He was known for his 'hit' songs, thus his nickname.

Bang isn't necessarily an intimidating person. He was a short, rather corpulent man with glasses and a high pitched voice. He strives to make sure that the trainees he has are here because they love music, not because they want fame. Namjoon respects that. It was why he joined the company to begin with.

Still, Hitman Bang was a businessman and a mentor. So although he wasn't scary (not at all to say the least), he knew how to scold someone in a way that makes them feel like crap. So excuse Namjoon for not feeling so happy to being called into his office. No one gets called into a boss's office for good news.

"Take a seat, Namjoon-ah," Bang says, signaling to the chair in front of his desk. Namjoon does so, sits with his back straight.

"Have you been well?" Bang asks him, making some free space on his desk.

"Yes," Namjoon answers, "I've been writing a lot. Practicing like you suggested."

"Glad to hear," Bang nods. "Best way to get better at something is to do it constantly, till it becomes almost a second nature."

Again, Namjoon nods in agreement. They sit there in relative silence and Namjoon starts getting a bit panicky. Did he do something wrong? Did his mother come up and say something again about how Namjoon should be focusing on school? Is he not working hard enough and Bang PD is finding a way to tell him that Bangtan Sonyeondan will no longer include him?

Unable to take the silence much longer, Namjoon decides to speak up. "PDnim," he says, "sorry if this sounds a bit weird but I don't think you called me here just to ask how I am." Please just get to the point.

Leaning back on his chair, Bang Sihyuk brings his two hands in front of his, fingertips touching. He purses his lips together, takes in a deep breath.

"I'm aware that you do a lot for Bangtan Sonyeondan, Namjoon," he begins. "You speak up for Yoongi and Hoseok when they feel uncomfortable about something, you go out to recruit potential trainees, you write songs so we can have samples of what the group will sound like..."

So far, it doesn't seem like Namjoon is getting scolded. More like he's being praised for his hard work and that does bring some relief to him. Bang straightens in the chair, leans closer to the desk and sighs.

"Which is why I am a bit hesitant to ask this of you," he adds.

Namjoon couldn't be more puzzled. What sort of thing would the CEO be hesitant to ask of a simple trainee?

"Namjoon-ah," Bang continues softly, "we need to draw more people in. Need to get the public interested in us and our upcoming group."

Namjoon nods, agrees. Being from a small company meant there wasn't a lot of money for promotions. They couldn't do anything flashy because their budget was low, limited. The company's current source of income was from a few co-joint projects with JYP Entertainment, a much larger and more famous company. Other than that BigHit didn't really have anything to its own name. Bangtan Sonyeondan would be the first.

"I've managed to call in a few favors," Bang continues, pulling out a paper packet and placing it in front of Namjoon.

Namjoon takes the packet, it's small, red, with big bold letters at the front. "'Hello Seonbaenim?'" he reads, his tone one of question.

"It's not much, but I would like for you to go on this show," Bang says. "It's a new variety show written by Lee Kyungha. It supposed to bring in rookies and popular celebs together, have them spend time with one another, watch each other work, that sort of thing."

Namjoon flips through it. Apparently, the packet was just the ideas for episodes one and two. "But PDnim," Namjoon says as he reads the list of rookies, all people who have already debuted, "I'm still technically a trainee."

"I worked it out with the director," Bang PD reassures him. "You've already released songs and have 'debuted' in the underground world, the fact that your idol group hasn't debuted won't be a problem. The public has already heard of Bangtan Sonyeondan after that news report, so it's not like you guys are unknown."

"What exactly am I supposed to do?"

"Just appeal to the public," Bang says. "Grab their attention, speak about the group every once in a while, bring up the members and their traits so that when Bangtan Sonyeondan debuts, everyone will be curious."

It's a good strategy, Namjoon admits. As the leader, he was supposed to be the spoke person for the members. So, of course, Bang would hand this task to him.

It doesn't sound too difficult. Just get along with the celeb he would be paired up with and bring up his group every so often when asked.

"Okay," Namjoon answers. "I'll do it."

Bang nods, smiles as if he expected Namjoon to say yes. "I'll have Sejin-ssi be your manager in charge," he informs. "I'll also have him call your mother and explain. Hopefully, she'll agree. You'll have to skip a bit of school every so often, but of course, you're not allowed to be working past 10pm due to the law."

Namjoon nods, understands. "I'll work hard," he says firmly.

"I know you will. You have a way with people Namjoon-ah," Bang says to him. "You've got this sort of spark in you that makes people unable to hate you. A sort of charisma if you will." He smiles. "I'm sure you'll do well."

Smiling back, Namjoon believes him.