A/n: Park Haejin as Han Seokju

On a random note, but why does Park Hae Jin remind me of Yuta a bit?? Like, idk, is it the smile, the eyes???? Does anyone else see the resemblance??

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It took about thirty minutes until Jiwoo's cousin returned back to her studio.

The girl was in the midst of creating an upbeat and catchy song to add to NCT 127's mini album until she heard the door knock and swing open. She bared a simple glance at the entering Seokju, gave him a brief wave, then returned back to her soundboard to record her sudden idea. The tall man removed his jacket and collapsed back onto her sofa, his legs kicked up onto the coffee table.

"I didn't think you would be so forgiving to people who discovered your existence on the seventh floor," Seokju uttered tiredly, as he loosened his necktie. "Are you biased now that they're basically your responsibility?"

Jiwoo snorted with a chuckle, "Dear god, you say that like I'm their manager. May that man have plenty of patience for however many boys he'll have to babysit." She pressed a series of buttons along her soundboard, the sound of drums and cymbals blasting from her speakers. Slim fingers danced along the device, making for a beat to grab anyone's attention. "But, maybe you're right. I'm pretty much connected to them now."

"Doesn't that freak you out a bit? I know how you don't want too much people to know you're here," her cousin replied, roughly thumping down on his stiff shoulders. An uneasy expression etched on his face as a thought came to mind. "You don't want to suddenly stop this, do you?"

"No, no, it's fine," Jiwoo answered quickly to assure him. "I can't give up on something that the Shaman said would be good for me."

The mention of that voodoo man got Seokju to straighten up on his seat, his narrowed gaze piercing to the back of his cousin's head. "The Shaman? Since when did you visit that man?"

"The day after you told me about this deal to being NCT's composer, duh."

"What did I tell you before? He seems iffy, I don't trust him."

Jiwoo swerved her chair around to face her cousin. Her own stare reciprocated his, to show how done she was for his distrust on someone she did, in fact, trust. "Well, you don't have to, as long as I do," the young woman huffed. "I don't need you to tell me every single time that you don't like him. He helped me a lot back then if you had already forgotten."

Seokju's expression darkened. "You promised that you wouldn't visit him too much."

"I haven't! I haven't seen him since that day so far. That's about five months ago." She held up her hand, all her fingers outstretched for him to see. "Five. Look, I've been doing just fine recently because of his advice and wisdom."

"Yeah, sure, okay. He's an assuring factor. However, I wish I didn't have the delightful surprise of walking on salt barefoot in my own home."

"I told you all the places I put the salt at though. Besides that, nothing bad happened to you, right?" She scooted her chair closer to the man. "You don't have to trust him. Just trust me, eh? Besides, Shaman-nim hasn't steered me wrong yet. I've followed his every word and I've been doing great! And oh! Okay, get this, guess what happened after I visited the Shaman for taking this task."

The bright enthusiasm Jiwoo emitted nearly killed Seokju. He'll admit that he liked seeing this side to her, her determined and happy side. Something he would much rather see all the time than what the girl was years ago. With a sigh of defeat, he gestured her to tell him. "I had a dream about pigs!"

The older's face went blank. "Pigs?"

"Yeah, dreaming about pigs mean that good fortune is about to come my way! So, of course, I had to take up Soo Man-sshi's offer."

Seokju groaned out in disbelief, "Is that why you accepted so quickly the next day?"

"Yeah."

"You're unbelievable, Shim Jiwoo."

She warmly smiled at her dear relative and shot him some finger hearts, irking Seokju further for the typical aegyo act. "But you love me anyway."

"I didn't have a choice." Another sigh left his lips as he stood up and walked over to the personal coffeemaker at the corner of the room. He rummaged out the jar of grinded coffee Jiwoo made sure to have a steady supply of from the small cabinet (just alongside her also-steady supply of instant ramen). He was already pouring in some water from the pitcher into the appliance after turning it on. "How much longer will you be on this song?"

"Maybe about in half an hour."

"Mmm, want me to make you coffee then?"

An appreciative grin. "Yes, please!"

As Seokju brewed coffee enough for the two of them, Jiwoo fell back into her work. She had to do it fast before the inspiration falters. But honestly, right now, this was the best she did in a while, her focus was seemingly unstoppable. Whatever new song that was coming from her was near to finished, nearly ready to send to her sunbaes to review and edit.

It was nearly 4 now and she had to be thankful that her beloved cousin made her new coffee to keep her energized.

The coffee didn't help as much for Seokju. Even with the cup half empty, he kept nodding off to sleep, dozing off almost completely when Jiwoo went into silent mode with her headphones on, her music blasting just for herself. And every time he would nearly fall into deep sleep, he'd jolt himself back to a hazy consciousness.

It was god-forbiddingly late, a definite time that Seokju would be back at his cozy home in a deep slumber.

He just had to decide to wait on his baby cousin today before leaving. He guessed that was a good thing, because of the four troublemakers that wanted to go on a late night adventure to the restricted floor. And him being the well-respected man he is in SM, he had to take care of that himself, surely they would listen to him. They better have listened to him.

Thoughts of NCT 127 then wandered into his mind... which lead her to his curiosity of Jiwoo's progress thus far.

Head craned back towards Jiwoo, eyes droopy but forced awake, he called out to her, "Hey squirt... Jiwoo-yah," She didn't turn, she just continued to bop her head to the beat of her song, unknowing to Seokju's raising voice. Once not getting her attention after a couple more calls of her name, he threw his now empty styrofoam cup perfectly at her head.

Jiwoo whipped around, nose scrunched up, a habit of hers for whenever she's annoyed or angered. "Yes, oppa?" She seethed out after pausing her work-in-progress with a tap of the spacebar and removed her bulky headphones from her ears, giving the man her full attention.

"How many songs will you need to do after this one?" Seokju asked with a sleepy yet pleased smile.

"Mm, three more songs."

"You're cutting it a bit close, aren't you?" He noticed the frown tugging at the younger's lips. "Your finished songs are still in the process of being reviewed and edited, and you know fully well that can take a few days to do."

"Don't even remind me on how tight on time I have to finish this. I swear to god that I was experiencing a midlife crisis just hours before, and I'm only twenty years old!"

"And you have, what? Three songs left to finish in a course of two weeks and a half?"

Jiwoo cut in to defend herself. "Hey, now! Fortunately, after three days of nothing, inspiration had struck! I think after seeing those boys, I was able to get something finally."

Seokju's brow raised at this information. "Oh really?"

"Yeah, oddly enough," she nodded. She turned her attention back to the brightly lit computer screen. The girl was very pleased at how much she had done tonight, this was one of her quickest creations yet. "Too bad nothing like this would ever happen again." An unsettling feeling washed over the her, guilt. "I hope nothing horrible happens later, I might have screwed them over."

This here, was exactly what Seokju was dreading but was expecting to come from her lips. He pulled himself up and stalked over to his cousin, placing his hands on her small shoulders. "Shim Jiwoo, you are not bad luck. Soo Man-sshi said himself that you are this company's good luck charm., you've made a lot of successes."

"Yeah, but I have the opposite effect when it comes to idols, clearly." She gulped as memories flooded back to her, her heart heavy. Saddened eyes peered up at the man. "How would you explain Kris, Luhan, and Tao, hmm? I saw them, we made contact... and before I know it, all of them left EXO. And Sulli? She officially left F(x) right after she recognized me in that elevator ride that day."

"Jiwoo-yah, stop it." A comforting squeeze to her shoulders. "You were not the cause of their departure, okay? You need to stop blaming yourself for things you didn't do. You do not rub off bad luck."

"How can you be so sure? I have witnessed all this happen. I even caused my Onew oppa's injury that one time!"

"Jiwoo, he's a, erm, clumsy man. I know, I've worked with him since he debuted."

"Still!" The young composer clutched at her chest. "I couldn't sleep when he had to walk around with that cast on his arm. He should never have to be hurt in any way!" Before she could stop it, Seokju gave her forehead a flick. She flinched back, her hands on her head as the stinging sensation made itself known. "Yah!"

"You are over exaggerating and overreacting!" Seokju firmly said. "You do not bring bad luck to our trainees and idols."

"Just wait and see, oppa, something will happen to NCT now!"

The SM producer crossed his arms over his chest as he glared down at his stubborn relative.

He just needs some way to show her that she wasn't the nuisance she believes herself to be. This was one of the reasons why he resents that Shaman. Sure, the old man gave Jiwoo the hope and determination to continue on doing something she's passionate about, but she's too cautious and reserved for a young adult to be. Someone as young as her shouldn't have to worry about such things.

Then an idea struck him.

An idea that can settle things once and for all.

"Jiwoo-yah, how about you tag along with me on a business trip?" A confused look wavered on Jiwoo's face at the random suggestion. "If you're so dang worried, maybe distancing yourself from those boys for a couple days might be the best plan right now."

"Where is it?"

"In Paju. The place is pretty quiet and with the change in scenery, it might get those creative juices flowing."

Jiwoo was deep in thought. She always did enjoy traveling around and seeing something new every once in awhile, definitely a good contrast to the dimly lit studio she arrives to four times(sometimes more) a week. "You know what, that sounds good. If that's okay, then I'd love to come along."

Seokju grinned at his cousin, a knowing look to his face. "You better start packing tomorrow then, Paju is in two days."

"You mean, today? It's four in the morning. Sun will rise in a couple hours."

"Jiwoo, I didn't ask for your sass, it's too early for it."

~  *  ~ A couple days later  ~  *  ~

Jiwoo sat in the lobby of SM Entertainment, waiting for her cousin to be done with whatever work he had to do.

It was way too early for the girl to be up, she was barely able to keep her eyes open for this short weekend trip to Paju. She was a night owl, after all, arriving to work to compose songs from 8 p.m. to (usually) 2 a.m. It was mostly because her mind works the best so late at night, her wandering thoughts in the late hours pushing her to compose many great songs.

Trust her, she does get enough sleep.

But, that should be now. Right now was her sleep time.

"Seokju-oppa, please hurry up so I can sleep in the car ride there," the tired girl groaned to no one in particular.

Just as she was about to rest her heavy eyes, she spotted a flurry of people with filming equipment walking in her general direction. Jiwoo's lips pursed at this, her eyes darting around for her tall relative. She scrambled up to her feet once seeing the very man. With her small luggage of her belongings securely in hand, she hurried over to Seokju's side.

"You took forever!" Jiwoo pouted. The older man grinned and ruffled her dark locks in greeting. "Are we finally leaving then?"

"Yeah, but you'll have to go with the first set of the staff to Paju."

Her expression fell. "First set? What the heck, oppa. What is this even for?" Her attention then drifted over to the group of people that have accumulated outside the building by the awaiting vans. They all looked to be under Seokju's orders. "Are you filming for something?"

"Yes, we need to film a few things in Paju," Seokju muttered. "Don't worry too much about it, okay? You'll be able to relax there and work on your songs just fine." With an arm around her shoulders, he lead Jiwoo outside to the chatting group.

Once noticing Seokju's presence, the staff faced him and bowed at him in greeting. "Hello, everyone. I'll be adding a new member to our crew for today, my younger cousin, so please welcome her warmly, okay?" Seokju introduced, pushing the girl closer to the group.

One woman, who looked to be the same age as Jiwoo, was the first to pipe up. She instantly stepped forward and outstretched her hand towards the composer, catching her by surprise. "Omo, Seokju-sshi's cousin, huh? Hello and welcome to our cozy team! I'm Hwang Minah."

A cautious hand met hers. "Shim Jiwoo."

"Wah, you're so pretty! Are you not just a trainee?" Minah asked straight away, causing Jiwoo to nervously glance over at her cousin to help her out of this predicament.

No, they shouldn't know that I'm the main composer for NCT.

"No, no. She'll be, uh, assisting us today," the producer answered in reply, earning a wide-eyed Jiwoo. He shot an apologetic smile. "Why don't you all go ahead and get to know each other more in the car ride over to Paju, hmm? We're running a little late."

The aura of the staff shifted, they all knew that they were losing time just by standing around. A supposedly tight schedule, Jiwoo guessed. The people began putting their belongings in the trunk and piling into the vans.

"C'mon, Jiwoo-yah, you'll sit by me in the van," Minah chimed as she grabbed the girl's wrist. Jiwoo barely got a chance to question her cousin more on the situation before being dragged away with people she barely knew.

However, they were all kind to her, warm and welcoming just as Seokju wanted as they began their drive to Paju. They didn't fail to leave out Jiwoo in casual conversation and made sure they get to know the twenty year old a little bit better, despite all knowing they might only see each other this weekend. And as blunt Minah seemed at first meeting, Jiwoo found herself being more comfortable with her, even though the woman was one year older than her.

"I'm honestly so happy that I'm not the baby of this staff anymore," Minah laughed along with the others of their van. "But, I'm also happy that I now have someone around my age to chat with! You must be some intern or something since you're young, hmm?"

Jiwoo sheepishly nodded at her. An intern was fine, right? "Yeah, Seokju-oppa said that you might need the extra help and asked me to tag along. Are you an intern too?"

"Ha, I was an intern, but I was finally promoted as an official stylist."

Official stylist? For whom?

"Hmm, I feel like I've seen you somewhere before though," the older man, Kihun, who sat in the row in front of Minah and Jiwoo, murmured. He turned to his seatmate, Il Joon, and nudged his side. "Right? Even the name, Jiwoo, sounds familiar."

"You're right," Il Joon uttered, hand to his chin. "I've worked at SM for 9 years now, and I'm pretty sure I've heard the name Jiwoo before."

The girl's heart leapt in anticipation. "I have no clue, maybe there was another Jiwoo? I only recently got hired."

The two men exchanged glances and much debating with just their gazes, they believed her. "Eh, maybe, you're right." The girl of topic let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, no matter now, because at least now we have this Jiwoo to help us take care of 7 hyper teenage boys," Minah chimed happily, linking her arm with Jiwoo's. "I sure hope you won't get scared off by them and this will be the last we'll be working with you, Jiwoo-yah."

Jiwoo blinked in confusion. "Eh?"

The staff turned to look at Jiwoo. "Uh, did Producer Seokju-sshi not tell you what we were doing?" a middle aged woman, Meirin, asked the youngest.

"Um, no. All I know is that we're filming something in Paju."

"Yeah, we'll be recording the new season of NCT Life in Paju," Minah answered, as she shook Jiwoo's arm. "Were you not there when we were filming our rookies' opening segment in the practice room?"

It felt like all the air have left Jiwoo's lungs. Did... Han Seokju just lie and betray her? "So... I'm going to be seeing NCT?"

"Yeah, seeing and working with NCT 127."

They were already on the highway to Paju. There was no way to stop the car and have them drive back to headquarters to drop off Jiwoo. She was going to be stuck with those boys the whole weekend. Dread and rage for her cousin overtook her, her fists tight.

Minah noticed the younger's change in attitude. With a gentle squeeze to her arm, the older asked out of concern, "Jiwoo-yah, are you okay?"

"I'm... going to kill that man."

A/n: Okay yessss, the story is continuing on just nicely! Hopefully not too fast paced? 

We see more of Seokju and Jiwoo's relationship and Minah is introduced~

NCT coming back in the next chapter ;)