Chapter Text
The day started off great. They'd just started working on their new comeback, and his excitement was through the roof. The possibilities were endless, this new project could be anything.
His mood had never been better.
He'd just came out of the bathroom after brushing his teeth and went to make a bowl of Lucky Charms, like every morning. Seokjin and Taehyung already sat at the table, the three of them being the resident early risers. They had their "good morning"s, and Jungkook sat down next to Taehyung.
"Hey Jungkook-ah, did you hear? Choreographer-nim officially quit last night, I got the email this morning," Seokjin said.
Jungkook frowned, furrowing his brows. "Did he say why? Doesn't he need to leave a two weeks notice?" He asked. This was extremely sudden, Jungkook practically had whiplash.
"You're supposed to, but it's not illegal not to. Apparently he got a really good offer at SM Entertainment, and it was a limited time offer. I guess the pay must've been really great, he seemed happy here." Seokjin explained.
It was unfortunate. They weren't "close" with him, per se, but he was still a very talented individual and was always kind and patient with them. It'd be hard to find someone as good.
Jungkook said, "Oh. That sucks. Were we able to find a new choreographer yet or is practice cancelled?"
"Surprisingly, yes. We'll meet him today at dance practice," said Seokjin.
"I hope he's good, interviews usually take a long time," Taehyung added.
"Yeah, but i'm sure BigHit wouldn't hire anyone they weren't sure of." Assured Jungkook.
It did concern him to an extent, BigHit obviously had to scramble to find someone, but he still honestly believed that it'd be fine. They did, after all, need to keep up on their dancing with their new comeback and all.
Yoongi came out of his and Seokjins shared room, eyes squinted with sleepiness. He looked like he was going to make food, but stopped. He stared longingly at the couch, and ended up flopping on it, asleep instantly.
Taehyung and Jungkook snorted, while Seokjin playfully mocked exasperation.
The rest of the members soon joined in, and enjoyed lighthearted conversation while they ate.
As the time when they'd have to leave to dance practice got closer, Jungkook grabbed his now empty bowl, put it in the sink, and started getting ready with a smile on his face. Usually he was less than excited for four hours of intense dance, but he did, overall, love his job to death. This was where he belonged.
Time went by quickly, and before he knew it they only had a few minutes before they had to leave, so the rest of them were putting on their shoes. Jungkook quickly grabbed a water bottle and a small bag of chips like everyone else had, considering practices were usually about four hours.
"Kookie-ah, can you grab me a water too? I forgot!" Said Taehyung semi-loudly over the ruckus of five people talking next to him.
"Sure!" He replied, grabbing a second one before joining them in doing the very last things they needed to do, and soon walked out the door.
The car ride was quick, the dance studio being less than 10 minutes away. It certainly wasn't quiet, the maknae line starting an argument over the complex laws of punch buggy after Taehyung got Jimin in the shoulder.
"It was a Chevy! You don't even know what a buggy is!"
"Your face is a Chevy!"
"Can confirm, Jimins face is a Chevy."
"Ha!"
"That's not fair! He's biased!-" They were interrupted by the sound of the car parking, and doors opening.
Jimin made the "I'm watching you," jesture, and they all got inside the building, seeing a mid-30's, tall man with a blank expression.
They greeted him, and the man looked at them for awhile in a judgy way, as if he was looking for all their flaws, trying to see if they were worth it. It left a bad taste in their mouths, but hey, first days are always weird, right?
He seemed to stare at Jungkook the most, but Jungkook ratted it off to his imagination.
The man greeted them, and the practice began.
It'd been two hours, the halfway point, so they were given a 15 minute break as per usual. Jungkook sat next to Taehyung, again, as per usual.
They opened up their snacks and began talking, sharing their food as they spoke. They'd always been really close, best friends. All of the members had a close family type relationship, but Taehyung and Jungkook were somehow different in a way Jungkook couldn't quite pinpoint. You'd never see one without the other, they were a package deal, attached at the hip since they first met.
Well, maybe not at first. Jungkook was painfully shy when he first joined them, keeping to himself at all times. Taehyung was the one to bring him out of his shell, not giving up on the then weird thirteen year old who could barely speak. He was now a happy and mischevious sixteen year old, officially branded Little Shit with nothing but fondness behind the words.
"So, what do you think of choreographer-nim?" Asked Taehyung, sipping his water.
Jungkook tried to be careful with his words, he had a deep respect for authority and didn't want to make any harsh judgements especially this early. He gave him bad vibes, but he was their choreographer. On the other hand, he was with Taehyung, and Jungkook rarely censored his speech with him.
"He's okay," Jungkook shrugged, "a little stand-offish and a tiny bit harsh, but talented and not that bad. I won't judge him too quickly."
"My thoughts too," replied Taehyung.
Just then, the choreographer jestured for Jungkook to come over. He walked over, confused, and asked what he wanted.
"Is there a problem, choreographer-nim?" Jungkook said.
"Yes, actually. I need to meet with you after practice, there are some issues with you that need to be addressed," He said, looking at Jungkook as if he'd done something terribly wrong. That certainly made him nervous.
"Oh, and while you're up, why don't you throw those away?" He said, referring to the chips. Jungkook looked at him, confused.
He spoke again, realizing his meaning was unclear. "You're the last person who should be eating those," and with that, the choreographer turned away.
Jungkook was in a brief shock, wondering what he'd done so wrong that Choreographer-nim needed to meet with them. Had he been making mistakes the whole time without noticing?
And what did his last comment mean, was Jungkook gaining weight? He hadn't noticed, but then again he hasn't weighed himself recently. He stood there, trying to answer the millions of questions running through his mind, before realizing he looked odd standing there unmoving.
He walked back to Taehyung, the older asking what the choreographer wanted.
"Nothing, just a quick question about where something was," He lied, feeling embarrassed about having to stay later. He didn't ask anyone else to, just him. So he was the only one doing poorly while the rest did perfect, that stung.
Jungkook then remembered what the man said, and offered the rest of his small bag to Taehyung, saying he wasn't hungry. Not a complete lie, his mind was too focused on trying to figure out what he did wrong to want food.
He sat there for the remainder of the 15 minutes quietly, giving generic responses to Taehyung.
Taehyung did notice, but figured Jungkook was just tired. They did practice a lot of their more challenging choreographies, and had to learn a lot of new moves too.
And when it was time for practice to start again, he danced with his whole heart, giving every inch of him to make sure he performed perfectly. His entire mind was blank aside from working as hard as he could.
But by the scrutinizing look on the mans face, he knew he hadn't. The disappointment he felt in himself was off the charts. Why was he performing so poorly today, especially when he was trying to make a good first impression?
After two hours of hell, it was over. But Jungkook didn't know if he wanted it to be. Having to face the choreographer would be worse than just seeing his judgemental face.
The others were gathering their stuff, about to walk out the door while Jungkook stayed where he was. Once they realized he wasn't with them, they looked at him in confusion.
"Jungkook-ah, are you not coming?" Seokjin asked, his brows furrowing.
"No i'm coming hyung, i'll be there in just a second, you guys can go ahead to the car and i'll meet you there," he replied, and felt the anxiety rising in his chest as he watched them leave the building.
He was about to turn around and face him, but the choreographers voice startled him before he could do so.
"Alright, I don't want your friends to worry so let's make this quick," he said.
Jungkook stood silently, waiting for him to continue.
"You're the face of this group. The lead vocalist. When people find out about this group, you're the first name they learn. Being in the middle, you're who people focus on, only the more dedicated fans will closely watch the others. That comes with responsibility, no?"
He nodded. "Yes, choreographer-nim, I agree that I should always work hard to keep up the image of the group." He thought he was doing a pretty good job with that, but obviously he wasn't.
The man said, "Then why don't you do that? You're clearly not the hardest working, maybe even the least. Jimin would've been better, look at him. He has the visuals, the body, and the dance ability. I do my research. He always puts in extra hours, while you do the bare minimum. Don't you feel bad for that? You've been given this great title, and you give nothing in return."
He hadn't known what to say to that. He felt embarrassed, ashamed. Small, like a child lost in a grocery store.
"I-I'm s-sorry," he stuttered out, a nervous habit he'd almost completely broken by now.
"Then you need to prove it. I want you putting in extra hours, I want you working the hardest out of all of them. I want you doing your job, for God's sake. And by want, I mean I demand it. It's my job to make sure you do yours. I'm going to fix you, make you better than you've ever been," He said.
"Thank you, I w-will do whatever you ask, hyung-nim, I s-swear." The sixteen year old replied, quickly.
"Good. First things first, speak normally. Imagine if you spoke like that in an interview," He sighed, and Jungkook nodded.
"Now, onto the details," He pulled out a piece of paper, "I've used this plan for many face's of groups in the past, and it's been very successful. You only need to single out one of them for it to work, it's often ineffective anyway if you try to do everyone at once. This will gain your group much more popularity. You'll follow this exactly, that is, if you care about your bandmates of course," He explained.
He spoke again as Jungkook read it, "This is especially important as you're working on a comeback. You need to be a changed person by the time you release the album, no one's gonna notice otherwise. I don't care what you have to do, the goals will be met in the time limit i've given, understand?"
"Yes, hyungnim," He replied.
The man said, "Good, i'm doing you a favor here. It's been awhile, they're probably wondering where you are. You can leave now."
He bowed and went to leave, nearly out the door before his voice startled him again.
"Oh, and I'd advice you keep this conversation to yourself. You don't want to embarrass your members more than you already have, yes? And imagine what would happen if it got leaked to the media that the 'Golden Maknae' was so bad he had to be corrected with a strict plan like this?" He explained.
"Yes, hyung-nim, I will keep this to myself, thank you." And with that, Jungkook left the room, feeling worse than he'd felt in forever.
How was he so stupid? He did take the title for granted. He had to make it up to his members. He'd follow the plan exactly, no matter how hard it was. Jungkook felt so disappointed and unhappy with himself. He'd gone so long thinking he was fine, how could he when there was so much about himself he had to change? He was disillusioned, suddenly his world was completely different than it was just a few hours ago. His outlook on life and himself had went from one opposite to the other.
Jungkook was on autopilot when he entered the car, his thoughts racing. The only thing his mind could think about was how wrong he was, and how he desperately needed to fix that.
"What happened? I thought you just had to grab something or whatever," Jimin asked, confused and slightly worried considering the maknae's serious, or maybe even sad, face. He was about to ask what was wrong before Jungkook spoke.
He snapped out of it for a moment, realizing there was six people with all eyes on him.
He quickly faked a content expression that didn't quite meet the eyes and said, "Sorry Jiminie-hyung, I just had a few questions, it was nothing."
Jimin had a feeling that wasn't the case, but let it slide as there wasn't anything glaringly wrong and he didn't want to cause drama, especially in front of the other members in the car like this.
Their usual lighthearted conversations commenced, and no one seemed to notice how quiet Jungkook was, the 6 voices overlapping eachother making it easy to fly under the radar.
Jungkook tried going on his phone to distract himself, but that was useless. He might as well accept his state of mind right now.
He read the paper again, even though he'd already read it a thousand times since it was given to him, and burned it into his mind.
Current height: 5'10, Current weight: 145lbs
Current goal weight: 125lbs, BMI 18, Will likely get lower depending on the circumstances
Calorie limit per day: 500
Excersize per day: 6 hour dance practice, 2 hour workout along with the 6 hours on weekends
Time limit: Comeback date
Follow these instructions exactly, I'll keep an eye on you to make sure you do.
When he first read it he thought it was excessive, but he did it to himself. He wouldn't have had to go to extreme measures if his timeline wasn't strict, and his timeline wouldn't be strict if he had worked hard from the beginning. He should've started out with that goal weight, he should've practiced that long or longer so his dancing would be the best. He was the face of the group, he needed to be perfect.
He knew that he'd be underweight, but only by a little bit. This was what idols did all the time, didn't they? They went on strict diets, they were fine. He was fine. The situation was normal, and he should stop being so worried about it. He wasn't worried about it. He wasn't.
He'll be able to stop easily as soon as he meets the goal. It's not like it's forever, if it was he'd go down to zero eventually. Jungkook wasn't stupid, he could handle himself. He was in control of the situation.
What could go wrong anyway? It wasn't like he was doing anything really dangerous. Choreographer-nim was a professional, he was an adult. He's done it before, he knows what he's doing. He could trust the man.
Soon, thanks to him, Jungkook would be corrected. He wouldn't be slacking just because BigHit wasn't strict. He'd be a changed person by the time of their comeback, he'd bring BTS more popularity. This was what proper idols did. Jungkook would finally be a proper idol.
He would be perfect.