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Stray Kids were preparing another prank. This should come as no surprise, honestly. But this was a far more large-scale endeavor before, and to think it was all because of one accident. It involved a boomerang and the Merriam Webster dictionary, a combination well known to bring...well...you'll find out.
"I'M TELLING YOU, IT'S WITH AN A!"
"In that case, Wanna One-sunbaenim spelled their song title wrong! Do you really thing the company would let that slide!?"
"It's with an E, you have to understand!"
"Listen to the pronounciation. Boom-AH-rang! It's phonetic!"
"It would be IF YOU WERE EVEN SAYING IT RIGHT!"
"I AM SAYING IT RIGHT!"
"CHAN! IS HE SAYING IT RIGHT? NO!!!"
Han slammed his hand on the table. "JUST GOOGLE IT!"
Hyunjin typed furiously on the laptop. "LOOK! IT SAYS-- wait. No internet?"
"What?"
"Did they change the password again?" Seungmin asked.
"I can settled this debate!" Felix announced. "Yes, boomerang has an E not an A."
"I TOLD YOU!"
"I HATE ENGLISH!"
Jeongin (lightly) kicked Seungmin. "I TOLD YOU!"
Minho shoved the rolling desk chair across the room. "I won't even comment."
"I thought I understood this!" Hyunjin threw his head in his hands.
"Okay, okay, calm down guys." Chan hugged Hyunjin. "It's one word."
Changbin tapped the search pad furiously. "The dictionary still didn't load! It's not settled yet!"
"It is," Seungmin sighed. "I admit defeat."
Han laughed, "This is actually kind of embarassing because I speak English."
"But what's wrong with the wi-fi?" Felix asked.
Minho opened Settings. "Oh. There's a new internet thingy."
"Did they switch data companies?" Chan asked.
"No, there's still the usual one, but they must've added another connection or another plan or whatever. So right now it's connected to neither."
"We just need to type the password again," Jeongin said. "My family switched internet companies after ages, it was confusing at first, but it's fine eventually."
"The first one is JYP Wi-Fi as usual, but the new one is JYP Wi-Fi (STAFF)," Changbin read.
Hyuniin shrugged. "Then I guess that's for the staff."
Seungmin checked his phone. "My mobile data works."
"Yeah, it's just the computers."
"And the printers, those use internet too." Han nodded at the the copy machine in the corner.
"If the computer and printer aren't on the same network, nothing will print from it," Felix said.
"I hope the IT people told everyone, otherwise everything will be a mess," Chan said with a grimance.
Hyunjin's eyes were glittering in that way that meant he had a sneaky idea. "Nothing will print, you say?"
"Oh no," Han said, but he was grinning.
Felix's mouth dropped open. "You don't mean--."
Changbin looked between the '00 liners. "What??"
"In the everyone but hyungs chat, we've been plotting a company wide prank," Jeongin revealed.
Minho clapped. "Alright, I'm in."
"Wait! But-- what are you doing?"
Seungmin patted Chan's shoulder. "Don't worry Chris, you'll understand."
"We finished the 3rd room!" Breathless, Han and Jeongin joined Minho, Chan, Hyunjin, and Felix in the 11th floor atrium.
"Good! So then it's just Seungmin and Changbin!"
Said members were in the 4th and final copy room, setting up the prank there.
"There! After three typos I finally got it!" Changbin slipped the paper with the password on it into his pocket.
"Finally, let's go."
"I still can't believe we're doing this!"
Seungmin closed the door behind them. "What will they do, fire us? It's really not a big deal, they'll just have to type a few number and letters to reconnect."
Changbin sighed. "Whatever happens I'm blaming you and your 'everyone but the hyungs' chat."
At any given idol variety show, they probably have that cup of mission papers, right? Pink, purple, blue, green, any colour, with a challenge or question or prompt on it. Drawing one can bring a disasterous plot twist to the entire show.
Yeah, you know what I mean. Do you think they're handwritten? No! Whenever the staff are preparing a new content set, the interns are sent to the copy room to spend an hour typing, formatting, printing, and folding the mission cards.
Today we meet Issac the intern. He was still learning Korean, but he was pretty sure he had pressed the right button. So why wasn't it printing?
He frowned. Google Translate confirmed that yes, right button. Still no result!
Issac tapped the tablet screen harder. Nothing!
With the other printers, there was the same problem. Waiting and trying again was useless advice. The staff tapped the buttons furiously, to no avail. Which is how the IT got called all over the place, because what the hell happened!?
Hyunjin saw Issac going to the IT office. "It's starting!" He gasped.
The manager of the IT department was Ms. Kim, and she was quite confused. "I don't know, Issac, maybe..." She brushed her hair back and opened the printer Settings. "Oh!"
Issac jumped. "What?"
Ms. Kim clenched her fist. "This is going to be chaos."
She opened the IT group chat.
MS. KIM: I found the problem. Please change the Wi-Fi on the printers to JYP Wi-Fi (STAFF). The password is ***********. Then STAND BACK.
The interns did just that.
And chaos it was.
All at once, the building was filled with the sound of 16 printers printing pages and pages of documents.
"Move!" Ms. Kim pulled Issac into the hallway as a rainbow of paper spilled put of printer again and again.
The staff fled to the stairs and the atrium. "What on Earth!?"
Woosh! Woosh! Chug chug chug! Woosh! Click!
A seemingly neverending stream of noise and papers came from the copy rooms. (Perhaps these were the neverending pages of Stray Kids' Story That Will Never End ;).)
Issac gasped. "I did not realize I had pushed the button so many times!"
Everyone else seemed to be thinking the same thing.
Ms. Kim whirled around. "Whoever did this had better come clean!"
Hiding in the potted plants, Stray Kids were starting to see that it was a big deal, a huge deal in fact. Changbin wanted to say 'I told you so', but instead took a deep breath and stepped out from the corner. The other seven members followed.
"It was my idea Ms. Kim," Hyunjin admitted.
Ms. Kim, Issac, the interns, and the IT people stared at them.
"It was a prank," Han explained. "We...didn't think it would get so out of control. I'm very sorry."
Everyone echoed that, bowing, not making eye contact with anyone.
Ms. Kim sighed and pursed her lips. "I am dissapointed."
At that moment, Stray Kids' manager arrived. He'd heard the printers going haywire, as did everyone. "What happened?"
Chan spoke up, "It was a prank, manager-nim." He rubbed his neck. "A prank we didn't think through, and it had serious consequenses. Clearly."
Another deep sigh. Jeongin squeezed his eyes shut. Why did they do this? It was a such stupid idea.
"It was a clever idea," Ms. Kim said. "We added a new internet network recently, and probably not many people wouldv'e put together that it would keep the documents from printing if the network was changed. Very sly. I have to be impressed."
The manager shook his head. "But the waste of ink and paper is inexcuseable. However you got the password should also be investigated. I am also dissapointed."
Issac quietly stepped forward. "I think as a... not punishment, but as a consequence, they can help us clean up and refill the paper and change the ink... cartridges."
"I agree. Good idea, Issac." Ms. Kim turned to the manager. "Does their schedule allow for this time?"
"Yes."
"They they can start now."
The other idols at work today had of course heard the printers and come to investigate. As such, Twice, Itzy, Nmixx, and Xdinary Heroes crowded in the enterence to the atrium. This was getting more humiliating by the second, Han thought.
"Good afternoon, everyone," The manager said. "The comotion in the copy rooms must have distracted you."
"That was us. I'm sorry, sunbaenims, everyone," Seungmin said.
They still had no idea what exactly had happened, but Yuna figured they would hear through the gossip grapevine. They nodded. Everyone said "thank you, bye" and Jihyo gave Chan a thumbs-up as they all left.
Ms. Kim split Stray Kids into pairs and they followed the interns to the different copy rooms.
"I think it was a witty idea," Issac told Seungmin and Felix.
"Thank you, but I'm sorry we made so much work and mess and..." Felix spread his hands.
Minho collected a stack of mission cards. "I think you'll have to make new prompts; we saw all these."
The girl they were helping shrugged. "I don't think these were our most creative missions ever, redoing it will give us a fresh start."
Chan side-hugged Han. "It's everyone's fault. We're fixing it. You're okay."
Hyunjin patted Jeongin's back. "Not our finest moment. Dispatch doesn't know though, it'll blow over. We all feel bad, we just won't do it again."
About two hours later, they all met back in the atrium. Everyone had a stack of paper under their arm.
"The set team and I will figure something out," Ms. Kim assured them.
"We all feel really bad. Seriously, I'm so sorry."
"Move on! Don't do it again! There are worse things."
"Group hug?"
Somehow, Ms. Kim, Stray Kids, Issac, and everyone else crowded together.
"Hey! Why are we missing hugs?" Daehyun asked.
So the other idols ran to the 11th floor and joined the hug.
Felix sniffled. "That's probably the most wholesome thing to ever happen at JYP."
Changbin said, "I think the boomerang we threw has come back and hit us square on the head. That totally backfired."
Stray Kids muttered, "You told us so."
Everyone else who didn't get the inside joke just laughed. And when Jinyoung Park himself arrived on the 11th floor, let's just say he was very confused.