Chapter Text
sunghoon was happy; ofcourse he was! talking to engenes during fancalls is fun! and if he ignores how cold he always gets because of the room theyre in, or his ears hurting because of the earplugs he wears hours on end, or trying to ignore all the members talking all at once and the occasional rude fans he might actually believe it.
so today will be fun, he thinks as he steps into the van, the rest of the members following. he feels his gut twist but thats because he's excited right?
it's his first fancall with only english speaking engenes. and while jake had burst into the widest smile sunghoon ever had seen when they heard the news from their manager, sunghoon didnt jump up and down with joy to say the least.
he watched the buildings of seoul pass by through the window when suddenly someone nudged his shoulder. he turned to see jake with a soft expression on his face, "sunghoon dont worry. remember staff are behind to translate okay? nothing to worry about. besides, you sit in the middle of me and jay so just relax." sunghoon smiled a soft smile at him. "thank you jake-ah. and i was just wondering.. if you dont mind, can we please practice some english now?»
sunghoon looked at jake nervously waiting for his response. to sunghoons relief, jake simply nodded and uttered a quick "sure". "c-can you start?" sunghoon asked nervously, wait he wasnt nervous right? he was just excited! "sure, ill pretend to be an engene okay? that way you are more prepared," sunghoon nodded. «hi sunghoon how are you?» jake spoke in his Australian accent, sunghoon understood vaguely what he said. «good.. how are you?» he said, and he wanted to slap himself for sounding so korean. jake continued, «im good! i just wanted to tell you that i love you very much and that your music has impacted my life in a positive way."
sunghoon was fucked. his mind blanked as he tried to translate what jake just said, while finding an answer as well. "sorry- was that too much?" jake asked in korean, his eyes filled with uncertainty. "yeah um sorry. what does that last sentence mean? the one with "impacted"?"
jake opened his mouth to answer but the van stopped just as he was about to speak. "oh, i guess were here." he said. sunghoon looked out the window to see the familiar sight of the hybe building. "yeah i guess we are."
once they were inside the building they immediately went into the dressing room to get their makeup done. while his makeup noona did his makeup he looked at himself in the mirror and wondered why he was so bad at english. it was like he never got the hang out of it. he even had double english lessons, but nothing he did made him improve.
he was dragged away from his thoughts when niki tapped his shoulder. «hyung we have to go now». sunghoon looked at him trough the mirror and nodded and followed the rest of the members with staff to the room they would hold the video call event in.
he saw a huge wall with different logos such as «weverse» and «enhypen» which would be behind them. their manager signaled for them to come to him, so they did. they stood in a half circle and he began talking.
«listen um- we have a slight problem. one staff member whose job is to translate this fancall has been called in sick,» sunoo's voice interrupted the managers. «wait so who here wont get it translated?» the manager looked at sunoo then at.. wait sunghoon?
«im sorry sunghoon.. i wish we had an extra but they are all busy. just try your best okay? fighting!» sunghoon just watched in horror as the manager walked out of the room like it was nothing.
«wait what about my staff member? or jakes? we wont need any translation.» jay said. they all glanced at jay then at sunghoon. «we can ask, that might actually work.» he responded.
just as he said that a staff member came up to heeseung to fix his clothes. «excuse me noona,» heeseung said. the staff looked up in confusion and curiosity. «yes heeseung-ssi? what can i help you with?» she said. heeseung glanced at sunghoon, mouthing «tell her.»
sunghoon nodded and spoke up. «noona is it possible to swap jay or jakes staff with my absent one instead? they wont need any translation, and im not the best at english.» the staff member turned around and looked at sunghoon, her eyes softened abit as she spoke.
«im sorry sunghoon-ssi, that wont be possible. we know jake and jay are capable of speaking english so we provided staff to observe, not to translate. meaning, they dont know any english. sorry sunghoon-ssi.»
sunghoon swallowed down the lump in his throat and answered the staff. «ah okay. thanks for the help noona.» she bowed and walked away.
they all sighed and looked at sunghoon. jungwon began talking, «im sorry sunghoon, i dont think i can swap with you either. my english isnt the best.»
soon everyone muttered half-hearted apologies and reasons why they wouldn't swap either. "ah guys its fine!" sunghoon was lying straight through his teeth. "it's just 50 engenes and one minute each, i think ill be okay." they all looked around in uncertainty, but they knew they couldn't do anything about it. "if you say so hyung." sunoo said, before they all got seated and informed by staff that the fancall would start in 5 minutes.
sunghoon was chewing on his lip, probably ruining the faint lipstick, but he couldn't care less. how was he supposed to survive talking english for one hour straight? with no translation? a shiver ran down his spine, why was it always so fucking cold when they did fancalls in this room?
"sunghoon-ah just relax okay." sunghoon looked at jake and released his bottom lip from his teeth. "im just nervous." nervous? no he was obviously excited! so excited to talk english for one hour...
you know what fuck it, he has to stop lying to himself, hes fucking terrified. if he says anything wrong it's gonna be on the internet and god he does not want that to happen..
jake shot him an empathetic look before staff got seated behind the ipads that was infront of them. sunghoon suddenly wondered who was supposed to fix his ipad? "sunghoon-ssi i will be providing help to run things smoothly with the fancall. do not worry about technical difficulties." jay's staff whispered as he began fixing his ipad, jay already have started with the fancall.
sunghoon plugged in his earphones and watched as the ipad connected to a young girl with long blonde hair, and she had a phone in her hand recording the whole fancall. he didnt remember much from his english lessons but he somehow remember some fancall etiquette. "hello can you hear me?" he asked, trying not to sound nervous.
"oh my gosh!! yes hi i can hear you, how are you sunghoon?» he was relieved as he understood partially what she said. "im good. and you?" he asked, feeling proud of himself for getting this far. the fancall continued smoothly, the engene, who told her name was suzy, used easy words so he could understand and he was internally so grateful for that.
the next fancall however didnt go as well..
as the screen connected, he saw a group of five girls. his stomach dropped, please dont let them be rude. he thought to himself as he started talking. "can you hear me?" he asked.
the girls started to laugh really hard and that's when sunghoon started to lose hope. "holy fuck.. hes so bad at english.. how is it even possible.. yo twink say something!" the girls spat. sunghoon didnt understand what they were saying, but he somehow knew it was something bad.
"w-what?" he asked, feeling small compared to five girls who could mock him without him even knowing. the girls burst out laughing again, sunghoons ears hurting as they were so loud combined. "becky.. come look at him.. he looks like a girl.." one of the girls said as she pointed at sunghoon while ushering someone over. they were all recording and he felt so fucking helpless.
"i am sorry.. repeat?" he spoke, but that was even more funnier apparently because the girls started laughing nonstop. sunghoon couldnt help it, his eyes clouded over with tears as he kept his gaze down, praying that one minute would be over soon.
thankfully, their laughs got cut off as the alarm beeped. he inhaled shakily as he looked at himself through the ipad, what were they saying? he decided he had enough of this shit.
he ripped his earphones out and stormed out of the room. the members just looked at him with worry, but they couldnt do anything about it, they were still talking to other engenes.
sunghoon's tears were falling as he tried to look for a spot where he could hide. he bit back a sob as he followed the familar way to the practice room. he opened the door and slid down the door as he let out his sobs.
he felt so mocked. he didnt understand what they were saying, it was all his fault for not knowing english. his makeup that his noona had spent her time on was sliding down his face.
and thats how he spent the rest of his time, which we should have spent on the fancall, here crying in the practice room.
after a while he opened his phone to see missed phone calls from jake and sunoo. he sniffed as he got up and headed out the door, fresh tears staining his cheeks, makeup smeared.
i will get better at english. is what he thought as he went around looking for his members.