Chapter Text
“What the hell is going on?” A loud voice boomed through the previously silent dance studio.
Well, that wasn’t the wake-up call any of the members expected. Though maybe it should have been, Namjoon thought to himself as he and the rest of his members peeled themselves off the dirty floor of the dance studio they crashed on.
“Something wrong, Hyung?” Namjoon spoke, already dreading the long week this was sure to become. They had a temporary manager, Park Hajoon, and while all the boys missed their usual manager who had taken time off for a family emergency, they did what they could to make the new manager feel welcome. Unfortunately, he did not give them the same courtesy.
Hajoon was supposed to be a great manager with plenty of experience and patience to deal with larger idol groups. He was a short, round man with an even shorter temper. The group was already overseas when he was hired, but from his resume and cover letter, Namjoon had expected a professional. It only took about an hour after he signed on as their backup manager that things had taken a turn for the worse. The first thing he did was cancel the group’s flight back to make time for a couple of additional interviews. The boys hadn’t minded at first, until they arrived at their first interview and were told that not only was a translator not coming, but the interviewers had received a note from their management saying the group didn’t need a translator and Namjoon could do it. Something Namjoon specifically requested the company stop doing and something Hajoon had done for every interview they had that day.
When the band finally arrived back in Korea after attending an award show overseas, they were immediately met by frantic calls from their company demanding they come to the dance studio for practice. It turns out Hajoon missed the memo on BTS’s work-life balance coming back into existence in the past two years. Sure, a few years ago, any of them would have expected to hop off a flight and get straight into working again, but after nearly every band member jeopardized their mental and physical health and risked everything to get a few more hours in each day, that practice was banned.
“Yes, actually.” Hajoon begins, sounding frustrated, “You guys were supposed to leave nearly 20 minutes ago.”
“To where?” Taehyung spoke from the back of the group. All seven musicians still sitting on the cold studio floor. It was welcome, given the three-hour dance practice they just completed.
Hobi and Namjoon almost refused the sudden practice, seeing how tired their boys were from the trip home, but they felt like it would be unfair to the choreographer and background dancers who were stuck waiting for them. So they stayed.
Hajoon let out an exasperated sigh, “I emailed Namjoon an hour ago; I’ve booked a photoshoot for you guys. Which you’re now late to, by the way-”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Namjoon interrupted, standing up across from the manager. “You JUST booked this? Why would you do that? You knew we would be in practice and that we’d need time to clean up after-”
“If you had done your job and read the email I sent you an hour ago, you would have known.” Hajoon snapped. “And enough arguing with me, you’re wasting time we don’t have. You should have read the email and stopped the practice early.”
A bad start, given this was day one, and they had this manager for the rest of the week.
“OH, absolutely not.” Hobi suddenly spoke up before Namjoon could respond, clearly frustrated with the manager’s tone. He stood up, stepping forward so he was between Namjoon and Hajoon. “First of all, Park-nim, I’m the one you need to talk to if you want to end a dance practice early.”
It was true. A long time ago, Namjoon had wiped his hands of the dance responsibility and gratefully handed the power to Hobi, whom the group had appointed as their Dance Leader. Everyone knew this was the right choice, given Namjoon’s… coordinational challenges. Hobi wasn’t just Namjoon's saving grace for their dancing, though, he was also always the first person to speak up when someone made comments directed towards Namjoon. Namjoon would defend any member of BTS to the death, except for himself.
“So if YOU had wanted to do your job correctly, maybe we could have done ours.” Hobi continued, “Secondly, you don’t get to just book things on our behalf. We stopped doing that a long time ago. If you want to book something, you need to schedule a meeting with Namjoon to confirm it’s something we’re even willing to do. The interviews were one thing since they’re usually standard, but a photoshoot? What’s the theme? We also need to approve the outfits ahead of time.”
“A meeting? To schedule something? Come on now. I heard you guys were controlling over your work, but this is ridiculous! Hybe should have replaced you guys a long time ago. I'm the manager. You’ll be comfortable with wearing whatever we tell you that you’re comfortable wearing. How is a manager supposed-”
“Look, if you’re not willing to do your job, you can find another one. We have expectations for our managers. You work for us, not the other way around.” Yoongi chimed in, his voice dripping with disdain. He joined Hobi in separating Hajoon from their leader. “Hybe knows how many people want this job. It’s not us who’s replaceable here.”
Hajoon’s face reddened. He’d worked with several K-pop Idols and groups before, but it had never been like this. Usually, he got to do whatever he wanted, and the idols had to do as they were told. That was the whole reason he liked this job. He liked having power and control over powerful idols. This was frustrating him beyond belief, which you could tell by the vein sticking out of his forehead.
“Namjoon, are you going to allow your members to speak to me this way? I shouldn’t need to remind you that you are the leader of this group, and it is your responsibility to control their behaviour.”
“Respectfully, if I had any control over their behaviour, we wouldn’t be here today.” Namjoon rolled his eyes. Hajoon couldn’t realistically do anything to them. He was a temporary manager with no real bite and was working for a company that, collectively, BTS practically owned. “And they’re right. This was all in your job description. Did you actually read it? We’re not going to a photo shoot we have no information about. We don’t even know what the concept or theme is. Hell, we don’t even know who the photoshoot is with. So no, we won’t be going.”
The thing is, Hajoon also hadn’t asked what the concept or theme was. He had promised a friend that he would get BTS to agree to a photo shoot for them while acting as their manager. He had a week left, and he was sure he would still be able to pull it off, even if the members seemed more willing to bite back than he was expecting.
“Fine. We will discuss this later. This isn’t over.” With that, Hajoon took his leave.
“I hate that guy.” Jungkook spoke up for the first time from where he was sitting, pressed up to Jin on the floor.
Jin placed a hand on Jungkooks head, moving a few strands of hair out of his eyes. “I don’t like him either. Maybe we can-”
“If we fire him now, they’re going to need to call our actual manager to find someone to fill the position. Let’s give Hyung a few more days to deal with his family first, and then if Hajoon is still a problem, we will call him.” Namjoon stated definitively, maybe a little harsher than he had meant, but he knew what Jin wanted to do.
Yoongi scowled from behind him. “No, because you’re going to be the one dealing with him. Hajoon already made you do interviews with no translator. How many of your boundaries is he going to cross before you can’t take it anymore? I don’t like this guy Joon-ah.”
“We can’t just make it everyone else’s problem. Let me try and deal with it first.” Namjoon was exausted. He knew the others were just worried about him. Still, he also just wanted to get through this week without dragging anyone else down or complicating anything further.
“Better plan,” Jimin chimed in, smiling brightly as he detailed his brilliant plan. “We never leave Namjoon alone so we can fight off the manager when he’s being annoying.”
“Awful Idea.” “Fantastic Idea!” “ChimChim, you genus!” Namjoon, Jungkook, and Taehyung all spoke over each other.
“Sorry, Joonie, It’s six against one. You lose.” Jin laughed, his enjoyment way too evident on his face.
Namjoon let out a sign. Fine, whatever. It was a week; he would manage. The room fell into a comfortable quiet as the members gathered their things and started to head for the showers. Namjoon stared blankly at the door the manager had walked out of moments ago.
“You know it’s only because we care, right?” Hobi’s voice startled Namjoon. He thought he had already left. “We’re just trying to take care of you.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“Of course you can, but you spend all day every day defending us and making sure no one can put us in an uncomfortable situation. We just want to make sure you’re safe too, ’kay Joonie?”
“‘Kay, Jay.”
Hobi smiled one of his brilliant and bright smiles before linking arms with his leader and dragging him towards the showers. This would be a long week, but luckily, Namjoon never has to worry about watching his back because he has six pairs of eyes already doing it for him.