Chapter Text
01
The Union’s schedule is currently on halt. Yesterday, their frontman and main producer, Na Baekjin, announced the news that he’s leaving the group via SNS because of health issue. Almost at the same time, The Union’s management, Cheongang Records, also dropped a statement that this group will be on temporary hiatus following Na Baekjin’s departure.
The group are supposed to release a mini album this year, followed with a world tour after. But insider sources say with their main producer sudden departure, that initial plan is scrapped since most of their new songs were mostly done by Baekjin himself. That wasn’t all, not only that the group is unable to release new songs, all their old songs which are heavy with Baekjin’s involvement will be unable to be performed by the band.
With Baekjin’s absence, some commented that the band is like now a hollow shell and headless creature since he was known as the brain behind the group’s musical and creative direction. Will his exit from the group marked the end of The Union?
“What do you mean Choi Hyoman quits too?!” Choi Changhee, the CEO and executive producer of Cheongang Records, lost his shit. In less than 24 hours, he managed to lose his most prized talent along with the band’s senior manager. Fucking great!
“Hyoman said he feels like it’s his fault that Baekjin ended up leaving. As a manager he failed to notice his artist’s declining health and the dragged-out discourse between Baekjin and Humin. Also, he said he isn’t capable of managing Humin and Seongje without Baekjin around.” Baek Dongha, the head manager for The Union answered. This young man is having a massive headache (because his partner decided to tap out and leave him in this hell hole) and almost shaking in fear (because his boss is famous for having an unforgiving nature and unpredictable temper).
“Then, with only you as their only manager, can you handle the kids?” Choi Changhee asked.
“I’ll try.” Baek Dongha replied with uncertainty.
A week later, defeated Baek Dongha came to his boss. He hasn’t sleep for days, dealing with the mess of a band called The Union.
The Union is a band consists of five (now four) people – Na Baekjin (leader, main producer, main songwriter, vocalist, keyboardist; now an ex-member), Park Humin or Baku (bassist, vocalist), Go Hyuntak or Gotak (guitarist, vocalist), Yeon Sieun (guitarist, vocalist, songwriter), and Geum Seongje (drummer, vocalist, songwriter).
They were linked to each other as friends at first, but not from the same circle. Na Baekjin and Park Humin are (or we should say were) childhood friends. Park Humin, Go Hyuntak, and Yeon Sieun attended the same high school. While Geum Seongje and Na Baekjin attended the same music academy.
The band was formed the first time during their senior high school. At first, they did it for fun, portfolio, and extra pocket money. They did everything from busking, birthdays, weddings, events, cafés to pub (when they are at age) performances, both online and offline. When the kids were at their second year of university, they entered a band competition held by Wavve, a cable television channel, and won the first place. Their popularity exploded. Entertainment companies were fighting to sign them. That’s when their little band started to get real and serious.
Friends turn into co-workers. Sometimes they fight over things when they’re discussing about their job – that’s understandable. Like Sieun and Seongje for example, they traded jabs and insults at each other on more than one occasion, but they’re cool and professional with each other after everything’s done. But sadly, they can’t say the same for Humin and Baekjin. Their once small arguments keep rolling and rolling until it formed into a massive humongous ball of explosive disagreement. Their war not only affect the two, but also the group. Seongje sides with Baekjin, while Sieun and Hyuntak side with Humin. The peak was that one fateful night, a fistfight occurred in their dorm, the same night where Baekjin declared he has had enough of Humin and ditched the group for good. Now, The Union is in shamble.
‘The number you’re calling is not – beep,’ Baek Dongha rubbed his forehead. Their resident madman, Geum Seongje, is triggering the influx of his stomach acid. The Union’s drummer, who is well known for his eccentric ferocious personality, got drunk, caused a scene in a club, then went missing and unreachable. A certain news agency (more like rubbish gossipmonger) caught the wind of it, got their hands on the videos of the incident, and decided to write an unsavoury article about it. Now the news about his controversial behaviours is spreading like wildfire. Rumour of bullying within the band joined the chat. The whole group is in boiling hot water.
Should I hand a resignation letter too?
Baek Dongha looked at the number of curses and bad comments on his computer screen. The company legal and PR team are currently working overtime to salvage the group from the disaster. He was given an important task from Choi Changhee: to locate Geum Seongje, get him to consult with the legal team, and release a statement as soon as possible.
Team Union
Baek Dongha / Manager
Anyone able to reach Seongje? See him? Know his whereabout?
Yeongyi / Hair & Make-up
Sorry, nope. I’ve called, messaged, asked, snooped around.
No sighting of him.
Jeon Youngbin / Stylist
I have nothing to report too, sorry
Yeon Sieun
Still trying here.
Login to that one game he likes to play for years.
Haven’t seen any of his IDs yet.
Go Hyuntak
Found him
Ah no
Forget it
He went off
“He’s avoiding us.” Gotak muttered.
Sieun is silence for a few beats, before he pointed at the monitor, “Ya, isn’t this Seo Juntae’s ID?”
“Our Jjunie?” Baku asked.
Gotak and Baku hovered beside Sieun to take a better look at the monitor, a name from Sieun’s friend list has a green dot on the side, a sign that the user is online. [ssojjun]•. “Right!”
“If I remember correctly, Seongje also played this game together with Juntae during high school, right?” Sieun asked.
“Should we ask him?” Gotak voiced.
“Maybe… trying never hurt. But I haven’t talk to him in a long time. The last time was like… three years ago… when he came to our concert to support us? Have you guys?” Sieun questioned.
“Nope,” Gotak shook his head, and Baku added, “we are too busy. Juntae is busy too.”
Sieun winced, “Suddenly I feel bad though. He was the one who made us our logo, helped us with shooting. He’s our OG team, our art director.”
“The last time I heard, isn’t he an animator at Disney or DreamWorks or something?” Gotak chimed.
Sieun hummed in agreement. His fingers were busy tapping at the keyboard to greet his old friend at the private chat.
[yeonsse]•: Seo Juntae, hello!
[ssojjun]•: Oh! Hello, isn’t this our Elsa, Sieunie. Hehe. It’s been a while since we talked. Have you been well?
Sieun, Gotak, and Baku exchanged glances. They don’t know how to answer their friend’s question. Fine? They are at the edge of an abyss right now.
[yeonsse]•: Haven’t you heard about the news?
[ssojjun]•: What news? I haven’t opened my SNS or reading news in – idk, a week or so. I just finished rigging hairs and currently decompressing my tired brain. My web browser is filled with furry references right now.
[yeonsse]•: Aah… our band is cooked right now.
[ssojjun]•: Oh, why? (O_O)
[yeonsse]•: In short, we had a fight, BJ left the band. SJ is angry at BK bcs of that. He got drunk at a club with no supervision, and you knew how he is when he’s drunk… chaos ensues, negative press, SJ is missing, unreachable. We are now looking for him…
[ssojjun]•: That’s… a lot. And sorry to hear that. SJ is missing?
[yeonsse]•: Yeah, I know this is a bit… rude. I feel bad asking you this as soon as we talk, but, do you mind helping us? If you see him online offline anywhere. Please stalk him and inform us. Better if you can get his whereabout…
[ssojjun]•: It’s okay, Sieun-ah. I’ll help.
[yeonsse]•: Thank you, Juntae-ya.
[ssojjun]•: Btw, he’s online right now. Using his alt.
[yeonsse]•: Which one? Why none of his ID appeared online at mine?
[ssojjun]•: Did he block yours?
[yeonsse]•: If he blocked mine, the username wouldn’t appear at my friend list. Does he have an alt acc I don’t know about?
[ssojjun]•: Tell me which ones do you know
[yeonsse]•: [geumsji]; [goldenfriedegg]; [wolfgangsss]
[ssojjun]•: He has one more
[yeonsse]•: FR?!
[ssojjun]•: Yeah, he mostly uses that one
[yeonsse]•: WTH
[ssojjun]•: He’s asking me to do a quest with him rn as we speak. Seeing this… I don’t think it’s wise for me to divulge his alt. He’ll be mad at me; I don’t want that to happen. But I’ll ask him, let’s see if I can gauge any info.
[yeonsse]•: Thanks, you are a godsend.
Cheongang Records finally speaks up about recent scandals of their representative group, The Union. In recent press conference, Geum Seongje (drummer), Yeon Sieun (guitarist), Park Humin (bassist), and Go Hyuntak (guitarist) appeared to the public.
The drummer, Geum Seongje, apologized to Team Union (the band’s staffs); the company’s PR and legal teams; the club owner and staffs for causing them trouble and making them working overtime. He also addressed an apology to the fans for causing them worry. However, he stated he won’t be apologizing to the man that he punched at the club.
“He was slandering Baekjin. At first, I was about to record the nonsense he was spouting, asking the company and Baekjin’s lawyer to sue him. But his words went too far and I can’t tolerate him anymore. He was the one who threw a fist, not me. I have the proof with me right here.” – Geum Seongje.
Cheongang Records legal representative, Lawyer Lee, played an audio recording along with the full CCTV recording from the club. Geum Seongje’s words were backed with solid evidences. Lawyer Lee stated that they’ll be taking a legal action and case a file to the police.
They also took the time to address the bullying rumour within the band, which was untrue. Na Baekjin himself also confirmed this when our reporter reached out to his team.
“The bullying rumour was untrue. There was no bullying within our group. My departure from the band might be a little bit abrupt, but it wasn’t because of bullying. I hope everyone doesn’t create a bad rumour out of it. My health condition isn’t really good right now, so let me have a peaceful break, please.” – Na Baekjin.
Now that the air is cleared, the reporters asked about the group’s future. Yeon Sieun, the group’s guitarist and songwriter, mentioned that they’ll probably do some adjustments and meetings with the CEO first regarding this matter. An announcement regarding the group’s future will be announced after the talks are all done via the group’s SNS.
“Please look forward and wish both The Union and Na Baekjin well for our future endeavours.” – Yeon Sieun’s closing statement at the end of the press conference.
At the same time, at Juntae’s flat. He was receiving a call from his colleague, a 2D modeler at his current project group.
“Soojin-ah, what do you mean our studio is closing down?” He was about to cry when he got the news.
“Listen to me Juntae-ya, our office got police lined. Our boss has been using the company’s money for his personal use, he has been gambling. Now their money is gone, the shareholders are angry.”
“How about our pay?” How is he going to pay his rent now?! And his mother’s hospital bill?! With his dwindling savings, he needs to figure out something fast.
“We won’t be getting any pay until they caught Kim Gilsoo.”
Juntae’s legs gave away. God, he’s doomed.
Seo Juntae was seated in Cheongang Records’s CEO office along with The Union’s manager, Baek Dongha. The CEO invited him to come to their office a few days after the press conference happened.
“Seo Juntae-sshi, I have to thank you for your help last time. Have you been friends with them for a long time?” Choi Changhee asked.
“Yes, I’ve known them since high school.” Juntae replied.
“I heard you’re also the one who designed their earlier logo and merchandises?” the CEO asked.
“Yes, I did.”
“What do you do now, Seo Juntae-sshi? If you don’t mind me asking.”
Why this turned out a little like job interview? “Uh, I am a freelance animator.”
“Are you having any project right now?”
“Not at the moment, Sir.”
“Perfect.”
What do you mean perfect?! I am currently unemployed. Juntae cried inside.
“I have a job offer for you, if you don’t mind.”
“Sorry?”
“Geum Seongje… do you mind to babysit him?”
“Huh?”
“No, I mean, be his manager.” Choi Changhee snapped his finger, “I’ve heard the story on how you manage to convince him. He really listens to you – I can’t believe it. You are really a godsend. I almost cry. We need someone like you with him.” He clasped his hands together in front of him, as if begging at Juntae to agree to his proposition. “You’ll be paid, of course. Here’s the contract and amount of salary you’ll get.” He slid a folder in front of Juntae.
Seeing that Juntae’s flat expression when he was reading the contract, Choi Changhee immediately rattled more benefits, a truly desperate attempts from his side, “That, plus all of your living cost and health insurance will be covered by us. You’ll live with the boys at their dorm. You don’t need to do anything regarding the group promotions, making schedule arrangements, book some gigs for them, or what not – those are Baek Dongha’s job. I just need you to keep an eye on the boys, be a peacekeeper. Alright? Are you interested?”
And perhaps, Juntae is no longer doomed, God has been kinder to him by giving him another job. Even though his salary is smaller than his animator job, at least he doesn’t need to worry about his living cost and rent, making the money he gets significantly higher.