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It’s a mini fansign event as is the usual when doing a pre-recording for one of the music shows. There’s only about fifty, but every fan is special.
Cha Eugene loves interacting with fans. It’s part of the job he loves the most outside of the stage. Loviewers are quite cute and he wants them to stay a fan as long as possible. That said, fansigns like this only give them a few minutes to interact. It’s why the fan’s question blindsides him.
“Eugene-oppa, don’t you have a US passport?” the fan asks with a genuinely curious tone. “Don’t you have to pay double taxes?”
“Ah, really?” Eugene blurts out without meaning to.
“Oh, you don’t know?” the fan scratches her cheek in embarrassment. “You probably have someone managing it huh.”
“Oh wait yes,” Eugene nods with a noticeable strain in his smile. “I have double tax…”
“Really?” the fan asks in shock. “How do you feel about having one job but pay double?”
“It’s a tough life but there’s nothing I can do,” Eugene shrugs and just laughs it off.
Later in their dorm, Eugene asks for a team meeting.
“Does anyone know about how to do taxes and stuff?” he asks with shoulders slumped.
“Yes.” / “Nope~” / “Why?” – comes the cacophony of different responses.
“A fan asked me earlier during the fansign about me paying double taxes…” Eugene fake sobs, hands on his face.
“Ah. That’s right.” Moondae shares a look with Bae Sejin. “Eugene’s an American citizen so he has to pay US taxes… and since he’s living here with a pretty high salary, he also has to pay for Korean taxes.”
“Yes…” Eugene pouts. “So I’m actually earning less than all of you.”
“Do you need help?” Bae Sejin asks awkwardly. “I’ve managed my own taxes for years.”
“Really?” Eugene perks up with a huge smile.
“It’s better if we hire someone to deal with it,” Moondae interjects. “But we can help you with it for the meantime.”
Safe to say it took them half a year to actually get a decent person to deal with their taxes due to their busy schedules.