TV Talent

Chapter Thirteen: Piece of the Puzzle

The sun's last rays had sunk below the horizon, replaced by a sky shining with stars. 

They lined up before the cameras, grateful for their jackets, under the glare of the lamps the crew had set up.

'Players, we are now entering the Double-Time bonus round, where you'll have a limited amount of time to tilt the scores in your team's favor,' Hyun-Ki narrated. He lifted a stopwatch. 'Three minutes. One puzzle.' He gestured to a wooden picnic table with two small boxes on top. 'The winner is the team with the most pieces assembled. Good luck!'

They crowded around the table. Taehyung opened their box and tiny metallic-gold puzzle pieces spilled out. On the girls side, Jisoo did the same. She caught his eye. He wagged his eyebrows teasingly. She smirked back.

'Players, are you ready?' 

They tensed, hands positioned above the golden puzzles. 

'Your three minutes begin... now!'

The teams bent over the table, fingers flying across the pieces. Jisoo crammed them together, searching through the pile for puzzles that would fit. She caught Taehyung's eye and stuck out her tongue playfully. He grinned back at her and renewed his efforts on the puzzle. Everyone was making great efforts and they progressed rapidly. 

On the other hand, as there are always bound to be, a few slackers stood off to the side, fanning themselves with the park maps and commentating.

'Do the side pieces first, it's faster.'

'No no, those pieces don't go together.'

'Come on hyung, it's so easy.'

'Then why don't you do it?' RM exploded in annoyance.

'Hey, why should I when you're already doing such a good job?'

Suga shook his head, 'Seriously, these guys. Are you players or onlookers?'

'Well, someone has to talk, or else this episode won't be fun for the viewers,' Jimin explained.

'Yeah, that's right, we have to keep the viewers entertained!' Jin said. 'I'm sure they would like to see more of this handsome face,' he stroked his chin and wagged his brows. 

Linda laughed. 'Hey, why don't you make yourself more useful and check how much time we have left?'

'One minute left.'

'Jennie, can you help me connect these pieces?' Jennie reached out and helped Rosé link their puzzles together. 

'Careful, don't let it break.'

'Hey, hey, Lisa, that doesn't go together.' Linda, holding back a laugh, leaned over to look at her puzzles. 'What did you do?'

'I don't know, it all looks the same,' Lisa said, showing her pieces. Linda laughed.

'Yo, no wonder I couldn't find those pieces. Those don't go together, silly.'

'Ten seconds on the clock!' Hyun-Ki announced.

The crew began counting down, with the slackers joining in. Jungkook and Taehyung shoved their connected pieces at Namjoon, who hastily assembled them. 

'Five!'

The girls did the same. 

'Four!'

They redoubled their efforts, fingers shaking, sweat beading their foreheads.

'Three!'

'Two!'

'One! Hands up!'

They dropped their pieces and stood. Hyun-Ki bent over the puzzles. They waited breathlessly. 'Hmm,' he said slowly. 'It appears...'

Their hearts stood still.

'That BTS have assembled the most pieces. Congratulations!'

The boys stood in a shocked silence for a second before exploding into whoops and cheers and bowing to everyone. The girls cheered too, although they were disappointed they didn't win, BTS' contagious energy made them smile. 

Hyun-Ki presented BTS with the prize, a Korean BBQ house coupon, and a box decorated like a treasure chest filled with chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil. They oohed and aahed over the cute (and delicious) doubloons. 

'Congrats to BTS for winning this episode's treasure hunt!'

RM came forward to say a few words. 'Thank you Hyun-Ki-nim and the TV Talent crew for inviting us on the show, and of course to the lovely BLACKPINK and Miss Linda for being here as well...'

'Hyung we're not at an award show, quickly wrap it up.'

'Thanks for the prize, we've had a really good time!' he added quickly.

'Of course, that's not all,' Hyun-Ki announced, 'we have a prize for the other team too.'
He handed them a shiny gold box filled with yakgwa- honey cookies.

'Wow, what are these?' Linda asked, holding up the box. 'Honey? Hey, do you know honey is much healthier than chocolate?' She held the box to her ear. 'What's that I hear? Lower risk of heart disease? Boost to immunity system? Protection from inflammation?'

J-Hope laughed. 'Enjoy your cookies.'

'Oh,' Linda scoffed, 'we will enjoy them alright. We'll enjoy our healthy honey cookies.'

Finally it was time to end the shooting. They held up their prizes and said their last words.

'Blinks,' Jisoo said. 'We've had lots of fun today. Even though we lost, it was a fair game and we enjoyed ourselves very much. Everyone worked hard, so I hope our fans can enjoy our show together.'

V chimed in, 'ARMYBLINK love you guys! And see you on the next episode of...'

'TV Talent!' everyone chorused. 'Bye!' 

. . .

It was freezing at the park entrance. The girls huddled together, rubbing hot packs to stay warm while waiting for their car. RM, J-Hope, Jin, Suga, Jimin, V and Jungkook walked out of the park. Jimin cleared his throat and approached them.

'Ahem. Ahem. Can I have your phone number?'

'What?' Rosé asked.

RM stepped in to save him. 'So we can contact you about the, you know, the thing.'

'Ahh... the thing.'

'Anyone's number is fine.'

After a brief discussion, they gave them Lisa's number. 

'Thanks. We'll let you know about the... thing... later,' RM said. 

'Sure.'

The girls watched as their car pulled away in glum silence, the bright energy from before dissipating into the cold night air.

'Don't worry, it can't be that bad,' Rosé said brightly.

There was a moment of silence. 

'We're screwed.'