Evenstar

18. The Setlist

"Hoba." Seokjin nudged Hobi and pointed to a smiling Taehyung seated at the corner of JKL's rehearsal room, looking at his phone. Yoongi noticed too.

"Taehyung-ah!" Suga called to him, pretending to be angry. "You're not paying attention."

Taehyung looked up at his hyungs and gave them a boxy smile. "Sorry," he said and put his phone back in his pocket.

"Is that her?" Hobi asked him and Taehyung nodded.

"I saw her already," Jimin said and told them of the video call when Taehyung introduced Dae Eun to him.

Namjoon stood up and walked to where Taehyung was seated, "Let me see."

Taehyung brought out his phone again and everyone gathered round to see her picture.

"Wow! She's really pretty, Taehyung-ah." Namjoon suddenly felt envious and wondered when he would find his own soulmate.

"She doesn't know it," Taehyung told them. He was going to make it his mission to make sure she knew.

Jungkook brought them back to the business at hand by presenting their setlist from the last muster. He wasn't comfortable with the idea of any of them having girlfriends yet, and he decided to ignore it. "Is this the same setlist we're going to use?"

Namjoon, Hobi and Suga looked at the setlist flashed on the wide screen. There were only 11 songs.

"This won't do for a world tour," Namjoon said. "We have to try harder."

"How hard?" Jin asked. He was afraid they would not be able to deliver the strong numbers they were known for over ten years ago. It may already be physically impossible to hold a full concert.

"Can we go for at least 21 songs? Closer to our setlist before. We can adjust the pace, have solo numbers, or vocal and rap line numbers in between." Namjoon felt that, this being their last tour as BTS, they may as well go out with a blast.

"When do we intend to start?" Jimin asked. He needed to prepare himself. For strong choreography he, Taehyung and Jungkook were usually positioned at the front. ARMY would definitely notice any changes once compared to footage of their younger selves. He didn't want them to be remembered as a remarkably weaker version of themselves.

"We usually tour in April, after winter." Suga thought out loud. He felt at this point that 21 numbers was reasonable, if they didn't include the hardest numbers. But what kind of concert would that be for ARMY? Their dedicated fans did not deserve that.

"I think 7 months is enough for us to practice," Hobi said. "We'll know if it's not possible and we can adjust."

"I think what's more important is for us to meet ARMY again after so many years of silence," Taehyung said. "We apologized to SK ARMYs, now we need to apologize in person to ARMYs worldwide. If we get too tired or if we can't do it straight through, I think they'll understand."

"I agree," Jungkook looked at Taehyung. "ARMY is our family. They won't want us to hurt ourselves. I think they'll just want to see us and talk to us like our SK ARMYs did."

"Still, we have to try to give our best numbers - something they will remember for a long time." Namjoon pushed. It would be hard on them but he felt it would be worth it.

Suga took the laptop from Jungkook and started typing the setlist for their tour. As the songs appeared on the screen, the members gave their inputs until they agreed on the final list.

1. Heartbeat
2. Fix You
3. I Need You
4. Hand-in-Hand
5. Angel
6. Big World
7. My Universe
8. Blood Sweat & Tears
9. Fire
10. Idol
11. Mic Drop
12. Butterfly
13. Young Forever
14. Spring Day
15. Run BTS
16. So What
17. Let Go
18. Bulletproof: The Eternal
19. For Youth
20. Yet to Come
21. Mikrokosmos

"There." Suga felt satisfied.

"8-11 will kill us," Jin observed.

"15-17 too," Suga added.

Jimin couldn't say anything and just looked at Hobi.

"We'll practice," Hobi told him. "Nothing is set in stone. We'll practice slowly and build up our strength."

"I've added more equipment to our gym. We can all work out here to prepare. We have a trainer now." Jungkook had hired one of his former trainers to man the gym for the members and JKL's trainees.

"Where are we performing?" Taehyung asked.

"Busan, Japan, Australia, Argentina, USA, Canada, Germany, London, Paris, and Seoul." Jungkook had already sent preliminary communications to the venues and had received very favorable responses. The dates he had plotted were free.

"How many shows?" Jimin asked.

"About 40 maximum." Jungkook answered.

"Can we afford it?" Jin asked.

"With luck we'll only be funding the first. Then each concert will be paid for by the last one." Jungkook and Bang PD-Nim had long discussions on this and he felt that it was workable.

"Proud of you, Jungkook!" Hobi was impressed. JK was really all grown up now and could manage them. He never really had any doubts, but it was still so impressive to see Jungkook on top of their plans.

Taehyung smiled at his baby, remembering their younger days when JK was too shy to even be around them.

"I really hope we can do this setlist." Namjoon told them. I'll be the first to admit that those seven numbers are scary, but I won't back off if you won't."

Taehyung stood up, put his hand in the center and motioned for all of them to follow.

"Bangtan!" They shouted in unison as they raised and released the circle of hands.

*****

It was almost midnight when Taehyung reached the location shoot for his K-Drama series. They would be wrapping this up soon and he had a few weeks to rest before the next one. He wanted to see Dae Eun more during that break and hoped he would have the chance.

As he was getting out of the SUV his phone rang. It was Sunhee, the cheerful girl who was with Dae Eun when they shopped in Seoul. They had exchanged numbers.

"Sunhee-ah! Annyeong!" He was happy to hear from someone so close to Dae Eun. He could ask how she was doing.

"Annyohaseyo, Oppa! I hope I'm not disturbing you." Sunhee said shyly.

"It's okay, I have 10 minutes. What's up?"

"Oppa, can you come for Dae Eun's birthday on the 21st? We're going to surprise her."

"Really? Am I invited?" Taehyung was pleasantly surprised and would want nothing more than to be there, but he couldn't just barge in on a family gathering unless her family officially invited him.

"It's just us, Oppa. Eonni's family will be in Europe on a business trip. She won't be going with them. Will you come? Please...." Sunhee wanted everyone to meet her Taehyung oppa, especially Nana.

"Okay!" Taehyung was truly delighted. He didn't know how he would manage it, but he would clear his schedule somehow. "I'll be there."

Sunhee thanked him repeatedly and told him of their planned surprise. When she hung up, Taehyung started making his own plans. He knew she would be sleeping, but he finally sent a text in reply to her picture message.

"You shine like a star, Dae Eun. I hope we can meet again soon."

After sending the message he called his friend, Park Hyung-Sik. He answered immediately since he was awake too, shooting a sageuk series in the wee hours of the morning. Hyung-Sik was portraying a prince, and Taehyung thought it would be perfect.

"Hyung, can I borrow your hanbok?"