TAEKOOK | NOT HERE TO BE LIKED!

If only I was single

Taehyung gets to meet Jung Hoseok in the flesh soon after that, that next Tuesday. He’s not nervous about meeting him—he knows, usually managers are much harder to impress or convince than artists themselves, who trust their representatives to pick this stuff for him.

Not everyone seems to have the same mindset as him, so before the rapper arrives, Taehyung spends some time trying to calm down the nerves of some people at the office.

It doesn’t particularly help that Hoseok seems to be popular among his workers, and well-loved.

Taehyung knew that his debut had been an absolute success amongst the younger generation, but he couldn’t imagine so many of his employees would end up being among the rising amount of followers he had.

Taehyung has never been one to involve himself too much with fan culture, finding more fulfillment in other activities, but he’s listened to some of

Hoseok’s songs, and he was impressed by everything. He’s a good rapper and an amazing dancer, so even if he isn’t a fan, he can definitely see the appeal.

By the time Hoseok arrives at the office, everyone has quietened down and are working at their desks, acting as professionally as Taehyung would expect of them.

He greets the pair with a warm smile and a bow, introducing himself and his small team before showing them around and finally inviting them to the office, where Jimin waits.

“And this is Jimin, our account manager,” Taehyung introduces, Jimin standing up from his chair so he can politely bow to the two of them, who return the gesture. “He’ll be managing your portfolio and will mainly be in charge of your social media.”

“Nice to meet you, Jimin,” Hoseok tells him, a small smile dancing on his lips as he says so. “I’ll warn you that I’m a bit of a spammer when it comes to Instagram, so that might make me a little bit of a pain in the ass for you.”

Jimin laughs at that, shaking his head a little. “It’s fine. I won’t ask you to run things through me every single time you post. I’ll mostly analyze the feedback and engagement you get. I’ll give you
certain guidelines before giving any mess a chance to happen, but don’t worry. It’s very intuitive stuff.”

The four of them sit down after that, discussing in more detail what kind of image Hoseok wants to give himself—what kind of deals he would be interested in, photoshoots and interviews for which outlets and magazines, and more of the sort.

Luckily for all of them, it turns out the four of them seem to see eye to eye in regards to all of this; Taehyung isn’t surprised, for the last few days Jimin and himself have been working on a profile for all of their clients, and usually he’s very spot on with these things.

It’s no different this time around. Overall, the meeting goes well—cordial, even. Hoseok is very down to earth and friendly, and he’s obviously prepared himself for this meeting.

It doesn’t last for too long, and so it’s less than one hour after that Jimin is walking the pair to the door, Taehyung seeing the three of them walk away
through the tall glass door of his office.

He sees them all bow one last time, Hoseok saying goodbye to the rest of the workers in the main area, before he and his manager disappear behind the door.

It doesn’t come as much of a surprise when Jimin comes rushing back to his office; Taehyung knew he would like to discuss what just went down.

He comes in before knocking, no greeting when he gets in; that’s a good sign for Taehyung. After all, they’re friends now.

No formalities are needed.

“Thoughts?” Jimin asks, walking to the desk and grabbing a chair. He flips it around, sitting, resting his arms on top of the backrest as he gives Taehyung a pointed look.

“Got a good feeling. You did say his Instagram is a good place to start with,” Taehyung mentions.

“Oh, it totally is. He looks like an influencer or one of those e-boy things, but without the cringe factor. He’s going to grow, just—so fast,” Jimin says, snapping his fingers. “He’s hotter in person.”

“Jimin!” Taehyung says, the comment taking him by surprise. Not because Jimin commented on a guy, not because Hoseok isn’t obviously attractive. But Jimin has been so tremendously professional and unbiased about their clients up until this moment.

“What? It’s true,” Jimin says, wiggling his eyebrows at him a little. Taehyung raises his eyebrows. “Don’t you think so?”

“I mean—yeah, he’s attractive,” Taehyung says, shrugging his shoulders. Jimin gives him a skeptical look, eyebrows lifted as he looks at him. “But I have a boyfriend now, so you know, I’m sure he’d be hotter if I was single.”

Jimin clicks his tongue. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have eyes,” Jimin says. “Seungjin won’t be bothered if you admit another guy is hot, Taehyung. It’s objective.”

“Hey ! I already told you I agree,” Taehyung says, leaning back in his seat and crossing one leg over the other. “I just have, you know... significant other tunnel vision.”

Jimin snorts at that, leaning forward with his tummy against the back of the chair as he chuckles. “You’re ridiculous,” he says, making Taehyung laugh lightly as well. “When’s he coming, though? You did mention he might come visit soon.”

“We haven’t picked a date yet, but soon, yeah,” Taehyung says. “I miss him, but he’s busy with his own job, and I don’t want to pressure him into coming here. He’s been really understanding about
me deciding to leave and come here all of a sudden.”

“At least it’s his home country, too. I guess it would be way harder to work around it if he was originally from there,” Jimin says, Taehyung agreeing with a hum. “What did he do again?”

“Didn’t tell you the other day. He’s a model,” Taehyung says, with a small smile. “He was a client for the agency I did my first internship at.”

“That’s cute. I deserve a model boyfriend, too. I bet he’s tall,” Jimin says, with a sigh. Taehyung laughs at that, watching as his friend stands up and returns the chair to its original position. “As much as I would love to stay here and discuss your love life for a bit longer, I need to get back to work now. Don’t want my boss to be all up my ass.”

He wiggles his eyebrows at Taehyung as he says that, making him laugh a little. “Sure thing, he sounds like a total bitch.” Jimin makes a gesture as to agree with his words, making Taehyung give
him a pointed look.

“Come on, then. Do your best.”With that, Jimin leaves the office and gets back to his own. Taehyung, seeing him disappear behind the shut blinds.

He sighs, shakes his head, and returns his attention to what’s on the screen of his computer. Enough distractions now. He has work to get back to.