The City of Seoul || Bang Chan [EDITING]

✧.* Chapter 15 *.✧

„I'm not sure, Min," Danbi left her bedroom for what felt like the millionth time in a different outfit, her confidence barely noticeable.

Mingo looked up from his phone.
"Bi, you look stunning. Do you feel comfortable? That's the only thing that matters." He walked up to her, tugging away a piece of hair and squeezing her shoulders.

"You look amazing, Bi," He smiled. "I mean it."

Her current choice was a pair of black tailored pants, with a tight black top, and a black Nike cap paired with a grey blazer.

"I don't want to be overdressed," Danbi pouted, feeling uncomfortable. "It's one of their first concerts. You will be recognised and it's one of the few times people see us together."

It's been a few days since the first episode of the series of interviews aired on YouTube. While the trailers didn't give away how she was, now a snippet of her went viral during one of the games she played as a team with Felix.

Fans noticed her tattoo and somehow - it still fascinated her how good the researching skills of fandoms were - they found an old picture that showed Minho with her before the pandemic in Australia. Her face was covered with a sticker but not the tattoo.

The siblings sat next to each other and her chin, her hand and wrist tilted towards the camera. Minho had his arm around her and smiled. He had posted it in his story for her birthday that year.

Followed by the discovery was mixed reactions. In the first few hours, most of them scolded her for using the connection Minho gave her before others started to step in and argue that she lived most of her life anonymously. It was a bit of a mess in her eyes.

It still hurt, more than she admitted.
Everyone around her gave their best to reassure her that it was her hard work and dedication that had led to this opportunity and not the fact her brother was an Idol.

But still, there were days she doubted it. 

Fans connected the dots fast and within the first 24 hours, the internet learned she was also the girl from the airport incident.

More and more things got connected and snippets from SHINee content in which she shortly appeared with her face covered, were sighed up.

Another wave of jealousy, hate and mostly disbelieving in her not using her brother and not knowing the group beforehand found her Profiles. It got so bad, that she was advised to disable her comments and lay low by the Minhos team.

They arranged a meeting with the Idols management team to put out official statements regarding the situation stating that they did meet for the first time at the airport and that Chan's decision was based on the fact a third party got hurt due to a lack of respect for space and not knowing her.

Her company also released a short statement with a staff plan and it showed her being planned for a different position clearly behind the camera.

Minhos team stated that they always honoured their parent's decision and later Danbi's to have her face not revealed, even taking the measurement to pay news outlets and buying the rights to non-official footage she appeared in.

It helped to lower the tone of many comments but still, most of them stayed harsh.
Being seen at the concert wasn't ideal but she didn't have the heart to decline the invitation and truly wanted to support them.

They did it in private but every single step of the way.

She knew it would only get worse, being seen at the concert but she wanted to support them as they did it, not publicly but in private.

✧･ﾟ: * ✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧

"Wow," Danbi was in awe seeing how full the stadium was by the time they arrived and were escorted to their reserved seats.

The siblings had a direct view of the stage and the section was filled with other Idols, family members and friends of the group. It was flagged by security.

Minho greeted a few with a handshake, exchanging a few words before following Danbi to the seats. She only smiled and greeted to other, only saying a few words when spoken directly to. Even after all these years of being constantly around Idols, the female was reserved.

After taking a seat and relaxing a bit, Danbi took a moment to let her eyes wander over the sea of fans. She noticed many creative outfits, some being replicas of fits the members had worn during music videos or promotions while others dressed in black and green like the album colours. A lot of street style could also be seen.

Minho pointed out a handful of extraordinary ones with a group for example wearing kangaroo onesies. Danbi chuckled.

"They are excited after they had been told that today was also sold out," Danbi looked away from fans and turned have head towards her brother. He handed her a black bag.

"What is that?," Danbi was genuinely confused. "You didn't need to get me anything."

"This isn't from me." Minho just smiled.

Danbi took a peek inside the bag only to see a folded green note and tissue paper covering whatever was inside the gift bag.

Enjoy the show to the fullest ;)
Thank you for coming.
                                     - B. C.

Danbi smiled after reading the note. She carefully set it aside before pulling out the paper revealing a box with the group's logo on it. Inside it was the lightstick.

The lights lowered moments later. Fans started to scream, only to increase when the intro began to play. Smoke started to fill the stage and eight silhouettes appeared.