Fate | Jakehoon

chapter 9: accountability takes two

"Sunghoon, wake up," he feels a slight tap on his arm and groans.

Why did the morning have to come so soon?

"Jungwon, wake up," Sunghoon hasn't opened his eyes yet when he hears the voice again. If Jungwon, the designated member to wake up everyone isn't. the one doing it, then who is it?

"Hyung?" Jungwon mutteres. "Oh my god, did we oversleep? My alarm didn't go off —" the sudden panic in his tone makes Sunghoon rub his eyes and finally open them.

He comes to the realization that it isn't in fact, one of the members that's giving the wake up call but their manager, Do-Il. He's been with them for almost two years now, so he's like an older brother, hence why they call him "hyung" as well.

"Get dressed, quickly," Do-Il glances at both of them, as they're sharing a bunk bed.

"I'll go wake the others —" Jungwon's already on his feet while Sunghoon's ruffling his own hair.

"No. Only the two of you are coming with me now," Do-Il states calmly but it doesn't help that his manager's eyes are fixed on him, so Sunghoon takes it as his cue to hurry up.

He doesn't waste another second getting out of bed but wonders why only him and Jungwon have to accompany him. As far as they know, they don't have any individual schedules lined up for the day. On top of that, it's Sunday, which usually means much later practice hours and right now it's barely 8 a.m. 

"What's going on?" Sunoo, who was awoken by the noise, looks confused. Ni-Ki's the only one in the room who hasn't budged at all.

"You can go back to sleep, Sunoo. Sejin-ssi will come pick the rest of you up, later," Do-Il informs him that another one of their managers will bring them to the company.

Sunghoon changes into casual clothes and waits for Jungwon to finish up in the bathroom. It's a good thing he always showers at night because now he only needs to splash some cold water on his face and brush his teeth, and he's ready to go.

Twenty minutes later, they're in the car, on their way to the company. The company building isn't far from their dorm and since it's early on the weekend, the traffic is almost non-existent.

"Hyung, can I ask what's happening?" Jungwon speaks.

"All I've been told is that there's an emergency meeting with the Public Relations team and that I need to bring you two."

Jungwon and Sunghoon exchange concerned glances with each other. The Public Relations team can only mean that it's something related to their image.

Have they said or done anything inappropriate in public? Sunghoon can't remember.

Promotions finished more than two months ago and as they've recently started preparing for their summer comeback, the majority of their day is spent locked in a building.

When they arrive, Do-Il parks the car in the underground parking lot and the three walk to the lift. Do-Il presses the 10th floor button, where the Public Relations Department has their offices.

The building has 19th floors but it's structured so that from floors 8 to 16 there are all kinds of offices. The boys mainly frequent the music and practice studios, which are located from the 2nd to the 6th floor and occasionally the gym and cafeteria on the last floors.

Out of the office floors, they have only been to the 8th floor as a group, once, during their pre-debut days when they underwent compulsory media training sessions. Other than that, only Jungwon, due to his leader position, goes to the offices regularly because he's the source of communication between the group and the company. He has the toughest job.