Off-Screen (무대아래에서) | Haobin

Hao POV: Comeback

Author Note:

새해 복 많이 받고 좋은일만 가득하길 바래 <3

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Some suit-wearing bastard is trying to wreck Hao's career.

Hao didn't lie to Hanbin about any of it. At first, it was just an offer of sponsorship. He sent Hao gifts, always with a blue rose. He included the blue rose before they even started promoting In Bloom with the blue rose symbol, probably as a show of his inside knowledge and power. He gave Hao designer jewelry once, and another time a two-thousand-dollar sweater. Hao didn't know what to do with it -- he didn't own anything like that at the beginning of his idol career, and it was the most expensive gift he had received to date. He hung it up in his closet and didn't wear it, stuck deciding if he should throw it away, give it away, or just keep it. But then he forgot about those gifts in the haze of preparing for their debut.

Then, one day before their debut, he got a call from a number he didn't know. He usually ignored those calls -- somehow their numbers got leaked on the dark web, and occasionally Hao got unsolicited calls. He ignored it until he received a text message from the same number asking if he didn't like the gifts he received. Hao read it but didn't respond, still thinking it was a fan who bought his personal number online. He didn't want to encourage them to keep using his number by responding.

The next day after their group meeting where they reviewed the activities for the week, Manager Cho pulled Hao away from the rest of the group. She walked him down to the back of the building. A black car was idling there -- Hao doesn't know cars, but it looked expensive -- and inside was a man. He was older -- forties or fifties -- and unmemorable, other than his obvious wealth. He handed Hao a blue rose, and Hao realized he was the origin of the expensive gifts with no name attached. Manager Cho left him there after explaining that this was President Lee and that he wanted to discuss a business opportunity with Hao over lunch.

Thinking it was odd and a little creepy, Hao got in the car. They drove to an expensive Chinese restaurant somewhere in Seoul, the other man saying very little on the way there, and ate in a beautiful private room. Eventually, Hao asked enough polite questions of the man that he learned who he was and what he wanted. He was a magnet for older men back in China, so he wasn't surprised about being approached like this in Korea, too. But... the stature of the man approaching him was new. When Hao thanked him for the gifts and asked if he was a fan, the older man smiled at him and said he was a fan, but he wanted to be more than that. Hao felt a chill go down his spine.

Hao explained, after a moment of thought, that he had a boyfriend already, one that he loved. The man looked unperturbed.

"I'm not interested in your love, you can give that to someone else," he told him. "I'd just like you to come when you're called. I'll receive your schedule from your manager each week. When you aren't working, if I ask you to come, you will."

Hao stared at him.

"I'm not interested in that, thank you."

He was certain he was no longer being polite by Korean standards. But President Lee didn't seem to mind. He just continued smiling.

"I can give you bigger gifts -- gifts that no one else can provide to you. Certainly not your boyfriend."

"What kind of gifts?" Hao asked him, trying to hide his growing anxiety.

"I produce dramas. You can find my name on some of the most popular recent dramas. I think a face like yours would do well in our next project that's currently in development. I can secure that for you."

"You can get me a role... on a drama? If I date you?" he clarified. He was sure he wasn't misunderstanding, but he needed confirmation -- especially with a man like this who could almost certainly reach into Hao's professional life and control things without Hao even understanding his influence. Manager Cho bowed at a right angle in front of this man before leaving Hao behind, confused.