Origin

Chapter 3

Three Years Later...

Jungkook smiles against the microphone as he belts out the chorus to the third song in his set, ignoring the way the beads of sweat are starting to roll down his temples. It's his favorite place, being on stage, and it never ceases to amaze him that there are people who have memorized his words, his thoughts, and sing them alongside him. The first time it happened, he was taken aback by it, surprised that there were strangers out there who had listened to his EP and actually liked it enough to learn the verses and bring them to life alongside him.

He expects it now, a few years into the game, but it always makes his chest feel a little bit tight, like right now.

By the end of his sophomore year at WMU, he'd become a regular performer at the dive bar he'd first stepped on stage at that October night less than a year prior. The more confident he became, the more the crowds would grow. And he'd truly never had so much fun in his life , his excitement contagious.

It didn't take long for peers to begin stopping him on campus, telling him they'd caught his Tuesday night show, that he was fantastic, and began to request specific songs for his Friday night set. Eventually, he was booked three times a week, and was always guaranteed the popular time slots over the weekend.

Tae was the one - of course - who recorded his rendition of "Mirrors" by Justin Timberlake, and put it up on YouTube. It got a surprising number of hits, and the comments ranged anywhere from, "The vocals on this kid are unreal," to "I want him to sit on my face." The latter made Jungkook choke, but now, with a fairly successful channel and an abundance of subscribers, those comments make him laugh instead of blush; he's used to them now. Besides, it was that video that drew in his label, and the rest, as they say, is history.

It's been two years since the release of his first album. It's a short record, consisting of only eight songs, but he put his heart and soul into the combined 37 minutes of music and lyrics, and that album was what put him on the map.

The second album, however, was the one that really took off. It's been out for a mere seven months, but in that amount of time, he's sold 250,000 copies - and counting - with his single reaching the number four spot on the Billboard charts, remaining there for nine weeks.

To the contrary of his family, friends, and almost every entertainment media outlet, he doesn't feel like what one would define as "famous." People tend to almost always recognize him when he's out grocery shopping or walking through the mall, and he's been successful enough to have more than enough money to pay off his student loans - the loans that helped him earn the degree he hasn't once needed to use. Sure, he's proud of his Bachelor's in psychology, but the idea of doing anything but this - tapping his foot to the music, holding the microphone out for the audience, jumping around and flipping his hair around - is laughable.

This is what he was made for; how did he not know it the entire time? It makes being caught off guard by a stranger with a camera in his face the first thing on a Sunday morning in line at Starbucks with pajama pants on completely worth it. And, of course, the luxury cars with his name on the title don't hurt.

Jungkook looks around the room he knows like the back of his hand, and it all feels so comfortable and nostalgic at once. He never toured his first album, in favor of finishing up college instead, but after graduation, he spent the following months showing off his second album at small arenas all around the United States.

This is his last stop of the tour, tacked on at the end as Jungkook's request. His management didn't think it was the best idea to set up such a small show, not after he'd been performing at arenas holding up to 20,000 people. Besides, they argued, who wanted to attend a show the Saturday after Thanksgiving? No one would be around. Jungkook stuck to his guns, though.