7 + 10 =

Stronger Apart

'Pletus Entertainment going bankrupt. All artists' fate unknown.' The news headline read.

In a building located in Seoul, there was a group of boys whose dreams were crumbling right before their very eyes.

A TV screen flashed scenes of crowds gathering in protest at the recent news. Signs and lightsticks. A pregnant woman in tears. All of this watched in a room by a group of people sitting around a table.

A sturdy man in a business suit picked up a remote and turned it off. He stood up and solemnly declared, "As you all know, my name is Kim Minhyuk and I am the CEO of Starsign Entertainment." Minhyuk adjusted his tie and glanced sideways at his son sitting beside him, Kim Mingyu.

"I sent my son here to this label because I trusted that he was in the right hands. That my colleague was gonna do what he promised and make him a star. And I'm sure all you fathers and mothers thought the same thing as well," He looked pointedly around the room.

"But year after year, I found only the highest level of ... utter stupidity in some of your management decisions," He went on. A couple of other business men shifted in their seats uncomfortably. "Namely, how you went about the dating scandals immediately after Seventeen."

A man coughs and raises his hand to speak, but Minhyuk purposefully ignores it.

"All those Pristine members. My son with Pinky. Seungcheol and Sungyeon. Vernon and Nayoung. DK and Xiyeon. My son with Xiyeon. The list goes on. They should never have been in the same building to begin with." The CEO boldly claimed. A couple of eyes widened across the room, clearly taken back by the directness.

"And... let's not begin with the members that don't even follow traditional society. Those are the ones that should've been kicked out immediately when they were caught .. sinning." Minhyuk faced his body towards 1 member in particular sitting across the table.

Jeon Wonwoo.

Not this.. He sat there, thinking.

Wonwoo felt all eyes on him and suddenly he felt like melting into the ground. This was not what he had planned. He just wanted to lay low and get this meeting over with. If there was anyone glad that this group was disbanding, it was literally him.

Kick the gay guys out huh... that's like half of us gone.. Wonwoo held back a smirk.

Minhyuk continued, "But I digress! I was pleased that you took care of Pristine and ended their contracts before Dispatch could ever do anything. Those damn gremlins thought they could end you and with what? Blurry pictures of my son making out with a girl in the car? So-called private texts between him and her?" Mingyu himself was looking down, visibly uncomfortable.

Wonwoo felt sympathy for him. Or at least tried to. Out of all the members, they were the least closest despite being shipped to hell and back. It was his father that was the problem. Mingyu could never do wrong in that man's eyes, but someone else had to pay the price. Which is why Wonwoo tried to keep his distance.

"Sir, these scandals are not the reason why Pletus is going under." Another man spoke up. This was one of the company representatives.

"You're right, they aren't," Minhyuk admitted. "But I'm not interested in that. I can't change the past, no one can. But seeing as my label is debuting their own boy group in a couple months from now, I could learn from all the mistakes made here." He placed his hand on the right shoulder of Mingyu.

"You want to hear it, huh? You want to hear that this group Seventeen.." An old man in the far corner leaned forward. ".. is done."

A couple members winced at this. One of them, Boo Seungkwan, had already been crying for hours beforehand. Now, he just sat there with empty eyes.