MINERVA

CHAPTER 5

Kwon Ji Yong P.O.V.

It was about 6 a.m. when I was finally satisfied with the song. Once I got home I turned on my tv and searched through the channels. I stopped when I saw the news. A pretty news anchor was sitting in front of a huge screen that played a video that was mostly blurred. "New images of the soldier that sings, Minerva, have appeared." This caught my attention. "In November of last year, a series of videos were uploaded by a terrorist group on Urk. These videos were 24 hours long and captured their tries to make a soldier speak about their mission. This soldier was a korean on a mission for the UN, with the code name Minerva. The videos contained images of her being tortured and questioned, but the only reaction Minerva gave was singing and silence. These videos became a topic of concern all over the word, with #minerva trending on nearly all social media platforms. Our Korean army released at statement on the third of December 2016 saying that they had successfully rescued Minerva. After that no more videos were uploaded. Yesterday the White House released a photo of their president next to a masked group of soldiers. Next to Obama a soldier with the name tag Minerva was spotted. The photo is rapidly being shared with the whole world."  I paused the video and zoomed into Minerva's face. Despite not able to see much she intrigued me. At the time of the release of those horrible videos it had been a very hot topic. Looking at her now made me feel like I knew her.

I woke up after what seemed like just 5 minutes. Disturbed I tried to figure out what had pulled me out of my precious sleep. It took a while to realize that my phone was lit up and ringing. Sleepily I reached for it and picked up. 'Hello?' 'Jiyong, where are you? You were supposed to be in the studio fifteen minutes ago!' Confused I looked at the clock on my phone screen. Shit... I had a meeting with the guys. 'Yeah, sorry manager, I'll be there in 20.' I rolled over towards the side of my bed. Sighing I tried to figure out what clothes to wear and with a slight run I moved towards my car.

I arrived at the studio with a bunch of coffees, hoping that my friends wouldn't kill me for being late. On the way up I got a text from my manager. 'Chance of plans, go straight up to the 6th floor.' I pressed the elevator for the 6th floor and took a sip of coffee. I wondered why the president would call for me. The album was doing okay, I guessed he wanted to remind me once again that I was being slow. I greeted YG's secretary and she gestured for me to walk into the office. The president looked up from his table and told me to sit down. 'And Jiyong,' he asked, 'how's the album? Are you having trouble with anything?' 'Not anymore sir, it's coming along pretty well.' 'Good, good, now Jiyong. I wanted to ask you for a favor. You know about the boygroup that debuted last year, right? Fighter?' I nodded. 'I wanted to ask a favor for them. Their leader, the tall one named Taejoon, is a pretty decent songwriter. He has written some songs for the group before, but he still needs a lot of guidance. I was wondering if you'd be able to help him write a new track for their album.' I hesitated in answering. YG seemed to notice. 'He really is an interesting kid. He has trained under our company for six years and has a lot of experience in classical singing and dancing. Apparently he started dancing when he was four years old.' 'But hasn't Fighter been doing quite okay? All their comebacks were successful and people really seem to like the music the kid writes? I've heard them in the background of running man and such.' 'That's true, people like their music, but they have yet to make their signature song. You guys have fantastic baby and bang bang bang. 2NE1 has I am the best and crush. These are the songs that make people get to know them. If someone asks about Bigbang they immediately know that those songs are by you guys. Fighter has to work on getting something like that, and I'd like for you to help them.' I thought for a few seconds, what he had said what right. Having a signature song helps to create an image of a group. The boy seemed to have a lot of talent as well. In the end I just agreed and promised the president to deliver a good song.