The Man Who Could Not Stop Time (Monsta X Fanfiction)

Chapter Thirty Three: A Better Rap

Changkyun stood nervously in front of the club, staring up at the sign.

Ecstasy.

An odd name for a bar.

We had traveled back a couple months to March 3rd of the same year. That exact date  was advertised in front of us for the rap battle, large posters on the outside of the bar highlighting some of the celebrities that would be attending. About an hour earlier we followed Changkyun to his apartment where he fused with himself. We caught current him before he could even leave the house.

Now here we were, and Changkyun was shaking in his designer sneakers.

"You've got this." Shownu said, putting a reassuring hand on Changkyun's shoulder.

"Call me I.M. when we're in there." Changkyun muttered, "It's my stage name, it makes me feel... tougher."

So his stage name was like a super hero alter ego?

"Are you ready?" Hyungwon asked, pushing Shownu's hand off off I.M's shoulder so he could comfort him instead.

"Yeah, let me just take a second, okay?" Changkyun sighed, mumbling his rap lyrics to himself. He seemed very nervous, but I would be too. I wasn't exactly much of a stage performer myself.

Shownu and I paced up and down the street while Changkyun hyped himself up. Some girls that passed us seemed to recognize Shownu, their faced brightening up immediately as they whispered to each other. I thought it would be best to pretend I didn't know him, not wanting rumors to spread.

He only just started off his career. I wouldn't want to mess anything up for him with dating rumors. But Shownu didn't seem to care about putting up a front, he pulled me by the waist into him almost immediately before I could step away.

"It's okay." He muttered to me, "I don't care if people see us together."

I sort of cared, though. Current me would be very confused if tabloids posted pictures of me and Shownu together. Current me would be scrambling to figure out how she was seen with an up and coming celebrity. It could very severely mess up my time line. Furthermore, if the National Intelligence Service picked up on  this, they might arrest current me for harboring information about the time piece. A lot of things could go wrong.

But I tried not to panic.

"Come on guys, we're going in." Hyungwon called after us, waving us into the club.

It was midday, so the club was not open yet. The rap battle would take place like a private concert, not during the busy club time. So the rappers were coming in early and would have a chance to bring in their backup tracks and prepare.

Changkyun clutched onto a CD, his hands shaking a bit.

"Well look who it is." We turned around at the sound of a deep voice. I fangirled for a second, recognizing the idol rapper. It was Bobby from Ikon, I had seen him on SMTM! So this was the guy Changkyun was beefing with? But then again, I remembered him causing a lot of beef with rappers by through dis-tracks. He had a problem with all other idol rappers, even though he was one himself.

Bobby smirked at Changkyun, before glancing at us all. His eyes stopped on Hyungwon and Shownu.

"New friends?" He asked smugly, pointing at us, "They can't stop me from destroying you today."

'This is your chance, say something cool.'

"Well... at least he's..." I started to say, but couldn't think of anything. I was certainly going to make myself look like an idiot.