BEHIND THE SCENES

chapter 52: you pulled me out of my pit of misery

<OST: Tell me about your day - Kwon Jin Ah>

"What?"

Seokjin pursed his lips as he glanced at Jungkook through the rear-view mirror, looking extra cautious. "Yeah, Yang sajang just informed me today."

"Informed you?" Jungkook scoffed as he shook his head. "So it's not even a choice now, huh."

"Sorry, JK."

"Who else will be there?" Jungkook asked. "It's a dating show, depicting the lives of couples, so who else is gonna be there, other than Jennie Kim and I?"

"There's just one other couple that will be there."

Jungkook looked out of the window nonchalantly. "Who?"

"The thing is that, they're not actually a couple-" Seokjin warned Jungkook. "But based on what I heard, they were casted because they're a fan favourite - they met on some music show as emcees, and people really liked their chemistry."

"Yeah, so who's that?"

"Um, so the thing is..." Seokjin fidgeted uncomfortably as he tried his best to keep his eyes in front. "You might be so happy, but this is just a three-episode Chuseok special which will be filmed over a short span of two days one night, so you might not wanna react so fast-"

"Hyung, cut the crap. Who is it?"

Seokjin hesitated a little more, not daring to look at Jungkook again through the rear-view mirror. "Well... there's this girl from Red Velvet called Irene... and um- Taehyung-ssi."

The car went silent for a while.

"I'm not joining."

Seokjin pouted. "Ya, Jungkook-ah-"

"I'm not filming, hyung!" Jungkook insisted. "I simply refuse. Get anyone else to film with me and I'll agree. But if it's with that guy... over my dead body."

"Jungkook-ah..." Seokjin frowned as he tried his best to persuade him. "Yang saiang already said this will help Jennie-ssi's reputation a lot, and in that process it helps yours as well. Don't forget that some people still haven't forgotten about your scandal with Jieun-ssi regarding the toilet incident that time. You can take this as a good opportunity to rest and relax as well, I heard that it's filmed in the country area where the grass is green and the sky is blue-"

"No." Jungkook folded his arms and leaned his head against the window. "Anything but this. I obliged to the 'Weekly Idol' filming because I didn't know it was him, and I regretted it immensely. Never again. This is a straight up no, hyung. Tell sajang-nim I'm never gonna do it."

"Jungkook-ah..."

"I'm tired, hyung-" Jungkook said as he closed his eyes. "Let's go home."

"Sajang-nim knew that you might react this way..." Seokjin said slowly. "And he was already prepared for such a response."

Jungkook's eyes fluttered open. "What did he say?"

Seokjin bit his lower lip nervously. "He said that... if you don't agree to this, he can't guarantee that your next comeback will be any time in the near future?"

"What?" Jungkook swallowed hard, as his insides began to boil. "Is he threatening me right now? If I don't cooperate with him, he's just gonna lock me in his dungeon and never release any new music ever again?"

Seokjin pursed his lips, looking grim. "Based on what he told me... yeah, it seems like that's what he's driving at."

"That stupid old man-" Jungkook breathed heavily, as angry tears sprung to his eyes. "I hate him to the core... How I wish- how I wish I never debuted under his stupid company... Then maybe right now, I'd be free..."