Tension [JEONGMIN]

Chapter 27

Jimin

He stared at himself in the mirror.
The hollow look in his eyes scared him.
He couldn't find a shread of happiness in them no matter how much he looked.
He was usually a fairly cheerful person but everything was just taking a toll on him.

Everyday seemed to be the same lately.
Work. Work. Work.
He supposed he should be thankful his job was actually enjoyable and far from monotonous.
And he was. Truly.
But he hadn't had time to do anything outside of work....for months.

The last time he had met a friend outside of the group had been in February.
He hadn't seen his parents since god knows when.

His body was not handling the vigorous practice sessions well either.
He already had a bad back and it was progressively getting worse.
He wondered how long he could go on.
What if he became unable to dance again....it was almost unthinkable.

These thoughts circulated his mind more and more since recent times.
They had all been mentally strained during their trainee days and their first year or two after debut.
It had gotten better with success but only temporarily. Now their success was rebounding on them.

He knew it wasn't just him.

One of the reasons he was particularly miserable was probably because the entire group was miserable as a whole.
Taehyung had started dating Jisoo but they already had way too many obstacles, he was not in a good headspace.
Jungkook had taken to shutting himself in his room whenever they weren't working. He had broken things off with Yeri due to the constant backlash from fans, whenever she was associated with him.
Yoongi seemed constantly on edge and Namjoon seemed to loose his temper very easily.
Hoseok was hard to read but he was definitely not happy. Seokjin tried but failed miserably to keep up the cheerful energy they had once had.

They hadn't discussed it properly yet but their contract was ending, it was mid April and they would soon have to decide whether or not they would renew it.

Even though none of them said it openly, he knew they were all thinking about it at the back of their minds.

What if we just stop?
What if we can get back our normal lives?
What if we...disband?

And yet he didn't know if he could let go of everything they had accomplished so far.
He didn't know if he could let go of the fans.
He didn't know if he could let go of the team.
He didn't know.

He was really hoping they were just stuck in a bad phase and it would go away soon.
But realistically he knew it wouldn't unless something changed.
It had been like this for five years now.
They desperately needed a change.

He left the toilet he had been in and joined the others back in one of the recording rooms.
They were at the very end of recording the last song for their next album.
However they weren't allowed to resume the recording session as a sudden meeting was called.
The message had come from Bang-PD himself.

"What now" he thought apprehensively.

They all entered a small conference room they used for more private conversations with less attendees.
At the head of the considerably long table sat their founder Bang Si-Hyuk and co-CEO of the company Lenzo Yoon.

They all sat down after sharing puzzled looks with eachother.

"This doesn't look good"

Bang cleared his throat.

"You guys can relax. We actually called this meeting to relay some good news."

He could see the other members visibly relax and he felt the heavy weight in his heart disappear too.
He didn't know what he had been expecting but he felt relieved nevertheless.

They all stared at the two older men expectantly.

Bang turned to look at Lenzo and he nodded.
"So.." Lenzo began "we realise things have not been great lately. And we know you guys have been working on a very heavy schedule for five years now...hardly getting any time off"

"Yeah,  no shit"

"After discussing among the administrative board, we have decided to relieve you of some of your.....external pressures. Which you have to deal with on top of your workload"

He stared at Lenzo in confusion.

"Huh?"

He then spared a quick glance at Yoongi, who like him seemed to be clueless.

Bang took over again.

"Did they practise this?" he thought in amusement.

"Let's just get to the point. This is getting overly dramatic. We have decided to come to an agreement with Dispatch. In return of some..favours from our side, they will stay out of and protect your private lives and will also keep quiet during unfavourable situations created by media, which they would usually report on."

"Oh" his mouth fell open.

He could feel the amazement emanating from the people around him as well.
That was not what he had expected.

Taehyung suddenly spoke up.

"Hang on...what kind of favours?"
He looked suspicious.

"A few which are different in nature " Bang answered, "of course there will be money involved. Quite a large sum but I think we can handle it now."

Taehyung relaxed back in his seat.

"Also" spoke up Lenzo continuing the discussion.
Jimin saw Taehyung's eyebrows scrunch together as they did whenever he was uneasy.
He felt a little worried too.

"We will have to give them exclusive access."

He leaned forward. He didn't like the sound of that.

Seeing their faces, Bang held up both his hands.

"Don't worry. It will be nothing compromising. You will just have to provide them with things like exclusive photoshoots, interviews when they ask. They will also be the first to hear whatever news we give to the media. That's it really."

He sighed in relief and rubbed his face with his hands.

"That's not bad"

"That's good news. Thank you" Namjoon answered after a few minutes of silence, "but more than that what we actually need is a more relaxed schedule. We can't go on like this. This system is not practical nor functional anymore" he said in his usual ready stride.

The rest of the members including Jimin nodded in silent agreement.

Lenzo nodded.

"Yeah we know. We have discussed some options in regard to that as well.
So far we've thought about kicking out a couple of award shows out of your schedule. Those things take months of preparation. And perhaps less comebacks per year." he explained.

"Ok" said Jimin, "that sounds like a good start."

He heard faint mutterings of agreement around him.

Bang clapped his hand together and smiled.

"Well...that's about all we wanted to say. Unless you have any other suggestions, shall we wrap up this meeting?"

They didn't have any, so they ended the meeting and left the room.

"Well...that was unexpected " said Yoongi once they were outside in the corridor.

Jungkook nodded. "Yup"

"They were probably afraid we'd leave " Jimin said smirking.

Taehyung nodded, mimicking his smirk. "Definitely."

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I decreased the speed of the GIF cuz I thought the flashing effect might be bothering some of you🤔
Lemme know if you want me to change the others as well.