GOLDEN | JJK

70 days

FOUR DAYS EARLIER...

"Oh, good! You're here!" Hoseok exclaims, waving Iris over to where he stands. They're in the company dance studio, a large room with floor to ceiling mirrors decking every wall and scuff marks riddled into the floor. The room is filled with people practicing, some solo, some together. Iris assumes they're trainees or other artists at the company. Iris is surprised she hasn't been here before in her two weeks with Ddaeng Entertainment, considering that whenever Jungkook is not in his music studio, he's here training. Whilst writing the rest of his album, he has been learning choreography to the songs they have recorded already, Hoseok cranking out full dance routines with ease.

Just another example of Ddaeng Entertainment's rigorous pace. Iris wonders how the hell anyone keeps up around here. Recently, though, Jungkook has been spread extra thin. Hoseok had gotten him a set in the iHeart Spring Music Festival in New York. It's his first performance in months, his first performance after his song that completely flopped, and he has been working on his performances day and night. Iris hasn't even seen him for the past three days, and has been writing solo.

"Hey, Hoseok." She replies to the smiley man. That's when she sees Jungkook out of the corner of her eye. He's marking through a dance number, brows furrowed in thought. His shirt sticks to his body with sweat, and he's rather pale—Iris hasn't spoken to Jungkook about his addiction in a couple days, but from the looks of him, he's not doing too hot. Jungkook is completely oblivious to her presence, the same way he is to the fact that everyone around is watching him. The younger trainees look at him with starry eyes, awed by him. Iris recognizes an idol she knows to be Jimin watch him as he stretches and warms up. "What's up?"

"Well, as you know, JK is going to the U.S. for the festival." Hoseok begins. "He's performing mostly old songs, but I had an idea. Maybe, since you've already got five songs approved for the album, he could perform one. It'll act like a sneak peek of his upcoming album and promote it to his international fans."

"That's smart." Iris agrees, and Hoseok grins brightly. "What does Jungkook think about it?"

"He's down...he's just a little nervous. The new choreo is still pretty messy, by his standards." Hoseok explains, and Iris smiles knowingly.

"So, not messy at all? He's just being a perfectionist?" Iris concludes, and Hoseok nods with pursed lips.

"Precisely. I think it'd be great to do one of the songs with choreography—especially Unholy. The choreo is slow, so it gives him a little bit of a break, but it's sexy, so the fans will lose their minds. Great job on that, by the way." Hoseok interjects.

"Thanks." Iris replies. "Is there any way to convince him the choreo looks fine?"

"No, you know how he is. Once he's got his heart set a certain way, he's so stubborn." Hoseok sighs, glancing back over at Jungkook, who's still working.

"He could just perform Intrigue or Maple Syrup. Those are both stripped down, no choreography." Iris suggests, and Hoseok offers her a small, hopeful smile. Iris knows exactly what this look means. "What do you want?"

"You see, the thing with international crowds is that most of them can't speak Korean. On top of that, this is a festival, so not all of the people there are Jungkook's fans, they could be there for other artists. If Jungkook just plops down with his guitar and sings, there's a good chance the people could get bored." Hoseok explains. "So, I was thinking maybe you could come on and play the backing music for him?" He suggests hopefully, and Iris's eyes widen.

"Oh, no. Nope, absolutely not." Iris deadpans, and Hoseok pouts, a groan escaping his lips.

"Come on, Iris. Why not?" Hoseok asks, and Iris bites her lip, fingers fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.