Unexpected

Part 34

I decide to bring Makino with me to the airport to meet Snuper. She changes from the skinny jeans and tee shirt that she wore at the paddock into a flirty dress.

"What?" she asks when I look her over. "I didn't want to feel like a dumpling next to you."

I'm in a green stretchy pencil skirt and white top, so I don't have room to talk.

We wait by the luggage carousel. "Do you think he will know who I am?" she asks.

"Probably not."

She nods. "That's fine. We're not hugely popular."

I see her tapping her foot, clearly nervous. This makes me smile. I know she's looking forward to this. I hear my name being called and glance up as Sangil and Taewoong come our way.

"Hi!" Sangil greets me with a quick hug. "And here is Taewoong," he gestures.

"Hello. It's nice to see you again," I say. "I didn't want you to feel like a third wheel, so this is your date for the weekend."

Makino comes forward and bows. "Hello. I am Takahashi Makino from Akagi."

Taewoong bows in return. "I am Yoo Taewoong. It's a pleasure to meet you. I loved your group's debut."

Makino beams. "Oh, you know about us?"

"Yes. I though it was really clever how you guys had a masked thief concept, and never took off the masks during the promotion period. Not even on TV shows or fan meetings! And then the reveal during the first comeback. Just amazing."

I lean towards Sangil and whisper in his ear. "He's more excited to meet her than you were to meet me."

"Not true," he retorts. "I was just shy."

"I'm glad they're getting along so well. How is Sangho?" Sangil told me he was ill, but didn't go into specifics.

"Still in the hospital, but recovering."

"That's good to hear." We get the guys' suitcases and walk to the parking garage. Makino and Taewoong are still talking about the idol life.

"The idea to not reveal our faces was actually brought up by one of my members. As we were discussing the thief concept, she asked if we could keep the masks on the whole time."

"Does your group have a say in those types of things?"

"Oh, yes. We talk about everything. We can make suggestions or disagree. We don't always get our way, especially when the members do not see eye to eye, but we usually go with the majority vote."

"So how did the comeback happen?" inquires Taewoong as he opens the back passenger door of the Infiniti SUV for Makino.

"Such a gentleman," I tell Sangil, who rolls his eyes.

"Here, let me get that for you," he drawls as he opens the driver door.

I bat my eyelashes at him. "Thank you, kind sir."

"After we made the decision to be masked, we wanted to have the comeback planned to coordinate with the debut, and a reveal. As a teaser, we had photos of the top of our faces that you could match with the bottom half. Out of the fans that correctly matched everyone, several won prizes."

"Wasn't it easy, though?"

"No, because it wasn't one photo cut in two. The bottom half was from the debut period, and the top half was taken during the comeback photoshoot."

"I see. Did you do anything special for the next comeback?"

As they continue talking in the backseat, I start the car and drive. Truth be told, I'm enjoying listening to them chatter.

"We did. We pre-released the lyrics to our song, but with many blank spaces. It was like a mad libs game, where it would say a part of speech, and you could fill in the blanks."

Taewoong is impressed. "That's brilliant. The most unique teaser we had was a fixed camera on Woosung as he had hair and makeup done for Back:hug. Then they sped it up until it was about thirty seconds long. He changes shirts during filming, and the comment section was full of admiring fans."

"Did you get a teaser like that?" I ask Sangil.

"No. I wasn't confident in my bare face or body."

"I've seen both and they're stunning."

"You're not around many good looking guys, are you?"

Why does he rate himself so low? "I actually know plenty of actors and singers. Plus the F1 drivers are a good looking lot."

"Oh yeah? Rate them then. At least the top five," he challenges me.

"Yes," chimes in Makino. "I wanna know, too."

"Why do you insist? Will you use this against me in the future?"

"No. I just want to know if you see beauty like I do or not," replies Sangil.

"Fine. But this isn't that I like them, just looks." I think about all the drivers before starting. "First, Alex Albon. Second, Lewis Hamilton. Third, George Russell. Fourth, Nico Hulkenberg. Fifth, Pierre Gasly."

"Wow," says Makino.

"And this is only the face," I say.

"It's not like they have bad bodies!" exclaims Taewoong.

"No, but ... not all of the bodies are attractive to me. Funny story. I was watching a clip from The Unit, and for some reason you guys were pulling up your shirts and showing abs. After a toned guy showed his abs, another did the same, but he had no abs, and it looked like he almost had a little bulge. I stanned right there and then."

"I don't remember this," says Sangil as Taewoong speaks over him with, "You liked the non-abs guy? Why?"

"The confidence. Knowing that you don't have abs, and with so many cameras in the room, you choose to show your belly. How can I not like it?"

"Who is it?!" Sangil wants to know. After some digging on YouTube we find the clip. "Hyukjin from 100%? He'll be pleased to know that you find him attractive."

"Sangil, is that jealousy I detect?"

"No," he pouts. I take his hand and give him a kiss on his palm.

"Eww," exclaims Taewoong. "Must you do this in front of me?"

"Yes. This is what your weekend will be like."

We arrive at the hotel, and I tell Makino and Taewoong that they are free to talk in the car if they wish, but Taewoong opens his eyes wide and shakes his head. "No, thank you," he declines.

"Suit yourself. It's available if you want to continue talking." When he hears that we will go to my room tonight he is shocked. "I ordered room service. Aren't you hungry?"

"Oh, to eat. Yes, I'm hungry."

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Here are Sangil's (and Casper's and Hyukjin's) abs. The first clip.

So much news. 

First, Snuper. Suhyun, Sangil and Sangho have all enlisted, leaving Snuper as a 3 member group. If the translation is correct, after their online fan meeting on November 29 they have halted official activities until further notice. 

F1 has ended for the season, with Lewis Hamilton taking his seventh title, now equaling the record of Michael Schumacher. Two of Sochi's driver friends are not on the grid in 2021:  Alex Albon and Daniil Kvyat. 

Alpha Tauri have signed a (male) Japanese driver, Yuki Tsunoda for 2021! I didn't want my story to have too many unrealistic parts, so I made Sochi taller and muscular, but I shouldn't have bothered. Yuki is 159 centimeters tall (some sources put him at 160), 11 less than Sochi. The team he joined doesn't have the best track record of maturing and managing their young drivers, so I'm a little bit worried, but hope he'll do great. Alex and Daniil were both from there.