#ockpop

Zim placed her gym bag down on the floor and slipped her sneakers off. She already was feeling exhausted from her workout, she didn’t want to have to deal with Nia and Yen’s ongoing bickering. Unfortunately, if she didn’t step in, she had a feeling that things were going to be even more tense. 

Yerin was in the kitchen, roughly scrubbing a bowl with a sponge, her jaw locked tight. Zim leaned against the doorway, keeping her distance just incase Nia decided to take her anger out on something other than a piece of crockery. 

Before Eunha could even open her mouth, Yerin spoke. “I don’t understand what I need to do in order for her to listen to me.” Yerin said roughly. “She’s going to run her career into the ground if she doesn’t start taking my advice.” 

Eunha wet her bottom lip, unsure of how to respond, given that she didn’t know the context of the situation.

“What happened?” Eunha asked. Yerin let out a short, mirthless chortle before placing the bowl down on the sink with a dull thud. She turned with the sponge still in her hand, pointing the yellow object in the direction of Yen’s bedroom.

“She thinks that hanging around male idols all the time is going to go under the radar with gossip outlets. It’s not! She’s going to get herself into one ugly scandal that she won’t be able to get out of without dragging the two of us down with her.” Yerin explained angrily. 

Eunha pursed her lips together. She didn’t want to piss off Nia any further, but she straight up didn’t agree with what her friend was saying.

“I mean… Yen doesn’t really hang out with men in public, so it’s not like… she’s going to get caught.” Eunha reasoned slowly, piecing her words together in the most soothing way possible. “She can be friends with whoever she wants.” 

“But the thing is, she’s her!” Nia said in a whisper-yell, as if Yen could hear them from her bedroom. The sponge in her hand was being waved around like a sword. “She’s a huge flirt! She was going to go out tonight, but I told her that she’s got to stop being so selfish and think about our reputation as a team. We’re already slut shamed for our music and dancing, imagine what backlash we’ll receive if-” 

“If what?”

The two girls turned to see Yen in the hallway, donning a skimpy rose gold dress that shone in the light of the kitchen. She had her hair slicked back into a high ponytail and her makeup was done. She looked really pretty, except for her darkened expression.

“I said,” Yen repeated herself, rolling back her shoulders. “If what? Finish what you were gonna say.” 

Nia squared her jaw, giving Yen a steely look over. “If you start whoring around with a bunch of male idols.” 

Zim thought Yen was going to take one of her heels off and puncture Nia’s chest with it, given the look that was on her face. Unexpectedly, Yen started to nod, her tongue poking the inside of her cheek. 

“Whoring around...” Yen let the words roll around her mouth. “I mean, I was going to just meet up with some friends to celebrate our comebacks and my debut, but now that I know you’re a paranoid bitch, I think I’m gonna have a bit more fun tonight.” 

Before Yerin could scold her for talking to her so disrespectfully, Yen made her way to the door, yanking it open before slamming it shut behind her. 

The silence in the dorm was so thick, Eunha felt like she couldn’t take complete breaths without clogging up her lungs.

Yerin clenched the sponge in her fist, causing several drops of water to fall to the kitchen floor, the only audible sounds being from the impact the water made on the tiles. Suddenly, she let out an aggravated scream through clenched teeth, hucking the sponge into the sink. She then stormed into her own bedroom, closing the door abruptly behind her. 

Eunha stood frozen in the doorway, still unsure of what was happening around her. Only a few weeks into their debut, and everything was falling apart. 

“Are you giving up on him?” Kane asked defensively. squaring his shoulders.  “Seokyu’s the one that gave up on us. He’s the one that left without saying anything.” Geonwu snapped, hurt etched into his words. “Besides, I have a family to get home to.”  “Seokyu is our family.” Kane insisted, his fists balled. "I love Seokyu, but I’m starting to agree with Wu.” Cyth frowned. “I feel like this has just been one big game of cat and mouse. Clearly Seokyu is alive and well... Maybe we should just let him do what he has to do.”  “But if he misses the deadline-” Woodam started. “Then we carry on Vice without him.” Geonwu said flatly. “Of course you two are the first to give up on him.” Ji criticized. “You guys only care about yourselves.”  “I only care about myself?” Geonwu repeated incredulously. “Is that why I left my wife and child to go on cross country trip? Is that why I’m putting my career at sake?”  "We have other parts of our lives that require us to be present.” Cyth defended. “And I think we’ve all spent a little too much time on Seokyu.” 

The last comment sent the boy group into a frenzy of bickering and accusations. Minho, who has learned from experience that it’s best to just let his group mates hash it out before intervening, finally broke the argument up when Ji reeled his fist back as if he was preparing to punch Geonwu.  “Okay, okay, let’s cut this out.” Minho got between his members, extending his arms to force them apart. The voices around him quieted down, but his members still looked incredibly tense.  “We’re all sacrificing something by being here, that’s not a unique loss.” Minho reasoned. “No one’s making anyone stay. If you really want to go home, you can.” He paused, giving anyone the opportunity to drop out now, but no one moved. He knew his friends well enough to know that none of them would really give up on Seokyu. A small smile threatened to tug at his lips.  “Alright. That’s what I thought. How about we find someplace to sleep. Tomorrow we’ll find Seokyu. I promise.” 

The next morning, the boys ate their complimentary breakfast in silence. The tension from last night had carried over, the air between each member feeling fragile and stiff.  “I’ve been thinking.” Geonwu said carefully, placing his utensils down on his plate. “I know you guys don’t want to give up on Seokyu, but we should consider bringing in some extra help.” 

“What do you mean?” Ji asked, giving Geonwu a weary look.

“We should call Detective Min. Maybe with our new information, he’ll open the case up again. He’s probably more equipped to find a missing person that we are.” Geonwu reasoned. 

The other men let the suggestion sit in the air. Geonwu was right, but something about sitting back and waiting for something to happen didn’t settle right in their conscious.

Minho’s ringtone broke the silence, causing the leader to flinch back in surprise. The caller ID read ‘Hak Bonghwa’. Giving a cautious look around at the other members, Minho picked up the phone.

“Hello?” He answered.  “Minho.” The founder’s voice sounded tense. “Where are you? You haven’t been around the company in a few days.”  “Oh, you know...” Minho tried to think of an acceptable excuse. “We’re just working on some music independently. Wanted to get away from the stress of Seoul.”  “I wasn’t born yesterday, son.” Hak Bonghwa responded flatly. “You know that my support is always with you boys, but I have a company to run. Wherever you are, I want you back to the company before tomorrow night. Otherwise, I will have to cancel your comeback due to under-preparedness.” Minho swallowed thickly. “Yes, sir.” Hak Bonghwa exhaled a tired sigh. “Get back safely. See you soon.” The call ended and Minho looked around at his members. It was over. They had no choice now but to call in Detective Min and hope for the best. 

“We could take one last sweep of the city?” Woodam tried to sound soothing. “Maybe we missed something last night.” 

Even though the boys gave another good search, there was nothing. They didn’t want to interact with too many people out of the fear of being exposed by a fan. Whatever they could do to continue the search resulted in nothing.  As the sun reached it’s peak in the sky, the boys decided that it was time to pack up their things and check out of Yuso. 

As they were just blocks away from their hotel, Ji suddenly let out an exclamation of realization, slapping his palm to his forehead. The other five members turned around, halting their movement.  “What’s wrong?” Minho asked. “I know what he’s doing!” Ji yelled out, pacing in a circle, hand still over his face. “God, why didn’t I realize it sooner!” “Uh, Ji, you gonna fill us in or...?” Cyth prompted.

“This is all my fault… On New Years Eve, I told him that if there’s places he wants to visit, he should go visit them because life is too short.” Ji explained. 

“You’re a philosopher.” Geonwu mumbled sarcastically. 

“But I know where he’s going!” Ji ran his fingers through his hair. “What’s the one place Seokyu always writes down for our group vacations?”

Everyone blankly stared back at Ji. The rapper let out a disappointed sigh.

“I’ll give you a hint: his grandparents retired there not too long ago.” Joongji continues.

“Jeju?” The group responded in unison.

“Bingo.”  “That explains why he was looking at pictures of his grandmother before he left. He probably wanted to go visit her.” Minho realized.  “What if he’s not in Jeju? Then what?” Kane asked. “We don’t have to be back at the company for another twenty four hours.” Woodam reasoned. “I’d rather take this chance than miss it completely.” 

“And honestly, being a leader was scary at first.” Eli retells, focusing his attention on Kyungchul. “But I really relied on my members. They got me through.” “I was the leader of HBHNG. It’s a great honor to be a predebut leader.” Nia said with a comforting smile. The rest of his seniors looked at him with proud expressions, like he had just told them that he got into an Ivy League. Kyungchul blinked a few times.

“Wait... what?” Kyungchul asked, his own words sounding muddled. “Never mind, you’ll see.” Jimin shook her head, a knowing smile still on her lips. The looks he was getting from his seniors were starting to freak him out a little. Kyungchul managed a small smile back and stood up.  “Uh cool. Hey, I’ll see you guys later. I’m gonna go find my friends.” He said hastily, bowing to them individually before setting off.

It was hard walking through the dimly lit event hall stoned, but he managed to locate the one person he wanted to chew out.

Rushi was grinding in between Longwei and Haeun on the dance floor, totally unashamed. When the Chinese trainee spotted Kyungchul, she motioned him over with a bright smile on her face. “Feeling good yet?” She asked over the sound of the music. Kyungchul nodded his head at first, but then he shook it side to side. “How many milligrams was that edible?” He asked.  “Uh... I don’t know,” Rushi looked over her shoulder at Longwei, exchanging a confused look with him. “Maybe like, fifteen milligrams?” “Fif-” Kyungchul covered his face with one hand, unsure whether to laugh or cry. His body seemed to agree with laughing, and soon he was gasping for air, laughing his ass off like it was the funniest thing he’s ever heard. The other three started laughing too.

During their laughing fit, Haeun grabbed Kyungchul by his shirt, pulling him towards her. Now the four of them were dancing practically on top of one another, laughing and having fun. Kyungchul felt whatever confusion and discomfort he experienced earlier melt away. He was having such a good time with him and his friends. He didn’t want the feeling to stop. 

A few songs later, the music suddenly cut and the sound of feedback filled the room. The four trainees separated, their hands over their ears. Hak Bonghwa tapped the mic again.

“Hello! Welcome to the tenth annual HBH New Years Eve party!” Hak Bonghwa said. Everyone around them clapped, so the stoned trainees clapped along too.

“It’s amazing how only a decade ago, our company was made up of only seven male trainees and five staff members. Now, at the end of the decade, we are boasting three of the most successful groups in the industry, and have the most well-known trainee project in the country!” Hak Bonghwa stated confidently. The room around them exploded in cheers. Not too far off, Kyungchul saw Jiah, Sanghoon, Kitae and Kijung chanting and bumping their fists “HBHT20! HBHT20!” 

“Yes, yes. This past month, the trainees who have made the cut for HBHT20 have been announced. Fans around the world are anticipating the arrival of our company’s future! However, we still have to elect a leader for the new era of HBH. The one who will lead the future of this company to greater heights. And I think we all have someone in mind that will do this job flawlessly.” Hak Bonghwa stated. 

Something in Kyungchul’s stoned brain clicked together. He recalled the conversation he had with his seniors earlier that night. They kept talking about leadership...

“Oh fuck.” Kyungchul said under his breath.

“Lee Kyungchul,” Hak Bonghwa called out, a smile on his face. “Please come over here.” 

Rushi shoved Kyungchul forward, silent roars of laughter shaking her body. Of course she thought this was funny, but Kyungchul was downright terrified. How was he going to face his boss and the whole company being as fucked up as he was right now? 

Somehow, Kyungchul made it to the front of the room, taking his spot next to Hak Bonghwa.

“Lee Kyungchul, ever since you started training at this company in 2016, you have shown nothing but dedication and excellence.” Hak Bonghwa complimented. “In the practice room, you are a friend, a teacher, and also a fierce competitor. You have participated in Produce X 101 to prove to the world that you are a force to be reckoned with. You have brought honor to this company, and myself and the staff members of HBH all agree that you will be the future face of this company.”  Hak Bonghwa paused for the applause to pass over. Kyungchul hoped he didn’t look as near to passing out as he felt. If he did, Bonghwa didn’t acknowledge it.

“If you so do accept, it would be an honor to have you lead the next installment of HBH Trainees.” Hak Bonghwa posed. The whole crowd in front of them seemed to be holding his breath. “Uh...” Kyungchul took the mic from the founder’s hands clumsily, looking out into the sea of familiar faces. His brain was about ten minutes behind everyone else’s. He paused to try to form the right words. He swallowed hard before speaking into the microphone. “Let’s get it.” 

“Lets get it!” The trainees in the crowd echoed back with glee. The rest of the audience clapped and hollered a few straggled ‘let’s get it’s. Hak Bonghwa clapped with pride, a happy smile on his face.