hey it's probably a really good idea to download a copy of your Master Promissory Note since most of them stipulate that your loans are *specifically owed to the Department of Education* and if you intend to dispute the debt in the wake of the DoE dissolving that will be really good to have
log in and then go to My Documents and download a copy of it. i'm serious. if trump dissolves the DoE entirely it may make the debt uncollectable depending on exactly how they do it, and he's too stupid to listen to lawyers that tell him when he's breaking the law. worst case you have an extra PDF on your computer. best case your student loans go away because you signed a contract to pay DoE and no one else. go download a copy.
episode summary : 9 rappers from some of south korea's most popular rookie groups join forces with south korea's most up and coming producer to create a strong opening song for MAMA 2019. what can go wrong?
(a beauty and a beat sub-fic)
pairing : oc!reader (naya) x byounggon, oc!reader x hongjoong, oc!reader x hyunsuk
warnings : misogyny, racism/xenophobia
word count : 2,315
a/n : did i come back to tumblr after 6 years to finish this fic? yes. has some of the stuff in this fic *aged like milk? also yes. check my series masterlist for some background, this gets really juicy. (sorry to any vanner fans, I needed this for the plot)
guide:
plain text is english
bold text is korean
bold italicized text is korean with honorifics
__
Monday, September 9, 2019, at 10:17 AM
You stood silently as an MNet production staff member placed a microphone pack in your back pocket.
"Are you nervous?" she asked, her lithe fingers working wires and battery packs around your form.
You nodded.
"Is this your first time on camera?"
You nodded again. She smiled softly, professionally feeding the mic wire under your black and yellow printed sweater.
"It'll be okay. Just be as natural as you can. Calm, cool, and collected." she reassured you. You nodded again. She grabbed the mic from where it dangled at the collar of your sweater and clipped it in place.
"You don't talk much do you?" she joked. You smiled shyly.
"Not really. That's why I stick to production."
"It'll be okay." she repeated.
"I know." you agreed. She nodded proudly before turning you towards the door.
"There's gonna be a cameraman set up just outside of the door. Just give him a smile and a wave and then you'll go to the conference room that's furthest down the hall. There's even more cameramen set up in there but there should be someone else."
You turned to face her. "Who?"
"I'm not supposed to tell you." she winked. "But don't be nervous, Naya. You got this."
When you opened the door, your gaze immediately locked onto the camera in front of you. You hesitated slightly before blowing a kiss at the camera and walking away. A laugh bubbled up at your previous action, but you quickly slapped a hand over your mouth to cover your smile. Long strides carried you down the hallway until you stood before the door or the conference room.
You glanced back and saw the staff member nodding at you. You gave her a small smile before opening the conference room door.
Cameramen and production staff sat at every corner of the conference room. Multiple small digital cameras sat atop the large meeting table, looking to catch every angle. You noticed even more cameras attached to the ceiling.
Taking a shaky breath, you bowed to all of the camera staff.
"Hello. I'm one of KQ Entertainment's producers, LVNDR."
Everyone nodded.
You pointed to the large oblong table. "Should I sit down?"
Everyone nodded again.
"Alright."
You opted for the chair close to the head of the table, quickly sitting down and facing the door. Your palms slid along the sides of your dark jeans as you crossed and uncrossed your legs nervously.
The door swung open suddenly and you locked eyes with Onewe's Giwook. You quickly stood up, watching as he entered the room. He stood in front of you as you bowed.
"Hello." you greeted him.
"Hello." he returned the greeting before looking at you nervously.
"I speak Korean," you informed him. He visibly relaxed as the two of you shared a laugh.
"Ah, you could tell I was nervous."
"I get looks like that all the time."
You gestured at the table, "I think they want us to sit down."
"Works for me," he shrugged, taking the seat across from you.
"My name is Naya, by the way."
"Mine is Giwook."
You nodded as if you didn't know.
The door opened again and you locked eyes with Ateez's Hongjoong. A relieved smile spread across your face.
"Joong? What are you doing here?" you gasped, standing up to greet him.
"What are you doing here, Naya?" he retorted, a silly grin spreading across his handsome features as he walked towards you.
Giwook looked between the two of you with a raised eyebrow.
Hongjoong threw an arm around your shoulder. "We're under the same company, she's my group's producer." He said, grinning proudly.
Giwook nodded in understanding, his eyebrow falling back into place.
"They want us to sit down," you whispered to Hongjoong motioning towards the table. He opted for the seat to your left, placing his right ankle atop his left knee once he sat down. His right knee brushed your thigh underneath the table as you turned your chair. He gave a sheepish apology, quickly moving his legs so that they wouldn't touch yours.
"You're fine, dude." you whispered. The corners of his lips raised into a small smile.
You opened your mouth to speak but paused as the door opened again.
AB6IX's Youngmin entered. He gave brief smiles towards everyone in the room as he walked towards the table. Once his eyes locked on you, they widened in recognition.
"Oh, we've met before! I remember you," he pointed out as he sat next to Giwook. You nodded in agreement, another shy grin spreading across your face.
Both Hongjoong and Giwook looked confused between you two.
"Where did you guys meet?" Hongjoong piped up. Youngmin opened his mouth to respond, but you cut him off.
"One of my friends had a showcase," you clarified, trying to catch Youngmin's eye. He winked in understanding.
"Yeah. A friend," he smirked. You closed your eyes and sighed.
Hongjoong looked back at you. Before you could respond, the door opened again.
Trei's Changhyun entered next.
"Hongjoong? Is it really you?" he questioned as he entered the room.
"Changhyun?" Hongjoong pointed at the man. They embraced once Changhyun approached the table.
"It's been, what? Two years?" Changhyun grinned widely as they detached.
"How do you guys know each other?" Youngmin asked.
"We were on the same survival program," Hongjoong explained. Youngmin and Giwook, still seated, nodded in understanding.
Hongjoong directed Changhyun to the chair on his left and both sat down.
The door opened again, and Vanner's Gon entered. The bright atmosphere shifted as he trudged into the room.
"Hi," Youngmin nervously greeted the redhead. He mumbled a greeting and bowed towards everyone except you. You snorted and nodded in understanding.
Youngmin met your eye, and you shrugged at the man, giving him an 'oh well' smile. Hongjoong nudged you with his foot, and you met his worried gaze with a calm smile, moving your hands in an 'I don't know either' motion.
The door opened again and 1team's BC entered. A gaggle of "No way!" and "That's crazy!" spilled from the pair to your left. A wicked grin spread across the man's face as he sped over to your side of the table.
"They have anybody in here, huh?" he laughed as he gave separate hugs to Hongjoong and Changhyun.
He turned to face the rest of the group.
"Hi, I'm Sungho," he greeted everyone, including you.
"All of you guys were on the same show, huh?" Youngmin quipped.
The trio nodded.
Youngmin turned to Giwook. "Is Keonhee coming?" he whispered to the boy. Giwook shook his head.
"Cruel world," Youngmin murmured to himself.
"You speak Korean?" BC asked. You nodded. "That's crazy."
"She's really good," Hongjoong piped up.
Gon scoffed. The room went quiet momentarily as everyone's eyes shifted towards the man.
"Anyways-" Hongjoong started as the door opened again.
"Wow," Treasure's Hyunsuk said as he entered, looking at the occupants of the table.
"Hyunsuk?" you questioned, in disbelief.
"Naya?" he responded, smiling.
"Naya?" Hongjoong and Chaehyun echoed.
"They met at their friend's showcase," Youngmin explained. You nodded. He embraced you in a side hug as he went to greet the three men to your left.
"I didn't know you were so popular, Maknae." Hongjoong nodded.
You shrugged. "I know a lot of people."
The door opened again and X1's Seungyoun entered. Your jaw dropped but you quickly fixed your facial expression. He had been your favorite Uniq member and you remembered begging every member of Ateez and Stray Kids to vote for him when Produce X 101 was still airing.
Hongjoong kicked you again as Seungyoun walked closer to the table. Your eyes shifted from him to the table as he approached the seat next to yours.
He introduced himself to everyone before turning to you.
"EDEN said you'd be here," he chirped towards you as he sat down. "I'm excited to work together, you're really talented."
You pointed towards yourself. "Me?"
He nodded and smiled.
"Of course."
You opened your mouth to speak but the door opened one final time, causing your eyes to widen in shock and horror.
CIX's BX entered, his sharp gaze landing on everyone at the table as he introduced himself. You looked away, trying to hide your face.
Seungyoun looked between the two of you. "What's this?" he wondered out loud.
"I'm wondering the same thing," Byounggon huffed as he walked up to you. "Because I know you don't think you're unrecognizable."
"That's the friend," Youngmin whispered loudly to Giwook.
Byounggon leaned against the spot on the table between you and Seungyoun, blocking your view of the other man.
"Hey Byounggon," you trailed nervously, still avoiding his gaze, opting to make eye contact with the camera in front of you on the table.
"Should I move or-" Seungyoun started.
"Yes," Byounggon replied while still looking at you.
"No," you responded while still looking into the camera with wide eyes. "EDEN would want you to sit there."
Byounggon slunk away towards the other end of the table, sitting at the head of the table across from Seungyoun. The rest of the table, save for Gon, looked between the two of you curiously.
You continued to make awkward eye contact with the camera in front of you.
A staff member cleared his throat.
"Youngmin, there should be a stack of folders in front of you with everyone's name on them. Would you mind passing them out to everyone?" Youngmin nodded, standing up to dispense the folders to everyone and returning to his seat. Both you and Giwook had red folders with your names on them while everyone else had yellow folders.
"Please open up your folders and read the contents of your contracts." the producer directed.
All ten of you opened the folders. 'PRODUCER' was printed in bold letters across the top of your first page. You looked across the table at Giwook's folder and saw the same thing in his folder. You looked at Hongjoong's folder and saw 'RAPPER' written across the top of his first page. In fact, a quick glance around the table confirmed that everyone else's first pages contained the word 'RAPPER'.
"The two youngest are producing," Seungyoun proudly informed the table as you skimmed the rest of the paperwork.
"No way." Gon complained. You couldn't help but roll your eyes.
"Come on, it's not like they'll be bad," Seungyoun encouraged the man.
"He's not the one I have a problem with," Gon snarked before pointing at you. "It's her. Why is she even here in the first place?"
Hongjoong went to open his mouth but you stopped him, placing a hand on his folder and shaking your head when he looked at you. Gon scoffed at the interaction.
"Like look at that shit," he pointed. "He's so fucking whipped for her, she has to be sleeping with him."
"Well if that's how you feel, you don't have to be here." you retorted.
"Who are you to tell me where I can and can't be? You can't even read the contract, why should I expect someone so useless to make a song for me by herself?"
"I can't read the contract?" you argued. "Clearly you can't because if you had just flipped past the first fucking page, you would have seen the words 'collaborative project' on the pages."
"How dare you speak down to me like that?" he badgered. Everyone's head snapped towards him.
"That's rich coming from you, man. Your first assumption about me was that I was sleeping with these guys to earn my position, which I'm not. I'm sorry if that's what you had to do to debut but-"
He stood up angrily, shouting, "Fuck you, you black bitch."
"Do you wanna hit me?" you goaded.
His fists clenched at his sides. You looked down at them smirking.
"I'll let you get the first hit in if you want. But I guarantee that'll be the only one you get so make it count," you taunted. He threw his papers in your direction.
"You really think-" he started to walk around towards you. You stood up to meet him. Hongjoong quickly tugged you down onto his lap as Seungyoun and Youngmin moved to block Gon's path.
"No, come hit me." you dared him. "Joong, let me go right now."
"Nope," he said, wrapping his arms around you tightly. (Byounggon looked on jealously.)
"Oh, come on, Joong! I'll be fine." you pleaded, trying to wriggle out of his surprisingly tight grip.
Security guards immediately flooded the room and plucked the man away. He hurled insults at you as he was dragged out.
The room went silent as everyone looked at you.
"You can let me go now," you whispered harshly at Hongjoong.
"Promise me you won't get up and follow him," he begged.
You laughed dryly. "Nah that would be a stupid idea, I'm too pretty for jail."
He released you reluctantly. You stood up, adjusted your outfit, and smoothed your curls back down against your scalp before bowing in apology to everyone.
"I'm sorry about that. I wasn't expecting things to escalate like that." You glanced around the table and were met with wide eyes and reddened faces.
"That totally wasn't your fault," Youngmin disagreed.
"Yeah," Sungho concurred. "You held your own though."
You turned to the producer. "I could go, if you want-"
He shook his head. "Nonsense, sit down."
You sat down quietly, sinking into yourself like a kid who just got scolded. Hongjoong's hand found your knee under the table, giving it a comforting rub.
"What a first episode," Seungyoun joked, attempting to clear the air.
You sighed.
"Let's just sign the papers."
--
Episode 2 Preview:
Selfies and photoshoots and profiles, oh my! Join the team as they get to know each other while taking promotional photos.
