Merged.
Hi....I have crawled out form the dead. If you're still here...well well well, isn't that wild? I have been living life, and I have something new cooking. I wrote for the first time in like a decade.
I watched Kpop Demon Hunters, and I have been intrigued. I also started an AO3 under a different username because this one was taken 😢
I may be uploading my old works to AO3. Who knows?
See description below if you're still here too!
Summary
Huntr/x exploded into stardom when just three years ago, they could only perform for unwilling shoppers passing in the echoes of empty malls. Now, they top international charts, fill stadiums with doting fans, and campaign for every major designer brand. Rumi, Mira, and Zoey are household names. They have cemented themselves as the girl group of their generation, with a room of idol awards to prove it.
Despite the group’s success, their company faces another story. Huntr/x Entertainment fulfilled the promise to repay the girls’ trainee debt as a priority but is struggling to cover the loan used to finance the company’s initial start-up costs. To save Huntr/x and the company, something needs to change.
A merger is leveraged with a smaller firm and a supergroup with Saja Boys is finalized despite the girls’ protests. Tasked with saving her team and every support employee at the company, Rumi must overcome past heartbreak to co-lead this mega group towards financial freedom. Rumi, Jinu, and their fellow members will fight the media and each other to carry themselves into a new level of stardom.
Rated T for now.
Chapter 1
Bobby swept open the massive wooden doors to let Rumi slide in front of him.
Rumi had never seen every seat of the glass, u-shaped table filled before. Every company executive, social media marketer, producer, choreographer and a host of unfamiliar faces already sat around the long table. They shot her smiles and bowed their heads slightly. Rumi returned the gesture as Bobby rolled out one of the four remaining plush black chairs at the table.
Someone poured her a glass of her favorite tea, and another passed shrimp chips. She thanked both for their help, though she forgot their names. Huntr/x had rose in fame so quickly that Rumi could not remember all the new directors they’d brought in over the last year and a half. What had started as a small operation three years ago had grown into a small empire. Truthfully, the rise in fame had been rather daunting, but she was glad to have Zoey and Mira to support her through it.
After initial greetings, no one spoke. Everyone seemed to be absorbed in their phone, noticeably not making eye contact with Rumi. In fact, someone had covered the projector, so not even a PowerPoint with the meeting’s agenda could be seen.
Rumi leaned over to Bobby. “Why is everyone being quiet?”
“I think they’re all a little nervous,” he whispered.
Rumi furrowed her brow. She’d been friendly with everyone in this room many times before. They all knew her. It was routine for her to sit in on quarterly brand identity meetings. However, everyone was clearly wearing full suits. Many in brightly colored options, but it still was a stark distinction from their normal creative attire. Even Bobby was in a three-piece suit with a paisley tie.
“Are they nervous because of me?” She asked Bobby. “Why are you and them all dressed so…formal?”
“Oh,” Bobby placated. “No, honey. Everyone in this room loves and respects you. Remember that.”
Between the formality of the meeting and Bobby’s words, Rumi was not at ease. She leaned in to ask Bobby a follow-up, when the door behind him suddenly swung open. Everyone at the table immediately stood and gave a significantly deeper bow than what they’d offered Rumi.
With the door swinging inward, she couldn’t quite see who entered, but the voice dripping in honorifics sent a chill down her spine.
“There’s really no need to bow. I am truly humbled to be here.”
As the door closed, Rumi’s eyes bugged out of her head at the sight of her sworn enemy calming the entire board.
She yanked her manager around to face her. “What is Jinu doing here?”
Bobby’s smile was very pacifying as his eyes begged her to stop talking.
Rumi shook her head at him, mouth slightly open in disbelief. Saja Boys’ Jinu offered the room an apologetic smile, offering bows and thank you’s while the door behind him and his manager closed. Jinu had yet to make eye contact with Rumi, and ire crept up her spine. Like her, he was dressed in a loose olive sweatshirt and black jeans that fit him frustratingly well.
Jinu’s manager, Gwi-something, gestured for him to take a seat. Jinu squeezed behind Rumi’s chair, giving her a wink as he walked by, and Rumi swore she heard the two social media directors swoon. She openly stared at him in disbelief as he sat next to her.
Every person around the table leaped to offer him a snack, a drink, even a pen using the most distinguished of honorifics. He politely declined everything but a glass of water. The whole time Rumi stared at him and quickly turned away when he tried to look at her. It was embarrassing how distracting she still found him. Ignoring him would be to her advantage.
“You can’t hide from me forever,” he sang under his breath.
Rumi turned to roll her eyes at him. “Watch me,” she mouthed.
Celine cleared her throat, and the quiet gossiping came to a halt.
“Thank you everyone for being here today. As many of you already know, today’s agenda is critical. I request we refrain from asking questions until the end of the presentation. Our talent,” she looked pointedly at Rumi and Jinu. “have extremely busy schedules, so I appreciate your cooperation in advance.”
Everyone nodded at her request. Rumi raised her eyebrows at Celine’s casual use of the phrase, our talent. Jinu had barely half the talent Rumi had flowing through her veins.
Celine pulled the cover off the projector screen, and Rumi’s stomach dropped to her feet as she read the title.
Huntr/x Entertainment & Underground Records Merger Plan
“We are pleased to announce that Huntr/x Entertainment and Underground Records will be experiencing a merger. Our two biggest groups are going to become the first of …”
Celine’s voice drifted off behind Rumi.
“Why aren’t Zoey and Mira here?” Rumi interrupted whatever Celine was saying.
The Daepyonim looked at Rumi with total coolness. “All of your fellow members will be briefed when the time comes. However, this meeting is an initial discussion of strategy, brand identity, and logistics. You should recognize, Rumi, that business decisions are first communicated to leaders before members. This has always been our organizational command.”
Rumi bowed her head and mumbled an apology, though not without sneaking a photo under the table and sending it to their group chat.
Celine nodded. She continued with a detailed, droning introduction of financial analysis and market debriefs. Rumi tried taking notes on this career-altering meeting, but she kept getting distracted by how close the Saja Boy’s leader was. His leg shaking under the table jiggling her tea did not help.
“With fan attention continuously changing, we have decided to introduce a new, industry-leading concept,” Celine coughed softly to gather attention.
Rumi’s phone buzzed excitedly in her pocket, and she stealthily checked the inbound flood of inquiries.
Mira: wtf.
Zoey: That’s not real, right?
The next slide was filled with an obviously AI generated photo of Rumi, Zoey, and Mira surrounded by the members of Saja Boys. Rumi suppressed a gag but snuck another photo to the group chat.
Mira: Oh my god.
Zoey: It’s real! 😨
Mira: Wait. Are the Saja Boys at this meeting too?
Zoey: Is Jinu there?
Rumi hurriedly stuffed her phone under her leg.
“We will be forming a companywide, co-ed super group. In concept, each group will still have independent comebacks, but there will be large cohesive ones. We would also like to expand the opportunity for subunits.”
Every word Celine said made Rumi want to sink further into her seat. She quickly scanned the flood of angered and surprised texts from Mira and Zoey. As she read on, Jine leaned over her shoulder, so she turned her phone off to face him.
“What?” he whispered. “I was just curious what could be so much more important than this meeting. Fellow member.”
“It feels unethical that our current group members aren’t here,” she defended.
Jinu shrugged and leaned back. Rumi returned her attention to the presentation and avoided further reprimands.
The rest of the meeting introduced concept ideas that although Rumi was not interested in doing, did sound cool. She particularly liked the demonic bad boy vs. angelic fighter option. Anything to make Saja look bad sounded great to her. She refused to reflect on how many kpop fans were accepting of darker concepts.
With Celine clicking to the final slide, most of the execs offered polite applause in encouragement.
Before anyone else could speak, Jinu annoyingly piped in, “Thank you so much Celine for offering us such an incredible opportunity to join this team. Underground Records and Saja Boys could not be more excited to combine our talents with those of Huntr/x,” he smirked at Rumi. She returned it. “The only question I have at this time is when you’re envisioning our first comeback.”
“Thank you, Jinu, for your kind words and cooperation,” Celine said warmly. “We plan to make the merger public towards the end of our Q3 and have a large group comeback ready shortly thereafter. That gives all of you approximately three months to prepare.”
Rumi was suspicious that Jinu somehow already knew this information but refrained from saying so. A stakeholder that Rumi now understood worked at Underground Records asked Celine about team synthesis, while another asked about stock holdings. It all made Rumi feel ill, especially considering she seemed to be the only person who was not aware of this before today.
The nauseating questions kept rolling around the room. No one seemed to ponder that Huntr/x themselves had no inkling of this monumental change. They didn’t even seem to ask for Rumi’s opinion. It was up to her alone to present counterarguments. Rumi raised her hand.
“Thank you, Celine, for such a detailed exposé on the specifics of the merger. I understand this move is particularly beneficial for stakeholders and Saja Boys. I am beyond grateful to be included in this meeting,” Rumi said, semi-sarcastically. “But if I am being honest, I am not quite sure how Huntr/x will benefit from this situation. We are an established group, and I think our fans will see this as a cash grab.”
The silence that followed left Rumi wanting to dissolve into her chair. Her logic suffocated the room. They were significantly more famous than Saja Boys and had a strong group identity. Hunters would see the dispute between Huntr/x and management immediately. Plus, Saja Boys didn’t even produce music that sounded like Huntr/x for them to have a cohesive sound. Rumi stood her ground as Celine’s glare pierced through her.
“I appreciate the feedback. Perhaps this is a discussion to have amongst your members and myself at a later time,” Celine said coldly. “I would like to speak with Bobby and Gwi-Ma before they head out. If there are no further questions, then this meeting is adjourned.”
Rumi felt affronted at being dismissed so openly. Everyone else immediately gathered their things and started to flee out of the board room notably not speaking to Rumi. Bobby and Jinu’s managers were already in close discussion with Celine. Rumi pulled out the Huntr/x group chat again and scrolled through a host of gifs to find the latest messages.
Zoey: This isn’t a prank, right?
Mira: Who’s in the meeting? Did you tell anyone that we don’t want this to happen?
Zoey: I want to take these losers down!!!
Rumi: It’s real. There is a whole business strategy. It’s going public end of Q3.
Mira: ….in 3 months?
Zoey: What about our comeback in two weeks?
Rumi: I think we still are expected to do it. We’ve already filmed most of the promos anyway.
Mira: Fine. That’s what we expected.
Zoey: What was up with that AI photo of us and Saja boys?
Rumi looked across the room and ran her tongue over front teeth. She took a deep breath and re-wrote her text four times before hitting send.
Rumi: We will be having a comeback with Saja Boys, a large co-ed group one.
“Pretty exciting stuff, huh?” Jinu cloyed behind her.
Rumi watched text bubbles form and disappear multiple times on her phone. Whatever essay Mira and Zoey were concocting was not good. Rumi’s chair started to spin, and her head snapped up to find Jinu’s hand swiveling her towards him. She abruptly planted her feet on the ground to stop him.
“What are you doing?” She chastised.
Jinu shrugged. “Nothing. Just wanted to hear your thoughts.”
“On all this?” Rumi scoffed. “I think this merger is a load of shi—”
Jinu’s eyes snapped up to someone exiting behind Rumi, and his smile turned significantly kinder to say goodbye. Rumi turned around to do the same.
“We’re so excited to work with both of you,” one of the social media managers said. She practically jumped as she spoke, her pink bob bouncing in response.
“Yes, this is a great opportunity. You two are going to really sell this campaign, the other manager squealed. “I mean you’re already wearing matching outfits!”
Both the managers giggled. All the color drained form Rumi’s face, as she turned to look at Jinu and realized they were both in baggy dark wash jeans and green sweatshirts. She was at a loss for words at the coincidence. Jinu looked as upset as she felt.
“This most certainly was not planned,” he informed. “I think neither Rumi nor I will agree to any press encouraging dating rumors for the sake of online engagement. No one in our groups are interested either.”
Rumi nodded vigorously. “Yeah, we are not interested in playing with either group’s image like that.”
The social media marketers nodded in understanding and deeply apologized before making a quick exit. Against every fiber in her being, Rumi turned around to face Jinu.
“Thank you for stopping them,” Rumi admitted begrudgingly.
“Although I support the merger, I am not evil.”
Rumi rolled her eyes at him. “I’m pretty sure you don’t get to decide if you’re evil.”
Jinu’s face became very serious, as he made unbreakable eye contact and leaned towards her. His woody, amber sent became distractingly stronger. Although she willed it not to, her heart thudded in her chest at his closeness.
“I am not here to ruin your life,” he enunciated every word. “I am here to make a good business decision for myself and my team. I have made personal mistakes towards you in the past, but I will not be repeating them.”
Rumi opened her mouth to let him know just how she would protest that, but Bobby and Gwi-Ma suddenly interrupted their conversation.
“Love to see this collaboration already,” Bobby cheered.
“Yes,” Gwi-Ma purred. “I am sure this connection between us will only lead to bigger growth moving forward.”
“Sadly, this is where the collaboration is going to end today,” Bobby said. “With the new comeback so soon, Rumi, we’ve got to finalize formations tonight. Mira mentioned she wanted to change something near the bridge.”
Rumi squinted at Bobby. Mira had already finalized the choreography two weeks ago.
“Sure, Bobby. I would love to get back to practice.” Rumi smiled and stood. She turned towards Jinu and his manager to bow slightly. “It was great to meet both of you today. I look forward to our continued partnership.”
Gwi-Ma nodded in return, but his amber eyes burned with glee. Rumi wanted to implode with the lack of respect.
Jinu smiled, bowing back to Rumi. “I look forward to the collaboration as well.”
With that, Rumi spun on her heel and followed Bobby to the dance studio.
-o-0-o-
I hope you guys like it (if you're still here). Anyway. Have a happy holidays for those that celebrate!
