Chapter 12: Twelve
Surely enough, the video turned up the next morning. What was infuriating was how it had been cut and edited to show only the parts where Yeojun was being a little aggressive, like when he shoved the man. Moreover, the guy's face had been conveniently censored out. By the time DayBreak could do anything about it, it had done the rounds on Twitter and other SNS platforms. It was really difficult for DayBreak to contain it and they couldn't quite pin the account from which it was first shared.
'S.T.A.Y Jun's real personality?'
'Kim Yeojun- not so sweet anymore.'
'Yeojun vs. Jun.'
'The Evil Maknae.'
"This is too much!" Jaehyeon huffed as he dropped heavily into the nearby chair. We were in one of the meeting rooms in DayBreak's building. "That video is hardly anything to go by!"
"No one knows what happened." I frowned and leaned against the big table in the middle of the room. "We should just release a statement clarifying what had happened."
"DayBreak will do that." Mingyu nodded. "They won't keep quiet. This time period is crucial for S.T.A.Y, after all. We're growing in popularity. A negative hit now can be detrimental. DayBreak won't take chances."
"They'll do their best to take down the video too." Hanseol nodded and placed a hand on Yeojun's shoulder. Our Maknae was just standing silently near the table all the while. "Stop making that face. It's not your fault."
"It's… not just that." Yeojun finally made eye-contact with us. "It's fine. The video's out and I didn't do anything wrong. It's just… scary how many people have bought into it. All that hate and criticism… when they don't even know what happened."
"Not all of them are like that." Mingyu pointed out. "There are people genuinely defending you too."
"There are but…" He paused. "Are our images really that flimsy?"
Ah. So, that's what's been bothering him. What bothered him wasn't just the content anymore- it was the readiness with which people accepted it all as authentic. Even within True, there were people who thought both ways- those who condemned and those who defended.
With everything that we had worked so hard for and how far we had come, we felt incredibly vulnerable.
"Where did Manager-nim go though?" Hanseol asked. "It's been more than an hour since he asked us to come here."
"He's probably busy with the higher-ups. Let's just wait for him, shall we?" Mingyu said calmly.
Yeojun sighed and came over to me. "Hyung-ah."
It might have been because of how I was the first person whom he had run to after the incident but he had gotten a little clingy to me whenever he got upset.
"Mm." I nodded and let him stand next to me, holding him by his shoulders. He leaned back against the table and just stood there quietly.
"Our schedule for today has been cancelled anyway." Jaehyeon said, glancing at Yeojun and I. "Let's just wait for them to do their job."
"I've caused trouble for Manager-nim." Yeojun grumbled.
At this point, Mingyu turned and looked at him sternly. "You say something like that once more and I'm going to let you have it."
"Mingyu-ssi's angry now." Hanseol chuckled.
Yeojun shrank closer to me. Mingyu was not the kind to get angry easily but when he did get angry, he was extremely scary. Among us though, the scariest one when angry was probably- "Jaehyeon Hyung, is it?"
"I am what?" Jaehyeon looked at me.
"The scariest among us when angry." I said. "I think it's Hyung."
"Oh? I think it's you though." Jaehyeon said. "True, I might tend to lash out. Even the others might shout or something but you… You get quiet. You get so incredibly quiet that it's even scarier than if you were to lash out. We have no idea what you're thinking and it just feels like you will suddenly break and end up killing someone."
"What? I would never do that." Did it really seem so?
"Ah. Jeongwoo is scary." Hanseol nodded. "But I also think Hyung's the scariest."
"I think so too. Jaehyeon Hyung's the scariest." Mingyu agreed too.
Like I had said.
Jaehyeon shook his head and let out a small laugh. "Fine. I admit that I can go overboard some times."
"None of us really get angry fast though. That's a good thing." I thought out loud.
"Imagine Jaehyeon Hyung being easily angered. I would have left S.T.A.Y long ago." Mingyu stated.
"That's not a nice thing to say…" Jaehyeon pouted.
"But it isn't like that so it's okay." Mingyu smiled at him. "And we know the easiest way to make you sweet again- put Jeongwoo Hyung with you in front of a camera."
"Oh. That would be effective." Jaehyeon nodded.
I grimaced. "What am I? A sacrificial goat?"
The atmosphere had gotten a whole lot lighter. Even Yeojun was smiling. We had all needed that change in topic. However, it did not last very long.
"S.T.A.Y." The door to the meeting room opened and Kim PD-nim walked in, followed by Manager Park. All of us were on our feet and before him in an instant.
"Kim PD-nim." We bowed. Yeojun spoke up after that. "How is it?"
"We can do something about the video and make our way around the questions." Kim PD-nim said. "We will also release a statement regarding what actually happened but your safety is our biggest concern right now."
Yeojun looked visibly relieved to hear that from Kim PD-nim himself.
"He seemed prepared." Jaehyeon said. "He had someone else with a camera rolling too. It seemed as though he was waiting around to follow Jun too. It could have been Jun in particular or it could have been anyone who might have stepped out at that time."
"It did seem so." Kim PD-nim nodded. "We'll take care of your personal security matters. Keep a lookout at the dorm. Regarding the man responsible for this, we haven't quite managed to track him down and since no physical harm was done, we can just let it slide for now. We will take strict action if anything of this sort happens again."
That was probably the best outcome that we could have hoped for as we were. DayBreak was also not in a state where they could employ their resources to find the man.
Kim PD-nim placed his hands on his hips and looked around at us. "We are here to support you in any way that you may need us to. Before all that though, I want you to be aware of what people say and stay strong. I know that they can be merciless most of the time. What they say might hit harder than what you might have liked. Some of them are just looking for an excuse to escalate issues. Do not take it to heart. And, most importantly, talk- to each other, your Manager and us."
We knew exactly what he was implying. Honestly, we weren't strangers to hate comments either. We have received plenty. That was a down-side of being in the spotlight so much. What concerned me, however, was that this time, it was all aimed at our Maknae. I had always kept an eye on Twitter because it helped us in many ways but it was also a sea of darkness if I happened to follow the wrong thread. There were even people who wanted Yeojun to leave S.T.A.Y. This was but a small incident being blown unnecessarily out of proportions. While it was just a handful of users who said that, it was still very much out there. And Yeojun had seen it. No matter the reason and regardless of whether it really was his fault or not, to see that people wanted you gone from the only place you have ever felt like you truly belonged was not something easy to ignore.
The smallest voices could sometimes scream the loudest.
"Do you have anything to say to me or ask?" Kim PD-nim asked. Seeing that none of us had anything to ask or say, he nodded. "You don't have to go anywhere outside today anyway. Your concert happening this Saturday is still on so get some practice in while you can." He then looked at Manager Park. "Let me know if anything else comes up."
"Yes." Manager Park bowed and so did we.
"S.T.A.Y is our pride." Kim PD-nim finally smiled at us. "Don't lower your heads before bullies easily, boys." Saying that much, he left.
"Don't worry, Jun-ah." Jaehyeon pat Yeojun's shoulder. "We'll find our way through this."
Yeojun smiled and nodded to that.
"Let's go practice then." Mingyu said and led the way out of the meeting room.
Most of our morning had gone in talks with Kim PD-nim and others with regards to the incident. We had gathered in the meeting room immediately after lunch too. It was already past 03:00 pm. We had enough time left for some good practice. Given that there was nothing else to do, we did not need to rush either.
Maybe… I could make more mistakes than usual today to keep our Dance Team leader engaged?
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