Beeeep! Beeeep! Beeeep!
The blaring of a car horn rattled in my ears, and when I looked around, I realized we were standing right in the middle of the street. "Move dumbass! My wife's in fucking labor!" a salaryman yelled out the car window.
"Oh, apologies." Giyul bowed quickly, tugging the collars of the four of us as he hauled us back onto the sidewalk.
We finally made it into the apartment complex, taking the rickety elevator up to our shared flat. The room wasn't much, but it was ours. Recording gear and scattered essentials were piled in one corner; twin bunk beds pressed against the window wall; and a tiny kitchen that stayed spotless only because none of us could cook worth a damn. The truth? I'd barely eaten a single meal cooked by anyone here. K had been trying to get better at it, but songwriting always won out over stir-fry. Dinner tonight?
Instant noodles! Ramyeon, our greatest savior.
"Alright! Back to songwriting. Promo's in a week," K said, leaping onto the couch where I was slurping my noodles like a starving man.
"Let me nap a ten first, my G," Jin mumbled from the top bunk, eyes closed.
"You mean ten hours. Get down here, slacker." Baek Giyul reached up, dragged him down
Thud! "Gah! You meathead, nearly broke my arm!" Jin cursed, half kicking at Giyul's face.
"Guess I'm just too strong. Now back to the song!" Giyul laughed, already pulling out his notebook.
"I'll finish verse two," Jin muttered, snatching up the holo-paper and scribbling notes with a swipe of his finger.
K and I sat side by side, watching the chaos turn back into work. He leaned in with that knowing grin."The beginning's always messy, Seokjin."
"Yeah." I nodded. "Heard promotions are hell for rookies."
"That hell's the test. Get over it, and you'll see the heaven," he winked. Confident as always the kind of leader only K could be.
"You haven't changed a bit since the day we met," I said, laughing.
"And have you heard yourself talking now? More emo-like." He squinted at me, teasing.
"Nah. Just learning how to carry myself like I belong onstage." I clapped his shoulder.
"Hey, Giyul! Don't you think Whitie's gotten cockier?" K yelled across the room.
Giyul turned, flexing his chest for whatever reason. IDK "Since training, Seokjin had been lowly as hell. But now? his hair's gone dusty. Literally. hehehe~" He burst into laughter.
"Seriously~ With that kinda look, we should call him Whitie Boy," Jin added, smirking.
"White Boy's catchy, but too racist. How about White Suki White Sukiyaki?" Giyul shot back.
"White Water!" K grinned. "Like a river, but, you know, white."
"Dumb but cool! Fits him," Giyul whooped, pointing at Juwon who was chugging water at the fridge.
"What are you guys on about?" Juwon blinked, clearly lost.
Jin leaned over. "We're just naming Whitey here. Might stick, might not." Then, smirking, he added, "Honestly, in a few weeks, it's gonna morph into Mr.Cum anyway."
We howled with laughter. Even Juwon banged his bottle on the counter. "Use my line too: Hey, hey, heyyy! I think it's dumb, but it slaps."
"Add this too!" Juwon burst into freestyle, "I cut left, you slide right racing through every lane tonight! Vroom vroom!"
"That's corny as hell," Jin said, shaking his head, "but the label wants 'different.' Anything to stand out from D\8/. God, I'd love to start a rap war with those Western wannabes."
He went back to his scribbling. "Whatever, let's polish the anti-drop here"
"Yo! You want spicy? Wolves' freakin' sexy! You want classic? Hit up Jade! Want kawaii? Off to hawaii! But if you want me, better give me your best shot" Juwon rapped shamelessly.
"Man, sing that onstage and it'll be fuckin' a slop!" Jin shot back.
"Let's fix it together," K said, hopping down to join him.
And so we worked, the five of us arguing, laughing, throwing ideas around. Just boys in a cramped room, building songs out of scraps of noodles, bad jokes, and half-rhymes. For now, we were nobodies. A pack of stray wolves chasing a dream, still too small to howl at the moon.
I didn't know it then. But under those spotlights we were running toward… and I knew what was already waiting for us.