Twenty-fifth Verse

I'm walking away
knowing I will never be missed...
-translated from “Missed”
from Future Colors' first album Future Colors

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Manang Mia's last poke sent the man into the corridor, where he fetched up against the older man Bea had noticed earlier.

“President Kang!” Manager Oh exclaimed, and launched into a torrent of Korean, in answer to which the other man merely nodded, put an arm around him, and led him away. 

Bea looked up at Minha, who still looked pale and worried. She raised her eyebrows questioningly.

“President Kang,” he answered. “He's the owner of Royal, Ent., the agency and label we're with.” 

“Agency... owner?” Bea repeated. Uh-oh. He heard everything that Manager Oh said. Minha is going to be in more trouble, isn't he? “Is he going to be mad at you?” She tugged on Minha's hand when he didn't answer at once.

“I... don't know,” Minha said finally. “I hope he isn't going to be mad. Much. Because Jungkyu and I still need to tell him we want to fire Manager Oh.” Looking at the door again, he added, “Annyeonghaseyo, Shingu sunbae,” and bowed.

“Annyeong, Minha-ya,” said the familiar-looking man who had arrived with the agency president. “I'm glad to see you're all right. Everyone was quite worried about you, you know. There still is a mob of fans camped outside of Royal's building, demanding to know how you are.” He smiled and clapped Minha's shoulder.

“Oh!” Bea said suddenly. “You're that guy from the drama that was on TV recently. The guy who was looking for his missing girlfriend who had lost her memory. Till We Meet Again was the title, I think. And you were also the best man at Manong and Manang's wedding.”

“You watched his drama but not mine?” Manong Jay asked, coming up beside his friend. “I'm disappointed, Bebeh-ya.”

“I'm sorry! It's just because I saw his drama on TV and not yours, Manong,” Bea protested quickly.

“See? I'm more famous than you now!” Shingu said to Manong Jay. “You need to get another drama role soon, before you get forgotten!”

Manong Jay laughed and retorted with a word that made Bea glance sharply at him. 

“Did Manong Jay really say 'screw you'?” she whispered to Minha, who turned a laugh into a cough.

“He said 'shikkeureo',” Minha whispered back. “It means 'shut up'.”

“Oh.” And then, as Bea looked back at Shingu, who was carrying an overnight bag, she realized why she had needed to get the room ready. “Oh! I'm sorry, Mr. … um. Manong Jay. I'll finish getting this room ready.  It won't take much longer, I promise.”

“It's all right, Beh, Shingu will just leave his bag here,” Manong Jay said, and Shingu (I forgot his last name-- Bea thought wildly.  What do I call him? Must ask Minha) smiled at Bea and placed his bag on a side table.  Manong Jay turned to Shingu and said something in Korean. The other man clapped him on the shoulder and answered, and they left the room, still talking.

“I didn't realize before that Shingu from Till We Meet Again was Manong Jay's friend,” she said to Minha. “I really, really liked him in that drama-- I cried when he and his girlfriend were separated when they were young. Do you think he'd give me an autograph?”

“I think I'm getting jealous,” Minha retorted, but Bea was not quite listening. Instead, she ran into the bathroom and reemerged with all the used towels. She gathered up all the used (and sadly abused) linens and made for the door, only to collide with the other four members of Future Colors as they tumbled into the room.

“Hyung! Hyung! Hyung!” The younger three piled on top of Minha like a bunch of puppies. Bea moved aside hastily so she wouldn't get in the way. Meanwhile, Jungkyu sat down in the nearest chair and watched them with amusement as they tussled.

Junhee was the first to emerge from the pile. He sat down on the floor, his eyes sparkling.

“Mia noona was awesome,” he announced. “I had no idea she could be like that.”

“She really sent him packing,” Minha said, extricating himself from Sangmin and Myungseok. He sent a pout in Bea's direction. What was that for? she wondered, but then remembered her armful of linens and ran out with them. When she came back, the boys were in the hallway, still talking.

Minha looked up and saw her, and took the pile of towels. 

“I'll help you and then we'll go downstairs and put something on your arm,” he said.

Bea raised her arm and looked at the bruises.

“Do we really need to? I think they'll heal anyway.” She shrugged and went on into the bathroom to finish up.

“Ya! Don't be so stubborn!”

* * *

The argument continued all the way downstairs and into the kitchen, but finally Bea gave in and let Minha put an ice pack on her arm.

“It really is no big deal,” she protested feebly. 

“Ya. What do you mean it's not a big deal. You think I like seeing your arm like that? I should have broken his fingers.” The marks were gradually beginning to fade, but Minha got angry all over again every time he saw them.

“Na'no nang butkon mo?” a voice demanded. “Gin-ano ka sining gago nga ni?” Suddenly Minha found himself being yanked around to face a red-faced, bulge-eyed Betong, who didn't let the fact that he was half a head shorter stop him from getting right in Minha's face.

“Ya, ya...” Jungkyu protested, waving the banana he had been about to peel when Bea's brother came in. Junhee ran to intervene, but he skidded to a stop when Betong glared in his direction, and was immediately crashed into by Sangmin, who had been right behind him.

“Hyung, hyung, it's not his fault,” Myungseok tried to placate him.

“I told you, my name's not Yong! I'm Betong!” Betong raised his fist, and Minha froze. On one hand, he was not afraid of a fight, but on the other hand, this was Bea's brother. On still another hand, he could not afford a black eye on top of his other problems. He sighed and prepared to duck.

“Manong!” Bea tugged at Betong's arm, speaking very fast in their own language. Betong gradually lowered his arm, but not before Mia noona, Jae sunbae, Shingu sunbae, and President Kang came in.

“Betong!” Mia noona cried. “What are you doing?”

It took quite a while for Mia noona to sort out and smooth over everything. Minha was immensely relieved when Betong finally let go of his collar. He would have been happier if Bea had asked if he was all right, but she was still explaining to Mia noona. At one point she even stepped on her brother's foot and elbowed him in the ribs, making Minha wince in sympathy.

“She doesn't do that to you, does she?” Jungkyu asked in a low voice.

“No. Fortunately not,” Minha muttered back. Both of them jumped when Betong raised his voice again.

“Amo gali na? Linintian nga! Di'n don s'ya?” He looked wildly around the kitchen as if the culprit might be hiding in a cabinet. “Amhon ya lang na libayon ko tapos daw sa wa'y lang?”

“What is he going on about?” President Kang asked Mia noona in Korean.

“He wants the person who bruised his dongsaeng's arm,” Mia noona answered. “And I don't think he just intends to talk to him.”

Despite the fact that he detested the man, Minha wondered if he should feel sorry for Manager Oh. But then, in the next moment, President Kang had stepped forward.

“I apologize on behalf of my employee,” he said in Korean. Betong stared at him, then at his cousin. When Mia noona translated, he hastily waved his hands in negation.

“Oh no. No sir. Not your fault,” he answered in English.

“He works for me. I am responsible for him,” President Kang answered in the same language. “I will talk to him and make sure this never happens again.”

“Hah. That kind of person is your employee? Maybe you should fire him,” Betong grumbled.  

“Are you all right?” Minha had not noticed Bea come over. Evidently now that her brother didn't seem to want to strangle or hit Minha anymore, she'd decided it was safe to leave him to Mia noona. Now she peered at Minha, trying to assess what damage had been done.

“Does anything hurt?” she asked.

“Just his pride,” Jungkyu pointed out, before Minha could think of inventing a list of things that hurt and needed to be fussed over. Not that Bea would fuss. Bea was the exact opposite of fuss.

“I'm sorry about my brother...” she said now.

“He was just worried about you,” Minha said. “I can understand it.” He suddenly snickered. “Part of me wanted to give Manager Oh to him and see what happened.”

She scowled and shook her head at him.

“That wouldn't have helped!”

“I know, Beh, I know.” He shook his head in return. “I really should have just hit Manager Oh myself.”

Bea sighed.

“You're hopeless.”

“You like me anyway.”

“Minha, if you will stop flirting with Bebeh for a while and join us in my study?” Jae sunbae called. “Yes, the rest of Future Colors, too.”

Here it comes. 

Minha took a deep breath and squared his shoulders.

I won't regret it, he told the part of him that wanted to whimper and run. He had it coming. And there isn't even a no-dating clause in our contracts. He just wanted to make trouble.

Still, he had to clench his hands to keep from shaking as he followed his bandmates.

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Vocabulary

Shikkeureo - Korean, "shut up!"

Na'no nang butkon mo? - Hiligaynon, "What happened to your arm?"

Gin-ano ka sining gago nga ni?  - Hiligaynon, "What did this bastard do to you?"

Amo gali na? - Hiligaynon, "So that's how it is?"

Linintian nga! - Hiligaynon, "Damn it!" (literally, "lightning strike it!")

Di'n don s'ya? - Hiligaynon, "Where is he?"

Amhon ya lang na libayon ko tapos daw sa wa'y lang? - Hiligaynon, "He does that to my younger sibling and it's like it's nothing?"

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Author's Note:

Sorry, sorry. I intended to write during the holidays but somehow there was so much to do that I ended up unable to grab the time to write at all, and now it's getting hard to pick up the thread again. 

About K-pop idol contracts... They may sign up for seven to 13 years, and since it costs millions of won to prepare them for their debut, and the companies actually take their earnings to pay back these costs, they often end up not receiving any pay at all for the first few years. So some people might comment on this, since FC as a band is supposed to be only five years old (and at this stage their hoobae cuSKYE is four years old), and yet the boys already have earnings. But you see, Royal Ent really wasn't supposed to be representative of the usual practice... it's the dream company we fans are always wishing for our idols. Might as well, even if it's only in a story, right? 

Anyway... comments? Suggestions? Reactions, violent or otherwise?

If you've managed to make it this far, thank you so much for reading! Mwah!