The Prince of K-Pop || Bang Chan FF

Chapter Sixty-One

          ChaeChaeChingu messaged Naty back immediately.

          She also sent a time and location which Naty promptly shared with Bang Chan when he returned from dealing with whatever the Kids needed. He was, unsurprisingly, not thrilled by the idea. The man protested heavily with the Woojin incident as his prime source of distrust. Naty agreed it was a good reason but ultimately decided it was something she had to do with or without his support. The only compromise they could arrive at was bringing Fred.

          Naty remained for the rest of the meeting but with little interference. Her only contribution was agreeing to the cover story for the listening party. It was to be changed to an event the lounge hosted for the grand re-opening so that any residual suspicion for Jimin's solo album was gone. The postponement still pained Naty but she hid her distress. The woman simply focused on committing the new script to memory.

          When the meeting ended Naty had to leave for Chae.

          Bang Chan gave her one final attempt at convincing her against the idea but her feelings had solidified. Naty admitted she could be wrong and yet still felt as though ChaeChaeChingu was the only other person in South Korea that could understand her plight. It was the plight of an influencer with followers not an Idol with fans. That distinction felt severely important to her. It was true that both formed parasocial relationships but there was a completely different level of responsibility that only another influencer and only another Idol could understand.

          Tara and Ashley had solutions for their team of Idols.

          She needed to craft her solutions with another influencer.

          The other advantage of meeting with ChaeChaeChingu was help for the new 'Donna' situation she suddenly found herself in. Yes, Naty knew of Chae and Donna as friends originally but the party made it clear that was off. It seemed that the two were no longer on good terms which meant Donna had two new enemies and Naty one new ally.

          Nothing could stop Naty from taking advantage of that.

          Chan accepted his defeat and went to lunch with the Kids.

           The tteokbokki place Chae recommended was surprisingly close to the JYP building. Naty arrived before the woman which gave Fred time to arrange for private seating away from anyone that could potentially recognize the duo. The booth was just far enough away from the main diners that Naty felt she could speak openly and just close enough the Fred could keep an eye on her from his own positioning.

          She appreciated the privacy he gave her and the backup.

          Naty had just begun looking over the menu when the table shifted to accommodate another guest. The woman looked up to see Chae with large sunglasses, a mask, and baseball hat as she huffed, "Hi, hi, hi. I'm sorry for being so late. I was just working on editing a video."

          "It's okay. I wasn't waiting long," Naty smiled as best as she could despite the sudden nervousness that filled her.

          Chae seemed to either not notice or not care as she began to take off her sunglasses and mask, "I'm glad you reached out to me. I have to say, I expected you to have done so as soon as the photos dropped but figured you'd probably need to speak to your management for the greenlight on this."

          "Actually, no one knows I'm meeting you."

          "What?" the woman looked to Naty curiously.

          "Well, Bang Chan does, of course, and security," Naty pointed over to where Fred sat at his own table.

          Chae turned her head just in time for Fred to lift his coffee cup in greeting. The woman gave a weak wave in return before spinning her head back to Naty, "Oh my GOD! He is so HOT."