The Prince of K-Pop || Bang Chan FF

Chapter Sixty-Three Bang Chan's POV

A Month and a Half Earlier

          Bang Chan knew it was going to be a good day.

          Amongst meetings and prepping for the next Stray Kids comeback was a FaceTime call with his girlfriend—the man loved saying that—Naty Higuera. Their virtual dates always flavored Chan's activities with an anticipation he needed to get through the boring aspects of his leader duties. He already planned to order her favorite breakfast so they could share a meal together while they spoke of their busy schedules. The long distance was rough but the fact that Naty would be coming to stay with him for a month gave him hope. Sure, the relationship reveal added some stress to his life as an Idol but Naty's face—always so happy to see him—even through the phone made it worth it.

          It was this that Bang Chan thought of at seven in the morning ascending the JYP building on the smoothest elevator in Seoul (according to the building's security). Chan had his headphones over his ears to listen to his ever-growing playlist of music. The genres shuffled between K-Pop, Pop, Rap, Rock, K-R&B, R&B, EDM, Bossa Nova, Classical, and whatever else he could find in the random corners of the Earth. Because of Bang Chan's love of music there was no such thing as casual listening. He adored music and he thrived on finding inspiration from each note he was blessed to be a witness of.

          'Bad Blood' by NAO exalted his senses through the headphones as the floors ticked upward on the way to the meeting with his new manager—Song Byung-chan. The whole thing still felt odd to him though he understood the thought process behind it. The success of the LA concerts allowed Stray Kids had reached a level of importance—according to the company—that required each member to have their own manager and each subunit to have an additional manager. The new additions did not replace the group's long-term ones—Ahn Tae-moo and Cha Min-kyu—but they did make it difficult when it came to planning the newest comeback.

          The idea was that this allowed each member's personal interest to be taken care of.

          As of yet, Bang Chan had not seen this benefit and instead saw more boring meetings added to his plate.

          Or so he thought.

          The elevator paused a few floors before his intended one and the man was already in mid-bow when he paused at the sight of the new occupant. It was his new manager. Chan finished the bow with a greeting before asking, "Has our meeting been rescheduled?"

          "Yes. Something of much higher importance has taken precedence. Park Jin-young-ssi has requested a meeting with us. Ahn Tae-moo and Cha Min-kyu are already waiting for us."

          Bang Chan froze.

          JYP wanted to meet with them?

           All of them?

          What could he possibly want?

          Chan had no time to speculate.

          Suddenly, they were on the floor and speed-walking to the conference room. Bang Chan was able to put his headphones away and push back his hoodie while removing his hat in the process. He cursed himself for not dressing appropriately. Waves of guilt and shame washed over him at the thought of how unprofessional he looked and how JYP would surely make a comment of it. A quick glance to Song Byung-chan gave him a small amount of comfort.

          The original theme of the meeting was to be dressed down with no formality. He assumed it was Byung-chan's attempt at establishing a comfortable rapport with him. It may have worked if the sudden meeting with JYP didn't come up though getting scolded by the man together would give them some form of unity.