BTS: Beyond the White Night

Beneath the pallor, a brilliance pieced together alone.

Cross the white night, and let us meet again.

White Night, Reol

This story began with me, unable to bear giving up or stopping. I began to accept reality.

Wishing you all the best.

In 2016, with money flowing in from its new investors, BIG HIT finally moved out of its old apartment complex and set up its new headquarters in the glitzy Gangnam District. Its own new building? No, its investor mom's new building.

The entire company leadership was in high spirits. Their new Chinese investor was incredibly generous. They hadn't made any demands at all, except to put someone in the production team and ask the company to bring him along when writing songs from then on.

The production team was furious. That didn't count as a demand? It was practically being shoved in their faces!

They were already plotting to control the direction of their music, with their schemes stretching from the Yangtze River all the way to the Han River!

Min Yoongi had thought the same thing, but when he met the so-called favored one at the station, that notion was thoroughly dispelled.

This kid looked about as young as Jungkook. How could he control them? What a joke

What a misunderstanding!

“Sorry, have you been waiting long?” He tried to put on his warmest smile, hoping to make the kid feel less nervous.

The next second, he was met with the kid's bewildered gaze.

The kid even held out his phone. It was a voice translation app!

He couldn't even understand that simple greeting. How were they supposed to communicate when he joined the production team? Were they going to start with Korean lessons?!

Min Yoongi felt like he was about to lose it. He regretted having free time today. Couldn't he have left this to Hoseok or Namjoon?

The PD had also told him the kid hadn't eaten yet, and asked Yoongi to take him to dinner before bringing him to the company.

With no other choice, he spent the whole journey using the translation app and gestures. At long last, he managed to bring him to a restaurant.

Thank goodness.

Years later, Min Yoongi was glad he hadn't ignored the request, and had actually gone out for a good meal with him.

The food livened the kid up during dinner. When he learned that Yoongi wrote songs, he boldly handed him one of his own, then gazed at him expectantly.

His eyes sparkled.

*

Ding Yu gazed expectantly at the idol hyung called Min Yoongi.

He wanted praise. It was his first time writing a song all by himself.

The so-called Chinese investor really was Ding Yu's patron: his older sister, the only person in his family who supported his dream.

At the time, South Korea's pop music industry was flourishing. For Ding Yu, it was the closest and most convenient paradise his family would let him go to.

His parents would never feel comfortable letting him travel all the way to the United States alone, so in the end they chose nearby South Korea.

Unfortunately, he didn't know a word of Korean.

Fortunately, his unfamiliar idol hyungs were all good people, even if each of them was strange in their own way.

For example, one producer hyung, who had joined the company not long before him, called one of the idol hyungs “Dad.” Ding Yu didn't really understand.

Since he wasn't very good at Korean, he often sat to one side and observed his coworkers. He had noticed how strange Korean workplace culture was on his very first day.

Unspoken rules were everywhere. Ding Yu could only learn bit by bit this way.

[Dad? Is it like how guys back home call each other “bro” or “dude”?]

“Dad Yoongi, what do you think of this song?” Having explained it to himself, Ding Yu accepted the title without a fuss.

*

Min Yoongi was confused when one day his coworker suddenly started calling him Dad.

He tried to make him stop by responding with a question, but nothing he said got through.

And to everyone else, that coworker was more or less his close friend.

It was strange, he couldn't stop him, he had to save face, and the guy was an important member of the production team...

With so many reasons, Min Yoongi begrudgingly put up with it.

He figured at least his coworker wouldn't call him that in public.

But why had Ding Yu picked it up too?!

Why did it have to be Ding Yu?!

For the first time, hearing that title made Min Yoongi's heart clench. Then, beneath his calm exterior, his heart pounded wildly, the sound threatening to consume him.

“Dad Yoongi, what do you think of this song?” Ding Yu sat at his equipment and looked up with the same expression he'd had on the day they first met.

Bright-eyed, full of anticipation.

Min Yoongi knew that Ding Yu was always looking forward to hearing his thoughts on the music, never to him personally.

Of course, it never happened again.

Ding Yu: Born February 22, 1999, Chinese male

Min Yoongi: Born March 9, 1993

Theme: Cross the white night, and let us meet again.