Yongsun

one month before the Tower

A strong scent of cigarettes and alcohol, whilst at the background a faint sound of cheers, if someone paid close attention they could distinguish names being yelled by the crowd outside a five-star hotel in London.

“We have more fans here than I thought”, the one to comment is standing near the windows staring down at the crowd while he smokes a cigarette with one hand and drinks a glass of scotch with the other. “Are you sure it's safe here?”

“Yeah, the little angel’s parents settled this up”, the other one commented while sitting on the room's sofa, typing on his phone.

Yoon Yongsun stares at his work colleagues from near the door of the hotel room, he feels uncomfortable there, the sight of people who hate his guts while also having to pretend to care for him is unsettling.

But regardless of their personalities, Yongsun can't bring himself to hate them back.

“Hey, Yongsun”, another one embraces him. “Can I borrow a few euros?” He asks, he stinks like alcohol and if Yongsun paid a bit of attention he could see the white powder on the man's shirt, or his dilated pupils.

“Hajoon, we can't leave the hotel room”, the one sitting on the sofa comments with a sigh.

“I don't mind”, Yongsun says with a smile, he's used to it. He grabs his wallet, giving his work colleague a fifty euro bill. 

“Thanks, you're the best!” Hajoon says with a wide fake smile. 

Yongsun is a K-Pop idol of a boy group called TEMPEST. They debuted 6 years ago by a small company, 4SEASONS. At first no one thought they would succeed in this scale, no, they didn't even think they would debut in the first place, of course not, that was until Yongsun joined the group six months before their debut. 

Bringing in money and press, they debuted with nationwide success, everyone wanted to know the group where the Yoon Conglomerate’s youngest was in. And his family didn't spare expenses to make sure their precious youngest would be comfortable in his showbiz career. 

Protected by his family he managed to not be tainted by the harsh industry, in fact, he became so blissfully unaware of the harmful environment he lives in, that he got the nickname Angel, by both his fans and anyone that works with him.

Rumors circulate the industry that if you even attempt to taint the Young Master of the Yoon family, you'll forever be blacklisted from the industry. That never stopped others from trying, but Yongsun isn't innocent due to those protecting him, but due to his own mentality and ignorance.

He knows his colleagues hate him. Sure, at first they were grateful, but after six years of only Yongsun getting the most of the spotlight, problems started to arise between them, and him being the youngest didn't help.

“We should do a livestream”, the member by the window comments, lighting a second cigarette.

“That stinks, Junseo”, the last of the five members says, as he leaves the toilet of the hotel room. “And at least let Hajoon get sober before we go live”. 

To better understand their current situation, there's the need to explain exactly the scale of fame TEMPEST has and their members' singularities.

They're a 5 member group that debuted 6 years ago by a small company that previously only had small actors. Immediately after debuting they took the industry by a storm with their solid harmonies and good-looking members, after 2 years they made an international debut becoming the first K-pop group in history to be known across the globe. Every song they release enters the top 10 of any country and every show they made is sold-out in seconds. They're known for not having a single controversy, even bad rumors about any of the members die down quickly, inside the industry, however, the story is different. Everyone knows how rotten the group is, but they turn a blind eye due to the power and influence of the Yoon family. 

The group is majorly known for their tight concept, representing nature, with each member representing a different element of nature, and all of their albums and music videos had a storyline of mages of a fallen kingdom, going through war, revenge, desolation, corruption and enlightenment, they're known for never deviating from the storyline or even their theme, even in solo or unit projects.

Yongsun is the youngest of the group, with twenty-two years of age, and he of course, represents the element of light, always portrayed as innocent and angelic in his projects. 

The oldest member with twenty-seven years of age and leader of the group is Kang Hoon, the one playing with his phone at the sofa, he's the second most popular member of the group, by the public he's known as a cold Prince, represented by the element ice, he's seen as a cool older brother by the fans and is the only member respected by those inside the industry. But behind the scenes he's an elitist rich boy, who absolutely despises poor people, his favorite past-time is engaging in behind-the-scenes politics and manipulating the media, due to his connections for also being from a well-known rich family, not as rich as the Yoon family, of course.

Kim Junseo is the one smoking a cigarette after the other by the window, with twenty-five years of age, is the most self-centered and detached member of the group, after debuting he managed to create a career beyond being an idol as a music producer for other musicians. Although he is extremely talented, he's known for his snappy personality and alcoholism, he also smokes at least one pack of cigarettes per day and is known to use a lot of make-up to hide the evidence of his all-nighters and bad habits. In the group he's represented by the element of thunder.

Then we have Han Yejoon, and the member who hates Yongsun the most. Also twenty-five years of age, he has the longest time as a trainee before debuting, coming from an extremely poor family, he resents the rich members for having it easy while he had to train like his life depended on it to be able to be there. Not only that, but no matter how hard he tried he never managed to be good at anything, not compared to the natural talents of the other members, feeding even more his inferiority complex. Due to such feelings he targets Yongsun, bullying him, spreading rumors and extorting money from him at any given chance. Although compared to some other members he never had to shut down controversies about him, he does have a dark past as a school bully and countless plastic surgeries he managed to hide after debuting due to Yongsun’s family influence in the industry and Hoon’s influence in the media. Represented by the element wind, he is often portrayed as a free-spirited man, which couldn't be more contrary from his truth.

The fifth member is Hakyun, although he made his image for being a cute younger brother, even if he's not the youngest, currently with twenty-three years of age, he has the biggest gap between his personality in front and behind the scenes. An extremely explosive personality, he is the most troublesome member of the group, having even been aggressive towards not only his own group members but also other individuals in the industry. Hoon tends to work a lot towards cleaning his messes, especially since the man tends to sleep with several women - including fans - and also accept sponsorships. Although he also uses heavy drugs like Yejoon, he avoids using them during the group schedules. Just like Yejoon, however, he uses Yongsun like his ATM machine, constantly asking for money to splurge in his own hobbies. Although the fandom disagrees, the members of the group do think his element being fire is the most fitting between the five.

Their fans are quite passionate and are known as Stormies, and due to their popularity a lot of fans are driven by only a single member, so they also have solo fans. The ones that have the most are Yongsun and Hoon, but the others still manage to have a considerable amount. They're called: Angels (Yongsun), Princes and Princesses (Hoon), Lights (Junseo), Knights (Yejoon) and Spirits (Hakyun), such names were given by each member themselves.

During their 6 years they've released 4 mini-albums and 2 full-albums, as well as 2 sub-unit albums, one with the Rap line (TEMPO) and another with the Vocal line (EYE). Jun-seo also released a collabs album he self-produced with big names of the international pop industry.

Therefore, TEMPEST is a phenomenon, even if they absolutely hate each other. How they manage to act like they adore each other is a mystery to anyone that works with them.

‘’We can do a livestream without all the members’’, Junseo comments, rolling his eyes and tossing his cigarette on the floor before stepping on it. He doesn’t even bother to get the cigarette bud from the floor. ‘’Hoon, me and Yongsun would be enough’’.

‘’Hey, my fans want to see me too!’’ Hakyun comments frowning. ‘’And why Yongsun? So he can hob all the attention to himself?’’

‘’Because without him the livestream won’t hit the good numbers’’, Junseo comments, filling his glass with more scotch.

‘’Well, I’m going to the hotel’s bar’’, Yejoon comments, shoving Yongsun away now that he got what he wanted, but before he can leave the room, Hoon stops him with his voice:

‘’Where do you think you’re going?’’ The leader’s voice is firm, his dark black eyes are intimidating making the other members flinch. ‘’Do you think it’s easy to stop reporters from other countries? I thought I asked all of you to behave’’.

‘’But Hoon-’’

‘’Yejoon, I don’t care how wasted you want to be, we have a concert tomorrow, behave’’, with those words he manages to make the man back away, sitting on the sofa with frustration. 

‘’Fine, then I can put on some make-up and stay behind for the livestream, the quality sucks anyway so they won’t be able to notice’’, Yejoon says, shoving the fifty euro bill in his pocket and grabbing his cellphone.

Yongsun stays still, watching as his work colleagues argue about how to start the livestream, in moments like these he feels slightly dislocated, as if he’s a guest in someone else’s house, but regardless of his personal grievances with the other members, this is the job he chose for himself, and he will persevere no matter what.

He can’t let go of one of his dreams just because it’s hard.

There’s only one thing that can make him leave the entertainment industry, and that doesn’t seem it will happen any time soon.

So he must protect this moment for as long as he can.

‘’I’ll call the crew for the livestream’’, Junseo says, already typing on his phone.

‘’Fine, I’ll go change then’’, Hakyun says, jumping into one of the bedrooms, appearing again a few moments later with a red leather jacket. He smiles at the crew that just came by and is setting up their camera. Everyone chats with the workers as if they weren’t ready to jump each other’s throat moments ago, the only two not moving are Hoon and Yongsun.

A few moments later they’re ready, on the back is Junseo and Yejoon, standing near the window that is blocked by a white sheet so that others can’t find their hotel room through the livestream, sitting in the sofa are Hoon, Yongsun and Hakyun, exactly in that order.

‘’Hello Stormies!’’ The moment the livestream starts, Hakyun yells, smiling softly and making a heart with his fingers. ‘’How are you? Have you eaten?’’

‘’You jumped the gun Hakyun’’, Hoon comments, staring at the tablet where he’s monitoring the fan’s comments. ‘’We have three hundred thousand Stormies watching, thank you everyone for your support’’.

‘’I was just excited’’, Hakyun says with a pout as he leans onto Yongsun’s shoulder.

Youngsun wraps his arm around Hakyun without hesitation, this is work, no matter how much this is different from their actual day to day lives.

Junseo leans over the sofa, without touching he checks the tablet on Hoon’s hands and laughs. ‘’We aren’t tired, the flight was quick.’’

‘’That’s because you slept the whole way’’, Yejoon comments with a laugh, Junseo smiles, hugging him playfully. In fact he didn’t sleep, they were both drunk the whole time. 

‘’Stormies, I’m so tired’’, Hakyun says, hugging Yongsun’s arm. ‘’I couldn’t sleep because I’m so excited to see you all tomorrow!’’

‘’The fans are asking you to repeat that in English’’, Hoon says with a smirk.

Hakyun flinches. ‘’Not fair, y’all keep bullying me!’’

‘’That’s because you’re cute’’, Yongsun comments softly, looking at Hakyun.

‘’Not the youngest as well! I thought I raised you well!’’ Hakyun comments, pouting again. 

They continue to talk and answer questions from the fans, acting as if they’re all the closest of friends, but the truth couldn’t be more opposite. At first Yongsun dreamt of being close friends with his group members, he thought that years around each other would naturally bring them closer.

Having to lie to everyone about their relationship is hard, and even if most of the crew members and their manager know the truth, his family still doesn't, and that is what kills him the most.

A family that supports him no matter what, not everyone can say that about their own, Yongsun is free to do whatever he likes, yet he is the only member that never tainted their hands into anything illegal, prim and proper, he never even watched porn.

Sheltered from the world, protected from the evil surrounding him, most would think that he regrets following this foolish dream of being an entertainer, but he loves it.

Singing, dancing, acting, performing to thousands of people, the thrill of when people recognize him on the streets.

Knowing that his voice reaches so many people, that is what moves him forward even when things are hard.

Because this won’t be forever, so the fact that he’s able to enjoy this for six years, a dream others would kill to achieve? That is happiness to him.