Rock and Roll

━•✦•━•✦•━

“Bro, you’d think with a fucking 24-core i9 and 32GB of ram this crap would render fast, but no!” you said exasperatedly, staring at your computer’s main screen. You were trying to render a highlight video from your past stream playing Subnautica to upload to your YouTube channel.

“Uhm, did you try changing the codec?” asked Genbu, one of your mods and main helper for basically everything behind the scenes. You were talking to him on your Discord channel, and you had Nine Inch Nails’ Heresy playing at low volume in the background. “The other option is to render it at 2K instead of 4K.”

“I refuse,” you replied. “I’ve been trying all afternoon; I’m not picking up the cable now.”

Your studio was relatively quiet, so you could hear the door open behind you.

“Give me a second mate,” you said, muting yourself to take off your headphones and hang them around your neck. Turning around, you saw Lee Chaeyoung—now black-haired—walking towards you, dressed in one of your hoodies and baggy sweatpants. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”

Isa was going to stay with you for a couple of days, since she had free space in her schedule. She had arrived that day in the morning, and wanted to stay for about three more days. You were happy about it, because since you met her two months ago, she, Sully and you had spent enough time together to become very good ‘friends’.

The relationship between her and you was quite different from hers with Sully. With Sully she was a sweetheart, she treated her as you could treat her: like a fragile princess who deserves nothing but care, love and tenderness. With you she was also a sugar nougat, but she also let out her saucier and bolder side more often; except when you were in bed, then she was always a monster.

“Guess what!” she said with a grin, happily skipping up to stand behind you. “Minnie-sunbaenim invited me to a party!”

“Oh, really?” you raised your eyebrows, and turned your chair to face her. “That’s great, where?”

“It says Yongin-si here,” Isa replied, sitting on the left side of your lap as she looked at her phone. “I don’t remember where that is.”

“Far,” you said, wrapping your left arm around her body. “It’s like an hour drive. Do you want me to take you there?”

“Ah, I don’t just need you to take me,” she lowered the phone and looked at you with a smile. “You’ll go with me!”

You stared at her in silence, blinking a few more times than usual.

“They invited you, not me.”

“But it says here that I can bring a companion! Chararan!” She showed you the invitation on her phone, and she wasn’t lying. “And you’ll be mine.”

“I mean, okay,” you shrugged. “But are you sure? What kind of people will be there?”

“Only idols from what I understand, and there will be private security in the neighborhood.”

“Damn, they spared no expense.”

“I got your yes then?” Isa leaned closer to you and made eyes at you, making her eyelashes flutter.

“Yeah, why not. What’s the dress code?”

“Elegant, or just black. We’ll look amazing!” She grinned from ear to ear, giving you the smile as always.

“I always look amazing,” you winked at her and patted her thigh with your right hand. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m busy, sweetheart.”

“Are we still making dinner together?” Isa asked, standing up.

“I promised I would,” you nodded, and blew her a peck.

“Alright!” she smiled, and blew you a peck back. “I’ll be in the living room.”

“Got it!”

When Isa left your studio you turned around, unmuted yourself, and put your headphones back on, already thinking about what you were going to wear tomorrow and looking forward to what was going to happen. Being around idols was already a habit for you since you accompanied Sully to music shows often, but this was going to be different. At a party those idols wouldn’t be idols, they would be normal people like you, and therefore they wouldn’t behave like they might in front of their managers or the public staff. How could you miss that?

“Ezio?” Genbu said.

“Hm?”

“You didn’t mute yourself, dumbass,” he said. “Be thankful I don’t know Korean, but now I know you have a girlfriend. What ’s her name?”

You slapped your forehead. What a fucking retard.

“First of all she’s not my girlfriend,” you sighed. “And second I can’t tell you that.”

“Why not? Is she famous?”

“She’s famous here.”

“Alright, fair enough. Just be careful that that doesn’t happen to you in the middle of a stream, dumbass.”

“You don’t have to say it twice,” you sighed after getting over the shock.

THE NEXT DAY

“Do you guys have any idea how many people are going?” you asked, looking at the highway. You were already in Seongnam, halfway to Yongin and about 25 minutes away.

“Not a clue,” Isa replied in the passenger seat. She was using the overhead mirror to touch up her makeup. “I know Ryujinie and Yeji unnie are going.”

“Well, familiar faces at least,” you said.

“You know them?” Isa asked.

“Just formal greetings and a few exchanges of words thanks to Sully.”

“I know there are IVE girls going, I don’t know who, but that’s what Jiwoonie told me,” Yoon said in the backseat, between you and Isa’s seat, Seeun on her right side, looking out the window. They had gone to your apartment to get ready and leave with you two. The rest of the girls had been invited as well, but all three were occupied.

“I don’t talk to anyone actively so I have no idea either,” Seeun said. “I’m fine with you three tho, so don’t leave me alone.”

“Any expectations?” The highway was clear at that time of night, so you took the liberty of turning to look at Isa. She looked stunning in the dress she’d picked out, and the choker she wore around her neck was a perfect addition.

Isa gave you a mischievous sidelong glance and giggled.

“I have a couple, but if I say them then they won’t come true,” she said, touching up her lipstick.