Weeks had passed since the Dispatch article. The industry now knew exactly who YN LN was. They praised his work with ITZY, whose latest comeback had become one of the company's biggest successes, and his name was suddenly appearing in interviews, trade publications, and online discussions alongside the artists he worked with.
Even a couple of the other big companies have reached out.
What they hadn't figured out yet was why Dispatch had cared enough to write about him in the first place.
Most people saw a talented creative director whose career had seemingly come out of nowhere. Fans, however, had started digging.
And fans had time.
YN and Mina sat at his desk. The soft boiling of the electric kettle and low murmur from the workers outside was the only thing that broke the stillness in the office.
He had taken to lurking on Reddit laughing at the latest rumor mill about him as fans pieced together his career.
There were countless threads.
“Mitan, look at this one.” He said scrolling to another one.
“Director YN, JYP’s secret weapon?”
“Five reasons Director YN has the best hands in the industry.”
Mina grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers through his.
“They have a point.”
Normally these didn’t bother him but he just scrolled across something that caused his heart rate to spike in a jolt of interest.
“Director YN worked as a Twice junior manager just out of college.”
His smile faded.
There was a series of pictures of him in the background in old videos and images of the girls practicing. The one that caught his eye was from the TWICELIGHTS Japan tour leg–the last concert he was their manager.
The girls were running through blocking just rehearsing on the stage probably days before the show. The image was of the group but in the corner of the frame he and Mina, talking closely.
He remembered that conversation.
They weren’t touching, or hugging or anything outright affectionate.
He knew exactly why it stood out anyway.
He scrolled to the comments.
Wait… He worked with TWICE?
He was their manager? How did he go from that to a director?
OMG the way he looks at her, there has to be something going on.
Wait! Do you guys remember Nayeon’s bubble picture?! Was that him and Mina?
There’s no way that this is a coincidence.
Wasn’t Mina sitting next to him in that picture of him and ITZY at that high end K-BBQ spot?
Someone call dispatch.
Mina just shifted laying her head on his shoulder as a steady quiet settled over them.
She was making small circle patterns on his arm with her finger.
He opened his mouth to say something right as Jiwoo popped into the office.
“Boss, JYP-nim wants to see you. His office, fifteen minutes.”
He exchanged another look with Mina.
“You got this, I’m sure it’s nothing.” Mina said.
“Acutally Mina-sii, he wants to see both of you.”
The walk up to JYPs office was quiet, they walked by YNs team, a few of them nodding or waiving to say hi.
“We don’t have anything to worry about, Hyung was supportive of us when we talked last.” He said.
“That was before Nayeon vs the Internet happened.” Mina said.
“You forget your voice was in a live with a bunch of members of TWICE and Dispatch wrote a sparkling article about you.”
“Well, you’re not wrong. Things are loud right now.” He said.
They reached his room and knocked.
“Come in.”
YN and Mina entered his wide space nervously.
“Please sit down,” JYP said.
“I know it was sudden but I want to get ahead of this.”
They looked at him expectantly.
“Dispatch called. They wanted a statement.”
YN felt a chill creep up his neck, Mina sat up straighter.
“They are releasing another story, this time about both of you. Star-crossed lovers, or something to that effect. It was sweet honestly.” He said with a half smile.
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