Seungcheol, followed by the rest of Seventeen, went inside the office neatly. Seungcheol saw that the chairs in the office had each of their names on it. He motioned the others to sit at their respective places. Bang Sihyuk and Hang Sungsoo sat at the very end of the table. Both wearing, what the members assume were, expensive suits. Hang Sungsoo was wearing a navy blue suit with a high collar. Bang Sihyuk had the exact same suit as his fellow partner, but in black.
The sitting position is the following:
Bang SH | S.Coups | Jeonghan | Mingyu | Wonwoo | DK | Joshua
Hang SS | Hoshi | Woozi | Vernon | Seungkwan | Jun | The8 | Dino
The air in the office was obviously tense. Bang Sihyuk eyed each of them, his eyes screamed authority. No one said anything for a good 3 minutes. The members too scared to speak up first, Hang Sungsoo smiling at them while Bang Sihyuk was staring at them.
"Alright kiddos." Bang Sihyuk said, breaking the silence. "Just be comfortable around me. You may not be close to me, but soon you'll be speaking to me as if I'm your brother or friend, not a CEO."
The members were, by the looks on their faces, shocked. The CEO of such a famous company is so... Warm...? "这好像不对啊.(TNL: This doesn't seem right.)" Minghao mumbled to himself, not believing what he heard. All the time when he was an idol, he was told to always respect the CEO. But now, a famous CEO is asking them to be comfortable around him and act as if he's their brother. What kind of dream is this?
Junhui and Chan, who were beside him, heard what he said. Chan didn't understand a thing while Junhui just smiled. Junhui pat Minghao shoulder, scaring him a bit. "如果他叫我们把他当成朋友的话,我们就把他当成朋友吧!(TNL: If he asks us to treat him as a friend, then we'll treat him as a friend!)" Junhui whispered to Minghao. "你不需要那么紧张.(TNL: You don't have to be so nervous.)"
Minghao smiled at him and said: "好的.(TNL: Okay.)" Meanwhile, Chan just rolled his eyes watching the two members talk in their mother language. "Ugh, PDA..." As he paid attention to the other members, he saw that Bang Sihyuk was trying to start a conversation with them, and was successful. Soon enough, the famous CEO has invested a conversation with all the members. Everyone was talking loudly and laughing together. It was a great feeling for the boys.
After 15 minutes of bonding with the main CEO, they decided to talk the real reason the members are exactly here for. "Alright, so we know that this is very last minute. But we decided to start a project." Bang Sihyuk began, explaining slowly in case the foreign members can't catch up.
"You'll be spilt into groups of two, so there'll be 7 groups. Understand?" Bang Sihyuk questioned, seeing everyone nodding their heads. "Alright the groups are: Seungcheol and Jeonghan, Jisoo and Seokmin, Jun and Minghao, Soonyoung and Jihoon, Wonwoo and Mingyu, Seungkwan and Hansol. Got that?" Bang Sihyuk asked, making sure everyone knew who their partners are.
S.Coups then raised his hand, Bang Sihyuk, seeing this, nodded at him and allowed him to speak. "Sorry for interrupting, PD-nim but-" Seungcheol began, but was cut off by Bang Sihyuk. "Seungcheol, just call me hyung. And this applies to all of you too." Bang Sihyuk reminded and smiled at the members. They liked having a brotherly relationship with their CEO, it was less formal and more fun.
"Okay, h-hyung." Seungcheol stammered, he still isn't used to this. "Sorry for interrupting but I realised that Chan doesn't have a partner." As soon as he said that, the other members realised it too. Their group had 13 members, not 14 or 12. That meant one of them would have to do this project alone. And that someone just had to be their maknae.
"Ah yes, don't worry Seungcheol. He'll have a partner." Bang Sihyuk informed them, Chan nodded his head, thinking about who his partner is. "Alright, now let me explain what you will do in this project."
"In this project, you'll be raising kids for 6 months." Bang Sihyuk said, looking at their reactions. Everyone's jaw dropped. 𝘜𝘴? 𝘙𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴?! 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘌𝘖𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴? "I know what you're thinking. How can you raise kids when you yourselves are kids. That's why you're not alone on this project, you have your partners to experience this roller-coaster ride with you."
"There are folders in each of your rooms. In your case, Woozi, your folders are in your room in the hyung dorm. In the yellow folder will be information about your kid, or kids, and your 'family.' Yes, all of you will be raising more than one child." Bang Sihyuk confirmed. Jeonghan was about to facepalm himself. 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘥? 𝘔𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. "These children are adopted from orphanages all around South Korea."
"There is also a blue folder containing other information. There will be missions given to each group and you must complete them." The main CEO continued explaining. "I expect you to do well in this project. You'll all move into another apartment with your 'family.' All of you will be living in the same apartment complex and on the same floor. Just in different houses."
"Alright, do you understand so far?" Bang Sihyuk asked for the last time. "Yes." The Seventeen members chorused. "Alright, you may now leave and go back to your dorms and rest. Remember to pack your belongings as you're living there for six whole months. Please read the folders provided for you. You'll be leaving in two days. The folders will 'say' the rest. Have a great day, everyone."
The members bowed and left the office. Seungcheol realised that they all had their head in the clouds. "Okay, everyone go to your room and rest. Remember, read the folders and pack your belongings. Okay?" Everyone just nodded. "Alright, let's go rest."
Seungcheol led the older members back to the dorm. He quickly unlocked the door and let the others inside and locked the door again. He dragged his feet to his room, closed the door and plopped on his bed.
He stared up at the ceiling, dazing for a while. Soon, he felt his eyelids getting heavier. He changed his clothes into more comfortable ones and decided to take a nap. The last thought in his head was:
𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐚 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭?