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Well this was a logistical hurdle. In this defence, Bobby never expected that the mid signing session break buffet would need to feed eight idols instead of three. He could get it fixed though. Fixing things was his greatest skill. That and logistics of any kind.
However, he needed to check for the allergies and possible food preferences. Which was an issue when the manager of the Saja Boys was nowhere in sight. Which was very irresponsible in his humble opinion. You can't just let your idols be alone in a huge crowd of rabid fans! It was bad management. And from what Bobby has seen — or better said hasn't seen — of their manager, he was beyond unimpressed.
But right now, he needed a person with some level of authority over the Saja Boys. So he went to the signing table and politely requested Jinu to come backstage for just a moment.
"Is there an issue?" he questioned, clearly noticing the slight twitchiness in Bobby.
"Not anything unsolvable, it's just that this food is not enough for all eight of you so…"
Jinu looked between him and the long table, set up with various dishes, with a raised eyebrow, before interrupting. "Just soak the rice in water. Hot is better but cold can also do. It would absorb it and inflate, and make a smaller portion more filling."
Bobby blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. The words spun around his brain like disoriented migratory birds. Yes, he supposed they could do that, and yes, it would make the available rice maybe somewhat enough for eight people. But it would also be a crime against rice, food, and anything sacred. His halmeoni, might she rest in peace, would fall ill at the thought of desecrating perfectly cooked rice like that. And the girls! He always made sure they had the best food available. He was not one of those managers feeding their idols gruel. No, Bobby could not live with himself if he ever did such crimes against rice and proper idol management.
"Oh, no, no, no, don't worry!" he scrambled to explain. He didn't need this misunderstanding to spiral out of control either, and result in unfortunate rumors about how Huntrix were mismanaged. "I'll take care of it, you don't have to worry. I just wanted to check if there are any allergies or food preferences with your members?"
Jinu shook his head, brows drawn together slightly.
Bobby shifted from one foot to the other, taking it as a bad sign. "Everything will be perfectly taken care of, no need to soak rice at all!" he reassured, trying to get his point across.
"I guess." Jinu seemed uneasy, eyes glossing over for just a moment. "It's just what we did where I am from."
"Oh, I see. And where are you from?"
Truth be told, it was none of Bobby's business. And he did not want to be intrusive or anything like that. But the question came out before he could even muster the willpower to stop. For the life of him, he couldn't think of a single place where that was the norm. And sure, Bobby didn't know the local tradition of every single city, town, and village in the country, but he really doubted it was that common anywhere. Maybe in some underprivileged area?
"Kaesong." Jinu replied simply before taking a look over his shoulder at the curtain that separated the back stage of the area from the main signing spot. "If you'll excuse me…"
"Yes, of course, apologies for taking you away, thank you for the input!"
Jinu nodded politely before going back to the hoards of screaming fans.
Alright, so time to call catering and put in an emergency order. Increase the buffet capacity, triple the side dishes, more rice, certainly not done in Kaesong style and…
Wait.
Wait a moment.
Bobby's tablet dropped out of his hands, hitting the ground with a loud clank. He couldn't even bother to check it for damage, not when his mind was whirling.
…Kaesong.
Kaesong.
KAESONG?!
Now Bobby might have been a national champion in geography before leaving his usual school to go into idol training but even if he wasn't, it didn't take an expert to know where Kaesong was.
Reality hit him like a pile of bricks.
Of course!
That explained so much. The fact that Jinu and his band mates materialized seemingly out of thin air. Their lack of experience with technology. The fact that one of them was perfectly fine with gulping down hot sauce like it was the best meal of his life.
A wave of determination washed over Bobby as he picked up his fallen tablet — which, luckily, was intact, barely a single scratch on it — and double checked the emergency contact of his go to caterer. Then he picked his phone and dialed the number, straightening his back.
He was going to feed those boys the best meal of their lives.
"Rumi?"
"Yeah?"
"Pardon my language but what the fuck is North Korea?"
Rumi winced, looking at her totally-not-boyfriend-simply-enemy-demon-who-she-had-hearts-to-hearts-on-rooftops-under-the-moonlight.
"We don't have time to unpack all that."
The hiatus was good for everyone. Both the girls and the team got some rest, as they were recovering from the madness of the last few weeks. Bobby intended to surprise the girls with an in house BBQ stand. He already had it delivered downstairs. He just needed to tell them about it.
He was just about to cross the hall and enter the living room when a piece of conversation reached his ears.
"…. shame for those missing people who died."
Bobby froze where he stood, leaning slightly against the wall for support.
Pardon?
"We did our best." it was Mira's voice that came through. "In the grand scheme of things, we did stop the Demon King from eating everyone's souls."
"Yeah," there was a slight hesitation in Rumi's voice. "Still sometimes I feel like I could have done better."
"Don't be so harsh on yourself!" this time it was Zoey. "There was a lot of chaos."
Mira hummed affirmatively. "Yeah, it was batshit crazy stuff."
"Plus it's good that you got Jinu to join in last minute and help!" Zoey insisted, her tone a clear attempt to cheer up the drowsy mood.
"Heh yeah. I guess that's an extra someone we saved."
Bobby leaned against the wall, trying his best to process what he just heard. It seemed so nonsensical at first, sentences that, while not outright wrong, and had no logic and yet…
Suddenly, reality began unfolding in his mind eye, every loose end, every strange occurrence gaining clarity, making every puzzle piece fall into place.
The budget. The skyscraper in central Seoul. The private jets, with clearance to fly everywhere and that were getting destroyed more often than it was safe or normal. The random disappearances. The injuries that they tried to hide under their make up that Bobby never truly had the courage to ask about.
And their idol training. It was not in the city, it was in a remote location under Celine. It must have served a double purpose. Teaching them how to be the perfect idols to maintain their cover. And Celine herself… well. She was after all, fiercely competent. And the most terrifying person Bobby had ever met. And he had been an idol in the early 2000s, he knew plenty of terrifying people. It made perfect sense that she was a handler for NIS.
The girls' conversation replied again in his mind. Code. They must have been speaking in code. 'Demon King' and 'Eat everyone's souls'. Those were pretty obvious. And what was that about Jinu helping last minute? A code for defection maybe? Yes, that made most sense.
Of course. He hasn't even considered it, not even for a second. Who would even think of that as a first explanation when taking into account everything? Not him that was for sure. And he understood, of course he did. Much greater things were at stake here than Huntrix's success. The whole country's security was at stake!
Bobby made a mental note to start stocking up on medical supplies for them. He had all intentions to remain a great manager, even if the idols he was managing were deep cover agents.
Now back to that BBQ surprise.
Zoey looked at Mira who looked at Rumi who looked down at Jinu's reflection in the blade of her sword.
It has been about five minutes and fifteen seconds since they revealed to Bobby the existence of demons and the Honmoon, and he had went completely catatonic, eyes lost somewhere far away, looking as if he was revaluating everything he knew.
Which, in all fairness, was an understandable reaction.
Still the three of them and the Jinu possessed sword, were analysing whether or not they should leave him to process some more or intervene before he got lost far too deep in his thoughts.
"Well…" Bobby began startling all three and half of them into paying full attention to him. "This is actually reassuring."
"Reassuring." Mira repeated, enunciating the word as if she just heard it for the first time.
Bobby gave the girls a smile full of relief. "Yes, it's much better than what I imagined."
"What you… imagined?" Zoey asked in a small voice, glancing at the her fellow band mates, unsurely of where this was going.
"Ah yeah." Bobby rubbed the back of his neck shepily. "You know, the possible Second Korean War."
There was a moment of silence.
"The what now?"