No More Dream

**** Somewhere in Seoul

A loud crash was met with the hard thud of a body on the floor.

"You piece of filth. You absolute waste of a human being. You repay all that I have given you with this? If I had not seen your mother birth you, I would have long strangled you. Fucking bastard. Look at what you have caused. I told you to keep your actions under control. I told you with the election coming up soon, there was to be no distractions. But what is this shit, huh?" the man ranted as he threw newspaper after newspaper at the sprawled figure of a young man on the floor.

Each newspaper had worse and worse headlines, all speculating and documenting the stunning downfall of President Kang Jin-ho.

"You are worse than a dog, at least a dog will not bite its owner. Before I can even announce my candidacy for re-election, I am being pressured to resign. How am I going to face your grandfather in the afterlife, huh? It has long been the dream of the Kang family to occupy this position and now before even one term is up, I am finished. We are finished. The Kang family is finished. Are you happy now? Fifty years, we have worked hard for fifty years and now it's all gone. Ahh…"

The man deflated and sat back down weakly in his seat. His face lifeless and eyes angry but despondent as if accepting the fate before him.

He then turned to the man hidden in the shadows. "Make preparations for a press conference tomorrow. I will resign."

The man bowed before leaving the room.

The young man, Kang Dong-hyun on the floor and the President Kang Jin-ho. Two generations of the Kang family stayed in the silence of the room each filled with their own thoughts, but both lamented their futures.

******

Min-soo was awoken by the buzzing of a phone. He tried to cover his ears and go back to sleep, but the persistent buzzing would not leave him be. He opened his eyes and answered the phone.

"Min-soo-yah, I heard you are alive and kicking. Why didn't you call me? Don't you love me anymore? Didn't you say we were brothers forever?"

Min-soo immediately recognised that voice, it was none other than his closest friend Nam-joon. It was only then that he realised, the name sounded familiar, as did the voice.

Nam-joon, Nam-joon, Kim Nam-joon? Holy shit, was that not the name of BTS' leader RM?

Putting him on loudspeaker as he continued to whine to Min-soo, he went through his phone and found a picture of him and Nam-joon. Without a doubt, that was RM. He was friends with Kim Nam-joon and was as close as brothers? Normally it would not have been so easy to accept, had he not then realised he had died and been given a second chance. It did not seem so farfetched all things considered.

Realising that Min-soo was not answering him, Nam-joon became even more of a character. "Min-soo-yah, Min-soo-yah come back, please don't follow the light, what would I do without you? Everyday has been so dull without you these past three months, the girls are always asking me where is Min-soo? What do I do now that you're gone? Ah… Min-soo-yah."

Min-soo could not hold himself back anymore. "I'm not dead. Why are you cursing me like that for? I only just woke up from a three-month coma and now you want to put me in a coffin? What sort of brother are you?" he asked indignantly.

Nam-joon only responded with a laugh and teased sheepishly, "Haha, my good brother, so you're alive. Come, come, let's go for a drink. I wasn't lying earlier, the girls really are always asking about you. You know what they say about men with deep pockets?"

Min-soo could only hold his head in despair at Nam-joon's antics. Although he had not been an avid follower of BTS, he had still heard of the peculiarities of Kim Nam-joon but experiencing it for the first time he was not sure whether to laugh or cry. In fact, he was not entirely sure if this Nam-joon and his previous world's Nam-joon were similar at all. After all, what an idol said and did on camera could very well be different in their everyday lives.

Take Lee Seung-hyun better known as Seungri for example, what an absolute disappointment he turned out to be.

Min-soo knew that sometimes the more prettier, the more glamourous something was, the more likely it was hiding something very shady. But that was not to say he always went around with a cynical eye but it served as a lesson to merely temper oneself from exaggerated projections and expectations.

"Sorry, Nam-joon, but I can't. I have to go meet my Grandfather."

"Oh, I'm assuming it has something to do with the Kang's. I heard that President Kang is going to resign soon. What do you think?" Upon mention of his Grandfather, Nam-joon's tone flipped entirely, the previous joking and teasing became an intellectual and guarded one.

Min-soo and Nam-joon had been friends since high school and they had both graduated with top merits both scoring in the top 1% of the university entrance examinations in all topics. As a result, they had ended up at Seoul National University together. Despite all his efforts to shake off Nam-joon, it had only ended with them growing closer.

Nam-joon was from a well to do family, lower-upper class and not on the Lee family level. But the Kim's were still quite well known in Seoul at least, especially since they were the ones that ran a majority of the public transportation network.

He was sure that Nam-joon had been two years older than him, but in this world, they were the same age, he wondered where the other members of BTS were and whether they would be the same or not. This was an interesting new world and he could not wait to go explore it.

Turning back to the conversation with Nam-joon, Min-soo replied perfunctorily, "Well, whether the President resigns or not has nothing to do with me."

"That's not entirely true and you know it. You were a victim of his son's actions, so surely you have an opinion on the matter." He continued to probe.

"Of course, I have an opinion. But whether I should voice it or not, well… I am sure you know the answer to that."

"Haha, as cautious as ever. Min-soo-yah, I really did miss you."

Min-soo felt goose bumps at the cutesy voice of Nam-joon.

"Stop that. Didn't I tell you to never do that. Erghh…"

"But you have to come and drink with me tonight." He continued.

"Fine. Fine." Min-soo capitulated, he could not stand an extra word from his mouth.

Feeling triumphant at achieving what he had set out to do, Nam-joon hurriedly thanked him, "Thank you, thank you, Young Master, now, now I shall not take up anymore of your time. Don't forget same place as usual 9pm tonight. See ya soon."

He hung up before Min-soo could try to weasel his way out. Min-soo laughed, "What a friend."