Namjoon sat confidently at the small cafe table, papers arranged in a neat stack in front of him. This was the moment he'd been working towards all day.

With a grateful nod, he accepted a cup of coffee from a waitress, hastily bringing the beverage to his lips. Exhaustion coated his every move, and he was purely running off of caffeine and the desire to close just one more deal.

All that separated him from bed was one final conversation.

As he waited, Namjoon let his mind wander to the recovering artist he called his friend. Taehyung.

He never gave the boy enough credit throughout his years of knowing the younger. It was easier to classify Taehyung as a reckless person, hungry for attention and acclaim. In the beginning, Namjoon tried to get to know him, but after meeting wall after wall of resistance, he gave up.

Namjoon was going to live with regret for a while. Over the six years of working with Taehyung, he knew the younger was in pain but he never took the time to try and understand. If he had taken one moment to look past the boy's destructive behavior, maybe things would be different today.

There was no point of dwelling on what he did wrong in the past. The important thing was that he learned from those mistakes and was taking active steps to help now.

Both Yoongi and Hoseok agreed with this mindset, having neglected Taehyung through his career as well. All three boys spent hours the previous night talking about how grateful they were for Jungkook, for how the new artist saved Taehyung from a life of despair. They'd always be indebted to Jungkook for that.

So now, waiting in the quiet coffeehouse, Namjoon was working on making things right. And to think his crazy idea was the product of an illicit live recording . . .

Namjoon watched every moment of Jungkook's live the previous night. While he knew Jungkook's and Taehyung's story and commitment to each other, he didn't know Taehyung was working on new lyrics. To say he was stunned when hearing the hopeful tune would be an understatement. The lyrics the younger sang struck a chord within Namjoon, and besides being lyrically deep and thoughtful, the song introduced yet another side of Taehyung to him.

The song introduced - to both Namjoon and the entire world - the man Taehyung had worked so hard to become.

And the people who heard his words liked this person. A lot.

The reception to Taehyung's song - both in the live's comments and social media afterwards - was overwhelming positive. Finally, people felt they were able to relate to Taehyung and they wanted to support him on his journey forward. That response was the very thing Namjoon knew could relaunch the younger's career.

But he also knew the current leadership at Big Hit would never go for it. Many of them, including the CEO, were rigid in their ways and showed no signs of tolerance or forgiveness. They took Taehyung's historic actions as a personal assault and wanted their revenge to be the end of the artist's career. But due to their stubbornness, they failed to see that V was never really the true star. It was the boy behind that mask.

And now they were going to regret this behavior for the rest of their lives.

After Namjoon revealed his idea last night, Yoongi and him spent hours working. They successfully secured a copy of Jungkook's live and parsed out Taehyung's song. The two producers wrote several melodies to possibly accompany the inspiring lyrics, exploring new harmonies and instruments until finding the perfect fit. When they finally finished the entire piece, they had created a song that truly represented who Taehyung was today.

That was great, but Namjoon needed to make sure Big Hit had absolutely zero rights to this new song. During the meeting with Big Hit this afternoon, he got all of the confirmation he needed.

First, he affirmed that Jungkook didnt use Big Hit's equipment to film his live. That was an important thing to verify, and he was very pleased when hearing the younger used personal technology. The second part was making sure Big Hit didn't want any affiliation with the recording. Even though Jungkook didn't use company property to make the live, the company could still claim the recording as their own since it was a product created by their artist. The CEO, however, had been very clear on never wanting that live associated with Big Hit's name. This was all confirmed in writing after the meeting as well.

Which all meant that Taehyung's song belonged to one entity alone: Taehyung.

That gave Namjoon the power to have all the conversations he had earlier today, which also produced the stack of papers in front of him.

"Kim Namjoon, right?" A voice asked in his native language, pulling him from his thoughts.

The producer stood and shook the man's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir."

The man took the seat across from Namjoon. "You're a persistent person, Kim. My assistant said she took a dozen calls from you. I had to cancel a dinner for this, you know."

Namjoon dipped his head slightly before pushing the stack of papers to the man. "This is a matter of utmost importance. And, out of respect for you and your position, I'm giving you an opportunity above all the rest."

The man quickly scanned the papers, eyebrows rising as he did so. He continued flipping through the stack as he spoke up again. "I was brought up to speed on what's been happening with your artists. Seems like a bit of a mess to be honest."

"Those two boys were dealt the short end of the stick, but regardless, they've pulled through as stronger people," Namjoon defended. "I am proud to work with them."

The man arched an eyebrow, leaning back in his chair. "You're trying to save V's career it seems. And based off of all these offers, he could have his pick of the bunch."

Namjoon nodded in affirmation. "And these offers are just from the major record labels in New York. After hearing Inner Child, they wanted to lock down a contract on the spot. You can see how much they're offering. They want to work with Taehyung. They believe in him."

"So why come to me?" The man asked casually, propping a knee up against the table.

"Like I said before, I wanted to show respect for who you were and for your role."

"It seems more like you're trying to bottleneck me into doing something regarding Taehyung." The man's face remained neutral, no signs of any emotion coloring his features.

"These labels believe in him. People are rallying behind him because of his story and his song," the producer explained without flourish. "So I am respectfully asking you to sign Kim Taehyung to your comapny."

"I heard my company just fired Kim Taehyung."

"No, Big Hit fired V, two very separate individuals," Namjoon responded, placing his elbows on the table and leaning forward. "And by now, I'm sure you've also been briefed on how unprofessional your co-CEO handled the situation. I know she handles the business aspect while you focus on the creative production, but she is going to run Big Hit into an early grave."

The man stared back at him, thinking over Namjoon's words. The producer continued while he still had the opportunity to speak.

"And, with all due respect Mr. Bang, I have no doubt in my mind that Big Hit will lose everything because of your co-CEO's actions as well as the inaction of your board of directors."

"So what are you asking me to do, exactly?" The man asked, regarding Namjoon with a curious look.

"You're Bang Si-hyuk. You founded Big Hit Entertainment. Step in now before it's too late for your company. And while you're at it, sign Kim Taehyung as a new artist. Create a company that stands by its talent and is a partner to them. Coach these kids into becoming the best individuals possible. You'll make Big Hit into a legacy if you show how much you respect those who sign under you."

Namjoon pulled out his phone from his pocket, quickly tapping away at the screen. Once he found what he was looking for, he flipped the phone to show Si-hyuk. "This is the media file for Inner Child. I can send this out right now to my media contacts and your chance at working with Taehyung will be gone. But consider, draft up a proposal, and it can be released under Big Hit."

The man laughed, a jarring sound given the situation. "What you're suggesting is that I overthrow half of my company's leadership. If any of my colleagues found out about this conversation, you'd be terminated immediately. So why risk your own career and go through such lengths for this boy?"

"Because I believe in Taehyung. And I will no longer sit back and willingly work for a company that doesn't believe in its own artists."

The two sat in silence as they regarded each other. Namjoon said all he could possibly say and now the rest was out of his hands.

"I knew what you were going to ask of me tonight, Namjoon. So I made my decision before I even walked in here," Si-hyuk stated finally. He took the contract offers and started slowly tearing them up. "As long as he wants to stay with Big Hit - under a new management team, of course - I'd be honored to sign Kim Taehyung to Big Hit."

Namjoon's heart leapt in his chest at those words. He still didn't want to show his hand yet, however. "I was going to present Taehyung with those offers."

Si-hyuk laughed heartedly. "I will make sure to beat out any offer another record label would have given him. And I'll allow him to have more freedom then those companies would've granted as well. I'll make sure of it."

"I'll need an offer immediately," Namjoon said, a warm smile starting to pull his lips up. "I want this done before we leave New York tomorrow."

The older man rose from his seat, a smile on his face. "Oh, you'll be getting a number of offers from me within the next few hours, Namjoon."

The two shook hands and the producer fought to keep his gleeful laughs in. While this was the outcome he hoped and prayed for, he didn't think it'd ever come to fruition.

As they walked to the door, the CEO made one last comment to Namjoon. "You might want to get to the concert hall. I heard the fans were quite supportive of Taekook tonight."

Namjoon looked at him in confusion. "Taekook?"

"What?" The man said with an innocent smile. "I think it has a nice ring to it."

And as Bang Si-hyuk left Namjoon, the producer found himself agreeing.

It sure did have a nice ring to it.

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