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Rivalry.
It has existed for millions of years and has been present in relationships of all living things. It can take many forms, from stealing a predator’s meal to subtweeting on twitter. It’s born out of a number of factors that all contribute to the degree of pettiness it gets.
For Huening Kai’s case, he had a known rivalry with Choi Soobin. Both were known as up and coming actors, just having starred in TV shows and some films. They were really getting close to being famous. However, people were noticing how their actions towards each other were not really friendly, you could even label it as hostile. They were even dubbed as the Tom and Jerry of the acting world.
In their own definitions, they were each other’s antagonists.
Case #1
Kai sits on his lounging chair, just having finished a photoshoot for a brand deal he had gotten. He whips out his phone to post a tweet about the behind the scenes photos. Upon posting it, he locks his phone and smiles at the instant burst of notifications he receives.
He hurriedly checks them, laughing at the comments of his supporters freaking out.
He peeps the timeline, enjoying the attention he’s getting when suddenly his eyes zone on in one tweet. A tweet specifically from Choi Soobin.
Kai’s nostrils flame up in annoyance. It wasn’t even a question to whom this tweet was directed at. He hastily tweets out a comeback, smashing the ‘send tweet’ button a little too fiercely.
Not even a minute later, Soobin jabs back with another subtweet at him.
They continue their back and forth the whole day, with their fans already used to their constant twitter wars.
They’ve tried coming up with theories as to why these two has this petty rivalry, such as they were enemies since acting school, or they were old lovers, or that they maybe because they had stolen a brand deal or acting job from each other. But alas, no evidence has been concrete enough to give them an idea on what the truth really is.
Kai also likes taking advantage of the fact that Soobin was one of those celebrities who posts cheesy 2012 tumblr emo tweets.
Case #2
They had been both invited to the screening of a new Bong Joon Ho film which had a small party afterwards. This was very important for them, especially for Kai since one of the directors he had always wanted to work with was Bong Joon Ho.
The screening went fine but it all went to hell when they got to the after party. Both of them were not informed that the other was going to be attending at all so seeing each other at the party was a surprise.
Soobin struts across the hall, placing his sunglasses on his face and giving Kai a smirk. “Huening Kai? The party just started why is the cleaning crew already here?”
Kai grimaces upon seeing the other boy.
He rolls his eyes at Soobin’s words, “Oh Soobin, nice to see you. I was wondering why all the birds had stopped singing.” He laughs, looking at the accessory on Soobin’s face. “You look like a fucking idiot by the way, wearing those sunglasses at night.”
Soobin’s eyebrow twitches as he snatches his sunglasses off his face to store it in his suit pocket. “It’s called fashion, darling, something you just don’t know about.”
“Oh, I don’t? Then tell me why are most of my current brand deals from fashion companies?”
“Because they know that you really need fashion advice.” Soobin smirks at him before moving on to get a drink from one of the butlers. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go and talk to more relevant people.”
“I hope they’re bringing some tampons then.”
“Why?”
“Cause’ they’re gonna be dealing with a huge cunt.” Kai immediately darts off, hearing Soobin curse him from behind.
After Soobin had finally left him alone, Kai strolls around the party, greeting other celebrities and taking in all the rich people food with all these weird ass names.
Later, he spots Bong Joon Ho, finally separated from a crowd as he looked for some food on the table. He makes his way to him, wanting to talk about if he can star in a movie of his in the future.
However, his plan was cut short when he suddenly felt liquid splashing from behind him, soaking his white top with the red substance.
He smells the familiar scent of wine before turning back to see the suspect. He sees Soobin smirking at him, “Oops, my bad!”
“Soobin, what the hell?” He raises his voice, gesturing at his $50000 white prada shirt now soaked with the fermented grape drink.
Soobin pouts at him, “Ah, it was an accident, Huening-ah.” He moves closer to Kai and leans down to his ear to whisper. “Enjoy looking like a used tampon in front of Bong Joon Ho.” He lets out a throaty laugh before fleeing the scene.
Kai could only smile sheepishly at Bong Joon Ho who saw the whole thing.
‘I will get you back for this, Choi Soobin.’
Case #3
“According to an anonymous source, Choi Soobin, star of hit series ‘Magic Island’, is seen having coffee with a mysterious female companion.”
Kai giggles upon seeing the headline on the article. He wishes his name could have been on the headline but ‘anonymous source’ is fine as well. It’s not his fault that he just happened to see Soobin while he was out getting a coffee. His hand just slipped anyways when he had sent that anonymous tip to those paparazzi about Soobin’s whereabouts.
The reactions were insane. The fans went crazy over seeing him date someone anonymously. Memes after memes after memes were made about the situation. It was even trending worldwide on twitter.
Days later, Kai gets a text from no other than Soobin himself.
Kai grimaces at his phone. He can’t believe his plan had backfired on him.
Kai can feel his blood boiling upon reading his text. He angrily sends a bunch of middle finger emojis before blocking the number and tossing his phone to the table. Why did that bother him so much?
His phone buzzes again, and when he peers over it, he notices a notification from a direct message on twitter.
Kai rolls his eyes and ignores the other. He had to get back to him in some way. And so, the back and forth fighting continued with these two for a while, which eventually got the attention of Kai’s manager, Yeonjun.
Enough is enough and they needed an intervention.
“Kai, you need to stop fighting with Soobin! Do you know how many phone calls I get from reporters asking what’s the beef between you two? One of your brand deals almost fired you, I had to beg for them to reconsider!”
They were currently on Yeonjun’s car heading off to somewhere that Kai didn’t know because Yeonjun wouldn’t tell him.
“Well tell them we do have beef!” He says before gasping dramatically. “OMYGOD! I should write a diss track on him! Do you think it’s a good idea? I think it’s a good idea.” Kai excitedly gushes, propping his legs on the car seat.
Yeonjun slapped the wheel in annoyance, “You dumbass! Do you think more chaos is gonna make it better? And while a disstrack does sound tempting…” He admits, adjusting his tie a bit, “It’ll just do more harm than good to your career—to both of your careers actually!”
Kai puffs out in exasperation. “One of these days hyung, you’re gonna allow me to write a disstrack I swear to god…”
“When did this rivalry start again? Can’t you both just talk it out or something?”
Kai shrugs. They had fought for so long now that he had forgotten what really started this mess in the first place. “I don’t know, but I’m sure Soobin definitely started it.”
Yeonjun sighs. “You should at least try, Kai. Promise me alright?”
The words hang around in the air for a while as Kai mulls it over. Eventually he hums out in agreement, looking out the window seeing unfamiliar buildings.
“Are you finally gonna tell me where we’re going?”
“Ah…sure. You’re gonna star in a new TV Show! And we are going to a meeting about it right now.” Yeonjun says carefully, scared to see what the other’s reaction would be.
“WHAT?” Kai whips his head back to Yeonjun. “Why didn’t you tell me? Shouldn’t I have a say in this?”
“You do, we just wanted to make it a surprise for you.”
“Wait, what do you mean ‘we’?”
Yeonjun smirks at him, pulling up to a parking space. “You’ll find out. Now let’s head inside, they must be waiting for us.”
Kai doesn’t know why but he feels a little bit anxious about this. Something was definitely off. The building was a legit TV channel company though so that rules out a possible kidnapping. But why was Yeonjun acting so skittish about this?
He can only follow him like a puppy as they go through hallways before finally stopping in front of a door with a label that said ‘Meeting Room’.
Yeonjun turns back and gives him a guilty smile. “Promise you won’t fire me over this alright?”
Kai could only give him a quizzical look before being dragged inside the room. He was met with multiple pair of eyes, one of them belonging to none other than Choi Soobin.
‘Now why the hell was Soobin here?’
Beside his rival he also spots Soobin’s manager, Kang Taehyun. He’s actually a chill guy who Kai has hung out with plenty of times. It was hard to believe that he was handling a demon like Soobin.
Soobin looked at him with an equally confused expression. “Can someone please tell me who invited the male counterpart of Cruella De Vil but the uglier and more evil version?”
Kai snorts. “I could ask the same to you. If you’re here then who’s ringing the bells of Notre Dame?”
“Alright that’s enough.” Yeonjun raises his voice, looking at Kai sternly. “We are here to discuss something important. So, if you can, please stop with your childish antics and listen to the network executive here with us.”
Kai and Soobin blushes and mutters their apologies, holding their heads down.
The network executive walks up to the front of the table, sitting down on his chair. “Thank you for that, Mr. Choi.” He nods gratefully to him. “Now, let’s get down to business. I want the two of you to be on a new series we’re producing.”
Soobin and Kai’s eyes simultaneously bulge out in shock.
“WAIT WHAT NOW?”
“US? WORKING TOGETHER ON A SHOW?”
“Oh, you guys won’t just be working together, you’ll be co-stars.” The network executive responds blankly, opening his briefcase to retrieve some papers.
“You’re crazy if you think I’m ever gonna work with Big Bird over there.” Kai mumbles, crossing his arms.
Soobin rolls his eyes, propping his chin up on his hand on the table. “I agree. A monkey would be a better co-star than him.”
“Stop it! You’re both so terrible at roasting each other.” Taehyun steps in. “This show is obviously a big opportunity for you both and with your status as actors, this might propel you to greater heights.”
Soobin ponders for a moment. Taehyun has a point though, can they really afford to be picky when currently the both of them are just getting some small brand deals? It might be worth working with an insufferable douchebag to open up doors in the future.
Yeonjun clears his throat, “Also, this could prove who is the better actor between you two.” He says in a challenging tone.
“Fine, I’ll do it.” Soobin speaks up.
Kai looks at him incredulously. “What? You’re okay with this?”
“Yeah, I mean, I would never work with with you in a million years but Taehyun is right. If this helps my career, then I’m in.” Soobin smirks at his still shocked face. “Plus, I get to show the world how better I am at acting than you.”
Kai glares at him, “Fine. I’m doing it as well. It just means I get to be front row to see you embarrass yourself to the whole world.”
Both managers look at each other in relief. ‘That was almost too easy.’
The network executive smiles gleefully at them. “Alright, that’s great! Let’s just go over your contracts here and we can get started with planning and the table read.”
Both actors messily scribble their signature on the contract, too busy glaring at each other to read the contract properly.
“What is this show about, anyways?” Soobin inquires. Suddenly, he had a bad feeling about this.
The network executive smirks at them, putting the contract inside his briefcase.
“Oh, it’s a BL series.”
Soobin chokes on his spit, staring at him in disbelief.
Kai twists his head quizzically. “What’s a BL?”
Yeonjun leans to whisper in his ear. "Boys love. It's a gay series."
This poor kid.
Kai blushes deeply. “Oh.”
“Are you planning on backing down now?” Yeonjun asks, feeling a bit guilty for springing this on Kai.
Kai shakes his head, surprising everyone in the room. His gaze settles on Soobin across from him, making him gulp nervously.
“Are you kidding? This just makes the challenge more interesting.”