Chapter Text
Merriam-Webster Word of the Day:
Confection (kun-FEK-shun)
Noun. A sweet prepared food item made to be eaten as a treat.
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“Sir, we have arrived at your destination,” the driver-slash-manager notified his passenger.
“Thank you. Just drop me off here. I will just call you later if need be,” the person at the back replied.
The male passenger disembarked from the vehicle and headed straight inside the restaurant which, according to the information he received, should be exclusively rented for tonight’s special meeting.
As soon as he entered the dining place, the staff’s greetings were diluted by the noise coming from the crowd he was supposed to meet. Thankfully, the staff were gracious enough to escort him to the designated table where the persons he was meeting were seated.
As soon as he emerged from behind the walls, the unruly crowd noticed his presence
“CEO Daniel is here!” a maniacal screech from the younger main vocalist filled the place.
“Jaehwannie, control your volume please,” the ever-calm and collected singer-actor reminded.
“Just let him be, Minhyun. You know how he always is,” the eldest and leader sighed.
“Jisung-hyung is right. I am slightly amazed how his vocal cords could accommodate the everyday strain,” the second eldest just shook his head.
“Sungwoon-hyung, make room for Daniel-hyung,” the youngest Korean in the room instructed.
“Daehwi, you also move a bit for Daniel-hyung,” the main dancer slash main rapper told his label mate.
“Stop moving towards me, Woojin. Only Daehwi and Sungwoon-hyung need to adjust their seating positions,” the national wink boy and the other half of the pink sausage team whined.
“He just wants to be a bit closer to you, Jihoon-hyung,” the person with the smallest face teased.
“Is that true, Jinyoung-hyung? After all this time?” the maknae reacted from the specially installed TV and camera set just for the occasion.
“Okay, settle down, Kuanlin-ah, Jinyoung-ah. Now that we are all here, we can start the celebration,” the mood-maker of the group took things back on track.
“Thank you for that, Seongwu-hyung,” the newly-arrived CEO giggled at the familiar atmosphere. “By the way… Happy Debut Anniversary, everyone!”
Yes, you’ve read that right. It was Wanna One’s debut anniversary. That was the reason for this extremely rare exclusive gathering of the Wanna One members.
“Time really flew fast, huh?” Jisung reminisced while enjoying their meal and different kinds of confection. “It seems like yesterday when we first officially appeared to the public as eleven, all energetic and burning furiously on top of the stage.”
“I’m also proud of how everyone is doing since we took our separate ways. Everyone’s careers just turned on like bright light despite our initial worries,” Minhyun commented.
"Everything that has happened since was all beautiful,” Daehwi said.
“And just like we promised, we boomerang back to each other every debut anniversary,” Woojin pointed out.
“Well, there is still one promise that we still haven’t fulfilled,” Daniel caught everyone’s attention.
“Which promise, hyung?” Jihoon, ranked number 2, asked ranked number 1 Daniel.
“The spring breeze hasn’t passed yet,” Daniel answered poetically.
Daniel’s statement was easily understood by the other ten members.
“We already fulfilled that promise a long time ago when we performed at MAMA 2021,” Sungwoon pointed out.
“Nope. It was only partially fulfilled,” Daniel shook his head.
Kuanlin sighed from the screen, “It wasn’t completely fulfilled since I wasn’t there, right?”
“Nonsense! We even released Beautiful (Part.3) with Kuanlin. We fulfilled the promise,” Seongwu insisted.
“Even that only fulfilled the promise incompletely,” Daniel mentioned.
“And exactly why is that, hyung?” Jinyoung wanted clarification.
“Okay, let me explain,” Daniel took a deep breath. “Our final comeback song, Spring Breeze, promised our fans to meet them again as complete Wanna One in the flesh. When we performed in MAMA 2021, we met Wannables in person but only as a ten-membered group. On the other hand, when we released Beautiful (Part.3), while all eleven of us participated in the recording of the song, we did not perform nor promote the song in person. Thus, in both cases, the promise was not completed in its entirety.”
“If you really think about it that way, Daniel has a point,” Minhyun, the unofficial intellectual of the group, agreed with the explanation.
“That is why Wannables are now starting to believe in “Kuanlin’s curse”,” Daniel chuckled.
“Kuanlin’s curse? Why me? What does it have to do with me?” the eponymous member was caught off guard.
“Also referred to as ‘Maknae’s curse’, ‘Kuanlin’s curse’ started from your final statement during our final concert according to the fandom,” Daniel elaborated.
“What did I say exactly?” Kuanlin was digging deep into his memories.
“Your final statement back then verbatim and I quote: ‘As soon as I leave, I don't think that the eleven of us will be able to appear as Wanna One again. So as the first person leaving, I will be hugging the hyungs one by one. Wannables! I hope you will be happy! Thank you!” Daniel needed the help of his phone for the exact words.
“What about it?” Jaehwan was clueless.
“I explicitly stated that Wanna One will never be complete again as soon as I left the stage,” Kuanlin’s tone was laced with guilt.
“Exactly. That is why, according to fans, ‘Kuanlin’s curse’ means that Wanna One will never be complete unless Kuanlin is present. A ‘Nothing Without You’ kind of situation,” Daniel continued to explain. “They even provided ‘evidence’ for this. Remember when only Jaehwannie-hyung, Jihoonie, Woojinie, Jinyoungie, and Daehwi performed our songs during KCon:Tact Season 2. Or during ISAC 2020 when only Sungwoon-hyung, Jaehwannie-hyung, Jihoonie, and Daehwi appeared. Or during ISAC 2022 when only Sungwoon-hyung, Jaehwannie-hyung, Woojinie, Jinyoungie, and Daehwi were present. And the ultimate evidence was MAMA 2021 when only Kuanlinie was absent.”
“Oh, wow. Now that I know about it, it does make a lot of sense. Maybe I did jinx our chances at a reunion,” Kuanlin was convinced.
“Don’t blame yourself about anything, Kuanlin-ah. We all know you really wanted to join the reunion performance but the pandemic stopped you from doing so,” Jisung reassured the youngest. “Going back to the topic, what is your point in bringing this up tonight, Euigeon?”
“I’m just saying it’s about time for the spring breeze to finally pass once and for all,” Daniel replied indirectly.
“Am I thinking what you’re thinking?” Minhyun was quick to get the gist while the rest were still clueless.
“What? What is Daniel talking about?” Seongwu was looking around for a clarification.
“I’m thinking about permanently reuniting Wanna One under Konnect Entertainment,” Daniel came clean with his intentions.
The rest of the Wanna One remained frozen in their positions for a few moments after Daniel dropped the bombshell.
“Niel-ah… The idea of a permanent reunion is nice and I know you are capable of doing so since you are the CEO of your own company, but I don’t think it would work especially since all of us are still in contract with our respective agencies,” Jisung chose to be the voice of reason.
“Don’t worry. I already have a plan for this. Should all of you agree with the idea of a permanent reunion, I will exert utmost effort to convince each of your agencies to get on board,” Daniel vowed.
“I like to be Wanna One again,” Kuanlin was first to voice out his opinion after a long silence.
“See? Kuanlin likes the idea so the curse won’t be a problem somehow,” Daniel tried to negotiate.
“Well, I don’t see why not?” Jaehwan finally agreed.
“Only if you can convince my agency,” Minhyun stated.
“My agency as well,” Seongwu took the same stance as Minhyun.
“We won’t know unless we try,” Sungwoon was positive.
“Count me in,” Jihoon responded
While the rest already gave some form of approval, Woojin, Jinyoung, and Daehwi were still quiet.
“Woojinie, Jinyoungie, Daehwi… I know you are concerned with your current groups but trust me, I already have a plan for that also,” Daniel reassured the three.
“If you say so, hyung,” Daehwi mumbled.
“I will trust you on this, Daniel-hyung,” Jinyoung nodded.
“I would like to see where this will all lead us,” Woojin said.
Looking around the table, Jisung sighed, “If everyone is fine with it, then I might as well join the fun.”
With approval from his members, Daniel already had his sights on the target, aiming for the impossible.