This was probably the one place in the whole building that Taewoo absolutely hated to be in: the CEO's Office. Every time he had one of these damn 'Performance Reviews' he got jittery and nervous and became clumsy -- and he was usually NEVER clumsy. Just on his way up he'd bumped into three people, accidentally kicked Aya in the shins twice, got ink on his shirt (though Aya carried a spare, he didn't dare ask why, but he was grateful all the same) and even tripped over his own feet. Once he was outside the office, his mouth went dry and Aya left him after a comforting sort of pat on the shoulder.

It felt more like she was sending him off to a firing squad.

Though Taewoo liked to wear comfortable clothes in his spare time, he took the effort to wear a pressed dress shirt, nice jacket, and tailored slacks. It was not as formal as most of the staff could get when meeting with the CEO, but wearing a tie would have been too stifling when he was feeling this wretched as it was. When the receptionist waved him into the office with a smile and told him to wait inside for the CEO, he swallowed loudly and slipped into the office.

The black and white decor always made him feel uncomfortable, like he was sitting in one of those weird, surrealist paintings. He always expected the clock to be melting off the wall or for the floor to start warping on him. Unable to sit down and wait patiently, he paced for a few minutes and quickly formed a list of all the things he'd said or did that could have possibly gotten him in trouble. When he ran out of fingers on his hands to count on, he whined in frustration and gave up. Who was he kidding? He didn't just have his hand in the cookie jar, he had his whole head in it.

In an effort to calm down, the idol looked around the office and spotted one of those weird little balancing toys. Taewoo edged toward it and gave it a prod...only to have it fall apart in his hands. He inhaled sharply through his teeth and tried to put it back together just as the door started to open.

"Oh shhhii--"

The upset toy was quickly abandoned so he could bow to the CEO upon his entrance and greet him. He could only hope this review would be gentle.

Jaehwan always looked forward to performance reviews. His busy schedule usually kept him a bit more disconnected from his talent employees than he would have liked. These reviews gave him the opportunity to sit down with them and personally ask them how they were doing, if they liked the direction they were going in, and what or where they wanted to go next. The comfort levels of his talent employees was very important to Jaehwan. After all, without them, Epika would cease to exist. It was a talent company - it thrived it its employees thrived.

The CEO took a moment to adjust his purple and blue plaid tie before the receptionist, stopping only when she gave him the OK. He smiled at her and dipped his head in gratitude before he opened the door to his office and stepped in. A very startled Hunter jerked around to greet him with a bow and Jaehwan dipped his head in return, his smile still softening his lips. He could just barely see the little mess Taewoo had gotten himself into, which prompted a raised brow and nothing more. By now he knew the habits of the young star. A collapsed puzzle was nothing to be concerned about, though Jaehwan earnestly wished that the man would learn not to touch things that were not his.

Long, powerful strides quickly brought him around to the other side of his desk. He dropped down in his chair then lifted a hand to gesture for Hunter to do the same. It was obvious the other male was quite nervous about this meeting though Jaehwan couldn't imagine why. Hunter wasn't in trouble - this was a standard review of his performance, nothing more. Though there was usually a long list of things to chide Hunter on, as of that moment Jaehwan had only good things on his mind. He was most interested to know how the filming for the drama was going - it wasn't often that his musical artists broke into acting and when they did he was always eager to see the results.

Jaehwan didn't speak immediately, even as Hunter sat. Instead he surveyed the other man for several moments, his brow crinkled in contemplation. The boy had sure cleaned up nice for this meeting. That was definitely a plus. After he was satisfied with making Hunter squirm a bit, Jaehwan leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers together. He offered a warm smile, "It's been a while, Taewoo-ah. Since we've been able to speak like this, I mean. Is everything well?" It was a general question, meant to help the boy relax.

Taewoo shot the collapsed balancing toy a look out of the corner of his eye before immediately refocusing on the CEO, a bit embarrassed...but managing to control his face well enough. Act innocent, all he had to do was pretend like he'd done nothing wrong! Of course, the list of things he'd done wrong was pretty much endless...and that was just for this month. Would Jaehwan bring up that model he dumped and how she tried to make a big scene? Or the pictures of him leaving that club sort-of-kind-of (REALLY) drunk? Or maybe that thing he'd done in the cafeteria...you know, that thing. Maybe he ought to come clean about everything in one go, he was never good at lying and sneaking around.

...On second thought, maybe it was best to keep his mouth shut and see what Jaehwan asked him first. When he was allowed to sit, he did so with a faint, weak looking grin that was still a bit uncomfortable. It wasn't that Jaehwan wasn't nice...quite the contrary, for the past eight years Taewoo had looked upon the man as sort of a...surrogate father of a sort -- which was part of the problem. Being in this room, having a performance review, just reminded him of his step-father and how proud of him he was not.

When the CEO did not immediately start questioning him, Taewoo began to fidget slightly in his seat, avoiding looking at the older man, self-consciously smoothing down what felt like a rogue cowlick, and trying very, very hard not to look and see if he was sweating through his shirt. When the wait was finally over, he let out a heavy breath that he hadn't realized he was holding and pursed his lips. Was this a trick question? It was a trick question, wasn't it?!

"Ne...Everything is...uh...fine? I mean--it's good! It's going good. It's been busy...but...ahaha...you already know that, President..." It occurred to Taewoo that he might take this opportunity to ask for something he wanted...the words were there, but he couldn't quite get them out. The idol frowned a bit to himself and stayed quiet after he'd said his piece. He never knew what was going to sound ungrateful or not and while he was usually quite selfish, he was careful not to be a brat around the CEO.

Jaehwan quirked an eyebrow as he watched the boy stammer through his words. He always found his encounters with Taewoo quite entertaining. The star was young but charismatic, often providing a manly image that caused thousands upon thousands of fan girls and women to swoon. Then there was this childish part of his personality that reminded Jaehwan of his youngest son – though not in a good way. He had a theory about this of course. Taewoo was one of the few older male talent employees that had yet to complete their military service. Jaehwan often found the transformation from boys to men following the service to be quite dramatic. He himself had been an exceptionally shallow-minded individual prior to entering the military. Two years later he had emerged, level-headed, and, sadly, quite a bit calmer. He knew it was a bit different for idols of course. Jaehwan had seen many idols through their service only to have them return just as they were before. The military had a tendency to treat them lightly – after all, idols were what fueled South Korea’s entertainment industry.

Taewoo’s time would come eventually; probably closer to his thirties when it would be time for him to retire from singing. That was why Jaehwan had insisted the boy be pushed into the acting world. Musical artists had a tendency to fade after their age peaked but actors remained usually for as long as they wished. Taewoo had talent. He was a multi-faceted individual and represented the very reason why Jaehwan continued in this line of business. He loved the boy like a son, despite all of the trouble he managed to get himself into. Then again, that was why Ayane was there – to harness the young man until he learned to reign himself back in.

”I had the pleasure of watching your Abandoned filming just the other night. It took me a while to get to it, so I apologize. You went on quite the adventure.” Jaehwan smiled gently. Though the mass public might be oblivious, he knew that Taewoo had quite possibly not enjoyed his time in Japan as much as he let on. ”I hope you got to spend some extra time vacationing in Japan before you returned here.” He shifted his weight lightly in his seat, the smile still tugging at his lips, ”However, I am most interested to learn about your new drama. I hear filming starts next week?”

Taewoo tried to avoid thinking about completing his military service. He didn't want to go! Who would want to spend two whole years in the army away from good food and girls and drinks and...well, his sister. He already didn't get to see her enough as it was because of his hectic schedule and his step-father's banning him from the house, but if he went to the army he wouldn't be able to see her at all, he'd only be able to send letters. It just wouldn't be the same. And, of course, giving up the life of an idol in order to enlist didn't sit well with him either. He liked his life the way it was!

So they might have to drag him kicking and screaming to enlist (he'd do it...eventually) and no one was going to be able to tell how he'd be when he got out. Though it was possible that he'd mature a little bit, it was also entirely possible that he wouldn't change much at all. As for his career...he hadn't quite realized that there was a time where his music career might head into a decline -- he just thought the acting gig was to make him and his music more popular. Taewoo hadn't thought much about the future and the fact that he was heading into his mid-twenties and would then (gasp) be in his thirties.

"Ne.." Taewoo muttered with a bit of a face, obviously not pleased with what they'd made him do on the show. Not quite able to resist complaining, he huffed and scowled. "I'm not eating any more sushi! I won't do it. I was sick right after the show! And the sushi looked the same in reverse--how is that natural?" He cleared his throat when his mini-rant was done and shook his head slightly, perhaps disappointed. "We didn't get to do anything. I had to do an event and then we left right after to make it back in time for the script reading."

Obviously, once he got started talking he felt a bit more comfortable (now that he was fairly sure he wasn't going to get in trouble for something on the list of misdeeds he'd compiled in his head) and nodded to the CEO's words.

"Ne...We're starting filming next week by the river. Are you going to come...?" It was a casual question, but the way he was looking at Jaehwan was a bit hopeful, almost as if he were asking his father to come to a school event. He could never actually say 'please come' to the CEO because he was busy and everything, but seeing as it was his first drama, his first acting gig, EVER...he kind of wanted the man who helped him get the role to be there to see the first scenes being filmed.

Jaehwan broke out into hearty laughter at Taewoo's little outburst, his rising cheeks indenting the crows feet nestled around his eyes to give him a somewhat Asian-santa look. The jovial expression on his face mingled lightly with the disappointment one might find on a father's face - a look that suggested while he felt Hunter's pain, he expected more from the male in terms of dedication. The expectations of Hunter's fans were nothing compared to what Jaehwan desired of the male. The singer was Epika's top grossing artist, but Jaehwan was not adverse to ripping him from the spotlight should any of his disgruntled comments actually become public. The recent bout of news concerning his artists had Jaehwan a bit unsettled. Kyungmin Han of Etcetera had caused quite a stir with his Korean girls comment - Jaehwan was already beginning to see a miniature Hunter in that boy and he was loathe to admit that he had caused part of the younger boy's transformation.

Still, the fact that Hunter had managed to choke down the sushi and maintain face was enough to keep Jaehwan from mentioning anything further about it. Instead, as his laughter died, Jaehwan focused in on Hunter's next question, a twinkle in his eye. Jaehwan's brow raised slightly, "Well, there are no guarantees of course, but I would very much like to attend, if even for a little while." Even though Jaehwan was not a mind reader, he understood just how important it was to his talent employees that he be there to witness them on their paths to fame. He was, in essence, their father figure, and he always strove to live up to their expectations as he expected them to live up to his.

Jaehwan leaned forward, though he kept his body language casual, "Taewoo-ah. How is your workload?" Though Jaehwan often heard from Ayane on the topic of Hunter's health, he would like to hear it from the other male's mouth personally. The schedule of an artist could be demanding, which is why Jaehwan had canceled most of Hunter's singing responsibilities in preparation for his impending dedication to this drama. Still, he had several CM's, radio appearances, and even interviews scheduled. The last thing Jaehwan wanted to do was stress the boy out - it had been a while since Hunter had taken a vacation for himself.