BEHIND THE PINKS (ENGLISH)

by Addicted-to-Black-Coffee

BLACKPINK. JENLISA. Characters: Jennie, Lisa, Jisoo, Rosé. Behind each important moment of Blackpink, things happen in the lives of the pinks, some happy, some sad, others as normal as those that happen to any other person in the world. This book entitled Behind The Pinks, compiles the lives of the four artists behind the scenes.

1. 1: TRAINEE

BEHIND THE PINKS

Blackpink is one of the most important music groups of all time. In the eyes of the public, Blackpink is synonymous with perfection, talent, fame, and much more. But behind the show, the cameras, and the awards, there are just four normal girls who put in the effort to fulfill their dreams and try to live their lives fully. Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa, also known as "the pinks" by their fans, are more than just members of a successful group, they are more than just famous singers that people look up to.

Behind each important moment of Blackpink, things happen in the lives of the pinks, some happy, some sad, others as normal as those that happen to any other person in the world. This book entitled Behind The Pinks, compiles the lives of the four artists behind the scenes .

Jenlisa relationship. Not AU.

Translated by majere616

I (the author) speak Spanish and my English is very basic, but I'm taking classes(? So don't worry, I can understand your comments, but my grammar is bad. Luckily Majere took the time to translate.

When they speak in English and not Korean, it is marked with italics.

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1

TRAINEE

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JENNIE

Jennie Kim didn't expect being a K-pop trainee to be an easy thing, her mom was the first to warn her about it, but it was something she really wanted to do. Why? Because... music was her life. She wasn't sure when that interest started, one day she was just curious about the instruments, the notes, the structure of a song. Her interest in music was not something she was born with, but something that developed, an interest that was refined over time. Her love for music grew as she worked on it.

She was Korean, but for five years of her childhood she lived in New Zealand. It was kind of lonely. At first she didn't notice, in Korea Jennie was used to silence as she didn't have siblings or cousins. She had friends at school but she was a bit shy so most of her time was spent at home with her mom or her nanny who took care of her while her mom worked. Every day her nanny was in charge of cooking and keeping her company, checking that she did her homework for school and that nothing bad happened to her. It was a quiet and boring company, always reading some magazine while keeping an eye on Jennie.

With no big strings attached, leaving Korea to live in New Zealand shouldn't have felt so different or difficult, but it did. In Korea, her mom worked, but she always came home. In New Zealand it was not like that, her mother did not return. She lived alone with her friends from school in shared dormitories. When her mum had asked her if she would like to move to New Zealand, she didn't really think about this, the way her mum would disappear.

She lived with good friends: friendly and helpful with the English language, but she still felt lonely. The silence began to become a problem, one that her friends couldn't fill. It may seem strange to many, but even if she was mostly alone in her first home, she felt accompanied there. The presence of her mother in the adjoining rooms always welcomed her. Every day she heard the characteristic jingling noise of her keys and the "click" when the door closed behind her, or the familiar smell of the house, the choice of furniture and the order they had. Even the way Jennie could move through the rooms, her fingers brushing against the doorframes as she walked through them, hearing an occasional squeak as her bare feet dragged across the freshly polished floor; all of that felt like home, a silent company, but present. In New Zealand everything was strange: no routine noises, just random noises, a lot of lives, people, all mixed up, too noisy to feel like home. She also couldn't find what she was looking for in her own room, even though she didn't move her furniture and left many of her personal items on display (like pictures of her and her mom).

This is possibly why, at some point around the age of twelve, she began to fill the void with music. It was comforting company. She found favorite artists to feel close to, even if it was platonic. She gained structure in her life with repeating patterns, routine, and rhythms. Music became a place where her emotions felt contained. Even if her friends changed, if there were a couple of weeks where she saw her mom regularly and then just talked to her on the phone for another long stretch, the music was there, always there, giving her that stability she needed.

The day her mom asked if she wanted to move in with her, this time to the United States, she found herself torn. Was her mom really going to be there or would strange places and friends fill the space again, like in New Zealand? A new school and a new house, all from scratch? But the most important thing for her was: How did music fit into those plans? That's how she decided to go back to Korea, on an impulse. She auditioned at YG Entertainment and passed, becoming a trainee with the company. There she could begin to polish her musical skills until she was able to sign a contract with the record company.

Jennie had to make too many decisions at a young age, from big choices to small day-to-day ones, because no one else would do it for her. At the age of fourteen, she considered that she already had many clear ideas about life, and especially about her life. Not leaving with her mom wasn't as scary for her as it was for most of the trainees , because she had already learned how to live alone in New Zealand. Going to live in the YG Entertainment dorms was a good choice, because if she was going to create a new home from scratch again… Jennie just wanted it to be alongside music.

. . .

Jennie now lived in an ordinary Seoul neighborhood, at the YG Entertainment headquarters near the Han River. For the first few months, she was taken care of by her uncles, but soon she was able to move into the company's dormitories, since she adapted well to training.

Of course, as the months at YG Entertainment passed, Jennie began to rethink her choices. I mean, she loved music, but maybe her mom was a little right when she tried to discourage her at first and asked her to think about it...because it was hard, very hard. Music was a comfort zone for Jennie, but YG was not. This was a company, not a family. She no longer lived in a home, nor in pleasant student dormitories, now she lived in an eternal competition to get to debut and work in music, and the rivals were tough.

The reason why she auditioned at YG Entertainment was because she liked the songs they produced, the artists they had. What Korean hadn't heard of Big Bang or 2NE1? They were great, she admired them. Maybe living abroad had changed something in her, since she wasn't that attracted to most of the Korean music that was so...soft, and she preferred western music more. YG's rebellious and dark tone, standing out in the Korean music industry like a black sheep, was everything Jennie craved. It wasn't the only company she tried to get into, she wasn't that arrogant, but she was lucky enough to get accepted into YG, right where she wanted. Unfortunately...the rebel image was just that, an image. YG Entertainment was like any business, it was coldly calculated and had lots of rules that its employees had to strictly follow. Literally on one of the walls, there was a poster with the rules for the trainees , so that they would never forget them. Jennie read them every day before taking the elevator to the practice rooms; specifically, to the basement rooms.

RULES FOR TRAINEES:

1. No smoking or drinking alcohol.

2. No dating.

3. No tattooing or other body modification.

4. Always meet the stipulated schedules.

(Any breach of these 4 rules is a valid reason for a coordinator to expel any trainee from the company).

Knowing she couldn't do any of that irritated Jennie. It was like reverse psychology, that poster screamed for teenagers to disobey it.

Why not drink alcohol? They all did. As long as it was done responsibly, of course. Most adults would surely agree with that rule, especially for trainees who were only fifteen years old. But… Jennie had done it before and it wasn't a big deal. Yes, she was fifteen right now. But it wasn't a big deal, really! What harm did a glass do? She had already drunk several times in her last year in New Zealand. That her mother was never around was sometimes a plus, as she had been able to go to parties and her older friends had bought her and her friends a few beers. Jennie never had more than one glass because she once saw that one of her friends had ended up throwing up on a stranger's shoes from drinking so much.

Not dating didn't really matter to Jennie. At parties in New Zealand she had played spin the bottle and kissed three boys and one girl. It was no big deal. Jennie could live without boyfriends and without kisses. The beer was better, in her opinion. Although other trainees who hadn't had their first kiss yet seemed particularly annoyed by this rule, so Jennie was amused that they missed out on a lot by not having kissed anyone yet. And it was useful, because that way the older ones saw her as an equal. Many times they told her things like "that she was very mature for her age" and "that you could tell she was more relaxed, like foreigners."

About the no tattoos and body modifications part (which Jennie had learned, after two months at the company, alluded to plastic surgery and piercings ), she had to complain. Tattoos were so cool! She didn't want to get one now, she didn't want to kill her mother with a heart attack, but as an adult... maybe...

Lastly, about meeting schedules... that really didn't feel like a rule. Jennie Punctuality Kim was never late anywhere. And least of all she was late for her classes, which were what she most looked forward to in the day.

"Did you hear the news?" Nabi asked as Jennie entered the practice room.

Nabi was one of the trainees, she was Jennie's age although she seemed much younger because of her high-pitched voice.

"About what?" Jennie asked, as she sat down with Nabi and three other trainees .

"Next week a new one is going to join."

"From Thailand," Jin-joo finished. She was a bit of a critical girl. "Can you believe there's only one? Were all the candidates so bad?"

"Or maybe she's extremely good..." Eun-hye suggested. She was nothing but nice to everyone.

"But it was a huge audition, four thousand people!" Jinjoo exclaimed.

"Well, she must be good if she won such a big competition," Jennie said, surprised. Her audition for YG had been smaller, 800 people and they had selected 10 of those 800.

"Better than us?" Jinjoo asked.

"I don't know, but I doubt she's any better than us. We've been training for almost a year now," Jennie said.

"Right, we have more experience. It's impossible for her to be better than us." Nabi agreed with Jennie, the new one didn't scare her.

When Nabi got up to go talk about this with the other trainees who were sitting on the benches, Jennie started to prepare for class. She fixed her hair, tying it in a ponytail so she could dance. She didn't think much more about the new girl for the rest of the week, the classes were more important.

. . .

"New Girl's Day", named by Jin-joo, finally arrived. Jennie was sitting on the benches against the walls, tying her shoelaces as she glanced sideways at the door. She was too curious now, since at any moment they would meet the mysterious Thai girl. She already knew their age and name, the coordinator in charge of them had lost patience with Nabi and her insistent questions. The new one was called Pranpriya Manoban and she was 14 years old, she would be the youngest of all the trainees . Most here were 15 and 17, although there was one who was 18. Jennie wondered about what she would look like, her personality, but above all, what her talent would be like. A great singer? Maybe she was just beautiful? Sometimes they chose trainees just for their visuals, Ra-woom was chosen for that. A YG worker had seen her on the street and recommended that she audition because she had an "idol face", and she complied. For the first few months that girl crowed like a rooster, but she was pretty. Now... she had improved a little. It wasn't a rooster anymore, but it didn't sound entirely human either.

Jennie unconsciously held her breath as the door opened, but only one of the coordinators entered. What a disappointment!

"Girls, please," she asked.

They all fell silent and approached the coordinator.

"The dance teacher is coming, but first I want to introduce you to someone new. Please give a warm welcome to Lalisa and integrate her into the group. Okay?"

Jennie frowned. What about Pranpriya? Nabi's gossip was never wrong. The coordinator opened the door again and spoke in English: " Lalisa, please come in. " Her Korean accent was noticeable in her words. Did Lalisa speak English too, like Jennie? No one here spoke English, other than a few employees. That's why Jennie, who was fluent in English, used to rap on monthly exams instead of singing (even though she had never rapped before joining the company). Luckily, rap was something she was good at and was beginning to enjoy.

A lanky girl entered the room and all heads turned to her with curiosity. She looked a bit extravagant because of her clothes and hairstyle, she had short black hair. She was kind of funny, she looked like a child, but she looked adorable because of it. Jennie empathized with her as she watched her cringe at the attention. Poor girl, she was terrified. The coordinator again, with broken English, asked Lalisa to introduce herself. Jennie paid attention to her, as did all the other trainees.

" Uh... " Lalisa hesitated with a nervous smile. " My name is Lalisa Manoban, nice to meet you. Hey... I am from Thailand. And... Uh... I hope we can be friends?"

Jennie smiled. Like the coordinator, Lalisa had a strong accent. She had said her name with the accent of her native language, Jennie guessed, since the pronunciation didn't sound anything like English or Korean. Lalisa stirred uncomfortably and glanced at the coordinator. Nobody said anything. Jennie then realized:

" Hi." She also raised one of her hands in greeting.

Lalisa let out a big smile.

"As you may have noticed, Lalisa doesn't speak Korean," the coordinator explained to the trainees. "But don't worry, talk to her in Korean."

Jennie tilted her head in confusion and raised her hand to ask,

"Shouldn't we speak to her in English?"

"No, she has to learn the language as fast as possible."

"But we're not going to understand each other…"

"I didn't even understand her in English. How are we going to work together?" Ra-woom asked worriedly.

Poor Lalisa looked at the exchange completely lost, her insecurity was obvious for not understanding anything they were talking about in front of her.

"You don't have to worry. Lalisa will adapt." The coordinator looked at Jennie. "She needs to learn Korean as soon as possible. No English."

"May I interrupt?" a grown woman asked as she walked in, taking everyone by surprise.

She was the dance teacher for the trainees , whose name was Kim Hee Jung.

"This is Lalisa Manoban," the coordinator explained to the teacher.

"Yes, the Thai, I remember."

The coordinator patted Lalisa on the back to join the rest of the girls and then left the room.

"Okay, let's keep practicing yesterday's dance. Repeat the choreography with me, and then you'll try it again on your own."

Once she finished speaking, the teacher turned on the music player. The trainees arranged themselves in a row, one next to the other, so that they could all see the teacher through the large mirror in the practice room. Jennie noticed Lalisa standing uncomfortably to one side at the end of the row, trying to figure out what was going on as she went along.

"One, two, three..." the teacher marked, at the same time she danced.

They all imitated her, some more lost than others. Once she finished, the teacher sat in front, leaning her back against the mirror, and ordered them to do the dance again, this time without her. They all obeyed and repeated, being analyzed by the teacher. Although in the middle of the dance, almost everyone got distracted because of Lalisa, who was perfectly dancing the choreography. None of the girls believed it, even the teacher seemed surprised.

"Pretty good, Lisa. You skipped a few steps, but you only saw it once, so…" Hee Jung said and then glared at the rest of the trainees angrily. "Why has the new one already learned the dance and you haven't? When are you going to start taking your classes seriously?" The teacher hissed, stood up and said, "Again, repeat after me. One, two…"

The class went quite normally: Hee Jung would get angry, challenge them and repeat the same choreography over and over and over again. In YG, dancing was the weakest characteristic of their trainees because what mattered most in the auditions were the voices, the stage presence... Lalisa was a trainee to see, the only one who did it well by Hee Jung's standards. But since she didn't speak Korean, she probably didn't understand the near compliments the teacher gave her (they were never full compliments, she was that demanding).

"I can't believe she's better than us," Nabi said, surreptitiously glancing at Lalisa, who was excluded, drinking water on one of the benches in the room.

"Nobody likes a showoff," she complained.

"Aren't you exaggerating? She wasn't showing off, she was just…" Eun-hye looked at Lalisa with pity. "Shouldn't we talk to her?"

"She doesn't understand us," Jin-joo grumbled.

"You're being dramatic." Jennie rolled her eyes for emphasis.

"She is younger than us but she didn't even bow when she introduced herself," Jin-joo continued.

"She's going to be our bandmate, you can't exclude her for not acting like a Korean when she's not," Jennie retorted.

"I'm sure she was just nervous and forgot. We need to have chemistry with our fellow members in order to debut as a group…" Eun-hye was the voice of reason.

Jennie nodded in full agreement with her. It was foolish to judge someone without knowing them. Besides... Lalisa was a dance monster. Why hate her when they could admire her? Jennie still had a lot to learn about dancing, but she still recognized the big difference in level between Lalisa and all the other trainees. She would never have imagined it because her appearance was..a little stranger. Jennie really didn't want to criticize, but her pants were weird. Not that they were ugly, but they stood out too much. In many ways, for clothes, for talent, Lalisa Manoban was special. And Jennie inevitably gravitated towards her because of it. Plus she looked like a dance pro! If someone impressed Kim Hee Jung even a little, it meant something.

Jennie had many doubts. How did that girl learn the choreography so quickly? Was she a genius? Photographic memory? How long has she been dancing? Will she have a friendly personality? If she asked, would Lalisa agree to teach her tricks to dance better? Jennie definitely wanted Lalisa close. Perhaps it was too hasty to think so when not even a day had passed yet, but Jennie saw debut potential in Lalisa. And in this small, competitive world behind the walls of YG Entertainment you had to choose your partners well to survive. If Lalisa did well for the rest of the week, she would probably ask her if she wanted to be her partner for the monthly evaluation. Well, who was Jennie kidding...at the end of the day she would ask if she wanted to team up. She needed that dance monster for the evaluations with the CEO, she always destroyed her as soon as she evaluated her execution in the choreography. Also, Lalisa did not speak Korean. If Jennie didn't talk to her and offer to join her, no one else would. She couldn't leave her to her fate, especially with trainees like Jin-joo hanging around nearby. Luckily there was Eun-hye, she would support her decision and help her persuade the rest.

When Jennie first entered YG Entertainment she had been thrilled to see how everyone was so professional and dedicated, so talented and knowledgeable about music. "Wow, everyone here really knows what they're doing" she thought every time she saw something new, restraining herself from jumping up and clapping her hands. Jennie felt like she was on cloud nine, learning about everything, wanting to reach the heights of "the best". And now, before Jennie, there was another great talent and she was feeling just as excited as she was during her first days as a trainee. A new challenge, a new opportunity for learning. That little flame inside her flared up again, thanks to Lalisa.

"I can't have chemistry with someone who doesn't speak my language. Why did she enter a Korean company without studying Korean first?"

Jin-joo was dead set on getting mad at Lalisa. Koreans took the idea that younger people should learn from and respect their elders very seriously. That Lalisa was better than all of them and that on top of that she didn't understand the language, was a kick to anyone's ego. Jennie had been in some trouble for that, as her New Zealand attitude was "too much" according to some girls. Jin-joo hated her for the first two months for it, until Jennie started helping her pronounce English words for covers. Lalisa would get over this roughness too. If she wanted to work as an idol in Korea, to be in a group with Korean members... she would have to.

Some students began to leave the room to prepare for their next class, Japanese. Lalisa looked at everyone again, clearly she was trying to decipher the atmosphere again. She was looking at a piece of paper that she was holding nervously, surely the coordinator had written down the schedules there. Jennie suspected that Lalisa was aware that Jin-joo was talking about her. She didn't have to know Korean for her to notice. After all, Jin-joo and Nabi didn't try to hide that they were looking at her and pointing...

Jennie sighed and walked away from the others, approaching Lalisa, who was concentrating on her schedule. She stopped next to her and cleared her throat, so she would notice.

" Hello" Jennie greeted her with a smile and sat down next to her to congratulate her: " You were sooooo cool before!"

"Y ou speak English?"

Lalisa looked like she was about to cry with relief. Jennie felt a pang of sympathy tug at her heart. At that precise moment she knew she couldn't let her stay incommunicado. It was too cruel, to hell with the teachers. Jennie suffered the same as Lalisa when she was younger, in New Zealand, but no one there forced her to speak English and she was left to her own devices. Her classmates and teachers spoke slowly to her and even lent her their notebooks when she got lost, they played with her even if they couldn't understand each other at all... Lalisa needed at least a helping hand.

" Obviously." Jennie laughed. " But don't tell the teachers I did."

Lalisa widened her eyes with concern. Jennie hadn't thought of it before, but her eyes were very expressive, maybe because of how big they were. No doubt that was something that gave her away as a foreigner.

" I don't want to get you in trouble" Jennie reasoned. She held Lalisa's shoulder to calm her down.

" Tell me whenever you need something. OK? I will help you secretly, don't worry."

Lalisa nodded with a shy smile and thanked her. Jennie looked at the paper Lalisa was holding, noting that at the moment she had Korean classes instead of Japanese, so they would be in separate rooms. She stood up, jerking her thumb toward the door. She thought it would be a good idea to guide her, until she learned what the building was like.

" Let's go to the next class, I'll explain everything you need to know about YG."

I am not fluent in English ," Lalisa warned worriedly as she stood up.

" I will speak slowly ," Jennie resolved, motioning her free hand to downplay the matter.

As they walked through the corridors towards the elevator, Lalisa nervously wrung her own hands and listened to Jennie talk about the different teachers, about the schedules, about the monthly exams...

"Thank you," when she finally had a chance to speak since Jennie had fallen silent as she pressed the button to go to floor three . "For helping me."

" That's what friends are for!"

Jennie felt happy. She liked to help others and get along with everyone. Seeing Lalisa begin to smile in a relaxed way was good, it was proof that she was doing the right thing.

" We are friends " Lalisa repeated with that big smile that was becoming so characteristic of her. But soon, her brow furrowed. " I don't know your name."

Jennie laughed, she couldn't help it.

" So cute... I am Jennie. Jennie Kim."

"Jenny Kim!" The coordinator called her, making her jump. Just as they got out of the elevator they had the misfortune to run into one of the people who wasn't supposed to hear them speak English.

Lalisa looked terrified. Jennie was too, but she knew that coordinator had a soft heart, so she wasn't too worried. She just had to make sure she smiled sweetly and…

"I forgot!" she apologized, bowing. "I will speak in Korean, I promise." Jennie took Lalisa's hand, motioning for her to walk with her. The coordinator had an obviously skeptical eyebrow raised as she listened to Jennie speak in Korean. "As I was saying, we have language classes, dance classes, singing classes..."

When they were far enough away from the coordinator, Jennie breathed a sigh of relief and wrapped her arm around Lalisa's shoulder.

" About your dance...," she spoke closer to her ear now to make it harder for her to be caught speaking English. " At what age did you start dancing?"

" Five."

" Woah... You are the best dancer I have ever seen, Lalisa" she complimented.

Lalisa blushed and shook her head. But Jennie insisted, because she seriously thought Lalisa was great. No trainee until now was like this, like her, with such "wow" movements. Before leaving her in her Korean class and running the other way, to the Japanese class, Jennie thought of something:

" Hey, do you mind if I call you Lisa? You can call me Jen if you want."

They said goodbye, but they met again that day in the dining room. Jennie talked a lot with Lisa. She had too many questions and hoped she could learn a lot from her new friend. Without a doubt during the next monthly evaluations she would get an A with her help. Or well, she would if she stopped wondering about Thailand, the foods she liked, her favorite singers... It wasn't Jennie's fault that Lisa liked Rihanna too!

JISOO

Kim Jisoo considered herself to be a simple person, who did not complicate herself too much. She was true to her thoughts and didn't care what others thought of her because of it. Although she could admit that it would have been smart of her to lie a little about her tastes when the CEO of YG Entertainment asked her what her favorite K-pop group was during an interview. She was smart, she must have realized before that it wasn't a good idea to tell her future boss that she didn't like his groups and that she preferred the ones from other companies. But that question had taken her by surprise and she liked to believe that honesty was always the best way. And it was! Obviously she was right in the end. Even though she practically insulted the CEO to his face, she got trainee to be an idol, which...was never in her life plans, so she wasn't sure how to feel.

When she was a child, Jisoo wanted to be an artist, a painter, even though she didn't know how to draw. Then she wanted to be a writer because she liked to read. One day, she ended up being a part of her school's drama club, because one of her friends wanted to join but was too embarrassed to go it alone. Her choices in life felt random and accidental. Maybe that's why, even though she auditioned at YG Entertainment to be an actress, she ended up joining the company to be an idol. She hadn't even tried that seriously. She sang a song because it was one of the audition requirements, and luckily she didn't sing badly thanks to some classes she took at one point in her life for her mom, her family liked to sing. How had she ended up being an idol? She had no idea, but she felt foolish to waste the opportunity, so she agreed to join. Worst comes to worst, her father, who had contacts in the entertainment industry, could help her become an actress in the future. Or she would just go to study at a university like a normal person, she would decide later.

It didn't take long for Jisoo to figure out her companions, she only needed a day. She didn't know everything about all of them, but she had already been able to name the ones that stood out. During the first dance class, she was able to find the perfect nickname for Jin-joo: Gastona. Jisoo had seen the movie Beauty and the Beast many times because she was a big fan of Disney. Jin-joo reminded her a lot of one of the characters, Gaston, because she was arrogant like him, bordering on rude, loud-mouthed and... talented, but smug about it. She'd also seen her check out her abdominal muscles in the mirrors during class. What a character that girl was!

In language classes, Japanese specifically, she recognized Nabi. She was... a social butterfly. Her name was very apt, as it literally meant butterfly. That girl had changed seats like three times in less than two hours to talk and gossip. Jisoo mentally named her Parrot, because she flies from branch to branch and repeats everything she hears over and over again, like a broken record.

Jisoo felt bad for Eun-hye. She was small and adorable, like a hamster. It's not that the other trainees were mean, but she was too nice. She didn't have that hunting instinct that the others had. Her personality played against her being able to debut. She was the last to choose a song, she gave the best seats to other people, if someone asked her for help she would do it, even if she was late and she did badly for it... She needed to demand more for herself, to be a little bit more selfish! Poor defenseless hamster, at this rate she wasn't going to survive much longer. Well, no hamster lived long, they always died in the hands of some child.

Ra-woom was objectively beautiful, it was easy to nickname her Aphrodite. And yeah, that was the whole explanation. Seriously, there was nothing more to say, that's why Jisoo was so attracted to that girl. Why was she still here? She didn't sing badly, but her words sounded flat and unnatural. She was doing the right moves when dancing, but her limbs looked limp and weak. But hey, she was pretty! And she had two boyfriends, Nabi told Jisoo. One was older, a college graduate engineer, Jisoo christened him Hephaestus. And the other one was a muscular guy on a motorcycle, so it had to be Ares. Jisoo was curious as to how it would all work out. When would Hephaestus find Aphrodite cheating on him? She hoped the coordinators didn't catch Ra-woom before the end of the story. Jisoo made a bet with Nabi that Aphrodite would get Ares in the end...

Nabi didn't seem to understand her references to Greek mythology, but accepted the bet. Jisoo couldn't believe it. Didn't anyone in YG besides her like mythology? What were they, ten years old? Mythology was cool. It would do everyone good to do a little reading for a change.

Jisoo's favorite was Lisa, that girl was one of a kind. Skill-wise, her dancing was insane. She could do flips! From her skinny arms, like two twigs, she never would have guessed. She wouldn't say she was the best singer, but not because her voice was bad, it was stable in general, but because... She didn't speak Korean! She was a foreigner, from Thailand! That was interesting. Jisoo never met a foreigner. She was a Korean who never strayed too far from Seoul even for vacations.

Lisa, at the moment, was number 4 in her head. No, not because she looked like a recluse and had a placard with a number on it or something. Jisoo wasn't that evil! She rated Lisa a 4 because you could tell from miles away that she stood out, like a fish trying to swim in the desert. It could be felt that she did not belong here, both because she was a foreigner and because there was a certain roughness between her and the other trainees. In Korea, 4 was an unlucky number, that's why no one chose that number, no one wants the unlucky number. Well, no one except Jisoo. 4, 44, 444 and so on, infinitely, were Jisoo's favorite numbers. She decided as a child, because she felt bad because no other child wanted number 4. Marginalize the number just because of her bad reputation? No, Jisoo didn't accept it. The more people were against something, the more Jisoo wanted to give it a try and see for herself what the truth was. Her dad called her a vigilante for that. Her mother told her that she only liked to complicate life for herself.

The last one to stand out was Jennie. Jisoo didn't like Jennie, maybe that's why she didn't put any effort into her nickname. She called her Jennifer, because it was a fairly common name for cheerleaders in American movies. Was Jennie even a Korean name? She had that air, of a stereotypical popular American girl who it was not a good idea to mess with. She had a sharp, defiant look, she wore a lot of black and everyone admired her. Even number 4 did! Jisoo was suspicious, but found nothing at the moment to prove that she was right.

Aside from learning about her new classmates, Jisoo hadn't done much else that first day. Well, she had a lot of singing lessons to try to reach the level of the other trainees, and now her throat hurt, but she didn't want to think about it anymore.

. . .

Jisoo was amused that they made it so that the company's female trainees and male trainees couldn't have lunch or dinner together. Was that the best weapon they had against teenage hormones? Seriously? As soon as the coordinators found out that Ra-woon had two boyfriends, ha! That day was going to be interesting. Jisoo had yet to see any trainee (male or female) get expelled. Which, she was told, was rare. Most months someone was kicked out of the company.

Jisoo was lining up to order her lunch. In front of her was number 4, who spoke in a Korean more incomprehensible than that of a 3-year-old child.

"Potato grass."

Jisoo held back her laugh. It was difficult though because of the confused look on the cook's face as she poured some lettuce and tomato salad onto Lisa's plate.

"Tank you…" From Lisa's sad tone, any trace of amusement in Jisoo disappeared.

Before Lisa walked away from the line, Jisoo grabbed her clothes, making her stay still.

"She ordered the potato salad. It's what she was looking at. Right?"

Lisa was looking at her as if she had five eyes on her face. Jisoo pointed to the kamdi-cha, which was a very healthy and, in her opinion, delicious potato salad.

"That?"

Lisa's eyes twinkled in acknowledgment and she began to nod heartily. The cook apologized and changed the dish, this time serving the side dish Lisa really wanted. Jisoo bet that the lady just wanted to get Lisa off her back once, so she wouldn't have to deal with the language barrier, so she had done whatever without trying to understand her.

"Tank you," Lisa said, as they walked toward the tables, having both gotten their meals.

"Thank you. Th-thank you," Jisoo corrected. "A tank is a military vehicle." Lisa didn't seem to understand at all. "Tank is an armored vehicle, cannon, big treads. You know, 'kaboom!' and death. 'Thank you' is thank you." Jisoo hoped her English had been understandable.

"Oh!" Lisa was excited. "Thank you!"

Jisoo nodded and gave a thumbs up of approval. Lisa began to say "thank you" over and over under her breath, to practice her pronunciation. When they sat down, Jisoo pointed to Lisa's plate and showed her,

"Salad. Grass is green, green, plant. Grass, no. Salad, yes. Potato salad. Salad.

"Salad," Lisa repeated.

"Perfect!" Wow , I am a great teacher.

She ate the entire lunch with Lisa, it was quiet, but it was okay, it was fun listening to her mutter "salad not grass, thanks not tanks" while pointing things out with a spoon. Perhaps she would have lunch with her from now on. Although Jisoo didn't like feeling watched. Jennifer's gaze bored into her the entire hour in the dining room. She noted this out of the corner of her eye, but made sure not to return the attention she wanted.

. . .

Being a trainee wasn't bad, though Jisoo was still struggling to get used to living in dorms. During her first month as a trainee, she had lived at home with her parents and siblings and only went to the company to train. Now that she had to make the change and become a trainee , she missed having a room all to herself and not having to take turns with her classmates to shower.

Today was one of the times that she lost her temper because Nabi had decided to build a house in the bathroom instead of just taking a shower. Why were some of her classmates taking so long? They were dancing for hours, Jisoo wanted to be able to wipe off the sweat at once. That's why she ended up leaving the dorms to look for some public toilets.

Great was her surprise when she met Jennie at the place she chose. They had both had the same idea. Jisoo thought about pretending she didn't see her, but Jennie caught her looking at her and waved. Too late to pretend.

" Unnie* , what a surprise, I didn't expect to find you here."

Oh great, now she had to socialize. Why was taking a bath so troublesome? She wasn't in the mood, muscles aching that she hadn't even known existed before joining the company.

"Were you about to go in?"

"Yes," Jennie answered. She looked a little nervous, like she didn't know what to do, until she ended up awkwardly pointing to the place where they kept her clothes before entering the bathrooms. "I'm going to... that…"

Jisoo nodded absently and turned her back on hier, going to her own space so she could undress. Jisoo entered the bathrooms first and went to wash up. Jennie came in a few minutes later, but didn't come over. Jisoo was glad she could lather up in peace, she didn't want to talk as she wiped between her toes. But she sang victory too soon, for as she immersed himself in the hot water of the tubs and groaned with delight at feeling her tired muscles relax, Jennie appeared at her side.

"I'm glad we found each other, unnie ."

Jisoo forced her smile. All of her conversations with Jennie so far had been like this. "You sing so well unnie ," Jennie told her, an obvious lie to be polite, because Jennie was the one rarely corrected by singing teachers. "Please share your experience with me unnie ," she pleaded politely, as if Jisoo wasn't in a continual existential crisis because a month ago she was going to be an actress and now she was juggling learning to dance. She was stressed that Jennie made it so obvious that she wanted Jisoo to think of her as nice and polite. Good grades and gets along with everyone... fake, everything was too correct to be true. Jisoo hated meaningless courtesies or being lied to to make her feel better. But she couldn't blame Jennie, she was just another trainee playing her cards to win the competition so she could debut. She understood and respected her for that, as well as fearing her and being creeped out for it.

Eun-hye and Jennie were alike, and at the same time polar opposites. Both were nothing but kind, willing to help their partners because they were a team, a group that would debut one day. But while Eun-hye did it because she didn't know how to say no and because she was afraid to say something bad about anyone, even if they deserved it, Jennie did it for her own good, because it wasn't good for her to have enemies, because she wanted to avoid and solve problems.

It was no accident that, even if they didn't say so explicitly, Jennie was the leader among the thirty. Many phrases came to Jisoo's mind to describe the girl's attitude, such as "To lead people, walk behind them." Jennie was a minor, and it didn't take a genius to know that grown-ups never liked it when someone younger was better than them. Ah, but when the youngest said that it was all thanks to her unnies and oppas* and stroked their egos... Everyone was happy then. Right? Jisoo had seen this kind of situation countless times in school. And especially, they did it to her, because she had a very pretty face and her father worked with famous people. She knew Jennie wasn't trying anything that low and just wanted Jisoo to not lash out at her in the future. But she couldn't help but get angry when people sugar-coated things for her. Especially when she knew she wasn't doing well in class. It was as if they stuck their finger in the wound.

Maybe during her first few months as a trainee Jennie had learned the hard way that unnies were dangerous. She suspected it because Lisa was going through it now, the other trainees still couldn't stand it when Lisa got almost perfect grades when she was the youngest and couldn't even say "thank you" in Korean properly. "Tank" pff, Jisoo almost laughed to herself, like a lunatic, remembering Lisa's words.

"You surprised me in dance class, you…"

" "Please, I'm terrible," Jisoo cut her off.

"No, of course not..."

Jisoo snorted. Not again, she didn't want to...

"Ro-waan unnie is terrible. You did really well. I'm surprised because you've never danced in your life and you're learning incredibly fast. I took dance classes for six months before entering YG and I wasn't much better than you."

That sounded...sincere. Jisoo didn't expect that. Perhaps if she had exchanged more than two sentences with Jennie earlier, she would have noticed.

"Did you really criticize Ro-waan?" Jisoo laughed.

"I admit I haven't liked her very much since…well…"

"Her two boyfriends?"

"You know?" Jennie was surprised.

"The real question is how the coordinators don't know yet."

They both laughed at the same time.

"I wonder why unnie is still in YG. Sometimes I think she's just trying to impress her friends," Jennie said.

"Do you think she'll be expelled?"

"Last month's evaluations didn't go well. Unless she makes a big change, I don't think she'll last more than two months here."

"I'm scared because of those evaluations. You saw me in my first, it went wrong. I don't know if I'm cut out to be an idol."

"Why? You're so pretty unnie, of course you can be an idol!"

"Honestly, I wanted to be an actress. Did you know that actors need to know how to dance? I did not.

Jennie giggled.

"I'm serious, after each dance class, I feel that all my joints creak, even the ones in my fingers".

"I suspected you entered YG just because of your appearance."

Well, wow, Jennifer was honest. Jisoo could admit when she was wrong.

"Are you telling me I have no talent?"

Jennie gave her an alarmed look, but when she saw that Jisoo was smirking, she slapped her shoulder and groaned,

"Unnie don't be mean to me!"

"You didn't deny it!" Jisoo exclaimed, a little offended. "Just so you know, I'm a decent actress. I always got the lead in school plays. Even in musicals."

"I'm sorry!" Jennie laughed. "But you came in without knowing how to dance and... you sang normal, not too out of tune, but you didn't even know how to do a falsetto, you didn't even know what a vibrato was... I was curious to know what you would have done in your audition to pass, and then I suspected that maybe being as beautiful as Ro-waan unnie helped you a little."

Many people claimed that she was really beautiful. When she met someone new, at some point they would say, "You have the face of a drama actress, so pretty!" Jisoo didn't understand, she didn't even try to put on makeup. In fact, she didn't know how to do it. Should she learn that to be a trainee? Even Lisa, who some days dressed like a boy, put on makeup.

" Meh , it's fine. Like I told you, I wanted to be an actress."

Jisoo sank deeper into the water. It sure would be easy to disappear into it and drown. No more sore muscles or little trainees asking their unnie . No more hearing your parents say "Daughter, are you really sure of what you want? In a couple of years it will be the university entrance exams, this could distract you" or "you could get your university degree and then try to be an actress". She closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth. Her father had originally told her to try auditioning at YG if she liked acting that much. Why were they giving her mixed messages?

"And why did you agree to be a trainee ?" Jenny asked.

"Actually, I don't know".

"There must be a reason, unnie ."

"What is yours? Why do you want to be a K-pop idol?"

"Because when I grow up I want to be a singer."

Jisoo hugged her own legs. Jennie had said so easily what she wanted to be as an adult. Jisoo had also stated many things: "I want to be a painter" or "I want to be a writer". But she never sounded like Jennie, she never said it with that hopeful gleam in her eyes.

"What's so great about being a singer? Why not be a lawyer or a chef?"

"Because my heart beats like crazy when I think about being like my idols. Doesn't it happen to you? Wouldn't you like to be Rihanna?"

Jisoo raised her eyebrows.

"Are we still talking about k-pop ?"

"That's just one genre. Music is music. Singers are singers. It doesn't matter if you do pop, rock or classical music, we should all aspire to be Rihanna."

"Well…" Jisoo laughed. "It's true, I would like to be Rihanna."

Jennie smiled a…lovely smile. Where did Jennifer go, the cool and popular cheerleader?

"I really want to debut," Jennie confessed.

"I'm sure you'll have a lot of fans. You have a popular face."

Jennie blushed and denied using her hands.

"Don't say that unnie " she complained.

"I'm serious. I don't know anything about rap, but you sound great. You're not Rihanna yet, but you'll get there eventually. You sing, you dance, you rap... even a blind man could see that you're going to make your debut."

"I hope," Jennie sighed. "Can you imagine it? Have you ever been on stage?"

"Well, acting and singing at school...and almost everyone in the audience was a parent. But I liked it, I always had a lot of fun doing that. That's why I thought of acting professionally."

"Everyone listening to you, yelling... Loud music, louder than at any party. Can you imagine the adrenaline? How loved you must be at that moment in the spotlight? That little moment to shine more than anything in the world, just the music and you.

Even in the evaluations, those times when I give my all and at the end they applaud me… it feels so good. I want that, I want so badly to be on stage right now."

If anyone was thirsty for attention, it was Jennie. She could hear it in the eagerness in her voice, in her dream-clouded gaze. She had a clear goal to reach. The music, the audience... something came to life in her when she talked about it. Was it happiness? The illusion of a dream? Her love for music? Jisoo wanted that too. Something that moved every fiber inside her, just like it did Jennie right now.

No one knew Jisoo better than her mom, it was true that she liked to complicate her existence. She couldn't choose an easy number like 1 or 7, it had to be 4, because it was bad luck, because it was the one that fewer people chose. Jisoo wanted to paint because there were paintings in museums, because her dad loved to hang expensive paintings on the walls of the house, because it was art, and art was unique and priceless, acclaimed by everyone. She also wanted to write for that very reason, and because teenagers didn't read, because they wrote with spelling errors and they didn't care, so she did notice that. Acting was another kind of art, where you could be and do anything. That felt right. Why be just Kim Jisoo? She could be more than that.

When they applaud you, that's when you know you're special. They congratulate the best, they admire the most amazing. Professor, doctor, engineer...? It was respected, it was like choosing number 1 as your favorite number. It was logical to want the 1, because it is to be the first. But Jisoo, as a child, chose 4 for her life.

Yes, Jisoo also wanted to be an idol, because it was difficult, because it was rare, because not many would dare to do it... and because she wanted to hear how many people would clap for her on stage. She wanted to achieve it, to show that she was more than just an ideal pretty face to be an actress in a drama. And then she would also be a writer, painter, actress... because she liked to complicate her existence.

ROSÉ

Rosie was about to wet her pants as she waited for the elevator doors to open. Metaphorically, of course. She would strive to make it just that, a metaphor and not an embarrassing reality. She couldn't pee on her first day as a trainee.

A few minutes ago, while walking with her parents down the street, she had been excited and just a little nervous about joining YG Entertainment, until her parents smiled fondly at her and said "Well, bye, you're going to live in the company dorms and we're going home, see you in a couple of months!" Her world fell apart and the stress completely ate her up. She wanted to escape Korea, on foot if necessary, she was willing to swim across the Pacific Ocean to return home to her family in Australia. But... she couldn't do that. She promised her dad that she would try. Also, she couldn't just leave out of fear, when her family had spent so much money so that she could go to Korea to fulfill her dream of being a singer.

"I'm fine, completely fine. I'm fine. Well well. Good good good. I'm fine" she hummed in her head to keep calm, while she moved her leg nervously. She entered the elevator, where there was a black-haired girl who seemed her age or even a little older. She was slim and had a long baggy shirt. Rosie's hair was a little short, past her shoulders, and this girl had it almost the same. Her features were delicate: a small face and long eyelashes, which contrasted with her large eyes and nose and her full lips. She wore strong makeup, her black eyeliner was thick and stood out. She seemed to have an intense personality. In fact, she looked like a person who wasn't afraid to shout that she was here.

Should Rosie put on makeup? The singers put on make-up. The trainees too? "Oh God she's looking at me" she screeched internally, "Why didn't I put on my makeup? If I had asked my sister... MY SISTER! She's the one who does my makeup! How am I going to do it by myself? I'm done, I didn't have to leave home. I didn't even want to be a singer."

"You have a guitar?"

So the makeup wasn't the problem. Good to know, she realized, relieved, her crisis forgotten. The girl was just looking at her guitar case, which was slung over her shoulder.

"Yes. Do you know how to play?"

"No. But it looks great. Really cool."

"Thank you!"

"I'm Lisa. I am a YG trainee."

"Chae-young. Although all my friends call me Rosie. I'm new here, I came from Australia to be a trainee too. That's why my name is in English…"

" Woh . I knew it. The rumors were true! I knew you had an Australian air."

Rosie laughed. Maybe YG Entertainment wouldn't be so bad. The people here seemed friendly.

. . .

YG Entertainment was the worst thing that ever happened to her! And no, it was not a hasty opinion. Two hours was more than enough time to be completely sure about that.

Rosie had a red face, neck, and ears. Seriously, she could see it in the giant mirrors in the living room. The first class she had as a trainee was dance. Saying she was doing it wrong was being kind to herself. The teacher had shown her the choreography many times, but she could barely remember the first three steps. The worst thing is that she performed those three steps in a horrible way. Surely a grandmother with back and knee problems could move her body more fluidly than her.

"Well, we're done for today, but keep practicing in your spare time. Alright?" said the teacher, looking Rosie in the eye.

"Yes!" exclaimed all the trainees in chorus.

Rosie felt humiliated. She was a singer, not a dancer. She had never tried to dance in her fifteen years of life, it was embarrassing. Unlike her, everyone here was very talented. She almost wished she had peed her pants on her first day, instead of performing the most pathetic dance session YG Entertainment, the world, and the entire universe had ever witnessed.

"Chaeyoung, right?" greeted one of the trainees, who had already put her things in her bag and approached her.

The coordinator had made her introduce herself to the group before the first class started, so everyone here already knew who she was, her age, and where she came from. Or well, they knew her Korean name. Having dual nationality, Rosie had had problems with her name. She had been named Chaeyoung by birth, but living in Australia adopted the name Roseanne at a very young age, as it had been a headache for her teachers and friends to pronounce her Korean name. Technically, she was Chaeyoung, but nowadays even her parents call her Rosie instead of Chaeyoung. She perceived herself as Rosie. But now that she was in Korea, she had the same problem again, but in reverse, Koreans would have a hard time calling her Roseanne. Those in the company, and even her parents, had told her that it would be more comfortable for everyone if she used a Korean name, since it would make her more comfortable when speaking and dealing with bureaucratic issues.

"Yes."

"I'm Jennie. Jennie Kim."

"Chaeyoung Park," she said again and when she realized the redundancy, she raised her hands and moved them flustered, trying to correct herself. "But you know that, yeah . "

Jennie laughed. Rosie wasn't sure if it was in a dismissive or sympathetic way. Jennie reminded her a little of those classmates at her school who were too "mature" and who made her feel childish for preferring to draw in their notebooks and being a fan of many singers. Jennie acted and talked in a way that felt mature, like someone who is more of an adult than an awkward teenager. And her appearance completed that picture. She had assertive and sharp features, her eyes similar to that of a feline. Her hair was long and straight, dark brown. Every pore of her body screamed femininity, but also, she projected an intimidating presence, even though she was shorter than Rosie. She wore black, a lot of black. Her fingernails were painted black, her eyes were almost black with thin black eyeliner, and her workout clothes were black... even the laces on her sneakers were black!

"Chaeyoung Park, noted."

Rosie wasn't sure what to say, so she just managed to smile. Fortunately, Jennie was more eloquent:

"Do you need help practicing?"

"But we have Japanese classes now…"

"I mean later," Jennie said. "We almost always go back to the basement after all the classes and practice the choreography, or work on the songs that we have to do for the monthly evaluations. If we need to practice singing, we can also ask the teachers to have some extra classes in the mornings."

"But... we have classes from 12 pm to 12 am."

Jennie raised one of her eyebrows.

"And you don't plan to practice more than that? When will you prepare for the exams?"

"...you're right," Rosie murmured.

"I know it sounds overwhelming, but it's not so bad once you get used to it. You just do it and that's it."

"There are many hours. I never thought it would be so heavy, it's a bit overwhelming."

"Don't worry. You have us to help you, you can do it."

Well... Maybe YG Entertainment was bad, but the people here really seemed nice, or well, the trainees, because the dance teacher hadn't given her the best impression.

. . .

Lunch time finally arrived. Rosie, tray of food in hand, felt like back at school in Australia again when her only two friends were absent from school. She was standing awkwardly between the tables, trying to decide what to do, who to hang out with. Should she go and say hello to the girls? Should she sit alone? She wanted to make eye contact with someone. Please, anyone.

"New girl."

Rosie jumped and looked to her left. Nabi, a girl she met in her first Japanese class, had come up to her and talked to her.

"Come, come," she said, dragging Rosie to the table with everyone.

There was Jennie, next to her was elevator girl Lisa and other trainees she hadn't talked too much with yet: Eunbi, Miyeon, Euna, Hanna, Yuna, Suni and Jinny. At another table, other trainees, there were a total of 21 in the company right now.

"Jisoo isn't here yet?" Euna asked.

"She had to go out this morning."

"She missed the new girl!" Nabi said.

"She's coming back for krump class, " Suni pointed out. "Something tells me she'll be able to see exactly what we did this morning."

And Rosie turned red. Krump was a style of street dance, which sounded more complicated than normal dance classes, which were just named as dance classes because they were classic K-pop choreographies. She didn't know if Suni wanted to be mean or just joking, breaking the ice with what she said, but just thinking about the word dance made Rosie want to hide under the table until she disappeared.

"So cute," Eunbi said upon seeing her blush.

"Stay with me in krump , I'll help you with the basic moves," Jennie said.

"My hero," Rosie cheered, and all the girls laughed.

"So what happened to Jisoo? What did she leave to do?" Euna asked Nabi.

"Didn't she go to the dentist?" Jinny asked.

Rosie was curious about Jisoo as the girls seemed to like her. They all chatted quite a bit, except for Lisa, who just laughed and nodded as she ate her lunch.

"What are you staring at?" Jennie asked, noticing that unlike the others, she had distanced herself from the conversation.

"Nothing nothing."

Jennie raised her eyebrow, and Rosie felt guilty.

"I was just thinking that Lisa is pretty quiet…" she whispered, not wanting the others at the table to hear.

Jennie laughed.

"Yes, she usually gives that first impression," she answered, also in a low tone. "But she is very noisy when she gains confidence."

"Really?"

Rosie would have bet a hundred thousand won on Lisa being an introvert, because she didn't talk much in class and when she did, it was usually short sentences and said without much confidence.

"Lisa-ya," Jennie called. "Chaeyoung won't say anything bad if you mess up speaking Korean."

"I'm not worried about that," she excused herself.

" Uh-huh…"

"Don't you speak Korean fluently, Lisa?" Rose asked.

She had noticed that she had foreign features, her face didn't look Korean at all, but she didn't want to assume that she wasn't Korean. Maybe Lisa's parents were foreigners, but she wasn't. Rosie hated when people in Australia called her "Chinese." She was not Chinese, nor was she Korean, even if her parents insisted otherwise. Rosie was as Australian as anyone else in her country.

"I am Thai."

Rosie's Korean wasn't perfect. She had a bit of an accent with some words, as she learned to speak it at home from her parents when she was a child, but most of the time she spoke English, from school, from her friends... Even if Korean was her first language , she was more fluent in English.

"Did you learn Korean to come here?" Rose asked.

"She learned as she went," Jennie put in. "She made a lot of progress in the language."

"Jisoo unnie helped me," Lisa said.

"She understood Lisa's Korean better than anyone. When Jisoo came to the company, Lisa learned in leaps and bounds," added Jennie.

"The others didn't help?"

"Well…" Jennie giggled nervously. "I almost always spoke to Lisa in English, so I wasn't much help…"

"You did help me," Lisa corrected her. "And if I asked you something about Korean, you told me…"

"But in English. The coordinator once punished me by taking an outing from my days off for not speaking Korean to her…" she told Rosie.

"What? Really?"

It sounded like a brutal punishment, she didn't know it was possible for trainees. They only had two days off in a month. Removing one sounded inhumane to do. The coordinator had already told Rosie the details the day before, since she had arrived at the company to finish all the pending bureaucratic details. They explained to her that every month, for two weeks, every day they had to do 12 hours of classes, then they would earn a totally free day, and they would go back, doing the same thing for another two weeks until the next day off. There were exceptions, times when they had a full week off, but they were justified, being holidays, for example.

"It was the longest month of my life," Jennie complained.

"And from then on I forced myself to speak to everyone, including Jennie, in Korean," Lisa said.

"And then came Jisoo, who became like a human dictionary of the Lalisa language," she joked.

"My Korean isn't really good...I don't know any complicated words since I speak English most of the time," Rosie said.

"I lived in New Zealand for a while, I also speak fluent English. With you, now there are two of us who can do it. It will be useful for evaluations. Lisa is pretty good too. The others still have language problems, some are better at Japanese."

"Chaeyoung, I can help you with your Korean, I'll lend you my class notes," Lisa joked with a mischievous smile.

" Oh my god ," Jennie complained with a half smile, "you'll ruin Chaeyoung's Korean."

Lisa slapped Jennie on the arm, she did it with her palm and it was soft, playful.

"They seem like good friends," Rosie pointed out.

"They're best friends," Nabi said, wading into the conversation. "Sometimes they start speaking in English and exclude us all." She teasingly stuck her tongue out at Lisa and Jennie.

"N-we don't exclude them!" Lisa was offended.

"Yes they do," Jinny muttered.

"Better eat," Jennie scolded them, smiling, "or you'll all pass out in the middle of Krump ."

Rosie looked down at her plate and her stomach growled. They were not to be told twice, she grabbed her chopsticks and took a large mouthful of rice into her mouth.

. . .

Rosie swallowed nervously and walked into the practice room to face Krump . As she tied her hair (with some difficulty as it wasn't very long), the door opened and a new girl entered.

"Jisoonnie!" exclaimed Lisa, who jumped up and ran to her to hug her.

Did Rosie hear you right? Jisoo unnie ? Jisoo-nnie?

"I was only gone for a few hours. A few hours!

"And I missed you sooo much!"

All the trainees, who had been watching the drama, laughed and started shouting "Jisoonie, we miss you!" too, even the ones who were older than Jisoo.

When everyone calmed down and went back to preparing for class, she tried to peek at Jisoo out of the corner of her eye, to see what she was like. And that girl was very beautiful. Her face looked mature. Unlike most trainees, her cheeks were thin, her face was not boyish at all. She had very white skin, so her lips and eyes stood out. Her hair was dark, not as dark as Lisa but more so than Jennie. Seriously, how pretty she was! Her nose, her eyebrows... everything was perfect, symmetrical, neither too big nor too small. Rosie had never seen such a beautiful person, she was sure. It's not that the other trainees weren't cute, but Jisoo stood out, no one could deny it.

As for her personality, she didn't know what to think. She looked amused, had a relaxed air and a friendly smile as she chatted with some trainees Rosie hadn't had a chance to talk to yet. Her clothes helped with that calm and simple air, she had a baggy red hooded sweatshirt, black pants and sneakers with white details, and she had a ponytail done in a hurry and without a comb.

"Chae-young?"

"Huh?" Rosie blinked, looking away from Jisoo. Jennie had spoken to her.

"You have to stretch."

"Oh yeah."

When class started, Rosie wanted to die. How could the dance just get worse and worse? This was more difficult, the movements required more strength. And obviously, Rosie looked like a bowl of spaghetti, moving her arms like they were limp noodles. She had no idea how to control her body like the others. Thank God Jennie was here to correct her. Rosie wasn't sure if it was better or worse, because she still felt so embarrassed, but at least now someone was stopping her when something looked really horrible.

As she had discovered in the first class, Lisa was an impressive dancer. Watching her dance was captivating, she seemed like a different person when the music started. Not even Jennie and Nabi, who were the oldest trainees in the company, danced like her. She was like a dancing goddess! She was intimidated by it, and she didn't want anyone, but especially Lisa, to see her dance. Rosie did not need the best dancer to see all her mistakes, she would surely laugh in her face. She wished she could dance like her. But no, Rosie was unfortunately a clumsy spaghetti noodle.

She looked curiously at the rest as Jennie left her alone to try it out for a while on her own. And... she got distracted, because of Jisoo, who was dancing. She had a concentrated look in the mirror; it was intense, just like her movements. She danced with strength, stability, enthusiastically hitting every bit . It wasn't perfect. If she compared her to Lisa, Jennie, or Nabi, some moves looked sloppy and awkward, but for some reason, the mistakes seemed to add rather than subtract, because they gave her character. Jisoo was breathing heavily, the loose hairs on her forehead sticking to her skin with sweat. She was no longer wearing the red jumpsuit, now she only had a short-sleeved white shirt that clung to her skin. Rosie swallowed hard.

"Shouldn't you dance instead of looking at Jisoo?" Jinny said.

Rosie blushed and stammered,

"She dances great, I got distracted."

"If you practice, you will too."

She sighed, but agreed with Jinny. She had to practice or she wouldn't last a measly month as trainee at YG Entertainment

. . .

All day she had only been humiliating herself. She didn't know any Japanese, she had only studied a little French at school, so she didn't understand anything in class and the others had to help her. She didn't know how to dance either, nothing at all, she was "that" teenager who hadn't even gone to parties with friends. But now... This was her big moment! Rosie adjusted the strap of her guitar case on her shoulder and smiled confidently, heading to the elevator to meet the other girls.

Rosie was the only one to pass her audition in Australia for her cover of "I Won't Give Up". She knew she was a good singer. She grew up in a rural neighborhood rather than a metropolis, so most days she just stayed home with her parents and sister, playing the piano or guitar and singing. Her dad noticed her love for music in her childhood and always encouraged her. She usually didn't think about it much, music was her hobby and living where she did it, the idea of being a famous singer could not be more than a simple fantasy, even when she moved to Melbourne it felt impossible. Until one day her dad found out that a K-pop company was auditioning in Australia. It was mere chance. If her parents hadn't been interested in the news about Korea, she would never have found out about it, never would have tried to audition for YG Entertainment. She would still be in Australia if it weren't for her dad and his faith in her singing talent.

When she entered the room, some trainees looked curiously at her guitar, but she didn't get flustered by the attention. She was used to singing in public, she did it with friends in the park and also in church. She had participated in the choir, since she and her family were Christians and went to church every week. Rosie had even taken religion classes, those classes were mostly for her friends.

Almost all the trainees in this class sang Korean K-pop , except Lisa and Jennie who decided on songs in English, by American artists: Lisa one by Selena Gomez, Jennie chose one by The Weeknd. Jisoo was currently singing an IU song. Rosie didn't know much about k-pop artists, she tended to listen to western artists, but she did know IU, her parents loved her.

When it was Rosie's turn, everyone was expectant and very curious. Rosie went to the center of the room with her guitar and a chair and decided to sing the same thing that she tried in her audition, as she had not been able to prepare anything new for her first day. She sat down, closed her eyes and began to play the strings, smoothly remembering the notes, she'd played this song so many times...

When I look into your eyes

It's like watching the night sky

Or a beautiful sunrise

Well there's so much they hold

And just like them old stars

I see that you've come so far

To be right where you are

How old is your soul?

Rosie had sung all her life, music was very special to her. It was her safe place, like a caress to her soul. Music represented everything she was. How many times had she sung in the moonlight, with stars as her only audience?

There were many things that she felt insecure about. Right now, a thousand worries afflicted her. What if she didn't learn to dance? What if she couldn't reach the level of the other trainees? What if she didn't pass her monthly assessment? And her parents? How could her father know that this was something she had to do, something she had to try to achieve? What if it was a mistake to leave the safety of her room to sing in another country? What if under the Korean sky she didn't shine as brightly as she did at dawn in her room?

So many things scared her. She had never been so far from home. The possibility of dropping out of school to try to be a singer was not on her mind...

But now that she was here...

Now that she was singing...

I won't give up on us -no I'm not giving up-

God knows I'm tough enough -I am tough-

We've got a lot to learn -we're alive, we are loved-

God knows we're worth it -and we're worth it-

Rosie clung to that, to the music. Her dad trusted her, and she trusted her music.

I won't give up on us

Even if the skies get rough

I'm giving you all my love

I'm still looking up

God, she loved singing so much.

The applause began. At last she was able to prove that she deserved a place here.

Rose opened her eyes. smiled. God, she really loved singing.

. . .

After her first time in her life having twelve hours of class straight, Rosie stretched her arms lazily over her head. Finally free! And maybe it was because of the novelty of it all, because it was the first day, but she didn't feel particularly tired.

Jennie had been really nice to her and had stayed by her side, teaching her more about the dance. Other trainees were also still in the basement of the company, practicing, although it was more relaxed than during class hours.

Lisa was with Jinny at the time. Jisoo was with a girl, Rosie couldn't remember her name, it was too many new names in one day.

"How long does it take to learn to dance in a um ...not horrible way?" Rose asked.

Jennie laughed.

"You should ask Jisoo, she also hadn't danced before becoming a trainee."

"I haven't talked to her yet. I can't just go say hi!"

Jennie raised her eyebrow in amusement. She leaned towards her, took her hand and pulled, walking towards the other girls without letting go of her, causing her to follow. Rosie moved hesitantly, but didn't try to stop her.

"Why aren't you paying attention to me today?" Jennie complained, once they got to Jisoo and that other girl.

"Too clingy..." Jisoo teased her.

Rosie watched the exchange, feeling out of place. Jisoo and Jennie were in an intense insult battle, and neither was relenting. The other girl, who Jisoo was talking to, seemed to feel the same way as she did, as she walked away to talk to other trainees. Rosie didn't dare do the same. When Jisoo looked at her for the first time, acknowledging her presence, Rosie managed a shaky smile. Hopefully, her gesture would be considered cute instead of disturbing. Her smile was unnatural, perfect for a bad first impression…

Jennie nudged her in the arm, causing her to react,

"Hello."

"The Australian everyone is talking about, Chaeyoung." Jisoo smiled.

"You used to be a pretty mediocre ballerina unnie , so you should help out the new ones," Jennie said, with a smirk.

"Then don't whine when I won't let you into my bed..."

" Unnie, that's evil!"

Rosie couldn't help but feel lonely. Everyone here had spent months together, and she was the new one, trying to carve out a little space for herself in the place.

"By the way, you sing great Chaeyoung" Jisoo congratulated her, ignoring Jennie.

"No, please... I could have done better…"

"It was great," Jisoo said.

"Very cool," Jennie agreed. "And you know how to play the guitar."

"Hardly anyone here can play instruments," Jisoo commented. "Most just sing and dance, some also rap."

"I am some," Jennie said.

"Nabi and Suni can play the piano."

"Do they have pianos here?" Rosie asked excitedly. "I also know how to play it…"

"Wow, you are a musician in every sense of the word." Jisoo whistled.

"We have keyboards, not pianos."

"Jinny's gone," Lisa said, appearing next to them. "She's tired."

"Almost all of them are gone now," Jennie said.

Rosie looked around, besides them, there were only two girls sitting on a bench chatting and looking at something on a phone. Time had flown by.

"Are we done for today?" Jisoo asked.

"I think that was enough for today…" Jennie replied, then looked Lisa and Jisoo in the eye. "Maybe tomorrow the three of us can help Chaeyoung with the dance?"

The aforementioned nodded and went to get their things. Rosie was going to do the same, but Jennie grabbed her wrist and smugly said, "I told you, as easy as going and saying hello."

Rosie smiled and shook her head.

"You were right…"

"Okay, now let's go. I think today I want to eat a sandwich."

As Rosie slung her guitar over her shoulder, Lisa walked up to her with a smile.

"You should play something for us!" She told her.

"Oh…" Rosie had been caught off guard. "Sure, yes, I can do it if you want."

"Unnies ... !" Lisa yelled. It turned out that Jennie was right, she was loud. "Chaeyoung is going to play something for us!"

"Really?" Jisoo cheered.

"Let's grab some snacks from the vending machine," said Jennie, who was leaning against the door frame, waiting for the others to come out. "We can have some soft drinks, eat something and listen to Chaeyoung play."

"I'm not that good," Rosie said, because she was embarrassed by the attention.

She had played the guitar a few times with her friends, but these girls were trainees with much more experience than her. She was confident in her singing, but she didn't think her playing was too cool.

"And I'm the CEO of YG Entertainment," Jisoo scoffed.

"Maybe in a couple of years…" Jennie joked.

"Maybe in a couple of years the CEO will fall down the stairs since he doesn't spend money to buy lights that illuminate the steps well..." Jisoo continued.

"Will it fall by accident or because you pushed him?" Lisa asked.

"If I answer that, you'd be an accomplice."

Jennie and Rosie laughed.

"What is an accomplish?" Lisa asked, not getting the end of the joke.

"Accomplice," Jisoo corrected. "And it means that you will go to jail with your dear unnie."

"Or in other words, the one who helps a criminal, murderer, thief…" Jennie said.

"Accomplice," Lisa repeated under her breath.

Rosie had a huge smile on her face, these girls were so much fun.

"Chaeyoung, come on, play something for us!" Jennie exclaimed this time, so she ended up giving in to the demands.

When they reached the bedrooms, they settled in the kitchen, around the table. It was just them, the other trainees had gone to bed. As Rosie played the first few songs, Jisoo, Jennie, and Lisa attacked the snacks, but as time went on, they began to sing along with her. By two in the morning, Rosie and Jennie were taking turns singing and Jisoo and Lisa were harmonizing. Jisoo was great at harmonizing. When the snacks were finished, Lisa and Jisoo were encouraged to sing too. At one point, things got out of control, and they ended up sitting on the table, pretending it was a stage. By the time it was four in the morning they were just chatting, joking around, trying to decide if they should sneak off for more junk food from the vending machine, and before they knew it they were all singing again. They stayed up until dawn, and slept a little during the morning so they wouldn't die in practice that started at 12.

That night was the first time Rosie had friends to sing like that with. She had never had the opportunity to share her great passion for music with others. She was happy. That morning became one of the best memories of her life.

LISA

Do it, just do it.

Pranpriya had learned from a very young age to dance and sing, she even took acting classes. This was thanks to her mother who encouraged her when she noticed that she had an interest in music, because she saw her playing while singing and dancing.

If Pranpriya was asked why she did things, she wouldn't have a great answer. She did it because she wanted to, because it felt good, like it was something natural. Just as she had fun on the patio of her house, playing with a disconnected microphone, she did in her dance classes. Just as she gave her all in front of the mirror, she did it in front of the public. She just did it.

The competitive side of her personality might have had something to do with how it all turned out. When she learned choreography in her dance classes, it wasn't enough for her, she didn't stop, she didn't want to make a mistake. She knew she could improve the steps, and she wanted to make sure she would always hit the right bit of the song. If the others could, so could she. It was a blur in her memory how she went from dancing foolishly, without thinking, to polishing every detail. Improving did not feel like an obligation, but rather a consequence of her decisions and her childlike curiosity: "What if I make the move like this?"; "Will it look cooler if I do it this way?" One day she didn't know how to position herself properly in a dance group without bumping into someone, and the next she was standing on a stage, competing against other kids. Pranpriya didn't think "I want to be the best" from the beginning, she was just having fun. Until she won her first prize and a new possibility appeared in her mind: practice more, find out how far you can run.

Her family was happy whenever she won. Her teachers were proud when she returned to class with an award. The adults in the audience applauded her. She felt a little addicted to that feeling of satisfaction after each performance. Her dance teacher was the one who had told her mom about the competitions seeing the potential in Pranpriya. And her mom, herself an adept at the arts, had been more than happy to take her to competitions, to make her costumes by hand and to be with her, walking her through practice and cheering her on before she went onstage. Pranpriya won several competitions, in one of them she even got to be on the cover of a children's magazine as a prize. And before she knew it, the scouts were talking to her, telling her she should go on TV (which, in fact, she did).

In her brief moments of fame, she felt emboldened. The other children in her school considered her amazing, the adults gave her illusions about how far she could go if she tried hard. She had already reached television, so it seemed possible, easy. She also had a small hip-hop dance group that she used to perform with. Then she got this crazy idea in her head: "I want to go to Korea. I want to be a K-pop idol."

In Thailand there was no big music industry. The United States dominated the Western market, but the Eastern market was dominated by Korea. K-pop was booming, it was a relatively new genre that had penetrated strongly into Asian countries like Thailand. Thus, Pranpriya had steeped herself in the genre. Being a dancer, she had become a fan of the genre, which had very funny choreography. She loved hip-hop and pop , Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, and so many more artists. But her obsession with k-pop went a little further. She once went to a music festival where various K-pop artists performed. They were so cool! Pranpriya talked all the time about her favorite bands with her friends and had tons of photos of them in her locker. Super Junior, Big Bang, 2NE1, Girls' Generation and many others... She admired them. America felt far away, but K-pop felt closer, like "we can do it too." So when her dance teacher told her that YG Entertainment was going to audition in Thailand to find new talent, she said, yes, I have to try.

The competition was huge, the dream of many Thai children was the chance to be just like their favorite idols. There were several days of testing and it took a long time to decide the winner. Pranpriya waited for months, desperately wanting to know if she had passed the test or not. She began to get depressed by the silence. She thought that maybe this would be the end, the wall where she would stop running and moving forward. When she shared her concerns with her mother, she offered to accompany her to visit a fortune teller.

That wasn't the first time she had done that. When faced with great doubts about the future, the advice of a fortune teller used to be a great idea, since she would help you not to deviate from the desired path. Until now, she had always visited the fortune teller for her mom. She asked the important questions while Pranpriya watched curiously and sometimes, at the end of the session, asked the fortune teller unimportant questions for amusement.

"Pranpriya Manoban," the fortune teller told her, "what you need most now is luck."

"How can I get it?" She asked.

The fortune teller took Pranpriya's hands in hers. She stroked the lines of her palm, tracing the paths of her life, not looking, just her fingers. She mumbled "um" and "oh" from time to time. When she opened her eyes, she looked at her with conviction, leaning forward. Pranpriya straightened up, taken by surprise, but she didn't move away.

"You have to show the world the essence of your spirit. If you are who you really are, you will be great, Lalisa."

Name changes were not uncommon in Thailand. Her mother didn't even flinch, because she knew that the fortune teller who visited the family was wise, she had never been wrong. She changed her name, as the fortune teller told her, from Pranpriya to Lalisa. As soon as she did, it happened: she was called from YG Entertainment because she had passed the audition.

. . .

In a few days Lisa would have to do the monthly evaluation. She had already done several, so she should feel relaxed, but as she progressed, the difficulty increased. Those who evaluated saw everything. It was as if they could sense when a trainee had put in less effort than usual. They continually challenged them to improve themselves, pushed them to choose the difficult path and pressured them to overcome it no matter what. It was exhausting.

The first reviews were the worst. She got her A for dancing, but struggled with singing, technique and language. Of course the teachers told her to sing K-pop to improve her pronunciation. And to top it off, she wasn't much of a singer. Her range was limited, reaching the notes was not particularly easy, especially for the treble. She knew how to sing, she had taken classes since she was little, but she was far from the level that the company expected of her, since she had always practiced more dancing than singing. The lack of communication made it all worse. The teachers had limitations when indicating corrections. Luckily they gave her a written return in English at the end of the classes, a small pity so that she could advance, but not knowing Korean was a constant obstacle. She couldn't learn fast, she couldn't improve in time for exams... and she just had to do her best, even if she didn't sing anything impressive and her Korean words sounded like the babble of a small child.

It was humiliating. It was a mental battle. Lisa had never faced anything like this. Of course they had corrected it in the past, they corrected it many times. But the inability to change was what frustrated and embarrassed her. She was a fast learner, but she had never faced something so difficult before, that felt so impossible. She felt gloomy as the months passed by helplessness. Now she couldn't run, she had to walk... with stones tied to her ankles.

Lisa had her head down, breathing heavily. She felt something icy touch the back of her neck and she jumped off the seat. She looked up, eyes wide, to see Jennie smiling as she held two bottles of cold water and shook one in front of her face.

"Are you okay?"

She gave a nod in response. Jennie sat down next to her. They had finished their Krump class. Lisa had sat down on one of the benches along the walls to wipe off her sweat with a towel. Several trainees had done the same, while others, like Jennie, had gone out to fetch water. It was starting to get hot in Seoul.

Jennie extended the bottle towards her. Lisa whispered thanks in Korean and opened it, taking deep gulps. She was tired. She had been dancing with more energy than usual. She hadn't slept well last night, nor had she the night before...

"You are angry," Jennie pointed out .

She lowered the bottle, paying attention to it. She had drunk half of it almost without breathing.

"I'm not," Lisa said.

Jennie raised her hand, pointing at her with her index finger. She managed a smile and brought her finger up to her face to touch between her eyebrows. Lisa relaxed her muscles. She had been frowning without realizing it. She looked down at her own hands, and Jennie took the opportunity to drink from her own bottle. They sometimes did that, they just stayed close. Lisa felt better when she was around Jennie, it was like she could let her guard down, take a little breather. With Jennie there was calm. Something that wasn't weird either, it wasn't like they could talk much. Even if Lisa knew English, it wasn't a great level, it was just what she had been taught in school, and Korean was still a pain, she still communicated with the basics and had to pronounce words very slowly. She usually just stayed to one side when she sat with the other trainees, listening to single words that she managed to understand. She felt lonely and bored, many times she just stared at her phone, texting her friends in Thailand, even though she knew it was counterproductive as she should practice Korean, not communicate in Thai.

Lisa looked at Jennie. Her skin still glowed a little from exercise, but she didn't look tired. Sometimes she wondered why Jennie kept talking to her in English, letting her be around, looking for her... The trainees usually got uncomfortable trying to integrate her, because they couldn't speak to her well and they felt bad if she was there, just standing. Some others just hated her. Jin-joo intimidated her a bit at times. She hadn't told anyone, but Jin-joo did little things to annoy her: closing the elevator before she could get in, walking past her in the dining line because she was older and Lisa had to give up her seat for her unnie, and even pushing her with her shoulder in the corridors, the stairs...

But the worst thing, what made her furious, was when she heard her say "she only knows how to dance, she isn't idol material, only a backup dancer." Lisa knew that Jennie wasn't aware of that, since Jin-joo wouldn;t say those things to just anyone, only when she was with people like Ra-woom for example. She knew what she was doing was wrong and she didn't want to risk some trainee ratting her out to the coordinator.

"Are we okay? " Jennie asked.

Lisa sometimes avoided Jennie, when she didn't like her friends, like Jin-joo or Ra-woom. Most days she had lunch at another table, with other trainees, even if they didn't speak to her, which Jennie didn't understand. A few times she had even ignored her motions for her to sit with her. She usually only approached Jennie when she was alone. And not always, because... Lisa was also uncomfortable just being there and not being able to talk. Jennie was fine with that, she talked and talked and was happy with Lisa's short answers in English. But she hated it, she felt she had no voice, that she didn't exist.

Jennie was right, she was angry, but at herself. She couldn't speak, she got a C in singing, even Jin-joo was better than her. She couldn't joke around, or be pleasant company. She didn't like this, she didn't like Lisa in Korea.

Lisa leaned to the side, resting her head on Jennie's shoulder. She looked at the bottle she had left on her lap and began to remove the label to amuse herself. She began to relax... and fell asleep.

When she woke up, she staggered to her feet. Her neck ached from the awkward position. Jennie was there, next to her. Her water bottle was empty and she was using her phone, listening to music and typing something.

"Morning," Jennie said.

Lisa rubbed her eyes and glanced at one of the clocks in the living room. There was no other trainee here, an hour had passed since Krump class ended. She looked at Jennie, wondering why she stayed, why she didn't move her or wake her up. She was using the wall to support her back, her legs were crossed and she hadn't been fazed by Lisa's movement. She stretched, moved her shoulders, trying to relax a little. Interestingly, it was a restful nap. She felt much better. It was so simple: just be calm. Jennie's shoulder was comfortable, and the scent of her clothes was soft and pleasant, and the scent of her hair, too. It smelled like summer. There was a trace of sweat from practice, but it wasn't heavy and the perfume covered it well. Jennie was calm, and Lisa embraced it, allowed herself to give in. She liked being with Jennie, she made everything in YG easier. The practice room became friendly.

"I like your smile."

Lisa was smiling. She hadn't realized that, but Jennie had, because she'd been looking at her out of the corner of her eye. It was a small smile, but it was there and she noticed it. Lisa smiled more, showing her teeth this time. Jennie took out one of the earbuds and passed it to Lisa, who put it in her ear and listened to the music playing on the phone. This time Jennie leaned toward her. They were shoulder to shoulder, listening to the music without speaking. They had no more classes that day. At that hour, the other trainees should be having dinner, but Lisa wasn't hungry and Jennie knew it, and she stayed with her.

The lighting in the place was poor, there were no windows, and the wood of the bench felt hot, but Lisa stayed, along with Jennie.

. . .

Lisa was sitting with Jisoo and all the other trainees on the benches in the dance hall, watching Jennie rap. They were being evaluated. The CEO, the teachers, even some artists from the company were there, watching the trainees. There was a cameraman recording Jennie's performance at the time. All the evaluations were recorded, they kept a careful record of each trainee. Before the evaluation, they used to look in detail at what they did the previous month, to be more precise with the corrections.

Jennie was the most promising trainee in the company. At 15, she moved her hands with the confidence of a seasoned rapper, she spit the bars like she wasn't the kind girl everyone knew. She was wearing a faded red shirt buttoned up to the neck, black jeans, Converse sneakers, and a burgundy beanie. She was oozing with confidence, she was so cool...

"Come on Jendeukie," Jisoo muttered.

Lisa smiled. Her Korean had improved, especially her listening. She understood better than she spoke. She was still struggling, but little by little she was conquering the language. "Jendeukie" wasn't a real Korean word, it was a nickname created by Jisoo (she was a genius at nicknames). Tick in Korean was "Jindeukie", so Jisoo changed the "Jin" to "Jen". The reason was simple: because Jennie was goofy and adorable underneath all the black. She always went to other people's beds, but especially Jisoo's, to get under her covers and hug her. Jennie clung to others like a tick.

Lisa clapped her hands as loud as she could when Jennie finished performing. Jisoo was the same. The three of them had become very close. Jisoo had a lot of fun talking to Jennie, and she took care of Lisa like she was her little sister or her puppy (every once in a while, to encourage her, she would pat her on the head and say "Great job!").

"Okay..." the CEO muttered. "What do you think?" He looked around at the jury beside him.

"I like your flow. You play with it well, it feels instinctive."

"She has good expressions."

"She should try to move other parts of her body a bit more, she tends to rely on her hands."

"Jennie," the CEO said. "It would also be interesting if you dare to move more in space and not just stay in the center. Look at everything you have, take advantage of it, without fear, you need to learn to control space."

She nodded at the words in acknowledgment. Lisa felt happy. Many times it happened that the comments were not so positive. Earlier, at the dance exam, they had been hard on Jennie.

The CEO waved his hand, dismissing her.

"I will do it. Thank you," she said, bowing.

Jennie sat next to Jisoo and the next to be evaluated was Jin-joo, who got up and went to the front. Jennie and Jisoo took the opportunity to look at things on their phone at the time. Something...intense, that Lisa didn't want to think about, had happened, and her unnies no longer had any interest in Jin-joo. But Lisa had it, so she watched her performance, every detail, absorbing every single thing she did right, but especially every single thing she did wrong. In the previous evaluation, she had learned that Jin-joo misprojected her presence, exaggerated it, didn't make the song her own, just forced herself to adapt to it. Yes, she was a great singer, a great dancer, but...

"It's always the same," the CEO said. "I tell you to do something new, but you don't. You change the song, but it doesn't matter, because no matter what you sing, it's the same. It's boring, I'm bored with you."

Jin-joo swallowed hard and looked away. There it was, one of those obstacles that arose on the journey. Run and jump over the well, or fall into it.

"I want my artists to be unique. You don't stand out. Your technique gets better and better, but you are boring to watch. I've been telling you for several months that I want you to impress me, and you don't at all."

The CEO fired Jin-joo, returning her to the seats. Lisa stood up, taking a deep breath. It was her turn to be evaluated, and this time, she had decided to do something new. Jennie had helped her with the technique, Jisoo corrected her pronunciation as best she could. Lisa repeated, repeated, and repeated. She stood in front, raised her head and adjusted her peaked cap.

"Good expressions."

The music started. She lost any tension in her body. She emptied her mind until only a couple of ideas remained: have fun, relax. Her shoulders slumped, unafraid.

"Move your whole body."

She began to walk, like a caged lion, adapting to the place. She adjusted her cap without worrying about when the song would start, her eyes wandered around the room, recognizing the people in it, the space available...

"Control the space."

Make the place yours, mark your territory. Lisa walked towards the CEO, ignoring the surprise of the judges. She looked the CEO in the eye.

"Do something new."

For the first time, Lisa rapped. It was a slow rap in Korean.

"Entertain them."

Play. She paid attention to the reactions and responded to them. She smiled and the CEO did too, infected by her enthusiasm. She backed up, strutted, pacing back and forth, in front of the other trainees . The audience responded, cheered, and she fed off of it, like she was playing with her friends and not on a test. She didn't force it, she felt that way, because she felt euphoric, because at last, after so many months of silence, she could express herself.

Run and jump over the well, or fall into it. Lisa turned to the CEO.

"Be unique".

Be Lalisa.

Her birth name was Pranpriya Manoban, but she ran and went further than that. She was Lalisa now. Her name today was different, and it meant "who is blessed."

Everyone applauded when she finished her performance. The CEO was smiling as he spoke:

"Rapper…huh? I didn't expect that. On top of that, she does it in Korean, how cheeky..." The CEO laughed. "Good job Lalisa, keep it up."

Lalisa was the adored one, the one who received praise.

Jin-joo was eliminated that month. In the end, she was the one who didn't have the material to be an idol.

Pranpriya was a dreamer, but not Lalisa. "Don't tell others what you want to do, show them", that was the kind of person Lalisa was; Probably because, although she cared about having fun more than anything, deep down she had a bit of a competitive personality.

---

One, two, three... cut!

DIRECTOR'S NOTES- I mean, AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Hello, hello! I hope you liked the first chapter.

I want to tell you not to get upset if you see that several weeks go by and there is no update on this fanfic. The chapters in general (I think) are going to be long, so it is impossible for me to make frequent updates. This chapter alone has 17,000 words, which is like 25 sheets of Word with font size 11. I have a life outside the internet, and also, human hands and eyes have limits, so I can't be chained to my computer keyboard burning my retina and looking to get tendinitis. Just because it's slow doesn't mean this is abandoned.

And it's not only because of the number of hours it takes to write all this, but it's also because I like to think about what I write, give it some revisions... I write with love, I know that no matter how much I correct, I still have mistakes (grammatical or typing), but I make an effort to clean up my writing and work on the details (no inconsistencies, no missing/extra information). I want and like to do things with the best possible quality, and that takes time.

On top of that, I don't just write this, I also do Harry Potter fics...

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If you like pansmione (Pansy and Hermione), please go on to read "Limbo" and "Shedding Skin".

I also have another story, "Normal Life", that although I used characters from Harry Potter there, it is totally AU, I only used the names and physical appearance, then not even the personalities are very similar to the original work. You can read it as an original story of mine and you won't realize it's from Harry Potter.

In addition, I made the drawings for the covers of all my fics (yes, this one too), and I think they turned out pretty, so they also deserve attention. (?

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Before saying goodbye, I want to tell those who came here looking for jenlisa don't get impatient, it's going to arrive, in this chapter I already planted some seeds and in chapter 2 they will start to grow. (? This story is not a slow romance, you won't have to wait until chapter 20 for something to happen. I suspect it's even going to happen sooner than many will expect.

Show support for the work if you liked it please, even if it's a "I like it." :)

And close the tab and leave without bothering me if you don't like it. xd Seriously, I don't know why there are people who have to come to comment on something negative, complain about some silly little thing, when they are reading my work for FREE.

Anyway... Thanks for reading! See you at the next update!

PS: You don't know how much it's costing me to write Rosie instead of Rosé. Roseanne, Chaeyoung, Rosie, Rosé... Why did you have to have so many names Rosie? xd

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FOOTNOTE:

[When necessary I will make this small "footnote" to explain and give context to things that may seem strange to someone who doesn't usually watch things about k-pop or who doesn't know about cultural differences, music industry, etc].

Trainee:

In order to debut (sign a record deal), Korean entertainment companies often conduct training for candidates. People who want to debut under a label must audition by showing off their skills, go through interviews, and then sign a contract to be a trainee. Doing this does not guarantee debut, but it is a mandatory step to work as an idol in companies both small and large. Only if they "survive" this training will the company offer them a job contract.

K-pop trainees will be trained for years through the facilities offered by the company, such as singing and dancing or language classes. The company decides when an artist is ready to officially debut in a group, or if she wants to break the opposite and remove her from her company because she does not fit what they are looking for. Thus, little by little the group that will debut together is formed, and sometimes they decide to make some solo trainees. This process can take 1 year, 5 years or even 10 years. The number of hours, the choice of the order of the classes and the rules to be followed is at the company's discretion. In general, most trainees who are minors graduate from basic secondary education take classes online or in person (by making arrangements with the directors of the establishment).

*Many times the "expenses" to train are charged to the trainees, it is a debt that accumulates and increases over the years and must be paid during their first years of career. BUT in the case of YG Entertainment, all expenses (food, teachers, dormitories, etc) are covered, so when their artists debut they do so without any debt. And if they are eliminated, they will not have to pay anything either, the company is responsible. This is because YG is a big company that can break even.

**Some rules have changed now, but in 2010 (where this story begins) this type of control (and abuse of power, honestly) by companies was in force.

Unnie:

Unnie is an honorific often used to avoid saying the person's name, marking who is older. It means older sister, but can be used for older friends, even if they are only 1 year older. This word is feminine and only used by women, a man cannot say unnie to a girl older than him (they would use the word noona).

In Korea, hierarchies are important and there is great respect for the eldest. Many times minors will seek the "approval" or "advice" of the elder, as it would be impolite not to. That's why when they meet someone older, younger people will say things like "take care of me please", as a sign of submission and good attitude. Don't get it wrong, unnie doesn't mean something like "you're my boss", that's why its translation is "older sister". There is respect in saying it, but also affection. It is a way of being kind, of being open to another person.

Oppa:

It's basically the same as above. It means "older brother". This is only said by a young woman to a man older than them. But a woman won't use both the word oppa and the word unnie. While unnie is practically used when they meet and wonder about their ages, women will say oppa to a man when they are already more confident. If there is no trust, it could make the man uncomfortable, even angry. It's a word for your older brothers (literally), boyfriend or close friends.

Yes boyfriend. I suppose and am going to assume that in sapphic (female/female) couples, the younger could use unnie for the older and would have the same connotation as oppa in a heterosexual relationship, but I was never totally sure about this because in general information about the community LGBT in Korea is little and less is in Spanish.

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Notes:

This story was translated by majere616. As always, I appreciate your help!

Majere is not only translating this fanfic, but also Shedding, Limbo and Normal Life. If you don't know Spanish, you can still read my other stories. :D