A teenage girl went through the corridors of the training center academy by YG Entertainment, a talent agency based in Seoul, South Korea. Everyone around her seemed busy. Just like her, other girls her age were wearing workout clothes to dance, except they weren't alone. Manoban Lalisa had moved here all the way from Thailand after winning YG's audition. She still couldn't believe it, since four thousand people participated in total. All her singing and dancing practice in the past had led her here, leaving her life behind for her dream of becoming a K-Pop idol. She was so excited, but also really nervous. The real worry was, Lalisa didn't understand the language at all and she didn't know anyone here. She was supposed to start studying Korean the following day, the company expected her to learn quickly with her teachers and fellow trainees. Hopefully, the other girls will only ask for her name, say hi and that would be it for the next hours.

Lalisa checked the time on her phone and decided to enter the room where practice would be held. She was here five minutes early and I swear this was the first time in her life that had happened, Lalisa just didn't want to leave a bad impression on her first day as a trainee and maybe it was just a good excuse to quit her bad habit.

The practice room was huge, it had wooden flooring and mirrored walls. The dance studio in Thailand suddenly felt like an ant in comparison, her old dance crew would faint. But Lalisa would keep it together, she's too cool to lose it now.

Inside, there were more trainees, who were just sitting on the floor and talking or checking themselves out in the mirror. Lalisa wasn't sure if there was something she was actually supposed to be doing since she didn't see a choreographer anywhere, so she decided to stretch and warm up a little in the meantime. For a moment she considered she might look dumb, you know, this average foreigner with short black hair and bangs trying to be responsible. She did not only noticed the rest had long and shiny girly hair but some of them had their hair dyed, which was something Lalisa had been dying to do for the longest time, but she'd never gotten around to it because she didn't want her family and friends to look at her funny. Plus, she had been busy with dance and singing lessons, shorter hair was just more convenient for dancing. But Lalisa had made a promise to herself when she'd landed in Korea. She would not waste this chance and she will become her true self, whoever that may be.

Suddenly, a woman in her late twenties entered the room and clapped three times, gaining everyone's attention. "Hello everyone, for all the new trainees that arrived today, I'm your choreographer Mrs. Gamja. Please, everyone, line up."

Lalisa only understood "Hello" out of those Korean sentences, but she saw a group of girls moving beside her and also behind her. She remained in her place in the first row and waited for the next instructions, not that she would understand them either.

"Lalisa," Mrs. Gamja called my name.

Lalisa looked at the woman with a hint of confusion.

The choreographer gestured her to come forward. The only thing Mrs. Gamja said was, "Daenseu."

The word sounded similar enough to "Dance" in English for Lalisa to understand, so she got into position and waited for the music to play. For just a second, she feared she would have to improvise a choreography right then, but thankfully it was a Korean song she loved and remembered all the moves from the music video. Everything's okay, I can do this, I can do it perfectly. Shortly, she lost her mind to the rhythm and her body was set free. She couldn't even hear the small gasps and see all the widened eyes around her. Eventually, the song ended and Lalisa felt her breathing again.

"Just for your information, this is Manoban Lalisa," Mrs. Gamja said firmly. "She's our first international trainee from Thailand and she doesn't speak any Korean. She needs to learn the language quickly under these circumstances, so you aren't allowed to talk to her in anything other than Korean."

Everyone nodded and she turned back to Lalisa. "Gamsa, Lalisa."

The Thai girl just nodded and went back to her place. Mrs. Gamja proceeded to call two other new trainees to the front who, unlike Lalisa, were from Korea. Lalisa was so proud of herself for winning the audition, she was ready to sing and dance at any second, but she felt really careless and unprepared for surviving in the country itself. She reached for her bag and took out a small dictionary.

"Nan jeongmal dangsin-ui chum-eul joh-a," someone said next to her.

Okay, those are too many words to search. Lalisa turned to see a cute and short Korean girl smiling at her. She had black hair as well, but it was tied into a messy bun. In comparison to everyone, this girl was the only one wearing black clothes. Lalisa liked her already.

If she had heard right, the Korean girl had said something about her dancing. Did she think I wasn't up to their standard? Lalisa scanned the girl's face, no signs of judgment but admiration. The girl must have sensed her thinking, so she raised her thumbs up for reassurance. Lalisa smiled back. "Gamsa," she repeated what the teacher had said a minute ago. According to her dictionary, it meant "Thanks."

The Korean girl extended her hand towards her. "Kim Jennie."

Lalisa took it. "Annyeonghaseyo, Kim Jennie. Manoban Lalisa."

After introducing themselves, they paid attention to some of the other new girls' dance performances as the rest warmed up. In Jennie's opinion, they weren't as good as Lalisa. Hell, even Jennie wasn't as good as Lalisa and Jennie had been here for almost eight months now. The need to praise Lalisa had become urgent, even if the Thai girl might not understand her. It must be hard to not be able to communicate with anyone in a foreign country. Don't get her wrong though, Jennie wasn't looking for any new friends since her group PINKPUNK had recently lost some members. Right now she just wanted to be by herself during practice unless she was actually required to talk to the remaining members. After all, they were all on the same boat. But before the Thai girl's dance, Jennie had heard others talk...

Jennie entered the practice room and stood next to a couple of new trainees speaking in low voices, staring at a girl Jennie didn't quite recognize. The girl in question had short hair and a really thin figure. It was noticeable because she was peacefully stretching her body while wearing a tight pink T-shirt and black shorts, which revealed her long legs. Jennie couldn't really see her face properly until the mystery girl turned a little towards her direction as she finished a stretch. Jennie thought she looked like a cute namdongsaeng. She giggled to herself.

"She looks like a boy," one of them said in a harsh tone.

"Why is she even here?" the other answered.

Jennie isn't quite sure why, but she got angry and stepped in front of them. "If that girl is here, it's because she deserves to be here. Didn't you guys work hard to pass the audition too?"

The two looked hurt. Yes, you should be, bitches. Before they could apologize, Seonsaengnim Gamja walked to the front of the room. For an instant, Jennie feared that the choreography teacher had heard them, but instead she called someone called "Lalisa," who seemed to be her mystery girl.

Oh, had them all been wrong. The moment Lalisa danced, the girls who'd been judging her had shut the fuck up. Good. Jennie couldn't help to be amazed too, not only did Lalisa have all the moves memorized in perfect timing, but she showed attitude and feeling on the performance. It was breathtaking.

Jennie couldn't help but glance at Lalisa by her side. So she's from Thailand? Even if she had heard the girls' snarky comments, she wouldn't have been able to defend herself. Jennie realized she had no regrets at all.

Her train of thought ended when Seonsaengnim Gamja called everyone to start dancing together. Fortunately, Lalisa had been too focused on finishing the warm-up with the rest of the trainees to notice. If she had caught Jennie staring, it would've been pretty embarrassing.

Twelve hours of training had passed very slowly. So this is her everyday life now, huh? To be fair, Lalisa didn't feel time while dancing, but her body was very relieved when they had short water breaks. Also, being here was intimidating, to say the least. Not necessarily because of the long amount of practice hours but because she felt she couldn't be herself. She couldn't talk to girls around her and make silly jokes to lighten up the tense mood. Instead, she had to endure this gloomy atmosphere, which she absolutely despised. You could tell something bad had happened before Lalisa arrived. Currently, her only light in the dark seemed to be Jennie, who gave her an encouraging smile every time their eyes met.

By the end of practice, Jennie had said, "Great work today. Goodnight, Lalisa" in Korean. Of course, Lalisa didn't understand her, so the Thai girl just grinned. Jennie held her laughter, patted Lalisa's head, and waved her goodbye.

That night, Lalisa researched common Korean phrases and she realized the last thing Jennie had told her was "Goodnight." She also looked up Korean jokes, clearly getting her priorities straight. She just didn't want to say "Hello," "Good morning," "Thanks," and "Goodnight" for the rest of her life.

Fortunately, Lalisa had a Korean lesson right before her singing lessons the following day, so she was hoping to learn even more useful phrases.

Lalisa was five minutes early again. To be honest, she just really wanted to practice her new Korean knowledge. She easily spotted Jennie on one of the chairs in the back. Lalisa ran up to her and sat by her side. "Hello," she said in Korean.

"Hello," Jennie answered back with a smile. She found Lalisa's accent and excited face really adorable.

"Yesterday I wanted to say..." Lalisa paused to remember the correct sentence. She had specifically asked her teacher to tell her how to pronounce it. "That it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise, Lalisa."

The Thai girl was happy to have gone to class today. "How old are you? I'm 14."

"Oh, wow, I'm the older one then," Jennie replied. "I'm 15."

"Cool!" Lisa suddenly exclaimed in English, but then she remembered that she was trying to practice Korean. "Um..." She decided to pull out a small notebook and read her research from yesterday. "Jennie, what is the biggest bean in the world?"

"What—?"

"Kingkong!"

Jennie rolled her eyes at the pun. "What are they teaching you in your Korean lessons?"

Clearly, Lalisa hadn't understood Jennie because she kept going. "What did the cookie say to his friends when he was ready to go?"

"Gwaja?" Jennie said, expressionless.

"Gwaja!" Lalisa announced. "Hey, wait," she suddenly said in English. "I have one more."

Jennie sighed. "Alright..."

"What did the boneless fish say?" Pause. "O mai gasi!" Lalisa laughed at herself while Jennie felt both embarrassed and warm.

Soon, the singing coach arrived and introduced herself. In the meantime, Lalisa turned the page on her notebook, wrote something, and showed Jennie. It read, "Do you speak English well? I only know the basics and song lyrics ㅠ_ㅠ"

Jennie grabbed Lalisa's notebook and wrote back, "Yes, I was living on my own in New Zealand these past four years. Since I'm the only one who can speak English quickly, everyone makes me sing the rap parts in our hip hop covers ㅋㅋㅋ"

"You lived on your own? This is my first time," Lisa jotted down and then added, "Rap is so cool, I can't wait to hear you ;)"

"Prepare yourself, you're not ready," Jennie wrote and then listened to the lesson.

Lalisa started drawing cute kittens in her notebook since she couldn't really understand the vocal coach. Some of the words Coach was saying felt familiar from previous Korean idol videos she had watched but never really understood, so she took note of what she heard to research later.

As Lalisa had expected, Coach made everyone do singing warm-ups to calculate their current vocal range and talent. Then, they would all pick a song to perform in front of the class and receive feedback. In the newbies' cases, they would have to perform by themselves. It kind of reminded Lalisa of her singing lessons in Thailand.

While most girls chose Korean songs, Jennie went with the Western single "Airplanes" by B.o.B, featuring Hayley Williams from Paramore. The track was perfect to show off her rapping skills and she got her talented friend Miyeon to memorize all the English lyrics in the chorus. Miyeon is probably the only person left in PINKPUNK that Jennie would wanna hang out with outside of training hours.

When Jennie started rapping, she made sure to look at the Thai girl's reaction. Jennie couldn't help but smirk at Lalisa's face.

Once the song ended, they were congratulated by the coach, who gave them a few tips. As Jennie returned to her seat after praising Miyeon, Lalisa was screaming excitedly. "Nollal manhan!"

Jennie smirked to try to hide her blush. While she was confident in her skills, she still wasn't used to receiving compliments since she constantly got judged in their monthly evaluations.

"Now you get ready!" Lalisa suddenly said in English and stood up, walking up to the front.

From the first beat, Jennie recognized the track immediately and she knew that it would be tricky. Lalisa had picked Ke$ha's "We R Who We R," which barely had any spaces to breathe. Surprisingly, she was doing really well while doing a lot of cocky hand gestures, as if she was in character and couldn't stop her body from dancing in some way. Jennie found that sweet.

"Congratulations!" Jennie commented in Korean when Lalisa came back after receiving her feedback. "I was very impressed."

"Gamsa!" Then Lalisa switched back to English. "I wanna be as good as Ke$ha someday and then become better."

Jennie smiled, those were some big ambitions, but really good ones to have. "I believe in you."