The next day I’m woken up by my alarm at 7:05. I hit snooze and go back to sleep for ten more precious minutes. I finally wake up with a groan when the alarm rings again and see that the bottom bunk is still empty. I head out to wash up and come face to face with a really pretty girl right in front of the door. We stare at each other with wide eyes before she breaks into a smile and introduces herself as Yoo Jun.

         “I’m the one you’ll be sharing the room with,” she informs me. “Ask me if there’s anything you need to know around the house or about trainee life. I’ve been here for more than an year now.”

         “Thank you! My name is So Jung Min. I am a brand-new trainee so please take care of me, Sunbae-nim!” I reply, with a grin. She seems really nice. Actually, I was quite worried about the whole rivalry between the trainees and that I wouldn’t be able to make friends. Even more so since I’m a bit shy at approaching strangers first, especially in a new environment. I’m okay talking to someone as long as they approach me or someone introduces us, but I freak out if I’m the one that has to initiate the conversation.

         “No need for formalities between us. Let’s save that for the real sunbaes, the idols. All the trainees are pretty much in the same boat, so no need to be overly worried,” she tells me.

         I nod my head in understanding. “Then what would you prefer to be called? You can just call me Jung Min, if you’re comfortable with that.”

         “Just call me Jun then. How old are you? I’m a ‘95-liner.”

         “Me too! But my birthday is in December,” I say, grinning.

         “Cool,” she says, with a smile.

         Jun glances at the clock and starts freaking out, “You need to get ready to leave or you’ll be late! They told me to guide you there today just in case.”

         “Don’t worry, I won’t take long.”

         I’m ready in ten minutes as all I have to do is wash my face and change into comfortable clothes. Jun is still getting ready so I head into the kitchen to see what I can find for breakfast. I see one other girl there, rifling through the fridge. She looks up when she hears me, and smiles around the triangle-kimbap she has in .

         She removes it and says, “You must be the new trainee. Hi, I’m Lee Sun Mi, 19 years old. Trainee for 3 years now, focusing on acting. Hmm, what else do you need to know about me? Right, I can get a bit messy around the dorm sometimes. If it bothers you, you can just tell me and I’ll clean it up soon-ish,” she informs me with cheeky grin. “Welcome to the best dorm in SM!!” she says winking, along with a big peace sign with her spare hand.

         I can’t help but laugh at her antics. I think I’m really going to like it here. “My name is So Jung Min, 17 years old, brand new trainee. Please take care of me!” I say, giving her a quick bow. “Would you prefer if I call you Sunbae or Eunni?” I ask her, eager to get the formalities out of the way.

         “Just call me Eunni. We’ll be living together after all. Let’s get along well! So what are you training in?”

         “Singing,” I say, trying my best not to make a doubtful face, but I guess I didn’t succeed, because she gives me a curious look. Thankfully she doesn’t ask any more questions and merely says, “Then I probably won’t be able to help you in that aspect much. You should talk to Hee Won later. She’s my roommate and the maknae of the dorm,” she says, nodding towards another door, which I’d already guessed to be the other bedroom. “She went to the trainee center already. She’s also training to be a singer.”

         I nod. “Were you looking for breakfast? We don’t have anything much right now, so just take these,” she says handing me two triangle-kimbap from the fridge.

         “You’re not allergic to anything, right?” she asks me. I shake my head no. She nods to herself and says, “I’ll see about going grocery shopping later. We all take turns with it. None of us cook so we just get stuff like these that are easy,” she says, holding the kimbap up. “And we have to be careful not to gain weight as well. SM is very strict about that.”

         “I see you guys are getting along just fine,” teases Jun, coming out from the bedroom at last. “Are you heading to the trainee center too?” she asks Sun Mi Eunni, grabbing a couple of triangle-kimbap for herself from the fridge. Just how many of those are in there?!

         “Yep. You too, right?”

         “Let’s all go together then. We can eat as we walk. Don’t want Jung Min to be late on her first day!”

         We all grab our bags, making sure we have our water bottles, extra clothes, towels, and so on. Sun Mi Eunni gives me the key card to the dorm, which I put on my Infinite keychain along with the trainee center key card. It’s only a ten-minute walk to the trainee center and we are too busy munching on our kimbap to talk. We arrive at the trainee center a few minutes before eight. Sun Mi Eunni and Jun drop me off at the front office and run off to their scheduled practice. They had kept me occupied till now so I hadn’t had time to think about it, but now all my nerves are back in full force.

         Confidence, have to be confident, I repeat to myself like a mantra and walk up to the sleepy-looking person in the office.She looks up at me as I approach and I quickly explain, “Today is my first day as a trainee, and I was told to report here at eight.”

         “You’re So Jung Min?” she asks me. I nod.

         She pulls something up on her computer and confirms that I’m training to be a singer, with dancing on the side. She asks me some other details like my school timings, the location, any important medical history, allergies, emergency contact, so on. She explains that I might have to transfer schools to one that’s closer to the dorms, as that would be easier for me to commute, and also because some of the arts schools are more easygoing regarding absences and leaving early/arriving late which might be important if I have any schedules. She frowns, looking at the time.

         “The person responsible for you seems to be running a little late. Take a seat for a few-”

         She’s interrupted by a heavyset man coming in through the doors. He nods at her and turns towards me, “So Jung Min? I’m Jo Jeong Suk. I’ll be responsible for you here. I’m the one who’ll be assigning your schedule and watching over your progress. If you mess up, I’ll be the first to hear about it. Same if you’re doing well. We’ll be meeting at least once every week to go over things as you progress. If you have any problems, you’re expected to talk to me about them.” He hands me his business card and I bow to him, accepting it.

         He starts to walk out of the room and I follow him. He shows me around the facilities again, talking me through what is expected of me and which practice rooms the newbies use, which ones the seniors use, the vocal training rooms, the dance practice rooms, the nutritionist’s office where we would be getting monthly checkups, the audio/video library, the locker rooms, the small cafeteria, the common room where trainees could rest, the lounge room for the trainers and teachers. After the tour ended, he takes me to a small meeting room and hands me my schedule for the remainder of the summer break.     

         “This is what you’ll be doing for now. There might be changes in that depending on how much you improve, and what other skills you need to be trained in. As you can see, we placed you in Beginner’s singing and one-on-one coaching because you’re untrained as of now, and Intermediate dancing. If you were focusing on dancing, you’d probably have been in Advanced Dancing and probably one of the specialized dancing classes. We want you to concentrate on improving your singing skills and technique right now.

         “Starting next week, you’ll also be receiving instruction in Acting & Modeling twice a week. Even though it’s called acting, you’ll be actually learning about stage presence, onscreen behavior, expression control, giving reactions, etc. It’s not so important right now as you’re not close to debuting but it’s good to learn these things as early as possible.”

         He pauses to make sure I’ve got everything and I nod to show I understand. “Good. Now, I’m not sure if they already told you about this but you have a decision to make. You can either transfer to an arts school, or stay at your current school. If you continue at your present school, it’s your responsibility to find time to practice and be on time for your schedule. Also, later on, if you are chosen to debut, you might have to transfer anyway. Unfortunately, most normal schools don’t make concessions for trainees like being able to leave early if required, taking days off if you have a schedule, etc. School of Performing Arts, or SOPA, the arts school you’d be transferring to is one that most of our trainees go to. Some of the artists still in high school go there as well. It’s quite famous among arts schools. But you don’t have to decide now. You can discuss with your guardians and let me know two weeks from now.”

         “I understand. I’ll most likely choose to transfer but I’ll let you know for sure next week,” I say. I’m not really planning on discussing anything with my dad. I’m sure he doesn’t care anyway. I’ll just tell him it’s one of the requirements. While I’m not a loner at school and have some friend-like acquaintances I eat lunch with and share notes with, we are not really close because I’d always run off to the studio to practice in my spare time. I’ve never hung out with them outside of school and I don’t think I’ll miss them too much when I transfer.

         “Finally, a piece of advice. If you really want to debut, then I suggest working hard at all your lessons. The more you improve, the better your chances of debuting. There’s no such thing as minimum amount of time before debuting. Some people like Kyuhyun got a chance to debut just after a few months and others were never able to debut despite years of training. So give your all, and don’t just train half-heartedly. But don’t overdo it, and remember to take a break when you need it. You also have to take care of your body. Make sure not to eat anything unhealthy, and take good care of your skin. The nutritionist will give you more information about that today anyway.”

         “Yes, sir!!” I say, spiritedly. He smiles for the first time after meeting me, and shakes his head. “Get going, you have the nutritionist appointment first thing. Oh, and don’t be late to any of the lessons. That’s a serious misdemeanor here.”

         He leaves me outside the room, and I try to figure out the way to the nutritionist’s office using the map Jo-ssaem gave me before he left. Luckily, it’s close enough, and I make it in time for the appointment. The lady there greets me sweetly, and gives me some information on a healthy diet, the skincare routines I’m expected to follow, checks my weight and height again, and finally gives me some skincare and hair products. She explains that all the trainees receive them for free, which I think is totally cool. Free stuff? Sign me up!

         I can only hope the rest of the day goes just as well!