"Oh, definitely,” Haena said enthusiastically, nodding her head in response to the host’s question. “I definitely think the music is still the main focus of G.I.R.L. We’re really involved in bringing power to the ladies, but we are a music group, so of course our main focus is our music!”

“Haena unni’s right. And the biggest way we bring power to our fellow girls is through the content and strength in our songs,” Tae Hee added. She jerked her head to the side, ruffling her short blonde hair, and smiled that boyish smile of hers, sending a ripple of cheers and laughter throughout the fans in the studio.

The host, a soft-faced older man, chuckled. The five girls were sitting bleacher-style on the set in metal chairs with Haena, Jae Hwa, and Sunni on the floor, and Tae Hee and Minnie residing several inches behind them.

“Cube is really pushing the envelope with this kind of group, eh!” the host laughed, his dark glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose as his body shook. The girls all smiled brightly. Sunni giggled with a hand covering and intentionally shook her head a bit to get her pigtails swaying.

Not one of them was wearing any make-up, save for some chap stick and maybe some refreshing facial lotion. However, that wasn’t to say that each one of them looked perfect without foundation or eyeliner. The apples of Sunni’s cheeks were a brighter shade of red than usual, and on the bottom of Haena’s chin you could see the beginnings of a pimple. You could also tell that the skin beneath Minnie’s left eyebrow was raw from waxing it earlier.

“Leader Min Jung,” continued the host, now directing his attention towards the leader of G.I.R.L. “How is your throat doing? Well enough to come here today, I see?”

Tae Hee reached over to Minnie and poked her in the shoulder, grinning and taking full advantage of the opportunity that had presented itself.

“Ah, our Minnie unni still isn’t so good. Manager seonsang told us we should try to talk for her.”

“She’ll be eating lots of noodles when we get home,” Jae said loudly with a big smile, turning around to look at the older girl. The entire audience burst into laughter, and there were sure to be little thought bubbles popping up on the screen by the time this interview aired. Oh, all of the girls knew that Minnie was fuming inside. The short-haired girl gave a believable smile and shook her head, rubbing her palm against her jaw line in embarrassment.

“Cooked by yours truly!” Haena continued cheerily, waving her arms around and pointing to herself. The laughter grew louder, and without much exception, the rest of the interview went just as so.

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“Look, Min Jung is ang-ry ang-ry ang-rey!” chimed Sunni in a chipper, singsong voice. All five girls were piled into the back of a simple travel van with the Cube emblem on the side. Another part of the G.I.R.L. lifestyle was simplicity. However, this only meant that they weren’t to live extremely lavishly. They still roomed in the same kind of apartment most bands lived in while they were still training, and each possessed a cell phone of choice.

Minnie looked pointedly out of the car window at the evening lights of Seoul. Haena chuckled and motioned for everyone to look at her iPhone.

“SNSD’s new video is out guys. Hyo and Sunny didn’t get many close-ups, though,” she added thoughtfully.

“Hm, you’re right Haena,” Sunni said just as thoughtfully, examining the music video. “I don’t see myself anywhere!”

Tae Hee poked the younger girl in the back of the head. “The other Sunny, .”

Sunni turned towards the blonde and gasped dramatically, putting her hands to her face. “Jae Hwa! Tae unni said a very bad word!” Sunni looked over to her elder, but had received neither reaction nor reply. Jae seemed to be in her own peaceful world as she gazed out the window opposite to the one that Minnie was glaring out of. Her big Skullcandy headphones were snug around her ears, and her head was bobbing slightly to some silent beat. She had changed out of the leggings and dress she had worn during the interview and replaced it with an oversized grey sweatshirt and black spandex. The attire was truly the only thing she really wore around the dorm and in private.

“JAE JAE HWAAA UNNI!” Sunni shouted, throwing herself across the thin aisle and into the oblivious girl’s lap in a fit of giggles. Tae Hee rolled her eyes and gave Haena an amused sideways smirk. Haena only gave a small smile, but she began to grin impishly as Jae Hwa screamed the most girlish scream that could possibly be mustered up. Both Jae and Sunni went toppling over onto the floor, where they looked to be no more than a flailing mass of spandex, pigtails, fuzzy socks, and pink ribbons.

“Holy crap, Sun Hi,” Jae finally said between sporadic laughs, struggling to push off a clinging Sunni. With a grin Jae finally pried the girl off of her in time to notice a scowl pass over Minnie’s face as she looked at her phone.

“What, more issues with what’s-her-face?” Jae questioned, though throughout her time in G.I.R.L. she should have learned better than to ask Minnie about her social life.

“Doo Joon just texted me.” Her voice was as scratchy as sandpaper against an old school chalkboard, but the aggressive underlying tone was still coherent. That was Min Jung for you; even if she were lying on her deathbed in a pool of blood, she would still somehow find the energy to comment on how the hospital lighting made you look particularly unattractive.

Haena made a face and made her way over to her. Out of all the members in the group, Haena was the one who Min Jung disliked the least. “What, is there some rumor floating around or is he just taking time out of his busy schedule to insult you?”

At the sarcastic, though somewhat joking comment, Minnie glared at Haena. She looked back at her phone and began to text something back.

“No. He asked me if our manager had talked to us about the whole postponing debut thing. I don’t know why the hell he’d ask us that, since if manager seonsang didn’t tell us yet then he’s basically screwing with us and I really don’t appreciate that,” Minnie said quickly, taking a few moments to catch her breath afterwards. The other girls’ eyebrows shot up, clearly seeing that the situation was being thrown out of proportion.

“Umm... Min Jung unni, I don’t think oppa would just say something like that,” Sunni said slowly, shuffling over to stand behind Minnie’s seat and look over her shoulder. Tae Hee followed suit.

“He’s probably just trying to bring something up,” she said.

“Whatever. I’ll talk to him,” Minnie mumbled, her voice still as scratchy as ever.

A few minutes passed, and the girls were still standing around their leader when they got the explanatory text message.

“‘Oh,’” Haena read out loud from Minnie’s phone, “‘because Cube told us this morning that we’re supposed to be helping you guys out until you debut. Not like training or anything, obviously you’re past that lol but I guess just team dynamics and fundraising or something? IDK. And btw, expect a little surprise.’”

When Haena finished speaking, the car had already stopped and the driver was motioning for them to get out. Sunni gave Tae Hee a baffled expression, which was mirrored by Haena and Jae. Minnie simply looked annoyed by Doo Joon’s puzzling final comment. Jae and Sunni grabbed their purses before following the other girls off the bus and into the apartment building.

It was a lovely building, right beside the Han River that traveled through the entirety of Seoul. The location was great besides the view, too; it was in the nicer section of Yangcheon-gu and was one of the newer apartment complexes. The neighbors were friendly as well. Most of them were trainees of Cube, though there was a young family on the fifth floor with two adorable twin babies. Sunni sometimes babysat for them when the parents wanted a quiet night alone.

They took the elevator up to the fourteenth floor, the highest level, and made their way to their apartment. Jae Hwa was yawning softly when she unlocked the door. It was about midnight now, and each girl was equally exhausted and eager to fall right to sleep.

Sleepily Jae opened the door and shuffled inside before flicking on the lights.

“SURPRISE YA!”

Jae screeched and ran backwards into Haena, who in turn fell on top of Sunni, who grabbed hold of Tae Hee’s arm as she went falling. Minnie was left standing beside a flopping mass of terrified girls, a genuinely surprised look on her face.

“What did you break to get in here?” she asked sourly, yet hoarsely, her features slinking down into a bothered frown.

Yoseob, Doo Joon, Du Jun, Hyunseung, Gikwang, and Junhyung all gave each other enthusiastic high fives and grins.

“Well,” Gikwang said with a laughing grin, pulling a key out of his pocket. “Since we’re your sunbaes now, we should be able to wake you up whenever we feel fit. Right, guys?”

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Author's Note:

Well, here's the very first chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it. Beginning chapters isn't my strength to be honest, so I'm sorry if it didn't entirely interest you. I tried to make it as interesting as possible! This will be the approximate length of each chapter, though sometimes it may be somewhat shorter or longer depending on how I'm feeling and what the content of what the chapter is.

I just want to take a moment to address the origins of this story. As you've probably figured out, this story is about self-empowerment and confidence in both your looks and your personality. This topic is really very close to my heart, as I have seen friends, family, and even myself go through times where that confidence just doesn't seem to be there. Sometimes you have to force the confidence, but in time it comes naturally! That's what I thought of when I went to make this story. The members of G.I.R.L. don't necessarily have 100% confidence in themselves, but this is the situation that they volunteered for and ultimately have to deal with. They'll have to learn to fake it until they make it, and then realize that they really do have that confidence inside them. All formalities aside, this is also a humorous and romantic story. Life doesn't have just one focal point, after all! x33 And I personally love Beast... Haha.

Comment, subscribe, all that good stuff! I hope you enjoy this story as much as I'm starting to. xD I'll try to reply to all comments!

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