(vii). Nymph of Allurement - The Free

"Kate, shouldn't you take a break?" a male asks, staring at one figure dancing long after the choreographer had left. When he's only met with her silence, he sighs, walking over to the stereo only to turn it off.

The reaction is immediate. The girl whips around, her long ponytail flipping from the sheer force and precision of her turn-around.

"I need to practice to debut," she retorts, walking over to the radio to turn it back on. 

"What you need right now, after five hours of training, is rest," Johnny replies calmly without hesitation, disregarding the female's forceful personality. 

"Soojung just told me Sooman seongsaeng-nim is debuting a new girl group. Come on Johnny, this is my chance," Kathryn says, finally turning to look at Johnny. 

"Kate, you're not getting anywhere without proper rest. If you end up debuting, you'll need it." The boy chuckles, offering the girl a water bottle. There's another silence as Kathryn tries to reject Johnny's attempts to get her to cease training, but eventually, she sighs and takes the water bottle.

"You'll get there. Just make sure to take care of yourself too."  

(viii). The Firecracker  - The Free

"Mina, oh my gosh, it's confirmed! SM's debuting another girl group!" Haneul says– almost screams– into the phone as soon as Mina picks up.

"Wait then," the female on the other side says, as if trying to process the news, "we can be rookies together if you debut!" Haneul grins at the thought.

"If? You mean when, duh. Of course I'm going to debut," Haneul replies with a grin, her phone being held between her cheek and shoulder as she cooks dinner for herself.

"How are you so sure?" Mina chuckles on the other line, and Haneul blinks.

"Optimism?" Haneul offers rather lamely, despite the smile playing on her lips as she stirs the soup.

"Well, you have to do something," Mina mutters, and Haneul can practically hear the eye-roll. "Wow them. Don't you have the monthly assessments coming up soon?" 

Silence.

"I totally forgot! I have to choreograph something for the assessments in three days time!" Haneul screams. Then something else happens. "Shoot." 

"Oh my god unnie– wait, what?" 

"I just poured a whole lot of pepper into this soup," Haneul mutters, looking dispairingly at her soup. "I'll manage... somehow."

(ix). Poker-Faced Doll - The Celestial

Jiae and Joy are walking down the hallways of SM when they see none other than Kang Seoyul speed past them, nervousness laced through her actions despite her head held high and ever-regal aura.

"Hey, why do you think Seoyul-ssi's being sent to the board office?" Joy questions, nudging Jiae lightly. The latter blinks before looking at Joy, then to Seoyul's retreating figure, and then back to Joy, before simply shrugging. 

"How am I supposed to know?" she mumbles, not even having noticed her fellow trainee's presence prior to Joy pointing it out. 

"I don't know... I just thought that maybe there was something going on amongst the trainees." The two girls mull over it as they enter the entertainment building's cafe. 

"I don't know. I doubt that they'd debut another girl group right after Red Velvet," Jiae muses thoughtfully, sitting down at a table by the windows before plucking out some chocolate from her bag. When Joy looks at the chocolate and to her, Jiae sighs, breaking off a singular block and handing it over to Joy.

"Besides, a debut isn't really something I have to worry about right now."