A few days later and it was already the date of the competition. Thanks to your late night practice with Taemin and extra training with Hara you were feeling pretty confident about the whole thing. Like during the start of the week you met with some administrative staff before starting activities for the day.

Surprisingly the CEO made yet another appearance. You’d never known him to be so active in projects before. It must be a sign of how serious the company is taking the new girl group.

“Once again ladies good morning, there are just a few things I’d like to take care of before we send you off to practice. As I mentioned earlier your progress as a group will be tracked in the form of a reality TV show. When the PD heard about the dance competition today she asked for permission to start filming and I gave it to her. That means that from now on you need to be extra aware of how you present yourselves at all times.”

A ripple of excitement went through the crowd.

“That being said there has been another proponent added to the show. Each week when an episode airs there will be a special website where fans can go vote for their favorite member. There will be a commentary box as well for the public to give you feedback. Essentially when you debut they will become your harshest critics and not the company. The fans are what keep artists going so we decided to make them as interactive as possible during the whole process. In the end we will take into account their opinion when making final selections.”

The CEO gestured the PD over. “This is the production director for the show Eun Hee-ssi.”

A tall woman with short dark hair stepped forward looking carefully at each of you as if able to analyze your potential in only a few seconds. You returned her stare calmly and waited for her to move on to the next person.

“Hello ladies. As Jong-in-ssi mentioned I am the PD for the reality show, which we have decided to call Journey to Stardom. You may call me PD-nim or Eun Hee-ssi. I expect to get to know you girls very well by the time the last episode airs so I hope you will begin to feel comfortable with me soon. For the first episode it will be a two hour special where we will introduce each candidate with a mini interview and string together some pieces of you guys practicing. The highlight will of course be the contest itself. Starting this morning I will call each of you aside for a short question answer session during your practice. I’m sure all of you are nervous about having a camera on you 24/7, but after a while you won’t even notice them I promise.”

Yeah right. Like you could possibly forget about having someone taping every miniscule detail of your life…

The PD continued talking unable to hear your silent commentary. “As an added bonus we’ve splurged and sprung each of you your own camcorder to use as a sort of video diary. Think of it as a way to share your inner thoughts and feelings with the audience. There aren’t any restrictions on their use. The more genuine and creative you are the better. So without further ado let’s get started!”

She enthusiastically grabbed the nearest girl, who happened to be Amber, and dragged her victim away to a separate room. Not having anything else to do you got right down into practicing all the while doing your best to ignore the cameras everywhere. A short 15 minutes later Amber rejoined you.

“So how was it?” Hara asked.

Amber looked visibly shaken and you took her hand leading her to a more private corner, though with the cameras complete privacy wasn’t possible.

“Are you ok?” You asked.

“Let’s just say she puts you through the ringer. I’m not sure where she gets her information from, but she is deadly good at her job. To be honest I can’t even tell you everything I told her because it was kind of a blur. She did ask about rivalries though. That I do remember.”

Noticing Eun Hee pointing at your corner you nudged Hara with your elbow. “Uh oh looks like you’re up next Hara…”

She swallowed nervously and began to twirl a strand of her hair. “Wish me luck.”

“Good luck.” You said quietly while you returned to dance rehearsals.

It’d been about an hour and a half since Hara’s interview ended and it was now finally your turn. Taking your time you stopped at your bag to grab a towel and your water bottle before claiming the seat directly across from the PD.

“Ah Song Melody-ssi, what an interesting name, how did you come by it?”

Well this is an easy enough question…

You wiped some of your sweat off and took a swig of water before answering. “My family is very into music and in English a melody is a succession of musical tones perceived to be one sound.”

“It seems to me your mother already knew you were meant for the entertainment industry when she gave you that name.”

What is she trying to get at?

“So it would seem.”

She looked down at a small file folder in her hand. “I see that you recently moved here from the states. How long were you there for?”

Smiling you remembered fondly the times you spent roaming the sandy beaches of L.A. and the impromptu dance parties held in the streets. “I’ve spent the majority of my life there. Though I was born in Korea my family moved when I was still young so in a way it is more another home to me than just a place I lived.”

“I see and what was your lifestyle like there? Was it difficult being a foreigner unable to speak the language?”

You tilted your head to the side in contemplation. “In the beginning I suppose there was some animosity towards my family and school was especially difficult for my brother. Fortunately I attended a performing arts academy that had a wide variety of ethnic cultures represented so I rarely felt out of place. English itself is a difficult language; however there is no better way to learn a new language then by simply immersing yourself in it completely.”

“You appear very wise for a girl so young. It makes me curious as to what happened to you in your life to make you turn out that way.”

"It probably has more to do with the fact that I tend to hang out with people older than me rather than saying something happened to make me grow up.”

“Is that because you hung out with your older brother a lot?”

Uh oh I don’t like where these questions are going…I better change topics.

“Yes my brother and I are close, though I also consider my mom to be one of my best friends. She really is one of a kind always supporting me in everything I do.”

The PD latched onto the new topic for which you were grateful. “It is rare to have such a lack of opposition from a parental figure. Typically there is at least one parent that holds some trepidation towards their child pursuing a career in music. How does your father feel about it? Does he feel the same as your mother?”

“I’m sure he would feel the same as my mother were he still alive today.” You said quietly.

The startled look on Eun Hee’s face would’ve been funny if it weren’t such a serious topic. “Oh I’m so sorry. I should’ve realized when you didn’t have your father listed as a guardian. It was my mistake.”

You easily accepted her apology having received enough when your father first passed away. “It’s quite alright I don’t like to talk about it so a lot of people aren’t aware of the situation.”

“I can see why you wouldn’t want to talk to about it, though it will help appeal you to the public. Everybody loves a good family drama as sad as it is to say that it’s true.”

How can she be so cold about it? Use my family as a bargaining chip to win votes? She must be out of her mind if she thinks I will do anything of the sort.

“I’m sure you know best when it comes to selling a person on national television, but I like to keep my family affairs separate from the public eye. They don’t deserve to be dragged into something as petty as reality TV.”

“I guess you don’t have a very high opinion of what I do.”

“It’s not that I don’t respect how well you do your job or how much work goes into making a big production like this. I just don’t agree with marketing people in certain ways to get higher ratings.” You explained.

“I see. Well I will just have to do something to change your mind about it before the show is over it seems.”

Good luck with that. You are just going to waste your time.

“Ok Melody-ssi I just have a few more questions for you.”

“Go for it.” You smiled confidently.

“Being one of the last ones to be interviewed I got to gather a lot of information from the other girls before talking with you. Each girl was asked to pick one person they saw as their biggest rival in the competition and do you know who more than half picked?”

I’m not going to play some silly guessing game with her. Just tell me already.

“No, but I’m sure you are going to tell me anyway.”

“You. They picked you Melody-ssi as their biggest competition. It’s interesting how one of the youngest and most inexperienced candidates such as yourself managed to gain so much respect in such a short amount of time. In fact the way SMent has brought up so many new trainees for this opportunity is strange. Most of your friends have only been training for 2 months now whereas there are trainees in this company who have been working to debut for over 8 years. Care to explain why that might be?”

This lady was quickly getting on your nerves. “I can only hazard a guess as to why their selections were so unique this time around. Would you like to hear it?”

She leaned forward attentively. “Of course and I’m sure the viewers are curious too.”

“They chose my friends and me despite our short training period because we all have great potential. We would not have been selected if the company wasn’t confident in our ability to represent them. The CEO himself said that this time around they want to try things differently and apparently we are a part of that change. Personally I think these next few months are going to prove to be life altering and in this new environment our skills will grow leaps and bounds.”

“Sounds like these next months will prove to be highly entertaining. Now as I mentioned previously there are many girls that named you as someone whose talent they respect. Is there anyone specifically you see as a rival or big competitor?”

“Naturally this is a battle for only a few spots and I would be a fool not to know my competition’s strengths and weaknesses. However I cannot say there is just one girl who I see as a rival.”

Puzzled by your answer she asked you to clarify it and you couldn’t help but give her a small smirk. “I said I can’t just name one because I see them all as my rival. Each one of them possesses an exceptional gift and as such is formidable in their own way.”

The PD leaned back in her chair with her hands clasped in front of her. “I have to say Melody-ssi you are quite the surprise.”

“How so?” You asked genuinely curious.

“I ask you a question that makes you feel uncomfortable and you simply change the topic without me realizing until much later. I insulted you to try and get a response yet you answer with the grace and experience of a well-seasoned artist. It is quite perplexing. Honestly I have to say I’m looking forward to finding out more about you as the show goes on. I’m sure your development will be interesting to watch.”

“Thanks… I think.”

“Well let’s tidy up this interview with just some general background information so our viewers can get a sense of who you are.”

The rest of the questions were relatively easy asking about how you grew up, your age, and other nonsense questions like your favorite side dish. By the end you felt the audience would know more about you then your own friends. You thanked the PD for her time and returned to your friends.

“How’d it go?” Victoria asked.

“It went alright, though some of her questions were rather strange.”

“See I told you it was weird.” Amber piped in.

“Well anyway we should probably concentrate on the dance competition later tonight. You guys ready for it?”

A chorus of agreement went up making you smile. The rest of the day was similar to all the others except now a bunch of cameras followed you wherever you went. There was the occasional question brought up by the PD asking for you or one of the other girls to specify what you were currently working on or asking how you were feeling at the moment. When it was finally time for the audition you were filled with nervous excitement. You watched as Ryeowook walked in followed by a few of his other members known for their dancing skills, Shindong, Donghae, and Eunhyuk.

“Well let’s get started shall we?”