“Welcome to EXO”

               “This company has fallen too deep into a massive debt; if we don’t do something about it now, we’ll go bankrupt and we can say farewell to this company for good.” Those were the words that ultimately led to the trainwreck awaiting beyond these heavy glass doors in front of me. Call it what you must—my beginning or my demise. All I know is that I’ve brought this onto myself and that there’s no turning back.

               The thought of myself sitting alone on a bench in a waiting room outside a studio for a Korean pop group seems laughable to me. None of what has happened in the past few days seem real to me. I’ve never felt so out of order, out of place, in years up until this moment. I, a manager of a well-respected company in the United Kingdom, am not used to drastic changes. Calling me lost is an understatement.

               It’s funny, really, because I was raised to become the manager of an entire company in the UK—and I grew up to be so—and yet, here I am, in Las Vegas wearing my best formal clothes with my dark brown hair tied back into a ponytail for a cleaner look because I have to look presentable for my new job.

               I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t absolutely necessary, of course. I was handling my family’s company just fine until our mountain of debt towards SM Entertainment in Korea came crashing down. Our company used to be partners with SME, and used to have them as sponsors. Years before I became the manager, our connection with SME began to wither, their sponsorship went to waste and we had to pay them back. Since I became the manager, I have kept this debt under-control even though I never started it. I guess I should have done a better job. If I had, I would still be in Europe.

               I was going nuts trying to figure out a way to solve this massive debt when a cousin of mine from my father’s side offered a way to pay it back because he works for SM Entertainment. Though, it meant giving my position as manager to him and working for SME as some sort of an assistant manager or organizer of a Korean pop group. To put it bluntly, I can pay back the debt if I work as a Korean pop group’s personal assistant.

               My father, the previous manager of our company, did not want to approve my decision to make amends with SM Entertainment this way. But since he technically no longer handles the company, he had no choice. He told me that there were other ways but I knew this was the most sufficient one, especially since I do not want to burden anyone else in the company like my employees.

               My mother and my brother called me a martyr for doing so—and I guess I am. I grew too attached with our company, including the employees. I will not watch this company that has been running for decades, go to ruins under my supervision. I’m ready for anything just to save our company.

               “Ms. Harrison?” a man in a suit calls out for me, coming out from the glass doors and snapping me from my thoughts. “They’re ready for you.”

               Something gets caught in my throat and my chest begins to feel heavy for the first time since I got to Las Vegas. I can even feel my hands sweating as my grip on my shoulder bag tightens. On second thought, maybe I’m not ready after all.

               But, like I said, there’s no turning back now. I get up and walk towards the glass doors as the man in a suit holds the door open for me. The cool breeze of an AC on high welcomes me as I step into the studio. The lights in this room were brighter so I had to squint a little to adjust my vision. Once I could see clearly, I find a well-dressed man sitting in front of a make-shift desk with four other men sitting on leather sofas, two on his left and two on his right. The room looks like the backstage of a performance hall with racks of clothes and places to sit and relax, but I was told that this is just a studio they’ve rented so the members can have a place to practice.

               I spot a sophisticated-looking black metal chair facing them all and I proceed to stand behind it. I take a seat on it once the man at the desk gestures me to do so. He smiles at me softly, probably noticing how nervous I am while the four other men continue to stare at me.

               “Good afternoon, Ms. Harrison, my name is Tak Youngjun and I am the manager of the KPOP group, EXO,” the man at the desk greets in English as he continues to smile at me. “I assume you have been informed about the group beforehand?”

               “Yes, I’ve done my research,” I say in English before realizing how ridiculous it sounds. “I mean, I’ve listened to some of their songs.”

               “You can relax, Ms. Harrison,” Mr. Tak says, chuckling. “I understand this must feel new to you. We don’t want you to feel uncomfortable on your first day on the job.”

               “I’m s-sorry,” I accidentally stutter out as I try to loosen myself out. “T-Thank you.”

               He smiles again, “Ah, I should introduce you to these young men. These are four of the members of EXO. To my left are Kim Junmyeon and Zhang Yixing. To my right are Do Kyungsoo and Park Chanyeol.” All four men raise their hands as their names are called.

               “She looks like she’s going to pass out,” a deep voice comments in Korean. “Should we let her out for some fresh air?”

               “Chanyeol!” Kim Junmyeon scolds from across him. “That’s rude!”

               I chuckle, making them all look at me, surprised, as I respond in Korean, “It’s fine. I’m just a little nervous. I’ve never been to a new job briefing before.”

               “You can speak Korean!” Park Chanyeol exclaims. “That’s a relief!”

               I laugh at him and at his enthusiasm towards my slightly rusty Korean, “Yes, I do speak Korean. I’m sorry if I ever end up sounding a little off, though, because I haven’t spoken in Korean for years.”

               Chanyeol smiles at me, “It’s fine! It sounds good! A little funny, too—Ah!”

               Then, the man sitting next to him, Do Kyungsoo, smacks Chanyeol’s head hence making his hands fly up to protect himself. Kyungsoo glares at him, “Don’t say her Korean is funny!”

               I chuckle louder, “I-It’s fine, really! Please don’t hit him again.”

               “That happens all the time, don’t worry,” Zhang Yixing says with a grin, catching my attention. “You’ll often see Kyungsoo hitting some of the members.”

               “Oh, that’s right,” I say, remembering the other members I’ve seen in their music videos. “Where are the others?”

               “As of now, EXO has nine members and the other five are back in the hotel where you’ll be heading to after this briefing,” Mr. Tak explains. “You’ll get to meet all of them before their last show in Las Vegas. For two weeks, you’ll accompany them during their shows in other locations before heading back to their dorm in Korea for their break. I was told the whole plan was e-mailed to you before arriving here. I trust you can manage to get to know them all better later?”

               “Y-Yes, sir,” I respond. “I’ll do my best.”

               Mr. Tak clasps his hands together in approval, “Ah, I expected no less from you, Ms. Alice Harrison. I’ve heard many good things about your family, as well, especially about your grandfather and your father, Mr. Louis Harrison so you have my trust.”

               I feel a shiver run down my spine as I hear my father’s name after my own. I don’t know how to feel; should I feel honored to be part of a well-respected family? Praise was common to me because of the legacy of our company’s predecessors, but it was rare to have the praise directed at me.

               “A-Alice? That’s your name?” Chanyeol says suddenly, while struggling to pronounce my first name. “A…Ari…Ali-Alice!”

               Mr. Tak laughs at him before Kyungsoo could hit him again, “You can just call her dongsaeng. She’s almost as old as our maknaes, you know.”

               Oh, right, Koreans have honorific names! I’ll have to get used to those, as well.

               “I apologize for Chanyeol calling you so informally, Alice-dongsaeng,” Junmyeon tells me as he struggles with my name, too. “He often gets excited like that.”

               “It’s fine, no offense taken,” I say, assuring him. “Truthfully, I’m not actually used to using honorific names, uh, Junmyeon…oppa? Junmyeon-oppa? Did I say that right?”

               Junmyeon’s cheeks then begin to blush a shade of red as Yixing grins and nudges him with his elbow. Junmyeon’s hand then rises up to rub his own nape as he chuckles, “Y-You don’t have to call me ‘oppa’.”

               “Why not?” I ask nervously. “Did I use it the wrong way?” I definitely did, didn’t I?

               He blushes even more, “Well, n-no—” His words then trail off as Yixing laughs at him. Why is he getting all shy about this? Korean culture is so different from the American and European culture I grew up with.

               “I see you can get along very well with them,” Mr. Tak says, amused. “You’ll get used to them. And I’m sure none of the members will mind if you don’t call them ‘oppa’ since you’re not used to it.”

               “I h-hope so,” I say, chuckling. “I’ll have to get used to a lot of Korean culture from now on.”

               “We can always help you with that,” Kyungsoo says, smiling at me. “You’ll be with us a lot so we can help you out.”

               I smile back at him, “Thank you.”

               Mr. Tak then rises from his seat to us to the door, where the man in a suit is still standing and waiting for us, “Your new job is simple and I trust you understand the terms. You’ll be EXO’s assistant manager and accompany them at all times, starting today. They may become a handful to you soon but that’s part of the job you’ve agreed to with SME.”

               I nod as I, along with the four men, stand by the door, “I’ll do my best, sir.”

~-~-~-~

               The man in a suit escorted me and EXO’s members to the garage where a black van was waiting for us. Chanyeol hopped into the passenger seat while Junmyeon and I sat in the middle and Kyungsoo and Yixing sat in the back. The driver greeted us warmly before starting the engine.

               “I wonder what the others will say about you when we get back to the hotel, Alice-dongsaeng,” Chanyeol comments a few minutes into the drive. “We’ve never had anyone get assigned as our 24/7 personal assistant.”

               “Don’t call her that!” Kyungsoo scolds him as Chanyeol laughs, before turning to me and smiling softly. “Don’t think of it as being a personal assistant, Alice-dongsaeng.” Wow, he pronounced my name better than Junmyeon and Chanyeol did on their first try.

               “It’s fine, I know what I signed up for,” I reassure him. “Besides, it probably won’t be as bad as it sounds.”

               “You’re optimistic,” Yixing comments, stealing my attention. “That’s good, especially now that you’re with EXO.”

               “I try to be as optimistic as I can,” I say, smiling at him. “Thank you, Yixing.”

               “Oh, you don’t have to call me ‘Yixing’,” he says, chuckling a little. “You can call me ‘Lay’. It’s my stage name, after all.”

               “Oh, okay,” I say as I try not to make it obvious that I find having stage names odd. “Do all of you have stage names?”

               “Mine is ‘Suho’,” Junmyeon replies before pointing at Kyungsoo. “His is ‘D.O.’. But, of course, you can still call us by our given names; whatever makes you feel more comfortable.”

               “I think ‘Suho’, ‘D.O.’ and ‘Lay’ are easier to say,” I declare, giggling. “What about you, Chanyeol? Don’t you have a stage name?”

               Chanyeol looks back at me with a grin, “Ah, you can call me ‘superhero’! Or ‘prince’!”

               “On second thought, ‘Chanyeol’ sounds just fine,” I scoff before we all laugh.

~-~-~-~

               The hotel has apparently reserved two rooms for EXO’s members and I—a large luxury room with three beds for them and a considerably small single suite for me. Now, we’re going up to their room where they’re all apparently in and waiting for us to arrive. I’ve already taken my black blazer off and am now carrying it along with my shoulder bag. Hopefully, I still look presentable to them even with just a peach coloured blouse and a black pencil skirt.

               We arrive at the hotel room and I can already say that it’s huge. Well, EXO is apparently pretty famous so large hotel rooms probably aren’t hard to get for them. Lay opens the door for us and, once we take a step inside, a booming voice greets us, “Welcome back!!”

               I flinch at the sound as a man slides to the door with a big smile plastered on his face. This must be Chen, one of the guys who often hits high notes in their songs. Besides having watched some of their music videos and recognizing his face, his loud voice says it all.

               “And who’s this?” Chen asks, looking at me. “Is she our new assistant manager? I’m Chen!” See? I was right.

               “H-Hello,” I greet him shyly. “Yes, that w-would be me.”

               “Ah, your Korean sounds good!” Chen praises me. “What’s your name?”

               “Chen, this is Alice Harrison,” Suho introduces for me, still struggling with my name. “She’ll be with us a lot, starting today. She’s our new dongsaeng, a part of our maknae line.”

               “Wow, you do look young!” another voice comments, appearing from behind Chen with a bag of snacks in his hands. “You look like you’re as young as Sehun! I’m Baekhyun, by the way.”

               “What? Is someone younger than me now?” again, another voice asks, coming from a man sitting on a sofa in front of a television. “Do we have a new maknae?”

               Suho laughs beside me, “Are you ready to stop being EXO’s baby, Sehun? Alice-dongsaeng, when’s your birthday?”

               I my head in confusion, “Um, it’s in October. But I'm a year older than you.”

               “Aha! I’m still the baby!” Sehun exclaims victoriously, pumping both his arms upward. “I’m still the maknae.”

               I beam a smile at Sehun, “I’m glad that pleases you.” He smiles back at me, shyly, before bowing his head.

               “He enjoys the perks of being the youngest,” another guy comments as he makes his way to Chen’s side and puts an arm around his shoulder. “I’m Kim Minseok. You can call me Xiumin! I’m the eldest.”

               I look at the man from head to toe and I almost laugh. He’s the eldest? He has such soft and baby-like features! Well, apart from his well-built figure. How can this chubby-cheeked man be the eldest? I thought Suho is the eldest?

               “I think dongsaeng is overwhelmed by our warm welcome,” Chanyeol declares as he pushes past Suho, stands next to me and puts his arm around my shoulder, avoiding to struggle with my name again. “Welcome to EXO!”

               I smile at all of them before noticing a man sitting next to Sehun with his head down and his arms crossed. I want to discuss with them the plans for the next couple of weeks that has been e-mailed to me beforehand but he’s the only one who hasn’t introduced himself yet, so I call him out, “E-Excuse me? May I know your name? So I can start explaining EXO’s plans?”

               “You should know my name because that’s part of your job,” he scoffs at me, still refusing to look at me. “And we already know the plan.”

               “W-Well, I was informed that there were changes,” I try to explain as respectfully as I can. “And I just thought you’d introduce yourself like the others.”

               “Why? I don’t even understand why the others are so excited to meet you,” he says, raising his voice and finally looking at me. “And who are you to tell us what to do? You’re our dongsaeng. You think you’re older than us to boss us around? You don’t get to do that. You think you’re our noona? Huh? Noona?”

               “H-Hey, that’s out of line, Kai,” Suho scolds him before turning to me, apologizing. “I’m sorry. That’s Kim Jongin—”

               “What? She’s trying to tell us what to do!” Kai shouts, defending himself. “She’s trying to act like our noona on the first day!”

               Suho raises his voice, as well, “Kai, that’s her job and you’re over exaggerating—!”

               “Although, ‘noona’ does sound like a good nickname for her,” Baekhyun comments, stealing the moment. “And ‘noona’ is easier to say than ‘Alice-dongsaeng’.”

               “Baekhyun has a point,” Chen adds as he dips his hand in Baekhyun’s bag of snacks to grab a handful of it, completely ignoring the sudden intensity of the moment. “I like how ‘noona’ sounds.”

               “So, what do you say?” Chanyeol asks me, pulling me a little closer with his arm. “Should we call you ‘noona’ from now on?”

               D.O. then advances angrily but Suho stops him while D.O. scolds the others, “Now is not the time for nicknames—!”

               “L-Look, this isn’t going as smoothly as I thought it would. Alice-dongsaeng, we’re really sorry. We can talk about the new plans now,” Suho apologizes before turning to Kai, “And, Kai, what’s gotten into you?”

               “It’s fine, Suho, no offense taken,” I reassure him as I place a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe I just got here while’s he’s in a bad mood—”

               “See? She doesn’t even have the decency to call Suho-hyung ‘oppa’!” Kai accuses, pointing a finger at me like a child. “Where’s your respect for our hyung?!”

               “Kai, stop it!” Suho scolds him again before I can. “She was told earlier that she doesn’t have to use honorific names for us because she’s not used to them. It’s fine, okay?”

               “But why?” Chen asks as he munches on some snacks with Baekhyun. “Isn’t she Korean? You have Korean-like features, after all.”

               “No. Well, yes, actually,” I struggle to say, mostly because it’s a little hard for me to explain as well, “I’m actually half-Korean and half-British.”

               “Oh, so that’s why you have a distinct feature!” Xiumin exclaims. “I’ve been wondering what your nationality is since you got here!”

               “But you don’t sound British?” Chanyeol comments, chuckling. “Don’t British people have a different accent?”

               “Well, yeah, they do,” I say as I rub my arm nervously. “But I grew up in New York, here in the US. I used to go to Korea to visit my mother’s family, too. Then I travelled back to the UK to become the manager of our family’s company…and now I’m back in the US with you guys.”

               “Oh, so that was your previous profession,” D.O. says, nodding. “You immediately became the manager? You didn’t apply? Is that why you were so uneasy earlier?”

               I let out a nervous laugh, “Yeah. I’ve never applied for a job before. I’m used to sitting behind a desk, interviewing a new employee, not the other way around.”

               “Such a professional noona, then,” Lay comments, smiling at me. “I’m sure you’ll be able to handle EXO easily.”

               “I hope so,” I say, glancing at Kai who now has his head down again. “Since the plan for the next two weeks is to finish up some of your shows in the US and in Asia before going back to your dorm, I’ll have more time to adjust with the kind of things EXO does.”

               “Wait, we still have two weeks of shows?” Kai asks, suddenly, looking shocked. “I thought this will be the last week?”

               “Well, that was the change in the plans that I said was e-mailed to me,” I say, “Just a few more shows and I was told that you all just need a few days of practice since you’ve performed so many times already.”

               “More times that I can count,” Baekhyun adds with a mouthful of food as he grins. “I can’t wait for our break!”

               “Thank you for clarifying that, Alice—uh—noona,” Suho says, smiling. “So we should all get some rest now. We have a show tomorrow so we need to get up bright and early!”

               “Yes, mom,” Chanyeol jokes before pulling me even closer and into a warm hug, making me look like a small child against his large body. “After all of that, welcome to EXO, Noona!”

               One by one, nearly all of the members begin to approach us to join the hug. Sehun even stumbles over to join. Suho just stands there, amused by the scene like a father watching his children. I glance at Kai, though, and he’s just staring at us blankly. I can’t tell if he’s annoyed or just plain indifferent.

               “We’ll have to get along soon, you know,” I call out to him admits the men hugging around me. “I look forward to it.”

               Kai just scoffs at me again before turning away, rolling his eyes at me.