Good things take time

It was 7 AM in the morning. Usually most of the trainees arrived later - after school, after university, but not in the morning, skipping classes and else. But today was different. Absolutely different. And from the amount of trainees gathered in BigHit’s biggest training hall, it was just too obvious how important this was to everyone attending.

When Jongin arrived, at least two dozen of trainees were already preparing themselves in front of the mirrors. Girls who were looking for a second chance to show what they were capable of after they were denied access to become a part of Arora and boys who were sensing the possibility of getting the recognition of one of the managers who would probably show up during the day as well.

"You think they’ll debut another group soon? Or what is this all about? I mean.. common, why would they release all the infos about the company’s trainees and let us participate at a promotion video shoot of the BigHit United concert?“, one of the newbies exclaimed.

"Don’t be too excited about it, Haejoon. Maybe they’re just checking on how we do in front of cameras.“, one of the other fresh trainees told him. Just by his long hair he was recognizable to Jongin. That guy’s name was as weird as his personality. Halo. The SM trainee who joined BigHit four months ago. Just once Jongin had talked to him… and after that he had taken it his personal task to avoid such a weirdo. The boy was basically begging for Jongin’s savage responses and Jongin clearly would never forget that more than weird night he had wanted to get some cold water out of the dormitory fridge and found Halo occupying the kitchen, eating cereals while talking to a stuffed rabbit. "We’re having a moment!“, he had yelled at Jongin. Yupp, no more words to that.

"Then I’ll rank #1, I mean…hello? Cameras love me! This face was made to be loved by the audience!“, Haejoon replied with a mixture of joke and seriousness. Halo joined in his laughters, gently punched his shoulder and shook his head.

"Nonsense.“ The guy who had accompanied Jongin to the training hall was no other than BigHit’s fossil trainee Gong Yoosung. Being by far the oldest among the trainees, he was the one knowing BigHit and its policies and plans the best thanks to his super long trainee period. At the same time it had caused the skilled singer to become such a pessimist and grumpy cat at times that others were scared of getting closer to him at all. Harsh criticism and destructive comments weren’t that rare to be attacked with when hanging around this guy. However, for some reason Yoosung and Jongin had clicked right away six years ago when Jongin joined the company and both became good friends and roommates. „They should save all of their hopes… BigHit is doing nothing else than using us as a commercial method. And these fools really think BigHit is doing this to pick people to debut? Bah…“

Jongin looked at his friend, feeling as if he was right but at the same time wishing he was not. Of course everyone here wanted to debut as soon as possible. Or at all. Nobody knew what was waiting for them in the future or if there even was a future as a musician. Therefore hope and hard work was all left to those who wanted to achieve their goals. "Leave them some of their dreams. I understand why they feel like this. Look at all the people who are gathered here. It’s just selected trainees, we should appreciate that we’re given the chance to participate in this when others are not.“

Yoosung snorted shortly. He didn’t approve, Jongin could tell but that was probably because other than Jongin and the two newbies, Yoosung had been recommended to join this project by none other than one of BigHit’s choreographers, Kim Soohyun. Soohyun-saem was infamous for his strict and harsh ways of teaching choreographies. Like Yoosung he was the King of criticizing, no wonder those two had become close. Maybe that was the reason why Yoosung didn’t think that anyone of the chosen in the hall were anything near to debut. Because some were picked by choreographers and their preferences and not because of actual skills. Nonetheless, Jongin didn’t lose faith. He wasn’t one who was chosen because he was friends with the choreographers. He was here because he could dance. He was here because he had the potential to be more than just a mere trainee. He was pretty sure of that.

"Oh wow, if that’s not Prof Elm. What are you doing here?“

The sudden loud voice was catching everyone’s attention but once the others noticed who had just entered, they focused again on warming up and stretching. Son Hyukjae, BigHit’s black sheep when it came to looks entered and joined the two friends. If Yoosung had set a trainee period highscore with his almost 12 years of training at BigHit, then Hyukjae was doing a great job at being second with 10 years. Other trainees often wondered why these two never dropped out even after spending half of their lives at a company which never debuted them.

"Prof Elm? Do you want to die?!“, Yoosung huffed and fixed his glasses, as if he was stating with it that he was not looking like a Pokémon professor just because of having a bad eye-sight. "And what are you doing here, anyway?! You’re not even a member of the dancing unit!“

"I recommended him.“

Again the attention of the trainees was captured by the person speaking, but this time everyone’s gazes were stuck to the two girls who walked towards the three talking guys. Kang Chaerin and Lim Yoonji, two members of Arora which BigHit had debuted just a year ago, were surprising not only Jongin and Yoosung but also everyone else. A wild mumbling suddenly spread and the trainees were watching the group of people like an exciting movie once the two girls arrived.

"Do you think we don’t notice you staring at us?“, Yoonji roughly reminded the trainees of minding their own business and as she caught them red-handed, they quickly returned to whatever they had been doing before.

Once they weren’t watching anymore, Yoosung went on expressing his bewilderedness. "What are you doing here…? Wait…“ Like always the guy was analyzing BigHit’s doings but before he could voice out his conclusion Yoonji already answered.

"We’re part of the promotion video. It’s going to be Arora, the trainees and Jimin.“, she informed the trainees but her face didn’t show a lot of excitement. To Arora it must have been bothersome, but in contrast to Yoonji, Chaerin looked all amazed. „It’s gonna be fun! I heard Soohyun, Bongyoung and Jimin were working together on the choreography.“

Besides Soohyun, Bongyoung was probably the most popular dance instructor and choreographer at BigHit. Thanks to him being one of the 1Million Dance Studio choreographers, his reputation was untouchable and if Soohyun was the strict and harsh teacher, Bongyoung was more of the chilled and funnier one. Well… not these days, though. And the reason was standing right in front of them.

"You don’t feel weird working together with Bongyoung after all?“, Jongin asked the girl. To those trainees who knew both Arora and BTS because of their long trainee period, the relationship between the girlgroup member and the dance instructor had been like an open secret. Everyone knew about it but at the same time nobody ever dared to ask them directly. And that was exactly how it was with their break-up, too.

"Naaaah, we’re adults. Everything’s good.“, Chaerin answered but for some reason Jongin felt as if it was her naivety speaking. He had heard rumors that didn’t sound as if everything was all good terms between the two ex-lovers.

"ANYWAY.“, Yoosung chimed in again and cleared his throat. "If you were the one inviting Hyukjae…why didn’t you tell him about the dress code then?“ Once he had pointed it out everyone started staring at Hyukjae’s clothes. The grey pants Hyukjae was wearing were grabbing everyone’s attention like a giant car accident in between all the black the others were wearing. When the trainees had been invited, BigHit had told them to dress up in mainly black, so the complete image would harmonize well. But as it seemed, not everyone was taking it seriously enough.

Hyukjae suddenly started laughing and shrugged. "Not my bad. When I got here I was wearing my Toothless onesie and the moment Soohyun-saem saw me he sent me home to get a new pair of pants…unfortunately I only had these.“

As if she felt responsible for it, the Arora member immediately jumped in front of her friend. "It doesn’t matter anyway, I mean look at you two…I doubt that this was what the company had thought of as well.“, Chaerin defended Hyukjae and pointed at Jongin’s ripped, black Jeans and the giant white square at Yoosung’s oversized hoodie. Before she could go on and maybe end up in a long discussion with Yoosung the door opened another time and two guys stepped in who caused even bigger commotion.

Jimin and Jungkook entered and immediately it was silent in the hall with everyone observing the two beings as if they were walking on gold. To those who signed into BigHit after the BTS debut, meeting them was a rare occasion since they were either training - and only people they actually knew were daring to show up before or after that in their rehearsal rooms - or out on concert tours and events. The more people were interested when those two joined the group of people that never failed to stay being the center of attention.

"Ayoooo!“, Jimin greeted all of them with a big grin. His flashing silver jacket was blinking like a disco ball.

"Wow, Jungkook what are you doing here? I thought you’re not part of this?“, Chaerin asked, her face revealing the surprise obviously as ever.

"I heard Toby is coming today, so I was wondering how he’s doing.“, the BTS maknae replied with a canny smile on his lips. „I haven’t seen him ever after we debuted, just heard what the staffs are saying about him. He must have grown into a lot calmer person.“

The silence which had spread in the room suddenly was overflown by the outbreak of trainees starting to discuss about what they had just heard. Toby. . If Jongin ever had dared to have hope in this project, it was all destroyed now that he heard about Toby joining. Tobias Liebenthal was a name everyone at BigHit knew just as much as they knew BTS or Arora. The hidden masterpiece of Hitman Bang, BigHit’s prince who was waiting to take over the Korean Music Kingdom. Everyone knew how much money, how much effort, how much preparations Bang Sihyuk had put into this one boy and everyone was wondering when they would let him debut so others had a chance to debut after him. Knowing that Toby would join basically meant that none of the trainees was going to debut - because Toby would.

Yoosung laughed and crossed his arms before he shook his head in pure satisfaction. "I told you we’re nothing than background dancers to BigHit’s promotion plans. Pathetic how some of you really believed they did that to chose people to debut. It must be a super big thing if CEO Bang even forces BTS and Arora to support it.“

"What are you talking about? Supporting promotion plans for Toby? I’m the center of the choreography! Toby’s just a feature!“ Jimin’s protest just gained frowns by the others. "I mean it! I didn’t spent that much time on a choreography to star Toby in! HECK NO!“ The raging boy was gnarling just at the thought of it and he wouldn’t calm down again so soon if nobody else would try to appease him. Jongin noticed how Hyukjae was nudging Chaerin gently to go for it but the girl took a moment to understand.

When she finally got the hint, she approached Jimin instantly. Upbeat she patted the BTS dancer’s shoulder and smiled brightly. "You’re going to be just lit! I’m looking forward to see us all dancing the whole thing together!“, she cheered and Jimin’s expression lightened up.

"It will be! And damn…since I’m the center I have to be 10 times cooler than I already am.“, Jimin started worrying and rubbed his chin as if he was seriously thinking of a way how to look better.

"…but 0 times 10 still makes 0.“, Jongin commented on it and gained laughters and astonished glances by the others who didn’t expect such a savage response to Jimin’s narcissism.

"You didn’t just say that!“, Jimin yelled and pointed with his finger at Jongin who couldn’t help but break out into laughters himself when he saw Jimin’s devastated face. "Show some respect towards a sunbae!“

"Sunbae? I’m older than you!“, Jongin contradicted and Jimin was about to respond to that again but before he managed to even open his mouth, a bunch of girls entered, followed by the two choreographers. Once the Arora members set step into the hall there was no hold anymore and it became pretty noisy as the girlgroup members themselves started talking to each other, some of the trainees rushed towards the dance instructors and the group was stopped in their conversation when Soohyun approached them.

"Hey Jimin, did you send Toby the video?“, he asked. The BTS member quickly nodded. "Of course I did!“, he answered and gave him a thumbs up, the dance instructor also nodding and returning to his colleague who was busy with avoiding his ex-girlfriend’s glances by installing his laptop to the stereo equipment while some of the trainees were bombarding him with questions.

"What video?“, Chaerin asked. Jongin also wondered what this was all about. "Talking of that…where’s Toby? Shouldn’t he be here if he’s the feature for the video?“

Jimin chuckled and even his co-member Jungkook frowned at the way he was reacting. "Hyung…“, he addressed him. "Toby’s out for a CF shooting… I heard it was a Mabinogi commercial with Oh My Girl’s YooA. He will join later that’s why Soohyun-saem asked me to record the duo part for Toby, so he can learn it before showing up.“, Jimin explained.

"And you didn’t send it?“, Hyukjae assumed with raised eyebrows.

"RUDE!“

Like a protective mother hen Chaerin built herself up in front of Jimin, scolding him right away. Luckily the others who didn’t join the group and their conversation didn’t notice as Bongyoung had the music for the day and big excitement was running through the hall when the beat of ‚The Next Episode‘ was playing.

"How can you not send him the video to prepare?! How is he supposed to practice before he shows up?! Do you want to humiliate him that badly?! JIMIN!“, Chaerin scolded him all agitatedly.

"Ah, common… he deserves it.“ Jongin’s eyes widened when he heard the dislike in Jimin’s voice. None of the people who hadn’t been in the line-up of BTS themselves knew about what the reason was for Toby to be dropped out of the group. Not even Hoseok had told Jongin about what had been going on. But now that Jimin and Chaerin were talking like this…maybe Jimin had told her about it? He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to know.

It was Yoonji who led the conversation into another direction, seemingly noticing the strange vibe suddenly occurring. "Won’t it affect our performance as much if Toby fails?“, she wondered and all of the people standing in the circle around Jimin and Chaerin suddenly had surprised and worried expressions on their faces. She had a point.

"It won’t be that bad if none of us completely…“, Jimin tried to save himself with Chaerin opening again to go another round of yelling but her attraction was caught by something else during her attempt. Or better said by someone else.

For the last time the glas door was opened and the group of missing trainees who would complete the list of participants entered. The leading two trainees better known as the Monkey Duo, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, among the trainees. Known for being the noisiest and probably most exhausting trainees, the duo was consisting of Koo Kangjoon and Kim Sian, two Bboys, who had just recently signed into the entertainment. Still, in BigHit’s dancing department everyone knew them because of their freaking amazing dancing and Bboying skills. And one of them seemed to have caused a certain Arora member some serious hormone fluctuations.

"K-Kim Jisoo…!“, Chaerin cawed weakly and without averting her eyes from said trainee, she punched Hyukjae’s arm. Almost automatically she started moving, her male friend throwing his arm around her forehead to hold her back.

"Yah…! That’s not even Kim Jisoo, he just looks like him! What’s wrong with you, Chaerin?!“, Hyukjae complained and didn’t let go of the girl who was reaching out her arms towards Koo Kangjoon like a blood-thirsty zombie.


"
She’s acting that weirdly ever after that break-up… I’ll take care of her.“, Yoonji said with a sigh, rolled her eyes and grabbed Chaerin’s wrists to drag her away from the boys, leading her towards the mirrors where the other Arora members were chatting.

Just in time Soohyun and Bongyoung started their class and the discussion round found its end with that interruption.

To say that the rehearsal was weird was clearly understated. To say that it wasn’t competitive? A lie. Right from the beginning the different trainees, no matter if female or male, were giving 110% of what they usually did. Why? Because after the BTS and Arora managers entered the hall and were constantly observing them, someone else was catching everyone’s eyes.

Ahn Taehee, or better known everyone’s Hyung or Oppa, was joining the rows of the managers, dressed in a suit which was not likely to be seen. He had such a serious face on, nobody was able to even recognize the old Taehee they used to know. And since he seemed so close and similar the way he was watching the trainees as the two managers did, the trainees could sense why he was there.

BigHit would debut someone.

And even if it was supposed to be Toby… now that there was obviously one new manager on board, looking out for talents AND being one of their closest acquaintances and someone nobody had ever expected to work as a manager, everyone had started to hope again. Jongin even noticed how Yoosung’s analyzing gaze started to fill with amazement and how he did give his all into the project as well. He was hoping, too. And so was Jongin.

They all were hoping. Until Toby finally arrived.

„Hello everybody!“, he shouted politely once he opened the door. He was smiling, yet moving insecurely as if he was sorry to interrupt the others during their training session. And he looked just too flawless.

While the trainees and even Jimin and the Arora members were all sweating, one could tell that Toby just came back from a CF shooting. His make-up and hair were on point, only his outfit showing that he would be a part of this choreography. Still… even his clothes were outstanding with his light Timberlands and his olive and orange colored jacket.

The prince had arrived. Even though he showed up at the very end when everyone was already done learning the choreography.

"I’m sorry for being late. Please all of you, take care of me!“, he pleaded and bowed before he showed his face again which was graced by a lively smile.

"…take care of you, my …“, the blonde girl next to Jongin hissed. Shigure, Arora’s Japanese member, was scowling at Toby as if he had killed her favorite pet. Whatever the reason was why she disliked him to that extent… Jongin didn’t want to switch places with him.

"You don’t like him?“, Jongin asked her quietly so only she could hear. The other trainees were too busy with taking a short break, observing BigHit’s secret weapon or repeating the choreography to perfect it.



"He’s a douchebag and everyone’s believing in his foul play… I wish they just knew.“, she answered and added something Japanese which didn’t sound too friendly and which Jongin didn’t understand even a bit. The girl next to him with her oversized ‚Frontrunners‘ Hoodie hid her face under the protection of her white cap, hissing even more angry words in Japanese.

Jongin didn’t know why she was that mad at Toby. If he was connecting her behavior to the many rumors which circulated within the company, she could be an ex of the youngster. Or Toby could be a fake for real… who knew? But it was funny how different people seemed to think of him. Chaerin was babying him like crazy while Shigure was more than hostile towards him.

"Show me the part we’re doing together, please.“, Toby’s dominant voice rang through the hall like an alarm bell. Everyone immediately watched him. Jimin who stretched his hands and neck, grinned at him. „You didn’t prepare anything?“, he asked mischievously.

"I didn’t have the chance due to my full schedule. So can you show me the part?“, Toby answered and the temperature in the room suddenly dropped. He wasn’t prepared. Hitman Bang’s favorite trainee wasn’t prepared for a day like this…

Jongin looked over to those who had witnessed before how Jimin had admitted that it was him who had not sent Toby the file. They all were looking the same. Why wasn’t Toby just saying that Jimin had played a trick on him it if he was a douchebag as Shigure had claimed? Confusion took over Jongin’s head. Toby was a strange person. What was he intending by covering up mistreatment towards himself? If he had just told them, he would have gotten away easily… but like this he was turning into the target of hatred if he failed.

 Was he too proud to admit?

"I can teach you the whole thing.“, Jimin offered but Toby cut him off immediately. "No need to do so. Just dance it once, I’ll learn it by watching you. Soohyun-saem, Bongyoung-saem, let’s record immediately after I watched, alright?“

Jongin’s mouth dropped open. And not only his. Everyone in the room was surprised, if not shocked about how Toby was handling things. He wasn’t taking this any serious, was he? Everyones’ career was on the line but he was acting as if it was nothing to him. He wasn’t prepared. He would fail. The whole video would look bad. But neither Soohyun nor Bongyoung protested. They just nodded and let the music play, Jimin doing as Toby had demanded even though Jongin could tell that it wasn’t to Jimin’s heart’s content.

Only 30 seconds later the dance instructors were telling everyone where to stand and dance, where they had to move to during position changes and what they should be careful about. They also told everyone of the importance to not fail. There was only one try. One shot. No more since it would be a live broadcast.

Then it started.

Six years of training. Jongin had been training for six years and it felt as if he had been working all those years for this one little video. This was the first time the trainees had been given the chance to shine in public. This was the chance to come out big. If nobody would ruin it by totally .

Once the trainees were done with their last switch of positions, everyone gathered next to the camera where none of them could be seen. With anticipation, fear and maybe a little bit of anger the trainees were watching Toby. They were waiting for him to fail.

But he totally slayed it.

When the first beats of the duo was playing and Toby got it right away, excited and surprised shouts from every side were complimenting his dance. He looked very different from how Jimin was dancing but still everyone could see that he was getting each of the moves after seeing the part just once. Some of the trainees were surprised to the extent that they almost missed the ending where they had to get back to Jimin and Toby. Nobody had expected this video to become a success and especially that Toby would get any of the dance moves.

While standing there in front of the camera, holding the ending pose, Jongin couldn’t help but suddenly feel as if everything was in vain. If BigHit would debut someone like Toby, there was still a long way to go for each of the trainees.

Because Toby was a god damn prodigy.




 

author notes

FINALLY THE STORY STARTS! And yeeees, I know that lots of you were waiting for the line-up to be released but... it's not going to be like this x'D
As I promised to include each and every character, the process of how the members of Black Dragon will be chosen seem to be just as important as the story after their debut itself. So let's get to know all of the trainees together and we'll see how you'll like them, who you'll be rooting for, who'll surprise or disappoint you and what our favorite evil Toby will do to all of them before he's forced to share a dormitory with them :'D
The characters who hadn't been mentioned in this chapter will appear in the next one for sure, you all can look forward to that, too ^^
Anyhow, I hope you liked the first official chapter of my story which pretty much introduced how other labelmates feel about Toby, how the dynamics between the trainees are and what the 'official' circumstances at BigHit are like at the moment. 
I have to admit that writing an applyfic is more difficult than I had expected - especially with that many characters. Still, I enjoy writing this a lot and hope you'll all follow the story for a while and let me know how you feel about it!

“ hope is the only thing stronger than fear ”