I  t was nearly one in the morning, and Chae Young was still sitting at the kitchen table, three stacks of files laid out in front of her.

Min Hyuk watched her from the doorway. "Still up?"

"Mm." She looked over. "I'm having trouble deciding how many people shoud be in the group. I need a balance between skill, variety ability, and popularity and it's not an easy balance to make."

He nodded in understanding, and glanced at one of the piles. "May I?"

She looked over and then waved a hand. "Go ahead, those are the ones I'm definitely not putting in my group."

It wasn't a large pile, and Min Hyuk raised an eyebrow. "Why do you have files from the trainees who weren't in the top fifteen?"

"Because I require skill in my final group. And non-crazy people."

Min Hyuk kept scanning the rejected files as he replied. "And the netizen votes didn't provide you with that?" He smirked.

"All netizens care about is how pretty they are and if they'd be easy to ship with each other. Actual talent, skill, or general ability to be a decent human being doesn't seem to factor in for them." Chae Young's reply was laced with distaste and Min Hyuk laughed.

"Not all of them, surely?" He paused on a file and raised an eyebrow. "You ruled out Rid Hwan? He's a pretty decent rapper though, and nice enough in training."

Chae Young passed him another file as she responded. "He has a superiority complex that I really don't feel like dealing with."

"A superiority complex?"

"Within a minute of sitting down he mentioned he has an IQ of 150 as if it was something impressive." Chae Young paused her reading to roll her eyes.

Min Hyuk blinked. "Isn't it though?"

"Sure, if I was hiring him to do something involving math or reading. The IQ test has nothing to do with ability to learn or perform, and his sense of intellectual superiority usually manifests in a fixed mindset that actively prevents the ability to learn anything new."

Min Hyuk laughed. "You've been watching psychology videos on YouTube again haven't you?" He teased, glancing at the new file she'd handed him. "Woah, hang on. Kal got second place in the competition, I'm pretty sure you have to debut him or there will be mutiny." He sounded distinctly worried as he looked up at his wife.

She continued sorting through the files as she responded. "That's why it took this long to officially rule him out. But we can't debut Kal. I'm not even sure why we've been training him at all. You're aware he has a three year old daughter, right?"

Min Hyuk nodded slowly. "I guess that's a good point. Where would she stay?"

"And how would he pay for her living expenses? BTS's paychecks are barely livable and they're ridiculously successful. Of course each one is increasing as their debts are balanced, but it took them almost five years to achieve that. Not to mention, although this group will have some benefit of being associated with BTS, they'll also have all the negatives associated with that and thensome. When the netizens find out about Kal's daughter - and they will find out - the entire group goes down the drain. I'm not taking the risk that the boys will be able to aquire enough of a not-insane fandom before that inevitably hits the fan."

Min Hyuk nodded idly. "You really have no faith in netizens, huh?"

"They've never once given me a reason to have faith in them." She responded flatly. "Hey, who's better in practices, Ha Neul or Eun Gwang?"

"Both are hard workers, your call." Min Hyuk replied, flipping to the next file. "Ilsung out as well?"

"It was him or Jin Hwan since they have similar skill sets, and Jin Hwan did a much better job answering my questions."

Min Hyuk pasued to raise his eyebrow. "Questions?"

His wife nodded, still not looking up from the files. "I did my best to pick out the toughest questions they'll have to answer were they to debut. Ability to maintain a good image in the face of adversity is the number one skil and idol has to have in order to be successful. Jin Hwan barely blinked while Il Sung had a lot of difficulty effectively voicing his responses."

Min Hyuk nodded. "I suppose that does make sense. Still, the poor kid, he's been here for so long now."

Chae Young is unaplogetic. "He should have been able to learn how to take critiques in that time. Not to mention Jin Hwan ranked higher in the contest, which also didn't do him any favors."

Min Hyuk chuckled. "So you are taking the fans' votes into account?"

She sighed. "Trust me, Tim wouldn't be in the group if he wasn't number one. He has the lowest monthly evaluation scores of all twenty five trainees. I'm just trying to work around him for the most part."

Min Hyuk placed the 'no' pile back on the desk. "So which one is the 'yes' pile? I'm curious to see who's made the cut so far."

Chae Young handed him the pile without looking up. Min Hyuk chuckled again.

"Wow, only four people? You really are having a-" He paused, and then frowned. "Wait, Min? You're putting Min in the group after the incident during practice?"

Chae Young looked up, apparently amused by his shock. "Yes. He's an extremely skilled singer, came in fifth in the YouTube competition, and perfectly followed instructions when given them. I get the feeling that he won't be giving me any trouble after everything that occured today."

Min Hyuk raised and eyebrow. "If you're sure." He quickly flicks through the other three chosen trainees and snorted. "Sun Hee huh? You know him and Tim together is something of a force of nature."

"I noticed. It's why he was the second person I chose. A strong bond like that reads on shows. Also I like Sun Hee, he's... quite enthusiastic." A faint smirk crossed her features.

Min Hyuk shrugged. "If you're sure. I for one am glad when they're scheduled for different dance times. So, want help with the rest?"

She nodded. "That would be appreciated. Here," She quickly shuffled through the files, splitting them into two piles and then arranging each of those before handing one to him. "Tell me how you feel about each of them."

Min Hyuk continued talking even as he sorts through the files she pased him. "You really scared the boys with your intensity you know. I know you were trying to mimic adverse conditions, but you couldn't have given them a bit of a break? They were already pretty scared you know. Ji Min kept telling them stories about how scary you are."

Chae Young snorted. "Ji Min is scared of everything. The trainees should know not to put too much weight in his versions of events. And regardless, I'd rather they be scared of me than not. You've told me that several of them tend to cause problems for thier trainers - I want to make it clear now that I won't be taking that."

"You'll want Ha Neul then. He's basically the biggest pushover in the company." He held out the file, but Chae Young hesitated.

"He's sweet but... I'm just not sure he's ready for a debut yet. Fans would find him cute, and his voice isn't a complete mess, but with the other members in the group I'm not sure how well he could handle himself."

Min Hyuk hummed. "You asked me earier who was better between him and Eun Gwang. Why those two specifically?"

Chae Young shrugged. "Similar scores vocally and in dance - they'd bring pretty much the same level of skill to the group. Also I wouldn't want to debut them together, Eun Gwang is noted to have made Ha Neul cry on several occasions."

Min Hyuk hummed. "I'm pretty sure they were accidental though. Eun Gwang is a good kid, just awkward."

Chae Young nodded. "I got that from him honestly."

Min Hyuk held up one of his other files. "Hey, you said friendship translates well on camera right? Well Eun Gwang and August are pretty good friends."

Chae Young looked up, curious. "Are they? There were no notes but that could certainly work well on camera." She quickly found Eun Gwang's file in her own stack. "We'll put them both in then. This group needs more vocal balance anyway which was why I wanted either Eun Gwang or Ha Neul."

Min Hyuk hesitated for a moment, and then spoke again. "You know, if you want better vocals that what you already have, and since you're looking at them anyway, why not Kwang Sun? he was only a few ranks out of the top 15, and he's a good kid and a very hard worker."

Chae Young looked slightly uncertain. "If I choose someone from outside the top fifteen I want to make sure they're either the ony choice or the best. I do understand that netizens have a major effect on how things pan out for groups, even if I don't exactly like the way they go about it."

Min Hyuk nodded. "I'll put him aside for now. If we find we need more vocalists we can put him in at the end."

Chae Young nodded in return. "Alright, let's get the rappers now, we only have singers and dancers at the moment."

Min Hyuk glanced down at his files. "Alec maybe? He's multi-talented in rap and dance and was certainly well-liked in the competition."

Chae Young made a face. "True, but my worry is that he won't be able to stay professional when he needs to."

Min Hyuk frowned. "Did he hit on you? I told him not to." He sighed. "Alec means well, but he can be too much at times. He has been the cause of a few arguments, especially back when Min Ho was a trainee."

Chae Young promptly tossed Alec's file on the 'no' pile. "Well then that's that. If he was unable to prevent himself from flirting with me today despite my husband explicitly informing him not to, then I don't trust him to keep himself in check with other people. Flirting is only cute if it's not invasive." She checked over the remaining files. "How about Moon Ho? He seems pretty bland overall, we don't have much on him, but he did decently in the project and has consistently solid reviews each month."

Min Hyuk nodded. "He does tend to fade into the background, but I've never once heard him talk back or otherwise cause problems in his lessons."

Chae Young tossed the file onto the 'yes' stack. "Excellent, and that covers dance as well."

"What about Do Young? He was third in the project after all, and his rapping isn't terrible."

"It's standard idol rapping." Chae Young quoted from the trainee's file directly. "That's true though. And since I am offering Kal a completely different job perhaps we should probably put the rest of the top five in the group to try and keep the mutiny to a minimum. So that's Do Young and," She looked thorugh her pile before Min Hyuk smiled and handed her a folder from his. "Hyun Woo, thank you."

She then put the files in her hand off to the side and pulled the 'yes' pile in front of hersel. "Alright, so that's nine people." She grimaced. "Kind of a large group."

"SNSD is nine and they do well!"

"SNSD is eight now." Chae Young corrected absentmindedly. "How would you say this balances? We have Jin Hwan who's a triple threat of sorts, two rappers, two dancers, two vocalists, a visual, and Tim."

"Sun Hee is a pretty solid dancer himself, but all the boys have had pretty intensive dance training here." Min Hyuk adds. "And I know Min Ho and Jae Yi already have some pretty intricate choreography ideas for a possible debut."

"Hmm." Chae Young was only half listening. She had picked up Kwang Sun's file and was studying it critically. "He does have good vocal scores, and the teachers certainly seem to like him." She sighed. "I wish I could have met him."

Min Hyuk watched her mentally debate before speaking up. "I think it would be a waste to not debut him honestly. He isn't the best vocalist yet, but he's improved in leaps and bounds and I've heard that his vocal control in his higher registers is better than both Min and Eun Gwang's."

Chae Young chewed her lip a moment longer before adding Kwang Sun's file to the group laid out in front of her. "Alright, no more. These ten together might already be more than I can handle."

Min Hyuk nodded. "Well, you'll have the leader's help as well."

Chae Young blinked. "...Leader? Oh right. That's just the oldest member, right?"

Min Hyuk cleared his throat. "Well, not always, especially lately. The role is supposed to go to the most capable member. So probably Kwang Sun or Moon Ho?"

Chae Young hummed. "I'm not sure. There are a lot of '95 liners in this lineup so putting one of the younger ones in charge..." She grimaced. "Both Jin Hwan and Sun Hee were born in January, so they're hyungs to all the other boys." She spoke decisively. "Perhaps they aren't the ideal choices, but if they work together I'm sure they'll be fine."

Min Hyuk looked uncertain but didn't protest as his wife gathered the files into two stacks - the chosen group and the rest. She sighed heavily and ran a hand through her hair once they were straight.

"Alright, done. And I need sleep. You coming?"

Min Hyuk glanced once more at the pile, and then smiled. "Yeah, I'm coming."

CALI

And thanks to exhaustion we ended up with our lovely mess of a leader! So some of Chae Young's reasons for why people were in or out were mine, and some were all her. But here it is, the selection process in all it's glory XD It's shorter than the teaser, but it is just a prologue. The first chapter will be out some time in March!