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The music was blaring loudly through the room as bodies moved their hips to the beat. The only other notable sounds were the occasional sneaker sliding across the slick wooden floor. Four girls and four boys were working together to make the performance as good as they possibly could and as small beads of sweat trickled down their foreheads, the figures moved in unison. It was obvious the girls still had trouble with some of the moves, utter concentration plastered over their faces as they just managed to keep up with the boys. The boys on the other hand, you could tell, knew exactly what they were doing, as their moves were spot on. They were expertly guiding the girls through the various steps, making sure every single move was done right. The girl’s lack of experience came from the fact that they were, unlike the already quite famous boys, still trainees, trainees that had only been part of SM entertainment for a little over a month. Just a few months ago, these girls were living their normal lives at university, bored out of their minds. Sure, they’d dreamed about living a better life off somewhere else, but none of them would have ever thought their lives would take a turn, this epic.

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On a typical, boring day at university, Sen, Kelly, Els and Riki had decided to enter a certain contest, a certain cover contest held by a certain major Korean music company. SM Entertainment had called upon fans all over the world to submit a cover of EXO’s hit single MAMA. The winner would receive a trip to South Korea to meet the idols in person. When the girls first heard about this all, they hadn’t given it much thought as they didn’t really care much for other people’s covers and the thought of entering themselves was just absurd. They reckoned they wouldn’t stand a chance. As the weeks passed though, and the girls’ love for EXO only grew, they were starting to feel a little frustrated about the whole thing. I mean, the price was pretty damn amazing and none of the girls could deny they wanted to meet their idols face to face. So, after some debate, the girls decided to stop worrying about not being good enough and give it a try. After all, it’s not like they had anything else to do, like studying for exams. No, this sounded like a good plan.

The girls could not have been more wrong about themselves. Their cover had drawn the attention of not only the internet, but the company as well. On a bright Tuesday morning, Sen opened up her laptop as she lazily stretched out her arms, letting out a yawn. Whilst munching on a spoonful of cereal, she scrolled away on her favorite sites, unaware of what was about to happen next. Having to check on some stuff for school, she went to her e-mail.

The moment she opened up her inbox, she gasped, letting out a high-pitched noise and started choking on her cereal, food flying all over her computer screen. SM Entertainment had just congratulated Sen and her friends on winning the EXO cover contest.

“This is too much.” she thought, still glued to her computers screen with hanging open, milk dripping from her chin. After re-reading the e-mail in its entirety a few more times, she wiped her chin, threw on some clothes and sprinted out the door.

The others must know..

Sen had run all the way up to the big building their lessons usually took place in and texted her friends.

“GET YOUR BUTTS OVER HERE, NOW!!!!!!!!”

The sight must have been hysterical, as the four girls jumped up and down around each other, one more ridiculous than the other, squealing and flailing their arms around in the air in front of random, confused bystanders. The girls didn’t care though. They’d be away on a plane just a week from that day. After they’d talked their parents into letting them go on a trip so close to final exams, they were ready for a week of fun and awesomeness in Korea.

The plane ride was nerve wrecking. None of them really knew what was going to happen once they landed, as everything had been taken care of by the company. The plane ride was nothing though, compared to the nerves the girls felt as their driver (yes, their driver) drove them straight past the SM Entertainment company building.

“I’m driving you directly to your dorm first. You girls will want to freshen up before you get to the company.” He spoke in fast-as-crap Korean, confusing the girls in the backseats. All four of the girls had built up a basic knowledge of the Korean language over the years but they definitely weren’t accustomed to the speed at which this guy was addressing them.

Luckily, they arrived only a minute later at a big, modern looking building. The driver helped them with their luggage and gave them their keys and a file containing further instructions. Struggling with their bags, but overly thrilled to see their dorm, the girls began shuffling their way inside. Heading up to the elevator they had the feeling every single person in the lobby was staring at them. Some even began murmuring to each other as they noticed the foreign girls.

“Better get used to this. We’re waegookin now.” Riki whispered after Kelly rolled her eyes in annoyance at their spectators.

Going three levels up, they made it to the dorm they’d be staying in for the coming week. It wasn’t much, but it had the basics of a small apartment. A little sitting room containing a couch and an outdated looking TV to the left, a narrow kitchen to the right and straight ahead were two doors that could only be the bedrooms. To the girls discomfort however, they found out that one of the doors led to a tiny bathroom, which meant that they would all be crammed into one room at night.

“Well this isn’t exactly what I’d hoped for.” Sen sighed, exhausted from the flight, plopping herself down on the couch. Sure, they were excited, but all the traveling had weighed them down (and there was the fact that they hadn’t been able to sleep properly for days, merely out of anticipation.)

“Yeah, you’d think they’d try at least a little to make their guests comfortable.” Kelly mumbled as she joined her friend on the couch, which was then fully occupied. Els and Riki, resorted to sit on the floor, joined in as well. “Well, we aren’t exactly paying for any of this.” Els began, looking around the room when Riki started grinning. “Nah it’s not even that bad! Besides, we’re not really planning on spending much time in here now are we?”

This had brought all thoughts back to what was about to happen next. In an hour, someone would come to pick them up and take them to meet EXO. Yup, this was actually going happen and the girls seemed to only now have fully realized it.

Within the next few minutes, the dorm had transformed from being a clean space, into looking like a nuclear bomb had gone off in there. The floor lay sprawled with clothes and random contents from random bags and the bathroom looked like someone had flooded it, since the girls had showered as if their lives had depended on it.

“Damn it hair, Cooperate already!” Sen yelled as she ran the straightener through it again. Els managed to duck only just in time as a bra flew passed her head, earning her a quick “sorry!” from Riki. “Oh my god, where’s the deodorant?” Kelly cried as she dug her hands back into the big mess that was the floor. It was as if the word ‘calm’ had seized to exist.

After Riki finished doing everyone’s make up and the four of them had taken some time to simmer down, they made their way to the car waiting outside. The drive to the company was quiet. In a few moments, they’d be meeting their idols, the ones they’d always fantasize about together back at home. The thought alone made the girls stomachs twist in excitement. What on earth would they even say to them? Would this be awkward? They were all thinking the same thing.

This is going to be awkward isn’t it..     

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As they walked into the SM building, they were met by a friendly looking woman wearing a business suit. “You must be the contest winners! It’s really nice to meet you.” She began in perfect English. She must have been from abroad as well. “Well, let’s not keep you girls waiting. Right this way!” She chirped.

The girls were lead through hallway after hallway, passing about a gazillion doors, until they reached a big open space, looking sort of like a cafeteria. A couple of the tables were occupied by trainees, talking amongst themselves. Other people sat alone, busy reading or writing. It seemed like this was the place SM employees could relax and hang out during breaks. On the far right side of the room, a dozen of really good looking boys sat around a table, talking and laughing. “Oh, there they are!” The friendly woman said, making her way towards them. The girls, not knowing whether or not to follow her, slowly started shuffling along. As they came closer to the boys, the latter looked up from their table, recognizing the girls at once from their video.

“Oh, hello!” The boys all smiled at them whilst standing up and bowing. The girls returned their smiles and waved at them awkwardly.

After the friendly lady had left them alone with the boys and everyone had sat themselves back down around the table, quiet fell. Sen, realizing someone needed to start the conversation, spoke up first using her best Korean, “We happy to finally meet you!” hoping her grammar wasn’t too embarrassing.

“Oh wow! You speak Korean?” A cute looking boy by the name of Xiumin spoke up, looking sincerely impressed. “Just learning.” Sen replied shyly, giving him a small smile.

“They spoke Korean in their entry video too, idiot.” One of the other, taller boys chuckled, elbowing him lightly. “You guise’s entry was really quite something too.” He went on, looking Sen directly in the eyes, making her blush. The girls hadn’t really understood what he’d meant by that comment, but they’d decided to take it as a compliment.

“Yeah, about your video...” A boy the girls all knew to be Kai started. “Have you ever… oh I don’t know, thought about becoming actual singers, you know, like, maybe doing this stuff for real?” He asked, raising his eyebrows suspiciously. Some of his band mates immediately shot Kai threatening looks, as though he’d just said something he really shouldn’t have. “Errrm...” Els tried, looking quite confused with Kai’s sudden question. “Not exactly.” She shook her head slowly.

The girls had never even thought they’d be good enough to win the contest, let alone becoming actual idols, this guy was being ridiculous.

“Yeah, that was joke right?” Riki snickered. “Oh you girls have no idea.” Kai smiled widely, earning him more disapproving looks and a few nudges at his side from his co members.  

Then, time seemed to fly as the girls and boys got to know each other. They talked about all sorts of random stuff: The girl’s life at University, the boy’s schedule being hectic, the girl’s favorite EXO songs, the places in Seoul the girls had to visit while they were there… Despite the minor language barrier, the atmosphere became really relaxed and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. After about twenty minutes, the friendly lady arrived at their table once again. She’d brought a cameraman and requested to take a few photos for the SM Town website. They took some pictures of the boys signing Sen and Kelly’s EXO albums and then, everyone got up once again and huddled together for the group picture. Els, scooted down in between Xiumin and Baekhyun, holding up a peace sign. Riki and Sen put on their best gangster pose as they stood next to Chanyeol, who was doing the same thing. Kelly’s eyes widened and her body froze up completely as she felt an arm falling loosely around her shoulder, belonging to no other than EXO’s D.O. Freaking out internally, she tried to put on a normal face for the picture. Everyone was smiling brightly at the camera and after the cameraman counted to three, the picture was taken.

After that, the girls said their goodbyes to the boys, who had to leave for yet another schedule. “See you soon!” Kai shouted in a sing-song voice at the girls as the EXO members were exciting the building. They could just make out Suho hitting Kai around the head with his bag as the doors to the company closed behind them.

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The girls had decided to stay behind at the company for a little while, to eat dinner and to discuss all the amazing things that had just happened. I mean, when would they ever have the chance again to eat at the SM Entertainment cafeteria? When they got up from their table to head back home though, they found the friendly lady waiting for them in the lobby. She came up to them, asking how they had liked the meeting. After the girls told her how much fun they had had, she went on. “Oh that’s great, we’re happy to hear it.” She smiled. “Oh and I forgot to tell you earlier, you girls will have to come back to the company tomorrow morning, can you do that?”

“Err… sure, but why?” Riki asked.

“Boss wants to see you.” The lady stated as if it was the most normal thing in the world. The girls stared at the woman for a moment in confusion and then turned to stare each other with the same expression. By the time they’d turned back to the woman, she’d walked away, as if she was being mysterious on purpose.

Back at the dorm, the four girls were raving excitedly over their meeting with the idol group. It had gone so well! And the boys had been so nice! Sure, they’d been nervous and it’d taken them a while to shake off all the awkward but nevertheless, the girls were feeling as though it couldn’t have gone better.

“Oh my god did you see how awesome and y Kris was?” Sen yelled out, hugging a pillow to her chest. “Yes, we saw.” Els chuckled, shaking her head, mockingly. She managed to duck only just in time as Sen’s pillow came flying at her head. “I’m serious you guys, oh my god.” Sen said as she slid of the couch, like she was melting.

At that moment, Kelly, who’d been listening from the kitchen, came in with four cups of tea. “Man! I wish we could stay here longer.” She said as she put everything down on the floor. “Yeah, today felt so unreal.” Els sighed dreamily. “Stuff like this just doesn’t happen.”

It was quiet for a while when Riki decided to break the silence and cheer. “But it did happen!” This was enough to bring the conversation back to fangirling about their experience.

The girls went to bed fairly early that night, as they were expected back at the company in the morning. Finding sleep however, was not as easily done as they had hoped. Their minds kept welling up in excitement as images from their meeting with EXO popped up in their heads. And then there were the nerves, activated by the idea of meeting the chief executive of SM Entertainment in the morning. This promised to be a long night.

Surprisingly, the following day ended up being even more mind blowing than the last.

Anxiously, the girls had met with a serious looking middle-aged man at the company. This man had not only congratulated them on winning the cover contest, much to the girls’ astonishment, he’d started praising them on their individual skills as well. If all that hadn’t been enough, he’d made them a proposition that blew the girls minds so far away, it was a miracle none of them had fainted. The SM Entertainment chief executive had just asked them to join the company as trainees.

What the actual ?

He’d told them he thought they’d be a great asset to the team and that they would open up doors for the company on an international level. He’d said that, with the proper training, they could go very far. The girls had just stood there, speechless for a moment, gaping at the man. He’d noticed this and calmly told them they could think it over first, as they would still be in Korea for a few days.

As soon as the girls had left the building though, their minds were already sort of made up. This was the chance of a lifetime; they couldn’t just let it slip away, so after another night at their crappy dorm discussing the pros and cons of joining the company, they made the decision. They were doing it.

They called their parents about everything, hoping they’d support them and if they didn’t, well, they were of age, so there was no one that could really keep them from going through with this. The girls gave their ‘yes’ to the company on the day they were leaving Korea. They decided it best to return home first to have a chance to say goodbye to their families and to pack up all the stuff they would need in Korea. In the meantime, the company was handling all the boring legal business that had to be taken care of, making sure the girls would be allowed to stay in Korea for long periods of time.

It’d taken some time but after about a week and a half had passed, the girls had become full-fledged SM Entertainment trainees. They’d even managed to get rid of their crappy dorm. They were now located at a smaller apartment building, closer to the company. Their dorm had gotten a noticeable upgrade, as they now had two bedrooms and a much larger bathroom. The kitchen was a little more spacey and the place, overall, had a cozier feel to it. Nope, the girls were definitely not complaining!

The company had told them that, after they’d received enough training, they would eventually let them debut as the company’s new girl group. This had given the girls a lot of motivation to start working as hard as they could. They’d chosen this path themselves so they were one hundred percent determent to become the best they could possibly be. They would not give up on this.

Training, as they had expected, proved to be quite difficult, wait, no, scratch that. It was ridiculously hard. Nevertheless, the girls persevered and got used to the many work hours. They found themselves enjoying it more and more, as they saw themselves progressing. Not only did their singing and dancing skills get loads better, their Korean was improving at lightning speed, as they were forced to use it on a daily basis now.

As the weeks passed by, the girls couldn’t help but think that this was the best decision they’d made in their life.

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That's all for now dudzies! ^^ I hope you enjoyed it!!!