THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN.

‘‘

K-pop girl group hopeful Elaine Yuki Wong has dropped out (Photo from Elaine's blog)

Almost one year after heading to Seoul with heady dreams of becoming part of the next Girls' Generation, Singaporean Elaine Yuki Wong has dropped out and returned home.

Elaine, 23, announced on her blog in February this year that she was "Back For Good" and cited medical reasons for deciding to end her contract with Alpha Entertainment.

"I've dropped out from the girl group .. due to medical reasons and there being too tough ... I couldn't take it and broke down lots of times," she wrote in a post explaining her return.

"It's not easy being there, all my myself. Without friends and family. Especially in places which language you don't even know how to speak. I can't even describe and put it in words."

Elaine and fellow Singaporean Ferlyn Wong, 20, beat 3,000 other hopefuls in 2010 to emerge tops in a mass audition held by Korean talent management agency JYP Entertainment and local company Alpha Entertainment.

Back then, Alpha's Chief Executive Officer Alan Chan told local media that the girls would be groomed together with another Singaporean, 18-year-old Natasha Low, as well as four other Koreans to form a six-member girl group debuting in March this year.

Their launch date has since been pushed to July this year.

Half a million dollars would be invested in each girl, who, if successful, could expect to earn about US$1 million (S$1.2 million) a year. In all, Mr Chan is estimated to have spent $2.5 million in his efforts to create the next K-pop girl group idols.

However, the gruelling training proved to be too much for Elaine, who, as it turns out, was seriously affected by the lack of freedom.

"Even though I'm back, but I'm actually very happy with my life now. I can do whatever I want to, go wherever I want to and meet whoever I wish to! Something I learned: Life's not about fame. It's about being happy," she blogged.

Training for the girls in Seoul, Korea, came in the form of a military-style boot camp where they were not even allowed to go to the bathroom without a minder.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter