For the following weeks, I practiced hard on my singing. I regretted not starting earlier but that was only because I was afraid I would get emotional attacks. I still got them though, but they were becoming less frequent. My fear of singing had slowly subsided and by the next month, I could sing a song without having to feel stabbing pains in my chest. My throat was raw though and I made sure to drink plenty of water. We practiced for another month before our manager told us that they have composed and written the songs for our debut.

Yongguk was part of the song-writing. He had been very stressful of late and I always avoided him. Hearing that the project had been completed made me heave a sigh of relief. At last, I could eat whatever I want without having to constantly look over my shoulder. When the song-writing was in progress, he would tell all of us off if he caught us sneaking snacks from the fridge. Junhong told me it was his way of releasing stress but I had a mild suspicion that he had been itching to do this for a long time. We listened to the tracks together. It was all pretty good. I especially liked one of the songs which had a slow hip-hop feel to it. Yongguk told me that we were going to collaborate with a singer for that one. I only hoped that I would not be given many lines.

To tell you the truth, I was still not confident of my own singing abilities. Singing in front of our instructor or my group members was becoming sort of like a daily routine for me, but I still felt nervous of singing in front of strangers. To add to the entire burden, our roles for our group have already been decided. We went for a meeting and it was decided that Yongguk should be the leader. It was a universal vote that Himchan should be placed as the visual of the group as he had experience in being an ulzzang. Both Jongup and Junhong would be in charge of the choreography. I had attended all the dance practices and to be frank, I could not dance at all. Our choreographer always singled me out to watch by the sidelines as he let either Jongup or Junhong show the dance steps to me. I wasn't much of a dancer and I did not care much for dancing. In fact, if my debut had not relied on it, I would not even be taking up dance lessons.

Youngjae and I were left out. The group needed two rappers and since both of us could not rap for the world, they let Yongguk and Junhong be in-charge of that.

"Ok," our manager turned to face both Youngjae and I. "Now we have two members left without any positions. I think it is pretty obvious what you'll be. Youngjae will be the lead vocalist for the group and Daehyun will be the main vocalist."

I couldn't believe my ears. Me? The main vocalist? It was a huge burden to undertake and I wasn't sure whether I was capable of it. I looked over at Youngjae. His face was betraying disappointment even though he was trying very hard not to show it. For the first time in my life, I felt sorry for him. He had spent all his time training his vocals and was actually hoping to get the main vocals role. I was surprised to find that I actually cared for him. I was even more surprised when I spoke up for him.

"Hyung, I don't think I'm confident to be the main singer."

Everyone turned to look at me in surprise.

"What do you mean?" our manager narrowed his eyes at me.

I looked at him straight in the eye. "I mean, since I'm not confident, why don't you try someone else?"

Our manager stared at me. "Listen, Daehyun ah, this is not a matter where you can just switch roles as and when you like. It's already been decided by the president. You'll be the main singer and Youngjae will be lead. If you're not satisfied with that, go tell him yourself."

I stood up in my seat. "So you're agreeing to it all? What if I refuse to be?"

"Then I'm sure you'll know exactly what will happen to you," manager hyung stared at me.

I broke eye contact with him. Of course I knew what would happen to me. I would be kicked out of the group for sure. I sighed, I really did not know what to do. Youngjae really seemed to want that position. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head...

"Hyung, instead of switching roles, why don't you just degrade me?"

"What? I don't get you."

"Why not put two lead singers instead?" I asked carefully.

"Then who will be the main vocalist?" manager hyung questioned back.

"No one," I said.

"So you're saying... That we should just put both you and Youngjae as lead singers?" manager hyung asked, seeming deep in thought.

I nodded and held my breath, waiting for his answer.

After five excruciating minutes of waiting, our manager finally reached his decision. "Alright. But your profiles still have to be the same. Other than that, you can introduce yourselves as lead singers."

I grinned broadly and glanced at Youngjae. He was also smiling. He looked at me and I could have sworn that he mouthed a thanks. I was ecstatic yet I did not know why. I felt happy helping out a friend. We moved on with our meeting. Our manager told us that they had chosen a group name for us and he wrote it down. I thought it was a really stupid name, I mean who would want to be called 'Bap'? That was until I found out that it was actually pronounced 'B.A.P' which was short for 'Best. Absolute. Perfect.' He told us the name was already a huge expectation to live up to.

"Ah! There's one more thing!" our manager snapped his fingers as if he had remembered something. "Park-ssaem wants me to tell you guys that he has thought of a method to promote you guys even further. He has hired a Japanese manga artist to draw comic characters of bunnies which are supposed to represent you. The characters are called Matoki and some of them will have special characteristics as he has made special requests for some of your Matoki. He requested Junhong's Matoki to be a baby and Daehyun's Matoki to be a pink one inside a black suit. Don't ask me why, I have no idea."

"Why don't he just make Daehyun's one a black Matoki in a pink suit?" Yongguk sneered. "I think it will suit him even more, a black character behind a pretty face... Don't you agree, Junhong?"

"No," Junhong said, much to everyone's, including mine, surprise. "I think the original one suit him really well."

Yongguk rolled his eyes and remained silent. I could see Youngjae scrutinizing Junhong up as if trying to figure something out. Me, I just sat back and agreed to whatever our manager said.

"So it's settled then!" our manager finally said. I was sure he was relieved that the meeting was over. He dismissed us to our dorms and we headed back.

On the way back, Youngjae fell into step with me and said, "Thank you... for standing up for me."

"It's okay," I told him back.

"I didn't actually want the main vocals position you know... Well maybe I did but I was happy with my role. Why did you back me up?" he asked me.

"Sometimes... There are things that you just have to do. And people you just have to grab hold of."

"What do you mean?" Youngjae questioned again, confused.

I stopped walking and he did the same. Facing him, I asked. "Do you want to be my best friend?"