Song YeonJoo was vacuuming the dorm’s living room with her headphones on, rapping along SHINee’s Lucifer when suddenly the door burst out opened. Surprised, YeonJoo watched Yeun Mihee, one of her roommates, run toward her and trip on the vacuum cleaner’s wire. YeonJoo blinked as she took in the scene and started laughing. She couldn’t have done any better if she had tried to pull that prank.

A slightly groggy Mihee stood up and stared at the older girl who was practically rolling on the floor. “Yah, Unnie! Was that on purpose?”

“Course not,” managed to say YeonJoo between giggles and cackles. “I am sorry, though.”

Mihee clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. “You shouldn’t clean in the morning, people might come over and trip,” she nagged.

“I wouldn’t have to if someone actually cleaned up her messes from time to time,” YeonJoo answered, tit for tat.

Both girls stared at each other’s and smiled. Suddenly, Mihee seemed to remember why she had gone back to the dorm in the first place. “You see,” she began, “I was coming from my breakfast when I saw that poster on the board. Do you know what was written?”

Ignoring the fact that her roommate had gone to eat at 9:30 AM, YeonJoo shook her head to indicate she didn’t know and an overjoyed Mihee continued her story.

“It was written that all female trainees had to go to the gymnasium later today. Then, someone wrote it was a secret audition!”

“What?” gasped YeonJoo. “What if it’s true?”

“Then shouldn’t we go practice?”

“Of course, let’s go!” YeonJoo dropped the plastic tube she was holding and stormed to the door, following Mihee. A second later, she came back in. Walking to the vacuum cleaner she crouched to unplug it.

“Can you believe it?” she asked the appliance. “It might be the debut I was waiting for!”

Rising her eyebrows, she laughed at her own antics. As if the machine could talk back. Rising back on her feet, she stored it carefully and went out, babbling about how her dreams were coming true.

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A short-haired girl stopped before the announcement board with a raised eyebrow. She bent down to see the inscription that was handwritten better and straighten with a pensive look. Her hand naturally reached her ear and she began to tug it unconsciously. Was it true? Did the higher ups finally decide it was time to let few trainees debut? She smiled.

“Baekhyeon!” called a voice behind her. Immediately, the hand that was playing with her ear dropped like her smile, as she hissed at the newcomer.

Far from being put off by that antic, Jeon Hyomin approached and began staring at the poster as well. “Sorry, Baekhui!”

Hearing her surname, Baekhui relaxed. Oh how she hated her name that sounded like a dude’s. She had asked every trainee she had met to call her Baekhui. Some, like Hyomin, still called her by her real name when they forgot. Others, like YeonJoo, did it to mess with her.

“So,” Hyomin said, soft-spoken, “Girl group?”

“It sure seems like it,” Baekhui stated. “Should we go and practice?”

“But what would be best: to practice and become really good at one thing or to be passably good at everything?” Hyomin asked, furrowing her brows.

For once, talkative Baekhui was left with nothing to say. She stared at the other girl, who was the same age, in awe. She was saved from answering when Mihee arrived, carrying her bag on one shoulder. Baekhui immediately went to ask her the question that left her speechless. Hyomin stared, taking the back seat on this one. It wasn’t like she was scared of talking to older girls; she had tons of older friends. It’s just that there was something about Mihee she didn’t get. It was like the girl never cared about how bad her choices were, like she never analyzed any situation.

“I think you should stick with the basics: singing and dancing. And, you really only need to be excellent in one.” Mihee nodded as she answered Baekhui. It was, in fact, the first time she thought about it.

“That’s if you don’t try to be a rapper,” YeonJoo said, having crept up behind them.

Hyomin and Baekhui jumped, Baekhui successfully hiding it, while Mihee just sighed. Rooming with the prankster, Mihee was starting to become used to her kind of jokes. YeonJoo chuckled, seeing she succeeded in surprising them.

“So, what will it be?” Hyomin asked everyone.

“Dance, definitely,” answered both BaekHui and YeonJoo. They looked at each other’s and walked toward the dance practice rooms.

“I will go with singing,” replied Mihee.

And Hyomin was forced to admit that it was what she wanted to do too.

“I’ll go with you,” she announced to the older red-haired girl.

Mihee smiled and patted Hyomin head. “Sure!”

And Hyomin smiled and began running toward the singing practice rooms like a ten-year old, stopping midway to wait for her newfound unnie.

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A blonde girl passed by the dance-assigned rooms and stopped, hearing music. Tilting her head to the side she looked through the small window at two girls that were clearly improvising. She snickered and continued walking. Her feet took her in front of the announcement board and she noticed a group of girls wondering about what they should prioritize. The blonde rolled her eyes. If they had time to discuss about that, they should go and practice everything. The real answer to the question was: “you should be perfect in every way, both singing and dancing.” But she guessed only true idols like herself could do that.

She continued walking, taking the short way instead of going through the corridor of the singing-assigned rooms. Quickly, she went up the stairs and into the administration corridor. She stopped before a massive wooden door and knocked firmly.

A voice on the other side of the door told her to come in and she did.

Raising her eyes, Lee SeoYoung was surprised by the sight of her sister, looking annoyed.

“What’s wrong, kiddo?” she asked the younger girl.

“Unnie! Why are you’re letting these girls debut? I don’t find them ready at all…”

“Yah, Lee SeoEun, I trust in these girls,” Lee SeoYoung replied with a grin.

The blond girl lowered her head. “Sorry, Unnie.”

“It’s fine, kiddo. It’s fine…”

SeoEun’s face brightened and she looked at her sister with sparkling eyes. “Then, should I go with you to those auditions? I could help you decide who will make the final cut!”

Frost Entertainment’s CEO pondered the question for a second before giving her ‘okay’. It could be a good idea, in fact, to have someone like SeoEun, who was already successful. It could help differentiate the real talents from the rest.