“INTRODUCING THE NEWEST ADDITION TO JYP! GIVE IT UP FOR Y+C!”

(Yumiko’s POV)

“Ah, my feet hurt.”

I laughed. Chiharu was always whining about something.

“C’mon! We haven’t been walking around that long have we? Plus lighten up! We’re at the Korean Music Festival! I thought you said you’ve been dying to come here?”

“I have! But geeze, these shoes are killing me and not to mention I’m starving.”

“Haha. You’re always hungry though.”

“Hmm. True. But you have to admit, food is amazing.” I laughed. I was glad Chiharu was here with me. She was my best friend and being here without her wouldn’t quite be the same. We met back in high school during our sophomore year. And I guess, we just immediately clicked? The funny thing was Chiharu and I went to the same school for years but we never truly became good friends until high school. Life was funny sometimes.

“Yumi! Look! Korean food! Let’s get some!” Chiharu grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the food.

“Chiharu, c’mon! We’re here for the music not the food.”

“AWWW. But look how delicious it looks! Don’t you dare try telling me that YOU don’t want some?” She poked me. I glanced at the food. I had to admit it did look pretty delicious.

“…Alright. Fine. I guess we can get some food.” She cheered and approached the food vendor.

“Hi, I would like…” I heard Chiharu tell the cashier. As Chiharu bought us food, I thought about how lucky we were to be in L.A. I missed California, though Seattle wasn’t all that bad either. I think I missed the sun the most…

“Ta-da! Presenting our delicious Kim chi!” Chiharu appeared smiling a wide smile with the food in her hands. We stood around and began to chow down on the Kim chi. It was definitely delicious. I realized I was actually really hungry. I had to thank Chiharu later for suggesting the food.

We were stuffing our faces with food and laughing when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I whipped around and a lady in a grey suit stood in front of me. I gave her a weird look and forgot my manners for a second.

“Can I help you?” I asked with my mouth full. She laughed.

“Actually, I was wondering if you could help me.”

I swallowed my food. “Um, it depends. If it’s not something horrible, then um, sure?”

She smiled. “That’s great. I’m sorry. I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Yoo-jin. I’m a talent scout for JYP. And I have to say, I like your look.”

I gulped. “My look?”

She laughed. “Yes, your look. And your friend’s as well. Do you guys know how to play any instruments, dance or anything?” I merely blinked. This was crazy. Chiharu and I were being scouted?! I nudged Chiharu.

“Whaaa-?!” she mumbled with Kim chi in . She turned and looked at Yoo-jin. “Who’s she?” she asked.

“Hi, I’m Yoo-jin. I’m an entertainment scout for JYP. I was just telling your friend that I like your look. You girls would be perfect in Korea.”

Chiharu raised her eyebrow. “Huh? Seriously?!”

Yoo-jin nodded. “JYP likes training girls like you and I believe your look will be a hit in Korea.”

“Um that’s flattering, but I think I speak for me and my friend but we don’t merely want to be noticed for looks.”

“Of course. That’s why I was asking your friend if you girls know how to play any instruments, sing, dance or anything of the sort.”

Chiharu and I looked at each other. This was amazing. But what if this was some huge scam? I didn’t like being fooled around with and I knew Chiharu didn’t either. Yoo-jin seemed to know what we were thinking. She smiled.

“I know this sounds unreal but I truly believe you girls are perfect. You’re exactly what I’ve been looking for. In fact, I’d love it if you guys would audition for me right now.”

“EH?!” Our jaws dropped. NOW?!

“If you girls don’t mind. I want to know if you girls have talent and not just the look.”

I turned to Chiharu. “Um, excuse us a moment?” Yoo-jin merely nodded and watched as we drifted a few feet away.

“So what do you think?” I asked Chiharu.

“I have no idea. This could be a scam. She looks pretty sketchy to me.”

“You think everyone looks sketchy.”

“No, I don’t.” Chiharu made a face. “Okay, fine. Maybe. But you know me, I hate being jerked around.”

“Yeah, me too. But you never know. This could be a great opportunity for us. Do you want to go for it?” Chiharu stood silent for a moment. She sighed.

“Alright. LET’S DO THIS!” I laughed at her silly antics and we walked back towards Yoo-jin.

“So girls, I trust you made a decision?” Yoo-jin asked.

Chiharu and I both nodded. She smiled.

(Christine’s POV)

I was exhausted. The flight over here was more than exhausting. I didn’t get even a wink of sleep. I turned to Yoo-mi and saw that she was sleeping peacefully. Curse her and her ability to sleep. How did she do it? It was odd calling Yumiko “Yoo-mi” now. In fact, I was still trying to get used to my new name. Yoo-jin insisted that we change our names in order to fit in the Korean environment. Even though my new name was nothing even remotely close to being Korean.

“You girls will do amazing! But we have to change your names.” Yoo-jin said in an as-a-matter-fact attitude.

“Change our names?” I was confused. What did our names have to do with our talent and ability to woo the crowd?

“Well, in Korea, the fans would be able to relate to you more if you had Korean names. You’d be known as foreigners still, but at least you won’t stand out…as much.”

I sighed. I was beginning to regret stepping into this business.

“Alright, so what should we change our names to?” Yumiko asked.

“Yumiko, your name will be easy to change. I heard Chiharu call you Yumi earlier so we can make that turn into Yoo-mi. It sounds the same and it’s considered a very pretty Korean name.”

Yumiko or rather Yoo-mi merely nodded.

“Okay, what about me?” I asked.

“Hmm. You have a very unusual name, Chiharu. It’ll be tough to find you a suitable name.”

We sat there for nearly an hour trying to find the “perfect” replacement name for me. Everything Yoo-jin kept presenting as potential names just made me cringe and want to hurl.

“How about Chang-hee?”

“No.”

“Chin-mae?”

“Uhhh, NO.”

“Chul-moo?”

I gave her a look. You’ve got to be kidding me.

“NO. I will not be named with a reference to a cow.” Yoo-jin let out a huge sigh. I knew she was just as irritated as I was. I glared at Yumiko as she laughed at “Chul-moo”. She was lucky her name was so easy to change. Unlike mine.

“How about we just let Chiharu have a regular name?” Yumiko suggested. Huh. Yumi had a good point.

“Hmm. Great idea, Yoo-mi.” I cringed a little at hearing Yumi’s new name. It’s not like I didn’t like it, it just felt weird hearing my best friend being called something else.

“How about…Christine?” Yoo-jin suggested. “It allows you to keep some of your original name and I believe it suits you quite well, Chiharu. What do you think?”

Christine? Well, it wasn’t a horrible name…in fact, it was actually pretty decent.

I nodded. “It’s good with me.”

“Great. Now that’s settled. Let’s continue onto more important business matters. I need you girls…”

My eyes flew open. I had felt the cab stop. I turned to Yoo-mi and she was still sleeping. Again, I envied her ability to sleep. Where we were exactly? The cab door popped open and there, standing in front of a white skyscraper was Yoo-jin. I nudged Yoo-mi awake. Her eyes fluttered open and I pointed towards Yoo-jin. We proceeded out of the car and walked awestruck towards Yoo-jin. Korea was definitely huge. Yoo-jin was smiling at us.

“Hello girls. I trust the flight and the car ride was comfortable?”

Yoo-mi nodded while I merely made a face.

“Good,” Yoo-jin replied. “Welcome to Korea, girls. This is the JYP building.” We looked up at the tall, white building. It appeared average and inconspicuous but as we entered the building, I swear, my jaw fell to the floor. The inside was magnificent! It shimmered like a palace. Words can’t describe how amazing the inside of the building was.

“Now, you girls will be coming to this building to rehearse, after you pass training of course. We’ll be heading to the training building after this. If you girls make it past the training, you’ll be coming here to record songs as well.” Yoo-jin stated. The whole time Yoo-jin gave us a tour of the building, all I could think of was how surreal this whole situation was. Only a few months ago, Yoo-mi and I were normal students trying to survive the hell hole called college. If someone had told me that I would end up in Korea, training to become an artist, I would have laughed in their face. But knowing we were here, it made the dream seem all the more tangible.

“So, now that you’ve seen the building that will hopefully become your ‘home’, let’s head over to the training building. You’ll be able to meet the rest of the trainees.”

Huh. I had forgotten about the other girls who wanted the same thing we wanted. The whole car ride over, I wondered about these other girls. Were they pretty? Were they nice? Were they all Korean? Were they as nervous as we were? Were they as afraid? I turned to Yoo-mi.

“Can you believe that we’re actually here?” I asked.

“No…it feels like we’re in a dream and the stupid alarm clock will wake us up any moment and we’ll be back in our dorm room in Seattle.”

I laughed. “Same here. But this is REAL. We’re actually here.” Yoo-mi nodded. “So, what do you think the other girls will be like?” She shrugged.

“I have no idea. I just hope they aren’t y.”