“Seriously though… you’re not telling me your name?” he asked as she locks the door of her apartment.  “I’m Jiyong…” he introduced himself. She turned to look at him now, defeated. “Dara…” she replied, extending an arm for a handshake which he took with a smile.

“It’s nice to meet you, Jiyong… but I really have to go… and I know you should too.” she said, noticing he wasn’t moving an inch, waiting for her. “…so, let the front door of my apartment door be the place where we part.” she continued. Jiyong was surprised but more because he didn’t know why he wasn’t leaving either; but he nodded as he chuckled in embarrassment before waving goodbye to her.

After he was out of her sight, she hurriedly sped off for YG building with her white range rover. She came into the said place and took a second to absorb the feeling of actually being there. Finally, after years of sending in her application and CD samples, she got accepted. She checked her cellphone for the note she saved, on where she’s supposed to go on her first day… 7th floor… and she quickened her steps and rode the elevator.

“Each of you came here hopeful…”

She was late. She opened the door to the 7th floor office and a lot of people were already there, listening to the words being said by the company CEO. Within her line of view, there was a fierce looking lady, with cat eyes and long blonde hair. She looked competitive and someone she should look out for. She stealthily walked her way to join the group standing next to the lady she saw earlier.

“The years you’ll spend here as trainees will be the best and worst of your life. You will be pushed to the breaking point.” YG sajangnim said as everyone listened intently. “Look around you – look at the person standing next to you and say hello to your competition… because not all of you will get the chance to debut.” The words of the CEO were like threats to every person standing inside that room. Everyone in there had only one goal in mind to achieve – and that is to stand on stage and debut.

“Some of you may get to debut sooner while some would crack under the pressure and will be eliminated and asked to leave. So this is your starting point – this is where your battle begins.” He concluded. Dara looked at each and every one in that room and none was bearing a smile on their face. Damn, I’m screwed. She thought.

- - - - -

They were sent to the locker room after they were asked to change their clothes and meet their respective mentors.  It was earlier said by the CEO, that they will be formed into teams and each team will have their mentor – one holding a specialty necessary to groom an aspiring celebrity. They will train under its care until they find a specialty they’d most likely specialize in.

Dara sat at the bench in front of their respective lockers and looked around. The number of people gets smaller and smaller as her co-trainees are being called out by their respective mentor themselves. She has yet to hear her name called. She spotted the cat-eyed lady again. She was occupying the locker next to hers. Bored, she decided to start small talk.

“Wow, there are only 6 girls out of 20 trainees” she said, noting the ratio of girl to boy trainees. Cat-eye looked at her but didn’t stop moving, shoving all her belongings inside her locker.

“Yeah, and I heard one was a model…” she said in disgust. “Like that’s gonna go with all the swag this company has” she scoffed.

“You’re Chaerin right?” she asked, she heard the name from another trainee awhile back.

“CL” she corrected. “Who’s the mentor assigned to you? I got Gummy” she said.

“Gummy? Ugh, me too!” she said in a frown. Nobody liked being with her.

“Who said she was with Gummy? I’m with her too” another guy joined in the conversation. He’s got small eyes that get even smaller when he smiles. “This means we’re on the same team right?” he asked moving forward to where the two ladies were.

“I’m Daesung, by the way” he introduced himself… “I saw you at the ‘acceptance party’; you were wearing a black dress, with slit on the sides, wearing strappy sandals…” he stuttered with his words and opted to describe everything with movement. He was looking at Dara and mentally slapped himself after seeing how they both looked at him “…and now, you think I’m gay” he sighed.

Composing himself, he looked Dara in the eye and said, “I’m not gay.” Dara held in her laugh and for CL – it was her cue to leave. “Uh-huh…” CL spat as she walked away. Dara looked apologetically at Daesung but still holding the laughter inside her. He was so nervous; he made a fool out of himself on the very first day. Just then, they heard their names being called.

“Kang Daesung, Lee Chaerin, Park Dara, Kwon Yuri”

They walked out the locker room and looked for Gummy. She wasn’t there when they went out and it was CL who asked. “Gummy?”

“Down the hall” a YG staff answered.

Slowly, the 3 of them walked towards the hall and saw the tall, slender physique of their mentor, with white-washed blonde hair and angelic face. “That’s Gummy?” CL spat, as she can’t believe her eyes at how pretty she was.

“Whoa, I thought “Gummy” would be a guy” Daesung said.

“Well, I thought… why would they even call her that?” Dara said in turn.

“It should be professional jealousy. She’s called ‘Gummy’ because people are jealous of her close relationship with the CEO and said that she sticks to him like a gum… but I think, she’s really brilliant!” said another girl, trying to walk past them. She was tall, fair-skinned and had this ant-waist curved by her spandex shirt.

“Let me guess… You’re the model” CL spat, rolling her eyes but Yuri just glared back at her. She continued to stand before Gummy with a bright smile.

“Annyeong Haseyo; Kwon Yuri-imnida!” she greeted as she bowed before her mentor.

Gummy was not a bit amused though. She stared silently at them before she began speaking. “I have 5 rules and you are to memorize them.” She began and all of them listened earnestly.

Gummy started walking, touring her trainees around the building while discussing to them her rules. “Rule no. 1 – Don’t bother up. I already hate all of you and that’s never going to change. Rule no. 2 – Practice starts early in the morning. You’ll be prompted by an alarm and you are to respond quickly – I hate late comers. Your training period starts now and will last a lifetime if you don’t step it up. You are trainees, technically, you all are nobodies… which leads to Rule no. 3 - You are going to practice all day every day, if you have to, and you are going to do it without any complains. Rule no. 4 – Your work must be exceptional when you ask me to monitor them. You’ll be breaking Rules 3 and 4 if it’s not.” She explained as she stopped in front of a closed d