Kicking a stone, Jaejoong turns his head to look at the building that he had just exited. He knew that it would be hard to get in S.M. Entertainment, but there had been a part of him that had dreamt of singing a single line in front of the interviewer and then becoming a trainee immediately. Well, it was obvious that this would not be the case now. The interviewer, a professional looking woman with her hair tied up in a tight bun, had looked on disinterestedly when Jaejoong began singing his practiced piece. She had stopped him after merely 5 seconds, thanked him, and headed out of the room.

Hearing voices in front of him, he raised his head to see a bunch of teenagers quarrelling. He looked on curiously, it was his first time in Seoul and he had never been privy to street fights such as this; it simply did not occur in his hometown as everyone knew each other too well to start brawling in the streets.

Looking on, he can spot a kid standing protectively in front of the other, with a few other kids surrounding him as they assessed the opposing gang. At that moment, the kid gave a subtle glance to another kid on his right, and as if receiving a message through telepathic means, the gang started throwing punches and kicks at the opposition. The other gang attempted to throw back the attackers before sensibly doing a hasty retreat.

Jaejoong simply looked on, dumbfounded. He did not know what had just transpired but guessed that the gang that ran away had somehow provoked the other.

“I wonder who was in the wrong?” Thoughts flashed across Jaejoong’s mind. Being a naïve kid of merely 15 years old, he stared at the kid he had first noticed seemingly without any fear of retaliation from the stronger gang. The kid, who was wearing a wifebeater and baggy jeans, seemed to have noticed Jaejoong’s appraising stare, and turned over, giving a winning smile to him.

“Oh wow, boy does that kid look cute. Hmm, the other kid must have been in the wrong, someone who can give such a genuine smile would not purposely inflict harm on others,” Jaejoong’s naïve mind told him. Smiling back with a shy smile, he hurried past the spectacle, nodding to the gang to show them that he meant no harm.

★★★★★

A year later, he was back at the building again. Only this time, he was returning because he had been formally accepted as a trainee at the company.

The time was 3.24PM, 07^th June 2001. His heart pounding furiously, Jaejoong entered the building cautiously. The lobby looked normal, with a security guard sitting lazily at the reception, idly watching him walk past.

With trembling fingers, he got into the lift, the lift that would catapult him into the future, into his dream of being a singer.

Jaejoong can barely remember meeting Lee Soo-man. He smiles pleasantly enough, but underlying is the toughness of a man who has had to weather through difficult times. The assigned guide then brings him to all the different training areas - trainees only have one building to themselves consisting of 4 floors, but there are so many twists and turns and the corridors all look the same, making it excruciatingly hard for newcomers to find their way at first. 

That's when Jaejoong sees him. He practically hops into his path and smiles, a blindingly bright smile, revealing a cute snaggletooth hidden near the corner of his mouth. Jaejoong is momentarily stunned into silence, taking in the sudden appearance of this guy.

Extending a hand, the guy cheerfully addresses him. "Hey I'm Yunho. You must be a new trainee right?" 

Shocked into silence, Jaejoong tries to form words in his mouth. "Y-y-yess. My name is Jaejoong." 

Yunho quirks his head to the side and looks at him appraisingly. "Your accent, you're not from Seoul too?"

Jaejoong shakes his head. "Nope, I'm from Gongju. But I'll be staying Seoul permanently from now on so..." Jaejoong lets his words trail off as he remembers his mum sending him off tearfully, and thanks god for an amazing mum who can understand his dreams and allow him to go into the city by himself at a tender age of 15.

Yunho's voice brings him back to reality and he realizes that he's been zoning out. ".... aren’t you that guy from the street that day?"

Jaejoong starts to shake his head, “No I don’t think so, the last time I came I was so distraught at being rejected I didn’t even notice anyone…..” His voice trails off as he remembers a certain kid from a street fight who gave a blinding smile to him. “Hey, aren’t you that guy from the street fight?”

Yunho answers him half-seriously “Yeah, that was me. Hey, do me a favour would you? Don’t mention that street fight thing to others, S.M. doesn’t really like people tarnishing their company’s image. And what more, a hot trainee at that!” Ending with an egoistic praise, he bounds away without waiting for a reply,.

Jaejoong is so taken aback by his friendliness that he does not even notice that Yunho was donning a ridiculously blue tracksuit and had outrageous make up on. He would later on find out from the other trainees that Yunho had been filming for Dana's new mv that day and was to be a guest rapper.

Feeling pleased that he had managed to talk to someone on his first day at the building (putting aside the little fact that he had not been the one to start the conversation), he settled in a corner and began texting his girlfriend. 

"Baby, guess where am I now!?"

"Are you at SM already!? Did you see anyone famous? ㅋㅋ"

"No ㅠㅠ but it's okay there will be tons of opportunities to see them in the future!"

"Hopefully ㅋㅋ! Remember to come back often baby, I miss you already!"

"Heheh, I miss you more!"

Closing his flip phone with a satisfying thud sound, he stood up and began exploring what would be his second home for years to come.

★★★★★★

A/N: This has actually been in my laptop forever (a few months) and I decided to post it because my yunjae feels are overwhelming me right now. I intend to use tons of real-life references because I like them soooo much and I did a ton of research. At the end of each chapter, I'll just list out what facts I've inserted in the story.

Facts

- Jaejoong auditioned to SM twice and was accepted the second time.

- They met in a street fight. (I do not know(?) or am unsure of the details so I took creative liberty with it heh.)

- Yunho was wearing a godawful blue tracksuit when he was a guest rapper in Dana's mv, Diamond.

- S.M. has three(?) main buildings, trainees have one building to themselves.

- Jaejoong's hometown is Gongju.

- He had a girlfriend when he first entered S.M.