"We are ONE! Hello, we are EXO!"

Everyday, the members of EXO stood in front of the dazzling stage lights to a multitude of fans. No doubt, 2013 had been EXO's year. The album had reached 1 million sales as of December 27th, and they were on top of the world.

~

Byun Baekhyun- the light power of the group. Cheerful, cute, talkative, you name it. He was one of the stars of EXO, and he certainly loved what he was doing- entertaining with his voice. However, being an idol isn't just jetting off to different parts of the world in luxurious clothing surrounded by people who love you. It was hard, hard work which involves a lot of sacrifices.

~

Baekhyun had always wanted to be an idol since he was a little kid. His voice may have not been the best at the time, but no doubt, the dedication was there. As he grew up, his dream grew stronger. He auditioned for various companies, but sadly, he did not get past any of them. Dejectedly, he started to prepare for university life instead. It was there where he started to sing where a scout for SM decided to cast him.

It was from then on that Baekhyun would start on the path to becoming an idol- and more importantly, one of the members of EXO, with under a year of training.

Baekhyun, no doubt, was excited. However, with this excitement came fear.

Would people like him? How would they judge his singing? Would he have what it takes to stay above all the other idols having a comeback or also debuting? How would EXO fare in the idol world, where the dog eat dog rookie world exists, hungry for its next victims?

The most important thing now, was to debut. 

And so it happened.

With MAMA after endless teasers of which he had only been in a couple, the group EXO finally had their debut. It was met with some criticism, here and there, lip synching and nervousness all jumbled up to make terrifying comments did not take well with the group. However, their determination was strong. EXO would survive. EXO would be standing against those who criticized them, and use the hate they got for the better.

After MAMA, it seemed like an endless vast of time before the group had a comeback with Wolf.

Although the group had been somewhat busy with MAMA, their schedules really moved fast now with Wolf. Besides just promoting the song and having interviews and going on radio shows, the boys added more modeling and variety shows to their schedules. Now, instead of getting their normal hours of sleep, it was drastically reduced to sleeping on their van and during breaks at any possible moment.

If that wasn't enough, they came back to do endless hours of dance practice before they called it quits- only to be moving a few hours later to a new broadcasting station for the next EXO broadcast. It was a neverending cycle, along with fan service and SMTOWN concerts, the boys were pooped!

However, the love for their fans kept them alive. No matter how tired they were, they knew better than to let the fans know how tired they were. They smiled, they sang, they danced, they modeled, they made us laugh, they made us happy, they made us cry with tears of joy, because they love us. Behind their long trainee years were cries to be loved- and they had gotten their wish.

However, with every wish comes a certain price to be paid.

The love of the fans came with the hate of others. Because they were from SM, the critics were more harsh. Every little mistake was shown. Every little flaw was stated. Any deviation from the Korean ideal beauty was noted, and was largely made fun of. EXO took each jab with a blow, but they came back twice as strong. They gained momentum. They gained power.

The love of fans, however, also came with the power of obsession. With EXO, the Kpop world saw the rise of some of the craziest saesang fans they had ever seen. It seemed like the saesang fans of each group all flocked to EXO as EXO gained more popularity. Was this the price of being famous?

Kai was pushed down the stairs, and Baekhyun, being the helpful member he is, tried to help Kai up. However, Baekhyun was met with criticism from those who just wanted to take a picture of Kai, not caring that Kai could not even stand without help.

With fame, came pain. The lack of sleep, the obsession saesangs, and the hatred from their antis.

With fame, came lack of privacy. Cameras were shoved in their faces 24/7, and they could not simply just avoid them. The world expected them to smile and sing. EXO complied.

With fame, came lack of love. It is a very well known fact that many people do not like female idols associating with the male idols. Byun Baekhyun, a longtime fan of SNSD, and especially of the leader, knows that he can not ever express his love for certain female idols without being terrorized by the group of fans that would request that he shouldn't have feelings.

Not only that, groups of fans would terrorize and bash the female party till they were vanquished. What happened then? If he were to hurt the ones he loved, how could he ever love?

Was he just a robot, in the pawn of the fan's hands? Was he not allowed to feel? Was he not allowed to love?

With fame, came the lack of a life. EXO has become so popular with Wolf, Growl, and now Miracles of December that they can't peacefully walk anywhere for a while without having some pictures taken of them. Their simple life is gone. Their days of relaxing by the beach or playing at an amusement parks are gone, unless they go on variety shows.

However, it is for the fans that Byun Baekhyun endures all of this.
It is why EXO endures all of this.

EXO's love for performing and making others happy is what keeps them alive.

They may be tired, but they certainly wouldn't trade their life for another, because they're doing what they love.

Fans make them happy, and they make the fans happy.

Their continuous dedication to put a smile on our faces helps to keep them afloat, and they still remain humble to this day. Though they are getting busier and busier, they will never forget the fans.

EXO, who started off small, is now a powerful force that is tough to beat.

EXO, who had small dreams back as trainees can now reach the world.

However, although their lives may seem glamorous, there is a lot of work that goes behind making EXO what they truly are.

Without their hard work, their performances would be lackluster.

EXO will always give 110% to fans, and will treat them as equals.

Now, the next step is for the fans to treat EXO as equals.

Let them love, let them live, let them breathe.

For no idol group is perfect unless their fans truly understand what they're going through.

Byun Baekhyun is only one example out of many idol members of this world that experience the same hardships, heartaches, and grief.

Their pain and their success are caused by fans.

Now, all that's left to do is see where the fans want to lead them next.

Let's hope in the future they can peacefully live a better life- for the health of our precious idols, and for the sake of creating a better idol-fan relationship.

EXO is thankful for all the love they recieve, but it's hard to keep up with when each fan has so many demands.

Let's drop our selfish desires to keep in mind that EXO are humans too. They experience the same things we do, but they will always stop to look at a fan and smile. Because they care.

EXO is one. Exotics are one. 

EXO will continue to smile for the camera, but the fans won't always be. EXO will continually be expected to impress to keep up their status. And they can't do anything if one day, the fans all leave.

That's the sad life of an idol.

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A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed! I was originally going to make it first person, but I ended up wanting to express this one shot not just in terms of EXO, but to relate to all idol groups out there. 

I haven't had the chance to review this chapter, so I apologize in advance for any typing, grammar, and plot errors. I have a habit of typing too fast, and I can become too lazy to reread my own chapters hahaha.

Anyway, I hope you guys leave some comments and/or criticism in the box below- and I'll see you guys sometime else! I am currently in the process of writing a new chapter for my story, "What If" so feel free to check it out!

Thank you to all my subscribers for every story I've written so far. It means a lot that you guys support me, even with my weird writings that can be really bad and my long periods of inactivity for writing my own stories when I read a bunch every single day.

I love you all <3.