Chapter 2: Team C

‘Hello, Amber! Just call me Krystal. It’s nice to meet you.’

My cold shaking hands reached hers. It was a short connection of her skin to mine. But there was something in that short span of time that made me think of Nicole. For whatever reason, I do not know, I didn’t want to know. To veer my mind of that sad note, I said instead.

‘H-hello. It’s nice to meet you too, Krystal.’ 

With that, she took her seat next to me and closed the car door. An awkward silence seemed to have ensued the moment the car started moving again. The close distance between Krystal’s seat and mine is starting to feel like miles. Thankfully Manager Kim broke the eerie silence.

‘Ehem…So girls, once we reach the SM Entertainment building, we are expected to move fast to avoid the photographers waiting outside. We don’t want them seeing talents who have not yet been formally introduced. And…I know this is a little early to tell you two, but 70% of the trainees are not going to debut, so I want you two to work as hard as you can. I told you, you were bandmates earlier but that could change, it will only be temporary as will be the other members of your ‘band’. You’ll meet them later at the assembly. Greet each other nicely and listen well to your instructors.’ That was the longest I heard him say since meeting him earlier. It was all sort of garbled English but I got his point.

‘Where will we be staying? Will the dorm be inside the SM building?’ I asked out of sheer curiosity.

‘No. The dorm will be a few minutes away from the SM building. You will be provided with a van that will take you to and fro your trainings and other schedules. Any other questions, Amber? Krystal?’ He replied.

We both shook our heads and Manager Kim returned to looking at the window. Krystal’s excitement from earlier seem to have faded into nerves. She must be as anxious as I am, to meet the people we will be training and living with for the next years of our lives.

‘Amber…’ I heard Krystal rasp beside me.

‘Yes?’ I replied in a hushed tone.

‘Are you from here? You don’t seem to speak any Korean at all.’ She said, still keeping her voice low.

‘No, I’m from L.A. I hardly know any Korean words aside from Annyeong and Kamsahamnida.’ I said mimicking her whispered manner. Why we were talking in such muted tones, I don’t even know. I just went with it.

‘Oh. I actually lived in San Fransisco for a few years. It was a nice city. I really miss how warm it is there. In Korea it is almost always cold.’

That explains her good English and almost American accent. It’s good to know people who could communicate with me that well. Not that Manager Kim does not communicate well it’s just that I only understand 50% of what he’s saying most of the time.

Turning my head to look at Krystal, I saw that she had angled her body so that she’s quite facing me. Oh, it must have been rude to not look at her while talking, I thought. So I adjusted myself and faced her.

‘Yes. I’ll totally miss the sun there in California. So…when did you audition for SM?’ I asked, extending our conversation to more than just where we lived and whatnot.

‘I actually just auditioned 2 weeks ago. It was a surprise I got called back this fast. I wasn’t expecting it to be like that since my unnie had to wait for almost three months before getting a call back…’she hesitated for a few seconds, ‘Oh no, I wasn’t supposed to say that, forget I ever mentioned my unnie.’

‘Okay. I’ll try to erase that completely from my memory. Ummm…Krystal, pardon me for asking, but what is an “unnie”?’ I asked, trying to copy her pronunciation of the foreign word.

‘Oh, sorry about that. An unnie is an older sister‘, she said.

‘Okay, unnie’, I said again, testing it on my tongue. I’ll be keeping the word in my memory bank just in case I need it in future conversations.

‘Speaking of unnies. We should probably use Korean honorifics. How old are you, Amber?’ she asked.

‘I’m 15 now. How about you?’

‘I’m 13.’

She’s so young. That’s why she’s radiating with energy that only someone like her would exude.

‘I should probably call you Amber-unnie, then. It’s quite rude for us to just call each other our names.’ She said as a matter-of-factly.

‘What should I call you then? Just Krystal, or is there some kind of suffix I need to add when calling you?’ I asked.

‘You could just use my name. There’s no need to use honorifics when calling younger friends.’ She replied.

Okay then. Krystal is proving to be somewhat of a good Korean teacher. I was about to ask another question when the van suddenly stopped and Manager Kim opened the door for us. Remembering what our manager said earlier, we hurriedly grabbed out backpacks and walked briskly into the building. It did not occur to me how many the said photographers were going to be. So you could not probably imagine my shock when I saw that we were surrounded by 30 or more people all with flashing cameras in their hands. I walked faster, keeping my head down and pulling my cap lower to hide my face. Once in the safety of the building did I only pull my cap above my head. A few people, all in business attire, welcomed us and ushered us into the elevator.

The elevator door opened into a wide expanse of floor area that was currently occupied by almost 20 young people who are seated at the floor. In front of them were two enormous whiteboards filled with Korean writings, which I don’t understand a word of. The floor seemed to be one big practice room that could be divided into smaller ones. The blue dividers were pushed to the wall to create a big space, enough for the new trainees and probably some SM people to assemble and welcome us.

Manager Kim ushered us at the back of the group and sat on the floor just like the others. Krystal took her seat at my right and nervously fidgeted her shirt. I was about to tell her to calm down when the elevator doors opened and 5 men all in business suits came out. These are probably the big bosses of SM Entertainment, they all look serious and business-like, I thought.

As they walked to the front of the room, everyone around me started standing up and bowing at the men. I, knowing nothing of what they were doing, got to my feet and started bowing like they were. They only took their seats when the men finally came to a stop in front.

The man in the middle said something in Korean and all the trainees erupted into a loud applause. I, of course, copied them and tried to do my best smile. He continued in a very regal speech, all in Korean of course. He was talking for about three minutes when the man beside him tapped his shoulder, whispered and pointed at a girl in front then at me. He nodded and spoke again.

‘I’m sorry. I was not informed before this talk that we have two foreign trainees here today.’ He said in a very understandable English that made me smile.

‘Once again, for the benefit of our foreign trainees, I welcome you to SM Entertainment! I am the CEO of SM Entertainment, Kim Young-min. We have meticulously picked each of you to be part of our new batch of trainees. However, I will not spare you the harsh truth, not all of you will debut in the near future. Only 50 or maybe even 30 percent of you will make it into the entertainment industry. All I could advise you now is give your best in everything you will be doing. I expect you to be friendly to each other because you are going to be training long and hard for the next years together. For our foreign students, you will have to work extra hard because aside from your regular training, you will also be studying Korean writing and language. I wish all the best, trainees!’ Mr. Kim said.

With that he said something in Korean and took his leave, along with the 4 men with him. A man wearing training clothes then came in front and said something in Korean once again. I guess he was giving instructions for our schedule today, rules, and the likes. I looked at Krystal and asked her quietly.

‘Krystal, what’s he saying?’

‘He’s just giving instructions and few reminders that the CEO did not mention. Don’t worry, we will be given a handbook of rules and schedules for our entire stay here.’ She said.

All that happened next was a blur. We were handed a lot of papers, and handbooks. Krystal translated some of the important things that were said by the guy in training clothes. And then we were divided into groups. Our group, consisting of five girls, was temporarily named Team C. The other foreign girl that looks to be Chinese was part of our group, too. I looked around and saw that one group had 9 guys in it and the other had only 4. I did not get why we were grouped like this but I dare not question it. Soon the dividers were drawn and our group was ushered into one of the training rooms.

We were all quiet once we took our seat in the middle of the room. Our managers were also there, talking to themselves. Another eerie silenced ensued. Thankfully, the ever friendly Krystal broke the ice.

‘Hello, guys! I guess we should start by introducing ourselves. I’m Jung Soojung, by the way. I’m Korean but I can speak English too.’ She said, addressing each of us with bright smiles.

‘Umm…o-kay.’ The rather small and chubby Korean girl said.

The other tall girl just nodded her head.

The Chinese girl from earlier, nodded then said.

‘Hello, I’m Song Qian, I’m from China. I’m not very good at English so please bear with me.’ She said, her English heavily accented.

‘Hello, I’m Choi Jinri. I’m Korean. I’m not too good at English too.’ She said, smiling shyly at us.

‘Hello, I’m Park Sun-young. I’m Korean too. Not too good at English, either.’ She said.

‘Hi! I’m Amber Liu, I’m from Los Angeles, California. I don’t speak any Korean but I can speak a little bit of Mandarin.’ I said, looking at Song Qian with a smile.

Our managers came then and told each of us to talk for a bit and get to know each other while they take care of some business. They will be back in 30 minutes, they said.

And so we spent the next 30 minutes getting to know each other with Krystal translating the Korean to English for me, and I translating the English to Mandarin for Song Qian. It was a good start for our group…or so I thought.