“Shut up I’m trying to study!” Heiryung yelled to her sister, who was trying to get her to play. Her eyes were glued to her book and every little thing her sister did was distracting her, causing her to re-read the sentence she had be trying to finish since she started studying. Her sister, Lea dropped the teddy bear she was hitting her sister with and plopped on the bed beside her older sister. Heiryung finally took her eyes off the page to look to Lea. “Yes?” her voice was calmer now, she didn’t seem as upset as she was just seconds ago, making Lea feel a bit more at ease.

                “Can I help you study? I want to learn it too.” She asked, holding her hand out for the book. Heiryung was gouged in her Korean language textbook that her teacher gave her. Since her mother was Korean, her parents insisted that she learned her mother’s native language. She would have learned it at a younger age, then she would have been born knowing it, but her parents always said she would never cooperate. Her friend, Annabel was always telling her that she was so lucky and she should have learned it when she was younger because of this thing called K-pop that she was always ranting about. Heiryung, half Korean or not, had no idea what this ‘k-pop’ thing was until about a month ago when she decided to look it up on her laptop.

                Heiryung fell in love instantly. She had always loved the way other languages sounded, but she mainly focused on Japanese and Chinese, never bothering to get into her own family tongue. It was a genre of music that was like the pop she listened to in America, but it was so different, and with the perfect touch of unique flare to get her to favor it over her American songs. Her mother had always been so upset when she found her daughter trying to learn Japanese; she wanted her daughter to have her language down. The day she heard her daughter singing a song in Korean, her mother got a wildly perfect idea.

                “You can learn it when you get older Lea. I need to learn this for my audition! Me and mom are leaving for Seoul in just two weeks and if I can’t speak Korean they will definitely drop me.” Heiryung complained, her sister not exactly getting the big picture. Heiryung, with the help of her mother, had worked through getting Heiryung prepared for her video to send to CUBE Entertainment, her favorite company. She was confident in her singing abilities, but her mom had to set her up for dancing lessons because she had never tried.  She was accepted about a week later, getting a letter in the mail with the plane tickets and hotel reservations. The next day they got the schedules for the live auditions.

                The flight to Seoul was nerve wrecking, her mom was now talking to her mostly in Korean, but only the phrases she would need for the audition. She didn’t know much about every day speak and she could understand it better than speak it. The car that came to pick them up had a woman in the passenger’s seat. She was intimidating, a suit and long black skirt to match. She took the sunglasses that covered her eyes and placed them on top of her head. Heiryung could see her features through the mirror, which she had pulled down to look at the girl. She was a beautiful woman, maybe a couple years younger than her mother, but she was quite pretty. That didn’t take away from the swelling fear in Heiryung’s stomach.

                “So I finally get to meet trainee. Hello, to the both of you.” The woman was talking in English. This shocked Heiryung, as well as her mother but it made her feel a bit more at ease, knowing she would have no trouble talking to her. What shocked her even more was the name she gave her. She didn’t say her actual name, but she said Trainee. She wasn’t a trainee yet, she came here to audition to become a trainee. The woman could read Heiryung’s expression, adding a laugh as she tucked the sunglasses into her suit pocket.

                “Um, Mrs.…I’m not a trainee yet, I haven’t even gone to the live-“Heiryung was cut off by the woman laughing yet again. She froze in her seat, her mother looking to her daughter with confusion. At least her mother was just as confused as she was.

                “Indeed, you have not gone to the Live audition, the live audition wasn’t needed. Lucky for you, where you live in New York was not too far from one of our sub agencies; you probably didn’t even know that. But we had someone keep an eye on you once we found out how close you were. The woman at your dance rehearsals? Don’t you remember Heiryung?” the way she said Heiryung’s name sent shivers down her back. Thinking back to it, there was a woman that she didn’t remember ever being there. She had always guessed that it was another girl’s mother, seeing as the dance instructor never said anything about it. Her mother finally spoke up, her words striking Heiryung, hard.

                “So what you are saying, is my daughter has already been accepted as a trainee?” Heiryung considered her mother’s words, her stomach dancing around with excitement.  She had to force down the smile that attacked her face at the thought of being accepted. But it didn’t make sense. Heiryung had spent hours going over how the audition process went. It was a terribly boring time she went through, scribbling down all the requirements for auditioning and being watched wasn’t one of them, it was a very strict process, it was rare, difficult to get in. how something like this could happen to her gave her dizziness.

“That is exactly what I am saying. Congratulations Heiryung…your training starts tomorrow morning.”