一。Pilot

"Im Yoona, Kwon Yuri, please come out with me." One of the many SM staff quickly said before motioning the two trainees to follow him out. He left as quickly as he came in. The two young girls, who had been practicing their dancing with the dance instructor and other trainees before getting called, gave each other a worried glance and gulped.  Their fellow trainees began to snicker and whisper to each other while casting knowing looks at the two frozen girls. It was common knowledge that a SM staff only came to get you if you were in trouble or if you didn’t meet the expectations that was required of a trainee. Either way, it was a bad sign.

I knew I messed up the choreography last week, Yoona mentally chided herself as she followed the staff member down the hallway. She was trying to think of all the things she did wrong that put her in this position. Last week was the monthly evaluation on how much the trainees were progressing (or not progressing) and well, let's just say things could have been worse. Her voice cracked during the song everyone had been required to sing and she was a count behind everyone else in her dance group. While she was not the best singer like Taeyeon, another trainee, or the best dancer like Hyoyeon, someone she had looked up to when she joined the agency, she had never messed up so badly before.When she looked over to the judging staff after each of her performances, they only gave her a sad smile. She knew they pitied her. Needless to say, her eyes were b with tears as she thought of how they were going to kick her out.

The only thing reassuring her that things might not be that bad was the fact that her friend and “twin” Yuri was there. Yuri was a better than average singer and was always ranked as number two or three as a dancer. Yuri was too valuable to be cut.

A soft hand slipping into her own sweaty one brought her out of her trance. She stared at the intertwined fingers before looking back up to her friend, whose face adorned a comforting smile as if she had known what the doe-eyed trainee was thinking. During the short walk to the room where they were to be taken, the staff member never said a word, leaving the girls feeling clueless about what was going on. When they finally arrived to the room and entered, Yoona was surprised to see 10 other girls standing around looking just as, if not more, nervous as she was. Had all these girls messed up during their evaluations too?

After scrutinizing all the faces in the room, Yoona was left confused. Some of the trainees in the room had been just as valuable as Yuri. Amongst them was Hyoyeon, the dancing queen, and Taeyeon, the talented singer.  There was no way they were going to kick out all 12 girls right? All these girls had the talent and skill that was necessary to earn a spot in the impending girl group, set to debut within the next few years. Maybe being here with these trainees meant that she too could have the potential to debut soon. She chewed on her bottom lip in reluctance to that thought before spotting Juhyun, a trainee that was a year younger than her, in the corner by herself. The sight of Juhyun made her sigh in relief because Juhyun was always good at comforting Yoona when she was feeling down or after she messed up in practice. Yoona nudged Yuri, whose hand was still clasped with hers, and nodded in the younger girl's direction before walking over to her.

"Unnie." Juhyun beamed and waved as she saw Yoona approaching her. She slightly hesitated, though, when her eyes captured the sight of Yuri trailing behind Yoona. Yuri still intimidated her after the first day she introduced herself to the elder . "Sunbae." She bowed respectively to the black pearl, who in turn smiled a bowed back.

"Hyunnie, do you know what's going on?" Yoona asked.

Juhyun shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure. They pulled some of us out of singing class but didn't explain anything."

But before Yoona could reply, three men dressed in suits walked into the room. Yoona immediately recognized one of them as Lee Sooman, the founder of SM Entertainment. Besides Yoona, Juhyun, and Yuri, no one else seemed to have noticed the three men who just entered the room.  "Ahem," The founder cleared his throat to gain the trainees’ attention. "I'm sure all of you are wondering what you're doing here..." He paused, chuckling to himself as if he knew the suspense he was creating amongst the girls. Yes, so get to it! Yoona impatiently snapped in her mind. "I'm here to inform you girls that you all have been selected to be in the girl group that we plan to debut next year!"

Yoona gasped in shock. This had to be a dream. No, this was the dream. She pinched herself  to make sure this was her reality and was delighted to feel the pain shooting up her arm. This was real and going to happen! After six years of training, she was finally going to see the results of her time, blood, sweat, and tears. Whatever Lee Sooman said after that was all a blank to her. Her heart was thudding loudly and she was too caught up in that elated feeling. She so eagerly wanted to go home and tell her dad, sister, friends, and anyone who was willing to listen the great news. Well, maybe only her dad and sister since everyone else would be a violation of the contract she signed when joining the company as a trainee. After the CEO of SM congratulated the girls once more and left, Yoona turned to Yuri and Joohyun who were equally as ecstatic as she was. "We're going to be a group! We are going to be in a group together." Yoona whispered, her volume gradually increasing to a loud shout as she wrapped her thin arms around Joohyun and Yuri into a group hug. Tears of joy flowed freely down from their eyes, pure happiness etched onto their faces. They were one step closer to their dream.

⊹ ♕ ⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Empyrean

Yoona skipped happily down the hall, peeking into each practice room for a particular person. "What are you doing?" A voice asked from behind as Yoona tiptoed to peek inside the last room on the right side of the hall.

Yoona whirled around in surprise and visibly relaxed when she realized who it was. Trainees weren't allowed to be in this part of the building she was currently in, she would in big trouble if she were caught by the wrong people. She was already so close to her dream, she didn’t need or want it to be take away from her just a few hours after attaining it. She knew, however, that it would be worth it when she saw her closest male friend’s reaction to the good news.

"Kyuhyun-ssi, have you seen Teuk oppa? I'm looking for him."

Kyuhyun frowned at her words. Why was he still Kyuhyun-ssi while Leeteuk was oppa. "It's Kyuhyun oppa, Yoona, Kyuhyun oppa." He stressed to her a second time. "Unless you're implicating we're not friends." Though he and Yoona didn't know each other all that well, he still liked to think of them as friends since she was the first to talk to him when he first joined the company.

"Kyuhyun oppa." She repeated while rolling her eyes. Boys and their obsession with their need to be called oppa. Leeteuk and some of the other members of Super Junior had done the same thing to her while they were still training together. Kyuhyun had been the only exception because he was only a trainee briefly before debuting. She hadn’t gotten to know him like she had know the other members of his group. But from what she does know, she knows they’ll be great friends sometime in the future. Suddenly remembering the reason why she even came down to this prohibited hallway, she grabbed onto Kyuhyun's arm excitedly and squealed out loud.

"Oppa, guess what?" Her eyes twinkled with excitement, heart feeling like it was ready to burst.

"You won mud wrestling against Minho?" Kyuhyun cheekily guessed. Im Yoona had to be the biggest tomboy he had ever encountered. She never wore dresses or skirts like the other girls and she was always roughing it up with the guys outside after a long day of practice. Her tan skin was evidence of her recurring presence  outside playing with the guys all the time. Kyuhyun supposed that was what made him feel so comfortable around her, she felt like one of the guys.

Yoona opened then closed it. "Yeah I did, but that's not what I wanted to say. I'm going to debut in a girl group next year!" She gushed, jumping around in excitement.

"Congratulations!" He immediately responded, knowing exactly how she felt. It wasn't too long ago that he was informed he would be debuting."So how many of you are there going to be?"

"12 of us tentatively. I don’t think they are going to make any changes though. All the other trainees are good enough to be in the group so if they do make changes it could me but I don’t like to think about that. They haven't come up with a name yet for us either. "

"12? Sounds like the female counterpart of SJ." Kyuhyun commented, disregarding the female trainee’s negativity. "If they make us do collaborations together, you have to be my partner." He half-jokingly demanded. He didn't know any of the other girls that well and he was extremely shy, especially when it involved intimate dancing. Calling dibs now would be a good idea. Maybe if he begged the choreographer enough about Yoona being his partner, he would get the permission to dance with the boyish female. "Though I doubt Leeteuk would let me." He muttered under his breath, so quiet that Yoona almost missed it. It was no secret that Yoona was Leeteuk's favorite. In fact, he dared say she was most of s favorite. She was the little sister/tomboy most of them grew up with. For most, him included, she was the sister they never wanted but was happy to receive.

"Awww, oppa I'm sure you guys will get along soon." She comforted him by patting his shoulder. Since Kyuhyun had joined into the group later than the rest, most of the members if not all still hadn’t warmed up to him yet, including Leeteuk. She tried talking to Leeteuk about being nicer but it proved futile when he only complained and ranted to her about unfairness for twenty minutes. Unfortunately, Kyuhyun was on his own, she already tried to help him secretly. "Now do you know where Teuk oppa is? I want to tell him the good news before he hears it from someone else."

"Room D."

Yoona mentally face-palmed herself. Go figure that he was in the only room she didn't check yet. "Thanks! I'll put in a good word for you again." Yoona winked and shouted over her shoulder, as she skipped over to where room D was.

Kyuhyun watched her retreating back. What did she mean again? Kyuhyun scratched his head in puzzlement. “What an interesting girl.” He chuckled to himself before whistling away towards the singing room.

⊹ ♕ ⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Empyrean

"Yoona, can I talk to you for a second?" The SNSD manager asked. Yoona,who had been in a daze, stared at her manager strangely before finally grasping what he had asked. It was unusual of her to not pay attention to her surroundings but the girls’ practice had taken its toll on her. Her dad had also commented on her spacing out when she went home for dinner last week. Nothing was wrong except for how tired she was and how much she wanted to sleep. Out of respect for her manager, she slowly nodded and pushed herself off of the floor. The girls and her had already been practicing for a few hours and were taking a break when her manager came for her. Silently, she walked out of the room after her manager.

"What's up?" Yoona questioned the minute the door shut.

"Um, I’m not quite sure how to tell you this. Please don’t take it badly but the CEO wants you to put you in an experimental co-ed sub group with a few other SM members. He thinks this has the potential to be very successful given that he picks the right members for the spot. Luckily for you, he thinks you are the perfect candidate to be in this group." He spoke softly, as if scared that Yoona might blow-up on him. As one of the managers for her group, he knew very well just how tired the girls were, Yoona included.

formed into an 'o' shape as she drank in all the information. She so badly wanted to shout at her manager, at the CEO, at just about anyone at this point. She already had enough of her own promotional stuff along with her group's promotional stuff piled onto her plate and now they want to add another group that might not even for sure be a success on top of everything else? Don’t get her wrong, Yoona didn’t mind being busy and losing sleep, however she was more hoping that the company would finally give her the opportunity to accept some of the drama invitations given to her rather than another singing group to be in. At this point in life she needed to consider what she would do after Girl’s Generation and that was acting not singing. Yoona pinched at the bridge of her nose, feeling an oncoming headache. When she looked up at her manager, he gave her a sympathetic look. She sighed and opened as if to speak but her manager beat her to the punch.

"I know it's not what you want but the CEO seems to really want this. He's already got some of the staffs looking for songs that suit the group. Your popularity would soar beyond what it already is if the group were to become a success. Not to mention, you can get closer to some of your co-workers in the company. But if you're really against it, I'll try to tell the higher-ups that you already have a lot in your schedule and that this would be too much for you to handle. You’re human too and enough is enough. There is only so muc