March 13th, 2006

"AGAIN!"  the choreographer yelled.  "WE WILL DO THIS ALL NIGHT UNTIL IT LOOKS THE WAY IT'S SUPPOSED TO!"

Jiyong was drenched in his own sweat.  He could feel his body getting close to it's limit.  3 hours straight they had been practicing, and yet if felt like they were getting no where.  

"i can't go on any longer" one of the other trainees had said. "this is becoming too much for me." 

"I didn't sign up for this" another had said. "this is nothing like i'd imagined it to be."

They were utterly defeated.

Jiyong closed his eyes and focused on the voice in his head: "Debut no matter what, ok?  i'll see you on the stage!"  His eyes opened, more determined than before. and with that he stood up.

"lets go again guys." they all looked up at him.  "Seungri, you said it yourself that you sacrificed alot to get here, so why quit now?  as the maknae, you have to be our strength.  if you are tired, what will that make us?"  Seungri bowed his head in shame.  "and Daesung-ah, i know that singing is your forte, but imagine the stamina your lungs will get from all this dancing?  i promise you, all this will help you in the end." Daesung nodded his head in agreeance. 

"Guys, we've come too far to give up now.  I can feel it.  we are almost there.  YG sunbaenim, the producers, the coaches, the choreographers.....they are all hard on us which can only mean that our debut is near.  It's hard now, but i know that it will all be worth it in the end.  What do you say?"

He looked around, and got the reassurance he needed.  all of them got up, and began to reform the opening pose.  This was Kwon Jiyong.  He just had it.  Even Yongbae and Seunghyun, who were both older than him, respected him.  And to make it even better, he never let the respect go to his head.  He was as humble as ever.  All he wanted to do was debut, and he was going to do whatever it took to get there. 

"ARE YOU READY?" the choreographer smiled at the sight of the boys giving it their all.  "5-6-7-8!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Is this seriously the best you can do?"  the composer just sat as the piano, waiting for a response.  Taeyeon stood there, biwildered. 'How the hell am i supposed to respond to that?' she thought.  He continued, "If this is the best you can do, then there is no need for you to continue training.  And what did you say your role was supposed to be? Main Vocal?"  he scoffed. "If that's all you have to give, don't ever think of calling yourself a vocalist at all.  just cause you can hum a tune, you think that is singing?"  he shook his head "pretty girls are all the same.  i'll tell you this now: Your face will only get you so far.  so practice harder, or don't show up in this room again, understood?"

she felt her eyes begin to water.  'no Taeyeon, don't give him the satisfaction.  he's only saying this to make you better. DO. NOT. CRY.'

Taeyeon bowed her head and said, "i'm sorry for not giving it my all.  i will make sure to be better.  i will practice more and more.  thank you for your encouraging words!" he waved his hands to signal her to leave, and she left the practice room and into the bathrooms where she was finally able to release the tears she'd been holding back.

as time went on, the practices didn't get any easier, but they eventually came to an end.  

"sit down all of you" the producer said.  about 15 girls were in the room at the time.  "I just wanted to say that we expect better.  what you gave today was midiocre, but if you ever want to debut, you have to do better.  You are representing SM Entertainment.  Home to acts like SES, HOT, DBSK, BoA, The Grace, and now Super Junior.  you have to do better.  Otherwise quit.  Understood?"

"YES!" they all shouted together.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What a jerk!" Tiffany said.  she was one of the girls who had just recently came from America to train under SM.  " i can't believe i flew all the way for this crap".

"It get's easier, i promise.  we just have to keep on going." Jessica, another girl from America, tried to comfort the heated Tiffany.  "What about you Taeyeon, you ok?  he was pretty harsh on you today."

all 15 girls looked at her with worried eyes.  Taeyeon was always quiet and reserved when in front of the other girls, but they always worried about her because she never said anything.  

Hyoyeon yelled out "I wanted to punch him right then and there.  We've been working our asses off and he yelled at you like that.  You're the best singer out of all of us, so what the hell does he know?"  all the girls shook their heads in agreeance. 

Taeyeon carefully thought about what she was going to say, and then she spoke.

"i'm grateful for everyone's concerns, and i'm sorry to cause you all so much trouble.  It's true, Sunbaenim can be a little harsh, but i know he just wants to push us all to our full potential.  I can go so far as to say that by them yelling at us and saying we aren't doing the best that we can, it shows that they believe we can do and be better.  So while it hurts right here and now, think of it as them toughening us up for the real world ok?"  

they all smiled at her, some even began to cry.  They were all struggling, but her words seem to make them feel a lot better.

Taeyeon continued, "No matter who debuts out of all of us, i am honored to say that i am here with all of you.  So lets give it our all with no regrets.  the stage is waiting for us.  Everyone, FIGHTING!"

"FIGHTING!" the all yelled together.

The producer was standing outside they entire time with the company director, Lee Soo Man.

"is that the girl you were talking about?" Lee Soo Man asked.

"Yup.  Kim Taeyeon.  I'm telling you Sunbae, she's going to be a star.  i feel bad for always picking on her, but i know she's going to be amazing."

Lee Soo Man shook his head in agreeance.  " Good work Kangta.  I'm excited to see more from these young women."

and with that, they walked off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taeyeon was exhausted.  True she was tired, but she couldn't sleep until Jiyong showed up.  They usually ran into each other around this time as they headed home from a long days practice.  but it was already 4 in the morning, so she figured he had just slept at the company again.  

"Boo!" came a voice from behind her.

"AHHH! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME! I DON'T HAVE ANY MON....." before she could finish, she opened her eyes, and realized it was Jiyong.  He smile and broke out into laughter."hahahaha.... you think a guy saying boo at this time of the night is going to want money?  hahahaha.........:"

"Yah!  Jiyong ssi, what the the hell?  i was really scared!"  she said, still trying to calm her heart and nerves.  He, on the other hand couldn't stop laughing.  She turned away and folded her arms, completely pissed off at him.  

he finally settled down, "Kim Taeyeon"  she ignored him.  "Yah" he tugged lightly on her sweater "Kim. Tae. Yeon".  she finally turned around, "What?"

He held up a box with the biggest grin on his face, still a little amused at her reaction earlier. "What's this?" she asked.  "It's for you" he said plainly, still grinning like a kid on Christmas morning.  "Kim Taeyeon.  Happy White Day. "

She opened the box to find chocolates in them, each with her name on them.  Although they were messy as hell, she couldn't helped but be touched.  "You made these yourself?" she asked.  "Of Course!  i wouldn't buy chocolates that ugly!" he said while laughing.  She looked at him suspiciously. "Yah, do you do this for all the girls you know?"  

"well" he began "I am G Dragon...." he said with a smirk on his face.  And with that she began to laugh again.

"I've never known someone who was so full of them selves" she said, and they both began to laugh as if they were the only two people in the world.

then it was silent.  Taeyeon look up at Jiyong.  

"Kwon Jiyong" she began.  

He looked her right in the eye before she continued, "thank you so much. Sincerely, thank you.  This is the first time anyone has given me anything on White Day.  i will remember it forever."

There was no need for words after that.  He just smiled as he watched her pick out which one she was going to attack first.  The bus came, and they were on their way home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Jiyong, YG Sunbaenim would like a word with you" the choreographer said. The were all still in the middle of morning stretches.  

Jiyong was now sitting in YG's office not knowing what to think. But being the type of person he is, he was already preparing for the worst.  YG entered the room and sat right in front of him.

"GOOD MORNING SUNBAENIM!" Jiyong got up and bowed to him.  

"go a head sit down" YG said to him.  Jiyong sat down, still kind of on edge.  "Look Jiyong ssi, i don't have a lot of time, so i'll get right to the point.  We are going to debut a group of you real soon.  to help promote the group, we are going to do a sort of survival show.  Now we want a 5 man team, but as you can tell, there are 6 of you.  One of you will be leaving"  Jiyong was listening, but already felt he knew where this was going.  he could feel tears coming as he thought this was where he was going to get cut.

"I understand Sir.  i'm grateful for the opportunity you've given me...." before he could finish, YG cut him off " are you going somewhere?"

Jiyong looked up confused. YG laughed "i think you are mistaken.  I brought you in here because i'm confident you will be one of the ones who will make it.  So i wanted to discuss your contract now."

Jiyong was still at a loss.  He was for sure he was done.  He was for sure he was getting the ax for the 3rd time.  Tears began to fill his eyes, and he bowed his head to hide them. 

YG continued, "so is that a no?"  Jiyong jumped, "No sir, No! I'd love to debut!  Thank you so much for everything".  he was bowing continuously.  YG stopped him "as i told you i don't have much time.  but i will say that i thank you for all your hard work.  i've been watching you, even without you all knowing.  and there is something about you that makes me believe you will make it far in this industry."  he pulled out a stack of papers and handed it to Jiyong. "No because you are a minor, i need you and your parents to read over this contract, sign it, and bring it back as soon as possible.  Preferreably by the end of this week."

"I understand Sir." 

"well, if there is nothing else, Welcome to YG Entertainment."  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jiyong was so excited.  he kept looking at the contract still amazed that it was in his hand.  It was finally happening!  His dream was finally coming true.  He couldn't wait to show his mom.  But more importantly, he couldn't wait to tell Taeyeon.  As he waited for the bus, he began to scan through the contract.  And there it was.  In the middle of page 5, in big bold letters.

Dating Ban: i hereby forefiet the right to any dating until the said date on this contract.  i promise to prevent myself from any situations close to or relating to the term "dating"......

"Boo!" Taeyeon screamed from behind.  he hurrily stuffed all the papers in his backpack.  she couldn't help but laugh.  "Doesn't feel good now does it?  What were you reading."

"Nothing" he said simply. "it was nothing."

Author's Note:  OMO, THIS DOESN'T GET ANY EASIER!!!!!!    

i want to first apologize that it has taken me SOOOOO long to update, but i'm always nit-picky about this story cause i want it to be the best it can be.  

with that being said, i want to thank all of you for your encouraging words!  Seriously, your subscriptions and comments keep me goin when i have writer's block or when i am ready to give up.  but seriously, i thank you all SO SO SO SO SOOOOO MUCH!!!!!  i love you all and hope you enjoy!  If you have any suggestions or comments, let me know.  i can only improve if you tell me what you think!

SARANGHAEYO!!!!!!