“Where are we?” Jiyong questions, eyes sparkling with excitement and curiosity as he shyly looks around the room.  Dongwook laughs at the other’s expression.

“This is the recording studio.”  He walks over and takes a seat in front of a large computer, gesturing for Jiyong to do the same.  “YG wants you to write some lyrics for Big Bang’s debut songs.  He was going to have someone else do it, but I think you somehow managed to impress him.  None of them have a name yet, but give them a listen.”  Pressing the long bar on the keyboard, some beats and a melody begin to stream out the speakers on the sides of the monitor.  “

Moving his head along with the beat, Jiyong unconsciously begins tapping out a rhythm with his fingers on the desk.  “Se7en?” he calls out timidly as the other pauses the song.

“Yeah, Jiyong?”

“There has to be an intro right?  For the album?” As soon as the words leave Jiyong’s mouth, Dongwook gives him a strange look and the boy mentally flails at the stupid question.

“Well, of course there needs to be an intro, Jiyong.  There’s an order to the album, so it all flows together well.”

“I-I know.  It’s just that, um, never mind…” Jiyong trails off and buries his red face into his hands. in an attempt to hide his blush.  

“Why?  Do you have an idea?” Dongwook asks curiously.  He grins coyly when Jiyong nods a bit.  “Well, don’t be shy.  C’mon, say your idea,” he cooes as if the other is just a little baby, making the teenager pout.

“It’s just that I think this could be a cool intro…The beat changes in the middle, so I, erm, don’t think it would work as well as, you know, a song…?”  Dongwook smiles.

“I see why YG made you leader- you’re intuitive.  Jiyong, you’re absolutely right.  This is meant to be the intro.  I wanted to see if you would recognize it as such.  Like my own little test you know?  You passed.” He gives the other a thumbs-up accompanied by a cheesy grin, making Jiyong giggle a bit.  “Well, anyways, you got any lyrics in mind?”

Slowly nodding, the teenager looks a bit ashamed.  “I only have one idea though…The beginning, well, the flow…”

“What about the flow?” Dongwook encourages the boy.

“Since it’s an intro, the lyrics should kind of introduce the band, right?  So, um, I was thinking of something like this…” Jiyong gives Dongwook a pleading look, and the latter gets the hint and plays the background.  “Like, B to the I to the G.  B to the A N G.  I don’t know, I guess it’s cheesy, isn’t it?  I don’t know what else…” he mutters, wishing to run off the face of the earth when the words come out even cornier than what it sounded like in his head.

“That’s actually pretty cool, Jiyong.  Never thought of that; I think the cheesiness just adds to the charm.  Great hook though, so, nice one,” Dongwook praises.  

“Thanks,” the teenager mutters shyly, ducking his face.  He beams silently at the compliment though, as he had managed to please the great Se7en, whom he somewhat regarded as a god, or at least some sort of a holy being.  In fact, Jiyong feels that he can just die right now from joy because somebody had acknowledged him, and not just anyone, but  Se7en, the Se7en .  When Dongwook shoots the younger a strange look, wondering why the other is smiling so dopily, as if he just took drugs (‘he didn’t, right’, Dongwook suddenly thinks, beginning to panic a bit), the latter flushes with embarrassment and feels the urge to say something.  So he does, awkwardly breaking the silence.  “Can I have a notebook?  To, you know…”

“Yeah, sure,” Dongwook responds immediately, wanting to vanquish the uncomfortable atmosphere.  He spins around, grabs a notebook lying on the table along with a pencil, and hands both to Jiyong.  “Ta-da!  Magic!”

Blinking, Jiyong accepts it and stares at the cover, mouth dropping awe.  “Oh my god!  How’d you make a notebook appear out of thin air?  You’re also a magician?  You’re not just an idol?  You’re so cool!  Can you teach me?” he asks dazedly, looking at the other with renewed reverence and adoration.  The older rolls his eyes, almost hearing the imaginary squeal and seriously beginning to consider if the other took drugs.  ‘Nah’, he dismisses the thought.  ‘Way too innocent and cute.’

“It’s always been there- you just didn’t notice it.  Don’t tell me you have to work on your observational skills as well…” The words make the boy freeze up, ashamed.  ‘I want to just jump off a cliff right now,’ he internally, feebly wails.

“Oh, really?.” Jiyong, face red in his attempt to recover from his embarrassing outburst, opens the notebook to the first page before suddenly gasping.  “It’s brand new!  Look, look!  The page- it’s all blank!  And white and new!” he exclaims, staring at the object with pure wonder and excitement.  “It’s so pretty!  Is it mine?  Can I keep it?” Turning his head quickly to face Dongwook, hair flying, Jiyong stares at Dongwook with wide, innocent eyes, looking much like a puppy.

The man laughs.  “You act as if you’ve never seen a new notebook before.  Of course you can keep it, silly- it’s yours,” he teases.  “It’s for writing down lyrics, so if you’ve ever got an idea, just jot it down in there.  Organizing it would probably help you as well.”  Dongwook stifles a chuckle as Jiyong nods intensely with every word, eyes gleaming.

“I’ll use it well, Se7en-ssi!” he cries out at the end before immediately scribbling down some words.  Slowly recovering from his surprise, Dongwook shakes his head with a grin.

“Call me Dongwook, Jiyong.  We aren’t still at that strangers stage, are we?” he mocks with a friendly smile, not really meaning his words.  However, Jiyong doesn’t seem to understand this as he lifts his head quickly to look at Dongwook, shocked as he berates himself internally.  ‘Idiot, idiot,’ he sobs to himself.  ‘You just ruined it; look, he’s even trying to hide his hurt by grinning.  Why can’t you just do anything right?’

“I’m sorry, Se7- I mean Dongwook-ssi!” Jiyong practically bawls, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes as he sets down the notebook and outright begins to cry in the middle of his apology when he almost says the wrong name again.  Completely astonished and taken aback, Dongwook hurriedly tries to correct his mistake.

“It’s okay, Jiyong!  I was just joking!  Just, erm, just stop crying- it’s okay!  It’s okay, it’s okay,” he cooes as he pats the other softly on the head.  “I really was just kidding.  I didn’t think you’d take it like that- I wasn’t insulted or anything, okay?  Cheer up for me?”

Jiyong looks up with watery eyes, sniffing pitifully.  “Really?” he says timidly, looking almost identical with  a kicked puppy.

“Yes, yes, really.”  He gives the other a smile, and the other hesitantly begins to return it.  “That’s a good boy!  Now, um, I hate to break it to you, but you got vocal practice next.  And it’s not going to be with me- I know, tragic, but it’s got to be done.”  

“If I’m not going to train with you, then who’s going to teach me?” Jiyong asks shakily, recovering from his crying, peering up at Dongwook.  

“Normally, you’d do it with your group members since you’ll be working with them in the future, but you’re a special case if you haven’t realized it yet, Jiyong.  Therefore, you’ll be working with a vocal trainer everyday for a few weeks, since you need to make up for lost time.  In addition, I’ll be supervising your dance practice, something else that is usually done with a group, but again, you’re different.  All the others have been here for much longer after all,” the addressed person calmly explains.  “YG has confidence in your abilities, though.  I believe you’ll pull through too.  Now go to the training room; your coach is waiting for you outside.”  Gently pushing the other, Dongwook waves a goodbye as Jiyong stumbles, catching his footing just in time as grabs on to the door handle.  “See you later!”

“Thank you, Dongwook-ssi!” Jiyong states, bowing to a perfect 90- degrees before hurrying out.

Outside the door, a middle-aged man is standing there, waiting patiently.  “Jiyong?” he asks when he sees the young boy scrambling out of the room.

“Y-yes!”

“Follow me.”  He immediately begins to walk at a brisk pace, Jiyong following closely without a problem.  After a few minutes, the man stops in front of a door, pulling it open and stepping into a small-ish room.  Jiyong looks around eagerly, though there isn’t much to see.   A large mirror takes up the entire front of the room, the lighting is a bit dim, and the floor is wooden.  “I’m Go Woojin,” the man introduces himself.  “I’ll be your vocal coach.  You’re extremely behind the others, so you’ll need to work very hard to catch up.  Alright, now that introductions are over, let me hear you sing- any song is fine for now.”  Woojin looks expectantly at Jiyong, who is trying to gather his composure and think of a song to sing.

“U-um,” the boy stutters, feeling pressured.  “Uh…”

Woojin sighs deeply, scaring the other.  “Any song will do, but I guess I can-”

“W-wait! I, um, I got a song.” Jiyong clears his throat, but he isn’t confident in the slightest.  He knows he’s going to do badly, either by messing up, singing out of pitch, or by forgetting the lyrics.  Possibly even all 3 of the things listed.  Still, this is one of the only songs he somewhat knows by heart, if only because it is played so often, though he also likes the song.  2NE1 isn’t to be taken lightly after all; since they debuted a few year back, they have taken Korea, and now the world, by storm, beginning with this song, Fire.      

“Come in Come in Come in dareun saesangeuro

Jikyeobkiman han komineun ijae deungeul jigo

La La La La gashik eobneun naui kkotnoraero

Ha Ha Ha Ha dashineol bichi mothaedoruk

Now Let's chumeul chumeul chumeul chouyo Wanna get down

Boda kkeun kkumeul kkumeul kkumeul gwo saesangeun naemam

Daero da hal su ittgiyae kkeum jayureul euihae Tonight Tonight Oh.”  

He stops singing and watches Woojin anxiously, praying that he didn’t do too bad.  The man seems to be thinking hard, eyebrows drawn tight, and it only frightens Jiyong.  When he opens his mouth to speak, the teenager nearly has a heart attack.  “First of all, interesting song choice.  Most people would choose more of an R&B sort of song to showcase their talent, but it’s okay since I did tell you to pick whatever you wanted.  Now, the singing wasn’t bad actually, Jiyong, so stop looking like death, okay?  Your pitch was good, and so was your technique.  However, what you’re severely lacking in is confidence- it’s quite obvious.  It affects your expression, but I understand that you’re nervous so I’ll let it slide this time.  We’ll be spending lots of time together anyways.  However, there is a lot of room for improvement.  I know singing is not your forte, so let me hear your rapping.”

Jiyong is so happy that he can faint; he didn’t do as badly as he thought.  Also, he knows more rappers, so a song quickly comes into mind.

“Nuh reul chuh eum mahn nahn guhn uh neu choo on gyu ool nahl

Moo nuh jil deu shi wae rohp kko nuh moo doh heem gyuh oon nahl

Hah yahn mi so roh nae gae dah gah wah

Ddah seu hi gham ssah jwuh ssuh nah rah gahl

Deu shi heng bok hae jin nah mah chi uh jae chuh rum gi uk ee nah

Geu ddae nah nae jah shin ae gae soo up shi doh

Soo baek buhn ee goh dwae sae gi myuh mah reul hae ssuh

Ah reum dah oon nuhl hoo hae hah ji ahn kae hah gi roh

Bi rohk sae sang ee geu dael heem deul gae hah duh rah doh

Moh deun gae ddeut dae roh gah ji ahn tah hah duh rah doh

Soh joong hahn geu dae yuh juhl ddae eet jji mah oh

Yuh gi nah uhn jae nah geu dae guh shi rah oh.”

When Jiyong finishes, he sneaks a glance at Woojin and sees him smiling.

“You know, kid, I like the fact that you picked that particular song to sing.  One Love by 1TYM, eh?  Suits you.  Anyways, yup, you’re clearly a rapper.  Your voice is very distinctive and it suits you.  I noticed that you tend to slur your words together, though I don’t think it will be a problem, since it’s just your style.  It helped with the flow of the song.  Now that I know what you can do, let’s start with some exercises…”

A few hours later, Woojin records Jiyong’s singing and rapping to show to YG and then exits, leaving Jiyong worried about what the president might think.  Fortunately, he isn’t left by himself for long to ponder and panic over it as Dongwook enters the room.  “Hey Jiyong.  How’d the session go?  Woojin’s a pretty nice coach, but he can be harsh at times,” he greets.  Jiyong peers up at the other.

“I-It was okay,” the boy replies awkwardly.  Dongwook laughs and claps the other on his back.

“Tiring, though right?  It’s the life of an idol,” he states proudly with a grin, making Jiyong blink rapidly for a few seconds.

“But it wasn’t tiring,” he innocently protests.

“A few hours of singing wasn’t hard on your throat,” monotones the man flatly, raising an eyebrow and cocking his hips.  “I guess you have really good stamina though.”  Jiyong suddenly feels as if he’s done something wrong, and he hurriedly searches for ways to correct his mistake, whatever it is, when the other speaks up.  “Anyways, let’s see how good your dancing is, eh?  Let’s go over a routine.”  Dongwook performs the moves precisely and fluidly as Jiyong watches, mesmerized by his skills.  

“You’re really good, Dongwook-ssi!” Jiyong exclaims excitedly.  When the song ends, Dongwook stops, panting slightly, but looks at Jiyong expectantly.  

“Now you try dancing to it,” he says simply, taking a gulp from his water bottle.  “Just freestyle it- I want to see how you dance.  I’ll go over the actual choreography afterwards.”  Jiyong’s eyes widen, swallowing deeply.

“R-right now?” His tone is nervous and scared, obviously uncomfortable at the notion.  

“Well, what do you want to do then?” Dongwook stifles a laugh.  “It’s called a dance session.  What, did you think that you’d just be watching me?  It’s your training, Jiyong.” He sounds amused as he takes another long drink.

“I-I’m sorry,” Jiyong whimpers.  The music resumes, and he first takes a few seconds to listen.  Then, he closes his eyes and begins to move.  At first, it’s a bit awkward, but as the song progresses, Jiyong begins to dance more naturally, in his element.  When he hears the song end, he finishes and hears the man clapping.

“Not bad, not bad at all, Jiyong.”  The older is grinning, eyes twinkling.  “Flexible, aren’t you?  Very fluid, and you adjusted pretty quickly.  Now then, let’s go over the routine, shall we?”  Jiyong’s face is flushed from the praise, but he nods rapidly as they both get into position.  “Now, first, a one, two…”  

The next few hours are filled with the pounding beats of the music and the squeaking of Jiyong’s and Dongwook’s shoes against the wooden floor.  Jiyong is a fast learner, catching on quickly and subconsciously adding his own little quirk to the dance moves.  When they stop, Dongwook, again, notes the other’s stamina, as the boy only seems slightly exerted, to tell YG.  

“Jiyong,” he calls, as the addressed boy faces Dongwook immediately at the sound of his name.  He’s so much like a puppy, with his shining, slightly confused eyes, baby face, and his obedient reaction, that the other laughs before clearing his throat.  “I have some things I have to tell you; the session is over by the way.  You’ll be living with the other Big Bang members.  Don’t look like that,” he scolds when the other deflates.  “They’re nice- you just gotta get to know them.  Anyways, in the morning, YG wants you in the recording studio to write lyrics and maybe even compose and produce, since you have talent in that area.  Then you’ll have vocal lessons with Woojin and finally dancing with me, which is definitely the highlight of the day, don’t you think?” Jiyong giggles a bit and Dongwook continues.  “You’ll have to start interacting with your group members soon, so in the next few weeks, depending on how much you improve, you’ll start dancing with them instead of me.  Tragedy, isn’t it?  Seungri’s actually really helpful once you get to know him.  I’ll give you more information tomorrow, since it’s been a long day and you need to have dinner- god knows you need it.  Here, I’ll show you the way.”

Jiyong seems a bit dazed by the onslaught of instructions, but follows Dongwook dutifully through the hallways and out into the streets.  Dongwook slides into the front seat of a shiny, silver car, the name of which Jiyong has no clue, and gestures for the other to do the same.  Jiyong follows, awe and wonder in his eyes and he examines every part of the vehicle as he buckles up.  After driving for a short while, they get out and enter a building.  Dongwook hands Jiyong a key.

“Make friends with the others in Big Bang, okay?” He sounds just like what Jiyong thinks a father must.  “I’ll see you tomorrow.  Bye!”  Jiyong waves enthusiastically, before turning to the door.  Hands shaking, he unlocks the door and enters as quietly as he can.

Sorry for taking so long :c  I was in New York for a week and I didn't really have time there... Anyways, this chapter was kind of awkward, but then again everything I write is, so yah...Thanks for reading!