Watched: 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards

      September 18th, 2009

September 18th, 2009

"Hello everyone, please take care of me today!" Echo cheerily greeted the drama staff, practically skipping in her excitement onto the shooting location.

A couple staff members turned to politely smile and greet the young idol before going back to what they were doing.

"Hello, Jang-sunbae," Echo carefully greeted the actor with a deep bow.

The black haired man waved at her to stop. "Let's be more comfortable, call me Geunsuk."

The idol widely smiled in appreciation. "Alright, Geunsuk-sunbae."

Geunsuk chuckled, gently patting her shoulder. "We'll work on it. Have you gone over your lines today?"

"It's all I've been doing in my free time," she admitted. "I want to cause as little stress to the staff as possible."

"Then you better not NG," the actor pointed a finger at her, amused. "I'll be watching you."

"Alright, Geunsuk-sunbae," she grinned, bowing as the actor walked away.

"Jung Echo, we need you on set!" the director yelled out, the idol swiftly making her way towards him and the group entered the hospital. They rented a room for six hours, although she hoped she wouldn't need THAT much time.

After going over the scene with the director, Echo took her place on the low stool. She gave a reassuring smile to the nervous child actor laying down on the bed in front of her. "There's nothing to be worried about," she gently said.

"This is my first acting role…" the child nervously admitted, even more nervous now that she was sitting with a Girls' Generation member.

"In 3…2…1, action!"

Within seconds tears appeared within the SNSD members eyes. Said tears were powered by the simple thought of her mother, knowing it was the only thing that would make her come close to dropping a single tear.

"You must overcome this," she cried, gently taking hold of the child's small hand.

"My daughter's dream was to be a star like you," the 'mother' shakily told the idol.

"You can't be like that. She can certainly make that dream come true."

Echo focused on her facial emotions, keeping the glassy eyed look as her co-stars spoke out their lines.

"How come… you're so thin?" the idol let out a chocked sob, allowing a single tear to fall down her pale cheek.

"I apologize. My emotions…" she apologized, looking down as if ashamed. Without another word she abruptly stood up from her chair, letting out another emotionally pained cry.

Receiving a condolence from the 'director' she was allowed to exit the room. She held a shaky hand to her face, trying to hold in another sob.

"And CUT!" the director billowed, although the 'cut' came out sounding a little chocked. There was silence.

Echo was unsure if that was good or bad, especially since all the staff members turned to stare at her with wide eyes.

"Echo-ssi that was-" the director began. Echo winced, ready for the horrible onslaught.

"Amazing! Perfect!" he yelled out in heavy English, excitement lighting up his eyes. "I had a lot of doubts about you, keep proving me wrong kid."

Echo graciously smiled, bowing. "I hope to meet your expectations."

The rest of the days filming went so flawlessly, Echo was beaming as she got into the SNSD van. Not only did she prove she can act, but she proved that not all idols act simply to get their group name out there (not like she really had to do that anyway). Yes, Younghwa and Hongki are idols as well, but they are males. Therefore they aren't as scrutinized as Echo.

"Oppa, could you bring me to the studio instead of back to the dorm?"

Hajoon cocked an eyebrow at her request, twisting the keys in the ignition. "There's early rehearsal in the morning. Are you sure?"

Echo nodded, having no desire to return home that night anyway. "I want to brush up on some things."

With hesitance, Hajoon drove the idol to the SM building, dropping her off in front. "If you need me to come get you, call me. Even if it's the early morning."

"I got it, thank you oppa," Echo smiled, hopping out of the van and rushing into the brightly lit building.

Walking through the seemingly endless hallways, Echo took this time to think. She thought about her sister, her members, her new acting role, and Girls' Generation as a whole. Their brand was just beginning to shine, and for once (fueled by the reactions of the drama staff) Echo felt like she was single handedly helping them. Finally, she didn't have to hide behind her more popular members. Finally, she would be seen as more than just a Girls' Generation member. She was becoming someone she wanted to be.

"What are you guys doing here?" her eyes slightly widened when she entered the SNSD studio. She was surprised to see that Hyoyeon, Sunny, Yuri and Tiffany were practicing to their older songs.

"Practicing," Hyoyeon scoffed. "What are you doing here?"

"I was gonna practice…" she trailed off, hesitation in her movements. Was it just her, or was there a wave of hostility in the air that was directed at her?

"Then join us or leave," Hyoyeon stated with a definitive tone, twisting back around on her heel to restart the CD.

Slowly, the girl placed her things done and performed the appropriate stretches before joining in.

Even though practice was hard work, there would usually be a light mood in the air. The girls would openly joke with each other about simple mistakes another would do or try to make another laugh. But today…

Today there was no laughing, no talking, not even a the tiniest of smiles. Just the sound of feet pounding against the wooden floor and heavy breaths.

Even when in neared one in the morning, they were all still at it, no words spoken until-

"We should take a short break," Yuri panted, stopping and bending down to place her hands on her knees.

"I'll get some water bottles," Echo volunteered without a second thought. Maybe doing some charity will help brighten the mood.

"I'll help you," Tiffany offered. The taller nodded, accepting.

The two silently walked out of the studio, towards the cafeteria.

Echo opened and closed numerous times, trying to get out the right words. "Unnie… is everything okay?"

Tiffany gave her a weird look. "What do you mean?"

"I mean… there's been such a weird vibe going on lately. I thought it was just because promotions but we've never been THIS tense before."

The older American visibly hesitated in answering, her eyes giving away her inner conflict. "Some of the other members are a little jealous of your role."

Her brown eyes widened in shock. "What do you mean?"

"Well, there's a lot of talking among the members lately about who is going to be the next chosen one in SNSD. A lot of them are expecting it to be you with this drama. You're not just a supporting role anymore."

Echo scoffed. "Have you seen how fans are reacting to me getting a role? They're watching just to break me down. I doubt much will come out of it other than something to learn from."

"Rumors are saying it's the next Boys Over Flowers."

Echo scoffed, the two girls laughing at the baseless rumor.

The two entered the still lit cafeteria. A small smile laid itself on Echo's face when she saw the handful of trainees still in the building. She fondly remembered being in their shoes and having school in the morning (which to these trainees was in a mere six hours), but only focusing on what could be.

"Jung Allison?"

Confused, Echo turned around at the sound of her name. Trainee's typically didn't approach idols, and rarely called them by their real names. However, once Echo laid her eyes on the girl, they widened in surprise.

"Willow? Is that you Willow?"

The girl was tall with gangly arms, similar to her namesake, with long black hair cascading in long waves around a thin frame.

"Alli!" the girl happily smiled,  tightly hugging the idol.

Behind her, Tiffany was giving the unknown girl a confused look. Who was she and why was she so familiar with her member?

"I haven't seen you since I've left for Korea!" Echo exclaimed. "How have you been? Why are you here?"

"Well, I'm a trainee, duh," she smirked, hands on her hips, pride rolling off her in heavy waves.

"How long have you been here?"

"It's been about… two weeks now? Not very long," Willow shrugged.

"How's it been? Difficult? Easy?"

"Nothing I can't handle," the trainee scoffed, waving her hand.

"Ah, this is my member and best friend, Tiffany," Echo introduced the other female idol. Said idol gave the trainee a cheerful wave, eye smile and all.

Willow's smile faltered for a split second, but was back up before Echo could catch on to anything. "Hello, I'm Lee Willow, Echo's best friend since Kindergarten."

"That's a long time," Tiffany smiled, her eyes guarded. "Nice to meet you."

At the poke in the shoulder by Tiffany, Echo took that as her cue to finish the conversation. "It's been nice seeing you again, we should catch up some time when we're both free!"

"Definitely!" Willow grinned, giving the idol another hug.

"Nice meeting you unnie!" she cheerily added, walking away from the two idols and back to her table.

"That's so cool! I haven't seen Willow since before I left for Korea back in '04!" Echo widely grinned, excitement lighting up her eyes.

"Why haven't you talked about her before?" Tiffany carefully asked, the two grabbing the necessary amount of chilled water bottles from the fridge at the end of the food counter.

She shrugged. "Didn't seem important at the time. We didn't really keep in touch since I was so busy, plus she didn't have a phone at that age. I only had a phone because I was coming here, I was thirteen."

"Did you know she would become a trainee?"

Echo stopped in mid-grab, eyebrows furrowing. "Now that I think of it… no. She was never really interested in it. Plus, she's Chinese. She has no Korean blood in her and is like fifth generation." She shrugged, grabbing the last water bottle and straightening up. "Guess she changed her mind. She always changed what she wanted to do in the future anyway, not that shocking."

As the two walked out of the cafeteria, Tiffany couldn't help but stare at Willow. The girl was surrounded by other trainees, mostly males. The idols eyes narrowed when she saw her let out a high pitched laugh, curling a long finger in her dark hair.

Just then, Willow looked up. The idol and trainees eyes clashed. To Tiffany's growing irritation the trainee's lips twisted into a smirk.

I just looked at f(x), and I just realized how much Ari and Echo look alike. They're sisters, right?

Wait… all the Jungs aren't sisters? I thought all four of them were!

I hope Echo does well with her new drama role…

Almost forgot to update because I'm not used to updating on Fridays haha.

The translations are from Viki, this episode.