Boot camp teaches you how to look like a soldier. It gets you into the spirit, helps you get your head in the game. Now… now it's time to learn how to be the real thing, become part of a unit that's fast and efficient and in the right place when needed. Like in the training camp, it's a mix of classes and practical training and PT. And of course, everyone is curious how the rookie's going to cope and fit in.

I told them that it isn't something I'm afraid of. That it's like being put into group after group when you're a trainee until you've met your perfect match. And then you all get to work.

Which prompted questions about what it's like being an idol and why I would even want to do something that means living without a shred of privacy and with everyone right up in my business all the time. It was tricky to explain... somehow… that all I wanted to be was a singer and that everything else—having no privacy in exchange for having amazing fans, for example—is the price you pay for being able to do what you love

In the end, I didn't have to struggle for words too long. One of the guys came up and put a sheet of paper on the table between us. It was a printout from some news website, reporting that my fans had donated 5 Million Won to Baby Box to mark my enlistment. All he said was that he never knew his parents. And suddenly all other questions over being an idol were moot.