Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

The sound of it echoed through the house, and for some reason, it sounded eerie. 

I was upstairs doing my homework but my curiosity quickly got the best of me. I tiptoed to the top of the stairs and looked down as my mom opened the door.
It was the guy from earlier today. The Asian man in the business suit.

"Hello, I am the CEO of SM Entertainment, one of the biggest entertainment companies in South Korea," he said as he introduced himself to my parents.

"Sorry, we're not interested," my mom said quickly, trying to shut the door, "maybe next time." She probably thought that it was just door-to-door advertising, but I knew better.

The name "SM Entertainment" did sound familiar to me, but I couldn't exactly recall where I had heard it before.

"Oh, this isn't any advertising, don't worry. I am here to talk about your daughter, and the career opportunity that my company is offering her."

"Is this some kind of scam?" My dad said, eyes narrowing.

I quickly pulled out my phone and typed in "SM Entertainment", pulling up the Wikipedia page. My eyes widened. SM Entertainment was definitely no joke. It looked like they were home to many popular idols in Korea, though I had never really listened to their music.

"No, no. Here's my business card. As I said before, SM Entertainment is one of the biggest in the entertainment industry in South Korea. And I'm here to give your daughter a ticket into that industry."

"C-come in," my mother said, still skeptical. They sat down on the couch and my mother brought over some tea.

"To start off, your daughter is a very beautiful girl, and I can definitely see where she gets her genes from. She would be perfect for the entertainment industry in South Korea. My company is currently the biggest and richest company there, and we are abundant in resources that we use to keep improving our idols and our company. We have the best teachers for each aspect, such as vocals, dance, acting, etc. So, what I'm proposing to you today is that your daughter could be one of those famous celebrities that you see today. Her options are endless with so many possibilities in her bright future." He said.

The house became dead silent as we were all processing this new information. My mind was spinning, not believing anything that was happening. I could become an idol just like that? On the other hand, who would want to be a singer? I would be definitely becoming a doctor.

Finally, my father spoke. "…so what you’re saying is that we should give you our daughter so that she could become some entertainer in South Korea? That's absolutely ridiculous; we're not Korean and she doesn’t speak Korean!”

"Oh sir, you don’t need to worry about that. We have many Chinese idols in our company, and they have learned Korean very well over the past years of training."

"Wait, did you say YEARS of training?" My father asked.

"Yes, we offer the utmost quality and level of training to all of our idols, so that they can be the best in the field. And judging by the number of digits on their salaries, they really are." He chuckled.

"No, I will not allow this. Rachel is very smart and she’s going to a prestigious university this September. I cannot and will not allow her to waste this opportunity to a higher education. No, there is no way I will allow her to become some entertainer. She’ll be the best doctor in this country." My dad said angrily.

I smiled in amusement, watching the CEO guy try to actually convince my parents of this, as if it wasn't a scam.

"Hmm, she should be eighteen years old then; old enough to make her own decisions. Don't you want your daughter to choose what she wants to do in life?" The CEO said, perfectly calm as if he has done this a million times. What was he really trying to sell though?

"She can do anything she wishes but I will never allow her to be a silly entertainer. She will find a proper job." My dad said sternly. I walked downstairs to find out for myself what exactly this was all about.

Everyone looked up at me as I walked into the living room, wide-eyed as if worried that I might have overheard the whole conversation about me.

"So, what is this all about?" I asked, keeping my face in a stoic manner.

"Oh, there she is." The CEO said, standing up to greet me. I eyed him cautiously. "I believe we sort of met earlier. I'm the CEO of SM Entertainment, one of the biggest entertainment management companies in South Korea, and I have a business proposition for you. I think you'd be the perfect addition to our agency, specifically, in a girl group that will be debuting soon. When you're there, our management will help you perfect your singing, dancing, and acting abilities to succeed in the industry." I sat down on the couch beside my mom, listening to him, though I was extremely skeptical about the whole thing.

The CEO pulled out a tablet and typed something in, then placed it on the coffee table facing me. A familiar beat started, followed by a girl singing, while the video was of a large group of girls dancing together in sync. The song wasn't bad, but I was more intrigued by how coordinated and well put together the dance was when there were so many girls together. The song actually sounded quite familiar, and I had probably heard it somewhere recently.

"That was the song 'Gee', by the group Girls' Generation. They're a group of nine girls in my agency, and arguable one of the most popular girl groups in the industry. With the Hallyu wave expanding across the globe, Korean pop music and culture has become very popular, to the point where our idols have been performing overseas for quite a while now." I nodded my head, pretending to listen to everything he was saying. In reality, I was still thinking about how tomorrow's physics test would go if I didn't start studying soon.

I watched as he pulled out fancy looking black folder from his briefcase. When he opened it, I could see that there were many sheets of paper, most of them filled with Korean writing. He flipped through the sheets, looking for something specific, then pulled out one of the sheets from the very back.

"Here is a copy of our contract, the one that all the idols in our agency have all signed back when they joined the agency. This outlines all the terms and conditions, and would provide you with a clearer understanding of the business." He turned it around for me to look at, though I only pretended to scan through it.

The contract was written in English, and looked pretty official, with the company's header and logo at the very top. As my eyes finished moving down the page, he took the sheet out of my reach and put it back in his folder.

"Of course for you, the talk of a contract won't be very appealing at this point. So, instead of doing that like all the idols do, I could give you some time to try out training first. Then after you have settled in, we can reconsider a contract." He said, putting his folder away. I nodded like I was listening and actually considering the whole thing. My parents were strangely silent, almost as if they weren't believing that I was actually thinking this through.

"Thanks for such an attractive offer, I mean, it all sounds very interesting." I said slowly. "But...sorry, I'm just not interested in that kind of life."

"Well, of course there's much more to this than what I just showed you."

"It's my dream to go into medicine though. I don't really want to do anything else." I said. "I also dislike being in front of crowds, so I just don't think that I'm the kind of person that you're looking for."

"How would you know if you don't try it out?" He asked, standing up as I did. "You must have loved to sing and dance when you were little," he said, glancing at the photos hanging on my living room wall, of me all dressed up at my dance recital many years ago.

"That was a really long time ago; I don't have any skills anymore." I smiled at the bittersweet memory.

"Well seeing as you have a piano, you must have some musical ability.

"Well..." I had reached a pretty high level of piano, but I wasn't exactly the best, and I had just barely managed to pass all those exams.

"How about this, if I can't convince you to join the girl group or the company now, how about you just come with me back to Korea and try out the training program for a few months? At the end of it, you can decide whether you want to join our company and continue training until you debut, or you can return here to your old life."