the trainees.
"Look at that one." The woman turned, and traced the direction a man pointed out. From that brown door, she viewed the girl, holding a bottle water close to , shouting inscrutable words with large moves. The light, tingly EDM beat seemed to have seeped through the walls of the room, but the song choice made her scrunch her nose.
"Monsta X I.M's sister?" She turned to him, looking reluctant. He paused for a moment, and then nodded. She turned back to watch the girl, moving effortlessly. Much better, distinguished than many trainees, but it didn't tickle the woman's senses.
"Name?" the man said, peeking at the small window over her.
"You know it already." the woman shrugged.
"Im Yoonbyul, but why don't you say it?" the man looked at her curiously, trying to one-up her and get a better view of the trainee.
"I have to?" the man shrugged. She knew his face was hidden by the black cap and green jacket he pulled over, but she could imagine his eyes reflected disappointment.
"No, you always look sad if I ask you about someone." she coughed uncomfortably, hearing his deep voice, slow yet harsh.
"Well, don't think too much of it. She's a good girl, I think, and quite remarkable." the woman continued to stare, enamored by her powerful, energetic movements, and although she had just imitated rapping to a song, her deeper voice made it better.
"Then I go first." the man walked, leaving the woman to continue watching. She could always wait for him, staring at his disappearing shadow.
Moments afterwards though, when she turned back to the window, she noticed the girl stared back at her, comically agape. The woman knew the man had taken his steps back just as the speakers stopped blaring through the walls, silently annoyed by the imperfect timing.
The girl hurriedly ran and opened the door just as the woman tried to crouch, tiptoeing herself out of the situation.
"Ah, I'm really sorry! I thought I could use the room since no one's there, and since I train here, I thought it was okay but I didn't know you've been waiting really long, so—"
"Wait, wait." the woman felt dizzy, hearing such a rapid surge of words that could only come from one girl.
The girl stopped talking, still breathing rapidly. She looked quite frantic, and it made the woman felt sympathetic. "I wasn't using the facilities, if you felt so. I'm sorry about interrupting you."
The girl's glum face suddenly turned bright again, smiling. "Nah, that's okay! By the way, I'm Im Yoonbyul, and I have never seen you here. Are you older than me? I should call you an unnie. Sorry! I just realized that. What's your name, unnie?"
The woman paused. Every word sounded so clear, but she wondered whether this was a good idea.
"My name is Eom Jiae."
if your character had been accepted, you'll get a small 'behind-the-scenes' before they became members. had there been any doubts about your application, don't hesitate to bring it.
"So, what are we going to do?" He sipped his knockoff coffee, and turned warily to the rest. He glanced at his phone, wary.
'ANMO ENTERTAINMENT DEBUTS AN ILJIN'
"Both Eom Jiae and Kim Haejoo are already out of the company and the PR team is working, but that's my best guess. I don't have a job now either. Still, we actually have 'iljins' in this place." He furrowed his eyebrows at a younger woman, coyly sipping coffee.
"Shinseol, Ymer still counts." He sighed. He turned to the red-haired male sitting next to her, who seems to move about a few centimetres away from her.
"I'm not even allowed to touch a single part of his outfit. He's like a special case, I don't know. His stylist wouldn't tell me. Right, Jisoo-eonnie?" Shinseol sighed, leaning on another woman with ponytail. When the latter realized it, she whacked Shinseol's head, grumbling.
"Then it's probably a good thing he kept you out. Also, I'm pretty sure Heeyeon and you got called for something relating to the girls." Jisoo said. It's three in the morning, and she's only a few more hairlines left before she actually unleashed her boxing prowess.
"Just about practices. Found that surprising, but it's nothing super impressive." The red-hair answered, mixing his noodles. He casted a suspicious glance at Shinseol.
"Great. How about you, Jung?" She looked around, and other than their group, no-one seems to bother the hole-in-the-wall diner near Myeongdong Cathedral. Even the cashier seemed absent.
"Well, it's about their activities. Not much other than that." Jisoo narrowed her eyes. Jung seemed a little evasive, unsure even. But she knew he had his answers, and decided to press her lips.
He's been very curt about the recent dealings, but from his eyes, she knew well that he had hurt. Her too. It's been 16 years since she'd touch the trainee room, one ever since her own never made it out.
The heartbreak of a separation empties out before the seeing eye.
question: what does the last sentence actually mean? it's quite closely linked to EMANON.
Aowen sighed, and stared at the ceiling. Her head felt a little wobbly, and she closed her eyes, trying to feel a little less exhausted.
"Alright, stop!" The male choreographer's voice rang clear in her ears; Heeyeon? That's his name? She couldn't remember. It has been one year, but she couldn't remember when everyone called him 'Crazy-ssi'. Maybe he's not happy with that.
Aowen sighs, and walks over to the nearest corner when the dizziness subsided. There, she made eye contact with an older girl—blonde Korean girl—who happily waved back at her. She gave her best smile, still drenched with sweat and feeling far from good.
"ANMO... debuting... first... girlgroup?" She didn't mean to catch the end of a conversation like that, but hearing the word debuting made her heart drops fast. How did she not?
"Really?" The blonde girl spoke loudly, and Aowen saw Heeyeon turned his head. She slowly moved a few steps farther, hearing shushed sounds and inaudible Korean words, one she hoped didn't contain expletives. Maybe not.
"Careful, he knows what we're talking about." She turned to see the black-haired boy, smiling at her. She shook her head, confused.
"He who?" The boy's eyes turned to Heeyeon, who was at the door, talking to another male. Aowen couldn't get a good look at him, but she knew he was a bit shorter.
"That's not true, Feng." Lee Fengmian. Or Lee Jungmin, both could be fine, he said.
One of the male trainees who got into rather recently, but his impeccable, fluent Korean and amicable persona got him to be pretty popular among juniors and coaches alike.
"Yes, it is. He caught two Chinese trainees badmouthing him. We need to be more careful now." Which made it easy to know the latest insider news from him. Aowen had been very evasive, but being one of the few foreigners, Taiwanese even, to still be there.
"That's just you." Aowen shook her head, and Fengmian just opened his mouth wide, clutching his heart.
"No. Also, yes, they're debuting a new girlgroup. That guy he's talking to? New manager." Fengmian whispered. His news rarely turned out to be fake, so hearing it from him made her down again.
She really wanted it, if she could. The image of her parents being happy for her performing crossed her mind; it's an image that she could never wipe off. The floor became blurry again, and she felt her head starting to spin.
She hoped.
So she could, right?
would you guys want a character sheet for the people at anmo? i don't think it's necessary; just for the interesting tidbits and all. comment down below your thoughts.
"Did you ever wanted to leave YG, unnie?" Hana's heart sunk at those words, uttered by, none the less, Eom Jiae. As innocent as it sounds, or as much as her face tried to hide it, she couldn't.
"Well, I made up my mind. I don't regret my past decisions." She shrugged. She didn't, never did. The prospects of debuting had always sounded nice... but.
The thought of taking someone else's dreams made her scared. True, the idol competition is all about taking someone else's dreams, but to go there meant she had to give up something else, much more important to her.
Hana looked up at the balcony. The sky became an uneventful mixture of lilac, blue, and soft yellow hues; white clouds, thin and swebbed, lazily drifted closer to the edge of the city, farther from her sight. She sighed again. Being at YG almost never got her to see the light of the day.
But there's this little balcony, and the air isn't always fresh—Seoul's like that—but it's really pretty sometimes. It's also quite spacious, surprisingly.
"How about you?" Hana asked. Jiae tried not to move too much, but her widening her eyes and stepping back weren't hard to spot.
"I don't have anything to give up." Jiae said. Her face remained stoic, but she had quickly turned away, pulling her hoodie up.
Hana wanted to say certain things to her, but decided against it. It has been a tiring day, with multiple trainees going under intense monthly evaluation. Some did very good, some did badly, but most female trainees came above the trainee standards, so that was very nice.
She herself passed with no problems, so that was good. They had to wait a little more.
Hana smiled to herself. She's grateful her trainee years paid off well, and that none of their internal struggles gets aired on public television. She cringed when she had to watch the evaluation cycles passed, and she found herself wiping her eyes when she saw the trainees got through elimination.
It's also one of those things Wonho had always been evasive about. She also knew that one of the debut's sisters had entered ANMO, and as chatty as she was, that survival show has always been out of her topics.
The two enjoyed the silent evening, until minutes later, they heard a loud crash, followed by shrieks.
"Yoonbyul! What did everyone here tells you about skateboarding in the dorm?"
"I'm sorry! Aowen, are you okay? I'm sure you didn't get hurt, I hope you're not shocked, wait wait—"
Jiae and Hana stared at each other, concerned written all over their faces. There was a pause between them, before Hana spoke up.
"I'll check on them."
"Yeah, you should."
"Wanna join?"
"No."
i got really delirious and exhausted last night, and my condition today hasn't been on top of its game either today. comment down below on your thoughts ^^
It was too bright, if she remembered.
Just her, the dead stereo, and nineteen trainees, all sitting at the corners of the room. In front of her, there's the white table, and three judges, one woman and two men, started watching her move.
Even she wouldn't call that dancing. It was beyond horrid.
"Do you really wanted this?"
Jiyoo eyes barely flickered. She starts pressing the arrow button up the treadmill a few more times, and her feet starts to run faster. She takes deep breaths, looking up forward. Not too long, the heaviness on her chest disappear.
"Yes."
Not even remorse, they said. Barely an effort, they said. She took another deep breath. Sweat started dropping off her forehead into her eyelids and it stings, but she wiped them off, and continued running.
"She's not that bad for this company's standards."
She remembered that man just shrugged, still writing off something on his paper. His face looked stoic, but she knew that his eyes looked disappointed. She shifted somewhere else, preferring to notice the other trainees. One of them—the make-up savvy one, Hana?—gave her a sympathetic look.
She turned back, rolling her eyes.
"You're the only one still bothered to have her in this company, Heeyeon. That koryoin's personality is awful and she's only good at dancing."
Jiyoo chuckle bitterly. That heavy feeling return again, and her feet starts thumping against the belt more vigorously. That evaluation was probably the worst to date, but never has she felt the venomous regret that is the word 'koryoin'. Never felt this bad.
She's not angry.
"I'm sure Gayoung could disprove that."
The vocal coach looked a little taken aback, but had said nothing. Heeyeon shrugged, folded the papers. When he looked back at Jiyoo, there seemed to be something different with his eyes.
"You did decently, and you may go now."
Jiyoo's legs starts feeling a little wobbly, and she immediately presses the stop button. The treadmill stops only after a few more hard press, but her breathing never ceased. Neither did the heavy feeling, but that's not something she wants to think of.
"Hi." Jiyoo's frown deepen. When she just barely sit down at the gym, she she just have to see a doe-eyed, black-haired girl, who gave a small, sickeningly sweet smile with the peachy lipstick.
She knew that voice too well.
"Hi, Aowen. And bye." Jiyoo immediately pick her blue water bottle, and fast-walk her way out, ignoring Aowen's little annoyed sigh.
Jiyoo's not having a field day, definitely.
...honestly i was really thinking on how to make this teaser lol i've been emotionally uneasy.
"Hi!" Yoonbyul swiped her blonde hair, and gave a wide, excited smile when she saw the red-haired girl. She waved back, which made the red-haired's smile even bigger.
"Bunbyul!" Shinae hugged her. They met just this morning, but there was something about Yoonbyul that had looked so... different.
"You alright? The evaluations didn't do anything weird to you, right?" Yoonbyul's bright face rapidly diminished. She tightly bit her lips, and without knowing it, Yoonbyul's puffy, red eyes started glistening.
"Hey, hey, Yoon, it's alright—that rap coach can be horrible. You're not—I mean, amazing." Shinae pulled her closer, wiping the stray tears away.
"No—he's right. It was a really stupid performance, and I-I... could've done better. And yeah, I'm not that amazing." Yoonbyul said, rubbing her nose with her jacket. Shinae's words just dawned on herself, and her face became frantic.
"No! I mean that you're amazing, really. I enjoyed it. No other rappers in the evaluation fared that much better either." Shinae said, pulling out her handkerchief, gently wiping Yoonbyul's face.
"I mean, you can feel that way, but even I don't really feel so. I could've done better than that usually, and now I'm feeling really dumb. I could have prepared well, but I didn't. I'm just not satisfied."
Shinae's frown deepened. Yoonbyul started doing that dumb blame game again—it hurts her heart to hear that.
"Okay, so maybe you're not that wrong." Shinae said.
"See? Even you thought so to." Shinae frowned again. There's just no going back after saying those words.
"Eh, I mean... well, there's a good reason people say things like that, but they just don't have the right words? What did Kim Noeul even said to you?"
"My rap sounded really weak because it's unpronounced, and if I really wanted to debut I should start getting to work on it. The lyrics isn't really something worth either." Something clicked on Shinae. There's a reason why even many vocalists and dancers got singled out by Heeyeon and Gayoung.
Why, even the trainee's best, isn't the industry's best.
"That's okay," Shinae said, patting her back. "everyone's scared. You're nervous when you're on evaluations, but that's especially because they're going to debut a girlgroup."
Yoonbyul nodded. She rubbed her eyes vigorously, and sighed. "I really wanted to debut. I wanted to make my family proud too."
"Me too." The image of her mom on the piano started crossing her mind again. It's been a while after she couldn't make it last Chuseok.
She should.
the due date is not yet set, but if i'd seen the places fulfilled before that, and no one else requested for anymore extensions, i will start the story at immediate.
please tell me if you're going to apply, so i could put on the exact date.
"And we're done for the day!" Their choreographer said, his loud voice had barely followed after the last few notes of the EDM music.
The trainees sighed in relief, stopping immediately. Among them, the choreographer eyed upon a girl who stood a little taller than the rest.
"Choseung!" The blonde girl shouted her name, waving rapidly at the former. Sister of Monsta X's member? The staff members had been eyeing her for a while, wanting a girl crush concept in the midst of the 2017 cutesy trend.
Nevertheless of the scrapped concept, he's not focusing on her.
"Coming!" The voice sounded slightly deeper, more alto-like, but Choseung—the girl—almost raced across the large training room just to approach the blonde girl, and hugged her. Just a little too tightly.
"I'm tired. Can you do some aegyo?" The blonde whined, pouting at Choseung.
"What do I get for that, Yoonbyul-unnie?" Choseung whined back, putting particular emphasis at the last few words. It sounded more slothful rather than irritation, however.
"What I get for you? This!" Yoonbyul headlocked Choseung, pulling her neck down to the floor. Choseung screamed and Yoonbyul made exaggerated growling sounds, both seemingly ignoring the amount of trainees that had been watching the scene unfold.
"You're making my face touch the floor," Choseung mumbled. "it's gonna get parasites and dust."
"You're just getting in touch with your micro-siblings," Choseung looked at Yoonbyul with confusion for a split second, and then a loud gasp.
"Are you comparing me with an actual deadly thing?!"
"You wouldn't if you do the aegyo." Yoonbyul grinned.
"Fine." Choseung made a loud, exaggerated sigh. She balled her hands, and pulled it close to the cheeks.
"Bbuing bbuing!" Choseung scrunched up her face, and Yoonbyul immediately broke into a smile. Still, neither noticed the mixture of amused and disgust with the other trainees.
"That's so old school—but I'll take it." Yoonbyul laughed, hugging Choseung close to her.
"Thanks." Choseung smiled. And just when she looked up to her surroundings, everyone else automatically resumed their business, talking to each other.
Choseung wondered if they had been looking at her though. It's not the first time she's being asked to do aegyos by older trainees, some of who were also in the dance room. She wouldn't even mind being watched by these people.
She liked that.
"Your brother is a parasite—is that a new lyric for your newest diss track?" Choseung asked, lazily leaning on to Yoonbyul.
"Think you just gave me ideas for that... huh, is Park Heeyeon watching us?"
"Heeyeon?"
"Yeah... name of our choreographer." Heeyeon quietly turned away, hurrying his steps outside. He may have been caught by Yoonbyul, but he's also running to a meeting.
He's still got a good laugh over it, though.
ok but i just realized wonyoung's age and... so young 0.0
anyways say hi to choseung! i really enjoy writing the light and dark scenes, and both choseung and yoonbyul are just pure fun to watch. hope you guys have a good time to
"So?"
"I don't know." Jiyoo shrugged, her face looking just a bit darker. Next to her, Aowen had weakly glared back. Sammi scoffed. Hana sighed.
"It wasn't you who took the milk?" Hana said.
"I'm not that thirsty today to even attempt such a class act." Jiyoo said, rolling her eyes.
"Hana, this is totally not helping." Sammi said, turning to the woman.
"You're not exactly being kind over something as trivial as this, Sammi." Hana sighed, shaking her head. She looked over her shoulder, and realized a figure that had barely disappeared, and the wafty smell that made her raise her eyebrows.
"This is not that trivial, Hana," Sammi groaned. "this is a criminal act thats an equivalent to breaking the members' trust by—"
"It's understandable to feel this, injustice being poured into our hands but... this dorm has at least nine girls already. It's four in the morning. We had practice at eight." Hana put a finger over Sammi's lips, her face contorted into a painful expression.
"And for you," Hana turned to Jiyoo and Aowen. "make up with each other and go back to sleep. I don't want to hear both of you fighting over something like this."
Hana pulled Sammi with her (a little forcefully, even), and left Jiyoo and Aowen alone in the living room. Under normal circumstances, Sammi would just balk at her, but she's a little more flexible today.
"You're tired too, Sammi. Don't push it." Hana said, sternly.
"Meh, it's fine," Sammi shrugged. "I've been in this kind of overtime work."
Hana pursed her lips. Sammi is always a little different from the other trainees; she'd had her fair share of musical background, but she'd went to college - same as Hana was - and even had a decent, artist-like job. Just in the electronic work, but still.
"Don't play games after this."
"Chill, it's just for a while." Sammi grinned. The last time that had happened, Choseung had moaned that she couldn't sleep in her room due to the screen light. It was two a.m. in the morning too, just before the evaluations.
"What makes you really want to be an idol, if you don't mind me asking?" Hana said.
"Oh, I used to sing for a while and it was supposed to be a joke but I kinda enjoyed it so." Sammi said, barely missing a beat.
"You enjoy training?"
"Probably because I'm at ANMO instead of some mega company like SM or JYP or YG," Sammi said. "smaller, less competitive, and nicer. Well, you got a little of your Aowen and Jiyoo fights occasionally, but meh. That's fine."
Sammi chuckled a little. It had felt like there's a very elusive, unknown flair to ANMO, but she'd seen the CEO was respectful and so are most of the staff. There weren't a lot of trainees, but it was easy to know them better too.
"If you say so," Hana smiled a bit. "but still, sleep after this, would you?"
"Okie dokie, mommy." Sammi raised a flimsy salute, and close the door behind her. Once Hana's footsteps went away, Sammi sighed. Quietly, she sneaked to her desktop and pressed the power button.
"I'm so sorry, Hana. You're too good." Sammi smiled.
But after a few minutes, the screen was still pitch black. Sammi scrunched her eyebrows, and stood up, checking on the cables.
They're missing.
Sammi widened her eyes, and she frantically searched the whole desk, it's ugly mess making it a struggle to even dig through.
When she pulled open the drawer though, she found a pink letter. She raised her eyebrows; she never kept letters around that place, so someone must've put it there. She took out her phone's flashlight, and something took her eye.
To: Sammi
The blare had been annoying me and jiae unnie for a while, so I hope you'll understand. We'll give it back to you when we're on holiday.
love love, choseung
Sammi turned to see the two girls sleeping in their bunk beds tightly. And at the corner of choseung's bed, she saw something else.
That damned milk with honey.
canta is back and she's a bit worried bc she missed classes, but alas. i'm back! for a small while though lol.
so... please comment down below if you're still interested in the story lol + the colour that would represent your girl/their fandom colour.
"Oshiro?" The girl asked turn towards the voice, and smiled a little.
"Yes, it's me." The woman just rubbed her neck, slowly nodding.
"Yeah, so honestly, I was just wondering if you felt the things here are alright for you." Oshiro nodded, raising her eyebrows. Yes, she's been meeting this woman for quite a while—in fact, it's been three years, because the woman is helping her out in singing.
"It's been pretty good to me, Miss Gayoung."
"Right, pretty cool then." Gayoung nodded.
"Is there anything wrong, Miss?"
"No, nothing really special. I heard something about a fight, and I was wondering if you'd heard anything special about it, since you were close by our big training room." Gayoung sighed.
"A fight?" Oshiro asked, tapping her chin. She'd been walking pretty fast because she was a little late for university—it's a little hard to get distracted by literally anything else.
"No, not really. Not one I heard of." Gayoung nodded, but her face still looked unfazed.
"So... you've been staying here for quite long." Oshiro pursed her lips for a while, and slowly nodded.
"Yes."
"I think I can count on you that the most embarassing thing you've ever done is that American video your friend did?" Oshiro furiously blushed at that memory, and vigorously shook her head.
"I wish to erase that thing out of my memories, but yes, it is hopefully the only thing." Oshiro chuckled.
"Good," Gayoung's stern voice wept off Oshiro's smile; there was something a little off. Gayoung's normally motherly demeanor just seemed so not her.
"Is there something wrong?" Gayoung looked to Oshiro with genuine confusion, but for a silent minute, responded nothing.
"No, nothing in particular that affects you. You can go back to your training now." Gayoung said, waving her hand.
Oshiro looked confusedly to Gayoung, but quietly went back to walking down the hallway. Oshiro knew well there's something suspicious, but she couldn't pinpoint exactly what makes it so... confusing.
Technically she could, but she's not so sure. Even the training room looks empty now? Some female trainees also have been disappearing. She's not in a horror movie, definitely, but something felt extremely unsettling.
Oshiro continued to walk, but then she saw a shadow surpassing hers. It's sundown already, and there's a large window on the west side that reflects off the sunset, and there usually would be long shadows reflecting off.
But as far as she'd known it's been Gayoung and just her... not another shadow. Oshiro gulped uneasily, hastening her steps back to the dorm.
As she walked though, she still saw the large shadow covering hers. She felt like running already—what's wrong?
She kept on walking, trying to be faster, but it continued on following her. Oshiro felt her spine shivering; by the laws of physics and light, there's no way her shadow was this big. It felt like something is creeping on her, and there's nothing she could do to let it go.
"Ah!" Oshiro yelled. The shadow immediately stopped, and she turned around, only to see a hooded figure, hands shoved in his pockets. She could barely see his face, but he didn't look like he was breathing heavily. Slowly, he pulled off his mask, but with his head covered, there's no way
"Apologies, I didn't want to scare you."
"Uh... apology accepted." Oshiro frantically nodded, turning away. Why is she turning away? She could have made no sense of what happened, and things kinda when you don't know what happened, but—it didn't matter. She's saving her own life first.
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