You sat down in front of the imposing Yang Hyun Suk, taking in your surroundings. The office was modern styled, with a black and white contrast, with dabs of red applied to complete the decoration of the room. Curvy lines were present in harmony with straight ones; all of these details gave you the impression of being inside a deco magazine. You directed your gaze towards the desk, where you saw nothing but flawless organization. Asides the Macintosh computer, there were files lined up perfectly, with a pen and a letter opener put in a horizontal position according to the papers. All the perfectionism gave the office a very professional and clean look. For a moment, it reminded you of Hyunseung and the way he had a perfect line up for his stuff. You brushed the memory off of your mind and focused on the situation.

            ‘________-ssi. It’s a pleasure meeting you again.’ Said the president, a sincere smile gracing his slightly aged face.

            ‘Thank you.’ Your opinion towards the situation changed, as this man seemed sincere and happy to have you there, as if he was greeting an old friend. This kind of emotion could not relate to the events you had gone through in your mind. ‘I say the same. I am surprised you still remember me.’ You still couldn’t control the small anger that tingled inside you, but you were trying your best at it, taking the side of the happy and nostalgic feelings. This was the man you once wished to work under, not a villain.

            ‘How could I not? You were one of the most talented girls that ever graced that stage. I was starting to worry that I had given away such a big talent.’ His eyes showed a glint of true regret, a sad gesture of his hands confirming the emotion that filled the statement.

            ‘Then why did you? If you considered that I was such an important acquirement for your company, why did you send me to Cube?’ What the president said triggered the anger and hurt inside you, making you remember your first big disappointment.

            ‘I told you that day, the reason why I could not keep you. You were young, still immature in the business. At the time, we we’re already training another girl group as well as a solo artist, and we could not give you the proper training that would lead to your growth. I had a strong business relation with Cube’s CEO, so I though that they would be able to nurture you and make you grow into the star you could once be. My plan was to buy you by that time.’ He looked deep into your shocked eyes, as he relaxed into his chair, giving a feel of regret and sorrow.

            ‘I guess you know that I was indeed trained, but I suffered way more than others because of that. I was not only taken from my initial group, but also saw them debut without me, and even saw hubaes debut in front of me. I saw everyone make their dreams come true, while being forever stuck in that god forsaken position. I trained and trained, perfected every single aspect. For what? For being cast aside as an old, loyal employee that was too resigned to even complain about their conditions.’ A small, single tear fell from your eye. The pain was still too fresh, the wound still bleeding.

            ‘ I am aware of your… stay at Cube. I have been updated by your manager, and I guarantee you that I have no idea how that could have happened. I still do not understand why you didn’t debut with the girls, because I had talked to Seung-sung about it, and gave him the green light. The plan was similar to Tablo’s; you would leave the group after a while and comeback through us. But he suddenly took you off the band. I can only give you the explanation he gave to me yesterday, but I suspect it won’t bring you any ease.’ He straightened up, taking over a more serious composure. ‘Tell me.’ You answered confidently, desperately craving for a motive, a reason for all of your pain. ‘In his words, and I quote, trainees are like puzzle pieces. In order to make a beautiful puzzle, you need to have the right pieces. Sometimes, all of the pieces fit together, but once you turn it around and face the picture, the image on one of them is wrong, and you need to remove it and substitute it, or just leave it aside. And when you do that, you need to wait for another puzzle to arrive where that piece finally fits. Unfortunately, ________-ssi was just a piece without a matching picture.’

            Yet another tsunami of emotions crashed across your heart. This time, you felt despair, the despair of being useless and out of place. You were a mere lost play figure that could not find the rest of the collection. The kind that gets thrown away after a while. More tears erupted from the corners of your eyes, not caring any longer if the man saw your weak side. ‘But, using his metaphor, here in YG, we have a puzzle where you fit. And that’s why I called you here today. Join my company.’ You looked at Yang Hyun Suk with your eyes as wide as they could ever be. Was he actually offering you a place in your dream company? You couldn’t believe it. ‘Well, do you or do you not?’ He smiled lightly, clearly seeing the shock in your face. ‘Yes. Yes…. Yes!’ You said, crying harder, but this time, for happiness. You jumped slightly in your seat while wiping away your tears. The president got up from his seat and gestured you to get up. As you were back on your feet, he took your hand and led you out of his office.

            ‘This is where you will work’, he opened his arms towards the modern looking building, ‘State of the art technology, cozy looking studios, lively lounges, everything you need at your range. There are coaches for everything you need; we are one of tightest families in the business. Even our trainees, who have been here for longer than you were at Cube, are all happy here. Because even when trainees, they actively participate in our activities, while waiting for their shot. You can count on them to support you, to help you and even scold you when you need. They all live in dorms, close in the area, and most of the times, they go back in big groups, making non-sense all the way. This is where you will be from now on. This will be your home, no. This is already your home, from the moment you said yes, from the moment you stepped on that stage, almost three years ago. Here will be your friends, the people you will be able to depend on and to be depended on. I hope you are excited with this turn off events.’ He stopped in front of a big black door, raising his eyebrows in an amused way. ‘Of course I am.’ You said, a happiness rush flowing through your veins. He then proceeded to knock on the door, opening a few seconds after. When the heavy looking block of wood moved, you could hear laughter coming out of the room. You both stepped inside, and the laughter toned down a little bit, a ‘Ya, be less noisy!’ being heard at the farther end. You looked at the group of people there, and you were shocked. There were celebrities you worshiped and dreamt to be like. CL was sitting in the left corner, surrounded by Daesung, Bom and two girls you did not recognize. Minzy was standing up, Dara close by, hinting that they would be either dancing or fooling around together. A boy and a girl you that you also did not know where chatting with Taeyang and G-Dragon. A large thunk was heard inside your mind. G-Dragon was your motivation, your idol. You wished to have the talent he had in his pinky nail. The man’s musical abilities always managed to surprise you.

            ‘Guys, gather around please.’ They did as they were asked, and in a few seconds, you were being stared at by the ones you had been staring at a good part of your life. ‘This is ________-ah. She is the one I told some of you about. She accepted to join our company. She will be in trainee trial for 3 months, and will join Sly after final evaluation. She was already a trainee for Cube for more than 2 years, so you younger guys treat her as a sunbae, you hear me? No freshmen pranks! CL, I leave it up to you to tell her how things work, okay?’ He turned to you and patted your head, ‘I have some things to attend to right now, so I’ll leave you up to them. Don’t worry, Chaerin will take good care of you.’ And with that he turned away, and closed the door behind him.

            You nervously turned around to face the group of people, their stares burning into the back of your head. You looked at the ground as you quietly said; ‘Annyeong… I’m ________. Please take good care of me.’ You bowed deeply, showing them the respect you felt for them. To you these people were Gods.

            That is, until they burst out laughing, and you felt two arms wrap you in a warm hug. ‘Drop the formalities honey!’ CL said, now with one arm over your shoulders, ‘We are all siblings here! If Papa YG picked you, then you are a good person and we trust you. So come on and meet the group!’ They were all smiling at you, giving you a warm feeling of welcome that you hadn’t felt when you first met the Cube guys. They all looked at you with disdain and little consideration, but you did eventually warm up to some, to others, not even close.

            ‘Annyeong! I’m Jinah, a 4^th year trainee’ said the girl that you had seen talking with CL and Bom before. She was a little short and had long black hair, her figure frail looking, that impacted with the oversized pants and hoodie she wore. ‘I’m Kaerin, a 2^nd year trainee! Please teach me a lot, sunbae!’ The other girl in the chatter group said. This one was definitely on the cute side, with curly light brown hair cascading past her shoulders, a denim overall with a pink t-shirt adding up to her cute image. You nodded your head while murmuring a ‘Please take care of me as well’. When you averted your eyes to the boy next to them, you were surprised as he suddenly approached you, hugged you and twirled you around. ‘Annyeong, dongsaeng! I’m Daesung! Let’s get along well!’ And he happily skipped back to his place. Still not quite recovered from the sudden physical display of affection, the doll-like girl spoke ‘Hello, I’m Bom. Let’s be friends from now on!’ And with that, she smiled cutely, her eyes frowning in the sweetest way you had ever seen. Of course you knew who she was, you considered yourself a Blackjack. The other two members of 2NE1 were still fooling around, and with Dara on top of her back, Minzy said; ‘Annyeong, I’m Minzy’ she was interrupted by the small girl who jumped from her back to the floor in a ninja like style. ‘And I’m Sandara Park. Let’s talk a lot and know each other!’ And then they went back to their fun games. ‘Hello, I’m Leo’, said the boy that was next in line. He was incredibly handsome, with wavy light brown hair just past his ears and a cute face. His eyes had double lids and you could tell he was wearing circle lenses. His body was not big, but it still looked fit and muscular. The girl next to him waved, very similar to Leo in terms of facial features, but with longer hair, that ended a little bit above her waist and was in an even lighter brown, almost reaching a blond tone. ‘And I’m his sister, Jenna.’ You understood their resemblance, and as you gained a little bit of confidence, your voice tone became slightly louder as you said ‘Let’s work well together.’ For last were Taeyang and G-Dragon. The first only nodded in a shy way, while G-Dragon improvised a small introduction rap, ‘Hey yo, I’m G-D, the baddest fashionista in this hall, I’mma tell you how this works, and I’mma show you how it’s done. But before, let’s get along together and drink a lot of soju~!’, that caused everyone in the room to laugh. ‘Ya oppa, she isn’t old enough to drink yet! Don’t lead her to wrong ways!’ Said CL, bringing you closer to the group.

            You spent the rest of the afternoon fooling around, dancing with 2NE1 and the members of Big Bang and singing along to parodies of popular songs. When it was dark outside, you all gathered your stuff and left the YG building. They were all going back to the dorm that was just down the street. You had gotten a phone call earlier from Yang Hyun Suk, telling you that you already had a room prepared for you at the dorm, but you would have to go and pick up the essentials from your apartment, and that you would later on move all of it to your dorm apartment. When you finally reached the dorms, you got closer to CL and shyly tugged on her shirt in order to get her attention. ‘Sunbae, I need to grab some stuff at my apartment, do you mind telling me where I can get a cab near here?’ She whistled loudly at G-Dragon and said, ‘No need honey, oppa has a car and he’ll drive you there.’ G-Dragon smiled and put his thumb up in an agreeing gesture. You said thank you to both and followed G-Dragon back to the outside of the dorm. While passing through the door, you crashed into someone’s chest. When looking up, you noticed the burning stare of the man you had seen in the elevator earlier, and little did you know, that stare would be responsible for many mishaps that would occur in your future.