Staring at her reflection in the mirror, Seok Solbi raises her elbow a bit higher. She adjusts her stance, shifting more of her body weight to her left side and follows through, pivoting on her left heel and twirling around. Letting the momentum spin her, Solbi stops abruptly, planting her right foot down and raising her right hand in front of her. She drops her left arm behind her in a loose manner and tilts her head to the side. Panting slightly, Solbi examines the new position and rakes her figure for any kind of mistake. Satisfied with that portion of the choreography, Solbi relaxes her muscles and continues running through the choreography. The dancer goes through the moves another five times before dropping to the ground in exhaustion. Rolling over, Solbi regards the other trainees in the room through the mirror.

            A group of young trainees were off to the side, chattering over some guy they saw on their way to practice. Beside them was a male trainee, a little older than Solbi if she remembered correctly, who was silently mouthing the words to a rap. Beside him were a couple other male trainees, running through scales and vocal exercises as quietly as they could. Moving her gaze to the other side of the room, Solbi looks at another cluster of female trainees. They were closer to her age and were running through a group choreography. Beside them, was a lone girl – probably younger than Solbi – looking at her laptop. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, before the girl seemingly gave up on whatever she was doing. Solbi’s heart rate returns back to normal as she watches the girl get up and leave the practice room. The minute the girl left the room however, the group of female dancers beside her immediately started snickering. They pointed and made hand gestures towards her laptop before pushing one another in amusement.

            Narrowing her eyes, Solbi watches as one of the girls, probably the oldest or bravest, leaves the group and walks over to the laptop. Watching the door, the trainee grabs the other girl’s sweater and what seemed to be her wallet. She throws the objects over to her group – who immediately laughs and starts hiding the possessions inside of their own bags – before peering over at the laptop. Smirking, the girl crouches down, making sure that the owner of the device was still out of the room, before starting to type something out. Eyes widening at the sight, Solbi sits up and casts a quick glance around the room. The other trainees either didn’t notice or didn’t seem to care, only sparing the giggling group of girls a quick glance before continuing on with their own practice. Well, Solbi wasn’t going to be like that. Never one to be a bystander, Solbi stands up impulsively and marches over to the girl.

            “Excuse me,” she says loudly, attracting the attention of the girl and some of her crew. “Is that your laptop?” Solbi points at the device, tapping her foot on the ground nervously. It was a stupid question no doubt, everyone in the room had seen the other girl leave, but Solbi narrowed her eyes nonetheless as she waited for an answer.

            “No,” the trainee says slowly, as if unsure of herself. She glances quickly at the door and, seeing as the owner wasn’t coming back any time soon, straightened up to look at Solbi. Smirking silently at the fact that she was taller than the other girl, Solbi rests her hands on her hips and leans over slightly.

            “Then why are you touching it?” Solbi provokes, grinning inwardly when the other girl flushes a bright red. She had obviously not been expecting anyone to stop her and ask her what she was doing – which was kind of stupid to be honest, if the other girl had returned or if any staff member had walked in she’d have to explain herself anyways – and was floundering to find an excuse.

            “Why can’t I?” the girl counters, glaring at Solbi’s amusement. That was a pretty bad comeback; Solbi couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. “What?” the girl says defensively.

            “Because,” Solbi takes on a cocky attitude, crossing her arms and looks at the girl as if she was stupid. “If something isn’t yours, you shouldn’t touch it. Didn’t you learn that back in kindergarten? Or are you so stupid you forgot?”

            “You litt–” the girl starts, taking a step forward.

            “Funny, I would’ve thought you were the little one here, seeing as you’re so short,” Solbi coos, patting the other trainee on the head. “But it’s okay, if you get height insoles I’m sure your problem will be solved.”

            “What the hell,” the trainee growls, attracting more attention from the other people in the practice room. Her group – who had been cheering her on before – immediately stop and go back to practicing when they realize that they were drawing a crowd.

            “Oh, sorry,” Solbi says sweetly. “You’re probably already wearing them right? Aw, little, small child, it’s okay, I’m sure there are elementary school students shorter than yo–”

            “You ,” the girl launches herself at Solbi, clawing and flailing with her arms in the hopes that she’ll make some sort of conflict with the taller girl. Solbi however, had anticipated this and reflectively moves back, causing the girl to trip and fall on the floor.

            “Whoops?” Solbi plays dumb, enjoying the way the girl’s face has turned a deep, beet red. “Did you trip over your insoles?”

            “Alright, that’s enough,” a new, male, voice intervenes. Solbi and the trainee turn their heads to see a boy trainee – the one who had been practicing rap by himself – standing in front of them. “Let’s not get too angry okay? Monthly assessments are coming up and we wouldn’t want anyone injured, right?” The boy looks at Solbi and the girl with a hard stare. “Right?” he repeats himself in a tone that gave no room for discussion.

            “Right,” Solbi and the girl echo.

            “Good,” the boy’s face lights up into a warm smile as he helps the girl up. “So now that that’s settled,” the boy crosses his arms over his chest. “You, return the things you took – I won’t make you apologize, although I really should, but do it before she gets back. And you,” the boy his head to the side, regarding Solbi with an amused expression, “need to control your tongue more.”

            “Yes sir,” Solbi says instinctively as the other girl nods and goes back to her group – telling them to return the things. “Oh, wait, no, I mean–”

            “Daehoon, my name is Yoon Daehoon,” the male trainee laughs, offering Solbi his hand to shake. Reaching out to shake it, Solbi grins.

            “I’m–”

            “Seok Solbi!” the door opens, causing Daehoon and Solbi to whip their hands around and stare. At the door frame is Jung Henry – Yunrae’s resident dance coach and choreographer – with his hands in his pockets and a radiant grin on his face. “Yoo-nim wants to see you in her office,” Henry announces before scampering off.

            “Well then Solbi ssi,” Daehoon says after all of the room’s trainees stare at the spot where Henry had been. “I guess you better get going.”

            “Alright,” Solbi agrees, risking a glance at the group of girls.

            “Don’t worry, I’ll watch them. If anything happens again I’ll speak up,” Daehoon reassures her before sending her off on her way. As Solbi scampers down the hall to her meeting with Hyeri, she passes by the female trainee who had left before. The other girl had a slightly dreamy yet determined look on her face, causing Solbi to stop momentarily. Wondering if she should talk to the girl about what had transpired, she ultimately decides not to after the girl passes by her without a word. She was obliviously happy over something and Solbi didn’t want to soil her mood.

            Continuing on her way, Solbi quickly makes her way up to the top floor and stands in front of Hyeri’s office. Knocking on the door briskly, Solbi turns the knob and is greeted with the sight of Hyeri, Xiuxin, Henry, and a third woman.

            “Henry I literally saw you two seconds ago why could you not have waited for me?” Solbi challenges as she closes the door behind her. Henry merely shrugs, grinning at Solbi in excitement before nudging Hyeri.

            “Solbi!” Hyeri cheers, fist pumping into the air. “I have some fantastic news for you.” Solbi raises an eyebrow, walking closer to the desk, and regards Hyeri with a curious expression. “You must’ve heard by now about the new girl group we’re debuting? Cosmos? Well after looking through your records and reports, I, along with the crew, have decided to debut you as Cosmos’ main dancer, vocal, and choreographer!”

            “No way,” Solbi breathes in sharply, heart bubbling with an excitement.

            “Way,” Henry teases.

            “Like actually? I’m going to sing and dance and go on shows and stuff?” Solbi begins bouncing in excitement, matching Hyeri’s energy.

            “Yup, you’ll be starting tomorrow,” Hyeri and Solbi high five. “Come in tomorrow at 7 AM sharp, Xiuxin here will be going over your group image and personas.”

            “Great,” Solbi grins. “But no high heels okay Xiuxin unnie?” Solbi looks at Xiuxin with pleading eyes, causing the Chinese female to roll her eyes.

            “They make your legs look nice,” she mutters quietly. “But fine, if I can help it I’ll try not to give you heels that aretoo high.”

            “Oh yeah,” Hyeri slaps her forehead. “This over here is Han Sanghee; she’ll be Cosmos’ manager.” Solbi turns to look at the third woman in the room. Feeling slightly guilty that she hadn’t noticed her, Solbi bows deeply and gets a soft ‘hello’ in return. “And with that, all four members of Cosmos have been announced. Well, to the trainees at least.”

            “Aw, I’m the last to know? That’s not fair Yoo-nim!” Solbi pouts, causing Hyeri to laugh.

            “I was saving the best for last Solbi,” Hyeri jokes, patting Solbi on the head. Shrugging the hand off jokingly, Solbi huffs and crosses her arms.

            “Well if that’s all I’m leaving,” Solbi sticks her nose in the air. “It’s obvious that I’m the least important thing on your list.” Marching out of the door, Solbi turns around and gives the staff a smile to show that she’s joking. With a wave of her hand and a ‘you little imp get going’ from Hyeri, Solbi makes her way back down to the practice rooms. “Debut huh?” Solbi asks herself quietly. She mulls over the thought silently as the elevator arrives. Entering the steel box, Solbi finds herself smiling. “Debut sounds great,” Solbi assures herself.

            Hearing the elevator arrive at the basement floor, Solbi exits the machine and re-enters the training room she had been in before. A couple of trainees had left in her absence, including the group of girls from before and Daehoon. What a pity, Solbi would’ve liked to share the news with her new acquaintance. Solbi walks back to the corner she had occupied before – luckily no one had claimed her spot – and looks over to see the lone girl from before looking at her. She too had a soft smile on her face and a happy aura, much different than the closed off and troubled attitude she gave off before, and the other trainee even nods at Solbi before going back to her laptop. Tilting her head to the side in slight confusion, Solbi dismisses the action and looks back at the mirror. She was going to debut soon, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to keep working hard and improving. She’d show the world what a twenty two year old girl from Namyangju could do.

And with this, everyone's thoughts on debut are finished! Now we can get onto the good stuff aka the members meeting each other hehe. Although technically, Solbi already met another member of Cosmos in this chapter (who is it I wonder - just kidding it's kind of obvious lol).

We also met Daehoon (again) whoops. I WONDER WHAT HIS FATE IS HAHAHA...ha...

On a random note, I updated the track list for Cosmos (it's on the home page but I'll make a seperate page for it - including sub-units or solos maybe? - later). They're now debuting with a mini-album and have a hype track. ^_^ I also updated the staff page and added a receptionist/psychologist because I'm sure idols go under a lot of stress (also changed Xiuxin's age I need to get my together).

Hope you're smiling!

~ Yun