Swiping her company card through the slot, Kim Mirae walked into Yunrae Entertainment with a foreboding feeling in her chest. Closing the door behind her, Mirae looked outside for probably the last time that day before continuing downstairs to the practice rooms. It was somewhat of a joke to describe the training rooms of entertainment companies as ‘dungeons’ but in the case of Yunrae, it was somewhat true. The dancing studios were all located downstairs, to eliminate as much noise as possible or something like that (Mirae personally always thought that sounded slightly psychopathic), but the offices, vocal rooms, and private practice rooms were all upstairs.

            Peeking into one of the practice rooms, Mirae checked to see if it was empty before removing her shoes and walking in. Standing in only her socks, Mirae dropped her bag to the floor and began stretching. After quick, full body stretch, Mirae walked back over to her bag and picked up her phone. Plugging it into the built in speakers of the room, she quickly played a song and began to practice. Monthly evaluations were fast approaching and this time around, they were to be done in a group. As such, Mirae had been working with four other trainees to create choreography. They were almost finished perfecting the piece, but Mirae still felt like there were a couple personal problems with her part so she had decided to come in early to practice.

            “I see you still have that bad habit of practicing without shoes,” a voice says as Mirae finishes running through the choreography a third time. Turning around, Mirae’s face lifts up in a smile as she spots her good friend, Tanaka Suzuki, walking into the room.

            “Take off your shoes,” Mirae points at Suzuki’s red Converse shoes, and made a noise of disapproval.

            “You’re going to slip and injure yourself one of these days,” Suzuki continues as she takes her shoes off.

            “I’m used to practicing in socks,” Mirae replies dismissively as Suzuki sits beside the speaker. “What’s up? You never come in this early.”

            “My Korean lessons got cancelled yesterday so I had to come in for the make-up ones,” Suzuki makes a face. “You don’t like getting up early either.”

            “Couldn’t sleep,” Mirae replies simply before motioning for Suzuki to play the song once again. Staring into the mirror, Mirae felt herself began to focus. She was intensely worried about this month’s evaluation. There wasn’t any explanation, her singing was as great as ever, and if anything her dancing had improved, but she couldn’t seem to shake off the weird feeling that something was up. Something important was going to happen and Mirae felt like she wasn’t going to be prepared for it at all.

            “That’s good,” Suzuki praises when the song finishes. “But you’re a bit slow near the second verse; I think you need to raise your elbow a bit more.”

            “Like this?” Mirae asks, raising her elbow and running through a short bit of the choreography as Suzuki nods in approval.

            “Oh, I didn’t see you girls in here,” a new voice says, startled. Mirae and Suzuki turn to look at the door and bow as they see one of the new interns. “I guess I can start spreading the news though, that’s what I’m supposed to be doing, although he told me to tell the staff members first.”

            “What news?” Suzuki asks excitedly, always one for gossip and drama.

            “CEO-nim said that he’s looking into debuting a group,” the intern says, not noticing the look of shock and fear on Mirae’s face. “The details aren’t fully sorted out yet but it’s a girl group.”

            “How many members?” Mirae asks carefully, trying not to let her apprehension and excitement show. She could debut. It could finally happen. After all those years of training and heartbreak and tears, she could do it. Stand on stage, sing her heart out, and finally make something of herself.

            “I think four or five,” the intern replies, “I’ll be going now. See you.”

            “Goodbye,” the girls echo, watching as the intern exits the room and skips off to spread the news. Turning, Suzuki watches Mirae cautiously. She herself had been a trainee once (technically she still was one) but she had decided to go into modelling instead. As such, she didn’t have to wait for a debut date or train as hard as idol trainees like Mirae did. Instead, Suzuki received acting, language, and speaking lessons. It was stressful all the same, but Suzuki was sure she’d debut soon. Unlike Mirae, Suzuki was almost certain of her future.

            “So little,” Mirae mumbles, perking Suzuki’s interest. “Only four.”

            “Yunrae is still small, we don’t have enough fully trained trainees to debut a larger group,” Suzuki says, wrapping an arm around Mirae’s shoulders. “But there’s one, talented trainee right in front of me. So don’t worry about it, I don’t know what the CEO is thinking but leave things into his hands alright? He knows the entertainment business best after all.”

            Nodding quietly, Mirae looks down at her hands and clenches them. Only four. Soon enough, four of the trainees she had been spending most of her time with would debut and stand on stage. She could only hope that she would be one of the lucky ones.

I wrote this instead of studying for my exams whoops. This is just a teaser, I guess to show what my writing style is like and to introduce my characters. Also I guess, to set the mood kind of? *shrugs*

Anyways, I'll be adding trainees as the apps come in (even if you don't make it into Cosmos, I have something else planned!) so technically almost every app will be included in the story whether there'll be side characters, trainees, or members.

Hope you're smiling!

~ Yun