00. Preperations

“Any luck?” Kim Sora asks, rolling her shoulders as she shifts in an attempt to get comfortable. Well, as comfortable as one could be while leaning against a hard mirror. The young girl breathes out deeply, closing her tired eyes in an attempt at some kind of rest, before opening them and staring at the two other trainees in front of her.

“I think we have a couple trainees in question,” Kim Mirae responds, looking down at the list in front of her and Yoon Daehoon, the man beside her. They pour over the sheet of paper, pointing at certain names and scribbling stuff down. “Do we have the videos of last month’s assessment?”

“Yeah, but I think some new trainees got admitted in after the latest audition,” Daehoon responds, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “I wonder if any of them will get a speed pass into YRT2016.”

 “They better be good then,” Mirae rolls her eyes.

“Why do we have to do this?” Sora whines, the youngest finally gives up supporting herself on the mirror and flops to the ground, head rolling in the direction of Mirae and Daehoon. “Isn’t this the staff members' jobs?”

“Well, we are the first three trainees in this project missy,” Daehoon points out, sticking his tongue out at the childish girl. “So I think it’s nice how they’re giving us a chance to participate in picking who we think should get in. Especially because we’re all going to be spending a lot of time with each other, I heard that there’ll even be specific trainee dorms for those that make it into this project.”

“Seriously?” Mirae drops the pen she was holding. “So I have to move in with that girl?” Mirae wrinkles her nose jokingly, smiling slightly when Sora whines once again. “Joking, but can the company even afford that?”

“It’ll just be our own floor I think,” Daehoon answers. “Just above the current dormitories, well, two levels above. One for girls and the other for males probably.”

“Well they are admitting a lot of people into this project,” Sora comments, crawling across the floor so she too can take a look at the list. “How many was it again? Twenty five?” Skimming through the list, Sora counts the number of people they had on the maybe list before sighing again. “I think we only have like, ten. That’s not even half.”

“Well, we have most of the male trainees at least,” Daehoon tries to remain optimistic. “I think Henry ssi told us that we needed like thirteen or fourteen male trainees.”

“That’s a lot of boys,” Sora giggles.

“Are you happy about that?” Mirae raises an eyebrow in amusement, watching as Sora shrugs, the tips of her ears a reddish colour. “Of course you are. In any case, let’s hope this new audition brings in other trainees.”

“Do we have a deadline for this?” Sora asks, a couple minutes later while the three trainees go back to reading over the many profiles and reports on the different trainees who were being considered for the project.

“Sometime soon,” Mirae responds unhelpfully. “I don’t remember the exact date but Henry ssi wants the final lineup soon. Although we aren’t the only one working on this so it’s okay if we don’t have a set twenty five.”

“What are we going to be doing through this project anyways?” Sora pouts, blinking in confusion as she sets her pen down for yet another break – in her defense, the kid was pretty young compared to Mirae and Daehoon and was still in school, so she was a lot more tired and mentally drained than the other two.

“There’ll be vlogs and little shows I think,” Mirae replies without looking up from the papers. “Like looking into trainee life and we play games in the practice room, we’ll also be getting our own V app channel where we can record and post videos.”

“We already have a YouTube channel, they’re going to post dance videos and song covers on there as well,” Daehoon offers. “Haven’t you and Mirae already started working on a video?”

“A dance one yeah,” Sora nods. “Anything else?”

“Ina told me that Yoo-nim said something about a pre-debut variety show for the male trainee members,” Mirae yawns. “Something like Mix and Match but without the heartbreak of losing members and forcefully choosing the final line up.”

“So like Seventeen Project?” Sora offers. “And the pre-debut show that all YRT2016 people are participating in sounds a lot like 17TV too.”

“Oh right, didn’t you train at Pledis before?” Mirae nods, stretching her arms as she too decides that it’s high time for a break. “Were you ever shown in that show?”

“I think?” Sora blinks, trying to remember. “Yeah they had a special where Pledis Girls came and we played a couple games. I wonder if anyone remembers me from that,” Sora laughs.

“Probably, netizens are a lot more attentive than you think,” Mirae replies. “Some people still remember me from some stuff I did back in Jellyfish.”

“Too be fair you were a lead actress in like, three of VIXX’s music videos,” Daehoon snorts, “you got plenty of close ups so I’m not surprised people remembered you.”

“Shut up, you’re just salty because you don’t have anything like that,” Mirae glares at the widely smiling male before forcefully picking up a stray paper and throwing it in his direction. It doesn’t go far however, only flying a couple inches before it floats back to the ground harmlessly, but Daehoon flinches nonetheless.

“Hey guys,” a voice speaks up, causing the three trainees to look at the door. “Are you working or playing around?” teases Jung Henry, the lead choreographer of Yunrae Entertainment as well as the main leader of the whole YRT2016 picking process.

“A little bit of both,” Sora replies cheekily, grinning innocently when Henry shoots her a pointed look. “We got a couple more trainees for the list?” she offers as a sort of compromise when Henry shakes his head at her antics.

“That’s good, Jinhyuk and the rest have picked handful themselves, and with the new trainees coming in from the audition I think we’ll have a final lineup soon,” Henry nods, fully entering the room and swooping down to pick up the list from the floor. “We have some repeats,” he mentions amusedly, “goes to show that we’re due to debut a boy group.”

“What are we going to do first though?” Sora asks, ever the curious individual. “Like, are we going to announce the final line up right away or just tease at it until that pre-debut show happens?”

“Yoo-nim said we’re going to release a couple more dance videos and song covers so more people are interested in the whole project before launching the first pilot episode of the training room happenings,” Henry states. “The whole thing is kind of hazy still, it might take a bit more time before we have a solid plan. For now Cosmos is our main priority – as bad as that sounds.”

“Ah right, they’re having a comeback soon right?” Daehoon pipes up with a quick glance in Mirae’s direction. “Well not a comeback since they’re not really resting but another song. A single or an album?”

“Single,” Henry answers. “How do you two feel about that though? Especially you Daehoon, since you’re not a part of the upcoming boy group.”

“Fine,” Daehoon snorts. “My feelings aren’t hurt if that’s what you’re wondering. I kind of always knew I wasn’t going to be in a group for some reason. And Mirae and I work well together. I mean, with her producing skills and my remarkable lyrics we’re practically geniuses.”

“You’re not wrong there,” Sora laughs. “The two of you are already being referred to as the musical genius duo by the other staff members.”

“So yeah, it’s no big deal we’re not debuting yet – because you bet we’re going to blow everyone out of the water when we do,” Daehoon winks, nudging Mirae playfully and receiving a smack in return.

“Alright, as long as no one’s mopey,” Henry nods. “I’m not even going to ask you Sora because I know you’ll start whining but you’re young anyways – there’s time for you.”

“I wasn’t going to whine!” Sora whines, ignoring the amused looks the three elders give her. “Anyways weren’t you going to do something? You wouldn’t come in here for nothing right?”

“Well technically I was checking up on you guys but yeah, Yoo-nim wants everyone involved with the YRT2016 program to meet and review the applicants and check out the latest audition tapes,” Henry laughs before leading the trio out of the training room. Things were hazy and extremely unorganized now, but soon enough project YRT2016 would be up and running. And it would only be a short period of time afterwards for Yunrae’s first boy group to begin their preparations for debut.