March 08, 2020

Group A was working on the group’s choreography, finally getting into the rhythm of rehearsal. Despite the dance looking relatively easy when they watched Eunhyuk do it, the small parts of the dance were key, and apparently much more difficult than they thought.

Sure, no one was falling on their butts or tripping over their own feet, but Sori had been sure they’d be better than this. Every group out there has done the Nobody dance! Why did this group of girls seem to be having so much trouble? Maybe Heju was right, maybe the trainees weren’t as good as expected… Hah, the girl would love to hear that!

That is, until Eunhyuk had clapped at the end of their latest trial, declaring them successful.

“Very good. You’ve got the movements down to a ‘T’ now. Practice this some more over the rest of today, and make sure to go over it in the morning as well,” Eunhyuk told them, watching the girls as they slumped onto the floor, drinking their water. “For now, I suggest you work on the lyrics. Don’t take this challenge for granted just because the song might seem easy.” He warned with a nod before leaving the room.

In the room across the hall, Shindong had a grin across his face as he watched his trainees. Despite the lack of teamwork within group C, they were certainly doing pretty well. Gee might be one of the most well known songs in kpop, but that didn’t make it easy, by any means. The activity level on the song was pretty high, making it easy to see who was out of shape. Hei Chu and Jiyae were in the clear- seeing as their specialty was in dance, they had no problem. Younghee was just fine, considering she was a vocalist.

If Shindong had to pick out the one’s who needed more work, it’d be a toss up between Minhee and Minsun. Minsun was a vocalist, and if he remembered right, it took her two auditions to get into the company because she failed the first one. She had been improving, but perhaps needed more dance training. Minhee was surprisingly out of shape- despite being a dance with a long skill list, she was panting for air harder than anyone else.

The biggest concern was the fact that Yumi still hadn’t shown up.

While the girl’s were taking a five minute break, Shinfong sent a quick message to Leeteuk about the missing girl.

I’m not surprised, Leeteuk replied to the other’s message. Kang Heju is missing too. Hae said Yeonhee was late. Their little clique is causing trouble.

Shindong frowned, answering back after a moment. We need to do some damage control before things get out of hand.

With an agreement that they’d confront the three during the trainee’s lunch break, they got back to business.

Leeteuk was sitting in a chair in the corner of his own dance studio, silently impressed with group B.

Honestly, they formed the groups slightly off balance in order to test them and see how they could overcome some lacking skills. Although they didn’t have their expectations very high for this first test, he was pleasantly surprised by how this group of girls were making up for that. With Heju missing, they had done two different choreographies. One with her and one without. (Whether it was a petty move to have Heju’s empty spot in the back corner, he’d never know)

Finally, group D. It seemed like not much had been happening with this group because they had yet to do a full group practice of the choreography, but it seemed to work for them. In pairs or trios, they’d traded off tasks amongst themselves, tackling jobs one by one. Donghae was a bit worried, though. They had done well, but Jiae seemed to be losing her focus. With two people working on splitting the lyrics evenly, two others were discussing who would be best for which part considering their individual skills. Leaving her and two others to work on the choreo. Jieun and Emmy were both talented dancers, but Jieun was new and didn’t quite have a hold on things, while Emmy was too soft spoken to actually voice her opinion.

Just as Donghae was about to suggest they work as a full group, a bell rang throughout the floor, signaling their lunch break.

Jinheo had a cheerful grin on her face as she rushed up the stairs with the girls from her group. With Haru at her side, they chatted away while picking up their lunch trays.

“I had no idea the dance for Into The New World was so tiring!” Jinheo let out a chuckle, letting out a puff of air as if she was exhausted.

“Honestly,” Haru agreed readily, nodding along with a soft pout. “I’m glad none of us have tripped yet. I hope our vocal practice after lunch will go more smoothly than this morning.”

As they made their way to the tables, Haru was joined by her twin, Hanui. “We’ve got Wonder Girl’s!”

Jinheo listened to the sisters, a small curl of a smile as she made quiet sounds in answer to the conversation. Just as she was about to join in on the shock of having only two days to finish this task with their new groupings, three of the Super Junior members and an unknown girl stood at one end of the cafeteria.

“Ladies!” Heechul called, grinning from ear to ear as he clapped to catch the trainee’s attention. “We have an announcement to make.” A quiet murmur sprouted through the small crowd, quieting down only once Siwon motioned with his hands.

“First of all, tomorrow you will all have your first photoshoots. You will take headshots that will be used as your announcement to the public that you’re trainees under Label SJ.” Siwon told them with a bright smile, giving them a thumbs up.

Yesung nodded along, jumping slightly when Heechul nudged his side. “Oh, yes. The second announcement. We have a new trainee joining us from now on, please welcome Camila Dela Paz. After this first test, she will join group A.”

The girl smiled and bowed, looking around the room with a surprisingly cheery expression, considering she was being thrown into something totally new.

“Hello everyone, please call me Eunkyung. I hope to get to know you all like sisters-”

Before she could finish what she was saying, Heju, and Yumi finally walked into the cafeteria. “Who the hell is this? Why are you letting foreigners join?” Heju scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest as she eyed the new trainee. “You’re a vocalist, I bet. Don’t bother trying too hard, no one can compare to me.”

Heechul stepped forward, holding a hand out between Heju and Eunkyung.

“Kang Heju, to my office, now.” He demanded, looking far more serious than any of the girls had seen from him before.

“Maybe he’ll finally put her into her place.” Aeri whispered, feeling a sense of relief. Heju’s attitude was wearing on them all; it wasn’t surprising that Super Junior was starting to notice it, too.

 

Because of dumb reasons, this chapter is shorter than originally planned. I'd add more of what I had planned out, but I'll save it for the next chapter instead. Things are getting heated for these girls, and it's not just Heju that's going to cause trouble!

In other news, please welcome our new trainee Camila (Eunkyung) Dela Paz! This is not a character I created, she was an applicant that I decided to introduce late.

author's note