"Son Seungwan, I'm extremely sorry but there is nothing that we can do," Mr. Pyeong apologizes, seeming at least somewhat sincere. "The performing arts supervisors find it incredibly saddening to see this happen, but you must understand that we cannot continue to fund scholarships to any student, athlete, or performer who is... injured."

"Sir, please, next year is my junior year. My major will be basically locked in. I already have two years of my Bachelors of Performing Arts in Voice completed. All I need is the degree. Please," Seungwan begs. She had sensed this coming. Good fortune was something of limited supply for her. The whole situation felt ridiculous. In all of her life, she had never been reduced to begging. Not once. And she had been reduced to very little before.

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Her rather large family was due to two irresponsible parents. Parents who did not know when to quit; quit having children, quit consuming copious amounts of alcohol, quit going out for parties and leaving their seven children alone. It became such a habit that it was not long after Seungwan's 13th birthday that they truly quit, and for good. March 1st, eight days before her eldest sister Taeyeon's 17th birthday, they left. All seven siblings were left stranded, like a loose bundle of firecrackers that were being held together by a lit rope. School was still viable, as they all attended the same public school and apparently their parents were still managing to somehow pay their taxes, probably not even looking at the bill. School was all they had, really. Living in an impoverished neighborhood in Toronto never seemed to convey the proper idea of family to each of the siblings. There was a continuous reminder that only the strongest survive since whoever could normally catch their parents' attention the most usually got more opportunities, even if that just meant pawning a worn-out $10 bill to be able to buy candy or take a random love interest out for ice cream. Once they left though, the remaining teenagers didn't even have that to depend on. All of them threw themselves into education. The competitiveness was suffocating. There was no mercy if someone fell behind; it only meant that the others had a better chance at success. Little by little, each sibling left to go work or intern or live with someone else, someone who was even slightly better than the broken family they had. And who could blame them?

It was only Taeyeon and Seungwan who were even relatively close. In the next year, they were all that was left. Due to some legal issues, Taeyeon received her father's surname: Kim, at birth, whilst Seungwan received her mother's: Son, but that never served as a barrier between them. Being the eldest of the duo, Taeyeon felt like much of the responsibility fell on her. She worked hard. Now being 18, she was finished with high school. With all of the time spent working and taking care of the house as well as her sister, college never even crossed her mind as an opportunity. She was okay with that. Work came first, and she'd be damned if she slacked off even the slightest bit and wasn't saving money for both her and Seungwan's future. The dingy mini-mart down the street served its purpose as a steady flow of cash income, though it wasn't much. It had its own quirks, from the way the neon sign flickered every twelve seconds to how the cash registers would become jammed or stuck simply from old age. It was not luxury, but it was life. She refused to let her little sister work; she wanted to preserve whatever piece of childishness was still left within Seungwan as well as get the grades to do what she herself never had the chance to: go to college. She'd give her sister a chance to be more than the girl from the shredded-up family. In the end, Seungwan didn't like studying home alone so eventually Taeyeon pulled a few strings and her manager allowed her to bring her little sister to work.

It was at that mini-mart that they found a sense of peace. Seungwan studied and Taeyeon worked. There was nothing else to it. While doing the biannual store-wide cleaning one time, Taeyeon discovered a decrepit radio in the back storage closet. It took a little bit of effort, but she got it working. It had to be ancient, yet it still played music as if only for the two sisters to enjoy. They sang. Over time, about halfway through her shift Taeyeon stopped singing and instead resorted listening to her sister. Seungwan sang everything that she could. The radio had a limited number of channels, and therefore a limited number of songs. It didn't take long for Seungwan to remember some songs from an older station, her favorite being "What A Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong and some more recent songs like "Price Tag" by Jessie J. On rougher days, she managed to make her older sister laugh with her signature impression of Louis Armstrong, complete with his iconic haughty vocals. After a few months, she even managed to pick up the guitar, playing the used one that she borrowed from school. Seungwan never missed a note. Her voice rang out, clear as a bell. It was a natural gift, really, and anyone could inarguably see (or rather hear) that. Slowly but surely, she combined her angelic voice with mastery over the melodic strum of the guitar. Customers sat in and listened for periods at a time, finding refuge in the innocence of such a pure sound. Her light brown hair paired with gentle hands and the softest soul caused some to even tip. Even when the radio finally coughed out its last tune, the music still continued to play. Soon enough, Seungwan had her own stack of cash. She saved it all, trying to take the stress off her sister less and less. If you asked her in a few years, Taeyeon would tell you that it was her not-so-little sister alone that made her job bearable and encouraged her to work, and she was contented at that. 

During her junior year of high school, Seungwan's talents were recognized by many in her school. She had chosen band, chorus, and theater as her electives for three years in a row, much to the appreciation of the performing arts teachers. They recognized her work ethic (which was obviously acquired from her sister) as one of the most promising students that they had ever seen, never bothering to question why there was a lack of parents at each of her performances. The end-of-year spring concert was the big game changer. A representative from one of South Korea's top performing arts schools attended, noting how the girl named Son Seungwan sang with so much emotion and power that a few of the other attendees burst into tears. He promised her a full scholarship right then and there, convincing her that a move to South Korea would be the exposure that she needed to continue into the big business. She teared up and promised him that she would take the offer. A mere half-an-hour later she delivered the news to her older sister. Taeyeon was of course ecstatic. She could finally move away from the melancholy memories and the mini-mart and the moody shack that they lived in. She could see her sister go to college and still have enough money to maybe fund her own education. As soon as Seungwan graduated, they bought the first ticket to South Korea and made the move. 

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Mr. Pyeong lounges, unmoved. Behind his thick glasses, deep brown eyes full of years of experience in building and crushing dreams stared into Seungwan's young and full bright eyes. "I am fully aware of the situation here, Ms. Son, and that alone pains me greatly to deliver this news to you." He glances down at the mountain of papers on his desk. "It says here that your sister Kim Taeyeon attends university in the next town over as a major in family law, and that she must use loans to get by. I presume with the withdrawal of this scholarship that you would need loans as well, and even then you would still have to work a large part of the time in order to pay those off." Seungwan nods along, scanning for any sign of mercy in the old man's expression. A milky white delicate hand comes to , massaging the front portion of it dearly. Mr. Pyeong sighs, eyeing her hand with his figure slumping. What was once the menacing figure of the school's Head of Performing Arts has been reduced to nothing. "I'm sorry, but this is the reality of the situation. This scholarship requires that you are able to perform in the summer tour that the school puts on. The medical scans do not lie, Ms. Son. You have vocal nodules, and a surgery that we cannot pay for is required to take them out. If you could even afford this surgery in the necessary time, it would put you out of performances for one to two months. We cannot continue to support you. I'm truly sorry." The last part of his small speech is rushed like he's trying to push it out as quickly as possible. It is evident that he doesn't want to disappoint such promising talent when he nearly sprints out of the room and Seungwan is left sitting in her chair, dazed but not surprised at her misfortune. She can't afford to pay for school, and there is no guarantee that any loans she takes could be paid off. A career in the arts is never stable. Tears pushing through, she manages to get to her feet and dial the only number she knows by heart.

"Hey Tae, it's me. I know you're in classes right now so I'll make this voicemail short. It's actually pretty simple. The scholarship fell through. Listen, I'll figure something out, so don't worry about me, okay? I just wanted to let you know since, well - ah, you're my sister. Hey, some of these K-Pop idols didn't even go to college, so why do I have to?" The joke falls flat, even to its orator. "I have enough money to pay for rent, food, utilities, and other stuff as of right now. I'll find a job and maybe work a little, then obviously get discovered and be a millionaire. Duh." It sounds so simple when you put it that way, genius, Seungwan thinks to herself. She can feel herself getting choked up, but if her sister could push through for so many years then she could too. "Alright, well, I love you Tae. Again, please don't worry about me. I'll call you soon. Bye." A click and the sound of nothing signals the end of the call. And with that, she walks out of the building with her head held high, not even looking back once.

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A/N: For this first chapter I wanted to color Seungwan's background and set this fic up to be a little bit on the longer side. I really like the interaction and relationship between her and her sister because it's not just about Wenrene. Don't worry though; Irene is going to be introduced in the next chapter going back to freshman year in college, looking at a bit of her and Wannie's shared past. Hopefully from Chapter 3 on, I promise full-on Wenrene. We're getting there!!! (Be patient!)