** 1 y e a r l a t e r **

The crackling of an intercom interrupted the 10:30 a.m vocal class, making the professor pause in his lecture on the causes and effects of stressed vocal cords.

In the corner, EunMyeon stared out of the 5th-story window, watching Seoul civilians pass by below. A black pen twirled in a complicated pattern through her slender fingers, her notebook page full of notes on vocal terminology.
There was a crackle from above, interrupting the professor's lesson and minimal students stopped to listen.

"Would the following trainees, please make their way to the main office at this time:

Choi Chaerin

Achara Acromdee,

Kim Soobin,

Cheong Na Yoon,

Yoo Jisoo

Lee Hyejin"

She looked ahead of the class as the lady on the intercom continued to call out a list of names, none ringing any bell of familiarity.

"Han EunMyeon."

Her ears perked at the sound of her name, a rush of anxiety ran through her veins. A couple of trainees turned her way in shock, wondering why the quiet girl in Vocal B was suddenly called up to the main office.
They watched as the lengthy teen stood up from her seat and made her way to the door, a breathy exhale came from her lips as million thoughts went through her mind.

She weaved through the desks, trying her best not to fall over her feet before bowing to the professor and making her way out of the class. The halls were empty when she walked out, the intercom announcement ending with a few more names being called. She listened to the sound of her sneakers squeaking across the spotless linoleum floor until a door from behind closed and slammed shut.

"Hey you, wait!"

EunMyeon turned around to see a rather short girl with light brown hair running up to her, the girl's shoulder bag was filled with papers that seemed at the risk of falling out and spilling all across the floor from not being zipped properly.

"Hey! They called your name too. EunMyeon, right?" The girl said, finally catching up to her. EunMyeon nodded silently, gripping her bag tightly as the two started to walk side by side to the main office.

"You must not know me. I'm Hyejin, we're in the same dance class." The girl said, giving a bright smile and holding out her hand. EunMyeon, then, realized she had seen this girl in a few classes a couple of times, including Dance B.
She shook her hand quickly and returned her hand to her back pocket, murmuring a "nice to meet you".

Hyejin didn't seem to mind her silence or notice it and continued to talk."Well, this is kind of exciting. I wonder what we're being called up for."

"Exciting wouldn't really be a good word for it, in my opinion."EunMyeon blurted out. The butterflies in her stomach seemed to intensify as they neared a corner that led to the main office. Hyejin chuckled and hung onto EunMyeon's arm. "I'm sure it's all fine."

EunMyeon noticed that Hyejin didn't have a problem with touching but she didn't have any time to be bothered because they were right in front of the main office. Hyejin opened the door to the office and a wave of cold air hit the duo. Seated in waiting chairs, at least 8 girls turned to look at them, most having anxious or puzzled expressions.

Hyejin immediately spotted Nayoon and ran over to her best friend."Your name was called too?! That's awesome."

Her exclamation was shushed by the middle-aged woman behind the big, round desk. Her face held a grimace, which Hyejin figured had been because of something else, so she didn't take it to heart and sat down on the left of Nayoon.

"What do you think this is about?" Hyejin asked in a loud whisper. Nayoon shrugged, her face holding fear.

"I don't know, but I'm worried." She replied, wringing her hands. Her black hair was pulled in an extra-tight bun at the back of her hair and she was wearing a plain T-shirt and grey gym shorts. Obviously coming from weight training.

"I'm sure everything will be fine," Hyejin said. She spotted an open vending machine in the corner office and decided to get Nayoon a drink.

On the other side of the room, Achara stood silently, looking around at the other girls. She had no idea why she was called from class to the main office, abruptly. She prayed it wasn't anything bad but the lingering worry that she may get kicked out of the company was in the back of her mind. She had progressed in her Korean a lot over the past year but it still wasn't perfect. The girl was still in Vocal Class D, the lowest range in the category. It wasn't that Achara couldn't sing, though she wasn't that good, her Korean pronunciation wasn't that appealing to the ear when used musically.

Achara bit her lip in anticipation and looked around the room. She didn't even know these girls, she'd seen some of them in a few of her classes but she wasn't on talking terms with any of them. She watched as one girl sat still, staring into a wall. She wore white earbuds, they were loud as Achara could hear a bit of the music. The girl didn't seem to be any older than her, perhaps younger, for her face held youth like most of the girls here. But Achara could tell she was the youngest. The girl finally noticed her staring and gave a small smile in her direction, Archaea nodded shyly before looking away.

"Sue, what do you think this is about?" Seoyun asked, worried. It wasn't like her to fret but when you're suddenly called up to the main office, it's something to worry about. Seoyun consciously raked her mind, trying to think of all the bad things she could have done this past year.

Snuck out of vocal class a month ago.

Kicked the 3rd-floor vending machine because it stole her 2 dollars and wouldn't her the snack she wanted.

Broke into one of the main studios to listen to Shinee record their new song. She was caught for that but she'd gotten off with a warning.

"I don't know. We'll just have to find out." Soobin said, letting out a shaky breath of hair. She didn't want to show her anxiety in front of Seoyun. If she didn't seem calm and collected, then Seoyun would automatically feel like something is wrong.

"But what if this is about something bad. I mean we could be kicked out of the company--"

"Ugh! stop talking, you're making me nervous." A girl said, from the right of Soobin.

"Sorry." Seoyun smiled sheepishly at the foreigner. "It's just that when I get nervous, I babble off into ridiculous scenarios that involve the worst incomes and it's like I can't stop, no matter how hard I try--"

"Alright, kid, that's enough." Chaerin said, clamping a hand over the Chinese girl's mouth. "As you can see, everyone is already nervous. You don't have to make it worse with your useless blabbering, now chill."

Seoyun nodded helplessly and grinned before, doing something that made the older girl scream. 

"EW! Did you just my hand?!" Chaerin vigorously wiped her plan against her jeans and shook her head. "You're such a kid."

"We're the same age!"

The exiting door opened and a slim secretary with a clipboard came into view. "CEO Lee Soo Man would like to see you now." She said in a well-rehearsed tone. A chill went over everyone when they heard the name of the founder of the company, the founder of SM Entertainment. They didn't know they would be seeing the boss. If the girls were nervous before, they were scared out of their wits now.

There was a certain pause where no one made a move to get out of their seat. Chaerin looked around before huffing. She stood up and turned to all nine girls with a determined look on her face. "Come back on guys, we got this." Even though she didn't know most of them, she wasn't gonna sit around and watch everyone look sacred and frightful.

Soobin nodded in agreement and stood up as well. "Yeah, she's right. It shouldn't be that bad. We all were summoned here for a reason, why not find out why?" The girls seemed to ponder over things for a moment before getting up following the two eldest out the door with the Secretary.

The walk to CEO Soo Man's office was antagonizing tense for Rebecca. A bead of sweat started to the front of her forehead and she hurriedly wiped it off, putting her hand to her heart to stop the horrid pounding. In front of her, she watched Hyejin and Nayoon link arms as they walked, acting as each other's pillar of strength. She looked to the side to see that foreign girl, looking pretty nervous.

"Are you okay?" She whispered, gently bumping her arm with her elbow. Achara looked, surprised to see someone talking to her, and nodded, though she was far from being okay.
"Yeah..."

Rebecca smiled, seeing the truth, and held out her hand. "It's coo