Note: Hi there. This is the first story that we’ve posted together. It’s gone through soo much editing and it still is, so it will take a while for the chapters to come out but please be patient.

We’ve seen stories about another member being added to the group. This is one of those but it’s about a Korean girl being added to the group. We think it would be a good idea to give a realistic and interesting take on a foreigner’s experience (who is Korean) being added to the group.

It’s written by a Korean girl (you can refer to me as Author Y) and a black girl (Author T) living in the UK. I (Author Y) want to express my experience, which I think isn’t very common, in this somewhat of a self-insert fanfic.

---

It was a busy Saturday afternoon in Gyeonggi. Standing by a bus stop was girl who held her phone in her left hand, which was pressed against her ear, whilst a map occupied the other. With a frown, she glances at the map before crossing the road and walking down the pavement, trying not to bump into people.

“Make sure you look at them in the eyes when they are talking to you.” A deep voice rang through the phone.

“Of course I will, how-” She chuckles before bumping into a man on the road, muttering a quick apology, she continues speaking. ”How could I not do that? It’s basic manners.”

“I remember you having a hard time keeping eye contact whenever I introduced you to someone your age He chuckles back before sighing. “I guess my little girl is all grown up now.”

“Dad, come on. These people will be way older than me” The girl drones with a smile before taking a right down the street.

“I know. I know. Oh! Make sure to show them your smile. Remember-“

“A person’s smile is one of their best features. I know dad, I know.” The girl sighs before looking at the street signs. She hears shuffling through the speaker before someone else’s voice rang through the receiver.

---

“Hey sweetie. Are you there yet?” The voice of an elderly woman asks.

“Hey Aunty Betty. Not yet but I’m almost there.” The girl replies turning a corner. Glancing at the time on her phone she let out a small gasp before walking slightly faster. “I am cutting it a bit close though.”

“Did you wake up late again?”

“No…”

“…”

“Well not quite…”

“What are we going to do with you? Back in my day you couldn’t be late like this. Let me-Let me tell you about what would happen if you were “cutting it close” back in my day-. “Just as the girl made her way around a corner a large building stood a few meters away from her.

“Sorry Aunt Betty.” She quietly cheers, happy she found the building before she heard a long-winded story. “I gotta go now. I just arrived at the audition building.” She put the map back into her backpack before walking closer to the building.

“Oh ok sweetie. But don’t think this conversation is over.” She scolds making the girl groan internally. “Good Luck! I know that they did already, but your sisters wanted me to wish you good luck again for today. Oh! the Dean, Coach S also wish you good luck too…Who else was there?”

“Thanks Aunt Betty. I really gotta go now.” She slightly rushes her sentence hoping she would end the call soon.

“WOOJIN!” Her Aunt screams causing the girl to quickly hold the phone away from her ear before any more damage is done to her ear drum.

“Ouch..” She held the phone back to her ear.

”Come say bye to your daughter.” She tells the girl’s father before lowering her voice. “Bye honey.” She says sweetly

“Bye~”

“Are you all set?” Her father asks once he got his phone back

“Yeah. I’m ready.” Looking back at the building she slowly started to feel nervous. Knowing that what happens today could decide her near future was slowly setting in. “I just got to go in there a-and just sing.” She takes a deep breath before exhaling slowly. “No biggie.”

“You’re going to be just fine.” Her dad tries to calm her down. “You know we are all very proud of you, no matter what the outcome is.” Her dad said.

“I know.” She mumbles

“Then go and give it your best shot okay!” He cheers making her smile.

“Thanks dad. I will. Talk to you later.”

“Bye.”

She ends the call before putting her phone inside her bag. She stares at the building in front of her before going up the stairs and into the building. She walks up to the receptionist and gives them her details. The receptionist registers her into the system before printing out a few pieces of paper. She hands the girl the papers without making eye contact with her.  She reaches for the papers ,which she now realises were her documents, timidly as she was slightly scared of the receptionist’s cold demeanour.

Suddenly, the receptionist starts to speak making the girl jump. “Before you start your audition you will need to give this to the scouters. Your number is 165 so you will be waiting a while. The waiting room is upstairs and to the left. It has a large white door, you can’t miss it. Go inside and wait there until your name and number has been called out.”

“Thank you…Can you tell me where the toilets are please?” The girl asked. The receptionist quickly points down the corridor on her left whilst they continued to type with their right hand.

Muttering a quick thank you, she rushes herself to the toilets. Luckily for her she was alone. After she went to the toilet, she washes her hands and looks at herself in the mirror.

“Oh come on!” She complains as she uses her hands to neaten her now slightly frazzled, black, shoulder length hair. Once she thought her hair looked presentable, she straightened out her white t-shirt and light blue jeans. “You got this.” She exhales before making her way to the waiting room. Despite the room looking as if there was 200 people, she was able to find a seat in the back corner of the room. She places her bag on her lap as she looks around. Some of them were practising dancing, singing, acting, modelling etc.

‘They are really good. Like really good.’ She gulps before slapping her cheeks gently. ‘What am I doing? I should be warming up to!’.

She stands up, stretches her body a bit before facing the wall and began doing simple vocal exercises. She did this for a while before a large black door was swung open, stunning everyone into silence. A tall man in a black suit walked through the door.

“Number 103, Byun Se-Jun” His voice boomed. A second later a young boy put his hand up before scurrying to the man with his documents in hand.

‘Oh my… Dear heart of mine calm the hell down!’ She put her hand over her heart trying to calm down and breathed in deeply before exhaling. ‘Ok. 103 was just called which means 61 people will be called out before me. I got plenty of time’. She sat down and tried to calm her nerves by doing breathing exercises. She stands back up and continues doing vocal exercises and practising the song she was going to audition with.

 

One by one people were called by the man in black.

 

“Number 123”

 

“Number 138”

 

“Number “160”

 

The man entered the room again. “Number 165, Lee Faith.”

Hearing her name being called made her shot her hand up. “I’m here!” She exclaims before picking up her bag and briskly walking to the staff member who walks her to the audition room.

In the room there sat a mixture of 7 smartly dressed men and women behind a table with papers in front of them. There was a camera that was situated behind the man sitting in the middle. A few meters in front of the scouters was a square outlined by a red tape.

‘I guess that is where I need to stand.’ Faith thought before bowing to the them.

She walks up to the table and gave them her documents, bows again before walking to stand in the centre of the red square. She drops her bag in the corner of it.

‘Gotta smile’. She put on her best and most realistic smile she could muster before bowing to them again.

“Before we start the audition I will give you a quick introduction into how this will work.” The man in the middle began.

“Ok”

“You will need to look directly into the camera behind me as you answer the questions and make sure that your answers are straight to the point. Good Luck.”

‘Seems simple enough.’ She gives a little nod.

“Alright we will start in three-”

‘Wait straight away?!’ She thought looking extremely shocked.

“Two-“

‘Oh my gosh’

“One”

‘I gotta pee again’

He signals the camera man to start recording. When Faith saw the red light on the camera, she knew that they had started to record so she straightens her posture.

“Please introduce yourself.” The woman on the right hand of table said.

“Hello. My name is Lee Faith. I am 15 years old. I am from the UK. I will be starting Hanlim Multi Arts School on a scholarship.” Faith answered.

“What is your scholarship in?”

“Music.”

“That’s good. What do you enjoy doing?”  

“I like to cook and play games.” Noticing their expressions dropping at her answer she starts to panic. “BUT! But I mainly like to sing and dance.”

“You have awards from the Harmonic Junior Orchestra and cheerleading.”

“Yes, I used to play cello in the Harmonics Junior Orchestra and I was in a competitive cheer squad when I was in the UK.” She mentally fist pumps when she saw their faces light up and write on the sheets in front of them.

“It says here that you will be auditioning to be a singer. Why is that?”

As if she rehearsed this answer, which she did for an hour yesterday, she answers straightaway. “I love to perform. Ever since I was young that was all I ever did. I believe that performing, becoming a singer, is what I’m meant to do.” Sure, it was a bit blunt and slightly cheesy, but she knew that was what they wanted to hear. Something short and sweet. If she gave them a more detailed explanation she was sure that she would end up with less offers. In the position she is currently in it was better for her to play it safe.

“What song will you be singing for us today?”

“I’m going to sing Sweet Life by Frank Ocean.”

“OK, whenever you are ready.” They adjusted their posture and stared at Faith.

She took a deep breath before singing

“The best song wasn't the single, but you weren't either
Livin' in Ladera Heights, the black Beverly Hills
Domesticated paradise, palm trees and pools
The water's blue, swallow the pill
Keepin' it surreal, whatever you like
Whatever feels good, whatever takes you mountain high
Keepin' it surreal, not sugar-free
My TV ain't HD, that's too real
Grapevine, mango, peaches, and limes, the sweet life

The sweet life, sweet life
Sweet life, sweet life
The sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet life
Sweet life, the sweet life
Sweetie pie”

She kicked up her vocals when it came to the chorus

“You've had a landscaper and a house keeper since you were born
The sunshine always kept you warm
So why see the world, when you got the beach
Don't know why see the world, when you got the beach
The sweet life”

Finishing on a sweet note, she smiles at the camera signalling that was the end of her audition. They stopped filming and thanked her for auditioning. They inform her that companies would contact her through email if they were interested in her. She bows to them again before picking up her bag leaving the building.

 

---

“Home sweet home.” She mutters entering her small room. She slips off her shoes and turns on the lights before walking further in. She reaches into McDonald’s bag which had her dinner for tonight, a shrimp burger, fries and an ice lolly. She stuffs some fries in before plugging her phone into the charger. She flops down onto her bed and winces slightly from landing on something hard underneath her duvet. She reaches underneath it and grabs the object which turns out to be her music book. “I really need to stop sleeping with my book.” She murmurs before chucking it onto her desk. After connecting to the wi-fi her phone started to vibrate continuously from all the messages she was getting throughout the day finally being delivered to her phone.

After finishing her burger and fries, she starts eating the ice lolly whilst checking her phone. Some were from her friends but most of them were from the group chat she has with her sisters which was appropriately named “Sisters”.

She opens the app and chuckles at the number of messages there were. Opening the chat, she scrolls through the conversations that were happening between the sisters throughout the day with a smile. Messages wondering how the audition went, how she was doing and playful threats about how she should respond soon.

Faith: Don’t kill me. I barely had any battery whilst I was out :P

Sooyoung: We were getting worried 

Seohyun: About time you responded!!

Amelia: A quick message wouldn’t have hurt nobody.

Faith: I’m sorry

           I’m alright though

Sooyoung: Well how did it go? Tell us everything!!!

Faith: I think it was alright for the most part.

           I’m a little nervous though…

Amelia: What do you mean?

Faith: Well I felt like the process was kinda quick

I just introduced myself, asked a few questions, sang and then left. I feel like they should’ve asked me more right?

Seohyun: I’m sure you did fine.

Amelia: They wouldn’t need to know a crap ton about you now anyways.

A look of worry ran across Faith’s face as she read Amelia’s message. Her fingers slightly shook as her fingers flew across the keyboard on her phone.

Faith: What do you mean they wouldn’t need to know?

Was it my outfit?

The way I walked into the room?

My documents were bland?

           Crap what if it was my voice?

Seohyun: Omg calm down

Sooyoung: Amelia you know you could’ve worded that better

Amelia: My bad

Sooyoung: She didn’t mean it in the way it came across.

           This is normal for the beginning stages of these things..

Faith: What do you mean? :/

Sooyoung: When I first submitted my portfolio to companies I had only had to do a small sample.

           My final one was much more complex. Don’t worry ok 

She let out a breath of air she didn’t even know she was holding. She whines a little before replying.

Faith: So I don’t have to worry?

Seohyun: Absoulety not!

           I’m sure you’re gonna get a ton of offers especially if you auditioned with sweet life

Ameilia: Without a doubt

Faith: Amelia you really scared me  :’(

Amelia: Sorry but I kinda thought it was obvious

Seohyun: It was a little bit funny though xD

Sooyoung: Are you ok now?

She felt better for the most part, but she was still a little nervous. Not wanting to talk about it any further she changes the subject.

Faith: Yup

           Anyways, how are you guys?

Sooyoung: Well since you asked…

                     Phil might be moving in with me!

Amelia: It’s all she’s been talking about for the past two days

Seohyun: That means you might be bumping uglies in your own home soon

Faith: *sick emoji*

Sooyoung: Don’t embarrass me like that!

           But yes uglies are definitely being bumped regardless

Amelia: I’m gonna be sick

Faith: I second that

 

---

‘And another day passes.’ She thought as she crosses the previous date off her calendar.

It’s been almost three weeks since the auditions and Faith hadn’t heard anything from any entertainment except for one that contacted her a week after her audition. She was hoping that large companies, such as SM, JYP or YG, would’ve at least contacted her by now. She started to lose faith (pun not intended).

‘I have bigger things to worry about right now.’ She looks at the mirror and straightens out her uniform and tidies up her pony tail.  She took a quick photo of herself in the mirror and sent it to her family group chat with a message. ‘Ready for the ceremony’. Today was the opening ceremony at Hanlim Multi Arts School. Noticing the time on her phone, she put on her shoes and made her way there. After a 30 min bus journey and a 10 min walk, she stood outside the gates of her new school. She waited by the side of the gates for one of her friends who were now running 10 mins late.

‘If he doesn’t get here soon were gonna be in even more trouble.’ After looking for him in the lines of students entering the school, she decides to call him. Just as she was about to press call someone hooks their arm over her shoulders causing her to let out a small scream. When she saw who it was she started to hit them repeatedly whilst they tried to shield themselves with their bag

“Seongwoo! You scared the hell out of me! Why are you soo late?” She complains.

“First of all, you’re being a little over dramatic. Ten minutes isn’t that late” He replies. He stood a few inches taller than her with black hair styled in the typical bowl-cut. “Secondly, It’s just the opening ceremony. It’s not like were walking into a class late.”

“Actually, it’s like that multiplied by like fou- AHH!“ She starts but was cut off when he drags her towards to hall with his arm around her neck.

“Come on slowpoke we’re gonna be late.”

“Where’s Yongsoo?” She asks trying to not seem too interested in his brother’s whereabouts.

“Well he was supposed to be here too but he said.” He starts to puff out his chest and drops his voice an octave, trying his best to imitate his older brother. “I’ll literally be standing there watching you flirt with all the girls and embarrass Faith. I’ll just meet you guys later with Haeri and Jae.”

“Oh.” She tries not to look too disappointed, but he notices her change in expression. Not wanting to see her sad he tries to cheer her up

“Don’t worry. In the inevitable event of us being mobbed by all the cuties here” He raises his fist as if he was restraining himself. “No matter how much they beg for my attention, I’ll be right by your side.” He pulls her closer into a side hug with a small smile on his face. Feeling a little better, she laughs.

“You know the last bit was kinda cheesy.”

“But you love it!”

Once they got inside, they saw that there was a crowd of students looking at a large board. As the pair walks closer, they saw that board had papers pinned to it, each listing the forms and the students. After waiting patiently, they were finally able to move forward and look at the lists better. Once they found out they were in the same class they cheered before remembering how late they were. They quickly found out where they were supposed to meet their form teacher and briskly made their way there.

Once they arrived at the office, they bowed and apologised for being late. The teacher wasn’t too happy about them being late but seeing as it was opening ceremony he left them off with a warning. He talks to Seongwoo first about his timetable before calling Faith into his office. Seongwoo tells her to meet him at the hall before walking off. Her first impression of her form tutor was that he was a nice person, strict but a nice teacher nonetheless. Looking at her timetable, she thought everything was pretty standard, well standard for a performing arts high school. She was given a list of clubs that they had before she was sent to the hall for the ceremony. When she arrives, she barely manages to see Seongwoo in the sea of students. She jogs up to him.

“Hey”

“Hey. The day is almost over. Finally” He sighs rolling his shoulders.

“We haven’t even done much today.” She said with a light chuckle

“Maybe you haven’t but I’ve been having a hard time keeping all the ladies off me.” Seongwoo does finger guns at a group of girls that happened to look in their direction. They giggled and whispered to each other before walking away. “Yup. The ladies already love me. They want this.”

In the 20 mins that they were separated, she highly doubted that anything happened to him. She gave him a sheepish smile. ‘I wouldn’t use the word love’. When the principal stood on stage she nudges him to be quiet and pay attention. About 10 mins into their speech, Faith started to look around at the student.  When she looked to her left she did a double take at who she saw and started to lightly smack Seongwoo, each hit getting harder and harder.

“Ow” *hit* “Ow” *hit* “What” *hit* “Do you” *smack* Faith!” He hisses grabbing her hand to stop the assault. He turns his head to the left a little so it’s less obvious he’s talking to her. “What do you want? We’re gonna get in trouble.”

She shakily raises her hand slightly and points to the left of her. “Paint me green and call me a cucumber-”

“What” He mouths lost by the strange expression she used. He slowly turns slowly looking in the direction she was pointing. His jaw dropped when he saw who it was.

“That’s Krystal from F(X)” She whispers excitedly whilst pushing his jaw back up. Just as she said that Krystal glances in their direction and made eye contact with the both of them before looking forward again.

“She looked at us!” He tries to stop his hands from shaking out of nervousness. After losing their cool for a second, they both made sure to look straight forward and pay better attention to the principal’s speech. They both knew that if they were caught by the principal now it would have terrible consequences and they were not willing to risk it.

 

---

After the ceremony finished they met up with the rest of their friends at the Korean restaurant like they planned. After they were seated, they ordered their food. As soon as the waiter walked away Seongwoo told them about what happened during the opening ceremony.

“YOU MET KRYSTAL!” Haeri slams her hands on the restaurant table causing the people around them to look at them. Yongsoo pulls her back into her seat whilst Faith gestures for her to calm down.

“Oh please, please do continue to be loud and get us kicked out before we get our food.” Jaeyoung says sarcastically.

“Sorry but can you really blame me? They met an idol” She replies with a shrug.

“Well we didn’t really meet her. We just made eye conta-” Faith tries to correct her but Seongwoo cuts her off.

“You don’t understand guys. We stared into each other’s souls. I think this could be the start of something really...special.” Staring dreamily off into the distance, he rests his head in the palm of his right hand.

“Stop being desperate. It’s sad.” Yongsoo deadpans just as the waiter brought over their side dishes with bowls of rice. After thanking the waiter, Jaeyoung raises an eyebrow at his friend’s statement.

“That’s funny because I’m pretty sure you were the same way last year dude.” Jaeyoung smirks. Yongsoo slowly turns a light shade of pink from being called out before looking down and stuffing his face with rice. “Must be a blood thing.” Snickering at successfully embarrassing him.

“Whatever.” Yongsoo mumbles around the rice. The waiter brings out their last order which was a large pot of budae jjigae and placed it on the stove in the centre of the table. It was filled with the typical ingredients such as spam, sausage, kimchi, tofu, rice cake and tons of vegetables. They got theirs with ramyun and lots of cheese. That combined with the stew made it seem like heaven to them. After thanking the waiter again, they started to serve themselves.

“Really, there’s no better way to start the school year than with some budae jjigae!” Jaeyoung cheers serving himself. They all agreed and started to stuff their faces.

“How was your ceremony?” Faith asks Haeri before blowing on her rice cake.

“It was good I guess. Nothing special like meeting a celebrity” She mutters whipping with tissue, careful to not mess up her lipstick. “But you know what? Sulli is also at SOPA. If you guys can meet Krystal, I don’t see any reason as to why I can’t meet Sulli.” She mumbles around a mouthful of ramyun pointing her chopsticks at Faith and Seongwoo. “Anyways I think we’ve been avoiding something we’ve been dying to know for a while… How did your audition go?”

Faith quietly sighs at this. She was hoping to avoid the whole conversation for as long as possible, but she knew it wasn’t possible. They did ask her about it before, but she just brushed them off about it. She felt bad for doing it because she knew that they were just curious, and it wasn’t a bad question to ask. Even though her sisters made her feel better about the situation, she still felt bad about it. There was that and the fact that only one company had gotten in touch with her.

“It went alright.” She lies but judging by her friends’ expressions she knew that they were not having it. Sometimes she wonders how far she could get in life if she could lie convincingly. She huffs before telling them how it went. Finally, being able to hear her story, they put down their utensils and listened. When she finished her story, the table was silent.

“How anticlimactic.” Jaeyoung sighs before stuffing his face with food making Yongsoo send him a stern look.

“Listen, your sisters have told you and now we’re telling you, you have nothing to worry about!” Haeri reaches over the table and squishes Faith’s cheeks together.“

“Besides you got contacted by a company. I bet a lot of people don’t even get one!” Seongwoo says trying to cheer her up but all she does is sighs. Seeing that their attempts were not working they sat back in their seats feeling a little dejected but Jaeyoung was not having it. Having had enough of seeing her like that, he took out his phone.

“What is the name of the company?” He asks

“BigHit Entertainment” Faith replies before she began to eat her food slowly. He types the name into his phone and researches it quickly.

“Ok. So they have co-signed 2AM with JYP, they have a co-ed group called 8eight who debut in 2007 and they won a daesang last year-“ He lists all the information he has before Faith cuts him off.

“I already know-“ She hits Seongwoo’s hand who was trying to steal a piece of sausage away from her plate. “Know this. Repeating it isn’t gonna make me feel any better. I haven’t got a problem with the company. It’s just that I’m nervous I guess. Maybe even more nervous than when I did the audition-.”

“Look just go and try out. The worst they can say is no”

“I know that but-“ Faith tries but is once again interrupted.

“But nothing! You are gonna go in there and audition again as if you life depends on it.” Haeri points at her with her chopsticks.

“Well I already contacted saying I’m interested. I’m seeing them the day after tomorrow” Faith picks up the last piece of spam in the pot but it was knocked out of her hand by Haeri.

“UM! If it’s that soon then you can’t be eating this!” Haeri scolds scarying Faith. “You face has to be spot free and glowing when you see them! Oh my gosh your weight too!”

Faith touches her faces before using her phone’s screen to see if any spots had magically appeared on her face during their meal. ‘I don’t have any spots though…’.She looks down at her stomach, it was flat but not as toned as it used to be. ‘I kinda have let myself go a little bit.’ Jaeyoung glances at her before picking up the spam and putting it on her plate.

“Eat.” Is all he says before he finishes the rest of the food in his bowls. Faith smiles at him before eating it. Haeri lets out a small gasp.

“Are you serious right now Jae?” She asked incredulously. He ignored her which made her slightly angry. She took a deep breath. “Whatever. Faith you’re coming over to my house so we can get you ready for your next audition.” Faith agrees as she has time to spare.

“I thought we were all gonna hang out after?” Seongwoo asks as he finishes his food.

“Well we always have the weekend. Let’s just meet up on Saturday.” Haeri decides for everyone before she calls the waiter over for the bill. No one objects because they know that there was no point. Also, they knew she wanted to help Faith get ready for the audition, so it didn’t seem right to complain.

After they paid and left the restaurant, they said their good byes and went their separate ways. The girls made their way to Haeri’s house whilst the boys made their own ways home. When they arrived at her house they went straight to her room after greeting her parents. They spent 2 hours talking about what products she should buy to prepare herself for the audition which ended Faith going home with a bag full of products Haeri gave her.

 

---

‘Well this is it.’ She stares up at the building towering above her. Faith stood outside the BigHit Entertainment building. She was wearing a white shirt, a pink jumper she borrowed from Haeri, a small backpack, blue jeans and white trainers. She had her hair pulled into a side ponytail. Her face felt good from all the products Haeri gave her. She was definitely going to thank her properly again later.

She opens her phone and messages her friends in the group chat that she was about to go in.

M Haeri: Go get ‘em Tiger!!! Go show them how amazing you are!

J Seongwoo: Good Luck!!!!!! Knock ‘em dead!!

K Jaeyoung: Good Luck !

J Yong-Soo: Remember to relax and just be your normal cute self. You have a great voice. Never forget that J

‘Cute. He said I was cute and that I have a great voice. Not ok but GREAT.’ She starts squeal and tries to fan herself from feeling herself blush at his compliments. Feeling more confident, she grips her bag tightly before walking up the stares with bounce in her step. Opening the door slowly she looks around before taking a step in.

 

‘Holy Crap!’

 

How was it guys?