"Our society is divided into classes:

Class A is the Royal Family

Class B is made up of elites that are involved in the government

Class C consists of those who have prestigious skills and jobs in areas such as medicine, science, architecture, and engineering.

Class D members are business owners and landowners

Class E members are those who possess skills in the arts such as dance, singing, music, and painting 

Class F members are those blue-collar workers: factory workers, waitresses, cooks, manual labor workers, farmers"

**************

Two weeks have passed and the day of the Selection was already here. To say that it's been chaotic in my house would be an understatement. Officials from the Palace have been calling and visiting to prepare me for the Selection and with my entire town was coming me to see me before I left.

My family was more than chaotic. My Grandma was still bedridden, but Daehwi and Mom kept themselves busy by basically tearing the whole house apart looking for things I might need to bring to the Palace. I found it funny because what would I need to bring to the Palace? Everything was probably already there in much better quality than what I had. All I needed was my small box of jewelry that I've collected over the years and the pair of sneakers my dad bought me when I first started dancing. It's too small for me to wear now, but I kept it in my closet as a reminder of Dad. 

The officials from the Palace had informed me when they came to visit that I would not need to bring anything to the Palace unless I had some personal things I wanted to bring. And so I decided to just pack a small-sized bag with my jewelry box, my sneakers, and a couple of pictures of my family. 

There were several knocks at the door and when Mom opened the door, there were men in black suite ready to me to the Palace. 

I asked the men from the Palace to wait a couple of moments as I said my goodbyes to my family. I walked past the living and turned the corner to get to Grandma's room and poked my head in. 

"Are you leaving now?" Grandma's voice was like a whisper. In that particular moment, the ground and blanket Grandma was laid on seemed especially old and worn out.

I knelt on my knees and gently grasped her hands. "Yeah, I'm leaving now Grandma. I'll be writing letters and I'll be able to make phone calls once in a while."

"Don't worry about me, little one. I'm going to be okay whatever happens. I want you to be who you are. You don't have to win. Just come home safely." Grandma gave my hands a weak squeeze. 

My vision became blurry with tears, but I refused to let them fall. That was what I needed to hear. That I didn't have to win the Selection and that I just needed to be me. I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Because that money was the reason I entered the Selection, right? For Grandma and my family. But Grandma was right. We were going to be alright and I just needed to come home alright. 

Mom gently called my name from the doorway, telling me it was time to leave. I gave Grandma's hands a firm squeeze and I walked back out into the living room where I found Daehwi with a small blue ribbon in his hand. 

“It’s a present. I got it yesterday from the market. Will you wear it on the way to the Palace?” He held the red ribbon out.

“It’s beautiful. Thanks, Daehwi.” I gave the ribbon to my mom so that she can put it into my hair. She put my hair into a neat braid and tied the end with the ribbon. 

I hugged Daehwi and Mom for a while and broke away only when I realized the men from the Palace were still at the door.  They walked me to a very sleek looking black car and opened the door for me. I looked at my house one last time, waved goodbye to my family and closed the car door.
I felt my eyes become teary as my view of the house became smaller and smaller. When will I be able to come home? In a couple of weeks? Months? 

****************

Hours passed and the car came to an entrance with big, metal gates. The driver scanned his hand into a machine and the gates slowly opened. As we drove past the gate and onto a very long driveway, I couldn’t believe my eyes. 

Flowers I’ve never seen before lined the driveway and fountains and statues made of marble were sparkling. 

After what seemed like an eternity, the car finally came to a stop. The driver got out and opened the door for me, and as I looked at the Palace, I had to tilt my head all the way back to see the top of the building. Everything seemed to come in large sizes here; tall doors, big windows, high ceilings. 

A woman met me at the door and introduced herself as Miro. She stated that she is the head of the Selection and the overseer of the 10 girls that are participating in the Selection. 

Miro led me into the Palace and as the tall doors opened, my breath was taken away. I'm not sure what I had imagined the Palace to look like, but the actual Palace was more beautiful than what I had imagined it to be. the floors were of white marble, the walls were golden with accents of red and blue. Chandeliers hung from the ceilings and the light reflected off of them in such beautiful colors.

The hallway Miro and I were walking in seemed endless until we rounded the corner and another set of big doors opened to what looked like a lounge with many sofas. The sofas were arranged into a circle and all the seats were filled except for one. I quickly realized I was the last one to arrive. There were slight chatters around the room as well as some nervous giggles. 

Miro clapped her hands twice to get the attention of everyone in the room. "Alright, ladies. Take a look around you. Better get used to seeing each other around the Palace because the 10 of you will get to know each other pretty well by the end of the Selection. Unfortunately, for you all, today will be an orientation day and so you will not be meeting the Royal Family. However, you will be having breakfast in the main Feast Room with the Royal Family. This means you will see Prince Woojin for the first time tomorrow morning." A couple of girls squealed and giggled. 

Miro waited for the squeals and giggles to die down and cleared . "The guest rooms, where you will be staying, are located on the third floor of the Palace. The fourth floor is where the Royal Family resides and it is off-limits at all times. Anyone caught on the fourth floor without prior authorization will be taken out of the Selection." Miro paused as if to make a dramatic emphasis. 

"Please follow your maids to your rooms for a clean-up and makeovers." Miro motioned the women standing to the side of the room and the women went to their assigned Selected. 

3 girls, all of the similar height and build, approached me and smiled. I tried to smile back but I couldn't help but feel awkward that I had maids. I was from class E and class E members didn't have maids. 

I follow my maids up to my room, which turned out to be bigger than my entire house. It didn't occur to me that someone would need this much space to shower and. 

As soon as we entered the room, my maids stripped me of my clothes and sat me down on a chair in the bathroom. One of them started to wax literally every single piece of hair on my body while another girl began to clean my feet and my nails. As if there weren't enough things happening at once, the last maid brushed my hair and started to cut it. I was too overwhelmed to speak and so I stayed silent the entire time, letting the girls do what they needed to do because they looked very concentrated. 

******************

After my maids had done everything, they changed me into a sky blue nightgown that fell beautifully to my ankles. After they changed me into it, I ran my hands over the material, unable to believe that someone could sleep in such a soft piece of material. Grandma would have loved to work with this kind of material for her tapestries.

My maids insisted they accompany me until I fell asleep but I urged them to go and get rest. It was mainly because I felt so overwhelmed with so many people watching me all of a sudden and needed some space and time alone to process everything that had happened. They didn't leave until I practically begged them to. 

I lay on my king-sized bed that enveloped my achy body. My legs and arms were spread wide and I tried to take deep breaths. The room I lay in was so big and spacious, yet I felt so trapped. I tried to comfort myself by reminding myself that other girls out there are dying to be in my place. 

Suddenly I felt as if the walls and ceilings were closing in on me. I found it harder to breathe and I sat up, using the edge of the bed as support but I still couldn't catch my breath. I ran to the balcony and flung opened the doors. I practically threw myself on the floor of my balcony and forced myself to breathe in the fresh air. After a couple of moments I had calmed down and I stood up, using the balcony rails. I rested my elbows on top of the rails and looked at the sky. It was beautiful; black with speckles of stars spread throughout. I wished to be one of the stars up there, free and beautiful. 

I started to wonder if I should have withdrawn from the competition. Was it worth sacrificing a normal life? Was the money worth throwing my opinions away and putting on a mask? 

I slapped myself on the cheeks to get a hold of myself. "Get it together, Soorin. You are already here!" I half yelled at myself. 

I needed to convince myself that I was here for a good reason. For my family. For Grandma. For Daehwi. For mom. 

I needed to persuade myself that I was good enough to be here, even though I am from class E. 

"You are here for a reason! You are worth it, Soorin!!" I pumped myself up and shook my fists in the air. 

A burst of laughter escaped out of my mouth as I realized how ridiculous I was being. 

But I stopped laughing when I heard another laughter from below me. I looked down but all I saw was a garden with endless flowers with a fountain in the middle. I squinted my eyes as if that would help me look better.

The laughter came again and I looked down at a figure sitting on a bench. It was dark out but I could still make the figure out to be a man. He was dressed in a dress shirt that was ed at the top with his tie loose, suit pants and dress shoes. I thought it was just another person from the palace until I saw the pin on the left side of his dress shirt. The Cahan Crest. Then I saw the color of the gem that was embedded on the crest. A purple gem. 

The King of Cahan wears the Cahan Crest with a red gem, and the Queen wears the Cahan Crest with a blue gem. The Prince of Cahan wears the Cahan Crest with a purple gem, a mix of red and blue.

My heart sank. I had just made a fool of myself in front of the Prince of Cahan. Prince Woojin, the person that brought me to the Palace.