Incheon International Airport

Roséanne Park Chaeyoung walks lightly towards the exit gate. She drags her suitcase with anxious, yet excited feeling. Her plump cheeks blush and her blond hair waves as the wind blows.

“Slow down, Rosie,” her father says in English. He is smiling because of her enthusiasm.

“How could I, Dad?” Rosé giggles while spinning her body around. Her hair waves again. “It’s been years since the last time we came to Korea!”

“Well, I hope you wouldn’t get bored here, because this time you’ll be staying for long.”

“No way! I like staying here as much as I like Melbourne.”

“I know.”

“Rosé wouldn’t be bored. She already knew that Korean foods are good enough to make her happy here,” her mom adds while laughing.

Rosé widens her eyes, insulted. “Moooom! Do you think I’m here for foods?” she protests.

“You are here for the foods, Rosie,” her mom teases her again, knowing too well that her daughter is a foodies. Rosé just pouts.

Rosé tells the truth, though. She likes South Korea as much as her hometown in Australia. But there’s one more reason why she wouldn’t even bother about staying here, a land that she isn’t even familiar with. She comes to her parents’ homeland for one purpose: pursuing the career of professional musician.

She’s going to enroll to Minguk Music Academy. The most famous music school in South Korea. The birthplace of many great musicians she adores. The place that would be her stepping stone to achieve her dream.

That’s why, no matter happens, she would make South Korea her next home, too.

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Roséanne Park Chaeyoung, 18 years old. Born in New Zealand, raised in Melbourne. Not even that good with Korean language.

But she prepares to dream big.

Rosé always loves music, especially singing and playing guitar. Since she was still young she was already annoying her family by singing loudly non stop. Mr. Park, out of love and annoyance, one day showed Rosé the website of Minguk Music Academy, knowing that her daughter might be like it. And she did.

And here are his family, already in South Korea, ready to take her off to enroll to Minguk Academy. He drives her daughter to the school with heavy feeling in his chest. It’s the first time for Rosé to live far away from her family, by herself.

“Rosé, you are really going to be alright, right?” Mrs. Park is still worried.

 Rosé caresses her mom’s hands. She smiles sweetly. “I am, Mom. Don’t worry.”

“She will be alright. It’s not like she completely lives alone. She will stay in the school dorm, remember?” Mr. Park says.

Mrs. Park smiles a little. “As if you aren’t worried. Your voice is shaking.”

Mr. Park coughs awkwardly.

“Dad, Mom. I promise you, I would not make any problem, I’ll stay healthy and I will graduate with good grades. I know you like good grades, you’re Asian parents after all,” Rosé tries to lighten the mood by making a bad joke in English.

“Wow, that’s a bit racist,” his father chuckles. “But I do like good grades.”

“See?”

“What about ‘being a professional musician’, dear?” Mrs. Park caresses Rosé’s hair.

Rosé puts her head on her mother’s shoulder. “That would be the promise to myself.”

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Minguk Music Academy

Byun Baekhyun is busy working with so many papers on his desk.

It’s still in the new school year holiday break, but he is already trapped in the Student Council’s office. He must prepare for the New Student Orientation on the next two weeks. As the President of Student Council, there’s so many things he should take care of. Including the new students who would stay at the school dorm.

Minguk is a super prestigious school. It’s really hard to pass the examination, you have to be really talented or well-trained. The number of students who could enroll is limited to only 250 every year, and many of them come from outside Seoul. Some even comes from abroad.

The students from outside the town usually stay with their relatives or rent a place in Seoul. But for those who don’t have relatives or couldn’t pay for the rent, Minguk provides dormitory service. The dorm is next to the school building, and the cost is way lower than renting a place.

Baekhyun himself stay at dorm. But not because he has no relative or he couldn’t pay for a rent, though.

“Come in, please,” Baekhyun answers because someone is knocking the office’s door.

“Good afternoon, Byun Baekhyun-ssi,” a middle-aged man enters the room.

“Ah, Mr. Han! Good afternoon,” Baekhyun quickly stands up and bows, knowing that it’s Han Joon, the Dean of the Faculty of Contemporary Music.

“I heard from the teachers that you already comes to school since last week.”

“Yes.”

“Shouldn’t you be still in holiday break? You’ve been preparing for the orientation since a month ago.”

“I did take a break, but just for one week. I couldn’t stand still knowing that the orientation is coming,” Baekhyun smiles a bit.

“Did you come home?”

“ I did.”

“Just for one week? Mr. Byun Donghoon must be sad.”

Baekhyun grits his teeth and squeezes his fists when Mr. Han mentions his father’s name.

He doesn’t like it. Baekhyun hates when people brings his father’s name in conversation.

“My father-he did say that I should stay longer, but he understood when I told him I have to take care of the new students orientation,” he says while swallowing his sudden anger.

“Is that so. I’m relieved. Please send my regard to him.”

“I will.”

Mr. Han takes a look to the papers on Baekhyun’s desk. “Isn’t this the document of the new students who would stay at the dorm?”

“Yes, Sir. A new student would come here this afternoon and I will personally send her to the dorm.”

“Personally? That’s rare,” Mr. Han raises one eyebrow.

“She comes from abroad, Sir. I heard her Korean isn’t very good and she has difficulties in reading Hangul.”

“Interesting. The number of foreigner students in our school is increasing. And that’s a good thing.”

“Well, I couldn’t say that she’s really a foreigner, Sir. Her parents are Korean immigrants who live in Australia.”

“A Korean who has been living far away from the land, not even capable of speaking or reading our language, huh. Then you indeed should help her adapting here.”

“I’ll do what I can.”

“What's her name?”

“Park Chaeyoung. Roséanne Park Chaeyoung.”

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