CHAPTER ONE

DECEMBER 8TH, 2019
"This new girl group is founded by pitiness and nepotism." An unidentified trainee said to another unspecified trainee. "They're never going to last."

"Eh, at least have some faith." The other trainee responded. "It's… an interesting lineup nonetheless."

"I wholeheartedly agree with Miss Son, Miss Jang." A familiar voice emphasized. "At least have some faith in the girls... in me."

The two female trainees practically froze in place once they heard that voice.

"Of course, you're allowed to have your own opinion and voice in this company, but please, try to keep these ones to yourself." Milyeon suggested the girls, specifically to Miss Jang. "Now if you'll excuse me, I better get going to go see the girl group full of pitiness and nepotism."

"Yes, so sorry!" The Jang girl apologized to the CEO. Son giggled at her friends reaction, causing Jang to lightly slap her arm in embarrassment as Milyeon headed to the meeting room.

It had only been a couple of days since the company formally announced the new girl group and its future members within the company. However, of course, some people were not thrilled about the news.

One by one, all eight trainees of the future girl group entered the small meeting room where they will be debriefed on what's to come in the next couple of months. The plan was to promote as a predebut group for a couple months before officially debuting early next year.

At last, Milyeon was the last person to arrive at the meeting. She had no idea how to approach the situation, running what she wanted to say hours and even days beforehand. Introduce herself, go over what's to happen with the next couple of months, what's next?

The atmosphere changed once Milyeon walked into the room and quietly sat at the head of the table. She immediately noticed that the girls were not that comfortable with each other just yet. The girls were somewhat familiar with each other, whether that be because they were well known to the public or just sort of known within the company.

The CEO cleared , rummaging through papers in front of her. She took a small sip of water, beginning to speak to the other people in the room. "So, first and foremost, congratulations on your future debut, girls!" She paused, allowing the room to be filled with claps. "However, there is still a long way to go before you guys can officially debut. We have plans for the group to debut in February, but don't worry, you guys will be able to promote yourselves beforehand as a predebut group, MIK Girlz."

Milyeon spent the next thirty minutes talking about MIK Girlz, and also introduced Jung Bora, the project's creative director and the CEO's right hand woman. It was Bora's idea to create a girl group that focused on being unconventional from the other groups out there, and helped pick out the members that would most suit the concept.

"The next couple of months will be jam packed with schedules, so please be prepared for that." Bora said, handing a schedule to the group. "It shouldn't be that bad, though." The director continued on her ramblings, as Savannah deemed it, not being able to focus on Bora words, mainly because she was using words in Korean that Savannah couldn't understand.

What Savannah did understand, however, was Milyeon letting the girls go on a break from the meeting to have the members properly meet each other, as some members had just joined the company.

While all of the other members were conversing and properly meeting each other, there was one member who stayed quiet and observed them from afar. That person was none other than Ahn Sohee.

Since Sohee just joined the company a couple weeks prior, she didn't have any time to get to know her fellow trainees or future group mates. She couldn't even name the seven members if she tried to. She didn't know where to start to try to get to know them.

Sohee soon spotted Chieko, another member who was also seemingly distant from most of the members. Despite not being that extroverted compared to the other members, Sohee took it upon herself to introduce herself to Chieko, mainly because she spent majority of her life in Japan, so she could converse with Chieko well.

"_JHi. I'm Ahn Sohee._J" Sohee introduced herself to the slightly older girl.

"_JAh, I'm Chieko… do you speak Japanese?_J" Chieko responded back in Japanese, kind of surprised that Sohee spoke it in the first place.

Sohee nodded. "_JYes! I lived there for a little over a decade._J"

"_JIn that case, I hope we can get along well and become friends._J"

Sohee pulled her lips into a tight smile before responding. She didn't want to get Chieko's hopes up, as Sohee herself is not that comfortable making friends with people she just met. "_JYeah, sure._J"

Another member had the same problem as Sohee, just in a vastly different way. Bieun had already experienced debuting before, but since her former group's disbandment she wasn't sure if she wanted to continue with music. And now that she decided to actually continue with being an idol, Bieun had to go back to square one.

However, it was still an adjustment for her as she went from being the youngest member to being the oldest member, with her and Savannah being almost a decade apart in age. And even there's a slight between Bieun and the second oldest, Yeonhui; about three years.

Yuji was the first person to notice the eldest distance from the others. She was recently appointed as the team leader by Milyeon, which she was honestly afraid of. But it sort of makes sense; Yuji being a mother to a young girl, Chu Mirae, she has a natural motherly spirit to those around her. So, Yuji decided to approach Bieun, who needed that.

"Yuji." The younger girl introduced herself to Bieun.

"…What?"

Yuji took a step closer to her, extending her hand out. "I'm Yuji, Chu Yuji. You're Lee Bieun, right?" Yuji asked with a smile.

Bieun accepted Yuji's handshake and smiled back. "Yes, I'm Bieun, the one and only!" She daringly replied. "You're the team leader, right? Because honestly, I was scared it was going to be me." Bieun admitted.

Yuji was kind of surprised by Bieun's confession, as she thought that Bieun would be a good fit due to her past idol experience. "Well, I'm sure you would have been a great leader!" Yuji replied.

The eldest let out a soft laugh. "I wouldn't bet on it. If I was the team leader, the dorms would have been on fire by now."

Speaking of the dorms, the staff decided that it was enough mingling in the company for now, letting the girls finally see where they would be living for the unseeable future.

DECEMBER 9TH, 2019
The following day, the members got to properly see to their new living arrangements for the time being. It was a two story small house near the company, with four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Nothing major, but also not the worst dorm to live in, especially for pre-debut idols like MIK Girlz. Roommates were selected by the four oldest members a few days prior, each one randomly picking one of the four younger members to be their roommate. Bieun picked Hayan, Yeonhui picked Sohee, Ai picked Savannah, and Yuji automatically chose Chieko.

While Sohee was settling in quite nicely in her new room, she spotted her roommate, Yeonhui carrying luggage with what seemed like a whole house into their shared room.

"Is… is that a dog crate?" Sohee questioned, glancing over at Yeonhui's belongings.

"Oh, yes, it is." Yeonhui responded. "His name is Rudi, the dog. He's a service dog, who will be here in a couple of days. He just has to finish up his training and graduate." She continued in what seemed like one breath, setting up a little area for the dog. "But yeah, I hope you don't mind him being here, along with all my other stuff."

"No, it's fine." The younger one replied. "I don't mind."

Savannah was honestly ecstatic about having Ai as a roommate. Of course, she looked up some of her fellow members online to see what they were like. But Ai stood out to her the most due to the fact that she was a SM Rookie. Therefore, the youngest of the members waited impatiently for Ai to get to a place where they could talk about it.

Ai settled down in the room, carefully placing her collection of plushies on her bed which surprised Savannah as the tomboy didn't look like someone with a buttload of plushies. Gradually, Savannah realized that she had more in common with Ai than she first realized.

The maknae got up from her bed and went to Ai's dresser, where a cage and her hedgehog lived. Savannah observed the small animal for a bit before deciding to start a conversation. "What's its name?"

"Ah, her name is Tea!" Ai replied. "She was a gift from my aunt when I became a trainee."

Savannah tried to mentally translate what Ai just said to her, but she could only pick up a few words, namely in English. "Trainee…?" Savannah responded. "SM? MIK?"

"Oh, SM."

"You were a SM Rookie, right?" Savannah asked, making sure her memory served her correctly. Ai quietly nodded.

The younger girl's face lit up in amusement once she heard about Ai's former endeavors at SM. The dancer took notice of Savannah's facial expressions, knowing that she would possibly be interested in the company's artists. "Do you listen to NCT?" Ai asked.

"Yes, I do!" Savannah excitedly responded. "But I really like BTS, especially Jungkook!"

Yuji heard that loud enough through the door of the youngest's room. She froze in place as soon as she heard that name. To be fair, she heard his name thousands of times before. And every single time, her heart just drops.

"Um, unnie?" A female voice uttered behind her, causing her to jump a little. "My bedsheets?"

Yuji snapped back into reality, facing Chieko, whom she volunteered to get her bedsheets thirty minutes ago. "Oh, sorry!" Yuji exclaimed, handing Chieko the promised bedsheets. "Here you go!"

"Thanks." The younger one paused, wondering whether or not to ask the next question she had on her mind. "Can you help me with them?"

Yuji accepted the favor, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't initially confused about Chieko's odd request. However, she quickly reminded herself that Chieko grew up in an environment where she really didn't need to worry about chores or necessarily needing to work — Chieko had her staff to do it all for her. So, Yuji ultimately decided that she would help Chieko out and have her comfortably settling in this world that the princess was not used to.

Out of all the roommates, Bieun and Hayan seemed to be struggling to get through each other the most. Though Bieun knew that Hayan was hard of hearing, she still tried to make some sort of conversation, but Hayan made her feel like she was talking to a wall.

Bieun tried again, attempting to find some common ground between the two. "So, Hayan, do you have any hobbies or interests outside of singing and dancing?"

Somewhat startled by Bieun's sudden conversation starter, Hayan looked up from her phone, finally engaging with Bieun. "Uh, not really." she replied bluntly.

Bieun sighed internally, trying not to show her frustration. "Well, maybe we can find something that both of us enjoy doing together. It might help us get to know each other better."

Hayan hesitated for a moment, then nodded slightly. "Sure, I guess we can try."

As the day was nearing to its end, it was supper time, and Sohee offered to cook the meal, with Yeonhui extending a helping hand as a sous chef. The two roommates continued on their conversation about Rudi, who Yeonhui was mostly talking, but Sohee had no problem with it.

Just like the others, Ai and Savannah were also bonding over their shared interests, mostly about their favorite K-pop groups and their excitement for their own debut. Savannah felt a sense of solidarity with Ai, knowing they both had dreams of becoming successful idols.

"I hope we can debut soon and perform on the same stage as NCT and BTS one day." Savannah said with a hopeful look in her eyes.

Ai nodded, admiring the younger one's dreams. "Let's work hard together and make it happen."

"Yes, let's!" Savannah reciprocated.

Yuji and Chieko, on the other hand, were slowly navigating the challenges of living together. Yuji patiently showed Chieko how to put on the bedsheets, trying to make her feel more at ease and at home in their shared living space.

"Thanks for your help, unnie," Chieko said gratefully. "I'm not really used to doing these things all by myself."

Yuji smiled warmly. "It's okay, we're all learning and adjusting. Just let me know if you need help with anything else."

"Will do!" Chieko responded, also with a smile. Though it was meaningless to the common person, Chieko warmed up to her leader's words. It was rare for Chieko to hear these kinds of assertions, as the environment she grew accustomed to was definitely a different atmosphere than what Yuji was providing her with.

One by one, the members gathered in the main living room, waiting for the meal. Yeonhui watched them all from the kitchen as she prepared dinner for them. She couldn't help but feel a mix of excitement and anxiety about their new living situation.

It was clear that they all came from different backgrounds and had their own quirks and interests, but Yeonhui also saw the potential for them to grow closer as a group and as friends.

"Dinner is ready!" Sohee announced, placing the homemade meal on the kitchen table.

The members quickly gathered around, serving themselves dinner and sharing some chats with each other. It was a small moment, but it felt like a step in the right direction for the group. Despite the initial awkwardness and differences, there was a sense of camaraderie beginning to form among them.

As they sat together, chatting and enjoying the meal, they realized that this new chapter in their lives was not just about becoming idols, but also about learning to live and work together as a team. And as the night wore on, they all felt a little more optimistic about the journey ahead.

The night coming to a close, the members reflected on their first day living together. It was a mix of awkward moments, small victories, and growing friendships. They knew there would be challenges ahead, but they also felt a sense of unity and determination to overcome them together. It was a promising start to their journey as a group, and they were excited to see what the future held for MIK Girlz.

JAC SAYS At long last, the first chapter of Razzle Dazzle! To be honest, the second half of the chapter was a to finish but I managed to actually sit down and complete it. I know it took some time, and probably most of you are not as active, but I still wanted to finish it within the first half of this year, and to hopefully get some hype for STAR:CODE as well.
Also, the dorms! HERE is a visual reference to the dorm and its arrangements. Yeah I have no idea what else to say anymore so I'll just leave it here for now. Please let me know what you think of it, I'd really appreciate it! <3