“Nichkhun! You coming?” The 19-year-old Thai young man lifted his head from the game console and looked over at the entrance of his dorm room. A tall guy with a muscular frame stood there in a very bizarre set of clothing, expecting an answer from him. Ugh, he really is a fashion terrorist… Nichkhun thought as he gave a pitiful look at Taecyeon, his best friend. “Is it starting now?” He placed away his Gameboy and stood up. It was the day. Yeah, the day they were practicing so hard for all this time. Well, actually it’s the next day, but now it’s the day for them to do a final rehearsal for their ever awaited showcase. If they have performed well enough, they will be shortlisted to continue training as a group that will surely debut in the recent future. Coincidentally, it also happened to be the first day of the final round of JYPe's first-ever open audition. It always surprised him how many Koreans were participating in auditions every year, being the only foreigner as well the only trainee who got scouted instead of willingly auditioning, Nichkhun tried to blend in and work hard at least for his parents' sake.

Even though he had been a trainee at JYPe for around one and a half years now, he often wondered if this is what he really wanted to do in his life. At least he’s doing something rather than when he was in the US, doing nothing like a loose kite roaming around without any aim for the future. “Ok, let’s get this done.” He grabbed a cap as he joined his best friend to go for the final round of practices. “You know, I heard there were about 5000 kids auditioned this time. Woah, open auditions are no joke huh” Taecyeon stated as he walked down the corridor which lay in between the dorm rooms towards the open practice area. Nichkhun remembered how he was promoting the audition a few months ago at the request of JYP. “So how many were selected for the final round?”

“Dunno. Probably around 15. I saw some of them hang around at the company.”

“Junsu yah! Let’s go.” Nichkhun shouted to his other best friend, stopping only for a few seconds to peek inside his dorm room. He was totally lost when he came to Korea at first. Without any knowledge of the entertainment industry or the language. So the number of friends he can actually have was very limited. Luckily there were two guys who could actually speak English well and around the same age to his relief.

“Coming!” Junsu came running from behind and jumped in between the two tall guys, grabbing each of their shoulders. Nichkhun smiled. Junsu was there the longest. It’s maybe around 3 years at JYP as a trainee and he was very uncertain of his debut the most. Tomorrow is probably the most important day of his life. “Guys, the winner will join us, right? Haa I wonder how he’s gonna be.” Junsu retorted. “Well, it’s possible the first place goes to a girl, in which case they won’t join us.” Taecyeon, the intellectual said in a matter of fact tone. “Even if they win the audition, they won’t probably debut anytime soon right, if they’re not up to JYP’s standard. He has to train here to know what it’s like.” Nichkhun felt the uncertainty from the older teen. “It’s getting late guys, let’s hurry up.” He said and started climbing down the stairs which led to the practice area of the dorms. He saw the other trainees from the other dorm were already there. He let out a sigh.

Ok. Let’s do this…

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