PROLOGUE

MAY 1ST, 2021 ⊹ SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
After eight months of waiting, all nine winners of the Jarang Project had finally arrived at SM Entertainment. By the time May came around, the girls had been normal SM trainees but with stricter time schedules. The company planned to debut them no later than July, and wanted to give them a chance to scope out the details of training before preparing for their debut. Finally, it was time for preparation.

Truthfully, the company never was on board with the Jarang Project, but it was one of the last things Lee Sooman did as the CEO of SM Entertainment so the staff just kept going with it, Lee Sooman knows best after all. And besides, by the time the winners were announced, the company had already greenlit the go for another girl group, aespa. Despite that girl group debuting in November, SM still went ahead with this group, as the fans of SM had been waiting almost six years for a new girl group, so why not kill one bird with two stones instead?

In about two months, the nine girls would debut and promote as a group for the next three years. Today would be their first full day with just the nine of them to get themselves situated. Some of the staff were late, so the girls had some time in a separate training room so they could get comfortable with one another. However, the girls were far from comfortable with each other.

From different nationalities, ages, languages, and personalities, the girls didn't even know where to start their newly formed friendship for the next three years. It was the designated leader, Daon, to take the first step.

"Should we, um, introduce ourselves?" Daon asked the group, glancing at the staff to see if it was the right thing to do. The group naturally formed a circle in the middle of the room and sat down. "I'll start. Hi, I'm Lee Daon, and I will be this group's leader!"

"Oh, uh, hi. I'm Miranda Beckett." Miranda introduced herself awkwardly, caught off guard as she was after Daon.

"Hi, I'm Buntharik Narueban, but you can just call me Bonnie!" Bonnie greeted everyone with a smile.

"Hello, I'm Lee Chaerin!" Chaerin simply introduced herself.

"Hi, I'm Jeon Maya!" Maya also simply introduced herself.

"Hey I'm Dhanatorn Wattanasuntharakul, also known as Tubtim!" Tubtim said, slightly waving.

"Hello, I'm Hirano Mirai from Japan!" Mirai cheerfully introduced herself.

"Hello, my name is Crystal Wong and I come from Singapore!" Crystal said, also waving.

"Hi, I'm Cheon Saya, it's nice to be here!" Saya greeted, being the last member to introduce herself.

Since introducing one another, there were a few moments of very awkward silence, not knowing how to carry on what's left of the conversation. The girls found themselves looking at a couple of the staff members for help, in which they couldn't do anything until the last person came. Luckily, the right staff member came just in time to save the day.

"Okay, okay, sorry for the long wait. But I'm Ryu Kyunghee, and a creative director here at SM." Ryu Kyunghee said with a note of relief that she was finally here. "I'm sure you guys got yourselves situated here, so let's get right into it! Today, you guys will be debriefed on what's to come in two months and how your schedules would be for the next handful of weeks. Plus, you girls would be receiving your stage names, and group name, along with officially moving into your dorms. That sounds good, yeah?" Kyunghee practically spattered out in all of one breath, leaving the foreign members dumbfounded by the end of her little speech. The confusion was short lived after getting translators for the foreigners: Thai for Tubtim and Bonnie, English for Miranda and Crystal, and Japanese for Mirai. After the foreigners got the message, Kyunghee continued.

"So, first and foremost, the date of your debut is in about two months; July 9th, to be exact. From here on then, you will only live in your dorms and this very practice room, alright? No more slacking off." Kyunghee stated in a serious change of tone. "Tomorrow, you guys will start preparing for your debut song and album, day and night. But, first order of business: stage names.”

The girls finally had their stage names: Kang Suryang (Tubtim), Riel (Daon), Angel (Saya), Maya, Chaerin, Mandy (Miranda), Mia (Mirai), Bonnie, and Seoljung (Crystal).

Shortly after getting the stage names, the girls were given a tablet where they were shown a demo version of their debut song, 'FUN!' along with the demo of the choreography. The song was different from the typical SM sound nowadays, so the members who were more familiar with K-POP were visibly concerned from the first watch with how this would bode well with the public. But deep down, the members had nothing to worry about. It's SM, after all.

The girls had to sit through a way too extensive and long details of their debut preparation, from week to week, day to day, hour to hour, and what felt like second to second.

"Alright, that should be it for now, yes?” Kyunghee assumed, heading towards the door. “If you have any questions, just let me know. See you tomorr—“ Kyunghee finished only to spot a hand go up from one one the girls. “Yes, Chaerin?”

"Yeah, um, you said something about the group name and that we were going to receive it today?" Chaerin questioned, lowering her hand.

"Crap." The director mumbled, completely forgetting the most important part of the day. Kyunghee begrudgingly walked back to the girls to answer Chaerin's ever so important question.

“So, I don't think it's necessary to introduce Girls Generation, right? Well, long story short, Lee Sooman actually wanted to create Girls Generation version two for the new fans, and he wanted to do it through you guys, the winners of the Jarang Project. And thus, your group will be..." Kyunghee paused for quite some time, building up the anticipation that she saw in the nine girls' faces. She took a deep breath and said their group name.

"Girls Zone!"

JAC SAYS Hi hi hi, here is the prologue! This was originally going to be paired with Tubtim’s drabble but I ended up not finishing in time so here it is, just a little under a month later.
I didn't know where exactly to say this, so I'll just say it here: I would really appreciate some feedback on my writing, I constantly get hung up on my style of writing and am looking for ways to improve it. Also, I ended up going back to the simple color coded language, and that will be revealed soon when the first chapter comes. So, that's that I guess.
One more thing: would you guys like one of those relationship blog thingys so I could get a better idea of the girls and their bonds, or would you prefer putting the members in your apps? I would be down for both.
Anyways, please wait for chapter one because knowing me it'll take quite some time, but I'll have a miscellaneous story put soon so you guys can get some more Girls Zone content.
Nothing really more to say other than goodbye!