October 30th. 2017

"You know you're actually insane for agreeing to do this, right?"

Jung Hyein.

One of the youngest managers currently in the industry, though the only way you could know that is by looking at her drivers license. Her maturity, work ethic, and stone cold appearance is identical to anything but that of a woman in her mid-twenties. She had been a trainee herself, and even made it to the final lineup for a now very well-known girl group. She unfortunately had to drop out and give her dream up all together due to a knee injury sustained during dance. Now she works behind the scenes, as the manager for Irene Jang, which Hyein quickly learned is both a blessing and a curse.

The cursed part being moments like these, where Irene agrees to cram one more project into an already jam-packed schedule.

Said girl simply hummed in response, eyes never leaving the glowing screen of her phone. "You've called me that before."

Hyein stared at her with disbelief. While today hadn't been too brutal - Irene had a photoshoot from 7 am to 9 am, followed by a variety show filming from 10 am to 4 pm, then lastly a meeting with company executives to discuss her upcoming comeback which went on for about an hour, before they were able to return to their flat at quarter till 8 - she knew this wouldn't be the case very soon. It never was.

"You're releasing an album next month, which means you're probably going to be living in the studio for more than half the week. On top of that you have weekly variety show commitments, interviews, music videos to film, photoshoots, concerts, dance practice, and now you're producing a boy group for JYP?!"

"I'm not producing them." Irene corrected. "I'm going to be judging them, and it's only for a month."

"So you'll be done when your new album is supposed to be relea-"

"I already have four songs recorded, edited, and ready to go." Irene interrupted, reaching into the side pocket of her jeans and pulling out a small hard drive, tossing it to Hyein who nearly didn't catch it. "That's a big chunk of an album, don't you think?".

Silence enveloped the living room they were situated in. Irene looked up from her phone to see her manager staring back at her, brows furrowed and lips parted.

"How did you have time to record and produce four songs?"

Irene scoffed.

"Oh please, don't you know who I am?"

 

-NEXT DAY-

"It's a reality show also???"

"You know for someone who's also my manager, you're very out of the loop."

Hyein smacked her arm in response. "It's very difficult to stay in the loop when you keep changing its damn direction."

They pushed past the doors of the large corporate tower and were greeted by a receptionist working the front desk. She bowed politely and lead the duo to the elevator, offering to take the ride with them, which Irene and Hyein graciously accepted.

"Yeah she gets lost trying to find the fridge at night, so a guide is much appreciated."

Another smack for that one.

The lift to the seventh floor was silent. This secretary was quite shy, keeping her eyes glued to the floor and anything around it that wasn't living, though Hyein smirked when she caught the young girl stealing glances at an oblivious Irene through the mirrored walls. When they stepped out of the elevator, the secretary lead them down a long well-lit corridor and stopped in front of a large brown door with frosted glass. She knocked three times to announce her presence before turning the handle and pushing in.

"Ah, welcome! I've been expecting you."

Irene bowed politely. "Nice to meet you, Jin-young sunbae."

After making introductions, the three parties sat down, and the receptionist excused herself back downstairs, fumbling with the doorknob for a few extra seconds before it finally opened. Jin-young chuckled.

"Dohee is a big fan of yours, Irene. I bet if you sent her a signed album she'd frame it in gold."

"I'll remember that for next time." Hyein replied, pulling out her phone to jot down a reminder.

"And please Irene, call me oppa. I have a feeling we'll become very close these next few weeks." 

Irene tried her hardest not to cringe at his emphasis on the word 'very', knowing the chances of them ever becoming anything more than co-workers was slim. 

"I'll make an attempt.", she didn't mean it.

"Deal." Jin-young clicked his tongue and winked in response to the compromise. If he saw the eye roll Irene gave him, he didn't comment on it.

Irene crossed her left thigh over her right one, leaning back in the chair slightly. Though most juniors to Park Jin-young would probably be scared less speaking to him in such close proximity, Irene was comfortable. Sure, he was one of the biggest names in the Asian music business, but she didn't see him as particularly intimidating. He was surprisingly tall, but that was about it. His face was awkwardly square, exactly the shape of a cardboard box, with his hair styled up and way too far to the left, which Irene deduced was an attempt to make him look much younger and hip than he actually was. His face was friendly, though Irene knew better than to trust anyone in this industry just by their face.

"So, have you seen the show so far?"

Irene scoffed. "I'm a little insulted you think I have that kind of freetime in my schedule, sunbae."

"Irene!" Hyein hissed, completely mortified by Irene's response.

"What? I was just being honest."

"It's completely fine, Hyein-sshi! Don't worry about it." Jin-young dismissed her embarrassment with a wave of his hand. "And no, I'm not the least bit surprised you haven't had time to watch our reality show Irene. It seems like no matter what it is I turn on - TV, radio, my phone - you're always doing something!"

"I like to stay busy, what can I say?"

Jin-young smiled at the girl. "That's a good quality to have. Staying busy without distractions, I mean. It's one of the main reasons I requested you mentor my upcoming group."

Irene leaned forward in her seat, elbow on thigh and left cheek rested in the palm of her hand, getting back to the whole purpose of this early morning meeting.

"So tell me about the trainees. Boy group, correct?" she asked, reverting back to business talk.

"Correct." Jin-young's smile quickly left his face as he too went full business-mode. He opened the laptop on his desk and clicked around for a bit before pulling up a file labeled 'SKZ.2017'.

"The group is to be called Stray Kids, or SKZ as an abbreviation." Jin-young clicked on a photo and turned his laptop to an angle where all three parties in the room could see its contents. Once the photo loaded, Irene saw it was a promotional poster of sorts. Eight boys with varying hair colors all dressed in mostly dark clothes against a wine red background, with the name 'STRAY KIDS' spelled about above them in a contrasting, white elaborate font. "They range between the ages of sixteen and twenty, with trainee periods varying from seven years to six months."

Irene furrowed her brows. 'Only six months of training and already put in a debut lineup?' she asked mentally. When she was six months into her training there was no way she was ready to debut. Hell, she didn't even speak passable Korean till her second year.

"Keep going." Irene instructed, now even more intrigued by Jin-young's group.

He clicked in the botton right-hand corner of his laptop and the picture went from a group pictorial to an individual photo of one of the members.

"This is Bang Chan." Jin-young introduced the first trainee through the screen. "He's the oldest member and has trained here the longest, seven years to be exact, therefore I'm granting him the leader position."

Irene nodded. The trainee known as Chan had silver, toussled hair in the photo, which encouraged the natural wave patterns to show through. His gaze into camera was intense, though something stood out to Irene a bit more-

"Does he produce?" Irene asked, glancing up at Jin-young, "Music, I mean."

Said man took his eyes off the monitor and looked back at Irene, a surprised look on his face. "As a matter of fact he does. How did you know?"

"His posture is terrible." Irene deadpanned, immediately taking one of her slender fingers and pointing at the trainee's neck. "Look at how hunched his neck is! That's what happens when you're not taught the importants of ergonomics and you sit at a soundboard all day, every day."

"Well, I guess you'll have to teach him proper posture, huh?" Hyein wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, receiving an arm smack from Irene.

"Annoying..." Irene muttered before turning her attention back to Jin-young, who had watched the exchange with a questionable look on his face. "Anyways, moving on?".

"Yes." Jin-young turned his attention back to the monitor and clicked to reveal a new face.

"Lee Minho, though if he does debut we will be giving him a stage name." 

"Understandable." Irene nodded in agreement. Not only was Minho a very common name, but there was already a world famous Lee Minho in the entertainment industry. He wouldn't stand out at all with his birth name. "Tell me about him."

"A former backup dancer for BTS. He's only been training for about a year, though he shows potential."

Even though he wasn't looking directly at the camera, Irene could tell that Minho was handsome. He had warm chocolate brown hair, with his fringe parted just enough to see a sliver of forehead. The lighting illuminated his lightly tanned complexion, giving him a healthy glow. His ears were pierced with small black gages (which Irene would never admit she found extremely hot), and he wore an oversized black distressed sweater.

"He looks like he's about to fight whoever he's staring at." Hyein noted, humoring the room. She wasn't wrong; he was intensely glaring at something, or someone, out of frame.

'I wonder what he's thinking about?'

"How are his vocals?" Irene queried, getting straight back to business.

Jin-young sighed, "Could be better.", then turned to face her, "Maybe you could teach him a thing or two."

Irene sighed in disappointment, not one for hiding her displeasure in things. Nothing annoyed her more than idols who couldn't sing or rap, and she was only going to be with them for a month. If his singing was subpar, one month of work wouldn't fix much.

"Next."

Jin-young clicked, revealing the third trainee.

"Seo Changbin. Rapper.", though that last part didn't need to be said - Irene could've guessed that from a mile away.

The vibe he gave off compared to the other two was much darker. Even though Minho looked tense in his photoshoot, the wicked glint in Changbin's eyes looked natural, as if that was simply how he looked at people on the daily. It intrigued Irene.

"I like this one." she smirked. "His whole aura is different from the others. Does he have skills to back up that charisma?"

Jin-young nodded. "One of the best rappers to ever step foot in this building." 

Irene nodded, putting a pin in her interest. "Next."

Jin-young clicked, revealing the next trainee.

"Hwang Hyunjin."

"He looks twelve." Hyein piped up almost immediately, leaning in to get a closer look at the picture. "Are you sure he's not actually twelve? Trainees lie about their ages frequently."

Irene side-eyed her manager. The trainee shown, Hyunjin, was clearly not twelve. He was at the very least sixteen, his monolidded eyes looking straight into the camera and his plush lips forming a pout. In a way, he reminded Irene of a cat.

"I can assure you Hyein-sshi, he is actually seventeen." Jin-young replied.

"Talent-wise, what is he good at?" Irene re-directed the conversation, not really caring about much else regarding the trainee.

"Like Minho, his specialty is dance." Jin-young replied, not even the least bit surprised by the eye-roll from Irene he could only assume was directed at him.

"While I love that he can dance," Irene started, getting annoyed with the seeming lack of a main vocalist, "idols sing - and that's not something you can teach in a few weeks."

Jin-young nodded, though he still held a smile on his face and even managed a nervous chuckle. "You certainly aren't much different from how you act on TV.".

Irene shrugged, expression flat but confident. "I'm an honest person. Sue me." she ended with a smirk, ignoring the incredulous glare Hyein was throwing her direction.

"Next."

Jin-young clicked, moving onto the fifth trainee.

"Han Jisung. Ace."

"Ace?" Hyein questioned.

"He's well-rounded." Jin-young clarified. "He's a rapper with good vocals, and a good dancer. Our ace."

'Glad to see you put the smallest amount of thought into your group-' Irene nearly bit her tongue off to keep that sentence from spilling out of her lips. Despite her arrogance, she (for the most part) knew limits and when not to exceed them. 

"I'm... excited to see what he has to offer." Irene inwardly cringed as the sentence left ; it even tasted awkward. Luckily Jin-young seemed to buy it, smiling and nodding along before moving onto the next trainee.

"Lee Felix."

"Wahhhh he's pretty."

Irene shot Hyein a questionable look.

"What? I'm allowed to say that." Hyein defended her comment.

Irene sighed, rolling her eyes at that. Jin-young chuckled, this time much less nervous.

"Don't worry Hyein-sshi, most female viewers of the show so far agree with you. He's been one of our most talked-about trainees since our first episode aired earlier this month."

'He's literally a child.' Irene thought, an uninterested sigh escaping her lips.

"I'm assuming he's not the main vocalist. Are we getting to that sometime today?".

"Indeed we are!" Jin-young smiled all the way to his eyes as he clicked, revealing the next trainee. "Kim Seungmin. Our main vocalist."

"Finally." Irene muttered, though kept it just loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. "How long has he been a trainee?".

"One year."

"If you're putting him in a group after only a year of training, my expectations are high."

Jin-young chuckled, his eyes meeting Irene's in a smile. 'Jesus, does this man even know how to frown?' Irene thought to herself. "I don't think my selections will disappoint you, Irene-sshi."

"Glad to hear you're confident." Irene smirked, though this one held amusement. "One more?".

"Indeed." Jin-young clicked, revealing the final newcomer. "Yang Jeongin. Our maknae, and another vocalist."

"I see you saved the best few for last." Irene commented, not entirely sarcastically.

Jeongin was, clear as day, the youngest of the trainees. The only sharp feature of the boy being his upturned eyes, resembling those of a fox. Other than that, he was very soft looking. Jet black hair cascading over his forehead messily and a round face with full cheeks, the stress of idol life not having taken its toll on his youthful glow yet. 

"So, what exactly is my job here, sunbae?" Irene asked. "We never fully clarified over email."

"Ah yes." Jinyoung nodded, closing his laptop. "You see, while I am fully capable of producing, mentoring, and ultimately debuting a successful idol group, everyone knows that."

Irene only hummed in response, not in the least bit surprised by the man's cockiness.

"We needed someone new, yet experienced. Someone who hasn't worked with a 'big three' company, but is still well known, with a reputation to uphold."

"And so that led to me sitting here today?" Irene raised an eyebrow.

"Bingo." Jin-young said in English with a thumbs up.

"We've aired three episodes so far, one every week. Next week the boys will be having evaluations, and I want you to be a guest judge for that. Give honest critiques, and be your intimidating self. Viewers will eat it up."

Irene nodded, while Hyein's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I thought this was going to be a multi-shoot gig? Around a month is what I was told."

"In the end, it will all depend on viewer response." Jin-young replied seriously for once. "Though I am fairly confident Irene will be received well by our audiences. You're great on variety shows, so why would this be any different?", he explained his logic.

"But what would I be doing for the remainder of the episodes if I'm not a judge?"

"You've mentored groups before-"

"One group." Irene corrected.

"What did you do with them outside of evaluations?"

Irene sighed. "Gave advice, talked about my experience in the music industry... stuff like that."

"Then you'll do exactly that with Stray Kids!"

Irene nodded in response, looking over at Hyein who gave her a questioning look.

"I think I should do it." Irene told her manager.

Hyein sighed. Having known Irene for years, she knew there was no talking the girl out of this. Once she had her sights set on a new project, she would let nothing get in her way of it, music-related or not.

"I won't stop you." Hyein said. 'But I want to.', Hyein thought.

Irene smirked, turning back to face Jin-young.

"When do we start filming?"

At that response, Jin-young's eyes lit up like a child on Christmas morning.

"Every Friday starting at 7:30 in the morning. That being said, you should arrive at-"

"Six sharp for makeup is what I'm assuming you're going to say." Irene cut him off.

"As well as a quick tour of where you'll be working with the boys, but yes!"

The trio sat in Jin-young's office for a few more minutes, discussing scheduling and making sure Hyein had everything up to date, before they said goodbye and departed from the plush office.

Once in the elevator, Irene let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"He's definitely a character." Hyein chuckled.

"Seriously." Irene agreed. 'This is going to be an interesting month.'

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A/N: Hiiiiii there. First chapter done! Next chapter we officially meet Stray Kids. Let me know what you think in the comments down below :D