| Minji |

Yes, she sought the attention. And could you blame her? 

Didn't everyone seek the affirmation and love of others?

For as long as she could remember, her mother doted on her and everyone around her admired her. 

At 10 years of age, she competed in the junior elite gymnastics competition across Korea and making it to Nationals 3 consecutive years in a row. Not to boast... but certain news outlets had even labeled her as the 'next Son Yeon Jae', their words not hers. 

When she turned 12, everything changed as puberty hit. The beloved girl suddenly realized with age and physical growth came a new type of attention. What was once innocent/pure adoration turned something completely fuddled. 

Boys were into her for lustful reasons, while girls began to hate and envy her.

While part of her despised the impure attention, her mother assured her that this was the process of life. Her new goal was no longer to compete and strive for herself, but to make herself as enviable as possible in the eyes of others. 

Minji dropped Rhythmic gymnastics, when at the age of 13 she was scouted by all three of the Big 3 Entertainment agencies. Receiving the infamous business cards from more than 10 different agencies. She passed their auditions with ease and was offered contracts to join as a trainee. 

Her mother leveraged her popularity among the companies to enforce a strict no-debut policy until she graduated high school. Including a near psychotic clause, that stated she would not only refuse to attend an Arts High school, but also would only attend practices from Friday night to Sunday during school as to uphold her academic standing. 

While two companies found this clause so insane, they dropped her immediately; one agreed to the contract. This company SM Entertainment. 

Just like that Minji became the it girl of her middle school. A part-time trainee and top ranked student, her name was echoed in every gathering small and large. 

Of course, this kind of popularity quickly became burdensome, as the girls who flocked around her were mostly those seeking to leech off her popularity.

However, as her popularity grew, she also learned how her power and influence did. She tried not to misuse it. Granted she did retake a couple tests because she had been, "so exhausted" from practicing.

Fast forward to now, Song Minji was now entering her first year of high school and although she was attending a new school, if she was being honest, she expected it to be pretty much the same as when she was in middle school. 

An elongated period where she would counting down the days until she was allowed to debut. 

"Unnie, tomorrow is your first day of school right?"

Still recovering from their seemingly never-ending dance class, Minji couldn't even answer her trainee friend. Air completely devoid of her palpitating lungs. 

"Yes, tomorrow..." She answered gloomily, slowly recouping some of her breath. 

"Wow, I still can't believe unnie is going to regular school, not even an Arts school." 

Hanni Pham, a Vietnamese born but Australian trainee, didn't attend an arts school either as most trainees did. The famous Hanlim and SOPA (Seoul School of Performing Arts) being the feeder schools for most trainees, because of their lax academic requirements, and extensive dance/broadcasting programs. 

"When do you start?" 

"I don't start for another week, and I can do it in my PJs because it's online." Hanni giggled. 

Despite her high English literacy from attending an International middle school, and even spending a year abroad in Canada, Minji still struggled to understand the mixed Konglish that Hanni spoke in. 

"Nice." Minji gave a thumbs up. "You're going to be in grade 3 right?" 

"No, grade 9. Although... I guess there's no grade 9 in Korea huh?" 

Nodding, she held up six fingers. 

"After grade six we go back to 1st grade in middle school and back again in high school." She explained the difference in schooling systems for the foreigner. 

"So does that mean unnie is starting high school then?" Hanni inquired, referencing their one year age difference. 

"Yes, I'm going to Chungdam High, it's actually pretty close to here." Minji revealed. 

"Oh that makes sense, will unnie be able to attend practices more then?" 

It was a fair question, and if she was being honest, that would've been her wish... but alas her mother would never allow it.

"You're attending Chungdam High?" The interruption came from Oh Kanghee, another trainee 2 years her senior. 

Of course, with any SOPA school attendee, she was never alone. Like colleges, arts school classmates always formed their own cliques even among trainee groups. Isolated from them, that was how Minji found such a kinship with the foreign trainee. 

"I heard there's a bunch of hella cute guys attending there." 

There were four of them, all standing in front of Minji and Hanni, peering down with condescending smirks. 

"You should totally introduce us to one if you get close."

"Isn't there that legendary soccer player?" 

"I think I stalked his insta he's ing cute." 

"She's just a 1st year will she really meet any of them?" 

"What are you saying, of course they'll flock to her. Doesn't everyone love giving our little Minji attention?" Kanghee spoke sarcastically, before intentionally digging her the tip of her foot into Minji's shoe. 

Unfortunately the concept of bullies didn't stop at school, even among trainees there were bullies. Most of it sprouted from jealousy, she'd be shameless if she didn't know she was favored as a trainee because of her talent. 

"Of course unnie... I'll definitely do that." She responded, noticing the threatening glare coming from her friend. 

Kanghee grinned before finally leaving as she noticed a couple of sunbae-nims entering the practice room to use it. 

"I ought to." Hanni stuck out her tongue towards the older trainees, as Minji gripped her friends arm to secure her in palce. 

"It's ok, Kanghee unnie didn't mean to do it." 

"Just because they're older doesn't mean they can be bullies." 

As much as she agreed with Hanni's statement, she didn't want her friend to also be targeted by them. While Minji only lived in the dorms for weekends, Hanni spent everyday there, and would've had to endure much more misery. 

"Are you hungry? Shall we go get something to eat before our next class?" Minji tried to change the subject. 

"How about that just opened bakery nearby?" She suggested, finally garnering an excited smile on her friend's face. 

"Mmm, a pastry sounds perfect right now." Hanni murmured wistfully. "Remember how I told Unnie, i'm really good at baking?"

"Yeah, you can tell me if its any good then. Let's go." 

 

. .

Not only did she accumulate several stares and whispers as she first entered the school. However, as soon as she was announced by the principal as being the highest scorer on the entrance exam during the entrance ceremony she was flocked by other students. 

A hoard of overconfident guys and two-faced girls; 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years all crowded to introduce themselves.

Most of these consisted of spoiled brats and bullies who gathered together to form a selective group labeled as Iljins, essentially those who ranked themselves above others for their talents, status or appearance.

Her head held high, she greeted them with perfect posture and a forced smile. Forgetting their names the second they passed through one ear. 

However, as she walked out into the school yard for PE, followed by two popular-looking girls who had approached and almost forcefully befriended her; the phrase mentioned by the trainees from the day before somehow entered her mind. 

Something about an athlete. 

Dashing through the grass, laughing as he skillfully dribbled the soccer ball past two defenders. 

She could've sworn the weather was cloudy, yet somehow a beam of light parted through the grey and shone directly on him. 

Fuxking hot. Were the two words that popped into her head. 

Sweat trickled down his face, only further emphasizing a razor sharp jawline. Paired with his  large eyes, he looked like he could've been an idol... no his emanating manliness more pointed towards actor. Jesus, he would've succeeded at either on visuals alone. 

And this was saying something from a girl privileged enough to interact with multiple of both on a weekly basis at SM. 

"That's Jeong Seungwon sunbae." A 2nd year Iljin, Kim Jiwon, practically read her mind. 

"Who?" Minji feigned indifference in a chic voice, as to uphold her reputation.

This was her first day, get a hold of yourself.  

"The guy you were ogling. It's ok, everyone does. He's so ing good-looking." Jiwon , clearly excited to see a hint of weakness in her. 

Minji's eyes unwillingly wavered back to the dashing young man, except he was no longer literally dashing any more. 

Instead, he stood motionless on the side of the field, his gaze directed— at her. 

Realizing that his exhausted expression had turned to a smirk, Minji hurriedly repositioned her entire body away to look at anything, anything else.

"I'm surprised you've never heard of him. I thought everyone around here knew about him." 

Minji cleared before shaking her head. "I went to an international school for middle school. I only moved here because it was closer to my agency." 

"Oh that makes sense." The other, another 2nd year named Kyungjin, remarked. 

"Anyways, Jeong Seungwon is the number 1 at our school in sports and not to mention he's fuxking hot." Jiwon continued. 

"They say he turned down semipro-teams already because his parents want him to attend a SKY university (Korean Ivy League equivalent)." 

Minji listened rather attentively, he was not much unlike her in that way. No matter how much she dreamed of pursuing something she loved, parents and their old fashioned habits always brought college acceptance back into the picture.

"But he's already taken." Kyungjin revealed to her instant fret. 

"Well not officially, but everyone says he's dating that announcer ." Jiwon clarified. 

Minji tilted her head slightly in confusion. 

"She graduated last year, she goes to Ehwa University for broadcasting, but last year she was always hanging around Seungwon, because she was the student council president." Jiwon revealed. 

"Ahhh, the student council. So he's in the student council?" Minji let out a little more interest than she wanted too. 

"Yep, he might be a future pro, but he also is part of the student council and has good grades." 

Smart, handsome, and athletic? What wasn't to like about this guy. 

Jeong Seungwon. How interesting. 

While it was easy to admire the eye candy that was her fellow trainees, finding a true man that her mother would approve of was an entirely different subject. 

"He's actually pretty chill. We'll introduce you later, he's usually hanging around Inhyuk." 

"Inhyuk?" Minji heard another name, they had briefly mentioned before. 

"Ya, we'll come get you at lunch to introduce you to our group."  Jiwon once again spoke while Minji wasn't paying attention. 

She wasn't supposed to hangout with girls like this, but her momentary fixation on that guy had kept her from spacing herself from them. 

"Oh... ok sunbae." Minji quietly murmured, a growing fear in her mind as she prayed they were not the bullying type. 

"No need for honorifics, we're friends now. You'll fit right in." Jiwon grinned as she spoke. 

She was panicking as the lunch period came, wondering whether she would have to sit with them. In her old international school it was always the middle table, the table where the most popular clique sat, and everyone on that table had long reputations. 

Back then the only way not to be coerced into this table, was to involve herself with some type of school activity to skip lunch. This was how she ended up in student leadership during her 2nd year of middle school. 

This served not only as an academic resume building to impress her mother, but also helped save face among the other Iljins. She was just... too busy with student council planning to go engage in their activities.  

As soon as the bell rang, while many of her classmates left to go eat lunch, a few brave girls came to talk to her. Suddenly, a knock on the sliding window of their classroom, caused those around her to freeze. 

Sliding it to the side, Jiwon peered through the window, and without saying a word, the other girls quickly fled in what looked like terror. 

"Minji-ah, come on, I bet you're hungry right?" 

She feigned a smile and nodded as she followed Jiwon, out her classroom into the mostly empty hallway. Instead of heading towards the cafeteria, she ascended the stairs to the 2nd and then 3rd floor, where the senior classrooms were. 

"Are we not eating at the cafeteria?" Minji found herself wondering. 

"Of course, no one eats that . You're in lucky Inhyuk ordered chicken for us." Jiwon revealed. 

Chicken (korean fried chicken)?

And sure enough, as they approached one of the classrooms, emanating from inside was the fresh fried smell... a smell Minji could only inhale with her nose. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten chicken because of her trainee diet. 

"Ya you es, you didn't close the door? Teacher Jung is gonna get mad if he catches us again." Jiwon barked as soon as she entered through the doorway. "I brought a friend." 

There were maybe 5 or six of them, a series of desks all pushed together to make a large table. 

She didn't recognize any of them, besides Kyungjin and Jiwon, but just judging by the handful of tall males and short-skirted females, she could bet they were part of her clique. 

"And who might this be?" One of the boys questioned, peeking up from a drumstick. 

"Shut the up Dowoon, you know exactly who she is?" Kyungjin swore as she poked him on the shoulder. 

"The most famous 1st year." This voice came from a mysterious but handsome looking senior, as he intentionally moved seats next to her.  

He wore his uniform ed with a luxury brand t-shirt underneath. His hair was stylishly parted down the middle, and had silver studs. Judging by the way her original seat mate moved so smoothly, this was the leader of the group. 

"Inhyuk sunbae meet Minji." Jiwon introduced the two. 

"annyeonghaseyo sunbae-nim." Minji greeted by bowing her head. 

He smirked as soon as they locked eyes, before reaching forward and tipping her chin up with his hand. 

His fingers felt chilly against her chin, as she jerked her face back in shock. Why the hell did he touch her? 

"You're the trainee. What entertainment agency did you say you were from again?" He questioned, unconcerned by her reaction at all. 

"...SM." Mi