I had to admit, after being here in Korea for only 2 days, from which the first one was a completely horrible waste of time, I was beginning to already adjust to being here. It felt somehow right. I guess this is what you call the feeling of returning to your homeland. It’s like your body knows that you belong here without your mind noticing. That or I was actually going a bit crazy.

As we were on our way back to Cube entertainment, I noticed less people around. Maybe because it was a Monday, most people were in schools or work or maybe I was, as I said, getting adjust to being around so many people. Either way, it felt more comfortable to be outside and me and Yoojin oppa were chatting happily on our way there. I just hoped that things would go down well today. People had told me this a lot and recently I came to admit it, I was an emotional little bugger. I mean, not that I cry a lot or anything, but my mood could change in a second, therefore, for the sake of the company, I was hoping that they would give me some information. Not that I would blow the place up… possibly.

However, I knew as soon as we stepped our foot in the company that this might not go down that well. The security came right towards us and he was talking in a dialect which I could not understand. I sometimes had problems with the general Seoul accent, dialects were far from my comprehension. I just looked at Yoojin oppa who was in exchange looking at me. “I did not understand a word he said.” I spoke to him in English and the security seemed a bit surprised at it. But he turned to Yoojin as he started speaking. I decided that it’s time to zone out of the conversation, enjoy my chocolate & banana milkshake I had gotten on the way and just observe the reception area. There were two women sitting by the inquiry desk giving me weird glances, a few people going up and down the stairs and I could see a bunch of teenagers waiting by a room nearby. I was wondering if they were trainees and to maybe go up to them and ask about my brother, when Yoojin grabbed my hand and dragged me up to inquiry table. “He said that he’s not sure if we will be able to find anything out. It turns out these little companies are very secretive over their trainees as well, especially as this company is thinking about debuting a group soon as well. But he said to ask here at the reception.” He explained to me quickly, making sure to speak in English, so the security doesn’t think I was just joking around with him.

At the reception I did the same, let Yoojin oppa speak and just kept observing the group of teenagers. Some of them were looking over as well and whispering between each other. All I did was stare back, nearly not even blinking. If they had a problem or something with me, I would not be that easy to bully. A girl has to show she’s not scared and has an attitude after all. But maybe it could have been once more how I was dressed. Today, since both of oppa’s parents were out, I risked and dressed not how they wanted me to, but how I felt comfortable which meant tight fitting, bright pink jeans, black top which only went a little below my s (could be mistaken for a training bra, I wouldn’t be surprised) and a white vest which I had left open paired up with black high heeled sneakers. I normally dressed to impress and my confidence level was high enough to know I can afford to dress like this. If anyone had a problem with that… Well… They knew where the door was, they didn’t need me to lead them out of my life.

As I was pondering over whether or not they had a problem with how I looked or who I was, two of the guys detached themselves from the group and were making their way over followed by deathly glares from the girls in the group my way and stupid smirks from the guys. Here we go, was all I could think of. If they were about to chat me up, this is going to get nasty. I loved the attention, but I was not interested in seeing anyone here for a month. I might not look like it, but I was the type of girl to take relationships seriously and even though I probably should have, I had no previous dating history. Partially because of my beliefs, partially because I was very religious and partially because my father would probably kill any guy who came five feet near me with bad intentions. We all knew how English guys were my age, especially in London. You could never be too careful, even if it was only stereotyping.

“Excuse me.” One on the left spoke up first with confidence in his voice as well as a slight smile on his face. It seemed like Yoojin oppa was too immersed in the conversation he was having with the receptionist to notice these two coming up, so I turned my gaze to look straight into the speakers’ eyes.

“My name is Yoon Doojoon and this is my friend Lee Gikwang.” He gave the usual introductions and slightly waved towards his friend who slightly bowed towards me. I replied to it with a bow as well and turned my sight back at the guy who had introduced himself as Yoon Doojoon. “We were wondering if you were a celebrity. My apologies for not knowing who you are, but there must be some news articles we might have missed.” He spoke in a way that confused me a bit. So what did he want? To know me or just to know if I was anyone famous? What good would that give to him? I guess if they were trainees, they might want to know as many famous people as they can. Maybe that was the conditions for them to debut. I wanted to have a little bit of fun with this, but at the very moment when I opened my mouth to answer to him, I felt oppa’s hand grab mine as he had finally noticed the guys. “Come on, Yura. It’s time to leave. Doesn’t look like we’ll find anything here.” He spoke to me in English and I wasn’t sure if it was to still cover up my previous words towards the security or to show off in front of the guys. “Excuse us.” He said towards the boys and started pulling me towards the door. I quickly managed to turn around a bit and wave at the two boys with a smile on my face. If they thought I was a celebrity, why burst their bubble?

As we got outside, I could see oppa’s face quite serious and even a bit angry. This wiped off the smile on my face and once we had gotten a bit further away from the company, I came to a halt and refused to move as much as he wanted me to.

“So? Are you going to tell me what happened or just keep me in the dark forever?” I asked him, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Really, people these days are just horrible! I actually begged them very nicely, explained to them how important this was for you and that we were not anyone suspicious and we would not tell anyone they had told us. All they had to do was just tell us yes or no, right? But all they did was keep repeating their stupid company policy and that because there’s a group debuting soon and the members are still not revealed, leaking any trainee names, especially the male trainees, could make them loose their job! What nonsense!” I could clearly see he was fuming. Oppa wasn’t the type of person to be angry often or to lose his temper, but I could see he wasn’t far from going berserk.

“Oppa, let’s go for lunch, ok? I’m hungry!” I took one of his hands in both of mine and gave him that puppy look I knew he couldn’t resist. I guess we needed to take a small brake from the investigation and just relax for a bit. I appreciated his help and didn’t want him to feel burdened because of my problems. He rolled his eyes and suddenly grabbed my vest. In a flash it was zipped up and I looked at him with confusion.

“I know you love this style, but really, just for now, let’s try not to attract too much attention.  We don’t want everyone asking you if you were a celebrity.” He gave me a little pat on the head as I pouted at him, but I decided to let it go this time. Now all that was important was for him to calm down before we would reach the last stop – Woolim entertainment. However, there was something that bugged me. The woman had said that they are debuting a group soon and the fact that they did not want to expose the male trainee names especially was the same as saying that some of the boys were debuting as a group. Therefore, wouldn’t that make sense that my brother really did belong to that company? From what mother had said I already figured that my brother’s debut wasn’t that far away and I really had to admit that if they did debut and become instantly famous, there would be absolutely no chance for me to see him. Ever.

After stopping by a restaurant to have our lunch and few other shops on the way to the last company (I had the feeling my dad would not be happy seeing how much money I was spending) we finally arrived at the destined place and to our surprise it was packed with kids my age or younger, some a bit older and they all seemed to be either quietly singing to themselves and some were seen dancing. I raised an eyebrow towards my oppa. Now what the hell was happening here?

Once we got into the company’s door (oppa had to kind of brake the path for us as there was no way I would have been able to get through the crowd) we walked up to the reception and they immediately asked us for our names, date of birth, special talents and afterwards gave us numbers and said we could wait around anywhere we’d like. I was well confused and it seemed that oppa was as well, so we just accepted the stickers with numbers on it and moved aside to look at other people coming up to the women and repeating the same procedure.

“He said that they are holding auditions here today.” Oppa poked me lightly and slightly waved at a guy who was doing voice warm-ups next to us. I did not notice him asking the guy anything, but in the midst of this confusion I wasn’t surprised anymore.

“Wait, what? Auditions? So what, we are auditioning now?” I was confused and looked at the number. Apparently I was number 115. This was ridiculous and I couldn’t help but to let out a slight giggle. “This sounds fun.” I had to admit, I had never even thought of auditioning for anything. I was good at dancing, it was one of my hobbies and my voice wasn’t bad either, but auditioning?

“It seems like it.” He seemed a bit down. I knew oppa had a decent singing voice and he was good at acting, but I could never see him as an idol anyways. He was number 116. Were we really supposed to audition? I hadn’t prepared anything and it would be a waste of time anyways as I had no intention of staying in Korea.

“Hey, I have an idea!” Oppa suddenly was tapping me on the shoulder lightly, with the look on his face as if he had just discovered a new species. “Wouldn’t this be the easiest way to find your brother? I mean, the companies would never reveal anything, but what if you become one of the trainees? I’m pretty sure that finding the information you seek from the inside is much easier and better than trying to look for it from the outside.”

My face immediately brightened up and I clapped my hands. “Oppa, you DO have a brain after all!” I exclaimed out of joy, followed with a slight bump on the head by Yoojin. This was seriously a great idea in my eyes. I was pretty sure trainees do not sign any contracts, so I wouldn’t be bound to the company and being as friendly as I am, I could easily make contacts and the nosy part of me was strong enough to find information even quicker.

“Numbers 1-12, please come this way!” A voice echoed through the hall. I looked at the direction of the speaker and it was a middle-aged man wearing a suit and a megaphone in his hand to make sure the announcement was heard over the heads of people waiting to audition. Oppa as once again conversing with the guy from before and I followed the ten, seemingly very nervous, people that were approaching the man with an interest in my eyes. I had never auditioned and I had to admit it seemed not just fun but very interesting to me. I was wondering how it would happen, would we know the results straight away and so on.

“Turns out that you are supposed to sing two songs here, one that would portray your voice the best and another of the genre you liked the most. Dancing is a big bonus, if people can throw in acting that is welcomed as well. Apparently the judges will reveal to you instantly if you can make it with them or not, but this company is quite famous for being strict. They don’t have that many trainees here.” I heard Yoojin oppa talk into my ear, as from the announcement that the audition was starting, everyone around us were buzzing. I nodded and had to smile. Dancing – sorted. Acting – not this was something I wasn’t too good at. I in general did not like to fake my feelings. Singing? Well, I wasn’t too sure what type of song would fit my voice the best. I just liked singing to pass my time or when I was doing some house chores, nothing serious. And as for the music genre I liked the most… I would have to say it was hip-hop, but would I be able to rap? Not in Korean at least.

“Do the songs have to be in Korean?” I asked him as we moved out of the main hall, to find a quiet spot so we could decide on the songs and what would we be doing. Oppa just slightly shrugged his shoulders.

“No idea, but I would imagine so.” This made me panic a bit. I knew a few Korean songs that my friends had made me listen to over and over again, but I was not sure if I could remember them instantly. I could see oppa was a bit worried too.

“Numbers 11-20.” I heard the voice from inside and it sent chills down my spine. If they could evaluate people this quickly, it meant you had to impress them within the first seconds.