Seoul Performing Arts Academy, Room 3A

[Completed list of rookie group B.A.P's members + when will Big Bang comeback?]

[Breaking News: Sound Entertainment's double rookie groups Aura and B.A.P revealed]

[Students from Seoul Performing Arts Academy preferred at Sound Entertainment, it seems]

[Concept photos revealed for Aura, new "subunit style" girl group]

[IU to debut again as Aura's leader? Sound Entertainment gives away nothing]

[Aura's first subunit 'Femme Fatale' Hyorin debuts with 'Alone', Ailee with 'Heaven' + second subunit 'Troublemaker' to follow up after]

Eunji scrolled through a few articles on an entertainment website, passing a lot of news about her debut and the mystery trainees. It seemed the public was anticipating what they called Big Bang's siblings.

"Unnie, did you see-"

"Saw it," she didn't even have to raise her eyes to check. Hayi, at her own desk, was checking the news too. As were the rest of the students in the classroom, halls, and probably the entire school. Seoul Performing Arts Academy was abuzz early in the morning, unlike other days.

"What's going on?" Daehyun strolled in with a half-eaten yogurt in hand. Eunji held up her phone screen for him to see the popular news column.

"Daehyun-ssi, you guys are trending!" Hayi exclaimed.

"Eh~" he nudged Eunji, "What did I tell you?"

While coming in to get their concept photos taken, Daehyun had placed a bet with Eunji that he'd have the most predebut fans.

"I never shook on it!" The yogurt cup was swiped out of his hands as the brunette protested.

He scoffed and called her a scam before running off to smuggle in some more snacks to eat during class. Hayi took the opportunity to examine her older friend.

"Unnie~"

Eunji looked up from her strawberry cheesecake yogurt to see the maknae cackling. "What?"

The younger girl's hand shot out at Eunji's neck, and she drew back reflexively before realizing Hayi was going for the necklace she was wearing.

"This is new unnie, did you get it yesterday at Hongdae? Without me?" Hayi grinned, letting the ring fall back onto Eunji's chest. The Busan native tucked it back inside her shirt.

"Daehyun just won it at some arcade," she shrugged dismissively, although her cheeks felt a little warm.

"But you never wear jewelry, Eunji-unnie..."

"This isn't jewelry..." Eunji protested. The little girl was clearly hinting but she didn't know what about. Did she want the ring or something?

Hayi sat back in her seat and exhaled loudly.

At the front of the room, Suzy marched out the door and across the hall into class 3B, where the noise was as loud as 3A's.

"Jung Ilhoon!!" she stopped in front of his desk, demanding, "Why didn't you tell me you were signed?!"

"Why, are you his girlfriend?" Sungjae, one of Ilhoon's friends  snickered, earning a glare from the girl.

"You two have great debut songs!" a couple of female classmates congratulated Hyorin and Ailee, who smiled thanked them politely.

In the hallway, Jiyeon made a beeline towards her locker where Hara waited, one hand holding a coffee for each of them.

"What's all this?"

"Look," her friend pulled up an article page and handed her the phone. She was a little concerned when there was no response at first. But then...

Jiyeon's lined eyes narrowed thoughtfully. There was a way to make things right. An opportunity. She looked up and caught Lee Kikwang entering classroom 3A down the hallway with his friends, and lowered her eyes down to the screen.

There was a sweet little opportunity to get even.
 

Sound Entertainment, dance studio wing

"I almost thought you guys were a no-show!" Hyunwoo ushered Eunji and Kikwang down the hall of the entertainment company's dance wing quickly. The two of them could only give him apologetic looks, as they were already behind schedule for talking to Hyori-teacher for a bit after school. The list was packed; after dance practice came more photoshoots.

"Now don't be so freaked out, but..." the manager twisted the doorknob, swinging the door open to reveal...

"Kids," Hyuna-teacher stood in the dance practice room with Hyunseung, tapping her palm with a ruler stick as she smirked, "happy to see us again?"
 

Sound Entertainment, dance studio

Sanghyun hyung paced the length of the room by the practice room door as the trainees practiced their debut song dance steps. He caught Daehyun watching him and waved at him to pay attention.

"The chorus is powerful, it's the highlight, alright?" The choreographer was saying above the sound of the recording. "Throw your leg out wildly, it's okay..."

He noticed no one was responding and stopped the speakers. "What's wrong? Take a ten-minute break."
Sanghyun hyung supplied water bottles to the kids. They really did look exhausted. They'd been coming straight to the practice rooms right after school every single day lately, but there was no time to rest.

"Listen up, men," he cleared his throat in an attempt at a pep talk, "debut day is coming up. Your training isn't long at all because the public expects you learned everything you needed to at school. That's the purpose of going to a performing arts school, yeah?"

Some shrugged, some nodded. Sanghyun was just looking for any response.

"Well the difference between training and the real world, it's a lot. You haven't met your fans, you haven't met your antis. Heck, you've barely met the press, and they're gonna be both! Take it from me, if I were you I would finish things up now. Get out there, sleep your day away, tell your parents you won't see them for a while. Once we get you in dorms too," he clicked his tongue, "it's all work for you. You'll even work when there's no work."

There was a silence hanging in the air as the five boys let it sink in. Sanghyun sighed, and scratched the back of his head.

"That didn't really help, did it...I guess...breathe, but still train, alright? Things get serious next week, your debut is on Friday!" With that, he exited with the plastic bottle container to toss it in the trash.

"Ready for debut?" Daehyun asked s. The boys were all still awkward with eachother for classmates. He wondered if they could ever be like those close boy groups on TV or how much they'd have to fake it.

"Nope, if my aching muscles are any sign," Woohyun grimaced as he laid on the cold hardwood floor. He and Myungsoo were the two Daehyun was more familiar with, although Myungsoo spent most of his time taking care of his skin or playing with his DSLR camera.

Ilhoon didn't talk to the members much, for a guy who'd been classmates with Woohyun and Myungsoo. He had his headphones in all the time and the rest of them could hear his rap music even when he sat by himself at lunch time.

The only trainee in the group that wasn't from Seoul Performing Arts Academy was a boy by the stage name Hoya, a talented triple threat from a local high school. Sanghyun hyung said they scouted him out at a bboy competition downtown. He didn't seem to like Daehyun, though Daehyun felt like he'd seen him before. He replied when Woohyun talked to him, and was assigned to work with Ilhoon as the sub-rapper, but other than that he kept to himself. After practice Daehyun often saw his friends from high school waiting by the company's front gates.

The door swung open at that moment, and a staff poked her head in and called for Ilhoon to follow her. After they left, the choreographer returned to continue practice.
 

Sound Entertainment, dance studio

Her admiration for y co-ed collaborations skyrocketed when the choreography was introduced. Who in their right mind can do this with a stranger and make it look like they have chemistry?

Hyunseung's fingers pressed delicately on her back, which was arched backwards. "Good~now pay attention Kikwang, as her partner you have to make sure her core feels like this when she bends back okay? This is healthy, anything else and she'll eventually get a spine injury."

The boy nodded and switched partners, leaving Hyuna-teacher to Hyunseung and taking Eunji's waist.

"We totally should've been Troublemaker," Hyuna crossed her arms as she watched them carry out the choreography. "We could've been a hit, don't you think, Hyunseung? Yet here we are choreographing inappropriate dances for teens..."

"Hm," he simply shrugged, more interested in watching them dance than hearing his co-teacher talk.

"Are you listening to me?" Hyuna snapped, but he suddenly turned off the music, and the couple froze.

"Here you have to stretch your leg out farther, Eunji," Hyunseung pulled on her leg, and she collasped to the ground, Kikwang toppling over after her.

"Yah!" the boy scrambled out of the mess quickly, "Keep your balance!"

"I'm trying," her eyes flashed him a brief glare. She was in total irritance mode. He especially annoyed her right now.

"Boohoo," Hyuna smacked the soundproof wall with her ruler, "You should've just stick with becoming a vocal trainer. When you're onstage your job is to give the audience a good show and let them believe what they believe. No one cares whether you're friends, lovers, or enemies with your partners."

"Hyuna-teacher I don't think-" Kikwang started, but was interrupted by Hyunseung.

"Let's just let them practice on their own."

"How is that a good idea?"

"Just go," he ushered her out and closed the door behind him, shutting the two inside.

Kikwang glanced at his partner who was studying the honey-colored hardwood floor of the practice room, no doubt thinking of Hyuna's words. The sunlight from the windows high up on the ceiling shined brightly on her cheeks, lighting up her eyes. "You can't get the steps?"

After taking some time to breathe, she shook her head. "It's not that. Well okay maybe it is that. I'm just not a good dancer. I won't fit in well at all on shows and stuff."

"Good thing you're a main vocalist then right?" He suggested doing it again.

"Just the two of us? No help?"

"No help," he switched on the music. "No hesitating."

The performance as a whole would be lucky to squeeze past the music stations' rules, and Kikwang thought about how if she'd been doing the same dance with someone from B.A.P, namely Jung Daehyun, he probably would've thrown up as he watched. His fingers trailed up and down her thighs, she brushed her legs against his, and rubbed him more than once.

"Okay," he smacked the stop button on the speaker system, "we need to take a break."

"Already?" She frowned.

Oh how she didn't know. She was the only one thinking professionally. His hormones were already zipping around like angry bees.

Thinking of bees led him to B.A.P. and Jung Daehyun.

"So, you and that guy Jung Daehyun, since when were you friends?" He sat against the wall and asked. "I don't remember you two ever talking."

"Yeah, well," she guessed she could tell him about the job since she was fired anyway, "after my parents died I started working in a bar. And then he came one day. And then we became friends, I guess."

"A bar?"

"It was the one Kim ahjussi supervises," she said. Surely he remembered Kim ahjussi. That man used to give them free ice cream back when he worked at the ice cream shoppe in the summer.

"Oh yeah, we were his regulars," he remembered. Something nagged at the back of his mind; something about Daehyun...

"You and him are really close, huh, going for ice cream together now too."

"I just owed him," she shrugged. Why did he sound bitter? It's not like I never bought him an ice cream before. He owed me so much money in ice cream that I'm too nice to collect! "I mean, he wanted to go to the ice cream shoppe anyway, and I was already there-"

Suddenly, Kikwang leaned forward...

...and placed his lips on hers.

"YAH! What the-" she pulled away instinctively, backing a few paces away as quick as lightning. "Are you crazy?!"

"Practice for the stage kiss," he reminded her with a shrug, keeping his expression cool while hers was blazing angry.

The moment ended after there was a loud knock on the door.

"Come in," resisting the urge to strangle the guy to death, Eunji stood up to open the door heatedly.

There's no way I can do Troublemaker with this . No. Way.

He'd passed it off as practice for the stage kiss, but he didn't even know the point of it himself. Maybe it was because she was talking too much about a guy that wasn't him. Maybe it was because her bad mood disappeared talking about said guy. Maybe he felt replaced, and there was only one way he knew how to regain his place in her head now that he was clearly losing it to Jung Daehyun.

Although it was low and he probably deserved to get beat up, it was a clever move, he admitted. Because only he, Lee Kikwang, knew was that that was Jung Eunji's first kiss...ever.
 

Sound Entertainment, dance studio wing

"Are you-oh, you don't look good," Daehyun stood there with his backpack over one shoulder and his hands in his pockets when Eunji opened the door of the practice room. Her hair was a little disheveled and she looked downright pissed but who knows. Girls these days. "I mean, you look great! But uh..."

"I'm done, it's okay," she hurriedly threw on a black sweater and grabbed her backpack from the desk by the practice room door. "Going home?"

He nodded, peering inside the room, "Yeah. I thought you might want me to wait up for you or..."

"No one important's in here," she opened the door widely at last so he could see. He was greeted with one hand by a sweaty and tired Kikwang. 

"What have you two been up to? It looks a little..." he didn't have a word to describe it. The mood in the room was off, plus their appearances were just...

"Let's go," she laughed uneasily, pulling Daehyun out of the dance room without another glance at Kikwang.

"Are you two not getting along?" He asked her as they rode the bus home. 

"We are," she shook her head. "I-we..."

She was stammering much more than usual, out of anger of course. He'd never seen her like this. Her eyes didn't meet his. Her hair was messed up. He narrowed his eyes, piecing together his thoughts. The choreography for Troublemaker couldn't be that...

"Forget it," he didn't want to think about it either. A distraction would be a good idea. Pulling out his cellphone he dialed a number and raised the screen for a video call. "It's about the time in America my grandpa's awake. Say hi."

Eunji squinted to see in the darkness; a sickly elder laid on a bed, waving a heavy hand. "Hello grandfather..."

"This is the girl?" he asked in a raspy voice, and Daehyun nodded.

"Yes, this is Eunji. She's kind of my first friend here. Eunji, this is my grandpa. He sent me here to Seoul Academy."

Every day late at night, Daehyun would check for the time his grandpa normally woke up so he could check on him. Grandpa had been looking sicker lately, but he kept refusing to go to the hospital.

It was Eunji's first time meeting a grandfather in a while. Both of hers passed away before she was born, so the only ones she knew were the elders in her old Busan neighborhood. The old man's satoori reminded her of her parents' too. By the time they reached the apartment, she'd calmed down and forgotten about the incident thanks to Daehyun and his grandpa.

"Get better and come to see us, grandfather!" Eunji waved goodbye as they parted ways on the 7th floor. Daehyun sat down on the mat in front of his rooftop room, catching up with his grandpa.

"So, that girl..." the old man's body shook as a cough erupted from his chest. 

"How're you feeling lately? Are you okay?" He wasn't well, Daehyun knew. He really wanted to talk about Eunji but it'd have to be saved for another time. Grandpa sneezed a bit more and shook his head with a smile.

"I'm okay," he managed. "Worry about yourself, I promise I'll be there at your graduation."

"You promise? You know you can't go back on promises, grandpa."

"I promise, son."
 

KoalaLand97...well as you can see both Eunji and Daehyun are a little dumb when it comes to love and cannot take hints whatsoever and probably won't even acknowledge it if they're in a glass test lab by themselves so things like Troublemaker have to happen...if you're all curious though here's a [spoiler]:

["Jung Eunji, I like you."] ahahah hahahah hah did no one guess that was gonna happen...? In my romance tagged story? dont worry its coming soon to a chapter near you maybe like real soon like next chap

hmy1439, ooohhHhh ive loved the Busan satoori since watching reply 1997 is it weird im a fan of dialects lolol but idk personally I think the Busan satoori has more sliding up and down tone? idk how I notice it either D:
Seoul dialect tone = -----~--------
Busan dialect tone = ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seoul chick = "oppa"
Busan chick = "oppA-Ya"
If you know what I mean...uh...yeah...well basically I feel like the Busan accent is edgier...okay i tried ahah :s


-btw guys I found Daehyun's Madame Jung imitation I was talking about! LOL
-Eunji and Simon D's satoori talk
-And here's Eunji's satoori whip, the other girls don't have the accent

ddmellow - aren't they?! There's like a small amount of Daeji shippers on here it's like really T_T

jokergyu - and i'm glad you stumbled across here! They're my two most favorite too :3 their voices are just wow

thank you so much for commenting!! Have a great week!