Those with dreams of becoming famous in the Korean Music Industry often find these wishes dying earlier than they'd expect. Hopes are dashed with failed audition rounds as the world of idols and artists disappears from within their reach. But these poor dreamers aren't aware of what they're up against. In fact, they have absolutely no understanding that there is much more to this than meets the eye - that is, their human eyes.

YG Headquarters - 2006

She walked in to the room. All there was inside was a desk and two judges. Two? I thought they said three... she thought to herself. 

"Unfortunately, President Yang Hyun-suk has left for the day. You are the very last audition. Please step on the X marked on the floor miss." 

The girl with long and straight black hair nervously walked and stood on the duct taped X and bowed. "H-Hello, my name is Park Bom. I will be singing Mariah Carey's 'Always Be My Baby'" 

She fidgeted a bit and she felt the atmosphere in the room grow thicker. She felt her insides vibrate. She took a deep breath through the suffocated feeling and started the song. 

After a three or four lines, a mobile phone on the judges' table lit up with a message: "NEGATIVE". The judge on the right raised his hand for her to stop. "Thank you. You have a decent voice but it doesn't seem refined. Please have a good day." 

The girl bowed and walked as quickly as she could out of the room with the single motivation to flee the building and probably the face of the earth. Her eyes welled up. I didn't even get to the chorus. was all she could think as she sped up. She didn't see where she was going and bumped into someone. "Oh! I'm so sorry" she apologised and bowed her head while feeling very much embarrassed. 

"It's okay, I wasn't looking where I was going. Are you okay miss...?" he tilted his head and tried to get a look at her face. 

"Park Bom. Nice to meet you and I'm sorry about that." she said as she looked up. She met a pair of smiling eyes that disppeared into a gentle face.

"No worries and nice to meet you Park Bom-sshi. I'm Dong Youngbae."

Bom smiled back. "Do you work here?"

Youngbae gave a small chuckle. "You could say that. I'm a trainee and my group is going to debut soon."

Bom's eyes lit up as she let out a silent 'wow'. Before she could ask him anything and hopefully deflect any incoming questions away from her, he asked back, "What about you? I haven't seen you around before."

Youngbae very bluntly gave her an up-down look and then nodded his head a little. "Are you a stylist-noona?"

Bom smiled amusedly. "No, no I actually just came from the audition. I didn't do so well..." she trailed off.

"Oh. Yeah, those are pretty depressing." He paused sensing the awkwardness. "Tell me about it" she huffed inwardly.

"Keep trying and working hard - you'll make it. Come back again next year." he said as he gave her a genuine smile.

Then a skinny guy popped his head out of a room and yelled, "You! Get your in here." and then immediately shut the door.

"I have to go but I'll see you next year!" Youngbae said as he ran off. Bom instantly felt a million times better as she walked out of the building and she vowed to work hard and come back next year.

"Who were you talking to? I've never seen her before." Jiyong asked. "A girl who was auditioning. Her name's Park Bom."

"Bom? Like the season? That's a pretty name. Pretty name for a pretty girl, hmm?" a younger and sleepy-eyed guy asked.

Before Youngbae could answer Seungri, Jiyong coldly interrupted, "I heard you. Why did you tell her to come back? You know it doesn't work like that."

"I don't know. She seemed nice..."

"What a waste of time." Jiyong responded as he walked over to the stereo leaving the two exchanging dejected glances.

Another member walked up and nudged Youngbae and whispered to the two of them "I heard her singing! She was not bad!" 

"Yah! Daesung. Where's Seunghyun?" Jiyong asked, clearly diverting the conversation again. 

"O-oh he was just with me in the cafeteria but then he...'s not here?" Daesung answered slyly but mostly stupidly. 

Jiyong rolled his eyes. "We'll start without him."

It was drizzling outside as Bom was waiting for her sister to pick her up outside of the building. While she was waiting, a young man in an oversized hoodie and beanie exited the building and stood off to the side away from her. He leaned over himself a bit as he lit his cigarette. He inhaled, glanced over at her and then closed his eyes as he turned his head the opposite way and exhaled a stream of smoke out. All Bom could do was stare at him while he smoked. He was tall but that was all she could gather since his baggy clothes covered his body. He had sharp eyes, strong jaw and cheekbones, a nice nose and soft mouth. Soft? she thought to herself as she unconsciouly touched her lips. Does he work here? A producer? No, he looks too young. She continued watching him as he keyed away on his cellphone while he draggged on his cigarette. Bom scrunched up her nose and felt a tickle in . She couldn't help but let out a little cough. Oh no... I wasn't trying to be rude or anything!

He looked over at her and studied her features. She had long jet black hair that contrasted with her pale and soft face. He tilted his head to get a better look. This girl was unlike anyone else he had seen before. A mortal? What is she doing here? he thought to himself. She had nice big eyes, a slender nose and pink lips that looked incredibly plump and soft. "Soft" he muttered to himself. He immediately cupped his mouth but she looked up at him and their eyes locked. He mumbled a quiet "sorry". Sorry for what? He wasn't sure. Smoking? Studying her cute mortal face? He scratched the back of his neck. He felt unlike himself. Suddenly, a car pulled up and the girl smiled at the driver as it approached. The corners of turned up in to a sweet smile but he felt like something was amiss as she entered the car and spoke animatedly with the driver. He felt sad as the car pulled away and left him puzzled and uneasy standing in the rain. 

He snuck back in to the practice room although not much was happening. 

"-and that's why we'll be holding off a group formation for girls until next year." Teddy explained to everyone. 

"But we got new trainees, right? I wanna meet girls! Are any of them-" Seungri excitedly shouted. 

"Don't bother asking. We don't want that here." Jiyong interrupted. 

"-succubi..." Seungri trailed off.

"It's okay. SM will always have the best ones." Youngbae said as he patted his shoulder.

"I don't know. Those SNSD girls can be really pretentious sometimes." 

This time Daesung interrupted: "Not all of them! A few of them are in my church group and they're nice."

At this point everyone in the room turned their head to Daesung questioningly.

"Don't tell me you fallen angels have started accepting demons, too." Teddy sarcastically remarked.

"Our church is very open to anyone willing to attend." He paused. "Well okay, I've only seen the sirens of that group on Sundays..."

The room broke out in laughter and jeers until Jiyong spoke above it. "So who are the new ones, hyung?" 

"A witch and a kumiho." The room was silent. Daesung asked "But don't witches-" 

"-only stay in the public sector? Yeah, that's what we thought but apparently this one approached the president on her own and handed a demo reel to him."

". That's ballsy." Youngbae commented. "More like INSANE?!" Seungri exclaimed. 

"I don't know the full details. She seems strong enough - comes from an ancient clan of casters. You'll have to ask sajangnim for the details but that girl is brave. I like her already."

"And the kumiho?" Jiyong asked impatiently. 

"She's the youngest trainee we've had by far but she belongs to a long line of fox demons - high quality stuff right there. Good voice and insane movement - kind of leaves you in a trance." The room started up again. "When can we meet them?" Seungri asked. 

"We're keeping them under until we've found all the members." Seungi let out a loud whine. "But that doesn't completely rule out that you might bump in to them in the halls." Teddy added. As the group chit chatted and pressed Teddy for more details like their blood types and their family lineage, Jiyong retreated to the back of the room where Seunghyun sat with his arms crossed and eyes closed. 

"What do you think? 

"Seems interesting enough." Seunghyun anwered with his eyes closed.

"The kumiho - I get but I can't understand the witch. She better be good."

"I'm sure she'll be the best. Those detectors are military quality. I would know."

"Right, right. Zero faults, eh? That's some serious dark energy if it's that accurate. Do you think it'll be weird having a mortal around?" 

"Ji, you know as well as I do that casters are just as dark as you and me. They even know this better than we do." Jiyong gave him a look. "And I'm pretty sure they've been on this Earth for as long as you guys." 

"Don't even compare vampires to mortals." 

"She's a witch. Let's see what she can do before we judge." 

Jiyong snorted and got up to rejoin the group. Seunghyun closed his eyes again as his thoughts drifted to the scent of drizzling rain, smoke and a mortal face.

Mortals. If only. He thought to himself.