"Did you see the new 2NE1 song?" 

"Yeah! I Love You!" SeungJoo whipped out her tablet and proceeded to show everyone the music video.

"Really, Seungjoo? It's been me all this time?” Michelle sighed deeply. “I'm sorry, but I have no choice but to refuse. Truth is, I'm already taken," Michelle replied. Everybody ignored her, engrossed in the girls' powerful dance moves. Hayi was trying to imitate Minzy's y body wave but she ended up looking like a walrus instead. 

Michelle continued, undeterred. "You'll never guess!...Taeyang said hi to me this morning. That counts as a date, right?" Still no reply. Michelle gave up and peered over her black circular glasses at the tablet. 

Everybody was silent until CL sang the last chord. Then they cheered and high-fived each other, excitement radiating from their faces. 

"Can you imagine what it'll be like if that were us? Wouldn't it be amazing if we were the ones in a music video, and got to wear these crazy outfits and dance around like that?!" JungMi squealed and pointed to the screen. 

"Well, at the rate we're going, I don't know if we'll be able to do that. Physically, I mean. We might be too elderly when we debut," said Michelle dryly.

"It will be us, just you wait! YG said no later than September, and I'm holding him to his word. I don't care what you guys say about his non-existent calendar, I'm positive he's got us marked down for the 21st!" exclaimed SeungJoo. 

Seungjoo, Junmi and Hayi clasped hands and ran around in a chaotic circle, singing at the top of their lungs, making an absolute mess of "We are the Champions". 

Michelle didn't join in but she couldn't help but smile at her younger group members. She'd sometimes felt the need to exude a mature calming atmosphere to rein in the tornado of energy that was Su Pearls. She was the oldest, after all.

Oh, but who is Su Pearls?

First of all, there was Seungjoo. Forever the optimist, she was the beacon of light shining in Michelle's dark and cloudy view of the world. Otherwise, she was known for her heavy eating, her husky voice and her incredible strength. The girl had thick muscles beneath that warm and generous helping of flesh. Recently, being on a diet had stressed her out to the point that when she heard the word "scale", she would snap whatever utensil she had in her hand. There was a growing pile of broken chopsticks and pencils in their dorm house to prove that. 

Next was Jungmi. Shy and sweet on the outside, and a complex, sensitive but rambunctious young woman once you got to know her. She could always be counted on to laugh at Michelle's continuous flow of banter and teasing and Hayi's sad, little attempts at gag comedy. Reading and keeping up with the news was a favorite pasttime, so the group members always counted on her to bring new topics and politics to the table. She really kept the group sane, though; Jungmi was clearly the most normal out of the four members. 

Finally, Hayi. The name said it all. Childlike and tender, Hayi possessed a remarkable lack of self-consciousness, and thus, she could make people laugh just by eating or watching TV. The girl epitomized cuteness. But she was stubborn as a thick-hide ox, and never hesitated to speak her mind, sometimes causing a lot of annoyance and grief. However, she never meant harm, so she was always happily forgiven. 

Michelle stood back and beamed with a motherly smile. She felt so proud of them, like she had reared them up to be the young women they were today. At 21, she was the oldest of the group and was notorious for her nagging. But her maturity went out the window when she fooled around alongside them. You could almost say she was the most childish of them all; she loved bothering and bossing around her maknaes, and she was a er for skinship, but she just really had too much love to spare!

Just then a knock on the practice room door. The girls quickly leapt up and tried to pretend they had been practicing the whole time, but bowed their heads when they saw that it was their boss, Yang Hyun Suk himself.

He strolled in leisurely with a heavy envelope and a pile of papers, sporting his characteristic black hat and black attire. His poker-face told the girls nothing, but he seemed to be looking a bit more sour than usual. He gestured to the girls and took out four packages of paper.

Michelle instantly realized what they were: their contracts.