“Yeon Seul don’t just tap your foot there! You have to bend down! Lower!” “Ria you have to travel more, exaggerate your moves!” Juna eonnie, our dance trainer instructed while her eyes wandered for other trainees who were missing the correct steps. I felt pity for Yeon. Her talent is singing, but as a trainee of the famous SM Entertainment, we have to work out not only the things we can, but also those we thought we cannot do.

“OK guys, trainings over. Assemble.” Talk about a coach who took military training before. We took comfortable spot on the floor and sat waiting for her speech. “You should know being here is very hard. Many of you might have probably cursed me for torturing you during our everyday training. But you know,if you don’t go outside your comfort zones, you’ll never reach anything. In the first place, you wanted to become an idol, and that dream, you cannot get with an overnight effort. So rest for tonight and we’ll meet again tomorrow.”

“Neh Juna-ssi.” We said as we all clapped together signaling the end of the day.

This is our custom every training. After she scream and shout at us, at the end of the day she’ll always give words of encouragement. So for me, the rumor that SM Entertainment is cruel when it comes to trainees is not true. It’s really hard, no doubt about that. But all the pains, sprains, and everything we gain, is just a preparation for something bigger instored for us.

When Juna eonnie left the room, I approached Yeon Seul and handed her my bottle of water.

 “You okay?”

“I think so..”

“It’s ok Yeon. You’re improving. See? She scolded you only once today.” I said smiling at her.

“Really? You think I’m getting better?”

“Ofcourse. You can actually do the complicated steps now.”

She hugged me and then let go after a while. “You really know how to comfort me Bei.” She said earning giggles from the both of us.

“Yeon, Bei, come on! We’re going to be late!” We were surprised when Hyeri, a co-trainer and friend of us suddenly pulled us along with them who were running out of the practice room.

“Where are we going?” I asked running along.

“EXO’s practicing on the fifth floor!” She said which made the other girls squeal just hearing the name.

I, who become excited as well, ran faster than the others. I reached the elevator first than the other girls and started pushing the button repeatedly, as if it will arrive faster if I did that.

“Chill Bei! Chill !” They said but they were pushing the button too. We pretended to stop when some staffs passed. Hearing the sound of the elevator, we all fell inside with me at the bottom because of so much excitement.

When we reached the fifth floor, we already heard a familiar track from a room not very far away. We traced where the sound was coming from, was it My Lady? We set on our journey to the unknown destination and stood by its entrance. As if we were melting the door knob by our stares, we stood silently thinking what to do next.

“What? Aren’t we gonna knock?”

“Pabo. We cannot do that Jin. They are busy rehearsing. Let’s just slam the door open instead.” Ria, another trainee said which caused others to slap the back of her head.

I slowly put my ear on the door to hear what’s inside. “Hey! I hear Kris’ voice here. He’s like near the door.”

“OMG!! Let me try too!” Yeon said excitedly followed by the other minions. With their excessive excitement, I had a feeling that something’s bad is going to happen but before I could react, I felt myself hit the floor already. I groaned in pain and expected my so called friends to help me up but they hurriedly ran outside.

The moment I lifted my face, I prayed it was possible to be invisible even just for ten seconds so I can ran out of here. But this is reality, and reality is sometimes painful. I met fourteen pairs of eyes which belong to EXO, their manager and a man who appears to be their dance coach.

Suho, the very kind-hearted leader didn’t hesitate to help me stand up while the others were still shocked with the my grand entrance.

“Are you okay?” He asked with a smile that can light up this whole town.

I shyly nodded and thanked him. On the far corner of the room was Sehun, staring at me surprised. Kill me please. This is so embarrassing.

“Miss Bei? It’s already 11 pm and as far as I know, trainees should be home right now. You still have classes tomorrow to attend right?” Their manager said with a snobbish tone. Feeling really humiliated, I bowed apologetically and left the room.

I ran quickly and searched for the elevator only to find out that my friends were laughing at me.

“That was so very nice of you.” I started to cry like a baby feeling really ashamed of what happened.

“Gosh. Stop her, she’s getting ugly again.” They laughed though they all circled around me, patted my back and apologized.

“Okay guys. Let’s go home. I’m getting sleepy. We have classes tomorrow.” Yeon Seul said. Being the oldest, she seemed to be the mother figure.

“Argh. Korean classes. I hate that I grew up in America.” Ria said which caused her fellow citizens to agree. We head off to the bus stop going to the dorm while the others went to their home not so far away from Seoul.

“Bei, are you still going to pursue your plan?” Yeon Seul asked as while we’re on the bus, I, sitting by the window.

“What plan?” I asked while looking at the night lights of the city.

“You know? To make your former boyfriend payback for what he did?”

“Of course. I would not agree on debuting if not.”

“You should move on Bei. You’ll be debuting soon, you can have all the boys you want in your life. You’ve got the looks, the talent, the fame-”