Of Memories and Races

Chapter One

The rain falls heavily over the mighty capital city of Seoul. In the streets, people try to make their way through flooded paths, willing their umbrellas to remain in place while the rain soaks them to their bones. But that is not a preoccupation to her. L i f e

The woman keeps her eyes closed as the sound of the rain lulls her. The warmth of the room in 23th floor can't be any more distant from the chilling breeze of the outside and only the rhythmic tapping of the raindrops against the large windows remind her that there is something beyond that place and that moment. i s

The girl sitting across from her, on the other hand, is gazing intently through the window. She is trying to make sense of the colorful images on the other side of the crystal, blurred by the heavy rain. n o t h i n g

"Do you remember? It all started on a day pretty much like this one" says the eldest suddenly, keeping her eyes closed and arms crossed over her chest. b u t

Getting no answer from her partner, she takes a peak. The younger one is sitting in the same position she has been for the last ten minutes: a hand slightly poised over the cold glass of the window and her brow lightly furrowed. Even if the physical distance that separates them is just two meters at the most, the girl's expression tells her that right now there is something else between them, something she cannot eliminate by simply crossing the room: Emotional distance. a

The woman sighs, closing her eyes once again, to immerse herself in her thoughts too. m e m o r y

When Bang Chaeyi comes bouncing into the training room that morning of July, she is still wearing her raincoat and colorful rubber boots.

"God damned, Bang Chaeyi, I just mopped that floor!" Chunhwa exclaims as she looks at her hard work going to waste. "Yah! Seoyeon, it's your turn," she says as she turns to the younger girl who was minding her own business.

"What?! No, no way, I'm not doing it!" Seoyeon shouts while waving her hands frantically before her.

"I let you go last time because you were sick but you look pretty good today." Chunhwa folds her arms, trying to contain herself. 

"Ah, unnie. I think... I think I'm feeling dizzy again..." She says as she places the back of her hand on her forehead. She staggers as if she's going to fall, holding onto the closest person in the most dramatic way.

"Aish, this kid." Chunhwa rolls her eyes, walking away from the puddle. Many trainees come and go, walking around the border of the small mass of water.

However, no one gets to warn the girl who comes skipping happily into the room. A loud thump and a high-pitched squeak resound across the room and the next thing Kim Yoona knows is that she is lying on her back with a mild headache.

"Boy, that probably hurt" Even dizzy, she recognizes Haneul's voice. "You should have seen yourself! You went like 'swooosh' and then 'plack' and then 'iiick!' and we were like 'ouch'" She can now see the younger girl, looming over her, along with Chaeyi. They both offer her hand and help her to standing position again.

"Chaeyi-ah! How are you feeling?" Yoona asks with a voice so cheerful one would never guess she just felt down.

"Better, I think my injury has really healed this time" Answers Chaeyi almost as gleefully, giving a couple of soft pats to her back.

"Yinnie!" Haneul throws her arm around the other girl's neck. Her eyes are glowing and her smirk is curled up with mischief. "I came up with something. Come, come. We need to talk now."

"Of course, Neullie" Chaeyi's expression takes a similar aspect, so much that it almost makes Yoona shiver.

But before Hanuel and Chaeyi can start any mischief, Junho enters the room, effectively garnering everyone’s attention. He makes his way to the front of the room and claps his hands three times. Most of the trainees stop talking and turns to him.

"I hope you girls are ready, we have an important announcement to make," he says calmly, trying to hide his inner excitement.

"We?" a voice questions. He looks at the trainee and nods. However, instead of continuing, Junho starts the lesson with any further word. Even without any clarification, some of the trainees suspect what is going on and those who don’t are still surrounded and consumed by the tense atmosphere clouding the dance room.

No one speaks and when someone bumps into another trainee, they merely nod. Junho smirks, amused at the psychological power a few words can have on the group. The class seems to drag endlessly, before Junho finally turns off the music. Just then, the door opens and a familiar-looking man walks into the room.

He is wearing a black suit, yet again, and looks the same way that he did the last time he stepped into the training room. Some girls think that it’s a deja-vu, an error in the Matrix and some simply want to buy him a new suit. In his right hand, he tightly grasps a beige file jacket. He stands beside Junho and pulls a bit on his tie. Junho looks at the girls as he continues to try to keep his cool. The trainees  crowd around them, not caring about their sweat or how thirsty they are. 

"The pedo-oppa is here?" Chaeyi blurts, making her way to the front of the group, only to have several hands clasped over and get dragged to the back of the crowd again.

Chaeyi pulls the hands off of and looks up at people who were holding her.

"What's with the crowd? Why can't I talk?" She continues to question in her usual bright tone.

"Do you remember the guy in the suit from a few days ago?" Yumi asks with a slight Busan accent. Chaeyi and Haneul turn to meet Yumi's eyes.

"Yeah, Mr. Creep, right?" Automatically says Haneul.

"If you say so," Yumi sighs. "Apparently he and teacher Junho has something important to announce."

"Their marriage?" Haneul and Chaeyi exclaim in unison. Yumi is speechless as she has no idea of how to answer. She wants to say no but considering how Junho acted around Minho that day, she has her doubts.

THUMP 

"Crap!" The noise grabs people's attention and a group of girls turn around to see Chunhwa sitting on her right where Chaeyi left the puddle. Seoyeon's eyes widens in excitement as she tries to fight back the laughs that she feels building up in her stomach. She slowly steps to Chunhwa with a smirk that manages to form on her face.

"I guess, if you had wiped up the water, this wouldn't have happened, unnie," she says as if she was mocking the girl sitting on the floor. Chunhwa is riled up and ready to tear out Seoyeon's hair..

"Seoyeon, you little b-" she starts but is cut off by Seoyeon reaching her hand out to her with a more pleasing smile on her face. She isn't in the mood to fight, especially with important-looking people in the room.

"Unnie!" Seoyeon says, "Let's listen to the announcement together." Chunhwa slaps Seoyeon's hand out of her face and gets up on her own, brushing her pants off when she does so. 

"Listen, little girl," Chunhwa says, pointing a finger at Seoyeon's face, "don't come near me ever again and DON'T call me unnie." She steps off then turns again as if she just remembered something. "You know what? Don't even call me." She makes her way into the crowd and calms herself down. Seoyeon, being quite taken aback by the confrontation, rolls her eyes and exhales deeply before also making her way into the crowd.

Minho looks at the girls' expectant faces and sigh. He pulls out a sheet of paper from the file jacket. 

"I am Do Minho, a new member of Choeun's staff, nice to meet you all," he says in a calm tone of voice, almost making it look like he was forced to talk to them. He bows then continues. "We have been tracking your progress and keeping watch on all of your classes." He looks around then thinks about how creepy his last line sounded. "On this sheet of paper, we have the names of those of you who were chosen to become members of Choeun’s new project, Diamonds." Junho looks at Minho and wishes that he would be more enthusiastic about it. "The members are as follows."

Heiryung keeps her arm around the shoulders of her two best friends, who reciprocate her gesture. Hajin, even if she is the youngest of the trio, stands almost head to head with the self-appointed Princess, her eyes are widely open, waiting eagerly for the revelation.

"Jung Heiryung" A lopsided smirk crosses her face as her name roles out of Minho's tongue. Of course they would choose her, how could they not? She doesn't even hold her breath or shift, she merely stays there, waiting for Hajin's and Gen's name to be called too so they can celebrate together.

But that moment never comes.

"Yah, how come you girls weren't chosen? I so need to speak to that suit-wearing !" Heiryung exclaims. Of course she is outraged, how could she not be if that guy wasn't able to see her friends' talents? Sure, they were not as bright as her, but they were better than some of the others.

"Unnie, it's alright, it's not like we got fired or anything. We are still here." Hajin speaks up, with a soft smile adorning her sweet features.

"But still! We are the Three Musketeers; the Three Caballeras; Ketchup, Mayonnaise and Mustard! None of these girls will know how to properly let me shine” Heiryung rambles on, moving her arms around in a dramatic fashion, causing the eldest, who had remained silent to an eyebrow.

"As amusing as I find this, silly dragon, they are calling you. If you keep making a big deal out of this in here, I will take your place, in no time!" Gen butts in, patting Heiryung's back, encouraging her to move forward. However, her brow knits and she strongly pulls the tall girl by her shirt. "Wait up!" Quickly, she tugs Heiryung's hair into place.

"Stop it, mom" Heiryung rolls her eyes, annoyed at Gen's motherly instincts.

"Oh, shut it. You need to look good for your first meeting" The frown is still visible in Gen's face when she finishes fixing Heiryung's shirt into place, but she doesn't seem to notice.

"Good? I look perfect, I'm Jung Heiryung: I always look perfect" Whatever trace of offense that had flooded Heiryung's expression is now lost under a sea of mirth and impishness.

"Unnie, you are acting embarrassing again" Hajin lowers her head, using her hand as if to shield herself from her friend's greasiness.

"Go, go, go!" Gen playfully shoves her towards the door with a cheerful voice, before giving her friend the best 'fighting' pose she can. As Heiryung makes her way to the hallway, they look at her with tender smiles. But as soon as she is out of sight, Gen's face falls and she drops her head. Her breathing is deep and slow, like she is trying very hard to compose herself. Hajin stares at her, clearly concerned, but unable to decide what to do or say: Should she pat her back or try to crack a joke? No, that would turn out more lame than funny.

"I'm sorry, sister. I failed this time." With one last breath, Gen turns around to gather her stuff, leaving Hajin standing there. When the youngest gets another glimpse of her face, she is smiling again like nothing had happened. Maybe everything is alright.

Jangmi closes her eyes and folds her arms as she's completely confident that her name will be called. Jolita steps beside her and pokes her arm.

"I'm sure you're going to be chosen," she whispers to Jangmi. Jangmi opens her eyes and smiles softly in response.

"Seo Jangmi" Minho announces. Jangmi's smile slowly changed form into a smirk. Although she was sure that she would be chosen, hearing it for herself made it that much more delightful.

"Congratulations, Jangmi." Jolita smiled widely as she placed a hand on Jangmi's shoulder but the next name being called inmediatly make her redirect her attention.

“Yang Soomin” The young girl is baffled, she was sure that after her lackluster performance in the dance practice, there was no way that stranger would choose her. When a hand grips her shoulder, Soomin turns to her right with a slight jump, effectively breaking the skin contact. Jolita’s face has a certain glow to it, something Soomin can’t quite place.

“Unnie, you will come with me, right?” She looks at her friend with wide eyes, filled with doubt.

“My name wasn’t called, Soomin” Jolita states with a soft smile on her lips, willing herself to make it look as truthful as possible while she search for her best encouraging words. However, when she sees Soomin’s face fall, she simply blurts out. “But Jangmi will watch over you. Right, Jangmi?” Jangmi’s eyes shoot open at her name being called. Noting at Jolita’s pleading look, she can’t do anything but nod.

“Y-yeah” Jangmi finally manages to blurt out. “Why not.” She finishes in a whisper that seems to go unnoticed by the youngest.

“I’ll be forever thankful, Seo Jangmi-ssi” Soomin politely bows and Jangmi knows she can’t go back on her words.

Haneul and Chaeyi hold hands tightly, both with their eyes closed and noses scrunched in expectation.

"Jung Haneul" Minho's voice announces to everybody and Haneul opens her eyes to make sure it's not just her imagination playing tricks on her, but when Chaeyi lets go of her hand and starts hugging her, she knows it true.

"I'm in?" It takes her a couple of seconds to grasp what's going on, she takes a look around the room and see the other girls celebrating too. "I'm in... I'm in! I'm in!" She repeats, each time with more energy, and starts bouncing in place, embracing her best friend tightly. Her smile is so wide that her eyes are barely crescent moons over her cheeks.

"Okay. Attention everybody, you will have your time later." Minho's voice puts a stop to the collective movement of the room, but the energy seems to be buzzing even if the girls are quiet now. Haneul and Chaeyi drop their embrace, only to remain holding hands like they originally where. "I need to speak to the chosen girls, so those whose names I called, please follow me"

Haneul lets go of her best friend's hand with her gaze fixed on her newly appointed manager and walks towards the door, with the insuppressible smile still on her face, along with the other girls. Chaeyi looks at the back of her retreating form, her now-lonely hand makes her way to the matching musical note necklace she is wearing, letting her fingers softly linger on the words engraved on it: 'Best Friends Forever'. With that, she smiles warmly.

The names come one after the other “Bang Chunhwa. Moon KangRi.”

Standing a few meters away from the other, the girls turn to look at each other. A confused Kangri points a finger at herself, asking for Chunhwa’s ratification, it takes the later just a second to nod back at her. A single eyebrow rises as Kangri flips her long hair around and Chunhwa just chuckles. They share a look full of mutual understand and suddenly Chunhwa sees her roommate quickly march towards her and immediately gets ready: barely a second later, she is holding Kangri up by her legs.

Kangri throws her arms up in the air as she jumps, never doubting her friend will catch her. She quickly gets off of the other girl, only to engulf in a tight embrace.

“We did it, you, y .” Chunhwa speaks out, using her left hand to mess Kangri’s perfect hair.

“We have to celebrate. Tonight, we party. The Tigress needs to go hunting” Answers Kangri, in her usual sultry voice, prompting them both to chuckle. They finally let go of each other and walk towards the door, when Kangri starts again.

“What do you say? Are you up for it or do you have to get up early tomorrow?”

“That’s an excuse to get out of a party invitation? Psst, early training never stopped me and never will” Chunhwa’s answer comes quickly and snarky, looking at her friend in an amused way. She only takes her eyes away from the front for a second and she is about to turn back, when she feels herself bump into someone. When Chunhwa looks at the floor, she is met with a couple of eyes staring angrily at her.

When Seoyeon heard her name being called, she bowed and kindly accepted the congratulatory words of the trainees around her. Gracefully, she had made her way through most of the training room, and was about to cross the door when someone had thrown her perfect exit to the garbage bin. Now she is sitting on the hard floor, her eyes gazing intently at the person guilty of her ultimate embarrassment.

“Again, Seoyeon?” Chunhwa asks in a low voice, clearly annoyed.

“Oh my God, you cute little thing!” Seoyeon wants to answer back, but in a moment, Kangri is pinching her cheeks and petting her head. She grabs her by her hands, helps her stand up and quickly dusts off her clothes and fixes her back to her normal state. “Sweet angry bunny, smile. Unnie is here and she will take care of you!”

After all that attention, the once angry maknae can’t hide the cute grin that spreads across her face.

The girls are conducted by Minho to an empty training room, the one that 24K, Choeun’s male group, usually uses for practices. When they all enter, he closes the door and stands in front of them.

“As I said, my name is Do Minho. I’ll be your caretaker, your manager when the moment comes.” He speaks as blandly as he did before. The girls all look eagerly at him and he can’t avoid feeling some uneasiness in his stomach. “Here I have a copy of the contract each one of you will sign if you chose to accept this offer. Please, take your time and read it. If you do agree to participate in the project, you will have to attend to Choeun’s main office, which I expect all of you remember its location, four days from now” Minho pauses, arranging the tick files and handing one to each of the girls. “To those of you, who are underage, please arrange for your legal guardians to come and sign with you.”

“What about the dorm?” Jangmi asks, her voice showing her discomfort at interrupting the man.

“Choeun has arranged for an apartment to be set up as a dorm for you. You will be requested to move into it if you decide to sign the contract.” Minho gathers his things, packing the file jacket in his black suitcase. “The special training will begin in two weeks, the moving will take place a day before that. That’s everything.” Swiftly, Minho walks out of the room, leaving the girls at loss of words.

The uneasiness lingers on his stomach even once he closes the door to his apartment, loosening his tie. Seven girls stood in front of him, how many will make it? How many will actually debut?

On an average hallway, there is a door, of emerald green in color and in front of it, stands a man lost in thought. Minho shakes the handful of keys in his right hand, making them rattle a bit, while he stares intently at the bronze number on the upper part of the painted wood: ‘23’ it reads.

“Hyung! Open the door!” A teenager stands next to Minho, he is of average height for a young boy but the amount of baby fat in his face indicates he will still grow some more; and Minho sincerely hopes he does, because that would even out his little ‘Dumbo ears’. “Hyung-nim I’m really hungry.” The boy pouts and shakes a little, overflowing with natural aegyo, despite being fifteen years old already; with the keys still firmly in his hand, Minho smiles at the familiarity of the scene. “Minho-hyung! Minho-hyung?”

“Minho-ssi? Are you alright?” The teenager’s voice is replaced with that of a young girl. When Minho turns to his right, there is no trace of any other male, just a group of girls staring uncomfortably at him.

“Ah?” Soomin’s question is enough to snap him out of his trance and turning to gaze at the door one last time, he composes himself and starts working on the lock. “Yes, let’s go in”

The door softly creaks and Minho makes a mental note to bring some oil next time. When they enter the apartment, everyone seems to hold their breath. The discomfort is obvious and Minho feels the incessant need of wanting to jump out of the window as quickly as possible. So they go quickly through the living room, the kitchen which also harbors a dining table and make their way to the only room of the apartment.

“Is this a joke?” Heiryung cries.

“Because if it is, Manager Minho, you at joking as much as Teacher Junho at insulting” Continues Chunhwa.

The room harbors two bunk beds and a mattress leaned against the window at the opposite end of it, which take most of the space. There is also a door to the right of the room and two small night tables.

“Manager, I’m no expert in math, but there are only four beds, well five, and seven of us” Jangmi talks in a paused manner, trying not to be rude with the man.

“Yes, well, two of you will have to share the sofa; you can turn it into a bed.” Minho answers with calm, taking a look around the room, not really satisfied with what he sees.

“I want to take the bottom one.” Quickly exclaims Soomin.

“And I’ll take the other bottom bed!” Says Seoyeon, not losing any more time. Haneul just stares at both of them with slightly open, it takes her a second more but she finally talks.

“I’ll take the upper bed. Bunk beds are fun!” Haneul exclaims cheerfully, with a cute smile on her youthful features.

The girls continue to talk but Minho can’t make out their words. He feels some leave the room and come back with their suitcases but he is gone again.

“This will be my bed!” The young boy brightly says, with half of his body almost hanging from the upper bed. “If you sleep on this bed over here,” he bends further, pointing to the bed just beneath his. “I can say hello to you every morning! Just like that! That’s why bunk beds are totally fun!”

“Minho-ssi, I was wondering…” But Jangmi never gets to make her question, because the man starts to walk out of the room without even looking at her. He seems desperate as he crosses the living room in a couple of steps but Jangmi walks quickly behind him. “Minho-ssi, at least give us a copy of the keys!”

Jangmi’s words make him turn around for a second and fumble with something. He fights with the keychain for a moment but soon gives up and throws it all at Jangmi, who barely catches it.

“I will be back tomorrow at 7 am. Be ready.” Minho speaks with something that sounds like fear, like he had just seen a ghost, and with that he dashes out of the apartment and closes the door.

“That’s… odd” Jangmi stares at the door for a second, wondering if he will pop back at any second.

“Man, he is a total piece of work” Comments Chunhwa, while she arranges the sofa-bed that she has claimed as hers.

All of a sudden, they hear shouting coming from the bedroom. Sharing a concerned look, Chunhwa and Jangmi quickly make their way to the open door.

“Can you stop being such a Diva?” the first voice speaks with an annoyed tone.

“Can you stop meddling in other people’s business?” the second voice sounds as irked, yet it turns to an angered one next. “Yah! Take your dirty hands off my things!” 

“Why? Are you going to call your super-friends on me?” the first talks again, mock dripping of each of her words.

“You didn't say that! I guess someone really wants to know who Jung Heiryung is!”

By the time Chunhwa and Jangmi enter the room, there are bags sprawled on the floor, both girls are standing in the middle of the room, staring daggers at each other eyes. There is a tense silence for a moment, before Kangri challenging answers.

“Bring it on, I’m waiting!”

Author Rin reporting for duty :

Yay!! Chapter 1 is out! I hope it is to your liking. It's long but I hope it kept your attention :) 

As you can see, drama is being served out~ 

Thank you for reading. Merry Christmas (belated Christmas wish...I'm sorry) and have a Happy New Year!! :)

Ayo, Author Ellie here:

I'm so sorry this took so long~ Man, girls are mean hahaha To all of you, thank you for sticking with us <3 We hope you enjoy this long first chapter (Especially those of you who didn't made it into the teaser)

Merry late Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! <3