Prologue: MINHEE & HYEJIN
 

“Minhee unnie,” Hyejin called, poking her head into the practice room. “Still slogging away?” She slipped in through the door, watching as the exhausted trainee collapse to the floor in a tired heap.

“Ugh. Hyejin, what time is it?”

“Ten-thirty. You missed dinner,” Hyejin offered, lifting a lunchbox in a hand and dropping her bag to the floor. “You really should stop dancing so much.”

The younger girl handed a set of utensils to the starving trainee, who dug into the food without hesitation. “I can only dance,” Minhee said matter-of-factly, food stuffed in and pair of chopsticks pointed at Hyejin. “Can’t do anything else.”

“Then shouldn’t I be training extra hard?” Hyejin raised an eyebrow at the girl’s unusual eating behaviour. “I can’t dance to save my life!”



Hyejin, unlike her older brother, did not learn choreography as fast – she absolutely at rapping; and her singing was only average. It was a wonder she was chosen to be a part of GE2M, which had been dubbed one of the most prestigious groups to enter by the other trainees. She once wondered if she could manage with the endless comebacks that she would soon face, and feared dragging the group down with her slow learning.

“You have an injury. That doesn’t count.”

“’course it does. They’re delaying the debut because of me-”

“Rubbish!” Minhee chided, bits of rice spewing out from . Swallow before speaking!, a little Hyejin squealed in Minhee's head. “That’s not true. That’s only because they’re still looking for the last member.”



There had been two female trainees who’d been famously shortlisted for the position of main vocalist in G.E.M. Thanks to Hyejin’s amazing stalking skills, Miryeong and Sora became the two names etched in her mind whenever G.E.M. was concerned.

Baek Miryeong had joined when Hyejin entered the company, and they’d been pretty close. Hyejin remembered her as a big Teen Top fan-girl, often flaunting the group’s merchandise to the other members. A playful girl at heart, she could make friends with virtually everyone within a day if you allowed her to.

Sora, on the other hand, was one of the girls who everyone preferred to shun. Known as the crybaby who was touched by everything, she’d believe every single word someone told her. It was only through Jeongguk that Hyejin had a chance to be close to her. Other than that, she tried not to be as close to her anymore. There was just something weird about her…



Hyejin dropped her gaze onto the cast she wore on her left wrist. It seemed harmless – yet Hyejin hated it every one bit. Jeongguk had assured her that the cast would only last two weeks. It’d already been twenty days – and the cast remained. Hyejin had ignored her brother’s advice and attended dance practice, desperate to finish going through the choreography for the group’s debut. She even tried sitting down to watch Minhee demonstrate the moves to her, but it was too hard – she had to keep moving.

“Don’t worry, they won’t force it on you.” Minhee reached out and patted the younger girl on her knee.

“I’m scared,” Hyejin mumbled, bringing her knees to her chest. “Or what if the others don’t like me? There’s Jeongguk after all…”



Minhee scoffed, putting the now-empty lunchbox down and slinging an arm around the girl’s shoulder. “Men are all stupid, Hyejin,” she stated, looking as if she’d been too experienced for goodness’ sake. “Our debut will be fine.”

The room was silent for a few seconds, before Hyejin turned to squint at the older girl doubtfully. “They’ll just call us a carbon-copy of Girls’ Generation. It doesn’t happen to boy groups – that’s why M.A.X.’s debut was a success – but with us, they’re harsh. And Jeongguk isn’t a bad guy.”

“But he hurt you,” Minhee said. “He didn’t help you when-”

Hyejin frowned. “You promised not to bring that up.” It was a memory she wanted to erase immediately. It seemed almost solid up to this day – it was as if someone scrawled the words in her mind with permanent ink. “Even if the fans are nice, there’s still that girl we met during the meeting.”

Minhee struggled not to grin at the mention of her name. She’d spent a good ten minutes laughing over her imagination between the girl and Hyejin, and had to be chased out of the shop by the owner.

“Hyejin, you’re not even the leader – in fact, I’m pretty sure you’ll be the youngest out of all of us. Don’t worry like a grandma. Everything will be fine. Promise.”