Prologue: The Cube Boys
 

In a certain practice room in the Cube Entertainment building, six girl-group idols are practising their latest hit single, No No No. The same tune had been repeating for the last three hours, and when the instructor left, the girls plopped onto the floor from the exhaustion.

"Unnie, we're so tired!" Bomi complained, unable to lift herself from the floor despite repeated instructions from the manager to sit up.

"And hungry!" Namjoo added.

"Alright then, what do you guys want to eat?" The manager whipped out her phone and prepared to take down orders for the girls' meals. The girls start bombarding the poor manager with foods of all sorts, leaving her unable to catch up.

Alas, between gasps of 'wait, wait' and 'hold on, could you repeat that?' from the manager, she successfully notes down all the orders and dialled a number.

"Unnie, aren't you ordering them yourself?" Naeun asked, her head resting on Eunji's shoulder for support.

"No, someone's going to buy them out of his own accord."

After moments of groaning and complaint, the door to the room opened and a young boy armed with bags of food trudges in.

"Howon!" Naeun and Eunji greet in unision. When the boy returns the greeting, the members swarm around him and pick up the food items they have requested for.

"Why are you buying the food for us?" Eunji asked while she and Naeun helped their favourite trainee with the items.

"Well, your manager had to go for the meeting and I was on my way here, so..."

"That's not fair," Naeun frowned, shocked that the manager had requested for her close friend to do the work for her. "You should be working on your debut, not working as our deliveryman."

"Yeah, and you ordered so much food! You couldn't have brought them here alone," Chorong bumped in, amidst her attempt to rouse Bomi from her nap.

"Actually, I didn't bring this all alone. My friends helped," Howon explained, watching the hungry girls wolf down the packets of food. "But they're too shy to come, so they headed back to the practice room." He took a sip of his drink before sticking his tongue out in disgust. "Yuck, that's too sweet!"

Eunji shook her head as she takes the can of Cola out of his hand. "You are aware that you don't like sweet stuff. Why did you even buy that?" Naeun reprimanded, handing him a bottle of water.

"I just wanted to know why most of my friends liked it..." Howon took the bottle of water from her hands.

"You should have just asked me or Naeun," Eunji frowned, worry plastered over her face.

"I know. Noona, you should eat your lunch before Bomi noona or Namjoo steal them." He was a step too late - the aforementioned members had taken away the food.

"Yah, that's my food!" Eunji's thick Busan accent rang out as she went after the two culprits.

"Anyways, I have to go now. My class starts in twenty," Howon rose from his seat and made his way out the door.

"Bye, oppa, I'll be waiting for your debut!" Hayoung's voice is the last sound he heard before he closed the door.



"Hyungs, you should really pay a visit to A Pink seniors with me someday," Howon said, entering his own practice room.

"But we're not as close as you are," one of them answered. "You're friends with Chorong noona and Namjoo," Howon pointed out. "Why can't you just visit them for a short while?"

"Come on, Howon. You're still close to them. You're close friends with Naeun and Eunji. Sheesh, I'm really jealous of you."

"Okay then, I won't force you anymore," Howon surrendered, proceeding to warm up his body for the dance lesson. "But next time, you have to say hi to them with me." The older boys just nod in acceptance.



“Guys, there will be a trainee meeting at 4pm later,” a trainer informed his students, who were preparing for their daily practice.

“Meeting? What for, sir?” One of the trainees asked, staring at the trainer who was already fiddling with the stereo.

“I have no idea, and I don’t think I would want to waste time thinking about it.” The trainer replied simply, before raising his voice. “Let’s start with the dance that I assigned you last week. Get in your groups, please.”

The chattering from the boys soon died down as each of them sat cross-legged on the floor, in their distinct groups of six. There was one group, though, that everyone knew had the potential to debut in Cube Boys, the company’s new idol group.

After the familiar tune, Bad Girl, boomed through the speakers, the potentials leapt into their places. One of them, who was mimicking Gikwang’s actions in the dance, was one of the top students in the dance class, alongside the trainee who was assigned Hyunseung’s role in the song.

The two boys at the back – the rappers – were also well-liked in the company, and constantly received praise from their trainers – except for one of them, who was constantly reminded to improve on his rhythm. The four boys stated above had been shortlisted to be members in the prestigious Cube Boys, but the vocalists had not been decided, yet.
 

I'm heart sick, heal me, be crazy, don't let you go (Yeah!)
Sad love song, My love gone (We got a new school sound)
Please baby don't go far. (Now we take that song!)
 

The performers followed the choreography with precision, their sharp moves making the dance seem more uniform and enjoyable to watch. Even though it was just a practice, the boys made it a point to give their best in every move, which was likened by the trainers.
 

Eojega majimak kiss, neol jabji mothan nae miss
Modeunge kkumi gil please, nan geunyang babo baboga dwin geot gata
 

When Junhyung’s rap started playing, the stronger rapper started to follow the lyrics live, shocking the rest of the onlooking trainees when he didn’t fail to catch up with the dance moves at the same time. Even though the song did not focus on rapping, it was still a good practice.

The trainees were so immersed that they failed to notice three of the BEAST members stepping into the room, clapping when the song ended.


“That was a great job, boys!” Doojoon said enthusiastically, raising two thumbs for emphasis. Yoseob stepped forward and tapped his junior on the shoulder, even having to stand on his toes to reach him.

“You were the best!”

“Thanks, hyung. Your song is great, too.” The younger boy said with a smile.

“Hyung, can we join them too?” Gikwang asked, already feeling the need to show off some of his dance skills.

“Cool! Did you guys memorise our song lyrics too?” Doojoon asked after the trainer agreed, and most of the trainees nodded.

“How about some live singing?” Gikwang said excitedly, picking up a couple of microphones near the stereo.

“We could sing our parts, and you can rap for Junhyung,”Doojoon suggested, pointing to the boy next to Yoseob.

“The rest of you could replace Hyunseung and Dongwoon. Shall we get into our positions?” Doojoon assigned the positions and muttered, “Let’s try Breath.”