Welcome to J.Tune Entertainment!" There was hooting and applause from the group of fifty or so youth, both male and female. We were all sitting in one of bigger practice studios.

 The Probation coordinator, a man I had meet once three years ago smiled friendly at all of us. " You should have been given your packages and ID when you signed in.  Please open your envelope and pull out your folder. Take note of its colour. This colour represents the dormitory that you have been assigned to for your probationary period." 

There was quiet mumbling through the group as everyone pulled out their folders. Mine was green. "Now, please stand quietly and leave all your belongs on your seats. Make sure you empty your pockets,  leaving your wallets and  purses behind. Not to worry...You will receive your beings back sometime this evening if they were on the list. Anything extra will be sent back to your residence." 

Everyone was doing what he asked. 

"Okay...All blue , please line up from oldest to youngest behind Lee Hyuk", a smiling young man waved both hands towards the group. They quickly and somewhat quietly organized themselves behind the man.

"All red, do the same and head behind Cho Eun Sook", the very pretty lady held her hand up so the group of female started over to her.

"All green, Yoo Ji Sung will take great care of you." a somber looking man stood over to the far left.  It figured, out of four possible people, I would get the cranky old fart.

My group quickly organized into years: 2-1998, 4-2000, 4- 2001, 2-2002.Then quickly put ourselves into month order, I was second to last as we lined up. We all stood quietly as the last group of females lined up in age order diagonally across the room from my group.

I did a double take. The girl at the end of the line looked familiar to me. But I had lost sight of her as we were directed to follow our managers out to our dorms. The males left through the back exit while the females left through the front.

"Right now, we are in the lower basement where four of our training studios are. Get familiar with them. They're going to be your home for the next six weeks.  Now, I have  strict rules for my probees.  They started the minute you lined up behind me. See these doors." he was pointing to the two elevators."They are a privilege that you can earn. No one from this group is to use them until they earn the right." 

He pointed to the stairway exit sign. "There are four stairway up to the lobby. Six stairway up higher. With  your key cards, your have access to all lower and three higher stairways. Our first challenge is the figure out what staircases you can use and then meet me on the fifth floor in the main lounge. Go!" 

Everyone started to run for the stairways. I grabbed the guy behind me."Wait! Follow me." 
As we headed in the opposite direction from the main group, I introduced myself, "I'm James Kim.” I remembered to use my Canadian name. I stuck out my hand and he grabbed it,"Kevin Woo from the US."  Great! Someone else who will know what it feels like to be an outsider, too. 

"Where are we going?" he asked. "Trust me...A short cut!" We half jogged up the flight of the stairs and quickly walked diagonally through  the  lobby to the stairway marked D. I pulled out my key card a swiped down. The door unlocked and up we went. 
 
"Shouldn't we figure out the other doors to the dorm first?" Kevin asked. I smiled at him.

"You already know, do you?"  I nodded. The benefit of knowing my father's company and floor plan.  I knew better than to run out as soon as we got to the right floor. "We better wait a few more minutes. D,E,F stairwells take us up to the male dorms. A,B,C take the girls to their dorms.  Whatever happens don't get caught in the wrong stairwell by any senior members. Your life will be a living hell, if you do."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." We sat quietly listening for sounds coming through the door and below. A few minutes passed, finally we heard some talking and the echoing of feet running up the stairs.

"We'll wait until they're rounding the fourth." I grabbed the doorknob to open it."You go first, straight down the hall, turn on your second left. Ready! Go!"

We flew out the door with a bang, flying in the direction of the lounge.  We rounded the corner to see Yoo Ji Sung holding a clipboard in one hand and a stopwatch in the other. We both sprinted over to him. I slowed just enough to let Kevin take the lead to be the first to arrive.

About 20 seconds later, the next three arrived from same direction as us. 30 seconds later, four from the opposite direction found their way to us. Shortly after that the last three jogged around the corner.

"Well, it looks like the maknaes in this group are setting the pace. Making it here, first and second respectfully. But the question is did they figure out the right stairways?" 

Kevin looked at me and I nodded."D,E, and F," he answered.

A few of the others guys groaned with displeasure as Yoo Ji Sung gave Kevin the thumbs up signal.  

"Everyone take a seat." Yoo Ji Sung motioned toward the large leather sectionals. Kevin was about to sit when he saw me shake my head once. He stopped himself quickly and waited until the others had seated themselves.  

"Good to see that even our foreigner maknaes seem to understand the sunbae/hoobae relationship that we practice here in Korea... Before we go into your dorm, lets do some introductions: state your name, age, where your from and one of your strengths. Then we'll go over some basic rules and room assignments." maybe I jumped the gun on my new manager. He seemed reasonable so far.

It turns out that four of us are foreign borne Koreans and two more are half-Korean. We are definitely an interesting group of young men. 

Yoo Ji Sung read off some of what he considered to be the most important rules to know immediately:

Be on time.
Be polite to your superiors and elders (Honorifics must be observed)
Do your homework
No visitors  allow in dorms without prior permission 
No cell phones
Must have permission to leave the premises.
No dating during probation or training period 
Know & follow your schedule 
Use the stairs
Name tag and key card must be with you at all times when out of your dorm 

 "Be warned! The penalty for failing to follow the rules, will be severe...Because many of you are underage, you and your parents have signed a short term contract.  In the eyes of the law,  your instructors and management are replacing your parents for the next six weeks. Know that we have your safety and best interest in mind when we made these rules...With the amount of young people in our charge, we must use a strict merit system, many of you are probably familiar with this kind of system from school. If you reach Forty demerits, your probation will be terminated and you will be sent home. Please be sure to follow the rules."  his voice was stern, he got his point across. The group was silent.

"On a lighter note, here are your room assignments,...." he read them off. There were four to a room. By the looks of it, they mixed two English speakers with two native Koreans. Kevin and I were put with two of the oldest Koreans.

He went on discussing a few more house rules and expectations.

"I expect you to treat each other with respect, we are now your family for the next six weeks and possibly long if you work hard. Let's all get along and enjoy our time together. Now, if you would follow me quietly. This is your new home." We did as we were asked and silently made our way to our apartment, 511. 

 The apartment  had an interesting modern layout, a mirror image almost. You walked into a small entry which opened into a large open space with a black sectional couch, straight ahead was the kitchen with a large square table. On each side of the main room, there were three doors; 2  bedrooms separated by a bathroom.  Each bedroom had two sets of bunk beds, two eight draw dressers and one small walk-in closet sectioned into fourth. Our names were posted in the door to our rooms. Yoo Ji Sung had the fourth room on our side.

"You will notice on your assigned bed a few items: your name tag which must be worn at all times when you are out of the dorm, your green track suit for training in, a green polo shirt for when you go to the academy,  and lastly your personal schedule. I would like everyone to change into their tracksuit, pin your name tag on over the J.Tune Symbol and bring you schedule out here in no more than 5 minutes. Go!" he had his stopwatch out again. 

We hustled into our rooms, both Kevin and I had the top bunks.The four of us scrambled to get dressed quickly in the small space, pinning our names on as we exited the room. We were the first group out ready to go with schedules in hand.

We were told to go down to the third floor and meet in the cafeteria. We quickly made our way down the stairs and found the way to the large airy room. I had eaten in there a couple of times over the years. Most of the boys were super impressed.  My father had personally experienced hunger during a time in his life, he'd be dammed if anyone of his charges would face that same fate.

 As Yoo Ji Sung went on with our orientation, it was interesting to note that our key cards were more than just a key to get into our dorms. They were our lifeline to the J.Tune world. They were linked up to J.Tunes integrated computer system. Basically, every time you swipe your card, it is logged down somewhere. It was a very important tools. He expressed their importance and that no one but the owner should use. Don't lose it, lend it or leave it laying around! He led use over to one of the built-in monitor screens and place his card on the censor. Immediately it activated the computer and it went to a menu screen. He pulled down group schedule.

"As you see the computer system here is totally integrated.  Our whole group is scheduled to meet our new physical trainer at 2:30pm and then the group is going to have dinner in here at 6:00pm tonight. Later at 700pm, all of the probees will meet back in the auditorium where you'll be introduced to the founder and President, Jeung Jihoon." Yoo Ji Sung stated fact-of-factly. " One by one, I want to see you try and access your account. ". 

Only one person's card in the group wasn't working properly. One of the boys noticed that we were scheduled for lunch 20 minutes ago. Yoo Ji Sung led us over to the buffet style lunch that was being served. He scanned his card as he pick up his tray. 

He laughed as he read a quick description of the food it suggest he eat. "Enjoy your meals today, boys!...Because you may be put on a certain diet to best built your preferred body type.  We do have a full-time dietitian who monitors all trainees and idols diets to keep everyone healthy. Go ahead and Chow down, just remember to check your individual schedules. I do believe the six youngest are to go the Learning Academy at 1:00pm. At that, I will see everyone in D training studio at 2:30 !"  he and his lunch tray disappeared from sight.

Kevin and I hung back and let the other's get their food first. "Wow, this place is pretty amazing!" Kevin was awed by the selection of food available and quickly filled his tray.

"Where are you from?" he asked as we sat back down with our group.

"Vancouver, Canada."                       ”Cool! We're practically neighbors. I'm from California."