Chapter 3: FUDGESUKIMCHI EVERYWHERE!

 

As we rode the plane that would actually lead us to our own dreams, our mixed emotions suddenly came rushing in, Ai who was usually hyperactive suddenly stayed silent during the whole flight as she continued to look at her family picture. Nam, well, she’s still managing her Kpop Merchandise stuff but this time she’s about to hand it over to a trusted friend and with a single touch in her phone screen she sighed which literally means she already handed it down. Shin, also one of the most hyperactive girls in the group just continued to stare at the windows as if she’s under a trance and that she found something so interesting in the clouds. And on the other hand Seo Yeon, suddenly started to talk, nonstop and it was really obvious that she is just as much as nervous as we all are.

‘Yeo reo bun, it da an jeon ha do chak ha da Nam Han’

[Everyone, we have safely arrived in South Korea]

The voice in the intercom said as it broke our trances, one by one the passengers got out of the plane and we, as the tourists here, we really have no idea where we should go.

Nam, our appointed spokesperson started to look around and scratch her head.

“I really don’t know what we should do and where we should go..” Nam said while she held my hand, “Brain.blocked.by.excitement.Korean.language.is.broken.” Nam added in a robot voice which made us all crack up.

We should not be stranded here and this Mr. Jung is still not picking up his darn phone! But I must admit he did say that he is still in a meeting but fudge that meeting! He scouted us and now he’s making us feel lost in this sea of Sus-Kimchi people..T___T and I can really see the panic in Shin, Ai and Seo Yeon’s eyes.

“Sil lye ham ni da,[Excuse me]” I said as I approached the 5th person who passed by in front of us, and thank goodness she stopped and looked at me. “Mwo jom mu reo bwa do dwae yo? [Could I ask you something?]”

“Ne, mu seu ni ri se yo?[yes, what’s the problem]” She asked back at me and looked at Nam, Shin, Ai and Seo Yeon who in turn smiled at her.

“An nae so neun eo di e in nay o? [Where is the information desk?]” I said as I mustered up my small knowledge about their language, “Uhmm..Taek ssi?[Taxi?]” I said as I motioned my hand like I was driving. Which really caused a giggle coming from the four girls behind me.

“Ah..Taek si.” She laughed then signaled us to follow her. And since she seemed nice and she’s a stewardess for goodness sake. She then pointed us to some places like the bathroom if ever we want to go in there, or the airport’s cafeteria, then after a 10 minute walk that seemed like forever from the arrival area we reached the Taxi stop. She helped us hail a taxi and gave clear directions as I gave her a card of SMent that was given to us by the Sushi Lady before we left the Philippines.

After an hour and a half drive from the airport we arrived in front of a 3 storey building and yes it was SMent, THE SMent. It's not a breath taking sight actually but it's worth it for our jaws to drop. The five of us have been dreaming for like what it seems to be forever just to be here, I mean, to be standing, entering and to be specific to join SMent as one of its trainees. We have obviously paid the taxi driver with the right amo--

"Nam..how much did you pay?" I instantly asked as I saw the Taxi driver speeding off.
"Uh...a couple of won?.." Nam answered with her eyes not leaving the building.

A couple of won from Nam’s mouth literally means she paid without getting the change.

“Nam..” I whispered in her ear, but still I failed to get her attention and so was the other three who was still gaping their mouths wide open.

“Pinch me.” Seo Yeon said earning a pinch from both Ai and Shin. “OW! What was that for?!”

“You said you wanted a pinch.” Shin answered without her eyes leaving the building.

“Are the four of still going to gawk there? Come on.” I shouted at them earning me another blank stare from them, “are you guys still going or not?”

“We are!!” all of them answered as they scurried up the stairs and ran towards me.

Entering the building made our hearts pound even faster, we just can’t believe that we are already a step closer to our dream. Yes, it may sound cheesy or even cliché but all five of us walked hand in hand as we approached the information desk, or the receiving area.

“We are here to see Mr. Jung.” I said, “uh..we are..”, The girl that was working there just looked at me, great she can’t understand English. T_T

“Girls!” a fatherly voice suddenly made our heads turns. “I am so glad that you all made it here.” He added with a smile.

“Jung-ssi?” Nam suddenly blurted as she nudged my rib cage which really hurts like hell.

Hearing his name straight out from Nam’s lips he smiled, “at least you recognized me. Come on girls I’m going to introduce you to Mr.Lee”

Walking inside the building we just still keep our mouths open as we awed in the interior, the walls are white but its marble, the floor is equally shiny with our reflections can be clearly seen. The ambience it’s just like one of those café’s that would actually make you feel at home. But all these calmness suddenly dispersed as we entered the office of the big boss.

As we entered the room, Mr. Lee greeted us with equally judging stare and a smile that would make you feel nervous around him. Even just his presence would surely make you tremble.

“Girls, introduce yourselves..” Mr. Jung said with a smile on his face the exact opposite of Mr. Lee.

We looked at each other and smiled, ‘One-two-three-‘I whispered.

“Annyeong-haseyo! PRISM-imnida” we all greeted with still trembling and nervous hands.

“Annyeong-haseyo,Jeo neun Choi SeoJin-imnida”

“Annyeong-haseyo,Jeo neun Park NamEun-imnida”

“Annyeong-haseyo,Jeo neun Han AiTae-imnida”

“Annyeong-haseyo,Jeo neun Seo Yeon Young-imnida”

“Annyeong-haseyo,Jeo neun Shin-imnida”

“So..” Mr.Lee finally said as he tapped his index finger on his desk, “You’re PRISM, the one that Mr. Jung is so hyped up about.”

We just replied with a smile.

“What do you think you all have as an advantage from all of those groups that the other Scouts brought here?” He asked with his authoritative voice.

Mr. Jung looked at us urging us that we should answer Mr.Lee.

“You can answer me in the language that you are comfortable with.” Mr.Lee suddenly said with his voice telling us that it is a challenge.

“If I may Sir, We want to answer your question in the easiest and most convenient way that we can, yet our language barrier is certainly stopping us from telling you what we really want.” Nam suddenly spoke out.

“I’ll help in translating it,” Mr.Jung said as he stood by our side. “You are the girls that I scouted so, I’ll help you all out.”

“Jin..” Shin suddenly whispered, “I guess you should begin, since we really can’t think of anything right now, we’ll just give out our supporting statements.”

I looked at Shin and then at Nam. Meanwhile Ai and Seo Yeon is obviously gripping each other’s hand to death.

“Excuse me sir, I’m Choi SeoJin, and I am the appointed leader of this group that we personally created.” I began as I tried to look cool and composed, in which I think I failed. “one of the advantages that I think our group have from all of the other scouted groups is that we all know each other well enough to know what our flaws are, we can cover it up without anyone noticing it and we are sure that this is our dream, not just mine but ours. This may sound like a common answer, coz I know that you have heard this a couple of times already but, we were scouted by Mr. Jung because he wants to take a risk in training girls that are not Korean or Chinese, he scouted us because he want everyone to see that even us, the normal fan girls can also be or do what our idols are doing. Another one is that our language is not limited to only one or two, we are currently learning different languages in order for us to communicate with other countries. In short we are flexible enough to be trained and we are much more willing to learn.”

After that speech Mr.Jung was indeed true to his words, he translated everything to Mr.Lee and if I think I am right he also added his opinions making the speech sound even longer than ever and earning a smile from Mr.Lee.

Mr. Jung instructed us to wait at the adjacent room and for an hour we all just sat there looking at each other.

“Unnie..do you think we have a chance to..” Ai suddenly said as we saw that there were tears b in her eyes.

“Be positive Pands. We have a chance” Seo Yeon said in a tone equally nervous with Ai, and it was really obvious that she was just trying to be positive. “Right?..we have a chance..”

Nam just kept shut and so did me and Shin, we are hanging by a string and as of this moment I really don’t know if we really have a chance.

Shin nudged Nam who’s tears already started to fall.

“Hush..we..we have a chance ok? If we don’t we can still go back and do some covers and improve.” Shin said as Nam raised her head and wiped her tears.

“can we really go back?..” Nam asked as she looked at me who was still fidgeting, “and do those covers again? Can we still do it even though we.—“

“Yes we can, even if we fail here, it does not mean that we don’t have a chance anymore.” I said looking at all of them, “If this window of opportunity closes there’s still a door in which we can enter and..wait was it really a door?”

“I think it’s a window..” Ai said as she further pondered on the sentence.

“I thought it was the door?” Shin answered and bit her nails.

“Or was it the roof?..” Seo Yeon suddenly spoke and looked around the room, “or was it the walls?..”

“Shob, how can we possibly open the roof or the walls?” Nam asked as a smile broke out.

“We can just use a wrecking ball, you know the one that Miley Cyrus rode on..but without the riding and the profanities and the you know what..” Seo Yeon said while she smiled widely.

We all laughed at her comment, of course we won’t do those profanity, over our drop dead gorgeous, voluptuous, y bodies.

“What are you girls discussing?” Mr. Jung suddenly came inside the room with his face blank of any expression.

“Uh..we are discussing about the parts of the house.” Shin answered.

“House?” I asked her.

“Yeah, we were talking about the windows, the door, the roof and the walls so to sum it all up we are talking about a house.” Shin suddenly calculated.

Mr.Jung chuckled, “so let’s go girls.” He smiled.

“uh..go where?” Ai asked.

“To find you a house, apartment, penthouse, or even a pad for you girls to stay in.” He said as he opened the door.

“Why?.” The five of us asked in chorus.

“your training starts tomorrow girls.” Mr.Jung simply answered.

“That means..we…we…” Seo Yeon stuttered and looked at us then back at Mr. Jung.

“MADE IT!” All of us cheered louder than we expected.

“Yes, you all did, and if your training goes well, maybe within a year or two you can all debut.” He smiled.

“So we get to debut as a group?” Shin asked making us stop.

“Yeah..but that’s the vital point here, all of you should do your best and give all you can, just one fail from either one of you, you’ll all fly back. That is what Mr.Lee said.”

“So we shouldn’t make any mistake or fail in everything that the company throws at us?” I asked.

Mr. Jung answered with a nod, “Girls let’s not talk about that for now ok, just do your best and yeah..I’ll be your manager once you all debut, and I sure wish that all of you will.”

We looked at each other and showed a smile, yeah, I guess Mr. Jung is right, we shouldn’t worry about it, we should just focus is passing throughout this training.