"You'll be separated into two groups. JaeEun, KyunJi, SooJin, YoonKi, KyMin, MinAh, MinJae, JinRa, and HaRu will be taking the floor above. HyeMi, MinHee, YooMi, YonNi, MiYoo, SuJin, EunMi, HyeSun, and RuiXian will take the lower level." The trainees turned to one another excitedly. In their midst, HaRu and EunMi exchanged worried glances. On HyeJin's cue, the trainees amassed into their respective groups and proceeded to their dorms. HyeJin left the dorm allocations to each group's team leader.

On arriving at the upper floor, JaeEun hesitated as she pondered over the room arrangements. She cleared . "Does anybody have any preference for rooms, or room-mates?" A few of the trainees dithered, but none spoke up. JaeEun smiled. "Gwenchanayo [it's okay]~ you can speak your mind." The trainees fidgeted with nervous smiles etched on their faces. Seeing that none of them dared to voice their requests, JaeEun decided to base the room allocations on what she had observed prior. "Let's see..." SooJin interrupted before JaeEun could coninue. "Unnie, you are the eldest - it's only proper that you take the most convenient room; that is the master bedroom. Even with three people, it's much more spacious and there's an ensuite bathroom." She reasoned. "Gwenchanayo - I'll be fine with anything!" JaeEun smiled at her dongsaeng's sincerity. A small voice piped up as well. "Sunbae, I think you should get the master bedroom too." HaRu wrung her hands over the bones of her wrists as she agreed with SooJin shyly. "Nado [me too]!" KyunJi added. Soon, almost all the trainees had chimed in. JaeEun chortled as she nodded her appreciation. "Arasso~ then shall we have the three eldest sharing the room in that case? That'll be... Kyunji, SooJin, and I." KyunJi gave an excited yelp as she moved over to where the other two stood. SooJin pumped her fist in the air. The other trainees nodded smilingly. "Then we'll have YoonKi and HaRu share one room, how about that?" JaeEun had noticed that the two had some sort of bond; a friendship in its early stages, and felt that both of them would be good for each other - HaRu was much too shy to approach the others but seemed to gravitate towards YoonKi, who seems withdrawn in her own way, though she had shown a soft spot for the younger trainee. JaeEun was sure that she had made the correct call. HaRu gave her a grateful smile as she moved to stand in the spot YoonKi had vacated for her. There was a hint of worry etched in the latter's face, but it was quickly replaced by a tight smile. "Then we'll have MinAh and MinJae to a room, and KyMin and JinRa to a room, is that okay?" JaeEun concluded, as the former duo high-fived each other. KyMin and JinRa gave a silent nod before the trainees dispersed to their respective rooms.

HaRu made a beeline towards the smallest room before she halted midway. "Is this okay?" She seeked the elder's opinion. YoonKi nodded. "Dangyeonhagi~ [Of course]" It was customary for the youngest to accomodate to the elders, and in this case, offering to take the smallest room so the elders could occupy the larger rooms more comfortably. HaRu had evidently grew up well-mannered. MinAh and MinJae took the room closest to the living room as KyMin and JinRa settled for the bedroom wedged between the master bedroom and theirs. All of them began unpacking simultaneously.

In the dorm downstairs, HyeMi had taken charge. She had allocated the dorms swiftly, by means of age and seniority. "I'll take the master bedroom with MinHee and YooMi, YonNi can take the second bedroom with MiYoo, SuJin and EunMi will take the first bedroom, and the last two, HyeSun and RuiXian, shall take the smaller room. Now, let's make haste with unpacking. We'll meet back here in 15 minutes arasso?" "Neh!" the trainees darted to their respective rooms and commenced unpacking at the speed of light. HyeJin, looking on from the sidelines, chuckled as she thought to herself. That HyeMi is efficient indeed.     

Back in the upper dorm, YoonKi and HaRu had finished unpacking and were sitting quietly on their corresponding beds. HaRu allowed her legs to swing above the ground as she glanced at YoonKi. The elder smiled and patted her on the shoulder before leaving the room. HaRu stared at the disappearing figure and couldn't help thinking that YoonKi must be keeping something from everyone. HaRu resumed staring at the ground aimlessly as she played around with the thought. Int he adjacent room, three bubbly trainees were moving around the room zealously, busy introducing themselves and enagaging in small talk. SooJin made it clear that she was glad to be in the same room as JaeEun. She had known JaeEun for the entire three years she had been in the company after all; they were close. KyunJi had joined the company at the same time, but they hadn't crossed paths till then. Although being the stranger in the trio, KyunJi held her own and interacted well. MinAh and MinJae had collasped on their beds, reminiscing about their first meeting. What luck for them to have gotten into the project group together! They never did expect both of them to be shortlisted together, much less be roommates. Laughter emanated from their room periodically as they shared interesting stories about their auditions. In the next room, KyMin and JinRa remained silent as they unpacked, dragging out time to prevent unecessary conversation. 

The trainees in the lower dorm were almost done unloading their luggages as well. It was especially quiet in the master bedroom as HyeMi set out her personal belongings diligently. YooMi had just dumped her entire luggage on her side of the room, only bothering to extract a few items and place them on her desk. MinHee arranged her belongings systematically as she remained entirely focused on the task. YonNi and MiYoo exchanged quiet whispers in their own room, and YonNi took an immediate liking to the meek hoobae. SuJin and EunMi were same-aged friends, although SuJin was older by about a week, and both decided to drop formalities. "EunMi-ah," SuJin giggled as she switched to banmal. "Neh, SuJin-ah~" EunMi grinned as she joined in happily. I wonder how is HaRu doing? In the last room, HyeSun was settling in comfortably as RuiXian started a game of tetris on her phone. HyeSun looked away awkwardly as she fiddled with her fingers. She wasn't sure if she liked the arrangement.

HyeJin sat herself down at the dining table as she waited for the trainees to finish their unpacking. She had always felt that organizing stuff calmed her down, and seeing all the trainees rushing about with bright eyes and thrilled smiles made her wish that she could be one of them. She reached into her back pocket as she felt her handphone buzz. It was a text from her brother. Keeping well away from the automated cameras, HyeJin retreated to the balcony as she clicked on the message. "Jinnie~ how is your first day with your new group? Meet you after work?" She couldn't help but break into a smile. "It's going well. Neh, I'll meet you at the back of the building~" HyeJin hurriedly typed as the first trainee completed her reorganizing. Turning towards the trainees, she motioned for them to meet her back at the trainee rooms as she left to convey the same message to those on the upper level.

In no time at all, the trainees were all assembled back in the trainee rooms as HyeJin prepared to announce their first mission. "Due to the overwhelming numbers, we'll have to split you all into two groups of nine for this mission." She pulled out another page from her clipboard. "HyeMi, KyunJi, YonNi, MiYoo, MinJae, JinRa, HyeSun, RuiXian, and HaRu will be in one group," She recited, "and JaeEun, MinHee, YooMi, SooJin, YoonKi, KyMin, MinAh, SuJin, and EunMi will be in the other team." HyeJin declared. "This mission shall see both of your groups perform an allocated piece each, and everyone of you will be graded individually by your sunbaes during the rehearsals and the experts during the final performance.  You will have two weeks to perfect the piece. The audience will be able to vote from the start of the second week. The public votes accumulated before and after the performance shall contribute to your popularity ranking while all expert reviews add to performance ranking alone." The trainees nodded dilligently as they shuffled around and regrouped themselves. "The group should come together ideally before the end of the first week so you all can get used to performing as team. The performances are to be showcased on Music Core." A few anxious glances passed between the trainees as they bunched their hands up in exhilaration. 

"So are you all excited to hear what piece you'll be performing?" 

author's note:     I'm currently writing chapter nine [I'm accumulating completed chapters to act as buffers when I'm busy with school x.x] & I'll be going overseas to visit relatives end of this week but I'll try to post while I'm there. I need a bit of help from you guys... could you all send me a couple of links of half-body pictures of your ulzzangs? [a little bit more than half is fine too, it can be cropped out] I'm trying to request for a poster but I just can't make up my mind otl. & it's so hard trying to find similar  pictures... anyway, I hope you liked the dorm arrangements! thank you so much~