Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters other than the original character that I'm responsible for, neither do I take credit for the pictures I have put and will put in the other chapters. The credits go to the owners of those photos.

Note: single quotes ' .....' are thoughts and "....." doubles are spoken words.

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But this also confirms my nagging feeling of this being a talent hunt show. Next a guy at the far corner at the front stood up.

“Hi everyone! I’m Cho Kyuhyun and I’m a student at Dongseo University and I take performing arts there, vocals.”

I snapped my attention to the guy who was talking, shocked beyond words.

‘Kyu??????’

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I was left gaping at his back with no words. I can recognize that voice anywhere. He didn’t tell me that he was chosen to come here, nor did he make his presence known to me.

“And I was spotted at the After Sunset club where I work part time.” He finished.

Lots of Ooohs and Aaaaahs went around. Club After Sunset was very popular. All the girls were viewing him with renewed interest.

Except me. I felt betrayed and angry at the guy whom I thought to be my best friend. Sure we haven’t known each other like since childhood, but still we looked out for each other and shared our thoughts, and now I feel like I’m a stranger to him. Dramatic much? I guess I was just annoyed he kept this a secret from me.

“Okay, the young lady at the last, please introduce yourself....” Mr Kang spoke.

“Huh?....” I was startled. ‘Was he talking to me?’

Yes, he is looking at me. OKAY.......... here goes nothing.

I stood up resigned for the worst. “Uhhh.... Hi! I’m Park ___________ studying fine arts at Busan National University of Education. Painting.”

“And.....????” Mr Kang tried to remind me but I didn’t need it. ‘What the hell am I supposed to say about how I got selected?! .......... Oh, hey guys I got selected at a sushi bar where my artistic skills were at display??!!’

“Did you get selected at your painting exhibition??” a girl asked. I saw that it was Seoyoon, smirking and trying to stifle a laugh.

“Actually it was a restaurant where a guest happened to see some of my random sketches and recommended I come.” I replied coolly and looked at her straight in the eyes as I said this. I know people like her, you can’t let them see that you’re affected by their words or they’ll bully you even more.

She seemed to be stumped for now as she turned around to face the front. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Kyu didn’t even turn around to look at me. Fine. If he doesn’t want to keep any contact with me and focus on his career, I won’t stop him or beg him for his attention.

“Okay good!! Now that everyone has introduced themselves we can begin the next stage!” Mr Kang began to explain. “First we selected the best of different talents from all around Korea. Now we must test you to see who is most suitable to be part of the company! We’ll give you some written tests first and proceed from there.”

He looked at his fellow members and gestured them to begin. As the lady and the gentleman began distributing papers amongst us Mr Kang started describing them.

“You’ll see that we have some academic tests that will help us determine your strengths and weaknesses and also some logic questions and it’ll help us determine how to proceed from here.

When the question paper came to me I flipped through them and sighed in relief. At least this was okay. I can do this. I started writing. By the time I was done with almost everything and reached the logic questions, I looked up to steal a glance at Kyu and cursed at myself for it. He was writing with his head lowered over the paper, fully focused on the questions. I guess I can’t blame him. In the professional world everyone must work towards their goals, friendship comes later. I finished the logic questions and checked everything. Mr Kang announced the end of the written tests.

“Alright! Thank you everyone for finishing within time and we need some time to check the papers in which time you can take a short snacks break and come back to this hall in 20 minutes time. Okay?”

The other two members collected our sheets and informed us of tea and snacks being set up in another room. We stepped out of the hall and made our way to the snacks area. I wandered over to the tea counter and was awed by the variety of tea being served to us. The snacks were equally varied. As I was staring at the cookies, someone bumped into me.

“Oh dear! Someone probably has never seen such good food before so up close.” It was Seoyoon. She was laughing along with a couple of other girls.

“I find myself lucky indeed to be able to eat something so delicious and not worry about weight gain.”

Her expression stiffened. Bingo. Actors, dancers, models are always cautious about their weight.

‘Serves you right.’

She stepped closer to me and said in a low voice, “Eat to your heart’s content as today will be the last day you set foot in this place.” Her eyes clearly said that she hated me and didn’t think I deserved being there.

Although I too have doubts on how I can possibly fit in here, I wasn’t going to let her see me weakening.

“You’re not the one to decide that.” I met her gaze with determination.

She stared at me for sometime probably sizing me up as a rival. Then she huffed and turned to leave. The other two girls followed her. I breathed a sigh of relief as the tension in the air lifted. I went to get some tea at the counter.

“It’s already a battlefield here; this job or apprenticeship thing seems really intense.”

I turned around to find the football guy, Woojin looking at me expectantly. I guess it won’t harm being friendly with this guy.

“Yeah. KN Group is a huge company. Being accepted here means a lot of doors would open for you. Competition is expected.” I replied.

Woojin nodded and said, “I guess the both of us are the only odd ones out of these people. I’m Woojin by way, if you don’t remember my introduction.” He extended his hand towards me.

“I remember. I’m ___________ .” I said while shaking hands with him. We chatted for a while and soon it was time for the results. We went back to the previous hall and waited. The 3 members of the company came back after about five more minutes.

“Welcome back! I hope you’ve enjoyed your tea. Now we must inform you of the next step.” Mr Kang was looking very excited. “The results for the exams are out! Let’s see what are your scores and positions!”

He gestured to a white screen behind him and a projector lit up. The lights went dim and then out completely and we could see the screen clearly now. The projector was showing a list of names and scores. Names were ordered according to score.

1. Jimin
2. Kyuhyun
3. Seoyoon
4. _________
5. Woojin
6. Jaerim
7. Sora
8. Yongguk
9. ..........

‘That Seoyoon is not all talk I’ll have to admit.’

“Now, the order in which your names are given will be the order in which you’ll be called tomorrow for the next step!” Mr Kang was explaining. “The next step will test your knowledge and skills based on a challenge that’ll be given to you. So remember your number and you may leave for the day. Please leave your contact number with Ms Song here so we can contact you.”

‘What? That’s it? Okay. They’ll take another round of test for the selection process. Sure, big companies take so many rounds of interviews before they select the final candidates.’

As Ms Song came to my table I entered my mobile number on her tablet contacts and she saved my name along with a photo. As the whole process was repeated till everyone had given their details, I looked over to see Kyuhyun again. Seoyoon seemed to be very interested in chatting him up, considering they’re from the same university. Kyuhyun was responding to her now and then. The anger in me rose again. ‘He has time to talk to her but no time to turn around and acknowledge his friend sitting in the same room as him?’

As I stared at them, Seoyoon turned to catch me watching them. I turned away from them trying to look uninterested. Her eyes narrowed. When we were done, I stood up to leave. I made my way to the door and opened it and left before anyone else had. As I made it to the entrance, Seoyoon stopped me.

“Looks like you were saved today. Tomorrow will be another story.” She said.

I looked at her, mentally punching the smug look off her face. She then turned around and said, “Kyu Oppa! Let’s go home together!”

I turned around to see Kyu approaching and Seoyoon smiled triumphantly. She hooked her arm in his and went out the gate. All this while, Kyu didn’t even bother to look at me. Not even a glance. I never felt so betrayed in my life. I could almost feel my eyes getting watery. But I’ll not cry over such a thing. This is just the beginning of things. Dad always said that even your own brother can betray you. I promised to be strong for my mother and I’ll not fail her. I moved my feet and quickly left the gates behind. I didn’t have the luxury of enjoying the weekend as I had the coffee shop to go to. I checked the time and seeing as I only had 20mins left I hopped on a bus.

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Author's Note: The next chappie is up!!! Sorry for the long wait! Also thank you to my new friends and subscribers!! I hope you like it!  Bye for now!