Trainee
“I don’t want to do that. Never!”
Zaya strongly refused in front of her manager and other four members who were sitting across her. They were in a korean restaurant having dinner as a group. She belongs to a newly formed girl group by X Entertainment, a small company founded in Seoul that debuts young stars to be a kpop idol.
Just now, they were discussing about how she was asked by the company to go with the manager as they are to meet a big investor of their company. The investor requests for the presence of one member from their group and she was chosen out of all of them. This was after a month after their successful debut. Many investors contacted them and wanted to fund their group. That’s because they got a good amount of attention and they’re currently rising in popularity. She was the maknae or youngest of the group. Maybe they thought she would easily be fooled just because she was young.
“If you don’t do this, I’m afraid that you would lose the opportunity to be a big star. Remember that you don’t have a fixed contract with the company and we can replace you anytime! This was an order from the management.”
Zaya just smirked. She wasn’t afraid of their threat. She can afford to pay for the contract damages but she could not afford to do what they asked her to. She wasn’t stupid. She looked at her co-members. No one wants to help her or take the beating for her. She stared back at her manager in anger and frustration.
“It’s good that you know. I can cancel my contract anytime. I can afford it. And it’s not my loss,” she said proudly as she stood up and walked out of the establishment.
“I’m sorry!” Someone bumped her on the way out. She just smiled weakly and bowed at the other person without looking.
It’s been 4 months since she came in South Korea to test her luck. She wanted to be a kpop singer and dancer since she was in 8th grade. She had a natural gift for singing and a good flexible body for dancing. It’s fortunate that these are her favorite hobby so her talents didn’t go to waste. She mustered the courage to leave her life behind to pursue her dream.
She wanted to try building her career in a much smaller company first thinking that it would have less complications but she didn’t expect that problems would come sooner in her current company. Power tripping and employee abuse is common in these small companies in order for them to gain advantage and make profit. She very well knew about this and she refused to be subjected to such!
She didn’t go back to their company dorm for days. Instead, she went back to her condo in Seoul Forest located at Seongsu-dong. She used to live there before when she was just auditioning for different companies in her first month in the country. She would come home here from time to time during her long rest days.
Zaya opened her laptop and searched for her old emails. She found what she was looking for. She was determined to do it this time. She quickly jotted down a series of number and made a call.
The next day, she went to her company and filed her resignation. Before leaving, she went to see her manager and her co-members. The other girls just stared at her without emotions. They didn’t care at all. Afterall, they barely knew each other for months. Their relationship is purely business.
“Ms. Lee. I have consulted my lawyer regarding my contract. He will settle for the damages that I need to pay. He will personally come here in 2 days. I just want you to relay a message to the management that they better not make weird rumors about me after I left. We know who has more to lose when we both go down so they better think twice. My lawyer will take care of everything.”
If they think they can ruin her, Zaya would never back down to fight them. She knows she’s in the right so she fears nothing. She had some cards up her sleeves so they better not make a wrong move to infuriate her. Thats...if they don’t want their company to vanish in the face of the city.
“Harper, it’s me. I already resigned. Yes, I’ll start my training next week. I’ll leave the other things to you... Bye..”
She sighed. She had no choice but to do this. She ain’t going home after failing once. She is determined to enter that company no matter what. She actually wanted to go there among other companies where she auditioned but she was hesitant of some things. Now, she can’t afford to be choosy. She better face this sooner than later.
Zaya took a deep breath and looked up the tall building in front of her. SM Entertainment. Home of Legendary Kpop Icons and the company that houses amazing kpop artists. They also are part of the Big3 company in South Korea that produces top tier quality of kpop groups and kpop songs. She was so excited and nervous a the same time not knowing what awaits her once she stepped in the building.
Finally, she reach the training room located at the 8th floor. When she entered, several girls were sitting on the floor. Some are dancing and having a warm up exercise. She looked around and saw that everyone present are mostly trainees. She doesn’t seem to see any instructor present. Looks like she got there on time.
She walked slowly towards the row of empty chairs and took one to sit down. Zaya didn’t know anyone but she is sure as hell know some were staring at her at the moment. Of course, she debuted just a month ago and now she’s here to be a trainee in another company? The news of her leaving her old group were announced just a few days ago.
After a while, someone came in and called them to gather. They listened as the one in charge read them the rules and policy of the company and the things they are expected to do as trainees. They got all the information regarding their schedule of activities and training sessions. They were informed that among 15 of them currently, only 6 are guaranteed to debut after training for 3 months and finishing the final evaluations. The remaining will continue training until they are ready enough to debut in another group.
Zaya is very confident of both her dancing and singing skills but she admit that her Korean speaking skills need to be polished more in order to be chosen.She was in a daze thinking about how she’s gonna manage her time to learn the aspects where she was lacking when someone knocked on the door. A tall girl with long black hair wearing cargo pants and white tshirt came in.
She was blinded the moment she looked up. Zaya slowly looked away and paid her attention on the blank floor instead. Her heart skipped a bit. She tried to hardened her face to hide her emotions.
“Oh, Teacher Lee. You’re here? Here are our new batch of trainees.”
“Oh, I see. I can’t wait for them to debut and dance together with us. Everybody, fighting!”
She heard what the visitor said and how the other trainees shouted in excitement after that small encouragement from her. Zaya on the other hand, remained silent. Nobody knows what she was thinking.
‘Hey, that’s the legendary dancer and choreographer of SM, Ocean.’
‘Yeah, I know. She’s really famous. Like celebrity famous!’
‘I’m excited to attend her dance class. That will happen if we debut soon!’
The first month of the training was spent on purely singing and dancing lessons. Every week they have an evaluation regarding their skills improvement. They would perform in front of three instructors and they would be graded based on their individual skills.
Zaya had made two friends out of her fourteen co-trainees. She’s not extrovertly friendly but she’s still polite and responsive when someone talks to her. The two girls Minami and Yuna were the first trainees who dared to approach and befriend her. They got close after some time together.
“Well...well... if it isn’t the arrogant idol who was kicked out of her group just months after debuting. I don’t think that someone deserves to be here,” someone loudly said enough for everyone to hear in the room.
Zaya raised an eyebrow and grinned. The other trainee said it in korean and she fully understood it and she knows it was meant for her. She’s the only one in the room who had debuted before.
She stood up and walked around a little bit. She stopped when she was in front of the person who talked nonsense just now. This was the same girl who kept glaring at her every training session whenever their instructor praises her.
“Unnie, you know there are lot of idols who debuted in three or even four groups in their lifetime as an idol as long as they have the skill to be able to. But someone with a broken vocal chords, she can train for 30 years and forever be a trainee,” she said innocently in poor Korean accent while blinking her eyes.
The other girl was enraged at her. Well, she made sure of that to happen.
“What did you say? Are you saying I’m bad at singing? You foreigners are disrespectful and should be taught a lesson --”
The Korean girl trainee suddenly stood up from her seat to push her in the chest. Zaya reflexively stepped back to avoid being pushed but the other girl’s hands still reached her. She staggered back to balance herself and was about to fall when an arm caught her waist. It could have been a bad fall...
She turned her head to see who it was. She widened her eyes. It was her! Ocean!
She felt the other person still holding her. She felt hot and slowly felt the heat crept up on her face for some reason. She tried her best to stand upright not to burden the other with her weight.
“T-teacher Lee....I... it was her!”
The other girl quickly pointed at her. Zaya turned to her side to look at Ocean and blink innocently. She didn’t say anything. At this point, the best thing to do is to keep quiet! Pretend you don’t know anything.
“Alright. Stop fooling around and go back to your practice. I heard you will have an evaluation later? Aren’t you?”
What Ocean said was effective enough to shut the girls and let them focus back into practice. She looked at Zaya and frowned for a moment. Zaya was taken aback when the other person slowly grabbed her in the arm and dragged her to a corner sofa to sit.
She was sitting while Ocean was standing. Doesn’t this scene look familiar. Like when a parent scold her child for doing something wrong? Well just now....she did quite the job. Still, their position right now looks funny for her.
“What’s so funny? Trainee, Zaya...right?” She saw Ocean looked at her nametag. She nodded yes.
“Look. You are all trainees here and you can have differences at times. Conflicts can’t be avoided sometimes. But you shouldn’t fight it with more conflict......You should build your discipline. Making an enemy is not a very good thing when you want to be an idol in the future.....”
Zaya looked dazed while listening to the person in front her. She can clearly hear her but her mind is thinking of something else... or rather her eyes are focused somewhere...
“Do you understand what I said?” Ocean repeated her words.
“Huh? Uh yeah, Teacher Lee!” Zaya grinned and nodded enthusiastically.
The other person just shook her head as she looked at Zaya. The trainee sounded fierce just now but she has turned into an obedient puppy. Ocean heard of this student from her co-leagues often. They said this trainee has so much potential and was even ready to debut into an idol. She was even described as perfect by the trainee teachers as she always ranks first in the weekly evaluation. Her singing and dancing had no flaws to be pointed out they say.
“Here. Drink this,” Ocean hander her an unopened bottle of water.
She accepted it right away and thanked the other. After that, Ocean left their training room. As soon as the instructor was out of sight, her friends quickly went to her to ask what Ocean talked with her.
“Nothing really. She just told me train very hard and avoid conflicts with other trainees,” she said as she shrugged her shoulders.
“Thank goodness it was her who saw you two just now. Teacher Lee is really kind and understanding to new trainees. If it wasn’t her who stopped you two just now, it would have been worse. Other instructors will just scold and punish you right away,” Minami said.
Indeed. She even saved her. She replayed the scenes just a few minutes ago. Ocean really had great timing. She saved her from a broken back. It would have been awful if she got injured and missed some training days...
“I must debut in 3 months. I want to be in her class! What do you say girls? Down for it?” Zaya said with confidence to her two friends.
She will definitely debut and be a famous idol. And when that time happens she can do what she has been wanting to do for a long time.....
“I don’t want to do that. Never!”
Zaya strongly refused in front of her manager and other four members who were sitting across her. They were in a korean restaurant having dinner as a group. She belongs to a newly formed girl group by X Entertainment, a small company founded in Seoul that debuts young stars to be a kpop idol.
Just now, they were discussing about how she was asked by the company to go with the manager as they are to meet a big investor of their company. The investor requests for the presence of one member from their group and she was chosen out of all of them. This was after a month after their successful debut. Many investors contacted them and wanted to fund their group. That’s because they got a good amount of attention and they’re currently rising in popularity. She was the maknae or youngest of the group. Maybe they thought she would easily be fooled just because she was young.
“If you don’t do this, I’m afraid that you would lose the opportunity to be a big star. Remember that you don’t have a fixed contract with the company and we can replace you anytime! This was an order from the management.”
Zaya just smirked. She wasn’t afraid of their threat. She can afford to pay for the contract damages but she could not afford to do what they asked her to. She wasn’t stupid. She looked at her co-members. No one wants to help her or take the beating for her. She stared back at her manager in anger and frustration.
“It’s good that you know. I can cancel my contract anytime. I can afford it. And it’s not my loss,” she said proudly as she stood up and walked out of the establishment.
“I’m sorry!” Someone bumped her on the way out. She just smiled weakly and bowed at the other person without looking.
It’s been 4 months since she came in South Korea to test her luck. She wanted to be a kpop singer and dancer since she was in 8th grade. She had a natural gift for singing and a good flexible body for dancing. It’s fortunate that these are her favorite hobby so her talents didn’t go to waste. She mustered the courage to leave her life behind to pursue her dream.
She wanted to try building her career in a much smaller company first thinking that it would have less complications but she didn’t expect that problems would come sooner in her current company. Power tripping and employee abuse is common in these small companies in order for them to gain advantage and make profit. She very well knew about this and she refused to be subjected to such!
She didn’t go back to their company dorm for days. Instead, she went back to her condo in Seoul Forest located at Seongsu-dong. She used to live there before when she was just auditioning for different companies in her first month in the country. She would come home here from time to time during her long rest days.
Zaya opened her laptop and searched for her old emails. She found what she was looking for. She was determined to do it this time. She quickly jotted down a series of number and made a call.
The next day, she went to her company and filed her resignation. Before leaving, she went to see her manager and her co-members. The other girls just stared at her without emotions. They didn’t care at all. Afterall, they barely knew each other for months. Their relationship is purely business.
“Ms. Lee. I have consulted my lawyer regarding my contract. He will settle for the damages that I need to pay. He will personally come here in 2 days. I just want you to relay a message to the management that they better not make weird rumors about me after I left. We know who has more to lose when we both go down so they better think twice. My lawyer will take care of everything.”
If they think they can ruin her, Zaya would never back down to fight them. She knows she’s in the right so she fears nothing. She had some cards up her sleeves so they better not make a wrong move to infuriate her. Thats...if they don’t want their company to vanish in the face of the city.
“Harper, it’s me. I already resigned. Yes, I’ll start my training next week. I’ll leave the other things to you... Bye..”
She sighed. She had no choice but to do this. She ain’t going home after failing once. She is determined to enter that company no matter what. She actually wanted to go there among other companies where she auditioned but she was hesitant of some things. Now, she can’t afford to be choosy. She better face this sooner than later.
Zaya took a deep breath and looked up the tall building in front of her. SM Entertainment. Home of Legendary Kpop Icons and the company that houses amazing kpop artists. They also are part of the Big3 company in South Korea that produces top tier quality of kpop groups and kpop songs. She was so excited and nervous a the same time not knowing what awaits her once she stepped in the building.
Finally, she reach the training room located at the 8th floor. When she entered, several girls were sitting on the floor. Some are dancing and having a warm up exercise. She looked around and saw that everyone present are mostly trainees. She doesn’t seem to see any instructor present. Looks like she got there on time.
She walked slowly towards the row of empty chairs and took one to sit down. Zaya didn’t know anyone but she is sure as hell know some were staring at her at the moment. Of course, she debuted just a month ago and now she’s here to be a trainee in another company? The news of her leaving her old group were announced just a few days ago.
After a while, someone came in and called them to gather. They listened as the one in charge read them the rules and policy of the company and the things they are expected to do as trainees. They got all the information regarding their schedule of activities and training sessions. They were informed that among 15 of them currently, only 6 are guaranteed to debut after training for 3 months and finishing the final evaluations. The remaining will continue training until they are ready enough to debut in another group.
Zaya is very confident of both her dancing and singing skills but she admit that her Korean speaking skills need to be polished more in order to be chosen.She was in a daze thinking about how she’s gonna manage her time to learn the aspects where she was lacking when someone knocked on the door. A tall girl with long black hair wearing cargo pants and white tshirt came in.
She was blinded the moment she looked up. Zaya slowly looked away and paid her attention on the blank floor instead. Her heart skipped a bit. She tried to hardened her face to hide her emotions.
“Oh, Teacher Lee. You’re here? Here are our new batch of trainees.”
“Oh, I see. I can’t wait for them to debut and dance together with us. Everybody, fighting!”
She heard what the visitor said and how the other trainees shouted in excitement after that small encouragement from her. Zaya on the other hand, remained silent. Nobody knows what she was thinking.
‘Hey, that’s the legendary dancer and choreographer of SM, Ocean.’
‘Yeah, I know. She’s really famous. Like celebrity famous!’
‘I’m excited to attend her dance class. That will happen if we debut soon!’
The first month of the training was spent on purely singing and dancing lessons. Every week they have an evaluation regarding their skills improvement. They would perform in front of three instructors and they would be graded based on their individual skills.
Zaya had made two friends out of her fourteen co-trainees. She’s not extrovertly friendly but she’s still polite and responsive when someone talks to her. The two girls Minami and Yuna were the first trainees who dared to approach and befriend her. They got close after some time together.
“Well...well... if it isn’t the arrogant idol who was kicked out of her group just months after debuting. I don’t think that someone deserves to be here,” someone loudly said enough for everyone to hear in the room.
Zaya raised an eyebrow and grinned. The other trainee said it in korean and she fully understood it and she knows it was meant for her. She’s the only one in the room who had debuted before.
She stood up and walked around a little bit. She stopped when she was in front of the person who talked nonsense just now. This was the same girl who kept glaring at her every training session whenever their instructor praises her.
“Unnie, you know there are lot of idols who debuted in three or even four groups in their lifetime as an idol as long as they have the skill to be able to. But someone with a broken vocal chords, she can train for 30 years and forever be a trainee,” she said innocently in poor Korean accent while blinking her eyes.
The other girl was enraged at her. Well, she made sure of that to happen.
“What did you say? Are you saying I’m bad at singing? You foreigners are disrespectful and should be taught a lesson --”
The Korean girl trainee suddenly stood up from her seat to push her in the chest. Zaya reflexively stepped back to avoid being pushed but the other girl’s hands still reached her. She staggered back to balance herself and was about to fall when an arm caught her waist. It could have been a bad fall...
She turned her head to see who it was. She widened her eyes. It was her! Ocean!
She felt the other person still holding her. She felt hot and slowly felt the heat crept up on her face for some reason. She tried her best to stand upright not to burden the other with her weight.
“T-teacher Lee....I... it was her!”
The other girl quickly pointed at her. Zaya turned to her side to look at Ocean and blink innocently. She didn’t say anything. At this point, the best thing to do is to keep quiet! Pretend you don’t know anything.
“Alright. Stop fooling around and go back to your practice. I heard you will have an evaluation later? Aren’t you?”
What Ocean said was effective enough to shut the girls and let them focus back into practice. She looked at Zaya and frowned for a moment. Zaya was taken aback when the other person slowly grabbed her in the arm and dragged her to a corner sofa to sit.
She was sitting while Ocean was standing. Doesn’t this scene look familiar. Like when a parent scold her child for doing something wrong? Well just now....she did quite the job. Still, their position right now looks funny for her.
“What’s so funny? Trainee, Zaya...right?” She saw Ocean looked at her nametag. She nodded yes.
“Look. You are all trainees here and you can have differences at times. Conflicts can’t be avoided sometimes. But you shouldn’t fight it with more conflict......You should build your discipline. Making an enemy is not a very good thing when you want to be an idol in the future.....”
Zaya looked dazed while listening to the person in front her. She can clearly hear her but her mind is thinking of something else... or rather her eyes are focused somewhere...
“Do you understand what I said?” Ocean repeated her words.
“Huh? Uh yeah, Teacher Lee!” Zaya grinned and nodded enthusiastically.
The other person just shook her head as she looked at Zaya. The trainee sounded fierce just now but she has turned into an obedient puppy. Ocean heard of this student from her co-leagues often. They said this trainee has so much potential and was even ready to debut into an idol. She was even described as perfect by the trainee teachers as she always ranks first in the weekly evaluation. Her singing and dancing had no flaws to be pointed out they say.
“Here. Drink this,” Ocean hander her an unopened bottle of water.
She accepted it right away and thanked the other. After that, Ocean left their training room. As soon as the instructor was out of sight, her friends quickly went to her to ask what Ocean talked with her.
“Nothing really. She just told me train very hard and avoid conflicts with other trainees,” she said as she shrugged her shoulders.
“Thank goodness it was her who saw you two just now. Teacher Lee is really kind and understanding to new trainees. If it wasn’t her who stopped you two just now, it would have been worse. Other instructors will just scold and punish you right away,” Minami said.
Indeed. She even saved her. She replayed the scenes just a few minutes ago. Ocean really had great timing. She saved her from a broken back. It would have been awful if she got injured and missed some training days...
“I must debut in 3 months. I want to be in her class! What do you say girls? Down for it?” Zaya said with confidence to her two friends.
She will definitely debut and be a famous idol. And when that time happens she can do what she has been wanting to do for a long time.....
