Josephine Swan never imagined that her stay in South Korea would lead her into K-Pop's glittering and challenging world. Each day, she encounters new hurdles and adventures that fate has in store for her and her four team members. Between gruelling...
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YG Entertainment
Cafeteria
The cafeteria was bustling with activity.
Not only small groups of trainees but also the rest of the entertainment staff had made their way to the large room on the first floor of the building at lunchtime. The air was filled with various smells of different dishes that could be sensed throughout the building through the open kitchen. The long tables were occupied by managers and office workers whose laughter and conversations could be heard throughout the cafeteria. Scattered individually, on the other hand, were trainees, mostly taking a short break from their strenuous training.
Among them was a group of five girls sitting in the back of the cafeteria. Originally a group of eleven candidates intended for a new girl group, it dwindled after years of demanding training. Until finally five members remained.
Miga Choi
Jennie Kim
Kim Ji-soo
Park Chae-young
Lalisa Manobal
Lost in thought, Miga Choi poked at her prepared rice while the rest of her group were engaged in stimulating conversation. She sat quietly beside them, her mind wandering to her monthly performance today.
To say she was frustrated was an understatement.
Her solo song by Zara Larsson, which she chose herself, seemed too emotionally cold to Yang Hyun-suk. In his opinion, her voice did not reflect the chosen content of the song and sounded bland, in contrast to the singer's soulful original voice.
The group song featuring the song "Bang Bang" by Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj were equally sophisticated as well as the perfect interplay of rap, pop and R&B. Together with Ji-soo and Chae-young, she took turns singing the lyrics of Jessie J and Ariana Grande, while the other two did the rapping. In contrast to her solo performance, the CEO was silent and satisfied for the time being.
However, she again received harsh criticism in the dances. She hesitated or was not always in sync with the other four members. According to Yang Hyun-suk, this was a performance he did not expect from a long-time trainee.
Disappointment would have been an appropriate term for her performance today.
"Are you all right, Unnie?" asked the youngest of the group beside her, bringing her out of her thoughts. The other three also looked up and gave their leader concerned and pitying looks. The criticism of the performance had not escaped them either, coming from the producers as well as the CEO of entertainment. Choi just shook her head and her chin-length black hair twirled in the air. The looks from her members made her uncomfortable.
"Nothing. It's just..." she began, collecting herself in thought.
She had trained under YG Entertainment the longest, next to Jennie, and had worked hard to build a career for herself. And even though she was an integral part of the debut group and currently leading them, today's reviews were scratching her nerves.
Harsh criticism and a failed performance already cost many trainees their contracts and careers. The debut group was no exception.
She wanted to debut.
It had to.
A loud female laugh made her look up.
Her dark brown eyes caught a girl with snow-white hair who had just entered the cafeteria accompanied by three other girls. Each of the girls wore plain workout clothes similar to herself and the rest of her members, yet she stood out the most among the crowd. Even some conversations among the staff seemed more subdued as soon as the girl entered the room. Some of them glanced at her unobtrusively.
"Who is that?" asked Choi with wide eyes, interrupting the conversation of her four members who were curiously following their leader's gaze. The girl turned to Jinny Park at that moment, giving the group a clearer view of her. Even Choi had to marvel at the beauty of this most likely foreign girl. Her clear eyes shone, as did her fair almost white skin. She had a petite nose and her delicate mouth emphasised her fine features as soon as a smile spread across them. Her tight-fitting clothes flattered her feminine figure and adapted to her movements. Even as they walked slowly to the counter along with the other girls, it seemed as if she exuded a certain lightness and elegance in every step she took.
"Her name is...Josie, I think. I think she's from the UK." Jennie answered her.
"She's been a trainee at our entertainment for about...two weeks," said Chae-young, or Rosè. Astonished, Choi stared at the new girl. Foreign trainees were not uncommon in the entertainment industries. Two of their members alone came from different countries. Rosè was a native Australian who was signed in 2012 and moved to South Korea. The youngest member of the group Lalisa, or Lisa as everyone calls her, was from Thailand and had been training under YG Entertainment for four years. Ji-soo, herself and Jennie were born in South Korea, with the latter spending five years in New Zealand. And although many of them came from different countries, they all showed signs of being Asian.
A British girl without Asian roots in an entertainment company was a rarity.
"I've heard from some of the younger trainees...that she was invited to audition by GD Sunbaenim herself," Jennie commented and the girls raised their heads in surprise. Each of them participated in a selection process organised by YG Entertainment. They were chosen from hundreds of contestants.
Five pairs of eyes looked over perplexedly at the white-haired girl who had just placed her order. She smiled kindly at the cafeteria team before ordering her food.
"Do you think...her hair is real?" asked Lisa beside her, marvelling with wide innocent eyes at the long white-blonde hair that reached almost to the British girl's waist, tied in a simple braid. Even Jinny and Lisa's dyed blonde hair contrasted sharply and disappeared into the background. Choi just shrugged and continued to watch as the four girls at the counter accepted their food and looked around for a free table with satisfied expressions on their faces.
After a while, the girls' interest in the new foreign trainee disappeared again and they turned back to their conversations, while Choi, with one last glance at the girl, turned back to her rice.
