Notice Me - Choi Beomgyu

Two

Jian quickly made her way down the street from HYBE's Headquarters, just in time to catch a taxi home.

 She had not finished digesting what happened earlier that day -- two of her biggest idols, Huening Kai and Choi Beomgyu from TOMORROW X TOGETHER talked to her during her lunch period! She could imagine the looks on her fellow roommates' faces when she would break out the news, or her younger sister's eyes glowing with excitement.

Lee Jian, born Lee Zhi'an, (Chinese/Hanja 李智安 ; Hangul 이지안) was born and raised in the United States by a Korean mother and a Chinese father. From a young age, she has had an aptitude for languages, and is a certified polyglot, speaking fluent Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Shanghainese, English, French, Spanish and conversional Japanese, enough to get her by the streets of Tokyo. 

After graduating with an honour roll from The Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation, Monterey Institute of International Studies, in Monterey, California, she decided to work as a translator like her father. However, she was not interested in being a United States government interpreter, and given her love for her mother's homeland and Korean pop culture, she knew being a translator for a Korean entertainment company would satisfy her childhood dreams of working in the showbiz industry, even if it meant working behind the scenes as a staff member.

Failing to meet the demands for YG Entertainment as a translator for their artists, she then applied for JYP Entertainment, whom, unfortunately, had no more vacancies for translation work. Almost feeling discouraged there was no company to hire her, she went online and asked an industry insider, whom suggested HYBE Labels, due to the vast number of groups that had debuted and would debut in the coming year or two. 

"You could apply to HYBE, and be a translator under Source Music for LE SSERAFIM, or work for the new sub-label, ADOR, where Min Heejin's upcoming girl group, NEW JEANS is based. There's also another boy group in the works under BIG HIT ENTERTAINMENT, currently known to the public as Trainee A. They have many supporters residing in foreign countries, and so HYBE is looking for more staff members to translate their content for their pre-debut fans. "

"Of course, we can't forget about the upcoming Japanese boy group, however considering you're not fluent, they won't let you translate their content. You may also work for an existing group. I heard there are vacancies in the company for a Spanish translator for SEVENTEEN and Chinese and English translators for TXT ."

"HYBE is a very big and prolific company, and therefore, their translations must be as accurate as possible in order not to create controversies for the artists due to the language misunderstandings often caused by translators. HYBE only hires the best of the best. I wish you good luck in your interviews. "

Jian smiled remembering the insider's suggestions. Without him, she would not have entered HYBE LABELS as a staff member, and met some of her favourite idols. After all, Jian had grown to love the music of her mother's home country since she was little because of her mother's love for music.

Little Jian was always energetic and willing to try new things. After seeing a video of Girls Generation performing their debut song, Into the New World, she begged her mother to let her attend a hip-hop dance academy for three consecutive days. She was only six years old at the time, but she had promised her mother to work hard academically in order to continue learning dance. 

The year she turned eight, her school recommended her to skip two grades due to her achievements. Nevertheless, Jian remained a model student despite her age for her parents to let her persist with dance. Under her dance academy, she also won multiple state competitions and ranked third in the nation-wide hip-hop competition that year. 

Everything was going on well until when she reached grade eight. The mathematics syllabus was too advanced for her, therefore she ended up almost failing the subject. Her parents, outraged, refused to let her participate in any extra-curricular activities. It was only until when she entered grade eleven, that she picked it up as a hobby once more thanks to the rise of K-pop groups like BTS, BLACKPINK and TWICE in the United States. 

Jian was a die-hard BLINK. BLACKPINK was her favourite girl group of all time. She knew almost everything about the members, bought all their albums decorated her whole room with BLACKPINK merchandise, and even went to their concerts a few times. Knowing the chances of being a trainee, let alone an idol, at YG Entertainment was incredibly scarce and she would have to compete with tens of thousands of fellow hopefuls, she gave up and began applying to become a staff member at YG Entertainment.

Sure, she could easily be working for other groups at YG instead of BLACKPINK, Jian had wished to meet them close-up instead of just a concert venue where her vision was blocked by many taller BLINKS in front of her. Even if she were to bump into them in the elevator or at the canteen, her dreams would come true and she would successfully die in peace. (just kiding)

Opening the door to her shared apartment, Jian greeted her roommates, Park Eun-jeong and Jeong Na-ri excitedly with the biggest smile on her face. The three had met and befriended each other at a fan-cafe event held for BLACKPINK member Lisa's birthday. Eunjeong worked part-time as a Lotteria employee to sustain her university education, while Nari, the youngest and of the trio, was saving up money to support her family as a part-time sales assistant though being a high school student at Hanlim Multi Art School. 

Nari was the first to notice something was up. Jian was not behaving like her normal self. Did HYBE let her slack off today? I thought there were so many things for her to complete as an English and Chinese translator -- she has to do double a normal translator's workload!

"What happened today, Jian? You seem more excited and energetic than before." She asked. 

"Choi Beomgyu and Huening Kai from TOMORROW X TOGETHER talked to me today! They offered to teach me dancing! I'm so hyped right now!"

Eunjeong looked up from her laptop. "Really? You're so lucky! If only I could meet Tubatu members in person too. How were they like?"

Jian thought for a while before answering, "they were a lot more taller than I thought. Of course, as a faithful MOA, I knew all the members are gigantic in height, however it's still shocking how tall they actually are. Besides, they look super-duper handsome, especially Beomgyu. That guy was literally born perfect."

"I thought your bias in Tubatu was Choi Yeonjun." Eunjeong smirked. 

"Well, I think you already know my bias changes all the time. Last month, it was Kang Taehyun." Jian answered as she picked out a grey T-shirt pair of white sweatpants. "I'm going to shower."

Nari looked at Eunjeong. "If only I could work at HYBE just like Jian-unnie... I've really wanted to meet Yang Jungwon in person for so long!"

"Jungwon-ssi is from ENHYPEN, right? The group that contains the newest Music Bank Host, Park Sunghoon?"

"Yes. His voice is so captivating and unique. It isn't easy being a leader, and especially when you're one of the youngest. He is a very admirable and charismatic leader, and he's a total cutie too. This is why he's my ultimate bias out of all HYBE groups."

The elder patted her back. "Jian is special, I guess. I can feel it, even when we first met. She..." 

"She has an idol-like aura." Nari finished the sentence for her. "I cannot describe it. Especially after I successfully predicted Jang Kyujin would be a member of JYP's new girl group before the news of her joining spread throughout Hanlim, I think you should believe me when I say it."

***

Hope you've enjoyed this fan-fic so far :)