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...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I pulled the red fabric sleeves of my soft polyester coat over the tiny fragments of exposed skin and the delicate little hairs, trying to defy the cold, drawn-in air of November and the accompanying chill of the approaching winter as I walked briskly towards the school entrance.
The already-visible cluster of students, parents, and other relatives gathered in small and large groups and took up a large part of the entrance gates and the public square in front of the school building, so the remaining stragglers had great difficulty catching a familiar face among those gathered. Small corridors and passages formed between the individual family groups, allowing only a slow, serpentine progression of the individual students.
My grey eyes searched the crowd, hoping to find my manager's slender figure among the sea of Korean women, the task proving more difficult than I had anticipated.
"Josie!".
My neck and back stretched towards the familiar voice of Lim Myung-ok. Despite the loud surrounding conversations, her voice penetrated clearly over the heads of the people in our midst and gave a hint of her more distant standing position. With an apologetic smile, I glided along the narrow open lanes to the crowd's edge and finally spotted the brown-haired Korean woman near the high fence.
My approaching footsteps stopped abruptly, and I stared with widened and stunned eyes at the five familiar figures of Lisa, Jennie, Rosé, Choi and Ji-soo, standing close together within easy reach of the adult woman, tiptoeing across the rows. Their breath formed tiny cloudy wisps of mist while their arms pressed tightly against their shivering torsos to contain the body heat released into their surroundings and keep them cosy and warm.
"Josie," I heard Ji-soo say aloud. A broad smile spread across her lips as she turned to me and walked briskly in my direction. Her cheeks glowed from the plummeting cold and shone under the streetlights' surrounding light.
"What...but how...?" I managed to stammer out, still stunned by her presence. I stared wide-eyed at the girls, quickly catching their excited expressions, which seemed to spread even further with my assumed reaction to them.
"We have been granted permission to accompany Lim Myung-ok Ssi and truly congratulate you on completing your exams," Rosé explained, her dark eyes flickering briefly to the adult Korean girl at the edge of the group.
"It's just a rare exception." my manager corrected Rosé's statement and slowly stepped closer, her heels clacking on the stone floor.
"I believe... I no longer need to reiterate the importance of your responsibilities to your positions, especially your roles as a designated debut group and ensuring your training," she said vividly, a stern glow flitting across her delicate features.
"The following monthly assessments will take place in a few days and will once again decide your future career in entertainment. The producers will not accept poor or patchy performance, and the CEO and your qualifications may, in the worst case, be downgraded, if not withdrawn altogether," she added thoughtfully, and my initial feelings of joy and surprise at the girls' visit diminished with every word spoken, ultimately leaving a disconcertingly uncomfortable mood within the group, with a renewed sense of pressure for the next upcoming event of the month.
♛
The hot steam of the Korean tea rose from the glass-coated teacup, and its strong, fresh scent of lemon began to warm my chilled body and fulfil its promised properties of preventing colds and infections in the last few months of the year.
"I'm sorry," I said after a while of silence and placed the used small spoon on the side of the cup before risking a glance in the girls' direction. Lim Myung-ok's words still caused small stabs of guilt in my chest, leaving a bitter aftertaste and an unexpected end to today.
"You have no reason to apologise, Josie." Rosé said, hesitantly clutching the belly of her hot cup.
"As my manager said...it was a rare exception." I smiled sympathetically and sighed softly.
"And you shouldn't waste these opportunities on me," I added, and I received several looks of objection and open mouths ready to object.
I quickly raised my hand.
"This situation is vaguely reminiscent of your many offers to help me study for my exams... suggestions that I would probably have accepted if we weren't in such an unusual and peculiar circumstance," I began to explain carefully, deliberately addressing Lim Myung-ok's key points.
"I wouldn't dare deny that I enjoyed your visit today... very much indeed. You have succeeded in your aim to surprise me in many ways," I admitted with a smile. I automatically thought of the many families who had gathered to greet and congratulate their children at the end of the exams.
Families who didn't live on the other side of the world.
My hands gradually detached themselves from the hot teacup and slid over the hard material of the kitchen table to the side edges until they reached Jennie's forearm and Lisa's left hand, respectively.
Two people who I had sometimes considered to be a surrogate family for quite some time.
"But... you also know that Lim Myung-ok Ssi's words were by no means lies or exaggerations and that the cancellation of the remaining training sessions may well have more serious consequences, regardless of our days of rehearsals," I said urgently, stroking her now warmed-up skin.
"You know the monthly audience of YG Entertainment staff better and longer than I do...so you realise how a single mistake can mean the end of an entire career." I reminded, shaking my head.
"We will always find the time to catch up or celebrate certain things...but the achievement of your debuts and the progression of your hard-earned careers over the years...should be everyone's top priority because it will be almost impossible to repeat these things easily.'
"Our debuts..." Jennie said softly, and I looked at her.
Her cheeks turned a soft shade of red before she reached for my hand.
"You said your debut... it'll be our debut, Josie," she corrected.
