Shadows Of Stardom

Chapter 33

"Hey everyone," Mr. Yang interrupted us just as we were about to wrap up the final part of our choreography. Great, now we had to start all over again.

"I'm sorry for interrupting," he said in a mock-serious tone, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. Jisoo rolled her eyes at him, which made me chuckle. I reached for a water bottle from the table, which was a bit farther away, to hydrate myself.

"Can we sit down? I have some exciting news to share," he said as he settled onto the hard floor.

"Sure," Jisoo replied, following his lead. Lisa looked intrigued, so she quickly joined Jisoo, and then Rosé and I sat down to form a circle.

"I couldn't wait to tell you, which is why we're here instead of the conference room," he began, his face lighting up with excitement.

"We can see that, Mr. Yang," Rosé laughed, and for the first time, he didn't respond to her teasing tone.

He really is happy...

"The big news is that SM and we are collaborating," he finally revealed.

What the hell just happened? Did I hear him correctly? YG and SM??

"No way," Lisa giggled, and he shot her a look that seemed to convince her to keep quiet as he covered her mouth with his hand.

"You mean collaborating as in working together? What would that entail? Is it a project? An advertisement? A dance challenge?" Jisoo inquired, her excitement evident in her voice.

Collaborating? It felt almost like a dream or a fantasy. YG teaming up with another company... it probably wouldn't be anything significant. We hardly even did dance challenges with groups outside our own company.

"No, this isn't just any collaboration; it's a song with Blackpink, and you all will be performing it live together!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands in excitement. The girls were thrilled, and so was I. We were finally collaborating on a song and a performance, and not just with any group, but with one from one of the big three companies. Well, YG is also part of the big three...

Wait, what are the groups in SM? NCT, Aespa, Girls' Generation, Red Velvet, EXO-no way... that can't happen. I can't face Kai right now, and the thought of working with him for weeks?

No, Jennie, stay calm... there's no way we would collaborate with a boy group. But the girl groups from SM don't have our vibe, except for Aespa, but they're from a different generation, so that wouldn't be too wild. However, if we Blackpink were to collaborate with a boy group with our vibe and in our standard, that would be groundbreaking and would definitely create a buzz in the country, especially if it were EXO. Oh God, please help me...

Please don't let it be what I'm fearing...

"What group are we working with?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. Please, not EXO. Just not EXO.

"It's the incredible boy band that has had everyone in a frenzy since 2012," Mr. Yang said with enthusiasm. Of course, it was EXO... great.

"EXO," we all echoed, their excitement contrasting sharply with my own nausea at the name. The girls shot me a glance, but I brushed it off.

I couldn't share what had happened... well, they had told me, everyone had. I thought I could handle it, but now I realized I definitely couldn't.

"Yes, it's EXO. I know you all are friends, so I hope you keep the energy up and have fun working together. Today, we'll go over the lyrics, and if you want to make any changes, we can sort that out so we can start recording tomorrow," he explained. Yes, he wanted us to rush into this. This man really didn't know how to take a breather.