Dreams Alike (Daejae Fanfiction)

Chapter 1

(A/N: Hello! Thank you for clicking to read the first chapter. As there are plenty of Daejae fanfictions on Wattpad, I am really happy you found this one. I will only upload more chapters once this book gets more attention. Please help me out by voting and commenting, so I know that someone is reading. :D)

As always, trainees in korean entertainment companies are working hard, preparing for their monthly evaluations to show off their improvement in skills.

Especially Yoo Youngjae, a fifteen year old trainee in one of Korea's big three entertainment companies, JYP entertainment. He won first place in JYP's 2008 auditions, and started training there the every next year.

However, despite garnering first place in the auditions, he wasn't doing so well as a trainee. There were more than ten other male trainees in the company. It was tough competition. The other boys like Mark, Jaebum and Jinyoung were more charismatic than him. Their charisma made them seem even more outstanding.

Youngjae wasn't weak at singing. He was good at it, but somehow he couldn't shine beside the other boys. His dancing was decent, but the other boys could dance even better, even more energetically than he could. Rapping didn't suit him, so he sticked to singing and dancing.

To other people, if you were in one of the big three companies, you must be super duper talented. Yea, you passed few rounds of auditions before getting signed as trainee. It doesn't mean any lesser competition. The skills of other trainees were not to be taken lightly too.

Youngjae made a lot of trainee friends in JYP. He worked hard every second he trained. He passed nearly twelve monthy evaluations. But watching the other trainees become more formidable when they presented their skills at the monthly evaluations, Youngjae felt increasingly discouraged.

He just couldn't see himself debuting. Sadly, he picked up the piece of paper on the table and continued to practice the ballad song he had chosen to sing for the upcoming monthly evaluation.

Neither did any of his trainee friends know that he had decided to make the upcoming evaluation his last.
...

" Youngjae, it's your turn. " The vocal teacher said, giving Youngjae an encouraging look. Youngjae nodded thankfully and proceeded to stand in front of the camera. He did a quick warm up before singing the song of his choice. He had chosen to sing ' Beautiful Farewell/Goodbye '. Youngjae really liked the song. It was an old ballad song by Kim Gunmo. The song name was exactly what he intended.

Youngjae began to sing expressively, pouring out his emotions into his voice. Every word was sung with utmost care. He had already made up his mind; whether or not he passed this evaluation, he was going to leave JYP for good.

Before he knew it, he had completely immersed himself in the song. His love for singing was evident. For the first time in forever, his passion shone through his voice. As soon as he finished, his audience of teachers, trainees applauded loudly. And... Mr Park himself.

Youngjae was so occupied with singing he did not even realise Mr Park entered the room to watch him sing. Mr Park gave him a thumbs up and a smile, satisfied with Youngjae's performance. The vocal teachers were also pleased.

He went back to sit with the other trainees, feeling a little embarrassed by all the attention. It was the one of his best performances this year, he gave it his all. But nothing was going to change his mind about leaving JYP. They had other talented vocalists like Sungjin and Jae Hyung.

Both of them would give equally good performances as Youngjae, if not better. The confidence he gained from his evaluation earlier started to dissipate as Sungjin began to sing.

After the evaluation, the male trainees went back home or to their dorms. Youngjae stayed behind to talk to his vocal teacher.

" Mrs Kang... Do you have a moment? " Youngjae asked hesitantly, as the other teachers were leaving.

" Oh Youngjae! What's up? By the way you sang beautifully there just now. "
Youngjae shook his head humbly at the compliment.

" Thank you Mrs Kang... It was nothing, I merely did my best. I want to tell you something. " He waited until all the other teachers left.

After all the others left the room, then he confided in his teacher his plans about leaving JYP. Mrs Kang was a very kind teacher in her forties, who had a very calming presence. She was Youngjae's favourite teacher. Not only was she kind, she was patient and not as strict and scary as the other teachers.

" Youngjae, I respect your decision. But it's a real pity to let you go... Are you going to give up your dreams of becoming a singer and focus on studies instead? " Mrs Kang asked, with a tinge of worry in her voice. What Youngjae replied next brought relief back to her.

" No, I will not give up. I have been thinking of switching companies. My contract expires next week. I have thought through it clearly, and I'm very sure of it. " Youngjae replied.

Mrs Kang smiled, relieved that her talented student wasn't giving up entirely after all.

" Good luck Youngjae, I wish you all the best. " She patted him on the shoulder.

" It's getting late, hurry home. " Mrs Kang picked up her bag and left the room, leaving Youngjae all alone. Youngjae looked around the practice room. Although he had been to multiple practice room, this was his favourite.

It was the biggest one, where he usually practiced with his friends. Youngjae decided it would be the best if he didn't tell any of the trainees he would be leaving. He did not want to make a big fuss out of it, he wanted to leave quietly.

He was deeply saddened by the fact that he himself was going to leave it behind. He never thought he would win first place in the JYP auditions. Being an official trainee of the well known company which nutured talented artistes was like a dream come true. Except being a trainee did not gurantee him a debut under the label.

Working hard is good, but working smart is even better. Youngjae would do anything to achieve his dreams of being a singer, even if it meant giving up being a trainee under one of the big three companies.