prove it • stray kids

32 | episode six

riley smith

[english]

Suwei, Nyla, and I are currently sitting in somewhat of a circle on the floor of the practice room in silence. We were tasked with coming up with a group name that would be announced at our live broadcast if we can debut together.

"How do other groups come up with names?" Nyla asks, running a hand through her hair, "Being creative is so hard."

I turn to her questionably, "You're a song producer and writer; you are creative."

She sighs, "Not at names though. Why do you think so many of my tracks are called 'untitled' with a number?"

"Fair point."

Suwei sits upright, "Well, if we think about other group names like Stray Kids, BTS, Red Velvet, Blackpink, GOT7—"

I stand up, "We shall be GOT3!"

"Okay, wait," Suwei says, "There are also names like NCT, EXO, Pentagon—"

"We can be Triangle!" Nyla interjects.

Suwei facepalms, "I'm going to kill you two one day."

We all laugh at that before thinking seriously again.

"The name of our show is '321', so we could try to build our name off that," I point out.

After pondering over ideas, Suwei suggests, "What about '341'? I know it sounds kind of simple, but since '321' signifies that we could debut as a group, duo, or solo artist, '341' could signify that all three of us are one group: A three for one deal."

Nyla agrees, "It is easy to remember and has a meaning behind it."

"And we definitely don't have any better ideas, so let's go with it," I add.

Nyla and I start to get up to go practice more, but Suwei stops us.

"Before we go back to training," Suwei starts, "Can we talk about one more serious thing?"

We both nod and sit back down, giving our full attention to Suwei.

She takes a breath and begins speaking, "I was talking to Hyunjin the other day, and he asked about what we would do if we didn't debut together. Do you guys think you would go back to California?"

The question catches me off guard. I have been avoiding thinking about what would happen if I did not debut. After coming to Seoul, I felt like I was actually doing something with my life. I was never particularly good at academics or sports, and I was always that person who had no idea what to do with my future. When the three of us started practicing songs for fun and then came here to pursue music, I finally had something to work at.

I finally come up with a response, "I know my parents would want me to come back to California, but I don't think I want to go back. School felt like it was setting me up for a tedious job in the future that I would hate to go to. Being here has shown me that maybe I can have a career that I love and am passionate about."

"My parents would want me back too," Nyla sadly says, "But I've grown to love this life despite how hard it can get. Maybe I would see if I could stay here as a music producer working behind the scenes of this whole idol thing."

Suwei nods in understanding, "I really like it here too. There are so many experiences we get now that we would never have gotten in California. We've met some great people too. I've been thinking hard about whether a life of stability or a life pursuing a risky passion is better. We are so close to finishing this survival show, so let's work hard to make sure we can follow our dreams without having to worry about this stuff."

"Suwei, I think Nyla will agree with me when I say this, but when it comes to deciding positions for our group, you are definitely going to be our leader," I smile at her, Nyla nodding in agreement.

"Thanks, guys," Suwei says, standing up to practice, "Let's get back to training. We can show PDnim that we are strongest together."

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i'm really bad at coming up with names for things.

sorry about the lack of stray kids moments in these chapters. i promise they will be more relevant in future chapters.