pretty child

you are cordially invited to her small get together on the 16th of october 2016, which will take place until after midnight, which is when her birthday actually is. close friends from both kt entertainment, seoul national university, kyunggi high school, and other places she frequent are welcome to come to hangang park and chill out. there will be music, barbecue, and mini games prepared by yours truly to celebrate the special occasion.

the get together will start from 8pm until 1am, and she would love to see her friends show up. that said, don’t forget to wear comfortable clothing and bring a coat with you, because it’ll be windy and cold, and pneumonia is the last thing anyone wants at the happy gathering.

see you there, byeon seungmi ♡

To a party girl like heeo having fun of course sounds like music to her ears all over again. Yet, there is a diligent worker within her that also doesn’t want to fuck up. As in- really not fuck up. “Having fun sounds definitely dope. Even though I feel like I’ll probably be that new muster student at the beginning of the year that wants to do everything well and makes plans to never hand homework in late.”

The comparison made her laugh because it was exactly how she felt right now. “Knowing I didn’t start under the best star kind of makes me even more eager to do well, you know?” Lowering her eyes a bit, she exhales a sigh. The last she wants is to get kicked out again just because she allowed herself to slack off just the tiniest bit. She’s glad that Seungmi is with her though, reaching for the elders hands and swaying them in between them cheerfully. “I’m just really glad I got people like you and my friends from Sopa here and my cousin too!”

The moment she noticed a judging look send her way, Heeo was aware she was being too open about her actual persona. If she wasn’t careful they’d actually call her out as fake. Letting go again the sopa senior pursed her lips together, raising her brows at her sunbae as if to say “ops”.

“Without intending to sound cocky I think I’m pretty good in terms of freestyle. I surely want to keep challenging myself with friends to not fall out of shape but the level I’m on is content for me. LTE is indeed something I had wanted to improve in, especially with Tymee as one of the female rappers I most look up to. Maybe I’ll ask them for private lessons. I doubt KT suddenly wants to make a vocalist out of me anyway so we’ll see.”

“everyone wants a good start so i can assure you that it’s a completely normal behavior. i’d have to say though, just because you’re having fun, it doesn’t mean that you will mess up. they can both go along side by side.” first days are always the toughest, and she’s mounted a lot of obstacles to be where she is at now. hard as they were, they didn’t all have to be painful, sometimes the challenges she faced were actually enjoyable. “don’t stress yourself too much about being the perfect trainee, hardly anyone ever gets to be that.”

for someone who’s pretty much clean of scandals and problematic pasts, seungmi can’t really relate to the problems of facing public hatred and negative feedback. sure, she’s gone through peer pressure a couple times, especially during her reign as football captain, but never has she been hated on for stirring up trouble. she skipped classes, yes. slept through lectures, yes. pulled pranks on people and got detention, yes. but she’s never had to deal with people who constantly judged her based on what she had done and her being true to herself.

“cousin? i didn’t know you had a cousin here. do i know that person or have i been out of touch with the other trainees in the company?” laughing lightly, she wonders if she is not interacting enough with her colleagues. most of the times, she hangs out with her best friends, and she supposes she hasn’t been talking enough to the newer trainees.

her feet drag around kt’s halls until she spots seungmi turning around a corner. it’s only then that she picks up her pace, running until she’s within a safe distance to jump; she clings onto her friend’s back, weighing herself down to make sure the other doesn’t stumble forward too much. once she’s sure they won’t collapse to the ground, yulhee starts whining loudly.

“byeon seungmiiiiii~! you have to help me! you have to do something! and you have to do it right now!”

of course, it would be hard for seungmi to do anything with a seventeen year old hanging off her neck, so the youngest rapper lets her arms fall to either side as an annoyed pout forms on her lips. “are you busy tonight? i really need your assistance. can you sleep over? please? pretty please? i’ll treat you to cupcakes again! you know you love my mom’s cupcakes!”

lacing her fingers together, yulhee stomps her feet and bats her eyelashes, in an attempt to seem cute that would probably work if it weren’t for the tight gym clothes and the bright red hair. but it doesn’t really matter to yulhee, so it shouldn’t matter to anyone else, right?

“what do you need me to help with?” turning towards the other girl, she fixes her hair, touching her ponytail to check if it’s still neat. by then, she isn’t as easily fazed by the antics of the cute rapper, and instead finds them endearing and adorable.

Her phone goes unanswered today, but there aren’t any calls anyways. No one calls or texts her on Chuseok so she doesn’t think too much about anything happening and her brother’s likely working too. Not even her sister-in-law or her parents, so she doesn’t bother.

It’s the third Chuseok that she’s missed spending with family now, and there’s an unspoken rule that trainees work on holidays. From what she’s heard, Chuseok is their only day off, but who really does take that day off? The week off had messed her up terribly.

The thought of a holiday barely lingers in her mind as her arm spreads out gracefully in a gentle sway. This is where she decides to stop for now, so she can take a break from dancing to drink from her water bottle, but it’s empty and she sighs for a moment, pursing her lips after. Hyuna secures her belongings in her bag and goes out into the hallway with her phone also in hand. Where was the water fountain again? Her hair’s pulled up into a ponytail, a lack of makeup on her naturally tan skin and she goes wandering down the hallways towards the water fountain to refill.

Not once does it occur to her that the person she’s passing isn’t supposed to be there, but then again, trainees will wear anything and her mind is bordering exhaustion.

first thing that pops up in her mind is that nova is very different from kt. while her company is filled with happy-go-lucky kids (which, for the record can be attributed to yul and yeri’s presence), her cousin’s home base seems a bit more on the serious side. it scares her a bit, the thought of getting caught and possibly getting her cousin in trouble for something she’s not responsible for.

still camouflaging herself, the rapper tiptoes slowly, trying to avoid anyone and everyone except for her cousin. just as she’s about to hide her face from an approaching figure, she recognizes the sneakers worn by the female. peeking from behind her hoodie, hey eyes widen. it takes her a while to make sure that the female is indeed her cousin, and when she does, the girl quickly sneaks up behind her and jumps right onto her back.

“unnie!” in a loud whisper, she lets her head rest on the older’s shoulder. hyuna can be quite scary when she’s mad, and this is probably an appropriate situation for the older to giver her a good scolding. after all, sneaking into the company building can be considered as trespassing, which technically is lawfully illegal.

Tagged: @rkseungmi

The thing is Hyuna’s never taken an actual holiday off since the day she came to Nova. Even when she had been given a holiday after the MYNAME world tour, she still came to train again. Both Christmas’ were spent in Nova’s practice rooms, as were Chuseoks, New Years, and every other holiday that she could think of. Even her own birthdays were celebrated doing work. The one time she decided to actually take a vacation, it felt awkward, felt like she couldn’t do exactly just what you were supposed to do on a vacation and that was to relax.

Instead, she was in the practice room of Nova and finalizing the choreography that she was going to be teaching her class on the weekend. 

riding the bus to nova, she leans on the chair and looks out. everyone seems so happy, walking together with their loved ones under the clear seoul sky. it’s been a while since she’s went out with her family and a part of her feels guilty. training is something she bought upon herself, so she really has no right to complain.

In the aftermath Heeo feels stupid for having such a low self-esteem after the confidence boost of being signed at last. To think Seungmi wouldn’t recognize her- as soon as the elder smiled at her, Heeo knew she had been beyond stupid to be so timid to begin with.

All the more was she relieved and joyful when the girl greets her with a bright smile and enthusiastic attitude, allowing heeo to mirror it too easily. “Hey! Yes I uhm… finally made it.” The newbie admits humbly, rubbing the back of her neck before she twirls a strand of hair around her finger only to drop it as her hand lowers again.

The offer to have lunch together makes an uncharacteristically bright smile appear on her lips. While she’s grown more bright, she’s also a bit more timid, less like the person outside of these halls that seems to be constantly on guard and always eager to keep a tough appear up for the sake of keeping unwanted people away from her. It feels nice and she blames it on the number of familiar and friendly faces within the company that she feels at ease her so quickly to a point that she feels no need to remain on guard most of the time.

“I’d love to!” The ex-yankee replies, looking back to the front before her eyes lower back to her notebook. “So before we start- tell me a bit about the lessons here I’m curious! Are the rap coaches good?!”

seeing heeo in kt is not a bad thing, but she won’t deny that it’s surprising. the girl has always struck her as someone who would fit well under trc, but she also had the same perspective of herself before she was scouted. in the end, it’s a pleasant surprise, and she can’t hope for someone better to be admitted.

the timidness of the other reminds the trainee of her own first day. she was tiny and scared, a bit lost but still hopeful. friends had gotten her through her first few weeks, and she finally settled in nicely after getting to know most of the coaches and senior trainees. a lot of people have quit ever since, and truth be told, she’s not able to completely erase them from her mind. traces of them would still linger in her brain whenever she explores the building, memories playing in the back of her mind like movie clips.

“congratulations! i hope kt treats you well, i can promise you that our trainees are the best at having fun.” laughing, she finds it amusing how she’s starting to sound like yulhee, promoting kt nonstop in a bright and warm manner. if not for the younger, she would remain a fairly quiet seungmi in front of people she’s not close to.

         seungmi’s point of view has validity and hyeri very much agrees with her; if the older trainee had her way, she’d be the best dancer in the company along with a slew of mastery in as many subjects as possible. unfortunately, ambition and realism walked an incompatible path more often than not and hyeri is well-aware that, if that dream of hers were to come true, it would be years of progress down the road. not anywhere close to now. “a deal’s a deal then,rap goddess,” she purrs, “don’t break your word!”

         she runs her fingers through the sleek tresses of her hair, wincing at the stiffness of the hairspray that weighs the blonde bob down. “i’m gonna head for a shower because i feel like i’ll never be rid of the twelve layers of makeup on my face,” hyeri tosses jokingly, “but starting tomorrow you and i are going to get a lot closer, seungmi!” a sudden thought has the girl fishing for her phone, patting down the pockets of her clothes until she finally finds it in the back. “here’s my number by the way– so text me when you’re ready for that treat from me.”

nodding confidently, she responds with a sweet, tight-lipped smile. one day she aims to be the rap goddess of not only kt, but the whole world. of course, before that she’d have to go against yoon mirae and nicki minaj, but who cares? a girl can dream, and one day she vows to be exactly that. with hard work and determination, in a few years time she’ll be able to see herself in a different place. up she’ll be, with the rest of the stars she can’t imagine of meeting now.

“thank you, i’ll make sure to text you later.” receiving the older’s phone number, she slightly bows. the dancer is probably one of the friendliest seniors she’s met so far in the company, and having her as a friend is bound to keep her in high spirits. “please get home safely. i’ll see you tomorrow.” seeing the older leave the premises, she slips her phone back in her bag. a small smile spreads on her face as she sips her hot tea. starting tomorrow, she would have to prepare a couple tips and tricks on how to nail rap breaks.

@rkseungmi

She’s on a countdown for when she leaves to China, it’s a secret but– Soohyun promises to spend her youth happily. When she invites Janey to play soccer, it’s casual. Soohyun wasn’t particularly athletic, but thanks to all the training she has built up stamina for sure. Plus she did work on a farm for a while when she was kid, so she was tough. Soo just knows, you can’t touch the ball with your hands. “Honestly.. this beats dance practice.” Soohyun laughs rolling the ball under her foot before passing it off to Seungmi, they haven’t been playing too long. Just a quick break, and she looks up at the sky it was positively clear today. “Plus it’s so nice out!” She stretches her arms over her head, and reaches down to grab her bright pink water bottle. 

“i’m glad it’s not raining today. i was worried we would have to cancel our off-day and go back to practice.” not that she still hates dancing or singing or the very idea of being an idol, but playing soccer feels somewhat liberating. maybe it’s just her missing her position as a striker, or maybe it’s just envy of snu’s female soccer team that seems to always be energetic. under the warm sun, she feels regret kicking in. she probably should’ve had signed up for the varsity team.

“That’s good! I’m glad to hear that.” The student remarks with a few absentminded nods of her head, continuing to walk along slowly. One feet before the other, she has the pavement in her gaze that she smiles at when the other female continues. “That’s very true indeed.” Looking back to the first and only video she made on her youtube channel, she feels like deleting the thing and starting all over again. The video is probably saved now already on some computers though, ready to be used as more back up material to prove how bad of a person Kwak Heeo is. Burn her on the stake! She’s so tired of this.

Fate seems to mean her well today though when the compliment strays her back to a better place of mind before she can become bitter and drown in self pity again. Instead a light blush settles onto her features. “Thanks.” She utters quietly. “My mum chose that name for me since her roots are Korean but if you saw me on TV you might… already know that.” Heeo didn’t know just how much Seungmi seemed to know of her and her scandal but if she knew it all, she was doing a good job at playing it cool and the ex-yankee appreciates it a lot. “I’m an underground rapper.” The response comes eagerly, glad to have a way to change the topic even if only for a moment. “I’m not sure where exactly I want to go after school but I thought about applying for SeoulArts and K-Arts.” She adds, wondering if that might just be useless information tossed into the silence to stop talking about the MGA’s.

“At this point in time though, I’d be glad to just have a company at least give me a chance…” She smiles but the bitterness and defeat in her voice is strong. While she’s determined to prove Korea wrong about how they see her, she has little confidence in achieving it.

“ah, i haven’t actually seen all the episodes. i only see clips here and there since the show is all over sns. should i watch it?” a survival show with a group of normal citizens will always get the crowd fired up. it doesn’t matter if it’s more singing-heavy or performance-heavy. it doesn’t even matter if it wasn’t musical at all, actually. people are always looking for shows that constantly rate others and put them in ranks. mga is just another example of a classic survival shows where the winner thrive and losers get forgotten. maybe not so much in south korea, as every contestant seems to walk home with a number of followings.

when the other told her that she’s an underground rapper, seungmi can swear she almost leaps in joy. “you rap? how did i not know? i mean, i saw a short clip of you rapping, but i didn’t know you actually make music. what was your stage name again? cheeo?” years she has spent in the underground hiphop scene, but she has never really heard of cheeo. albeit, she’s been absent for a year or so, but it’s pretty weird to see all the changes that has happened. “performing schools? sounds like a lot of fun. i wish i had been brave enough to apply to a performing arts school like sopa and hanlim. now i’m stuck with the conventional education system where i have to do maths and sciences and literature.” pouting she wonders if she would’ve been happier had she not been in kyunggi. maybe not. probably not.

“you’re gonna make me blush.” woohyun teases, smile widening to the point where it barely fits on his face, arm reaching up to rub the back of his neck. he ducks his head, free hand lifting to scratch at his cheek. “now i have a challenge to uphold. watch out! i’ll make you cry. not, not in a mean way, of course.” he laughs to himself how strange the sentence probably sounds out of context. if the sound of his voice makes her cry, he might feel bad—even if that means something particularly good to her. tears always make woohyun feel bad.

woohyun hums, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. his shoulders lift in a shrug, crooked smile on his face. “i’m sure it’s okay if you don’t know how to cook. not all moms do! sometimes it’s the dad’s specialty—or other…partner. whichever your lifestyle is—as long as you can find someone else that can cook, i’m sure you and your future family will be safe.” to be honest, woohyun is very thankful he knows about cooking as much as he does; it’s nice for future endeavors like that.

“ah.” he hums, nodding his head somberly. “debuts are typically like that, aren’t they? i hope so too! i want people to like us when we debut, and i want people to like us for—you know. being us.” he bites his lip, a sad smile crossing his face. “but in this industry, i’m sure it’ll be hard to get that at first.”

he agrees with her completely; with kt being apart of the big three—it’s going to be no issue for their debuted group to promote well, even with the competition around. “hopefully. i have high hopes everything will work out—“ and he hopes he can be apart of one of the debuting groups too, teeth pressing against his lip. sooner than later too.

“it’ll always be selective and harsh.” woohyun comments quietly. “that’s just—how this industry works. that’s how it survives. competition is everything and it keeps everyone on edge, everyone motivated to work harder. it’s a sad fact but it’s something that keeps pushing us forward. but i—i do want us to be able to showcase what we’re good at. that’s why we’re here, isn’t it?” he smiles awkwardly, a sheepish bout of laughter escaping him.

she laughs along, finding it easy to connect with the older male. even if she can’t sing to save her life, she loves listening to other people use their voices to form intricate pictures of both imagination and reality. stories in songs are partly credited to lyrics, but more than that, the emotion of the singer itself has a larger impact. whether or not they get into the mood, and whether or not they are able to bring out the best of the song, those are questions she often hear herself ask when she comes across a great performance.

“well if you make me cry in a mean way, you won’t wriggle out of it so easily.” playfully crossing her arms, she pretends to challenge him. hearing him continue on the subject of cooking, her grin turns into a softer smile. worries that presented itself only moments before disappear as fast as it came. “you’ve got a point. most korean people are still pretty traditional when it comes to gender roles though. my family’s not as rigid, but i know some other people who are.” a recent topic that’s been quite popular among the south korean youth is the orthodox views that still persist in the community. truth be told, she’s all about globalisation and becoming more open, but a part of her still thinks that too much advancements might actually be detrimental.

most variety shows these days are pretty blatant. not exactly honest, she would say, but a bit more straightforward. idols are more outspoken, and they usually put their endeavours out for display. fans automatically support their dreams, and thus it pushes the companies to also fulfil those aims and goals. with bigger companies, as opposed to smaller ones, the rapper guesses that it’s a bit different. no matter how talented you are, they have everything planned out for your first few years. only after you’ve gained enough popularity do you actually get to decide your own schedules and such.

“even if debuting is hard and feels tedious, i’m sure we can pull through somehow. have more confidence in yourself, woohyun-ssi.” encouraging him with a smile, the younger female makes a fist with both hands and pulls it close to her face. mouthing a quick hwaiting, she hopes that it’ll spread some positivity.

They are! Trust me, I’m a true and thorough local. { /he nodded, pointing to himself with his thumb as he bounced on the soles of his feet.’ } Oh yeah, their portions tend to be on the larger side? { /he hummed, tilting his head upwards as he thinks.’ } Like, not everything is huge, usually you can finish your normal size McDonalds, but when you upsize, it becomes a different story. { /a pause, and he shook his head’ } Rather, don’t ever upsize, like seriously. Though, there’s a pretty good American burger restaurant in Seoul. It’s pretty…authentic? { /how else would burgers taste different, he would never know, but with the retro jukebox in the corner and american sauces, it tastes like a piece of home for sure’ } We can go and try it out! { /the talk of burgers distracted him, and he almost want to run out instead of practicing, but they’ve taken long enough to even warm up, though it seemed rather obvious that the both of them are prolonging the inevitable.’ } You’re in for the thrills, huh? { /he shrugged, bouncing to the music player’ } I love rides too. My sisters too, both of them. As long as it’s not the haunted house, those give me the creeps. Anyway! { /he blinked, staring at her’ } Uh…what shall we do. Something seasonal? Thriller? { /and then he burst out laughing, because he sucked so bad at it’ } Know that song?

With honesty and a smile, she reaches over to hook their pinkies together in a promise. It’ll happen one day, so it’s a definite promise that will take some time before Hyuna can completely achieve it as best as possible. So many things to do, so many people to see, but she’ll make every effort to not put one person over the other. It’s never that easy, really.

“Hmm?” The questioning tone on her end almost barely comes out, like she’s not sure of what to really say and that’s a fact. “I thought I did.”

It takes her a moment to think about it, to have to realize that the only person that really knows about her decision to not continue school is Dahae, and her parents don’t count since they were the ones she talked to prior to making the big decision. “I don’t think I can handle having that many things, actually. I’d probably collapse from exhaustion.” Training, work and school would be too much for her.

With a soft exhale, she raises her head a little to look at her cousin. “Do you want to talk about this topic or just skip to doing something else?” Considering how they’ve just spent the day at training, just talking about it could be too much to think about.

“no, you didn’t. i was sure you’d take it since you’re always so keen on learning new things. besides, you usually have a way of being on top of your schedule.” remembering how her cousin is both a dance teacher and a trainee, she finds it amazing how she manages her time so well. the rapper always ends up confused when it comes to what she should prioritise first.

hearing her cousin’s concerns of being overworked helps her understand why she rejected the offer in the end. she guesses even hyuna can’t handle that much things in life. more less when she has more important stuff to attend to.

“let’s skip to something else. oh, wanna hear about this box of kittens i found near my school last week? they were so tiny and weak, i felt really bad for them.” her face falls for a moment as she recalls just how much the little creatures had to suffer. one of her friends decided to take them home and feed them before offering them up for adoption.

@rkseungmi

yeri had always hated walking alone. being by yourself seemed lonely on its own, but for whatever reason, she had always found walking home by herself even worse, more isolated, in some way. and she supposed there was a reason she always made sure someone who lived close to her was always available after school, just so she had someone to talk to as she walked home.

and it could have been a problem when walking home from training. it was late and dark, and she had heard enough stories about girls getting kidnapped on the streets to be at least a little scared.

but she had seungmi, and things always seemed better when she had her friend around.

“did you talk with the trainer yet?” she looks at her friend, hand on her backpack straps as she stepped along the sidewalk, shoes kicking at random things on the ground, the evaluations still a constant thought in her mind. “i wasn’t really sure what to say but…i think it went okay?”

admittedly, the walk is not that far, and the roads are paved well. there’s not a reason to opt out of walking aside from the weird ambience and darkness at night. a couple of times before she decided to just sleep over at a friend’s house whose house was nearer, but since that friend lives in a dorm now, she’s got no option but to walk home. thankfully, yeri is always there to walk alongside her after they finish training.

“marshmallows? i think we still have some. but how are we supposed to make smores? i’ve got no graham crackers.” a late night snack is against her diet plan, but who cares when she has just spent most of her energy during practice? besides, seungmi has found herself busied by more workload, both from university and kt.

looking in retrospect, she nods slowly. “i have, but i don’t know if i said enough though. it felt really brief to me.” she remembers only saying a few sentences on wanting more creative freedom in the future, but nothing else. did she mention wanting to have a hip-hop unit? did she mention wanting the maknae trio to debut for real? did she mention wanting to appear in dramas and variety shows? she can’t remember, and chances are she didn’t.