"Ahem, excuse me?"

I whipped my head around at the unfamiliar guest. It was a tall man wearing a thick coat and glasses, with noticeably gray hairs.

"Hi--" I started but was cut off by Jinyoung.

"HYUNG!!!" He yelled. "CLYDE-HYUNG!"

Who the hell is Clyde hyung?

"Jinyoungie?!" He asked in surprised and the two did some foreign handshake before turning to me, who was awkwardly standing there.

I nodded and greeted the unknown person awkwardly. "Hi."

"Nice to meet you." This Clyde guy stuck out his hand for me to shake, and I shook it reluctantly.

"Naeun, this guy is a producer for HappyFace." Jinyoung said.

"Producer?" I asked.

Clyde nodded. "I make music for HappyFace, and others too actually. Why are you here Jinyoung?"

"I'm watching her." Jinyoung pointed to me. "Why are you here hyung?"

Clyde gestured at me, making my confusion deeper.

"Huh?"

"I'd thought it'd be great for her to do a quick private audition and become a trainee." The producer said. "I've been watching her for the past days, I think she would be a great addition to the company."

I nearly choked on thin air. Me? Becoming a trainee? At HappyFace? Jinyoung's company? "Wait, what?"

Jinyoung's jaw dropped and he looked at me smugly and excitedly.

"Are you two close?" Clyde asked, making me dead silent.

"Um..."

"She lives with me." Jinyoung interrupted.

I side eyed him. What would he think if we lived in the same house?!?!

Clyde raised an eyebrow and nodded, without any questions.

"So, what about it Naeun?" Jinyoung asked me.

"........"

"I don't know...." I muttered.

"You're not homeless anymore, I don't see any problem with it--" Jinyoung said, making me glare at him.

No one needs to know my entire life story, Woo Jinyoung. I thought.

"You were homeless?" Clyde asked, earning a nod from me. "That's terrible."

"Yeah, but Jinyoung helped me." I said.

"Wow, Jinyoung." Clyde nodded proudly at Jinyoung, and turned back to me. "You have probably suffered a lot as a teenager."

I nodded slightly.

Clyde gave me his business card. "If you want to audition, contact me. I would just let you into the company, but we have to be fair. There are also dorms at the company, if you need them."

I nodded. "Thank you."

"Another thing--if you want you audition,"

"You have to do it without your mask."

I bit my lip and nodded. "I understand."

Clyde left with a small wave, walking away into the distance.

Jinyoung hopped around excitedly and grabbed my shoulders. "Naeun, YOU COULD BE A TRAINEE WITH ME!!! AT MY COMPANY!"

I let out a sigh as he shook me. "I don't know..."

"What do you mean you don't knowwwww?" Jinyoung whined.

"If I'm ready to be a trainee. Doesn't my background seem shady to you? And the fact that I'm living with you doesn't help either--"

"No one cares that much about your background, plus it's pretty admirable anyways. It's the talent that matters and you have it."

"...thanks Jinyoung." I said. "I guess I'll think about it then."

"Good!! It would be amazing if both of us were in HappyFace--together."

I smiled under my mask and nodded.

"We'll see."

•••

The next day, Jinyoung burst loudly into my room (WHAT IS PRIVACY AGAIN??), yodeling about some news article.

"NAEUNNN!!" He yelled. "WAKE UP, YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS."

I groggily pushed him away from me and hid under the covers. "Why did you have to wake me up..."

"This is very important, let me show this to you and then you can sleep." He said.

I groaned and looked at him. "What?"

Jinyoung showed me his phone screen. "You're on Allkpop, and a whole ton of other Korean news sites. Everyone is talking about you!!"

I opened my eyes wider to make sure I was seeing correctly.

The top of the news article was,

THE MYSTERIOUS DANCER IN MYEONGDANG THAT EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT--IS SHE A TRAINEE, OR POSSIBLY ALREADY DEBUTED?

My jaw dropped. "What the hell..."

"Everyone's talking about how good you are! Today when you go out and dance, you'll have a whole concert waiting for you!!" Jinyoung squealed.

"Is this a joke?" I asked. "How can they suddenly know about me..."

Jinyoung shrugged. "Because you're amazing. Tonight I'll make a gigantic poster because I'm your biggest fanboy and cannot be beat by the others."

I rubbed my eyes. "Stop trying to embarrass me...you're too much."

"I'm not, I'm your fan."

"No you're not."

"Yes I am." Jinyoung shook my shoulders and pinched my cheeks. "Cute~"

I groaned and blushed,
lightly pushing him away and telling him to let me sleep.

Jinyoung left, but he didn't know that I couldn't sleep anymore because of how excited I was.

•••

"We want you to become a trainee for Yuehua Entertainment."

"We're offering you to become a trainee for Starship entertainment."

"I'm from Jellyfish Entertainment, I want you to become apart of the company.

"Maroo Entertainment, please join."

These were the words heard from the people that started showing up in the past days. MAROO ENT. JELLYFISH. STARSHIP. YUEHUA.

I was so shook.

How could they want me to join without even seeing my face?

Even more so, I knew it was the right time for me to join a company. But which one?

Maroo had Park Jihoon.

Yuehua had Justin.

Starship had Sewoon.

Most of the famous people from those company's were from Produce 101.

But to be frank, I wanted to strive for a bigger goal, and join one of the big three--YG, SM, or JYP.

Should I go for a bigger goal?

•••

"Jung Naeun?" The SM audition judge looked up at me, and I nodded.

"Okay, let's see it." She said.

I danced to one of my dances I practiced and had been showing at my busking. It seemed like my best one since the crowd always reacted really well to it.

When my performance ended, I sang one of the songs I created.

The judge looked at me and raised her eyebrow. "Those songs sound familiar? Are you sure they're original?"

I nodded. "I don't know where you've heard it from..."

Her eyes widened. "Wait a second...you can't be that one girl who dances in Myeongdang, right??"

"I am..." I said and hesitantly nodded. I would have to tell someone sooner or later.

"I've been watching you, like a lot of people." She said. "You've come to the right place. You're in."

My jaw dropped. "Wait...just like that?"

She nodded. "I don't need to go over it with anybody else, they'll just say the same thing."

I clapped and bowed 90 degrees. "Thank you."

"Yes, I will send you more information by email. See you then." She said, at last releasing me.

I tried to stay calm as I exited, but I was extremely elated to tell Jinyoung and Granny Woo about it.

"SM, here I come."