The girl in the training room

GK entertainment training room 8

Nari had never expected to run into anyone in the training room. It was very late so she had assumed that everyone had all gone home. She had been so shocked to hear a loud thud as something fell.

Nari raised her head, she squinted her eyes as a shadow blocked the reflection of light from the hallway. 

Her eyes snapped to the door, Her eyes widen as she met Song Tae-Eun's gaze. Her cheeks flushed and she quickly looked away. 

Hwang Nari scrambled to her feet, wiping the moisture off her face. She felt so embarrassed to run into a familiar face in such an embarrassing situation.

"Of all the people I could run into it had to be Song Tae-eun," she mumbled under her breath.

Nari cleared her throat and gave him a deep bow, "Tae-eun sunbae, hello! I am so, so sorry. Do you want to use the room, I will get going". The number tag pinned to her clothes fell, she quickly bent over to pick it up but he beat her to it. He picked up the name tag and looked down briefly before handing it back to her.

"Here, you go".

"Thanks", she said taking the paper tag from him. "I should get going", she muttered walking past him.

She was a few steps away from him when he said "Hold on". She stopped, her heart beating faster, 'is he going to scold me for coming here without permission, she thought trying to think of a good excuse, she could use in case he did that. However, his next words made all her initial fears disappear.

He turned around and said, "don't let a failed audition discourage you, maybe you are just not the match for that group. keep persisting and in the end, the delays would all be worth it." He smiled and with a hand gesture, "Hwaiting!"

Her mood improved a little and her lips curved, "Thanks". She turned around but stopped after a few steps, turning slightly, she said, "sunbaenim, about this..... Please don't let Seo Min or Ru-ri know about this. They..... I don't want them or the rest of the girls to worry".

"I won't, they should hear it from you." Normally that would be the end of his conversation with her but given how close she was to his cousins and what happened to his member Yu Seok was still fresh in his memory. He decided to take a step further and gave her some advice, "one more thing Nari, sometimes a change in environment works wonders." After saying that he turned around and walked to the music player by the wall, dismissing her completely. He had no intention of explaining further. He saw no need to do that, a smart person would understand what he meant.

She stood there silently for a few seconds before turning around to leave when she observed that he was not going to say anything else. She kept on thinking about what he meant, not because she didn't understand what he meant by saying that but because it meant her leaving GK entertainment. There wasn't much holding her in the company, her trainee contract was almost due. She had roughly a month remaining since she couldn't make it into the new project group. Due to her age, the likelihood of the company offering to renew her contract was zero.

She paused as her bus stopped at the bus stop close to her Aunt's apartment building. Every step was heavy, the cheerful scene at breakfast this morning replayed in her head. 'one more failed audition to add to my long-growing list, she thought as she got out of the elevator on the 9th floor of the apartment building.

Hwang Nari stood at the door, trying to force a smile before going in. A few seconds later she put in the pin and opened the apartment door. She heard hurried footsteps as she bend down to change out of her trainers and into fluffy house slippers.

"Nari!" Her cousin Han Chae-rin, a petite girl dressed in a loose grey sweatshirt and matching shorts rushed towards her. Out of habit, she stretched out her hand silent as the girl rushed into her hands and hugged her tightly. She dropped the backpack she held in one hand and wrapped both hands around her cousin, patting her on the back twice.

"Chae-rin, I am sweaty, I need to clean up", she said softly.

Chae-rin looked up before pulling away, "oh that is right, sorry". she stepped back, and Hwang Nari picked up her backpack and walked to her room while her cousin followed her. Her room was immaculate as always, it smelt like roses thanks to the detergent the maid used in cleaning. Chae-rin took off her slippers and sat cross-legged on the bed while Hwang Nari took a fresh set of house clothes from her closet and went into the bathroom.

While waiting for her cousin to wash up, Chae-rin took her phone out of her pocket. She scrolled through Instagram for a few minutes before switching to Twitter. A thread titled #What is the future of VIXEN now that two members have left the company and the group", caught her attention. Memphis Entertainment has been trending for all the wrong reasons of late, She tapped on the thread. The page opened a second later, and she read through the comments, most of the predictions made pointed at the group disbanding because of the scandal.

"After those years of training, they better not disband them", Chae-rin muttered

"Disband them? which group is getting disbanded?"

Nari said already dressed in loose green joggers and a matching sweatshirt, she walked out of the bathroom while drying her hair gently with a soft towel.

"Oh, Vixen. The new girl group from Memphis Entertainment. The one formed from the survival show, FINDING VIXEN. Two of their members just left the company for INSPIRE Entertainment"

"Oh them, I don't think two members leaving the group would affect them. Netizens are overreacting as usual", She rolled her eyes, setting aside the towel and seating on the stool at her dressing table. She began her night skincare routine, "Don't they have a new CEO, I don't think she would disband the group. The group has a lot of potential with talented trainees like Yumi, and Bitna. Then there are two child stars with a solid fan base. Only a fool would disband such a group", Nari set the towel aside and sat beside Chae-rin.

Chae-rin nodded, Hwang Nari's observation was quite on point, "Your right, they do have a lot of potential. I think the CEO will either debut them as a four-member group or add two new members to replace the two that left." She leaned on Nari's shoulders, "you know Nari, you could join them. since your contract with GK entertainment is expiring".

Nari snorted, "you think too highly of me, Chea-rin. They have their trainees, why would they take me, I think I will just give up once my contract expires, maybe go to college".

"What?" she sat up and looked down at her cousin's relaxed expression. "if you give up, what about me? I think that you are too talented to just give up, weren't you also approach by other companies? Call them back and audition, groups from smaller groups are gaining recognition these days. You can try auditioning for my company, the company is debuting a new girl group soon. We can be teammates!"

Nari stood and walked to the bed, smiling down at Chae-rin, she flicked her forehead, "After spending ten years training to be an idol, do you think another failed audition would hurt me? I will keep trying, I still have the cards of the agents from other entertainment agencies that had approached me."

Chae-rin pouted and rubbed her forehead, "You tricked me, I thought you had given. Not fair".

"That is because you make it so easy, bunny"