Prologue “TeamF”
I rushed to the practice rooms. Even though I knew I was just a few minutes late, the instructor would kill me. She was always strict about being on time, especially to me I didn't understand why. But she always had a double standard with me. The others like Eunji or Juhee were always treated like queens, however it felt like I was a peasant.
I entered the room knowing the scoldings and punishments that would be awaiting for me in the room but this time when I entered the instructor just sighed and told me to practice the dance with the other girls. I skeptically looked at her then did as she said.
—
Once the practice was over Instructor Lee told me to wait so she could have a talk with me.Before she could say anything I blurted out “Miss Lee I promise I won’t come late again this is only the second time it happened. I promise it won’t happen again.”
She sighed and looked at me with uncertainty “Mirae, this isn’t about that.”
I looked at her in confusion “Then what is this about.”
“It- Its about the fact that you won’t be on Team A anymore. You’re moving to Team F and trust me it's not because of the fact that you come late. I don't remove people from this team because of something like that. In fact, It wasn’t even my decision.”
My heart sank… all that training, missing out on all those parties and events my friends held, dieting… was all for nothing. Just for me to be moved out of the debut team I was dreaming of being since I was 14.
“So what! You’re now kicking me out for no reason and you of all people! Now I’m going to move into the failure group and who knows when I’ll make my debut!”
“Mirae-”
I just burst out of the room crying. Why? Why did I have to get cut? What did I do wrong? I was obedient and I was good. I always tried to not break the rules of this company but yet this company broke their promise of making my dreams come true.
CHAPTER 01 MIRAE POV
After being transferred to TeamF or “The Fail Project” as other trainees call it. Life’s been… meh. Most of the trainees here left the company unable to face the humiliation but there are still trainees like me that have a tiny bit of hope with us with hopes that one day we will be accepted into Team A again.
As for the team I was supposed to debut in, they were named PINKFROST and they became a major success in Korea and started catching the attention of everyone that surrounded them. Though I tried so hard to hold it in, I still felt resentment and envy inside me about to burst just at the name PINKFROST. All I imagined was, 'How would it have been if it was me? Why wasn’t it me?'
–
I woke up at 7 AM and looked across from me. My roommate was already gone. I didn’t even meet her yet and from what I heard she just got into TeamF. She used to be a part of the debut lineup but got cut off like me and most of the trainees here.
I got out of bed and got ready for practice. I walked through the hallways with many trainees' whispering and glares. I was used to this. If you were associated in any way to TeamF, you would be immediately ridiculed, ostracized, and even bullied.
I got to the practice room for Vocals and placed my things down on the floor. I looked around and I was with one other girl. She looked a bit older but she was really beautiful. She had slightly wavy back hair and thin heart shaped lips. I wondered what she was doing in a TeamF practice. As I was thinking, she looked at me and smiled.
I then realized I was staring at her this whole time. I smiled awkwardly and said “Hi, you’re really pretty!” I then realized what I had blurted out and covered my mouth. She chuckled and replied “You’re really cute too.”
I smiled at that comment “Thanks… By the way, what's your name?”
“My name is Yeseo. What about you?”
“My name is Mirae.”
–
The mentor came late but that was okay cause I got to know a lot about Lia. She moved from Canada to Korea when she was only 18 to pursue her dream of becoming a Kpop idol.
Finally after the practice finally started the room was filled with 10 other girls including Lia. I was a bit confused because usually the vocal practices had only 3-4 people in the studio. “Okay, listen up, the CEO of HWAAN LABEL, Lee Sujin will be coming soon. She’ll be looking at the 8 of you today. This lady is very powerful. You better impress her if you wanna at least have a chance to debut,” The mentor said strictly.
I was surprised HWAAN LABEL was well known for their past boy groups and girl groups but nowadays they seem to be lying low in the music industry and rather being in the acting industry. People say that the only artists that are keeping the label from going bankrupt are their current ones MInJa and MOONSAVIOR. After they disbanded their biggest girl group HOTP!NK they haven’t been able to make any of their new artists reach the level of popularity HOTP!NK had. Only recently HWAAN was bought by Chaence and only now they had a new CEO.
I brushed away my thoughts as the door opened and I saw a lady which I assumed to be Lee Sujin. She had short straight black hair and looked really intimidating. The mentor bowed at her immediately and she smiled bowed down back. She then took a seat at the black chair in the front of the room.
“Today, I will be evaluating your skills and talents as a trainee. If you are good you will be transferred to HWAAN Label to train under my company.” She said immediately getting to the point.
I looked round and the other trainees looked nervous and some . I felt a bit nervous too because I knew if I didn’t get in, I wouldn’t have any chances at all debuting in Chaence and there was more hope under HWAAN.
Miss Lee looked at us with stern eyes. “Shall we start?” she said with an elegant smile.
THE FAIL PROJECT FEEDBACK FORM
This is for my series 'THE FAIL PROJECT'. I am very enthusiastic and happy with working on this project! I only recently have started writing and I know I may need some feedback. I want this show to be amazing for the viewers so please if you have any feedback please submit through this form. Also this is completely anonymous so feel free to be as honest as you want! FORM
tw: this chapter may contain a little bit about physical and mental abuse so if this is a topic that is triggering to you i would suggest not reading the blurred portion of the chapter or not reading at all
CHAPTER 02 SUCHIN POV
I woke up at 5:30 AM today. My roommate was still asleep. I could hear her snores which made it almost impossible to fall asleep. How annoying.
The other trainees were also fast asleep; they usually wake up around 6:30-7 AM. But I had gotten ready quickly as the CEO had ordered me to wake up 1 hour earlier today for a meeting. I assumed it would be because of my scandal. Recently I went on this Snet Survival Show called “POWER”. I was the lucky 30 trainees that were accepted on the show. At least that's what I thought but lucky my ass. Half of the mentors weren’t even doing their job to help us; they just stood there with their cellphones out or chatting with the other mentors. Only when the camera’s were rolling did they act like they were teaching.
The trainees I met there were horrible. They kept on giving dirty looks to me and the other trainees. Most of them were pretty stuck up and full of themselves. The only girl that was okay when I met her was this Japanese trainee Izumi. She was pretty annoying but was still nice. She had a hard time on the show out of all the trainees there. She didn’t know Korean and she had a hard time understanding everybody because they wouldn't allow her to use a translator. I pitied her so I helped her understand everyone secretly of course.
But to make matters worse, they had made me look like a villain on the show. They edited me to make me look like I had an attitude but it was taken very much out of context due to the fact that a lot of viewers noted me out of the show.
While walking to the CEO Moon Sunbaenim’s office I opened up and searched up my name. I still could see the many news articles with my name Suchin. I clicked on one of the articles that wrote “Thai Trainee Suchin caught into attitude controversy” I didn't care what it said but I just scrolled to the comments. COMMENTS
lesuh212: I had bad vibes from the start. Its giving pick me energy. {3 likes - 0 dislikes} luviehaja_0: I can’t believe she has the audacity to act like she doesn’t own the world plus she wasn’t gonna win anyway. I could see it from the start. {7 likes - 3 dislikes} minjukikik443: She doesn’t even deserve to debut. {10 likes - 2 dislikes} MORE COMMENTS…
I didn't care. At least, I hoped it didn't matter cause I didn't care about that stupid show anyway. I wouldn't want to debut with those trainees anyway. A sudden ringing from my phone came. I knew immediately who it was. I opened it up to see the let MOM on my phone screen. I answered the call and I heard immediate yelling. "Suchin! How could you, you useless little trash! Do you realize how much money I put into you to make you a star idol and your in a scandal how reckless can you be you b*tch!" I pulled myself away from the phone. I was used to it. Ever since my mom heard me sing, she wanted me to be an idol and make money that way. My father left us when I was small and it was hard for us. My mom especially she raised me on her own but even then I knew she was ashamed of me. She sometimes hit me when I did things that "reminded her of dad". Back in 2014 we moved to South Korea and when she heard me sing she called every casting agency she knew to put me in auditions and become an idol. I finally felt loved and loved the attention she gave me, something I had longed for a long time. But that soon changed, she became possessive of me and would even come to my practices to watch me. When I made the slightest mistake she would pinch and hit me till I was numb. The trainees even started bullying me because of her and one day I couldn't take it and yelled at her till my mouth was sore.
Ever since that day she stopped talking to me. She still would yell at me and mutter things under her breath but she never dared to hit me. And I know for one fact she hates me.
I cut the call. I didn't want to deal with her I knew she would scream at me if I called her again.
I brushed away from my thoughts and walked quickly towards the CEO's office.
I knocked 3 times on the CEO's door until she said the words, "Come in." I looked down at her shiny black shoes. I wouldn't dare to look at her face, she was always so cold and serious. Many of the trainees were intimidated and afraid of her. Me included.
"Suchin... I think you know why you're here." The first that came to my mind was the scandal. I gulped and continued to look down not at her shoes but mine. I looked down at my rusty dirty shoes that became so worn out due to the amounts of time I've spent in the practice room and my sore throat that had became so sore due to the amount of hours I had been practice my vocals.
"You know how bad this is. If people continue bringing up the scandal you know how bad it would tarnish your reputation.
I'm sorry but-"
Before she could say anything I broke down. I broke down in tears crying and now I was on the floor unable to get up. "But what? Please don't... Please don't exempt me from debut and even worse from this company! I'll do anything I promise I'll be good just don't do this!"
I could feel the CEO just looking down on me annoyed and gave a sigh. "So what's my loss in this? Nothing, in fact, you would just lessen the trouble for this company. You're useless to us now, we may have saw something in you when we first saw you but now even that's gone."
She was right. I may have been amazing then but now I am completely useless to the company. Even if I debuted I would give a bad reputation. I wiped my tears and got up slowly. Without saying anything, I walked towards the door. Suddenly, "Wait..." she said in her low and deep voice. "You may be useless to this company but you may have chance."
I finally looked up at her she was looking sideways and gave me a card with the bolded words "HWAAN LABEL" in her hand. "Listen there is an audition where you can compete with other trainees. And if you win you'll be able to be a part of this debut project. The auditions will be taking place today at the vocal practice rooms. I can't ensure you that you will debut under the company but it won't hurt to try."
I looked at the CEO in confusion. She was the one who called me useless but she's also the one to be giving me the chance to be under a company that is under Chaence. I was surprised but thankful for the opportunity. I looked up at her again and said "Thank you, I'll think about it," and ran off.
---
I had a few minutes before the other trainees woke up so I first headed to the bathrooms to clear my mind. I kept splashing my face with water all I could hear in my head were the CEO's words replaying in my mind. You may have a second chance.
I stopped slapping my face with water and looked at myself in the mirror. I had lost everything already, the support of my mom and this company, the things that I cherished the most, and I have nothing to lose. This is my last and only chance at debuting. Heck, I don't even know if I'll make it! But I remembered what the CEO told me, it won't hurt to try.
Just like that, I was on my way to the vocal rooms. I didn't know what I was gonna sing or do to impress the judges but I knew I had to try.
