The stage lights warmed Samantha’s skin as she stepped onto the stage. Her legs shook slightly as she turned to face the judges. Samantha had to remind herself of what her parents had told her, “Just breathe,” although with the somewhat restrictive stage outfit, the backstage crew had put her in, that task was insanely daunting. She slowly inhaled and exhaled before bringing the microphone to her mouth. That's when one of the judges asked, “What is your name and what will you be showing us today?”

“My name is Sam Sung, and I will sing for you today.” She cringed as her voice cracked towards the end of her sentence.

“Alright then, Hit the music,” the judge replied. 

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“Sam? Saaaaam??? SAM! Wake up or you'll be late for practice,” Hannah barked as she shook Sam awake. 

“Hmm? What? Oh my god, why didn’t you wake me up earlier????” Samantha sat up narrowly avoiding hitting her head on the top bunk as she hopped into her dance clothes. The girls in the dorm were rushing to get their shoes on and heading to the door, they would be late just as always.

 Since she passed the auditions for SB Entertainment, Sam has spent many late nights practicing her group’s choreography and songs for their monthly evaluations. She had wanted to be an idol for as long as she could remember, the flashy costumes, the amazing songs, the adoring fans. She wanted all of that, but truthfully she loved to perform. 

When the ragtag group of girls in mix-matched workout clothes showed up to the practice room like every other Tuesday, the queen bees of the company sneered in their direction. Hyeso, the CEO's daughter, picked up a water bottle with her perfectly manicured hand and wiped her forehead which was barely sweaty with her other hand. 

“About time you guys showed up,” Hyeso said in her beautiful siren-like voice. “We were hoping you would be here on time today, seems we were mistaken”. Ugh even her snarky comments sounded graceful. When the dance instructor barged into the room, the girls hustled to line up to prepare for the brutal next couple of hours of dance practice, the instructor boomed, 

“As you should know, we will be debuting a new girl group. It will consist of four members. This month's evaluation will be the last, either you will be picked or you will have to continue training with the other girls,” Sam looked at Hannah in shock, they could finally become idols! Their efforts could finally pay off. “Adding to the usual group evals, you must do individual ones. Now on to practice, First positions!”

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“Out of our entire group, only 4 people will end up debuting. There is a 4 in 12 chance to get in, what if we fail?” the youngest trainee, Eunsun whined as they walked to get dinner. She was only 15, and Samantha was always reminded of her little sister when she talked with Eunsun. 

“The odds may not be in our favor, but it’s still possible to get in, have some faith in yourself!” Sam laughed and put her arm around Eunsun. “We will be fine just as long as Little Miss Princess Hyeso doesn’t get one of our places. Now stop worrying, maybe we could get some Tteok-bokki?” with that Eunsun's face lit up finally and they made their way to the nearest Tteok-bokki shop, where they were met by none other than Hyeso. 

“Oh my goodness! Look what the cat dragged in if it isn’t Sammy and Sunny! I guess great minds think alike,” Hyeso brushed her shiny, perfect hair out of her face, “ What are you guys doing here?”

“We’re getting food for our dorm,” under her breath Eunsun added, “Why else would we be here,” Sam put her hand on Eunsun’s shoulder and immediately stopped her from talking. 

“Just ignore her,” Sam whispered.

 “Well it's been nice talking to you, it will be sad seeing you guys not in the final lineup with us but at least you could say that you were our fans before we got famous,” Sam and Eunsun remained silent. Hyeso looked almost offended that someone would ignore her. She kept talking until the girls had ordered and left the shop. 

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That Saturday at practice would be the same as usual: they dance, the trainer complains, they fix their problem, and they dance again, and again, and again, and again. Every week they would do personal evaluations. They would lose two people from their team every week until only four girls were left. Today was that day. The CEO called Sam into the other room to do her evaluation. She knew that she would have to outshine Hyeso. Hannah whispered in Samantha’s ear as she was leaving. “Let's just hope Hyeso won't become the nepo-baby of K-pop.” Sam then sped off to the other room giggling. 

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A few weeks later, the group was 6 people down, Samantha, Hannah, Eunsun, and Jiyoung were sitting in their dorm.  “We’ve prepared so much for this group evaluation, and not to mention, Hyeso and Ruby have been suspiciously quiet,” Jiyoung mentioned. 

“Yeah, I think they believe that if they shut up they’ll have a better chance at debuting. It has nothing to do with their personalities but their talent, which they have none of,” Hannah declared.

“If anything I’m just glad that we have all made it this far, I’m proud of you all,” Samantha Offered. “Now we just need to kick their butts!”

The final evaluation was drawing near and Sam was terrified, she stayed up late to practice their choreography and her lyrics. No one could say that she wasn’t trying her best and it showed. She knew that she would impress the judges. She needed to. Ringing came from the bag that contained her street clothes. That ringtone belonged to Sam’s mother, she called to check up on Sam before every evaluation. 

“Hello, Mom!”

“Hi Kiddo! I can’t call for long but I wanted to wish you luck and tell you to remember our saying, ‘Just Breathe,’”   

“I know Mom, I love you,” Sam concluded. 

“ I love you too, Good night sweety.”

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When the time came for the evaluation, Sam woke up before the sun greeted the horizon. This was way too important to be late for. She woke her roommates so they could get to the company on time. They arrived at the building 30 minutes before the official time and warmed up their voices and muscles. Hyeso arrived, her long brown hair thrown into a sloppy bun and her makeup hastily applied. She ran into the room with her last remaining friend Ruby, following just behind her like a lost puppy. They were both 15 minutes late, luckily for them, the trainer was as well. When he arrived at the evaluation room, he saw 6 girls, 4 of whom would end up in the debut lineup. He would just need to pick the ones that were the best in their craft. 

The 6 promising young girls started in their normal position singing, rapping, and dancing to ‘Latata’ by (G)-Idle. If you were a passerby you could mistake them for the real deal, they were amazing. “You girls have really improved in these last few weeks, now take a break while I discuss the final 4 with the CEO, we will meet back in 30 minutes,” declared the instructor. With the performance done and their futures in the hands of a couple of men at a desk, Samantha, Ruby, Hyeso, Jiyoung, Hannah, and Eunsun sat silently. The silence was finally broken with the sound of the door opening. 

 “We have the results; Hannah will be the leader and rapper; Jiyoung will be the main dancer and sub-rapper; Ruby will be the vocals; And…” 

“Oh you don’t even have to say the last person we all know it’s me, I mean MY father is the Owner of the company, how could it not be me,” Hyeso rambled. 

“Ahem,” exclaimed the instructor, “If you let me finish instead of embarrassing yourself, you would hear that I was going to say that SAMANTHA will be the last member of the group, SHE will be the face of the group, and main vocalist, This session is over I’m sorry Hyeso and Eunsun, you will continue training with the other girls,” 

After he said that Hyeso ran out of the room crying, “My Father will hear about this,”

“It was her father who decided she wouldn’t be debuting but whatever, congratulations girls!” you will be the new group ‘Comet’,” Sam, Hannah, Jiyoung, and Ruby looked at each other with tears spilling from their eyes rushing to congratulate each other. Even Eunsun who wouldn’t be debuting, couldn’t help but be happy for her friends. 

Samantha gushed, “This is going to be the start of something great, I can feel it!”