My Own Korean Drama
Chapter 3 - Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Exhausted,

Painful, painful,

Fearful.

Blood, sweat, and tears.

I shook hands after putting my name on paper. This contract lasted for five years. I don't know if that's a normal timeframe or not, the most important thing is that I'm officially a trainee at Purple Entertainment. I'll start training next week after moving to dorm. Go PD-nim smiled at me then walked me to his office door. I hope there are no regrets left.

Different from where I lived before, this place is bigger with two rooms. It's far from fancy but it's better. I took my suitcase into the empty living room.

“Will I stay here alone?” I asked Lee Su Ryeon who accompanied me from earlier.

“If any other female trainee joins, they will stay with you but for a while it seems so, you should stay alone,” replied the woman who was at the end of the three heads.

“Alright, Kwangjanim,” I said as I bowed.

“You can call me Unnie, this company is too small to implement such a call outside the building,” pinta Lee Su Ryeon again. I nodded with a smile.

“Oh, the next room is also a trainee from our company, you can go with them occasionally,” Su Ryeon Unnie told me.

I patted and then smiled.

“I'll go, take good care of yourself,”

“I'll take you down, Unnie,” I said a little stiffly as I said unnie. That's new to me. Lee Su Ryeon smiled as I said that.

There were two men coming out of the next room as I drove Su Ryeon Unnie down. They bowed in greeting.

“What is that new female trainee, Nuna?” Ask one of them who is wearing glasses. Without needing to know, this man had a strong charisma. His face was not as handsome as the actors or idols I saw on the glass screen but the resulting aura seemed to speak who he really was. It turned out that news like this quickly spread. They even know that there will be new trainees in their company.

“Include, this is Christina McKenzie,” Unnie said. I bowed while smiling at them.

“Kim Hyun Sik,” said the man who was wearing the box glasses while slightly bending over.

“Min Wook Ok,” says other men. Different from Kim Hyun Sik, Min Wook Ok seems younger. His face was small, and sweet. Despite not having the charisma of Kim Hyun Sik, Min Wook Ok has a mysterious aura that is able to make any woman captivated. It seems I have to memorize a lot of names after this.

I returned to my room after dropping Su Ryeon Unnie down. I sat in the middle of an empty living room. This place feels so empty. My mind went back to meeting Auriga. I wonder what is being done now. Has he eaten? Where does he live now? Is he okay without me? I hate to admit this but I miss it. A knock on the door pulled my hand from Auriga. I opened the front door.

“Annyeong!” Greet one of them while bowing. The man smiled broadly. I can feel a cheerful aura as I look at her face.

“We'll go eat, do you want to come?” Ask Kim Hyun Sik.

“I just ate but can I stay?” My toot. I did have a meal before arriving at this place but coming out of this place is not such a bad idea.

“Sure!” The boy who greeted me for the first time.

The six of us walked towards the dining area which he said was not far from the dorm. I walked beside Hyun Sik. Wook Ok walked in the back with a man I didn't know yet while the boy who greeted me first walked in front of me with a very quiet man. During my trip, Hyun Sik talked about many things. From how he was interested in the industry to how he was stranded with four other members. These five men are being groomed to debut but they don't know when.

After walking for at least ten minutes, we arrived at a place to eat. Each member ordered one portion of eomuk tang. I've never eaten this before so I didn't dare to order it. The man who greeted me first moved to sit next to me when the food arrived.

“Do you want to taste it, Nuna?” Ask this boy.

“You don't even know her yet, why call her ‘nuna’, Eun Hyuk!” Excited the man who was walking beside Wook Ok. I laughed when I heard how they started arguing.

“My name is Christina McKenzie, you can call me Chris,” I said introducing myself to break up their debate.

“My name is Lee Eun Hyuk, I was born in 94.” said the man who offered me his bowl earlier.

“Kukira no one is older than Min-wook Hyung,” said Wook Ok at the end of the table. The man who felt his name called immediately glared, and exclaimed in disbelief.

“I was born in 90,”.

“Really? You don't look older than me.” said the man I called quiet. “I'm Ban Dae Ho,” I smiled at him while saying, “ fun to meet you Ban Dae Ho -ssi.”

“You do not need to be that formal, we have become one company, and there is no such mention in our company,” said Hyun Sik. His words were exactly what Su Ryeon Unnie had said earlier.

“I'm not used to it, as long as I'm in Korea the sweeping looks very important,” I said unpleasantly.

“It's true Chris weaning is very important for Koreans but Seok Jung Hyung doesn't like that, they really enjoy the close call with his employees, he said,” added the man who had quarreled with Wook Ok.

“Seok Jung, you mean PD-nim?” my question is not to be sure.

“She PD-nim, Purple Entertainment CEO, and also Su Ryeon Nuna's husband, and we also don't understand why she let us call her ‘hyung’ outside the building, either,” added Eun Hyuk who started biting his eomuk.

“Yes! Eun Hyuk's! You let Nuna taste it, why did you bite her?!” Min-wook Fun . This guy is always fighting about whatever it looks like. I looked up at how these five men were arguing. Somehow they got this close but one thing I realized, I envy their closeness. I also want to have people who are always there for me like this.

After that day, I got closer to the five men. Every day I would go to the studio with Hyun Sik, Eun Hyuk who offered me his eomuk, the quiet Dae Ho, and the male Park Min-wook who always had a problem. Wook Ok will be coming to the studio after school. Now I understand why Wook is Ok, and Min-wook is always fighting. Wook Ok is the maknae in this group, and Min-wook is the maknae in his family. Although things will always be rowdy when they meet, I still like both of them.

Three months passed. I'm still with my routine of being a trainee at Purple Entertainment, and I still remain the only female trainee in that place. Dance classes will be over soon. I stared at the clock of the wall that was ticking. I'm really tired. Of course I'm not the only one tired here. I can see the five men who started to make the floor a mattress. Actually the trainees in this place are not just us. Our Sik Hyun said the six of us are the ones chosen to be mentioned in the near future whereas the others could be made into background dancers or even left hopeless. This industry is cruel.

The studio door opens featuring Su Ryeon Unnie. The woman scanned the whole room then stopped at me, “Christina -ssi please go upstairs after today's practice is finished, Go PD-nim want to meet you.” I nodded as I said, “Good, Kwangjanim.”

“You won't be expelled, will you?” said Eun Hyuk.

“Yes! How could that be?! I'll go forward if our Chris gets kicked out!” Min-wook yelled in disbelief. I smiled wryly at the fact that I could have been expelled today.

A man walked out of Go PD-nim's room as I arrived at the door. The man's eyes turned red, I think from crying. I swallowed heavy. Cold sweat started to come out of my body. The feathers of kudukku bristles. I knocked on the door and opened it slowly. Go PD-nim, and Su Ryeon Unnie sat on the long sofa. I sat on the sofa opposite them after being invited. It's very quiet. Go PD-nim reads the light blue map carefully.

“Your development over the last three months has been very good, it's amazing,” he said then smiled at me. I was a little relieved by his opening remarks. I smiled respectfully in response to his words.

“The problem is, we do not debut a girl group in the near future,” Su Ryeon Unnie chimed. My heart stopped for a moment.

“People like you are very fond of waiting too long here, you even have perfect value.” This time Go PD-nim is back. I swallowed heavy again. I go back to swallowing the wry taste.

“I know some agencies that are looking for people to be placed on the debut line that will be launched in the near future, but I need your voice to do that,” Go PD-nim get into the main conversation this time. I'm down. I really like this place. Although the facilities provided are very far compared to the Big Three agency, I still love this place. I don't want to leave a place where I share tired. Those five men are the main answer to my unwillingness to leave here.

“What is there no choice but to leave Purple Entertainment?” Tanyaku.

“Become an actress,” timpal Su Ryeon Unnie casual.

“Yes! You yourself know we're not ready for that!” Go PD-nim did not accept. I raised my face to look at these two adults in front of me.

“What will happen if I force to debut as an actress in this agency?” Me ask carefully. Go PD-nim breathes rough.

“You will not get the facilities with the maximum,” said Go PD-nim with a sad look.

“Alright,” my word. Go PD-nim raised his head in shock.

“You're going to move agencies?” Su Ryeon Unnie asked sadly.

“No, I'll be an actress,” I'm sure. I can see a happy twinkle in Su Ryeon Unnie's eyes. Compared upside down from his wife, Go PD-nim exudes a sad look or perhaps more to regret.

Go PD-nim is not a bad guy. He's very kind. The goal of asking me to move to an agency was so I could debut as soon as possible. She was well aware that her agency had not been able to debut an actress due to lack of funds, but I took the risk. I don't think the facilities will affect my performance. Rather than me losing my share place tired, I would rather lack facilities. I don't know how to walk in front of me but one thing I do believe in, I don't want to lose people who once shared the same life scene with me.

Like most on-screen dramas, the main cast will start something from the bottom. From all the shortcomings then become successful.  There are things to be sacrificed, and defended. There will be a lot of sweat coming out, tears flowing, even blood dripping but that is the essence of the struggle. Blood, sweat, and tears.