Chapter 1.6: Idol Star System

	Fern Sanchez	MANAGE PROFILE	MANAGE SKILLSET
TRAINEE AGE	Nineteen-years-old	LOCKED FOR 60 DAYS	LOCKED FOR 30 DAYS
TRAINEE RANK	Not Available	Check Star Account	Contact Company

When Fern clicked on the screen she expected to be let into a spreadsheet of sorts that would have all their information perfectly organized. Instead, she was met with the home screen of an app that had a gradient icon and her name right next to it. Parts of the app she noticed were locked until a month had passed and two months for another. It looked pretty advanced and she wasn’t sure how it worked. The others looked equally as confused, clicking on certain sections and growing as they became even more lost. Fern wondered what the part titled “Manage Skillset” meant, did it have a chart for them to look at created by their instructors? Or what it send them messages on what they needed to focus on to pass the next evaluation? 

There was a nudge at the blonde’s shoulder and she looked over to see the brunette staring at her. Her tablet was on some other screen that contained a lot of letters. She pointed at the ‘Manage Profile’ section with her manicured nail. “That will take you to change anything like your name, birth date, and phone number.”

She then gestured at her screen full of a bunch of junk. “This is what happens when you go to your skillset. On one side are different lessons we’ll take like public speaking and stage presence. These letters are the grades we get from each class. I have grades since I used this at my old company for a couple of years but yours should be blank until after this first week is up.” Now that Fern could get a good look at the other girl’s screen she could now see that it was just as she had described. 

The blonde flushed. “Thank you. I’ve never even heard of this before.” 

“It’s pretty hush hush unless your company is using it. My last company did but the one I was at before didn’t so I was just as confused as you when I transferred.” The brunette looked like she wanted to say more but their instructor marched back to the front of the room to speak. 

He went on to explain what the brunette had just had in more detail. This was a system only idols could access if their company were accepted into the program. Only the trainee themself and the company staff could see their rank and grades. This was to keep any competition between the trainees from becoming bitter and to stop any sabotage against specific high-ranking trainees. This also meant you could not tell anyone else your rank or screenshot the contents of the app with your tablet. It was all meant to be very secretive and the girls would be handed another contract to sign to make sure it stayed this way. Grades would be simple with F meaning you are failing a class and A meaning you’re passing one with flying colors. You were graded weekly after evaluations by instructors and monthly by higher-up staff, including the CEO. 

To survive the first cut, you needed to have all classes above a C and the second cut, above a B. If you passed week one you were given a D, week two a C and this keeps going till you have an A for passing everything. Fern nodded along with the others having found this all pretty easy to digest and go along with. It seemed easy enough to pass the weekly evaluations as long as she kept her eye on the prize. She needed to spend her free time studying each course and practicing her dancing whenever she wasn’t doing that. There were a number of courses they would be taking every week. From the basics like vocal and dance to ones she hadn’t even thought were real like selfie lessons and something called “hairflipology”. 

“Your classes will change after the first cut to include a language course besides Korean. As you know, most idols release songs in different countries in that country’s native tongue. We decided to give you the option to pick one of the following languages to study until your debut. They will be Japanese, Mandarin, Thai, and Spanish. This will also help you in the long run with communicating with foreign fans, so please choose wisely as you cannot change once you’ve made up your mind.” 

Everyone nodded in understanding, the severity of all weighing heavy on their chests.

“We’re done for today,” The man pointed at Fern and the brunette, then the other girl who raised her hand. “You three come write your names. Everyone else, leave and head over to your dorms.” 

The tension in the room dissipated as everyone besides the trio went up and left. Fern was relieved everything was finished as they had been in the room for hours. This plus her long plane ride had not only left the teenager exhausted but starving. She pushed in her chair and stretched her arms above her head, feeling her muscles loosen up after being cramped for what felt like forever. All she could hear now was the fan blasting air with the other girls gone. Their presence had filled the room up and it felt eerily empty suddenly. It was at least comforting to know that she had the brunette to talk to. The girl in question was waiting for her before going up to write her own name on the whiteboard. 

She was dressed in a plain shirt with sweatpants and a hoodie. Smiling, she held her hand out. “Hey, my name’s Ariya. I’m assuming you’re new to the whole trainee life?” She tilted her head as Fern took her hand and shook it. It made the blonde feel a tad silly that her obliviousness was that blatant. 

Fern laughed, embarrassed. “I’m Fern and yeah, I am. This is the first company I’ve ever been accepted into.”

“Wait, are you for real? Wow…usually at our age, girls have already been auditioning since middle school. I guess you must be some sort of prodigy or something! What song did you audition with?” The brunette was super perky, eagerly speaking to the complete stranger with her full attention devoted to her.

“I auditioned with two songs. One is ‘Gonnabe’, which I think is kind of generic now that I really sit on it. And the other was much more obscure. I don’t know if you’ve heard of the song ‘Thumbelina’?" She spent hours contemplating how to audition and eventually performed the rap from Gonnabe and the singing from Thumbelina.

Ariya noticeably deflated in enthusiasm as she spoke. “Man, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it. But assuming it’s much lighter in tone to Gonnabe and has a lot less knee bruising involved in practice.” They both winced as Gonnabe included a dance break where you dropped to the floor and tons of shoulder popping. It hurt like hell.

“Yeah, it hurt, but it was worth it as it got me here,” Fern watched out the corner of her eye as the other girl spoke to their instructor about something. Leaving the pair with more chit-chat time. “What did you do for your audition? You must have a lot of experience.”

“I decided to do an original choreography to the song ‘Agree’ and then I had a rap I made at my old company that they allowed me to submit. Kind of a cop-out, but I was auditioning for multiple companies at the time and it was really stressing me out.”

The blonde teen nodded, as it was the norm to audition for multiple companies at once. You never knew who would accept you and who would actually pull through with signing you. The music industry changed constantly and you could be the exact image a company needed one minute, then nothing the next. You had to strike iron once it was hot or else you'd lose your chance at stardom. The brunette must have been cut from another company, as many older trainees were. Now managers and companies would produce a group made up of fifteen-year-olds, not twenty some things. This had to be her last chance to be a girl group member, if not a soloist in the idol scene. Fern felt a kinship with her because of their similar struggles. 

They both continued speaking about their dreams of being in a girl group that toured the world and inspired other teens. Fern spoke about her love of music, which the brunette shared. Ariya stated that she had been cut from a Japanese group as a child and then moved to the States. She dabbled in acting in commercials until her mother put her foot down once her grades dropped. Only when she was sixteen and living with her father did she jump back into the entertainment industry. The brunette found that acting wasn't as fun as singing in front of her peers, so she gave it up. A Korean company scouted her for a trio and sadly, collapsed into bankruptcy, leaving her depressed. But like Fern, she got a message on toktik about auditioning, and here she was. 

"Ladies!" Both girls looked over to see that the other girl was done and had been for some time. Their instructor looked ticked off. "Stop being distracted and hurry to come sign your names. Tomorrow will be very busy, so you need to rest well for practice."