by YR Choi
KYM’s assistant, Ben, welcomed them at the hotel and led them through the lobby to a traditional Korean restaurant called Han. A waiter then took them to a private room and drew back a wooden screen door to reveal a party of people standing in front of a big banner which read, Welcome to Kpop Club!
“Krystal! Mr Kim! Welcome! Come and meet the girls!” said KYM, rushing over to shake Krystal’s dad’s hand. “Krystal, come and have a seat over here,” he continued, pointing to an empty chair.
Krystal was so focused on the Kpop Club girls that it took her a while to notice that the guys from the Andre Project were also in the room.
“Mr Kim, please come and join me over here,” said KYM.
Krystal cast her eyes over all the other members of the group; everyone looked so different but they were all beautiful. The girls were smiling at her so she smiled back and waved awkwardly.
KYM tapped one of his chopsticks against a glass to get everyone’s attention.
“Right girls, as you may have guessed, this is the final member of Kpop Club, Krystal. And this is her father - Mr Kim.” said KYM.
“Hello!” said the girls in unison, waving to Krystal and performing miniature seated bows to Krystal’s dad.
“It’ll take a while for you to learn everyone’s name Krystal, but let’s just go around the room anyways. We have here: Hannah, Nadia, Celine, April, Maya, Priya, Pooky, Jennifer and Rosa.”
“Hello,” said Krystal and her dad, also performing mini seated bows.
“As you can see, I’ve invited the boys from the Andre Project tonight – I thought it’d be nice for you to meet some of the KYM family and ask any questions you might not want to ask me. Although you can ask me anything!” said KYM, smiling cheekily. “Now, I realise this is somewhat of a difficult situation with so many people to meet, Krystal. The rest of the girls already know each other very well as they’ve been studying Korean together for the last 6 months. But you’ll have plenty of time to get to know them and them you – and trust me guys, you’re going to get on like a house on fire.”
KYM paused for a moment before continuing.
“I’ve laid on a special treat for you – the Han royal set menu – please eat as much as you can. Ben, can you ask them to bring in the champagne please?”
“Certainly,” said Ben.
“I’m so pleased to be able to welcome you all to our family. It’s going to be a lot of fun,” said KYM.
Just then, two waiters began waltzing around the table filling everyone’s glasses with their choice of champagne or orange juice. Once everyone’s glass was filled, KYM stood up to make a toast.
“Everyone, if you would like to raise your glasses, let’s toast the future success of Kpop Club! Kombae!”
“Kombae!” yelled everyone before sipping their drinks.
“Right, please enjoy the evening and don’t feel like you have to stay in your seats; get up, walk about and meet the others too,” said KYM.
The room broke out into conversation; the Kpop Club girls and the Andre Project guys started joking about and Krystal’s dad, Ben and KYM began talking about politics. As luck would have it, Krystal was sat next to Andrew and he wasted no time in striking up a conversation. As a kpop megastar, she half expected him to be pompous and rude but nothing could be further from the truth. He was polite and humble and spent the majority of the evening asking her about her musical inspirations and aspirations.
Aside from the fact that she couldn’t stop staring at his bulging biceps, talking to Andrew was easy. He was just her type; tall, handsome and well-built with soulful dark brown eyes and cool jet black hair. As her eyes explored the rest of his body she realised that he was wearing a lot of accessories including a leather wrist band, a number of rings and a big silver cross around his neck.
They were so engrossed in each other’s company that the whole evening passed without them talking to anyone else. Krystal knew that she should’ve made more of an effort to meet the other girls, but she was on such a natural high that she didn’t care too much. There would be plenty of time to get to know them, she reassured herself. The only other person she was immediately concerned about was her dad, who had been enjoying some whiskey with KYM and Ben.
As the evening drew to a close, KYM stood up to make a final announcement.
“Everyone thank you very much for coming tonight – hopefully you’ve had a good time and learnt a bit more about each other. Krystal, I thought it’d be good if you spent next week getting to know the other girls better. I’ll give you a call tomorrow to set some stuff up if that sounds okay?”
“Brilliant,” said Krystal, smiling at the girls.
“Thank you again, guys – the drivers are waiting out front to take you home – have a safe trip!”
“Thank you!” said everyone.
Krystal and her dad got back into the Starship and spent the whole trip home chatting about the evening. Krystal was so happy that her dad seemed to like KYM. She was also very relieved to have finally met the other girls; they seemed really nice. What she was most excited about however, was meeting Andrew.
10
Meeting the girls
KYM called Krystal on the Sunday to explain the plan for the next few weeks. Krystal would need to call the girls to arrange informal meetings with each of them; KYM would cover all costs. The idea was that by Friday, Krystal would’ve had a good chat with all the girls. This would make moving into the house on the following Monday more comfortable for everyone. The girls’ work as Kpop Club would then finally begin at the KYM offices on the Wednesday.
Krystal called the girls and was very relieved that they were all keen to meet up. How great it would be to have nine new friends, she thought.
Monday – Hannah and Nadia
Krystal’s first meet and greet was with Hannah Smith on the Monday morning. They arranged to meet at Coffee Bean in Shinchon for coffee and a bite to eat. Hannah was from Bondi Beach in Australia and was stunning, with long golden locks and sparkly blue eyes. She spoke passionately about her love of surfing and how hard it was for her not being able to go out in the sea on a regular basis.
Hannah initially got into kpop as a GT Mountain fan and had grown so fond of the genre that she set up a kpop club at school. KYM’s talent scouts found a video of her covering a GT Mountain song on YouTube and the rest was history. Krystal really liked Hannah and thought that if the other girls were half as nice as she was, things would be just fine.
The next meeting of the day was with Nadia Abbar at 3pm in Hongdae. Nadia was striking in appearance; she had turquoise eyes, long brown hair and beautiful clear skin. She was from a city in Algeria called Biskra.
Nadia and her friends had organised a flash mob in Biskra town centre that was witnessed by a Korean journalist reporting in Algeria. The journalist interviewed Nadia and recorded a clip of her singing PHP’s Love is Lost. When the video went viral, KYM rushed over to Algeria to sign her. Krystal felt like they’d have lot of fun together in the dance studio.
Tuesday – Celine and April
Krystal’s second day of meetings began with lunch at a Chinese restaurant with Celine Beaumont. Celine chose the restaurant because jajangmyun was her favourite food in Korea. Krystal found it quite funny that her favourite thing to eat in Korea was a Chinese dish but didn’t mention anything.
Celine was very fashionable and carried herself with a lot of grace. She told Krystal of how she fell in love with the group Brassy when they went on tour in Paris a couple of years ago. After getting into Brassy she quickly became “obsessed” with kpop.
Celine lived in Seoul when she was younger as her Dad was the French Ambassador to Korea between 2000 and 2004. This meant that her Korean was already pretty good. KYM heard about Celine’s killer voice from one of his friends whose daughter attended the same international school in Seoul. They quickly arranged an audition and Celine signed within days.
Krystal really enjoyed talking to Celine and found that th
ey had a lot of common interests, especially in the arts. Before they left, they made plans to go and check out a few plays and galleries in Daehangno.
Later that day, Krystal met April Jones from Los Angeles, California. April was very athletic and had an extremely bubbly personality. She’d lived in LA all her life but her parents were originally from Kingston, Jamaica.
Krystal couldn’t resist the urge to ask April whether her favourite ice cream flavour was Ben and Jerry’s, “Jamaican Me Crazy”. Luckily, April thought it was funny and the bad joke led on to a very detailed conversation about ice cream.
Once the ice cream chat was over, Krystal learnt that April was a huge X-Plosion fan and loved hip hop dancing. April had an amazing vocal range and was spotted at Kpop Camp auditions in LA. The two of them got on like a house on fire and Krystal could tell they’d enjoy living together.
Wednesday – Maya and Priya
Krystal spent Wednesday lunchtime meeting Maya Naser from the U.A.E. Maya had exotic dark brown eyes and a very voluptuous figure.
After a light lunch, the girls went to eat patbingsoo, which Krystal learnt, was Maya’s favourite pick-me-up. This was the perfect ice breaker for them as Krystal was also mad about patbingsoo. Anyone that liked patbingsoo was okay by her, thought Krystal.
Maya first started listening to kpop after she saw MVXT perform in a mall in Dubai. KYM came knocking after she uploaded a number of covers on YouTube. Maya was cool and Krystal felt like they’d become very close with time.
In the evening, Krystal met Priya Patel who was from an area in north-east India called Manipur. She was very pretty and reminded Krystal of a cat – perhaps a tigress. Priya was passionate about food and had arranged for them to meet at her favourite Indian restaurant in Itaewon, Masala Grill. Krystal had never had Indian food before and quickly fell in love with all the new flavours.
Priya was a huge fan of the boy band Animal and was signed after singing one of their songs on an Indian talent show. Krystal felt that their shared love of food and music would mean they’d definitely get along well.
Thursday – Pooky and Jennifer
Late Thursday morning, Krystal met Pooky Rattanakosin for brunch. Pooky was very soft spoken and extremely cute-looking. Despite this, she had a big personality and loved outdoor activities.
Pooky had a rocky voice which she inherited from her mother who was a famous soft rock singer in Thailand in the 1980s. Pooky was a massive -17 Degrees fan and travelled to Seoul solely to audition at Kpop Camp. KYM signed her on the day.
After lunch, Krystal met Jennifer Florendo from Manila in the Philippines. Jennifer had long curly black hair, green eyes and multiple body piercings including a belly ring. She was a huge sports fan and was particularly fond of the Burger King Whoppers basketball team.
Jennifer was initially drawn to kpop after seeing an A-First tour in Manila. She was another member who was signed off the back of a viral YouTube video. Jennifer was really easy to talk to and seemed like she’d be good fun to be around.
Friday – Rosa
On Friday afternoon Krystal met Rosa Garcia who was from Lima in Peru. Rosa was a feisty character and this was mirrored in the bright red lipstick she wore on her luscious lips. She was quite tall with light brown hair and pretty brown eyes.
Rosa told Krystal that music was her life and all she ever wanted to do. She was a big G-Hugg fan and was signed after KYM saw her in a Peruvian documentary about local kpop fans. Krystal really admired Rosa’s passion and was excited at the prospect of recording with her.
Krystal was exhausted by the end of the week but KYM was right, she now felt a lot better about moving into the house with the girls. Something was still bothering her though, and it wasn’t until Sunday night, when she was lying in bed, that she finally realised what it was – she would no longer be able to see her dad every day.
Krystal’s eyes welled with tears at the thought of her dad sat at home alone, in the basement. Surely, that can’t have been in the universe’s plans? For such a nice, loving man to have to spend so much of the rest of his life alone? She started to sob uncontrollably and made so much noise that her dad rushed into her room.
“Whatever is the matter, darling?” he said.
“Oh, nothing Dad - don’t worry.”
“It’s obviously something – come on you can tell me.”
“I’m just sad.”
“Whatever for, darling?”
“I’m just sad that I won’t be living with you anymore, that I’m leaving you, I feel awful dad.”
“Don’t be silly, poppet, you’re only going to be down the road and I’ll be fine. You can come and see me whenever you like - just say the word and I’ll come and see you wherever you are,” he said, with a warm smile. “I’ll be coming to see you rehearse as well when I have time off. You’re on the verge of living your dream, Krystal – you should be happy – this is a good thing! KYM is a good guy and the girls seem lovely. I couldn’t be happier for you.”
“Are you sure dad? Are you sure I’m not abandoning you?” said Krystal, her crying now more under control.
“Of course you’re not – I’d never think that. It’ll take some getting used to but we’ll still see each other all the time, just at different times of day.”
“Okay Dad,” said Krystal, giving him a hug.
“Good. Now, I think you should go to sleep - you have a big day tomorrow,” he said giving her a kiss on the forehead.
He walked out the room, blew her another kiss and closed the door. Krystal lay awake in the dark. She still felt a pang of sadness; it was a familiar pain, the same pain she felt when she lost her mum - she hated it. After a couple of hours of tossing and turning, Krystal eventually fell asleep.
Krystal and her dad woke up early the next morning and arrived at the house at 10am to find the other girls still in their pyjamas. This clearly made Krystal’s dad a little uncomfortable as he dashed up to Krystal’s room and started unpacking.
Once Krystal was all unpacked, her dad made his excuses, gave Krystal a kiss on the cheek and rushed out the door. She knew he was upset as his voice broke slightly as he said goodbye. Krystal did her best to hold back the tears but she was a wreck on the inside. As soon as the front door shut, Maya went over to Krystal and put her arm around her.
“Here here,” she said. “That must’ve been so difficult for you both. Let’s get your mind off that, we’re all family now and in many ways we’re in the same boat, away from our loved ones. But it’s not that bad, we’re young adults now and we have this amazing house and our futures are looking bright! Let’s have some ice cream Krystal, hey?”
“Thanks, Maya – that sounds nice,” said Krystal. “Ice cream though? It’s only 11am.”
“What’s your point?” said Maya, with a cheeky grin on her face.
The girls all giggled as they headed for the freezer.
11
Got style
The girls spent most of the weekend in the house getting better acquainted: chatting, watching movies, reading magazines and generally relaxing. They had a whale of a time and this made Krystal feel much more settled.
KYM called the girls on Sunday afternoon and asked them to report to the offices in Apgujeong at 10am the following day. They were instructed to dress in comfortable clothes and to not wear any make-up. A group decision to wear tracksuits meant that they looked more like a sports team than a pop group as they left the house on Monday morning. Still, they didn’t care; they were just excited to start their journey together as Kpop Club.
When they arrived at the offices, Jihae took them straight to a meeting room where KYM was waiting. He had laid out a full continental breakfast buffet with tea, coffee, cereal, fruits, yogurts and a variety of pastries.
“Welcome girls, I hope you’ve all had a good chance to get to know each other better? Krystal how was your week?” said KYM.
“Great, thank you,” said Krystal, “the girls have been so nice and very helpful
.”
“Excellent. I knew you girls would get along. So, this is where your journey as a band begins,” said KYM, with a big smile.
“There are so many things to teach you about this industry that in many ways, it’s hard to know where to start. However, I have devised what I hope is a logical approach. I’ll explain more later but first I want to talk to you about your future as a group.”
The girls were hanging on his every word.
“As you know, there are a lot of you – 10 girls! One of the difficulties with being such a big group is that it can be difficult for everyone to be singing all the time. Whilst many of our songs will allow you to all sing together, this won’t always be possible. There will be times when it’ll make more sense for only a few of you to sing. One thing I wanted to make clear now is that you’ve all been signed for a reason; you all have a part to play, please don’t ever forget that.”
The girls smiled.
“Another thing I wanted to mention - in the videos we bring out, you’ll all feature but naturally depending on the song, two or three of you may feature more than the others. We need to be united here. So even if a few of you seem to have more of the spotlight at the start, it’s not a sign of things to come – everyone will get their chance to shine – got that?”
“Yes!” chimed the girls.
“Great stuff! Sorry girls, I didn’t say anything, help yourselves to breakfast, have a croissant or whatever you want.”
