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Donghyuck has only ever had one dream.And that was music.It was apparent to everyone from the moment he started to talk, because all he would do was sing constantly.So from a very young age, he dreamt about becoming a idol.There were all different kinds of entertainment companies that produced idols, but Donghyuck was only interested in one.KS entertainment.His parents weren't shocked that they were told he made it in, a far cry from his own reaction upon finding out considering he had auditioned as research. He had thought that it would be a good experience to have so he would know what to expect and while Donghyuck had done his best to prepare, he didn't expect anything of it. So to find out that he had made it in had shocked him extremely. But he took the opportunity seriously and moved to Seoul all on his own, starting life as a trainee.Quickly he discovered that trainee life was far tougher than he ever thought with strict rules and even stricter teachers. But still Donghyuck enjoyed every second of it, because he knew things would only get tougher when he debuted. After spending two years under the company, he's learned a few tricks about how they operate and choose members for debut.They preferred putting people together in groups to see how they worked together, ever so often switching it up, but that has never happened to his group of five including Jeno, Jaemin, Jisung and Mark.Jisung had been the first to join the company, followed by him a few weeks later. Then Jeno and Jaemin joined, best friends who had auditioned together and made it in.Mark had been the last of their group to join. A shy, fourteen year old boy who had came all the way from Canada to chase his dreams in a foreign country. Despite his lack of confidence in talking, he made up for it in his actions, working harder than all of them and improving by leaps and bounds.Mark had originally been a vocalist, but quickly took up rapping upon realising that he had both a talent and passion for it.Honestly Donghyuck has always been envious and a little jealous of him. Mark was the bravest person he knew, having gone so far for his dreams, but he always remained humble despite being the most talented trainee the company had. That was what he personally believed, and he knew he was right. Mark's skills as a rapper made him stand out and gave him a better shot of debuting seeing as the company was in dire need of good rappers like him and Taeyong.Donghyuck was just another vocalist, and while he was proud of his voice, he knew it didn't stand out much, especially compared to Doyoung or Jaehyun.So he did the only thing he could do, which was work hard. He even dared to say that next to Mark, he worked the hardest.And as he grew up, the baby fat started to slip off his body, his jaw becoming sharp and angular, his height even growing a few inches.Of course the fat on his cheeks were still stubbornly there, but when he looked at himself in the mirror, seeing the tan glow of his skin, he felt a confidence in himself take hold.Everything seemed to be going well for him, especially when he was called in one day during training to the recording studio.He had been too nervous to ask what it was for, but he was handed a sheet of paper for a song and told to learn it immediately for recording.Donghyuck didn't think he could ever forget the excitement he felt as he recorded the vocals for The 7th Sense.He had been so happy, believing that this was his chance, only to have his belief waver when he heard the news of other trainees being called up to the office one by one.Everybody speculated that it was for the new group that was set to debut soon. The hardest part about it all was when Mark had been called up right in front of them during dance practice, and that was the moment that his hopes got crushed. Soon news spread that a five member boy group had been set consisting of Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun and Mark.They were the five strongest trainees the company had, and honestly Donghyuck knew there wasn't anything to be surprised over.Of course they wouldn't debut him. What had he been thinking in the first place?They had been at the company longer than he had and they were all so talented in their various areas. Taeyong was a talented rapper, songwriter and a great dancer, though he did still pale in comparison to Ten who was the undisputed top trainee when it came to dance and had a great voice.Doyoung was even better than Ten what it came to singing. There was a reason why he, Taeil and Kun were considered the three kings of vocal and everybody had even thought that he would have debuted with the pair.Jaehyun was stunningly handsome and his voice was a smooth baritone that wasn't all that common in K-pop, but worked perfectly on him. He had a huge fandom already amassed from his looks and was set to be an it boy. Finally there was Mark, and there was nothing Donghyuck couldn't say about him because he excelled in everything he did. Natural talent played a small role, but the elder hadn't won the most hardworking award for two years running for no reason. Thinking about it, what was Donghyuck so disappointed about? This was always going to be the expected outcome, he had just gotten too ahead of himself and filled his own head with fantasies. He did this to himself, there was no one else he could blame. But even so, the disappointment didn't stop being any less crushing and though he tried to snap himself out of his funk, it started to become a burden going to practice everyday.His lack of motivation was becoming increasingly obvious from all the scoldings he got, and he didn't even feel sorry for it. Things became slightly better after they were introduced to two new trainees, Renjun and Chenle who both came from China.Renjun especially brought out a fire in him since they had similar personalities and bickered endlessly and unsurprisingly it made him perk up a little. Chenle was just a cutie. He could barely speak Korean while Renjun was already fluent and thus relayed on the Chinese male or a translator to help. It was funny how sometimes his words would get mistranslated and he would be so confused as to why they were laughing. Donghyuck was starting to feel better. And then new rumors came.Apparently there were trainees that were about to be transferred to another company. Demoted, in a sense.Donghyuck felt a sense of dread at the rumors despite the boys doing their best to keep him positive. He already expected it, so getting called up to the office wasn't a shock, because if anyone were to leave, it would be him.But still he was surprised because everybody had been called up with him.Renjun, Jeno, Jaemin, Chenle and Jisung.Donghyuck wasn't so sure what to feel about that. They didn't deserve it like he did. They didn't deserve to have their hard work thrown back at them like it was worthless. They didn't deserve to get their dreams crushed Yet there was nothing he could do about it. Nothing he could do but look away from the devastated expressions on their faces.Everything changed quickly after that.They were moved out of the dorms within a few days and made to move to another location where they would meet their new head CEO.The only grace they were given was that they at least had transportation so they wouldn't have to wrestle their luggage onto the train station."Where are we going?" Chenle had asked quietly in the car, still a little confused from his lack of Korean knowledge.None of them could answer apart from Jisung who tried to distract his friend with games while the rest of them looked at each other nervously. "We'll be fine." Jeno finally said after a while of tense silence, trying hard to stay upbeat for them. Jaemin didn't say anything and merely rested his head on the boy's shoulder while Renjun put on his headphone. Donghyuck went back to staring out the window listlessly. It took only a few minutes to reach their location, thankfully still located in Gangnam and honestly, it wasn't as bad as Donghyuck had expected.The three-story building wasn't much to look at from the outside, but it was at least something.Though the inside was a lot plainer with empty walls and stuff still tucked away in boxes. They obviously hadn't arranged a lot yet. The boys could all feel their confusion only grow at the situation as they were quickly ushered into one of the rooms by someone they didn't recognise."Wait here. I'll go get our boss." The man said, rushing outside immediately and leaving them in silence.They were a noisy batch, especially after Renjun and Chenle joined, so it was odd for there to be such heavy silence in the air.Donghyuck didn't like it."What do you think is going to happen?" It was Jaemin who was brave enough to ask, sounding nervous."We'll probably start to train I guess." Renjun answered. "This seems to be a newly formed company from what I'm seeing.""Then does that mean that we can... you know... debut?"The words coming out from their youngest Jisung's mouth made Donghyuck's heart pound rapidly even as he tried to restraint himself.There was no way he was getting his hopes up again.The door opened before anybody else could chime in with their own ideas and in walked a lady."Hello." She greeted them brightly as she sat down at the head of the table. "I'm your new head CEO. It's nice to meet you all."Donghyuck wasn't sure how to react except bow his head slightly.Honestly, he hadn't been expecting a women. There were a lot more men in their industry than women, and he wasn't expecting that she would be so young at that."So, let's get right to business. I'll be completely blunt with you, the reason why you all are here is because your former company didn't want you anymore, but-"All of them perked up at that, looking interested at what she was about to say."I want to give you all a chance. They may not have seen it, but I can see talent and potential in all of you. I believe in your abilities and I want to be able to showcase it to the world."What she said sounded nice Donghyuck would admit, but it wasn't anything he hadn't heard before, so he really had to ask, "Why us?"She looked a little surprised. "What do you mean?""I mean- I'm sure there's a lot of other trainees who deserve the same chance that we do. You didn't have to choose to take us. There are others out there who are probably way more talented and hard working."There wasn't an answer for a few moments, making all of them tense in anticipation before she finally broke into a smile."I like the way you think Donghyuck. If you really must know, it's also because you guys are a somewhat safe investment. I know most of you already have fanbases so I can expect some popularity, plus your all well trained so I don't have as much work to put in compared to taking in completely new trainees. After all this is still a business and I have to make money."Her answer was... unexpected, but Donghyuck found himself liking the cold logic behind her words paired with her almost cheeky smile."Now, I do have people I have to introduce to you. There's four other trainees here that are waiting for you. In fact," She turned towards the door, "you can come in now."The door opened slowly as four set of feet shuffled inside.They were all boys, but while three were around the same height, the one in the middle was much taller.Donghyuck couldn't help but be reminded of a tree among flowers."Meet Yukhei, Xiaojun, Hendery and Yangyang. As you can tell from the names, they're all Chinese."Renjun and Chenle were immediately talking in Mandarin to them, words spilling out like a waterfall. "I'll leave you to get introduced to each other. A staff will come in a few minutes to give you a tour and bring you to the dorms." She then left the room.As it turned out, none of the four were too fluent in Korean, especially Yukhei who spoke in a weird mix of English, Chinese, Cantonese and Korean, but at least he was funny when he tried to speak.Yangyang did his best to talk as well, mixing between Korean and English to get his point across in attempts that were more successful than Yukhei's.Xiaojun and Hendery were quieter, though the latter did use English to try to communicate, but Xiaojun seemed utterly lost to the conversations ongoing except for the bits of Mandarin used.Honestly it was funny to see him nod along whenever someone addressed him like he actually understood.Soon enough, someone came to show them around. They were told to leave their luggage behind to be taken to the dorms first.Apparently they only rented out the third story of the building with rooftop access. It was small with only a dance studio and vocal room, but it was well kept with tons of light everywhere.They were still moving in from their previous place which explained the boxes littered throughout.The tour really didn't take all that long and then they were being sent to the dorms with the four boys leading them.They walked on foot with it only taking a few minutes before they reached the two-story house they were dorming in a small neighborhood nearby. "Three rooms!" Yukhei blurted out in English as they entered the house, trying his hardest to get his point across. Renjun told the rest of them that the four boys all slept together in one room, so the other two rooms had to be split up between them.With a quick game of rock, paper, scissors, they decided on Donghyuck, Jisung, Chenle sharing one room while Renjun, Jeno and Jaemin shared the other.They all tried to get settled in for the night, facing some difficulties with only two bathrooms.While Donghyuck waits for his turn, he laid down on his bed, staring up at the top bunk mindlessly.Honestly, he wasn't sure about any of this.This was a completely different environment from the one he was used to, one in which he didn't know what to expect.And yet... He couldn't help but be excited.This was a new adventure, and hopefully, this would have a better ending than the first one.Donghyuck hoped so at least.
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They all got close quickly.It wasn't unexpected. They were young boys placed in the same environment with only each other to reply on, and thus the perfect environment to foster strong bonds.Even Donghyuck grew to like them quickly despite his initial reservations.Yukhei was loud and funny but had a surprisingly mature side to him that came out whenever it was needed. As the oldest amongst them, he could sense that the elder was trying hard to be someone they could all reply on.Xiaojun was arguably the most talented among them with his ability to produce songs and his amazing voice, but despite that he was quite sensitive and a little bit unconfident in himself.Donghyuck found it a shame because the elder was one of the nicest people he knew, easily giving away praises to everyone.Hendery was... quiet. He didn't speak a lot in general, and that didn't have anything to do with his Korean seeing that he had been in the country longer than the other three. Donghyuck had no problem with that, he could talk more than enough for the pair of them, but when Hendery chose to chime in, he had a way of stringing his sentences together that made people want to listen to him. To put it, he had deep thoughts and a refined way of speaking. Yangyang on the other hand was loud. In a Donghyuck kind of a way, as his friends liked putting it for some reason.But maybe that was why the two of them got along so well, wrecking havoc and teasing everybody. Yangyang knew when to get him to stop though, something that Donghyuck was bad at in general.Basically, they were nice people and thus the ten of them got along well.Training was a bit of a different story though.The six of them who were already used to each other worked well together as a team, but with new people it became somewhat difficult.The language barrier became their biggest obstacle in working together, but they didn't let it get them down as they did their best to work around it.In Donghyuck's opinion, the first few days were always the most difficult, but it would get easier as they got used to each other's style of working and habits.But unexpected things always happen though, so when their dance teacher was suddenly being pulled out of class for a quick talk, Donghyuck couldn't help but feel apprehensive.What was it this time?They weren't told about what it was about until after their class was over when they were gathered."There will be a new trainee joining you guys." It was said straight-forwardly with no beating around the bush.There would be a new trainee joining them, and that was how it was. There was no other choice other than to get used to it and welcome the new person."I wonder what he would be like." Yangyang muttered later that night as they were gathered in the living room over a late night dinner of ramen. "The new trainee.""Do you think he'll be nice?" Chenle asked."Of course. We all have to get along." Jaemin replied."... But guys, don't you think this feels a little... strange? I don't know why but this is giving me a weird feeling." Jeno muttered."Your probably thinking too much." Renjun answered.They didn't linger much on the topic, attention stans too short, but Donghyuck still found himself lost in thought as he tried to fall asleep.Just like Jeno said, he had a weird feeling growing in the pit of his stomach, and he was rarely wrong when it came to his gut.And as it turned out, Donghyuck was right to listen to his instinct.He couldn't help but glare angrily at the boy in front of him, unable to understand what he was doing here.Donghyuck was never the type to get angry easily despite his firecracker personality, but his blood felt like it was boiling slowly."Everyone, meet Mark Lee." The trainer introduced before saying that he would leave them alone to get to know each other.He huffed, looking away as the other boys run up to Mark, asking him all kind of questions.What was he doing here? That was what Donghyuck wanted to know the most.Mark was supposed to debut with the others, so why was he here?This didn't make sense."What are you doing here?" The words were as cold as he intended, causing the elder to flinch and everybody to look at him in shock."Your supposed to be debuting with the hyungs so why are you here?!" Donghyuck had to keep himself from shouting. That was how in disbelief he was."Hyuck..." Mark uttered his name, sounding hurt.Donghyuck felt himself start to tear up from the frustration of it all, being forced to look away from him."Why are you crying?""Can't I?!" He snapped back at the elder. "Am I not allowed to feel upset? I already asked you why your here and you haven't given me an answer."Mark looked a little shocked and hurt, but Donghyuck pushed throughout it."You don't belong here hyung! You should just go back and debut with the others. You were chosen for the team for a reason and you can't let them down."Donghyuck was right. He knew he was."I don't want to." Mark blurted out forcefully. "I want to stay here. With you guys."That answer somehow made him even angrier. "You want to stay here? You want to stay here with us? We're throwaways hyung! The company abandoned us so why would you join us!?"A part of Donghyuck knew that he was wrong for saying this, especially since he was hurting the feelings of everybody in the room, but in the heat of the moment his emotions got the better of him.Wasn't it true in the end? The company didn't see any hope for them and thus they decided that they would be another's problem. "How can you say such things?" Renjun finally asked, sounding stunned. "Yes, we were thrown away by the company. So what? They just couldn't see our worth, just like you can't. I'm sick and tired of you putting yourself down Lee Donghyuck, and your certainly not going to do the same to the others. So snap yourself out of it already!"The boy swallowed, trying to process his friend's harsh words. He could see everyone's expressions that were laced with the same emotions.Rather than being hurt, they just looked... worried. For him.Donghyuck felt the urge to cry. He really, really just wanted to cry.His chest was hurting, like someone was squeezing his heart and making it hard to breath."I-I-I'm sorry." He forced out before rushing to leave the room. There was nothing more that he wanted to do than run into a hole and disappear from the world.But since that wasn't possible, the next best thing was hiding in the bathroom stall as he started to cry.Really, Donghyuck didn't know why he hadn't done this sooner. He should have just let his emotions out as soon as his hopes were crushed the first time instead of letting them build up until now.This was already his second chance and he screwed it up for himself again.God, he was an utter idiot.His sobs grew louder as he silently berated himself, no longer caring who could hear.Donghyuck didn't know how long he stayed there crying his heart out, but he felt better afterwards, even though he knew he must look like a mess."Do you feel better?" The unexpected voice startled him. It came from the stall next to his and he recognised the voice. "What are you doing here Mark?" He asked. "I'm using the toilet."Donghyuck rolled his eyes at the half-hearted lie. "I know your here to talk to me hyung."There was no reply afterwards, making him wonder whether the elder had left."You know," Mark started, "I can still remember the first time I heard you cry."Donghyuck was confused. "You mean that time I injured myself?" He asked."No, before that. I never told you that I knew because I wasn't supposed to." Mark admitted sheepishly. "Really? Did I?" He honestly couldn't remember whether such a thing happened."It was during our montly evaluation. When we performed Billionaire together."Suddenly Donghyuck remembered what he was referring to. "After our performance you went to the bathroom and didn't come out for thirty minutes. I was worried so I went to see what was taking you so long when I heard you crying." That was such a long time ago that Donghyuck didn't think Mark would remember such a thing that even he had forgotten. He had been so young at the time and the stress of everything had gotten to him. He remembered being so sensitive that he annoyed Mark a ton. It was even to the point that the boy blurted out in his frustration that he wanted to leave because of him. Donghyuck had felt so guilty that he didn't speak to him afterwards. Luckily their performance still turned out fine, but he couldn't help but feel like he had let everyone down, especially himself. "I thought I screwed up everything. Rather than getting praised I wanted to be scolded. I felt even worse when they said we did well because I didn't think I deserved it at all. Everything was too much and I sort of just... lost it."Donghyuck preferred not thinking about it because it was embarrassing how much he had cried. "Donghyuck." The way Mark said his name made it clear he was serious."Yeah?""You... You know your the one I rely on most out of everyone right? You're funny, you have a great voice, you're handsome. You have talent Hyuck, I just want you to believe in yourself more than I do."Honestly Donghyuck felt touched that the elder had so much faith in him when he had such low self-esteem.Sometimes when he laid in his bed at night, he wondered how he ended up like this. Where did the foolishly cheerful, sassy boy he was go? Was it always meant to be this way or was it just because at some point he began to forget his own self? Somewhere along the way Donghyuck forgot how to hold his head up high and that was his undoing. "I... I should apologise to the others." He muttered quietly, feeling somewhat embarrassed now. "You should, but you know that they aren't going to hold what you said against you right? They were all concerned at your outburst.."Donghyuck smiled sadly, knowing that the boys would have reacted like Mark said. They were all too nice for their own good. It worried him sometimes because he didn't want them to be taken advantaged of. But sometimes... He envied them for it. "Let's go back hyung."Donghyuck emerged from the bathroom with Mark trailing behind him as they made their way back to the dance studio. As expected, nobody was angry with him, even though Renjun put him in a headlock but that was just his weird way of expressing affection. "You okay Hyuck?" Jaemin asked softly, nestled into his right side with Jeno on his left. "Yeah, I'm fine now.""That's good. I really don't want to hear you say such things again." Jeno muttered. Donghyuck felt guilty, opening his mouth to apologise, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did.""Don't be. We understand you more than anyone else, and we know you didn't actually mean what you said.""Jaemin's right. But one thing we shouldn't give up on is hope. I still want to debut with you all... If you want to of course." Jeno added shyly and the boy felt his heart swell. "Yeah, let's do it together."And for the first time in a long time, Donghyuck found himself believing in those words. "Group hug!" Yukhei screeched excitedly, jolting him out of his thoughts.Wait what-"Stop! Your squeezing me! Guys help! No, don't join in- I really can't breath down here! GET OFF ME!""Oh just shut up Hyuck." "We know your enjoying this."Donghyuck could only sigh as everyone began to chime in, a small smile growing on his face. This wasn't just his path, this was their path. He wasn't alone in this.He couldn't believe that he actually forgot. "Guys, can you please get off me now? I'm about to suffocate to death."Donghyuck was going to do just fine.