"Okay applicants, please gather round for an announcement regarding your next test."

The girls and I all piled our way into the lobby and sat down on the chairs in no particular rank order.

We watched as the massive screen in front of us flashed on.

"For your next test, you will be performing in groups of six and evaluated to produce your individual rankings."

Gasps and whispers filled the lobby.

Oh boy

Here we go

The competition is really starting now.

The loud voice paused for a while, as the large screen displayed the already arranged, two groups.

The girls all squealed nervously as they quickly eyed who they would be grouping with.

My eyes landed on my applicant profile as I mentally read the member names.

Park Soojin

Lee Sunhee

Park Haewon

Kim Misun

Kim Chohee

Park Aerum

I grinned beamingly as I turned to face the other applicants who I was placed with.

"Soojin! We have such a good group!" cheered Chohee as she slapped my shoulder.

"Yeah everyone except one." Haewon spoke quietly as she eyed the tall girl opposite us.

You're joking.

Kim Misun?

I'm in the same group as Kim Misun?

This is not going to end well.

I bite my lip in worry as memories of how she treated me came rushing into my mind.

Haewon noticed this and gently caressed my arm.

"Don't worry, we won't let anything happen to you."

I smiled lovingly back at her as I felt myself a little more at ease.

She's right.

At least I have the girls to keep things under control.

The screen suddenly changed, as the word 'CONCEPT' suddenly flashed on.

"The concept for this I-LAND test will be..."

I held my breath in suspense as I waited impatiently for the announcement.

"Aegyo."

•••

"Again please girls."

Everyone heaved in exhaustion as we dragged ourselves back to our starting position.

Our mentor for this test, Sunoo, was a lot stricter than I expected.

Despite his cute, innocent charm, Sunoo took the art of aegyo pretty seriously.

This was unlucky for me as mentioned by Hyunsik before that...

I genuinely suck at this sort of shit.

Hearing the loud cheery music echo the room again, I exhaled nervously and tried my best to make a facial expression.

Any facial expression.

To my sheer unluck, the choreo was filled with places of improvisation where we had to appeal our personal aegyo to the viewers.

Unlike hip hop and other girl/boy crush concepts, I couldn't just use my resting bitch face as a facial expression.

Instead I found myself looking half disgusted and half smiling like a sad clown.

The song soon ended and Sunoo gathered us around for some feedback.

"Okay girls. I think the majority of you have gotten your aegyo expressions down pat, however some of you still need to work hard on it."

I hid my head in remorse as I felt his words directly target me.

"That includes you Soojin."

I lifted my head as I met the stern concerned eyes of Sunoo.

"I know ageyo can be really difficult for some people, but in order for you to really own your ace title, I need you to work harder."

I nodded, taking every word to heart.

"Pft how does she still even have the ace title if she can't even do the easiest concept on the show?"

I turned my head to the voice and my eyes met with the as expected, Kim Misun.

She scoffed at me as I looked at her with tired eyes.

"How many times do I have to tell you. Stop acting like you're the best among the girls. Cause in reality, you're really not. You're just a inexperienced little girl who gets favour from the producers because you're young. Look at you. You can't even get this simple routine right."

The room grew silent as the hot-tempered girl ended her sudden outburst.

Overwhelmed by her harsh words, I blinked back my tears and turned to apologise to her.

"Sorry." I whispered as I bowed meekly.

I then turned to the girls and Sunoo and bowed again.

"I'm sorry, I will try my best to improve and not mess this up for you all."

Without lifting my head, I gritted my teeth as I felt their eyes on me.

"Misun. That was very unnecessary and untrue. As a member of your team, you need to be supportive of everyone's strengths and weaknesses." spoke Sunoo with eyes of ice.

"Instead of constantly belittling the maknae of the show, how about you use that mouth of yours to sing without voice cracking all the time."

He did not just say that.

My eyeballs almost popped out of their socket as I watched the older girl's pride completely leave her body all at once.

Trying their hardest not to burst into laughter, I watched as the other girls cupped their mouths and cackled quietly.

"I-I uhm I-but-"

Misun stuttered in pure trauma as her eyes looked up at Sunoo innocently.

All of a sudden she burst in the tears as she collapsed to her knees.

"I'm so sorry Sunoo, I didn't mean to be so harsh!" she cried with a hint of aegyo as she squished her cheeks together.

Everyone looked at her perplexed as we watched the bi-polar girl suddenly switch from a tantrum to a sulk.

Sunwoo looked at her with his eyebrow raised.

"I think you should be apologising to Soojin not me."

I perked my head up at the mention of my name as I then turned to Misun's wrecked self.

I almost smirked as I watched the girl dart her eyes around in discomfort.

Lmao.

This is gonna be great.

I stood patiently, as I waited for the girl to compose herself and wipe her artifical tears.

"U-uhm sorry uh..." she murmured not meeting my eyes.

She took a breath before finally swallowing her tears.

"Sorry Soojin." she spoke in a monotone voice as she brought her once again icy gaze to me.

"It's fine." I responded, restraining myself from whipping out my phone and recording the scene.

I noticed the other girls' looked at me giving me a 'I think you won this one' look.

We then resumed the practise, and ran through the routine a couple more times, before Sunoo finally dismissed us.

As the girls all ran out of the practice room, I quickly sped over to Sunoo as he went to turn off the sound system.

"Hello Sunoo." I bowed after tapping his shoulder lightly.

"Ah yes, hello Soojin." he smiled invitingly as he turned around to face me.

I held my hands together in front of me as I opened my mouth to speak.

"I just came over to say thank you for earlier. I really appreciate what you did for me. But I'm so sorry for interrupting your lesson."

The bright boy gave an eye-smile before sighing with content.

"Ah Soojin," he began staring at me with adoring eyes.

"You are so, so cute."

I jumped at the sudden compliment as I raised my brow in confusion.

Speechless, I smiled at him awkwardly.

He chuckled.

"AH! How is it that the cutest applicant in the show has the most trouble with the aegyo segment?" he asked squeezing my cheeks with warm hands.

I coughed at the unexpected skin-ship as I lowered my head in embarrassment.

"I actually also wanted to ask you something regarding my lack of aegyo skills." I spoke sheepishly as he soon let go of my reddened cheeks.

"Do you think there would be a possibility of getting ageyo lessons from you?"

I examined the boy's expression of thought as I waited nervously.

I mean I've been told many times before.

I really suck at cute concepts.

Who would know how to help me more other than the king of cute himself?

Sunoo soon got a hold of his thoughts and placed his hand on his hip.

"Nope." he spoke bluntly in a naturally cute manner.

I looked at him with confusion in my eyes as my mind wandered to the different possibilities of why he would say no.

Am I really that bad that he can't even help me?

Does he not have time for amateurs like me?

Why did I even ask in the first place?

I chewed my bottom lip in discomfort as I quickly bowed at the boy.

"I'm sorry for asking Sunoo. I promise I won't take your time again."

To my surprise I watched as the boy giggled smiling brighter than ever as he grabbed my arm to stop me from walking away.

"No little one." he teased bopping my nose with his finger.

"I won't teach you, but I know someone who would be perfect for you."

I opened my mouth in shock as I waited for his words in anticipation.

"I'll help organise some aegyo lessons for you with..."

"Heesungie."