"Here's your locker keys. All the stuff you need are there. And you'll be sharing the room with 3 more girls. If you have any questions, do let me know." She gave me a soft smile before walking off to her desk.

I'm at the staff living quarters right now, the nearest one to the company. It's a five story building and somehow i got the last space of it. The previous tenant found herself a new apartment to stay at.

Safe to say,I got lucky.

The move in wasn't that tough since all I had to bring was my two bags and a tote. Besides, it's a two bunk bed room and..I got one of the upper bunk as I'm the last one to join them.

The women there seemed..normal. Now I know the term "Normal" can be offending. But I've heard worse about roomies and some nice stories too. They were nice to me, we tried to communicate through our language barrier and told me the do's and don'ts of this line of work.

It's not like we start working right away. Apparently we get a month of training and few group works to kick start our workings and by the looks of my roommates, I assume they're all just as newbies as I am, slightly few days apart.

Our training starts tomorrow, so I need to get all the rest I can get through this whole night.

I text my mom, sent her and my bffs few voice mails about my day, posted stories on Instagram and then went to bed.

It was good day indeed. I'm a little sceptical but whatever.

~A week later~

"Sandra stop lounging there and come help the crew!"

"Oh my god where did she place the hair spray?!"

"Stop it, Lyra! That's too much! We're styling them, not suffocating them to death!"

"Where the hell is my station?! Miss Kiya!!"

My ears perk up at the name as I fasten my pace, clutching onto the supply trolly and making, a zigzag way out of the crowd, halting right in front of Miss Iseul. The main stylist I'm assisting.

That run from the storage room to here made me look like an asthma patient by how much I'm heaving.

"Mianhae..there was a big crowd in the storage room..but there. Your tools." I give her a lazy smile while she sighs and turns to continue her work.

So what's up with this ruckus? Well it's a backstage simulation, something so outta the blue after a few days of training. It was so sudden that most of my girl pals were left shook enough to get a time out.

I, on the other hand, had been on a complete rush. I've been hearing my peers telling me to calm the fuck down.

The thing is, I can't.

My nerves get so worked up everytime someone calls me that I can't help not make any mistakes.

I've always been that one girl who's never been unruly or breaking any rules. The paranoia of making a mistake in front of many unknown eyes made my skin crawl.

A really useful trait I got from my school years. Seriously. I've never been to the principal's office my whole school and college life.

I had to go for a quick introductory interview with the staff in charge before my first training class. Within this week, me and the girls I was rooming with became closer.

Nari was the mom of the group, Hana's the calm energy child, Aera as the forgotten middle child and me, Kiya, as the youngest and Lyra as our sleepy neighbor.

We all attended classes together. Learning about each makeup tools, what to do and what to not while prepping an idol minutes before their schedule, helping your supervisor in record time and so on.

As much as I hated being this busy, I loved it. Hectic places gave me some sort of peace and clarity that I'm not the only one who's going through all this shit.

We, signed up for this shit.

Well, we did have some good days. Like strolling around the city after dinner or going out for some street food or even making food in our dorm room without letting the outsiders know.

I almost felt like I was living my dream highschool life, the ones I'd seen in movies/dramas.

But today. I felt like dying. Its like even breathing is a waste of time. Of course I didn't show how vulnerable I became when the simulation started. But inside, I was crying like a widow.

Mad respect to the kpop staffs.

Here, your patience is your one and only opponent. No matter how snarky or annoying your supervisor can be, just stay fucking calm.

And I was on my 13th reason.

Don't get me wrong. Iseul ma'am is sweet and all. It's just the other company leeches that bother us from time to time, asking about our progress and criticizing us as if we're the ones who're gonna perform.

Petition to hit them with a makeup chair.

Today it was just me, Lyra, Sandra (the one who moved out) and another girl whom I haven't talked to yet. Bet she's from another building.

The simulation was to test us if we can handle sudden rush or emergency exchange, in case some of the staffs are unavailable. It's a common thing that often happens where suddenly more people are needed in the last minute. A good lesson but they never informed us about this. I think I saw Lyra run with a toast in her mouth when we were called.

Tragic yes.

And yes. Our supervisors were styling the trainees too. It's for their upcoming dance practice shoot if I remember correctly.

"Argh my back hurts!" Sandra cries out right after collapsing on Aera's bed. We dragged her to hang out here with us before returning to her apartment.

Everyone's either laying on floor or on the beds. I'm also, half dead, on my bed.

"They never told us we'd go round every damn group's styling!" Aera screeches but it's muffled into her pillow.

True. We did that simulation the whole day, with only ten mins break in between.

"Guys I'm going for a shower. Call some food delivery or whatever." Nari yawns before disappearing into our bathroom.

I'm already scrolling through my SNS, letting my online audience know how painful it is to be a kpop staff.

"Yah~kia-ssii..what'd you like for dinner?" Lyra asks while controlling her yawns.

"Hm..idk, get me some chicken rice with a cold coke and call it a night."

"Halal?"

"Yup."

I, myself, can't keep my eyes open. But still fought through it.

She places the orders and we take turns to shower away the tiredness.

After hours of gossiping while mouth full of food and shit talking about the company we solely chose to work for, slumber came down.

Sandra didn't even bother going back to her apartment and ended up sharing the bed with Nari.

And rest of us just fell asleep as if we'd stayed up for 5 business days.

Needles to say, this sure did feel like highschool. Just..more adult stress.

(.... to be continued)