Note: aged down characters. 18 y/o YJH, 21 y/o KDJ

———

Yoo Joong Hyuk didn't need to go through the casting. He was in the moment they saw his face.

As the judges put it, "You don't need anything else, this face alone is enough."

Yoo Joong Hyuk would've been offended at that statement if he had had any shred of talent in dancing and singing.

Some people became idols thanks to their looks, regardless of talent. And Yoo Joong Hyuk is aware that he's going to be one of those people.

Would it remain that way? No, Yoo Joong Hyuk doesn't think so. He excels at whatever he put his mind into, dancing and singing wouldn't be an exception.

They gave him a week to gather his things and move into the dorm. Yoo Joong Hyuk spent day one breaking the news to his family and close friends, which wasn't a lot. Yoo Mia's reaction was normal. She was too young to actually understand the weight of the idol career. But his master Namgung Minyoung was another case.

He didn't know how she would react. So he chose to break the news in the safest way: through a phone call. Yoo Joong Hyuk wouldn't risk getting himself grabbed by the collar like some misbehaving child.

"Are you going to give up on the World Kumdo Championship?" As his master and mentor in Kumdo, naturally that's the first thing she would be worried about. But her voice was neutral, a little too neutral for his liking.

"No." Kumdo was something that Yoo Joong Hyuk actually enjoyed, along with games, "I'm not going to give anything up."

"What a greedy child you are." His master chided, but it lacked actual bite. She's not mad nor against it, good.

"Please take care of Mia for me."

"Very well. Do what you want, but don't come back with tails between your legs."

———

He returned to the agency as soon as he gathered his things and dropped Mia off at his master's place.

"You will start your vocal and dance training next week. Your looks was enough, but you can't just debut with looks alone. The higher-ups have decided to put you into a boy group project, so you will be staying at the boy group dorm."

"Boy group? How many members are there?" Being squeezed into a boy group instead of debuting solo was not out of Yoo Joong Hyuk's expectation. In South Korea, idol groups tend to be more popular than soloists, after all.

"Two. And that's counting you." The trainee manager answered.

Yoo Joong Hyuk blinked.

He didn't heard that wrong, did he?

"In fact," The trainee manager gestured at the closed door of a nearby practice room, "I was about to introduce you to the other trainee right now."