the teasers lit up the group chat and aeja's phone, replies rapidly joined them, congratulating the first three girls who had been revealed as part of the group on social media.

"ugh, i'm so not a morning person."

said the girl, rolling over as she heard her dorm mates get ready for the day.

"come on chacha!! the first teasers have been released and netizens are going crazy."

soeun replied, smiling at the older one.

"who got chosen for first day?"

she asked, not sure of who was in the slot before hers.

the girls had all chosen lots which had fairly decided what their teaser release order would be. the management had told them that any other way would have been unfair as the group's promotions all depended on rankings; what better way to have a headstart than to have a good placement in the teasers?

soeun giggled a little at this before realising her roommate was serious.

"well, liling, riyeon and i got the first slots..."

"oh em gee- i should have remembered that."

aeja blurted out, now feeling terrible for forgetting her roommate's slot.

"you must be nervous soso. are you okay? if anyone said anything bad then they're going to have to fight me."

"don't worry unnie, no one's said anything bad, but they are kind of shocked at riyeon's age..."

soeun trailed off at the sound of a loud bang from the kitchen.

the pair looked at each other before hurrying out of their room. as one was the eldest in the dorm and one a co-leader, they were responsible for everything that happened within the four walls, and they did not want to be blamed for whatever sounded like the dining room table breaking.

—

manager #1: hey guys, here are the first three teaser photos which the interns just put on instagram.

taeri: wow- well done guys!

yooyeon: omg we're so close to debuting 😳😳🫶

yebin: go team 💞💞💞

yeonrin: i hope everyone likes my stage name 😆😆

—

mari sat on the floor of the practice room, stressed.

the first teaser photos had been released and she was worried about what the public would think of the group. who had ever heard of a kpop group with and active ranking system and theatre performances?

she sighed before standing up and stretching. time to practice.

"hey mari!"

yiseul said as she entered the room, smiling at the younger girl.

"morning unnie!"

she said, covering her nerves with a bright smile and enthusiasm.

"do you want to practice together? i feel like we could still get Y's choreography looking sharper."

"if you want too. but i definitely could use some help with I's choreo, i can't seem to get the chorus right..."

yiseul nodded, smiling.

"okay, let's give it a go."

—

"liling unnie!"

jihyun cried out as she entered the room.

"your teaser looks so cool!!"

the maknae said as she ran to her friend.

"thank you jiji! i tried really hard to look cool in it."

"you definitely do!"

liling smiled at this and gave jihyun a hug.

"unnie, the managers say that i shouldn't use a stage name, but i really want to."

"why do they say not to?"

"well, they say that because it's the same as another idol's stage name that it wouldn't be very good for fans and i might not have a good response from people."

jihyun pouted massively at this and liling wracked her brains, trying to think of a good response.

"i guess they're right, but if you want to go by that then it's perfectly fine."

jihyun looked majorly unconvinced.

liling looked around, trying to grab another members attention. she's never been very good at this whole older sister thing.

"mirae!"

she cried as she set her eyes on the 02 liner.

"yes?"

"jihyun needs some help."

"with what?"

she asked, approaching the pair from across the room.

"the managers are trying to get me to not use a stage name. they say it's not good to use the same one as another idol."

mirae tried not to roll her eyes at this.

"hyunnie, do you really think that it matters when there are a load of jimins and minas and jisoos and minhyuks and loads of other double, triple and quadruple names?"

"um, no... but the management said-"

liling huffed at this.

"jihyun, the management is not the one who're going to the stage name."

she looked taken aback before realising that the two were right.

"jihyun, what are you doing here? soeun unnie wants us for H practice."

vicky's voice echoed in the practice room.

"coming!"

she said before turning to the older two.

"thank you unnies!"

"you're welcome."

they replied as the maknae ran off to another room.

—

yebin checked her phone again, before leaning her head against the mirror installed on the wall.

"binnie, are you okay?"

taeri asked from where she was practicing D's dance.

"i think so. this is just so stressful unnie."

taeri stopped what she was doing and looked at the younger girl, her expression sympathetic.

"i get it binnie. all these teasers and the sudden public attention feels like a lot, but it's really good that we're getting all of it. it means that we might have a successful debut and that would give us the best start that we could hope for."

yebin nodded, biting her lip as she thought through scenarios in her head.

"but what happens if we don't sell all the tickets for our debut week? what if we go years without a first win?"

the leader approached the blonde and crouched down next to her, wrapping her arms around the shorter girl.

"yebin, you don't need to worry about that! that's not our problem. instead we just have to relax and put on a good show for those who do buy tickets, and if we don't get a first win then it doesn't mean that we're not successful. i'm confident that we're going to have lots of fans."

at this yebin hummed in reluctant agreement before pondering out loud.

"do you think having a movie night would help everyone destress? like maybe tonight before tomorrow's teasers get released?"

taeri stopped hugging yebin as she thought the idea through.

"i mean, that does sound very fun and it would be nice to all hang out together before we start working."

yebin smiled as the older seemingly approved her plan.

"where would we have it?"

"we could do it in my dorm. soeun has lots of spare pillows and i'm sure haneul and haebyul hoard blankets in their room."

the instigator replied, already planning everything.

"okay, but i'll have to check with the managers."

"okay unnie."

—

"hannie!! i can't lift all of these by myself!"

haebyul cried as she attempted to pick up the giant pile of spare blankets the pair had managed to accumulate in their room.

"coming unnie! i just need to put these cushions on the sofa."

haneul replied as she hurried to help her roommate.

as she entered the room, she found haebyul pulling at a lump of what must have been all of their blankets tangled together.

"there's so many! how did we manage to collect them all?"

she asked as she grabbed the other end of the mass, allowing the pair to start wobbling their way to the living area.

"i think it's because i used to take all the blankets that people would leave out in the living spaces in different dorms, so half of the girls we used to train with probably think that they lost a blanket, but they didn't. i just wanted more."

haebyul said, slightly ashamedly.

haneul laughed as the deposited the blankets on the floor.

"right, let's get these set up!"

meanwhile, somi was trying to find all of her hidden bottles of fizzy drinks.

"i swear i had one up here."

she muttered to herself as she struggled to reach the back of the top of the closet.

"i think you did."

heesu's voice came from behind her, causing the other to jump and hit her elbow.

"ow."

she is whined before absorbing the older girl's words.

"what do you mean?"

"i think i saw jihyun drinking some dr pepper when you were at practice yesterday."

somi groaned and rolled her eyes.

"she's so annoyinggg. how did she even reach up here, she's so short."

heesu shrugged.

"no idea. maybe just leave them in the kitchen next time though and then you can keep an eye on them."

soojin was still struggling to find any snacks, and she knew she had some somewhere.

"riri, do you know where the white chocolate i put in the cupboard went?"

she asked her roommate as she walked into their bedroom.

"i don't know, maybe someone moved it?"

soojin huffed a little at this. she hated it when people touched her stuff without asking.

"don't worry unnie. i'm sure someone else already went snack hunting for movie night, which is why it's gone."

riyeon's words did little to help, in fact, it maybe made the minor situation worse.

"maybe, but that's not very nice."

riyeon sat up at this and reached for her roommate.

"i'll beat them up for touching your chocolate unnie. don't worry."

she said as she hugged the older girl.

soojin laughed a little at this. she couldn't stop picturing her unassuming looking roommate squaring up with the other girls in their dorm.

"don't do that, please, yeonrin. it would be so bad."

she said, still laughing.

riyeon laughed too, glad she cheered her roommate up.

"okay, soojin unnie."

—

"yiseul unnie!"

mirae cried out as she entered the practice room.

"mimi!"

yiseul replied happily at the appearance of her roommate.

"aren't you coming to movie night?"

the younger asked as grabbed her belongings from the pile on the floor.

"there's a movie night?"

yiseul had been so caught up in practice that any mentions of movie night had gone completely over her head.

"yeah. yebin and taeri organised it, and it's in dorm 3."

yiseul nodded.

"aah. well, i definitely want to come, but i still feel like i could get this down a bit more."

mirae shook her head and grabbed the shorter one's arm.

"unnie please don't. you're not paid to and everyone would much rather you join us."

yiseul looked at the hand below her elbow and then up at mirae.

it was odd. normally she didn't get too close to people, but her roommate and her and managed to grow close and it was actually kind of nice.

"okay, but only because you asked nicely."

mirae beamed at this, and yiseul smiled back, appreciatively.

"but, i want popcorn and chocolate."

mirae laughed loudly as she helped her unnie pick up her stuff.

"of course! what else would we eat?"

—

"hi vicky!"

mari greeted her friend as she entered the dorm.

"mari!"

she replied, glad to see the other.

"it's vicky!"

riyeon cried out before launching herself at the 04 liner.

somi laughed from further in the dorm, causing vicky to laugh too.

"hi guys."

she responded, trying not to stumble as she was leapt upon by riyeon.

riyeon giggled and clung to the other, just as jieun entered the dorm.

"hi!"

she said loudly as she took off her shoes.

"jiji!"

yooyeon said as she raced to the other girl.

"yooyeon unnie!!"

the two hugged before jihyun appeared, saying that everyone needed to get to the living room before the film started.

"let's go!"

vicky said, now with riyeon on her back, before slipping and sliding down the smooth floor like a speed skater.

—

"how does studio ghibli sound?"

"i want to watch disney!"

"we watched disney laste movie night..."

"not all of us were at that-"

"that's kind of the point of a dorm-only movie night though."

"but disney?"

"what about despicable me?"

"i don't know about that..."

"what about brave?"

"snow white? beauty and the beast?"

"peter pan?"

"eeee- peter pan!!!"

"okay so peter pan is on the list... what else?"

"mulan definitely!!"

"tangled pleaseeeeeee."

"okay okay- how about we choose a movie each and then vote for the top 4?"

"that sounds good!"

—

jieun shuffled a little on her spot on the floor, trying to readjust so that her tailbone wouldn't feel like it was going to die.

"humumfmgph"

came a grumble from her next-door neighbour, soojin, who was already well on her way to sleep.

she sighed a little, before glancing around the room and noticing that almost all of the girls were asleep by now, even somi who seemed to have consumed enough cola for a small village.

she smiled before reaching for the remote, in an attempt to make the room more comfortable for those sleeping.

"jieun?"

taeri asked, blinking back the sleep as she saw the younger stretch with all her might for the remote right next to the leader.

"i just wanted to turn the volume down for them."

taeri nodded, smiling.

"okay, and maybe try to get some sleep as well jiji."

"of course unnie."

the remote was handed to the girl, and she successfully turned the volume down before settling into the blankets for a night's sleep.

—

manager #2: the second teasers are out. :)

—

"somi, you need to make sure you follow through the whole move."

soeun said as she monitored H's practice.

somi nodded, trying not to yawn as she took in her leader's advice.

"i tried but it's really hard to reach that note when i have to do the whole dance."

soeun nodded at this, her mind going through possible options.

"well, we could do some vocal practice after the session today before T and W's sessions."

somi considered it, soeun was a really good leader and vocalist, it definitely wouldn't hurt to do some more vocal practice.

"you would?"

she asked, not too sure if soeun was just saying it to be nice or not.

"of course, especially if you feel like you need it."

"thank you unnie!"

she said, beaming as soeun smiled slightly, nearing the end of her monitoring.

irene stretched as yeonrin seemed to inhale half a bottle of water. vicky groaned as she tied her hair up, her forehead covered in a thin layer of sweat and exhaustion.

"right, we've not got many more practice days, we can do this!"

soeun said, as she finished her monitoring, standing up and looking at the four teenagers which management had put her, a 20 year old, in charge of.

—

taeri huffed in frustration as she sat with yiseul, haebyul and yooyeon as they attempted to sing through the album, pointing out improvements as they went.

it wasn't that any of them were bad, but sometimes the sounded so far from the original recording that they had done that it made her want to scream or something.

"right, let's just try that bridge again."

she repeated for what felt like the fourth time.

yiseul looked up, feeling bad for her friend.

"tae, why don't we take a break. no one's going to be able to do any better if we keep going without a rest."

she said, saying words she knew that sometimes she'd ignore.

taeri looked at her for a while before nodding.

"okay, 20 minutes and then let's try again."

meanwhile, in another practice room, heesu and soojin were practicing for D's choreography.

"so, here, you have to fully turn."

the older explained as she watched soojin go through the steps.

"okay, so like this?"

"exactly! and then we go like..."

soojin watched as the dancer walked her through it.

"i got it."

she said, smiling as heesu continued to dance.

"amazing! you're going to shine on stage."

soojin blushed at this before hugging her friend.

"you will too!!"

—

the theatre's sound system broadcasted static as the girls stood there waiting to be given the go ahead to practice W's song on stage for the first time.

mari sucked in a deep breathe as she stood there, waiting for the ̶j̶u̶m̶p̶s̶c̶a̶r̶e̶  cue. her hair felt stiff due to the amount of hair spray that the stylists had doused it in earlier; apparently a proper dress rehearsal meant a full dress rehearsal including hair and makeup.

she'd only trained for four months and here she was having the opening lines of the group's debut track. she felt so honoured but also couldn't help but feel that it was only because, as a visual, the company was using her to grab peoples' attention with her looks instead of her skills.

haneul shot mari a reassuring look as they stood there, some of the other members chatting.

mari smiled in return before flinching as feedback burst through her in ear monitor.

everyone groaned and haebyul physically jumped as they all heard it.

liling grumbled something about how the company ought to have sorted this out before getting the girls on stage, her impatience getting the best of her.

"sorry!"

the technician shouted from the back of the theatre.

"it should be working now."

he said before playing the backing track.

mari pushed down her nerves as she turned towards the empty audience, plastering on a smile that she had practiced everyday for the last 16 weeks.

-

heesu stretched as she waited for T's cue to get on stage was given.

aeja was next to her, warming up her vocal chords and going over her lines.

"hey aeja, do you think people will like our debut?"

heesu asked the older girl, who seemed slightly taken aback that someone could ask such a question.

"i hope so! i mean, we've worked so hard and with the theatre aspect maybe we'll be able to attract more fans."

"i guess you're right. i just tend to overthink things."

"don't worry hehe, we just need to make sure that we manage to stand out. the theatre aspect and rankings are nothing new, but the promotion on music shows means that we'll definitely get more exposure."

heesu nodded at this; aeja was the best person to turn to in these situations, her supportive nature made comforting others easy for the older girl. no wonder she was a co-leader.

"right, T team, you're up."

came the cue through the speakers in the waiting room.

—

the manager sighed as the leaders trickled into the small meeting room. the girls' dress rehearsal today had been good, but some higher-ups were concerned about the lack of effort put into the designated introductions.

"taeri, yiseul, aeja, soeun."

the girls greeted the managers before they sat down opposite them.

soeun bounced her leg as she waited for the managers to start talking. she was responsible and caring but the pressure of a leader position was often a lot when she was faced with manager meetings.

"firstly, well done on your rehearsal today, your performance were amazing. however, some of the higher ups who were there today have raised concerns about a lack of personalised introductions and of a lack of specific personality traits amongst members. this needs to be addressed otherwise fans might struggle with getting to know all of you, and passers-by might end up glossing over the group."

he took a breathe before looking at the other manager in the room. she nodded before pulling out a clipboard.

"i have some suggestions here from management, the main ones being about possibly having a specific introduction for each member, much like in other theatre groups, and some suggestions for certain members who seemed to lack a strong concept. i would recommend reading the list and attempting to get members on board with these ideas. if not, there might be, as previously stated, more room for less interest in motif."

the woman finished talking, and taeri counted up to ten before responding, not wanting her emotions to get the better of her.

"we will consider it, but a lot of the group is very young and i'm not sure how having a persona will help them achieve their potential as an idol. however,"

she said, looking at the other three who seemed to still be processing the information.

"we would be willing to compromise and do personalised introductions and ask if any of the members would want to have a promotional personality. i will not be making them change for management unless, of course, you write it into our contracts. however, from my understanding, this is not currently covered in the agreements previously made. additionally, we have learnt possibly the largest number of dances for a debut in an astoundingly short space of time and i think it would be unfair to spring such large changes on our members with just over 10 days to go."

the managers blinked before looking at each other, taken aback. they knew that taeri was feisty when it came to protecting her members, but this still threw them through a loop.

after a small while of silent (and panicked) communication, they supposed that perhaps this was the best they were going to get.

"okay, we understand where you're coming from and so we see no reason to try to negotiate further. please take the clipboard and discuss the ideas on it amongst yourselves."

yiseul smiled at taeri as the older girl was handed the clipboard. she always seemed to know what to say.

—

BREAKING! MOTIF, KPOP'S LATEST GROUP, HAS REVEALED THREE MORE MEMBERS.

motif is sony music korea's latest project group managed by mt entertainment. the group is rumoured to contain upwards of 10 members, but nothing has yet been confirmed. however, the latest pictures for the newest three members, yiseul, vicky, and mari, seem to indicate that members will not stop being revealed any time soon!

a/n:
hi guys....
sorry about not uploading
for well over a month,
but here i am, alive and well.
this is part 1 of 2, because i
have started to realise how
big of a job it is to do a debut
run up part with teasers and drama.

i hope you guys liked this!!
and pls dont feel picked on
if your oc's teaser hasn't been
released yet- i put the names
in a randomiser online to make
it 110% fair.

also, i do apologise about the
uneven screentime; not very cool
of me ikik. i promise i'll try to
even it out in the next part :))

ps- i have not proof read this...