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"Okay, attention Subin!" Mr Yoo came into the recording room, a folder in his arms and a black dad hat on his head. Subin smiled at her teacher and boss and bowed before handing him the coffee she had bought earlier for him. "Today will be a bit stressful, little one." The man explained while handing Subin the folder. The teenage girl understood and put it in one of the drawers of the table.

"This morning we had a messy Mark in the studio, meaning his recording of Drippin' was a total disaster." Mr Yoo sighed. "We tried to fix his recording but it was no choice. His voice was groggy he didn't hit the notes and he wasn't on the beat. So we're a song behind." Mr Yoo looked at the 16-year-old. 

"I have high hopes for you, Subinie." He said and handed Subin a key. "I need to fix Mark and his recording. Jisung and Chenle know they'll record with you today. This studio is right next to mine. I hope you remembered everything I taught you so far. Today you will produce Jisung and Chenle's part."

Subin's mouth fell open. 

She didn't expect this when she went to SM today. While she was waiting for Mr Yoo she prepared the studio booth for today's recording and turned on all the equipment so Mr Yoo could start producing NCT Dream's song immediately. And now here she was, a key in her hand and Mr Yoo's expectant glance in her direction.

"You want me to assist Jisung and Chenle in recording their part?" Subin asked and Mr Yoo nodded. "I really need your help today." Subin nodded and slowly tightened her grip around the key. "I'll do my best, I promise!" With a slight hop, Subin left Mr Yoo's producing studio and walked to the room next door.

With a heavy heart, she unlocked the door and pushed the door to the studio open.

 This studio was definitely smaller than the ones Subin had worked in with Mr Yoo. The booth barely fitted two people and the desk wasn't as big as the one Subin had practised with so far. It didn't disturb the young girl though. She quickly went to turn on all the lights and microphones before starting the producing desk.

Her fingers were tingling over the buttons. 

Mr Yoo had shown her often enough how she could record the singers voice and work the buttons. But this time Mr Yoo wasn't with her and Subin was all alone in a room, waiting for two Idols she had never seen personally. 

She knew she would work with NCT Dream, that's what Mr Yoo had told her. And she had often seen pictures of the different NCT units being portrayed all over the building. But Subin didn't really know who Chenle and Jisung were. 

Just when she was about to google their names, a soft knock appeared on the door and a round face with green hair popped up. A boy who seemed to be in Subin's age looked at her with a toothy grin, his eyes almost disappearing. "Are you Han Subin? Mr Yoo told us you'll record our parts." The boy said with a slight accent. Probably one of the foreign members, Subin thought while bowing to the member.

"Hi, I'm Chenle." The green-haired-boy introduced himself before giving the word to his tall friend next to him. "I'm Jisung, nice to meet you." - "It's a pleasure to work with you," Subin said. "I'm Han Subin from Blue Soda Entertainment."

Hearing the name of the girl's company, made Jisung widen his eyes. "Excuse me? What company are you from?" - "JYP's daughter company; Blue Soda Company," Subin said with a smile while eyeing the tall boy. "Wow, you're from Ahn Mari-noona's company!" The boy let out and Subin blinked.

"You know Mari-unnie?"

Jisung laughed and nodded. "I'm a big fan of her! Back when we were promoting 'Go' and Mari was promoting 'X' we did a special stage!" Park Jisung told the producer happily. "You have to know, Jisung is Mari's biggest fan!" Chenle giggled. "Is Mari preparing her comeback as well? I heard some rumours that Mari is having a goth metal comeback?" Jisung asked and Subin widened his eyes.

"Not that I know of, but I think Mari-unnie is preparing with tropical house." The producer smiled before coughing. "Anyways, I'm here to record your parts for Drippin'. Chenle you're first!" Subin said and Jisung tapped the girl's shoulder. "When we're done we definitely have to talk about Mari-noona. I am really a big fan!" He smiled and something about Park Jisung's smile made Subin feel warm inside.

― 💌 ―

Subin was disappointed with herself. It had taken her almost three hours to record Chenle and Jisung's part of Drippin'. The two Idols tried to cheer the same aged girl up, saying it was great for her first time working as a real producer but the stubborn girl was too busy whining about how long she had taken to record one of Jisung's lines.

"Hey, not every producer is as fast as Mr Yoo!" Jisung said and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You're still a teenager after all. It's a wonder you didn't take all day for one take!" Chenle said and threw his arm on Subin's shoulder, almost knocking the girl off her chair.

Subin smiled. She liked Chenle and Jisung. They were easy to work and talk with and she hoped she would encounter them more often. "So, Subin-ah!" Jisung started, smiling at the girl next to him. "Spill all your secrets about Mari-noona please!"

Subin laughed and wanted to start spilling Ahn Mari's secrets, when Mr Yoo entered the room, a tired smile on his lips. "How did it go, Subinie?" He asked, still worrying about giving his intern such a hard task. "Oh, hello!" Subin bowed to her teacher and for some reason, Jisung and Chenle followed her example.

Mr Yoo laughed about the shenanigans of the younger members and went to listen what Subin had recorded. After a while a fatherly smile spread on the Music Directors face.

"I understand now, why they call you Blue Soda's prodigy."