The First Day

Thankfully, we didn't have to film anything else for the first day so we were allowed to unpack in our assigned rooms and rest for the day. Eunho and I got lucky and managed to become roommates along with two other trainees that we hadn't yet met, Jeon Dohyun and Aidan, who was Australian. 

I recalled that Aidan had also gotten scolded by mentor Aki so I felt a small sense of camaraderie in him. Dohyun on the other hand was one of the top trainees, however, he wasn't an arrogant prick like Hajun was.

We unpacked the few clothes we'd brought when we were approached by Aidan asking us if we'd like to play some a game while pointing at the stacked pile of cards behind him. Of course we agreed, we had no time to relax during our preparation for the show let alone play any games.

"Have you played this before?" Aidan asked, Eunho nodded while I shook my head, leading Aidan to explain the rules of the game.

"Okay, all you have to do is either match the color the number to whatever card is on the ground, if the card is black, you can use it on any card. You get it?" Eunho nodded enthusiastically and we hopped right into our first game.

3 hours later... Our game had escalated, there were now a total of 8 of us playing. I placed down my second last card, "Plus 2!" I was finally gonna have the chance to win my first game so I was pumped up. However, my excitement didn't last long as the number of cards to draw piled up. 2, 4, 6, 8... 20. My expression hardened by the 6th person, and lastly it was Eunho who was right next to me. He hesitated for a moment, hovering a card over the pile, when he looked at me. I had already given up at this point, accepting my fate that I'd lose once again.

However, I felt that he was taking too long, but when I looked up, Eunho was smiling at me as he began drawing the pile of cards that had grown thin. And with that I slammed down my final card, which luckily matched the last color. "Yeahh!!" I yelled out, I finally won a round, I high fived Eunho as a thanks as the game continued. When I turned around, I realized that we had amassed quite the audience. I felt my cheeks heating up as a lot more people than I thought had seen me getting hyped over a silly card game.

After another hour, the sun had already set and it was clear everyone was starting to feel hungry as people left and came back with snacks. During the games, I'd managed to make some new friends, Haru and Riku who also used to be a part of a Japanese idol group and were also 2-stars.

Just as the final round was ending, an announcement sounded throughout the dorms, informing us that we could proceed to the cafeteria to have our dinner. The giant group of boys that had gathered in our room proceeded to spill out as we ran to the cafeteria. I just realized that apart from small bites throughout the day, Eunho and I didn't even have the chance to have breakfast. 

When we finally made it to the cafeteria, we were luckily one of the first few in front of the line that was growing by the minute. Eventually we collected our food and sat down at a free table, as the line grew shorter, our table filled up with friendly faces. My two new friends had joined us as well as our roommates. 

We silently ate for a few minutes but Eunho decided to strike up a conversation with Riku.

"So, Riku hyung, how did you end up joining this show?" Eunho innocently asked as he popped a piece of pickled radish into his mouth.

Without missing a beat Riku replied "Well, I actually didn't know we were auditioning for this show, as soon as we landed from our flight Haru and I somehow ended up here." Riku wasn't fluent in Korean so I just assumed he had misspoken but after looking at my confused face he confirmed the fact. 

"Can you say that in front of the cameras?" I asked him with wide eyes, surprised that he'd boldly claimed that he was brought onto the show without his knowledge. 

"It's okay, they probably won't put it in the show since it'll make my company look bad." He casually said as he continued eating. I felt bad for him, seeing how laidback he was about his situation made me think he's gone through similar situations before. After that, our table decided to just eat in silence. 

Shortly after, we split up with Haru and Riku as we returned to our room with our roommates. I jumped onto bed, feeling like my stomach would burst as I had eaten a bit too much after building up an appetite for the entire day. Since our phones were confiscated I had nothing much to do so I decided to go to bed, the sound of feet shuffling beside me fading away as I slipped out of consciousness. 

When I had awoken, the other boys were still asleep. I looked at the clock to see that it was just past 6 A.M. The staff had told us that we'd start filming at 8 so I still had plenty of time to do whatever I wanted. I decided do my morning routine first and brushed my teeth with my eyes closed, still feeling quite sleepy but I knew that going back to sleep would be pointless. However, when I finally opened my eyes to wash my face, I saw a mess of numerous colors on my face.

"AH! What the-?" I yelled out, my voice being unexpectedly loud. After a second or two, Eunho had ran into the bathroom in a daze, asking what happened, but when he looked at me he burst out into laughter. 

"H-hyung what is that pff... You look so dumb right now!" He said this to me as he held his stomach, seemingly in pain from laughing so much. 

"Is it that funny?" I asked him in a monotone voice. He could only nod as his unstoppable giggling rendered him unable to speak clearly. I started smiling as i slowly filled up a cup with water.

"Since it's that funny you shouldn't be the only one having fun then!" Splash! I turned over the cup above his head. Eunho instantly stopped laughing, the cold water causing his breath to briefly get caught in his throat. 

"Ah- Hyung! That's not fair! I didn't draw those things on your face!" Eunho told me while pouting.

I stuck my tongue out at him and told him that he deserved it for laughing at me, but then I realized that the perpetrator had still gone unpunished. 

"I think it's time to return the favor then." I grinned wickedly. After washing off the marks on my face, we walked back to our beds, our two dear roommates were still soundly asleep. Next to Aidan's bed, a pack of markers laid on the desk. Ah. How nice of him to kindly leave the evidence out in the open. 

One hour later, an unknown song started blaring through the speakers. I was sitting at the desk as the music started playing and I jumped in surprise, it was unnecessarily loud. Next to me, I saw Aidan slowly waking up, I held back my laugh at his face that was even more vandalized than mine.

He stretched his back while rubbing his eyes, somehow he looked refreshed even after waking up to loud music. However, when his hand left his face, a swirl of colors were mixed onto his fingers. 

"Did you sleep well Aidan?" I asked him with a grin, satisfied with my revenge. 

However, instead of the loud reaction I expected, he only exclaimed, "Ah! What a shame, I wanted to see your reaction." I crossed my arms and told him that it was karma for drawing on my face. 

Soon after, the exciting morning cooled down as we finished getting ready in our freshly prepared uniforms. The uniforms were a navy blue color, akin to the uniforms from the past 2 seasons, except it had 3 star accents to indicate the third season of Stella Planet. 

As the music stopped, the speaker now sounded an announcement to exit our rooms and proceed to the gymnasium that was beside the cafeteria. As we arrived, we were met by 5 sections of practice wear. "...? Why did they make us get dressed in this if we were just going to change again?" I wondered. In any case, we were filmed receiving our new clothing, which differed in colors depending on our ranking, as I only had 2 stars, the clothing was a strange color of yellow that didn't appeal to the eyes. 

I wasn't pleased but it reminded me that I had to work even harder from now on to receive the benefits that I wanted. After we returned from changing our outfits, the gymnasium was cleared out and was now split into 5 sections, which I recognized as the formation to start learning the signal song. 

As the trainees flooded in, I led Eunho to the front of the section, knowing that it'd be easier to learn the choreography up close, even if the mentors could see our mistakes more clearly. 

Once everyone had gotten settled, the mentors had stepped onto the stage, with the cheers of all the contestants. As everyone quietened down mentor Jung Suri announced, "I welcome all 100 trainees to Stella Planet. As you all have gathered here today, it is time to reveal the signal song which will determine your next and final star ranking."

Suddenly, an image was projected above the mentors, which showed 5 levels of star-shaped stages. "Depending on your ranking, you will be placed on different levels to receive the spotlight, as well as one trainee who will take the spot as the center of the performance. I hope you all work hard to receive the best position on stage, and without further ado, I introduce you to Stella Planet's signal song. 'Shining Star'!"

Cheerful music started playing as I realized it was the same song that had blasted through the speakers this morning to wake the contestants up. I silently cheered as I had carefully listened to the song earlier, suspecting that it was indeed the signal song. 

I noticed that the 5-stars instantly started following the choreography that was projected onto the screen and I followed suite. 

This was the start of the nerve-wracking signal song group practice.