Ten Million Fireflies (Adopted by BTS)

Studio (작업장)

Nari hummed quietly to herself as she finished copying down the notes on the laptop screen. They had only gotten to the studio an hour ago, but she was already almost done with today's schoolwork. What was she supposed to do for the next 3 hours?

The girl yawned and spun herself around in the office chair, letting the pencil drop from her hand on to the spotless marble floor. The managers always got mad when she visited the boys while they worked so she had no other option but to sit in an empty conference room and entertain herself.

"You bored?"

Nari stopped spinning in the chair and nodded, looking to the girl with dark pink hair that sat across from her, "Very bored."

"Yeah, me too." The intern sighed and put down her phone, "Sucks that you have to have a babysitter. What kind of trouble do they a middle schooler is gonna cause? You're literally the quietest 12 year old I've ever met." Her phone vibrated and she unlocked the screen to read the new notification, "Oh, I guess I'm on lunch duty today. Ugh, that means I'll have to find someone else to watch you. This is such a pain. "

"Can I come with you, Minsun?"

"Yeah, sure. At least that'll keep us entertained for a little while."

Nari jumped up from her chair, eager to escape the bland white walls that surrounded them. The intern handed a cast aside lanyard with a photo ID and name tag to the girl as they headed out the door.

"You really shouldn't take this off," She reminded her smaller companion, "This is the only thing that keeps security from throwing you out into the streets."

The girl shrugged, "I know. I just don't like it. It makes me feel," She paused, "manufactured, I guess. You know what I mean?"

"Definitely," Minsun agreed, "That's all it is around here. Idols aren't born, they're made."

The two girls showed their IDs to the security guard at the entrance. He nodded and allowed them to scan the badges on their lanyards to open the door that led to the outside. Nari looked to the older girl, who had popped a cigarette in her mouth as soon as they were the required 20 feet away from the building.

"Oh shit," Minsun mumbled, "You don't mind, do you?"

"I don't care."

"Good," She took a long drag, "Just don't tell anyone, okay? They've fired people for smoking in the same room as BTS before and they definitely wouldn't make an exception for a lowly intern."

"So you're not a trainee?"

Minsun shook her head, "No way. I want to be a music producer, doing the behind the scenes stuff." She sighed, "I thought this internship at BigHit would be my big break but all I do is run errands. Not gonna lie to you, Nari, it kinda blows."

"You mean they don't let you make music?" The girl inquired as they navigated the busy street, "If they know that you want to be a producer, why won't they let you do what you're good at?"

"It's all about the money, kid," She replied, exhaling deeply, "They get free labor out of us interns because they know that we depend on them for our careers, and if they decide to actually hire us after our yearly contract is over then they get a new way to make money. But if they decide not to, it's no skin off their back because they know that there are thousands of other people that would gladly take our place. Like you said, it's manufactured. We're part of a well oiled machine and they'll never run out of spare parts."

Nari nodded. Everyone wants to be rich and famous, everyone wants to be an idol, but the truth of the idol lifestyle is a lot less appealing. Like Minsun said, idols aren't born, they're made; at places like BigHit and hundreds of other entertainment companies across the country.