Dreams of K-Pop

Demond Park, a black twenty-four year old, makes a living by dancing on the streets of Seoul, South Korea to support his little sister. One day, Demond is confronted by the opportunity of a life time

Dreams of K-Pop

by Daeyeth

Prologue

---

On the streets of Seoul, a small crowd gathered around in a circle, all paying attention to one thing. A street dancer. He moved like water with the music, becoming one with it. The crowd clapped along to the beat as he impressed them, flipping through the air and turning his body into a wave. After the music stopped, the dancer grabbed a hat to gather money from the crowd who seemed happy to do so, thoroughly enjoying the show. The dancer did not make eye contact with the crowd, looking down towards the ground as he made his rounds. He uttered a soft "thank you" in Korean with each patronage given.

The crowd was quite taken with him as its not often they see a young black man in South Korea, much less one dancing for money on the streets. After collecting the money, the crowd dispersed and the young man collected his things, beginning to go on his way. One person walked up to him. He was young and had trendy looking clothes.

"Hey man, that was awesome! What's your name?" he asked.

"Demond," the dancer said quietly.

"Sweet! Are you in any dance crews?"

"No." Demond shook his head. He thought, 'I wish...but...' He sighed. "I gotta go."

"Alright, hope to see you around again!"

The bus ride back to his tiny Seoul apartment was uneventful and few paid him mind.

"Eun Mi, I'm back."

"Oppa!" A little Korean girl rushed up to him and gave him a giant hug.

"How was school?"

"Good!"

"That's good. Make sure you study hard."

"I will!" the girl beamed up at him. "Did you make a lot of money today?"

"I made enough. Remember what I told you, you don't need to worry about that. Just make sure you focus on school," Demond said sternly.

Eun Mi nodded enthusiastically. "Okay!"

"Hold on, I'll make us some dinner."

This was life for young Demond. Dancing all day so that he and his adopted little sister could make ends meet. It wasn't always like this. He had been a promising young dance star at the dance academy but all that changed that one fateful night when a tragic car accident took away his adopted parents and Eun Mi's blood parents. That was four years ago and Eun Mi was now eight, himself twenty-four. He had to quit everything in order for them to survive.

It had been nine years since he had been moved to South Korea by his now deceased adopted parents. He missed them. They were good people. Demond shook his head and tried not to think of such things. What was the point? It was what it was.

"Here Eun Mi. I made your favorite, kimchi fried rice."

"Yay!"

It wasn't much but they ate what they could and savored it.

"So how was your test today?" Demond asked.

"Good! I think I passed!"

"That's good. Keep at it."

"Okay!"

They finished dinner quickly, watched some TV, helped Eun Mi with some homework, then went to bed. Laying in his futon in his one room apartment, he stared off distantly at the ceiling. 'How long can I live like this?' Demond thought to himself. He looked off to his left towards his sleeping sister. A determined energy rose up within him. 'As long as I have to. For Eun Mi.'

In the spur of the moment, rhyming verses escaped his mouth softly as he spit it effortlessly. He rapped of back home and how his new life with Eun Mi had changed him. He always felt at peace when he was rapping. It comforted him. Demond would often rap to himself or to Eun Mi (she liked it) when they were alone together. But never in public. His rap was for himself and Eun Mi alone, to express himself.

---

The next morning he walked his little sister to school but made sure to drop her off a little ways before getting to the school. People asked too many questions when they saw him with her. He didn't want to give them reason to take her away because he didn't trust system. He didn't know what they would do with Eun Mi if they took her away but he had a lot of bad experiences in the foster care system in the U.S. After witnessing the murder of his parents at a fatal robbery when he was five, Demond had been shuffled from foster home to foster home in Harlem, New York City. It was not a good life. Quite often, he was an afterthought to his foster parents, leaving him to fend for himself on the rough streets of Harlem. He made a lot of bad "friends" growing up there and regretted a lot of the decisions he made back then.

For better or worse, those decisions toughened him up at the very least. After he was adopted at 15, life was a little better in South Korea but Demond still faced some hardships, at no fault to his adopted parents. Society didn't treat a young black kid who didn't speak much Korean well. He faced a lot of racism and was ostracized often. It was only his love of dancing and rap that kept Demond going, as well as the love from his adopted parents. After he graduated from high school, they enrolled him into a art college where he could learn to dance. What little time he spent there, he loved it, even if it was only for a year.

Demond had a few "friends", but they weren't ones who could be counted on. Due to the way he looked, he attracted the attention of gang members who wanted him to join. Knowing how hard they would make it on him if he didn't join, he reluctantly became a part of their posse. Demond was often forced into petty crime like stealing and robbing empty houses. He didn't like it so he tried to keep his own involvement in it to a minimum.

Since his adopted parents accident, Demond's street dancing kept him busy enough that he didn't have time for gang activities but they would call him up every so often and force him to hang out with them. He didn't like it but he had no choice.

Back at his tiny apartment, Demond gathered the few things he needed for his street performance and headed outside. There, reclining on the wall with a smirk on his face was one of his "friends", Kwan.

"What's up man!" He and Demond exchanged gang handshakes.

"What are you doing here, Hyung?" Demond said softly.

"Listen, me and the boys are gonna hit some places up in Gangnam tonight," Kwan said. "You down?"

Demond quickly tried to think of something. "I'm gonna be busy dancing."

"Yo f**k that s**t," Kwan scoffed. "C'mon man, we could use your muscle. Plus, you'll make way more money off this than by f*****g dancing."

"I can't...next time."

Kwan stared at Demond for a bit. Clearly he didn't like what he was hearing. But after a while, he just shrugged, saying, "Whatever. Next time then. I'mma hold you to that."

"...Alright."

"Later Dem."

He got lucky this time. Kwan usually doesn't take no for an answer. Kwan and his gang left him alone for the most part, they knew he was busy taking care of Eun Mi, but every once in a while, Kwan would show up and ask for the type of favors you're not supposed to refuse. Demond shook his head and headed out.

The crowd was bigger today but he didn't let that bother him. All he had to do was dance. He moved fluidly through the rhythm of the music. Sweat covered his chest as he twirled in the air. The music ended and suddenly there was a commotion near the back of the crowd. He couldn't hear what they were clammering about so he moved forward to see when a man stepped in front of him. The man clapped and grinned at him. Demond looked him over. He wore a business suit and sunglasses, not the type of person who usually watched him.

"Hi," the business man greeted him.

Demond bowed his head slightly. "Hello."

"Nice dancing there. How long you been doing this type of thing?"

"Dancing? All my life."

"No, dancing on the street...nevermind, doesn't matter. Listen," the man put an arm around his shoulder. "I liked what I saw. I'd like to talk with you about an opportunity."

Demond raised an eyebrow. He didn't particularly like the man's approach, but he did look like he had money... "Okay."

"Come with me."

---

Hyoyeon, member of the K-Pop girl group Girls' Generation, was in a van at a stoplight on her way toward a shop she frequented to buy something. She looked out the window towards the people walking in the hot summer sun. She sighed. 'I wish I could do that, it's a nice day out. But I don't feel like dealing with a crowd.' Then, something caught her eye.

A large crowd was formed on the sidewalk, observing something. It was someone dancing, a black man. As he spun around, kicking his legs out, time seemed slow down for her. She could see him spinning in the air with a unique precision and flair. Each movement was smooth yet accurate. Strong, yet light at the same time. Her attention was entirely focused on the magical dance she was witnessing and her heart seemed to freeze. What was it she was watching? She had never seen dancing like this before.

"I have to see..."

Abruptly, she opened the car door and jumped out of the van, rushing towards the crowd.

"Hyoyeon? Wait, where are you going!" her manager called out to her. "Damnit!" He got out of the van and quickly followed her. "I better not get a ticket for this..."

Hyoyeon barely registered her manager's voice, she was too enraptured by the young man's dance. As she was pushing her way toward the front of the crowd to get a better look at the dancer, they begun to notice her.

"Is that Hyoyeon?"

"Oh my god, it's Hyoyeon!"

The front of the crowd noticed and began to turn towards her, trapping her.

"Can I have your signature, Hyoyeon!"

"Hyoyeon, let me take your picture!"

The crowd was no longer paying attention to the dancer and was now focused on her. She tried to push through to get the the young man but the crowd of people wouldn't budge. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable as she smiled nervously at them. "Um, excuse me..."

"Hyoyeon! Hyoyeon!" the crowd clammered.

Behind her, her manager had finally caught up with her and he put an arm around Hyoyeon, trying to block the fans from surrounding her. "C'mon, we gotta go."

Hyoyeon turned to look over her shoulder and saw the dream like dancer walking away with a man in a business suit. "But..." It was too late, though.

---

The man in the business suit sipped his coffee in the small cafe. "So, tell me about yourself. What's your name?"

"Demond. Demond Park."

"Nice name. I'm Shin Ryu."

Demond bowed. "Nice to meet you, sir."

Shin bowed back. "Likewise. You showed some nice moves back there."

"Thank you."

"No problemu!" Shin said, switching to some broken English. Back to Korean, he said, "Now, have you ever heard of a company called JYP? Or SM? Or perhaps you know of YG?"

Demond nodded slowly. "Yes..."

"Good. Well, I work for those companies. Or more accurately, with them. I'm a scout for a group of talented artists that supplies dancers for companies like those all around the entertainment industry. We're like a group of mercenary dancers that aid those in need of our services. We call ourselves the Sky Crew."

"Okay..."

"That's where you come in. I can tell your talented and we could use someone of your...urban nature let's put it." Shin paused and took another sip before continuing. "I want you to join the Sky Crew."

Demond's heart skipped a beat. 'Is he for real?' he thought.

Shin grinned. "I can tell your surprised. I'd like to think that I have eye for talent and, like I said, I can tell you got some. How old are you, by the way?"

"Twenty-four."

Shin nodded. "Still young. So what do you think, Demond? Are you up for this?"

This was the opportunity of a life time. To dance professionally, in front of scores of people. But if he was going to do this, one thing was necessary. "...Will I get paid?"

Shin laughed. "Of course. We can work out the details later, but you will be paid. And trained too."

Demond looked down at his knees and saw them shaking with excitement. 'I'm going to be paid to dance. And I get to train again...' He looked up at Shin with fierce eyes, holding out his hand. "I accept your offer, Mr. Ryu."

"Good!" Shin shook his hand. "I knew I had a good feeling about you. You start tomorrow."

Demond blinked. "That soon?"

"That's right. The entertainment industry moves quickly kid, you better get used to it."

---

"Eun Mi, I'm home," Demond said as he took of his shoes and slipped into his slippers.

"Hi Oppa," she said, not looking up for the drawing she was doing.

"Eun Mi, come here. I have something to tell you."

She looked up questioningly. "What?"

Demond smiled at her innocent looking expression. "I have some good news. I'm joining a dance company. They're going to pay me."

Eun Mi's eyes brightened. "Yay! Does that mean you won't have to dance on the street anymore?"

Demond nodded. "That's right."

He still couldn't believe it. Demond wasn't superstitious, but he didn't think he was the type of person to catch lucky breaks like this. It was unbelievable that this was happening.

'A dance crew. I get to learn new dances and be with other dancers like me,' he thought to himself. Demond closed his eyes and prayed for the first time in a long time. 'Please God, don't let this be joke. Please let this be real.'

---

The next day, around noon, a medium-sized van rolled around the corner of a crowded Seoul street. Inside it, Hyoyeon looked anxiously outside the window as Tiffany, another member of Girls' Generation, laughed at her expression. "So this is where your mystical African dancer was?"

Hyoyeon barely paid her any attention. "Yeah. I'm sure this is where it was. Right, oppa?"

Her manager looked away from the road for a moment and nodded. "Pretty sure."

"Okay, I'm going out to check."

"Be quick. We have a schedule to attend to."

"I know."

This time, Hyoyeon came prepared with a disguise. A surgical mask, sunglasses, and a hat. No one would recognize her. She hopped out of the van and looked around for a little bit before she spotted it. There, a small crowd formed a circle just on the corner next to her. She could hear the hip-hop music reverberating across the street. Hyoyeon quickly made her way over there and before long was at the front of the crowd.

"What?" Hyoyeon said in surprise.

In front of her were three male break dancers but 'He' wasn't there. After they finished their set, she walked up to them and asked, "Excuse me but do you know where the man dancing here yesterday was?"

The male dancer looked at her curiously. "Huh? Yesterday?"

"Yes...um...he was...uh...dark skinned."

"Oh! You mean Demond? Yeah he dances around here a lot but for some reason he's not here today."

Hyoyeon looked disappointed. "Oh...do you know where he is? Or when he'll be back here?"

The dancer shook his head. "Sorry, no idea."

"I see...thank you..."

Hyoyeon made her back to the van. Tiffany noticed her expression and teased, "Aw, your boyfriend wasn't there?"

Hyoyeon glared slightly. "It's not like that. You don't understand. His dancing...you'd get it if your saw it."

"If you say so," Tiffany shrugged.

---

"Welcome to our humble little abode!" Shin spread his arms in a sweeping gesture.

Demond looked up at the two-story building, taking it all in.

Shin opened up the entrance door for them and they walked inside. Inside was a young woman at the front typing something on her computer.

"Hey Soo Min."

Soo Min looked up from her typing and nodded at Shin. "Good morning, Shin." She looked questioningly at Demond. "Who's this?"

Shin grinned. "Our new dancer! He's joining us as of today."

Soo Min looked surprised. "Oh, hello there."

Demond bowed and said, "Hello."

"I'm Soo Min."

"Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too. Looks like you brought a cutie this time," Soo Min said, winking at Demond. Demond looked away uncomfortably.

Shin walked past Soo Min and Demond followed. "Alright, see ya Soo Min. I'm going to show him around the place."

"Alright. Oh, by the way, the President wants to see you," Soo Min called out after Shin.

Shin waved her off. "Got it. C'mon Demond."

They went down a long corridor with several glass doors. "Here are the dance studios. Come here and take a peek."

Demond walked up to the door and looked through the glass. There were several dancers there, both male and female, practicing a routine. It looked like they were working hard. Demond's pulse hastened as he watched them. A part of him had still been skeptical about all this but it looks like this was the real deal. Demond could feel himself getting excited.

"I can see your eager to get started but first let me introduce you the President."

Following Shin upstairs, they entered a large office through two double doors where a middle-aged man with slick grey combed back was sitting writing on some papers. Shin knocked on the half-opened door, causing the man to look up and notice the two.

"Shin, good, you're here. I need to talk to you about some things." The man smiled at Demond. "You must be Demond. Welcome. My name is In-Su Seok. Come, sit down."

Demond bowed 45 degrees, saying, "Thank you, sir."

Shin and Demond sat down in front of the President's desk as he tidied up the paperwork. After he was done, he looked up at Demond. "So, Shin told me about you yesterday. He said your an amazing dancer. Is that true?"

"I...well...I've been dancing all my life, sir. But I don't have much formal training."

"He's being modest," Shin interjected. "He's a great dancer already so I can't imagine how he'll turn out with some real training."

"That's good," In-Su said, nodding. "I like that. I like people that have innate talent. That special something which you just can't teach. What we do here at the Sky Crew is refine that special something and turn you into something magical. Does that interest you, Demond?"

Demond nodded. "I'd like to become a better dancer, sir."

"Good. It's important to be determined to get better, to have that motivation." In-Su crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair. "Now, what were going to do with you is first see how you take to training and how you react to choreography. Depending on how fast or not you learn, we may then input you into a group as a backup dancer and go from there. Someone of your nature is in high demand here in South Korea. Do you understand what I mean by that?"

"...you mean, because I'm black?"

"That's right. I hope you don't mind but I am blunt person and don't like to dilly-dally around things."

It wasn't often that someone would come right out mention his skin color. Most people were uncomfortable bringing it up and it remained the elephant in the room. Clearly the President was not one of those people.

In-Su continued. "Because your black, you will bring a unique type of atmosphere to the stage. Here in Korea, when we see a black person, we immediately see 'cool'. The people are in love with hip-hop and its culture and we can't get enough of it. That's where you come in. You will take advantage of your heritage and become that 'cool' and 'hip' person for us. Are you comfortable with that, Demond?"

Demond hesitated. Was he being brought in just because he was black? Did it have nothing with his dancing? Was he being pigeon-holed into just being some token black guy? But if being "the black guy" allowed him to do what he loved, then why not? 'Because it feels like I'm selling out,' Demond thought to himself. Demond carefully crafted his next words. "Sir, I...I want to show people my dancing."

The President nodded. "Of course. That's why you're here. Make no mistake, if you couldn't dance, you wouldn't be here. I trust Shin with his assessment. All I'm saying is that you need to play towards your strengths, that you need to play up your image. This is how the entertainment industry works. Some have innocent, cute image. Others go for the bad boy, bad girl image. Some, the sexy, seductress image lends itself well to them. You, my friend, have a 'cool' and 'hip' image. That's just the way it is. Do you understand me?"

Demond nodded slowly. He understood that people in the entertainment industry had to maintain image in order to attract people and it made sense that the way he looked lended itself towards a certain image. It might not be politically correct but he understood that that's just the way things were. People look towards archetypes in order understand things more easily and quickly. "I have an innate image and I'm just playing it up to better communicate with the audience."

"Exactly," In-Su said. "I can tell you're going to fit in at the Sky Crew nicely. Well, that's all for now Demond. If you'll excuse us, I need to talk to Shin about some things. It was good meeting you, young man."

Demond nodded and stood up.

"You can wait downstairs, Demond," Shin called out to him. "I'll be with you in a bit."

"Okay."

Walking downstairs, Demond made his way towards the corridor with multiple dance studios. Curiosity got the best of him, forcing him to peek inside one of the studios through the glass door. A woman stood in front of a group of dancers, both male and female, showing them several moves. She moved like a river with strong purpose. His attention was entirely wrapped up in her dance.

"She's beautiful..." Demond whispered. Several minutes went by and as he was watching, he didn't notice two young women walking up to him.

"Hey, what you doing?" one of them said in English.

Demond turned and saw them. "Oh...um...I'm a new dancer here," he said in Korean.

They raised their eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yes. Sir Ryu brought me in."

"Oh really? Interesting. We haven't had any new dancers in a while," the taller woman said. "What's your name?"

"Demond Park."

The smaller woman giggled. "Cute name."

Giving her an admonishing look, the taller woman turned to Demond, saying, "I'm Hy. And this is Cho Hee." Hy looked Demond up and down. "So. I guess this means you're our new maknae. How old are you?"

"Twenty-four," Demond stated.

"Hm. Little old to be a maknae," Hy commented.

Demond hesitated. "Are you a...noona...?"

Hy nodded. "And she's the same age as you."

"Chingu!" Cho Hee said bubbly.

"So when did-" Hy started.

The door to the dance the studio opened then and the dance teacher came out, wiping off her face of sweat with a towel. She quickly glanced over the group and her eyes settled on Demond with suspicion. "This is...?"

"Oh, Unni, he's-"

"New to our group," Shin said, coming downstairs. "I see you've met our new recruit, Demond."

Demond bowed 45 degrees to the dance teacher. "Hello, ma'am. I'm Demond Park."

"I see. My name is Jae Hwa. I'm one of the main teachers and choreographers here at the Sky Crew." Switching to English, she asked, "Are you American?"

Demond nodded.

Jae Hwa held out her hand and he shook it. A handshake was little odd for a female in Korea but he guessed she was doing it because of where he was from. "Nice to meet you," she said in perfect English.

"Noona studied at Berklee College in America for a while," Hy said.

"I saw you watching us from outside a little while ago. Don't do that, I don't like voyeurs," Jae Hwa reprimanded him.

Demond's face heated up. "I...sorry...I didn't mean to-"

Jae Hwa shook her head. "It's not that you can't watch. Just come in next time and sit down. We're a family here."

"I understand."

"Now that we got the pleasantries out of the way," Shin started, "Shall we get down to business?"

Everyone entered the dance studio. The dancers that were there raised an eyebrow Demond. They sat down at the edge of the room and watched.

"First, we'll start with your assessment," Shin said. He turned to the dance teacher. "Jae Hwa?"

She nodded. "What type of training have you had, Demond?"

"I studied for a year an arts college but that's all," Demond said.

"Why only a year?" Jae Hwa asked.

Demond looked around at all the people watching him. "Um..."

Jae Hwa noticed the gesture. "That's alright, you can tell me later. Alright, first let's start with some basics."

Jae Hwa started some simple moves and motioned for Demond to follow along. Demond did so with mechanical precision.

Nodding, Jae Hwa said, "Good. You have good body control. But you need to relax, loosen up your body."

Demond mirrored several more moves. Jae Hwa said, "Still a little tight, but that's alright. You'll get better with some practice, I can tell. Now, I want to see you freestyle. Can you do that for me?"

Demond nodded. "Yes."

"Alright, let's see it."

Shin had a sly grin on his face. "You guys are going to love this..."

One of the dance students turned on some music and Demond started. He did what he always did, just flow with the music. His body moved on its own, following the beat like he was musician. The dance students watched in awe, some with mouths agape. Jae Hwa remained expressionless but was staring intensely at Demond's dance, following every move. Demond poured all his soul into the dance, feeling every move, expressing every beat.

Jae Hwa held up her hand to stop the music. "That's enough."

"That was amazing!" Cho Hee exclaimed. Several other dancers nodded in agreement.

Shin smirked at Jae Hwa. "What'd you think? Pretty good huh?"

Jae Hwa nodded. "It was. It looked like a mixture of popping, breaking, and animation."

Hy had pondering expression on her face. "Animation? What's that?"

"It's a style of popping where you imitate characters being stop-motion animated through tensing your muscles," Jae Hwa explained. "It uses techniques similar to strobing and the robot. We don't see it much here in Korea."

"Awesome!" Cho Hee said.

"Alright kids, break time is over," Jae Hwa said, clapping her hands. "Let's start from the top. Demond, you sit on the side and watch us work for now. Try to get the choreography down in your head."

Demond nodded. The next couple hours were spent watching the dancers learn the choreography. He tried to memorize the moves as best he could and got most of it down. For the most, he was just fascinated to be in this situation in the first place. To watch professional dancers work their magic. It was a dream come true.

Dinner time rolled around and all the dancers took a break, some falling to the floor in exhaustion. Hy, Cho Hee, and Shin were gone already and Jae Hwa had stepped out to talk to the President about something. One of the male dancers came up to him.

"Hey there...Demond was it?"

Demond nodded.

"You like ddeokbokki?" he asked in English.

"Yeah."

"Alright, another order of ddeokbokki!" the dancer said to someone on the phone. He turned back to Demond. "I'm Kwang Ho." He held out his hand with a smile.

Demond took his hand and shook it. "Demond."

"So how long have you been in Korea?" Kwang Ho asked.

"Nine years."

"Oh wow. You speak very good Korean!"

Demond bowed his head. "Thank you. Can I ask how long you've been here?"

"At the Sky Crew? Let's see...about two years now. You're gonna like it here, trust me!" Kwang Ho said enthusiastically. "Where did you learn to dance like that?"

"I watched other dancers when I was younger."

"Cool."

The food came a short while after and Demond spent his time eating while introducing himself to the other dancers. All of them seemed impressed by what they had seen of Demond and were overall kind and warm to him. It wasn't like school or the streets where he was generally ostracized. Perhaps it was because they all had something in common but it felt like a tight knit group of people who shared the same interests. He learned that they were learning choreography to be back up dancers for an upcoming stage of a K-Pop girl group. He didn't know which one.

Soon it was night time and Demond found himself at home, laying in his bed thinking about the events of the day. For the first time in a long while, he felt himself becoming happy. 'I think things are going to be looking up from now on,' Demond thought to himself as he drifted off to sleep.

---

Author's Note: I'm not Korean and I don't speak Korean! Please let me know if I'm using any words incorrectly.

Unni �" Older sister, used by females

Noona �" Older sister, used by males

Chingu �" Friend, same age

Oppa �" Older brother, used by females

Hyung �" Older brother, used by males

Ddeokbokki �" Spicy Rice Cake

Kimchi �" Spicy cabbage