Novelty (a T.O.P Fanfiction)

Prologue | Chapter One

Authors Note: Kang is the last name. In Korea and several other Asian countries, surname comes first in introductions and writing and such. Also, Tae-Li is pronounced Tah-Lee. I know it looks like it should be Tay-Lee or Tay-Lie, but its not. So yeah…. Also, 2NE1 actually only has 4 members and they debuted in 2009, but for the sake of the story I’m pretending that they have 5 (Tae-Li being the fifth) and that they debuted in 2008… Frankly I’m changing several dates and ages- I know the Lollipop MV wasn’t released until 2009, and I’m moving that to 2008.

Anyway- this story is starting in 2007, and then they will debut in 2008. Enjoy!!

Prologue:

She was the first to admit she was a strange one. Tae-Li was the adopted daughter of Kang Jae-Yong and Min-Ha. While that wash’t strange, to be adopted, her appearance was. Jae-Yong and Min-Ha were Korean, and Tae-Li was, well, she was white to put it plainly. She wasn’t like she was some pale girl with blond hair and blue eyes. Tae-Li was brunette, with a natural, gentle tan and hazel eyes. But when she was with her parents, it was beyond obvious that Tae-Li had no blood relation to them. 

It was always a novelty, when she first met people, or went somewhere new. And after the novelty wore off, the questions came, which meant Tae-Li had to explain it. Her parents had been living in the UK when they adopted her as a baby, and had given her a Korean name. When she was four, her father was promoted. The promotion took them back to South Korea, which was where Tae-Li first started to realize she wasn’t like the other kids. It took everyone some time to adjust, to the little white girl who spoke fluent Korean. But eventually, no one noticed her different ethnicity any longer in school or her home town.

Her ethnicity became an oddity again, though, when she was scouted and signed by YG at age 10. In training, being the white girl made her stand out, and not exactly in a good way. Her first year, practically no one talked to her, most of them under the impression she had only been signed because she was a novelty. By her second year, though, people started to realize that Tae-Li was a good singer, a good dancer, and that despite her appearance being something attention drawing, Tae-Li had been signed for her talent.

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Chapter One:

Tae-Li rolled her eyes as her roommate Hye-Sook and most of the other female trainees giggled and squealed over the computer screen. Apparently, YG’s most recent boy band, Big Bang, might be coming to the showcase that evening. Someone had started the rumor that morning, and ever since, almost every female- and even some of the male- trainees had been fawning and swooning of the computer images and stories of the hottest new pop group from their label.

Personally, Tae-Li didn’t see what the big deal was. It was incredibly odd, that everyone was so riled up over the five boys. They were just normal people, boys who had gone through the same training they were all going through now. Tae-Li had even trained with the group’s leader before he was selected to debut in the group. Kwon Ji-Yong had been one of the only people to talk to her during her first year of training, mostly due to her fluency in English, though. She’d trained with another member of the group, Dong Young-Bae, as well, but never talked with him. Tae-Li had said a few words to him, but he’d never responded, not that it bothered her.

The brunette felt the couch she was sitting on sink and looked over to see a girl with short hair had taken a seat beside her, and was drinking a bottle of water. It took a moment, but Tae-Li recognized her from dance lessons, her name was Minji- she was a couple of years younger than Tae-Li, but the younger girl was one hell of a dancer. 

Minji put her water bottle down on the coffee table in front of them and looked over, greeting Tae-Li, “Can you believe them?”  Both girls looked over to the trainees who were squishing together around the computer, still giggling like children.