Chapter One: The Email That Changed Everything
The rain tapped softly against the window of Esther Adeyemi’s bedroom, but she barely noticed.
Her eyes were fixed on the glowing screen of her old laptop. The internet had disconnected three times in the last hour, and every refresh made her heart pound even harder.
“Come on…” she whispered, pressing the refresh button again.
Nothing.
She sighed and leaned back in her chair. Maybe she had been foolish to believe she stood a chance. Thousands of people from around the world had auditioned for StarWave Entertainment, one of South Korea’s fastest-rising entertainment companies. Why would they choose an ordinary twenty-year-old black girl from Nigeria?
She closed the laptop and rested her forehead on the desk.
“Esther!” her mother called from the kitchen. “Dinner is ready!”
“I’m coming!”
She forced a smile before walking downstairs.
The familiar aroma of jollof rice and fried chicken filled the house. Her younger sister, stella, was already eating.
“You’ve been staring at that laptop all day,” she teased. “Waiting for Korea to call?”
Their mom chuckled.
Esther laughed awkwardly.
“If they reject me, at least I tried.”
Her mother reached across the table and squeezed her hand.
“Dreams don’t always come when we expect them.”
Those words stayed with Esther long after dinner.
Later that night, while everyone was asleep, she quietly opened her laptop one last time.
A notification appeared.
1 New Email.
Her hands froze.
No…
It couldn’t be.
She clicked.
For several seconds, she couldn’t breathe.
Congratulations, Esther Adeyemi.
We are pleased to inform you that you have successfully passed the Global Online Audition for StarWave Entertainment.
Her eyes widened.
She read the sentence once.
Twice.
Five times.
It still didn’t feel real.
A shaky laugh escaped her lips before tears blurred her vision.
“I… I did it.”
She covered her mouth to stop herself from screaming.
South Korea.
Seoul.
The country she had watched through countless dramas and music videos was suddenly no longer a distant dream.
It was her future.
The email continued.
Training begins in six weeks. Please confirm your acceptance within seven days.
Six weeks.
Six weeks to leave everything she had ever known.
Six weeks to say goodbye to her family.
Six weeks to chase the impossible.
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard.
For a brief moment, fear whispered inside her.
What if I fail?
What if they don’t like me?
What if I never fit in?
Then she remembered every late-night dance practice in her tiny bedroom.
Every song she sang when no one was listening.
Every comment telling her that girls like her could never become K-pop idols.
She smiled through her tears.
“Watch me.”
With trembling fingers, she clicked Accept Offer.
A confirmation message appeared instantly.
Welcome to StarWave Entertainment.
Outside, the rain had stopped.
Above the quiet streets of Lagos, the clouds slowly parted, revealing a sky full of stars.
Esther looked up through her bedroom window.
She wasn’t just chasing the stars anymore.
She was finally on her way to them.
