Miso grew up with next to nothing in a relatively low class household that consisted of her, an older brother, and her mother. Her father was very much out of the picture as he lived and worked in America, hoping to provide for his family: emotionally there, yes, but not physically. The Kim family managed to scrape by for a few years this way until her father got involved in an accident that left him unable to work. After a considerable stint in the hospital, he was flown home. Of course, as ignorant kids, Miso and her brother were happy to see their dad back home full-time, but they didn't realize the impact it would have on their living situation. With her mother trying to raise a two child household on a single person's salary, all money went to the necessities - food, shelter, clothes - and so, Miso never really had the chance to explore interests or go out and have fun that wasn't free.
This free entertainment wasn't all that bad. Gyeonggi had it's fair share of things going on and on the rare weekend that they could pay for a single train ticket (with tiny Miso crammed into a duffel bag), they would go to Seoul and soak up some of that priceless entertainment. Her all-time favorite thing was the street performers. These people were so incredibly talented with their dancing, singing, instrument playing, and rapping. All of it amazed her and she always looked forward to watching them on those good pay weekends. When she couldn't go to Seoul, she was practicing dancing on her own on the terrace of their little rooftop unit.
She was 13 when her personal affinity for dancing really got to shine. It'd been another rare weekend in Seoul and one of her favorite buskers was accepting spectators' challenges to dance battle. Never one to shy away from, well, anything Miso readily threw her hat into the ring. She didn't win, naturally. What preteen could compete with someone who had been doing his thing for far longer than she had? But so many people came up to her afterwards, complimenting her skill and overall stage presence that she decided to start busking as well. At first, it started with just the good weekends, but she eventually had the mind to save up enough money to buy train tickets for the next weekend, and the one after that, and so on.
Miso eventually spent every weekend she could, busking in the streets of Hongdae and Gangnam until she was scouted at 15. Miso trained with her first company for four years. It was awful, to put things lightly. The poor company wielded poor conditions, from bug infested housing to insane dieting and emotional abuses from staff. She gained new skills sure, like how she learned to rap since she was the only girl in the small trainee pool with the potential for it. The little trainee group she was put into was promised numerous times in the final two years a chance to debut. It never happened.
The company had been mismanaging its money and went bankrupt. They shut down before any of the trainees who could stand to stick around had a proper shot. Miso was left rudderless after this. University was never an option; it was much to expensive and, in her mind, not worth the time. She didn't have any marketable skills outside of dancing and rapping either. So, she didn't know what to do or where to go except for home with her tail in between her legs.
After this major setback and mourning the wasted final years of her adolescence, Miso climbed out of her depression and got back into busking. This time, she had more to offer with proper training in dance, rap, and some vocals. She made a little more money, put most of it in the account her and her brother started to pay back their parents and used the rest to pay for tickets to and from Seoul to make more. This grind continued for close to two years when she was scouted once again. This time, it was Starlux Entertainment. She was wary of the offer, not wanting to repeat the hell from her first company, but she was eventually convinced and onboarded.
