The image of Kim Jaekyung of Rainbow is indelibly that of the seven-member girl group's fearless leader.

Yet, there was a time early in the group's history, during which Jaekyung was being trained by record label DSP Media, when she almost bailed on Rainbow to join Kara, with talent scouts from rival record label SM Entertainment also attempting to poach her talent.

Jaekyung revealed her near-Kara experience in an interview Thursday with the Korean Broadcasting System TV talk show "Full House."

"When I became a trainee at my record label 10 years ago, I almost became a Kara member," she said. "However, the label executives said, 'Kara's going to go for a cute image, let's make a new kind of team.' That is why I continued practicing."

As her time preparing to debut continued to drag on, Jaekyung started to get antsy. Her label approached her again about jumping ship on Rainbow.

"When I was getting tired of it, the [final push] to recruit the Kara members came," she said.

"At that time, the SM reps said, 'do you want to debut in Kara by any chance? Then, you could debut right away.' It was tempting, but I turned it down because I thought I would be happy with my Rainbow members."

That was when SM Entertainment also came calling.

"No one knows this, but truthfully, I was contacted by SM Entertainment, too," Jaekyung said. "I also turned them down. Then two months later, Girls' Generation made their debut."

The Rainbow singer admits at times wondering if she made the right decision.

"Truthfully, I was a bit envious when Kara became a Hallyu icon," she said.