— Chris-ah, you have a call — whispered Byung Hee-Noona nervously.
A little bit absentmindedly, I just nodded at her, without any kind of reaction at all.
— Chris-ah! — she screamed, making me turn to her, surprised — a call — she said while motioning towards the cellphone she had at her hand.
Without saying anything, I nodded at her while grabbing the phone and putting it by my ear. She then said.
— Don't take too much time — I nodded at her without any doubt. I know in what kind of situation we are after all.
Today, was the day of our first evaluation at the agency, with YG himself once again. Our first weekly evaluation was going to be held right now, we were just waiting for PD-nim to come, that's why I couldn't take too much time on the phone.
With that being said, I exited the practice room and answered the phone.
— Hello?! — I asked, out of routine.
— Jangsu-yah, is it you? — I immediately recognized that unique voice. It was my father.
— Yes, it's me, father. I- — while I was trying to explain what kind of situation was I in, he interrupted me.
— Your staff already explained it to me, still, I have to say some things — I didn't say anything, waiting for him to continue — first of all, why didn't you tell me today was your first evaluation?! — he said, with a surprisingly angry voice.
— I-I-I'm sorry, Father — I said, regretting not telling him. Waiting for him to scold me, I was surprised by his reaction.
— Jangsu-yah, you can trust me on this kind of thing — I could already imagine his smiling face that many people found so weird, but I could already feel a warm feeling swelling on my chest.
— Sorry, Father, I'll tell you next time — I said while smiling — is everything okay there?
— Is that everything it takes to calm you? Quite easy — he said, clearly showing off at him being able to calm me.
I just snorted through the phone and waited for him to continue.
— Anyway, I didn't call you just for that, but don't let it repeat, understand? — he continued, while I just rogered that — we have to talk about the meeting. I know you're busy, but it'll just take a few seconds.
— Sure, what is it? — I simply asked.
— Ok, then, as it is a formal meeting, you'll have to say some words, want me to write some script for you? — I immediately interrupted him after hearing.
— No need, I have something in mind, which agencies are coming? — I curiously asked.
— We reached an agreement with Lee Soo Man, so they're coming — I sighed, but let him continue — all of our trainees are going, as well as some other small agencies.
I wondered for a little but finally asked.
— What about that Ahjussi's company? Did he found it?
— Hong Seung Sung? After he left us? He wasn't sent an invitation, we're not expecting him — he said, quite seriously.
Hong Seung Sung was a former colleague of my father at JYP. He was at the company since the start, so I know of him, not that we're especially close, but still, he's an acquaintance.
Anyway, he left some time ago and apparently took quite a few trainees with him. With that being said, I had to suggest father something.
— Come on father, be better than him, at least invite them. It doesn't matter if they don't come, or are you worrying about your face? — I teasingly asked.
A sigh came from the other side of the phone, making me wonder how grave was the situation. Still, he finally said.
— We'll invite Playcube Inc then, I hope you're not wrong — well he yielded.
— Fine, what else should I know? — a chill immediately went through my body, not expecting his next words.
— Well, we're going to introduce you as my son, not exactly an heir to JYP as you should know, but still, you'll have to take some responsibilities.
"F**K" I knew this was not that easy. I got instantly hesitant but finally managed to ask.
— What-What should I do? — I could already imagine his awful and irritating smirk on the other side of the phone.
— Debuting a group — "Shit..." — you'll be a general manager, and will be part of the deciding committee, you've trained some of them after all. — a laugh came through the phone as he said that.
"Shit Shit Shit SHIT SHIT SHIT"
I panicked in my mind. I haven't trained anyone in JYP but I know what he means. I HAVE given pointers to some girls, including Sun Mi-yah, the little admirer I had in JYP, as well as Hyun Ah-yah the small lump of charisma as well as some of the other little girls.
— Are you assuming I won't debut? If I debut I won't have that much time — I tried to excuse myself.
— Oh right — I sighed out of relief, only for my hopes to be destroyed — you'll manage somehow, I'll agree on something with Yang Hyun Suk.
Exasperated, I couldn't help but deeply sigh.
— Now, we'll agree on more details later — he continued — for now, go to your evaluation.
— Sure sure — as I was going to hang up the call, he said.
— Good luck Jangsu-yah, I'll be here whenever you want to call — I couldn't even get angry at him because of his comments, so I tried to make him helpless too — before you go, I need a phone.
Before I could continue explaining he replied.
— I was waiting for you to ask, I'll send you one, Bye! — he immediately hung up the phone, making me stare at the phone, blankly. After a couple of seconds, I went back to the practice room, only to notice that just a couple of minutes has passed. I returned Byung Hee-Noona's phone and waited for PD-nim to come.
— Everything okay? — Tempo-hyung asked, worriedly.
I shook my head at him and simply stayed silent.
After around 10 minutes more, the big boss finally came, with his unique voice. Worryingly, his expression was far from happy. That assumption was immediately confirmed after his initial words at us.
— What's your deal? Don't you want to debut — all of us were looking at the floor, waiting for him to continue his scolding — I thought I was dealing with people wanting to be Pros here, but it seems you're not ready at all. Your trainers already told me, some of you are even worse than when you first came — he said while looking at Young Bae-hyung
As he said that, he motioned towards the trainers that entered the room with him. Between them, the bastard that we hated was present, and unfortunately, he was our dance trainer, or so he said.
— Young Bae-yah, you know who I'm talking about, don't you? Didn't we tell you that your expressions look too forced while singing? Do you think you know better than us? O are you just refusing to follow our instructions? — he said, while intently gazing at Young Bae-hyung. He couldn't say anything at all.
— What about you? Seung Hyun-ah? No progress in months? Are you serious? You're the first one who's going out if you keep this. Tell us beforehand if you're not planning to debut so we can accommodate you sooner — his words, really hurting our pride. Heck, I was hurt by his words and he wasn't referring to me.
— What about you Hyun Seung-ah? What's with your face? Your problem is even worse than Young Bae's, haven't we told you to change your expression? Sad, happy, afraid, every kind of song you're showing us the same blank expression of yours.
With heavy hearts, the rest of us waited for PD-nim to scold us.
He ignored the rest and turned his face to stare at me. I made my best to raise my gaze, returning the stare with determination, while still nervous.
— *Sigh* You're good, really good, Se7en only has compliments for you — he said while sneaking a peek at Bak Sang Kyun, the dance trainer, it seems he didn't say good things about me — ... but it's not enough in your case, you can't show your expressions, you can't give that much information about yourself, making people skeptical, you've decided to not sing, so you have something less to show during the program. Our exigence will have to go up a notch in your case, if you want to debut, you'd better keep it up — I managed to calmly nod at him.
He dusted his knees and stood up from his seat while saying nonchalantly.
— Let's end the evaluation now, We'll see each other once again next week, hopefully with better news — he finished while leaving the room with the rest of the trainers. Well, all except one.
— Didn't I tell you to practice more? — Bak Sang Kyun said just after PD-nim left, with a smirk on his face.
— Aren't you too busy to keep bothering us? — I immediately said.
He looked at me, wide-eyed.
— It seems you still don't have manners — he angrily stated.
— Only for the ones who deserve so — I calmly replied.
He ignored and approached Tempo-hyung while saying.
— Didn't I scold you multiple times? Why won't you listen to me — he said while smacking Hyung's head multiple times. Hyung didn't say a thing, just stared at the floor. Anger was swelling inside me at the situation, heavily panting, I slowly approached him with bloodshot eyes.
"I'll kill him" was the only thought on my mind. With each smack at Hyung's head, I made a heavier step.
By now, the bastard was too distracted to look at me, as he was now grasping Hyung's hair while heavily shaking his head with each word.
— You think that just because you slimmed down a little bit you can debut, huh? What do you have to say, fatty? — just as he finished his words, I raised my fist as I was now just behind me. Just as I tried to hit him, Young Bae-hyung grabbed me by my side, while whispering in my ear.
— Calm down Chris-ah, calm down — he said while trying to restrain me — don't do something you'll regret.
— BULLSHIT!! — I bellowed — EVEN IF I KILL THIS BASTARD TODAY I WON'T REGRET IT.
Young Bae-hyung was still trying to restrain me, and before I knew it, I had both Young Bae-hyung and Junior restraining me while everyone else in the room stared at me in surprise at my roar.
— You brat just talked to me like that? — he said while blankly staring at me — to your dance trainer.
— WHAT FUCKING DANCE TRAINER? WHAT THE F**K HAVE YOU TRAINED US IN? STEALING FOOD? DRINK OURSELVES TO OBLIVION? HIT YOUR SO-CALLED STUDENTS? — before I could continue, Ji Yong-hyung interrupted me.
— ENOUGH! — I angrily turned to him.
— YOU'RE DEFENDI- — before I could finish, I was startled by his expression right now.
A clenched jaw with soundly gritted teeth. He was shaking while deeply staring at Bak Sang Kyun with a vein protruding from his forehead. Same as me, his bloodshot eyes were clearly perceived. With restrained anger, he continued.
— Hyung, come here — said while motioning for hyung to come to our side, while I turned towards Bak Sang Kyun and angrily looked at him.
— With whose permission? — said the fucker while smirking. Once again, before I said anything, Ji Yong-hyung said while managing to restrain his anger.
— We don't need your f**king permission.
— Really? — I really wanted to erase that smirk off his face — but I'm in charge of his dancing — he said while pointing at Tempo-hyung. Not being able to restrain myself anymore, I bellowed at him.
— F**K OFF... — I enunciated while hatefully glaring at him — you don't have anything to teach him, and even if you have, we're not interested — I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself — now, f**k off.
— That kind of dancing won't let him debut — he calmly said.
My anger exploded as I suddenly ran towards him and grabbed him by his collar while lifting him up.
— He won't need to dance, as I won't need to sing, that's why I'm here — all of the hyungs reacted, separating both of us. Just as that happened, Byung Hee-noona, who left with PD-nim before, entered.
She looked at all of our expressions and also Bak Sang Kyun on the floor and immediately realized what happened.
— Bak Sang Kyun!! What did you do this time? — she said while pulling that bastard out of the practice room.
"Well, at least we weren't recorded" I thought, the only calming words in between my fury...
I looked at everyone's expression, and only one thought invaded my mind.
"Ruined day"