September 19th, Incheon;
"Hyung, you are right. The situation is way better than Seoul audition," spoke 18-year-old Jaemin, looking at the huge line outside of the building.
Lots of the candidates are exiting through another door in disappointment and tears, leaving only a few teenagers in smiles, who were able to pass the audition.
As an experienced person in going through auditions in a previous life, Jun nodded with a smile, satisfied with his decision of applying for the Incheon audition instead of Seoul.
But then, as his attention fell on the youngsters, who are just around 12-15, his heart quickened its beat and a trace of worry appeared on him, wondering whether his prepared original suffices to go through next round.
'It's fine, no worries. With investing in the free talent point, my vocal skills reached a solid 8. All I need to be calm and complete the job without a mistake. You can do this, Jun.' Taking a deep breath, he spoke, "Jaemin-ssi, let's go and stand in line."
Even though Jun successfully took a step forward, just like other adults like him, standing in the line between the teenagers is hard for Jun as he neither can join the conversation nor can move away just because of it.
Meanwhile, Jaemin is in a chatterbox mode, attracting attention from other competitors with just his sweet talk and appearance.
Looking at that, Jun sighed as he thought, 'these kids between 12-16 have a huge advantage over me. The big agencies like Genesis, Echo, and Signature will try to select as they can mold them into whatever they want in three to five years of the training period.
On the other hand, since I don't have such luxury, I should make the judges think that they can debut me within a year or two. Should I sing the song I saved for final auditions, right now to secure my spot?'
"Hyung… Hyung…"
Jun suddenly felt his body was shaking by someone from behind, followed by the voice; he quickly regained his senses and responded, "Yes?"
"Did you know that the process of today's audition is different from yesterday?"
"Eh?" Jun turned towards him in surprise, and asked without removing the mask, "What do you mean?"
"It seems like they increased the standards because of selecting too many people yesterday. And instead of 90 seconds of singing and 90 seconds of dancing, we'll only get 120 seconds to perform either singing or performing.
That means there's no redeeming if we make a mistake…"
As Jaemin spoke in disappointment, a light invisible glow appeared in Jun's eyes as he clenched his fist, controlling his happiness.
Without commenting on it, he turned around and continued to stand in the line for hours until his turn finally came up just before the closing time.
With a sticker attached to his t-shirt, which has an ID number, Jun entered the audition room, removing his face mask, and greeted the three tired judges with a bow.
"Annyeonghaseyo (Hello), my name is Han Sung-Jun, and I'm 20 years old."
The judge on the right upon looking at him blankly, thinking about something while the other two frowned, upon hearing his age, which is outside of the recommended age that they are looking for.
But, glancing at Jun, who is a 6ft tall, white-skinned, and a handsome one at that with no traces of plastic surgery, the two of them wonder whether they should ask him if he is interested in the acting department.
The middle Judge, Yu Song-Su then looked at him and asked, "are you a trainee or an individual?"
Jun answered, "I'm an individual. However, I have three years of experience as a trainee at ZC Entertainment."
Suddenly the three immediately became alert after hearing ZC, and Song-Su asked, "You trained at ZC for three years?"
As Jun nodded in response, the judge sitting on the right side, clapped once in realization and spoke, "Han Sung-Jun. No wonder I felt your name and face, familiar. You joined ZC in 2010, right?"
As Jun nodded in response, feeling relief inside that someone recognized him, all thanks to his 5 points of luck, which will make the audition even easier than he imagined, meanwhile, Song-Su was taken aback, "Eh? Sang-Min-ssi, do you know this young man?"
Lee Sang-Min, who was famous for being a cast member in Knowing bros, replied with a smile, "yeah, I saw him once when I used to be in ZC. He was actually selected as a member of "Resonance" but for some reason, he left the company, right before the debut."
As he finished the sentence, the remaining two of them sharply turned their heads towards Jun, who awkwardly smiled and explained, "I didn't leave the company. Four years ago, I met with an accident and…"
"Save your story if you get to be on television, later." All of a sudden, the left judge, who was silent from the start, opened her mouth and ended the discussion. "I will take it into consideration that you have been away from the Kpop world for 4 years because of misfortune. Ok? So, what are you going to perform?"
"I'm going to sing an original song. The title name is 'Here I am Again'," replied Jun in a clear tone. "Can I use the Piano?"
Sang-min's eyes lit up as he spoke, "oh, an original? Let's hear it, then. You got 2 minutes."
As the staff brought a piano and a seat to him, he took the seat while they adjusted the mic.
"Fuu…"
Closing his eyes, Jun took a heavy breath before looking at the judges and started with playing the piano.
"Even if my heart moves, I just walk along the road
Here again in front of you;
I was afraid of my heart
White snow comes down
So I'm still
I'm here and I'll be there;
Leaning on a warm shoulder
I feel you again like this
.
.
.
Wherever you are in the world, I will go wherever you are
Here, I will always stand by your side, my heart moves.
And I'm still I'm here."
-----
Playing piano for a few more seconds, Jun finished the song and opened his eyes, and realized that he unconsciously closed his eyes and performed the whole song, instead of performing 2 minutes of the allotted time.
But feeling silence in surroundings, Jun slowly raised his head towards the judges only to see them, staring at him with their eyes widened in surprise with an exception of the left judge Kim Tae Hae, an executive director of Echo Entertainment
Jun quickly stood up from the seat and bowed, "gamsahabnida (thank you)."
As the two judges showered him with praises, a feeling of confidence built up in him, and then, lastly, Kim Tae Hae grab the mic to comment, "well, just as they said, it's no exaggeration to say that you are the best contestant with vocals until now. "
As soon as Jun heard the first half of her comment, a huge smile appeared on him, and he bowed again, "thank you."
Just then, she spoke, "but, we are looking for unpolished gems. So, I'm wondering whether you are right for this program."
Suddenly, a feeling of nervousness crushed his confidence inside of him and wiped the smile off his face.