September 19th, Incheon;
"Noona, you are right. The situation is way better than the Seoul audition," spoke 18-year-old Jaemin, looking at the huge line outside 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, Elena nodded with a smile, satisfied with her decision to apply for the Incheon audition instead of Seoul.
But then, as her attention fell on the youngsters, who are just around 12-15, her heart quickened its beat, and a trace of worry appeared on her face, wondering whether her prepared original would suffice to go through the next round.
'It's fine, no worries. By investing in the free talent point, my vocal skills reached a solid 8. All I need is to be calm and complete the job without a mistake. You can do this, Elena.' Taking a deep breath, she spoke, "Jaemin-ah, let's go and stand in line."
Even though Elena successfully took a step forward, just like other adults like her, standing in the line between the teenagers is hard for Elena, as she can neither join the conversation nor 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. And of course, because a handsome boy and a pretty girl seemed to be together, it drew some unnecessary gazes from the surroundings.
Looking at others, Elena sighed as she 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 many as they can mold into whatever they want in the three to five years of the training period. On the other hand, since I don't have such a 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?'
"Noona… Noona…"
Elena suddenly felt a pat on her shoulder from behind, followed by the voice; she quickly regained her senses and responded, "Yes?"
"Did you know that the process of today's audition is different from yesterday's?"
"Eh?" Elena turned towards her 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 Elena's eyes as she clenched her fist, controlling her happiness.
Without commenting on it, she turned around and continued to stand in the line for hours until her turn finally came up just before the closing time.
With a sticker attached to her t-shirt, which has an ID number, Elena entered the audition room, removing her face mask, and greeted the three tired judges with a bow.
"Annyeonghaseyo (Hello), my name is Jang Elena, and I'm 20 years old."
The judge on the right, upon looking at her blankly, thinking about something, while the other two frowned, upon hearing her age, which is outside of the recommended age that they are looking for.
But, glancing at Elena, who is a 5ft 5inch tall, fair-skinned, and has a beautiful face with no traces of plastic surgery, the two of them wonder whether they should ask her if she is interested in the acting department.
The middle Judge, Yu Song-Su, then looked at her and asked, "Are you a trainee or an individual?"
Elena 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 Elena nodded in response, the judge sitting on the right side clapped once in realization and spoke, "Jang Elena. No wonder I felt your name and face familiar. You joined ZC in 2010, right?"
As Elena nodded in response, feeling relief inside that someone recognized her, all thanks to her 5 points of luck, which will make the audition even easier than she imagined, meanwhile, Song-Su was taken aback, "Eh? Sang-Min-ssi, do you know this young woman?"
Lee Sang-Min, who was famous for being a cast member in Knowing bros, replied with a smile, "Yeah, I saw her once when I used to be in ZC. She was actually selected as a member of "Resonance," but for some reason, she left the company right before the debut."
As she finished the sentence, the remaining two of them sharply turned their heads towards Elena, 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 had been 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 'Again'," replied Elena in a clear tone. "Can I use the Piano?"
Sang-min's eyes lit up as she spoke, "Oh, an original? Let's hear it, then. You got 2 minutes."
As the staff brought a piano and a seat to her, she took the seat while they adjusted the mic.
"Fuu…"
Closing her eyes, Elena took a heavy breath before looking at the judges and starting to play the piano.
"Even if my heart moves, I just walk along the road
Here again in front of you;
.
.
.
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, Elena finished the song and opened her eyes, and realized that she unconsciously closed her eyes and performed the whole song, instead of performing 2 minutes of the allotted time.
But feeling silence in surroundings, Elena slowly raised her head towards the judges, only to see them staring at her with their eyes widened in surprise, with the exception of the left judge, Kim Tae Hae, an executive director of Echo Entertainment
Elena quickly stood up from the seat and bowed, "gamsahabnida (thank you)."
As the two judges showered her with praises, a feeling of confidence built up in her, and then, lastly, Kim Tae Hae grabbed 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 Elena heard the first half of her comment, a huge smile appeared on her face, and she bowed again, "Thank you."
Just then, she spoke, "But we are looking for unpolished gems to train, not a polished gem with its own style to debut solo. So, I'm wondering whether you are right for this program."
Suddenly, a feeling of nervousness crushed her confidence inside of her and wiped the smile off her face.