Chapter 7
"I found a love... for me
Darling, just dive right in
And follow my lead
Well I found a girl... beautiful and sweet
I never knew you were the someone waiting for me~
'Cause we were just kids when we fell in love
Not knowing what it was
I will not give you up this time
But darling, just kiss me slow, your heart is all I own
And in your eyes, you're holding mine
Baby, I'm... dancing in the dark... with you between my arms
Barefoot on the gra.s.s, listening to our favorite song
When you said you looked a mess, I whispered underneath my breath
But you heard it, darling, you look perfect tonight."
As Jun finished the song, while some of the female trainees put their hands and covered their faces feeling amazed and started to whisper among themselves looking at this new rookie, who somehow becomes very attractive when he was singing. While most of the trainees still felt the quality of his voice is great, the judges didn't have much of a reaction, mainly because it's one of the popular English songs, even in Korea.
As he began to become nervous looking at the expression of the judges in the front row, one of the judges spoke, "Sungjun, I heard that you are very good at Korean ballad songs? Sing one for us, without music." Jun sighed in relief and thought, "its good then. As long as I do it great, then, there would be no problem with my debut, anymore. It's good that I already bought the song. Should I sing just like original on the safe side or the ones I tweaked a little bit? C'mon, Jun, have some confidence in your 9 points talent. Just like it sounded better to you, the chairman and the judges would also get impressed."
Then, Jun bowed and asked, "can I sing an original?" Instead of the judges, the chairman asked curiously, "I heard that you are also a songwriter? If I remembered your profile correctly, you sang an original at your audition and also in one of the monthly evaluations?" Jun nodded, "yes, although they are just short verses." The Chairman then said, "it's fine. Just sing. These days, many popular idols write their own songs, anyway." Jun nodded and replied, "the song t.i.tle is I don't love you." Then, he started the song with a low tone,
"What should I
From Where to how;
I drop my head and you look at me
That awkward silence;
I don't love you
You probably already know;
Even if you cry
My heart doesn't hurt."
Then, Jun started singing in high notes
"I don't love you
There's no other reason;
I don't want to say the words like the words
I'm sorry or forgive me;
That's just all~
This is how I feel;
I don't love you
I don't love you"
After he stopped singing, as the trainees about to clap lightly and Judges about to note down the score, Jun continued with high notes increasing the previous range even further after two seconds of pause, the lines which he tweaked,
"Ooh~
There's no other reason;
I don't even want to say the words like "sorry" or "forgive me" ah~
That's all
That's how I really feel."
And Jun finished with a low tone again with the last line. The Trainees sitting over there, including the ones, whose debuts are already confirmed opened their mouths in a shock while the judges nodded with a huge smile on their faces and wrote the score on the sheets.
After finis.h.i.+ng his performance, Jun bowed and said, "thank you."
The Chairman then said with a smile on his face, "there's only one thing I can say about your performance. The best one so far. Good job. I think I already found my idol." Hearing the Chairman's comment, who haven't said like that in yearly evaluations before, The trainees and the judges clapped as they were sure his debut is confirmed and were happy that they have a talented male trainee as their goal this time to promote their male idol groups extensively. Jun once again bowed and thanked them before going back to the line.
Meanwhile, Woojin began to keep on saying to the coaches sitting beside him, "See, he's the one I coached. I knew he's the best." Then, Sang-Min, who was sitting in the back row, interrupted, "please, I was the one who recruited him."
Two hours later, all the performances are completed. Trainees from other groups began to introduce each other, and of course, the interactions are between the same gender as there should be no contact between male and female trainees as per the company's policy.
While a few honestly praised him, most of the trainees didn't talk anything about his performance as everyone here is a rival until they debut. After debut, there won't be much of rivalry as they all practice in other branches seldom see each other except at the Headquarters, some variety shows, or public events like awards shows, etc...
The next day, the results were directly posted separately for boys and girls in both acting and Idol departments. Looking at the results, which they graded from F to S, a bit differently from ZC Entertainment.
It's an unwritten rule that those who got F, are undoubtedly going to get kicked out of the company. And those who repeatedly got D-grade results for three consecutive years will be moved to a different agency. And those who got S-grade will have the most probability to debut, although it isn't a guarantee and only speculation. Still, it's a fact that only those who get S-grade evaluation has the chance to debut and those from D, don't have any chance.
As Jun looked at the results, a smile appeared on his face as his evaluation is S-grade along with six more, including Minsu.
For the next few days, everything went normal like every other day. The only thing that was changed for Jun was that in break time like breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Jun get to know and became friends with more people as everyone now, knew his face. Then, one day, after the Vocal cla.s.s session is over, both Jun and Minsu were called to the Chairman's office.
Skipping that evening's workout at the Gym, both of them went to the Chairman's office and found there are three more trainees, along with executive directors, Min Jiyoung, and Ka Jungho. As they bowed and greeted everyone, the chairman spoke, "come, we're waiting for you two."
While both of them are wondering the same thing whether they all going to be in the same group, the Chairman spoke to the three of them and introduced, "so, as you might already know, this is Kang Minsu, and he is Han Sungjun." As Jun and Minsu bowed, the three of them also bowed to them.
"So, as you all already guessed, you five will form the idol group. The rest of the details will be explained by the Executive director, Min Jiyoung, and Executive director Ka Jungho." Min Jiyoung looked at them and said, "follow me to my office."
While they are following to her office, the three of them introduced themselves to Minsu and Jun. The shortest one said, "Hyung, we never introduced ourselves right? I'm Lee Min-Ho, main rapper." "I'm Pak Hae-Seong, Lead dancer and sub vocalist" and lastly the youngest one introduced himself, "I'm Hwa Do-Hyun, Lead rapper, sub dancer, and Lead vocalist. I can also play guitar, violin, piano, etc... You can say, I'm Jack of all trades but master of none, although, I heavily lean towards rapping these days."
Jun nodded, "I remember you from the yearly evaluation. You played the guitar, right?" Dohyun nodded, "yes, how was my performance? Great, right?" While Jun became speechless looking at this hyperactive kid and also thought in a confusion, "I don't think I remember seeing his name in S-grade evaluation. Maybe I didn't see it properly." Minsu spoke, "we're here."