“how should i know!” he yells back. never in his life has he ever heard something so loud and obnoxious ( save for his mother when she’s talking on the phone with her best friend from australia, but hey, that’s another story ). “can you just—i don’t know—take it out!” surely, the smoke detector operates on batteries, so that should do the trick. but ah, he’ll leave eunsang to it, ‘cause he’s currently preoccupied with making sure their apartment doesn’t burn down—which is arguably of higher importance here than their poor ears.
his arms flail out again, and he attempts to wave out all the smoke in a rather comedic dance number. as he’s doing so, he catches a glimpse of an oddly curious elderly woman staring up at him from the vacant street. he waves ( because he has manners, okay? ). in return, she shouts something, and if not for her concerned expression, he would’ve thought she was scolding him.
“sorry, what was that!” he shouts at her. “—we’re trying to! it won’t turn off! oh, seriously? got it, thanks!” he then turns to eunsang, and in the same volume that’s sure to wane his vocal cords later, he continues to shout, “she says to just let the smoke out and eventually it’ll stop!” and true to her words, a few moments thereafter, the smoke detector stops.
he blinks, his ears ringing just a bit from the commotion.
then he peers over at eunsang, a look of guilt crossing his features ( for once ). “so . . i might have burnt the spaghetti—and we might need a new pot, too.” his eyes flicker over to the smokey, darkened tragedy. “. . you shouldn’t have left me unsupervised.”
“take what out?! the batteries?!” well, of course the batteries, but it’s not like they have a screwdriver on hand or anything (neither of them are particularly good at technician things). trying not to inhale the smoke is taking up too much of his brain’s processing power, and he’s not sure if he feels woozy from inhaling too much of it, or from holding his breath. either way, the smell of burnt starch is so going to linger after this is over. not the worst thing their apartment’s smelt like, to be fair, but still bad.
he hears bin yelling something as he’s fiddling with the smoke detector, and barely registers him being addressed before the noise finally dies down. his ears feel numb, and his head throbs painfully.
“yeah...i noticed,” he returns after staring blankly into the distance to rewire the busted circuits in his brain. it’s only after the last thought’s been wrangled back into place, that eunsang realizes something very obvious. “wait. how did you set pasta on fire. isn’t there like, water?” the frown comes from a mix of physical and emotional pain.
spending time with family makes his mom happy, and its been jungmo’s mission to put a smile on that woman’s face as often as possible since his father left them. sometimes it’s at his own expense, like agreeing to family dinner with his new stepfather who hates his guts. other times, it’s not so hard and maybe he even manages to enjoy it himself. right now, he’ll tentatively categorize the experience as the latter. eunsang is his cousin, and younger, but not so annoying as it might sound on paper. they might not have a ton in common, at least not that jungmo knows of, but the boy has a laidback attitude and is easy enough to get along with.
plus, the family had asked him to keep an eye out for the kid. jungmo doesn’t quite grasp what exactly they expect him to do, but at least he can hang out with him sometimes and keep him company.
“what are you working on?” he asks suddenly, breaking the quiet punctuated only by the clicks and clacks of eunsang working on his laptop. “is it for school?” jungmo glances at the screen and realizes he has no idea what’s going on there. he expects a video game or microsoft word or something, and he knows enough about whatever eunsang’s doing to know it’s definitely not any of those ideas. it piques his interest just enough that he’s actually anticipating an answer, not just asking to start conversation that will inevitably fizzle off and die too soon.
eunsang doesn’t quite know why woong visits him so often. they’ve never been close and it’s been awhile since they last met, but the younger can only assume it’s his parents setting them up. not like he really needs the surveillance, since his own parents have known for the longest time that he’s often more responsible than them, but perhaps his aunt and uncle weren’t familiar with yet.
he appreciates the gesture anyway, and he does he best to accommodate woong in his schedule. it’s awkward though, as eunsang taps away quietly on his laptop working on his latest song as his cousin had previously dismissed his attempts at being a good host. his attention is split between the project and the other person in the room, but thankfully, he speaks up first.
“huh?” that being said, it does surprise him. “oh, i’m just trying to come up with a melody,” he returns simple enough. would more explanation be necessary? he should know why he moved to korea, right? “’cos i write songs and stuff,” he continues regardless, smiling proudly to himself. “do you want to hear what i have so far?
the decision to audition is an easy one. putting aside the fact that royal isn’t his dream company, being scouted at all feels unreal to him. he’s only tried auditioning once, and it wasn’t even as an idol so it’s a refreshingly new experience for him. not to mention it’s his dream...but that reminds him just how unprepared he is for it.
he can’t dance at all, for one, but that’s only because he’s strayed from the idol path with how fun composing has been. it’s certainly not as tiring as training his body, and he has pretty good stamina. the one time he tried learning the routine to a song is an embarrassing memory in of itself, enough that he’s used is as an excuse to focus on his vocals instead. ‘it’s just not his thing’ he convinces himself, but everyone and their mothers could see through the lie. it’s not a good thing, honestly, but this might just be the thing to set him back on track.
however, dance is not something he can learn before the audition, but that just means he has to appeal what he does have as well as he can. his voice, for one, but also his piano skills. he’s already brought his keyboard around for the green ribbon event a couple of months ago, so who’s to say he shouldn’t this time around? the reception from back then sticks in his mind, and he’s just as eager, if not more, to please this time around.
the song choice comes easily, one of the tracks he’s spent the most time practicing simply because of how well it fit his voice. it’s still magical to him when he manages to make his voice sound pretty, and he clings to that feeling every time he tries something new.
the day itself comes quickly, and he goes through the lyrics and melody in his head as if he doesn’t have them memorized already. it helps the nerves, y’know. he’s already gotten ‘good luck’s and ‘you can do it’s from his friends, so all there’s left is to live up to their expectations.
he enters the room with the keyboard under his arm, giving the judges a bow in greeting as well as the best smile he can muster. the set up is faster this time around, now having the experience of performing under his belt. he tests out the instrument with a soft press of the key, and as it sounds out, he knows he’s ready.
with the mic in front of his lips, he starts off with a couple of notes, before getting into the lyrics. soft piano notes compliment his voice, and he tries his best to focus on not messing up. that focus soon shifts to enjoying the performance as he musters up the courage to smile at the panel, before returning his gaze to the keys. it’s nothing spectacular of a performance, no flashy high notes or fancy playing, but he hopes he manages to appeal himself anyway.
the song comes to an end and he gives it a moment of silence before standing back up to bow to the judges. he thanks them for the opportunity, and he means it. even if he doesn’t get anything from this, the experience itself is enough to make him giddy. he knows he has a long way to go, and even if disappointment might set in, it’s only natural. he’ll bounce back. he’s not the type to go down that easily.
You notice someone looking at you across the street when you’re leaving the event. She’s a short-haired woman with nothing but a black eye patch and a pirate hat for her costume. She crosses the street and finally approaches you. “Hello, I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but it won’t take long.” She scans your costume again with a smile before handing a business card to you. “As you can see here, I’m a representative of ROYAL Entertaiment and we’d like to offer you an audition.” Preparing to leave, she glances over at you and nods. “If you are interested, call us anytime.”
eunsang’s attention is drawn away from his friends as the lady approaches him. he thought it would’ve ended at eye contact, but as he returns the greeting, her words leave him both confused and stunned. it’s a mix of the crowd around them and his own lacking korean skills, but he swears he hears ‘audition’ somewhere in there (it helps that it’s technically in english). he instinctively turns to his friends for help, but none of them are paying attention to him, so he’s left to deal with the situation alone.
“th...thank you!” he calls out after her, not wanting to seem rude with his stunned silence. he looks down at the business card in his hand and thumbs over the words, unbelieving. he shows it to his friends and minhee worries he’s being scammed, but a quick naver search shows them otherwise.
this is happening, huh?
( OOC: Congratulations on being scouted! In case Eunsang decides to make the call, he’ll be told to schedule his audition for anywhere between the 1st and the 15th of November IC. He’ll have ninety seconds to showcase at least one of his performance skills in front of a small number of judges, including Seo Jisub himself. He’ll also be instructed to leave the room after he’s done. The results of the audition will come on a later date and shared via a personal call. To participate in this, please write a 250+ word solo and have it up by midnight EST at the end of November 16th. Please tag your solos as #rkzombiescout. Good luck! )
junho thought about wearing a scarier costume but at eunsang’s reaction to his outrageous costume, junho breaks out in a wide smile. it was definitely a good choice that he went with the alien-human combo. he’s happy he chose a costume that could elicit such a good reaction. he’s always liked halloween as one of his favorite holidays and his goals were simply to have a good costume that people enjoyed be if it was scary enough or just plain brilliant in general. “hehehe, don’t worry, pal! i got you!”
“oh, sure! i’ll go first and then i’ll take a picture of you, okay? make sure you upload it to instagram later. we’re the age of social media so it’s like our thing to be putting everything out there on the interwebs.” before he could even finish his entire sentence, junho’s already waddled up to the front of the gates with a peace sign held up to his face, ready with his pose. “capture my good sides. my whole face is my good side, hehehe.”
“you sure have ‘got me’,” eunsang straightens back up, though still out of breath. looking at the costume again makes a giggle start up in his throat, but he manages to suppress it this time. perhaps he’s building up an immunity to it already.
he pulls out his phone as junho gets in position, struggling not to take a video of the cute waddling instead. “sure, sure,” he assures his friend. social media hadn’t been high up on his list of priorities before moving to korea, but meeting everyone had got him into the trend. “wouldn’t it be bad if the aliens saw your costume? if they were hypothetically on instagram,” he says mindlessly before snapping a couple of pictures. “they might get offended or something. or maybe they’d find it funny too,” he shrugs off the little tangent.
“done, now me?” he tilts his head curiously as he runs up to where junho stands, showing him the pictures before anything else. “i tried my best~”
if minhee’s being completely honest, he doesn’t believe in ghosts. among all the random superstitions people could believe in and they believe in … ghosts? he doesn’t quite get it. the scariest things are humans, but when he’d told his mother that she’d just slapped him at the back of his head and told him to hurry up and wear his costume if he wanted to meet up with his friends on time.
he’s dressed as a guard from area 51 (a long story, really –– or well, maybe not that long at all. he decided to go with something that probably wouldn’t require much effort and was funny; he likes to keep up with meme trends after all).
“eung,” he says, turning to eunsang. he almost hits eunsang with his fake toy gun but pulls back. “should we take some photos for the ‘gram,” he points to those nicely decorated cafes that everyone had been raving about. “they can do your makeup too. oh that’s so cool! maybe i should ask them to make me look like shawn mendes, he’s got a nice chin. do you think they do that?” he asks, suddenly in contemplation.
sometimes eunsang realizes why he’s been called boring most of his life. well, it comes with the responsibility of supporting his family and all, but even now, the trait follows him everywhere.
point being—he came to this event severely under-dressed. not even like a shitty costume or anything, no. he’s come dressed in an outfit so casual, it might as well have been on a mannequin in front of h&m. it wasn’t that he missed the festive mood train or anything, but he had forgotten about the holiday all together until it was too late to go costume hunting. a disappointment, he knows, but hey, at least he gets to hang out with his friends.
he looks to minhee curiously when he hears his nickname, flinching at the near-assault by the plastic toy. “the ‘gram’...” he repeats with a small laugh, but lets it go. “i don’t think they’re qualified to reshape your face, even if it’s just through makeup,” he replies matter-of-factly. “i’d like to get something done though. to make up for...” a glance is spared downwards at this outfit. “...this. we can ask about shawn mendes while we’re there.”
junho doesn’t like to celebrate a lot of holidays but halloween’s one of the holidays where he’ll actively go out of his way. finding a costume, eating candy, scary movies and everything else associated with it. the halloween aesthetic is a personal favorite. it’s why he chooses to go with some friends to zombie night hosted by cnet korea. he makes his way on over to seoul station where the event was being held.
of course, junho refused to dress himself up like a lame zombie with a basic white button up and some fake blood smeared here and there. so typical of a halloween costume and he has no doubt the sheer amount of people who’ll do just that. instead, he opts for something different, something he saw online and just had to purchase. as he’s already decked out in his costume, he gives eunsang a little spin to showcase his costume. “well what do’ya think? pretty cool, right? make sure to get all my good angles tonight! i need to post to instagram later.”
eunsang cannot hold in his laughter when he sees the costume junho’s chosen for the event. it takes awhile for him to even approach the alien figure, but the closer he gets, the more he sees of the outfit and god...who allowed cha junho to be this funny?
“i can’t,” eunsang’s wheezes in response to the question, attempting deep breaths but failing every time he looks back at his friend. “i can’t breath. i’m literally going to pass out,” he grins as he rests his hands on his knees. “if anything happens to me i’m haunting you.”
when he’s finally recovered, he takes a proper look at the alien-man combo in front of him. looks surprisingly convincing, he notes. makes him feel lame in comparison with his casual wear, but he wanted to try out the make-up booths advertised. “it’s so good. i love it,” a giggle escapes his lips again, but he manages to keep it down. “wanna take a picture now? in front of the gates so people can see the sign.”
see, here’s the thing: if this is a scam, and they take this object as the woman so vehemently demands, then she can accuse them of theft, and they can get in a lot trouble. it’ll be the shop owner’s word against theirs, and seeing that this little town speaks primarily in another dialect, it’s only fair to assume that officers in the area would listen to a fellow resident over them. that’s just not a gamble he’s willing to take.
“put it down,” he tells eunsang, eyes narrowing on the woman. “we’ll take our leave now, thank you.” he grabs a hold of eunsang’s wrist then and tugs them toward the exit—only to be stopped by the shop owner once more.
‘it seeks misfortune,’ she echoes. ‘you touch it, you will take it.’
“and what happens if we don’t?”
she bristles, muttering something in her own tongue before motioning at the jade pendant. ‘do as i say. i will not report for theft.’
his skin tingles at the familiarity of the last comment, but he pushes any inkling of fear down and tightens his grip around eunsang’s wrist. “just take it. let’s go.”
the shop keeper doesn’t stop them this time as they make their way out. and it’s only then, when he sucks in the dry air, that he realizes he’s been holding in his breath. “that … what the hell was that? was she on drugs?”
eunsang sets the pendant down quickly in compliance with zhengting’s words. his nervousness rises with the stern tone of the other’s voice, especially as he’s grabbed and tugged along out of the store. he wonders just what the old lady’s problem is, with the way her eyes bulge out in panic as she stops them from leaving. more words are exchanged between the two, and for the first time in awhile, eunsang feels like a lost child again. he could pick out bits and pieces of the conversation, but the topic sounds nonsensical anyway.
he opens his mouth to interject, but she gestures at the pendant again, and he looks at zhengting curiously. the older seems defeated, as his grip around eunsang’s wrist tightens almost painfully, but he’s more worried about the situation. is she that mad that he had touched it? it’s a store isn’t it? aren’t you allowed to pick things up? is this a culture difference thing?
he’s a bit hesitant to retrieve the pendant after everything, but chooses to trust zhengting’s words as the item finds its way back in his hand. its cool feeling feels more sinister than anything now, and he swears it’s sapping his body heat. not the worst thing that could happen in this weather, but hopefully it’s just his imagination anyway.
“i’m still...confused,” eunsang admits with frown on his face, now scrutinizing the pendant he holds. “what did she say, exactly? i couldn’t tell through the accent.” then he switches to chinese. “i’m not sure she’s all too healthy up there...”
[ song // the stars’ poem (self-composed | insp) ]
he stands to the side of the stage as the performer before him finishes off her song. there’s a sizable applause from the audience, and it only serves to amplify his nervousness. will he be okay? should he have thought more about this? maybe he should’ve chosen to perform a popular song instead, at least then he’d get a familiarity bonus or something. he’ll need all the help he can get here.
it’s finally his turn and he swallows nervously. he clutches onto his keyboard to ground himself, and takes a step onto the stage. it feels different being up here, even if it’s scientifically impossible for there to be any detectable change being just a few feet up. he feels eyes on him, though most of the audience are idling on their phones in between performances. it’s probably for the best since eunsang thinks he would faint if everyone had been looking at him right from the get-go.
at least junho and minhee are there. the latter finally arriving after some time away. they have their phones out, probably filming for their respective channels, but eunsang smiles at them regardless. it’s comforting to see at least some familiarity, which makes him wonder why he’s more comfortable in front of camera than a crowd, but it’s probably (definitely) thanks to them.
he sets down the chair and adjusts the microphone in front of him. the setup is embarrassingly long, but thankfully, his experienced motions make it much smoother than he thinks. it’s a blessing that he hadn’t been the only one to have brought instruments, but at the same time he thinks he could’ve stood out more if he had been. it’s an odd mix of wanting to be seen, and wanting to blend in with the others, but the former comes out on top, and he’s determined to leave a lasting impression.
using a guitar might’ve been a wiser choice, but he wants to perform his best today, and he’s much better with the piano than any other instrument. the keyboard is an easy compromise, and he tests out its sound with a quick riff that draws the attention of the crowd. he tries not to notice the chattering quieting down, and instead closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath.
it’ll be fine. just play how you usually play.
as he starts off with the first few notes of his original song, his precious conception, his voice comes out softly after. it’s not like he’s an exemplary singer or anything, but even though he thinks he needs work, he can admit that he likes the way his voice sounds with the song—or rather, that he composed it to suit him the most. it has his color all over it, and that’s why he’s chosen to perform this particular song in front of everyone today. it’s the culmination of his years and years of dreaming, caught with his head in the clouds even as life knocks him down again and again. it’s not been easy getting here, but now that it’s real, he feels as if nothing can stop him from achieving his goals.
and so he sings, the melody and lyrics pouring out as he’s known them all his life.
even though he’s looking into the crowd, he doesn’t pay attention to any individual, instead immersing himself in the song with a wistful smile on his face. before he knows it, it’s over, and he’s breathless as the audience applauds. it’s nothing like a standing ovation or anything, but the very fact that people are clapping for him and his song is crazy enough. there’s satisfaction flowing through him, but the regrets of knowing he could’ve done better makes him the tiniest bit sad.
perhaps next time he’ll do better. there will definitely be a next time.
junho lets his gaze wander around them to soak in everything. there’s a quiet grin upon his face. at whom or what is the question. scattered about here and there are a mixture of the busker performers; the excitable ones who seem like they’ve done this kind of thing before and of course, the nervous ones who seem like they could pass out at any minute. one of the nervous ones has a grip on junho’s free hand, but he doesn’t mind. it’s just eunsang, after all.
his occupied hand is carrying a camera that’s meant to be for his vlogging purposes. he’s hoping to get enough footage of today and film his friend busking. however, he stops filming for now and squeezes his friend’s hand for reassurance. “even if the entire crowd doesn’t like it, you still have me. i know i’ll like it but if i catch anybody booing you, i’ll fight them myself. it’s a promise, yeah?”
like a puppy, junho tilts his head at the mention of their other friend. he came in with the other but the boy just up and disappeared from his sights. oh well, he’s certain that once it comes time for eunsang to go on stage that minhee will show up. junho shakes his head. “yeah, don’t mention, buddy. what are friends for? but for real, you really gotta stop worrying. it’s so not cash money of you. we’re trying to be cash money, remember?”
there’s a slight pause after his last comment before junho’s eyebrows furrow together. “sorry, was that weird to say? i’m trying to figure out a new catchphrase for my vlogs, but nothing’s been sticking.” he sticks up straight and clears his throat before a bright smile overtakes his lips. “heeeey, let’s get cash money~ it’s your pretty boy, chacha, here and welcome back to my channel!” his expression changes back to normal and looks expectantly at eunsang. if he was trying to get his friend’s mind off of the busking festival for a quick second, then he hopes his intentions were clear.
eunsang smiles sheepishly as junho reassures him, feeling the nervousness in the pit of his stomach settling down already. “don’t actually fight people...i don’t want you to get in trouble,” he jokes gently, though he’s about thirty-percent sure junho might actually go for it—maybe film it for his channel or something.
“yeah, i—” he pauses and blinks in confusion at the ‘cash money’ phrase, eyes wide as he stares at junho for an explanation. “but like, what does it even mean?” he furrows his brows, trying to process it in his mind. “we’re not getting paid, are we?” well, maybe junho is indirectly after he uploads the video from today, but eunsang’s doing this for free.
as junho does his intro, though, he bursts into laughter at how ridiculous it sounds. he doesn’t want to make junho feel bad, in case he actually means it, but it escapes him before he can stop it. “i hate it! how did you just say that out loud publicly?” he wishes minhee had been here to hear it. “are you actually going to use that? please don’t,” there’s an amused smile on his face though, clearly having too much fun with this. “you sound like a rapper or something.”
but before he can continue teasing the other, the first of the performances begin and he stiffens in his seat. “that scared me,” he laughs nervously, shifting in his spot. “i’m glad i’m near the end, at least. gives me time to prepare,” even though he’s sure just waiting for his turn is going to make him anxious. “are you going to film others too?”
eunsang's nervous, going over the lyrics and melody in his head. it's not a matter of him not remembering, but instead a last-ditch effort to perfect the song, somehow. changing anything this late into the process is pretty much impossible, but it doesn't stop his mind from running wild anyway. that's the downside of choosing to perform an original song, he supposes.
"it's going to be fine, right?" he laughs nervously as he tightens his hold on junho's hand, sat beside him in support just before his turn on stage. "like, it's fine if no one likes it, but...no one's going to yell at me to stop, right?" his overactive imagination doesn't help. "that'd be really embarrassing. and sad. i'd be so sad," he ends up whining, looking like he's about to cry.
still, it's a big step for him. performing live with just about any song would've been nerve-wracking as is, but the brave side of him that decided on being extra about it a few days ago really wanted current-him to suffer. he's not prepared for anything else in the event of a song change, and even then, it'd feel too much like a defeat for him to be happy with it. so he just has to go through with it. that's that.
"where did minhee go..." he notices the other boy's absence during his lamenting. "is he going to leave me alone here? well, not alone alone, since you're here for me," he then smiles fondly at junho, wondering if the other boy was going to call him out on his weird behavior anytime soon. "thanks for being here for me, chacha."
hey everyone! i really need to plot more in general for eunsang soooo this is a plot call! there’ll be more info under the cut but please like this post if you’re interested in plotting or threading with him! this includes both new faces and old ones if you wanna start up a new thread based off previous plotting, or just start anew!
i’m available through tumblr ims but prefer discord if you use it! i’m fine with either though.
tangentwithtanner
theartofmadeline
dailybridgerton
andulkaphoto
germansingergirl
dededos
snowghoul
