You receive a call from an unknown number several days after the summer camp. When you answer, a masculine voice on the other line introduces himself. “Hello. I’m from NOVA Entertainment, and I have seen you on TV. I think we can make something great if you become a part of our company. Would you be interested in auditioning for us?”
SUNDAY 160731 | there are rumors floating around during the closing ceremony, of friends-of-friends-of-roommates who’d been invited to private company auditions, and of expensive business cards sneaking their way into the possession of a few talent show standouts. the rumors come as a complete surprise to jinwook, who hadn’t expected ceos to be recruiting at something like this. had it occurred to him, he might have performed something more vocally challenging, or worked a little harder in saturday’s harmonization workshop. maybe jinwook is just caught off guard because lately, he hasn’t put much thought into company auditionsat all. but between being back on stage and hearing recruitment rumors this morning, his dreams are waking up with a cautious, fairy-tale optimism that he hasn’t really allowed himself to entertain since the mgas.
jinwook watches so jiseob speak on stage during the closing ceremony and tries to remember if they’d made eye contact during the talent show. it’s a long shot, since his performance hadn’t been much; only a work in progress that, sentiment aside, is likely b-side at best. still, maybe the royal ceo had remembered jinwook from the mgas and regretted the decision to cut him. at checkout jinwook lingers in the lobby, keeping an ear out for company reps—but he makes it all the way to the airport without being stopped, and jinwook shelves his pipe dreams for a little while longer.
WEDNESDAY 160803 | tuesday nights are not usually drinking nights, but since jinwook’s birthday otherwise passes without fanfare, his friends declare an exception for the special occasion. in america, they assure him, turning twenty-fun is a big deal.
it feels more like a big mistake the next morning. jinwook is rudely awoken by a phone call, his cell phone blaring a girl group single that he’s sick of but hasn’t gotten around to changing. it’s likely his mother asking about groceries, and he would let it go to voicemail if it weren’t so loud, impossible to sit through for thirty more seconds, the tinny audio only amplified by the beginnings of a killer headache. the sunlight burns jinwook’s eyes when he opens them to locate the phone, and he answers without even glancing at the screen. “hello?” his voice scratches, groggy, and he clears his throat.
i’m from nova entertainment, a man answers, and jinwook jolts into awareness, immediately pulling the device away from his ear to check the caller id. he frowns to himself. blocked numbers are common on prank calls, but this one is simply unknown, and local to seoul. maybe someone had borrowed a friend’s phone to play a joke on him? jinwook may have confessed something incriminating about his idol aspirations at the bars last night, but he doesn’t remember for sure—and he certainly didn’t mention nova. there’s no way this is happening right now.
“uh, is this serious?” he waits for the tell, chatter in the background or a huff of contained laughter, but it doesn’t come. the silence is deafening and jinwook sits up too fast, head spinning as he immediately apologizes and corrects himself with more formal language. “i’m so sorry for the confusion, sir,” he says. “thank you for calling, i—” he’s not just confused and stunned, he’s hesitant too. he hesitates. it’s quick, but it’s an audible pause. you’ve seen me on tv?, he thinks. why didn’t they say something back then? jinwook makes a brief attempt to count the months between the mgas and today but quickly abandons it (that’s generally a finger-counting task on a good day, and this morning is not). he’d be a fool to keep the man waiting more than a second when he’d already spectacularly butchered that first impression.
“yes,” jinwook answers quickly. he rubs at his eyes, realizing that he had slept with his contacts in and now they are probably are glued there forever. “yes, of course! I would definitely be interested in the opportunity.” august 27 deadline? it’s at least a week before he’s set to return to seoul. jinwook’s head hurts and he’s reeling, and he will have to consider his options, but interested is the right word. for the moment, he heaves himself out of bed, scrambling and tripping now as he hunts for something to write with. his stomach tumbles unhappily with the turbulence. “sorry sir. could you repeat that phone number again?”
he reads it back to the man to verify the digits. NOVA ENT?? is scrawled underneath, an excessive amount of question marks and underlines filled in as jinwook bids goodbye to the caller. “thank you very much, sir. I will be in touch.”
another opportunity to prove himself, arriving by chance, much sooner than jinwook had anticipated it would. there’s a strange mix of adrenaline, giddiness, and a huge wave of dread, but maybe the hangover is partly responsible for that. he clings onto the adrenaline rush, saving the not-so-nice feelings to pick apart later, likely with the help of his grandmother.
jinwook hardly makes sure the call is ended before he throws on a clean t-shirt and begins to deliver the news: head pounding, heart pounding, feet would be pounding across the hardwood flooring if all the sudden movement didn’t make him feel so nauseous. he abandons the initial impulse to do a victory lap, collapsing back into bed instead. he yells out to his little sister in the next room over: “minseo-ah! come here! come now!!”
minseo laughs at jinwook’s terrible bedhead when she appears in the doorway. he grins right back. “you’ll never believe who i just got off the phone with.”
