OPEN EVENT 003
dated back to march’22
(3 months after jungmo became a trainee)
“ icarus flew too close to the sun but at least he flew. “
“ you think you can be like icarus but you’re nowhere close to even getting off the ground, jungmo. “
young, naive jungmo thought he had the world in the palm of his hand. that it was easy to get what he wanted because everything was in reach. why wouldn’t he think like that when he had daddy and mommy’s money at his disposal. buy this, buy that, ignore this, ignore that, don’t work hard, just pay it off. oh, how jungmo hated how wrong he was.
“ you want to be like icarus? “
he’d been asked by coach hweseung to stay behind after practice while the other trainees were filing out of the room and heading for their next training schedules. since this was jungmo’s first time being a trainee, of course he had no idea what it meant to be asked to stay behind. he stupidly assumed it was just to praise him in private in order to not let the other trainees feel jealous of him. unfortunately, basing it off the demeanor of coach hweseung, it definitely wasn’t to praise jungmo.
“ well, yeah! that’s who i idolize. it seems like a tragedy but people still talk about him and what he did and accomplished. “
jungmo grinned and it didn’t falter even once when he was at the full brunt of coach hweseung’s raised eyebrow of judgement.
“ and what exactly did he accomplish, trainee jungmo? “
“ he flew! close to the sun and everything. “
“ okay and his wings melted and he fell. to his death might i add. “
“ sure, but at least he flew in the first place, right coach hweseung? “
jungmo smiled cheekily as he responded to the questions but coach hweseung doesn’t wasn’t smiling at his answers. in fact, jungmo’s smile faltered when he recognized that look — one of pity. he despised that look from people most of all. attention was one thing but pity made jungmo feel like he was someone to be sorry for. that’s the last thing he wanted. from a coach at some entertainment company. he was park jungmo, youngest son of the parks. he could do whatever he wanted.
“ jungmo-ah, you’re right in that icarus flew but to compare yourself to him is a bit ...” coach hweseung trailed off in his comment before trying again when he realized jungmo’s eyebrows started to furrow together in a hardened gaze. “with the way you are right now, you’ll never even get off the ground, jungmo. “
“ what do you mean by that? “
coach hweseung patted jungmo on the shoulder. “your singing, your dancing, your performance overall. it’s not terrible, but it’s not the best by a long shot. you’re going through the motions but i just don’t see any passion from you. when i watch all the trainees practicing together, you’re the last one that comes to mind, jungmo-ah. do you know why that is? it’s because you don’t have passion and because of that, you don’t stick out or leave an impression on us. what happened to the trainee in that introduction video? he was charming and captured attention easily but it’s not translating well into your skills. “
jungmo frowned. how could coach hweseung say that to him? “ i’ve only been a trainee for 3 months ... “
“ sure, 3 months isn’t a lot of time but there are other trainees in your boat that have more promise than you right now. i’m not saying you can’t improve but with how you are now, i don’t see it happening anytime soon. i’m hoping this conversation opens your eyes, jungmo-ah. i’ll be waiting for the day you actually become like your role model. “
jungmo fell silent as he took everything in. to have a coach say that to him was a lot more than what he was expecting. he assumed being a trainee couldn’t be that difficult at all. all you needed was a pretty face, right? to be able to dance semi-decently and blend in. jungmo could do that. but to be told that he wasn’t even noticeable in a room full of trainees felt like a arrow shot straight into him. to be told that he’d never be like icarus and fly? it was honestly a low blow. he liked to think he could command the attention but clearly he was wrong. he had a lot of work on, it seems.
