Audition Day
April 2013
Subin looked around the room in confusion; a singular wall of mirrors with the rest being covered in off beige shade, it wasn’t quite yellow enough to be beige and it wasn’t quite green enough to baby poop. It was a hideous color. Who decided to paint this room? Subin couldn’t help but squint at the autorious color combinations, it was all bright and overwhelming and it hurt his eyes.
“Seo Subin?” Subin heard the voice of a man call out, but he kept on staring at the poorly painted brown color. They were really starting to bother him. “Aren’t you Seo Subin?” The man spoke directly to him this time, startling Subin out of his daydream-like state.
“Oh! Yes! I’m so sorry, I’m not used to being called by my Korean name.” Subin smiled sheepishly as he stood up to follow the man into the audition room. He had only come to this agency after being recruited at the underground rap shows by some man who went by the name of Park Jinyoung. It was a multi day competition and right now his team had made it into the final round, so he wasn’t entirely sure what compelled him to accept the man - who Subin had mistakenly signed up for vocal lessons at Underground Shows Day Two: Explore the World Through Music Free Sessions - who told him to come audition at his company, JYP Entertainment. It was eleven o’clock at night, Subin had been competing all day long, he was struggling with his Korean due to the lack of sleep and many shots of soju, and the only Korean song he could remember all the words to at this late hour in the night was Tears by So Chan Wee and that’s only because he had sung it fifteen times at karaoke with the Busan team last night. (Mind you, he was definitely drunk and definitely pitch-y.) He couldn’t find one good reason for him to be here right now: auditioning to become a trainee at JYP Entertainment company, to maybe debut in a K-Pop group, when his entire life was already being laid out for him.
But right on cue, when the man sat down behind the long pull out table next to two women, Subin bowed and introduced himself as a seventeen year old native Australian boy who currently spent his time divided between Seoul and Adelaide. And when he was told to, he opened his mouth to sing the song that he had somewhat - if belting out the lyrics after four illegally drunken beers with the Busan Hip Hop team counts as preparing - prepared for the judges. Except….Subin is now belatedly realizing in his head that the song he is singing is not, in fact, Tears by So Chan Wee but it is, in fact, Always Be My Baby by Mariah Carey (Which Subin totally did not listen to on repeat on the taxi ride over to the building.). Taking a deep breath between the verse and the chorus, knowing it’s too late to go back now, Subin gives it all he’s got and tries his best to finish off the song strong. Except, now he’s finished and the judges are just staring at him.
“Uhm….How did I do?” Subin asks nervously, ready to let his shaky knees win and collapse to the ground. One of the judges snaps out a daze of some sort, staring at the young boy with what appears to be fondness, and smiles brightly.
“You’ve definitely passed!” The woman grins, “But….Could you perhaps sing another song for us?”
“I told you he was great! Didn’t I tell you guys?” The man suddenly began to boast to the woman sitting next to him, tapping her arm repeatedly. Subin was confused again. What was happening?
“Sure?” Subin said, maybe after another song they’ll tell him what’s happening? This time when Subin opened up his mouth to sing, he made sure he was singing Tears by So Chan Wee.