@kasrk
commented on this post for a starter with the word “dark”
laying in bed, meiqi scrolls through her phone mindlessly, switching between social media accounts and refreshing in hopes of new posts. it’s a fairly mundane activity, but one that she’s grown accustomed to since all her other hobbies have become... less pleasurable than they once were.
the refresh symbol is almost hypnotizing, and meiqi’s tired of watching it circle around. instead, she decides to browse through accounts to find new people to follow.
every food page, fashion blog, and makeup guru she comes across is added to her following list, along with a few people she’s probably heard of through people at school, but then meiqi stumbles upon someone else who’s foreign to her.
“kaychan?” meiqi mumbles to herself. “must be japanese.” she shrugs and requests to follow the account with, admittedly, a slightly darker theme than her own pastel one. she sends a message, keen on talking to anyone and everyone at this point.
he’s not completely unannounced; kas knows he’s coming over and sungho has sent a message that he was on his way. she’s a friend, and friends hang out with friends sometimes. dare he let himself utter the words ever again, he might even call her his best friend, all the more reason that he’s perfectly within his rights to chill at her place for a little bit.
knuckles rap lightly against her door before he lets himself in anyways, screwing polite conventions as if kas really followed them anyways. she pet his hair the first time they met; who does that? he wouldn’t put it past her to just make him wait outside for ages anyways, too caught up in her games or something to bother coming to the door. sungho felt justified in his actions.
“hey, what’s u— oh my god.” he spots his friend quickly, immediately turning around to block her from view as soon as he processes what’s before him. “jesus christ, kasper. can you please put on some pants or something?”
upscale spas were nice and everything but she’d been craving something that was more homey and less extravagant in it’s nature. long hours of training -- with far too much dancing for her liking at times -- followed by a night filled with working and promoting left her rather achey and sore and the spa seemed the perfect way to relieve those tensions. though spas were always more fun when traversed with a friend.
so naturally she called up ellen.
she seemed just as nocturnal as the dj was so it was no surprise that she was awake when the call went through. jimjilbangs stayed open all night long unlike the upscale spas and so even though she was in the mood for the jimjilbang they only really had one choice in the matter. she chose a nice one though to make the evening fun with promises of homemade street food, a mini theater and even a nail salon next to a game room. she knew the games had to have some powerful effect over ellen. the nail salon had did the trick for her.
paying at the entrance, she accepted their key to the locker they would share as well as their clothes and looped an arm through the older females arm with a smile as she led them towards the changing rooms.
“i know i dragged you out but it’s going to be so fun and so relaxing!” she sounded excited enough for the two of them. “i hear the food is pretty good here so it better be worth the drive.” and by drive she meant the 30 minute drive from seoul she had surprised ellen with upon picking her up. oops. minor details.
They didn't usually meet up for drinks since Eunae hadn't been an adult for very long but as they often went out to eat, adding this to their tradition wasn't so out of place. The change was that as of now, drinks came first and food second. Or did it really? Eunae would rather fill her stomach with food but then again, there was no better to get closer to someone than sharing and good old bottle of soju... which was what an old Korean uncle would say. In a way, that was a bit what they were, wasn't it?
"Oh HELL no," Eunae muttered in her native tongue as she saw a guy hit on a girl a little too hard right in the middle of the sidewalk for everyone to see. She couldn't hear what they were saying as they were outside but the girl was trying to pull away her arm and the guy kept trying to put his other arm around her. "Kas," She waved at her friend, head pointing towards the scene as she put down her glass loudly enough to have a few people jump around them. "That jerk..."
like everyday that sungyeol was at work, kas came in on the dot. everytime he was on break he would sneak into her karaoke room and they would have a private concert. just the two of them for the two of them. it was a way of passing the time. no, they were good.
like awlways, he snuck in on his break and flopped down on the couch in the room for a few moments. she had noticed him and had asked him what they were going to sing this time around. sungyeol had been on a drama binge so of course, he chose the ost to the drama he recently finished watching.
“i think kangchul kills everyone. i mean, he’s ridiculously rich and attractive. Ah, Oh Yeon Soo is so lucky to date him...” he says, but then basick’s part is up first and he listens to kas rap. they always fall into this routine. he sings and she raps, doesn’t mater what song they do. it just always happens like this.
he sings after her the chorus, not even looking at the screen. he knows this song too well from his drama binge. he was good at memorizing.
it was so great just taking a breather with her and singing with her. it was a bond between two friends. they sang and performed together.
and in that small noraebang room, it was okay. for a few moments, life was okay.
KT/ROYAL CONTEST
.. jin sungho “bc” performing RULER; a self-written rap
not that the words would ever reach his lips, but he’s incredibly apprehensive about this whole opportunity. there’s something daunting about any audition; the anxiety of seeking the approval of your evaluators and the raw desire to prove something about yourself. i’m talented enough, i’ll work hard enough, i’ll be an asset to your company. sungho’s been there before, plenty of times. he’s attended private auditions for smaller companies that have either turned him down, recognizing his name as someone with a rocky past in the industry, or sungho himself avoiding a bad deal with a nobody label who will only bankrupt him and maybe give him a failed debut.
there’s something new entirely about a public audition like this. with an audience. not only does he have to think about winning over the judges, the esteemed ceos that they are, but also the approval of the crowd. how loud they cheer can affect his chances, he knows this. likewise if he’s terrible, they’ll only be sure to make that more clear to the people who really matter. there is no worse fear of his than being booed off the stage; he may as well end his career there and just do his telemarketer thing for the rest of his days if it happens.
apprehensive as he is about the volatile nature of this sort of contest, his demon of a roommate still somehow talked the both of them into it. sungho, looking back, thinks it’s an awful idea, the terrible bet between them. they’re not even auditioning on the same weekends, inho going first as a vocalist and sungho later as a rapper. but still, he has to go now that the deed was done. jin sungho never chickened out of something, and certainly he was not going to forfeit his stake in their wager.
but not before convincing a friend to go with him. he’s glad that kas let herself be convinced easily enough, he hadn’t even known she had any interest in rap. actually, he wasn’t even sure of many of her interests other than in video game characters and a certain hacker in a dating sim that he knew embarrassingly too much about. he wouldn’t go so far to say that he was nervous about performing in front of an audience, but he was nervous about being judged in front of them, and having someone to wait with him backstage and keep his mind off his worries was a blessing. he’s glad he asked her to come, even though he can’t keep from cringing when she introduces him along with herself when her turn comes up.
he mumbles his lyrics to himself as he waits. sungho reminds himself that he penned these words ages ago, edited and perfected them rolling out of his lips long before this contest was announced. he knew them by heart, even if he has never performed them before. confidence, confidence, confidence. he didn’t want to lack it, especially not up on stage where his presence and charisma could make or break his performance no matter how flawless his delivery may be.
and then it’s finally his turn. he climbs onto the stage, putting an easy sureness that he hopes doesn’t translate as arrogance into the way he holds himself as he takes the center.
“hey yo, it’s your boy bc,” he chants a greeting familiar to only himself and those who have seen his few underground performances before in english, throwing up a hand in a gesture that has that swagger-filled sort of confidence that’s just short of being rude. immediately following, he drops that hand and bows respectfully and greets the judges and audience, the picture of a well-mannered korean youth. “hello, my name is jin sungho. i’m twenty-two years old, and i’m born and raised right here in seoul.” he puts a smile on his face, one that spoke of self-assurance and comfort up on stage more than a winning cutesy thing that others might try.
he’s given the cue to start, and he wets his lips with his tongue and glances down at the stage beneath his feet for a moment while the backtrack plays. he knows that the second he looks up, the second he opens his mouth to deliver, he must do so with every intention to leave an impact.
so he does, as well as he’s able. he throws every scrap of confidence he has into his movements, stalking around the stage like a barely-contained predator as he spits his lyrics. and the confidence doesn’t just stop at his movements, but it flows into his voice and the rise and fall of his tone. the sharp syllables, and the ones he purposely leaves a little softer to let the harsher words shine even more.
breathe, he had tried to remind himself before stepping on stage. don’t forget to breathe properly. he’s practiced it, and it shows though his breath control isn’t nearly as flawless as he’d like it to be. it’s good enough though that he doesn’t run out of air in his lungs before he finishes a phrase, nor is it too squeaky when he takes a quick gasp in in preparation for the next.
his entire performance doesn’t quite take up the entire minute and a half he’s allowed, but sungho had been prepared to be cut off early anyways, as they often do in auditions when they’re perpetually running out of time. he thanks the judges and the audience for their time and consideration, bowing again. with a wave to the audience, he makes his way off the stage with an exhilarated smile on his face. it was by far the biggest crowd he had ever stood before, and sungho found the feeling rather exciting. he hands the microphone off to the staff as he dismounts off the stage, an excited tingle not leaving his fingertips. no matter what the results may be, at least he can say he enjoyed himself up on stage. even though he hopes for the best results, for the bet’s sake if not his own.
but in the meantime, he needs to find kas. sungho might find it difficult to put into words, but he means to thank her for sacrificing her time to be with him today. even if he may only do it by sitting with her in a content sort of silence and letting her chatter on while they wait and watch others perform until the end.
His sister was extra clingy the night before, and for once Seunghyun actually had off. She had begged for him to sing songs that mom would sing; songs that she shouldn’t remember but somehow does because dammit, that kid is so fucking smart. So he thought back to the days when his parents were alive, when his mother and he would sing songs together as she rocked little Seoulhyun to sleep. He’s glad his sister had her eyes closed as he sang, because Seunghyun was sure he cried that night.
After dropping her off to school, he had decided to just walk around Seoul for a while. Hit up his favorite pastry shop, maybe grab a cup of coffee. The streets weren’t too crowded, not with how the weather was surely showing it to rain. He liked it. It was quiet. Peaceful. But it also let his mind wander a bit.
His parents.
He really did miss them.
It’s when he raised his head and allowed his gaze to glance towards a bench in passing; stopping in his tracks he saw the greatest distraction from his less than happy thoughts - “Kas.” he spoke out, trying to catch the attention of the girl. “Yah, look up from your tablet for a minute, will ya? Do you want some coffee?”
Seunghyun was grateful the other just so happened to be sitting around on this rather dreary day.
