On May 6th, all of those who received a spot on the promotions for the SuperStar Royal launch received a phone call from one of ROYAL’s representatives telling them so. During the conversation, the person on the other side of the line made sure to let them know a new e-mail would be on the way with more detailed information on what would be the next step of this process. Congratulations to everyone who received a spot and is listed below, alphabetically:
CHOI BEOMGYU
HWANG YEJI
JEON SOMIN
KIM NAYOUNG
KIM YOOHYEON
LEE HANGYUL
LEE NAEUN
PARK SERIM
SON HYEJOO
More information regarding the next step of the process will coming on the following post by the rovalent blog.
LEE HANGYUL ; PURE CONCEPT for SUPERSTAR ROYAL AUDITION !
hangyul almost marks the email as spam. almost. he doesn't know what stops him from doing so, but after a moment of deliberation based solely on the title of the email, he opens it and reads through its contents.
superstar royal... what is that?
befuddled, he rereads the email at least three times, eyebrows furrowing deeper with every repeated scan of the words. an audition, concepts, a photoshoot—they're all words he knows but for some reason, none of it is making any sense to him when they’re put together.
he thinks they've got the wrong person, until he remembers the email is addressed to lee hangyul. then, he thinks that maybe this is some elaborate scam to get his money, without... actually... asking for any banking information...
hangyul fumbles with his laptop for a few seconds, his movements bogged down with confusion. finally, he manages to type something into the search bar, and the results flash across his screen almost immediately.
"much like kt’s game, ‘superstar royal’ will be free to play and feature all of your favorite artists from the company. fans will get to play every hit song from royal entertainment through a rhythm game and also collect cards featuring the artists. every week, players will battle each other in leagues to climb up the ranks and become the superstars of the game.
on their statement, royal commented they’ll also be holding auditions to help with promotions for the game. last year, idols, popular trainees, and lucky fans managed to all come together to film different commercials of superstar ktworld."
he knows of kt and royal entertainment. well, he doesn't know them by name, but he knows vaguely about idols and kpop and... and... that's the extent of his knowledge, actually. hangyul doesn't even know what rhythm games are, and he feels uncharacteristically stupid for perhaps the first time in his life.
none of this explains why he's being called in for an audition. if anything, after reading the article and a few wikipedia pages, he feels even more lost in this situation.
there's no other option, then. hangyul grabs his phone, presses on one of the few contacts he has saved, and presses the call button. she's his go-to for everything trendy and ridiculous, always has answers. he can count on her.
yeji tells him everything, starting from the game in question and ending with her fake class survey—a ruse to sign him up. hangyul can't even bring himself to be angry that she'd used his personal information in such a way, because yeji sounds excited to also participate in what is considered a big deal. somehow, he ends up agreeing to take the spectacle seriously, promises to do his best, and hangs up the phone feeling embarrassed.
turns out, he can only count on her to do stupid things.
* * *
the days leading up to the audition pass agonizingly slow. it's not that hangyul is nervous or excited. he doesn't particularly feel anything. he knows the moment is near, while a part of him wishes it wasn't. but april 30th comes with a loud reminder from his phone at precisely 7am, and hangyul rolls out of bed to reluctantly prepare for the day.
pure. he doesn't think the concept fits him, but it's the only one he truly understands (what the fuck is fresh? crush? they don't even come with descriptions!). hangyul's closet doesn't offer anything special so he wears a simple white shirt and jeans, and styles his hair with as little commitment as possible. he doesn't tell his parents where he's going or what he's doing as he leaves the house.
there are many familiar faces in the hallway, all waiting for their own turns. hangyul smiles at his cousin, offers a wave towards the girl who forced him into this mess, and briefly settles on someone who he had met at the bazar. he doesn’t bother approaching any of them, as they all seem occupied by one thing or another. everyone seems to have their own routine that they're practicing: listening to music, breathing slowly, chatting with each other. hangyul wonders, briefly, if these people have experience in these kinds of things—already, he's at a disadvantage (not that he wants to succeed, but it would be embarrassing to be turned away so quickly from something he didn't even want. it's a pride thing).
he makes small talk with a stranger before he's called in for his audition.
an array of props are presented to him, but hangyul doesn’t think too long about what to use. he grabs the first thing he sees and positions himself in front of the camera.
it’s embarrassing, to say the least. hangyul has no idea how to wield the prop or look pure. his poses are weak and influenced by whatever the photographer says, while his expressions are stiff and unnatural.
he’s not used to this; that’s his excuse for losing his composure so easily, for something so mindless. is modelling actually this hard, or is it just beginner’s nerves? (not that he’s nervous or anything. there are no butterflies in his stomach).
“try to loosen up,” the photographer advises. it’s easier said than done, and he can tell the worker is getting fed up.
still, hangyul nods as he absorbs those words. loosen up. if he can ace his tests and solve equations and conduct complicated experiments… no, hangyul refuses to let a modelling audition be the bane of his existence. he’ll never hear the end of it (from who? he asks himself. from himself, probably. and the science club if they ever find out).
rolling his shoulders back, hangyul takes a deep breath. his eyes flutter shut, and when they open once more, there’s a determined gleam in them. he’s gone about this thing all wrong. he’s trying too hard to achieve the results he wants, rather than keeping a steady mind and procedure to get the result that is naturally occurring.
that’s it.
“can i switch props?” his question is met with an irritated nod and he wanders back towards the prop table. in the back of his mind, hangyul knows time is ticking, dwindling down. he must have five minutes left over, at most. he needs to make the best of it (he doesn’t care! he doesn’t!).
he’s careful with his choice this time. hangyul reaches for the item that he feels most drawn to, rather than hastily grabbing for anything. he returns to the shoot and lets his body move on its own accord.
that’s better.
the next few minutes pass quicker than ever, and hangyul bows before exiting the room with his ears burning. it was fine while he was posing (had he disassociated or something?) but all of the initial awkwardness seems to be catching up to him with every step he takes. god, he needs to get away from here.
superstar royal audition
serim’s chosen concept: fresh
(gif cred; strawberrywoong)
being the youngest in the family and having two older siblings who were currently on the path to becoming a doctor and a lawyer was hard for serim. his parents would always compare him no matter what but that never stopped serim from doing all the things he wanted. in fact, he lived out of spite because of it. he always did things for the hell of it because he knew it would piss his parents off.
upon receiving email instructions, he made sure to write down reminders because he knew he’d forget about it. serim’s never actually done something like this before. auditions were never really his thing. he liked wasting his time, sure, but mostly at pc bangs or noraebangs or the mall. things like contests and auditions were such a waste of time in his opinion because you either make it or you don’t and if you don’t, you wasted time practicing for nothing. nada. zip. zilch. serim could handle disappoint but people who actively did these kinds of things are on some next masochist levels. regardless, serim would do it anyways.
of course, he knew he’d forget until his phone’s calendar issued him a reminder. thank god for technology because otherwise he would’ve gone about his day normally. he’s dressed in some casual clothing. something like a boyfriend would wear. boyfriend style or something along those lines. serim’s not the best judge when it comes to things like that but he’s seen pictures of similar clothing on people’s lovestagrams so maybe his inspiration was on the mark. he thinks it would really suit the fresh concept and maybe even pure but fresh sounded better in his mind.
by the time the audition rolls around, serim’s already hopped on a bus and straight to the audition location. he feels confident in himself. he’s never the type to worry over something like this. if it happens, it happens. if something good comes his way, he’ll take it. if it doesn’t, he’ll probably throw a little fit and then move on afterwards but that’s just his nature.
after promptly arriving and identifying himself at the reception, he patiently waits his turn among all the other audition goers. some calm, some stressed, some who’ll eventually be disappointed with the results and some who’ll hopefully be ecstatic. serim can’t decide which one he’ll be once this blows over but hey, free photoshoot right? maybe he’ll ask for the shots later if he doesn’t actually make it.
soon enough, serim’s turn comes around and he immediately goes in with a grin on his face. “just go in and show’em what you got, selm. you’ve got the looks and the confidence so use it well. whew.” with the small pep-talk for himself, seirm strutted in with an air of confidence around him.
his concept for this audition happened to be fresh so hopefully he’d do it justice. when fresh comes to mind, serim thinks of oranges or the sun and bright smiles. stuff like that. with those things in mind, he got into the mindset of fresh and posed as best as he could. he flashed them a brilliant smile that wasn’t anywhere shy or timid, something that he’d akin to a purer concept.
serim thinks people might liken pure and fresh together and at first, he did as well. after careful consideration and research online, he found that it wasn’t the case entirely. you can have both together but they were absolutely different in their own rights. pure was soft and muted and maybe a tad bit on the timid side. fresh was bright and warm and colorful with a certain air of positive vibes thrown into it.
after being told to do some poses and whatnot, serim did whatever came to mind. he laughed and smiled and grinned. he even threw out a finger heart as brightly as he could muster. serim never took himself as a fresh kind of guy. he was just park serim, that’s all. but after going through this audition, he thinks he could confidently and proudly declare that he was fresh park serim now. once he’s finished his turn, serim bows at a complete ninety degree and thanks them for their time.
On April 15th, every person listed on this post received an e-mail with further information on how the audition process for the SuperStar Royal promotions will work out. The e-mail brings details of the location they’ll have to go to on April 30th, a Thursday, for the second part of the process. Those auditioning should arrive between 8am and 10am. After identifying themselves at the reception, the applicants will wait on a corridor with the rest until they are called in order of arrival.
Along with the location information, the applicants also receive instructions on what will happen on the date. When they arrive, they’ll have to choose one of the three available concepts to model to. They’ll be taken to one of the three different rooms prepared for the audition which will each have a photographer and a great selection of props for them to use. Unlike the last SuperStar audition, instead of acting, they’ll be looking for good models.
The three concepts you’ll be able to choose from are: Pure, Crush, and Fresh. Clothes will not be available at the location and applicants are told to come dressed in their chosen style. They’ll each have a short photoshoot session of not more than 15 minutes. If the photographer thinks he’s seen enough (either in a good or bad sense) he may send your muse home early. Once they’re done, they’re free to go home. The results will be sent via the same e-mail they received the previous instructions on.
You have until midnight EST at the end of Tuesday, May 5th, to write a 250+ words solo about your muse’s audition for the SuperStar Royal promotions. Please tag all related posts with #rkssraudition. For completing the requirements, you may give +2 CHARISMA POINTS to your auditioning muse. Please make sure you have an appropriate points tally linked somewhere in your blog and that it is properly updated as this will be an important factor for the event.
What is she doing? Perhaps deep in her subconscious mind she actually wants to be an ‘idol’. Rolling her eyes, Olivia lets out a frustrated sigh as she slumps against the wall while waiting for her turn to ‘audition’. No, she doesn’t. Well, that’s not entirely true either. Though she wants to have a break in the entertainment industry, it should be through her rapping.
“Son Hyejoo.”
Raising her hand half-heartedly, Olivia pushes herself from the pale wall and away from all the sulking. The benefits, if she actually gets this role, is the pay- not that she needed it- but perhaps a new content to add in her sns. Additionally, she could go on a rant about the whole experience during one of her twitch streaming. The cons to this, if she does end up getting a role, is potentially getting cast off again from the scene. Everything she’s worked so hard on after the damage done during MGAs would be tarnished.
She lets out another huff before entering the studio, bowing as she greets the staff and photographer, Olivia sets her things down in her designated spot. Thank God they had her usual style as one of the concepts, although she wouldn’t exactly call her style ‘crush’ but suppose it’s close enough to describe it. Truthfully speaking she just added an extra layer to what would usually be her outfit and went with it.
The actual photoshoot took a little longer than she anticipated with the photographer not only asking her to do several poses but even having her moved in different locations. Something about getting a variety, he said. Whatever the case was he seemed pretty happy with the results of their shoot going by his expression alone, as they parted ways. Overall it wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be, now it’ll just be another waiting game for the results.
To be completely honest, Yoohyeon doesn’t quite know what to expect from this audition while she waits for a staff member to call out her name. She finds comfort in having her best friends standing there with her in the somewhat crowded corridor, part of her wishing for their success rather than herself, her selflessness shining through the roof as per usual. It really isn’t often that she does something for herself, and herself only-- typically, Yoohyeon’s actions are fueled by a prize pther than personal gain. She has, however, promised herself to be more selfish.
Somehow, she managed what she thought would be impossible, and dragged both her friends along to arrive at 8AM sharp-- it wasn’t particularly difficult convincing YOONGI to arrive closer towards the early end, but OLIVIA is visibly grumpy due to the hour of meeting and taking into consideration the younger’s time of work as a bartender, that much was pretty much expected from the get go. Regardless, Yoohyeon is grateful for their presence, support and company. A quick glance around the corridor reveals that they have quite the competition, all of them.
Her eyes lands on a female that she quickly notices, a small smile growing as their eyes meet and she nods acknowingly as a silent form of greeting, hand subconsciously reaching to fiddle with the bracelet that they both now share a memory with. It has been a hot minute since she modelled last, still Yoohyeon is fairly confident in her skills for this particular audition-- when it came to Sphere and a contract based on musical skill she understands that she wasn’t picked for further exposure, but this one is different. Yoohyeon knows she excells in this area.
She might have graduated from Hanlim as a fashion model and that isn’t necessarily what the company is looking for, still Yoohyeon was top student of her year and she’s very much aware that her goal is the same regardless of what she is trying to promote. Whether it’s clothes or a whole different kind of product, the basics are still the same-- make it seem attractive, make it seem affordable. That is something Yoohyeon is very much capable of and now should be her time to shine, she is ready to show a seperate kind of confidence than she has before.
Using the waiting time well with mindfullness and breathing exercises, Yoohyeon is perfectly calm when it’s her turn to make good use of a solid fifteen minutes-- should the photographer agree that her time spent, is time well spent. The two hands that she was holding onto gently notices a squeeze, mostly for her own sake as she muster the courage to give this autidion a serious chance, it’s time that she does something solely for herself, for a change. Instantly as she enters the room, Yoohyeon bows down respectfully and thanks them for their time.
She promises hard work during this short time that they are together, having picked the fresh concept. It was an easy choice although friends would argue that she fits the cute concept as well as the crush, but she is more comfortable with the last option. While presented with a lot of options regarding props she doesn’t spend much time dwelling on which to pick, after given directions and information she simply chooses one and what comes next is improvisation. It’s a given that she needs some guidance, still she poses effortlessly on her own also.
Fifteen minutes goes by rapidly and Yoohyeon feels a little disappointed when the audition is over, not at all because she did poorly but because she realises how much she miss being in front of a camera that isn’t her own. Smiling widely when she bows down once again, she is thanking the staff members for their time and for the fun time that they had together.
Choi Beomgyu had been at school when the email had first been sent out. He had spent the rest of the day at a pc room with his friends and had forgotten about signing up for SuperStar Royal. It wasn’t until he was at home getting ready for bed and browsing through his phone that he noticed the email. He sat up immediately once he began to read it. He had (somehow) made it through to the audition round. Did they know what they were getting themselves into?
Beomgyu knew nothing about modelling or promoting something. All he knew was dance, and he didn’t think dancing was going to be useful for this audition. He turned to the friends he knew of that did modelling or promoting for help and advice. He didn’t know why, but he suddenly wanted to do well with this audition. Perhaps it was his competitive side, or maybe some part of him actually wanted to model. Either way, he wanted to do his best so that way he would be satisfied, even if he failed. He worked hard practicing concepts and various poses and facial expressions until he found the ones he felt comfortable with.
When the day of the audition finally came, Beomgyu awoke excited. Not only was he missing a day of school, but it was time he put his hard work into action. He was anxious but ready. They were told to dress in one of three concepts and he had decided on pure since it sounded the easiest (and didn’t know how to show the other two concepts). He dressed in his best button down shirt and jeans, topping it with his best pair of sneakers. He threw on a nice jacket to top the look off and tried to style his hair nicely. Once he was satisfied with his appearance, he set off.
Arriving at the audition location, Beomgyu could already see there were a lot of people and it only made him want to work harder. He didn’t know why he wanted this so badly, but he did. He signed in and was told his number before being directed to where everyone was waiting. There were quite a few people ahead of him so he was thankful that he had brought his backpack and his switch. He happily played until it was his turn.
Beomgyu was called and ushered to one of the rooms. He was given instructions before he entered and he thanked the staff member before he opened the door. He bowed politely and greeted everyone before he made his way to the set. It was now or never. He quickly scanned the props before he chose some fake baby’s breath. The photographer asked him if he was ready and he nodded to signal he was.
The photoshoot began and Beomgyu was a bit awkward at first but he quickly got in the groove. He tried various poses and smiles. He moved his body to showcase various angles and poses. He used the prop as if it were part of him and it looked natural. Even though there were a few poses or expressions that were awkward, the photographer seemed satisfied with what he had done. Beomgyu’s smiles were natural and bright and his poses energetic and pure. He had tried his hardest to harness his chosen concept.
After the 15 minutes were up, he was told he was free to leave and he thanked the staff before he grabbed his bag and exited the room. He had no idea how it had gone, but he had tried, and that was all that mattered to the teenager.
