“Contestant 95,” backstage assistant, Miss Jo, called out, “Contestant 95! You are up next!”
To her dismay, she didn’t receive a response to her call. She looked into the contestant list displayed on the tab she was holding onto. “Contestant 95,” it had listed, “Mayu,” with an id-photo of a school girl in uniform. Confused, she started looking around the busy but brightly lit waiting area, in the hopes of finding her required person.
The waiting room was filled with nervous but beautiful young girls who would have their fate decided upon in a few hours or even minutes. The air had mixed emotions of anxiety and excitement. Some of them were chanting silent prayers with their eyes closed while the others practiced their parts, while some sat on the plastic chairs frozen in fear. Assistant Jo knew that each of them had worked hard for years and months, being nervous was a given, and therefore they should be forgiven for not paying attention to a minor assistant like her, sadly.
“Contestant 95?” assistant Jo called out again, hoping that the young girl would hear her.
“Here!” A voice behind her shouted.
Her prayers had been answered
Relieved, assistant Jo sighed, and then turned around. Even though she expected to behold a shaky and quivering teenager, what awaited her was a somewhat melancholic and somewhat confident young lady.
She was wearing a cute short white dress which was lightly patterned with small orange flowers. The tiny orange flowers complemented her almond shaped eyes which were a deep shade of orange-brown. She had a lightly tanned skin tone and pink slender lips
“Miss Mayu?” She asked.
“Yes!” Mayu replied.
“You’re up next,” assistant Jo said, “Please come this way.”
Mayu nodded and followed behind her. They climbed up a flight of stairs and then reached the backstage. Mayu could hear the soft sound of music and a melodious voice singing from the stage area. Even though most of the backstage crew were meant to be busy, they would try and steal glances at the performance.
“Please wait here for the moment,” assistant Jo halted her at the edge of the stage entrance behind two contestants who were already lined up. Mayu could now clearly hear the song that was being sung on the stage. Being curious about the attractive voice, she decided to take a small peek into the stage.
She stood on her tiptoes, positioning herself back and forth until she was finally able to see the performing contestant.
It was a girl, dressed in a red flowy outfit, which glided gracefully with every twirl she danced to. She had long brown hair with big round eyes which were the colour of honey. Her angelic face pinned Mayu’s unwavering gaze onto herself, creating an environment of mesmerism in her mind.
Even though the words that the girl sang were difficult for Mayu to understand, given that she only had average knowledge of the language, the expression and pain in the girl’s voice was enough for Mayu to visualise the meaning behind the song.
Her performance finally ended and she walked out of the stage anchoring all eyes onto herself.
Mayu let out a deep breath as soon as the girl left. It was at that moment that she became aware of the level of unpreparedness she was standing upon. The last time she ever performed in front of people was in a 12th grade school festival, she only ever sang in the bathroom while taking a shower or shouted out random lyrics with her best friend when they hung out, moreover she had never sung a Korean song and the only ones she ever listened to were mostly k-drama OSTs.
Her face slowly losing its colour made assistant Jo notice her discomfort. “Miss Mayu,” assistant Jo said in a straight voice, in an attempt to console her, “Don’t be nervous. You’re gonna do fine and get the audition.”
Suddenly hearing those words from a stranger made Mayu remember the reason for her being there. She breathed out a chunk of carbon dioxide and decided not to give into peer pressure. Unpreparedness is fine, rather it's good. Even though there is a chance of her facing a remarkable embarrassment, it would only be for that day. Nobody would remember it later.
“Please step in now,” assistant Jo said, pointing at the stage entrance.
Mayu looked at the direction assistant Jo was pointing at. She noticed that the two girls standing in front of her were already done with their performances while she was lost in her thoughts.
From the now clear entrance she saw the small stage. It had two big and bright spotlights with their rays directed to the centre, the intensity of which darkened the other parts of the auditorium. The four judges sitting in the front seat were barely visible to her eyes thanks to her weak eyesight. The audience was minimal, consisting only of the show’s casting directors and crews, which didn’t threaten her at all.
“I am going to give it my all,” Mayu said to herself. She made a fist and placed it on her heart.
Assistant Jo smiled to herself as she felt an unknown sense of inner accomplishment after hearing Mayu’s word of self-assurance.
“I am going to get ELIMINATED!” Mayu completed her sentence and nodded reassuringly.
Taking a deep breath she stepped into the stage, leaving a confused assistant Jo behind who would be left questioning herself for a lifetime about what words did she use wrong in her attempted consolation.
But there was no looking back now. The only thing that mattered for Mayu was to get out of the situation she was in.
“You can begin now,” one of the judges said as she stood in the spotlight.
Never in her life did she ever imagine that she would be forced to audition for an idol reality show, on her first day as a foreign student in Korea. As she started off with her performance, her mind drifted back to a few hours ago when she fell into a trap, which led her to the spot she was standing at that moment.
Comments (0)
See all