༺ How To Avoid Debut – 4 ༻
“…….”
The waiting room was half filled with people silently fiddling with their cell phones, and the other half with people chatting as if they had just found their tongues. I made an effort to ignore the ostentatious conversations going around and observed my surroundings
Everyone here was an average person who, I heard, would be given a makeover. Already, most of them had finished their makeup. Sparkling here, glittering there. As befitting participants of an idol selection program, I took a good look at people with good-looking faces, until my roaming gaze stopped for a moment at a man whose double eyelids were especially prominent due to the makeup
“…….”
“Why are you looking around like that, Hyung?”
I was startled by the face that suddenly appeared in front of me and bumped the back of my head against the wall. Jun, who was grinning awkwardly, had a slight eye makeup.
“You came in a school uniform.”
While I was casually dusting off the back of my head, I noticed that he was wearing a regular school uniform, and mentioned it. Jun laughed and slightly shook his school vest
“This is our school uniform. The writer told me to come in a school uniform. But why are you still here when everyone else is immediately getting their makeup done upon arrival? You should hurry.”
“I have legs too, you know? I’ll walk with my own feet.”
Jun suddenly pulled the hem of my clothes and headed towards the door to the makeup room connected to the waiting room. My shirt, stiff from ironing, was ruthlessly tugged as I followed him like a long chain.
The makeup room to which I was dragged was already full of people getting their makeup done, and because of that, the air was rather stuffy. As soon as I took a deep breath and sat down in the chair, a bunch of makeup tools swooped in.
People continued to enter the makeup room while I was quietly getting my makeup done. There were too few makeup artists to handle the whopping number of 33 people. The number of people waiting on the sofa kept increasing, and the hands of the artists grew busier.
“Your eyes are really pretty, it’s rewarding to do makeup on them.”
The hand that had been painting something on the edge of my eyes stopped for a moment and an unexpected compliment flew out. I slightly bowed my head in thanks, took a quick glance at my face reflected in the mirror, and immediately turned my gaze away.
Soon after, I heard that the makeup was done and I straightened up from my chair, only to lock eyes accidentally with someone who was waiting on the sofa.
“Uh……”
It was that person from before. The shopping bag he had been holding was nowhere to be seen, but the clothes he was wearing were the same, so I was sure it was the student I had seen at the concert venue. His face, now without a mask, looked young as expected.
I spent a while staring at his soft-looking face for no reason, and then belatedly realized that he didn’t know me at all and averted my gaze. I might have looked a bit rude just now.
Despite having a seat, his stare from the sofa was so blatant, not budging at all but staring straight at me. Whether my staring eyes irritated him or something else, I didn’t know, but I felt like I should avoid him, so I hastily opened the door and went out.
After waiting outside for quite a while, it was a little past 11 when all 33 of us finally gathered in one place. The staff, who had been checking the number of people, clapped their hands and began to speak.
“We will now proceed to individual interviews one by one.”
Everyone was standing there fully made up, it felt as though we were in the hallway of a music show waiting room. It definitely felt crowded with everyone gathered in one place. It seemed like I would really lose presence sandwiched in this crowd, especially after the editing.
Most of the first episode consisted of introducing the participants through individual interview clips, and a few stage performances were included at the end, as explained by the staff in front.
As each person disappeared into the room with the camera, and a considerable number of people were gone, my uncle at the front gestured for me to come. Worried that the remaining participants might start speculating, I waited a little, then ran over when everyone was in. My uncle grabbed my arm and moved us to a corner.
“The interview will take over 30 minutes. You don’t have to do it.”
“Not at all?”
“We’re not going to include it in the broadcast, so what’s the point. We can’t even fit all 32 interviews. There’s no one who would find it strange if you don’t appear.”
Uncle nonchalantly opened a bottle of water and spoke, and his matter-of-fact tone felt somewhat regrettable. Everyone is on this show because they want to debut, but they might not make it on screen.
“Can’t everyone fit if you divide the airtime a bit?”
“Who makes broadcasts like that? They edit and include those who seem to have some reaction, those who speak well. That’s how people watch. As it gets to the later parts, it’ll be worse. Once the rankings are measured, those at the bottom will be mostly cut off during editing. That’s how all broadcasts are.”
My uncle gulped down half a bottle of water in one go and wiped his mouth casually. Although a broadcast needs to have fun and interesting elements to be viewed, I began to realize that the complaints from people appearing on survival programs about the constant struggle were not mere empty words.
“Just hang around here and pretend to come out after the interview. We will go straight to the stage after the interviews.”
“All 33 of us?”
“Of course. It’s going to take quite a while. A good 5 hours? We’re filming everything at once, to be split into the first and second episodes. We’re going to include comments from the participants watching each other’s performances. After filming, we’ll upload the stage footage to the website. The eliminations will be based on the number of likes there.”
“That’s quite large-scale. The program even has a website. But what if someone manipulates the number of likes?”
“We’ve got a tight hold on preventing any manipulation of the likes.”
I sat on the floor for a while, listening to my uncle’s explanations. Information about when my profile picture would be revealed on the website, when the official articles would be released, and other important details. I listened carefully, but I was certain that I would soon forget.
“Hey, in about 5 minutes they’ll all start coming out. Go stand over there.”
Prompted by my uncle, I got up from my crouching position and walked back to the place we had gathered before. Just as I reached the center, the door of a room across the way opened, and someone came out, so I quickly extended my arm pretending as if I had just come out after finishing my interview.
“Ah, I was so nervous, I think I stuttered…”
With an awkward tone, I stretched and peeked at the person next to me. It was him. The guy who was in line at the concert hall. The one who had stared intently at me in the makeup room earlier.
The face beneath the black cap that he had taken off had softer eyes than I expected. I hadn’t noticed earlier because I couldn’t see his eyes, but his fully revealed face was the epitome of a perfect celebrity. With not a single flaw, I found myself admiring his face several times. It was a truly harmonious, or to put it simply, a pretty face.
Ah, I was caught staring again. By the time I realized it, he was already staring back at me.
I tried to casually turn my gaze away again, but this time I failed. Because he had slowly moved closer to me. Whether his interview ended unusually early or not, there was no sign of anyone else coming out from the other rooms. I had no excuse if he asked me why I was staring.
“Did you do well in the interview?”
The words that came out when his tightly shut lips opened were different from what I had imagined. He asked an utterly ordinary question with a voice that was so good it made me think he must sing very well. Although I couldn’t answer honestly, it was the most appropriate conversation for this situation, so I quickly responded.
“I was so nervous, I think I stuttered. How about you… did you do well?”
Even after I said it, my head automatically dropped due to the awkward form of address. Usually, the best way to continue a conversation when asked such a question is to ask the other person the same question, but it didn’t seem like a good method when I didn’t know his name.
I thought he was going to say something, but he remained silent for a while. Just when I thought he had lost his words because of the term ‘you’, and I was about to lift my head, a name fell.
“It’s Jigu.”
“Jigu?”
“That’s my name.”
At first, I wondered why he suddenly mentioned ‘Earth’, but it turned out to be his name. When I heard Jun’s name, I could compliment him for having a concise and clean name, but I wasn’t sure how to react to this one. ‘Your name is astronomical.’ That didn’t sound quite right…
“It’s a name that’s easy to remember. Is your surname Ji and your given name Gu…?”
“No, I have a different surname.”
Isn’t it normal to tell your full name including the surname? At this point, he should have repeated his name including the surname, but Jigu remained silent. Now I lost the topic of conversation. I had nothing more to say, but Jigu seemed to have no intention of walking away and kept staring at me
“My name is Park Hahyun.”
“Yes.”
I also tried to reintroduce myself to continue the conversation, but Jigu quietly nodded his head, gave a single-word reply, and ended the conversation. He didn’t seem to be very talkative, and I wasn’t exactly sociable either, so the conversation didn’t flow easily.
“I’m nineteen years old.”
“Ah, I’m twenty.”
Seeing me standing quietly, Jigu first brought up the topic of age. As expected, he was still a student. Even though there was only a one-year difference, he felt young. This must be the difference between being in your teens and twenties.
“You must be busy if you’re a senior in high school.”
Or maybe not, if his dream is to be an idol, would practicing dance or singing be busier? Still, as a senior, wouldn’t he be studying?
Upon hearing my question, Jigu blinked slowly. It was at such a leisurely pace that I could mistake it for slow motion.
“I’m attending an arts high school, so I don’t study much.”
“You’re in an arts school?”
So, he was an arts school student. I suddenly felt a kinship and, widening my eyes a bit, I asked, and he slightly bit his lip and then released it as he nodded. Then, he even mentioned the name of the school.
“I’m attending Korea Arts High School.”
“Oh, I graduated from there.”
I couldn’t believe such a coincidence. I didn’t expect a student from Korea Arts High School, a school with only a handful of students, to be among just 33 people. Suddenly, thoughts buried in my memories started to resurface, and the conversation began to flow smoothly.
“Which department are you in?”
“I’m in the music department.”
“I was in the practical arts department. We could have met if we were in the same department.”
“That’s right.”
After a beat, the answer came back. The initial awkwardness had greatly faded, and we were casually chatting like very ordinary senior and junior when people who finished their interviews started to come out one by one. Of course, Jun was among them.
“Hyung, did you finish well? Ah. Nice to meet you for the first time……”
“Nice to meet you.”
Jun, who knew only me, naturally walked over here, but paused briefly when he discovered Jigu standing next to me. It seemed he was taken aback by the unfamiliar face as he was greeting and looked at me.
“We just met. He said he attends the high school I graduated from.”
“Oh, so you know each other?”
“Well, not exactly.”
“You’re from the same school, but you’ve never seen each other before?”
“We never really had a reason to meet.”
I was wondering what to do about Jigu, who seemed a bit uncomfortable with the sudden presence, but thankfully, Jun’s sociability came into play here as well.
“Hello. Are you older than me?”
“If you’re younger than nineteen.”
“Then you’re older. Can I call you hyung?”
“Yes.”
“Did you do well in the interview, hyung?”
He’s really like a sponge. I was wondering if he would end up making conversation with all the participants here. After exchanging a few words, the two of them, who seemed to have dispelled the awkwardness, looked back at me at the same time. Although we’re only supposed to see each other today, I’ve already made two acquaintances.
“What are you guys going to do on stage today?”
“Dance.”
“Singing.”
“Wow, confident answers. I’m doing a talent show.”
As Jun, who seemed ready to start dancing right away to show off his performance, heard that we were moving, he quickly returned to his original position.
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