OST 10

One month and a half before the breaking news regarding Howon…

The time for the monthly evaluation had come. Jiyeon seated nervously in the assessment room, waiting for the arrival of the CEO and a few other staffs that would be watching her performance. Looking up, Jiyeon saw Mijoo was beaming at her a smile of encouragement. She was relieved to see a familiar face there with her.

The time ticked sharply at 10 when the group of higher up staffs came in led by CEO Lee Soojung. She looked elegant that day, showing a completely different image from when Jiyeon first saw her as the chief director came at her house personally, asking to recruit Jiyeon in the company. Jiyeon wasn’t sure if Soojung was the right person that she knew her sister Jiae had a crush on or a different person.

Along the line of staffs, Jiyeon also spotted Kim Minjun PD as well as Ryu Sujeong and Jin. She was awfully glad and happy to see people she’s familiar around with were going to watch her performance but anxious at the same time. What if Jiyeon messed the performance?

The CEO grabbed and held a microphone, her voice then burst out through the speaker. “Let’s begin the monthly assessment now. I’m calling trainee Kim Jiyeon to come out forward and introduced yourself as well as the song you’re going to show us.”

Jiyeon breathed in deeply, steadying her fast-beating heart. She finally came forward and faced the line of panels and microphone in her grip. She bowed down to the judges firstly and said. “Hello, I am trainee Kim Jiyeon. The performance I’m going to show today is a sing and dance performance, a song by Ailee sunbaenim – I’ll Show You.”

The judges nodded their heads at the choice of song as Sujeong was staring at the trainee proudly. Coincidentally Jiyeon also was looking at her and their eyes met. The former girl gestured a hand movement as she mouthed “good luck”. Jiyeon nodded her head while smiling gratefully.

“You may now start your performance,” old man Minjun said as he put the microphone down back on his side.

[Background music: Ailee’s I’ll Show You]

The music began to play and Jiyeon started to sing subsequently. The trainee had made a great choice by choosing a song from a solo singer like Ailee, also thanks to Mijoo for that.

When the chorus part came, Jiyeon started to move stronger. She had to work hard and dance to the choreography carefully so she wouldn’t mess up. The judges were seemed to be enjoying the performance when they started to bounce their heads. Smiles were creeping up on Minjun PD as well as Jin’s faces with few others, leaving the 2Soojungs remained expressionless. They avoided being biased and judged on the performance fairly. They took note of what Jiyeon did best and worst in and would comment about them later.

The song was perfectly fitting for Jiyeon to boost her confidence. It’s like she really wanted to show her real self and talents to the world, left the people watching her jaw dropping. Deep down in her heart, Suejong silently praised Jiyeon did really well.

End of performance, Jiyeon stood straight while waiting for the comments coming from the judges. The first one to go was Kim Minjun PD. With the microphone in his hand, he spoke. “Miss Kim Jiyeon. What a perfect choice of song!” Jiyeon beamed a smile and bowed down while thanking him.

“Your dancing skill really improved. You also pull of the song well with your amazing singing skill. Although you were off key at a point, I believe time will make you perfect and you will nail it in the future,” he added in his comment.

The microphone then was passed to Jin as a senior singer and would soon be Jiyeon’s teammate. “Overall, the performance is really enjoyable and you did really well. Although you also did really well with the dance, I wish you could show more. Maybe it’s even better to separate dancing and singing performance,” Myungeun commented. Jiyeon took a mental note of her senior’s words and would ensure that she would choose different songs for different categories in her next evaluation.

The last person to comment was the CEO herself. She began to speak. “Miss Jiyeon, I watched the performance well.” The trainee said thanks as she was nervously looking at her. “Like the two previous judges said, you’re undoubtedly a good singer and you deliver the performance well with your singing and dancing skill.”

“You were really good,” she added. “However, I cannot help but notice a few things you did bad in the performance.”

The hell comments were about to come, Jiyeon thought.

“Firstly, you were off key when doing the high note. But okay, it’s still forgivable since this is your first assessment. But you better fix that next time and nail it perfectly. We’re giving you a chance of debuting, don’t let us down. Second, the dance is a little weak and to say you’re a really good dancer might be an overstatement.” The second comment was causing the people around to buzz and question the CEO’s judgment, including Minjun, Jin and Mijoo. Sujeong had no other choice but to agree with the older Soojung. But Lee Soojung being Lee Soojung ignoring the whispers and resumed her comments.

“Last, I think you were too focused with the performance that I noticed you haven’t really enjoyed your own stage. Maybe you were so busy to keep up with the choreography and maintained your energy as well as perfecting your singing, so you forgot to entertain yourself by enjoying your own performance. If you want to deliver the performance and the message of the song, you have to do it right!”

Jiyeon closed her stung eyes that as she tried adapting all the negative comments she just received from CEO Lee. She had no energy to defend herself and somehow, she actually agreed with all the words thrown at her. Jiyeon admitted her mind was too distracted with the words ‘I have to do well’ repeatedly that she forgot to make eye contacts with her judges. She failed to show her real self.

“But don’t think about the negative things too much. Take it as a booster for your next performance as a hope to do it amazingly. I might say your overall result for this month’s assessment is good.” The CEO spoke her last words of encouragement before ending the evaluation. Jiyeon could finally put on a smile after receiving the supports from the distant CEO. “Thank you!” she uttered while bowing down.

While the panels including Mijoo on their way out