The room they were escorted to was roughly the standard size of an average bedroom in S. Korea. The wall’s were painted in light blue and there were occasional posters plastered onto them of past and present singers. To the far left of the room against the wall, two blue loveseats were positioned. A black lacquered table was deliberately placed in the center with a remote to the karaoke machine and a tattered binder for music selections lying on top. The TV screen used to display the lyrics was next to the entrance. Changsub was the first to sit down so Sungjae quickly made his way to sit next to him. Eunkwang started to peruse the song options listed in the menu binder.

“What do you guys want to sing? Are we going to sing individually or should we try a song together? Eunkwang asked.

“Let’s sing a song each and then if we have time we can try a song out together.” Changsub suggested.

“Okay. I like that.” Eunkwang readily accepted. “Anyone in disagreement?”

Hyunsik nodded in agreement with the idea as did Sungjae although he began to feel anxious. This meant that they would be listening to Sungjae sing a song by himself. It would be the first time he would be exposing his voice to any trainees at Cube. He’d enter Cube just a few month’s ago and barely knew anyone so he had little opportunity to show his abilities besides dancing which he must admit he was quite lacking in. He was a terrible dancer. His confidence was plummeting.

“So the next question would be, who is going first?” Eunkwang asked.

“I vote Sungjae!” Hyunsik answered immediately. “I’m really curious how his singing voice sounds like.”

“I second that.” Changsub replied, smiling at him. Sungjae felt his heart squeeze. He could feel his hand start to shake from nervousness but he was also happy that Changsub wanted to hear him singing.

“Good! I too agree.” Eunkwang said. “Sungjae-ah. What song would you like to sing for us?”

Sungjae’s mind began racing. Changsub would be hearing his singing voice for the first time. He really wanted to impress him so he chose the song that he was most familiar with and knew he  could sing effortlessly. “Please select Kim Dong Ryul’s ‘Thanks’,” Sungjae said.

Okay,” Eunkwang said and pressed some buttons on the remote, entering his song selection.

Sungjae got up from his seat and moved to the center of the room. He grabbed the mic laying on the table, took a deep breath while closing his eyes in an effort to calm his nerves and waited for the music to start. The intro began so he raised the mic just below his mouth and as if he was on autopilot he could hear his voice come out really low and deep. He knew that this song was to his advantage because he had a deep baritone voice. That, and the fact that he really admired the singer of this song and knew most of his songs by heart already.

Sungjae avoided their eyes, afraid that if he did make eye contact that he would make a mistake. He sung the song like he did so many times before in his room. He imagined himself as a young boy singing along with the radio when any of Kim Dong Ryul's songs would play. It was during those times that he found his true self. Mid-way through the song he could hear his voice echoing throughout the entire room. He closed his eyes again to get his bearings right in order to reach the right notes that were coming. It came and he succeeded in reaching the notes. While singing this part he could have sworn he heard a faint exclamation of awe. He hoped that it came from Changsub but he couldn’t be sure. His heart was swelling with pride and happiness at the thought that he had made one of them impressed with his voice. The ending was fast approaching and he prepared himself once again. He concentrated on the music, steadying and lowering his voice to reach all the right notes. A few musical notes played and the song was done. He finally opened his eyes to see the reaction of his small audience. They were awestruck.

“Wow. I didn’t know you had a voice like that!” Eunkwang spluttered. He seemed to have stop breathing during Sungjae’s singing.

Hyunsik was clapping nonstop in wonderment. “You will definitely become a famous singer.”

“Your voice sounds exactly like Kim Dong Ryul’s,” Changsub said with astonishment. “You have an incredible voice. For a moment, I thought Kim Dong Ryul was here singing in front of us.

Sungjae was happy with all the compliments he was receiving. “Thanks you guys but I know there is so much I can improve on.” He looked at Changsub when saying this, trying to throw out hints beforehand.

“Did I really sound like him? He’s a singer that I’ve greatly admired since I was a kid. I purposely sung the song to sound like him and it seems like I succeeded.” Sungjae smiled contentedly while taking his seat beside Changsub again.

Changsub looked over at him and gave him a thumbs up. “You were great! Exactly like him,” Changsub said. Sungjae heart soared. This had to be the greatest night of his life.

“So, who will be next?” Hyunsik said.

“Let’s do rock-paper-scissors!” Eunkwang said, “Like we always do.”

“Okay!” They all said in unison and they eagerly gathered together in hopes of beating out each other to sing next.

Sungjae sat back, relieved that he had gotten it out of the way and received good results overall. He had no regrets in coming tonight. Sungjae could feel that he was one step closer in achieving his goal. He monitored the three enthusiastically playing rock-paper-scissor’s to discover who was the next singer. Within a few minute’s they had their next singer and had come to a decision of who would be next after. It would be Hyunsik first, then Changsub and finally Eunkwang.

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Hello Melodies and possibly other fan readers! Two days have passed and like I promised in the last chapter, here is the next chapter. How do you like the story thus far? If you guys have any suggestions, please list them in the comment section. I may use them later on if I like them. :) I actually have two other fanfiction's that I begun months ago but never finished...I will probably work on thoses once I finish this whenever that is. lol This one kind of sprung up on me and I really liked the first chapter that I wrote and wanted to share it. Hence, my first online fanfiction! XD