10 ǁ Lead Role

Your eyes were glued to the projector screen as a wave of emotions crashed through you. As much as you didn't want to believe your eyes, the sound of his name being passed through the whole room just didn't allow you to. But in the end, you still trusted Yoseob-sunbae. There must have seen some sort of mistake. Suddenly, you felt a tap on your shoulder.

Turning around in your seat, you saw both Daehyun and Youngjae donning a worried expression.

"Hana are you alright?" You nodded your head slightly towards Daehyun who nodded back, but your frown never left your face.

"I'm sure there's something more to it. Yoseob-sunbae wouldn't do something like that. Especially not to you," Youngjae assured. At this, you widened your eyes.

"Ye! I was thinking the same thing. Sunbae wouldn't do this."

Youngjae's four words 'especially not to you' kept replaying in Daehyun's head and before he knew it, his face was masked with a scowl. But of course, this change in expression did not go unnoticed by his best buddy.

"Well, someone's angry about this. From that scowl on his face, I can tell he's going to hunt down whoever did this and choke them to death."

Daehyun looked at him a bit startled. *Really? I was scowling?* He had no idea.  "Well, of course we'll hunt down the person behind all this! Don't worry Hana," he smiled. "We've got your back."

You returned a shy smile before returning your attention back to the front. That's when you noticed something while everybody else was too busy murmuring and gossiping amongst themselves. The surveillance video cut off before it captured Yoseob-sunbae leaving the room with the CD. And in this case, you were absolutely certain that he didn't do it, so there was nothing to capture. But apparently, you weren't the only one who noticed this, as a shrill voice shrieked out.

"KIM! HA! NA! How DARE you do something like that!"

Immediately, the whole room went silent as they processed the words they just heard. Even the professor and co-ordinator didn't utter a single word.

You couldn't hide your shocked expression as you looked at the girl, who you didn't really know very well, with wide eyes. "Wha… what do you mean Kyungmi-ssi?"

"Don't you play dumb with me!" she continued to accuse. "Anyone with a brain would be able to see through this scheme of yours!"

Now you were beyond confused. *But… I really didn't do anything!*

Kyungmi ran to the front of the room and rewound the video back to before it was cut off. And this time, everyone saw that there was no substantial evidence showing that their respected Yoseob-sunbaenim had sabotaged you.

"As you can see everyone, someone deliberately meddled with the surveillance tapes and cut it off right after it only showed Yoseob-oppa holding up the disc," she announced. "Someone was trying to frame Yoseob-oppa because she didn't have the confidence in beating Miyun in the composition assignment. And that someone is none other than Kim Hana!" Kyungmi pointed an incriminating finger at you as the whole room gasped and turned to glance at you with piercing eyes.

You tried defending yourself. "N-no! I didn't do that!"

Kyungmi scoffed. "Don't lie! You deliberately handed in a broken CD and then made Yoseob-oppa your scapegoat! Is that how you repay all the kindness he has shown you?! Yoseob-oppa even helped you during the auditions, you scheming witch!"

"No! I wouldn't do that to anyone. Especially not to Yoseob-sunbae!" you cried. But it was no use. Because by now, practically the whole class had begun to turn on you. Everywhere you looked, there was someone shooting you a dirty look. And there were endless insults being thrown at you.

Both Daehyun and Youngjae were starting to get frustrated at how ridiculous the situation was becoming. Because honestly, you were way too naiive and innocent to pull off anything like that. Not like you needed to anyway, since they've seen your talent first-hand.

Daehyun glared at all the students. "Hana did not do it! So stop accusing her!"

"Obviously someone is trying to sabotage Hana whilst framing her as well," Youngjae added.

But the girls' hatred towards you seemed to increase only.

"Why are oppas defending her? She's not worth it!"

"What spell has she cast on Daehyun-oppa and Youngjae-oppa?!"

"That evil witch!"

An involuntary tear slid down your cheek as you tried to stop your tears from flowing. You turned over to your right. "Miyun, you believe me, right?"

You expected her to defend you, to tell everyone that it was all a mistake and that you were innocent. But instead, she shot you a disappointed and slightly disgusted look. "I can't believe you would stoop so low like that, Hana! I thought you were going to compete with me fairly!"

"QUIET!" the co-ordinator bellowed. "There will be no misconduct of such in our college! I do NOT want to hear another accusation coming out of anyone's mouth!" He turned to your Professor. "What do you think of this calamity, Professor?"

She sighed before glancing at you. "I believe Kim Hana-haksaeng is innocent. She is not the kind of person who would do something like this and I most certainly refuse to believe that she would do so just to win the lead role. Kim Hana is an exceptionally talented student."

You sent your Professor a grateful look, who smiled back at you comfortingly.

"If she's really all that talented, then it shouldn't be a problem for her to perform her composition right here and now, should it?" a boy taunted. He smirked at you. "So why don't you get up there and show us what you've got?"

Again, the whole class joined in and practically dared you to get up there and show everyone what you 'don't have'. Before Daehyun could even open his mouth to defend you, you stood up abruptly, causing your seat to screech.

"Then I will do just that!" you said. "I will perform right now."

Grabbing your precious guitar from the store room, you made your way to the front and took a seat. You gulped as you readied your guitar, staring straight into the glowering faces of the class. It was much more nerve-wracking when the whole class was glaring at you and was waiting for you to stuff up. You gaze fixed onto two certain goofballs who were obviously trying to cheer you up by making funny faces and mouthing 'Hwaiting!' while pumping their fists. You smiled and were thankful for their efforts. A surge of confidence soared through you as you begun strumming at your strings, playing the introduction to your song.

You blocked out everything from your world so that there was only you and your guitar. This way, you only concentrated on pouring out all your emotions as you sang your heart out. *This song… sings about my life. This is what I have experienced, that no one would be able to understand. This is my story.* You were so immersed in your own world that you didn't even notice the students had fallen silent during your performance, rather than jeering throughout like you expected them to. Slowly, you opened your eyes as you plucked the final few notes.

For a few seconds, there was no response, which got you worrying a little. *Did I do… really badly?* Suddenly, the Professor and coordinator started clapping. And of course, so did Daehyun and Youngjae who were grinning ecstatically. *She's done it again* was all they thought. Soon enough, the whole class joined in the applaud, despite their reluctance. They were impressed with your performance, but were still blaming you for framing Yoseob-sunbae.

"Excellent work as always, Hana-haksaeng," the Professor praised.

You shyly smiled. "Thank you." Returning to your seat, you risked a glance at Miyun. You sighed. She was ignoring you. But was that a vexed expression you saw on her face?

"Hana, you were awesome up there!" you heard Youngjae's excited voice. "I got goosebumps by just listening to you sing."

Without warning, a hand reached out to ruffle your hair. "Ah, Daehyun!" you whined before sulking a little. He just chuckled at your cuteness.

"But seriously, that sounded way better than your already perfect recording. We were all mesmerised by you."

You felt relieved that the co-ordinator interrupted the two of you right there and then because a blush was creeping up to your face. "Alright class, we have assessed both performances and have come to a conclusion," he announced, attracting the attention of every soul in the room.

"Before we announce the victor of today's competition, we would like to say that we are proud of housing such talents in the form of Kang Miyun and Kim Hana. Both of you have promising futures in this field and I am sure either of you would do well as the female leading role. However, we have come to a decision. The winner of this year's female auditions is…"

… Kang Miyun."

*Plan B, success.*

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Nooooooooooo why Kang Miyun you stupid co-ordinator! *Yes I know I wrote the story but I'm still angry at him hahaha :P*

Sorry guys if you thought it was going to be Hana. Love you all ^^