THE APÉRITIF 2
« Project Dream4U » « Ready For Broadcast »MARCH 5, 2020
Miran buried her hands in her hair as she bent over the many many open files on the conference table. It was bad enough that this inconvenient pandemic pushed the shooting and thus airing date of her show back by a month, there were so many holes in the cast it looked like a swiss cheese.
“It’ll be okay, boss,” Tali said, standing in the doorway. “You’ll figure something out.”
“How am I supposed to figure something out when the rejections were sent out two months ago and suddenly I have at least 3 holes to replace. Two of the girls are stuck in China, one of them is in a hospital in Japan, and another pulled out at the first scent of trouble!” Her golden goose too. A beauty, ex-yg trainee, and a child actress to boot. “Please tell me the American was in Korea before the borders closed?”
Tali perked up. “Yes! She arrived here last week and has been in quarantine since. I believe Sungmin put her up in a hotel with some Korean classes but of course those were cancelled.”
Ahh yes, her assistant Sungmin who managed to get himself stuck in Japan while attempting to the wonderful ex-AKB girl she would have loved to have had in her girl group. Now not only were they short someone but also they were short a connection to Japan that would have paid for itself. She rubbed her temples to stave off the tension headache she felt building. Just when she needed an assistant most, the bastard got himself infected. Tali was doing her very best to help but she was hardly a secretary or office assistant. “Tell me who we still have,” Miran motioned with a hand. “Lay it out for me so I can think.”
“I contacted the TikToker last week and she’s still up for it,” Tali said. “Big Hit is still sending their trainee, and the Produce girl is still there too. And there’s the American, Bernadetta. Oh, as is the high schooler, Kan Eunhui?”
Okay. The Hybe girl was still there, she would at least create some media play but she was sorely feeling the loss of Starship's trainee. She was very relieved the TikToker was still on board as she had both a decent sized following and a gorgeous face to get her more. As for the American, well, Miran would be so lucky as to create a Lucy 2.0. She had been the one to push for Lucy’s inclusion in Produce 99, one of the last things she did as a Helix employee. With a bit of luck she could strike that same gold again, and this time with an even prettier girl.
“Wasn’t there another ex-YG trainee?” Tali asked, looking through the folders strewn on the table.
Right, there had been. “Choi Yeowool, if I remember correctly.” Miran also remembered exactly why she hadn’t wanted her. One ‘97 liner was bad enough for a youthful concept group, but the TikToker had been too good to pass up. She hadn’t wanted her group to schew too old. That being said, she could use another experienced trainee and maybe this girl still had some name recognition as a Pinkpunk girl, though lord knew there seemed to be a thousand of them dotted around.
“What about the Cube girl?” Tali wondered.
“The half-Japanese one?” Miran made a face. “Too political. The last thing we want is the nationalists on our case.”
“What about the girl from that disbanded group? She has experience,” Tali proposed.
Miran cocked her head. She hadn’t wanted any nugus originally (if they couldn’t make it on their own before she saw no reason why they should be now) but the girl did have a very good voice and now that her Chinese nightingale was out of the question she had a hole to fill. She rubbed her temples some more. She had planned the original lineup so carefully, made so sure that each of them complimented each other and there were no gaps in their skills and now where was she? Was Kan Eunhui still the best option amongst the high school aged auditionees anymore? She had lost complete control over the big picture.
“Oh! Yuehua offered to replace their trainee who’s stuck in China with another Chinese girl who’s already training in Korea,” Tali said. “They say she’s an excellent dancer.”
“Fine," Miran conceded. Beggars couldn't be choosers. There are never enough dancers in a group nowadays. She realised with annoyance that she was starting to sound petty. She sat up and squared her shoulders. "Okay, we'll take her."
Tali's work phone rang with a loud rendition of SHINee's Ring Ding Dong. Miran raised a single questioning eyebrow. "No idea," Tali answered. She opened the door to take it outside stepped back with a yell. She'd nearly collided with a nervous-looking besuited woman holding a clip-board. Miran looked her up and down. “What’s your name?”
The young woman -for she could see now that she couldn’t be older than her mid-twenties- gulped. “K-Kim Soojin,” she stammered.
“What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a translator,” she said, hands fluttering nervously.
Miran narrowed her eyes. “Have you ever done any office work of any kind?”
“Y-yes, briefly,” Soojin answered.
“Do you want a job? I’m in need of an assistant."
"H-here?" She looked even more nervously at the halls of Helix Entertainment.
"Yes, here. Tali, give her the phone."
Tali gave the phone to Soojin, who took it with a very confused look and picked up. "Hello, eh?" She looked with panic at Tali.
"Jung Miran's assistant," Tali stage-whispered.
"Jung Miran's assistant speaking, how may I help you?" There were a series of nods. "Ehm, it's a girl called Kim Hwarin asking if you're still taking auditions?"
Miran thought of it for a moment. "Might as well, tell her to send me a video by noon tomorrow and we'll consider it."
The tension headache was starting to pound against her skull. This project was going to be the death of her but if so then she would have a lineup, any lineup, if it would kill her.
♡
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