Kiseop walked into the auditorium, pushing his dark hair out of his eyes as he set his bag down on a seat before flopping down onto the cold fabric, settling himself down somewhere that wasn’t littered with people that laughed and joked like getting called-back for a second audition was a regular thing. He slid his headphones on and slowly allowed the acoustic music to fill his ears. “Excuse me,” a soft, high-pitched, rather feminine voice that sent confusion running through him for a moment before he looked up at the voice that had cut through the bass-dominated music he listened to.

He opened his eyes slowly, blinking before instantly recoiling into his seat. The boy … was it a boy? No … man that towered over him was thin. His cheekbones were prominent, but the scariest thing about him, Kiseop noted, was the bone-thing hand that he used to reach around Kiseop to grab the scarlet blazer that melded so well with the seat under it.

“Yah! Seoppie! Why didn’t you wait for me!?” Kiseop sighed softly as Soohyun's voice reached him just a moment before a fist sent him flying face-first into the seat in front of him. “Hyung!” he sputtered out indignantly as he straightened himself before plucking his fallen iPod from the ground.

“Mianhae,” the older boy grinned cheerfully as he dropped into the seat beside Kiseop. “As if …” the younger brunette muttered, his voice turning mutinous as he wiped the none-existent dust and dirt from the screen of his iPod before rubbing the shoulder that had started to throb after being slammed into by Soohyun.

-              -            -

Three hours later, Kiseop shifted in his seat, worry crossing his otherwise-perfect facial features as the names that were called edged closer and closer to his. Beside him, Soohyun continued to humour himself silently, appearing to be completely unconcerned at his impending doom. “Hyung … aren’t you worried?” Kiseop asked, disbelief colouring his features as he stared at the older brunette. Soohyun opened his mouth to reply, just as the well-dressed man walked into the auditorium and announced something that made Kiseop cower in his seat.

“Lee Kiseop,”

The words made Kiseop curse and swear for a full twenty seconds before he rose shakily and left the older boy on his own. “Seoppie hwaiting!” Soohyun whispered, taking care not to break the tension-filled silence that had fallen over the entire room. The only reply he got, for all his efforts, was a tight squeeze on his hand that Kiseop gave him a moment before he stepped out of the light and into the darkness.

“I really hope you make it,” Soohyun whispered softly to himself, his dark eyes filling with emotion as he looked at the retreating shadow of Kiseop that became decreasingly distinguishable from the dark shadows around him with every step.

-              -            -

Kiseop stepped into the room, thanking the short woman that opened the door for him before turning to face the three people that kept their posture upright and stern as he bowed in greeting to them. “A-Annyeonghaseyo,” he greeted nervously before straightening himself and forcing himself to relax. ‘Relax … Kiseop … you can do this … just be … natural,’ he told himself as he offered the lone woman at the table a small, shy smile that sent colour to both their cheeks.

“Lee Kiseop?” she asked, and he nodded, before answering their questions; his voice quiet but concrete. “Alright … I think that’s enough, don’t you?” the red-haired man asked, and the woman beside him nodded carefully, her dark eyes scanning through the sheet of paper in her hands.

“Yes … I think it is,” she muttered to herself before re-arranging her papers and looking back up at him, an encouraging smile plastered onto her cheeks. Mentally, Kiseop could already see the blade run through his neck, ‘I’m not going to make it … I’m really not going to,’ he told himself, the realisation shattering him into a million splinters.

Please read and review! ^_^