//2011, LATE JANUARY//

YG ENTERTAINMENT HQ, MAPO-GU, SEOUL.  

Sooyun had finally made it into the building after answering tons of questions. She was aware that she couldn’t just walk into the building with her school uniform at 9 o’clock, so she brought the copy of her documents she had sent to the office along with the invitation to let her pass the security guard.

The other girls waited outside the building were looking at her suspiciously when the security let her through.

“Skipping class for this, Miss?” The security asked her casually.

She just thanked the security for let her through and left at once.

Now she was hovering in the lobby, captivated by the artworks displayed all over the building before she found the receptionist table.

“Good morning Miss, how can I help you?” The woman behind the receptionist table asked her.

“Good morning, um, I have this appointment for the interview-“ she paused and handed her documents to the woman.

She checked her documents and made a call before she told her where to go and waited for the interview. Sooyun thanked her before she left.

“I think she’s a trainee” The woman talked to her friend behind the receptionist table. Sooyun couldn’t hear more as the lift door moved open and she rushed in, with the other people waited for the lift before her. She felt her body tensed inside the stuffed lift. She was probably the shortest among them since she was even struggling to breathe.

A voice startled her.

“Miss, are you going for the audition?”

She turned her head and found a woman was looking softly at her, next to her was probably her son, slightly at the same age as her.

“No, Ma’am” She answered politely.

“She’s wearing a uniform Mom, there’s no way she also goes for the audition” Her son talked shortly.

The woman  took a closer look at her and found out about her school. Sooyun felt weird when people were looking at her thoroughly and she hoped the door would open soon.

“Taehyuna, don’t talk that way-“ The woman scolded her son. “they’re not looking for a rude trainee”

“that’s okay Ma’am” She felt sorry for her son that he was scolded because of her.

The boy was now looking at her, as if he was mad at her and it made Sooyun felt uneasy.

“I’m sorry kid, he’s just nervous, he isn’t-“ The woman apologized for no reason when her son cut her out,

“Mom, can you just stop telling everyone about this, please?”

The woman was about to talk again when the lift stopped and the door moved open at once. Sooyun bowed at the woman and left to where she waited for the interview when the woman and her son walked the opposite direction as her. Sooyun could hear the woman was still scolding her son from afar. She felt even sorry for him.

//

After waited for about an hour, finally a woman came out and called her in.

Sooyun was so nervous she could hear her own heartbeat as she walked into the bright room, with many artworks she would love and enjoy if she wasn’t going for an interview.

“Relax kid, Mr. Park is not that scary, you look like you’re going to meet the death.” The woman comforted her.

Sooyun was a bit relieved to know that it wasn’t Mr. Yang Hyun Suk whom she was about to meet. The woman asked her to sit on a chair in front of the empty desk with other chairs at the other side of the desk.

“wait for a second, the meeting has just ended and they will be here soon”

Sooyun bowed and thanked the woman before she left the room. Sooyun could hear the woman greeted someone from afar and she started to feel uneasy.

She was fixing her ponytail when two men and a woman came in, Sooyun bowed as soon as she saw them.

“Wow, there you are” One of the men greeted her.

They sat before her and separated by the desk.

“are you fine? You look so pale right now” the woman asked her softly.

Sooyun was startled and was about to answer when the other man talked,

“wow, does she remind you of someone as pale as her at the first interview?” the man giggled.

“okay , okay, let’s just start this if you’re fine, so are you?” the woman asked her again.

“Yes Ma’am, I’m fine.” She answered cautiously.

The woman smiled at her and turned her head at the others before the interview officially started.

//

Sooyun couldn’t really think clear when the interviewers wanted her to make a very simple music in three hours. She was still collecting her thoughts when the woman stood up, followed by the rest.

“okay, let’s go to the training room, there will be enough equipments to help you” She said at once.

Sooyun stood up before they started to move and  followed them to the training room they had mentioned earlier.

She had been doing this for more than a year now, and it always felt good to make a new music, but now it was different, she should make a music that would change her life and the thought of it made her dizzy.

After a minute of walking, they finally stopped in front of a door. Sooyun could see through the huge glass window the recording room and a separated space next to it filled with the recording equipments.

“I know you’re very nervous about this, but, I hope you can still do your best, take this seriously but also enjoy it so your work will come out great” The woman suggested as she opened the door.

They went into the room filled with recording equipments and they let Sooyun to take her place, not in front of the sophisticated recording panels, but behind a desk with a computer, a MIDI keyboard and a set of speakers on it, just like how she usually did it, except that she only used MIDI keyboard when she was at her teacher’s studio in States.

“This is where our trainees usually made their own music” one of the man said shortly as he turned the computer on.

“Take your time and let me know once you’ve finished” The woman told Sooyun.

Sooyun nodded and moved to her seat.

“Tell Ms. Song if you need anything-“ she paused, “The woman whom you met earlier, she will be here in a moment, and you can call me Sunbae instead of Ma’am” The other giggled before she stared at them.

“okay, good luck then, I know you can do this”

They left Sooyun staring at the computer in front of her.

Outside the room, the interviewers talked about her interview.

“I like her” The woman told the others.

//

Sooyun was totally absorbed in making the music she didn’t realize that she had just spent her two hours replacing and synchronizing the plugins. It was nearly impossible to make a perfect music in just three hours long, she thought.

She already got the melody, beats and rhythms right, for them were the backbone of her music, she spent most of her first hour in them before she moved into adding the bassline and bass rhythm.  Got stuck in making the beat and bass rhythm worked together at first, she almost lose her hope, yet she still tried to make them worked together, just then she started to add some additional rhythms worked with the main one to support the effect she desired. She felt a bit at ease when finally layered in the harmony using the VST instruments available at the workstation, her work was almost done. She started to play with her music, mixed the sounds and listened to it. She kept redoing things in her last hour to make it perfect.

She was still mixing her sound when the door suddenly opened. Her heart skipped a beat when Mr. Yang Hyun Suk came in with  the interviewers. Sooyun stood up and bowed at once.

The interviewers were exchanging look when Mr. Yang Hyun Suk looked at them.

“Well, how does it work, Sooyun-ssi?” Mr. Yang Hyun Suk greeted her while checking her documents.

She collected her thoughts and answered cautiously, “The equipments and all help me a lot, but, I’m sorry Sir, I haven’t finished it yet-“ She lost on her words due to her nervousness. “I-I...”

“That’s fine, let’s just listen to what three hours mean to you” Mr. Yang Hyun Suk said shortly.

A man came into the room bringing the chairs for them when Sooyun gave the music her last touch right before they were seated and, she played it right away after Mr. Yang Hyun Suk nodded at her.

[The room was filled with her music]

Sooyun prayed as she watched them listening to her music. She was focused on Mr. Yang Hyun Suk and the interviewers facial expression, tried to guess their thoughts about her music.

The music finally reached its end before Mr. Yang Hyun Suk opened his eyes. She was so tense she couldn’t feel her own feet on the ground.

“Well, your music already has what we call style, it will be better with some more practices” Mr. Yang Hyun Suk said shortly. He turned his head at the interviewers, “anyone have thoughts for the music?”

One of the interviewers spoke after Mr. Yang Hyun Suk let him, “You said that you hadn’t finished yet, but it just sounds like you have finished it, that’s good”

Mr. Yang Hyun Suk seemed to agree with him. He  let other interviewers to speak but they just smiled at her.

“Okay then, we’re settled here. You can go home and wait for the result, Ms. Song will contact you within 3 days.”  He paused, “Thank you for your time” Mr. Yang Hyun Suk simply thanked her before he left, followed by the interviewers. The room was empty again and she collapsed on her feet, relieved.

//

Sooyun left the recording room after Ms. Song came and handed her another documents to be filled. She was relieved and worried at the same time when she walked pass the training rooms. Would she make it through this time? With the music she had made earlier, it wasn’t her best, but she had bet her future on it, would it be enough to show them just how she wanted this so badly.

She was about to reach the lift when she stopped to listen someone was singing from a nearby training room. She moved a bit and saw the boy she had seen earlier was auditioned. She could hear him singing from outside since the door was slightly opened. Through the glass window she could see his tense expression in spite of his stable voice. She looked around to find his mother but she wasn’t anywhere to be seen. The music ended and so did his performance. She was looking at him when he turned his head at her, dazed, she left right away.

She had just got into the empty lift when someone held the door and there he was, got into the lift as well. Sooyun remained stiff at the corner of the lift with her mixed feelings.

“What are you auditioned for?” The boy’s sudden talk got her by surprise even though he hadn’t turned his head a bit.

“Not a singer” she said shortly.

“well, good luck then” He said as the lift door moved open.

He left just like that.

//