your eyes darted around the room, taking everything in. from the baby blue walls to the white floors that you could almost see your reflection in, you had to admit, it was a weird lobby. there were at least thirty people in the room, all holding slips of paper nervously, which at least meant you'd come to the right place.
at the sound of the doors opening, a desk clerk that looked to be somewhere in her mid-fifties beckoned you over with a smile. you nervously walked up, giving other people nods as they looked at you curiously.
"are you here for the audition?" the lady's voice was sweet and made you feel just that little bit calmer listening to her. you nodded in response, and she smiled warmly before typing a few things into a computer. "what's your name?"
"jung nari," you said, running a hand over the back of your neck. the desk clerk typed your name into the computer and the printer beside it responded quickly by spitting out a slim piece of paper.
she handed it to you with a smile. "when your number is called, follow the staff down the hall. we apologize for what looks like will be a long wait." she gave a small bow that you returned before sitting back down.
you turned around, looking for a seat. the lobby clearly wasn't built to hold this many people at once, since it only had two sets of small couches surrounding a small table on either side of the room. it gave you the feeling that they were used more for decoration than anything else.
deciding you would have no luck finding a seat, you leant against a wall as someone with the number 16 was called out. you checked your slip of paper. 21. at least you wouldn't have long to wait; these people must be early.
you thought about random things for a while before you heard a young man's voice shout your number from the door some of the other people had retreated through. you jumped before quickly moving over to the doors and followed the staff member down the hall. you passed another girl on the way, who looked absolutely crestfallen. this did not raise your hopes or calm your racing heart at all.
the staff member stopped in front of an open door, beckoning you inside. you gulped before heading inside. it was a rather large dance practice room with a table set up on one side facing the door. there was three people sitting at the table. one was a man that looked to be in his late thirties, but appeared to be balding slightly already. the other two were women, and one didn't look that much older than you was fiddling with a camera that was set up on a stand on her left. the last member looked to be the oldest; a woman in her forties. she looked rather kind, as did all of them. you just hoped that was actually the case.
the older woman fingered her way through some papers, flicking her brown hair out of her eyes before kindly smiling back up at you. "jung nari, is it?"
you felt like you couldn't really trust your voice at the moment so you just nodded.
the other woman finished fiddling with the camera and smiled sweetly. "no need to be nervous. we're not exactly the world's scariest judges. for example, jungmin over there might look intimidating but this morning i found him outside my office asking me to kill a fly that was in his office for him." you laughed as the male judge shot a playful glare at her before she continued. "what song are you going to perform for us today?"
the easy atmosphere the youngest judge had eased the room into made it much easier for you to calm down. "Gashina by Sunmi. it's a song my sister chose for me." you admitted with a small smile.
"ah, your sister has good taste. well, feel free to get yourself ready, and just nod when you want me to start the track." the younger judge said. she must be the chatty one.
you smiled back politely before shrugging off your coat and putting it down on the other side of the room. you swallowed your nerves as you crouched down onto the floor for the starting position. you shook your head to clear some of your anxiety before nodding to the judge. she smiled back before playing the music.
you danced and sung as best you could through the first verse, but the other two judges looked kinda bored. time to pull some of that charisma hoseok was talking about...
"are you crazy, stupid, or both? this pretty girl why you leaving her?" the male judge known as jungmin gasped with the younger judge. you resisted the temptation to break into a grin at their reactions. you were on a roll, and you had to keep it rolling until the end.
"alright, i'm gonna forget that i loved you, living like a flower i'm special," at this point you couldn't help but enjoy yourself. you dully noticed all your anxiety fading away to the uplifting lyrics of the song and dance.
before you knew it, the song was over. you shook your head out a bit and ran a hand through your hair. you were a bit dizzy, but through the slight haze you could hear the judges applauding for you. you took a bow before grabbing your coat and heading out at the signal of the judges. by the looks of things, you'd done a good job, at least.