old cigarettes | min yoongi

xxviii.

from: noreply@.tenstar.com

to: jungnari58@.wowemails.com

subject: 10 Star: Auditions

congratulations! if you are receiving this email, you were successful in your audition. please go to the same address as before at 8am in a week's time to start filming and meet your fellow contestants. best of luck during the competition!

~

a week after you'd gotten your acceptation email, you stood in front of the building, heart hammering. if there was one thing that gave you severe anxiety, it was meeting large groups of people all at once. since all the other contestants were going to come in today as well, this was no exception.

looking up at the towering skyscraper, it looked like it went up past the clouds. you'd never really had the opportunity to go in a building even half the size of this, except for the one time where your parents had taken you to work one day during the holidays because you really wanted to see what they were doing. of course, once little eight year old you saw how much blood was involved, you made the sound decision that your grandparents' music shop was a lot better.

well, it's now or never, you thought, taking a steadying breath before stepping inside. the lobby looked the same as it did last time, with its weird baby blue walls and white floors. a small group of other girls and guys sat nervously on a line of chairs that had been added, which they should have done last time. they must be the other contestants.

all except for one, as you were soon to find out. you heard the sliding doors open behind you and you turned around to be greeted by what looked like the poster child for "high school bitch." she had blonde hair that was done to perfection and striking blue eyes bolded by ten layers of makeup.

"excuse me," she started in what was probably the most annoying voice you'd ever heard, "if you'd stop looking at me like a stunned catfish, i need to get to my performance so i can win." she pushed passed you, not waiting for an answer and you got a whiff of some of the strongest perfume on the planet.

as you choked a bit in her wake, she sashayed up to the desk, all of the other contestants' eyes on her. most had looks of surprise, but a few had looks of disgust. you were one of the disgusted ones. who thinks they can just walk in, acting like they've won and own the whole place?

the desk clerk looked up at her, and then her gaze strayed back to you at the door. she clasped her hands before standing up. "brilliant! everyone's here. i'll take you in to the coordinator. follow me, please." she gathered up a small stack of papers and went bustling through a set of doors on her left. the rude one from before sashayed after her immediately, her perfume smell trailing behind her as if she were a skunk.

you and the other contestants looked at each other before shrugging and heading on after the desk clerk. even from a meter or two away, you could still smell that girl's perfume, and at this point, it was starting to give you a headache. it wasn't long before the desk clerk in front of her opened a small door, signaling you all in.

the room was quite large, and its white walls made it seem bigger. it had two round couches facing each other to almost form a circle with a small table in the middle, and that was pretty much it. the only nice thing about it were the floor to ceiling windows. which might have been quite spectacular provided you were a few more floors up. but since you were only on the ground floor, you got a nice view of the street and of passing cars.

"please wait here a moment while i get mr. sagong, the coordinator. feel free to talk amongst yourselves," the desk clerk politely bowed, her dark hair falling into her face, before walking out. the room delved into awkward silence.

one of the girls nervously laughed, drawing all attention to her. "should we introduce ourselves?" she fiddled nervously with the hem of her wool sweater.

"that sounds like a go-" one of the guys started to say, but was cut off by the skunk girl as she flopped down onto one of the couches. "oh, please. save the pleasantries. we're not meant to be friends."

you scowled at her. the temptation to smack her against the wall was growing with each passing second. "in your opinion at least," you tried not to make it sound like venom was dripping from your words, "some of us would quite like to get to know each other."

she scowled right back at you. "oh, look. it's the catfish from before, trying to act all lovey dovey."

you looked so pissed off and angry that one of the girls who was standing close to you shuffled away slightly. your glares gave off a more cold anger, as if you wouldn't hesitate to pull a knife out of your pocket any moment.

"now, now," one of the other boys said, standing in between the two of you with a nervous laugh, "let's not fight on our first day. i'll start by introducing myself. i'm ka donghyeon, nice to meet you!" he said, ending with a bow that made his fluffy hair flop about. his introduction seemed to ease the tension in the room a bit, and everyone started following suit. there were five boys and five girls including yourself, but you didn't remember all their names.

"i'm mo minjae," said the girl from before who suggested introducing yourselves, looking at the ground sheepishly.

you felt bad to see her looking so terrified so you tried to lighten your look at her a bit. "i'm jung nari. i hope we get along well." she looked up at you and gave you a weak smile. you grinned back at her. for some strange reason, minjae sort of reminded you of jin-ae, if jin-ae didn't have what looked like bad anxiety.

just then, the door opened, and all of you turned around to see who you presumed was mr. sagong, the head of this program, or the coordinator as the desk clerk addressed him as.