Josephine Swan never imagined that her stay in South Korea would lead her into K-Pop's glittering and challenging world. Each day, she encounters new hurdles and adventures that fate has in store for her and her four team members. Between gruelling...
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Curious, I glanced down the long hallway towards the living room. A black-haired Korean man entered my field of vision. He was sitting on our sofa and looked up curiously when I stepped through the door. He appeared to be a man in his mid-twenties, possibly around 27. His clothes consisted of plain black jeans and a plain black shirt. I averted my eyes and pondered with a furrowed brow how I should have known this man. At first glance, he seemed to be a normal Korean. His hair was jet black and slightly wavy. His eyes were dark brown. The only noticeable thing about him was his tattoos. I could see five of them on his two forearms alone. I quickly exchanged my knee-high brown boots for my white slippers before hanging up my coat and setting my bag down next to my door. With slightly trembling legs and looking at the stranger, I finally entered the living room.
Everyone stood up.
"Annyeonghaseyo." I greeted him with a bow and was surprised to find that he was not the only stranger in the room. On the other side of the sofa, standing more in the background was another older unknown Korean. I quickly turned to him and repeated my greeting along with a bow.
"Annyeonghaseyo." they both replied with a respective bow. My gaze wandered over my two roommates who were standing at the kitchen counter, watching our exchange intently. Their eyes kept roaming over the younger of the two guests as if they knew him. Jihe spoke of celebrities on the phone; unfortunately for me, celebrities in South Korea were largely unknown to me. Of course, through my month in Korea and with the help of my two flatmates, certain faces remained in my memory, but they were mainly limited to actors from K-dramas. My main focus was more on learning the language than on the actors.
"We have been expecting you, Miss Swan. We were already afraid we had missed you." the man began to speak from the background and gave me a reassuring smile, causing the tension in the room and my body to drop slightly.
"My name is Lee Taehee. I am the manager of Kwon Ji-yong." he introduced himself and took a long look at his companion. My head turned to Kwon Ji-yong and back to his manager. With long strides, he came towards me and handed me one of his business cards. Curious, I accepted it with both hands and glanced at it.
"And how can I help you two?" I asked quietly, still undecided about the visit. Kwon Ji-yong turned to me, his dark eyes twinkling with interest.
"I heard you singing," he said and I looked at him in irritation. He was only a few inches taller than me, both his ears pierced several times.
"At Luxury Su Noraebang," he explained with a smile and my face brightened minimally before I glanced at my two roommates. Neither seemed surprised, instead, they listened excitedly to our conversation. Their eyes switched back and forth between us, widened with excitement. It seemed they had already enlightened our visitors about our brief visit to the karaoke bar. Warmblood coursed through my cheeks and the situation began to get uncomfortable again.
"Your room was right next to ours and we heard you singing. Very loudly, in fact." my counterpart said, still smiling. His dark eyes wandered over my roommates, then to me. My face was not the only one to turn a now bright red colour. My flatmates turned their faces away in embarrassment.
"You must have started singing early to be able to hit those notes and keep them constant," he said and my eyes widened before I jerkily shook my head and took a few steps back.
"Honestly...this was my first time doing karaoke. I don't usually sing." I replied and his dark eyes looked at me in surprise. He glanced briefly at his manager. Lee Taehee also looked at me with wide eyes.
"You haven't had any musical training before?" he pecked carefully and I just shook my head.
"And you have never sung before this karaoke evening?" Kwon Ji-yong added quietly and again I had to answer in the negative. Their questions began to make me feel uneasy inside and my hands gripped together nervously as I stared uncertainly at the two men.
"Sorry...we didn't mean to alarm you. We're just...a little surprised." Lee Taehee said turning to me before being quickly interrupted by my counterpart.
"...impressed..." he corrected and his dark eyes sparkled mysteriously. A smile settled on his lips.
"Excuse me?" I asked, perplexed.
"Your singing is impressive. It takes years of training to strengthen your vocal cords to that extent," he explained slowly, looking at me intently. I didn't know what to answer. I didn't have enough experience in the music industry to understand his words. The mere fact that I had never heard myself sing reinforced my impression. Of course, I could guess that it took more than weekly music lessons to be able to sing properly. Many began their training at a young age. Even Jihe and Ahri's conviction at the time that I was a natural at singing was slipping more and more into the background.
"There must be some misunderstanding. I am not a singer." I finally said.
"There's no misunderstanding, Josie. You were stunning at karaoke...here...see for yourself!" suddenly Jihe said from behind me and jumped off her stool. She tapped her phone several times and finally held it out to me. Irritated, I took it and immediately recognised the karaoke room we had visited less than a week ago. I also recognised myself in the foreground, my long white hair shining brightly in the light of the coloured lamps. Stunned, I stared at my two roommates.
"You took me in?" I asked, wide-eyed, and they both stared guiltily at the floor.
"We were just going to take pictures...but...somehow..." explained Jihe in exasperation.
"There are videos of our songs too. I thought they were nice memories of that night." Ahri tried further and sighed deeply. My eyes wandered back to the video and increased the volume. Adele's „Someone Like You" blared from the speakers and my vocals filled the room. Irritated, I turned the volume of the phone up to the highest setting and listened in silence, my cheeks growing hotter with every second of the song being sung. My voice echoed throughout the room, in the video as well as the living room, sparking goosebumps. Even our two guests remained silent and listened intently. Towards the final act of the song, my voice grew higher and higher until the song finally came to an end and I lowered the phone, wide-eyed. Stunned, I stared alternately at the phone and my two friends who were still sitting silently in their chairs. That voice could not possibly have come out of my mouth. Throughout my life, the musical moments of my life were limited exclusively to Christmas, birthdays and music lessons at school. Never would I have dreamed of possessing that voice. Even after watching the video, I couldn't bring myself to do it.
