forecast | oc bg

trainee fair

February 26th 2017 

"Hello everyone," a man said from the center of the stage. The sun was nearing sunset and the bright lights from above shone down on his singular presence on stage. He wore a gray-black suit with a slightly off-white handkerchief, tapping on the microphone when the crowd didn't quiet down. The tap let out two drum-like beats that echoed around the courtyard.

"Thank you, everyone," the man began seconds later as the crowd was almost silence. "I'm glad you all can be here today - incoming trainees, fans, reporters..." he said, glancing around the crowd. "My name is Kim Seojun, CEO of C.S. Entertainment. Today we've got a handful of amazing artists that will be showing off C.S' great variety of talent to you all."

The crowd made a few cheers or mumbles, the reporters looking antsy.

"I understand there are a lot of rumors and assumptions wishing to be confirmed tonight, and I promise you some important information will be revealed later by the performers. First up, to get us started in a moment, the one and only, F.O.X!"

The mumbling crowd was overtaken with cheering as Kim Seojin made a satisfied smile, walking off stage and arriving backstage, carefully taking his steps down the stairs. He pat Woojin on the back only once, then heading straight down a particular hallway that lead up to a different side of the courtyard.

The CEO glanced towards Taeyang for a few seconds, then passing the blonde boy and his guitar to continue heading the same direction. Woojin looked around, his body movements quick and anxious. He quickly walked over towards the younger.

"Do you know where my guitar is? They said they'd have it here by now." he spoke quickly, the frantic merging of words making it a bit hard to understand. Taeyang looked at the guitar in his hands, knowing it was his own by the little scratch on the side and the slightly discolored bridge.

"Uh..." Taeyang trailed off, looking around. He quickly pulled off the guitar strap that was over him, passing the instrument to the older. "Just use this."

Woojin made a nervous smile but shook his head. "But you need it right after me, plus I need my electric... I'll look around, maybe-"

A voice from nearby nearly shouted to get his attention. "F.O.X! Why are you still back here? You were supposed to go out right after CEO-"

"I can't find my guitar." he answered quickly, his voice tense. It was one of the first times Taeyang had seen the older seem so stressed, Woojin obviously trying to hold in any nervousness he had.

"I sent one of the trainees to go get it, did they not come back?" another staff member asked.

"Who?"

"Alex."

"Alex? He doesn't even know what my guitar looks like, he's probably lost or something," Woojin panicked, looking around and down a pathway that would lead to the music rooms.

"Should I go find him?"

"Someone has to go on stage - just take Taeyang's guitar!" a staff member said, nudging Woojin a little.

The word "take" made the blonde grip his instrument a little tighter, it pressing against his chest. He quickly loosened his hands off of the neck on the instrument, realizing how childish he was acting. When he opened his mouth to offer his guitar once again, Woojin immediately shook his head and headed down the pathway.

"I'll be right back," he said quickly, turning around to Taeyang and the staff for a quick moment as he spoke. "Have Taeyang go on stage."

Woojin turned the corner and disappeared from their sight, all of the staff members now looking towards the blonde boy who stood still. One ran over to the sound board, the boy assuming it was to click on his earpiece because of the slight static sound that buzzed in his ear for a second. The stylist from earlier was already fixing up a few strands of his hair, extremely concentrated as she attempted to work quickly.

"It's all good."

"He's set."

"Spotlight get ready."

"M'kay."

"W-wait, guys-" Taeyang stuttered, having no say in the matter as someone patted his back encouragingly.

"You'll do fine. Go up there and introduce yourself, they'll love you." the sound manager smiled, adjusting his glasses as he messed with a few buttons on the panel. "I'm gonna turn on your microphone as soon as you step onto that stage."

"A-alright, um, okay..." he trailed off, the people around him waiting both anxiously and impatiently for him to continue up the few stairs onto the stage.

"Just say that there's technical difficulties with F.O.X's performance." the stylist suggested, patting the boy's arm. "You'll do great."

Taeyang took in a deep breath, taking the few steps up the stage, stopping as he got to the second-to-last step.

"What's the problem?" an annoyed and frustrated voice asked, quite angrily. Taeyang turned around, seeing his CEO appear from the hallway. The boy opened his mouth to speak, only to be stopped by the sound manager frantically shaking his head and waving his hands to get his attention. The man pointed towards his cheek, referring to the microphone next to the boy's mouth. The sound manager made a shooing motion with his hand, urging him to go on stage.

"Taeyang, where's F.O.X-" the CEO began, quickly interrupted by two different staff members that anxiously explained the problem to him, like a distraction. The stylist and sound manager both gestured him on as the mumbles of the crowd grew louder. The stylist ran over towards the microphone panel, holding down a button as she talked into a microphone.

"Taeyang, go on stage and tell them there were some technical difficulties with F.O.X's performance so it will be delayed. Go and do your song." she said quickly. When Taeyang didn't move immediately, she added, "The audience is getting antsy, go entertain them. We'll take care of CEO-nim, just trust us."

The last few words made Taeyang glance at all of the staff members - first at his stylist, then at the sound manager and finally at the faculty that were frantically explaining the issue to the CEO, nearly overwhelming him. The sound manager made another gesture to shoo Taeyang on stage, the boy finally taking the cue and turning around immediately, running on stage and straight to the microphone.

At first it was immediate cheering, the crowd obviously assuming F.O.X had finally arrived on stage. The more steps he took towards the center of the stage, the softer the cheers got.

"Hello everyone," Taeyang began tentatively, the speakers around the courtyard amplifying his words and making his voice seem less nervous, "I'm sorry to disappoint everyone but there are some technical difficulties with F.O.X's planned performance so..."

"We will continue on with the planned program and return to his performance in a moment." a voice said carefully into his ear through the earpiece, Taeyang following word for word.

"...we will continue on with the planned program and return to his performance in a moment."

Taeyang sat on the chair that was positioned by the guitar's microphone, delicately setting his fingers down in the right position for the first chord. He was about to begin before a voice came from his ear piece again.

"Introduce yourself first!"

"Oh right!" Taeyang nearly shouted, making the audience suddenly pay attention - even the reporters who were now mumbling to their cameramen about what to do about F.O.X's performance delay. "My name's Im Taeyang and I've been a trainee at C.S. Entertainment for five years."

There were sudden talking within the audience, reporters suddenly writing things down in their notebooks while other viewers clapped or cheered at such a large number.

"Go ahead and talk about your composing." a different voice said into Taeyang's ear, this time it being male and sounding a lot like the CEO's voice.

"Um, I've spent a lot of time writing and composing songs for various artists, out of company until recently..." Taeyang trailed off, hoping no one would look into his last comment as he continued. "So today I'm gonna show my new original song, 'Lead Me'."

He cleared his throat slightly, biting his lip as he arranged his fingers along the instrument again.

"I hope you like it." a voice added through his ear, yet this time it simply went out the other.

"This song is dedicated to someone special to me - please enjoy."