To Be With You | hoshi

xxxi

I stand here backstage with sweat coming out from every part of my body. I would've been calm if it wasn't for the fact I'm not supposed to be here. 

"Ladies and gentlemen! I welcome you to ShinSang High's 1st Beauty Pageant!", the MC of the programs announced on stage while the audience cheered. "Let me call all of our lovely ladies on stage."

They called us one by one. I was a nervous wreck. When it's time to call my name, I readied my plastic smile for the crowd. 

"Here we have a prettier lady who replaced the pretty lady, Kwon Miyoung!" 

The audience cheered for me as I went out to walk on the stage. I followed the runway and posed at the end just as I was instructed to.

"Tell us about the dress you're wearing in this lovely day.", the MC told me.

"Actually, I'm the one who designed this.", I replied. I got the 'ooh's' and 'ah's' from the audience. "We decided to go for a hanbok look while imitating a cherry blossom."

 After explaining more of the dress, I walked to the position where I'm supposed to stay. It's so hard to be like  a Barbie doll. I felt so insecure in my place. I had to continue smiling, but it's probably already crooked. 

There was even a talent portion, apparently. I couldn't think of anything to show so I just did speed drawing on the spot. Because, what other talents do I have besides doing nothing? 

"Alright, everyone, it's almost time for voting period!", the MC said. "After this 5 minute intermission, we will begin. I welcome you, the Light Music Club!"

When the band entered, I see Jihoon, Seokmin, and Seungkwan enter. Behind them were Joshua and Jeonghan.

"Annyeonghaseyo, we are the Light Music Club.", Seokmin said. "Today, we brought guests who you guys already know."

"Annyeonghaseyo, I'm Jeonghan." "Joshua." Everyone cheered. It took me a second before I remembered they graduated from this school just last year. 

They performed a song that was composed by Jihoon, who was on the drums. Jeonghan was playing the bass, Seungkwan on vocals and keys, Joshua on guitar, and Seokmin being the main vocalist.

While the audience was still excited, the MC went back to doing his job. "Everyone, let's give them another round of applause!" The band exited the stage and we continued with the pageant. 

"The moment we've been waiting for, it's VOTING TIME!"

 People shouted the name of the girl they liked. This is probably the noisiest time the auditorium had ever been. 

"I hope y'all have enough money for your favorite girls." I frowned. Money? "The girl who values the most wins!"

What is this crappy style of voting? "And the one who puts the most money on her gets to go on a date with her for the whole day!" The boys went rowdy.

"What? I didn't hear anything about this?", I spoke out  my thoughts.

"You got forced to be here, too?", the girl beside me said. She sighed. "It hurts to be beautiful."  I don't know if she's being sarcastic or serious about that last statement. 

It was scary how the boys were bidding on every single girl. So far, the lowest bid is ₩450,000 and the highest in ₩860,000. If only I knew this was an auction, I wouldn't have agreed on this. 

The girl beside me earlier left with ₩720,000 on her. It was my turn next and I got this heavy weight on my shoulders.

"You may start bidding on Miyoung-ssi."