Unbearable | Jeon Jungkook

fifteen

Confusing Boys, Confusing Actions

I detest this feeling.

Everything is nerve-wracking for me. I could feel the continuous trembling of my hands while my palms were sweating. I was trying my best to calm down -  although I don't think I'm doing a very good job at it.

"Hey, you alright?" Jimin noticed my expression as we took a seat in the front row. "We can do this, okay?"

I breathed sharply. Since there are a lot of contestants, the organizers prepared five rooms and divided us. We were in the second room, where an eye-catching, huge monitor could be seen along with tables for each pair to use.

"Hello," Once everbody was in, a beautiful woman dressed in a blue pencil skirt and long sleeves promptly entered the room. "I'm Oh Joo-eun, your proctor for today. As we start the competition, I will be showing you a video to watch before you start on your art work. Please stay silent."

The lights suddenly shut down as the huge television in front turned on. The whole room was very quiet as the video proceeded.

The short introduction didn't last long. All of us watched in silence and my eyes grew wide when I saw some frightening economic crisis on the screen. Not just calamities, but also a few of the government's problematic attitude, their lies, their unnecessary and unhelpful ideas. There was also a scenario showing all the citizens suffering from poverty.

My mouth was agape until the video ended. The lights slowly turned on and the proctor turned the television off, turning to us with an hourglass in her hand.

"You free to illustrate whatever you understood in the video. Be creative and have fun." She firmly announced. "We will give you one and a half hour to finish your works. Best of luck to everyone!"

She flipped the hourglass and left it on the table. At the same time, Jimin and I grabbed our pencils and placed the empty canvas on our table.

I breathed in. Alright. Calm down.

"Okay, Hyori," Jimin said. "Do you have anything in your mind?"

I pursed my lips, latching my fingers on a pencil. "Well, we can illustrate those problems," I replied, trying to explain an idea in my head thoroughly. "But instead of just drawing them randomly, I'd like to create a story."

"A story?"

I cleared my throat. "Usually, people suffer from lack of food and such during typhoons. That's mainly because the government hasn't prepared anything beforehand. So I'd like to draw that and then the effects of it... then the solutions. I-I hope my idea isn't that bad?"

Jimin stared at me for a few seconds before flashing an amused grin. "Let's do that. I have to improvise some of your ideas, though."

I beamed. "Of course!"

And then we began. Both of us were so engrossed while working that I actually forgot how nervous and scared I was before. We just kept drawing carefully until we finally completed the whole illustration. Finally, it was time to put some color.

Traces of paint were already on my face and a few strands of hair fell off from my clean ponytail. I continued to work on our portrait, completely focused yet enjoying myself at the same time.

The speaker from the opening ceremonies said to always put your goal inside your mind. I think this competition would help me in various ways. Perhaps when I go back to Seoul, I have new found confidence because of this. Other than winning, my goal is to improve myself.

He said to keep your inspiration engraved inside your mind, too. My inspiration has to be my family, of course. My cousins, our school, Hanseol, Jimin, Ms. Lee... and Jungkook.