Last Chance [Jung Hoseok]

Chapter 7

Hoseok POV

As I walk onto the stage, the cheers increase in volume. It's nothing compared to our concerts, so I'm not bothered by it. Some of the other coaches cover their ears to muffle the sound though.

I didn't sleep well last night because Jimin kept teasing me about how I would finally meet Jisoo today. I never should have showed him that video...

Anyways, now that I am here, I am eager to get started. I can't wait to see how all of the trainees perform live, especially Jisoo. As we introduce ourselves, I scan the crowd.

I finally spot her towards the bottom. She looks... distressed? She is probably just nervous. She shouldn't be. I'm sure she will do well.

Suddenly her eyes fly up to meet mine. I quickly look away, feeling a blush creep across my cheeks. Why am I reacting like this? I'm her coach, her mentor. That's it.

The rest of the coaches start to sit at the table facing the stage, and I follow. Some trainees from one agency volunteer to go first. While they get ready backstage, I take out my notebook and refocus my mind on the task at hand.

*****

We have evaluated over thirty trainees, and we still haven't given anyone an A grade. Since it is the first round, we are only grading on dance skills, and so far everyone just looks weak. There is no energy in the room.

I can tell that the other coaches are starting to get annoyed and impatient. They have snapped at several of the trainees who had particularly bad performances. I am usually a pretty happy person, but even I am on edge right now.

However all of my negative thoughts evaporate when Jisoo appears on stage. Finally. Now that she is standing in front of me, I can fully look at her. She is short but not too short, with long brown hair that falls down her back in curls. Her cute, chubby face is accentuated by her pretty eyes and full lips. She is dressed in a high-waisted black skirt, light blue sweater and knee high boots. She looks... good.

"Hello, I'm Kim Jisoo. Thank you for allowing me to be here. Please take care of me," she introduces herself shyly.

"We look forward to watching your performance," Shin Yumi, one of the other coaches, says from beside me.

As her music starts playing, I let out a deep breath that I didn't know I was holding. I wait for the tingle of excitement that I got from watching her audition tape, but it never comes.

While her technique is good and she does the choreography correctly, it isn't enjoyable to watch. Something is off... It doesn't exude passion anymore. Honestly it doesn't even look like she likes dancing; it looks like she despises it. I find myself getting annoyed as I continue to watch her.

Since I was expecting so much, it's even more disappointing. I sigh as I lean back in my chair, unable to watch any more. This girl is completely different than the Jisoo I watched on my computer.

When the music stops, all the coaches turn to each other to talk.

"Her dance was good, but she looked absolutely miserable. She needs a lot of work with the performance aspect. I want to give her a D" Bae Yoonjung critiques. Others nod in agreement.

"I think she was just really nervous. She showed a lot better emotion during her audition. I think she deserves a B or C," Yumi suggests.

"It doesn't matter if you are nervous. Performing as an Idol will only be more pressure. If she can't handle it here, she won't be able to handle it in the future," I snap.

The other coaches look at me surprised. I have been pretty nice up until this point. I was always fair in my grading, but I guess I was more optimistic in my evaluations before, looking at their potential. But now I feel let down and it has put me in a foul mood.

In the end, we decide to give her a C.

"Thank you," she says before scurrying off stage.

A few performances later and we finally give an A to a girl named Bae Chanri. Her dance was incredibly refreshing and it helps curb my bitter mood.

Towards the end of the evaluations, I have calmed down. I realize now that I was probably too harsh with Jisoo. Everyone is allowed to get nervous. Heck, I do all the time. It's not her fault that she hasn't had opportunities to get better at hiding it.

I'm here to teach these girls, not get pissed off when they aren't perfect. I don't know why I let her performance bother me so much, but I know that I'll be more open-minded tomorrow during the first rehearsal.

Jisoo POV

As I press on the letter C to my name tag, I try not to cry. I am so frustrated with myself, with Chanri, with life in general.

I'm not mad that I got a C. It is still a good grade, especially since they coaches are grading so harshly. I'm mad at my performance. Honestly I deserved to get an F.

How have I not learned to ignore my pain yet? It's been four months since the accident. I can't believe I let it affect my performance so much when I knew how important it was.

I could see the look of disappointment across all of the coaches' faces. It especially hurt to see Hoseok sunbae turn away in the middle of my performance. They expected more from me. Because I lied.

I wanted nothing more than to explain my situation, but I knew I couldn't. They would kick me off the show, either for submitting an inaccurate audition clip or because they think that my injury will prevent me from ever dancing well.

I can't risk it. I know I have told myself this countless amounts of times, but I just need to ignore the pain. I have to work through it.

I've been in pain all my life, thanks to my parents and the kids at school. This is just a little (a lot) worse...

"Jisoo look," a voice calls me out of my thoughts. I look up to see Chanri holding up her name tag with the letter A on it. I roll my eyes and look away. At least I won't be in the same training class as her.

Of course the bitch is good at dancing. I can't help but feel a little jealousy creep in underneath my overall annoyed mood.

Okay so there are two things I need to do: suck up the pain, and learn how to make better friends.

Even though I am going to have trouble trusting people, especially after Chanri, I have the feeling that this upcoming month is going to be really hard and I'm going to need someone to help me get through it.

I decide to start tomorrow, too emotionally exhausted to put myself out there again today. So instead, I just sit back and watch the rest of the trainees get evaluated.

Not gonna lie, it hurts to see Hoseok sunbae smiling at other girls as they dance. It motivates me even more to work hard so that he will smile at me too.