Mark My Words - 이민형

Chapter 3- Performance

I got up early and started to get ready for my gig. I kept stumbling and tripping because I was nervous as fuck. It was the first time I was performing on stage, with more than 400 people going to be watching me. And I was performing kpop songs on top of that too. Singing a Korean song for a non-native Korean person is extremely difficult, and I, on the other hand, was from nowhere even near to Asia.  I made sure that I wrote a list of what all I am supposed to do before the show last night, in case I forgot because of my jitters. 

If you wanna know, I was going to perform 'Don't Know what to do', one of my favorite Blackpink songs. I loved this song so much because it was pretty much what got me into Kpop in the first place. I was also doing Twice's Fancy and HRVY & NCT Dream's Collab 'Dont need your love', in the following order, to show how love works.
1. Fancy
2. Don't know what to do
3. Don't need your love

I made my way to my car, nothing special though, it was a secondhand honda amaze. I forced myself not to play any music because if I did, I can't really stop myself from singing along, be it any fucking song and boy was it tough to not play any music! I reached the venue 45 minutes early, and walked in to find out that ZERO FUCKING preparations had been made. I went in and screamed at the manager, "WHY IS NOTHING READY?".

He nonchalantly replied with, "Chill dude, there's like more than 40 minutes to your performance."

"HOW DOES THAT JUSTIFY ANYTHING?"

"Dude stop shouting, it gives me a headache."

"SET UP THIS PLACE WITHIN FIVE MINUTES OR I'LL RIP YOU INTO TWENTY ONE PIECES, ONE FOR EACH MEMBER OF NCT!"

"Okay! Okay! I'll do it. JEEZ!"

I breathed a sigh of relief and sat down, taking small sips of my hot water. I had fucked up my throat with all that screaming. I just hoped it'll be all right in time for the performance.

I watched the managers take 17 years to set the whole place up, when people started filling up the seats few by few to watch ME perform. I mean, the thought scared me.

Finally, It was time for me to go upon stage. The MC try to hype up the crows with one of the lamest introductions ever, "Hey guys, so we'll get right to it, coming to you is Brent Hemsworth, kpop stan to the moon and back. A round of applause for Brent!!"

I awkwardly walked onto the stage imagining that the crowd started throwing apples on me. I grabbed the mic, which resulted in am ear-piercing feedback. I paused and thought for a second. I said to myself,"Bro why the fuck are you so scared. THESE PEOPLE ARE HERE FOR YOU AND ONLY YOU. NOW, SHOW THEM YOUR WORTH!". I decided to let go of my jitters and give the crowd what they wanted, not talent bur confidence.

"HELLO EVERYONE! I think we can all agree that that was the worst introduction ever, no offense man! Anyway moving on, just a little about myself; My name is Brent Hemsworth and I'm 25 years old. I'm a singer/songwriter and today I'll be performing 3 of my favorite songs for you and then I'll be taking requests from 11 to 12:30. Is that cool?"

The crowd screamed Yeah so loud that I jumped with surprise.

The backtrack to Fancy started playing and the fanchant drowned out my earpiece's sound, so I had to signal for the cable guy yo increase the volume. And the fanchant overwhelmed me enough as it is. I didn't know that such a large part of my audience would be kpop stans.
I started singing and heard immediate cheers from the crowd. That boosted my confidence and I sang louder. When the bridge came, the audience went quiet and completely silent. I ignored my fear and surprise and went along with what the audience wanted. As soon as I hit the high note, the crowd went absolutely wild. They screamed and clapped and screamed again.
This was when the real battle began. Singing 'Don't know what to do' in public scared me, because I've never sang it for anyone before. It's a song that I've kept close to myself. I started singing and once again, the audience went quite. Their fanchants were on point and perfect, thus, they didn't even distract me. Thee wooting started once I got to the rap part. The crowd got so hyped that I was rapping and that too in Korean. To be honest, I was so hyped too.

The song ended and then the manager stumbled across the stage handling my guitar like one would handle a rock. I low-key snatched it from him and sat on the chair, pulling my guitar out. I said,"So guys , this one is a very special one, please sing-along if you know it, there'll be lyrics on the big screen.

"Yeah you and I fell into too deep, love-hate no in between, Too little too late for us, woahoah"

The response that I received from the crowd was unbelievable. It was such a beautiful moment, that I can't even explain it using words. The audience sang along with me and they sang so beautifully. I was literally mesmerised by this.
The song ended with me almost in tears. I held my microphone toward as they finished the song, "Don't need you love, don't need it, don't need a, need it, no. Don't need it".

I held my hand up, politely asking the crowd to not sing the last line. I held the mic close to my face and continued, "I don't need your love, don't need a, need it, no. Don't need it.".
The crowd cheered loudly once I was done with the song.

At times like these, I don't try to hold my tears back. As they ran down my cheek and I quietly sniffed into the microphone, Emma rushed on stage to hug and comfort me.
Someone in the crowd shouted, "Such a cute couple!"

I turned to grab the mic but Emma beat me to it.
"Dude! Don't call him hetero, that's offensive!", and I just turned red at a loss of words. I facepalmed myself and just apologized to the audience for that.

It was a memorable few hours. I went home a few more hours later and got into my bed. Yes, I was going to sleep again. In my defence, I am a human panda.

Again, his face was the last thing to cross my mind.
Again, I told the air that I love him.