Audiobook Excerpt narrated by Greta Jung
I'll Be the One |
Audiobook excerpt narrated by Greta Jung.
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Jung, Greta: ... in her eyes as she gapes at me. "You're auditioning? she asks in Korean-accented English. I switch to Korean, "Yes. I already got in at the preliminary auditions. Here are my papers signed by my dad and fully notarized." "Ah, Okay."
Still looking doubtful, the lady takes my papers. As I wait for her to check me in, I take off my white-framed heart-shaped sunglasses, so I can see the inside of the building better. Without the rosy tint of my glasses, everything looks a bit stark. The building itself looks pretty old, like it was built in the 1920s. But nearly every inch of a lobby is decorated with brightly colored posters of the celebrity judges and Samsung LED HD TVs looping the promo video for You're My Shining Star. The judges are the usual bunch: [Chan, Bo-ra 00:00:01:05] , a now retired member of [Lovey-Dovey 00:01: 08], one of those OG K-pop groups from the 90s; Park, [Jae-seok 00:01: 13], the creator of You're My Shining Star and the founder of a top entertainment company in Korea, and Gary Kim, a Korean-American rapper who's big and the LA Koreatown scene.
My skin practically buzzes with excitement over the fact that I'm about to see the three celebrities in person. During my audition in just a few minutes, I'm going to be so close to the judges that I'll be able to see their pores, if they even have any pores. My mom always says that Korean celebrities pay extra attention to their skin because HD screens show everything. I don't watch enough Korean TV to know this, but I make a mental note to see if she's right when I walk into the audition room. Although, You're My Shining Star, definitely isn't the first K-pop competition to have global auditions, it's the first to hold auditions exclusively in America. I can never get over how big K-pop is now. Only eight years ago, people only knew about PSY and the memorable moments of humor and Gangnam Style. Now, BTS is everywhere and people from all sorts of different backgrounds are lined up to audition.
On the TV screens, the judge's faces fade to black and suddenly I'm watching a nervous little kid standing on the stage. Her hair is up and curly pigtails and she's wearing a bright yellow SpongeBob Squarepants T-shirt. The crowd laughs and says, Aw," at her until she opens her mouth and bursts into a soul crushingly good rendition of Adele's Hello. "Holy crap!" says someone standing in line behind me. "You've got to be kidding me. We have to compete with that?" says someone else. I shudder. No-one mentioned that we'd have to watch the other auditions as we waited in line, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. This is a competition after all and what better way to raise the competitive spirit than to make everyone watch what they're up against?
"You're all set," says the check-in lady and English, bringing my attention back to the front. "Please go stand in line in front of door three. The current wait time is 20 minutes. You can also go sit in the audience before or after your audition. Just please let a staff member know where you're going first." I'm confused as to why she speaking to me like I'm a foreigner. I already responded to her in Korean, which I speak without an accent. But then I noticed the way she's looking at me: eyes drawn together in a slight wince, lips pursed together in a worried pout. There's real fear and distrust and her eyes like she's afraid that I'll somehow ruin the entire competition by just being here.
If a bunch of wild animals suddenly burst into the room, she'd probably give them the same look as the one she's giving me now. For a moment, I wonder if it's worth it to call her out for being rude. Normally I would, especially since if we were in an American social context, complaining would actually do something. But we're smack dab in the middle of Koreatown where...
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