[어울리는 우상 - Becoming an Idol] - [OPEN and ACCEPTING]

[Firefly_Dreamer]

[Please welcome Seall to the RP!]
[Just in case you missed it Eloquence, your response is on the previous page.]

[єℓσqυєи¢є]

After finishing the vocal exercises, Ms. Myeong motioned for the trainees to take out their sheet music.

"Today we're going to look over ITZY's Dalla Dalla. As some of you may know, this song is upbeat and the vocal is fairly high," she explained. A few trainees groaned, aware of how difficult it was to nail this song. Einna's heart began to quicken; a low range ballad was much better suited for her voice, and she wasn't sure how she would fare with this song.

"As well, we're only going to go over this song twice as a group. After that, I will be calling you up based on your trainee number to sing the song solo," Ms. Myeong continued. By now, most of the class was protesting.

"Ms. Myeong, this isn't fair!" a trainee protested.

The vocal teacher glared at her. "Fair? Do you think this industry is fair? If you can't even do this much, then you're sorely mistaken if you believe you will debut. Becoming an idol takes more than talent and hard work. You need to constantly be pushing yourself to be the best. If you think you can slack off in my class, then you might as well leave and never come back."

The class piped down after Ms. Myeong's threatening speech, some trainees hanging their heads in embarrassment. Einna felt ashamed that she even questioned the teacher's instructions. After all, she was right. Not everyone could make it on centre stage at the end of the day.

WC: 253
TWC: 1334

[hellooo, since my trainee number is 444 could I sing before you? Also is a 21 in vocal stat considered "good"? Should we make a benchmark for stats so we can gauge how successful our OCs are at classes?]

[Firefly_Dreamer]

Ki-Tae was shocked that a trainee dared to speak up against Ms. Myeong and how she was running the class. She also was shocked that the class was so verbal about their distaste for the harsh rules. Then again, Ki-Tae knew better. It was a waste of energy to complain; and she will need that energy later. Ki-Tae hoped she would be able to read the sheet music when they performed. It was a good thing she can already read Hangeul, or else this would be super challenging.

She looked to Einna and whispered, "Do you need help reading?" hoping the teacher would take no notice of her. "You can use my sheet music. We can Share." She added, having romanized the hangeul during the break when she looked over the sheet music. Although Ki-Tae could read Hangeul, she was quite slow at it because her brain needed to translate it into sounds before she could even put a syllable together, let alone a word.

When Ki-Tae had received the music and glanced through it, she had noticed markings from past trainees on there, so she figured she could write on the sheets as well.

As Ki-Tae fumbled through the words on the first pass, she made mental notes of how the syllables fell on the notes. She found rapping part particularly difficult. She just didn't have natural rythm and struggled with the flow of things and following the piano. The second pass was better but she still struggled to go through the rapping bit as the piano sounded strange to her. She was so used to hearing the recording, having heard the song on the radio a time or two before, that it confused her and she didnt know where the beat and words would land.

Soon trainnees were coming up one by one, in numerical order, though a lot of spots were missing. "251, 319, 320, 324, 347, 359, 362, 370, 377... so far all of the girls seemed to be more experienced and poised when it came to this. Soon, the trainee numbers were into the 400s, and before long, number 444 was up. That was Einna. Ki-Tae silently wished her good luck, by nodding to her.

WC: 370
TWC: 2085

[Ki-Tae gets +4 to Vocals]
[Piano Cover of Dalla Dallafor Reference]

[єℓσqυєи¢є]

"Thank you," Einna whispered back to Ki-Tae when she offered to share sheet music. She noticed Ki-Tae had romanized the Hangeul, which she was secretly thankful for. Although she could speak the language fairly well, she was still having trouble with reading and writing. Einna secretly reminded herself to do some studying tonight.

During the first pass, Einna breezed through the low range verses without much difficulty. The melodies were surprisingly simple, and she was a fairly experienced sight reader from all those 7am choir rehearsals. She made note of her trouble areas: the rap and the high range chorus. Einna was a pitiful rapper—she just didn't have the rhythm and charisma that was required. Plus, her lack of confidence made it seem like she was being held at gunpoint and told to rap. On the other hand, she could hit the high notes on the chorus but she wasn't able to belt them without sounding like she was yelling. Her circumstances barely improved on the second pass, so Einna decided to just sing the chorus with a head voice. As for the rap, Einna prayed that all those community service hours would invoke a karmic miracle.

One by one, the trainees were called upon by Ms. Myeong to sing. Their peers watched on the sidelines as shaking, sweaty-palmed girls walked to the centre of the room. Some choked, some cracked, most were stopped barely 10 seconds into the song.

"Next!" Ms. Myeong yelled.

"P-people look at me," the trainee sang hoarsely. Ms. Myeong slammed her clipboard on the ground.

"Is this a joke to you?" she screamed furiously.

"No Ms. Myeong! It's just that I'm a rapper, so my singing isn't the best—"

"Should that matter? In this industry, even rappers are expected to sing," she scoffed. "Get out of my class immediately, I don't even want to look at you."

The girl burst into tears and ran out of the room. The entire class was dead silent as Ms. Myeong sighed and picked up her clipboard.

Gosh, I do not want to be the girl who goes next—

"444, you're up next," Ms. Myeong announced.

Great. Einna thought. She stood up, mentally reviewing the lyrics of the song. Her heart was pounding so loud that Einna thought she might faint. As the piano intro began, Einna closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"People look at me, and they tell me," Einna sang. She continued the verse with a strong, clear belt and tapped her fingers to stay on beat. "I'm sorry I don't care, don't care, really don't care."

Einna was beginning to enjoy herself. She realized that what she loved to do more than anything—singing—would become more than a hobby now. It would be her career. She was on the path of becoming an Idol. With this new instilled confidence, she continued onto the prechorus enthusiastically. When the chorus began, Einna switched to a full head voice. Ms. Myeong raised an eyebrow, but didn't speak up.

"Bad, bad, I'm sorry I'm bad. I'm just the way I am," Einna rapped. The English section was easier for her, but once she moved onto the Korean part of the rap her voice faltered. Einna fumbled over the pronunciation and quickly lost pace. Ms. Myeong raised her hand to signal the trainee to cut the music. Einna felt blush rush to her cheeks, and the back of her neck became hot with shame. Unsurprisingly, she had fumbled during the rap.

"What's your name 444?"

"Uhm, it's Einna El Nur."

"A foreigner?" Ms. Myeong said in surprise. "Well, that must be the reason why your English pronunciation is so good. From America, I presume?"

Einna nodded. "Yes Ma'am."

"As I thought. Anyways, you sang well at the start. Your voice was melodious and clear, and I liked your belt. However, I noticed you switched to head voice during the chorus?"

"Ah, It's because I can't belt that high," Einna said sheepishly.

Ms. Myeong frowned and wrote something down on her sheet. "Well, you'll have to work on that. Furthermore, you need to work on your Korean pronunciation. It wasn't horrible during your singing, but it quickly fell apart when you began to rap. Although I assume you aren't training to become a rapper, you are still training to become an Idol. To become an Idol, you need to speak Korean."

Einna nodded in agreement. "Yes Ms. Myeong, I understand. I'll work on my pronunciation."

"Alright, good. Thank you Einna. 445, you're next!"

Einna made several more mental notes to study her Hangeul and pronunciation tonight in her dorm. She sat down beside Ki-Tae and breathed a sigh of relief. "Wow, that actually went better than I expected. I really need to work on my Korean pronunciation. Although if I do debut, I suppose they could just send me overseas to promote in America."

WC: 819
TWC: 2153

[whew that was a long post! I'd like to roll two stat dice please :)]

[Firefly_Dreamer]

Ki-Tae watched the drama unfold before her and the trainee number 443 get dismissed for being less confident in her voice as she trained to be a rapper. Then Einna performed and, she was pretty good! Ki-Tae was impressed.

Before long, number 482 was announced, and Ki-Tae stood, holding her sheet music in front of her, shakily. She thought her nerves would get to her, and they did. The piano started up and she missed her entrance!

"- at me... and they tell me-" She started worrying that Ms. Myeong would cut her. She was never good at strong entrances, but missing an entrance? That could be the end of her career right there.

Provided the music kept going she would continue to sing, gaining more confidence as she went along. She found as more words escaped from her lips, the more loosened up and comfortable she became. It took all her power to resist swaying or dancing as she sang, making sure to look up at the audience during the English parts which she had memorized. Her voice, again, was a soft one, so her attempts at making her voice bold seemed awkward and forced. Yet she continued on determined.

"So what?!-" She flicked her head, making eye contact with the audience, starting to perform the song, rather than just plainly sing it. She put emotion into her singing, though her ability to move to the correct pitches right away became slightly compromised due to this "I'm sorry I don't care- don't care- really don't care."

Her pronunciation of the Korean words were not her best, but it was understandable. Once she reached the chorus, she started to transition into her head voice, attempting to find her middle ground, a voice that is between her chest and head voice. It's like a louder version of the head voice, but also a less harsh version of the chest voice. Luckily she hit it, or else her voice would have sounded slightly phlegmy and would crack.

Then came the rapping part. She tried her hardest to pull it off, though her rap sounded more like a harsh singing than speaking. "Bad Bad, I'm sorry I'm bad, I'm just the way I am" Again she looked up from her music.

After finishing the piece , she bowed respectfully and her facade of confidence along with whatever character she was playing withered away. Ki-Tae sat back down awaiting Ms. Myeong's criticism. She couldn't help but think to herself that she would have done better A Capella.

WC: 421
TWC: 2506
[+4 and +3 to Einna's stats]
[+4 to Ki-Tae's Vocals]

[єℓσqυєи¢є]

Einna noticed Ki-Tae was shaking nervously as she stood up to perform. Her heart ached for her friend, as she was in her position not too long ago. Good Luck, Einna mouthed, hoping it would comfort Ki-Tae.

Unfortunately, Ki-Tae missed the first few notes of the song. Einna looked at Ms. Myeong, worried she would stop Ki-Tae right there. Thankfully she stayed silent, though she scribbled a few notes on her clipboard. As Ki-Tae sang, Einna could feel her confidence radiating. She smiled at her friend and gave her a big thumbs up, proud she had continued the song even after missing the beginning.

Einna made note of how Ki-Tae found a middle ground between her head voice and chest voice during the chorus, impressed she was able produce a full and clear sound whilst remaining in that upper register. After Ki-Tae finished her performance, Einna clapped loudly and gave her another big thumbs up.

"Alright, Min Ki-Tae was it?" Ms. Myeong said, ruffling through her papers. "You missed the opening of the song, which was highly unprofessional. When you are an Idol on stage, you need to be focused at all times. However, because you are still a trainee I let it slide."

Einna slightly disagreed with Ms. Myeong's criticisms. She thought that if Ms. Myeong let the trainees go over the sheet music a few more times as a group, then we would all be more comfortable with the material. Even Idols have adequate time to prepare and practice their songs and routines, right?

"Anyways, your voice strengthened after the intro. I liked how you added some attitude to your performance, but be more mindful of staying in pitch, hm? A reminder that this is a vocal class," Ms. Myeong chastised. "Your rap was sub-par, but that isn't a huge issue."

Einna had a sneaking suspicion that Ms. Myeong had a slight bias against rappers.

"Other than what I mentioned, you did a fine job overall," the vocal teacher finished. "Next, 483 take centre stage!"

The final few performances flew by quickly, most of them satisfactory at best. By the end, Ms. Myeong's mood had soured from the lack of talent.

"That should be the last one," Ms. Myeong sighed. She turned to face the class, which had significantly reduced. "Today's lesson has served as a diagnostic of some sorts. I've managed to pluck out the hopeless cases from what I've seen today, which, I'll be frank, is most of you. Those who remain, don't get too giddy yet. From now on, you'll go through strenuous training. Some of you will break, and I won't hesitate to send the pieces home. Remember that if you fail to meet my expectations, there are a hundred girls eager to take your spot."

The trainees shuddered as Ms. Myeong's icy glare surveyed the room. Her gaze softened as her eyes landed on Einna and Ki-Tae, but quickly hardened again. A bell rang over the intercom, signaling lunch.

"As I'm sure most of you are famished by now, you may leave for lunch. Don't stuff yourselves too much though; you could all spare a few pounds," Ms. Myeong sniffed. With those last words she exited the room, her periwinkle gossamer skirt trailing behind her. Einna turned to face Ki-Tae.

"Wow, she has a knack for making threatening speeches. Anyways, you wanna head down to the cafeteria? I'm aching for pasta," Einna bubbled. She remembered Ms. Myeong's quip. "I mean salad. I'm aching for salad."

WC: 583
TWC: 2736

[+7 Einna's vocal stat]
[I'd like to roll a stat die please! Also, what class do they have after lunch?]

[Firefly_Dreamer]

Ki-Tae took note of Ms. Myeong's criticism and thought it could have been much worse. "Thank you, Ms. Myeong" she responded after the teacher had finished. Deep down, Ki-Tae knew that she wouldn't correct her if she didn't care. She could have just dismissed Ki-Tae and been done with it.

After the next number took over, she sighed in relief. She sat in silence as the others went and took note of their mistakes and dismissals trying to wrap her head around how to gain confidence for her openings.

Soon, the class ended, and Ms. Myeong was right, they could stand to lose a few pounds. "Yeah, I'm pretty hungry too. I was thinking of getting bossam for lunch. There's this restaurant down the street a little ways..." she trailed. "It's like very thin pork slices, with a cabbage wrap and toppings, and it's fairly cheap, plus we can peel off the fat from the pork. My trainee allowance can cover both of us and have plenty to spare for meals the rest of the month. The cost of food here is fairly cheap compared to the cost of food in America."

Ki-Tae wasn't a fan of cafeteria-food anyway. They'd have to pay either way, however Ki-Tae wanted to try some more of the Korean Cuisine. Plus she had no idea where a cafeteria would be. She was sure Idols had to fend for themselves when it came to food or the manager might buy food for the trainees and inspect how much they eat and what they eat. "Anyway, I'll take you out, my treat. Pl

"Gosh I am so hungry for Crab and cream cheese rangoons. It's one of my guilty pleasures food-wise." Ki-Tae added.

WC: 287
TWC: 2793

[Einna gets a +3 to stats]

[Seall]

Gri-Na jumped out of the taxi outside of the towering BigHit building. “Thank you!” She said quickly with a curt nod to the driver whilst hurling her bag out of the vehicle. Gri-Na didn’t mean to sound or act slightly rude, but she was running late — she had already missed a few classes in the morning. The trainee didn’t even want to imagine the trouble she was about to find herself in. Clutching her bag under her arm, Gri-Na gazed up at the infrastructure that stood before her. Her heart began to pound harder. However, she forced herself to stay calm and collected. She knew she would be sent home if she walked in hysterically.

As she pushed the cafeteria doors open, Gri-Na looked around and then quickly glanced at her watch. Lunch time. ‘I am so late.’ She thought, despairingly. In the distance, she spotted another trainee she auditioned with. Pacing up to her, Gri-Na called out “Hey, Ki-Tae!” She pushed her cap up and looked at Ki-Tae, “I am SO late! I don’t even want to imagine the trouble I’m in.”

WC: 184
TWC: 184

[Firefly_Dreamer]

"Oh, Hey!" Ki-Tae waved to Gri-Na. "You're the girl from the dorms, right?" She recalled meeting Gri-Na, only briefly yesterday when moving into her small apartment at the dormitory. "Gri-Na, correct?" Ki-Tae hoped she remembered the girl's name correctly. It had been a long day yesterday and she was still fuzzy on things.

"I don't think Ms. Myeong noticed you missing, or if she did, she said nothing about it. Maybe she thought you chickened out" Ki-Tae hoped the joke translated well. She assumed that Gri-Na was from Korea as she spoke well and fluently. "You missed a very stressful class period. We sang Dalla Dalla and we only got to go through it twice before we had to perform in front of the class. It is what it is. But, when it was my turn, I missed my entrance and I was very fortunate that Ms. Myeong didn't dismiss me right then and there as she had done with others. I really panicked."

After a moment, Ki-Tae realized that she hadn't introduced Einna yet.

"Oh! This is my friend, Einna! We just met today, seeing as it's both our first day, in the first two vocal classes. We are both from America. We were just talking about getting bossam for lunch. I think I have enough so that you can come along, if you'd want to. We only have half an hour, so we better hurry"

WC: 237
TWC: 3030

[Welcome again, Seall. I would advise reading our previous posts to catch yourself up. Since today was Ki-Tae's first day, I didn't know how our characters knew each other, so I made something up on the fly, I hope it's okay.]

[Ki-Tae gets a +2 to vocals]

[єℓσqυєи¢є]

"Aw thanks! Bossam sounds amazing right now," Einna said enthusiastically. "I've had it before in America, but never in Korea. I wonder if they prepare it different here? Anyways, next time we go out to eat I''l treat you."

As they made their way down to the ground floor, Einna saw a girl around their age open the lobby doors frantically. She assumed that she was a trainee, and if she was, she was terribly late. The girl who Ki-Tae introduced as Gri-Na confirmed Einna's suspicions.

"Oh, if Ki-Tae knows you from the dorms then we should all be in the same building! I heard that's how they group the classes together, and since Ki-Tae and I have had the same schedule all morning we should all be in the same building..." Einna's voice trailed, realizing she had just repeated herself. "Ah, sorry, my Korean could still use some work. Anyways, my name is Einna El Nur, nice to meet you! Ki-Tae and I came from overseas to become trainees here in Korea."

Einna nodded along as Ki-Tae recapped their morning classes. "That's right, Ms. Myeong dismissed nearly half of the cohort during performances. So I guess it's kind of lucky that you missed out," she laughed. "Ms. Myeong actually gave me some helpful advice after I sang, so don't be too worried!"

Ki-Tae specified that they had come from America, and then invited Gri-Na to get lunch with them. Einna thought it was wonderful that she was going to make another friend. "Yeah, you should come with us! All that singing has made me terribly hungry."

WC: 267
TWC: 3003

[I'd like to roll a weight die :)]