Kpop Club (5 page)

“Oh yeah? What
are the other ones?” said Krystal.

“Well the
biggest is your friend, Manager Oh’s, OMG Entertainment. Then
there’s KYM Entertainment, followed by LV Music and lastly,
Triangle Entertainment. According to my research, the four labels
together have 90% of all kpop acts on their books. Interesting
stuff huh?” said Rebecca, putting on a geeky voice.

“Wow yeah, I
would never have thought that.”

“Yeah and did
you know KYM Entertainment are responsible for the boy bands the
Andre Project, X:EAT, Juva-nile and Eagle 18?”

“Really?”

“Yup! I really
like Mark from Juva-nile – he is an absolute hotty! It would be
awesome if you could work with him and then we could all hang out!”
said Rebecca, snorting with laughter.

Krystal
giggled.

“You sound
like a pig, Becs! Mark’s not bad but I’m more of an Andrew from the
Andre Project kinda gal!”

“Ha-ha, good
well at least we know we won’t have to fight over them then. Also,
KYM Entertainment produced the Gala Girls, the Seoul Sistas and a
new group that’s coming out next month called NY-2-Shanghai.”

“Amazing! I’m
really excited. What do you think my chances are of getting past
the auditions?” said Krystal, adopting a serious tone.

“Well, Manager
Oh liked your voice so I’d have to say you’ve roughly a 100%
chance! You’re a real talent Krystal - you’re going to smash the
auditions.”

Just then,
Krystal heard the beeping sound of her dad keying in the passcode
to their front door.

“Hello
darling! I’m home!” said her dad.

“Coming Dad,
I’m just on the phone,” said Krystal. “Becs, thanks so much for
finding this. My dad just got home so I’m going to eat dinner with
him now and I’ll talk to you more about this tomorrow.”

“Yeah, of
course. No problem at all. Enjoy dinner!”

“Thank
you!”

Krystal ran
out to the kitchen and gave her dad a massive hug. As she did, the
computerised sound of Beethoven’s Fur Elise emanated from the rice
cooker, signalling that the rice was now ready.

“Dad, dinner
is ready, let’s eat!”

“Ok,
darling.”

Krystal dished
up dinner as her Dad started to tell her about his day; and just
like that, life was back on track.

Krystal learnt everything she could about KYM and
arrived at the main gate of Yonsei University feeling very well
prepared. After double-checking the map on her iPhone, she walked
into the campus and made her way over to the auditorium. A very
official-looking lady greeted Krystal at the door.

“Are you here
for the audition?” said the lady, her voice a little bit louder
than it needed to be.

“Yes, my name
is Krystal Kim.”

The lady ran
her finger down a big wooden clipboard.

“Let me just
check that your name is on my list -”

Krystal bit
her lip as a bead of sweat dripped down her forehead.

“Oh yes, here
it is. Please put this on,” said the lady, handing her a badge to
pin to her top. “This has your name and a number on it - we use
this information to track your application so please make sure it’s
visible at all times.”

“Yes ma’am,
will do.”

“Please have a
seat over there in the first 5 rows - we’ll be starting in around
30 minutes,” said the lady, pointing towards some red velvet
seats.

Krystal
thanked the lady and took a seat in the front row.

The auditorium
was certainly a lot bigger than the one at school. Krystal wondered
whether it would make her voice sound strange.

Auditioners
started to pile into the room and before long the first five rows
were packed and people started having to sit further back. There
were all sorts of acts coming to audition – boy groups, girl
groups, mixed groups and solo artists. Krystal’s heart began to
beat faster. The room suddenly felt quite cold.

Out of the
corner of her eye Krystal noticed a young, well-dressed man with
green tortoiseshell glasses, walking onto the stage. He grabbed a
microphone and pulled it towards him.

“Thank you
everyone for coming today. Please can I have some quiet.”

The room fell
silent.

“My name is
Ben. I want to explain to you how this afternoon will work. In a
minute, Mr. Kim Young Moon, or as many of you will know him, K-Y-M,
will join us and will listen to you all sing.”

A couple of
boys let out a few enthusiastic cheers. Ben waited until they
finished before continuing.

“We’ll start
with groups; then we’ll move onto solo male artists and finally
we’ll finish with solo female artists. Before I ask KYM to come
out, do any of you have any questions?” said Ben, lowering the
microphone and looking around the room.

A
geeky-looking girl raised her hand.

“Will there be
any backing music to accompany our songs?”

“You can sing
whatever you want, but there will be no backing music; everything
today will be a capella with the exception of bands that have
brought their own instruments.” said Ben.

Another person
chipped in with a question.

“Is there a
limit on how long we can sing for?”

“There are no
hard and fast rules but in the interest of time, you probably won’t
be given much more than 5 minutes. Right, thank you – I think we’re
actually going to have to start now. Please remember to remain
quiet while your fellow auditioners are singing.”

Ben ran
backstage and the room filled with the noise of people whispering
to each other. Moments later the auditorium erupted with screams of
delight and clapping as KYM walked onto the stage and picked up a
microphone.

“Good
afternoon everybody - welcome to Kpop Camp! Thank you very much for
coming. I trust that Ben has explained how today will work?”

The audience
nodded and the same boys that cheered earlier yelled out,
“yes!”

“Good, good.
Now, I’m looking for some original talent today – show me something
new, some swag, something different that will help KYM
Entertainment stand out. Also remember to have fun with it – if
you’re not enjoying yourself then there’s very little chance we
will either. This isn’t your one and only chance to audition so
don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Finally, good luck to you
all!” said KYM, putting down the microphone to much applause,
before taking a seat behind a big desk that faced the centre of the
stage.

“Please can I
have group number 1 come up onto the stage,” said Ben.

Two lanky boys
and a plump girl stood up and walked onto the stage.

“Hello,” said
the girl. “My name is Mindy, I’m the leader of the group, this is
John and Mika - together we are, Digital Voice.”

“Great, what
will you be singing for us today?” said KYM.

“We’re going
to sing one of your songs, sir - My Heart’s Recorder.”

“Brilliant.
Well, please - in your own time, take it away.”

Krystal
couldn’t wait to hear them sing. Unfortunately, it was quite the
anti-climax as she thought they were awful and from the look on
KYM’s face, he agreed with her.

A variety of
different groups followed - some better than others. Krystal was
impressed by a few of the acts but concluded that some of the
people must have been auditioning for a laugh or because they had
lost a bet. Either way – it was quite entertaining to watch.

As soon as
they got onto the male solo artists, Krystal’s stomach started to
turn. Time seemed to speed up and she almost couldn’t believe it
when her name and number was called out. She grabbed the armrests
on her chair tightly and ground her teeth.

“Krystal Kim,
number 205.”

Krystal
remained seated, stunned like a rabbit in headlights. It wasn’t
until the third time of asking that she ran up onto the stage. This
was not the great start she’d hoped for.

“So you’re
Krystal, is that correct?” asked KYM, obviously irritated by the
delay.

“Yes sir,
Krystal Kim. I’ve just finished high school and I want nothing more
than to be a singer.”

“I see...
What’re you singing for us today?”

“I’m going to
sing I’d rather go blind by Etta James,” said Krystal.

“Excellent
song choice,” said KYM.

And with that,
Krystal closed her eyes and began to sing, thinking of all the
times her dad listened to the song when he was down. By the end of
the song, KYM was visibly moved.

“Thank you
Krystal, next please.” said KYM, seeming almost reluctant to listen
to anyone else.

Krystal went
back to her seat buzzing with energy; it was the best feeling ever.
She wanted to scream with joy but managed to keep quiet for the
remainder of the auditions.

After another
hour, Ben took to the stage.

“Thank you
everyone for auditioning today and for sitting patiently through
all the other auditions. We’d now ask that you go home while we
make our decisions on who to call back. If you haven’t heard from
us by phone or email in the next 5 days then you can assume that
you’ve not been successful. Please note that that Kpop Camp happens
once a year, in different locations across Korea, so if you are not
successful this year, you can always apply again next year. Thank
you all again and good luck!” said Ben, before walking off the
stage.

Everyone got
up and began to leave. Krystal had hoped to talk to KYM in person
but concluded that he must have already left. Still, she wasn’t
going to let that get her down. Given how well things had gone, she
decided to treat herself to an ice cream sandwich.

Having
devoured the ice cream sandwich, she carefully placed the wrapper
in a bin and made her way down the long tree-lined stretch of road
that led to the main gate. On any other day, Krystal would have
taken a bus home, but she was in such a good mood that she decided
to walk. She hadn’t been walking for 10 minutes before her phone
began to ring.

“Hello?” said
Krystal.

“Hi Krystal
this is KYM. I had to call you as soon as I could. I love your
voice! I want you to come and meet me as soon as possible. What’re
you doing tomorrow?”

Krystal didn’t
even think to say thank you – she could hardly speak. The best she
could come up with was, “I’m free tomorrow.”

“Excellent.
Here’s what we’re going to do. Come to the KYM offices in Apgujeong
tomorrow at 1pm, the details are on the website,
www.kymentertainment.com. I want to know everything about you and
your ambitions as an artist. We can have a proper chat and see how
things stand. Is that okay?” said KYM, sounding even more excited
than Krystal.

“Great, thank
you! I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Krystal, jumping up and down with
joy.

KYM hung up
and Krystal immediately called Rebecca to fill her in on all the
details.

The skies opened up on the day of her big meeting
and Krystal could hear the steady drumming of rain outside. Having
spent a couple of hours grooming herself in the morning, she
decided it was time to get dressed. But what should she wear? She
opened her wardrobe and stared at her clothes; nothing really
jumped out at her.

After 30
minutes of mixing and matching, she decided to play it safe and go
smart casual. She put on a pair of black jeans, a relatively smart
pair of shoes and a blazer. In Krystal’s opinion the outfit was
smart enough to suggest that she’d made an effort but not so smart
as to make it seem like she was uptight.

She didn’t
have to leave for an hour, so she pottered over to the kitchen,
made herself a quick snack and went to sit down in front of the TV.
Their TV was ancient; it had a square-shaped screen with a number
of dead pixels – just enough to be annoying. If she ever made any
money, a widescreen TV was at the top of her shopping list.

An episode of
Running Man was airing and Krystal tried to figure out what was
going on. The guys were split into teams and zooming around Seoul
in the back of taxis looking for something. It was all very
confusing but it helped to kill time and if anything, Yu Jae-Suk’s
facial expressions always made her laugh. When the episode
finished, Krystal did some final checks in the mirror; picked up
her favourite red umbrella and headed down the mountain, which was
now extremely slippery with the rain.

Catching a
taxi in Seoul was always a nightmare when it rained; not only were
empty taxis few and far between, when they did show up, there was
always the threat of an ajumma queue-jumping ahead of you.
Fortunately, Krystal didn’t have to wait too long on this occasion
and after 30 minutes, two near misses and one missed red light, she
arrived outside of KYM Entertainment. Second time lucky, she
thought, as she ran inside the building and made her way to the
reception desk.

“You must be
Krystal? Welcome to KYM! Please follow me,” said the receptionist,
before leading Krystal down a corridor and performing two sharp
knocks on an office door.

“Come in,”
said a deep voice from inside the room.

The
receptionist opened the door to reveal KYM sat in a brown leather
chair behind an antique desk. He stood up as soon as he saw
Krystal.

“Krystal -
thank you so much for coming. Please have a seat,” said KYM,
pointing to a set of olive green sofas in the middle of the
room.

They both sat
down.

“Please let me
know if there’s anything else I can help with,” said the
receptionist as she closed the door and left the room.

“Thank you,”
said KYM. “And thank you, Krystal, for coming. Did you find us
okay?”

“Yes, thank
you.”

“Great. I’m
going to be candid with you - I’m so happy that you auditioned
yesterday – your voice is exquisite and I have to sign you! What’s
your deal? Are you still in school?”