#(Also aplogies for putting him back in his TTC outfit but it's so cute TT w TT)

[moonbokrk]

Date: 14th June 2019 Location: Seoul Arts High School, Jogno-gu Song used: FACE by NU’EST (00:12-01:02) Updated outfit: x

                                     ~Second Skill: SINGING and Departure~

Last year, he’d used his 20 minute break to nap, remembering how much he’d tossed and turned the night before. This time he intends to use it to freshen up a little. 

Ducking into the bathroom once he’d been dismissed from the interview room, Moonbok shuts himself into a stall and pulls a fresh shirt out of his bag. The temperatures had been rising steadily throughout the day and even in spite of the air conditioning, he knows that his current shirt is all but sticking to him. Gross.

He’s seriously gonna to have to complain about false advertising when it comes to deodorants. 24hr protection? They must be using a different clock to him. Pulling his shirt over his head, Moonbok quickly wipes himself down with a body wipe, stopping at the tattoo on his lower right torso briefly. Sometimes he was still stunned that it was there, even though he’d had it about two years by now. Smiling a little, he replaces his shirt with the clean one and pulls his hair (yet again) out of its braid, simply content to tie it back into a wavy ponytail for this last section. Exiting the bathroom, he makes his way back to the audition hall, nibbling on a cereal bar.

Almost home free.

Taking a seat outside the room once more, Moonbok scrolls idly through his phone for a good song. He’d had a slightly hard time in choosing what song he’d like to preform, having hovered between four in particular since the auditions had been announced. Singing under his breath, he tests his two absolute favourites of the four he’d chosen. It was pain to have to settle with one of them, when both resounded with him so much. But it's not as though he could simply mash them together. Though, technically, it would be showing how he could improvise creatively, wouldn’t it?

The risk of screwing it up is too high for Moonbok to be able to stomach, however. Mnet had already broadcast two of his spectacular failures to the whole nation, he doesn’t want to give them a third chance.

“Jang Moonbok?”

“Here!”

Well, it’s now or never, isn’t it? Getting up and returning to the audition room once more, Moonbok’s mind works at a mile a minute and he eventually comes to a decision he hopes is the right one as he’s stands in front of the judges once more.

“Hello again. For my improv skill, I’ll be singing FACE by NU’EST.”

This is a little more difficult without music, but it is an improv skill, after all. Hence why Moonbok had made the choice to forgo any backing track for this last round. Taking a breath in, he slowly exhaled and began.

You’re in my way stupid, what are you saying? The insides of your head is so light that your words are like feathers In this small, palm-sized place You search for the Himalayas but I’m different

He’s different, alright. Different from the rest of the family who were so involved with helping to make South Korea’s judicial and health systems what they are today. Now that’s publicly admitted who is family are, Moonbok knows there’ll be nothing but scrutiny, assumptions and comparisons directed towards him if he gets through.

He’s also reminded of himself from a year ago, a cocky brat who waltzed around after getting past the initial auditions only to get a slap in the face from reality soon after. He hopes the inside of his head is a better and more adjusted place now, even with everything he’s been through.

Hey, you’re gonna get hurt, move, you’re gonna get hurt Sometimes being too courageous is a problem Shout out, shout out to ask to save you If not, from now on, watch closely

He has to remind himself to take it slow this year. That even if he makes it past the first round, he can’t rest easy. There’s a fine line between being brave and being cocky, and Moonbok has no wish to be on the wrong side of it again. AT the same time, he knows that even though this is a competition, he should rely on his teammates and accept any help they give him, instead of turning it down under a misguided belief that he was being a burden to them.

He would do them all a greater disservice if he simply tried to plough on by himself to save his pride again this year.

The bursting out jackpot! No matter what anyone say, so what? This is the difference between me and you The bursting out jackpot! Till we finish, we can’t stop You always find out that it hurts after it shatters That’s what you’re only at that spot

It’s a hard lesson that Moonbok is still learning. That he will have to fail, multiple times before he can achieve his dream. The past year has shown him that. And he won’t lie, the sting of disappointment never gets any easier to deal with. It’s just that he knows that dwelling on the ‘what-ifs’ and ‘could have beens’ will only make the failure even more painful and harder to overcome.

So he just has to keep going until he gets his jackpot, move forward without stopping, no matter what was waiting for him. He won’t be like the others who’ve been forced to abandon their dream after too many failures, not if he can help it.

Coming to the end of the song, Moonbok pauses for a brief moment before bowing once more, not letting the relief show on his face. It had been a long day; just as long as it had been last year, but different. 

“Thank you for listening to me once more. It was a pleasure to perform for you all.”

                                                ------------------------------------

Handing back his nametag once more, Moonbok exits the school and for a moment, he’s slightly dumbfounded and unsure what to do next.

This year’s audition had played out so similarly to last year’s that it was slightly unsettling. Admittedly, Moonbok didn’t have the negative emotional reactions he’d had back then, and his performances felt more mature than they done a year ago. Maybe he’s simply overthinking things again, but a nervous feeling begins to brew in the pit of his stomach.

Shaking his head hard, enough to smack himself in the face with his ponytail, Moonbok decides not to dwell too much on it. He’s done all he can do, done his very best; it’s up to the judges from here on out. 

Without a backward glance at the school, Moonbok heads towards the nearest subway station, a smile on his face despite the exhaustion. He truly hadn’t been lying when he’d told Youngjae that he’d planned to visit his family this weekend. He hasn’t actually spent time at the family home since he moved to Seoul six months ago, and while meeting his family in the city was nice, it was not the same as being in the same home as them, sharing meals together or having petty squabbles over the silliest thing.

He missed it. He missed them. And if that one good thing came from the audition is that he’ll be back with his family again, if only for the weekend, then Moonbok is satisfied.

[Word count without lyrics: 1.106] Lyrics credit: x

#rkmga5 #rkmga5audition5 #Arc: MGA Season 5 #wc: 1105 #(Aaaaand we're done~ \owo/) #('Shizuka did you really make Bok change his shirt so you could talk about his tattoo?' EHEHEHEHEH~) #(Y'all should know I'm shameless by now tbh) #(Also aplogies for putting him back in his TTC outfit but it's so cute TT w TT)