My Idol, My Love

The Boy and his Band

JINHO

"Jinho, you are next for the make-up and hair," shouts one of our staff. I stood up from the couch and put the iPad down. I walked towards the chair where I'll get my hair and make-up done. "Okay, I'm ready," I said to the make-up artist. The make-up artist starts her job. I feel sleepy but at the same time happy. It is Monday, today. My bandmates and I practice until three in the morning, today, and had a three-hour sleep. You might be wondering who am I. I'll tell you about myself.

    I am Kim Jinho or known as Jinho. I am 23 years old. My height is 5'11. I am the eldest in our group but I am the youngest in my family. I have an older brother who is three years older than me. He owns his own restaurant in our hometown. I am actually from Gyeonggi, Korea. I am pure Korean. My mom is the former Miss Korea 1965 while my dad is the CEO of one of the biggest companies in Korea. My parents and older brother still live in Gyeonggi, while I am now in Seoul, Korea. I live with my bandmates in a dorm house. You might be thinking if we are surrounded by a lot of people. Well, we live in a secure place where most idols from different companies stay but we don't get to see them often. Also, there are high-end people who want to live in a simple house. 

 Why I am here? Well, I was scouted by a manager while I was in my university days. I took up an acting major at this famous university in Korea. I was in a class when a certain company was looking for trainees. This company is not that well-known. But I have heard of it. One of the staff, talked to me when I went out of my classroom, "Hey! You are handsome. I'm not joking. I swear," he said with a genuine smile. I was not even confident with how I looked before. "Thank you, sir," I quickly replied with a smile. "You know, I'm looking for trainees for this company. You are one of those people I'm looking for," he said. "Me?" I said with a shocked face while pointing at myself. "Aren't you a company that trains singers and dancers?" "Well, yes but your looks will fit in this boyband that we are forming," replied the staff then tapped me on my shoulder. "Why don't you try to audition in our company?" he continues. "Uhm, thank you for the opportunity. When can I audition?" I felt happy and nervous at the same time, I don't know if they are scammers or not. "Great! You can audition at Helium Company right after your class" said the staff. "May I know your name?" he continues. "My name is Kim Jinho," I said while he typed my name on his phone. "Nice! I'll wait for you, ok?" he said with a smile. "Ok," I said then he walked away.

 After class, I went straight to Helium Company to audition. I didn't have any background in singing nor dancing. I went there to audition as an actor. But my destiny turned three sixty degrees as I stepped in Helium Company. As I entered, I asked the information desk where the audition is being held. The desk informer said that the audition is being held on the second floor of the building, ROOM 221. I went to the said room right after. I just took the stairs since it was only on the second floor. As I stepped on the second floor, I saw some people sitting on the chairs provided outside ROOM 221. There were people bringing their own guitar. There were people who were stretching just in front of their chairs. I was astonished by these people. I came to this building with just my confidence and nothing more. I was hoping that there will be an audition for a tv role or movie role. I sat at the last chair near the elevator. I was the last one who came for the audition. I was quite nervous because with all the people lining up, they were all prepared and I was not. "Kim Jinho, please proceed here." I was drowning in my thoughts that I was called. As I entered, I saw the staff you talked to me about a while ago. I smiled at the four people sitting with a table in front of them. "Hello!" said one of the four people. " What's your name and age?" he continued. "I am Kim Jinho, 20 years old," I replied with a smile. "You are a university student, right?" another man said. I just nodded and smiled. "What is your major?" he continued. I replied with full confidence and a smile, "I'm majoring in acting, sir." The four of them talked to themselves, then the staff you found me butted in and said, "When I saw him, I thought he would fit with the group that we are forming. We just have to train him with vocals and dancing." Then he looked at me and smiled. I smiled back at him. "Let's check which area he should be practicing. Can you just sing one line from a song that you like?" the first man who talked to me said. "Uhm, ok," I was kinda nervous because I can sing but not a singer. 

    "Lately, I've been, I've been thinking I want you to be happier, I want you to be happier," 

 I sang Happier by Bastille because I'm in love with this song. "Can you please the first verse of that song," said one of the four people who looked surprised with my voice. "Uhm, sure," I said and smiled a little.

 "When the morning comes

 When we see what we've become

In the cold light of day, we're a flame in the wind

Not the fire that we've begun

Every argument, every word we can't take back

'Cause with the all that has happened

I think that we both know the way that this story ends"  I sang the first verse with all my might and heart. Then the four of them talked again. I heard one saying, "He actually has a good voice, we just have to polish a little with his voice control." Clearly, I don't have any idea what they were talking about. Suddenly, one of the four people said, "We would like you to train under our company. Your visual is one of the reasons we are getting you. Secondly, we will focus on your falsettos and voice control when it comes to the highest notes down to the lowest notes." He smiled at me. The other three smiled too and said in unison, "CONGRATULATIONS!" Then, I smiled like a crazy person. I didn't know what I should feel. I was overwhelmed with what just happened.

"You can change your clothes, Jinho sunbaenim," I am back to reality after the hair and make-up finished my look and said those words. "Thank you, noon," I replied with a smile. I went to our stylist and asked for the clothes I'm going to wear. Our stylist gave me the clothes I'm going to wear and went to the restroom to change. After 10 minutes of changing, I went back to our stylist for some little change in case there is.

 "Jinho hyung! You look handsome in your outfit!" Junghoon said. He is the youngest member of the group, the main vocalist, and also a composer. He is just 18 years old but I met him when he was 15 years old. He's my best friend in the group but all of them are my best friend. We became close because I had to be his hyung or older brother. I didn't know what hyung means until I became part of this group. "I know right. I really feel my handsomeness with this outfit," I said then wink at him. Everyone knows that I am the joker of the group. So everyone in the room laugh. "Jinho huyng, what do you think of these lyrics?" Yongho asked me while showing his composed song in his iPad. He is the second eldest among us, he composes and produces our songs. He is the shortest member by height. He seems to be quiet around people but when we are in our dorm house he becomes the loudest. Not the loudest in a bad way, I mean he talks a lot. "I am the moon and you are the sun. I want you to be the brightest among the rest. You shine in this world. I, the moon, becomes you when it gets dark," I read the lyrics while holding Yongho's iPad. "So?" he said while looking at me with puppy eyes. "This sounds great. No need to change." I said. I sometimes help in composing songs but I am not really good. I only compose one song before but it is dedicated to my family. And I haven't composed since then. That was one year and a half ago. "Great! I'm still thinking about what melody to put here," Minho said again. "I have some melody on my laptop, would you like to hear it?" Hosung said. He is the third eldest among the group, the lead dancer, composer, producer, rapper, and sometimes vocalist. "Sure. I'll listen to it later when we get home." Minho said with a huge smile on his face. Hosung replied with a nod with an okay sign. 

 "BoyzTown, please go to the location," shouted one of the production team. "Ok boys, let's have some fun with this one! Let's be humble and be kind with this new endorsement," Namgi said. He is our leader, a rapper, a genius compose (seriously, he's the best composer I have ever known. I swear!), and the youngest in the hyung line even if he is the same age as Hosung, he is still the youngest among the four of us. And every one of us shouted in unison, "Ok! Fighting!" 

 As we walk inside the location, we are mesmerized by the details and decorations. We all even said in unison, "Wow!" It is the same as with our dorm house. Since we are going to endorse home appliances, the production team, and our team decided to remake our living room, dining room, and one of our rooms. We felt like we are still at home. "Everyone in their position, please!" said the director. We are going to shoot a one-minute advertisement. We have been using some of their appliances and we are just happy that we are able to endorse it and be the brand ambassador for this one. It is special for us. "Positions everyone! In five, four, three, two, one, ACTION!" shouted the production director. 

 "Cut!" said the director and we stop moving. "Ah, Taemin and Jihun, can you please change position?" the director instructed. and both boys exchanged positions. "Ok, let's do it one more time," said the director. And we did another shot. Taemin and Jihun have the same age but Jihun is older than Taemin. Both are our vocalists, too. Jihun is a great dancer too the same as Hosung while Taemin is the other visual. "And cut!" said the director. "Fifteen-minute break for everyone then we will proceed to the last shoot," continued the director. While we are having our make-up retouch, a group of men in corporate suits arrived at our location. Our manager, Mr. Baek Sehun, introduces us to the group of men. "Boys, these men are the people we are giving honor.  This is Mr. Lee Joowon, the CEO and owner of LeeLim Corporation," he gestured his hand towards the man with a big, genuine smile on his face, a little shorter than me. He gave his hand to each one of us as a gesture for us to shake hands with him. "This is Park Byunho, the head of creative arts for this endorsement," Mr. Sehun gestured his hand to another man, who looks serious but with a small grin on his face and shook our hands. "Then, this is Mr. So James, the head researcher, and director for this campaign," continued Mr. Sehun, he gestured his hand pointing to another man who looks like he is in the mids of his 50s and shook hands with us. "This is Mr. Kim Chulwoo, the head manager for this campaign," Mr. Sehun said then pointed to the man who looks younger than his colleagues and shook hands with us. "And lastly, we have Mr. Lee Jaebeom, the head of this production team," Mr. Sehun said and pointed to the man who looks happy. Then Mr. Sehun introduces us one by one to these five men. 

 "I'm glad to meet all of you boys. It is our honor to have you as our endorsers," said Mr. Lee Joowon. We all felt shy and gave him our happy smile. "I can't wait for the contract signing on Wednesday. I hope this will bring our audience and your audience closer. And may everyone feels at home with this partnership," he continued. "The honor is in us, Mr. Lee," said Namgi. And after a short conversation with him and his team, we left because we have to do another shoot. Mr. Lee and his team stayed and watched how we gave justice and honor to his appliances. 

 After a long shoot, we changed to our comfortable clothes and ate outside together with the whole production team except Mr. Lee's team because they left after one take. This is how we say thank you to each crew.