Serendipity | SunKi Au

20: Levels

Anxiousness was a feeling Riki was getting oh too familiar with these days. And he definitely didn't enjoy it.

Here he is, standing in front of Heeseung, the head vocal instructor, and the head dance instructor. He had been confident before entering the room, he knew of his talent, after all, having been praised so many times, but the professional eyes made him feel completely nervous and the nerve-wracking, serious atmosphere did not help ease the tension.

He starts off with the vocal portion after introducing himself with a sheepish smile, Heeseung throwing him a reassuring smile.

He began singing "Butterfly" by BTS. He would wince internally every time his pitch would be out of tune even if it was for just half a second. Vocal was always his weakness as he never had any lessons regarding the subject excluding the previous year he had joined his school's choir which he soon abandoned after coming to the conclusion that the style they taught was definitely not the one he would need as an idol. However, he was taught the basics which he is definitely needing at the moment, and what he'll need in the future.

Then, after introducing what he would be doing for the dancing assessment, he began dancing to "Lie" by BTS Jimin in which he radiated confidence without a doubt unlike his demeanor while singing. It seemed as the instructors thought the same as they put on satisfied smiles throughout the entire performance as they analyzed it with keen eyes.

"Thank you!" He exclaims with a proud smile tugged on his lips, panting as some drops of sweat drip down his forehead.

Heeseung smiles widely, his perfect teeth making an appearance. "You can step out for a second so we can discuss your level," he explains. "You did amazing," he states proudly, a brotherly gleam in his eyes.

Riki nods, giving the other three people in the room a bow before walking towards the door, his breathing back to normal.

He opens the door, getting startled and his cheeks become slightly pink at the sight outside. There were at least 15 people there, all looking at him as if he were an alien or something. He slightly bows, walking towards the left in an attempt to walk through the people to look for his friends while he waits. That, however, only became an attempt as one of the girls there stepped right in front of him, an overly bright smile painted on her face.

"You were amazing! Especially your dance!" She exclaims, louder than needed.

"T- thank you," he mumbles, bowing his head slightly before trying to walk past her only to be denied access again.

"You're good, kid," a male who stepped in front of him said this time and all he did was mutter thanks once again.

Soon enough, the other people hummed in agreement, one or two throwing another compliment here and there. Though Ni-Ki was feeling extremely flattered, he began to feel suffocated, their voice doubling and tripling, beginning to feel hot, sweating everywhere. He tried his best to smile through it, saying thank you and saying yes to the ones that asked to be his friends. He felt it was stupid. How he could feel so overwhelmed by just a couple of people--which had decreased to probably 10--when his aspiration was to be in front of thousands, millions even.

"Get out of the way," a monotonous voice cut the question a female was currently asking the boy, and Riki couldn't help but subtly sigh in relief when the people did as told. The people glued themselves to either wall while the Japanese boy stayed still. The nonchalant boy simply passed by them all, the younger saying thanks to him in his mind.

"I- I need to go," he bows awkwardly to the people, walking the opposite of the silver head.

Though his intentions were previously to sit on the bench next to the room he had done the test in, he changed his mind. Instead, he walks off, walking down one floor to the first floor and to the cafeteria where he knew he would find his friends.

As soon as the boys caught him in their sights, in the middle of slurping some ramen, they brightened, waving him over.

"How was it?" Jay was the first to speak up, Sunghoon nodding with a smile, wanting to know the same.

"It could have gone better, it was not my best. Especially my vocals," he says disappointedly.

"You're just being hard on yourself, Ni-Ki," Sunghoon says with a heartwarming smile which almost made the younger blush. That prick is too annoyingly attractive.

"I'm pretty confident in my dance skills," he states which made the older two smile. "But I still think that I did very bad with my vocals, so I was definitely not satisfied with them," he smiles sadly.

"Well, that's what this place is for, to learn. The levels are just to know who needs more improvement but that doesn't mean that because you are a level one you are the worst and just because you are a level four you don't need to keep training to improve yourself," Jay says wisely.

"Yeah, you say that because you are a level four in both vocal and dance," Riki states, smirking playfully.

Jay rolls his eyes, "Did you catch anything I said? Levels don't matter. You don't have to worry about them. What you do have to worry about and fill with your mind with every day is how you can improve. Nobody can ever reach the top but neither are they at the bottom."

"Thank you for your wise words, Mr. Park," Sunghoon states, saluting at him. Jay simply throws a punch to his shoulder and the three break out in laughter.

~

"A four for dance and a two for vocals, that's not bad Riki especially with no previous vocal lessons," the oldest of the three says with a lopsided smile.

"Really? It's good?" The boy asks unsurely.

"For sure! Actually, we should go celebrate it! Jay is inviting!" Sunghoon says, walking down the stairs with no response.

Jay sighs, rubbing his eyes frustratedly making the youngest giggle before he walks to follow his best friend, the Japanese boy following suit.