AKA

Chapter One

"Next! Jimmy Kim!"

Sixteen year-old Jer turned his head and watched the guy identified as Jimmy Kim stand up and follow the man with the black clipboard into the audition room a couple yards away. Every time that door to the audition room opened and closed, Jer watched it carefully. They were finally on the "K" last names, so Jer knew that soon enough it would be his turn audition. "P" is only five letters away from "K," and—luckily for Jer—the second letter in "Park" is "A." Therefore, as soon as the A-List Records audition people finished with the "O's," he should be next. After all, the waiting room was getting emptier and emptier every five minutes.

On the wall across from Jer, a TV continually switched back and forth from the local news to commercials. Between the boring news stories, the even more boring commercials, and his quickly dying cell phone, Jer was mildly entertained and distracted from the dull audition waiting. So far, none of the news stories had captured his attention. However, a particular news story did. In fact, it perked the ears of every guy in the waiting room.

"We have some breaking news out of the coroner's office right now on News 4 at 5. According to the report, the seventeen year-old singer Hyun-woo Song from the popular band Trio's death has been confirmed as a suicide. Two weeks ago when Song's sudden death was first reported, suicide was merely a speculation. However—with this official report from the coroner's office—we now know for sure that his death was caused by suicide."

After reading the official statement from the coroner's office, the news lady started to switch to a story about a missing puppy. Everyone in the room turned away from the TV in silence. Jer observed the faces around the room. The guy sitting next to him was staring at the floor. The guy a couple seats down from him—with blue streaks in his jet-black hair—was open-mouthed.  The guy across the room who was wearing a long black bandana looked like he was about to murder someone.

He must have been a big Hyun-woo fan, Jer thought.

Jer had been, too. In fact, most people between the ages of eight and twenty-five were big fans of Hyun-woo Song and his small boy band, Trio. Between the excellent dancing, superb song-writing, and great singing and rapping, Trio quickly rose to fame within its debut year. Though Hyun-woo Song and his two bandmates were all fourteen when Trio debuted—and though they came from A-List Records (a predominately Korean-American recording company)—the boys achieved nationwide and even international fame. All three members of Trio were talented and became famous, but none more than Hyun-woo. Hyun-woo could sing and dance exceptionally well. Many of Trio's hit songs were mostly written—and even solely written—by him. He even wrote, recorded, and produced his own solo album which broke sales records and won awards. Hyun-woo never had to rap in Trio's songs because there was already a designated rapper in the group. However, there were occasions when Hyun-woo rapped a verse in a Trio song anyway.

Hyun-woo Song had many talents and abilities, but they weren't limited to just music. Hyun-woo also had great leadership ability. He was constantly referred to as "Trio's leader" by Trio fans and the media, though the title was not official. Hyun-woo was also very humble, passionate, and outspoken about real-world issues. At the age of sixteen, he became a junior ambassador of the United States, and represented both the American and refugee South Korean people. He attended many peace summits, environmental allies, and even became one of the first—and only teenaged—South Korean refugee to be invited to the North Korean-South Korean peace treaty signing in Pyongyang to officially end the half-century ago and devastating Korean War.

Hyun-woo Song was an amazing person and an inspiration to all Americans—both young and old and both South Korean and non-South Korean. The former mayor of New Seoul, California—America's number one, fastest-growing city and the place where many South Korean refugees settled at after the destruction of their home country—gave Hyun-woo the nickname "New Seoul's most influential singer." In merely three years, Hyun-woo went from a regular, middle-class fourteen year-old to a rich, famous, and influential seventeen year-old. Hyun-woo had accomplished so much in three years, and everyone in New Seoul looked forward to whatever he would accomplish next.