The Tests of Park Joon-woo

"Joon-woo." The bird perched upon Joon-woo's shoulder called.

Joon-woo took a moment to reply, "It feels weird to be called that." He admitted quietly, not wanting the people walking the busy streets to notice him talking to a bird that they couldn't even see.

The first step, Joon-woo figured, was to get a grasp of his skills. And the most affordable option as of now was a karaoke bar. The first thing he noticed about Joon-woo's or now, his apartment was there was almost nothing of value. He found that Joon-woo had almost nothing in his bank account which figured from how empty the fridge and his closet was. So with what he could, he began towards the closest karaoke bar he could find.

When he was Ha-rin, he was the main vocalist of the group. And as Ha-rin's group grew national to international, she began to be known as an all-rounder; looks, dance, voice, and all. But Ha-rin had years of trainee days to back her skills up, and Joon-woo, her new identity, had only been a trainee for a year and a half so far and the limits of Joon-woo were necessary to know.

He had thrown on the warmest jacket he could find in the bare closet and threw it over his cheap outfit. But as he exited the small apartment, the bird insisted on following, much to Joon-woo's annoyance.

Joon-woo peaked up, "Hey, bird." He called, "Do you want to be called Bird?" He asked.

The bird looked at him and chirped: "When you call me bird I find it very disrespectful. I am in fact the Grim Reaper, I'll have you know."

Joon-woo rolled his eyes, "So what do you want me to call you?"

The bird thought for a moment, "Call me Kite." It replied.

Joon-woo looked Kite up and down, "Kite?" He asked, observing that Kite was in fact a black kite bird. "How original." He scoffed.

"Shut up and get a karaoke room. The place you're looking for is one block away." Kite informed, getting off of Joon-woo's shoulder and flying ahead, perching upon a neon lit sign reading 'Gono Coin Karaoke'.

Joon-woo sighed, shifting through the crowded city streets with an uncomfortable frown. He forgot the lack of personal space the city streets give. But after a few moments he caught up to Kite, looking at the bird with a frown.

"I wish I could fly, so I could avoid crowds like you." Joon-woo commented, pushing through the doors and into the cool-lit karaoke rooms.

"I'm glad I'm not you, Joon-woo." Kite replied snarky, attempting to perch back upon Joon-woo's shoulders but failing due to Joon-woo shooing him off.

With an anxious stutter in his steps, Joon-woo approached the young teen at the front desk. She looked at him with her head tilted.

"Is it just you?" She asked, deadpanned and dead-eyed.

Joon-woo nodded, embarrassed by the teen's raised eyebrow.

She chucked at Joon-woo's red-rising cheeks. "You'll be in room twelve." She said, handing Joon-woo change and, to his surprise, an extra piece of paper than the receipt.

Joon-woo shyly nodded and scurried to the room, stuffing the receipt and change in his pocket. He unfolded the ripped notebook paper and read the note with squinted eyes.

'Call me xxx-xxx-xxxx' the note read, Joon-woo's face lit up with red. Not even as Ha-rin was she asked out a lot. Her timid and apprehensive nature got quite the bad rep, so only strangers really even cared to look at her with actual lust.

Joon-woo looked at his reflection through the shiny parts of the machine. His jawline was well-shaped and as he examined himself further he realized that people would think he was hot. It was safe to say the visual department wasn't lacking. Singing, though, he would see.

He pursed his lips, unsure as he took the microphone in hand. He watched lyrics pop up on the screen.

The melody was vaguely familiar, and as the first lyrics left his mouth he grinned to himself, Park Joon-woo seemed to have some vocals under his belt, too. He continued, the lyrics flowing out of mouth like a second nature. Now, he just hoped his dance skills would suffice, too.

–+–

Joon-woo watched the small monitor-like TV with squinted eyes. This apartment had a TV, but it was so tiny that from the bed, the screen seemed blurry. But still, with almost no money left to his name, Joon-woo had to act fast with what he had and what he had wasn't a lot.

Currently, The Lord's Menu by WildBoyz plays on the TV. It was quite the test, dance wise, but it was one of the boy group only choreography Ha-rin had known and now, as Joon-woo, it was the most plausible option.

Joon-woo took a breath, as the music started to play, the 8 boys started moving to the beat. But as soon as he began to follow, he realized an issue, Joon-woo was as stiff as a board.

He tried, he tried to embrace the Ha-rin within him, but as the boys of WildBoyz begin to dance ahead, he realized he was fucked. Joon-woo could not dance for actual shit.

"You look really fucking stupid right now." Kite commented from above.

Joon-woo sighed, pausing the video and flipping off Kite.

"This isn't a laughing matter, Kite." Joon-woo replied, frowning and squatting into himself. "This kids couldn't fucking dance, no wonder he didn't debut." He commented, really wishing for his Ha-rin dance skills back. "I'm gonna need like a month just to fix these dance issues…"

He sighed, "Guess I can't be too lucky…" He said, thinking back to Joon-woo's pre-made voice and visuals.

Kite whistled at Joon-woo's frustration, hopping down from his closet door perch and in front of Joon-woo, "There's power in voice and looks, you know." It said, "That will surely get you through some auditions…" Kite shrugged.

Joon-woo looked puzzled at Kite, "What auditions?"

Kite paused, "Oh, I didn't tell you?"

Joon-woo's brows furrowed. "What? Kite?" He asked, crossing his arms and staring down the bird below him.

"Our boy Joon-woo here signed up for some survival shows before he tried to kill himself. Died before he saw he was accepted into one." Kite shrugged.

Joon-woo paused, rubbing at his temple. "With these dancing skills?" He asked, "And also, way to go on the short notice. I need to prepare for this type of stuff…" He said, pushing himself up. "Swear to god next time you're gonna tell me this audition is today…" He joked, flashing Kite a small helpless grin.

Kite paused, looking left and right, before hopping a few steps back.

Joon-woo looked at Kite suspiciously, "It's today, isn't it?"

Kite flew to the top of the dresser, "See, what would you do if I told you 'yes'?"

Joon-woo and Kite exchanged glances.