"Annyeonghaseyo. I'm Kim Seo-jun. It's a pleasure to meet all of you." Kim Seo-jun calmly introduced himself to Park Jin-young, some members of 2pm and wonder girls.
From 2PM, there were Ok Taec-yeon, Jay Park, Lee Jun-ho present. From Wonder Girls, there were Sunmi, Sunye and Yubin present. Seo-jun recognized all of them. They were popular in this country these days.
"Annyeonghaseyo, Kim Seo-jun-ssi. I'm Park Jin-young, the CEO of JYP. I'm also the CCO here. Can I call you Seo-jun if you don't mind?" Park Jin-young patiently introduced himself.
Seo-jun instinctively answered, "Yes, sir."
Jin-young smiled slightly. "You don't need to call me sir. If you don't mind, you can call me hyung like the others."
Seeing his friendliness, Seo-jun nodded repeatedly.
After observing Seo-jun for a while, Jin-young started asking some questions.
"Seo-jun, Seung-min said, you can play some musical instruments. Is it right? Also, what about your dancing skills and vocal skills?"
Seo-jun calmly replied," Yes, it's the truth. I know how to play the piano, guitar and violin. I think I have amazing vocal ability because my musical teacher said so. My dancing skill is not that good though. After all, no one really taught me anything from my childhood. I learnt everything from books and TV. I learned how to play piano from my late mother and guitar from my late father."
Seo-jun slowly added," I can write songs if I have some inspirations. But, I don't know how to compose or arrange music."
Jin-young patiently heard what was being said. From the beginning, he planned for Seo-jun to sing or dance on 2PM songs but once he heard that Seo-jun had written a song for himself, he had storm brewing in his mind. What JYP mostly lacked in these years was capable songwriters and creative designers.
"Can you show the lyrics of the song if you don't mind? If the lyrics are well enough, I can have someone arrange it for you."- Jin- young said with a smile.
"Oh. I was planning to sing it here for demonstration. I believe you will like it, hyung. The song was based off my late mother. I wrote it after she passed away. I named it "Lemon". I'm well-versed in Japanese and English and I feel like Japanese songs are highly capable for sad songs. Lemon represents intense grief, deep loss, and the bittersweet memory of a deceased loved one." Seo-jun stated while keeping his head down. When he began stating on how he made this song, he suddenly remembered his mother's face and her voice when she rejected treatments for her cancer.
The air turned somber. At the beginning, even the members had their eyes widen. But later on, when they heard his mom passing away and him writing this song based on grief and loss, they felt sad themselves. Subconsciously, they ignored the comment on how Japanese language portrayed sad songs better. This type of conversation should never be on live tv. Otherwise, netizens would chew you apart. All of them knew they had to teach him some celebrity attitudes and manners. Jin-young even decided that he would personally monitor and teach him how to talk in public.
Jin-young looked at Seo-jun's eyes and said," Sing 'Lemon' for us. I want to listen."
Seo-jun calmly took his guitar. He felt some slow melodies on guitar would be perfect for "Lemon" rather than singing a capella.
"Yume naraba dore hodo yokatta deshou
Imada ni anata no koto wo yume ni miru
Wasureta mono wo tori ni kaeru you ni
Furubita omoide no hokori wo harau
Modoranai shiawase ga aru koto wo
Saigo ni anata ga oshiete kureta
Iezu ni kakushiteta kurai kako mo
Anata ga inakya eien ni kurai mama
Kitto mou kore ijou kizutsuku koto nado
Ari wa shinai to wakatte iru
Ano hi no kanashimi sae ano hi no kurushimi sae
Sono subete wo aishiteta anata to tomo ni
Mune ni nokori hanarenai nigai remon no nioi
Ame ga furiyamu made wa kaerenai
Ima demo anata wa watashi no hikari"
[ Listen to "Lemon by Kenshi". It's really a soothing song.]
All the people present their eyes widen but for different reasons. Idols from 2pm and wonder girls weren't that much fluent in Japanese. They could understand some lines yet majority went above their heads. What made their eyes widen was his voice and tempo. They were mesmerized by his way of speech and emotions in this song. Him being handsome was an added perk.
On the other hand, Jin-young had his eyes widen because he understood the lyrics. The lyrics are so well-organized and so full of emotions. It was an amazing ballad. He felt that it could even be among the top 10-15 songs he ever listened to. The lyrics represented loss, grief and longing. He thought a sad song could only be heartbreaking. But, with how Seo-jun sang this song, it became melancholic yet soothing, emotional and unique among sad songs.
They were mesmerized by Seo-jun's emotional and soothing voice. Instinctively, they all remembered someone from SM entertainment. She was in SNSD, debuted in 2007, joined SM from an open interview channel defying all odds. Most importantly, she had unique saddening vocal skill. She had already sang an ost called 'IF' which is also super popular because of how she portrayed that sad song.
This boy could become the male version of Kim- Taeyeon.
"Ima demo anata wa watashi no hikari"
With that, Seo-jun slowly ended his song and looked up gradually. In his ears, loud clapping sounds were heard.
"Such an amazing song. It's sure to be in top 10 songs I have heard in my entire life. Seung-min really brought a gold this time." Jin-young excitedly blabbered to Seo-jun.
The others also nodded repeatedly.
Sunye from Wonder Girls stated," You nearly made me cried, Seo-jun-ssi. You have to take responsibility."
Seo-jun laughed a little. In an unknown place, he finally felt valued in his life.
Jin-young stopped others from talking and offered him a trainee contract.
"Seo-jun. You are more than capable to be a trainee. In fact, if not for other skills and behaviors, I would already put you into a debut position. Your song is truly top-notch. Do you wanna be a trainee here?"
Hearing that, Kim Seo-jun felt a smile blossoming in his face.
"Yes, hyung."