Falling for the Omega Idol

GOING inside the Olympic Park, it took them about 20 minutes before they could find an empty parking space near Olympic Hall - the venue of the audition. Even then, the one they found was still a bit far from the Olympic Hall.

They arrived here two hours before the audition time. But despite that, there were still a lot more people who got here much earlier than them. That was if he assumed that all those cars belonged to people who would be participating in the audition.

"Mom, I'll go," Haneul said to his mother as he reached for his guitar case in the backseat. He also didn't forget to put on a face mask that would cover the lower half of his face.

"Can't I go with you?" his mother asked, her gaze obviously filled with worry.

Haneul smiled at her. "Mom, I already told you, only the participants can go inside. I'll be fine. I'll come right out after my turn is over. Or if they let us leave for lunch."

"Alright. Then I'll wait here for you." His mother held his hand and squeezed it. "Good luck. Mom knows you will do great."

Haneul flashed a grin and expressed gratitude to his mother before stepping out of the car. He hoisted his guitar case onto his shoulder and headed toward the Olympic Hall. As he approached, he noticed three queues forming near the entrance.

All the people lining up were male and about his age. It seemed that one had to line up first before they could enter the venue.

Maybe because there were three queues, that's why the lines weren't that long as he expected. But Haneul still chose the shortest of the three. After lining up, he waited for his turn.

As he stood there, he felt the weight of the piercing stares from those around him. However, after a while, their attention shifted back to lining up, and the intensity of their gazes subsided.

He experienced the same thing when he returned to school last Monday. People just... stared. From students to teachers, everyone looked at him as if he was some spectacle in the zoo. He knew that it was not because of him manifesting as an Omega. It was because of that damn 'black magic' that Yeomra put on him.

Experiencing a day of that was enough. So, the next day, he started wearing a mask. But people still continued to stare. He was once again reminded that it was not his face that was the problem, but the atmosphere surrounding him.

He tried to do some 'experiment' to discover if there's a chance he could minimize this 'black magic'. And thankfully, after much trial and error, there were some effective results.

He learned that as long as he put on a mask and he stayed still, people would soon lose interest and would stop staring at him. He also had no idea how that worked. But it seemed like the weird atmosphere around him would significantly be reduced as long as his face was partially covered and he's not doing anything to attract attention.

Haneul didn't really care whether there's a scientific explanation for that. As long as it's effective, then that's all that mattered.

After a while, it was the turn of the person in front of him. Since he was next, he might as well observe. The facilitator asked the person in front what his name was, and then after checking at the tablet he's holding, and asking the other for an ID, he gave him a number sticker.

At the Vnet website, there was a registration form there that one had to fill up if they wanted to participate for the public audition. After one successfully registered, they would receive an email telling them which day they should audition. It seemed that the facilitator was checking first if the people lining up here had done that before giving them a number.

Next, it was Haneul's turn. The process was pretty much the same as the one before. The only difference was, at the middle, when the facilitator looked at him, he lagged like a malfunctioning system. If Haneul didn't politely urge him on, he might have continued to stare instead of doing his job.

The facilitator cleared his throat, as if embarrassed. "Please go to the seat that has the same number as the one given to you."

After Haneul got his number, he quickly went inside.

Inside the hall, audition participants occupied rows of seats, all facing a large stage at the front. Before the stage, there was another elevated platform, presumably for the judges. Haneul guessed that's where they would be seated.

There were also a lot of cameras around. As well as a big screen on both sides of the stage. It would probably show the participants as they performed on stage. It's a good way to see how one would look on camera.

He looked down at the number given to him - 124. The number given to the person in front of him earlier was 139. So, that meant that the number was mostly based on the order of registration instead of the order of queuing up.

Haneul didn't have to go around to blindly look for the seat assigned to him because there were facilitators inside who were guiding the participants. He approached a female facilitator, and although she also stared at him, she was more professional than the one at the entrance. She quickly got over her surprised and pointed him to the area where his seat would be.

After locating his seat, Haneul settled in and placed his guitar case in front of him. Just as he was about to take a deep breath and savor the moment of finally taking this step, someone sat down beside him and offered a greeting.

"Hello!"