RE:VENGE Entertainment Chapter 5: Auditions Round 1
“Boom!” Penni threw down two notebooks onto the table. “All done!”
It was the Tuesday that Nilla had been supposed to bring her friends over, but so far they hadn’t come. So when Jiwoo got the text from Penni that she had finished the lore, she asked her to come over. Fortunately, Penni had some “magical modes of transportation” that she refused to share with Jiwoo, so she was at Jiwoo’s apartment five minutes later. From her house all the way in America.
“Seriously, how did you come so quickly?” Jiwoo looked up at Penni, still shaking from when Penni had randomly appeared in her living room.
"DJ Crystals,” Penni waved a dismissive hand. “They’re helpful in Dimension Jumping or teleporting.”
Jiwoo understood none of that, but she thought she looked like an idiot when she questioned everything so she let it drop. Instead, she turned her attention to the notebooks on the table.
“That’s a lot for three days,” she said, picking up the top one and flipping through it. Inside were storylines, outfits, lyrics, and concept notes. Jiwoo was impressed with the depth of it.
Penni sat down on a chair across from Jiwoo. “When I get obsessed with a project, I don’t stop until it’s finished.”
Jiwoo continued flipping through the notebook, skimming the pages. She’d read it in detail later, but for the moment she just wanted a brief summary of what was inside.
“Do you have a way of contacting your, uh, characters?” Jiwoo asked Penni, looking up.
“Yes, why?”
“They wanted to be in this group and I told them to come audition today, but they haven’t shown up yet.”
“Time isn’t in complete sync between the two worlds. That’s probably why,” Penni explained. “I think at the moment they’re almost a day behind us.”
“What? Why didn’t anyone tell me that before?”
“I think I’m the only one who knows it,” Penni shrugged. “If I told them that, then I would have to explain why and I don’t want to do that.”
Jiwoo groaned and ran a hand through her hair.
“If you want, I can grab them from their world and bring them here,” Penni offered.
“Right now?”
“Sure.”
Penni grabbed a crystal bracelet from her wrist and moved to leave, but Jiwoo stopped her.
“Wait!”
Penni turned back to her. “What?”
"Could you tell me a bit about these girls? Nilla didn’t explain much about who she’s bringing.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Who they are, what you know about them, if you think they have talent to be a musician.”
She thought for a moment before answering. “The people in their series who they could bring are Lindzy, Ayla, Navy, Kiri, Saki, Briella, Jewel and possibly Owen. Did they say how many people they’re bringing?”
Jiwoo shook her head.
“So I’d estimate at least ten. They all have musical talents. All of my characters have that.”
“Do you have more books, other than theirs?” Jiwoo asked. She nodded.
“I have three other series.”
“Interesting…” Jiwoo muttered, an idea beginning to form in her brain.
“I don’t like that look,” Penni said. “What are you planning?”
“We could pull in people from several books…”
Penni considered this. “Huh, that’s not a bad idea. Wait, I think that could work. I have about eight characters from each series that would love to do that.”
"Have you met all of them?”
“Yes. If they like me is a different question.”
Jiwoo snorted. “Alright. Could that fit in with the storyline you already made?”
“Sure, I’ll just have to add a bit more to what I already have. I can have the rest for you in about a week.”
Jiwoo nodded, then grinned. “Alright then, I’m ready to meet these characters.”
“Want me to grab them?”
“Yes, please.”
Penni disappeared, and Jiwoo grabbed some papers off her desk, mentally preparing herself for the stress of auditions.
~~~
They had returned with six of their friends. There were eight auditions in total, including the original two: Hanni, Nilla, Lindzy, Ayla, Navy, Kiri, Saki and Briella. It had taken about an hour to watch all of their auditions. Penni helped Jiwoo judge, although Jiwoo was pretty certain she was going to let all of them in. Penni didn’t mess around when creating talented characters.
“So, what do you think?” she asked Jiwoo once they had seen everyone perform. Jiwoo had given the girls a trainee form to fill out, so she would have information to create a profile about the group.
“I think it will work,” Jiwoo said carefully. “If we start with these guys and debut the groups in small sub-units, then we’ll have time to figure out if any of your other characters want to join.”
“We’re not her ‘characters’!” Ayla called in from the kitchen of the apartment, where all the girls had gathered to fill out their profiles. “We’re her children!”
Penni made a face. “I don’t know why they keep saying that. It’s weird.”
“I mean, you created them, so…”
“No, stop saying that!” she whined, shaking her head. “They’re not my children!”
“We’re her children,” Nilla said from behind them, and Jiwoo jumped. Nilla handed her the profiles. “We’re all done. I think we’re going to head home now, though.”
“Alright, um… Come back tomorrow. I’ll take you all to the company and get everything set up for you.”
Nilla nodded, then headed to the kitchen. A few minutes later, a bright flash made the apartment go quiet. Jiwoo hadn’t realized how loud the girls had been before they were gone.
“Before you leave, could you help me go over the profiles? I want you to fact check them so I can type them up tonight,” Jiwoo asked Penni, holding up the papers.
“Not sure how much of a help I can be in fact checking, but I can look them over for you,” she nodded.
Jiwoo handed her the papers, and she spent a few minutes looking over each one with occasional mutters here or there. When she was done with them, Jiwoo looked over them herself.
"Saki and Hanni are sisters?” Jiwoo asked.
“Yeah, Saki was adopted into the family.”
“Interesting. It says Saki and Hanni are engaged, do they know when they’re getting married yet?”
“No, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it never happened, knowing those two.”
Jiwoo stared at her, a bit confused.
“You’ll realize why once you get to know them,” Penni waved a dismissive hand. “Also, most of my girls are in a relationship, and most of the relationships are gay. So I hope your company doesn’t have a problem with that.”
“You have a group of four people dating?” Jiwoo asked as she read over Saki’s profile.
“Yeah, Saki, Briella, and two guys. Although I think Owen may be trans but is scared to say anything. We’ll see how that plays out,” Penni shrugged.
“RE:VENGE is not a company that cares if their idols are dating,” Jiwoo explained. “As long as they can balance both, they're fine. But I don’t want them neglecting their partner for the group or vice versa.”
"Fair enough.”
“There’s a lot of social stigmas in Korea about the LGBTQ stuff, but I don’t think it should matter.”
Penni nodded. “I think it will be cute to have members of our group date each other.”
Jiwoo laughed and nodded. “Right! Oh my gosh, that’s giving me ideas!”
"I think this group will be a killer beginning to a new era.”