I left the administrative corridor and passed three rehearsal rooms before I stopped counting.
Through the first door, a dance track thudded. Someone shouted choreography adjustments.
Through the second, a rap verse stuttered, restarted, continued.
Through the third, two voices harmonized over a gentle piano arrangement. Yuhyun and Sejin were working on their duet, the one Sejin had quietly dedicated to Harin.
Nothing had changed.
Thirty minutes ago, I'd followed a production assistant down this corridor, worried about a costume fitting. Now I knew that strangers had been examining clips of me for weeks, and that my application was under review.
The building hadn't noticed.
Neither had the contestants. I could still hear them arguing over counts, swapping suggestions, chasing the same seven places we had all wanted yesterday.
I wondered whether the news teaser had reached their families, whether anyone had recognized me from the clues.
