mysteryâs main vocal & leader nori
dingbat group; music, production 15 vocal / 04 rap / 11 dance
1999. the day is turning long and all he wants is to go home and sleep. âjust one more scene, nori. you can do it, right?â his mother asks the makeup ladies crowd in to fix the minimal makeup that theyâve put on him. nori frowns at his own reflection, anger and frustration turning to hot tears. he did what the director asked but the director keeps asking him to do the same things so nori mustâve done it wrong beforehand. he doesnât quite understand what he did wrong. eventually the tears spill over and his mother sighs going over to talk with the director about going home early.
2002. nori doesnât particularly like acting. itâs something heâs realized slowly. but his mother smiles so widely when he does well that nori doesnât want to tell her. so he suffers through the takes as best he can. all it leads to is more cameras. more lights. more days that are too long for his young body to handle properly but he continues because it makes his mother happy. sheâs happy so rarely nowadays. nori thinks it might have to do with the way that sheâs always fighting with his father now. he never knows exactly what happens but he knows theyâre fighting over him.
2007. his mother tries to talk him out of it â âjust take a break, nori. donât quit all together. you love acting donât you?â his only answer is that he wants to focus on his schooling. what he doesnât mention is that with only himself and her in the house now he feels like heâs suffocating. what he doesnât mention is that acting was never his dream it was always hers. what he doesnât mention is that heâd rather be an idol. his mother will surely disapprove of that. so he sticks to his lie.
2010. his mother thinks that he auditioned to be an actor, she thinks he wanted to pick up the burgeoning career that he left behind. he didnât tell her that the company was a korean company. nor did he tell her that he has no plans of acting in the future. but thereâs no avoiding it. he canât keep up the charade anymore because he needs her permission to join the company and move all the way to seoul. as expected sheâs not at all thrilled with the revelation. idols arenât worth much according to her, and worth even less in south korea. eventually though she relents and lets him go.
2012. the training is more difficult than heâd thought it would be. he struggles to pick up korean, he struggles to remember why heâd even wanted this in the first place. he spends most of his time in the vocal practice rooms trying to wrap his tongue around foreign words. when he calls home he pretends not to notice how his mother seems pleased with his suffering. he wonât give in. he canât give in.
2015. when they put the group together originally he wasnât in the lineup. theyâd wanted a rap-based group and nori had always been a vocalist. however, eventually they stick nori into the lineup because they need a stronger vocalist than what they have. thatâs all that nori really expects, until they shuffle lineup one last time and push the previous leader out. the title then falls on noriâs shoulders because heâs one of the oldest and heâs one of the ones whoâs been training the longest. nori pretends heâs not panicking. when they debut later in the year his mother is no where to be found. and nori pretends once again, though this time heâs pretending not to be hurt by it â he has the feeling heâs going to be doing a lot of that.
2018. nori is bone-tired. exhausted. it feels like every move heâs made is the wrong one. âheâs not good enough to be a main vocal. why is a foreigner leader? his korean still isnât good. only his face is pretty.â the constant stream of criticisms are all too easy to pull up in his memory. and he doesnât know when but thereâs a small part of him thatâs taken to believing them now⌠and to top it all off his mother still hasnât come to one of his showcases â and her calls are even rarer these days. by now noriâs killed any last bit of hope left that sheâll ever be proud of him. but itâs okay. itâs okay that he doesnât have flowers or gifts from family waiting for him when he goes back stage. itâs okayâŚreally it is.
