BTS Eighth Member | The Life: Year 2014

Chapter 26- American Hustle Life: The Finale

Underlined = English

15th of May 2014:

We had woken up bright and early to start rehearsing for the concert. As a group we practiced in the residence, then the staff showed up at 8am and we went to the venue. We had all gone quiet as we walked in. To some, this might be a tiny venue, but to us, it was huge. It was our start. Our start in the United States, the start of our stage performances, our first concert, the start of something big... hopefully.

We ran through our performance of No More Dream, We Are Bulletproof, our version of Regulate which was a compilation of all the songs we had written for the mission, each of our groups' dances from the Jenny Kita missions, the three different talents we had learned in our groups, and finally, a song from the repackaged album that hadn't been released yet, a remixed version of I Like It. We had been working on the song and dance since we'd landed in LA practically, so we could perform it at this concert.

We were running through the Oh Happy Day performance, and like all our other mission performances, we had fine-tuned it as well as upgraded it slightly. In the end, we had decided I would go an octave higher than what I had practiced with Iris. I had reassured them I could hit it; I knew I could, but when it came time to during the rehearsal, my voice cracked. Jungkook and Taehyung shot me looks, worried, while the staff sighed. This was an amateur move; one shouldn't do what one can't.

"I'm sorry," I'm quick to apologise when we finish the last harmonised note, "I'm just nervous, I promise it won't happen during the real show".

"Maybe you should just stick to what you're sure you can do," Sejin says, "we don't want any mistakes during the concert".

"No, I promise I'll be able to do it," I defend myself.

"Y/N, I think you shouldn't do it," Sejin pushes, "you won't be".

Taehyung comes to put a hand on my shoulder, telling me to just give in. I sigh and let it go. I know Sejin was doing it for both the good of the group and myself, saving our reputation from any mistakes, but it also showed his lack of trust in my abilities which hurt me just a little bit.

I watched the other groups practice and we were then told to go backstage because they would be letting the crowd in soon.

"Is there a lot of people out there?" I ask one of the American attendants.

"Yeah, it's sold out. There's a line around the building!" the man says smiling before going off to do his job.

I was stunned, sold out! ARMY had held the end of their promise. Looks like they would always be there for us, this was crazy. I walk into the tiny backstage lounge area.

"Guys..." I say beaming, "it's sold out... the concert".

"What!" Taehyung shouts standing up.

"This place will be filled with ARMY!" Jimin yells happily.

"This is crazy!" Jungkook says with wide eyes.