PART 2 — One Minute
Daniel didn't respond to the laughter.
Instead, he looked calmly at the judges and quietly asked,
"May I have just one minute?"
"If, after one minute, you still think I don't belong here, I'll leave this stage without another word."
The theater slowly grew quiet.
The judges exchanged uncertain glances.
Finally, one of them shrugged.
"Fair enough."
"One minute."
The audience settled into silence.
The house pianist placed his hands over the keys, ready to begin.
Daniel gently shook his head.
"No music, please."
"I'd like to begin the way I used to."
His words puzzled everyone.
The pianist slowly lowered his hands.
The entire theater became silent.
The cameras moved in closer.
The judges leaned forward.
Daniel took a slow breath.
The host continued holding the microphone in front of him.
Then he began to sing.
His voice wasn't loud.
It wasn't flashy.
There were no dramatic vocal runs.
No attempt to impress anyone.
Instead...
His voice carried honesty.
Warmth.
Wisdom.
And the quiet weight of a lifetime.
Within seconds...
The laughter disappeared.
People who had been smiling moments earlier slowly lowered their heads.
The melody filled the theater with an emotion no one had expected.
Even the camera operators exchanged surprised glances.
One judge leaned forward.
His smile vanished.
He whispered almost to himself,
"Wait..."
"I know that voice..."
Daniel continued singing with his eyes gently closed.
He seemed to forget about the judges.
The cameras.
The audience.
For one brief moment, the entire theater felt as though time itself had stopped.
As he reached the chorus...
Something completely unexpected happened.
An elderly man sitting in the very last row suddenly stood up.
His hands trembled uncontrollably.
Tears streamed down his face.
He whispered,
"It really is him..."
The people sitting beside him looked confused.
Before anyone could stop him, he slowly hurried toward the stage.
Security instinctively stepped forward.
But the elderly man desperately called out,
"Please..."
"Let me through!"
"I've spent more than fifty years searching for that voice!"
A wave of gasps swept through the audience.
The judges exchanged bewildered looks.
The man finally reached the front of the stage just as Daniel finished the final note.
The theater fell into complete silence.
Looking up through tear-filled eyes, the elderly stranger asked one question that left everyone speechless.
"Daniel..."
"Do you remember the little boy whose life you saved during the Riverside train derailment... fifty-one years ago?"
Daniel froze.
The host instinctively lowered the microphone.
He stared silently at the man standing before him.
His eyes slowly filled with tears.
After several long seconds, he whispered,
"...Tommy?"
The elderly man nodded through his tears.
"Yes..."
"I'm Tommy."
The audience watched in stunned silence as the two elderly strangers embraced on live television.
No one fully understood what had just happened.
Not yet.
But everyone in the theater could already feel that this audition had become something far greater than a talent competition.
At that very moment, the host received an urgent message through her earpiece.
Her expression suddenly changed.
May you like
She slowly looked toward the judges and quietly whispered,
"There's something all of you need to know..."
