#BE:NGS1P3

[bematthew]

@bexstevie

matty was more than pleased with who he was assigned to a unit with. saea was a strong contestant from what he had seen of her, and matty knew stevie very well. and then of course he had helped sarang with his high kick in the last round. so he was satisfied that they would be able to pull out a good performance with the team that they had. hopefully things would go well, matty didn’t foresee any huge obstacles but one never really knew.

he found his way to the practice room they would be using ready to start warming up. he smiled widely when he saw that stevie was already there. “have you been working on the choreography already?” he asked setting his things down before finding himself a spot so he could get properly warmed up.

“let me get loosened up and i’ll join you.” he said. matty was good with getting straight to business. even if they were still waiting for the rest of their teammates. they’d at least stay warmed up for when the other two joined them. so far matty was pretty sure that their choreography would look pretty polished. it was a matter of getting in sync with each other at this point.

matty leaned forward stretching out his legs. he needed to make sure that he was adequately warmed up before he went into the choreography. it was pretty hard. and it was also something that matty wasn’t super experienced with. he hadn’t done many choreographies that demanded both sexiness and power though he’d done both separately before.

[be-events]

congrats on surviving episode two of next gen! updated rankings can be found here. no eliminations were announced in this episode, however the next episode’s teamwork evaluation will be the first elimination round. participants in the bottom ranks have been warned that they may not survive to the third episode if they do not show marked improvement.

for participating in the auditions and appearing in the second episode of NEXT GEN, all wannabes who submitted their participation may collect points as outlined on this spreadsheet. points were awarded based on the writing requirements submitted and the optional extra threads. no verification is required; you may link back to this post on your spreadsheets.

for the next episode of NEXT GEN, all participants will be divided into singing, dancing, and rapping groups, and then those groups split in two for a total of six teams. each skill will go head to head with the winning team receiving immunity from elimination while the members of the losing team are at the mercy of the judges to stay in the competition. the teams and their assigned songs can be found below. the singing teams will be practicing at the LIME ENTERTAINMENT building with help from BOM and are given special access to certain practice rooms for the week. dance teams will have practice rooms at SR MEDIA assisted by YOOJUNG and rap teams at STUDIO DELTA with J-YOON. independent practice will be expected of them between lessons and participants are welcome to work together with their teams to rehearse.

the teams and performances for episode three are as follows:

DANCE TEAM A - performing FINESSE by bruno mars

bada

jinyoung

noel

DANCE TEAM B - performing SALUTE by little mix

sarang

stevie

saea

matty

SINGING TEAM A - performing SPARK by taeyeon nana

joomi

kou

seojun

haneul

SINGING TEAM B - performing MISSING YOU by btob

haein

ren

dohyun

RAP TEAM A - performing WITCH by jang yeeun x jeon jiwoo x jamie x cheetah x hyoyeon

nayoung

hyejin

eunkyung

RAP TEAM B - performing ZOO by taeyong x jeno x hendery x yangyang x giselle

junho

cam

wonjae

jinae

NOTE: for the singing and rapping groups, don’t worry too much about line distributions! you’re welcome to establish them with your team independently so long as everyone agrees with them but this is entirely optional. same with dance groups regarding center distributions.

during the next few days, all participants will be practicing at the LIME ENTERTAINMENT building to prepare for their mcountdown performance. this rehearsal will take up the majority of their morning and after lunch they will head to the various other locations. once the mcountdown performance is complete, participants will be at the separate locations full time.

TASK:

this event is for next gen participants only. part 3 will run until march 17 at 11:59pm. any solos posted after the deadline will not be considered. please send in your submission before this deadline.

please use the hashtag #BE:NGS1P3 for all posts relating to this part of the event.

please write at least one 4-post thread with another participant in your team preparing for the mission. NOTE: this task may be completed multiple times.

please write a 300+ word solo about your muse’s performance in front of the judges

OPTIONAL: please write at least one 4-post thread with another participant from any team preparing for the mcountdown performance. NOTE: this task may be completed multiple times.

OPTIONAL: please write a 200+ word solo about your muse reflecting on their preparation and their performance in front of the judges. this should be treated as a verbal interview. what was the greatest challenge during this mission? was there another participant who was especially helpful? do they feel confident in their performance? etc. questions can be made up to prompt responses to specific events throughout practice and the performances.

NOTE THAT THE WRITING TASKS FOR THIS EVENT ARE NOT OPTIONAL UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. POINTS WILL BE AWARDED IN THE NEXT UPDATE.

please keep in mind that all threads and solos should be written with the assumption that cameras are on the participants at all times.

when you’ve completed these tasks, please send the following form to our events blog:

SUBMISSION TITLE: MUSE NAME - NEXT GEN S1 EP 3

preparation: link to thread *may be completed multiple times; please include multiple links if so

mcountdown preparation: link to thread *may be completed multiple times; please include multiple links if so *optional

performance: link to solo 

reflection: link to solo *optional

[beseojun]

ʙʀᴇᴀᴛʜᴇ

for @bexstevie

was he nervous about the mcountdown performance? of course but his need to perfect his skills out weighed everything as he wanted to make sure he did well along side everyone else.

his confidence was better after hearing what the judges said so he was going to make sure he didn’t disappoint them at all. he wanted to make sure that he kept improving in some way even if he didn’t make it to become a trainee in the end. he makes sure he spends time with the vocal coaches to help work on getting the pitch and other technical things right. he felt he was getting better though and got him eager for singing with his group for the next mission

hearing someone coming into the practice room, seojun smiles as he give a wave. “hey stevie. coming to get extra practice or just keeping me company?” his tone is lighthearted since he enjoys getting to be beside stevie whenever he gets the chance. he’s one person he knows at university besides his best friend so he feel comfortable. “i’ve been trying to practice my vocals a lot more actually. i think i know the dance so well, i can do it in my sleep” he can’t help but chuckle a bit.

[noelxbe]

secretly a spy

          perhaps during the prior mission noel had almost forgotten this was a survival show. there wasn’t anyone that had gotten kicked yet, and probably lucky for noel because he hadn’t managed to place above the bottom two. it was just for fun in the beginning, but slowly the male was beginning to take it more and more seriously. he hadn’t been dancing for long, and singing and rapping was something that he hadn’t even considered. he most likely managed to get in based on luck, and if he didn’t improve soon he would probably be eliminated very soon. this time around though, if he failed it didn’t just affect him, but now he had teammates too. it was all a bit stressing, the male who could barely dance having to learn a new dance so quickly.

and not all of his time could be spent on the dance for the next mission, because apparently they were performing my turn on mcountdown now. he’s staying late behind, having said goodbye to his teammates, he figured maybe he should practice my turn a bit more, after all, his last performance of my turn ranked him in the bottom two. saea ( @besaea ) is staying late behind too, so the two have ended up in the same practice room. he goes over some moves slowly, counting the steps, then he turns his head and looks at saea “so how is it going with your team during this mission?”.

[bejoomi]

* ♪ – nothing to see here

kou is a little strange, but very nice. this is what joomi has learned after being neighbors and friends with him for a while. however weird it may be that they both ended up on a kpop survival show together, joomi is more relieved they’re on the same team this round than he thought he might be. to be fair, he never really considered working with kou as a possibility, too focused on merely surviving last round and refusing to think about his fate on the show longterm, but here they are now.

the other day, he and kou left practice at the same time and took the bus home together. that much happens often enough, but joomi crashing on kou’s couch is a little more unusual. he lives right next door, after all, but kou always tells him his apartment is open for him and sometimes joomi just doesn’t want to deal with his roommate at all while he’s already under the stress of next gen. he doesn’t need extra bullshit on his plate, so sometimes he does hide out with kou to avoid him. thankfully, kou isn’t all that bright and never really asks him why he chooses to stay over sometimes. joomi hopes he thinks he just wants to hang out or something, and it’s not like he doesn’t. that’s just not his main priority for falling asleep on kou’s sofa.

the other day, he woke up way too late, forgot to pack a new set of clothes for that day, and didn’t have time to go next door and pack up his own things, so he borrowed one of kou’s shirts and decided the pants he wore the day before weren’t too gross to wear a second day in a row.

after practice that day, he did the only polite thing and washed the shirt of kou’s that he borrowed, but naturally...he forgot to return that to kou at a reasonable time, too, and then they somehow keep missing each other outside of practice, so joomi just resolves to keep kou’s shirt in his practice bag, which brings him to today.

he and kou both end up at their group’s arranged practice session a little early, so joomi sees this as his opportunity. “kou!” he gets his attention, a bit more enthusiastically than is typical of him. “i have your shirt,” and with that, he rolls the shirt up in a ball and throws it toward his friend. in retrospect, he probably should’ve just gone over and handed it to him, and he surely could’ve given the shirt to him sometime outside of filming hours, but...too late for that now. he justifies this to himself: maybe kou really liked the shirt and wanted it back as soon as possible? what if joomi kept forgetting or the timing of them seeing each other out of practice continued to not line up? whatever. this will work.

* @kouxbe

[benayoung]

* ❁┆i’m no bad witch

teamwork evaluation.

after her recent feedback from the judges, she’s aware this will be her greatest challenge yet. she doesn’t mind being scary. as far as nayoung is concerned, she says what’s necessary and what others are too nervous to say. could she be nicer about it? sure, but the industry isn’t nice, and some people don’t get it if you don’t put matters bluntly. 

she needs to get along with everyone, though, especially her teammates for this round. 

her teammates: hyejin and eunkyung, both of whom she had the...opportunity to encounter during her practice last round. as far as she’s concerned, hyejin needs to mind her own business and eunkyung needs to take the competition more seriously, and it seems the judges at least agree with her on hyejin. on eunkyung...they have vastly differing opinions. they called eunkyung center material. she doesn’t understand that at all, and isn’t looking forward to working with her. she’s trying to be optimistic about it, though: if the judges like eunkyung, maybe she’ll be an asset to their performance. or maybe the judges will suddenly see her the way nayoung does this round, and they’ll lose. maybe then, eunkyung will get eliminated instead of she or hyejin. 

she realizes there’s no real point in thinking about that now, though. all that matters for now is putting on the best performance possible, and. practicing as smoothly as possible. 

nayoung isn’t one to waste time. the first day they have available to work together, she gets started on the line distribution, and it’s nayoung, so her poor team has no real choice but to endure her taking charge. she listens to any requests the others have as far as lines go, then listens to the song, and watches their guide video–– over and over and over, and draws up the rest of the line distribution herself. she tries her best to be fair, but above all else keeps the quality of the performance in mind.

she and hyejin have more experience and rap skill than eunkyung, so it makes sense for them to start and end off the song; the audience will likely remember those parts the best, so they need to make sure they’re as high quality as possible. then, she tries to assign the parts that seem the hardest to either herself or hyejin, and leave the simplest ones to eunkyung. it should be easier for her to learn those and perfect them than any of the others.

once she’s done, she gathers the other two girls and sits on the practice room floor with them, and hands them lyric sheets outlining the parts she assigned for them. 

“okay. this is what i settled on. does this look good to you guys?” she honestly is open to suggestions. sure, she thinks she knows best, but it is a teamwork evaluation, and even she knows it’s important this at least looks like a team decision.

* ❁┆ @eunkyungxbe & @behyejin

[be-netz]

— NOW PLAYING: NEXT GEN EPISODE 3

the show opens with a recap of the previous episode with RHEE JIAN smiling to the camera as she announces today’s mission: “we want to test how you work together in a team,” she says as the camera pans over the group of contestants hanging onto her every word. “our judges have split you into six groups based on what they feel your strongest skill is with two teams of the same skill going head to head.” one by one, each team is introduced to the audience. dance team a, the captions read, as images of hwang bada, moon jinyoung, and lee noel line up side by side, properly labeled. the screen changes after a few seconds to introduce their rivals, dance team b; yeom sarang, park steven, moon saea, and matthew luong’s images lined up side by side like the team before them. this repeats for the singing team and rapping team until all groups have been refreshed in the public’s mind.

“this evaluation will be our first elimination round,” the background music changes suddenly as jian announces the more serious part of the episode. “the winning team of each battle will be safe from elimination while the losing team will risk sending some of their members home,” the camera zooms in on the faces of some of the contestants who haven’t been fairing as well in the competition so far; noel, stevie, and wonjae in particular are singled out for being in the lowest ranks as of last episode.

“good luck to all of our contestants! remember, we’re looking at you to be the next generation of kpop. show us that you can shine!” jian’s smile lights up the screen one more time before the NEXT GEN logo and title card takes over, a triumphant arrangement of my turn growing louder in volume as if in celebration of the first battle and elimination round of the competition.

the first teams to perform are the vocal units. quick clips are shown of each team preparing for their turn on stage; the camera zooms in on haein’s hand gripping her microphone tight, an exaggerated soundbite of her sighing heard, renyi’s anxious scowl as he waits backstage, seojun fiddling with his in-ear mic with equally sweaty, nervous hands, and joomi taking a long breath as he and his team approach the stage.

earlier that week… the scene changes abruptly to the practice rooms and the contestants, now in regular training gear and none of the stage outfits briefly shown before.

SINGING TEAM A is the first focus and scenes of the team learning their song, their lines, and practicing together play out over the screen. the quartet seem to get along well and the atmosphere generally seems good among the teammates. it’s clear that CHO HANEUL has taken on a leadership role among the team. 

“how does your mind come up with the harmonies?” SATO KOU asks during rehearsal together as they review the arrangement of the song. “i honestly couldn’t even think of that. i could learn so much from you.” haneul, ever so humble, simply laughs off the compliment. 

kou isn’t the only one who acknowledges haneul’s skill and expertise. LEE SEOJUN is shown in the interview room, a fond smile on his face as he talks about his friend. “i don’t think i would have gotten better without him,” he says, “thank you, hannie,”

haneul’s own interview is shown a moment later, the man in question shooting a finger heart at the camera. “i’m really happy with how everything turned out with this team,” his voice is heard over scenes of the contestants working together, rehearsing, and practicing their song until it is perfection.

the preparations aren’t entirely without hiccups, though. JUNG JOOMI is stopped by haneul with a proposition: “i think you should take my high note,” haneul says. joomi doesn’t seem excited at first; if anything, he looks uncomfortable and unsure of the change. “i’ve been thinking about it and i think your vocal color will be better for the song than mine,” haneul continues to explain.

a scene plays of all four contestants in the practice room, each one trying the high note one by one. of course, the editors make sure to put joomi and haneul’s attempts back to back. they both hit it, joomi perhaps a little surprised by his own attempt and his voice setting a slightly different tone compared to haneul’s. it’s true; joomi sounds good. with some convincing from haneul, joomi eventually agrees to do it.

“i was really afraid of weighing them down,” joomi speaks to the cameras in the interview room, “but they kinda didn’t let me do that. they helped me a lot.”

will joomi be able to handle the high note? the captions build some suspense as the scene shifts to performance day. three judges sit behind an elevated desk in front of the stage, hands clasped in front of them as they eagerly anticipate the first performance of the day. the shot of joomi’s long breath is seen again, then a shot of kou doing the same as they find their places on stage. only haneul doesn’t look nervous, at least in comparison to the rest of his team.

it’s clear that the experience and ability among singing team a paid off. their performance goes off without a hitch, each member successfully hitting their high notes, holding their own in the harmonies, and even looking like they enjoy the stage as they sing for the judges before them. perhaps it’s a bit mesmerizing to watch four young men who so clearly were born to perform own the stage.

there’s quiet as the judges collect their thoughts and prepare to give their evaluations on the performance.

YOON JIHUN is the first to speak, picking up his microphone and starting with congratulations, “this was a fantastic performance,” he says. the man who has kept compliments rather sparse throughout this competition now openly praises the group before him. “this is exactly what we were hoping to see through these teamwork evaluations. it’s clear that you’re all capable singers but no one contestant outshown another, nor did anyone lag behind. you all complimented and balanced each other very well and for that, i applaud you.”

“joomi,” SEO RAN picks up her microphone next, smiling to the boys, “it’s only been a short time but you continue to improve with every performance. it’s been amazing to see you come into your own over these weeks and we’re excited to see how you continue to develop. kou, on the other hand,” she hesitates, choosing her words carefully. “as jihun said, everyone did well with this performance. it’s not that you did bad, kou. but in comparison to the rest of your team, your progress seems a bit… stale. i was hoping to see a new side of you this round or to be surprised somehow and i didn’t get that.”

“haneul, seojun, i want to be sure to congratulate both of you on your performance as well,” YUNA takes over, smiling kindly to the other boys. “i know from personal experience that sometimes working with your best friend can create… conflict that you never imagined would happen. i’m glad to see that not only are you two able to work together well professionally, but your personal relationship doesn’t seem to have suffered at all for it. keep ahold of that; it’s rare to find lifelong friends.”

“as soon as i got on the stage, i gave it my all,” seojun says in the interview room, “i took everything i learned within this short amount of time and made sure that i brought it out there.”

“they were good,” ran says again to her fellow judges, who nod their agreement. it’s clear that singing team b has a hard act to follow.

the scene changes to SINGING TEAM B’s practice room, the trio of singers working together to learn the song and perfect the harmonies and high notes that come with it. OH HAEIN becomes a particular target of the camera as she seems to struggle with the song. she’s working with ZHOU RENYI who can’t hide his expression when poor haein’s voice warbles in ways it probably shouldn’t for this song. “you’re flat,” he tells her in english, though subtitles are available for anyone who may not understand.

haein’s clearly flustered by this, hiding her face in her lyric sheet as she can’t help but laugh in embarrassment. is she laughing or crying? the captions question and suddenly it’s unclear just what is going on behind the paper she shields her face with.

she’s practicing again with PARK DOHYUN at a later time, still trying to hit her harmonies on-pitch when singing with the boys. again, it seems to be a struggle. dohyun is kind about it though. “i'm still having a little trouble with getting the rap part smooth,” he offers as if to help the girl feel less alone. instead, the scene changes to all the times dohyun has practiced that part, specifically how many times he hasn’t completed it successfully. things are not looking good for team b.

“i'm not gonna come out and say i'm feeling overly confident,” ren says in his interview room. a clip of haein’s flat vocals plays again as the team rehearses again and again. “it's one thing if i go home, but i wouldn't want to take anyone with me.”

haein appears in the interview room next. “ren was really fair with the line distribution and honest with feedback, and dohyun was literally always there whenever i needed help. i think us working well together during preparation was a sign that we would sound well together on stage…” the scene changes as her voice trails off, whatever thought she was about to say next left incomplete as the group stands on stage in front of the judges.

the music starts. the three contestants begin their performance.

all goes well at first; the harmonies that gave haein so much trouble seem to go off without a hitch and ren and dohyun’s voices are stable throughout. however, part way through the performance, there’s a random fluke; haein’s voice cracks. of course the production team picks up on the mistake, freezing everything and stopping all of the music to draw attention to the little error.

“her voice cracked,” ren’s voice sounds as the camera zooms in close on haein’s face, looking for her reaction to her own mistake. she keeps singing, though; powering through until they reach the end of the performance.

before the judges have a chance to give their feedback, the scene changes to haein in the interview room. a tear runs down her face which she wipes away quickly and tries to hide, forcing a smile onto her face. "i'm just really sorry to my team members, more than anything,” she says.

the judges’ faces range from disappointed, to concerned, to somewhat bored looking. it’s yuna who speaks first this time. “before we talk about anything else, i do want to say that you all did a great job preparing for this performance. we check in with the coaches working with you fairly regularly and it was great to hear that both vocal teams were so supportive of their groups and got along so well. it gives us all a lot of hope for the future trainees of our companies,”

“that said,” she continues, “it was not a perfect performance. it’s disappointing since i was enjoying everything until… well, haein, you know,” of course the mistake didn’t slip past the professionals. yuna smies sympathetically. “i do applaud you for continuing to sing despite the crack. it can be very difficult to move on when something like that rattles you.”

“i’m sure you know that we can’t only applaud your recovery, though,” jihun, as sharp as ever, cuts in next. “it was your responsibility to rehearse this song, learn it inside and out, and protect your voice from injury that would cause such a mistake to happen. every issue is preventable with enough practice. i’m sorry to say that it wasn’t the case for you today, haein.”

ran frowns at her fellow judge, apparently not happy with the harshness of his words. “i think we should take a moment to appreciate renyi and dohyun as well. you both did a fantastic job,” she looks the boys in the eyes, her words genuine, “both in your performances and in supporting your teammate. ren, i feel like we got to see a more emotional side of you than we’ve been able to see so far and i’d love to see this continue to grow.”

one more clip of haein crying in the interview room is shown, sad music playing over her single tear, before the scene once again changes. both teams now stand on the stage, jian standing between them with a cue card in her hand. “i have the results of the battle here,” she explains to both teams. “the winning team will be immune from elimination. unfortunately, one member of the losing team will be removed from the competition and sent home.”

both teams are lit up in bright white spotlights, intense music playing behind them as jian opens the card to see the judges’ verdict. “i’m happy to congratulate the winning team,” she begins to announce and the cameras zoom in on the faces of each team, one by one, as the results are delayed as long as possible.

“TEAM A,” she finally announces and the lights change, team b doused in red light and team a remaining in bright white. time is given for cheers and congratulations among the winning teammates before they’re asked to leave the stage. an elimination must be made from team b.

again, closeups of each teammate’s face are shown as judgment day is upon them. no one ever wants to be eliminated in a competition.

“i want to tell you all again that i truly enjoyed your performance,” yuna speaks to the losing team, one hand on her chest to express her sincerity. “however, team a was more technically correct and put on a stronger overall performance.”

“today’s first elimination,” jihun speaks slowly and the cameras pan across the faces of team b again, building suspense, “i’m sorry to announce… is OH HAEIN.”

“haein, i’m really sorry that your journey had to be cut short like this. you’re a very talented young woman and we so enjoyed watching your growth in the short time we had to know you,” ran speaks to the eliminated contestant, “i hope that our paths will cross again someday.”

time is given for haein to say goodbye to her teammates and friends, tears are shed, and a sad song plays in the background as she leaves the stage.

soon enough, the time for tears is over and the next battle will be between the rap groups. flashes of each team are shown waiting backstage for their turns on stage with team a approaching the stage. again, they start with RAP TEAM A. “i hope i didn’t let the judges or my teammates down,” RYU EUNKYUNG’s voice is heard over a zoomed in shot of her strained smile to nayoung.

the scene changes quickly enough to rap team a’s practice sessions. the three girls are going over their line distributions, apparently carefully combing over the line distribution that LEE NAYOUNG had written out herself. things seem to be going well from the distance that the camera initially captures them at and MIN HYEJIN is heard agreeing with nayoung’s decisions, but as it zooms in, some sort of strange expression crosses eunkyung’s face.

“nayoung… do you really think so low of me? most of my part would be censored like this. do you want me to disappear that badly?” the room seems to go silent save for tension so thick it’s nearly audible. the camera immediately flashes to nayoung’s face, trying to determine just what she might be thinking in response to eunkyung’s accusation. poor hyejin is left to mediate between the two girls as the tension escalates suddenly all at once.

“i do think you have less experience than hyejin and i,” nayoung appears to choose her words carefully, “but i don’t want you to disappear. i thought the line distribution was fair, but if you have any suggestions,” she slides a piece of paper over to the girl who has challenged her. but for as diplomatic as nayoung seems to be trying to be, eunkyung just can’t seem to accept that.

“seriously…the only way to change anything would be to take lines away from hyejin-ssi, and i’m not gonna do that,” as if the tension wasn’t already thick enough to cut with a sharp knife, eunkyung doesn’t stop there. her next challenge is direct, no longer a reflection on nayoung’s line distribution but on the other woman’s character itself. “to be honest, nayoung, there’s been something that’s been bothering me. do you think you’re better than everyone here?”

“honestly, there was a bit of trouble in the beginning,” hyejin’s interview takes over the screen. the girl lets out a long sigh. just what happened that wasn’t aired on television?

the three girls are shown standing on stage. it’s unclear if there was ever any resolution to the fight that they were having in the practice room and suddenly that tense smile that eunkyung sends nayoung, one that’s so different from the bright, reassuring expression she gives to hyejin, holds new meaning. can this team accomplish their mission? or will they fail to become a cohesive unit for the teamwork evaluation?

the music begins and there’s no time left to find out.

things seem to be going smoothly at first. the girls have a strong aura, each of them minding their expressions and playing the no fucks left to give type of character that the original song demanded of them. but trouble hits, as if nayoung had predicted it, during one of eunkyung’s parts. wardrobe and set meet in an unfortunate tangle that force her to drag her chair across the stage. it works, maybe, but it’s in the brief fumbles that it becomes clear that it was not meant to do that originally. the girl later ditches her belt entirely, but not before nearly missing her entrance a second time. of course, the judges’ sharp eyes detect everything.

but apparently the issue with the lines was settled and the rest of the performance goes off without any further problems. the three stand in their finishing poses, the camera capturing each of their faces before it comes time for the judges to give their verdict.

“i did my best," eunkyung is heard saying in her usual, easygoing tone.

“we had some trouble,” nayoung is heard in the next moment.

“congratulations,” ran speaks to the girls first, a smile that betrays none of her true thoughts on her face. “we know that there were some issues early on in your practices, but we were glad to see you were able to put aside your differences and come to a solution that everyone could agree to. and the final performance was very good. you all have amazing presence on stage and i personally couldn’t be happier that we had the chance to see this team perform together.”

“ran is right,” yuna speaks next, “problems happen. disagreements occur even in the closest knit teams. but what matters is that you were able to overcome them for the sake of the performance. that said, there’s a time and place to call out things you don’t agree with,” does she seem to be speaking directly to eunkyung? yuna keeps it unclear. “you need to ask yourself ‘is this really going to help my team?’ and if it’s not, let it go.”

jihun picks up his microphone, a laugh on his lips as he speaks, “ran and yuna are too kind. but i want to be honest with all of you,” his expression changes abruptly, suddenly very serious. “nayoung, you were the best in this performance. i could nitpick about your breath control or flow, but in comparison to the others, it’s very minor. i think i was most disappointed by hyejin. i had hoped that by focusing on a team to support we would be able to better see you shine. instead, i think you just disappeared into the background even more. i feel like we haven’t really seen min hyejin on stage yet, just someone who looks like her doing as she’s told.” he sighs, and then fixes his sights on eunkyung. “eunkyung, you know there was an issue with your wardrobe and a prop. these things can happen despite the best efforts of the staff. still, it was a shame to see it affect your performance. you’re very confident on stage but confidence can only carry you so far.”

the girls are dismissed from the stage for the time being and it is rap team b’s turn to perform.

a couple of days into their rehearsals, it’s noticed that jinae is missing. a staff member informs the remaining members of the team that she had to withdraw from the competition and they would continue as a group of three.

especially compared to the last team, the boys in RAP TEAM B seem to have much better teamwork right off the bat. the three are seen practicing together, rehearsing their lines, and supporting one another through the various sessions.

“in the past, i didn’t think of myself as particularly good at teamwork,” SEO JUNHO tells the cameras as he’s sat in the interview room, “but, being an idol means you have to work as a team, so i knew it was something i’d have to get better at,”

MOON CAMERON sits next to his teammate during a break, handing him a bottle of water as he does. “how are you feeling about it so far?” junho asks of the older contestant.

“so far so good, actually,” cameron responds optimistically.

and the team does seem to be fairing well. scenes of cameron helping GEUN WONJAE in practice, of chatting with junho, and junho laughing with wonjae play across the screen. “cam has experience with being an idol, so he sort of helped me see what was and wasn’t my responsibility, and help me feel less burdened. wonjae was great at helping me remind myself to rest,” junho’s voice is heard over the clips of the happy teammates.

but it’s not all fun and games; performance day is now upon them and the trio stands before the judges, glancing at each other and exchanging smiles as they take their places and prepare to try to impress the judges.

zoo is just as powerful as witch, but there’s something more upbeat and almost playful to this song. the three young men seem to capture the essence of it well; cam with his maturity and experience, junho with his passion and dedication, and wonjae simply enjoying the stage he stands on. the performance, however fun it is to watch, is not entirely without errors. cameron makes a mistake, putting himself in the wrong position and seemingly hiding behind wonjae when he should be able to be seen. it’s small in the grand scheme of things and is barely even caught by the cameras.

when the performance comes to a close and the ending fairies wrapped, the judges get the chance to speak to the team. this time, jihun is the first to pick up his microphone. “it was clear that you all had fantastic teamwork together,” he gives the trio a compliment first, though the ‘but’ is hanging in the air based on his tone alone. it comes soon enough. “i can’t help but feel a little disappointed, though. i feel like this performance was missing something. you all clearly got along much better than team a, but i feel like team a put on the better show.”

“i disagree,” ran pipes up at the first opportunity. “i really enjoyed your performance. it was fun, it was energetic, and i could tell that you all genuinely love to be on stage. team a has great presence, but your performance was just as memorable as theirs. there were some issues. cameron, i saw you go to the wrong position, but overall it was fun. junho, you just keep improving every time we see you. keep up the good work.”

wonjae is notably left out of ran’s praise; perhaps she’s just too nice to say something. but yuna picks up where ran left off, first congratulating the contestants on a good performance before fixing her attention on wonjae. “you completely disappeared in this performance,” she frowns, nearly scolding him as she gives her feedback. “we need to see you take a more engaged role if you’re going to continue in this competition. you can’t get by just coasting with talented teammates.”

with the second rap performance now completed, team a is called back to the stage to stand side by side with team b, jian in the center again with a folded card in her hand. this is a battle after all and the winner has to be announced. “the judges told me that rap team was the hardest to decide on so far,” she informs the two groups of contestants, “you were both very evenly matched in terms of talent and execution of your performances. let’s see who the judges decided would be the winner,” 

jian unfolds her card, brows raising in surprise as she sees the team written down there. “do i have the right card?” she questions, though it is confirmed that only one of those cards existed in the first place. “alright, in that case, the winner of the rap teamwork battle is…”

the cameras zoom into each contestant’s facial expressions one more time, watching as the young men and women become nervous on whose team will be called.

“TEAM B!” jian announces as the lights above team a turn red while team b is given the chance to celebrate their victory. all team b members are safe and after a few minutes of cheers and hugs, they’re escorted off stage. “team a, one of you will be going home today.”

the judges take over again, a sour look on jihun’s face as he addresses the girls on stage in front of him. “as jian said, both teams were very closely matched. what it came down to was the very thing we were grading all of you on this round; teamwork. and your teamwork skills are also what decided who would be eliminated.”

“RYU EUNKYUNG,” ran speaks, a frown on her face as she’s clearly unhappy with this choice, “you’re a natural performer and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing you on stage. however, instigating arguments with your teammates is not a quality we want to see in our trainees. for that reason, you’ve been eliminated.”

“we hope that with a little time and maturity, we’ll be able to see a better version of you on stage again someday,” yuna adds with a sympathetic frown.

the girls are given time to comfort and say good bye to eunkyung on stage before the entire group leaves. the cameras focus in on the judges. ran sighs heavily. “it’s too bad,” she murmurs, “i liked her. she had a lot of potential.”

“but she picked the wrong mission to start an argument in,” jihun pointed out. he seems to want to say more, but refrains.

the sad music ends and it is time to move onto the final teams; the dancers. “this was a very competitive group,” jian announces to the audience behind the cameras, “there are a lot of talented dancers in this competition and…” though she’s reading from a script, she pretends that there’s something she’s having trouble finding the words for, “contestants who can only dance. our judges had a hard time picking the members to create these teams. we should be in for a couple of amazing performances.”

previews of each team’s performance play briefly over the screen before the scene abruptly shifts to the practice rooms and DANCE TEAM A’s rehearsals. the camera focuses on LEE NOEL in particular, watching as he puts his all into learning the routine. “lee noel, do you even want to be here?” the audio clip of jihun’s critique from the last episode plays over the scene.

MOON JINYOUNG is the first to confront noel in this team. the pair meet, just the two of them, and as noel expresses his excitement to be working in a team with the other young man, jinyoung seems to be unimpressed. “"this is really serious for some of us, noel,” he’s heard saying, “it's the best chance we've got to make it,”

noel is seen in the interview room looking more serious than he had in the previous episode. “i really...really want to prove myself, that i'm worthy of being here, and that i can and have improved.” clips of him practicing alone late at night are played on the screen. he clearly worked much harder for this mission than he had previously. but would it be enough? the captions and narration are sure to remind the audience that noel hasn’t placed above the bottom two ranks so far and that the judges had been particularly hard on him. can he catch up to jinyoung and the other contestants?

some concern is shown over HWANG BADA as well. she’s shown struggling in practice, missing movements and maybe even getting frustrated with her own performance. but she doesn’t stop working hard. in face, she also goes to jinyoung for help. “do you think you could demonstrate the dance for me? but like, really slowly?” she requests of the more experienced dancer, who seems to have taken on a sort of leadership role in this group. he’s quick to agree to help and the camera shows as he and bada run through the routine slowly, step by step, until she becomes more confident with the performance.

“jinyoung is an amazing dancer, but noel and i struggled a lot with the choreography,” bada’s interview is shown next, the girl being honest with her praise and feedback, “it was a team effort through and through, always helping each other out. we had a common goal; to put on our best performance.”

all three teammates are shown in their stage attire, waiting backstage for their cue to stand before the judges. jinyoung looks nervous. he wrings his hands, he takes a deep breath. and when they’re getting ready to perform, he sends both bada and noel a smile to encourage them despite his nerves. 

“i fully believe that we can win, i've improved greatly and so have my teammates,” noel’s voice is heard over a shot of the trio bowing to the judges in greeting and preparing for their performance to start.

finesse starts playing and the three dancers all hit their opening moves with poise and confidence. bada and noel may not be the most confident or experienced dancers yet, but neither is outshown by jinyoung and his experience. he seems to be minding his movements to blend in with the others, or maybe he’s just tired from all their long practices. but he’s sure to shoot a finger heart to the judges; seo ran and yuna are seen smiling in response though jihun remains stony-faced as he observes the performance. 

the camera catches bada’s expression during the dance break. she seems focused, though it’s not a very attractive look on her face. the judges scribble a note down in front of them.

finally, the performance comes to a close, and three breathless dancers hold their ending poses for a few seconds for the cameras before relaxing and standing in a line for their evaluations.

“lee noel,” jihun speaks to the participant that he had such a problem with before. the other two judges look at him nervously, the camera zooms in on the contestant’s face for his reaction. just what is jihun going to say this time? “good job,” the man actually gives a small smile. “you might have felt that i was mean and unfair to you last time. i just wanted you to understand how serious this competition was for the people around you and to respect their efforts by improving your own. i’m happy to see you took that critique to heart. we saw a much better version of you on stage today. congratulations.”

yuna and ran smile more easily knowing that jihun is not going to give another verbal beat down to the young performers in front of them. “bada,” ran picks up her microphone next, “it’s an absolute pleasure to see you grow more and more throughout these missions. we understand that you’re not as experienced as some of your teammates, but you don’t let that stop you from doing your best. that said, it’s also my job to tell you where you can continue to improve. your expressions weren’t always very good during this performance. the choreography is bright, so we would’ve liked to see a smile on your face more. it helps to engage the audience too. good work overall,” she congratulates the young woman.

“jinyoung,” yuna gives the remaining contestant feedback directly, “i think you’ve danced better in previous performances. but actually, i don’t think that’s a bad thing. being able to work in a team sometimes means that you can’t shine the brightest and overpower the others. you did well,” she congratulates him. it appears that any mistake he made went unnoticed… for now.

“great job everyone,” ran declares as the team is dismissed from the stage to make way for the next group. 

“i keep thinking about my performance, i really did my best,” bada’s interview appears once more, then followed by noel’s. “i feel confident in this,” he says.

team a’s time has come to an end for now and DANCE TEAM B is shown instead, back to the practice rooms where the team runs through their choregraphy over and over again until they get it right. where team a’s “problem child” had been noel, team b has PARK STEVEN. “you need to take this competition more seriously,” bom had said last episode and in case the audience had forgotten, the clip of steven trying to reach his leg behind his head plays on screen again. will this round be any different?

“well, yeah...i mean. i did look...pretty silly,” steven himself admits in his interview, “i think i got what was coming. i’ve been humbled-- hardcore,” he’s seen practicing dedicatedly with MOON SAEA, the pair only taking occasional breaks on their phones before getting back to work. 

“thought i’d put in a little extra time,” he tells MATTHEW LUONG as they practice together. it’s obvious that he too took the words of the judges to heart and is putting more time and effort into this week’s performance.

it’s during this practice together that matthew makes a big mistake; as they run through the choreography, by some fluke of balance and timing, matthew loses his footing and falls, landing hard on his shoulder. the world seems to stop and the cameras focus in on the fallen man’s form, the way he’s winded and clearly in pain as he lays on the floor.

“are you okay?” stevie is by matthew’s side in a moment, “can you move?” he asks worriedly. the editing makes it seem as if matthew is unresponsive for several long seconds, though reality is always different than what is shown on television.

“i didn’t hit my head,” matthew finally speaks, and a collective sigh of relief is felt as he’s able to sit up.

“i was embarrassed honestly. and i still am. it was a pretty rookie mistake,” matthew sits in the interview room, sharing the plight of his injury during practice. “it was honestly pretty brutal trying to balance practice time and letting my shoulder fully heal,”

but the team comes together and continues to work alongside one another until the performance is nearly upon them. as their time together comes toward the end, saea brings in a treat for her teammates; pokemon bread. the four eat and chat together, spending one more long day in the practice room before their performance. saea sits next to YEOM SARANG as they indulge in their snacks. “i have every confidence that you’re going to steal the show in ‘salute’. you look amazing doing the choreography! you make me wanna work harder so i can look just as good as you do out there!” sarang gushes to his teammate, nudging her arm.

saea laughs in response and returns with a compliment of her own; “you guys look super cool too,” she insists.

“i know i still have a long way to go; i tried my best to overcome that obstacle for this performance,” sarang tells the cameras in his interview. there’s no time left to prepare; performance day is now upon them.

the lights go up, the music starts, and the four dancers begin their routine. it’s powerful, it’s sexy, and each member seems to suit the style of the choreography well. but the camera focuses on matthew in particular, watching to see how he’s holding up with his shoulder injury. it lingers on every slightest perceived wince or moment of stiffness and ran is captured sending a concerned look to the team that is performing for her to judge.

sarang is also a favorite of the camera. his expressions are exaggerated nearly to the point of being over the top, but each smirk, wink, and lip-bite seems so perfectly timed and executed that it’s impossible to dislike him for it. he’s a star in his own right and he shines brilliantly on stage.

the performance comes to an end and the quartet each have a few seconds to capture their ending fairy moments before lining themselves up for review from the judges.

“first of all,” yuna leans forward in her seat as she picks up her microphone, “how is your shoulder doing, matthew?” genuine concern is painted across her face. surely an idol with a career as long and successful as hers would know the pain of working through injury. “i know that we did not see you at your best today, so it’s difficult to give any judgment. i just hope you’re able to take it easy and let yourself heal. injuries can become more serious if they’re ignored,” she cautions him, surely speaking from personal experience.

“i want to give a shoutout to sarang,” ran speaks next, “i think this concept really suited you well. your moves lacked a bit of power, but you made up for it and then some with your expressions. you’re a natural performer, aren’t you? you have excellent stage presence. saea as well, it’s a joy to watch both of you perform and you do a great job of drawing the audience in.”

“steven,” jihun’s tone is more serious than ran’s had been, “you’ve improved, i’ll give you that. but you’re still not where we’d like you to be at this point in the competition. i’m still not convinced that you’re taking this seriously, even when you have a team relying on you to.” the man is hard to impress and will not change his mind based on the judgements he’s already made.

the interview room takes over the screen, steven sitting in the middle of it. “i tried to make an improvement. i’m not sure if it’s up to standard or expectations, but i’m trying.” he says. the scene changes back to a close-up of steven’s face after jihun gave his critique. 

with their critique given, team a is called back to the stage and both teams stand side by side as jian prepares to deliver the final winners and losers of the evening. “you all did a great job,” she assures both teams, smiling to her left and right before she starts opening the cue card with the results in her hands. “as the last performers tonight, you had a lot to live up to. i think you all did just that,”

her brow raises in what appears to be genuine surprise as she reads the team name on the card. “i think this is an upset,” she remarks, “i’m not sure anyone expected these results. but the winner for the dance battle is…”

“TEAM A!”

team b is doused in red light as team a is given the chance to celebrate their victory. no one looks more surprised than jian herself, who apparently had been convinced that the underdog team would be destroyed by the more competent dancers on team b. once the celebrations die down and team a is escorted off the stage, judgment day is upon team b.

“this was a surprisingly close call,” jihun explains to the losing team, “i honestly thought that team a didn’t have a chance in comparison to your team. but their teamwork outshown yours, to be honest. their team had a wide range of skill levels and they still managed to put on a great performance with minimal flaws. your performance was also very good, but there were times where it felt like some of you were outperforming the other members of your team. that’s the reason that we decided to choose team a as the winners.”

“as for eliminations,” yuna takes over, “we’ve decided to send two members of this team home today. MATTHEW LUONG, we have decided that your health is more important than this competition. there will be other opportunities in the future but in order to take advantage of them, you need to be healthy. we’re sending you home, but it’s because we want to see you on stage again soon at your best.”

ran picks up her microphone with a sigh. “as for our other elimination…” the camera passes between saea, steven, and sarang; which of the three will it be? “PARK STEVEN. i’m sorry, but we’re not seeing the improvement from you that we were hoping to see. for that reason, you’ve been eliminated from the competition. i think with a little more time and maturity, you’ll be an amazing performer someday. i do hope we get to see you again soon.”

tears are shed and goodbyes are shared on stage as steven and matthew must take their leave of next gen going forward. “it’s never fun to say goodbye to our friends,” jian shares sympathetically as the stage is cleared. “and we’re sorry to see the eliminated contestants leave today. however, we’re excited for those who remain and to see where they will grow from here.

the updated rankings are revealed to the contestants one by one, counting down from number seventeen all the way up to number one.

“congratulations, LEE NAYOUNG,” jian smiles at the girl as her name and face appears in the number one position. “despite your team losing a member today, you’re currently the first-place contestant. how does it feel? i’m sure it’s bitter-sweet,”

“WONJAE, KOU, BADA; i want to warn you regarding your current ranks. you’ve been hovering near the bottom for a few episodes now and getting by thanks to your teammates or just lucky circumstances. i would be very concerned if i were in your position,” she warns.

“before we wrap up today, we’d like to share the next mission with you. this is our performance evaluation. the teams have been mixed up again, each assigned to one of the three companies,” the teams are revealed on the same screen that previously showed the contestants’ rankings, one group for lime entertainment, one for sr media, and the third for studio delta. “over the next several days, you each will be covering a song from a senior in that company, singing and dancing again. where our center battle evaluated your raw skills, at this point in the competition we want to see what makes you special as a performer and potential future idol. though these songs have been performed countless times by professionals, we want to see how you’re able to make it your own and make you and your teammates shine regardless.”

“each team will be receiving instruction from the same coaching staff that cultivated these groups in their respective companies. make the most of this opportunity; we’re looking forward to what you can show us!”

with that, my turn begins playing in the background and the episode comes to a close.

[behyejin]

♡ Next Gen - rap mission : hyejin performs witch with nayoung and eunkyung ♡

hyejin didn’t know what she expected when she got her team since even if she had bitter feelings, she always wanted to be a team player and show she could get along with anyone even if it meant she might need to put up a guise of sorts. she at a brief moment with nayoung last episode since she didn’t want her to overwork herself at all. she knew from the other’s past before that it wouldn’t end well if that happened. with eunkyung though, this was her first time interacting with the girl and honestly there was something about her that hyejin likes a lot even just from watching her from afar.

she did her best to make sure that there wasn’t any issue at all but she was impressed with the way things were handled without an argument occurring. sure she saw herself as the mediator but she was glad she didn’t have to step in and hold the peace at all. she knew the judges would see the bit of conflict between her teammates but she hopes that doesn’t affect anything when the judges are critiquing them. maybe that will be pushed away with how they perform together as a team.

once they are called to the stage, she gives a polite bow to all the judges as her hands grip onto the microphone in her hands. she’s more than ready to rap and show off that skill. she always practicing rapping and hope that this skill shines especially with how much practice she’s done with her lines and making sure she sounds good with her team. she knows the line distribution was changed slightly but she still kept the lines she had before. not that she wouldn’t have gave any away but now that everything is in agreement, her heart can rest easy.

hearing nayoung starting off the song, hyejin fully gets into the zone, ready to belt out the line and show off what she learned as a trainee as well as what she learned from j-yoon. this time she made sure to get in more time to practice instead of spreading herself thin like she did before. hopefully it pays off for this mission. she doesn’t wanna disappoint the judges. as soon as it’s her turn, she flows into the line as she keeps up with the rhythm like her life depends on it. rapping is one skill she was always proud of especially getting to flow in english as naturally as korean. the song felt like it became a part of her as she not only made sure she got her timing and enunciation as precise as she could but kept her eyes on how her teammates were doing.

it sounded well to her with the way their voices flowed together. that tension she felt a bit at times when they were discussing wasn’t there at all. she knew they all wanted to succeed with this and not fall in anyway especially with elimination being a possibility. she hopes that they all show that they can shine on stage together without too many hiccups since it seemed bound to happen even to a professional.

everything else seems to fly by as she hears eunkyung finishing off the rap. her breath feels like it was taken away with how much she tried to convey the emotion as well as make sure that her lines were delivered as well as she could muster. the part of her didn’t wanna fail again and prove to the judges that she did better this time. that was the one thought always in her mind and even here after the performance had finished.

giving another polite bow, she does the same to her teammates before leaving to calm herself. was it better than her performance of my turn? did she prove that now with taking the critiques seriously? practicing all the time even outside of the coaching surely helped. her voice felt a bit tired now after that and she knew that it was time to rest it again. she just hopes this all goes well and that she doesn’t fall lower in the ranks at all. hopefully this is a redemption from the last mission but she’ll only know after seeing what the judges say.

[bejun]

{ know your limits }

𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐎 𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐓𝐀 𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐌, Seoul, SK Early March, 2023 w. 𝐆𝐄𝐔𝐍 𝐖𝐎𝐍𝐉𝐀𝐄

“Let’s take a break.” Jun suggests, after they’ve run through Zoo completely, and he feels his limbs begin to really protest. He’s close to reaching his daily limit, but Jun wouldn’t be Jun if he didn’t push himself just a little. He knows a good nights sleep will and a big cup of coffee tomorrow morning will reset him again. For a moment, he lays face up on the floor, limbs outstretched like a star fish. The choreography isn’t particularly strenuous, but they’ve been at it all day, and he thinks he’s beginning to get a headache. But, deep down, Jun loves it. He’s reminded on the evenings at his performing arts academy, when he’d stay until long after it got dark, honing his skills, talking about his hopes and dreams with the friends he made there. This feels somewhat like that, just with much higher stakes. 

After a moment, Jun rolls onto his belly and rests his chin on his hands, looking across the room to Wonjae, and frowning. He’d still not gotten to know him enough. If they were going to be a good team, they had to be at least somewhat friendly, and not just know the bare minimum. So, slowly pushing himself to his feet, Jun walks over to Wonjae and flops down beside him with a ‘umph’. “You feeling dead yet?” He asks with a light chuckle, pushing his slightly damp hair off his face and taking a gulp from his water bottle. “But seriously, how are you feeling?” He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t noticed that Wonjae seemed to be having a bit of a harder time of it. Jun doesn’t know, and won’t pretend to know, what he’s feeling, but he does want Wonjae to know his team has his back. 

“Make sure you get enough sleep. When I was younger and went to his performing arts academy after school every day I’d stay up way too late and then wonder why I sucked ass the next day. Y’know I could take a nap right here on the ground, honestly.” He’s joking, but only a little bit. He’s exhausted, but Jun had learnt his own limit. He knew how hard he could push before he crumbled. He just hoped Wonjae knew his. 

[besaea]

— aftermath

a my turn post-performance thread for @badabe  taking place backstage of mcountdown

​     it’s over. 

     after what felt like a lifetime of stressing over the my turn performance, it’s finally over. she feels the adrenaline rushing in her ears and for a moment, she can’t move. she gets ushered off the stage with the other performers, walking down the stairs back to where their waiting room had been. she feels numb—had she really just done that? been on stage and performed for hundreds of people? maybe thousands, if there are that many viewers for the show? 

     she has no idea, but to be the center, to possibly be the thumbnail on the youtube channel (it’ll probably be her or junho, right? she has no idea) her brain feels sort of frazzled from all of it but she also feels incredibly proud. the silence is ringing in her ears but, all of a sudden, she can hear everything again. the buzz of all the other contestants chattering, whether it be complaining about messing up or rejoicing about their first official stage. she breathes out a sigh of relief that it’s all done and over with, hoping no one had seen her break for a moment. 

     “how are you feeling?” saea asks randomly, turning to the person closest to her, who turns out to be bada. “i kind of feel like i went through a whole out-of-body experience, because nothing feels real right now,” she admits, laughing.

[bexcam]

ground me | @besaea

the morning of the mcountdown performance shouldn't have sent cam into an internal nervous breakdown lite, and yet he found himself outside of lime ent's building during a break from rehearsals with his head between his knees. while he hadn't intentionally looked for a secluded area, his muscle memory knew what to do and knew to shield itself in privacy, as much as he could find outside. he just needed some air at first and it turned into not having enough despite the cool relief outside brought.

it was silly. it had been enough time for him to get over himself, to get over losing his dream the first time. the memories still seemed to dig their claws in. he knew how the stage for mcountdown looked like, had been on the sidelines so excited to finally have a chance to perform. his group had worked so hard for the chance and his smile had been unbreakable during that time. unbreakable; it was until the minutes and hours passed and they were told they'd been sidelined due to timing and that all first-pick groups had made their schedules-- they were no longer needed. he didn't expect to ever be back in that building at all, or, after joining next gen, at least any time soon. cam didn't know what it was about knowing he'd be actually performing again that threw him off but all he could think about was his failures. and that's what they were to him- he'd failed his group, maybe if he'd done better and tried harder they could've saved the company.

it was stupid to even entertain that way of thinking, he had been insignificant in the grand scheme of it all; he'd only been one guy.

the nerves were getting the best of him and he moved to press his earphones further in to block out any noise from the neighbourhood. he needed to focus and couldn't afford to be close to hyperventilation just because he was getting stage fright now. he wasn't a kid anymore, wasn't even a total newbie, what the hell was wrong with him.

[bematthew]

@sarangbe

matty was struggling a little bit. normally the stage presence bit was a piece of cake to him. he generally found it relatively simple to express the song with his face and his body language. however, this song was a little bit vexing to him personally. he felt like he was leaning too far into the powerful aspect of it and not quite bringing the sensuality that was required in the choreography too.

he went through some of the floorwork again trying to work on making his facials a little bit softer and more sensual. but it didn’t quite work. he wasn’t sure where exactly the disconnect was happening but he wanted to try and iron it out before they got up onstage and he accidentally embarrassed himself by giving off the wrong vibe for the song.

his eyes found sarang in the mirror. they weren’t actively working as a group at the moment, they were just sort of going through parts they wanted to work on. “hey, sarang.” matty said hoping that he wasn’t being intrusive. sarang always seemed to know exactly what to do no matter what the song was. his stage presence was pretty unmatched in the rest of the competition. “can you help me with this bit? i don’t think i have the right vibe.”

and matty had helped sarang with his high kick so he figured that sarang wouldn’t be against helping him out with this little snag. now if it led to some flirting again...well, matty just hoped they wouldn’t show the clip on tv.

[beseojun]

✰ Next Gen - vocal mission: seojun performs spark with haneul, joomi, and kou ✰

fidgeting with his in-ear to make sure it’s in correctly and didn’t randomly fall out, seojun could feel his hands getting clammy on the microphone that he felt like he was gripping onto for dear life. his nerves were shot again but this he knew was due to the fact that he wasn’t sure how he’d do. being a part of a vocal unit for this next mission was different but he should’ve expected it. they knew he was a dancer at this point and from the judges comments before, they wanted him to work on his vocals so getting to just sing for this would help him improve in his singing. at least he hopes so.

at first he thought his awkwardness would get in the way of things but it was the opposite plus having haneul there to help him from making a fool of himself in front of joomi and kou. they easily got along pretty well and he enjoys getting to work with every single person in his team. the line distribution was agreed on easily and outside the help they got from bom, he found himself getting a lot of help from haneul. his best friend easily helped him out with his pitch and a few other technical issues that he was forever grateful for. his singing would have been nothing if he didn’t take all the help and practice he could get. though he supposed that sterns from the fact that he didn’t wanna bring his group down in any way.

his heart is pounding in his chest as he recounts that he did make sure to warm up before they had to be on stage. he didn’t want to destroy his voice and let himself rest instead of straining. everything is going to be fine, he doesn’t need to get into his head about any of this. he tried perfecting what he could though at least and hopes it is enough and that the judges see that his singing improved this time compared to when he performed my turn in front of them.

once their time to perform together comes, seojun wipes away the nervousness he has as soon as he steps on stage. he’s a performer and knows being on stage is where his confidence shines the most. it’s how he is when busking and even when doing things for university as well. he was going to take advantage of the feeling he gets on stage to make this the best performance he can and not let his group down at all.

as he listens to hanuel starting off the song, he easily flows into his lines next as he shows everything he had learned before this performance. he’s putting his all into every line he has to sing and hopes it flows well with the others. honestly, the fears he had before were long gone as he enjoys himself as he sings along with his team. he almost feels like the chemistry can be shown easily from anyone watching them. for himself, he wants his confidence to shine through and be seen by the judges as well. hopefully his pitch and technical issues have improved with how much he’s put into making sure they were to practice his vocals.

in a flash their performance is over. this usually seemed to happen whenever he was fully into performing and a part of him didn’t want it to end almost. his mind can’t help but recount hearing how well joomi did the line at the end. it sounded amazing and he felt pretty confident that they’re performance together would go over well.

as he’s leaving the stage after their performance, he can’t help but flash a smile to his team as well giving them all praises which is easier for him than receiving them. the adrenaline that he feels all of a sudden slowly calms down as he starts re-evaluating his own performance since his mind can’t help itself it seems.

did he really improve with his vocals in the short time he had? he felt he did but only the judges would know and be able to see how hard he tried whether with the coaches or his team. sure his mind would reel with this constantly but he could only hope that things turned out alright and that he did spark justice alongside everyone else.

[noelxbe]

practice and mistakes

         at last, noel had escaped last place… though the bottom was still very much where he was placed… second to last, so not last place, but… still bad, still quite quite bad. and this time around he wasn’t just fighting for himself, he was teamed up with two others, and he couldn’t help feel bad, here they were paired up together with noel, a man who had only very recently begun practicing dance. maybe, though not admitted out loud, he hadn’t given his everything during the second round, he’d been a bit too focused on having fun and prioritizing just enjoying this. but this round, not only was there danger of eliminations, and he’d been placed in the bottom two so far, but this time it wasn’t just about himself, he had teammates. he felt bad, he felt bad towards his teammates that they’d been paired with him, but the only thing he could do was try his very best.

he hadn’t really interacted with jinyoung nor bada ( @badabe​ ) much the first round, and it felt a bit awkward, but he wished with his social skills that would soon be over. for a good performance, not only was hard work required, but they had to feel like a team, they couldn’t just all try to outshine each other, that wouldn't create a very well performance. he’s practicing together with bada when he makes a mistake, he looks at her, an apologizing look in his eyes. “i’m sorry” he bows a little, “bada--” … “this move is difficult for me, think you could help me with it?”.

[bejoomi]

“awaken that spark.” (mentioned: @behaneul @kouxbe @beseojun )

joomi doesn't know what he expects when he receives his feedback for his performance of my turn. he knows it was bad, but he thinks he can handle whatever they had to say: it was terrible, we made a mistake in ranking you so high, what are you doing here among people that actually want this–– anything of the like. maybe that's what he expects, or maybe that's just a reflection of his own doubts, because that isn't what he receives.

he receives encouragement. sure, they acknowledge that it was a bad performance; joomi did expect that much. he doesn't expect bom of all people to gently apologize to him for putting pressure on him, and to call him a very talented singer even after the disastrous performance he showed them. he doesn't deserve that. he doesn't deserve compliments here. he doesn't know if he can survive being here, but then she says the singer we fell in love with. he feels his eyes prickling with tears, and he knows if he cries everyone watching will think it's because he did a poor job, when that isn't it at all.

they really like him and his voice that much? they like him enough to say they're all cheering for him, and he doesn't know what to do. this isn't the first time he's received support of any kind; he's lucky to have good friends, at least now, but none of them have seen him as useless and disappointing as he was the past week. he always kept the weaknesses that large to himself. here, however, are all significant figures in the music industry, and they want him to do well. he's never received support as moving as this. he spent so much of his life ignored and alone and berated far more often than he was praised, but here, when he deserves their ire for failing to rise to their standard...they offer him kindness.

he bows to them again in gratitude, and then finally cries as hard as he wants to when he's by himself. he is so tired and relieved and thankful and terrified and overwhelmed.

he manages to pull it together when it comes time to return to the stage for rankings, and his new ranking comes as a relief too; but also a bit of a surprise. what is he doing at #15 and not the bottom three? surely no one did worse than he did. maybe it's just the judges trying to encourage him again. if so...he honestly appreciates it. 15. there's no pressure in that ranking, but no hopelessness either.

the next mission is a team one, which makes him anxious; he doesn't want to bring anyone else down. some of that anxiety is quelled with the announcement that all he has to do is sing. surely he can hold his own at that.

there are familiar faces among his teammates, too, so he knows he'll be able to work with them comfortably. that's good.

even better: somehow, the song his team needs to sing is one he already knows. spark by nana. nana, basically the only kpop artist he somewhat regularly listens to. the rearrangement of it focuses heavily on vocals, thankfully scrapping the original song's choreography altogether, and he likes it.

maybe he's even...a little excited. he certainly doesn't want to quit anymore, though. no; he wants to prove the judges right for believing in him. even if he doesn't want to join a kpop company...he does want to do that much, and that's all that matters for now.

when it comes time for line distribution, it goes by without any qualms, except for the, if you ask joomi, ridiculously difficult high note at the end of the song. haneul wants it, but they all sing it for good measure to ensure they select the right person, and when it comes to joomi...he can actually hit it. it's far from perfect, but by some miracle, he manages it. haneul can do it too, so joomi is happy to leave the high note honors to him, and they all agree. haneul, former trainee that he is, takes the lead in most things, including helping everyone with the technical aspects of their singing during their rehearsals without bom.

a couple days in, though, haneul approaches him with a proposition: joomi sings the ambitious high note at the end of the song instead.

at first, he is terrified, but haneul promises to help him, and joomi thinks about the meaning of the song they will be singing: finding your spark at exactly the right time. he doesn't know if he'll be able to do it, but he wants to be able to–– both find his spark at the right time, and sing the high note ––so he decides he'll give it a try, per haneul's urging.

practicing it is difficult. he has to belt it without doing any harm to his voice, which he has no experience with, despite an apparently naturally impressive range. he's not a skilled singer, he's really just some guy that got lucky, or blessed with natural talent, as some may say. that still sounds so stupid to him. is he really that good of a singer?

he has to be, for the sake of his team. it's not just about his own success or failure; if he blew it and it only reflected on him, that would be totally fine. that's not the case, though; if he falls short, their entire team could very well be the losing group, which means someone will go home.

he tries to believe in himself, and more practice helps. he surprises himself a little, too. no one tells him he sucks, and he even offers some helpful suggestions, and feels like he's contributing something important to the team, which is surreal in itself, even without the pressure of the high note on his shoulders.

he knows he can hit it, too. he doesn't always hit it in practice. he knows it's a fine line between practicing adequately and damaging his voice, so he tries to toe it: practice and then rest his voice; he essentially does everything haneul tells him to, because he trusts his old friend's expertise far more than his own.

when it comes time for them to perform, he feels...strangely prepared. he can sing. he's a good singer. he's good enough that the judges fell in love with him in his audition. he can do this. he can show everyone cheering for him that he's worth that support.

every time he starts to doubt it or get nervous, he repeats affirmations in his head. what if i fail? no, i can do this. what if i'm sharp or flat or i completely blow it? no, i practiced for this, and whatever happens, we will make it through. in a few minutes, one way or another, it'll all be over.

can he enjoy this? he thinks about the lyrics to spark, especially his final lines: you’ve waited for a long time, trust in your time. you resemble me, awaken that spark.

so maybe now is his time. maybe it's his turn to shine a little.

they receive their cue to walk out on stage, and joomi takes a long breath to steady himself.

honestly, nothing about the song is easy. even practicing the harmonies until they felt natural and blended well was difficult, but the practice shows now, as the song begins. they sound good, and the same as they did in practice, at least to joomi's ear, but he tries not to let his mind wander too much.

haneul opens the song after their initial harmonies, then seojun, and joomi thinks about haneul telling him the high note will be legendary if he can tap into the emotion of the song, so he starts now, from the first second he opens his mouth to sing:

I thought that small heat

Would be soft

But what are you hiding in there?

he decided during practice that he'll see this as a song to himself. the danger and sadness that came with wanting to be praised and enough as a child, stifling that desire in favor of fading into nothing, because being nothing was better than the pain of trying to shine in the tumultuous life he led. maybe, if he acted as invisible as his parents so often saw him as, he could get through life without it hurting.

but there is still a light in him, no matter how long ago he turned it off; there are still embers in the ashes of his heart. there is still a spark.

kou sings, then haneul, and then it's joomi's turn to gently start off the chorus of the song.

Burn it up even more

So it won’t turn off

It’s so red

he likes their arrangement because it starts off soft, and grows in grandeur as it continues, like they as singers are afraid to nurture the small spark that's inside of them, but slowly come to terms with its existence and by the end, let it all out.

haneul starts off the second verse, and it has a little more kick to it than the first half of the song.

joomi follows him up once more.

We’re riding this strong wind

And once we look down

We’re traveling through the stars

this part to him is a little like next gen, or at least this round of it. the wind is strong and difficult to endure, and it's scary, but there are stars, too: bright spots, sparks in themselves.

joomi likes kou's next line as it comes up too, and the difficult note he has to hit:

Now it’s the right time, it’s your time

Breathe life into it, awaken the spark

those are the lines joomi hangs onto, because he doesn't have anything to sing until his high note at the end, outside of harmonizing with the others.

the song builds in intensity, as do the lyrics. that small, hesitant spark grows, becoming something larger, and now, they're encouraged to feed it more and make it burn even brighter.

it's all building up to his high note at the end. he tries to relax into it. i can do it. i can do it. he makes eye contact with haneul during their preceding harmonization, and then haneul sings his final line: don't turn off. rise up.

the drums fall out of the track in favor of their voices and a hint of piano in the backtrack, all preparing for joomi to build the song back up for its grand finale. don't turn off. rise up.

it's his turn. he tries to put his heart into it; like he has been so desperately waiting to find his own spark, and now it's finally within reach.

You’ve waited for a long time, trust in your time

he has, and now it's time.

You resemble me, awaken that spark

he hits the high note, and holds it as long as he can. maybe he should've been able to hold it longer, but it's still good. he isn't out of tune; his voice doesn't crack, even if the strength of the note does fade as he holds it. he did it. he did it.

legendary? joomi doesn't know. good enough? yes. he thinks so.

he gets a moment to catch his breath before he joins in on the harmonies once again, and that's all it is until the end. before he knows it, it's over, and he strangely feels...a little sad.

maybe the answer to can he enjoy this? is yes. he doesn't know if his high note was legendary, but he doesn't need legendary. all he's ever wanted is to be good enough, and for now, at least...he is.

[bexstevie]

lost cause.

< w. @behyejin​ >

stevie is actually nervous. 

he’s been practicing all week, putting in a little extra effort where it’s due. he’s been spending a little more time in the vocal rooms and taking the coaches advice and applying as best as he can. stevie would like to say he’s done a pretty good job so far. what else can he do other than just don’t lose focus. just don’t choke. 

recording in the booth is nerve-wracking, sure. having to dance and sing live is a whole other bit of nerves. he can’t stop thinking, doom scrolling in his mind. he’s pacing, singing a bit of the chorus as a normal range, even if he feels a little cringe doing it out in the open. he’s not the greatest singer on next gen, not at all. and frankly, he doesn’t have much confidence in it either. so this feels...pretty terrible, but he’s gotta try. it’s do or die at this point-- but like, y’know. less extreme.

in the midst of him pacing in the hallway, he doesn’t notice someone coming around the corner, and stevie nearly clips them. he jolts from surprise and staggers back, yelping out a oh my god, before he profusely apologizes in embarrassment. once he’s processed who he’s looking at, stevie lets out a sigh of relief, offering a small, albeit strained smile. “hi hyejin,” he greets. he moves from foot to foot, jittery. restless. “sorry, i was uh--” he gestures around him vaguely. “um. practicing.”