#ari.ilandbehind

[ggukkiedae]

I-LAND Through Ari’s Eyes

notes:

EPISODE 3 PT.2

this tells what goes through Ari’s mind as she competes to finally debut after three years of training

featuring two of my ocs who never saw the light of day: nabi (got7 originally but i was gonna make her ab6ix instead) and jiwoo (stray kids)

this is more of the behind the scenes kind of thing more centered on ari’s feelings instead of the show’s perspective. feedback is highly appreciated 🥰 part one is over here

the episode as portrayed by mnet is over here

italic conversations = english, bold conversations = japanese

disclaimer: i do not know what really happened behind mnet’s depictions, and i do not know any of the participants on i-land personally, any unusual depictions of them here as well as dramatized situations are simply for story purposes and do not correspond to their real personalities or actions

The next thing she knew, It was only the thirteen Grounders left, and their second test was revealed. Ari, having missed her friend, had decided to latch onto Nabi for the most part. She watched Jay take the lead and decided that he was a natural leader. He spoke with confidence and sureness that made her feel reassured. That is, until she had to dance. Her dizzy spells weren’t getting any better, but she needed to show what she was capable of.

“Alright, Tokki,” Nabi chuckled and pushed her up, “up you go. You’ve gotta dance with Jake and Nicholas.”

Jake had approached her and helped pull her up off of the ground. He gave her a pat on the head. “Still dizzy?”

“Just a little.”

“Don’t go all out.”

Needless to say, she didn’t listen to him. Her energy was on a full 100%, which she’d say was less than normal. It sounded like a few of the members were mentioning her name, but she wasn’t so sure. After they ended, she stumbled just slightly. Luckily, Jake caught her before moving them to sit on the floor again beside Nabi.She had immediately latched onto the older girl once again

“I told you not to go all out,” Jake handed her an energy drink, which she downed completely in a few seconds. “Look at you. You’re exhausted.”

“It’s fine,” she waved it off. “Look there, they're discussing part 1.”

“Just in time,” Jake smirked once he heard Jay ask who wanted to try for part 1. He raised his own hand then, much to her surprise, grabbed her and raised it as well. In all honesty, the surprise shouldn’t be there since Jake had been quite adamant that she’d make a great center from the first mission alone.

“Not again, oppa,” she yanked her hand and hit his torso, “stop with your center Ari agenda!”

The laugh that escaped Jake made her roll her eyes yet smile anyway. It wasn’t exactly the best for clearing up the remnants of her nauseated self, but it made her forget that they were sent out of I-land. Luckily, some things stayed constant.

The two didn’t even notice everyone was looking at them until Nabi poked Ari’s side. The younger girl immediately glanced around the room and saw those who came with her amused and those she had just met officially looking at her curiously. An apologetic smile made its way to her face as she slightly bowed to everyone then gestured towards Jay one again.

Jay nodded at her before tilting his head and speaking. “One thing’s for sure, though. I want Ari to do part 3.”

Her jaw dropped. Was that what shocked her most about the situation? No. It was shocking, but the almost immediate agreement everyone seemed to have was even more so. Her eyebrows furrowed. Nobody had any objections? She scanned everyone’s faces for a bit and, upon seeing no objection, laxed in her spot.

“Oh,” her voice came out in a slight stutter, “um, thank you? I’ll work hard!”

She barely processed Jay reaching over Jake to pat her shoulder before she turned to Nabi with eyes wide in shock. She was given a part that stood out a lot, which was something that never really happened back on Mixnine. Not to mention, it wasn’t a shared part this time around. The older girl simply pulled her into her lap while the rest of the parts were decided.

The next day came quick. She wasn’t sure if it was her time of month being over or the adrenaline of having to get back up to I-land, but her energy did not dwindle whatsoever. She was practically bouncing off the walls, having already completed learning the choreography with Ni-ki the night before. It reached the point where Nabi would have to physically restrain her to bring her to the table to eat.

“Come on,” she laughed as soon as she finished her food, “we don’t have time! Let’s go!”

She was met with an empty practice area, however. Nabi came after her and put on some random songs on the speakers. “You, little Tokki, have to release all this energy. Come on.”

“Just like back in the company!”

The two girls immediately started freestyling, their laughs carrying over to where the other Grounders were. Some of them had peeked over to see what was happening while a few others, namely Hanbin and Nicholas, had joined the two in freestyling.

Just as she had ended up on the floor in giggles while Nabi was amusing her with funny instead of serious dance moves, Jay had approached them and called for her attention. She looked up at him in curiosity.

“Could you keep up this freestyling and try to get energy back into everyone?” He had sighed as if he were stressed out before turning to Nabi. “You, too, noona, if that’s okay? We’re just going to discuss something real quick.”

“I’ll do what I can with these kids,” Nabi laughed and gave Jay a pat on the head while they watched Ari nod and run off to look for a good song, “don’t worry.”

“Nishimura Riki,” Ari’s voice carried throughout the practice room, calling everyone’s attention as well as Ni-ki’s, “come on. You against me, let’s go!”

The younger Japanese boy perked up and ran over to where she stood. She began freestyling, a grin making its way to her face. Sure, Jay just suggested freestyling, but she missed the rush that cyphers would give her. Just then when Ni-ki began circling her while the Grounders were slowly starting to crowd around them reminded her of cyphers she used to do with her dance crew and in her previous company. This brought a smirk to her face.

“Ari, let’s go!” She could hear Nabi yell from the side. “Show these boys what you’re made of!”

And she did. She went straight into a mix of boogaloo,popping, and animation which, judging by the gasps and sudden cheers, no one was expecting her to do. She ended with a wave up her body until she was up in Ni-ki’s face before turning around, effectively hitting him with her hair.

This caused the Grounders to “ooh” at her action while she walked to the other side of the circle that was formed. She turned around once again and looked at Ni-ki with a raised eyebrow. The younger simply smirked at her.

“Watch and learn, noona.”

This of course caused a cheer from the rest of the Grounders while she laughed and crossed her arms. Ni-ki went straight into powerful pops, integrating what he saw from her dance style into his. She grooved along with him, retaliating with mirroring his moves every now and then, before she tilted her head in Nicholas’s direction. She was well-aware of the older boy’s b-boying background, so she took this as a way for them to include more people in the cypher. A spark of realization appeared in Ni-ki’s eyes as he nodded in the slightest and changed the direction he was headed in.

“You’re crazy,” Youngbin came up to her and ruffled her hair. “Why the sudden competitiveness?”

“Look around you, oppa,” she smiled, “because, what I see? I see performers having fun instead of trainees fighting to survive.”

To Ari’s dismay, that was the last time the atmosphere was that light and lively.

The practice room seemed to grow colder the more they practiced, and she didn’t know why. It was like everyone’s motivation disappeared. Did they not want to take this seriously? Did they not understand how much they need to show on stage to even be considered for entry into I-land?

But this disposition carried on into the next day. Everyone seemed tired, except for the previous I-landers, Nabi, and Hanbin. Well, even some of the previous I-landers seemed to be affected as well. The team morale was going down, and everyone could feel it. This needed to be addressed, which is why she quietly instructed Ni-ki to take over with overseeing the choreography before she approached the three people talking by the side.

“Sorry to bother,” she lightly tugged on Hanbin’s sleeve, effectively catching his attention, “but I think that there’s a lack of motivation going on.”

“We noticed that, too, Tokki,” Nabi patted her head. “Any idea why?”

“I’ve got a few theories.”

“So do I,” Jay nodded. “Come on, let’s talk about this outside.”

She let herself be led out by Hanbin. It was dark. Time had slipped by, and she didn’t even notice. When the four of them went out, she was expecting there to still be sun or even a sunset at the most, but it looked like it was well into the night. Had they really been practicing for that long?

“This isn’t it,” Jay began, “and I’m pretty sure we could be doing so much better than this. We have stunts to learn, too, as well as blocking, but it’s like no one wants to move forward.”

“I don’t know what’s happening,” Handin admitted. “They usually are more excited.”

Nabi frowned while glancing back towards the practice room. “Is it because we’ve been here for way too long?”

“Unnie,” she looked down, “I think there are different things going on through people’s minds. Do you think it’s because they haven’t experienced being pushed down that they don’t match our energy? And don’t you think it’s affecting some of the others?”

Her question brought a silence as the three elders exchanged looks. Hanbin was the first to speak up after a few moments of silence. “She has a point.”

“No, yeah,” Jay nodded, “but why? We worked ourselves beyond our capabilities yet we still got outed.”

Nabi sympathetically put an arm around Jay and rubbed his shoulders. “Hey, we know you just want everyone to get the best results. Don’t get too upset, hm?”

“We really need to talk to them,” Hanbin concluded. “We don’t want people to fight over this, right?”

The sound of the door opening made all of them turn their attention towards who was coming out towards them. Ari felt worry fill her up when Ni-ki’s face appeared with an evident frown.

The Japanese boy who had, just moments before, been left in charge of the dance polishing made his way towards them with his shoulders tense and head drooping. She opened her arms and let him walk right into them and drop his head on her shoulder.

She looked up and was met with Hanbin’s and Nabi’s surprised expressions. The two have not seen Ni-ki get this upset, at least not enough for him to seek physical affection for some sort of comfort. Luckily for her, Jay had seen them from afar back in I-land, so he knew to ask Hanbin and Nabi to go back inside and see if they could do something about the situation.

“Hey,” she reached up to slightly ruffle Ni-ki’s hair, “what’s going on? Are you okay?”

All she got was a hum in response. She exchanged glances with Jay, who rested his hand on Ni-ki’s shoulder. While she and Jay weren’t the closest of people or even officially friends, they shared a few things in common. A dream, determination to get back into I-land, worry for their friend.

She watched the older boy step closer to them and lower his head to align with Ni-ki’s.

“We want to help,” Jay reassured the younger boy. “You’re gonna have to tell us what happened, Ni-ki.”

“They’re going to check on us soon,” Ni-ki’s voice came out muffled, “and it’s like they don’t care. They saw how so many of us were outed from I-land, but they still aren’t feeling the same urgency.”

Ari lightly ran her hand through the younger’s hair and looked at Jay once again. Their leader sighed and tapped Ni-ki’s head, making the younger look up at him.

“Hey,” he began, “how about I take the reigns for choreography practice for now. You and Ari stay out here and catch some fresh air. You can make sure she doesn’t double over in pain or something.”

“That was more than two days ago,” she mumbled sulkily, but Ni-ki straightened handheld onto her arm.

The two younger kids watched Jay walk back into the practice area before Ari decided to lightly tug on Ni-ki’s arm and make him follow her around the big garden area. They walked in silence before settling in the space behind the I-land building. Ignoring the slight dampness of the grass from the rain earlier that day, they ended up lying down.

Although they remained in silence, Ari could feel multiple emotions rolling off of the Japanese boy next to her. She could feel his stress, anger, and frustration radiating off of him like heat.

“We’ll be okay,” she took his hand and squeezed it. “We’ll make it.”

“I’m getting scared.”

“So am I.”

Their interim check went by smoother than she thought it would. It seemed like Rain’s notes were all the motivation they all needed. She watched with pride while Nabi co-lead the Ground members alongside Jay and Hanbin. Despite the short months they spent training together, nothing felt more refreshing than having her unnie lead her.

Whenever Nabi, Jay, and Hanbin would get stressed out or overwhelmed, she and Ni-ki made sure to step in. The five of them established a cycle for the rest of their practice which, surprisingly, worked well enough and got everyone to work more sufficiently. (She was also grateful for the fact that she had Daniel who was constantly trying to lighten the mood and give energy to everyone.)

The rest of the week was a blur to her, though. There was a lot of falling and apologizing to Jimin, who she had to step on for her part. A lot of what she could remember was the trust exercises that Nabi led which for sure broke the ice between everyone.

That’s how she found herself on the day of the performances, arms hooked through Jimin’s and Nabi’s arms while waiting watching the I-landers. As she predicted, they did well. Heeseung’s ending cut was the talk of everyone while they waited for the results.

“Oh my god,” she groaned after an hour, “we’re gonna have to wait for the producers to deliberate for a while. I just want to go on stage.”

“You really like performing, don’t you?” Jimin poked her in the head.

Nabi scoffed from her other side. “That’s an understatement. You should see her videos from when she was younger, it was like she never wanted to leave the stage.”

A protest almost made it past her lips, but she held back. It’s not like it wasn’t true. Not only did she help her parents earn through those competitions, but she also enjoyed the rush she got when performing in front of people. Dance especially. If she succeeds with debuting, then she believes that she’ll have settled in her ikigai.

Jimin lightly nudged her arm. “Hey,” he whispered, “the screen turned on. I think they’re announcing if we’re performing or not.”

“I bet we are.”

And, the moment she said that, it was announced that five I-landers would be moving to Ground. Cheers erupted among the Grounders as they all got up and prepared.

“You little psychic,” Nabi took her by the shoulders and shook her around before turning around. “Okay, boys and girl, time to go show them what we’ve got.”

She excitedly followed everyone out the door while falling into pace with Jake. The elder seemed to be bouncing on his heels while hyping himself up.

“We’re gonna tear up the stage,” she lightly hit his abdomen with the back of her hand. This caused the Australian boy to jump a little and laugh.

He bumped his shoulder with hers. “You bet, you little cotton.”

“Cotton?” She tilted her head at him. “What’s that?”

“Oh,” he laughed while pointing at the black pompom ponytail that held up her hair, “cotton. Because your ponytail looks like a cotton ball. It’s like your bunny tail!”

“Alright, then,” she shook her head but held her hand up for a fist bump. “Let’s do this and get our spots in I-land back. You can do this!”

“You’ve got this, Cotton!”

TAGLIST: @choisoobiniscute @strwberrydinosaur @1-800-enhypenbibi @caratinylyfe @sunflower-0180 @1-800-minji @cherryutasrecs @cherryutas @woopetals @kimhyejin3108 @starlighthwa @akshverse @niafics @90sni-ki @wtfhaechan @luv4gyu @hiqhkey

[ggukkiedae]

❝𝕀-𝕃𝔸ℕ𝔻 𝕋𝕙𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 𝔸𝕣𝕚’𝕤 𝔼𝕪𝕖𝕤 ❞

𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜:

⇢ EPISODE 3 PT.1

⇢ this tells what goes through Ari’s mind as she competes to finally debut after three years of training

⇢ featuring two of my ocs who never saw the light of day: nabi (got7 originally but i was gonna make her ab6ix instead) and jiwoo (stray kids)

𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜:

⇢ this is more of the behind the scenes kind of thing more centered on ari’s feelings instead of the show’s perspective. feedback is highly appreciated 🥰 part two will tackle her in ground until the teamwork fire performance

⇢ italic conversations = english, bold conversations = japanese

⇢ disclaimer: i do not know what really happened behind mnet’s depictions, and i do not know any of the participants on i-land personally, any unusual depictions of them here as well as dramatized situations are simply for story purposes and do not correspond to their real personalities or actions

Ari was stressed out with herself.

Her first line would have been done well, but she had wavered a little because of her nerves. Sure, she did good on the other lines, especially the harmonies with Jungwon thank god, but it was still eating at her mind knowing that she made a mistake that could put her in a bad spot.

The scores up on the screen didn’t help, either. So many were low, and none of them made it to 80. She was positive that she would have gotten a lower rank.

“Ari, please proceed to the upper room to view your score.”

The loud voice caused her to suck in a breath. She stood up and dusted her hands off on her shorts before heading towards the stairs before a wave of nausea filled her. Her period. It was always like this whenever she was on it. Not only did she have to deal with training for their first test while either high on pain medication or actual pain, but the nausea would strike her at random times as well.

“Hey,” Heeseung, who was making his way down, caught her by the arms and helped her steady herself, “you good? Did you eat enough this morning? Need any medicine?”

“I’ll be fine,” she looked up at the room on top of the stairs, “I’ll just get this over with.”

Heeseung gave her a skeptical look. “Okay, but I’ll be waiting for you right here. We’re going straight to the pantry for food when you’re done up there. Just one more day of this monthly thing, right?”

The fact that he knew made her surprised. She nodded at him before making her way up and into the room. With a deep breath, she stared up at the screen as the numbers began to spin. It didn’t help her nauseous state at all and made her more dizzy instead.

The numbers suddenly stopped. The abruptness of it all caused her to get thrown off, making her lose her balance just the slightest bit. She shut her eyes before straightening herself and looking up to actually comprehend the numbers.

78.

The big white numbers stared down at her, almost as if trying to weigh her down further. How did she get the highest score? If anything, that score belonged to Ni-ki or Geonu, but why her? She made a mistake as well. It didn’t sit right with her.

With a bow, she left the room and found Heeseung standing by the landing in between the two flights of stairs. His open arms were all she needed as a go signal to hug him.

“I feel so bad,” she muttered. “I got the 78. This isn’t right.”

Heeseung lightly patted her head. “Hey, I’m proud of you.”

“We keep this between us, right?” she looked up at him, teeth tugging at her bottom lip. “I feel bad. Ni-ki should have gotten this. My performance wasn’t perfect, it doesn’t make sense.”

“Relax,” Heeseung held her shoulders and looked her in the eye, “you did well. Just because it wasn’t perfect doesn’t mean you don’t deserve the high score. It just means that we all could have done better. You deserve this, okay?”

The elder’s words, although she didn’t quite believe them, were comforting. She found herself just nodding and letting Heeseung pull her away to the pantry then to a room where Sunghoon and Jay sat also discussing everything.

It made her feel strange to hear that. All three of the boys felt like they could get sent to the ground. From her perspective, they all did well, especially during practice. It was her who was lagging behind and barely being able to comprehend what they were doing.

“Oppa?” She looked up at Heeseung, making him stop stroking her hair.

“Hm?”

“I’m going to be sent to the ground, aren’t I?” The stares of the two 02 liners sitting across from them felt hot, as if they were trying to burn a hole into her head to see what she was thinking of.

Heeseung shook his head and looked at her sternly. “No you won’t, Ari.”

“Heeseung oppa,” she practically laughed bitterly, “I made a scene. And I'm a girl. I don’t think the others are that comfortable with me.”

“Don’t think like that.” His hand lightly hit her shoulder. “You did well. We both know you did. And, if you do get sent to Ground, I’m making sure your nameplate is stuck to the chair. There’s no way you can leave if your name is still on the chair. You’re not getting dropped, I promise.”

“Besides,” Sunghoon inserted, “we love having you around. You’re helpful, mature, and a good energy boost.”

She smiled at him. Sunghoon had always been encouraging of her ever since they first actually started talking, and she found it endearing of him. It was almost as if he never really got mad at anyone or even frustrated, which was a nice breath of fresh air for her.

“Thank you.” She stood up and stretched, laughing in the slightest as Heeseung held her top by the hem to keep it from rising up.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to grab something to drink. Want anything?” Upon seeing them shake their heads, she smiled and walked out of the room, deciding to get each of them a can of coffee anyway. “I’ll be back.”

She took her time while walking towards the pantry. The common area of the building seemed to be empty, meaning all the other I-landers were doing what she was as well. Talking out their worries in the rooms. That’s why the sight of Daniel standing by their toaster and waiting for a poptart to cook surprised her.

“Noona,” a grin graced his face as soon as he set his eyes on her, “smile! Why do you look so down? Was it your score? I bet you got a hundred! I got a hundred.”

She couldn’t fight back the smile that was forming on her face. The youngest’s optimistic energy was infectious, and, despite his tall height, it made her want to keep him in her pocket and carry him around. Mostly he reminded her of her little sister. She decided to go along with his jokes. “Well, your 100 is secure, I think I can stick with a 99.”

“No,” he pouted, “100! We all have a hundred points each, no less! Oh! It’s done!”

She could only laugh while watching him put his poptart on a plate. “Give it a few minutes before you bite into it, alright?”

“Got it, noona,” he nodded along, “I’ll be careful! Oh, by the way, you might want to check on Ni-ki hyung. He’s lying down on the couch alone.”

Without a second thought, she reached up to pat Daniel on the head then went out the door to the couch. True enough, the Japanese boy was lying there on his side with an arm across his eyes as if trying to block the light. She sat down next to his head and poked it lightly.

“Ni-ki,” she called out to him and patted her lap, “come on. You need a pillow or else your neck’s going to hurt.”

There was a moment of hesitation in which she thought he didn’t hear her, but he removed his arm and moved up to rest his head on her lap. When he shifted to his back rather than his side, she immediately felt her own heart hurt. His eyes looked tired, scared, and regretful all at once. It wasn’t a mixture of feelings that a kid his age should have. She lightly started running her hands through his hair, similar to how Heeseung was doing with her earlier. She shook her head amusedly at the parallel.

“Noona,” Ni-ki’s sudden speaking caught her attention once again, “I should have asked Heeseung hyung to be center.”

Her heart broke. He was blaming himself, and she could see that. “No, Ni-ki, you did great! If they didn’t see how well you did, then that’s on them.”

“But our score—”

“You did great.” She cut him off before he could let that line of thought continue. “Don’t let anyone take that away from you.”

The younger’s eyes closed once again as he let out a sigh. Guilt weighed on her chest. Why did she get the 78? The kid she was with deserved it. He worked hard to improve himself, and, to her, he did well on stage as center. A chill went through her body. She didn’t feel like her score was rightfully hers.

“You did well, noona,” he muttered to her, eyes still closed. “I saw. I heard you really clearly as well.”

“Thank you.” She tapped his nose, successfully getting him to smile. “We’re going to be okay, Ni-ki.”

“Will we? Even if I go to Ground?”

“If you go to Ground,” she pretended to think, “then I’ll be right by your side.”

The younger shot up into a sitting position and turned to look at her with wide eyes. The way he shook his head at her made her laugh. He frowned at her. “Noona, that’s not a good joke.”

“It wasn’t a joke.” She smiled at him. “First of all, the chances of me being sent to Ground are high. Second, even if we were separated into Ground and I-land, I’ll be rooting for you, okay?”

“Why do you only say nice things?” He groaned, leaning forward to rest his forehead on her shoulder.

She chuckled and stroked his hair. “I did kinda blow up on you guys, though.”

“I’m trying to be deep,” he laughed, “but seriously. You always say stuff that makes me feel better for some reason.”

“Because you’re still a kid,” she ruffled his hair roughly, making him sit back up and give her a look, “and kids aren’t supposed to go through as much psychological stress survival shows put you through.”

“You were my age when you went on Mixnine, though. That’s what K hyung told me.”

“Which is why I know it all too well.” She stood up and pulled him along with her. “Now, get that off your mind, yeah? How about you do me a favor and squish Jungwon? He’s been hiding my slippers for the past few days, and I need to get back at him now just in case.”

“I’m on it.” She waved the grinning boy off and watched as he took off towards the rooms. She laughed to herself before closing her eyes. A wave of dizziness was hitting her once again, so she leaned back onto the couch, not noticing someone walking towards her.

“You handled him quite well.” Youngbin hopped over the back of the couch and settled in next to her. “Are you handling yourself well, though?”

“I’m pretty sure I am. How about you, oppa?”

He nodded while smiling solemnly. “I’ve come to terms with going to Ground. Maybe I can work with Sunoo again.”

That was a thought that comforted her slightly. She knew there was a really good chance of Sunoo, Nabi, and Jiwoo to make it back up to I-land, but the idea of seeing them again if ever she were sent to Ground made her, in Youngbin’s words, come to terms with going to Ground.

“I get that,” she nodded at him. “Oh, why were you out here, anyway?”

“I came to get a drink.” He held up the energy drink in his hand. “I saw you and Ni-ki out here and thought maybe you two would need someone to vent to, but it looked like you two were okay.”

Her eyes widened before she shot up and straight to the pantry. “I was supposed to get us coffee!”

Around 12 hours later, she found herself sitting on her chair with her bag by her feet.

“Hey,” Jake called her attention before tossing her a pack of painkillers, “I got those from the med room. You look like you need them.”

She shook her head. “I’m more dizzy than in pain, but thanks, oppa.”

It looked like he wanted to say something more, but the overhead voice started speaking. Sadly, it went by quickly, the announcer barely giving any time in between names called. She looked at Youngbin and met his eyes when his name was called. He gave her a reassuring nod. That’s when a bigger wave of dizziness went over her, making her close her eyes.

Then she heard Daniel’s name. She looked at him, ignoring how it made her head spin to open her eyes again, and her jaw dropped. Before she could process anything, Jake’s name was called.

“No way,” she looked at him. Jake just shook his head at her.

She was about to say something to him, but the announcer called Jay. She and Jake exchanged a look before turning to Jay. She didn’t think he would be voted out by anyone, but he was being sent to Ground? Nicholas and Ni-ki were called right after, making her look towards the two foreign boys.

“Noona,” Ni-ki mouthed before he was cut off by the announcer.

“The seventh one to leave is someone who received seven votes. Ari.”

She watched Ni-ki’s eyes widen before smiling at him then looking down at her feet. She felt her stomach drop, but she wasn’t sure if it was from her disappointment or from the result of, well, her monthly visitor.

“These are the seven people to leave. Those who were eliminated should turn in their nameplates and head to the ground now.”

She rubbed at her eyes and smiled before standing up, avoiding everyone’s looks. The last thing she needed was the looks of pity or, worse, possible looks of satisfaction. The plan was to get her nameplate off her chair as fast as possible and calmly say goodbye, but the nameplate wouldn’t get off. Jake was already walking towards the rack, so she turned to the person who was seated at her other side. He was already looking at her.

“Heeseung oppa?” She gave him a guilty smile. “I need help.”

“You’re not leaving, Ari.” Heeseung shook his head at her. “I promised you that you wouldn’t be dropped.”

She could feel some of the others staring at them, so she walked towards his chair. “Oppa, I prepared myself for this. Please help me?”

“No.” Heeseung held her wrist. Her chest tightened when she saw the hurt in his eyes. “Leave your name, you’re not going down.”

“Hyung,” Jake put his hand Heeseung’s shoulder to stop him from saying anything further. He walked over to Ari’s chair. She gave Heeseung an apologetic look before lightly pulling her hand free and following Jake.

“You were pulling it from the middle,” Jake quietly instructed her before placing his hands in the proper place. “You’ve got to hold it at the bottom from the sides, then pull upwards.”

“Thanks,” she nodded along before carrying her name to the rack. She then went to pick up her bag, but she was pulled into a hug.

“Get back up here, Dimple, and I promise I’ll stop hiding your slippers,” he whispered to her. “And who’s going to watch out for you when you’re on your girl time?”

She chuckled at him but hugged him back. “Give me a week, I’ll try my best.”

“I can’t believe I’m not gonna see your little dimples around here,” he frowned as he released her from the hug and poked her dimples. She poked his back and gave him another quick hug.

“Hey,” K walked up to them as Jungwon walked away. He ruffled her hair. “Take care of yourself and Ni-ki, okay?”

She smiled up at him. “I will. You watch over yourself, too. No being rash.”

“Still too mature for your age,” K laughed.

Sunghoon was the next to go to her, immediately pulling her into a hug. “You’re not sad, are you?”

“Can’t be helped, but I’m used to it,” she chuckled before pulling away from him. “Hey, did I ever tell you that my little sister is training to be a figure skater?”

“Okay,” he pinched her cheek, “now you have to get back up here and tell me about her.”

She walked over to Geonu and smiled at him. “See you when I see you, I guess.”

“I’m sorry, Ari,” he looked at her guiltily.

She just shook her head. “We’re good.”

Seon approached them after that. “You better come back up here. I need someone to relate to when it comes to survival shows.”

She just laughed at that but nodded. Seon then tilted his head towards someone who was already looking in their direction. She walked over to him with a smile which she hoped was reassuring. Before she could say anything, he pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms as tight as he could around her waist and burying his face into her neck. His shoulders were shaking.

“You’re coming back.” Heeseung’s voice was light and almost fragile.

“Oppa, I don’t know what’s going to happen—” He cut her off.

“You are coming back.” His grip on her tightened, which she didn’t think was possible. She didn’t mind, though. “I’m so sorry, Ari. I promised you, but…”

She shook her head and leaned back to try and look him in the eye. “I’ll be okay, and I’ll try and work my way back up here. Until then, try and stay out of trouble? Proper communication and all, hm?”

She turned her head just the slightest and saw Jake looking at her, as if waiting before heading to the gate. As much as she didn’t want to leave Heeseung while he was still crying, she had to leave. Heeseung’s hand went up to hold her wrist while she wiped some of his tears away with her sleeve. He reluctantly let go of her.

Jake took her hand and led her up to the gate. This was it. She was voted out, so she was leaving. All the strength she had somehow mustered up went away as her dizziness crept back in. She gripped Ni-ki and Jake’s hands, not processing anything she was doing or saying as the gate closed. Then her knees buckled, making Ni-ki and Jake immediately try to hold her up.

“Ari, I told you to take the painkillers,” Jake scolded her.

She shook her head. “I’m fine! Just a little dizzy, that’s all. It’ll be over in like a day or two, I swear. It’s just a… monthly thing.”

She didn’t really want to say it out loud since it was ending anyway, but she still couldn’t help wishing Jungwon was there to deflect the attention off of her.

“You sure?” Jay asked her. She nodded and let Jake loop her arm through his as the gate opened up to the walkway.

“We are going to get you better,” he began as they walked out, “then let’s work hard to get back there, alright Ari?”

She merely hummed in agreement before letting her mind wander off. What was Jiwoo going to think of her getting kicked to Ground? Or Sunoo? God, what was Nabi going to think? She did not want to disappoint Nabi at all. She needed to up her game. And Sunoo and her agreed to meet up in I-land again! What was going to happen then? Why was she getting more and more nauseous? It was like the stress was adding on to her symptoms. She kept her head down and stayed zone out, not even noticing they had already entered Ground.

“Yang Ari, I told you not to follow me down here!”

She looked up to find the one and only Kim Sunoo making his way towards her and pulling her into a hug. The sudden jolt of movement made her head spin and vision go blurry for a few seconds. She felt a second set of hands help straighten her up and two familiar voices approaching.

“Oh my god,” Jiwoo had brushed her hair out of her face.

She felt herself being pulled a bit more gently into another hug, a familiar scent filling her nose. “Hey, you’re fine. You’re good, Tokki, don’t worry.”

She looked up at Jiwoo and Sunoo while tightening her arms around Nabi. “I missed you guys so much. Unnies, this is Jake oppa. He’s one of the ones who made me comfortable. Sunoo, I don’t think I need to introduce you two.”

“That’s because I introduced you two,” Sunoo scoffed.

She shook her head and let go of Nabi before shooing the two boys off. “You two go talk to Youngbin oppa. He missed you a lot, Sunoo.”

“Are you sure?” Jake asked her. “I can stay with you if you like.”

“Oppa, I’ll be fine,” she laughed, “I’ve got my unnies here. Go catch up, Crown unit.”

“We are so talking later,” Sunoo laughed before dragging Jake off to Youngbin.

She looked back at her two unnies and properly took them in. Jiwoo had on long acrylic nails, and Nabi had bleached her roots. It wasn’t much, but it felt like big differences. The one week was taxing to the point where she felt like it was one month.

“It was bad, wasn’t it?” Jiwoo asked her.

She shrugged. “It wouldn’t have been that bad if I didn’t get my period. That’s why I’m all woozy like this and I hate it.”

Nabi chuckled and ruffled her hair. “Must have been weird not having a girl with you.”

“Quite,” a smile made its way to her face when she remembered the person who let her complain about it unfiltered and took care of her, “but I had Jungwon. He said he was used to helping his noona through hers, so he didn’t make me feel weird about mine.”

The two older girls had pulled her along to the bench off to the side to actually make her sit while they caught up with each other. They were in the middle of telling her about the time Sunoo and Hanbin were messing around when the announcer called for the original Ground members to gather by the screen. She exchanged a look with the two girls before gently pushing them towards the big screen.

“You good?” Jake asked her when he sat down next to her. She rested her head on his shoulder in hummed in confirmation, staring at the backs of the Grounders.

Ni-ki sat on her other side with a smile before he took her hand. “You look like you’re doing better.”

“I’ll be good as new by the end of today,” she squeezed his hand.

The image of the Grounders standing looked determined to her. Maybe the six people transferring was a good boost of morale, enough to motivate everyone into working harder now that they knew the current spots in I-land weren’t technically permanent. Not yet.

She smiled to herself in a somewhat bittersweet manner. That would mean it would be twice as hard to get into I-land again now that the current I-landers would be more anxious and the Grounders would be even more motivated.

Then she heard Jiwoo’s name called. Her eyes widened, and she jumped out of her seat to give the older girl a hug. “Unnie! You are so gonna love it there! I kid you not, it looks like the Hunger Games training center.”

“Down girl,” Jiwoo laughed and ruffled her hair before groaning in frustration. “I wish I could bring you and Nabi unnie with me.”

“I’ll just meet you up there,” Ari grinned before hopping back to her seat.

She had just settled with her legs on Jake and head on Ni-ki’s shoulder when she heard another familiar name. Sunoo was going to I-land as well.

“That’s my boy!” She launched herself off of her seat and attacked her friend in a hug. “Make them regret not keeping you around in the first place.”

Despite how excited she was, she couldn’t help feeling the slightest bit upset that she still wouldn’t be able to work with him. She knew he felt the same way from how he just reluctantly pulled her off of him.

“Get off, you weirdo.” His chuckle was a little less upbeat than usual. “I’ll make them regret not keeping us both up there.”

Taki’s name was called as well, so she turned to the younger, only to find him and Ni-ki in a hug. She clapped excitedly for him and ruffled his hair. “Do well up there, hm? And keep K oppa happy.”

With Taki’s excited smile, she nodded at him before approaching Jiwoo and Nabi. “Jiwoo unnie, you’ll do great! Show them my best triple threat.”

Jiwoo laughed and pinched Ari’s cheek. “Of course, Tokki. Anything for my hidden ace.”

Ari could only grin at that while she watched Nabi give Jiwoo a mini peptalk. It was a name that the two older girls gave her when they first started training together early that year. Though she disagreed with it, it motivated her to work hard to live up to the name as well as boosted her confidence. Next thing she knew, Nabi was telling her to give Jiwoo advice.

“Work hard,” was what she started with. “It doesn’t matter how well you score, they can still eliminate you. Play it safe and do well on stage. Jungwon can keep you sane, I swear. He kept me sane.

“I’ll keep that in mind, then.” Jiwoo then proceeded to nudge her away. “Now go say bye to Sunoo. That kid’s missed you this whole week.”

Ari laughed and walked over to her friend who looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Noona was lying, I did not miss you at all.”

“Oh just give me a hug.” She gripped onto him as tight as she could. “I can’t believe we still aren’t working together.”

“I know,” he released her. “Hey, I better see you up there with me next time this happens.”

Her lips pressed into a tight line before she nodded. “I’ll try my best. Take care of yourself, hm? And, please, watch over Heeseung oppa for me.”

“Will do.” Sunoo smiled at her.

TAGLIST: @choisoobiniscute @strwberrydinosaur @1-800-enhypenbibi @caratinylyfe @sunflower-0180 @nctdream-minji @nayuyeonsrecs @woopetals @niafics (send an ask or dm if you want to be added to my taglist 🥰)

[ggukkiedae]

❝𝕀-𝕃𝔸ℕ𝔻 𝕋𝕙𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 𝔸𝕣𝕚’𝕤 𝔼𝕪𝕖𝕤 ❞

𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜:

⇢ EPISODE 2 PT.2 (bc this was like 16 1/2 pages long) (click here for part 1)

⇢ this tells what goes through Ari’s mind as she competes to finally debut after three years of training

⇢ featuring two of my ocs who never saw the light of day: nabi (got7 originally but i was gonna make her ab6ix instead) and jiwoo (stray kids)

𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜:

⇢ this is more of the behind the scenes kind of thing more centered on ari’s feelings instead of the show’s perspective. feedback is highly appreciated 🥰 also written in small text to make it seem less long

⇢ italic conversations = english, bold conversations = japanese

⇢ disclaimer: i do not know what really happened behind mnet’s depictions, and i do not know any of the participants on i-land personally, any unusual depictions of them here as well as dramatized situations are simply for story purposes and do not correspond to their real personalities or actions

When they’re practicing together once again, she notices something. The steps were slightly different from what she remembered. She walked towards Heeseung and quietly spoke. “Heeseung oppa?”

“Hm, why?”

“Don’t they do it tilted in the video?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, “but I think it will look cleaner if we do it this way. The others seem to be okay with it, too. Let’s just try it out first, alright? If it looks off, we’ll go back to the original.”

She nodded. “Okay.” It made sense. He was right, it could make the whole group a lot neater to watch when they performed.

Pretty soon, it was break time. She followed after Heeseung to grab a drink. The energy she felt from the others was just strange after the whole altering thing, so she wanted to ask Heeseung about it again. That and her stomach seemed to suddenly hit her with pain. She internally groaned, hoping it wasn’t what she thought it was, but kept up with the acting leader regardless.

“Oppa, don’t you think we should stick to the video?”

“Maybe,” he handed her a bottle of water, “but I just want us to look clean as a team, and changing a few steps will help with that.”

“Oh...”

He smiled at her and ruffled her hair. “Besides, Ari. It's day one. We can still change things if they don’t work out.”

She smiled back at him, ignoring the slight twinges of pain. He sounded sure of what he was doing, and it made sense to her. “Right, okay. I trust you.”

“Thanks. You need a painkiller?”

“That obvious?”

He just chuckled and led her away to the medicine room. The rest of their practice so far that day went by well.

That is until the next day her stomach decided to kill her even more. During the afternoon break, she headed towards the medicine room to look for a hot compress. After searching, though, she didn’t find anything.

“Damn patriarchy,” she muttered as she walked towards the bathroom. It was then when she heard a voice through the door of her room as she passed it, saying something about someone having many problems. Her eyebrows furrowed. Hopefully no one was struggling too much this early into the show.

The individual performances went by quite quick as a blur to her, mostly because she was trying to ignore how drowsy the painkiller was making her. She had found herself stuck to Jungwon’s side and only being able to stay awake whenever Jungwon started clapping.

Eventually, Jungwon brought her into the medicine room during their next break and found a hot compress after a few minutes. She gaped at him.

“I swear, that was not there when I looked earlier.”

“Sure,” he laughed, “and I’m not a Yang. Go and sit on the couch, let me fill this up with hot water for you.”

She sighed but walked towards her room instead. “I actually need to change. Oh, wait, does this not weird you out?”

He shook his head. “I’ve got a noona, so you’re good. If this bothers you for the rest of the week, just tell me. No judgement.”

“Thanks, Jungwon!”

She jogged into the hallway but paused outside the door. Her eyes narrowed upon hearing the conversation. She wasn’t exactly sure who, but there were people inside talking bad about Heeseung and his teaching style.

It shocked her. Heeseung was trying to do what he could to make them all look good together, but they were just talking about him behind his back? And they couldn’t bother talking about it to Heeseung first? It reminded her of those western dramas set in high school. She heard K’s voice next. “We should be making something great, but from up…”

She had leaned on the door frame and crossed her arms while watching him. “Then why don’t you make something great instead of talking behind someone’s back.”

For the second time that day, heads all whipped to face her while she stood there, but she wasn’t here for this. She was in alternating between pain and drowsiness, and all she needed was to get her mini hygiene kit. Why did this have to add on to her mind?

The silence was almost deafening as she walked in and took her pouch and hoodie. She didn’t bother looking at anyone else. This is exactly what she wanted to avoid this time around. She had hoped that there wouldn’t be any of this type of thing with so few people because there was way too much of it back when she was on Mixnine. Sure, she was trying to keep a low profile, but she wasn’t having it.

When she turned around, everyone was still staring at her. “What? Scared you got caught complaining?”

“It’s not that we’re scared, Ari,” Youngbin began, “but this isn’t right.”

She gave him a look. “Need i remind you that the majority of you voted Heeseung oppa leader and center, fully knowing that you would have to go with his flow? You gave him your trust. Stand by it. If you don’t like it, then talk to him instead of being petty and talking bad about him behind his back, you know?”

A snapping noise called her attention. She looked at K who was looking at her sternly. “Ari. You can’t talk like that to your elders.”

“And you can’t talk like that about someone behind their back.” She crossed her arms and shook her head at them. “I get it, I asked Heeseung oppa about it, too, and he told me he was doing it so we can all look good once we perform together. If you still don’t like it, why not just take it up with him instead of whispering about it? So, with all due respect, oppas…”

She gave them all a once over once more but bowed to them since, as they said, most of them were her elders. The moment she left the room, something was gnawing at her chest. It just occurred to her that she snapped at the others, especially at the oldest participant in the show.

“I really should keep my mouth shut,” she muttered to herself. K was nice to her the whole time they’ve been roommates, and she just spoke back to him like that? She went straight to the couch where Jungwon was waiting for her. He handed her the red pouch and noticed she looked concerned.

“Woah,” he began while leading her to the stairs in the lobby that led up to the gate, “you okay?”

“I just got mad at some of the older members,” she muttered once they sat down. “Or scolded? Not really mad. I don’t know.”

“Must be the hormones.” Her glare made him laugh and raise his arms in surrender. “Sorry, too soon. We aren’t that close yet. But, hey, what was it all about.”

“It’s not really my place to say,” she shook her head. Sure, they made her frustrated, but she wasn’t going to paint them out as bad guys to Jungwon. “I just got frustrated with their behavior, that’s all.”

Jungwon nodded. “Well, you’re not the type to get mad without a reason, so they probably deserved that scolding.”

She raised her eyebrow at him. “You’ve barely known me for two days.”

“Try me,” he challenged her, “I watched you on Mixnine.”

She groaned but laughed and shook her head. “That was television, and I’m sure the editors manipulated clips, like I’m sure they will on here as well.”

Jungwon shrugged but stood up and dusted his hands off. He held his hand out to her, which she gratefully took and pulled herself up with.

“Thanks,” she smiled at him, “you’re pretty good at cheering people up.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“I’ll just go to the bathroom and change. Could you hold on to this for me?”

She handed him the hot compress and her bottle of water. He nodded and saluted before running of with their stuff towards the practice room. She laughed and headed towards the bathroom.

What she didn’t expect was to walk out and find everyone gathered in a circle just a few paces away from where she and Jungwon sat earlier. It looked like they were having a meeting… Wow. One would think they wouldn’t forget about the only girl that was with them, but they did.

She settled herself next to Jungwon and listened to what was being said. A grimace made its way to her face as she took in Youngbin’s words. He couldn’t talk to Heeseung about this in private like she did instead of making everyone sit through it and somehow make Heeseung look like the bad guy? It’s like everyone conspired against him, and it almost felt like he was being attacked.

Then, after everything was somewhat settled, she watched Heeseung walk away, head drooping. Jungwon looked at her almost as if he realized what she had heard the older members talking about.

She stood up and looked at the same members who were in her room earlier on. “It took this long for you to approach him, and everything built up. If literally any of you approached him with any of your concerns, no one would have felt bad for too long. Compromises could have been made. Progress would have been even faster if you just talked like this instead of gossiping with one another.”

With that, she walked away.

She wasn’t worried about running her mouth again. The editors could make her seem like a brat like they tried to do in Mixnine, and she couldn’t care less. She hated when people got like this, and she wanted to make sure Heeseung was okay.

She quickly turned around and ran to the pantry to grab some snacks and drinks. She ran into Jake, who gave her a shirt he had grabbed from the stock room.

“Make sure Heeseung hyung is okay,” Jake told her “and get changed. You’ve been sweating in this shirt the whole day. Training’s over for the day, so go right up to the room when you guys are good.”

She nodded at him and went to the bathroom to change from her hoodie and shirt into the new shirt. She then ran down to the room she had deemed the reflection room.

“Heeseung oppa?”

She was met with silence while Heeseung, who also seemed to have changed clothes, was sitting alone. She sat next to him and placed the snacks and drinks she got on the table. She hesitated a little before placing a hand on his back and patting it. When he didn’t respond, she rested her head on his shoulder.

“Sorry you had to go through that,” she apologized. “No,” he shook his head, “I get it. I didn’t clarify with them.”

The way he completely blamed himself made her upset. Sure, he was also in the wrong in the situation, but it wasn’t purely on him. “But they didn’t speak up about it immediately, either. Both parties are at fault, it just so happens that one party outnumbered the other. You’re not the only one at fault, though. We all are for not communicating properly.”

He was silent for a moment before speaking. “For an 18-year-old, you sound mature.”

“When you go through a survival show with over 170 people competing, you go through stuff,” she shook her head exasperatedly. A small chuckle escaped him, making her smile.

“Survival shows, huh?” he began. “Gotta get the best drama out of conflict between the trainees.”

“You should have seen what they did to people from the same company near the finals,” she shook her head.

The two sat in silence for a while as they ate their snacks and refueled with the energy drinks. Silent comfort seemed to be what Heeseung needed, so she gave him that and company. Eventually, he spoke again.

“Did you get mad at them? I heard a bit of what you said.”

“Not mad…”

“You have to apologize, you know?” he lightly scolded her. “You’re coming from good intentions, but you shouldn’t raise your voice that way to them, okay?”

She picked her head up and looked at him. He looked right back at her pointedly, making her sigh.

“I know,” she muttered. “I want to apologize, too. It’s just that I can’t keep quiet when I get frustrated about these things.”

“That just means you’re brave,” he stood up and pulled her up with him. “Go up to bed, Ari. I'm gonna stay down here for a bit.”

She bit her lip. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” he gave her a reassuring smile.

“Okay. If you need anything, I'm just in the green room.”

She walked silently to avoid running into any of the other boys before she made it into the green walls of her room. Seeing no one there aside from Ni-ki lying on her bed surprised her, though. The younger boy sat up as soon as he caught a glimpse of her. His eyes were wide almost as if he was caught in the middle of doing something.

She smiled at him from the door. “Congratulations on getting part 1!”

“Noona,” he placed his hands on his lap and looked down, “you’re not mad, are you?”

“Just a little disappointed,” she sat on her bed and rummaged through her things. “But I’m pretty cooled down now. I���m just glad we could talk it out while there was still a lot of time.”

She could feel Ni-ki shyly scooting closer to her. She pulled out her shower items and skin care before chuckling and turning to face Ni-ki again.

“Hey,” she placed a hand on his knee, “I’m really not mad. I just got too in the moment. I’m looking for a way to apologize, as well.”

His wide eyes made her realize once again how young he was. “For sure?”

“Yeah. Congratulations on part 1, though.” She ruffled his hair through his hood. “You’ll do great, I know it.”

He grinned at her and gave her a hug, which surprised her. She hugged him back before laughing and telling him to go to bed. Just as he ran out, K walked into the room.

“Everyone else is done showering,” he told her. “Just hang the bandana on the entrance and you’re good.”

She looked at him and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have raised my voice that way. I just felt really bad for Heeseung oppa because it was so many people against one talking behind his back, and I know he had his faults, too, but it really felt like everyone was ganging up on him and I just don’t like it when people do stuff like that. But still, I shouldn't have raised my voice at you like that.”

She was waiting in silence for a while before she looked up at K. He sat down on the foot of his own bed and chuckled. “I guess it was pretty childish of me, too, huh? Sorry about that as well.”

She looked at him. “So we’re good?”

“Yeah,” he smiled at her, “we’re good. Now take a shower, you stink.”

“Very funny,” she faked a laugh at him before walking out to the bathroom with her stuff, hearing his laugh as she closed the door.

It was after her shower when she saw Youngbin and Seon sitting in the pantry. She approached them. “Hi, I just wanted to apologize for raising my voice. And, Youngbin Oppa, I’m sorry if I made it seem like I was taking your feelings lightly.”

“I could’ve handled it in a better manner, too,” Youngbin gave her a hug, “sorry. Communication is key, right?”

“Right,” she laughed before a hand caught her eye. Seon was holding his out with a smile. She shook his hand. “This is a little awkward, but okay.”

Seon laughed. “We’ll get less awkward someday. Are we okay?”

“I am shaking your hand, so yes. We are okay.”

The three laughed before Youngbin lightly nudged her towards the door. “Go over to the room. Jake has a bunch of snacks ready because he thinks you’re sulking.”

“On my way!”

The next few days went by in a blur. Yes, still due to her being on a slight high from painkillers and actual pain itself. She barely got to appreciate seeing Rain in person, too. Praise god for Jungwon who always knew how to help her and Heeseung and Jake who were always looking out for her. (Heeseung even let her use his hoodie to wrap around her waist when she caught glimpses of red on her sweats.)

But then they were back in a tense circle discussing center. She wasn’t sure what was going on since she had accidentally taken way too many painkillers that morning, so she found herself sitting by Heeseung’s feet. When she heard someone, she wasn’t too sure, talking about how Ni-ki couldn’t do it, she rolled her eyes but stayed silent. She knew how hard he was working, and it seemed like they were purposely trying to crush his spirit.

When everyone started pointing towards Heeseung to go as center again, she could feel him slightly tense up, so she started tapping a steady rhythm onto his shoe. She knew he was stressed out, but she didn’t want him to feel overwhelmed.

When they all broke into little groups to ponder things, she looked up at Heeseung, resting her head by his knee. He gave her a tight smile and ruffled her hair.

“I believe in Ni-ki,” she began, “but I know you’d do well, too.”

“Somewhat same thoughts,” he chuckled, “which is why I’m leaving this for him to decide. I trust he’ll do what’s best both for him and for the team.”

“How about what’s best for you?”

He kept silent after that. She shook her head at him and leaned her head on his knee.

And, just like that, Ni-ki remained center.

Performance day came a lot faster than she expected. She found herself holding Ni-ki by the shoulders since he was psyching himself out.

“Hey,” she began, “It’s gonna be fine. You worked hard, so you’ll do great, okay? I believe in you. Stop panicking.”

“Thanks, noona.”

“I’m gonna steal him from you now,” K swept in with a chuckle. Ari laughed and let him take the center. She walked over to Jungwon who was practicing in the mirror.

She poked his dimple.

“Yah!” he looked at her appalled. “What was that for?”

“Are you less nervous now?”

He gave her a funny look, before his face morphed to a look of realization. He then poked her dimple. “Are you?”

She laughed . “Glad I could help, Won.”

Just then, the overhead voice called for them to enter the gate since they were about to start. She found herself beside Jake.

“We got this,” he lightly bumped shoulders with her.

“Yeah we do!” She cheered.

Jake put an arm around her shoulder, while she wrapped her arm around his waist. They jumped a little to get rid of excess energy before walking into the gate. She looked up at Jake.

“Let’s do this.”

TAGLIST: @choisoobiniscute @strwberrydinosaur @1-800-enhypenbibi @caratinylyfe @sunflower-0180 @nctdream-minji @nayuyeonsrecs @woopetals (message or send ask if you want to be added to the taglist/s 🥰)

[ggukkiedae]

❝𝕀-𝕃𝔸ℕ𝔻 𝕋𝕙𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 𝔸𝕣𝕚’𝕤 𝔼𝕪𝕖𝕤 ❞

𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜:

⇢ EPISODE 1

⇢ this tells what goes through Ari’s mind as she competes to finally debut after three years of training

⇢ featuring two of my ocs who never saw the light of day: nabi (got7 originally but i was gonna make her ab6ix instead) and jiwoo (stray kids)

𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜:

⇢ this is more of the behind the scenes kind of thing more centered on ari’s feelings instead of the show’s perspective. feedback is highly appreciated 🥰

⇢ italic conversations = english, bold conversations = japanese

⇢ disclaimer: i do not know what really happened behind mnet’s depictions, and i do not know any of the participants on i-land personally, any unusual depictions of them here as well as dramatized situations are simply for story purposes and do not correspond to their real personalities or actions

The path was rough.

Ari had spent three years training and only once got close to debut. Her previous company friends had already made their debut and grew in popularity, those friends she made in Mixnine were all making a name for themselves as well. Yet there she was. She stopped competing to focus on her debut. She transferred companies. And now she was going on another survival show. The path really was rough.

“Ari!”

Ah, right. She was initially thinking about the forest floor. Yes, the forest floor was rough as well.

“Oh god, I hope they edit that out.” Her friends laughed at her reaction as they helped her stand up.

“Here we go,” Nabi took Ari’s hand, “this way you won’t trip. Grab onto Jiwoo, too.”

“I’m not a child.” There was a slight frown on Ari’s face, but she took Jiwoo’s hand anyway.

She had only been with Belift for a few weeks, but Nabi and Jiwoo had immediately taken to babying her. Sure, she was used to it since she was the youngest trainee in KQ for a while, but she was mature and firmly believed she didn’t need to be looked out for. She was on a survival show and got into the debut lineup, for god’s sake.

They walked quietly, Jiwoo making Hunger Games references every now and then until they saw the giant gray cube that they were supposed to enter.

It looked intimidating. The gray was cold and unwelcoming, almost as if it were warning her of everything that she was about to go through for a second time. She would be subject to the public opinion once again. For all she knew, there would be conflicts arising.

“Oh my god.” Jiwoo was first to approach the door when it opened. “We really are in Panem.”

She snorted a little at that but followed the excited girl in.

A sense of deja vu filled her as they walked down the halls. It was strange, to say the least. In comparison to their company back during the Mixnine auditions, the halls of I-land were dark. There were just torch lights every few steps, and everything looked somewhat menacing. But the feeling was the same. The nerves were there, and, whether she realized it or not, her grip on the other girls’ hands tightened.

Towards where she could hear murmuring, she took the lead and pulled her unnies along with her. The platform they were standing on began to move, and she tried her hardest not to react. The gasps and the whispers sounded loud yet incoherent to her, but one thing stood out from multiple directions. People were saying her name. But she kept her eyes on the large red numbers reading ‘13’ in front of her.

“13,” she whispered to herself. “What does that mean?”

“Think on it later,” Nabi lightly tugged on her hand. “Come on, let’s greet everyone.”

The three girls nodded and, on Nabi’s count, they bowed to the trainees. Before she could look back up, though, she heard a familiar voice.

“Yah! Yang Ari!”

Her eyes widened as she let go of her unnies. She rushed forward to the familiar figure who was running towards her as well. “Kim Sunoo!”

They caught each other in a huge hug, feeling a sense of relief and understanding between them upon discovering they would be on the show together. A few of her worries melted away. She already had a friend among the guys, and he would for sure know to keep her in the loop and not leave her feeling out of place. There were more whispers exchanged between the trainees, but she shut them out.

“I can’t believe you were in Belift,” the boy laughed as he leaned back a bit to look at her. “Why didn’t you tell me? I thought you were still in KQ! How did I not see you?”

She shrugged at him. “It’s only been a few weeks, and we kept it between the girls. You never asked, anyway!”

“We’re gonna be on here together!” She laughed in amusement while her friend was shaking her by the shoulders. “We’re actually getting the chance to perform together!”

“We are so talking about this later,” she laughed when she realized they were taking a while up front.

Sunoo seemed to realize the same thing since he let go and nodded to her. “You bet. Now go back to your unnies.”

She moved back over to the two girls while Sunoo went back to who she assumed were his unitmates. Jiwoo ruffled her hair and pointed over to some seats. And so they settled down. She bowed her head a little to the boy sitting next to her on her left while she watched Jiwoo on the other side of Nabi picking up a conversation with the trainee next to her. He had a curious look on his face.

“Excuse me,” he began after exchanging greetings with her, “are you perhaps Yang Ari? The one who was in Mixnine under KQ?”

She pressed her lips into a tight line. “Yes, that is me.”

“Oh, it’s nice to meet you,” he smiled at her. “I’m looking forward to seeing you dance. My name’s Lee Heeseung, by the way.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too, Heeseung-ssi.”

All of a sudden, the lights started flickering. This marked the start of the actual show, then. Her eyes widened as she watched the floor light up. It was so different from Mixnine.

Some screens spread apart, revealing an egg shaped gate. She tapped at Nabi’s hand and quickly pointed towards it. “Unnie! The gates!”

She continued to watch on in awe as the overhead voice kept explaining the rest of the mechanics. Upon hearing the 13-person limit, she exchanged glances with Jiwoo and Nabi. Statistically speaking, she knew that not all three of them would make it. It was more probable that none of them would make it in for the first round. This made her worried. Well, more worried than she already was.

Something else to note was that they would be assessing each other. She didn’t like how they would have to assess each other based off of one performance. To her, it wouldn’t matter at first since she has seen survival shows both hone skills of some and break those of others. She took a look at everyone. It would have been better if she knew at least a little bit of their personalities.

Then it was announced that they could choose order performance. Going first or last had a lot of benefits, so she made to stand up. She was beat, however, by someone sitting on the other end of the floor. She leaned back in slight disappointment.

“Unnie,” she whispered to Nabi, “let’s go last, okay?”

Nabi looked at her in worry. “Are you sure? I-land would be full by then.”

“It doesn’t matter, right?” Jiwoo cut in. “There’s going to be a second test, anyway. I’m willing to bet it’ll be freestyling or showing off of charms.”

Ari chuckled a little but leaned back. “Who knows, unnie?”

With that, the three girls sat back to watch the performances, silently agreeing on going last.

The performances went by as she kept count of how many people went up on stage. The fact that the trainees all introduced themselves a little at first gave her some reassurance.

The third performance in, one of the members were voted out. She gasped upon seeing his tile turn red. “Nabi unnie, I don’t think red should be your favorite color anymore.”

“Don’t worry too much.”

She just nodded and focused on the performances once again. When it was time for the fifth performance, Heeseung stood up, surprising her just a little. She bowed her head at him.

“Heeseung-ssi, fighting!”

“Thank you.”

She watched as he went on to perform NCT U’s Boss. The moment he began singing for the bridge, her amazement grew.

She looked over to her friends. “I really like his voice.”

And she was sure to tell him that when he sat next to her once again. “Congratulations, Heeseung-ssi. I really like your singing voice.”

A smile appeared on his face as his hand went up to scratch the back of his neck. “Thank you. I’m sure you sing well, Ari-ssi.”

She just shook her head and focused on the performances. When it was Sunoo’s turn, she couldn’t help but get excited. She had seen him dancing at his school before when their friends invited her over, so she knew he would do well.

And he did.

She hopped up onto her feet. “Kim Sunoo, you did great! You sound amazing!”

Her friend laughed at her from where he stood. But, before she knew it, there was a large -3 on the screens, and it was their turn to perform.

“Ari-ssi, fighting.” Heeseung held up a fist to cheer her on. She smiled and did the same thing before standing up.

She nodded firmly and reached for her friends’ hands to go forward. She took a deep breath as they walked there. The whispers rose again, so she did her best to block out their voices. Jiwoo and Nabi made her stand in between them as they introduced themselves

“My name is Ha Nabi,” the eldest of the girls began. “I’m 23 years old, and my specialty lies in dance. I used to perform in different events in malls and busk in Hongdae.”

Ari exchanged glances with Jiwoo, silently asking the older to go first.

Jiwoo nodded. “I’m Han Jiwoo, 20 years old. I’m still working on finding my niche in terms of performance, but I spend a lot of time producing and composing.”

Then it was her turn. She took a clear look at the trainees. A feeling of expectancy was all that she noticed. The pressure was clearly more present with her as someone who had previously made it into a debut lineup. She took a deep breath once again.

“And I’m Yang Ari,” she waved a little but decided on bowing once again. “I’m 18 now. I enjoy dancing quite a lot, and I even used to compete. I’ve won about thirty-three medals in seven years. Please watch us well, thank you.”

Upon hearing the claps of the boys, the three girls got into position as the lights went dark. She reached her hands out and high fived the two girls who stood on either side of her a few steps back before they turned their backs towards the boys for the songs start.

The lights flashed red at the intro of BTS’s Baepsae and faded into something more stable for them to perform without being blinded. She put on her stage persona and let her nervousness fuel her performance.

Ari couldn’t help noticing Nabi’s voice cracking just the slightest in the pre-chorus and Jiwoo nearly tripping over in that same part. She internally frowned. Hopefully these went over the other participants’ heads. All she could do was hope, but she didn’t let that distract her.

By one of her latter parts, also known as the bridge, she found herself smirking as she sang and danced. It’s not that she felt smug, it was just that the song made her feel powerful. The shocked faces on the trainees in front of them were a bonus.

She took the final dance break, making sure to do her own kind of thing, similar to J-hope’s in energy yet slightly different in style.

Upon their finish, there was a brief moment of silence. Nerves came and filled her once again until she heard the boys start cheering. She let out a sigh of relief and turned around and bowed with the others before stepping forward with them to wait for the results. She kept her eyes closed and tightly squeezed Jiwoo and Nabi’s hands. But they were both voted out.

The voice spoke over head. “If Yang Ari deserves to go into I-land, please raise your hand.”

She lowered her head as the sound of rustling filled her ears. She could feel Jiwoo lightly shaking their hands to calm her down.

“The participant Yang Ari gets into the I-land.”

She let out a sigh and bows in thanks. She felt Nabi squeeze her hand and Jiwoo Pat her head. Of everyone, she could hear Sunoo congratulating her.

She keeps her head down as they head back to their seats, barely noticing the thumbs up that Heeseung was giving her.

“You did really well, Ari-ssi,” the elder told her once she sat down.

She barely nodded and felt him pat her shoulder while she rested her face in her hands. A red and white light made its way into her vision. She looked up and smiled bitterly.

“I feel like it’s mocking me.” She turned to her right and saw her friends already looking at her. “Sorry unnies.”

Nabi just laughed at her and patted her head.

Jiwoo laughed as well. “It’s okay.”

She kept her gaze down as the gates opened, not letting go of Nabi’s hand. She was going into the I-land as the only girl. She wouldn’t have either of her unnies with her.

She slowly got up and gave her older friends apologetic looks. Nabi just gave her a pat on the head and helped her with her backpack. “It’s okay, Ari. Go up there and show them girl power, okay?”

Jiwoo appeared in fromt of her and squished her cheeks. “You got this, Tokki.”

It confused Ari to no extent. How did they look so optimistic about this? They lost an opportunity that would have benefited them for the rest of the show, yet they were smiling at her. Instead of speaking, she gave them a smile and saluted before running to Sunoo with the hopes that seeing her friends being left behind wouldn’t make her cry.

“You did so well,” Sunoo caught her in a hug.

She shook her head. “Not really. You did so much better.”

The two friends linked arms then stepped into the gates. She felt a hand on her shoulder, making her turn around in surprise. It was Heeseung standing behind her. He gave her a reassuring smile, which she returned while slightly nodding her head before Sunoo caught her attention again.

“Woah,” he exclaimed, “what is this?”

“What?” Her hand made its way up to her face as she caught a glimpse of everything. She exchanged looks with Sunoo before stepping in together.

It looked very futuristic, making her question if they stepped through a portal to a different dimension. Not even the overhead voice could distract her from scanning the place with her eyes.

“They sure know how to motivate people here,” she let out as the facilities were all being explained.

Sunoo excitedly shook her by the arm. “You’re telling me.”

Then it hit them all like a bell.

“All these are customized for 13 people, which is the capacity for I-land. So only 13 people can enjoy everything in I-land. If you are not one of the 13 people, you will be released to the Ground, the space of dropouts. Starting now, in order to meet the capacity of I-land, we will execute the next stage. Everyone will decide the 4 dropouts by your own votes. Voting for dropouts will begin in two hours.”

And a timer appears on the egg.

Well, that wasn’t terrifying at all.

[ggukkiedae]

❝𝕀-𝕃𝔸ℕ𝔻 𝕋𝕙𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 𝔸𝕣𝕚’𝕤 𝔼𝕪𝕖𝕤 ❞

𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜:

⇢ EPISODE 2 PT.1 (bc this reached 16 1/2 pages aksjdhf and apparently tumblr has a limit too) (most of the stress is in the part 2)

⇢ this tells what goes through Ari’s mind as she competes to finally debut after three years of training

⇢ featuring two of my ocs who never saw the light of day: nabi (got7 originally but i was gonna make her ab6ix instead) and jiwoo (stray kids)

𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜:

⇢ this is more of the behind the scenes kind of thing more centered on ari’s feelings instead of the show’s perspective. feedback is highly appreciated 🥰 also, i made everything small text so it doesn’t look as long andbdbf

⇢ italic conversations = english, bold conversations = japanese

⇢ disclaimer: i do not know what really happened behind mnet’s depictions, and i do not know any of the participants on i-land personally, any unusual depictions of them here as well as dramatized situations are simply for story purposes and do not correspond to their real personalities or actions

Going inside scared Ari.

Of course, the first thing that they heard there after all the facilities were introduced was how only 13 of them could stay. That was a lot of pressure, and the actual show hadn’t even started yet at that point. With a deep sigh, she settled her bag next to Sunoo’s and followed everyone else as they checked out the practice rooms and voting room.

The voting room put her off. As soon as she saw it, a feeling of dread began to creep up her chest and into her throat.

Sunoo must have noticed this since he lightly tapped her arm which was looped with his. “Hey, you alright?”

“Yeah,” she nodded somewhat dazed, “just fine. Let’s go follow the others upstairs.”

Seeing the actual facilities face to face made her eyes widen. There were endless snacks in the pantry and white walls that made the place look endless. Not to mention the bedrooms were absolutely beautiful.

“Do you really think we’ll get to stay here?”

“No,” Sunoo’s voice was laced with sarcasm. “They just put those bedrooms in here for us to stare at throughout the day.”

She rolled her eyes at her friend. “Very funny, Sunoo.”

The whole time they continued looking around, she couldn’t help noticing the exact number of things. Thirteen chairs, thirteen beds, thirteen mugs, thirteen hygiene kits. The number thirteen loomed over her. Only thirteen people could stay in there and possibly get benefits during their actual first test. Her hands got clammy at that thought.

Eventually, everyone gathered by the couch. It was time to talk about the voting. Despite everyone clearly being reluctant, they had to talk about it.

She found herself sitting in between Sunoo and Jay as she silently watched everyone speak. Something seemed off to her, however, with the initial discussions of picking thirteen members according to an ideal group image. Why should one specific image need to be followed when idol groups should be versatile? Looking at their BTS seniors alone, there was a stark difference between Miya’s and RM’s images, yet they still work because they’re versatile.

Besides, how would they pick those who fit the group’s image if they didn’t even know what the final group’s concept would be yet?

With this in mind, she lightly raised her hand. Despite wanting to speak out, she thought being cautious before doing so might help her. But the others continue to mumble to each other without noticing her.

“Ari,” a voice calls. She turns her head and sees Heeseung looking at her inquisitively. “You want to say something?”

With that, all eyes turned to her. She pressed her lips into a tight line. Somehow everyone’s gazes at that point were more nerve wracking than during the entrance performances.

With a small smile towards Heeseung and a nod of her head, she spoke. “Yes, thank you. I just wanted to mention two things. A survival show can both make or break a person. Also we don’t know the final concept yet, so we really don’t know who’s going to fit in. I think we should focus on skills, potential to grow, and versatility.”

She was met with a silence. Of course. Even back in Mixnine her ideas would be shut down by the others or met with a rejecting silence. She wasn’t expecting much from I-land.

But Heeseung spoke.

“I agree. It’s going to be hard, though.”

One look on the elder’s face told Ari that Heeseung was being genuine and not just playing along for her like people did a few years back. A smile made its way to her face.

“For sure. But I just hope we can all be a little more thoughtful about all this.”

It seemed that everyone agreed after Heeseung did so. Her eyes naturally were drawn to him as everyone else discussed their own thoughts. The so-called ace was obviously talented and well-respected by the others, yet he was still humble and considerate. It made her curious. Who really was Lee Heeseung?

Sunoo clapping in front of her face brought her out of her thoughts. “Hey! Everyone’s grabbing food. Wanna go grab some macarons then check out the egg gate again?”

She laughed at him. “Sure.”

Just slightly managing to avoid everyone else, the two 03 liners found themselves standing in the lobby and taking everything in. The thirteen chairs with 17 sets of bags was just another reminder of how she couldn’t relax just yet. Then the name tags caught their attention. There were 26 nametags. She lightly ran her fingers over the one with Jiwoo’s name and sighed.

“Sunoo?” He merely hummed in response as he looked at his own nametag. “I think I’m gonna be voted out because I’m a girl.”

The boy scoffed at her, causing her to look at him offendedly. He raised his eyebrow at her. “That’s stupid. It’s not like the people here aren’t a fan of Miya sunbaenim.”

“You never know.”

“Shut up, Ari.” She let out a light chuckle at how exasperated Sunoo sounded with her. He simply hit her arm in response, which she reciprocated. He looked her in the eye. “You’re not dropping. Let’s debut together, okay?”

The look of genuine belief that they would do so made Ari smile. If there was one thing she was sure of, she wanted to debut with Sunoo. She would make it happen.

“Okay. Promise?”

“Promise.” The two grinned at each other before Sunoo began to pull her back to the upper floor. “Now come on, let me introduce you to Jake hyung and Youngbin hyung.”

And, just like that, she was dragged up to the common area by her friend. Still a little wary of everyone else, she found herself standing off to the side while Sunoo looked for his unitmates and, by the looks of all the chatting, got distracted. She subtly sipped from her bottle of water and took a look at the screen. Before she could get any deliberating in, though, she heard a voice.

“You don’t know who to vote out, huh?”

Her gaze fell upon someone slightly taller than her with a dimpled smile on his face. She remembered him from how well he performed as well as the impressive facial expressions he had earlier on. Yang Jungwon.

“Not a clue,” she shook her head, a humorless chuckle escaping her mouth. “How about you, Jungwon-ssi?”

A shocked look appeared on his face. “You know my name?”

“Of course I do,” she smiled. “You stood out a while ago. And you have dimples like I do! See?”

Pressing her lips into a smile, she reached up and poked at one of her dimples. This made Jungwon laugh and do the same to his own. The two laughed a little more before putting their hands down.

“Well, good luck with deciding,” Jungwon smiled at her. “I hope you know I liked your performance a lot, and I’ve watched you on Mixnine. I know what you can do, so I’m not voting you out.”

“I’m not voting you out, either,” she winked at him. “We dimpled kids have to stick together, don’t we?”

With a chuckle and a nod, Jungwon joined in with the rest of the boys. She was going to turn back to the screen with everyone’s faces when another figure walked up to her.

“Hi, Ari.”

“Oh, hi Seon-ssi.”

The taller and older boy was wearing a pleasant smile as he stood in front of her. “I just wanted to say you did really well today, and Ithink debuting with you would be nice.”

It was a random thought that seemed a little strange to her, but she shrugged it off. To be fair, she did just talk to someone about dimples. “Thank you! I enjoyed your dance a while ago”

“Thank you.” He tilted his head at her, making her look at him questioningly. “We were both in survival shows”

“Oh,” she genuinely didn’t know that. He couldn’t have possibly been in Mixnine, so maybe he was on another Mnet show? Produce 101, probably. That would explain why he looked quite unfamiliar to her. The only people she knew from the Produce series were usually the debut group members. “That’s actually pretty cool.”

He nodded and gave her a somewhat telling look. “Then I'm guessing we understand each other then. Let’s debut this time around, yes?”

That was all he said before leaving. she watched him as he walked off, head tilted in curiosity. It confused her slightly, the way he just said that and walked away. She just shrugged it off and walked towards the props room.

A figure was already standing there. She recognized him as Ni-ki from the Jopping unit. She walked in, being sure to just gradually increase noise as she did to not startle him so much. He bowed at her, a gesture which she returned.

“Oh?” she moved closer to the clothing rack. “There’s only thirteen of these here?”

His eyes widened slightly upon hearing that. “Oh, really?”

“I think so,” she trailed off while walking towards the younger. “Yeah, there’s only thirteen. Come look at— Ah! Ouch, wait, that hurts!”

Her toe had stubbed the table-like object in the middle of the room, which made her reach down to cradle it. She didn’t even notice she slipped into Japanese until the boy in front of her spoke in surprise.

“You speak Japanese?”

She laughed a little. His wide eyes were somewhat comical. “Yeah, I was born and raised in Japan.”

“But…” Ni-ki trailed off, seemingly unsure whether or not he’d offend her with whatever it was he said next, “you’re Korean?”

“Yeah, but I was born in Japan, Ni-ki. Keep up.”

She watched as the boy in front of her straightened in excitement. He reminded her of her little sister whenever she came home with an extra snack.

“Really?” He asked before running out. “Taki!”

She laughed as the boy ran to grab his friend.

No lie, she was quite excited to have Japanese people there with her. She only ever got to speak Japanese with her family, so it would be nice to have friends who were natives once again.

“And she speaks Japanese!”

She chuckles upon hearing Ni-ki as he rushed in with a shorter boy she knew as Taki. The latter looked at her with wide and curious eyes as he examined her face.

“You really don’t look Japanese,” he mumbled in awe.

“Maybe not by blood,” she shook her head, “but by origin. School, life, my dancing in general, all started there.”

“That’s so cool!”

She laughed and walked to stand between the two boys and looped her arms through theirs. “You think so? Well, that’s nice. How about we talk while walking back? I think my friend might be looking for me.”

And she was right. Someone was looking for her. Ni-ki and Taki were left watching in confusion as Sunoo dragged her off to the side while mumbling about how he’s been looking for her for the past ten minutes and how easy it was to seemingly get lost in I-land.

“Hyung!” Sunoo’s sudden increase in volume shocked her slightly. “Meet my friend! This is Ari, Ari, this is Jake hyung. Where’s Youngbin hyung?”

She laughed at how animated Sunoo was speaking as he ran to the pantry to look for Youngbin. Why was it so like him to introduce her to a friend and unknowingly leave them alone? She just sent a smile after Sunoo despit knowing he wouldn’t see her. Something she knew most about him is that he wouldn’t get distracted when he’s got his mind set on it. She turned back to Jake and reached her hand out to him, which he shook.

“You did really good up there,” the Australian smiled at her. “I didn’t really expect you to do a charismatic kind of song because you look like you’d do a cute or a fresh kind of song.”

That made her laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever danced to a cuter or bubblier concept before, not even on the last survival show I did.”

What she said seemed to shock him. It seemed like he was one of the contestants who weren’t aware of this. She inwardly cursed towards herself. There was a chance for her to meet someone without that initial image of her being in a survival show, and she went and spilled about it.

“Oh you were on a survival show?”

“Around two years ago, yeah.”

Jake’s eyes were wide, and he looked around as if to check if anyone else heard what she said. “Everyone knows this? What did you rank in the end?”

His clear amazement made her laugh. “I don't think everyone knows this, and, um…”

“Yeah?”

“I ranked seventh.”

The smile that grew on his face was contagious as he lit up. “Oh, that’s so cool! Imagine if you got seventh here, too!”

“I don’t know if I can do that here,” she shook her head slightly, “I mean, there’s so many talented people. Look at you, for example.”

“No, I’ve only been training for a few months,” he denied while shaking his head.

She just laughed at that. “But you did really well! That just proves my point!”

His mouth opened, then closed as if realizing the truth to her words. This made her laugh even more as Sunoo approached them once again, Youngbin in tow. She watched as Sunoo made sure that the four of them stood in a small circle, all able to see each other.

“All my friends are here now,” Sunoo cheered, “so go and mingle with each other!”

“Hi,” Youngbin reached his hand to her. She shook it. “I’m Youngbin.”

She bowed her head at him slightly. “I’m Ari, and I’m looking forward to working with you.”

It was all nerves. She sat next to Sunoo and quietly watched as he, Jake, Youngbin, and Heeseung conversed among themselves. Everything was hushed as the timer ran closer and closer to voting time. She was confused. She didn’t know who she was going to vote for. She dropped her head into her hands.

“Hey,” a hand rested on her back, “it’ll be okay, got it?”

For some reason, it felt as if she was compelled to look up. Her eyes met Sunoo’s, and he gave her a reassuring smile. She shrugged and sat up. “It’s just a little nerve wracking. I mean, you can’t tell me you don’t expect everyone here to vote me out because I’m a girl.”

A click of a tongue caught her attention. She looked across the room on the other bed and saw Heeseung shaking his head.

“This is based on our potential,” he reminded her, “and that means you’re definitely going to get in. All four of you. You did so well during the entrance test. Remember, it’s potential and skill, not popularity.”

But it was popularity. What she experienced back then… It was popularity, and she hated it because she felt like the only reason she made it into the top nine was because she was well known for being the youngest participant. She felt like her talent was invalidated. It was popularity over skill. She wanted to say it out loud, but Heeseung looked so confident in his words, and the three boys looked comforted, so she kept her mouth shut.

That and they heard Ni-ki be called over speakers. Her head dropped into her hands once again, the sound of Sunoo’s laughter as he patted her back keeping her from drowning everything out.

“I’ve got you, Ari,” he told her. “We’re debuting together, right? You’re not going down to Ground on my watch.”

She patted his knee in thanks.

An agonizing twenty minutes passed as they all voted, and she found herself sitting on the floor by Sunoo’s feet. Her eyes flitted around the room, guiltily looking at the people she had voted for.

“Sunoo, I feel horrible.”

He bent down closer to her. “I told you you should have taken the chair.”

“Not that, stupid,” she hit his leg, “I know I voted for myself, but I also voted for three other people and I feel guilty.”

His sudden gasp made her jump. “Why would you vote for yourself?”

“Because I don’t want people to feel discouraged, okay?”

He rolled his eyes at her and laughed. “Sometimes you’re the worst, but sometimes you’re too nice for your own good.”

“Oh, shut up.”

A voice cut through the room, calling everyone’s attention.

“The first dropout received 10 votes. Kim Sunoo.”

Ari’s eyes widened in surprise as she turned around to face her friend. “No, that doesn’t make sense!”

“It’s okay,” he smiled at her, “I’ll be right back up here. Don’t follow me out there, okay?”

She gripped his hand as tight as she could. They had just promised to stay in I-land and debut together just around thirty minutes ago, and now he was being sent to ground? She looked down into her lap as the other people voted out were announced. It didn’t make sense to her. Sunoo had the best facial expressions out there on stage, and he was one of the most stable vocals. Considering he was only training for a few months, he should have stayed in I-land.

Then Taki was announced.

One glance at his disappointed look made her feel guilty. She found him adorable, and she loved his locking, but she felt that he could still grow more. She knew the others saw that as well. It made her chew on her bottom lip in worry, though. Taki was young, and this could hurt him a lot.

When EJ was called next, she took a glance to the side and met eyes with Heeseung. He gave her a slight nod and a barely noticeable smile, almost as if he was reassuring her that she’d be fine.

“All 4 dropouts are announced. Those who got eliminated, please move to the Ground now.”

“Yes, I get it.”

“No,” her heart dropped to her stomach when she heard Sunoo’s voice. She felt Sunoo pull his hand out of hers and stand up, so she got off the floor and hugged him. “no, no, no! You have to come up here, Sunoo.”

“Don’t get sappy on me, Ari.” His chuckle felt, though probably meant to be reassuring, felt sad to her. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“This doesn’t even make any sense. Your unit literally had the best performance.”

“Can’t change their decision now, though,” he shook his head and let go of her. Following his line of vision, she could see Taki in a swarm of hugs and Ni-ki giving her a sad look. Sunoo lightly nudged her in their direction.

Wordlessly, she walked over and pulled Taki into a hug. “Take this as an opportunity to learn and grow, alright, Taki?”

The younger boy nodded his head. “Yes, noona.”

“Go to Nabi unnie. She can help you a lot.”

With one last pat on his head, she walked over to Sungchul and EJ, shaking their hands and wishing them good luck. She didn’t get to speak to them much, but she was still sad to see them go.

Then they got into the gate. Her smile was wavering while she watched the gate block her view of her friend. The one person she felt most comfortable with, even more than Nabi and Jiwoo, and he was gone. She stood, staring at the gate and not processing anything else going on around her.

A hand resting on her shoulder made her jump in surprise. It was Heeseung looking at her worriedly. “Ari, are you okay?”

She nodded, pulling herself out of her thoughts. “I’m good. Why is everyone gathering.”

“We’re doing a hands in for a boost of morale.”

She followed him to the circle where Youngbin patted her head. They did their hands in and went to go get their nameplates.

Heeseung was nice enough to help her get hers and place it on the chair next to his own. After that, it was a matter of choosing rooms. She found herself gravitating towards Jake and Youngbin, ⅔ of the people she had spoken to the most that weren’t her unnies and Sunoo. The three of them, along with K, walked into the only room with four beds. This was the first time she smiled since the gate closed. She jumped onto the bed, Jake doing the same on the bed next to hers. They laughed before turning towards each other.

“I miss Sunoo already,” she admitted.

Jake nodded. “Me, too.”

“And he’s not going to like it if you two mope over him,” Youngbin chuckled and tossed the two’s respective blankets over their heads. “Pull yourself together and work hard. You know he’s gonna come up here again soon.”

She and Jake laughed at that before she turned to K.

“Hi, Taki and Ni-ki told me you were Japanese. I hope we’ll get along well.”

His surprised face made her grin widen. “Oh, you speak Japanese! Well, I look forward to working with you, Ari.”

She smiled at him before Jake decided to plop himself down on the bed next to her. “Before we get settled in and all, you wanna check out the pantry?”

“You bet!”

The next morning, a shaking in her bed woke her up. It’s not that she slept in, she had actually finished washing her face and brushing her teeth. She had showered the night before, so she just went back to her bed to rest her eyes for a bit before the day started. But, she dozed off by accident.

“Time to go, Ari,” K’s voice filled the room as he walked over to his own bed to grab his shoes after shaking her awake. “An alarm’s ringing. The task is going to be presented to us.”

“Oh crap,” she muttered while she slipped her shoes on and ran out the door. She slipped on her hoodie on the way to the lobby.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Jake greeted her when she sat on her chair next to him, “you up for some cereal for breakfast after this?”

“Toast and fruit jam, too, please.” She flipped her hood up and rubbed at her eyes.

Then the graphics started, explaining everything. She could just keep up as the explanations happened, muttering to herself as she processed everything. “So, if we want to keep us all, then we’re gonna have to do good individually but still work together… What? more voting?”

And then their first mission was presented in a way that shocked everyone. BTS’s Miya appeared on screen.

“Hi, everyone!”

Suddenly all the I-landers were wide awake. She mumbled an Oh my God under her breath as she exchanged looks with Jake, whose eyes were equally wide. If she wasn’t mistaken, it was Jay who let out a surprised yell.

“Oh, what’s Yoonmi doing up there?” Heeseung asked from next to her. Ari could only look at him with wide eyes. How was he so casual about her?

Her voice captured everyone’s attention once again. “Bang PD asked me for a little favor. I pulled a little something together for you guys to perform, so I hope you like it. Oh, and credits to Seri for singing the demo with me. Without further ado, here’s Into the I-land.”

She watched as the song played, focusing intently on the melody and the choreography. It surprised her a little when Heeseung jumped up from his chair while watching. It also felt surreal to have her role model create a song for her. Well, for them, but still! Did that mean that they could possibly record with her?

As soon as the song ended and everyone’s amazement settled, her eyes drifted over to the line distribution. She silently nodded along to their discussion before meeting eyes with Jake.

“You wanna go through everything together?” she asked as soon as it seemed like the discussion ended.

His nod was all she needed. The two snuck away from everyone else and into their room. She listened to Jake while he practiced singing while she watched the video of the choreography continuously, moving her arms along.

Every now and then, She would join in on his singing just to get used to the melody. Eventually, they were able to sing along to the pre-chorus and chorus without looking down at the lyrics for the most part.

“Hey,” Jake called her attention after a few minutes, “let’s go to one of the smaller practice rooms so you can try out the choreography.”

“Okay.”

He put on his shoes and began to speak as they walked.

“Ari.”

“Hm?”

“Do you think you’re going to try for center? It would look cool, wouldn’t it?”

She pressed her lips into a thin line. It was something she tried in Mixnine, but people said she was greedy, so she didn’t want to try. Besides, who was she to take the chance away from any of the others who’d do better? She only stood out because she was a girl, and she didn’t want that to be the reason she was center. “I don’t know… If I do, then I'm already sure there will be a lot of backlash from the public. The others might not like it either.”

Jake gave her a solemn look as soon as they arrived in the smaller practice room. She settled the tablet down and pressed play and shrugged while focusing on the choreography. Jake shook his head and walked out of the room.

“I’m getting us breakfast!”

“Thanks, oppa!” She didn’t miss the way Jake did a double take when she called him that. It made her laugh and stop dancing. “Is it okay if I call you that?”

“It’s great!” Jake held up two thumbs up and jogged off to the second floor.

She went through the choreography, already having memorized it then cleaned her movements as she got her body used to it. Then the door opened to reveal Jake, slightly panting.

“They’ve got strawberry jam and mixed berries jam. Which do you want?”

“Hmm…”

“You have fifty seconds, I’m trying to make it back upstairs before the bread finishes toasting.”

“Mixed berries!”

“Got you, Ari!”

She stared at the door as Jake ran up the stairs before laughing and shaking her head. The first day was already turning out pretty amusing.

Until they were all gathered to decide the roles.

Jungwon gestured for her to sit next to him, which she did, but she scooted backwards a bit, still cautious about how the other boys felt about having her with them.

“We’re not going to eat you alive,” Jungwon whispered to her. She scoffed at him but allowed him to pull her forward and closer into the circle.

The person to her right was looking at her with what she believed was an amused smile. She slightly bowed her head at him in greeting, to which he returned and stuck out his hand.

“Hi, Ari. I’m Sunghoon.”

“Hi,” she shook his hand. “I’m Ari, but apparently you already knew that.”

“Well, you are the only girl here,” he chuckled, making her smile. “Can’t wait to work with you.”

“You, too.”

She did well at keeping a low profile until Heeseung asked for volunteers for part 1. Everyone stayed quiet. When she looked around, everyone seemed to be avoiding looking at anyone else. Then they decided to go by recommendation. That’s when her eyes caught Jake’s. He gave her a pointed look, to which she shook her head, but he still raised his hand.

“I think Ari would make a good center.” His voice was loud and clear, making her shrink back towards the outside of the circle. “She has experience on stage, and she’s a stable performer.”

The way all heads turned to her made her slightly dizzy. It reminded her too much of how the older girls looked at her back in Mixnine whenever she raised her hand to volunteer as center.

She shook her head. “No way. Sorry, I don't think I should be center. Please.”

“Are you sure?” From how Heeseung was acting, it almost seemed like he would have recommended her himself if Jake didn’t. “Jake has a point, Ari.”

She just looked at heeseung and nodded her head. The elder nodded back, understanding her discomfort, and looked at the others. A sigh of relief escaped her when Sunghoon and Youngbin were quick to raise their hands. She met eyes with Jake once again. The Australian boy gave her another pointed look and silently asked her if she was crazy.

“You’re crazy,” she mouthed back at him.

Eventually, she decided to go for part 4, which K and Jay were trying for as well.

“You know,” Seon began, “part 4 has to blend with part 3. How about we have you guys try singing with Jungwon? Ari first.”

“Sure,” she looked at Jungwon, “Jungwon, could you sing a bit just so I could get the pitch?”

“Oh, um, you &I.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

The two sang together, and it seemed like they both noticed each other’s dimples at the same time. While singing the line, they both broke out into a smile. After, their hands went up to cover their mouths to keep from laughing. Only then did they realize that they were met with a stunned silence.

K was the one to break it by laughing. “They sound pretty good.”

A few trials later, she became the one chosen to do part 4.

Throughout the whole selection process, she couldn’t help but look at Jay. It was somewhat fulfilling to see him go for every role, to the point where she was rooting for him. In her mind, she knew that a lot of viewers would be rooting for him as well. To her, he seemed to be a hardworking and persevering person. It made her a little upset to see him slowly losing confidence, so she tried to quietly call for him when he had his head down.

“Jay-ssi,” she whispered. He lifted his head and looked at her. She gave him a thumbs up and a smile. “Fighting! You look cool.”

The older boy gave her an unreadable look but nodded. She was then distracted by Sunghoon who looked at her and asked “What about me?”. If she paid attention to Jay a little longer, she would have seen a look of determination make its way back to his face.

Eventually, it was time to learn the choreography. She decided to stay up front since, despite her tall figure, she was still shorter than the others and wouldn’t really be able to see the mirror from the back. She kept to the side, though, to not block anyone. There wasn’t much struggle as she had already learned the choreography on her own and was just correcting herself to fit with the others. Something caught her eye, though. She could see Jake in the back looking quite frustrated. Youngbin, too. She looked back a bit and considered going back there, but couldn’t when K asked her to run through a short sequence with her.

When it got to break, though, she walked over to where Jake was. “Oppa, need some help?”

“Only if it won’t bother you.”

She smiled at him before silently going over the steps with him, only quietly pointing out the details of everything. They didn’t even notice when Youngbin walked into the practice room as well.

“Ari,” he began, “could you teach me, too?”

“Sure, oppa. So it goes kinda like this.”

The three of them went over the steps slowly at first before slowly picking up the pace. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a familiar face by the door watching them with a smile on his face. She laughed and waved at him.

“You three should go and grab something to drink,” Heeseung walked into the room. “Breaks are breaks for a reason.”

“You oppas have got it down well anyway,” she smiled at the two before making to walk out the practice room. “Let’s listen to Heeseung oppa.”

“So you’re calling us oppa now, huh?” Heeseung asked as he fell into step with her.

She shrugged. “Only you three so far. I haven’t spoken much to the others.”

“Well, at least I can brag about that to them.”

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