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camels-pen · 2 years ago

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a solution like clock repair

Ao3 Link

Chapter 2: windup boy

Danny dragged a finger around his corners, touching where person met possibility.

It still scared him a little, the fact that he wasn’t all him anymore.

He sat back in the little cushioned chair, created just for him, and closed his eyes. Let the quiet sounds emerging from his chest soothe him. Took a breath that he no longer needed. Savoured the smell of oils and metals around the room. Relaxed.

He imagined opening the door that had no handle. Imagined it swing ajar on silent hinges. Imagined a slight breeze from disturbed air.

Danny lifted a hand, fingers curling around the edge of the glass and easing further open.

He used his other hand to poke around inside. Found the clock face, the little sticks of hands telling minutes and hours, the cold gears behind them. Held a finger above moving parts and let the constant turning of gears periodically brush square teeth against his bare skin.

And, of course, there was the pendulum.

He poked around it, finding the thin stick that led to the ball at the end. He wondered, for a moment, what would happen if it stopped.

Danny grabbed hold of the pendulum, trying to keep it still, but it simply moved his hand with him, unbothered. It wasn’t a matter of strength or grip, it just simply was.

Normally, he thought, this would cause him some kind of distress, that there was an eternally moving part inside him that he had no control over. That didn’t respond to him and moved him in accordance with what it wanted. However, Danny couldn’t muster up a single bit of worry.

The swinging brass in his chest continued on, in perfect rhythm with each tick of his new clock. Danny took another breath he didn’t need, and another, and another. Timing them with each slow swing.

---

Danny awoke slowly, eyelashes fluttering with the smell of cooking eggs. His alarm clock ticked away next to him. He glanced at the time. Ugh, just over an hour until school.

He began to sit up, feeling the sheets slip down against his partially bare chest. With a furrowed brow, he looked down.

The boy groaned, letting his head fall back to whine to the ceiling, “For real?”

Wrapped around the entirety of his torso was a thick layering of bandages, of which he didn’t remember getting at all. It really sucked to get knocked out so badly that he couldn’t remember anything about it. Not even little bits and pieces.

He might be in luck though, he thought as he noticed the room he was in, Grampa might’ve just kept wrapping bandages on him until they couldn’t see any specks of blood come through. Heck, maybe it was just something that was practically scabbed over that they didn’t know what to do with and defaulted to using bandages. It was probably fine.

He used a nail to pick at the edges of it, before remembering. Oh, duh.

Danny reached an intangible hand towards the bandages, but was interrupted by Clockwork’s uncharacteristically cheery voice calling him down for breakfast.

Danny glanced at the bandages, glanced at the door, and then shrugged. He should probably ask Grampa about it first anyway, just in case it turned out to be more serious.

So he grabbed one of the sweaters he left laying around—a dark blue one, just in case his injury starts bleeding through—and joined Clockwork for a plate of bacon and eggs.

“Coffee?” he asked hopefully.

Clockwork shook their head, their braid swaying slightly. “Not today, you’re still recovering from the procedure.”

Well, shit. Guess that meant it was serious after all. “Procedure?”

“Yes, the one from last night.”

Last night. Hmm. Danny tried to think back to what he was doing last night, but as far as he remembered, it was just him hanging out with his grampa. Had he really forgotten a whole day because of one injury? …He better call Jazz.

“Cool.” He rummaged through his sweater pocket, but it was empty. No Fenton Phones or regular phone. No wallet either. He patted down the rest of his suit, even wiggling his hands through the sleeves tied at his waist, just in case he’d phased them into the rubber material somewhere and forgotten. “Hey, do you know where all my phone and stuff is?”

“Your phone should be in your room,” they said without missing a beat. “And rest assured, I kept your little oddities perfectly intact when I removed them.”

Oh, he must’ve left them in one of his pockets somewhere and Clockwork found them while doing a load of laundry. “Great. So, where’d you put them?”

“On the shelf in my workshop.” They took a bite of their bacon. “For safekeeping.”

---

Danny wasn’t quite sure he was sleeping. It felt like he was sleeping, his mind hazy and quiet, but he could still hear the soft tick tick tick of the clock in his chest. Maybe that was another new change he would have to get used to: telling time even when he was unconscious.

Eyelashes fluttered open to reveal himself still sitting in the workshop. A quick check of his, now literal, internal clock showed barely any time to have passed.

He humourously thought of himself as a cat having fallen asleep in a warm sunbeam. Except there was no sunbeam. No window, even. And he was cold. So very very cold.

Before, he had started to warm slower, run colder than most others, but now he was always frigid. The stiff machinery was nothing like the blood-ectoplasm mix that used to run through him. He was static now—unmoving, unchanging, unwarming.

Danny shivered, more out of habit than discomfort with his body’s temperature, and rubbed his bare arms under the short sleeves of his currently intangible shirt. Because lack of discomfort did not mean he was used to feeling like the inside of a refrigerator at all times.

He wondered, not for the first time, how other ghosts managed to live with it. Especially those that were human once. That knew what it was like to feel the sun’s rays heating up their skin, to feel a thick blanket wrapped around them and keeping them toasty, to feel warm milk with honey burn their tongues before travelling down through the throat and stomach and everywhere else to chase away winter’s bite.

How did they continue to live now, go about their daily lives, without any remnant of that feeling?

It hadn’t been long since Danny had to adjust, yet it was truly feeling impossible.

But maybe he could…?

He reached both hands inside his chest, one holding onto the pendulum, the other curled around the clock.

It wasn’t the same. Instead of any kind of warmth or heat—instead of any melting of ice or departure of cold, it was as if he felt a part of himself muffled. Like if someone’s hand had covered his mouth and he was trying to speak through it.

It wasn’t what he was hoping for, not in the slightest. But he could imagine. Play along with his fantasies and think it was his sister, rubbing her hand in circles on his chest like when he was a little kid and had been laid up in bed with a bad cold. He could practically smell the eucalyptus wafting up from the medicine coating her fingers.

The pendulum still swung. The clock still ticked. But at least, like this, he could pretend.

---

The moment they’d entered the workshop, Danny stood frozen, staring up at the shelves on the left side of the room.

“Uh, Clockwork,”—Danny stepped back—“whose organs…?” He trailed off, staring up at the jars lined up on the two middle shelves. It was really jarring, considering they were surrounded above and below by little watches and clocks and half-finished knick knacks, and, well, they were in jars. Clockwork tilted their head. “Why, they’re yours, Daniel.”

Danny inhaled sharply.

No. No, that couldn’t be right. They—They wouldn’t—

He gave his head a shake. No. There had to be some explanation. Maybe—Maybe this belonged to a different Danny. Yeah, someone like Dan who shouldn’t have ever existed. Someone who deserved—

Danny shuddered. It wasn’t a pleasant thought. That his grandfather would do that to any version of him, but—but at least it was reasonable. The good of the timestream and all that, right? Right.

Danny laughed to himself. Besides, when would they have even had the time—?

He paused.

And then—

“Just a little something to take your hurts away.”

Then it all made sense.

Danny paled, backing away. “You—You—How could you?” he whispered.

Clockwork’s brows furrowed. “Pardon?”

“I-I thought you were—” safe, he tried to say, but the word got stuck on his tongue.

“Daniel, are you alright?” they said, reaching a hand towards him with a look of concern. “You seem a bit—”

“Don’t—!” Danny jerked back, slamming into the shelving on the opposite wall and knocking a few empty jars off the side table. They crashed to the ground sending glass shards everywhere.

“Daniel?”

“Why did you—?” He choked on the words. “W-Why would you do that? You know what I have to deal with at home. You know and you always seemed to hate when I talked about it or when I had to leave so why—?”

Clockwork’s eyes widened. “Oh, Daniel, no. I didn’t suddenly have a taste for ectoplasm and unethical experiments such as your parents—”

And despite the clear evidence otherwise, Danny started to relax. Even if it was bad, if they were saying it wasn’t what his parents were always threatening, then—

“I made you better.”

Danny’s heart stuttered in his chest. Or, wait, no. He didn’t have a heart in his chest anymore. It was up in one of those jars. Were these phantom heart stutters, then? Like phantom aches? Was there even a difference at this point?

He laughed, humourless. “‘Better’?”

Clockwork smiled. “Yes. I can show you, if you’d like.”

And before Danny could say another word, Clockwork pulled off his sweater, phasing his bandages off with them to reveal—

To reveal—

“A brand new, spotless glass door with polished brass hinges and oiled just last night,” they said with a smile. “Only the best for my grandson.”

---

“Hickory dickory dock,” Danny sang quietly, slow and unhurried, “The mouse ran up the clock.”

He squeezed his hands a bit tighter. Pretended a bit longer.

“The clock struck one.”

He let go of the clock. Took his hands out of his chest.

“The mouse ran down.”

Turned to face the mirror in the opposite corner.

“Hickory

“Dickory

“Dock.”

A chime rang out from his clock followed by several more. A familiar pattern of sounds, though not one he was still not very familiar with having inside him. The sound travelled through him, vibrating through his torso and outwards to each limb as a set of wooden doors under the clock face opened wide.

A small yellow bird with blue-gray wings perched upon an extending plank of wood popped out, stretching at least half a metre out of his chest. Its little black beak mechanically opened and closed with little cuckoo chirps in tune with each chime, not too loud so as to drown it out, but not so quiet as to be drown out. A volume just right for Danny’s clock.

He had named it Tweety.

It wasn’t a real bird. But it was always hard to tell, with its coat made of soft feathers and its eyes. Those expressive eyes that seemed to show some kind of intelligence behind them, despite the fact that they never blink, never move.

Slowly, Danny used a single finger to pet the top of the bird’s head. It didn’t so much as peep out of tune, but he thought he could feel the slightest pressure pushing back.

He continued like that for the moment, one minute to be exact. Then the minute hand moved and the bird was sucked right back inside him with a small woosh of air, waiting for the next time the minute hand travelled the full circle. And, he hoped, waited for Danny to pet and acknowledge it again. Anticipated the nursery rhyme Danny couldn’t help but sing each time it was about to emerge.

In this place unbound to time and space, where Danny felt himself adrift and unsure, this little bird was a small spot of light. A steady presence that would always appear so long as time moved forward. And it would—he knew now, that time would always go on, would never stop until the point in which it did. It would continue until it didn’t and the bird would be an infinite yet finite hourly routine, one he would do his best to keep up with no matter what his future held.

So, the little Tweety bird lay dormant behind tiny closed doors and Danny, wishing for all the world he could pry them open and cup the little guy in his hands, sat alone in the empty workshop.

Without checking, he knew the pad of his finger smelled like raspberries. He brought it up to his nose to sniff it anyway.

---

“You said you trusted me,” Clockwork said, their eyes saddened and an almost pout-like frown on their face.

“I do—but this is—it’s—” Danny swallowed heavily. “You changed me,” he said quietly, feeling the beginnings of tears in his eyes. “You changed me, and you didn’t even ask.” His voice cracked on that last word, his throat closing up.

“But I did.”

Danny shook his head. He sobbed once. “You didn’t. You didn’t, I would’ve—” He sobbed again. “You didn’t.”

“Daniel, I did. I asked of your trust in me to keep your best interests in mind. I answered your questions in the workshop before I started. I will continue to answer any questions you may have and guide you through the transition,” they said. “All of this was done correctly.”

And that—that confidence in their voice. That refusal to admit their cryptic messages failed to get their meaning across. Where one day, Danny might have been eager to lightheartedly argue—poke and prod until they gave in and spoke their mind, admitting speaking bluntly was a hindrance and earning a laugh from him—today he only felt anger rush through him, sudden and unforgiving.

“Correctly? Correctly?!” he yelled. “You didn’t tell me shit! You said something about trusting you and that was it! How was I supposed to know you were trying to ask if I was okay with getting dissected like a fucking frog? How did you think I would ever agree to that when my parents try to do the same thing every time they see me like this?! When you know and agree with me that it’s fucked up!”

He put a hand to his chest, fingers digging into skin, curling inwards and jerking when they met glass. “How did you ever think this was even the slightest bit okay?!” he shouted.

Clockwork, eyes wide, and mouth slightly agape, whispered, “I only meant for—for a chance to ease your suffering. You said you didn’t want to experience your life, so I wanted to fix it for you—”

“And what do you call this?” Danny said, letting the beginnings of his Wail creep into his voice. “What do you call ripping out parts of myself without properly asking? What do you call alienating me more from both humans and ghosts?” Because he was still partly human, he was. He had to be. But those lost parts of himself changed the balance in him. He could feel it. “What do you call doing to me the exact things Jack and Maddie always claim to dream of doing to Phantom one day? The same Jack and Maddie you always mutter about being poor excuses for guardians? Huh? What do you call that, Clockwork?”

They opened and closed their mouth a few times, before putting on a strained smile. “Now, I already explained, I wasn’t doing this for simple leisure—” Danny scoffed, turning around to the door. He saw Clockwork reach out with their free hand. “Please, Daniel, you must understand—”

He turned to snatch his sweater from them. “Don’t follow me,” he snarled.

Danny zoomed out of the room without another word, flying through his bedroom door and slamming it shut. The pictures on the wall swung with the impact as he dove under his bed.

The bed. Not his. Not after this.

There was nothing to stop Clockwork from coming in if they wanted. Nothing to stop them from dragging him out from under the bed, click their tongue, and call him unreasonable and over dramatic.

He’d almost prefer that. It was at least a reaction he was familiar with in his real home. A reaction he knew how to deal with.

But Clockwork never barged in, just as they never have before, and Danny was left alone. Scared. Grieving.

---

Danny closed his glass door with a small click, turning himself back to face the side table he was sitting against, careful to keep his eyes on the ground until the mirror was out of sight. He let his shirt become tangible once more with a sigh.

The sight was still… something to get used to. He’d managed to look down at his chest and mess around with his internal parts without problem—though the door had taken a few tries to open comfortably—but seeing the whole sight in a reflective surface. Seeing himself just as he normally looked, but with the jarring glass and gadgets and gears in his chest was—

It was still a little too much.

Though the similarities to his grandfather was a… conflicting change, he did appreciate and was curious about all the more practical applications. Such as the lack of breathing or eating; it seemed ghosts could do both just as much as any human could—or more if they wanted—but they didn’t have to.

The only thing ghosts had to do was rest, which for some meant relaxing with a meal or several, or simply shutting their eyes and their cores to the world, like Clockwork, or straight up sleeping in a big fluffy bed. A ghost might do some combination of the three or find another option entirely.

Danny wondered if certain ghosts preferred sleep over eating and vice versa. He wondered if some would have specific routines just for rest that would carry on from their times as living beings—whether that be people like Johnny and Kitty or dogs like Cujo. He wondered if Cujo couldn’t sleep without his squeaky toy. Then he wondered if the squeaky toy had nothing to do with Cujo’s routine and he had something completely different to help him relax and rest.

Danny found it all so interesting.

Interesting, but again. Much.

A nail found its way to the top left of his chest, just under his pecs, scratching at the corner of glass through his shirt. Danny wished Tweety would come out again, so he could pet it a little more. So he could feel a little less like he might shake apart or turn into a doll or or or—

The door to the workshop creaked open, the hinges loud and squeaky. He relaxed at the sound.

“You should oil those hinges, like you did mine,” he said, voice still a bit shaky.

“It is on my list.”

“The list on the fridge?” He raised an eyebrow. “The one that’s been there since I first started joining you for tea back in—”

“Yes, that list.” The door squeaked louder as it was pushed back against the opposite wall, a doorstop materializing in the space between the bottom of the door and the floor, holding it in place.

“You’re the Ghost of Time, why wouldn’t you be able to finish everything on that list?”

“It is not that I forget,” Clockwork grumbled. “The list plagues my mind constantly, but it is difficult to get started. Usually, my responsibilities and projects have urgency to them or some sort of significance to Time itself.” They paused. “Or it is something meant for you.”

---

As it approached the new hour—a fact Danny didn’t understand how he knew while under his bed and facing away from his digital alarm clock—something… funny started to happen in his chest.

The ticking and the swinging pendulum were still a little weird, but he was adjusting to them both. The door was still a mystery on how to open it and Danny had nicked his fingers a few times trying, not that anything came out—another fun discovery for him, the fact that he no longer bled red or green; he simply didn’t bleed at all—but there was still something he was missing.

He thought over what little clock and watch anatomy he knew just from times when he zoned out staring at Clockwork’s chest, but he couldn’t come up with any good ideas.

His gears couldn’t be rusty, Clockwork just recently put them in.

His hinges weren’t creaky, Clockwork just recently oiled them.

His door wasn’t cracked, he ran his hands all over the stupid thing when he was trying to open it, and again afterwards to make sure. It was smooth and unblemished, there wasn’t even the slightest chip.

Regardless, whatever it was kept building and building, gradually getting closer and closer to the surface with each passing tick.

Each passing tick tick tick was starting to freak him out. Was he some kind of bomb or—?

Danny froze.

No. There was no reason to—

This is stupid. They wouldn’t knowingly—

He scrambled out from under the bed, scratching at his chest, scrambling desperately to open the door and rip out whatever accidental explosive Clockwork had rigged up inside him. He crashed into the floor length mirror beside the nightstand and jolted back.

Was the ticking getting louder? The thing in his chest was a lot closer to the surface now. It was getting far too close for comfort.

He held onto the side of the mirror stand and stared at his chest, scanning for some kind of opening as he followed the seam connecting a thin metal frame outlining the door to his skin. The tick tick ticking continued on, unbothered as Danny started to lose his mind pulling and scratching and hoping he could find or make an opening somewhere.

He could sort of start to tell now, the exact time it would emerge. He only had a handful of seconds.

Danny struggled harder. Then he abruptly had an idea. If he couldn’t just open it, it didn’t mean he couldn’t get into it.

He held on tighter to the mirror stand and gritted his teeth, making a tight fist in his right hand. He pulled back and steeled himself.

Danny punched the door in his chest with all his might, holding nothing back.

It bounced off the glass as if it were made of rubber and the force knocked it back into the mirror, shattering it with a loud CRASH.

Fuck, why didn’t it break?! He used his full strength, it should’ve at least cracked! Now he only had a few seconds left to—

“CUCKOO!”

Danny startled back as the door in his chest flew open.

Reflected multiple times in the shards of the mirror, a yellow bird on a plank popped out.

A chime echoed out from his clock, signalling the new hour.

He examined the now visible inner workings of his chest.

The hour hand had moved forward, something he had known the moment it happened. The clock chimed several more times. And the bird… chirped.

He stared at the bird. Was it a real bird? It looked pretty real. Had feathers and a beak and everything.

There was a bit of green ectoplasm staining its head. Danny lifted a finger to wipe it away. The bird gave in to the pressure a bit and was pushed further down against its plank when he cleaned it up.

The minute hand ticked forward.

Without any kind of explanation, the bird disappeared back into his chest, the glass door snapping shut behind it. He saw a final glimpse of it before it was gone behind a pair of closing wooden doors set just under his clock. The doors were only a bit bigger than the bird.

It was probably uncomfortable in there.

Danny’s eyes trailed up and stared at his distorted reflection in the mirror. Stared at his red eyes and nose, at his mussed up hair.

At the dozens of pieces of glass showing exactly how different he was now, how much of a monster—

He breathed. It was weird without lungs, but it helped all the same.

Danny looked away from the mirror, picking out the broken shards that had dug into his hands. Then a thought struck him, the reality of the situation finally catching up to him.

What the fuck was that?! Why was there a fucking bird in his chest and why did it feel like a fucking bomb had been about to go off?!

He must’ve said the words aloud, because there was a soft knock on the other side of the door and a note was slid under it. He was hesitant to accept anything from Clockwork, but he needed an answer.

Danny reached for the paper with his right hand then quickly pulled it back when he saw it, wincing at all the open cuts and splinters. He picked it up with his left.

It is a Prothonotary Warbler, he read, Some of the children of watch enthusiasts at the trade shows I attended were quite fond of the false birds popping out of certain clocks. I thought you might enjoy them as well.

Danny stared at the paper. Reread it. Stared at it some more.

The long hand moved one notch to the right, starting the second minute of the new hour. He reread it again, trying to look for some hidden meaning about bomb-like birds being an important part of his ghost child development or something.

There was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

The little bird in his chest was going to be a permanent feature as far as he could tell. He thought back to how it chirped with the chimes from his clock. Wondered if it would do that every hour on the hour.

Danny stared down at his chest. Stared back at the paper.

He violently tore it into little bits and dragged a pillow with him under the bed, screaming into it.

#danny phantom #phic #phic phight #phic phight 2023 #lost time #nemo the writing ho

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boysplanetrecaps · 9 months ago

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Build Up, Ep 4 Recap: Don’t Forget v I Don’t Love You

Welcome back to the project everyone deals with waiting two weeks for -- my MNET Build Up Recaps! In the previous one, a bunch of my favorites -- Kim Minseo, Bain, Lee Gwangsuk, and Kim Sungjung -- went head to head. Ah, that was a good one! In this one, we’ll see the other member of Just B, Geonu, and Chicago’s pride Soomin take on former BDC member Hong Seong Jun and musical actor Kim Seohyung. It’s also a good one! Let’s dive in.

So we start off pretty much as usual, with the guys taking the stage, accompanied by some musical soundtrack. This time the editors have chosen a driving beat with rock and dub step elements so it's really powerful sounding, which makes it a little comical when we see the guys and how they're dressed.

Soomin is wearing a pretty fabulous s w e a t e r but Geonu has decided to raid the wardrobe of an old grampa for some reason. You know I love a good sweater but... this ain't it, fam. It's about three sizes too big and looks like it would smell like cigarettes for some reason. And paired with loose white slacks? Nope, I'm out.

The other team is dressed in button down shirts, which is fine, I guess. Hong Seongjun has one of those thin bow ties that hangs down limply, and Kim Seohyung's shirt is tightly pleated in the front, as if it's made of crepe paper. They look perfectly nice but it seems absurd that they'd be accompanied by dub-rock! It should be more like... James Taylor. Or Sarah McLachlan.

VCG looks at the teams and says, "Ohh, Chicago!" Because, of course, Soomin is from Chicago. (I wonder what his American name is? Because I feel like he probably doesn’t go by Soomin back in the US.) We're reminded of his lovely performance in Ditto in the first round.

Soomin and Geonu have joined their names into "Soo-u" and do a little thing and it's, like, whatever, because they forget to use their mics. They're besties with a personal joke that’s funny to them, even if it’s not that funny to us.

Dahee asks the other team to introduce themselves, and Seohyung says hello. His natural speaking voice is very low and pleasant and the judges react like, wow! Then he and Seongjung give a weird intro that also doesn't go so well so let's just move on.

The teams do a bit of smack talk and it actually doesn't really feel that good natured. Eeep.

We flashback back to the rival choosing moment, when Geonu and Soomin were chosen to go the RCPA (Rival Choosing Platform Area). Several teams begin whispering about possibly taking them on, but then Soomin, in his continuing effort to make Americans look bad, addresses the other teams rudely, not using proper honorifics even though they're all older than them. This is extremely insulting to a Korean person in ways that I know I don't fully understand, so if I get it wrong and you are Korean or have specialized knowledge, I welcome your input.

Despite my incomplete knowledge, I do know enough to know that (a) Soomin is probably being playful and doesn't truly mean to offend and also (b) it is likely that many other contestants, and many Korean viewers will be offended anyway. I really do worry about the way Soomin is presenting himself on this show. Korean culture is so specific about what you should and shouldn't do and if you piss off the voting base, it can be really hard to win them back. It’s not impossible, but… it can be tough. As an American myself I can sympathize -- we often are perceived of as rude by people from other cultures when we do things that would be acceptable, even celebrated, in our own culture. I really like Soomin's voice and I think he could have a career singing, as long as he doesn't alienate the Korean public!!

So yeah, Soomin tries to provoke one of the younger teams to challenge his team -- he comes across as really disdainful of some of the older contestants, which rubs me the wrong way, to be honest. Team Seohyung x Seongjun (I’ll call them Team S&S) seem to be the ones they're calling to, so the rivalry is formed.

"Since you invited us here, we'll see you off," says Seohyung, in a vague attempt at smack talk. Then Soomin does a dumb thing where he acts like his hand is a phone, with a call from the taxi driver who is here for the other team, and it's super hacky and cringey but Soomin and Geonu are so proud of it. Sigh. But Seohyung takes it all in stride. He seems like a cheerful, lovable dude, doesn't he? Some time later, Team S&S is meeting to choose a song and stuff, and Seohyung is wearing a black mock turtleneck with a gray hoodie over it and black coat over that. What is with Korean heating systems? Seongjun is wearing a fleece sweatshirt, so no proper sweaters here.

Anyway, they're talking strategy. Seongjun was on the same team as Geonu for the first round, singing If You, and he thinks it's obvious that Geonu will want to perform a western R&B pop song. Seohyung points out that since Soomin is from the USA, Soomin also probably will want to sing a Western song.

Mentioning this really sets off Seongjun, who says, "He only speaks in English. I get sick when I'm next to him."

Ok, I know that could be a Korean figure of speech and maybe it's not as harsh as it sounds, but woah, dude. Yes, of course, it would be annoying to be around these ostentatious English speakers. I can only imagine how it might feel as a Korean person who is being bombarded daily with more and more English all the time; it would be irritating to have your own language being supplanted by another language, especially if it feels like maybe your own culture is being displaced as well. Also, it would just be annoying to have someone around refusing to speak the language you both speak, regardless of like, geopolitical issues.

But even so, I'm not sure it’s a cute look for Seongjun to say that it makes him feel sick to be around it. When you factor in the obvious animosity that he displayed in earlier episodes on the topic of successful idols like Yeo One or Seokhwa or Woong being on this show, you get a picture of someone who seems bitter and irritable. That's not necessarily who he IS, but it's how he's looking.

The two guys go on to talk about how Geonu also speaks in English a lot and we get a little montage of Geonu and Soomin speaking English together. (And later on we find out that Geonu introduced himself in English on the first day, which is weird. More on that later....)

In any case, since Geonu and Soomin are probably going to sing R&B, Team S&S decide to go for a more sentimental song.

Then Seohyung gives a funny little smile and reveals his musical taste, which is all sappy songs that came out in the 1970s. You can tell that Seongjung isn't quite sure what to make of this weird partner.

We flash back to the duo-formation moment and find out that despite Seongjung assumptions, he is actually two years older than his old fashioned -- and tall -- partner.

Seongjung tells Seohyung, "You look like an upright man," and Seohyung says he gets that a lot. He doesn't mind, either, because people also tell him he's handsome apparently. We flash back to a pre production meeting, and a staff member points out that he's very tall. He says he drank a lot of milk. He also says he enjoys watching "car documentaries." What? Are there enough documentaries about cars for this to constitute a genre? I guess so!

He also doesn't know his MBTI, which for a young Korean person is very unusual. He does seem to be a very specific person, doesn't he? Calm, polite, cheerful, sweet. I like him. I feel like he's someone Lisa Simpson would have a crush on, you know? Like he's quiet and enjoys puzzles?

Anyway, back to song selection. Seohyung suggests "I Don't Love You" by a group called Urban Zakapa. Per Wikipedia:

"Urban Zakapa is a South Korean R&B singer-songwriter group formed in 2009 by Fluxus Music. ....The group's name is an abbreviation for Urban, Zappy, Kaleidoscopic, and Passionate.... Although the group debuted in 2009 as a nine-piece with four vocalists and five instrumentalists, there are currently only three vocalists due to artistic differences."

Ooh, sounds like some hot gossip there!

Anyway, the song went to number 1 in 2016, so even though it's not super recent, it would probably be familiar to the judging panel. Like at least 101% of Korean ballads, it's about a breakup. I wonder how Koreans even have time to fall in love in the first place when they're breaking up so often!

Sample lyrics:

What should I say? / Where do I start? / I’m only hanging my head / You’re looking at me / In this awkward silence

I don’t love you / I’m sure you already know / Even when I see you shedding tears / My heart doesn’t ache anymore

I don’t love you / There’s no other reason / I don’t even want to say / I’m sorry or forgive me

That’s all / This is how I really feel / I don’t love you / I don’t love you

The original song featured both male and female voices, which helps break up the repetitive monotony a bit. But it really is just saying over and over “I don’t love you” -- without a hint of irony or sarcasm that maybe the singer really *does* love the listener, that they’re just saying it because they’re hurt. You know, like the song Abittipsy by Youhua, where she tries to sound cheery and like she’s fine, but then she admits that she *might* cry later. Nope, this song seems to be straightforward, just “I don’t love you,” periodt.

Seongjung likes the idea of this song because it would allow them to show off their low pitches, their high pitches, and their "sentiments."

They rehearse in a variety of locations, holding water bottles to be their microphones (cracks me up how they do that).

s w e a t e r s

They're confident; practice never lets you down. Hmm… I hear the ghost of my middle school band teacher murmuring, "Practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Only perfect practice makes perfect."

Did they practice perfectly? I guess we'll find out!

It’s performance day! As they prepare to sing, kindly hyung Seongjung reaches out to Seohyung for a fist bump and says, Let's have fun.

"Oh, a fist bump! I read an article about this youthful behavior in the printed newspaper I read in the mornings while I drink healthy tea and eat fiber cereal. I return your fist bump in a friendly manner!" -- Seohyung, probably

The judges are like, this song is hard. Uh oh...

Full version without reactions

My thoughts:

That was nice. It's not really my jam, but the singing was pretty and their harmonies sounded great.

Seohyung has that musical theater voice, with a lot of emotion in his tone. Toward the beginning and again at the end, he almost verges on sing-talking, which again is very musical theater of him. I don't know if ballad-fans like that kind of thing or not.

Though he has a lovely upper mix, he appears to be a bass, which is kind of cool to find in a field that preferences tenors. A deep voice can add a special color to a group. I mean, what would Stray Kids be without Felix? What would ONF be without Wyatt? Or even Dreamcatcher without Dami, or G-Idle without Yuqi? Those special voices help make their teams a little special.

Overall I actually like Seohyung's voice more than I would have thought. It's hard to deny his range and the variety of vocal tones he can do. I think the biggest problem in his performance is the way he holds his body and his facial expressions.

If you have an hour or two to spare, you should watch Jenny Nicholson's amazing take down of Dear Evan Hanson. One thing she points out is that the way you act on stage is different from the way you act for the camera. On stage, it makes sense to bug out your eyes and jut out your chin, because someone at the back of the theater needs to see you. But for the camera, it's just too much. And that’s kind of what we see with Seohyung here. He’s Acting, rather than just living through the song, and it’s a bit too much.

Also, he hunches his shoulders a lot, which might be a habit of his because he's shy and tall, but it doesn't come off well on stage.

Seongjung isn't quite as powerful of a singer, but he's still really good. He appears to be a tenor, so the lowest notes are maybe a little harder for him, but he ends up hitting them ok. He has a slight nasality to his tone, and his upper range is a bit thin sounding sometimes, but I still think he sounds pretty. Also, his full on belts are excellent. He used to be in an idol group (BDC) and he knows how to look into the camera and sell it, but he doesn't vary up his expressions much.

Overall, the whole thing is oddly lacking even though there's nothing at all wrong with it. Doesn't seem fair, but here we are.

I really think the song choice is partly to blame. For one thing, singing about not loving someone is kind of… I don’t know. If you were a judge listening to people sing about not loving someone, would you get immersed in the emotions of it the way you would if you were listening to people talking about being in love? But the other problem is Seohyung’s over-acting. He’s really throwing himself into it, and contrasting with Seongjung’s more natural performance, it feels kind of off. The vocals aren’t the problem at all, though.

My favorite part of the performance was the harmony right after the key change. Good stuff.

“I mean, there’s emotions, and then there’s this!” -- Jenny Nicholson

The MNET edit is a bit confusing. Right at the beginning, Eunkwang says of Seohyung’s singing, “ah, he removed a lot of the musical tone.” I think he’s referring to Seohyung’s semi-sing-talking.

But VCG likes it.

We get a lot of reactions from other contestants backstage saying that it's really good, and we get the judges smiling and nodding, but we also get the judges making weird faces.

I don’t think they’re enjoying it, but seriously you never know.

There don't seem to be any instant replays.

Right at the end, Seohyung sings unaccompanied and everyone seems really touched. Then there's a moment of silence, and then soft applause. The singers hug each other, and Seohyung almost rests his head on his older teammate's shoulder. Seongjung has a lot more stage experience and probably helped Seohyung a lot when they were preparing.

The judges applaud kind of quietly. Backstage, the guys say they think it was really good.

I paused it here and asked myself, how do the judges feel? And I had no idea. I'm not sure even they know. They had to watch 20 performances over what had to be at least a five hour period, maybe much longer, so maybe at some point they low-key stopped caring. They are still taking it seriously though and are checking their previous scores to make sure they're giving as fair a grade as possible.

Backstage, Choi Suhwan (who sang Sherlock at the beginning of the round) says “They didn’t form harmony. They didn’t sound like a team.” I don’t know if I agree with that -- I thought their voices sounded nice together.

Sunyoul, who is sitting right by Suhwan and probably heard him, wonders out loud if maybe they picked the song because “they couldn’t form harmony.” I think maybe Sunyoul is referring to the fact that Seohyung is a bass and Seongjung is a tenor. I still think that’s fine for a duet, but what do I know?

The scores are revealed. Their high score is 92, from Solar, and their low score is 80, from, of course, Jaehwan. The scores aren't super low or anything, so they're a bit relieved, but they had probably been hoping for a few 100s. I mean, who doesn’t hope?

Solar says, “You both have nice voices. You can both sing. It was flawless.” VCG agrees. “But… I couldn’t stop thinking that it was ordinary.”

There’s this amazing split screen of Seohyung singing so hard his face is about to fall off, while Solar is just sort of… looking.

She goes on, “I was just thinking to myself, ‘Oh, this is the song they’re singing.’ You should pick a song that shows your charms more next time. But this was flawless. I liked it.” So their 92 score came with a mixed review.

Jaehwan says “Let me tell you this first: This is a very high score for me.” The guys kind of laugh -- a bit of the pressure is relieved. He goes on to talk about how since Seohyung is a musical actor, he sang like he was reading lines. “You made it sound ordinary,” Jaehwan says. “Thank you for telling me,” Seohyung says, with a nice smile.

Backstage, Sunyoul is still chatting with Jeup and Suhwan, even though the latter team beat him in the rivalry.

Donghun looks like he might burst into tears any second. Will someone hug that man, stat? Thanks!

Sunyoul theorizes that it must be hard to change from a musical theater style of performance to a pop style. That’s interesting, because I don’t think any of the musical actors have been particularly successful on the show so far. I’ll have to run the numbers on that later.

Thinking of sad Donghun reminds me to say, please check out A.C.E.’s new song, My Girl. It’s got a smooth, city-pop/retro vibe, kind of like Cupid by Fifty Fifty or Maniac by Viviz. I like it! Though I do think it was weird to show them singing to really young girls at the end when the A.C.E. is increasingly looking like a group of guys in their late 20s/early 30s.

Anyway, back to the judging. VCG tells Seohyung, “You have a very nice voice. You build that voice to become a musical actor. So what you need to change is the way you sing. You don’t need to change your voice.” It’s hard to tell from the translation, but I think what VCG means is the way that Seohyung was doing that kind of sing-talk stuff, and the over-emoting that I noticed. “It’s very nice to have a bass like him on the team,” he says, tapping into my brain again, and all the judges agree. “It’s reassuring,” says Baekho. “Yes, the bass completes it,” says VCG. “You must protect your voice!”

Seohyung seems to appreciate the helpful feedback.

Meanwhile, poor Seongjung doesn’t get a ton of feedback that we see. I bet they did say stuff to him, though -- it’s just that the show doesn’t care, I guess.

Anyway, it’s time for the other team, Geonu and Soomin, who are committed to being “happy charms” on stage. The other guys waiting backstage seem to be looking forward to Soomin’s performance.

We find out that both of them chose each other as the person they most wanted to work with on the show. That should be really cute to me, and you know I love friendship on these shows, but…

Ok, I’m going to be honest with you guys: I find these guys a bit irritating. I know that’s not cool, but I figure it’s better to just be honest about my reaction to them. I’m aware that (1) I don’t know them in real life (2) this is all editing (3) they’re not doing anything really that bad. Despite all that, I find them irritating. So, I’m going to do my best to be honest about what I see, and I apologize in advance if either of these two is your favorite. It's not fair of me to just find them annoying for almost no reason, but it's hard to control an emotional response. Ok! Let's get back to it.

So, we jump back to the duet-choosing moment.

We can see that 20 guys are standing on the top tier, meaning that all ten top tier guys chose a mid or lower tier member to work with. Now it’s time for the mid tiers to choose a duet partner.

The other guys sort of shuffle around a little, but Soomin goes right up to Geonu. “What kind of music does Hyung like to do?” he asks, and Geonu’s face lights up, first with surprise, then with happiness.

Bain also approaches, and kind of stands there awkwardly, which makes me feel kind of sad. Here’s the thing: Bain probably went over to Geonu at least in part because Bain didn’t want Geonu to not get picked. Geonu was Low Tier, and Bain was Mid tier, so he may have thought “I’ll rescue my teammate.” (They’re both on Just B together.) Bain and Geonu are the same age, which often gives people a feeling of connection in Korean culture (from what I can gleen).

Bain says he’s looking for someone to do a pop song with, and what’s weird is that not only does Geonu not even seem to want to make eye contact with Bain, or say something like “Oh, thanks for the offer, but I think it’s better for us to show our individual colors,” he just ignores poor Bain, who stands there all tall and orange and awkward until he wanders away, and it makes me sad. Maybe this is where my irritation began, with Geonu sort of letting Bain hang in the wind like that. And for all I know Geonu did in fact talk to Bain and it was edited out. IDK.

Meanwhile, Soomin suggests that they sing “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You,” which was the song he did in the Voice Check. Seems odd to suggest it.

We get a flashback to Geonu introducing himself in English:

“What’s good guys, I’m Geonu, and I’m here to sing my soul out. Vamos!” He doesn’t mention that he’s from Just B in his intro, either, which is also… interesting. Per his online info, his mother is an English teacher, which is how he learned to speak English well. Not sure where he got the Spanish, but hey, a lot of Spanish speakers listen to Kpop so it’s not crazy.

So I guess the thing is, I can understand how he knows English so well but I do wonder why he would speak it to a group of Korean speakers. Everyone there knows Korean, including Jay, Soomin, and Wumuti, so why not choose Korean as the common language? It just seems like a weird flex, but ok. Imagine if Wumuti had just decided to speak Chinese…?

Geonu seems to like everything about Soomin, including his hat and the way he sat on the stool, and Soomin seems to like everything about Geonu, so it’s a match made in heaven. They’re very like… I don’t know, like the way two best friends act in 7th grade. This seems to be objectively cute. I don’t know why it bugs me! Am I on crack?

Some time later, Geonu’s hair is longer and less pink, and he and Soomin are meeting in what looks to be the same conference room as the one Bain used in another segment, complete with the map on the wall. So I guess it’s safe to assume that they’re at Bluedot Entertainment

Geonu lists some of his favorite musical artists, including M*ch**l J*cks*n and Chr*s Br*wn, and, thankfully, at least one unproblematic fave, Taeyang. He likes R&B, and Soomin likes pop, so they decide that Pop-R&B, like a song by Crush, would be ideal. They seem to quickly decide on “Don’t Forget” by Crush featuring Taeyeon (a tiny bit). (I say “seem to” because I suspect they discussed this first via texting or something and then recreated the song choice for the cameras later.)

The song itself is perfectly pleasant, the kind of song you’d put on to listen to in the background while you’re doing something else, but it’s hard to imagine someone being like, “oh yeah, this is my favorite song in the whole world.” The lyrics talk about the singer’s hope for his relationship for the future, that even if they break up, that they’d never forget each other.

If you and me become estranged someday / If we could never see each other / Don’t forget, Don’t lose / Even if you are holding someone else’s hand / If you are somewhere I cannot go to / Don’t forget, Don’t lose

The lyrics keep repeating 잊어버리지마 잃어버리지마, ijeobeorijima ilheobeorijima, which means “Don’t forget, don’t lose”. (See, that’s the -jima ending for a negative command again! We’ll all become fluent in Korean eventually!)

Once they’ve chosen the song, they take a break and make up an elaborate handshake. Soomin says he doesn’t have a hyung, and Geonu feels like his real hyung. That’s sweet! I know intellectually that that’s sweet!

Then Soomin has to leave to go back to Chicago for a bit, and then after he comes back they’ll have ten more days to practice. So this gives us a hint of the timeline. Based on both their hair, I’d say at least two weeks has gone by since the Pre-4 mission taping day when they’re meeting in the office. Then Soomin is going to go back to Chicago for some period of time and then when he gets back they have another ten days. This suggests that maybe a much as month went by between the Pre-4 Mission and the 2 vs 2 Rival Mission.

They chat via video call, and even do their handshake virtually. They’re both excited about the arrangement of the song that was made for them, and practice a little bit. Soomin says he can tell how much Geonu has been practicing. They’re speaking Korean together, which is again kind of interesting given that when they’re around other people, they choose English. Maybe they were just deliberately speaking English to speak more privately around the other people…?

When Soomin gets back, Geonu says he smells like Chicago, which is not the compliment he may think it is, and they get to do their handshake thing. They seem really happy as they rehearse together and just sort of hang out saying SOOUUUU!

And that brings us the performance!

Full performance without reactions

My thoughts:

I should note, first off, that normally, when I hear a song over and over I start liking it more, almost against my will, but the more I hear this song the more boring it is to me. And maybe if I liked the song more I’d be more forgiving of the performance overall. Again, I’m just being honest.

This was an ok performance, but I’ve heard both of these guys sing better than they sang this time.

Soomin was on his s w e a t e r game, for sure, and he really has a lovely voice. But here he sounds a lot breathier than he had been before, and maybe even a tiny bit hoarse. It didn’t sound bad, don’t get me wrong. I think it sounded lovely. Just maybe he wasn’t in the best condition when they taped? I still am interested in what he’s going to perform next.

Geonu really didn’t float my boat with his performance. I’ve heard him sing much better than this, so I’m not sure what happened. His first few notes sounded nice, but as it went on, to me, he sounded nasal, slightly shrill, a bit pitchy, and almost like his throat was clenching down as he was trying to sing. It just didn’t sound right. I think his worst moment vocally is at about 0:47 in to the Youtube version of the performance. It’s almost like he has something caught in his throat.

Also, um, the dancing. Not sure about that.

I remember liking Geonu on I-land, and I’ve heard him sing better than this, so I guess maybe he was nervous about performing well with his new American dongsae/friend, and/or just nervous in general about staying on the show. I think Geonu might benefit from some targeted vocal lessons because he does strange things with his throat and upper palette. His natural vocal color is so nice that if he just had some more training on how note to sabotage himself vocally, he’d be wonderful to listen to.

Their harmonies sounded nice -- those were some precise harmonies, and they must have practiced a long time to get them right -- but I also am not sure I loved the contrast between their voices when they took turns singing. Geonu’s voice has a sharpness to it and Soomin’s is so smooth that it makes Geonu’s voice sound worse in contrast.

Which of the two duets should win -- this one, or Team S&S from earlier? In the end, I didn’t love either of them, so it’s hard to say. Of the four voices, I continue to like Soomin’s the best, but if I had to listen to one of the two performances over, I think I’d rather listen to the boring ballad performance instead of the boring R&B song performance, and I think the problem is Geonu. That’s such a bummer because I’ve been converted into a big Bain fan and I want to cheer for Just B. Hopefully, Geonu will win back my good opinion in the future! I’m certainly not committed to hating him or anything like that.

In the MNET edit, everyone seems to really love Soomin’s voice and no one thinks he sounds hoarse or strange, so maybe it’s just me. Soomin gets some instant replays, and they both get happy judge reactions.

Eunkwang may or may not be enjoying the song.

The last line of the song is “Don’t forget this song,” which is why everyone reacts by saying “I can’t forget it!”

Everyone seems to particularly love Soomin’s voice, but the overall vibe is positive. Backstage, poor Seongjung mutters, “I don’t want to go home.”

The judges key in their votes, and we find out their highest and lowest votes: 95 (Solar) and 86 (Baekho).

They’re so happy and surprised that I want to be happy for them, but it’s tough. I can’t help but be a little annoyed at this. I don’t think it’s really right that this team should win over the first team. There was nothing at all wrong with the way the first team sang, while Geonu’s performance was, in my informed opinion, pretty flawed. I know he’s capable of better, but he didn’t sing super well on the day they recorded this performance. I know Soomin sounded nice despite his hoarseness, but it just feels like favoritism.

The guys back stage don’t look thrilled, either. Bain doesn’t seem happy for his teammate particularly. Kim Seongjeong, the leaping lizard, and his teammate Gwangseok, look irritated or at least incredulous. Jeong Inseong from KNK, front row with the maroon hair, has a thousand-yard stare that doesn’t seem happy. Jung Intae, front row right in the white shirt, looks a little disgusted. Maybe you interpret their expressions differently than I do, but they don’t look happy, and the guys generally seem pretty happy to cheer for one another when someone does well. I just get the impression that they think the performance wasn’t really that great.

Solar, who gave the 95, begins by praising Soomin’s voice and “vibe.” She tells Geonu that when he’s by himself he seems ordinary, but when he’s on a team, his presences is special. I don’t know how I’d feel about being given feedback like that.

Seungkwan from Seventeen agrees with pretty much everything Solar says. He says that Soomin is so good, it’s a little annoying, and adds, “This calm and languid charm comes across as sexy when he sings.”

Hey, child who told me to KMS because I referred to Gunwook from Boys Planet as “sexy”, are you going to write hate letters to Seungkwan? Because Soomin is the same age now as Gunwook was then. Yep, I’m petty. I do not like being told to KMS. I will hold a grudge against anyone who tells me to KMS.

Ok, sorry, deep breath.

Anyway, it’s impossible for me to think of Soomin as sexy, because I have met waaaayyyy too many guys like him at youth hostels across the world, but I guess maybe he would be to someone else. I leave it to you, dear reader, to decide for yourself.

Seungkwan tells Geonu that he likes Geonu’s dancing-like gestures. But low-scorer Baekho disagrees -- disharmony on Team Pledis! -- saying, “The reason why I gave the lowest score is that I thought that Geonu’s gestures were a bit… too much.”

Eunkwang’s feedback is a little confusing, I think mostly due to translation issues. I think what he was saying was basically that Geonu was a bit out control -- not just with the gestures, but the whole vocal performance as well. He didn’t have good breath control, so the pitch suffered. The edit highlights the exact portion that I picked out as Geonu’s worst moment as well. Hey Eunkwang, if you noticed that like I did, why did you give a score higher than 86?

It’s time to find out who won the round, and the first team comes back out on stage. Everyone says the scores are close, but they’re not really that close. It seems obvious that Geonu and Soomin won, and they have, 636, to 601.

If you do the math and remove the highest and lowest scores from each group’s total, and find the average of the remaining five scores, Team Geonu x Soomin had an average score of 91, while Team S&S had an average score of 86. As Wendy says, “Ah, my heart hurts.”

Soomin and Geonu do a cool-guy handshake thing to celebrate.

Dahee asks Team S&S to say something about the fact that they’re up for elimination.

Seungjung says, “I’m the one who chose Seohyung, and since we’ve lost, I feel….”

“... I’m so sorry to Seohyung. I’m a little sad for myself as well.”

The judges reassure him that he did a good job.

Seohyung, ever cheerful, says,

“Whenever I perform on stage, my belief always is, ‘It won’t be perfect, but let’s have no regrets.’ Today, the stage was not perfect at all. But I put everything into it, so I have no regrets. I’ll remember all the good things you’ve said, and continue.” Awww! That's great. He's a charming dude, isn't he?

The judges tell him he’s well spoken, and then he and Seungjung walk off stage arm in arm, with Seungjung still apologizing.

“I’m sorry…”

Backstage, Seongjung starts to beat himself up again -- “I could have done better…” -- when he interrupts himself and says firmly, “No, we did a great job!” Nice! Love that.

And that’s basically the end of the episode! We see a preview of the next round, featuring a distressing lack of sweaters but a lot of other fashion statements, and get the current voting standings. The top five is the same as last week, and the top 9 has been the same 9 people since voting started. The only major changes this week compared to last week is that Yoon Inhwan is up 8 spots and Taewoo is down 7 spots. But nobody has changed to a different zone of the list, if that makes sense. People who were part of a losing 2x2 rivalry team are marked with a *. People who haven’t performed yet in the 2x2 rivalry mission are in italics.

Jay Chang* ⊖

Donghun* ⊖

Wumuti ⊖

Seunghun* ⊖

Seokhwa* ⊖

Hwanhee ▲1

Yeo One ⛛ 1

Park Jeup ▲1

Jeon Woong* ⛛ 1

Bitsaeon* ▲3

Taehwan ⛛ 1

Geonu ⛛ 2

Jeong Inseong ⛛ 1

Sunyoul* ⊖

Kang Hayoon ▲2

Neon* ⊖

Hong Seongjun* ▲2

Lee Gwangsuk* ▲3

Bain ⛛ 1

Jung Soomin ⊖

Hyukjin ⛛ 2

Park Joo Hee ▲1

Yoon Inhwan ▲8

Kim Minseo ⊖

Hong Sung Won ⛛ 3

Kim Seohyung* ⛛ 1

Choi Su Hwan ▲2

Lim Sang Hyun ⊖

Lee Min Wook ⛛ 3

Hwang In Hyuk ⊖

Kim Sungjung* ⛛ 4

Ma Jaekyung ▲1

Kwon Eui Bin ▲5

Jang In Tae ▲6

Jo Hwan Ji ⛛ 1

Choi Ha Ram ⛛ 1

Lim Jun Hyeok ▲2

Jeong Yunseo ⛛ 2

Taewoo ⛛ 7

Ji Yeonwoo ⛛ 3

Ok, gang, that’s a wrap on episode 4! I finished it before Episode 6 came out, which means I’m actually catching up a little. I’ll see you in the next one, when we dive into Episode 5. The first performance will include Yeo One from Pentagon, if that sweetens the deal. See you then!

#mnet build up #bpr recaps build up #build up #build up mnet #just b #geonu

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