#rkmga5callback

[rkevent]

It all starts with a drone shot of Seoul Arts High School, followed by the School of Performing Arts, and then Hanlim Multi Art High School. Unlike the previews seasons, these were the locations where the first round of auditions took place for the fifth season of the Mnet Global Auditions. Different news articles appear on top of the images talking about how this season is expected to be the biggest of them all and with a new format that’ll bring bag some highlights from the previews seasons as well. It’s right after that they show what appears to be an infinity of people confirming their presence inside the three different schools. Flashes of hopefuls auditioning go by the screen — singers, dancers, rappers — but it’s sped up, and when you can’t distinguish their faces any longer, the screen turns black.

There is color again when a new building is revealed. It is, actually, the old building home of the preview auditions, the CJ&M Building. The difference is that it is empty now with the lack of hopefuls standing right outside the door. Next is the image of an empty meeting room, and the public could already make their correct assumptions of who would be walking inside.

One by one, the CEOs of the Big 5 entertainment companies make their way inside the room. The image freezes when they walk inside so that they can be properly introduced with their name written below them in a pretty font. They’re Hyun Bin, who is in charge of Nova, So Jisub, who is in charge of Royal, Katie Lee, who is in charge of KT, Tiger JK, who is in charge of TRC, and Baek Jiyoung, who is in charge of Sphere. Each of them has their own seat at the table, and once the exciting song playing in the background fades away, the people are able to listen to the silence in the room.

“It’s a new season already.” Tiger JK comments, rotating his chair so he can look at all of the other CEOs. “That’s right.” Katie Lee replies with one of her sly smiles. “How many auditions will we have to watch today?” It’s Baek Jiyoung who asks, but all five of them are paying attention. One of the staff members notifies them there will be 100 contestants for them to get to know, and while some of them aren’t too obvious, the CEOs don’t appear too happy with this information. “Let’s get it over with then.” Hyun Bin hits the end of his pen against the table so that its end will pop off and then opens the file they were given.

Just as quickly, the scenes from the auditions return until they’re back to the schools, observing who will be the first one to appear. “Yo!” An excited man exclaims. It’s LEE HOHYEON giving the camera a grin. “My name is Lee Hohyeon,” as he spoke, he tapped the tag with his name on it. “It’s right here in case you forget it.” So Jisub slight shakes his head. “Did he just say ‘Yo’? Is this really how we’ll start this?” Followed by him, it’s KIM SEUNGMIN, who appears imitating different animals, including a pig, a cow, and a horse. “Oh my god, sorry, that was so embarrassing. I’ll just move onto the yo-yo.” While the boy prepares for his yo-yo tricks, Hyun Bin laughs a bit. “Does that mean the yo-yo isn’t supposed to be embarrassing?”

This is followed by a brief cut of their main skill performances, the first a rapper, and the second a singer. The CEOs who had commented before simply nod their head. They show a dancer next, LEE CHAERYEONG, who dances fiercely to her chosen song. After she’s done, the girl opens a smile. “She’s good,” Jiyoung says and the others nod in agreement. “Hello, I’m CHOI YOONA. I’m going to be performing a song I wrote.” So Jisub settles back on his chair. “She does look like a singer, doesn’t she?” Except, the girl starts to rap. Tiger JK chuckles in his seat. “I like her.” Hyun Bin looks at him for confirmation. “Do you?” And the other nods while his eyes keep focused on the screen.

“Hello, my name is JEON HEEJIN. Thank you for seeing me today.” She’s a singer, and her tone is clear. Katie Lee can’t hold herself but to exclaim. “The girls really are better this season, aren’t they?” A few other short clips are shown of HWANG YEJI, JO YURI, and ZHOU JIEQIONG. It’s the time to show a few of the more impressive boys. KIM HYOJIN is the selected singer between them, filling the small meeting room with his voice and the emotional song. PARK WOOJIN goes strong with his dance routine, showing a bit of a flip in the mood of the room. When his performance is cut, they show SEO CHANGBIN who raps along to his chosen song. “He modified the lyrics.” Hyun Bin points out, which then cuts to So Jisub saying something to Katie Lee. “Don’t you think the boys are doing pretty well, too?” The woman shakes her head slightly. “No.” And so the man nods without wanting to push on. “Okay.”

Some other shorter clips are aired as well of CHWE HANSOL, TAKADA KENTA, and YOON JEONGHAN. They let go of the interesting performances back to the parts that could make people question their decisions. “Why would he do that?” Baek Jiyoung asks while KANG HYUNGGU is showing putting a piece of lemon inside his mouth. The boy chews it apparently without a bother, but anyone who attempted such thing before would remember their regret. A cute girl appears on the screen saying something in japanese as her special skill. “Isn’t she japanese?” Tiger JK questions it, looking down at the file with KATO KOKORO’s name on it. “Why would speaking in your mother language be a special skill?”

There are a few more cuts of people’s chosen skills. KIM SEUNGHUN says he can kick the jegi 30 times without dropping it as it shows on his form, but after two kicks the object falls on the floor followed by the boy, who falls along with an accidental leg split. “Tada!” YANG JEONGIN exclaims as he reveals his hands had tiny clothes in them and then proceeds to dance but only with his fingers. KIM YEWON pulls a pack of tarot cards from inside her sleeve and then takes out the first card. “The Hanged Man.” She says and when they show the CEOs once again, they appear to be at a loss.

What follows is RYU HWAYOUNG and LEE NAKYUNG, both playing the piano. KIM WOOJIN, LEE JENO, and HUANG GUANHENG decide to go with a guitar. When SHIN YUNA appears, Hyun Bin widens his eyes slightly with the change of pace. “It’s not just a guitar now. It’s also electric.”

“Is this the last one?” Baek Jiyoung asks and one of the staff members confirms it. All of the CEOs exclaim at the same time. After 99 hopefuls, it was finally time to bring this meeting to an end. “Please show us a good one.” Katie Lee requests and so a boy appears on the screen. “Good morning!” He says with a peppy voice. When the song starts playing, he looks up with a grin. During the choreography, the boy shoots a heart at the camera. The lyrics are fitting for a show like this, and when he sings ‘hey you, hey you, hey pick me’, Katie Lee turns to Jiyoung to ask for his name. “It’s LEE SUWOONG.” When the song ends, he kisses his fingers and throws out a final heart.

The staff members are the one who starts clapping in commemoration of the end of this recording. Slowly, the CEOs get the energy to clap as well. “But they don’t even know what’ll happen, right?” Jisub asks and Tiger JK nods in return before speaking. “We don’t even know what’ll happen.” And the start of his laughter is cut because while this is done, the episode still has a lot to show.

So the screen shows something else now. It’s a brand new set, prepared for this special season. Words announce that from all the people who signed up, only 100 will be able to take on this stage today, but not all of them will leave as MGA contestants. The seating is divided with 50 on each side of the stage, and as the hopefuls arrive, they start to choose where to seat. Some come and sit together, while others are taking on this new adventure by themselves.

One of the contestants is shown in his interview, one of the new features of the show. He tilts his head, mouthing a big and silent ‘woah’. “Am I really here?” It’s KIM SEUNGHUN who speaks, and they split the screen into two to compare his true expression when walking inside and his attempt at imitating it. “That’s what I asked myself.” It’s a girl next, MIYAWAKI SAKURA. “I just remember this feeling of delirium. It’s definitely exciting to be here.” The editing team makes sure to show her entering in the set as well to show off how people were impressed by it. Except for one person, it seems. “Ah, isn’t it a bit much?” JO YURI asks, clicking her tongue and shaking her head.

Two boys are shown walking in together, KIM YUGYEOM and KANG HYUNGGU. They part ways when they get to the stage, though, one heading to the right side and the other to the left. “We agreed to sit on the right side of the stage.” Hyunggu, the one who went to the right, says during his interview. “When I sat down he was nowhere to be found?” When Yugyeom realizes his mistakes, the boy runs over to the place he had agreed to go. “It was so dumb.”

The camera then shows more people arriving. This time, those who had watched the show before may recognize some of them. JANG MOONBOK, SOHN YOUNGJAE, and WANG JACKSON are shown as examples of previews contestants who were the show another shot. “I don’t really understand what all these previous contestants are doing here.” It’s only a voice-over for the time being before they show you a girl you’ve probably never seen before. “I think… there are other people who could be using this opportunity, you know?” LEE NAKYUNG shares her piece of mind before the scene shakes and changes.

It shows KANG DANIEL walking inside, this time together with four other men. When the scene changes again, it’s to a previous setting. “I’m Kang Daniel. SNU student, former MGA contestant, and much more.” He smiles to the camera back on the first round of auditions. “What brought you back to the MGAs?” They ask him. “Can I say unfinished business?” The boy laughs. “Last time, it was just me and Sungwoon, but this year we’re bringing along some friends: the rest of our band, Empty Enigma.” The editing team shows scenes of the boy in the previews season, followed by the intense sound of what people usually associate with a metal band.

“We all performed under stage names and didn’t tell a soul who the people behind the band were. We still haven’t, really, until now. This is our grand reveal. This is our grand reveal. Surprise!” He throws his hands up for a moment. The one who appears next is the one in the same situation as him. “My major is crop science and biotechnology.” HA SUNGWOON says the words with easy and it doesn’t take too long for it to be compared to his speech from the previous season which was weirdly close to what the said. “What bring you back to the show?” They ask him as well. “I was eliminated?” He replies and tries to hold back a laugh. The screen continues split, and when the past shows his height being crossed out from 170cm to 167, this year he decided to go with 167.5cm instead.

The five men are sat down now all next to each other on their chairs. TAKADA KENTA, the one sitting in the middle, is the one to speak. “Oh my god, it’s Joohyun!” The camera zooms in on another previews contestant, BAE JOOHYUN. Kenta places a hand over his chest. “Ah, I’m starstruck!” And the editing team makes sure to place two arrows over the heads of the people sitting beside him, the two previous MGA contestants just like the girl herself. Unlike the other two, it’s already her third time on the show. She takes a seat close to them.

While the people keep arriving, Joohyun leans forward to talk to Daniel. “It’s going to be MGA8 by the time this is over.” He laughs. “MGA10. You gonna be on that one too?” And she pushes him. As it seems, previous contestants are not where the line stops. The next person to arrive is none other than CHOI MINHO, previously known as ROMEO, the ex-member of Sphere’s latest boy group, CONVEX. Scenes of their debut music video appear on the screen, followed by the news of the member’s departure. While rumors said it was because of a dating scandal, the official news only said it was due to personal reasons.

The camera shows some of the other people’s surprised expressions as he walks in, but, during his interview, the man doesn’t appear to be too worried or too serious. “I gotta say it feels a lot different from the last time I was doing this.” For those who forgot, and for those who didn’t watch, they show a few scenes of the man on the second season. “I gotta ask though… with all these chairs… any chance of playing musical chairs later?” 

Finally, all of the hopefuls have arrived, and it’s time for the only 5 remaining seats to be taken. Instead, we return to the initial room, the small one with five people in it. “But they don’t even know what’ll happen, right?” So Jisub asks, except now Katie Lee who speaks right after. “So they don’t know we’ll be the judges?”

There’s an exciting song playing and, slowly, one by one the CEOs make their way onto their seats, the 100 hopefuls cheering for their entrance. The camera zooms in on KIM MYUNGSOO who has his jaw dropped, followed by NAM JOOHYUK who sports a similar expression. “I thought I was nervous before they walked in?” CHONG TINGYAN comments during her interview. “It got so much more intense! I noticed Hyun Bin-ssi looked really handsome.”

It’s CHOI YEWON who’s on the screen now. “Can I say my heart stopped? They were all so impressive, especially Hyun Bin oppa. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him.” Suddenly, it’s a relay of compliments. “Hyun Bin is as handsome as ever? How is that even possible?” HWANG YEJI says before it changes to someone else. “Hyun Bin is so handsome!” It’s KIM SEUNGHUN, the male representative in this Hyun Bin fan club. “This is not nice to say, but I hope they never film me next to him.” The popular CEO is shown seated, hearts floating around his head after all this show of affection.

The crowd is calmed again, and the camera focuses on Katie Lee this time, the one sitting in the center of the five. “Welcome, all, to the first episode of the Mnet Global Audition Season 5.” She pauses briefly for applause before continuing. “You’ll each have the chance to perform once on the stage in order to impress us, the judges, and secure your spot on the show. I wish you the best of luck and let us start.”

A girl makes her way to the center of the stage. She’s about to become the first performance to be aired on this season. “Hello, lovely CEOs,” she greets. “I’m JO YURI, and I’m… very excited to get to perform in front of all of you today. I hope you enjoy.” Heavy drums and brass come through the sound system, starting off the season with a big impact. It’s a song straight from a musical, declaring that anything the people were going to show after her, she could do better. She holds a long note and the CEOs look content. As one of the examples shown before between the talented girls of the season, Yuri puts what she’s worth to be judged.

“Hello, I’m SHIN RYUJIN. I will dance and rap for you today.” It’s another girl next, and if the song she’s chosen isn’t known to most, it is most certainly known by one of the judges. Choosing one of Tiger JK’s songs to perform in front of him is risky, but it’s not like she could have known. She’s followed by LEE JAEYOON, who shows off his vocals, followed by KIM WOOJIN, who sings and plays his electric guitar at the same time. MYOUI MINA also chooses to sing, as well as CHOU TZUYU.

JUNG EUNJI makes her way to the stage. “I did debut, but it didn’t go well.” She says during her first interview and lets out a laugh. “You probably haven’t even heard of the group’s name, it was so bad. We never made it to music shows. I thought it was over after that, but a friend convinced me to give it another shot. So here I am.” She shrugs, and suddenly we’ve returned to the stage. Now, she only keeps her head down for a moment before her chin raises high, a powerful walk to kickstart her powerful performance.

It’s a tough act to follow, and the next performances pass by quickly. There’s HUANG GUANHENG, KIM SEOKJIN, and the tarot card reader, KIM YEWON. Soon, comes LEE CHAERYEONG, one of the people the CEOs had their eye on previously. She dances excitedly to one of the more complex girl group songs. There isn’t too much time for the performance to get boring because, out of nowhere, the song changes into a new one by a boy group, giving her a new and intense concept.

“Hello!” A new hopeful wiggles her fingers in a greeting smile youthful and bright. “My name is HEO YOORIM.” Baek Jiyoung turns to the man beside her, Tiger JK, to comment something while the girl gets ready. “She’s tall, isn’t she?” And the other can’t help but agree. Written on her profile is 174cm, the tallest girl in the competition. She performs a mashup of two powerful songs, showing what she got. YOON JEONGHAN takes on the stage next. He chose a powerful ballad, and while it contrasts with the other performances so far, it’s a good change of pace between some of the kids who tried to appear cool.

Next is a man who introduces himself as KANG YEOSANG. “I prepared a song written about a good friend of mine. Thank you.” He starts by singing the emotional song done by himself, but, once the first few verses are over, he shows that he can rap as well. There’s a serious expression on his face when he’s done which quickly shifts into a grin a few seconds later. The rest of the contestants clap, and the camera zooms on KIM SIHYEON while she wipes her eyes and cheers for the boy she had been sitting beside.

A few other performances go by. “Why does it feel like the last five people couldn’t do anything right?” Hyun Bin asks while there’s a collage of dancers tripping and singer forgetting their lyrics or missing a note. There’s a tired look on the CEO faces, as anyone should be feeling having to sit there for so long. “Please, send us some help.” Baek Jiyoung exclaims just in time for the next performance.

“Hello! I’m SONG YUQI,” she says with a smile. “I hope I can make you smile today!” And she does so. Her song choice is an old american hip hop hit but it’s exactly what was needed to bring the mood back up. If that wasn’t enough, the one who comes next will certainly cheer you up. CHOI YEWON decided to prepare a cheer routine for her performance. While she does her neat gestures and tricks, the lyrics are dedicated to her dream company, Nova. “Who’s gonna make Yewon a star? Nova!” It’s enough to make the CEO of the company grin. A small flashback reminds the public of Yewon being one of the people who complimented Hyun Bin at the start of the show, so she should be happy with such achievement.

It’s a boy’s turn now, his name announced once, but after no response, they say it again. “WATANABE HARUTO.” Someone raises a hand from the seats, exclaiming “Ah, over here.” The screen takes you back in time to when people are still arriving at their seats and the camera pays attention to the boy when he says “I can do it” in japanese. He leans forward, doing something to his feet, but the camera isn’t able to capture it until it’s his time to perform. The boy struggles to get down the stairs because he’s wearing skates on his feet. “This is one of my old routines.” When the song starts to play, he shows impressive skills as he controls the skates almost perfectly. It’s truly not until he’s done that things go downhill.

Haruto kept bowing and waving while he returned to his seat, but the boy wasn’t nearly paying enough attention to where he was going. So, the boy falls off the stage, and all the eyes on the move in his direction to see what’s going on. “Is he ok?!” JANG MOONBOK asks from his seat before the screen shows some other people laughing at the situation, such as KIM SEOKJIN and LEE HOHYEON. “Didn’t he fall on his first audition, too?” So Jisub points out and it was true. The editing team makes sure to show the public as the boy trips simply by walking before. “I’m okay!” He says in the present, and successfully makes his way to his seat.

This leads to a new montage, highlighting some of the trips and other situations of the day. They show IM YOONA as she falls on her way to the stage instead of after she was done. HA SUNGWOON appears to struggle as he takes a keyboard he brought from home all the way to his chosen seat. It’s CHOI YENA who wins the prize, however. She does trip, but once her arms are moving forward to catch herself, the girl turns it into a somersault and lands safely on the stage. “Good day, y’all! My name is Choi Yena and I’m here to entertain!” The girl came prepared with a dance routine, all while she sang along to the English lyrics. It’s a toll on her voice at some points, but her role there was to entertain.

KIM HYOJIN walks over to the center of the stage, this time without anyone falling. “Ah, hello, I’m 21 years old Kim Hyojin,” and he holds up two fingers on one hand and one finger on the other with a soft smile. He appears next seated so he can play more properly play the guitar and his girl group song mixed with the american song lives up to the expectations. Who comes next is JEON HEEJIN who, just like Hyojin, had been used as an example before. “I’ll be singing for you today. I hope you enjoy.” She chooses to play the guitar as well, singing along to a sweet song.

A few more performances pass by briefly, including the ones by LEE KIKWANG, KIM SEUNGMIN, LEE JENO, and LEE COCO. One of the people who were already shown comes next, KIM SIHYEON. “Hi, do you see me? I’m Sia Kim!” She tries to make a play in words. “Hopefully today, I’ll be able to show you something different than what you’ve seen of me.” The chosen song is strong and energetic, and the girl sings in confidently. “I wanted to show a different part of myself,” Sihyeon says during her interview. “I hope the CEOs can see that.” LEE SEOYEON appears after, singing a song herself. She puts a lot of effort in her singing, and overall delivers a solid performance.

Coming next, it’s a foreigner with a cute appearance. “MIYAWAKI SAKURA. From Australia!” She says excitedly. While she starts her song by singing, the girl surprising delivers the rap portion which is most of it. She takes a bow when she’s down and waves at the CEOs and other contestants before leaving. It’s a good wake-up call not to judge a book by its cover, something they had already done before. “Hello, I’m CHOI YOONA.” Says the, now, known rapper. “The piece I’m going to perform for you today is a little something I wrote and produced. I hope you enjoy.” The lyrics are what is expected for a show like this, and the beat keeps you moving while you listen to it. “Thank you, again.” The girl says before leaving, her role there asserted.

The one who stands on stage now is another rapper, this time one you’ve actually seen before. “Hello, I am JANG MOONBOK! I hope I’ll leave a better impression on everyone this year.” The scene changes back to the first round of auditions during the boy’s interview. “It was very embarrassing to be eliminated when I was. I want to showcase how much I have improved since then.” He performs a song made by himself, moving across the stage as he does so. SOHN YOUNGJAE goes next, nodding to each CEO before introducing himself. He shows off a dance performance, trying to renew the image of him

“Hi, I’m KANG DANIEL.” Says the next contestant with a smile. “You may remember me. If not, hopefully, you will from now on,” and he leans away from the mic to adjust it, quickly returning once he realizes something. “For good reasons, I hope.” He laughs before introducing his original song. Daniel plays his guitar while he sings meaningful lyrics. The performance order goes on with the rest of the band, this time showing the other famous member. “Hello, my name is HA SUNGWOON. I didn’t think we would meet again so soon.” The same keyboard he had struggled to bring is assembled in front of him, and the boy uses it to assist his performance.

There are three others to still truly reveal themselves. They show TAKADA KENTA first, and as most aspiring dancers think like, he chooses to perform a Jun song. HWANG MINHYUN is the fourth, singing and dancing to a popular song, and even sparing some time to shoot a heart at the female judges. It’s the fifth one that may ring a new bell from the showcased hopefuls at the start. “Hello, I’m PARK WOOJIN,” he bows. “Please enjoy my performance.” He gets to not only show off his dancing skills but that he can sing as well. They clap as he leaves, completing the band pack.

Some more hopefuls get their brief spotlight such as RYU HWAYOUNG, KATO KOKORO, and CHONG TINGYAN, followed by KIM HYUNJUNG, YANG JEONGIN, and MOON TAEIL. A girl takes the center stage, a coat covering the outfit she’s wearing below it. “Hello! My name is LEE NAKYUNG! Thank you for having me here.” She bows down to the judges and before she signalizes that she’s ready, she takes off her coat, throwing it to the side. Beneath it is a red sequin dress, one that matches the theme of her song. She dances energetically throughout the song, sings along to the lyrics and only stopping for the dance break. The ending pose is the same as the start and the girl needs to shamely walk over to pick up her coat before returning to her seat.

“Hello, I’m KIM YUGYEOM.” The next performer introduces himself. He’s a dancer and shows an exciting and upbeat routine. His friend goes next, KANG HYUNGGU, and he’s a dancer as well. It’s a different vibe, but still exciting and upbeat following his chosen popular song. After him comes SHIN YUNA, this time with something rather unique. “I’ll be performing ‘Baby Shark’. Are you ready to be dazzled?” And that is exactly what she does, albeit a trap remix of the original children song. She’s a dancer like the two before her, and, after she’s done, Hyunggu appears again during his interview. “Can I be frank?” He starts. “I wouldn’t say it was terrible, but I hated it. And… it was terrible.” It’s the girl’s turn now, about to receive the news of the comment. “So we got a quote from your cousin, Kang Hyunggu, and he said that he hated your performance.” Yuna automatically looks annoyed. “Hyunggu oppa said that? He says that I was terrible. He should recheck his prescription because his performance wasn’t all that either.”

DO KYUNGSOO takes over the stage now, violin in hand. “I hope you enjoy the song.” The first portion of the song is played on the instrument, and then, for the rest, he settles his violin aside and sings to the lyrics of the song. “Thank you,” he said after his performance was finished. “For being my audience.” Then, with another bow, he leaves the stage. Another few performances pass by starring BANG CHAN, LEE JINKYUNG, and HAN JISUNG. The next one up is a girl, the one most commonly known on the show.

It’s BAE JOOHYUN, who uses her bass like she did the previous season to perform her song of choice. If she’s the one known, then the one who comes next could be considered a celebrity and, well, once he was. “I’m gonna bring you with me on a journey I took a few years ago. Since we’re gonna dive right into my personal life, I’m gonna make myself at home.” CHOI MINHO opens an antique chest, clothes spilling off of it. He moves along to the song, simple things that go along with the song. After he’s done, the man sits in front of the camera for his interview. “I just wanna let the people know it’s a song about my past. I promise I’m not lonely anymore.” He laughs.

“I’m LEE SUWOONG.” The boy greets, both of his hands clasping at the microphone. “It’s the ‘ei ei’ kid.” Tiger JK makes sure to comment while the boy bows to the judges. At first, his performance appears normal, but in only a few second his chosen song turns into a trot version of itself, gaining a few surprised looks from the audience as well as some more grins from the CEOs. “Hope everyone enjoyed it!” He says excitedly before leaving the stage. “He’s something else.” Baek Jiyoung comments as he leaves.

PARK JINYOUNG goes next. He chooses to perform a song originally performed by a girl, but he still makes it work. He’s not the only one to do so. JUNG HOSEOK decides to go with the debut song Royal’s latest girl group instead of a soloist. On the opposite side of the same coin, YU SUA decides to perform a song by a boy group. NA JAEMIN introduces himself before his performance, a cover of one of the many hit songs by Brave Girls, but rearrange on his own style.

Next, YOO TAEYANG appears, introducing himself briefly. “Hello, my name is Yoo Taeyang and I’ll dance for you today.” It’s about the third Bruno Mars song so far, but it never seems to be enough. “Hi I’m KIM SEUNGHUN and I’ll be singing a song I rearranged for you today, so please watch me well.” It’s one of the songs originally sung by Raehwan, and since the boy decided to only sing for his performance, he managed to show his skills well.

A man takes on the stage, KIM MYUNGSOO, and he chooses to use his guitar for the performance, tapping the instrument on the off-beats to create a steady rhythm. “Hello, I’m SEO CHANGBIN from Seoul. Usually… hm… I seem like a quiet person,” he pauses for a moment. “But if you open your ears wide I think you’ll be able to see past that.” Unlike the image he described, the boy puts on a good performance with an exciting song as his choice to rap.

PARK JUNHEE chooses a recent american song, charming people with his voice. “It’s true. I’m a sucker for you.” He ends his performance with a wink at the judges and a grunt can be captured from Katie Lee’s microphone. SON HYEJOO chooses to introduce herself in korean before doing it again in japanese, explaining that she was born in the foreign country. It doesn’t take too long for her bubbly personality to disappear and a new, stronger image taking over her as the young girl shows that her strongest skill is rapping. KIM MINKYUNG goes next, and this time the girl keeps up with the image. She puts on a tiara with little LED lights spelling ‘princess’ on her head. 

“I’m NAM JOOHYUK, born in London and raised from around this neighborhood.” The man introduces himself with charm, and his song choice is a nice one to listen after all the ups and downs from the day. I'm CHWE HANSOL’s turn next. “The song I’ve prepared is a song that I wrote and composed. Please listen to it kindly.” It goes along well with the previous song, and people at home can enjoy it as it deserves. The next person to be called receives a couple of widened eyes. The boy, WONG YUKHEI, had decided to attend his audition with a crop top and fishnets that could be seen up to his waist above the ripped pants he was wearing.

The starting position is laying down on the floor. “Is this supposed to be a sexy performance?” Hyun Bin asks and the man beside him, So Jisub, replies to him as soon as the song starts. “Ah, I think it is.” The original song performed by the famous now-soloist makes everyone look at the boy performing, sirens playing across the set. Next up is a girl, KIM JUNGEUN, who dances with an attitude to the american song. At some point in the choreography, she lets her hair out of its bun which adds some next-level effect.

Leaning closer to the end of the episode, one of the last girls is ZHOU JIEQIONG. “I prepared something today that’s hopefully a little different, so hopefully you’ll like.” She had chosen to show a ballet performance, and most probably believe that would be the sole idea of her performance, but before long the girl starts to change into different styles, kicking her pointe shoes out of the way. By the time she’s done, more than one person was impressed. “Hey man, I’m Jooyong,” KIM JOOYONG starts casually, hand raising up to match his greeting. “I… want to take you on this musical journey.” It’s a smooth smashup that allows the man to keep up with his image as well as show off his skills.

WANG JACKSON decides to use his guitar for his performance, playing along to a pop song except with an acoustic version. LEE HOHYEON decides to go with the original song as it is, dancing to one of the more recent songs of the year. To finish it all off, there’s HWANG YEJI, one of the dancers mentioned previously. “Thank you for your time,” she says kindly before the start of her performance. It’s a song you wouldn’t normally expect from such a cute girl like her, but she has a charisma to herself that leaves some impressed.

There is text on the screen that notifies the public that, indeed, that was the last of them. The camera pans over some of the hopefuls faces to show the sight of nervousness before Tiger JK takes the microphone for the next announcement and exactly the one they were all dreading. “This may be only the first episode of the show, but we notified all of you that after the performances were done, there would be an elimination.” Some decide to shift in their seat, but the CEO doesn’t change much his expression.

“There are 100 total people here who performed today in hopes of continuing their journey on this season of the Mnet Global Auditions. Right now, it’ll be the first time we’ll reveal exactly how many of you will move on.” The man takes another break so that the heavy air may become even heavier, and whoever was nervous could possibly start feeling dizzy by now. “From the 100 constants here, only 50 of you will move on to the rest of the competition.”

There’s a loud reaction from the people in front of him and Tiger JK settles down his microphone so that So Jisub may proceed. “We’ll reveal who will be continuing on the show right now.”

To see all the of this season’s contestants, click here!

The man announces each name in alphabetical order, so if your letter had already passed, you’d know you didn’t make it. Instead of having to hear the CEO say each of the names one by one, the show was edited so that an edit of all the confirmed contestant appeared on the screen while So Jisub’s voice was used as a voice-over, explaining what would be the first real challenge of the season. 

And now, let’s see what’s in store for our second episode!

After the tiring first episode, the first challenge in store for the contestants will be one that’ll be sure to only leave those worthy of their spots in the competition. All 50 of them will be divided into three groups and fight in a battle of skill between singers, dancers, and rappers. They’ll each have a limit of 2 minutes to display a performance of their choice involving only their main skill. The groups were divided by what contestants wrote in their form, but this is the time to change if they’d like to.

Eliminations will be made appropriately. There are more singers than dancers, and more dancers than rappers, meaning eliminations will be balanced to fit this ratio. If a contestant believes they may have a better chance at a skill differently to the one they listed, they may ask to change categories. IC, they would have needed to make their decision until before they left the set for the recording of the first episode, but OOC you may have until midnight of tomorrow, June 30th, to submit your change request to rkevent. In case you’d like to stay in the same category, you do not need to notify us.

All contestants are supposed to make their own way to the recording studio prepared specially for this episode. The set will be the same as before and will look something close to this. On each side, 25 chairs will be prepared for the contestants to sit on and watch each other’s performances. Just because most eyes will be on the performance doesn’t mean no one will be paying attention to you. A set of cameras will have their lenses ready to capture any sort of interesting reaction from those watching (beware of the evil editing) while a couple more will allow different angles of the main performance to be captured.

Sitting on the higher ground, much more comfortable chairs are lined in front of the stage — five in total. This is where the CEOs of each big company will be sitting to make sure only the most captivating contestants will continue their journey to make this the best season yet.

The start couldn’t have been more exciting. Welcome, everyone, to the MGA Season 5!

                          Tune in next Saturday, the 6th, for our second episode!

MGA Season 5 episode two preview: From 100 to 50, the contestants must now prove they have the skill to make it to the end. They’ll be judged based solely on their main skill, and those who do not make it to the CEOs expectations will be eliminated from the show! Did your favorite make it through the first episode? Who will make it until the end? Keep watching to find out!

[ None of the performances were aired in their entirety. Cuts from the show itself were uploaded to Mnet's Official Youtube Channel, but the full performances cannot be found else. ]

If you made it this far, either if you were eliminated on this episode or you’re continuing on this journey, you may add +3 POINTS IN A PERFORMANCE SKILL to your points tally. Make sure to link back to this post for verification.

Contestants have until midnight EST at the end of Friday, the 5th, to post their 200+ words solos about the skills challenge in front of the CEOs. Please tag all related posts with #rkmga5 and #rkmga5skill. They’ll have two minutes to perform their chosen skill to capture the attention of the CEOs (as long as it doesn’t break any laws). Good luck!

After the last performance is done, the CEOs will leave to discuss their thoughts privately. While this happens, the contestants will be taken one by one into a small room to be interviewed on their thoughts of the current state of things. They will be asked a variety of questions and some may be included in the list found below! Feel free to come up with your own questions if you think they can be fitting.

What did you think of the results last week?

Who do you think is the best under each skill?

How do you think you did?

Were there any performances you liked?

Were there any performances you didn’t like?

What did you think of ___’s performance?

Is there anyone you are certain will move onto the next phase of the MGAs?

Is there anyone you are certain will be eliminated today?

Once they’re done, they’ll be taken back to their seat to wait, or may go to the bathroom if needed.

You may write an extra 200+ words solo about your muse’s interview, as explained above, to also be posted until midnight EST at the end of Friday, the 5th. For doing so, you may earn +2 CHARISMA OR CREATIVITY POINTS and these can be added to your points tally as soon as it is posted. Please tag all related posts with #rkmga5 and #rkmga5skill. Please link this post as verification.

[rkyuna]

⁺   𝗠𝗡𝗘𝗧𝗚𝗟𝗢𝗕𝗔𝗟𝗔𝗨𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦❺ THE CALLBACKS   ━━  𝖳𝖧𝖤𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪

                              ●  ●  ●   ━━━━━━━━━━   신유나   ₊

interviews always have her on her nerves. sometimes she doesn’t know what to say, and other times -- she says too much. but this time, armored with ammunition of the latest performances, yuna has a lot to say. 

                       𝗤   ⟨  A CALLBACK, THAT MUST HAVE BEEN EXCITING.                                   HOW DID YOU FEEL WHEN YOU GOT THE EMAIL  ⟩  !

she comes off more casual than she was -- a little more cool, dusting off the bright smile from earlier with one of ease and nonchalance. even though just days before she had been panicked and manic over not seeing the email ( because it had been slotted in her dark social folder rather than her primary folder -- stupid gmail ), she wasn’t going to come off eager. no, she wanted to come off cool and collected. a level-headed girl who just wanted fame, fortune, and lots and lots of fans. that was level-headed, right? “it was to be expected. i had a really good feeling about my audition up until the end so i wasn’t really afraid i wasn’t going to make it. being in front of the judges, today, though, did get me a little ...” she pauses, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks as she reveals a little too much, the confidence withering away as the excitement of being on stage in front of all those famous ceos became more than apparent on her young face. “speechless? it was really cool to be in front of someone as amazing as baek jiyoung.”

             𝗤   ⟨  SO, WE GOT A QUOTE FROM YOUR COUSIN, @rkkhg,                            AND HE SAID THAT HE HATED YOUR PERFORMANCE.                                    DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT THAT?                                        DO YOU BELIEVE YOUR PERFORMANCE BAD  ⟩  !

that motherfucker. yuna immediately feels her muscles tighten as she tries to calm the twitch she feels starts to tremble along her eyebrow. “hyunggu oppa said that?” she says through a tensed grin, all the while keeping her smile intact despite the fact that she can immediately feel her blood boil. “oh, my cousin -- he’s so, so, so funny.” and yuna laughs for good measure ; trying not to grit her teeth as she passes off a roll of her eyes with a blink, instead. “such a comedian. but no --” her grin relaxes, rolling her shoulders back as she looks dead on to the camera. “ i don’t believe my performance was bad. sure, it could have been better but can’t you say that for a majority of the other performances here?” yuna shrugs, “i believe i gave them something original. and that alone makes it better than that same majority of other performances.”

                                 𝗤   ⟨  I SEE. SO OF THE MAJORITY, WHICH WERE                                                          THE ONES THAT YOU DIDN’T LIKE  ⟩  !

“there was one guy -- i forget his name, i think it was h - h- something ... @rkharuto? he was hilarious. when he finished his stage, he fell on the floor. i felt so bad for him -- especially after that performance. man, i thought his performance was really cool but i guess off skates he’s not as smooth. and i mean, he ... skated and this is a competition scouting for idols ... like, how do those two even correlate? if you wanted to skate, you should’ve joined the x games, kiddo.” she shakes her head, fingers tapping along her arms as she keeps them crossed against her chest. 

“as for my cousin -- he says that i was terrible. he should recheck his prescription because his performance wasn’t all that either. oppa has to do so much better if he thinks that was impressive.  he’s a great dancer, i know it and i’m sure he knows it but we all also know that he sucked.” yuna shrugs, as if ready to tick another one off her list as she continues on.

she laughs, a little, at least -- “i also didn’t know they still allowed grandpas into the competition. isn’t @rkmason like prehistoric at this point? sure, he’s also a good dancer but don’t you think you should give it a rest, 할비. sure, i liked his song and sure he’s good looking but -- eh, eh.” she stares, another finger down. 

“and c’mon, the callbacks are supposed to be exciting but some people were just so boring. like that @rkheejin chick, news-flash! that song is so overplayed back in the states, and the acoustic-cute girl singing about unrequited love is really last season.” she sniffs, as if ready to cry for the actual sadness she felt for her. heejin was cute, super cute but if yuna was being honest. she might’ve stifled a yawn here and there. 

there was another girl, the moment she had set eyes on her, yuna had felt ill. her hair, oh lord -- why would anyone do that to themselves. “kim @jungeunxrk?” yuna scoffs, “two words. botched dye-job. i honestly don’t know how anyone could concentrate on her performance when she came in looking like she over-fried her hair. bleached blonde, more like botched blonde.” she says the last sentence in english. “oh, but we’re supposed to talk about their performance ... i guess she was nice.” 

“ @rkjeongin is a friend of mine and i honestly was rooting for him.” honestly meaning slightly and rooting for him aka secretly plotting his demise. ( she’s half-kidding, but still ) “and i mean, props for doing a girl group song but jeongin, please, if you’re going to do a girl group song, don’t butcher the dance moves. i do hope he makes it on, though, even if he did do ... that.” she even has the audacity to spare a embarrassed smile on his behalf.

the interviewer stares at her, as if begging her to be down and yuna just shakes her head; already knocking down another finger. “@rksuwoong, love korean culture and props to you for being ‘edgy’ and ‘lost in the times’ and all but trot is dead. end of story.”

there was one guy, though. that she couldn’t have helped but be jealous over. and who was shin yuna if not for the petty, little brat that she was -- and her jealousy had obviously tided over when she finally came to mention him. unfortunately, it was all because she enjoyed his song too well, that she couldn’t help but criticize it. “@moonbokrk, song choice -- bleh. rapping? eh. i mean, could have done better but did he? you answer that, yourself.”

“ @rksihyeon i was actually expecting better. she has the face that you’d think has it but her performance didn’t do it for me. it ... lacked something? i don’t know. can’t put my finger on it, though. nice try, though, she’s pretty, at least.” she nods. another one bite the dust, she whispers to herself. 

she could have cracked her knuckles and she still wouldn’t be done with her list. “and there’s that @rkchris -- i felt like he was trying to be edgy but also indie and like tough? but vulnerable? and it was just too much, like dude ... be simple ..., you’re doing too much.” 

“when i heard the starting tune, i was so ready to fangirl, i love akmu. unfortunately, can’t say the same about @rkumji who sang the song though.”

“and i guess that was just a few people you could say i don’t think will make it.” she wrinkles her nose. 

                              𝗤   ⟨  AND THE REST? WHICH STOOD OUT TO YOU  ⟩  !

“who i think you should root for are definitely kim @rkyeji and shin @ryujinrk. their performances, by far, were the best of the night.” yes, she’s being biased. no, she did not care one bit. shin yuna was a firm believer that since she was amazing, so were her friends and there was no doubt in her mind that when she had seen, first hand, her friends’ performances, she couldn’t be prouder. if she could, she would’ve thrown her shoes at them as celebratory cheers.

“there was one guy that i think did well too,” oddly enough, yuna did have a few compliments to spare. “i think his name was @ericxrk, the one who did ikon’s killing me. his dance break was pretty nice. i enjoyed it.” 

                                                  𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝘘   ⟨  THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME  ⟩ !

“thank you for taking care of me!” she says almost immediately, a bow slung along the way as she’s thanked and the lights shut off and she feels the heat from those lights fade from her cheeks. fingers brush against tendrils as she flips her hair, turning on her heel. another interview down the shoot. 

[rkmb]

                   𝙈𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉𝙀𝘿  ▸   @rkkhg  /  @rkkyg  /  @ericxrk  /  @ryujinrk                  @rkxminkyung  /  @rktaeyang  /  @rkeunji  /  @rkaisha  /  @rkkyungsoo

        "is the light catching my good angle?  ah, maybe i should sit like this?"  he turns to the side and slightly tilts his chin upward.  "this is my good angle, right?  it makes my jawline look really good!  but i don't think i can talk like this, so forward, it is."  a grin splits across his features as he turns to face directly into the camera.  he gives it another two-hand wave before peering over at the interviewer.  "okay!  we can start."

        the first few questions are relatively easy to answer:  how did he feel when he got the callback?  ( ecstatic, and even more so when he found out that his best best best friends had also made it. )  what did he think when the judges were revealed?  ( katie lee is a lot taller than she looks on tv, and hyun bin is rather handsome up close! )  all in all, basic information he gives with enthusiasm that doesn't quite reach his eyes.  but when they ask the next question, his expression distorts to show sudden, more genuine interest.

𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗬 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗦 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗨𝗟𝗔𝗥?

        "uptown funk,"  he says without hesitation and without batting an eye, even though this is his number one enemy  ( for yugyeom's attention, of course ).  "it takes talent and a certain personality to pull off that sort of song, because it requires a lot of energy.  can you imagine uptown funk without energy?  it would be offensive to bruno mars-sunbaenim!  but i think HYUNGGU chose the right song.  it suits him.  i especially like when he ran to our side to hype us up."  he smiles for a bit as he fondly recounts jumping to his feet and being among the loudest support.  "i should've done that, right?  audience engagement is important, since it keeps everyone interested.  ahh, he really did well---but i won't lose."  he points at the camera, his eyes narrowing just a bit.  "kang hyunggu, you're now my rival."

        and then he drops his hand and breaks into a smile that makes it seem like he's joking about the rivalry when, in fact, he isn't.

        "i also liked YUGYEOM's performance.  everyone remembers that one, right?"  oh, yugyeom.  it hasn't been that long since suwoong was swinging by the chicken shop, sliding a print-out of a naruto meme across the counter in order to serenade the other.  and let's be honest---who would've thought they'd be here, at the mgas, booking it across the stage pre-recording 'cause yugyeom's friend sat on the other side?  "did you know he choreographed that by himself?  i'm friends with such cool people ~  and his expressions!  he makes really good expressions, doesn't he?  it makes the performance more enjoyable to watch."

        he snaps his fingers.  "there's also . . what's his name---"  not bondage guy not bondage guy not bondage guy  "---eric, no, YOUNGJAE, i think?  yes, youngjae!  he was in the mgas last year, right?"  he considers himself super lucky to have marathoned the previous mga season  ( mostly to gauge what he's getting himself into, of course ),  'cause else he wouldn't have recognized eric, and that would've been surely embarrassing!  "he chose such a good song to show his vocals ~  i mean, his rap wasn't as good as his singing, but it was good enough.  and when he did this---"  suwoong places both hands over his neck to mimic the last dance move eric had done on stage.  "---it made me think 'how cool'!"

        "oh, and RYUJIN."  for a moment, there's a particular glint that strikes his eye, and it is not, by any means, an enthused one.  he's heard a lot of bad things about her from his distant cousin, jimin.  well, not a lot-lot, but enough so that he's wary.  "she almost debuted, so of course, her performance was good.  i mean, her dancing was . . okay at first---"  that's the main thing he can remember, since he watched her with a critical eye from the very beginning.  "---but then she got better."  he stares blankly into the camera for a few seconds before continuing,  "ah, it's a little intimidating, isn't it?  competing against someone who used to be a trainee."

        seeing that the mood's getting a little sullen, he leaves it at that and lets the interviewer ask the next question.

𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗬 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗦 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗗𝗜𝗗𝗡'𝗧 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘?

        "MINKYUNG,"  he says a bit too quickly,  "because it was too short."  a grin splits across his face, the sullen mood immediately dissipating.  "i was really fooled by her acting at first!  i was worried, 'cause i thought she had forgotten the lyrics.  that would've been awful."  he remembers, quite fondly, how his cheery demeanor had morphed into a slight panic when she was on stage feigning concern.  "but her performance really stood out to me---not just because of the first part, but also because she's fun to watch on stage!  i think she'll definitely make it to the next round."  he makes a triumphed fist.  "minkyung, fighting!"

𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗬𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗘𝗟𝗦𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗥𝗘 𝗖𝗘𝗥𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗡 𝗪𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗠𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗫𝗧 𝗣𝗛𝗔𝗦𝗘?

        again, his answer is immediate:  "TAEYANG, of course."  he leans forward just a bit, almost as if he's about to let the cameraman in on a secret.  "he's really different off-stage.  trust me!  i've known him for a long time.  he's quiet and sometimes shy, doesn't really show off as much.  but ah, on stage, he seemed really confident, right?"  he remembers being on the edge of his seat, his hand gripping yugyeom's arm out of---what, anxiousness?  anticipation?  "he gave off a really cool vibe.  i can only hope to be that cool on stage one day.  and his dancing!  isn't it good?  he practiced really hard on it, so please vote for him ~"

        "EUNJI as well.  i hope she makes it.  we used to dance together---did she tell you that?  if not, we did!  when we were really young.  she was the only one who would talk to me.  such a kind heart ~  it's almost like fate that we reunited here."  honestly, who would've thought?  "i didn't know she could sing so well, so she really surprised me with her performance, especially since she danced and sang at the same time and made it look so effortless.  she must've practiced really hard for this, so i want her to move on as well.  eunji, fighting!"

𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗬𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗖𝗘𝗥𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗡 𝗪𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗕𝗘 𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗢𝗗𝗔𝗬?

        in truth, there are some people that he wouldn't like to move on, mostly because he doesn't like them all that much.  but it would be rather unfair to mention them under the guise of not liking their performances, since most of them performed well.  hm.

        "AISHA,"  he says after careful consideration.  "i mean---i hope aisha doesn't get eliminated."  in all honesty, he doesn't remember much of her performance other than it sounded like a mashup of two songs.  perhaps he had focused far too much on the dancers.  "there are many people who sang really well today, but she also sang well.  i think everyone was surprised by her vocals during the first part, so everyone please be sure to vote for her!"  he offers a small smile in lieu of commenting further.

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗢𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗡, 𝗞𝗬𝗨𝗡𝗚𝗦𝗢𝗢'𝗦 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘?

        of course, how can go without mentioning KYUNGSOO?

        "ah, my dear cousin . . this may sound too confident, but i expected him to do well.  we grew up together, so i know what he's fully capable of."  a pause.  "he played really well today, but i know that he can play better.  it's just that he has stage fright---but maybe you didn't notice, 'cause he's reeeally good at hiding it!  i find that very admirable.  he’s good at hiding a lot of things.  just wait ‘til you see his aegyo.  it’s hard to imagine, right?  since he’s so stoic!  but he can be really cute sometimes, you just have to tease it out of him."  the corner of his mouth twitches, and he wills himself to beam a bit brighter.  "my hope . . is that we make it far together.  we promised each other that we would, so we're going to try our best!"  he holds two fists up to his chest in another triumph gesture.  "so please support su-soo---that's su from suwoong and soo from kyungsoo, by the way.  my name comes first, since i was born first."

        the interview wraps up then.  after a quick thanks to the interview  ( bless her )  and the cameraman, he bows and ushers his way back to his section.

[rknak]

                     *·—————   𝕄𝔾𝔸 SEASON 5 !!

                                                      ( CALLBACK INTERVIEW )                            ♡   mentioned: @rkjaemin; @rkeunji; @rkkokoro; @rkharuto;                                @rkseungmin; @danielxrk; @moonbokrk; @joohyunrk   ♡

when it’s her turn, she walks calmly to the room. this was the easy part. all she needed to do was sit in a chair, act pretty, and share her opinions. none of those things were hard for nakyung to do. they re-touch her makeup and she’s thankful for it, saying so when the artist leaves her. the interviewer tells it’s about to start and she nods in understanding. her lips smoothly transition into a smile.

“ how did you feel when you received the news of the callback? “

“oh…” she starts. her hands automatically appear into the frame, holding each other as if the girl had just come out of a fairytale. that was what princesses did, wasn’t it? “i was really scared i wasn’t going to make it. i showed an image i think people wouldn’t quite associate with me, and it worked out! it gave me the confidence to show what i did today. it was tough to choose something, and i really wanted to do ‘genie’ by chichi, but i thought this performance would be more interesting for the phase we’re in.”

“ how do you think you did? “

“i think i did well!” nakyung says with confidence but her voice is chipper, trying not to fall too much into her cocky side at the first given chance. “i wasn’t too sure if singing while dancing would be the best option for me, but it worked out in the end! i think… if i had only danced to the song, it wouldn’t have been the same. i wanted to show my charms but also that i’m not here only for that. i really want to be an idol in the future, so i’d like to convince the judges that i’d be able to take that role if they take me on this ride.”

“ what did you think when the judges were revealed? “

“my first thought…” she looks off, thinking back to what felt like were ages ago but was still vivid in her memories. the girl isn’t sure if she’ll ever be able to forget this day in her life. “the first thought i had was ‘wow, they’re so pretty’.” she chuckles. “people say everyone looks better in real life but it’s a bit unfair just how good looking they all are… especially katie lee. i really want to be like her one day. she’s my role model.”

“ were there any performances you liked? “

“yes, of course!” her mind starts working, trying to separate each of the 99 other performances into their own thing instead of one big ball of confusion. so many sang, so many danced, so many rapped… there was a list of instruments used, too, but that didn’t automatically mean they all did well. “i think it’s important to be creative in shows like these. if you’re going to cover a song you must do better than only a simple cover or else the audience may just overlook you.”

she talks as if she is experienced in the area, and she is but as a spectator. nakyung was a grade a fan, and she knew exactly what other people like her would be looking for. “there was na jaemin who covered a song by brave girls. he used a remixed version which was very interesting to watch. it’s a very popular song that people covered many times before, so the fact he changed it in such a cool way really made him stand out to me.”

“there was eunji, too, who performed ‘woman’ by boa. even if she did just that, it is a very powerful song, and when she was just walking at the start of the song it was very enchanting and she has the talent to back it up, too.” nakyung nods, trying to think of any other performance she enjoyed. “there was also a foreign person, kokoro, who decided to perform ‘into the new world’. whoever likes chichi is someone i should like, and the fact she chose this song out of all the others really made it interesting. she really fits the image, too, i believe.”

getting out of the cover zone, nakyung tries to think of any other thing that caught her eyes. “that other kid, too, naruto? i feel like everybody is going to mention him, but his performance was very interesting. i had never seen anything like that before and i was very impressed. i just wonder if he has any other skills than that. if he passes this round, he won’t be able to survive only on skating all the time.”

“apart from him, there was another boy that was very adorable. i think his name was seungmin? he said he’d like to show a fiery side of him just like his red hair or something like that. his song was very calm, though, but it was a very nice mashup. maybe he should dye his hair blue next time, or another color like that.”

“ were there any performances you didn’t like? “

“well, i think there were performances no one really liked who missed a step or forgot their lyrics.” nakyung shrugs, not wanting to give them any attention. “not that i necessarily dislike their performance, but i really don’t understand what all these previous contestants are doing here. i honestly don’t think i can even name them all… there’s daniel, moonbok, joohyun… and isn’t this her third time already? i think… there are other people out there who could be using this opportunity, you know? they are probably here only for rating and it’s kind of sad to see, really. and if one of them win, wouldn’t that be bad? i think this should be banned for future seasons. if the companies would like to sign them i’m sure they know where to find them.”

“ that will be all for today. you can return to your seat. “

“thank you!” she bows to the interviewer and other staff present before leaving the room.

[danielxrk]

                         ✞ INTERVIEW *    THE FIRST

it's strange, being in the interview room. well, it's not that strange, since he was just in one for the auditions, but this is something mostly new for the mgas, so he doesn't feel that same comfort of experience. instead, he feels some apprehension over his usual inability to speak well. he did something like this once during the mgas, when they asked him who his picks for best vocalist, singer and dancer were, but aside from that and last year's audition interview, that's all.

at least he knows now that he can write well, at least as far as songs go. if he can just get words like that to come out of his mouth somehow, he should be golden.

the interviewer greets him, and daniel smiles back with a bow. it gets started almost immediately.

"how did you feel when you received the news of the callback?"

he can't say like i deserved it, or i knew it from the start, even if he felt some of both-- strange and foreign, because for the most part neither were true. nothing was guaranteed, and he knew that, but maybe he expected it anyway. "it was a good feeling," he says, and that's innocent enough-- true, too. "it was...proof that i deserve to be here again? or that i get a chance to prove i deserve it. i thought i'd gotten better since last year, but if i didn't get this, it would mean i got worse, so i was-- i am --relieved, mostly. it feels like a second chance. i'm grateful."

"how was it seeing the set for the first time?"

he's sure they ask everyone these questions, mainly designed for new contestants, and he also can't answer this with it wasn't that different from last time, even though he thinks it, but-- "it's cooler than last time," he says with a grin. "it was a little intimidating-- more the amount of people than the set itself? i don't think there were this many people last year, but it felt..." he hums, trying to think of how to describe it. it didn't feel like coming home, no, that's not it at all, but like coming back to an old stomping ground to reclaim his honor, like walking into his chance for vengeance. "it felt good to be back," he settles on, that grin back on his face.

"what did you think when the judges were revealed?"

"i thought 'isn't this early?'" he admits with a laugh. "but i was still a little shocked by how impressive they are, even after already seeing them before. i guess that isn't what i remember most about the show. you can tell they know what they're doing, and i...want to impress them more than i did last year. i want to earn another compliment from them this time."

"how do you think you did?"

he smiles, not in a self-satisfied way, but more thoughtful. "i don't know," and it's honest. "i was just enjoying myself, really, so i don't know if i did good or bad, but i'm satisfied with it." that answer could be enough, but the thought of his performance makes more emotions surface, and he dwells, for a moment, on whether he should share them or not. he doesn't know if any of this will air, but his motto so far this competition has been i'm not guaranteed anything, so i'll give it everything i have right now. maybe that counts for this, too. "i wanted to prove i'm different now than i was last year-- someone better, in every way. i wrote a lot of songs in the past year, both for empty enigma's album and not, and i think that might be the thing i'm best at, so even if i was nervous to share that, i wanted to show the best side of myself that i could. i know i'm far from the best singer in the competition, and that i can barely dance, and maybe i can rap okay. it might be kind of cool that i can both sing and rap, but i think...my song sets me apart?" but that makes it more personal, too, and will make the criticism sting more. it's not his best song, either, but it's one his heart is in. "i hope everyone liked it." a laugh follows it up, "if they didn't, that's okay too. at least i'd be remembered as the guy with the bad song instead of not remembered at all." he doesn't know which is better, really, but at least that's something.

"were there any performances you liked?"

"oh, there were a lot!" he chimes in happily. "i probably can't just say everyone in empty enigma, right? but i thought they all did well, anyway, so i can't not mention them. i've never seen kenta and woojin dance before, actually, so it was really nice to see them do it on a stage like this. minhyun too! he hasn't in the band for too long, so i think we're still getting to know all of his talents. i'm glad he gets to show them off." but sungwoon? "i think sungwoon did the best, though. don't tell the others," he laughs. "his performance was really..." what can he even say? was his reaction anything indicative of what anyone else thought while watching him, or was it a unique experience, as the one being sung about. "moving? yeah. you could tell he meant what he was singing, and i think that's...a unique quality in a performer, and an important one. sometimes that's more important than talent, but he has both. i'm jealous," he adds it as an after-thought, but breaks into a smile shortly after.

"were there any performances you didn’t like?"

the most useful thing his mother taught him was the old proverb if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all-- probably much of the reasoning why daniel so rarely spoke previously, and he's still outgrowing that phrase, or at least outgrowing the thought that he never has anything nice to say. "my mom always said 'if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all," he says it anyway, eyes downcast, and he scratches at is elbow, wrestling with this question. he'd probably get more screentime if he just dissed someone, right? but he doesn't need it that badly-- not at the cost of his integrity.

"there were some arrangements i didn't like. that's the only thing i feel qualified to have a real opinion about, honestly," he decides. because i'm not good at anything else is what goes unspoken. it's probably inferred. "there was also the trot cover of...ring ding dong?" he laughs at even the mention of it. "i thought it was weird, but it was pretty funny, and definitely not forgettable, so i have to give him credit. i still don't know if i liked it or not, honestly. i'm just confused, still." suwoong is an interesting character, that's for sure.

"i feel like there were a lot of forgettable performances, too, but i think that just...happens, with 100 people. standing out is probably what's most important in this part of the competition." i hope i do.

"what did you think of joohyun’s performance?"

his face lights up at the mention of her, beaming ear to ear. "i was so surprised!" he says. "joohyun and i are good friends," he explains. the backstory seems necessary, and maybe if this doesn't get cut, her choosing to sing one of empty enigma's songs will make more sense. "i grew up with her, and then i moved away, and just kept meeting her again and again, even after that. she played in a band, and she played in a lot of the same places we did, so i still kept running into her, but i didn't keep in touch with her until after last year's mgas. she's gotten to know all of the guys since then, so most of us know her pretty well. i guess she wanted to support us." no, that was definitely too long to make the cut, but maybe dramatic enough to get partially aired. no, probably not. there are some very important facts he hasn't touched on yet, however, and the close-lipped smile on his face is a proud one, if not a little smug. "that was my song! i mean, it's empty enigma's song, but it's one of the ones i wrote and composed, so i felt really honored."

"is there anyone you are certain will move onto the next phase of the mgas?"

"nothing is certain," he replies easily, gaze growing a little distance, but that much he's sure of. he looks back up, to meet the eyes of the interviewer, and then the camera. "i guess...maybe mason? you could see his experience up on stage. it was really impressive, even to someone like me who hasn't paid much attention to idols. he was in a group before, right?" "convex," one of the producers supplies, and daniel nods knowingly despite still not knowing what the hell that is. it sounds vaguely familiar. maybe they're one of the groups jeongin likes? why is he not in convex anymore, though? maybe baek jiyoung wouldn't be too happy to see him...nothing is guaranteed. "maybe sungwoon too, though. he has the experience, the talent, and the stage presence, and i don't know what else a judge would want. i'm not just saying that because i'm his friend, but because he's genuinely so much better than me. i look up to him, and i think lots of people would, and that seems like something the judges would like, too."

"is there anyone you are certain will be eliminated today?"

he can't help but laugh, even in the face of a harsh question. "i won't say the same thing again," he assures, even though it applies here, too. he wracks his brain for bad performances, and some stand out. "i don't know their names, but there were a few people with unstable vocals, and a couple that forget their lyrics. i don't know if that will be enough to eliminate them, because i think if they made it here, they have potential," and he nods, eyes drifting down to his lap. "i was almost eliminated at this point last year," and he'll never forget it, and the guilt he felt for outliving hyunjoon even though he didn't want this dream then. there's uncertainty even now. "every week i thought i would be eliminated, but i wasn't. i'm grateful the judges saw enough potential in me to keep me for so long, and to let me learn so much. i think it would be nice if people that are lacking today got the same chance i did, but i know someone needs to be eliminated. i think the judges will make a good decision."

the interviewer announces that as the end, and daniel's a little startled by how quickly it came to an end. he feels less confident now than he did for his audition, answering now after hours of sitting and feeling drained on every level. maybe he did the best he could. he bows again, then exits, and joins his friends, waiting in anticipation of the results, a pit in his stomach on behalf of the others.

[rkyeosang]

˟ mga season 5     … callbacks //     interview. -- mentioned by performance: @rkyuna, @rksuwoong, @hobirk established canon, yeo is Not good with names -- mentioned by name: @rkxbin, @rkchris, @moonbokrk, @rksihyeon

“ah, another one?” yeosang says almost instinctively, not with any malice, as he’s directed into yet another room with a chair, some staff members-- and a camera.

“i should’ve expected this already, huh?” he smiles sheepishly, ruffling at his hair as he quietly sits down as instructed. honestly-- the day has gone by in kind of a blur for yeosang. sure, there were performances that stuck out, definitely. but, yeosang couldn’t help but daze in and out-- though he did try to focus on the other contestants as much as possible, not only to learn their styles but to see who he’d possibly be competing against, should he make it to the next round.

he settles himself in the chair and nods politely at the interviewer, who clears her throat before he starts.

q. “ so let’s begin. how did you feel when you received news of the callback? ”

yeosang blinks slowly, taking a careful breath in and out before he finally answers, honestly, “nervous.” he cracks a smile, eyes looking away from the camera as he rubs the bac of his neck. “excited, grateful, but mostly nervous. i didn’t want to get too far ahead of myself-- after all, i made it past the first round last time as well,” he explains-- his voice quiet but firm, answers clear and enunciated. “i knew i had a lot to do if i wanted to be able to pass this time.”

q. “ i see, then do you think you’ve improved enough to pass this time? ”

that question throws him off slightly-- he wasn’t expecting such a direct question, such a non-general one that he pauses for a beat of a second before he swiftly responds, “i think so,” and hurries to follow it with, “i’d like to think that i’ve improved in the year since i first auditioned-- so i would say yes, i believe i have improved-- and i hope it’s enough to pass.”

q. “ moving on-- what did you think when the judges were revealed? ”

“i wasn’t surprised,” he laughs gently. “since i’ve seen them before. but, it was interesting to see them again now that i have seen them in person a few times, not quite as nerve-wracking. i doubt they remember me-- but i hope i give them reason to this time around. that’s what i’m planning.”

q. “ were there any performances that stood out to you? ”

and yeosang was dreading this question, but it wasn’t unexpected. he did manage to think of a few that he could call to the front of his mind, luckily-- because he didn’t know how else to explain that he just couldn’t focus properly enough to have a concise answer.

“the uh... trap mix of baby shark was interesting,” he muses, “i.. can’t quite remember the name of the person who performed it, though, i’m sorry,” he bows his head in apology-- just in the case that said performer would see this, “it was attention-grabbing to say the least. they did a good job,” he finishes politely. “also... hoseok-- i think? his dance and rap had a great vibe-- it was easy and fun to watch-- he has great stage presence,” he hums quietly, eyebrows furrowed as he tries to give his honest opinions about the other contestants.

“the trot version of ring ding dong--” yeosang huffs out a small laugh at this, “i’m not much of a trot fan? but i think he pulled it off well-- it was creative and memorable at the very least.”

q. “ you’re mainly a rapper, right? did any rap performances stand out to you? ”

“ah... that question pulls out my bias,” yeosang admits with a sheepish laugh, “but also, i think it’s well deserved to say that for rap performances, i most enjoyed changbin’s, chan’s and moonbok’s. changbinnie performs almost effortlessly, and his song was a good, easy-flowing choice that i think a lot of the audience will like. chan-hyung was strong as usual-- that was to be expected. and moonbok-hyung... i like his voice. it’s nice to listen to and easy to follow and get into, even for people who aren’t too fond of rap-- i think that’s what his music sounds like.”

q. “ speaking of performances-- what did you think of kim sihyeon’s performance? ”

“ah--” yeosang smiles at this, wide and easy as he nods his head, “i didn’t want to just announce it and put her on the spot like that-- but i guess since you’re asking me, it’s pretty obvious that sihyeon is the friend i wrote my song for.” he nods again, curt this time. “her performance-- she’s been improving constantly, and i think she showed a great side of her musicality in her performance today. we’ve been friends for a long time, and i’m grateful to have her by my side for this journey this year. i’m cheering her on as well, always.”

q. “ is there anyone you are certain will move on to the next phase of the mgas, and likewise is there anyone you are certain will be eliminated today? ”

“to those questions...” yeo deliberates before firmly stating, “i have no comment. thank you for your time,” and the interviewer seems to be dissastisfied with such an answer, but ends up waving a hand and giving him the okay to return to his seat.

and with a soft breath of relief, he stands from his seat and bows to the staff and the camera and straightens up with the brightest smile he’d shown since appearing in the room.

“see you soon.”

[rkxsungwoon-blog]

☆ mga5 callbacks; june 27; interview !

once the performances are over, the ceos retire to discuss the results of the day and, subsequently, the eliminations. letting out a sigh, sungwoon slumps forward in his seat and fiddles with the loose zipper on his keyboard’s cover. the day’s exhaustion slams into him in the span of a few seconds. after four odd hours stuck in these uncomfortable chairs, he thinks he might be ready to go home. but the most important part of this whole ordeal is yet to come: to see who actually makes it onto the show as an official contestant and who will have their journey cut short. the worried frown on sungwoon’s face is more for woojin, kenta, and minhyun than himself. they did amazingly well and deserve to make it through. just this round, he thinks, wringing his hands together. just let them get through this round. let us all get through this round.

he hasn’t really considered what he would do if he gets eliminated here and now. laugh at himself, maybe. go through another crisis of ability? sungwoon made it past this point last year, and he’s much better now than he was back then. he wants some sort of acknowledgement of his skills and his growth, but he knows just as well that the universe doesn’t owe him anything. with everything empty enigma has already accomplished, maybe he’s reaching for the stars. however, sungwoon has never been okay with just being content. if he can push forward for more, he’ll take it. so he wants to survive today, and next week, and the week after that. sungwoon refuses to let himself consider the alternatives. 

the staff call individuals out one by one while the ceos deliberate. he’s a little confused until someone lets it spill that they’re doing more interviews. frankly, it’s unexpected; sungwoon can only remember doing one interview last year, and it wasn’t until episode seven. this is a holdover from earlier seasons, apparently, so sungwoon is happy to just roll with it. interviews don’t phase him, and he certainly has a lot to say about the performances he’s watched so far. some of his friends are… not as forthcoming, and he is absolutely thinking about woojin here. god, he hopes woojin will be okay during the interview.

“ha sungwoon!” he’s deep in conversation when he hears his name and nearly jumps in surprise. after asking keta to watch over his keyboard, he follows the staff to get his hair and make-up retouched. in spite of his tiredness, he chats amicably, gently prodding them for any idea of what to expect during the interviews. one of the make up artists laughs at his attempts and says, “you’ll do just fine, sungwoon.” he takes her reassuring words to heart and heads into the room ready to get through this. all he has to do is remember to reign in a few of his more passionate opinions, but if there’s one thing sungwoon does feel confident in, it’s his ability to know what is appropriate and what isn’t. 

“welcome back, sungwoon. this isn’t your first time on the mgas, but we’re still curious to hear how you felt when you received news of the callback.” 

after greeting the interviewer and taking a seat, he ponders the first question. “honestly? i didn’t think very much of it when i first got the email. i was busy making kimchi, which is just about the most korean thing i could be doing.” the chuckle comes easily as sungwoon recalls the rest of the band bothering him to abandon his work and check his goddamn email. they’d been so excited to hear they were going through to the next stage of auditions… their reaction to the news sticks with him more than his own. “i think i was happier for my friends than i was for myself.” especially for kenta, minhyun, and woojin. “some of them are getting to experience all this for the first time and it’s fun to see them go through the whole spectrum of emotions, you know?” 

he didn’t get to experience it with the whole band last year, so get the opportunity to now means the world to him. “their enthusiasm is infectious, though, and they ended up getting me excited too.” especially daniel, whose been the whole group’s champion from the start. “i guess aside from that, i was a little relieved as well; i felt like i should be able to do this much.” especially after his showing last year, to not even make it to callbacks would’ve been awkward. not that he’d ever expressed his doubts to his friends—or to himself. “i wasn’t ready for my journey to be cut short, though, so i’m grateful i got a chance to perform today.” 

“were you surprised when the judges were revealed?” 

“yeah,” he says immediately. even amidst everything else going on, the arrival of the five ceos caught sungwoon off guard. he understands the reason behind their presence here; it makes sense that they’d want to be involved in the selection process for the show itself. and to see how potential contestants react to their sudden appearance—whether they can keep their composure or fall apart in a bundle of nerves—is equally important, in his opinion. the live shows aren’t easy; not everyone can handle the kind of pressure that comes with it. “i might’ve blacked out for a few seconds in shock,” sungwoon laughs. “they are a lot more impressive than i remember. i mean, their collective aura is no joke. did you see so jisub? and katie lee… wow.” the ceos radiate power and prestige. it would bowl a lesser person over. 

“i was looking forward to performing for them again,” he continues after a small pause. “but if i’d known they would be here today, i would’ve done something different.” it’s hard to imagine what else he might’ve performed off the top of his head, but sungwoon knows he probably would’ve taken a risk and showcased a skill they wouldn’t expect to see from him. “but hey, that just means i have to live to fight another day.” he scratches his neck. “regrets and i aren’t good friends. i don’t want to go home and think, i should’ve done this or what if i’d done that. hopefully i won’t have to. hopefully the universe will be kind enough to give me one more opportunity to perform for the judges.”

“so how do you think you did with the performance you prepared?”

“there’s always room for improvement.” no matter what he feels about his performance right now, sungwoon knows he’ll discover a million things he could’ve done better once he stops and really thinks things through. it’s not in his nature to be complacent; the nagging voice in the back of his head criticizes more easily than it compliments. “i’m never fully satisfied with anything i do, but i think that’s a good thing. it just means i’ll keep pushing myself and keep try harder next time.” rather than being a burden, he thinks the attitude is a healthy one to carry into a competition like this one. 

“that being said…” the corners of sungwoon’s lips curve up, his previous serious expression fading. “this performance was representative of who i am. i worked on the piano rearrangement myself, and i really wanted to showcase a combination of my vocal and instrument skills. and i sang from the heart—which might not count for much, but that might be the most authentic performance i’ve given in my life, so how can i not be happy with it?” he’d left it all out there, bled himself dry, and he hopes at least a fraction of that came across to the ceos and to his audience. “my answer might be different tomorrow, but for now, i think i did alright.” 

“what did you think of joohyun’s performance? she sang a song by your band, empty enigma.” 

ah. surprise briefly flickers across sungwoon’s face before he can cover it up with a smile. it makes sense for the staff to ask him about her performance out of the other ninety-nine, but he can’t say he’s prepared to answer. “i still can’t believe it,” he chuckles, fingers idly picking at the stray threads sticking out of his pants. “my brain stopped functioning for a while. like, i actually thought i might’ve died and entered nirvana. for someone to perform our song on a stage like this one is… unreal.” his jaw dropped when he recognized the familiar music, the lyrics he’s come to associate with daniel pouring out of joohyun’s mouth. 

sheer shock eventually gave way to gratitude and confusion—why empty enigma? they’re not exactly… mainstream. it has to be a big risk doing one of their songs. sungwoon wonders if she did for daniel’s sake. he’s not sure what to feel about that, but now isn’t the time to unpack it either. instead, he presses both hands to his warm, pink cheeks as he thinks about the viewers hearing empty enigma’s music. joohyun’s done more to promote them than any of the band members have. “i’m thankful joohyun liked our music enough to do our song, and i think she did it beautifully.” he turns to the camera and sinks into a small bow. “thank you, joohyun! i hope someday we’ll be able to perform this song together!” 

“and what were your thoughts on your band members’ performances?” 

his face splits into a wide grin. “i thought you’d never ask.” sungwoon can talk about his friends and their performances for hours, but he tries to keep it brief. “all of them did a great job. i know i sound biased, but i didn’t realize how good most of them are, so actually seeing them up on stage was a shock for me.” he dives into woojin’s performance first since it’d left the strongest impact. “woojin… i didn’t know he could dance like that. i mean, we live together, but he’s a private person—so seeing all that charisma and raw talent come out? i’m proud but also slightly offended he didn’t tell me he could do that.” similarly, he didn’t know the full extent of kenta’s dance skills, though they’d come as less of a surprise than woojin. “kenta was also amazing. doing a jun song isn’t easy, but he pulled it off with elegance and charm. he’s truly a talented performer.” 

talking about minhyun is a lot easier when sungwoon doesn’t have to do so in front of him. “i knew minhyun could sing, but his dancing skills were a bit of a mystery to me.” pausing, sungwoon bursts out laughing as a thought hits him. “i guess that’s how you can tell we’re in a band, huh? none of us knew the others could dance.” he takes a brief moment to collect himself before continuing. “anyway, i really applaud him for showcasing both his singing and dancing today, and i love bruno. minhyun really did him justice.” god, he hopes this doesn’t air; sungwoon isn’t sure how he’d explain gushing about minhyun on camera to the man himself. “i believe minhyun has the confidence and talent to be an idol, so he’s definitely one of my top picks out of today.” 

finally, he comes to daniel and his eyes light up. “daniel… he’s polarizing. i’ve heard a lot of people say he isn’t talented, but he did an original song today. that has to count for something.” he loved daniel’s performance, but he’d probably love anything daniel does. the faint pink from earlier is still in his cheeks, and he hopes it isn’t obvious just how much he cares. just in case, sungwoon cuts it short. “his singing and stage skills have improved immensely, so i hope people recognize that and support him a lot this year. he deserves it.” 

“were there any performances you liked?”

there were a few sungwoon paid attention to aside from empty enigma and joohyun’s. “eunji—she did boa’s woman. i thought her voice and her presence were both commanding. i’m a fan. i enjoyed jeonghan’s song choice and vocal color as well; he’s a potential contestant i would definitely keep an eye out for.” he should probably diversify and mention more than just vocalists, but as one himself, sungwoon tends to focus on the competition more than the rest. “i heard someone sing day6’s shoot me—sihyeon, i think? i thought her song choice was very bold. i liked it.” day6’s music is some of his favorite to listen to, and he almost wishes he’d done of their songs as well. “hyojin’s acoustic cover was really good too. i wasn’t familiar with the song, but i like how he performed it.” 

this is harder than sungwoon anticipated; a lot of the performances that came first have blurred together in his mind. “some of the mash ups were very clever. i can respect the skill that goes into making them.” there were a few others, but he can’t remember them off the top of his head. “oh!” sungwoon says suddenly, smacking his palm with his fist. “the guy who did the trot version of lc9? i kinda enjoyed that. though my grandfather loves trot so i might just have a soft spot for it.” the name of the performer slips his mind, but the song itself is stuck in his head. 

“were there any performances you didn’t like?” 

sungwoon wonders how many people have actually answered this question. nobody wants to be edited as the designated asshole, so he imagines the answers have been safe so far. sungwoon isn’t eager to shoot himself in the foot either, but truthfully, there were a few he didn’t care for. “i think there are some performers who could probably benefit from a few years of experience,” sungwoon says carefully, his expression controlled into one of bland interest. “but shows like this have ways of making you grow up fast, so i don’t know if it’s all that important.” 

he wonders if he should just list the performances he didn’t like—the kid on skates, for one, because this is an idol competition. the one who’d done the baby shark remix didn’t seem all that serious either. “i also hope more contestants take the competition seriously moving forward.” sungwoon could rip into a few vocal performances if he really wanted to, but he eventually shakes his head and flashes the interviewer a smile. “i don’t think my opinion matters much, so i’ll leave it there.” 

“is there anyone you are certain will move onto the next phase of the mgas?”

“mason,” he says bluntly. “but everyone can probably see that coming.” it’s wild to think a debuted idol is on this show, and such a high profile one. his sheer wealth of experience both terrifies and inflames sungwoon; he doesn’t want to just roll over and lose to someone like that. “he’s a former idol with a fanbase, with the skills and training, and with the prior experience to kill it in this competition. i believe he’ll make it to the finale.” is it unfair? maybe. if sungwoon’s worried about going up against him, he wonders how some of the green newbies feel. “i hear there are a few other debuted idols here too. junhee—he did jonas brothers? i heard he was an idol as well, so he’ll probably have an edge over the rest and make it through easily. you can’t deny that people who’ve experienced this lifestyle, whether as idols or trainees, have a distinct advantage in this competition.” 

other than that… “i think moonbok might move onto the next phase; he was on the mgas last year. i hope joohyun goes through since she deserves it the most, probably.” for fairness’ sake, he should mention people he hasn’t spoken about yet. “i’m confident minkyung will, and likely chan as well. i remember being impressed by him.” and last season didn’t have many rappers, so sungwoon is positive at least a few will go through now. “if any of these predictions come true, maybe i can see the future?” he breaks off and laughs at the thought. him, a psychic? “i hope that’s true! it’d be cool.”   

“some would say you also have an advantage over others as a member of a band.” 

some? sungwoon would like to meet them. “maybe? but performing as part of a band and as an idol are two different things.” he’s not sure how to explain this to someone who hasn’t experienced the energies for themselves, but you can’t compare the two. “the way you play to the crowd—and play off them—differs when you’re in a band. it’s a lot more casual and fun and intimate in some cases.” personally, he thinks it’s freeing; there are less rules and restrictions, no illusion of perfection to maintain. 

“as an idol, you need to be more poised and precise with everything you do. i mean, i can’t say for sure, but from what i experienced during the mgas last year, it was… nothing like i was used to. the expectations for idols are sky high.” sungwoon shrugs and claps his hands together. “i don’t think my band history gives me much of an edge over anyone.” his fellow competitors don’t have to agree, but at least sungwoon made an attempt to clear the air.  

“is there anyone you are certain will be eliminated today?”

he grins slowly and shakes his head. “that’s not for me to judge, is it?” no way is sungwoon getting caught out on that question. but privately, he thinks skater boy is probably a goner. 

“thank you for your time. you may now return to your seat.” 

“thanks for all your hard work.” exchanging farewells with the interviewer, he heads back to his seat, eager to discuss with his friends as they wait for the eliminations to take place. maybe the interview could’ve gone a bit better, but sungwoon is glad he didn’t say something dumb. it’ll have to do for now.

[rkjeongin-blog]

⭐️MGA 5 EPISODE 1 callback interview

there he goes again, back in a small room where someone will ask him questions about how his day went. he feels a lot better than the first time, knowing what to expect and how to respond comfortably. jeongin isn’t awkward at all when he sits down and faces them, all the previous pressure weighing down on him during his performance relieved as soon as it was over. nothing can really go wrong now, if they didn’t like him they’ll eliminate him and if the opposite happened, they’ll keep him. an interview won’t change any of that unless he starts being offensive.

How did you feel when you received the news of the callback?

he thinks back to the moment he totally freaked out upon hearing the results. part of him is naive and hopeful, but the other also lacks confidence and so he never quite knows if his gut feeling is right or not. he doesn’t trust himself to know for sure if his performance went well or not. “i felt really happy! a little surprised maybe, it’s rare that i win anything! i’m not saying i’ll be the winner of this season, of course!” he waves his hands in front of him frantically, showing off his braces as he laughs. “but it feels nice to be chosen right? it means they didn’t think i was terrible!”

How was it seeing the set for the first time, and the judges once they were reveal?

“the set is huge! i’ve never stood on anything like this. it’s way bigger than school festivals, with all the lights, the seats, and everyone watching... if i’m being honest, it was really intimidating especially the way the judges stare at you... are they supposed to look scary?” he tilts his head cutely. “i was really hoping there would be coaches like in one of the previous seasons... maybe they could have k.arma coach us! i would really love that.”

How do you think you did?

he nods his head with confidence this time. “a lot better than last time! i was just as nervous in the beginning, but having friends here looking out for me really calmed me down. i was alone the first time so it was harder. i mean, i can’t speak for the judges but i feel like i was more stable! and i really put more thought into my outfit!”

Were there any performances you liked?

“all of them?” jeongin declares, and it’s obviously not a lie. it’s not his place to judge others since he’s still lacking, and he’s very easily pleased and impressed. some are more skilled than others, but they all tried their best and that’s what matters. “is it biased if i say my cousin yeji did really well? i hope she moves on to the next round, i’d be happy even if only she does and not me! but the best scenario would be the both of us of course,” he says with a small laugh. “jisungie hyung, chris hyung and changbinnie hyung all rapped, they’re really impressive aren’t they? i could never do that, i don’t have swag.” he pronounces the word with a very strong accent. he could really study english more. “woojin hyung sang really good too, i love his voice, and the song suits him perfectly. and didn’t shin yuna’s song choice make you laugh? the dance and remix were cool though! i liked the girl who sang fly, the girl who danced to kara’s mamma mia - i love kara! - and also kokoro noona who performed a chi chi song! good for her, she has good taste!

Were there any performances you didn’t like?

“not really, no...” he pauses in case he can think of one, but none comes to mind so he just shrugs. “sorry!”

What did you think of kim seungmin’s performance?

he looks around nervously. what kind of magic is this? have they already figured him out? or maybe they just saw them talk before and after the performances, and figured they knew each other well. this seems like the more plausible option, not the conspiration jeongin envisions. “hyung is really talented, his voice gives me goosebumps... he’s a much better singer than me so i’m sure he will move on to the next round, i will root for him until the end~.”

and lastly, they ask him if there is anyone he thinks will definitely make it or not make it on the show, and he already answered part of it by saying seungmin, so he simply repeats that, and says he thinks everyone deserves to go on. 

[rkdoyoung]

         ✧ ✧ ✧  ━━━━━━━  & MGA SEASON 5 CALLBACKS ,                                                INTERVIEW —

he’d come into this competition not knowing what to expect. he hadn’t watched any of the previous seasons, and while he knew it was a talent competition, he didn’t know much else about it. the singing and the dancing was a given, and even the appearance of the ceos seemed expected given the fact that the fate  of their companies depended on the trainees they choose to groom for the future, but it never even crossed his mind that they’d care so much about the thoughts of the contestants on the show. based on how much time the auditions alone would take up, even if they chose a select few, he figured there’d be enough to fill up even several episodes if they liked; he didn’t think they’d need footage like this to fill up time.

but, hey, what does he know about show business?

it seems like such a long time until they call his name since all the performances are done now and he has little else to do to take up his time other than talk to his cousin and try to talk to his brother, so by the time he’s called up, he’s surprisingly pretty pumped about it.

he enters the room and settles into the seat, shaking his bottom just a bit to get that feel of having been sat in it for hours. he rests his hands on the armrest and allows his lips to bloom into a full blown grin, ready for whatever questions they throw at him.

how did you feel when you received the news of the callback?

“i was like, i knew it!” he lies through his teeth, laughter following soon after, betraying that false sense of confidence. “actually, i was pretty surprised. there were so many people at the auditions that i wasn’t sure i would stand out among so many of them, so thanks for giving me the chance to show more of what i have! hopefully i’ve shown enough to make you want to see even more. we’ve only scratched the surface, baby!”

what did you think when the judges were revealed?

he leans back in his seat, his lups forming into a circle as he blows air out of his mouth, his head shaking. sure, it hadn’t really been a surprise to see them there, but that didn’t mean it didn’t make an impact. he immediately felt small in front of them, like a mere mortal before gods. “they felt fucking powerful,” he says, uttering the first words that crosses his mind, belatedly realizing he probably shouldn’t be cursing on television. his hand immediately jumps off to cover his mouth, eyes wide in shock at himself.

“i mean...f--cking powerful,” he repeats, this time censoring himself. “kind of like an ‘i am not worthy’ moment, ya feel me?”

how do you think you did?

his lips purse, expression turning pensive. he’s silent for a few moments as he mentally goes through his performance again. sure, there had been some mistakes---a shaky start due to nerves, a lack of technique toward the end---but overall, he thinks he did pretty well. “you know what? i did decent.”

kim seungmin is your brother, right? how do you think he did?

his expression immediately lights up the second his brother’s name is mentioned. he sits up straighter in his seat, at rapt and full attention, grin so wide his teeth are bared for all to see. “yes he is!” he replies enthusiastically, a proud glow emanating off of him. “he did amazing! perfect! great! i mean, you watched it, right? you saw it. he did really well.” yeah, okay, he might be slightly biased, but that’s to be expected. “isn’t he so cute?”

besides your brother’s, are there any other performances that stood out to you?

“kim hyojin!” he’s quick to answer with a smile. of course, he can’t forget to mention his cousin and roommate. “he was really good, right?” he pauses to try and remember other performances who aren’t his family, ones that stood out among the literal hundred others he’s seen. “oh, that one girl who danced to partition...i can’t remember her name, but it was different than the usual choreography that you see for that song, you know what i mean? and her dancing was phenomenal. uh, and that one guy who did that trot rendition of that one boy group song. had a lot of fun with that one.”

he pauses again, trying to remember even more because he wants to give credit where credit is due. “that one rapper, i think his name was yeosang or something like that. that song he chose was really good, and man, his rapping was smooth af.” his lips purse in order not to burst into laughter as he recalls another performance, one that stands out for...other reasons. yes, he’d said he was okay, but he didn’t want to appear mean-spirited for bursting out into laughter. “that one kid who roller skated was really interesting. he looked really cool.” until he fell off the stage....but he probably shouldn’t say that out loud. instead, he gives a thumbs up at the camera accompanied by a grin as a show of support and solidarity for the boy.

“oh, oh!!” he says, pepping up as he remembers one contestant in particular. “choi minho is also really cool! he’s got like....” he pauses, forgetting how to say what he wants to say for a moment in both his learned languages. “star quality.” before he can stop himself, his rambling continues, “and he’s got these man tiddiez...can’t take your eyes off of ‘em!”

yeah, probably should have left that one in his head, too. 

any final thoughts?

still trying to recover from his slip-up, he chuckles in embarrassment, trying to regain composure. “i’m just really thankful for this opportunity,” he says finally, genuine and sincere. “i’ve already learned a few things about myself, and i’m hoping i can continue on this journey so i can learn even more.”

[rkminhyun]

               MGA SEASON FIVE CALLBACKS     ∙       june twenty seven

                                               𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲     :     𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 

                                 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 & 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠    :     𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐬'  ���𝟒𝐤 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜  

                                                    0:34 - 1:17     &     1:58 - 2:38

                                                                     ↺

      he lies there in bed for a while after everyone’s settled down from from the events of getting the email,  rereading the contents in question at least a dozen times before he can will himself to put his phone down.

      the day had originally gone like normal,  the disruption of peace coming in the form of someone mentioning they’d gotten an email  (  --  kenta,  maybe,  if he searches his thoughts hard enough to find an answer,  followed closely by daniel rushing into the room  )  and with nerves erecting instantaneously,  minhyun takes a breath before looking towards his own phone.

      the first read is more eyes casually finding themselves in a frantic search for the key words  --  an invitation outlining he’s made the callback cut,  an address attached and formal details lingering in between the main points of the email.   his head hits the back of the couch silently,  and he closes his eyes.

      he breathes.

      conversations around him eventually fall into a lull as they break off into tiny groups,  scattering as they discuss the necessary details for the big day,  excitement in the air.  minhyun checks in and out of the conversation,  finding himself a little lost but stubborn enough not to let it seep through into his expression.  he keeps his answers light and goes about his day.

      then,  he tucks himself into bed,  bidding kenta a goodnight,  before turning his back on the other boy and proceeding to open up the very email he’s been lamenting in his head all day.

      oh god,  what did he sign himself up for?

      a minor freak out later,  not that anyone in the share-house would really know considering it’s all happening internally in the middle of the night,  because clearly minhyun never quite learned the value of expressing your emotions and having a healthy venting system going  --  and so,  when woojin asks him if he knows what he’s doing,  he simply shakes his head the first time and then says  i’m working on it  anytime after that.

      yeah,  definitely.

      it’s definitely not as if he whips something together the day before,  practice running into early morning,  relying on choreography he did in past and knew his body was still comfortably familiar with.  it’s times like these he’s thankful to his little sister,  that he had been coerced into attending dance lessons for however short a time it may be in comparison to other trainees,  appreciating the experience exponentially simply so he wouldn’t necessarily embarrass himself.  it takes a few full runs for his mind to remember the way his limbs are supposed to be working,  but a few hours in and breathless,  minhyun can stay with some semblance of confidence maybe he’s anticipating the big day.

      well,  more so at the prospect of getting it done and over with,  but he deems the thought is what counts.

      daniel stays over the night before so they can all go together,  and minhyun’s up making breakfast earlier than he expected to,  despite how he has to rub at his eyes for a while when he wakes just to will himself to open them.  once he’s up,  the butterflies ever present in his lungs make sure their presence is acknowledged,  and he almost considers skipping out on the meal.

      almost being the keyword,  but he knows the importance of a good balanced meal in the morning and so he eats,  pushing the same on the others through insisting remarks and a bit of force where necessary.  he smiles to himself at the sight of the group together,  a sense of love ever present in the way his eyes crinkle just the slightest,  before he shifts his attention back to his plate.

      the rest of the morning and the time after they’re finally past check-ins and inside the venue almost flies by,  minhyun too busy fretting over small details for the others and making sure everything was ready for his own performance by running through things a couple dozen times in his mind.  he helps sungwoon carry in his keyboard,  amused at the prospect of coming to the other’s aid though he doesn’t make any remarks about it,  almost wordless thanks to nerves. his heart feels like it’ll never stop racing,  and after a while,  he almost gets used to it.

      they’re all dressed in empty enigma shirts,  making some sort of combined statement and he can’t particularly remember who brought up the idea but he wears it proud  --  just a shirt,  he’ll remind himself later,  a little embarrassed,  but the point stands.

      he waits for the other boys to sit first before following suit,  finding comfort having a seat on one of their ends,  having the ability to look over and see them all at once.  maybe it’s the side of him that served as empty enigma’s manager for as long as he did,  or maybe it’s just a him thing overall,  but he smiles to himself as the others chatter among themselves and feels contentment stirring inside him.  he may not say it now,  maybe not anytime soon when words are so difficult to filter through and process but the appreciation he holds for his found family,  his band of misfits  --  he can’t even begin to phrase it all into words.

      instead,  he turns towards the front and watches as others start filtering in,  eyes beginning to analyze the competition without him really meaning to.  it feels like an automatic response,  and overall,  a very him thing to do when he’ll consider it later while looking back on the day.

      eventually his phone buzzes and he sees the text from suwoong pop onto the screen as he slides it open,  and for a moment he stares at it before looking back up towards the front.  ah,  yes.  suwoong.  how naive of him to forget the other was apart of the process,  especially when he was sure to be a sight to behold in the auditions,  no,  more the entire show.

      his phone then buzzes thrice consecutively,  and minhyun only sighs before unlocking it to respond,  question prompted about the location of his seat.  minhyun closes his eyes to bask in the quiet murmurs of the room and then like clockwork,  the quiet is shattering as if infiltrated by an incoming tsunami,  and he opens his eyes to offer suwoong a wry attempt at a grin.

      time passes with idle conversations and then a focus towards the beginning of the call-backs. soon after begin the nervous jitters,  crawling up his skin and he scratches his arms,  his neck,  his cheek from time to time,  the phantom sensations never quite leaving him,  increasing once the judges are announced.  he’s one to operate with a sheet of iron over his expression,  but he blinks in minor shock,  later supposing it’s not too out there  --  the contestants would be their investments in the future,  some talents they’d be scouting at the end of the program.  despite the pressure,  minhyun finds his jitters translating into excitement,  his attention kept towards the stage.

      daniel goes up first,  and minhyun offers a quick pat before he can making his way down,  the good luck almost lost in his bout of nerves before finally making it past his lips.  he shifts into the seat beside sungwoon when the other’s gone,  and like clock-work,  without really meaning to every time he swears,  his grip becomes interlocked with the others as they stare at the stage collectively.  he tries his best to pay attention through the whole thing,  beaming proudly though with the first of them gone,  minhyun feels the presence of ticking clock grow exponentially.  at some point,  he blanks out.  when daniel returns,  he slides back into his own seat as everyone commences the quiet cheers,  and minhyun offers a heartwarming good job whispered into the air once the other sits.  

      “hwang minhyun!”  katie lee calls out the moment he’s done with the congratulations,  and minhyun’s heart immediately jumps into his throat. daniel pats his knee before he can stand,  the other boys offering a thumb up and some verbal good lucks but it’s the collective smiles that stick with him as he makes his way to the makeshift stage.

      taking a few deep breathes on his way up,  he slides on what he deems to be a charming smile and quickly introduces himself.  “hello,  i’m hwang minhyun,  and i hope everyone remembers to recycle on the daily.”  he doesn’t know why he says that,  actually fails to remember much of the beginning when he looks back on the day later,  but he knows the rest of the pleasantries go as well as they can before he’s waiting for the music to begin.  the number of people should add to his nerves,  as he finally stands before them all,  but the stage does what it always does  --  spotlight in his eyes,  he inhales sharply and lets the rest of the world seep into the back of his thoughts.

twenty four karat magic in the air

      the performance is meant to start off a little acoustic style,  the backtrack essentially just his own ad-libs for his performance,  timed perfectly as he went along at the pace he’d practiced.  his voice is loud as he sings the final note in the line,  side of his mouth perking up as he closes his eyes for a moment.

head to toe so player look out uh

      his only plan for the beginning is to rely on his subtle charm and eye contact to start off his segment of time.  it’s a plan he’d been hesitant on doing but the idea bugs him for some time before he’d finally given in,  practicing and watching himself perform it countless times as his slightly accented english stabilizes as he gets a grip on his intentions.  his version is a little more focused on actually vocalizing the verse more so than the original did,  taking the chance to show off his singing.

pop pop, it's show time (show time) show time (show time) guess who's back again? oh they don't know? (go on tell 'em) oh they don't know? (go on tell 'em) i bet they know soon as we walk in (showin' up) wearing cuban links (ya) designer minks (ya) inglewood's finest shoes (whoop, whoop) don't look too hard might hurt ya'self known to give the color red the blues

      despite his growing confidence as he goes on,  he has yet to do much outside of exerting the image of a man that knows his lines and has the confidence to perform them,  switching his gaze from being planted on the judges themselves and the audience at large,  hoping to pull in the entire room into the piece that would come together to form the memory known as “minhyun’s attempt at a successful mga callback performance.”  a long title  --  it can use some work.

oh shoot, i'm a dangerous man with some money in my pocket (keep up) so many pretty girls around me and they waking up the rocket (keep up) why you mad, fix ya face, ain't my fault y'all be jocking (keep up)

      at the pretty girls line,  he fixes his gaze on katie lee and baek jiyoung for a moment,  shooting finger hearts to the panel,  then finishing off the verse.  at that,  the backtrack makes a faltering noise,  distorting at the next intended players only, come on,  and he sees scattered looks directed his way though it’s a well-known technique really.  minhyun takes it as a cue to run a hand through his hair casually,  growing grin visible as the track plays finally leaves the acoustic back track,  picking up where he’d left off vocally only a moment prior.  as the music switches to the original,  bruno mars’ voice echoing through the room,  his body reacts to the music automatically.

just put your pinky rings up to the moon girls, what y'all trying to do? (tell me what y'all trying to do) twenty four karat magic in the air head to toe so player (hands up!)

      his mind is empty as he dances,  more focused on the music than anything else,  not much active thought needed to deliver his moves.  there’s a casual grin,  tinted with a subtle cockiness only present when he performs,  channelling a bit of his reign persona to exert the intended effect of a man put together,  who knows what he’s doing.  he knows the moves well,  more than anything else in the moment in fact,  and a voice deep within his conscious tells him it’s clear with the confidence in his steps.  (not that he’d tell anyone else that,  finding blissful ignorance a safer home to settle within  --  i did okay,  he’ll tell anyone that asks and leave it at that).

put your pinky rings up to the moon girls, what y'all trying to do? (do) twenty four karat magic in the air head to toe so player (twenty four karat) uh, look out

       he falls into a bow almost immediately,  breathing heavy as he tries to stabilize but almost glowing with satisfaction.  the warmth covers every inch of him and he runs a hand through his hair once more before bidding his thank you’s.

[rkevent]

MGA SEASON 5 CALLBACK NOTICE

On June 22nd, out of all the people who participated in the first round of the MGA Season 5, only 100 people were chosen to move on to the next step of the process. As announced by every news outlet, this season has some cards hidden on its sleeve and it’s already time to show some of them.

The 100 contestants received an e-mail notifying them of their progress into the show with every detail needed to understand what they should do next. Along with the instructions comes an address where they’ll need to go to attend the recording of the first episode of the Mnet Global Audition Season 5. Screentime is guaranteed now, but exactly how much will be in your hands, and what you decide to show.

They’re told they’ll have under 2 minutes to show what they got in front of not only a set of judges but also all the other 99 contestants. That’s right! The set will look similar to the one seen in this video and chairs will be arranged on the sides of the stage (50 on each side) where contestants may choose where to sit once they arrive. Their performance may include whatever the contestant would like, but the only props the staff will provide are chairs. Instruments or anything else should be brought by contestants and notified beforehand so the staff can know what to expect. If they can’t carry it themselves, they shouldn’t bring it. They’ll be expected to show at least one of their performance skills, but doing more than one or none is of their choice and on their own risk.

You may find a list of the contestants who moved on to this phase right here!

Since OOC there aren’t 100 muses signed up for the show (75 in total), please keep in mind there will be 25 NPC contestants present and who will be performing sometime during recording. This group of 100 are not confirmed contestants and only in case they pass this round will they be confirmed on the show. As can be guessed, there will be eliminations.

A SURPRISE! After all the contestants arrive and find a seat of their liking, the judges for this round will be revealed and they are no other than the CEOs of the Big 5 companies. Tiger JK, Katie Lee, So Jisub, Hyun Bin, and Baek Jiyoung will be the ones to watch and evaluate each of your performances, as well as choose who will get to be part of this season or leave before it truly starts. They’ll be the ones calling your name to the stage and asking you to introduce yourself before your performance. The results and eliminations will only come after everyone shows what they prepared.

However, after the last performance is done, the CEOs will leave to discuss their thoughts privately. While this happens, the contestants will be taken one by one into a small room to be interviewed on their thoughts of the current state of things. They will be asked a variety of questions and some may be included in the list found below! Feel free to come up with your own questions if you think they can be fitting.

How did you feel when you received the news of the callback?

How was it seeing the set for the first time?

What did you think when the judges were revealed?

How do you think you did?

Were there any performances you liked?

Were there any performances you didn’t like?

What did you think of ___’s performance?

Is there anyone you are certain will move onto the next phase of the MGAs?

Is there anyone you are certain will be eliminated today?

Once they’re done, they’ll be taken back to their seat to wait, or may go to the bathroom if needed.

Contestants have until midnight EST at the end of Friday, the 28th, to post their 200+ words solos about their performance on this callback phase. Please tag all related posts with #rkmga5 and #rkmga5callback.

You may also write an extra 200+ words solo about your muse’s interview, as explained above, to also be posted until midnight EST at the end of Friday, the 28th. For doing so, you may earn +2 CHARISMA OR CREATIVITY POINTS and these can be added to your points tally as soon as it is posted. Please tag all related posts with #rkmga5 and #rkmga5callback. Please link this post as verification.

[rkyeji]

                              hwang yeji & the interview mentioned ; @rktaeyang, @rkyuri, @rkchwev, @ryujinrk, @danielxrk, @rkjeongin, @rksuwoong, @rkkhg, @rkkyg, @rkchoutzuyu

an interview portion, it would be a nice way to pass the time while the judges made the important decision of who to send through to the next round and who would stay. yeji hoped her friends would make it and herself of course but so far– at least she tried out for the mgas this year, last year she was a by stander and she couldn’t even watch it.

when it was her time she walked into the room, smiling nervously at the staff that was there– wondering what kind of questions they would give her– yeji sat down, her lips trembling a little as she rested her against the back of the chair.

“how did you feel when you recieved the news of the callback?”

yeji remebered the feeling– “i was excited i felt stressed becuse i had to come up with another dance routine in a short amount of time,” she nodded, “i think it turned out alright in the end– i had a lot of fun dancing in front of the five judges– ceos.”

“what did you think when they were revealed?”

it was a natural question to follow up after she mentioned them first, “first of all i was stunned because its my first time seeing them– then second i thought both ms. katie lee and baek jiyoung were amazing, two women in the middle of these men– katie lee is as pretty as the pictures and hyun bin is as handsome as ever? how is that even possible?”

“any performances you liked today? who do you think will go through to next phase?”

it was impossible for her to pick just one and she hoped that wasn’t what they expected her to do, “yoo taeyang– he dances so well, how could he not go through? also jo yuri, her voice is so fresh and nice to listen too, she shines when she’s on stage.” yeji smile slightly, “there is also uh, this rapper– his name was chwe hansol… sshi? he looked like he was made for stage as well and his rap was better than i expected,” yeji wans’t lying– she knew he suited the spotlight form his past but she had never really heard or seen him rap. it made the older male even more charming and during his performance she simply couldn’t keep her eyes off him, shamelessly staring– “also doesn’t he look like that american actor?? leonardo dicaprio– i think the judges are gonna pick him for sure.” yeji thought for a couple more seconds– “then there is ryujinnie~ she’s my friend and i know she is a good dancer and pretty, so why woudln’t they want her as well.”

“you are related to kang daniel and yang jeongin, how did you think their performances went?”

upuntil now it had just felt like they had generic questions but when they suddenly asked about her cousins she wrinkled her nose– “ah jeonginnie and daniel oppa? i think daniel oppa showed an improved version of himself, from last year– i hope he makes it and as for jeongin, he’s a good singer and i think they would regret it if they didn’t let him through.”

“what about you and your performance?”

yeji hesitated for a little, “i don’t want to toot my own horn but i think i did well– there were so many talented people here today so i don’t think i did better–” yeji knew she was one of the more powerful dancers, after watching everyone, she knew but it wasn’t something she wanted to say outloud– “i hope the judges see something in me, if i get through i’ll show them even more.”

“is there a contestant that caught your attention?”

with all her heart she wanted to mention hansol again-- but she stopped herself, instead she thought about it thoroughly, “i think... what was his name... uh, the one that performed a trot version of lc9′s ring ding dong-- his performance was different, so it caught my attention. also i liked the performances of yugyeom ssi and kang hyunggyu ssi, they danced really well. also jeong heejin ssi’s performance struck me, her voice was surprisingly soothing. not to mention she’s beautiful?” yeji nodded slowly, “oh and tzuyu un... ssi,” correcting herself before continuing, “was really ethereal when she performed, the song suited her.”

when she finished the interview portion she walked out-- sighing softly as she realized she could have mentioned so many more but there were so many performances, the recornding had been going on for hours already and she could barley rememeber the earliest ones. yeji walked to find her seat again-- her feat tapping with nervous excitement.

[rkdaehwi]

CALLBACK AUDITION PART I : PERFORMANCE

MGA5 contestant Sohn Youngjae Performing iKON -  죽겠다 ( 00:00 - 01:54 ) Outfit

“ And suddenly you know it’s time to start something new ”

The worst possible outcome would be that he didn’t even make it back to the MGAs this year. Eric had always been a young man of great confidence, but even someone like him might take a dent from rejection after rejection and failure following more failure. Had he been denied from the very get-go he might honestly have felt his world collide yet again as he was still getting back on top after his argument with his brother. There was no bad blood left between them anymore, but Eric was still jealous of the other’s trainee position and that only meant that he had to work doubly hard to make up for lost time.

But he also knew that he couldn’t just do whatever he pleased anymore. So far he had gone through life with the mindset that as long as he did what he wanted to the world was going to bend down to his feet and accept it, but that had not exactly brought him very far. It was time to step back, take a look at his experiences and evaluate what could possibly have left him with rejection thus far. His age was something he supposed, but that was not exactly something he could do anything about. Yet again he found himself amongst many adults when he went to the designated venue for the audition. There was a fear that they were going to cut him off because he was too young and inexperienced again, but the only thing Eric could do about that was to believe in himself and not let his worries show. Prove them that even someone so young could make a name for himself.

What he actually could do something about was his performance choice. In the last season he had simply stuck to one side of his abilities for that was what he knew best. Even for the triple threat challenge he had stuck to female artists. He thought it was enough to expand his repetoire with hip hop, but alas. Eric liked to tell himself that it was because his heart hadn’t been in it enough, but as expected the sourness of the aftermath still remained within him and he greatly regretted the outcome and not trying his best. At the time he had thought only TRC had been accepting auditions. He was a fool.

This time he wasn’t going to make any mistakes. If anyone saw him as a cute boy who was jumping around a bit to girl group songs he was about to wreck that image completely. Heavy eye makeup in dark colours already hinted the theme of his song choice, and if that wasn’t good enough, the harness he had acquired for the occasion would also give the image of a dark and more mature concept than he had ever shown before. If any of the judges actually took his previous performances into consideration or even remembered him, this moment was to blow them away. Hopefully at least. He’d do his absolute best and if this wasn’t enough, what even would be?

To his surprise Eric spotted many a familiar face at the venue -- Moonbok’s long hair was impossible not to take notice of, and wasn’t that Jisung over there? These bastards hadn’t even told him that they were auditioning, but then again Eric himself supposed that he hadn’t told anyone either. Not because he had any fear of the outcome but because it was more fun to keep it as a surprise. But he was still upset! He himself was excused; they weren’t. That was just how it worked!

Unfortunately they were rushed in before Eric could really get a chance to talk to any of them, but he figured he’d just hit them up later. Easily forgotten were his hyungs as the excitement built up within him the closer he got to the stage, and the moment he stepped out he could hear gasps and murmur around him: the cause clear the moment he locked eyes with the five CEOs of Korea’s biggest entertainment industries. Honestly he wasn’t too surprised -- he himself couldn’t remember how early they got involved last year, but shouldn’t it have been obvious that they would appear sooner rather than later? Well, he supposed that some people might feel extra pressure performing before them, but in the end it was no different in concept -- it was still doing a performance, get judged for it and evaluated. Pretty simple if you asked him.

Getting seated it didn’t last long before the first contestant was called to stage and the young teen could immediately feel the rush of anticipation as it all began. There was just something about watching people do their best up close that was incredibly exciting and that he could never get enough of. And he couldn’t wait for his own turn. Everyone’s eyes on him as he took the stage for two minutes and made it his own. But for now it was time to let others shine, and certainly they did.

Seeing another kid he knew the face of slide across the stage on skates had Eric almost cheer his lungs out in pure amazement. The return was not quite as elegant however, and Eric gave a loud gasp followed by a brief laughter as Haruto fell off stage. He then turned to tug the sleeve of the person seated next to him once the younger hopeful person had made his way back to his seat. “That was so cool, wasn’t it?!” he beamed at the older male even though he had never met him before and had no idea what his name was. As the other was called in later he would come to know him as ‘Suwoong’.

With every performance Eric clapped and cooed enthusiastically as if he simply couldn’t cease to be amazed, and finally his own name was called. Going to the middle of the stage, he gave a nod to all five individual judges before speaking. Always make sure to greet his seniors he thought. “My name is Sohn Youngjae, and you might remember me from my brief appearance on last season. If you don’t though, I’m gonna make sure you definitely will this time!” It might be a pretentious claim, but Eric was dead serious and he was definitely not going to hold anything back. Once the tyre screeches of his backing track sounded Eric began his performance.

It’s killing me, once again Your traces remain And they torture me It’s killing me I turned around like you’re a stranger But why am I so lonely?

The song was so far from anything he would usually listen to and like. He barely ever listened to boy groups, and when he did, it was songs with a much softer and brighter concept. Something like this was so far away from his repertoire as anything could be, but that didn’t matter. He would take even this song that was so foreign to him and make it his own.

I thought I’d be indifferent about breaking up But there’s one habit of yours that I have Not being able to throw things away Foolishly, these feelings remain Something that feels like regret Opposite from you who is doing great I’m half dead

I didn’t know the weight of this break up I was selfish, I ignored your tears

Barely even knowing what love was, Eric was only just recently starting to realise what it meant to have a crush on someone. What it meant to have feelings for someone. And the difference between a celebrity crush and an actual tangible crush. Something like a breakup was still so far away and so foreign a concept that he couldn’t really conceive the feelings behind it, but all he could do was act his way out of it through his use of tone. It had been an absolute pain recording the song beforehand with his voice as the backing just in case he had to lipsync or even just for basic support considering he had to both sing and dance. He wasn’t a professional, he needed to take everything into consideration to keep himself stable.

It’s killing me, once again Your traces remain And they torture me It’s killing me I turned around like you’re a stranger But why am I so lonely? Killing me

As the dance break after the chorus came up, for some reason a single girl popped into his mind. Come to think of it, not even Lily knew that he was going to be here today, did she? He couldn’t wait to see her reaction to his performance once it aired in television (if it even would, he had no idea how much of this would even air when it came down to it) and for a moment an involuntary smile appeared on his face that was quickly replaced with the stern expression that he had tried to maintain for the sake of capturing the mood of the song. As he thought of her, he suddenly started to imagine how it would feel if these lyrics had been about her, and somehow the thought didn’t sit quite well with him. It bothered him and he couldn’t quite understand why it did so. He tried to shrug it off as the chorus came to a close and the next part came up, for this was something he needed his full focus for.

Freedom and new relationships But behind that is an empty heart On this dark night, I’m alone again This isn’t right Her existence is such a big part of my world I try but I can’t take her out of it Once I did take her off, I broke down But I can’t tell myself to be ready to die So it’s killing me

Eric could easily have skipped the rap part. He wasn’t by any means a strong rapper although he had practiced a lot and definitely got better. Honestly speaking it would probably have been more profitable for him if he didn’t include it, but he wanted to challenge himself and show a different image from thus far. The fact that it was a more melodic rap than anything else had made it easier, but flow was still a very important thing, and it was hard to keep his mind on that at the same time as his dancing. Even more so was it difficult when he was so used to dancing with a more feminine touch to suddenly switch to masculine movements, but he had a long time to prepare considering he already had an idea how things were going to progress. There was not a lot left of the song now that he had finished the rap more or less successfully.

I didn’t know the weight of this break up I was selfish, I ignored your tears

As the music came to a close Eric sang a last “it’s killing me” and placed both hands over his throat as the choreography dictated. For a brief moment he simply stood there, chest heaving for breath now that it was over and done with. Immediately after he broke into a big smile and sent a victory sign off to the nearest camera he could spot before he jumped back to his seat with skipping steps. He had been in doubt of whether it had really been a good idea to perform something so far from his league, but now that it was actually over and done with it did feel quite good. He had done his best, and if nothing came out of it, he would definitely be disappointed.

Returning, Eric yet again returned to his seat mate and almost shook the stranger’s arm in his simple inability to control his joy. “Did you see me hyung? Hyung, wasn’t I totally cool?! I did it! I’m so happy!” He didn’t have much time to celebrate however as another familiar name was called, Moonbok stepping up to the stage to give his performance and Eric’s attention was immediately directed back to the show itself and his own attempt was already long pushed to the background with what was happening on stage taking all of his focus. “Yasssss!” he yelled eagerly as Moonbok stepped down, soon after followed by Jisung who seemed to be a wreck of nerves. “LET’S GET THIS BREAD JISUNGIE HYUNG!” he yelled at the other without thinking about it, and only afterwards did he realise how weird his sentence was and brought a mouth to his hand in an attempt to silence himself.

There was simply all too much happening at once for a young boy who just wanted to show support for those around him.

[rkkyungsoo]

‹ honesty hour. ›

callback interview solo

He felt sorry for the makeup artist who was giving him touch up. In hindsight, perhaps he should have put in a bit more effort and got more than a layer of...what’s it called, bb cream? He showed up to the audition bare faced because he didn’t know how to do it and figured it would be better to show up with a naked face than a clown one. His cousin Suwoong saw him and offered his assistance. Kyungsoo got some sort of cushion cream patted all over his face and his cousin messed up his hair a little, also unbuttoned/untucked his shirt to give him ‘flare’. The hair, he ended up smoothing back down before he got on the stage, and the shirt he tucked back in but the bb cream got to stay.

Suwoong’s product was probably good but Kyungsoo still managed to sweat off 75% of it by the time the performances were over. The makeup artist had to re-do everything and by the time Kyungsoo was seated in the interview chair, he was...at least 10% better looking.

How do you think you did?

“I definitely gave it my best shot,” he said, reminiscing. There was a lot of cheering when he got on that stage, actually, and hearing his name being shouted by a whole bunch of people gave him courage. “It is nice to have a supportive audience, I didn’t expect it, but most of that is probably my cousin’s doing.” He heard Suwoong shout out ‘YEAH THAT IS MY COUSIN KYUNGSOO’ even all the way on the stage. His friends, Kyungsoo supposed, decided to join him in cheering. Thankfully they all quieted down by the time he started, or else it would have ruined the serene atmosphere Kyungsoo was trying to create for his performance.

What did you think of Suwoong’s performance?

Oh god, of course they’d ask for him to comment on Suwoong’s performance because family bantering probably made good television. “Well, um...” Quick, he must think of something nice to say. Kyungsoo kept his smile pleasant as he scrambled for find positive words of praise to throw on his cousin’s...exquisite trot dance performance. He shouldn’t lie, especially when there was a possibility the camera caught his expression during Suwoong’s performance, which was a mixture of shock, terror and just general what the fuck. Yes, that expression must have looked super out of place on his usually calm face but Kyungsoo really couldn’t help it.

Before the performance, he’d gently patted Coco’s knee and told her it was his cousin coming up next and clapped for Suwoong as he did his introduction. After, well, he wish he never told her he had a cousin.

"He certainly...moved!” He was still struggling to find praise. The interviewer, amused by his obvious discomfort, decided to help him out by asking if that was how Suwoong usually behaved. “Yeah, that’s him. My cousin is confident as he is eccentric. He often twerk in the kitchen when he’s bored and alone. I think he is...uh, a happy person and that happiness can be infectious. He is not afraid to perform and only too eager to show off his moves. I, very much admire that about him.” Kyungsoo managed to force the last set of words through his lips, putting emphasis on the word admire even though it pained him.

Please let’s move away from the topic of Suwoong now.

Were there any performances you liked?

Oh, an easier question. “I like a lot of performances. I will admit, I paid more attention to the dancers because I have very little talent in that regard. Taeyang was great and so was Yena, but I think my favourite dance performance was from Hoseok. Maybe I am biased but I’ve seen Hoseok dance before at the community centre. He was doing a girl group cover and teaching some other people as well. It is good to have leadership and dance skills.” On television, it didn’t hurt to praise the competition because it made you seem kind. Kyungsoo decided to direct most of his praise towards the dancers because they weren’t his direct competitors like the singers were.

“I liked Tzuyu’s song choice, it really suited her voice.” He slid in the compliment casually near the end, supporting the girl who had his kitty’s favour.

Were there any performances you didn’t like?

See, if he shitted too hard on people, he’d seem like an asshole. If he said nothing, however, it would make him appear insincere. Kyungsoo would bet some people who wanted to appear extra humble would say themselves and talk about how they could have performed better, but he wasn’t into the idea of that. Why put yourself down when you are already in a competition where you might receive harsh criticism that’ll try to destroy your confidence? No, they should focus on building themselves up in preparation for all the difficulties that may be ahead should they pass.

So Kyungsoo shall be fair.

“What happened to Haruto was a shame. I think he was really nervous and that affected his performance.” That was the honest part. Now to say something gentler to smooth things over. “But nervousness will fade with time. If given the opportunity to move forward, I am sure he will gain confidence.” In that regard, Haruto could learn from Taeil, who didn’t exactly have the strongest performance but he certainly rapped with confidence.

@rksuwoong, @hobirk, @rktaeyang, @yuzurk, @rkchoutzuyu, @rkharuto, @rktaeil + @rkcoco

[rktingyan-blog]

   *.☽ .* ┊chong tingyan meets mga 5 callbacks, 062719 !                                 ↪ dancing to  i’m so hot (0:03 - 1:11) &  so hot remix (0:12 - 0:55)

what did chong tingyan do when she found out she'd made it past preliminaries? did she cry, gasp, or scream like other contestants might have done? well....no. in fact, she laughed. not out of amusement, or humor, but in actual disbelief that something which had started out as a dare had landed her a spot on the show she used to fantasize of even being in the audience for. it was reality - a crazy one at that, but hers. unbelievably hers.

things had been hectic in the week she'd took to prepare both mentally and physically - from hectic dance practices with yuqi, to stressing over her outfit, to preparing the best performance she could muster. it was no secret the girl was a perfectionist, so no matter how short her appearance on the show was she would do anything to stand out for just a little more camera time.

things hadn't really begun to settle in until tingyan got where she is now - walking in with the rest of the hopefuls, really sitting where the first episode would be held. as the cameramen were getting their positions, her eyes wandered to the front, landing on the set of chairs she just knew had to be for the ceos. gulping, even the seemingly unphased tingyan couldn't help the wave of nerves approaching her. her competition had never wandered far from other dance schools or her own classmates - never had she been in the running with so many people this talented. for the majority of the waiting she stays to herself aside from the polite hellos and small talk, her nerves and final preparations getting in the way of allowing her to be as talkative as she usually is.

and though it feels like only a few minutes have passed amidst the nerves, she's eventually called up to the stage where she's expected to perform. it all seemed so surreal, and it's almost as if someone else's taken control and walked her up themselves. you've got this, tingyan. i don't know anyone else made for tv than you. her older brother's words ring in her head, from the phone conversation they'd had earlier. for a while, looking at others talking to their parents or friends for encouragement, tingyan swears she's all alone. but when she thinks of all those who have supported her - from yuqi helping her out with her performance, to soyeon making sure she looked pretty, and all the other friendly people she'd come across during her time there. it gives her the confidence that, if not anything else, she's here, and that's farther than she'd ever really expected to make it. she'd give it all she got to the judges - and it'd be enough for her.

once she approaches the stage, she imagines herself starring in her own movie, not really there. instead she tries to channel an amplified tingyan - a little more confident, a little nicer, a little less nervous. when the girl looks over to the judges who asked for her name, she notices the faint exhaustion imprinted on their features from the many contestants who'd already gone before her. she recalls the past interview she's partaken in as well as the encounter during her arrival at auditions and decides she'll try her best to leave an imprint on the judges. "graceful, young, and pretty! this season's ambitious queen, i'm your chong tingyan, hello everyone!" she'd created her own greeting a few days in advance, sounding similar to the ones idols had for entire groups. extra, but very tingyan. her introduction exudes confidence, which isn't entirely false, but she worries it may come off as cocky. also not entirely false, but that wouldn't be a good look for a new contestant to have. so just in case, she slips in a quick "i look forward to hearing your feedback! i hope you enjoy my performance," before continuing.

as the lights dim, tingyan gets the chance to clear her thoughts, imagining she was performing at a noraebang with friends. this could be her stage, if she claimed it. so when the lights are shining back on her and the music she'd heard too many times this week begins to play, she knows she's got this.

she'd got it all figured out - this portion would be dedicated to her charms. the choreography isn't hard in the slightest, obvious in the way the judges look on nonchalantly, but tingyan hopes to spice things up with her personality. so even though she's not singing this time around, her lips mouth the lyrics as her body moves to the beat. a little flirty, but more cute than anything. attempting to win over the heart and soul of her most beloved company, she delivers a finger heart to hyun bin in substitution of the point she usually does. the girl was certainly risking a lot here, but it was her best shot at showing she wasn't scared of trying new things. if anything, it was much different than her previous dance audition - far less involved with technicalities and dramatics and much more with stage presence and charisma.

so when the chorus hits, tingyan ushers the crowd to show enthusiasm, cheering "let's go!" as she points to the crowd, beckoning them to join in on the chorus. "i'm so hot!" she chants, beaming as her hands began pointing, doing the infamous choreography. few other songs could have matched tingyan so well, full of confidence and laced with a little cuteness on the side. the choreography isn't straining, and tingyan uses the opportunity to utilize the whole stage, waving in the direction of the crowd, and then the judges. when she reaches back to the center, she grins, mouthing one last "i'm so ho-"

silence. the music turns off for a few seconds, and tingyan notes the confusion through squinted eyes as she slumps her head over. it's only obvious once the winding up sound effect of the next song is heard this is intentional, as the girl's body moves with the beat. thank god for yuqi helping her gain control over her body, or else she may have never learned how to do it properly.

the song shift is...certainly different, straying from cuteness and moving towards a more fierce type of alluring. soft and cute moments are handed over for sharper,  more seductive ones. though it's a completely different drama, the moves call for all the years of ballet in which she'd learned how to have more precise movements when she danced. her eyes lock on each of the judges for a brief second a piece, unable to help the small smirk on her lips as she moves. torso bouncing forward, she feigned exhaustion with her hand over her forehead as the words hot hot were heard from the speakers. going from i'm so hot to so hot seemed to be a good choice - both with familiar lyrics but definitely different vibes. this portion was mostly to show her dance skills, that even though she had much to improve on regarding hip hop she could also do other things outside of just contemporary.

as she reaches the lyrics, she mouths these by heart as well, evidence that both songs had been ringing in her head for days on end. this choreography calls for her to point to someone, but this time, it's directed at katie lee. hey - it never hurt to try and pinpont your favorites, right? her body moves in each of the choreographed moves for the breakdown, a little less clean than it could have been but satisfying for tingyan considering her lack of experience in hip hop. she lingers on the last few beats, bringing her body into a squat then popping up to finish the song. the dance finishes with a turn to the back of the stage, looking over her shoulder to wink at the panel one last time.

as soon as the song's over, she's a little flustered, but manages to smile and deliver a thankful bow to everyone. "thank you for watching!" she says gratefully, one last time before following the route she'd gotten on to get back offstage.

she'd done it. she'd really done it. euphoria washes over her as she exits, finding her friends who'd been watching in the audience to give a thumbs up.

i came, i saw, and even if no one else thinks i did....i conquered, she thinks, sitting in her seat once more as yet another contestant prepared to perform. she'd gave it her all, and finally got to feel the rush of dancing once more. that was enough for her.

[danielxrk]

✞ SELF COMPOSED SONG *   NEVER LOSE YOUR FLAMES      ( so eat my dust, that's all i am, a speck out in the crowd )

daniel doesn't check his phone until after class is over, and when he sees that blinking email notification, he doesn't think much of it at first. it's not that he's forgotten about the mga auditions, moreso that he's so relaxed about it, he doesn't even think about when they'll get back to them. it's only when he sees who his recent email is from that his eyes widen. his next course of action is easy: high tail it off of campus and to the sharehouse where the rest of his bandmates live. they went into this together; it's only fitting that he opens this with them, too.

when he arrives, kenta and minhyun are sitting in the living room, staring at what daniel can only assume are their respective emails. he just stands in the middle of the room silently at first, looking between them, and figuring out where all of them are (woojin probably in his room-- safe bet) before he breaks out into a slow smile. "okay, let's do this!" he declares. "who wants to go first?" crickets. daniel still isn't too bothered, and it's unusual. typically, daniel is a bundle of nerves, even over mundane matters and things that ultimately have no lasting impact. an email that could change his entire life? no big deal.

the more he thinks about it, the more his supernatural confidence wavers, as thinking usually goes for him. "i'll do it," he offers regardless, before he slips even further and ends up cowering in fear within a few minutes. he drops his bookbag onto the floor in preparation. he doesn't know what to expect, truthfully. if the daniel of last year made it to callbacks, surely the daniel of today will too, but he knows he isn't talented enough to feel entitled to anything, and he doesn't. he heard all of the singers in that room, and was still struck by the same inferiority he felt the season before, suddenly unimpressed with what he thought was his tangible growth over the past year. he thinks he'll find peace with any result regardless, so he taps on the email on his phone, and reads it, scanning, expression concentrated before is eyes shift back to the expectant faces of his friends. "i got in," he says, completely straight faced before he ends up grinning. "sungwoon, i got in!" he yells, just in case the other didn't hear him from his place in the kitchen-- whatever he's doing in there.

he encourages the others to open their emails next with a level of exuberance only his closest friends ever see from him, even going as far as chanting “open it open it open it,” until they finally cave and listen to him. one more callback notice, and then another, and another and even if daniel had faith in all of them– believed they could make it this far –there was still a pessimistic part of him that translates to disbelief now. how lucky are they, that they make up five of 100 people? no, it’s skill more than luck. and probably the fact that they’ll make for good tv. that helps.

he's unbelievably, undeniably proud of them, and it takes a minute or two for it to really settle in. this isn't just going to be him and sungwoon, but all of them together, no one left behind, at least for one set of performances, and he'll savor it as long as he can. with this email, however, comes the realization that there's much work to do, in a relatively short time. ah yes, that part of the mgas. daniel can't say he missed it. he wonders if there's much about this process he missed at all, and briefly, why he came back. of course, there's the band, and the album, but underneath it all lurks the ever-present question: does he really belong here? he can believe he belongs on stages in dingy clubs, in between heavy bassline's and sungwoon's voice sinking into everything. he belongs there, but maybe not on a show of people wanting to be idols. then again, he's here because of where he belongs-- because they all belong on stage, playing their songs in front of bigger and bigger crowds, more and more love for all of the members, surpassing what he and sungwoon ever received on their own. that's why he's doing this, ready to go through the whole process over again, this time with a clear goal and the clear thought that this time, he knows what he's doing.

he stays over at the empty enigma sharehouse after he arrives, going through the notes app on his phone, full of potential songs he saved when he was trying to think of a song for his first audition. so many of them required a guitar accompaniment for him to keep true to himself, therefore couldn't make the first cut. i'm so tired ended up being one of the last songs he added to the list, and he settled on it almost immediately which leaves...several other choices. the standout pick is wasteland baby by hozier, but he fells some overwhelming, incapacitating fear when he thinks of actually performing it on stage, in front of the people that he knows will be there.

sungwoon. joohyun. in one room. all he can picture is both of them thinking any love song he performs is about them, and he knows what person every love song he hears is about today, and he can't bear to do that to the other one of them-- that false hope, that surge of emotion for reasons that aren't genuine. maybe it's mainly because he's scared to sing i'm in love, i'm in love with you. he could convince himself it's because he isn't ready for the plunge into the depths that those words are, but it might really be because he's afraid he means it. he's so scared to mean it.

so he leaves wasteland baby on the backburner for a time when he's braver-- a time where he's stronger, and not so weighed down by worry, and searches for his next best option, still sat in the empty enigma living room, staring intently at his phone. last year, he performed a song on his guitar in english, and he doesn't know how he can't do that this time, but it needs an upgrade. he thought of performing one of his own songs at the audition too, but again, wanted to wait for a time when he could marry it to some kind of instrumental, too determined to let their composition shine through too.

that thought still circles in his head: what did he miss about the mgas? and he finally finds his answer. he misses working toward the same dream together-- misses everyone banding together and helping one another despite it being a competition, and the bonds forged under unbearable stress and pressure, lasting relationships, and the experience. the growth. there's a song he wrote for that, not long after the mgas, not long after his mind and heart were dominated by sungwoon's sudden disappearance afterward.

the song: never lose your flames, about his feelings on the show, and his feelings about himself in general, and words he wanted to tell the contestants he shared his time with, among all of the doubt and the criticism. it only seems appropriate to bring out now, if he wants to stand out and show what he thinks he's good at. it's a step up from last year, and it reflects who he is better than anything else he could think of. he needs an acoustic arrangement, and thankfully, he started one back when empty enigma were still preparing for their album, while they were toying with the idea of a secret track-- something soft to contrast the rest of the album. in the end, it didn't make the cut, and daniel wasn't torn up about it; a better song did, and nlyf didn't quite seem to match as well with the rest. maybe it made more sense for daniel to sing it than sungwoon all along. cameo to sing it instead of squall, he means-- yes, of course.

so when woojin asks if he knows what he's performing on the very first day, daniel can honestly say he has something in his mind, and he doubts it'll change. he spends his time divided from the apartment with the guys and his own, finding comfort in working in the presence of his friends, even as they go about their practice individually, and finding solitude in the kind of work that can only really be accomplished alone. he retraces his lyrics, wondering if he should edit anything-- tweaks the arrangement to make sure it shows off his best sides, and will translate well to an audience instead of remaining a song on an album that would never be played live. the more work he puts into the performance, the more convinced he becomes that it's the right choice. not an easily misconstrued love song-- check. a teaser of what to expect on empty enigma's album? check. that's all he really needs.

he helps the others where they need it, playing the parts of his song he's worked through on his guitar in exchange for any help they may need, though naturally they don't need it, aside from kenta with a little korean pronunciation. maybe the others could use the help, and just don't want it from him. it's a disappointing thought, but one he keeps out of mind and doesn't allow it to trouble him too much. how much help could he really offer to kenta and woojin with their dancing, anyway? minhyun is fully capable of preparing himself, proving his slightly unexpected talent on their album and in all of their recent shows. sungwoon on the other hand-- well, daniel is a little afraid to find out what he'll be performing, so maybe it's best that he doesn't. regardless, the more time he spends with them, the more convinced he becomes that they'll all do well, and where he felt fear last year, he now feels excitement.

he trails minhyun and sungwoon into the venue, hovering behind them, like he can prevent some kind of tragedy should the keyboard fall and crush sungwoon beneath it's weight or something. he wrestles back and forth with whether he should offer his own hand to help, and even though minhyun at the least seems entirely capable, he still finds his hand supporting them from the back, and he releases as soon as they find their seat. it's somewhere in the middle of everything, equal parts close and far from the stage, and as he sits, he's satisfied.

it's minhyun, then him, then kenta, the sungwoon, and woojin follows, and this is probably for the best, as much as he desired to sit next to sungwoon. there's some inkling that he might need his space-- time to process, and as much as daniel feels the pull of his company, he wants to give him that, so long as he isn't wrong.

soon, the peace and comfort of the band's familiarity is disrupted, first by the group that sits behind them. he doesn't think much of the male that sits behind him, but the more of his friend group that trails in, the more unsettled he becomes. maybe it's just eunji. last time he saw her, she wasn't happy with him-- closer to livid, more accurately, because she realized he and cameo were in fact the same person. cameo, who flirted at empty enigma's comeback halloween show, too enthusiastically and overbearingly, and daniel, subdued regular of her mother's friendship, always soft-spoken and kind-- two distinctly different sides of the same coin. he doesn't blame her for her feelings, so he doesn't try to talk to her-- doesn't even try to look at her, and instead, faces forward, eyes fixed on the stage, determined not to drift to anywhere he may see her.

thankfully, minhyun's reliable presence beside him brings some comfort, as does kenta's talkative nature, and woojin's predictable safe distance from everything, whose company he still appreciates, and...sungwoon, whatever incomprehensible and powerful something that he is to him. soon they're joined by a stranger who seems immensely friendly-- hyunggu, he introduces himself, and daniel offers him a handshake and a smile, though slightly hesitant, despite his typical reservations of dealing with strangers and the discomfort of who exactly sits behind him.

equal parts thankfully and unfortunately, someone significantly more familiar slides into the seat directly behind him, and as he looks out of instinct, it's joohyun. he smiles upon seeing her on instinct, and she smiles back, and as bad as he should feel having both her and sungwoon in close proximity, in the moment he's just glad he doesn't have to worry about how she's doing by herself. here, he can see her, and proof that she's okay. her injury has been frightening, the termination of her trc contract distressing, and daniel tried to spend as much time with her as he could during her recovery, both so she wouldn't be alone and for his own peace of mind. he knew her tendency to push herself, and yet he...didn't stop her for signing up for the mgas despite likely not being fully recuperated. as much as he fretted over it, for the sake of her safety, he had to admit there was part of him relieved to have her, as horrible as he felt about it. here joohyun was, endangering herself, and here daniel-- someone supposed to take care of her --was, thankful that she was here, and that he didn't have to go through this show without her. somehow it gives him strength.

there's more though, two...vaguely familiar figures joining hyunggu in front of them, and it doesn't take long for daniel to realize who they are, despite not knowing their names, and their appearance is incredibly puzzling to him. he has mixed feelings: one, the guy that punched him in the face last year for no reason, and the other, a guy who got stood up for a date in the cafe daniel works at, then proceeded to dump his entire life story on poor daniel. both were incredibly surreal experiences, and he feels similar seeing them now. the life-story-sharer, who introduces himself as suwoong, swiftly apologizes to daniel for what he did to him upon recognition, and daniel simply smiles reassuringly. "it's alright. at least you got me out of making coffee," and honestly, daniel always appreciates that.

in between daniel talking to taeyang-- his gym buddy and guitar collaboration buddy, strangely both in one person --suwoong starts yelling over the row his bandmates are in to talk to eunji, and daniel grows rigid. life senses the opportune opportunity to shit on him, and yugyeom turns around then, with an attempt to...flirt with him? daniel wonders if he remembers what even happened last summer, and decides he must not, given how drunk he seemed that night. he tries to i'm-too-innocent-for-this and i'm-too-oblivious-for-this himself out of this dialogue, because he would like to be excluded from this narrative, especially right in front of the two people he's in love with, and-- wait, what?

it's all incredibly overwhelming, something like sensory overload, the front row too rambunctious and the back row too intimidating, emanating with some sinister energy that makes daniel certain he's being talked about unkindly. his eyes keep wandering to sungwoon, and he never catches him looking his way, and daniel frowns without intending, because he feels like just a look from him would give him some reassurance, though he writes it off as sungwoon feeling similarly to him. understandable. daniel understands all of it, even if he wishes they could be...he doesn't know what he wishes they could be. a little warmer, maybe-- a little closer, a little less like sungwoon feels so far away even when they're separated by mere feet.

joohyun leans forward then, and he feels it before he hears her somehow, her voice a whisper. "it's going to be mga8 by the time this is over," she says, and daniel laughs. "mga10," he corrects her. "you gonna be on that one too?" he almost feels bad, but he plays it off with a cheeky smile as he looks back at her, and she pushes him, so he laughs again, and he feels a little better. he can always count on her to show up at exactly the right time. their entire history is evidence.

suddenly, however, he's distinctly aware of sungwoon's presence, and the air feels heavier, and the ease slowly drains out of him, replaced with that ever well-known feeling of guilt, like a new friend he immediately hit it off with. no, the guilt isn't new. it's a new situation, but this feeling settled in him from somewhere close to the day he was born. he can't do anything without fear of hurting someone. he doesn't want to. he wants so desperately for everyone close to him to be happy; he never wants to be the reason for their pain, but he knows he is. maybe not to joohyun. he still doesn't know what she feels about him, even if she kissed him during the sn project finale. he wrote that off as a brief moment of impulsivity due to excitement, only for the sake of his own sanity. but there's sungwoon, and he knows better than to think he hasn't put him through the wringer-- knows he might still be doing it, even now. he knows that despite all of this, it was sungwoon he confessed to, not joohyun, and after some ruminating, he knows what that means, even if he's afraid to admit it.

finally, the real show begins, and shakes him out of his thoughts, and he's glad to focus on the entrance of the ceos. he's seen this all before, and it doesn't surprise him, but his eyes widen regardless, because he forgot how poised and respectable they look-- like they're shining, and even daniel, with his complete disinterest in idols, can't help but admire them. this ignites a burning desire to impress them, and he hopes at the very least, bringing them an original song will set him apart in their eyes. even more than that, he hopes they don't think his song is absolute garbage. that worry is unfortunately very real. everyone claps, and then the performances begin.

he watches with rapt attention at first, and if he wasn't distinctly aware of the strategically positioned cameras and microphones to catch every reaction of the audience (he was), he is now. he wonders how many of his conversations from earlier will air, and whether they'll paint him as a hero, villain, or some background character this time. the performances are good overall; mnet knew what they were doing when they narrowed down to this number, and then there are some that...are not. maybe they were kept for their personality (daniel can relate) or for humiliation on national television for the country's amusement. then again, maybe some of this audience will rank him among the performances that aren't good. all he can hope is that it's less of them than last year. he thinks it will be.

the longer time goes on, the more he's overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the row in front of them, so he turns his attention to kenta, bundle of energy he is, and he chats with him during breaks as distraction, and then in a low voice during performances, still giving those on stage the proper respect, of course. his eyes keep falling to sungwoon regardless, and he wonders if he's okay. he seems uncharacteristically quiet, but maybe that's just on account of daniel hogging kenta, though unfortunately, he's smart enough to not be fooled by is own excuses. half of him wants to ask him, and he leans forward in his seat to get a better look at his face, and maybe he's about to-- but something holds him back. he just wants to fix this, but knows better than to try now.  are you okay? i love you, you know. i want you to be okay more than anything.

somehow, it's not in regards to his performance that he's at all shaken, and when so jisub calls his name for his performance, he stands with a smile. if he didn't have this subtle, indwelling confidence that surrounded him ever since he settled on this song, it would be kenta's squeeze of his hand, the pat on his back by minhyun, sungwoon's uttered good luck that puts any of his doubts in stage, and he slings his guitar over is shoulder.

everything is a little more intimidating on stage, and he makes the mistake of letting his eye rake across the audience, taking them in. this is the amount of people that will hear his own, personal, pain-stakingly written song. his gaze snaps back to the judges, and another smile blooms on his face when he meets so jisub's eyes. he wonders if so jisub is glad to see him again, after calling him a great contestant last year, even if it was paired with comments about the weakness of is voice. maybe the ceo held some small sliver of faith in him. he doesn't want to disappoint him.

"hi, i'm kang daniel," he greets, smile appearing once again. "you may remember me. if not, hopefully you will from now on," and he leans away from the mic, making final tuning adjustments on his guitar, and he realizes something-- adds: "for good reasons, i hope," and he laughs lightly. "i'll be singing an original song for you today. i hope you like it."

riddle me this, i gotta figure it out are they laughing at me because i'm prone to fear and doubt? am i messed up, am i loud? well, eat my dust, that's all i am a speck out in the crowd

usually daniel is crushed by insecurity. that was him, on this show last season-- in these shoes a year ago, shaking and uncertain. maybe it was his personal life in the past year that he could credit with his growth and new confidence, or perhaps it was this show itself, showing him he could stand on stage in front of a large audience-- as himself, not cameo --that did it. perhaps it was the aftermath, and the threat of his band falling apart that revealed how important music really was to him, and how important the people he made it with were. they're all here too, and he thinks that's why he can stand on stage like he belongs here. his eyes drift to all of them where they're sitting, and his lips curl up in a smile as he sings, before he faces forward again.  

i'm trying to clean up the mess i made but the towel i used to soak up my worry it just went up in flames you see i got a conscience like gasoline i could siphon shit it out, get up and leave but, i fuel the fire with everything they said it's stuck in my mind you're better off dead

he originally wrote this part with criticism from the mgas in mind, but it grew into a different animal-- all of the criticism in his life that built and built until it stitched itself into the fabric of his existence, self-replicating without anyone else's help. he edited the words here in his mga version, necessarily, replacing the previously explicit version with something more family friendly, and it's amazing how comfortable he feels here, behind his guitar, singing his own words. originally, this verse built into the chorus, but for this two minute arrangement, it goes on, building up even more.

feeling like i’m nothing’s something that i’m getting used to trying to devise a plan that’s positively fool proof nobody can see me past these walls that i’ve been building now it’s starting to cave in, but i won’t give up

daniel's fool-proof plan was always cameo, and the escape that he was (is?), and everything he spun to cover him up. he was a mask, and before the mgas, kang daniel never knew music or the stage by himself. the illusion began to shatter, the worlds started to collide, he started to panic, and yet he pressed on on account of some newfound love and purpose he never possessed before. now, he carries cameo with him, but stands on stage as kang daniel, and it's like this that he's the best version of himself. next, the chorus hits, the guitar something close to exploding, and this is the message he wants all of his friends-- everyone in this room-- to know, so he smiles.

if you got the keys, then start the car and drive as far as you can if you got the blood, then you got the heart to give yourself a chance seems like we've been so scarred some people call it art i hope you make peace with your pain and never lose your flames

there are probably countless people in this room that think they don't deserve to be there, just like daniel did last year. even more than that will be beat down and shredded by the pressure and absolute necessity to push forward and remain strong. he wants them to keep going, to give themselves a chance no matter what anyone says-- to take this opportunity in front of them with all of its pain and all of its joy, and make the most of it. don't let it crush you, don't let it take anything from you. we can do this.

the chorus gives way to what is actually his favorite part of the song: a brief break for nothing but his acoustic guitar, something he composed himself without anyone else's help. he steps away from the microphone briefly, to look down at the frets as he strums, and he smiles, genuinely content. he likes singing, but his heart will always be with some kind of guitar more than anything else. nine seconds, and he returns to the microphone.

feeling like i’m nothing’s something that i’m getting used to wanting to fit in, i always wanted to be perfect to you i gotta get up out this bed, if you can see inside my head you understand i got to give up

the words are personal, but also applicable to many, he thinks, so it's both a message to others and himself, with his mother, her oppression, and how much it impacted his entire life in mind. after two months on his own, he's breaking free of it, but sometimes it feels like that isn't the case. at least he doesn't want to give up as badly as he used to-- as much as he wanted to under her rule, even at the time he wrote this song. he used to float by without direction other than what she told him, and now he's so much different. he's grateful. he heads into the pre-chorus, through it, skipping past what was originally a keyboard part written for sungwoon, and then starts the final chorus, taking these final moments to bask in the glow of the stage, unable to fight back the smile on his face.

if you got the keys, then start the car and drive as far as you can if you got the blood, then you got the heart to give yourself a chance seems like we've been so scarred some people call it art i hope you make peace with your pain and never lose your flames

and then it ends, but his grin doesn't, eyes disappearing into crescents, all genuine satisfaction and enjoyment. he keeps a tight grip on his guitar and bows, and is about to head off the stage before he makes a split second decision to lean toward the mic again to chirp a quick, "thank you!" and then he scurries down the steps and back to his seat.

he grins at his friends as they greet him upon his return, and pointedly ignores the fact that sungwoon doesn't. minhyun and kenta perform soon after him, and suddenly the show is a lot more interesting-- not that it wasn't before, of course, it was just, you know..blurry. long. excruciating in an enjoyable way, somehow. he pats minhyun's knee encouragingly when it's his turn, squeezes kenta's shoulder before he leaves to get on stage, and quietly cheers "go kenta, go!" with the most faith in him in the world. he has faith in minhyun too, of course, but anyone that doesn't is just..wrong.

they prove is believing in them isn't misplaced, with minhyun's voice even more striking without the company of heavy drumbeats and crazed guitar riffs backing it. he can dance too, which daniel didn't know, but that isn't a surprise because he didn't know anyone in this band could dance despite half of them listing it as their best skill on their forms. he gives kenta his full attention at first, amazed to see him dance for the first time-- thankful that he gets to be here to see him stand on stage like this, but he soon becomes distinctly aware that nothing separates him and sungwoon now. the desire to reach out to him is like an itch-- to grab his hand, maybe, or to push him into woojin just to mess with them both, or to slide over just so he can be closer to him, like that'll help him get inside his head, but maybe inside his head isn't where he wants to be. maybe he just wants to be with him.

the others return, and so daniel returns to watching the performances, and surprisingly, they pass more quickly now, but he still turns around in his chair to look at joohyun with concern. he knows it can't feel good on an injury to be stuck in these chairs for so long, so he mouths "are you okay?" to her, not wanting it to be caught on one of these dangling microphones should it put her at a disadvantage. she nods to him, and he nods back hesitantly, but it doesn't stop him from checking on her periodically for the rest of the night.

soon, it's sungwoon's turn. hyunbin calls his name and daniel just looks up at him as he rises, dazed, eyes following him as he leaves and makes his way to the stage. he always knew sungwoon belonged on stage, and the spotlight on him reminds daniel of it now, and he can't help but smile. he feels the same as he did last year when sungwoon took to the stage-- so glad he has the chance to show everyone his talent, and that so many others can hear him like he has.

daniel knows the song as soon as it begins, and he's glad sungwoon found it, because the piano intro is meant for him. he doesn't make the connection between the lyrics and their relevancy until sungwoon starts to sing, and his heart immediately turns to some kind of mush that oozes down to his feet. he feels positively sick, but not in a bad way, in a way he could feel for the rest of his life, and he's so overcome by emotion, absolutely overwhelmed and overtaken by it and everything sungwoon is. daniel knows english almost as well as he knows korean, and he knows this song, and he knows what all of this means, and when sungwoon looks him in the eyes-- he wonders if it's the first time he has today --daniel knows what that means, too. he doesn't break eye contact with him, and he feels his gaze in his bones. i need you too, and he thinks he needs sungwoon more than anyone. he needs him more than anyone does; he needs sungwoon more than he needs anyone.

he's swept away in all of it, like it's a tide rolling in, slow in its rising and powerful in its impact. even among it all, he almost wants to sing along. it's just the sungwoon effect. the bridge is softer, but he still feels his heart quiver in his chest, and it all reminds him of what he said the other day: i know i really like you, and that it feels…limitless, like it could be anything, and he feels that infinity, burning straight through him. he could listen to sungwoon sing forever, but in that moment all he wants is for sungwoon to come back. soon it ends, and he does, and he barely gives him a chance to sit down before he's reaching for his hand.

and when sungwoon's fingers curl around his, he's so glad. sungwoon looks at him, and he can't help but smile, even if he meant this as a gesture more serious and sincere. he wants it to mean everything he can say, not only because of the cameras, but because he knows it could never creep its way up from his heart and out of his mouth, at least not yet. it's i understand and thank you, and there's no room for doubting whether this song was about him. he knows it. he still feels it somewhere underneath his skin. it's i love you, i love you, i love you, and when sungwoon squeezes his hand, daniel squeezes back.

                [ :00 - :42, 1:45 - 2:43, 3:08-3:30, but sped up a little for time *]