#rkoct18eval

[rkseokwoo-blog]

— i remember your moves

@rkwon

Three times it had happened already, Seokwoo positioning his phone to film his practice and then as soon as he was in position, it slipped down from propped against his water bottle and he was left trying again. His nose crinkled as he sighed quietly to himself, pouting at the device as he made his way back to it and then picked it up. “Why are you being so mean, huh?” He complained at the inanimate object, as it did a lot of times before. The trainee already shifting the water bottle once more and placing the phone as carefully as he could against it -- this time it barely waited for him to let go before it was slipping. “Why? Why, why, why?” Seokwoo uttered in quiet frustration, trying once more and then hearing the shudder as his phone hit the floor roughly. His eyes immediately cringed shut, collecting it up quickly and dusting it over his shirt to check for scratches. A couple breaths coming from his lips before he glanced around the empty room.

Maybe he could find someone.

The idea had him clambering to his feet, and heading for the door. His phone clutched protectively in his hand, lingering outside the door for seconds wondering if it was safe to leave it. An empty studio could easily become a non-empty one if he took too long to find someone -- and he needed to practice. Seokwoo was left lingering in the hall outside the room for a few minutes, approaching a couple of girls first who were too busy and then trying to peek in nearby rooms for someone who didn’t look busy. He was about to knock on a door when he saw a male coming down the hall, a smile quickly brightening on his lips. “Excuse me,” he interrupted, bowing over before he took a proper look at the other. “Could you help me for a few minutes? I just need someone to film my practi--” Seokwoo faltered, blinking as he stared at the fellow trainee. He was familiar, he was more than familiar. His brow knitted together as he glanced at his phone, trying to remember where and awkwardly finish his question. “Film my practice. It should only take ten minutes. Please?”

[memoriesofyccjungrk]

. : insecurities : .

a rkoct18eval starter for @rkyooa

yoojung never claimed to be a vocalist in any sense of the word. her singing was rough around the edges at best, and while working with the coaches and other trainees certainly gave her some confidence, she was pretty sure she was way over her head with her idea for her eval. all the other girls had been more than willing to work with yoojung, and she even managed to meet a few new trainees from other companies from the experience – but that was what made her more nervous. she was a representative of royal, especially considering her status as a public trainee. and if she wasn’t talented, then what kind of a representation was that ?

while yoojung realized she was putting way too much pressure on herself, that didn’t exactly mean she was going to change that. it was what she did at this point. and to be quite honest, she was starting to feel bad for the other girls performing with her. yoojung had never offered herself up as the centre of any performance, but that was sort of what she was doing this time around – but she wasn’t quite sure she was centre material.

the chorus of the song rang loud in their practice room as yoojung continued running through her part – she was comforted only slightly by the fact that yooa was the only one bearing witness to yoojung’s inevitable panic. “ 생각없이 늘내가 내가 신은 shoes, ” she sang out, continuing to go through the motions of the dance. she wasn’t exactly sure how much of her part would actually be considered singing, after all she realizes that most of the original doesn’t exactly sound like singing – but it feels like it should be. yoojung doesn’t really think she’s the right person for the job. “ 내 스타일 하나 하나 모두 다 부럽니 그렇게 어설프게 따라할 순 없지 ” she continues, not sure how she feels about the way the words fall out of her lips – clumsy and stunted to her own ears. she’s not really sure how the sound to anyone else listening.

the song continues, and yoojung attempts the amount of fake confidence she had during mgas – but that hadn’t been enough for the judges the one time she sang, was it ? once the final rendition of the chorus comes, yoojung can’t help but feel relieved – even more so once she takes her final pose and lets out a long sigh. she crouches down, head falling and pushing her now far-shorter hair off the back of her neck. “ sunbae … ” yoojung whines, keeping her head between her knees. “ why did i decide to do this – this was a bad idea. why do i do this to myself ? ”

[rksungho]

ceasefire.

@taeminrk

things have gone quietly. smoothly. it’s almost too much for sungho to believe; he’s in a group with his arch enemy and his little cousin who he hasn’t seen in years. and on top of that, he’s stuck with a guy who keeps trying to pry into his mind and a kid who worships the ground on which sungho’s most hated walks. looking at his history, it should be a recipe for disaster. sungho should be lashing out every two minutes and accusing someone of something and trying to start a fight. that’s the only thing he’s good at, apparently.

but he hasn’t.

maybe it’s just the winter months approaching and darkness that takes up most of the time in the sky that leaves him drowsy and docile. maybe it’s just learning to deal with people he doesn’t like. maybe it’s just a lull in his never ending anger that will return tenfold by christmas. he doesn’t know. sungho doesn’t even know if he likes this version of himself; quiet and sulky, but not entirely unhelpful. maybe he’s not the ideal groupmate, but it’s a stark improvement from the guy who craved chaos and discord. he just doesn’t feel like himself.

it’s by chance that he finds himself alone with taemin yet again. or maybe it’s not so much of chance, since the kt boys get more chances to practice together than they do with the nova parts of their team. sungho has absolutely nothing to say to him for once in his life. a crumpled slip of paper still rots at the bottom of his practice bag, untouched since their last conversation. being alone with the other man now makes sungho remember it anew, an uncomfortable feeling rising in his chest as if he’s disappointing someone by not reaching out for help yet.

[rkwon]

내 손 잡아줘.

@rkmg !!

he’s excited about doing the royal boys’ collaboration, don’t get him wrong, but he’s understandably more excited for his duet with mingyu. somehow, they’d spent the whole of the mgas apart until the finale, at which point they were in such a large group that the chemistry won believes is so obvious between them was completely overshadowed. maybe it’s selfish of him to want to perform with his boyfriend as much as possible and maybe that’s a can of worms he doesn’t want to be opening right before they’re due to start ( or ever ), but he can’t change his heart as much as he can change the sun rising and setting each day. the way things were going at the moment, though, it felt like he only ever experienced the latter. he glances at mingyu from the corner of his eye. he looks impossibly handsome in his matching suit and if they were anywhere else, if things were a little different, he’d kiss his rosy cheeks and tell him so. in the end, he bites his tongue, says, “are you ready?” instead. 

stretching his legs out in front of him, he wiggles his feet in his recently shined shoes. he wonders if everyone puts this much effort into evaluations or if it had just been their initial excitement to finally get to perform together just the two of them. he wonders if mingyu’s still excited. ( won is. ) 

“I’m kind of nervous.” he admits with a small, sad smile, his voice so quiet that only mingyu could even dream of hearing him. “I wish I had someone to hold my hand.” 

[junerk]

lion heart.

junmyeon was a little scared this eval, he couldn’t lie. not only was he in a group filled with people he didn’t know, he was the only guy in a group that was doing a girl group song. now, he was no stranger to do girl group songs, he had done a few during the mgas, but to be the only guy? especially for something with a very feminine concept? it was a little embarrassing, but he’d do his best.

it was nice to be able to meet more people under sphere entertainment though. one of the people in his group, eve, she had also been on the mgas (a different season, but still). he didn’t exactly know how to approach her, being incredibly shy and all, so he did the thing he knew how to do best. “h-hi sunbae! i brought you some green tea. we have to take care of our throats now that the seasons are changing and it’s getting cold outside. please look after yourself.” and he bows politely, holding the disposable cup of steaming tea out to her. 

@rkxeve

[rkbyunbaek]

( caretaker ) ;

@yccjungrk

it’s hours and hours of practice to prepare for the upcoming evaluation, to make sure the lines sit and the steps too. that they’re working together well and baekhyun likes the thought that their performance this month is a small glimpse of what the royal boys could be in the ( near ) future -- royal’s new boy group. this is like another test, another chance to see if they can make it work and it’s a thought that that gives him strength, one that motivates him to stay back alone in the practice room for more hours of diligent practice;

but, by now, baekhyun is aware of when it’s time to stop. when it’s time to step back and, at least, take a break.

when his bottle of water is drained completely it’s one of those moments. baekhyun knows that he can’t push it away much longer and has to get out of here to fill it back up, his exhausted limbs thankful. so, the music is turned off and his phone slips into the pocket of his sweats. the empty bottle is in his hands; and it doesn’t take long for it to be full once again, the rim of the bottle sitting against baekhyun’s lips as he slowly makes his way back to the room he’s been in this whole time. although, he wonders if he should just turn to grab his bag out of his locker and go home, take off since it’s late already anyway -- something disturbs that thought, though. making a frown appear on baekhyun’s features when a familiar song reaches him.

it comes from the practice room he’s passing, bright lights streaming past the small windows on the door. and it’s the same song that’s been playing when he passed it with the royal boys when they started their practice in the afternoon. baekhyun steps close, peeking through the window and sees yoojung dancing in there. she’s still around? without hesitation, baekhyun gets inside, slipping past the door with a light smile on his lips. “yoojungah,” he says, voice loud in hopes that it won’t be drowned out by the music, “still practicing? everything alright? or are you having trouble with the choreography.” something that sounds weird to baekhyun, considering how good her dancing’s been on the mgas.

[rkmg]

work it out.

@rkxjongsuk

It was strange being surrounded by more than simply his own companies trainees while training. But, he was definitely more comfortable here than he was, say... his old high school. At least he knew that the people he was surrounded by all had a common interest and big dreams in their hearts. Because of this, he feels rather confident about approaching a completely unfamiliar face to ask a few questions regarding his performances that he is preparing for this month’s evaluations. He does his best to compose himself, working up a warm and inviting smile as he clears his throat, hoping to catch the older-looking boy’s attention.

“Excuse me?” After his quick sentence, he fell silent as he waited for a response, not wanting to come across as rude. What if the other was busy and didn’t have time for questions? In that case, Mingyu would quietly and calmly walk away, then attempt to locate some other place for him to figure things out by himself. He wished that he knew where Won was, though he seemed to be surrounded by nothing but stranger’s faces. Seocho was weird.

[rkxrm]

Pressures ||

@rkgray

Minhyuk was pretty anxious about the evaluation when it was announced. He didn’t know a lot of retro style songs. Normally, he would have taken a pass and somehow slid by with a mediocre version of something. But as time was drawing nearer to his contract expiration, he wanted to put in more work. He wanted to make all this worth it. Even if he didn’t get a renewal, he wanted to make sure that he left on a high note. He knew that it was far fteched to dream of a potential renewal, but he really wanted this to work out and he wanted this to be successful. 

But he had no idea where to start. With time ticking to the end of the month and their performance date, Minhyuk still didn’t have a song and he was feeling the pressure to do well. Maybe a chat with his fellow rapper buddy, Gray would give him some ideas in terms of songs or even what to do in the near future. He wanted to succeed so badly.  He decided to seek Gray out and seeing the older man practice, he strolled into the other’s practice room with a grin. “Hyung!” 

[rkwendy]

Hey Tension!

@bambamrk

There are several songs Wendy intends to do this month. She had spent all her free time narrowing down her choices, which ranged from songs by MYNAME sunbaenim to songs from other sunbae groups outside Nova. Her playlist had even made it to Japan as far as she knows. All she’s sure of is that she wants a song that will remind the coaches that she is still one of the best vocalists among the trainees. (She will not fucking lose to Kim Yongsun. Not now, not ever.) But she also wants to show that she’s not a one-trick pony. 

She makes a face at her notes when she carelessly bumps into someone. She apologizes before she looks up to see Bambam oppa. “Oh hi, oppa,” she says with a slight smile. She supposes he can help her decide on a song for her evaluation performance. “How’s it going?” she continues. “This month’s evaluation is interesting, isn’t it? Have you figured out a song yet?” 

[yutark]

— recruitment period

@rkxnarong

Attempting to form groups for an evaluation was either easy or difficult, and Yuta had never found anything in between. Being the latter for this month, he had taken to scouring through Seocho in hopes of finding some other trainee to recruit. He already had Johnny, so there was just a female position left and he grinned when he spotted the female trainee ahead of him. Yuta’s steps hastily increasing until he jogged up to her side, taking one second to meet her gaze and the bowing forward. “Hey, I’m Nakamoto Yuta. TRC trainee, one year and four months. I’m looking for people to join my group for evaluations,” he introduces, remembering how many jobs he’d had before and how at least he didn’t shy away from embarrassing acts to make something work for him. 

Once he was back to his full height, he messily combed his bangs back from his forehead and hoped that he could convince her to join. The best solution was to sell the position. “I already have two of the three positions filled, the one left is the only girl one, so you’ll get to spend your practice time between two handsome men and look like you could own us with the click of your fingers -- it’s really a good position to have,” he starts with the spiel that he had been working on since he’d started his search, improving it on each girl he crossed paths with and tweaking it in hopes of hitting the right words to get an agreement to fill the space. “I can you show you a picture of the other male if.. I’m not your style or whatever. It’ll be fun though, I always make practising fun and I’ll even pay for snacks while we do,” Yuta continues, digging out his phone and hoping he had a picture of Johnny that was decent to use as a prop.

[rkhugo]

i don’t dance. (i know you can) not a chance. no.

@rkpcy

hugo had been practicing for the evals coming up in the seocho centre (as any trainee under the big five was want to do) and he was pretty satisfied with the performance so far. it was utterly a rap performance, and he got to do it with none other than his best friend bambam, so it was a win win for him. he liked the retro theme to it as well, it was a fun concept to try out. looking at himself now, compared to a year ago when he first started as a trainee, he had come a long way. there was still improvement to be had, but so far he was doing pretty well. 

his dancing still wasn’t the best, in fact it was pretty atrocious. he could barely keep up still, dancing just wasn’t in his blood. so it was pretty ironic when some random guy from another company grabbed him and brought him into a practice room to get his opinion on his performance for his evaluation. now, hugo was a nice guy, so of course he wasn’t going to say no, but he couldn’t really give any advice on dancing. “i mean, it’s a great performance i think? the rapping is awesome! i’m a rapper too, so i can definitely give an opinion there, but dancing... i’m probably worse than you at it.”

[rkyooa]

jongdad.

shiah was meeting new people left and right, it seemed, and while jongdae was someone she knew of fairly well (thanks to toshi) she hadn’t really had the chance to sit down and hang out with him, at least not one on one. it was hard finding any time to spare for socializing as a trainee though, her best hope was usually running into people at the seocho centre. it just so happened that she was training at the seocho centre today to prepare for one of the performances she was in for the eval, and she just managed to spot him in the hallways. 

“JONGDAD!!” 

it probably wasn’t the name he wanted shouted in the middle of the hall, but that was the nickname she was used to hearing all the time whenever toshi talked about him. she smiled at him once she caught his attention, making her way over to him with a skip in her step. “hey! fancy seeing you here.” she hoped he remember her, otherwise this was about to be way more embarrassing than it already was. 

@rkxkjd

[rkxhyunjin]

♥ KT ENTERTAINMENT’S OCTOBER EVALUATIONS: PERFORMANCE - PRIMARY FT. GAEKO & ZION. T - SEE THROUGH

hwang hyunjin’s vocal and rap performance of primary ft. gaeko & zion. t’s see through for kt entertainment’s october evaluations focusing on retro

Choosing a song requires more research than Hyunjin initially thought it would. But he finds it one night, curled up in the corner of the last train home as he clicks through song after song, listening to sample after sample in search of the one. When he hears it, everything just clicks so well and he’s immediately moving his head and tapping his foot to the beat of the music upon first listen. 

It’s a groovy piece of music - there’s no better way for Hyunjin to describe it really. A synthesised base and piano make up a contrasting beat to the drum’s alternating rhythm. Contrasting last month’s evaluation song, this song was upbeat and fun. Playful all around and full of unexpected spikes of energy that carried the song all the way through to the ending. This was it.

While he doesn’t necessarily connect with the singer and rapper’s lyrics, as he continues to listen it becomes a fun role to play. A role he can slip on when he practises: confident, laid-back, and unapologetic. There’s aren’t qualities that he would normally associate with himself, but that’s what makes it so enjoyable to embody these characteristics.

Of course, Hyunjin wasn’t about to perform this song alone. A second part was almost required to balance it all out, and for that, his mind immediately flits to his gf (good friend), Haknyeon. Although they didn’t see each other as either of them might have liked, they were both trainees, allowing them opportunities like this to both perform and meet up with one another. Performing with Haknyeon was always enjoyable and even if they weren’t in the same companies, Hyunjin hoped they’d still be able to share a few more stages in the future. 

About halfway through the month Hyunjin finds himself agreeing to join a few other trainees in their own performance. Block B’s Shall We Dance. Choosing a song that was lacking in the dance department for two months in a row, Hyunjin’s elated at a chance to showcase a bit of his dancing. His part is just within his range of comfort - not quite rapping, not quite singing; something in between that Hyunjin’s found himself drawn to as of late. 

The second performance gives him an opportunity to interact with trainees he’s see around, but never actually interacted with. Of course, he would be lying if he said that interacting with some of them wasn’t even just a little intimidating. With ten years separating him and Gray, it was hard for Hyunjin not to feel the gap that age difference created but he soon found his worries were for naught; the older man possessing a rather comfortable and reassuring disposition that Hyunjin couldn’t find fault with.

Another month passes like this, busy while preparing for two performances. But these were two performances Hyunjin wanted to do, a challenge he wanted to take. If he didn’t push himself, he would never know where his boundaries truly were; he could never improve without pushing himself. (And in a way, preparing for the performances allowed him a moment of reprieve from obsessively studying, exams just barely three weeks away - and god, that scared him more than any performance).

[rkpcy]

* supplemental lessons ,

@seulgirk

his dancing is truly a lost cause. even after over a year of being a trainee, he still isn’t anywhere close to being good at it, even when his coaches tell him that he’s improved quite a bit since he got there. after all, the only place to go is up when his dancing skills had been nonexistent when he’d first signed his contract. he knows his body will never be able to dance like the pristine main dancers of current day idol groups; the most he can hope for is to blend in a group routine well enough so that he doesn’t stand out.

that being said, he has no idea why he keeps putting himself in situations during evaluations where he has to perform difficult choreography or puts himself in the spotlight while doing so. in this month’s case, not only is he performing a routine by a legendary first generation idol group, but he’d also chosen a song whose choreography is as iconic as the group. to put the cherry on top, his position is also one of the main dancers, and he knows he needs to get some extra practice in.

luckily, he’d met seulgi at the seocho facility, had seen her dance and had admired it so much that he thought if anyone could teach him to look decent, it would be her. luckily, she agreed to help him out. “thanks for doing this,” he says after a run through of the entire song, features apprehensive as he awaits her assessment. “so what do you think? lost cause?”

[rkwon]

heavy feet.

@hyojongrk !!

as much as he hates to admit it, he’d been hesitant at first. joining any well pre-established group is scary ( not that won would really have known that before now, but he thinks better late than never to find out ) and to do so for something so important ( at least to him, all of this still painfully fresh ) amplifies each of his worries by triple, maybe even quadruple the size. his confidence comes and goes like a tidal wave, crashes down on him and splutters a “yes!” from his lips when he’s asked if he’d like to be part of the collaboration, yet washes away later that night, a cold sweat running down his spine as he makes an categorised mental list of all the ways this could go wrong. neither are overly pleasant, the can-do attitude overwhelms him, makes his bones ache long before they should, and the worry keeps him from getting the rest he needs but he knows he has to do this — to make a good first impression. 

still, it’s hard to ignore the urge to clean the dirt from under his nails ( even when it’s long gone ) and stretch and fold his legs in front of him restlessly when his seniors are so close by and the pressure weighs his shoulders down to the floor. he knows he’s thinking about this far too deeply, making a mountain out of a molehill, but all he’s ever wanted to do was please those around him, even if a bitterness does run a little deeper in his blood. 

he glances at hyojong out of the corner of his eye. maybe the other doesn’t notice but won doesn’t hold his breath; subtlety has never been his strong suit. instead, he accepts his fate, continues to nervously fidget until pins and needles settle in his right foot. karma, he supposes. 

“h-hey, so you’ve been here a lil while, right? so you guys have done a lot of collaborations together before?” 

[jaehyunrk]

a team

@rkseonho

evaluations. it’s a word that jaehyun’s gotten used to in his time at royal; after all, being a trainee meant monthly evaluations and doing new things. this month’s evaluation had more to do about decades or... something along those lines. either way, he found himself grouped up with the royal boys and it would’ve been a lie to say that his chest didn’t swell up with pride at the thought of performing together with them, like a team. a group. 

he works on his parts –– it’s nothing to vocally challenging for once and jaehyun isn’t complaining. it’s a team effort after all and if they’re all going to debut together, he’s ready to let them all shine. he rubs the back of his neck before he spots seonho and a brotherly smile immediately makes it’s way across his face.

“seonho!” he says before he flings himself onto the younger boy and rests his chin atop seonho’s head. “woah. when did you grow so much?” he asks, casually letting his arms rest on seonho’s shoulder. “this is fun, isn’t it? we’re all performing together like this... feels like we’re actually a debut team.”