#rkyxrim

[rkxsungwoon-blog]

✦ — MGA4 EPISODE 4: 2018 RELEASES #4048: HA SUNGWOON ; outfit: [ x ]  TEAM F (FRESH N’ FRUITY): @rkmg, @jinsoulrk, @rkyxrim performance: shine - pentagon / line distribution + choreography notes

team h comes in second place. sungwoon stares in open-mouthed shock as the results are announced as if he can’t believe it himself. jei seems disappointed by their placement, but sungwoon thinks even making it to second place is pretty damn impressive with how unbalanced their team was. it was the boys’ lack of dancing skill that ended up bringing the group down, not her leadership or her choreography. when it comes down it, sungwoon’s grateful for all her hard work and a little upset to see team dynamiq split up for the next round. 

though not completely—minhyuk is still on his new team, and sungwoon’s excited to get to work with him again. the rest of their teammates are on the younger side this time, so it’s nice to have someone else here to keep things focused and on track. once again, they’re practicing in the kt building; he’s grown used to the practice rooms here by now and takes comfort in the familiar (though part of still wishes he could get the chance to visit the nova building before all this is over). 

but he gets thrown for a loop early in the morning, when minhyuk stops by to tell them he’s dropped out of the mgas. he’s terribly apologetic about the whole thing and brings them ‘i’m sorry’ cupcakes, but sungwoon still feels a little lost and unable to grasp what’s going on. he doesn’t feel like he can blame minhyuk for his decision, but he still finds it a bit unfair. they’re going to be the only team with four members now—and eliminations happened just yesterday. won’t the people who left feel like this is unfair?

sungwoon genuinely doesn’t know how best to react, but as the oldest one here now, he forces a smile and accepts minhyuk’s apology. “it’s okay, you gotta do what’s best for you,” he says. “we’ll be fine.” he tries to sound as reassuring as possible; the last thing he wants is for the rest of the group to feel anxious over something like this. it’ll be a challenge to fill the stage just with the four of them, but it’s too early to adopt a defeatist attitude. he’s sure they can work something out in the coming week. 

privately, sungwoon just hopes this won’t hurt them in the round. 

in the beginning, there are bananas. 

one banana, to be exact, nestled in a transparent starbucks cup. sungwoon carries it into the practice room like the olympic torch because his dick of a friend thought it would be funny to mess up his order and sungwoon rolled with it. after minhyuk’s surprise exit, sungwoon needed a moment to clear his head and grab a cup of coffee from the nearby starbucks. he’d forgotten his wallet and tried to convince his friend to give him a drink for free—and the “cup of water: no water, no ice, banana, no” is what he gave sungwoon, no charge. sungwoon doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do with it and just brings it back with him. 

thankfully, it’s hilarious, especially since jinsoul and yerim later suggest banana allergy monkey as a potential performance. sungwoon’s never even heard of the song, and the look he exchanges with mingyu is equal parts startled and worried as the girls show them the music video… the song and the choreography are almost saccharine in its cuteness, and sungwoon makes an attempt to follow along with the choreo halfheartedly before giving up and shaking his head. “i know i opened the can of bananas here, but, uh…” 

but it’s a hidden camera prank—something to ease the nerves and break the ice between all of them. sungwoon slumps against the wall when the girls reveal they were joking and groans, clutching his hand to his chest. “you had me going there.” he genuinely thought he’d have to dance on stage a literal monkey (or banana) suit for a while. the atmosphere in the practice room after that is light-hearted and comfortable. sungwoon’s glad. he worried minhyuk’s departure would result in a heavy silence, but team f seems to be getting along just fine thanks to banana allergy monkey. 

it’s surprising how quickly sungwoon warms up to mingyu, jinsoul, and yerim. prior to being grouped up together, he hadn’t really been paying attention to any of them. the mgas overall are so overwhelming, it takes all he has to focus solely on himself, much less others. luckily, they’re all agreeable and fun to work with, as an a bonus, their team is well balanced for once: sungwoon and jinsoul are both vocals, yerim is a dancer, and mingyu can rap. 

song selection isn’t particularly difficult either. jinsoul initially suggests love4eva, but it doesn’t have enough of a rap to showcase mingyu’s talents. touch, giddy up, and jealousy also come up during their discussion, but sungwoon has to reluctantly bring attention to his lack of dancing ability. the choreographies for those songs are pretty difficult. finally, jinsoul suggests shine by pentagon, and they all agree it’s a good choice. there’s enough vocal and rap parts to satisfy their group’s needs, and a fun choreography for yerim as well. as a bonus, sungwoon loves the song, so he’s more than happy with their decision. 

they decide on a group name pretty quickly too. it’s a play on the song title ‘365 fresh,’ their fruity beginnings, and their designation as team f: fresh n’ fruity. it captures the spirit of their team well, he thinks. the topic of leader comes up soon after, and sungwoon’s a little surprised to find himself put in the position. in some ways, it makes sense: he’s the oldest and he has experience, but he wonders if he’s really up to the task. this isn’t keeping his band together. people are counting on him to make sure they deliver the best performance possible by the end of the week. but it’s a responsibility he’s willing to accept. “thanks, guys. i really mean it. i’ll do my best for you all,” he says, giving them a confident grin. 

inside, he’s not so sure, but he means what he said. he’ll do his best for this team. 

sungwoon spends some time watching his teammates’ cuts from the previous episodes so he can get a better sense of their skills. in the process, he gets exposed to some of mnet’s more questionable editing choices, especially with yerim. sungwoon has a hard time reconciling the girl he met with the bratty kid on screen. dealing with woojin on a daily basis has given him more perspective, however. sometimes it’s the circumstances and sometimes it’s the people around you, but most problem kids aren’t really a problem at all if you’re willing to treat them with respect.

he suspects jinsoul probably deserves a lot of the credit for making yerim more comfortable with this team than she was with the last one. the two are really close, that much becomes obvious on day one, and it translates into a better working atmosphere for them all. he’s grateful for that. since they’re all comfortable with each other, it’s easier to toss ideas around and work together. sungwoon would like to believe he’s an approachable leader as well, but something makes him doubt that.

jinsoul is initially unable to tell him she wants the high note before the final chorus in the song. yerim advocates on her behalf, but sungwoon doesn’t get a chance to talk to jinsoul about it until they’re practicing together. it’s not really a fight or even an argument; he just wants to work things out and make sure jinsoul won’t regret anything on stage. she’s a good, kind person, but he figures she must be a little nervous because of her team placement from last week and doesn’t want her to hold back for anyone’s sake, much less his own.

in the end, they decide to leave things the way they are. while sungwoon thinks jinsoul really deserves it, he doesn’t want to push a decision onto her either way. if she’s not confident enough this time, that’s fine—he just hopes that in the future, jinsoul will go for what she wants. she’s talented enough to pull it off, and if nothing else, sungwoon believes in her. he privately vows to himself that he’ll make sure jinsoul gets her chance in the spotlight despite all this.

one of the things he likes the most about team f is their creativity. shine is a great stage to begin with, but they’re always thinking of ways to go beyond and transform the performance into something wholly theirs. together, the team eventually comes up with a shoujo manga-esque concept, since the song is about a love confession. it’s a school setting, with yerim kicking off a string of love confessions, and by the end of the song, everyone is paired off with their respective partners.

out of consideration for his short stature and pride, sungwoon gets paired with yerim. while the performance starts off with yerim confessing to mingyu, she and sungwoon ‘end up’ together at the end. sungwoon is supposed to have a crush on her throughout the performance, and they have a lot of partner choreo together as well. staying serious is a problem though; they both recognize the ridiculousness of the scenario and break out into laughter whenever they have to pretend to act like love-struck fools. it takes a while, but they finally learn to control their expressions during their parts.

sungwoon brings lunchboxes and snacks for his team throughout the week. he’s not known as the naggy mom friend in all his circles for no reason, but he genuinely enjoys cooking for other people too. and he wants to be sure everyone’s eating and staying hydrated in such a busy time. amusingly enough, this leads to him being named the ‘team dad’ for a second week in a row, though he could probably do without the nicknames that come out of it too. still, he thinks he doesn’t mind being the team dad here. sungwoon could do a lot worse than be tied to these three.

he isn’t looking forward to their team being dissolved. can’t they work together for the rest of the show? wishful thinking, but you gotta have dreams.

they all practice hard. he feels like a misconception people might have is that their team is all about laughter and goofing off. while yes, they have fun, they take things seriously as well. yerim and jinsoul are a hundred perfect dedicated to the performance; yerim helps everyone out with their dancing as the best dancer out of all of them, and jinsoul takes meticulous notes on their practices, pointing out mistakes and areas of improvement as kindly as possible. and mingyu—his work ethic is unbelievable. he stays late and shows up early; sungwoon feels like he’s constantly practicing, giving he upcoming performance his all.

and then he finds out mingyu stays in the practice room all night. sungwoon doesn’t know what to do—he feels like this is something he should’ve caught onto earlier and wants to make sure mingyu isn’t pushing himself beyond his limits, but it obviously goes deeper than that. there’s something else going on. after some hesitation, mingyu finally opens up about his worries regarding the competition. having been in one of the bottom ranking teams last week, he’s scared it might happen again and wants to work twice as hard to make sure it doesn’t.

sungwoon gets it; of course you wouldn’t want to risk being in the same position twice. he promises mingyu team f won’t suffer the same fate. “believe in us,” sungwoon says, clapping him on the back. “we’re not going anywhere, okay?” it’s a confident statement, but he sees how hard everyone’s working, how fervently they believe in this team’s potential. sungwoon can’t help but get swept up in it too. it’s his job to keep everyone’s spirits up, keep them focused and believing they can take that number one spot. trust in something long enough and you can make it happen.

they’ve all overcome a lot. it would be a shame to go out like this.

sungwoon returns to the practice room after their ‘team bonding’ dinner at yerim and jinsoul’s house. it’s a little hypocritical of him to do so when he told his group mates to get some rest for tomorrow, but he’s not going to be able to sleep anyway, so why not do something useful with his time and practice the choreography? he has jinsoul’s notes and yerim’s pointers to work with. sungwoon feels like he’s been helped by this team members a lot this week and doesn’t want to let them down. 

it’s late and the only sounds he can hear are his shoes scuffing against the floor and his own laboured breathing. he’s familiar with some of the point choreography already, but sungwoon really wants to nail it as best as possible. this dance is more about charisma and energy than it is about skill, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pay attention to skill at all. enthusiasm can only take you so far. 

he goes over the non-partner dances until they’re drilled into his skull, sings until his lips are dry and cracked, his throat protesting. sungwoon knows he’s teetering on the edge to pushing himself to a breaking point—the very thing he was worried about for his teammates—but the sharp voice in his head tells him to break if he must. nothing less will be accepted. after all, he doesn’t want to have any regrets either. nothing less than his absolute best will be accepted. 

eventually, he takes a break. sungwoon’s shirt clings to his skin as he shuffles forward to get a drink of water before laying down spread-eagle on the floor. it’s pleasantly cool down here; he rolls over and presses his warm cheek to the floor and sighs. truthfully, he’s fucking exhausted, but he can’t stop here. a little more practice, then he’ll head home to hopefully get a couple of hours of sleep before the soundcheck. with that in mind, sungwoon wills himself to get up, but he can’t muster up the energy to do anything besides roll onto his back and stare up at the ceiling. 

he catches a glimpse of the camera recording his pathetic solo practice out of the corner of his eye. “are you there, mnet? it’s me, sungwoon,” he quips, laughing tiredly when he gets no response. talking to a camera… cool. mnet’s always there anyway. pausing, sungwoon licks his lips and thinks of what to say. ideally, there’s a lot he wants to get off his chest but more than half of it is stuff he knows he shouldn’t vocalize. after some deliberation, he settles on a plea. “i know you’re not santa claus and we don’t always get what we want here, but… i don’t want to say goodbye to jinsoul, yerim, or mingyu this week.” 

himself? it’s a toss up. sungwoon feels burdened every time someone goes home. this wasn’t his dream when he came on here. it seems deceitful for him to still be on the show. he doesn’t know where he stands now, and that’s almost as bad. some of last week’s eliminations wear on him; sungwoon wasn’t close with any of those who left, but it wasn’t easy to watch. he doesn’t want to see other peoples’ dreams get crushed… but in his heart of hearts, he wants to selfishly stay on the show too. but it’s like he said—they don’t always get what they want here. 

“please watch over team f kindly,” he finishes lamely, forcing himself onto his feet. feeling foolish for speaking to an empty room, he chuckles and rubs the back of his neck. “this probably isn’t going to air, right?” just as well people don’t get to see him make a fool of himself. sungwoon gives the camera two thumbs up before starting up the music again to practice. mnet’s not going to save his team because he asked nicely; he needs to put in the work to make it happen. 

and you bet he fucking will. 

soundcheck passes by in a blur and soon they’re backstage watching the other groups perform. once again, sungwoon’s team is slated to take the stage near the end of the show. he has mixed feelings about it: on one hand, the extra time helps him prepare mentally for going up on stage. on the other, the anticipation is killing him. sungwoon tries to distract himself by watching out for his former teammates and cheering them on whenever they take the stage. the performances are all just as good—if not better—than last week. he really sees some people he didn’t notice before shine up there. 

finally, it’s their turn. before team f goes up on stage, sungwoon stops them with an uncharacteristically serious look. “guys, i—” he breaks off and shakes his head. whatever he wants to say can wait; there’s no point in bringing the mood down before they even perform. instead, he affixes a bright smile to his face and pumps his fist in the air. “we got this! fighting!” sungwoon’s designated sappy speech can wait till they’re done. 

on stage, it falls to him to kick off the greeting. as rehearsed, sungwoon begins with, “nice and juicy—“ while the others chime in with “—fresh and fruity!” he bites back a laugh as he delivers the rest of the introduction. “hello, we are team fresh n’ fruity! i’m our bananappa, ha sungwoon. please keep me fresh in your hearts!” jinsoul’s assigned fruit is peach, mingyu’s an apple, and yerim gets the cherry. sungwoon should’ve petitioned for watermelon, but the banana is a nod to their start. 

the lights dim. they quickly get into position as the first notes of the instrumental intro fill the studio. keeping in theme with their shoujo manga concept, the stage is set up to be reminiscent of a classroom. they’re all dressed in school uniforms too, borrowed from hanlim students they know. seated at makeshift desks on stage, sungwoon pretends to be absorbed in ‘studying’ for a few seconds before throwing his pencil down and stretching his arms over his head. he pretends to watch in shock, mouth open in a giant ‘O,’ as yerim starts off the song by pulling mingyu away and confessing to him. 

after her rap, yerim and jinsoul run off giggling together and the focus shifts to sungwoon’s part. the choreography here is the same as the original song and meant to be energetic. he’s able to keep up, having spent as much time as he can practicing. everything he learned last week under jei’s guidance comes in handy as well, and he makes sure to grin widely for the camera, making it clear he’s having the time of his life up here. 

달라질게 없는 맘을 가진 너는  마치 뿌리 깊은 나무 같아서

they decided to stick to the regular choreography for the chorus as well. the dance is iconic enough that the audience has to be able to enjoy it and follow along. sungwoon himself knew of it thanks to vines before he ever saw a video of the song. his movements aren’t as polished as the rest of his team’s—he knows he’s the weakest dancer out of all of them—but he hopes his enthusiasm and dedication to the dance makes up for it. this stage is meant to be fun, and that’s really what he wants people to take away from his performance. sungwoon’s having fun. 

그래 나는 머저리 머저리

이 세상 너 하나면 돼

it’s mingyu’s turn to confess to jinsoul during his rap next. once he’s done, sungwoon walks over to one side of the stage while singing with mingyu while jinsoul and yerim walk to the other. they’re supposed to be talking to each other about their crushes, so sungwoon tries to throw furtive glances over to where the girls are, trying his best to channel a combination of sneaky and awkward. it really takes him back to his high school days… 

용기가 ���어서 i’m sorry 더 맘껏 비웃어 그래 나는

they change it up for the second chorus: mingyu glances over at the girls while singing his lines while jinsoul looks over at the guys while singing hers. they start walking back to the centre of the stage for sungwoon and yerim’s partner choreo. while walking backwards, they bump into each other and look at each other shly; sungwoon blushes under the harsh stage lights and scratches the back of his neck as he sings his lines to yerim, recalling his own high school crushes and what it felt like to be in love with someone. the feeling isn’t as elusive as he thought it would be. 

baby i’m only yours oh oh oh

난 사랑 앞에선 늘 찌질이

mingyu raps again, and it’s back to sungwoon and yerim singing together. he follows after her while singing his lines, trying to confess, but she doesn’t realize what he’s trying to do. finally, both pairs stop in the middle of the stage, sungwoon and jinsoul standing back to back, and deliver their confessions. it’s the part with the disputed high note, and though sungwoon ended up with it in the end, he and jinsoul still need to harmonize together. while he sings, he gets down on one knee and offers yerim a giant paper heart he pulled out of his jacket, aware that jinsoul’s doing the same behind him. 

한가지 말할 게 있어 난 네 앞에 서면 떨려

[JS/SW] 너를 사랑해

they delve into partner choreography after that as the love confessions are accepted, and there’s an extra bounce, a lightheartedness to his movements now as he follows the dance, looking at yerim like how he’d look at someone he was crazy about. sungwoon would normally feel nervous about dancing with someone else like this, but he has team dynamiq and jei’s partner choreography to thank for his ease up on stage right now. 

그래 나는 머저리 머저리

이 세상 너 하나면 돼

the last part before jinsoul finishes the song is one they sing together. there’s more cute partner choreography here, with mingyu hugging jinsoul during his “my baby!” line. 

(everybody says) 눈누난나 너와 나 눈을 감아 뭐 할까 (뽀뽀) 구구까까 butterfly

at the end, they stand in their respective couples, looking like a high school drama come to life. sungwoon makes a heart with his arms and shoots it at yerim first before turning to the audience with a wide grin. his chest is heaving, his limbs are shaky, but he looks at the crowd and at his teammates and feels like his heart is about to burst. they put their everything into this stage—it’s truly a product of their collective efforts—and he hopes people will appreciate that. 

as they come off the stage, he sinks to a crouch and covers his face with his hands. “i can’t believe i called myself ‘bananappa’ on national television,” sungwoon groans. hindsight’s always twenty-twenty, but he can say that’s about the only regret he has. sighing, he straightens up and gives his team a smile. “i had a whole sappy speech prepared for you guys, but i don’t want to get into it, so i’ll just say this: no matter what happens tonight, i’m proud of our performance and of you all.” swallowing past the lump in his throat, he looks out at their faces and really hopes they make it. “we killed it up there, but most importantly, we made that stage ourselves and i think that’s pretty awesome.” 

the mgas are still a competition at the end of the day, but sungwoon would like to think he made some friends this week—and that team fresh n’ fruity will live on in their hearts for a while.

[rkxsicheng]

MGA4 | EP 3 | 2011 Classics

MGA4 Episode 3 | 2011 Classics Team F | The Starz [ @rkyxrim, @hyunark, @rkmbin ] Song: Hot Summer by F(x) [line distribution] Outfit: [x] 

 The panel passes the microphone down its length like a cross country baton, not only reading out the names of the eliminated, but speaking criticisms against them, some so harsh that Sicheng winces in sympathy. The silence before each of these names is spoken is lead-heavy in the air of the room. And it seems like it might go on for forever, and then it’s over, and there seems to be a collective sigh of relief that rings out once it’s clear that that’s all, before the outpouring of excitement as everyone fully processes that they’ve made it one more round. 

 Sicheng is thrilled to have made it, of course, but he’s notably less-thrilled to find that it’s a group challenge. He was expecting that this would happen eventually. It happened during the last season, apparently. And it only makes sense; the judges’ ultimate plans were to debut any trainees they picked up by way of this show in idol groups, so they needed to see how these prospects would behave in their potential future work environment. Not to mention the potential for quality reality television that grouping all of the contestants together might brew. 

 He just wasn’t the easiest person to get to know. He was able to exude a certain charisma on-stage, sure, but in the realm of interpersonal relationships, he tended towards bashful, shy, soft-spoken, and nervous with all but those he was most close to. How well would his disposition play on camera? Would it at all? Which would be worse? 

 To not be worth the notice, or to be noticed for something embarrassing? 

 And then he finds out who his group is, and he’s struck with both relief and anxiety. Yerim? The two of them knew one another from school, and were friends. She was...a brat, but had a strange charm to her, Sicheng thought. Moon Bin? He hadn’t exactly given the guy much thought, admittedly. He was quite handsome in his way, and a competent vocalist. But Hyuna? He found himself terrified by the prospect of being on a team with her. All he knew of Hyuna had been gleaned from the handful of MGA3 clips he’s perused on YouTube after Mark had told him of these auditions; she was cool. She isn’t a shrinking violet, she’s a bad girl. That whole shtick. Her performances for this season of the show had been compelling; it was obvious she was trained, in her presence on stage, in her everything. Not to mention that her profile on the show thus far had been enormous. Her return was one of the show’s foremost storylines thus far. 

 Sicheng’s fear, thusly, is fading to the background. 

 He discusses this with Yerim over text later that night, although most of the discussion is a vent of his underclassman's frustrations, in the form of whiny complaints, and a few well-conceived insults regarding Hyuna’s performance. 

 “She already did this and failed! Like what’s the point of her even coming back? Clearly it’s not gonna happen.” she exclaims on Saturday, having come over to help Sicheng bleach his hair blond. 

 He understands her anger to a degree, but he’s decided that being put in a group with Hyuna is an opportunity, and does his best to communicate this to Yerim, who is somewhat placated by the thought that Hyuna’s group is likely to receive more interest and attention, both from the public, and the show’s producers. 

 Hence the makeover. 

 Sicheng was pretty, of that much he was aware. There were many ways in which he didn’t feel particularly worthy, but he knew he was pretty. He’d turned out looking like his mother, and although she’d managed to pick at everything else about him, she only ever had positive things to say about his face, because it was hers. 

 He just needed a bit of enhancement, was all; so gone was his natural black hair. He was now a much more eye-catching blond. Yerim teaches him how to apply a neutral mascara and a very subtle bit of eyeliner so faint that it wasn’t really identifiable as make-up, but still served its purpose of defining his eyes.

 He can’t help but feel like hot shit as he looks in the mirror. He looks....good. And as Yerim continues to complain he snaps a few selfies to send to his friends as a surprise. 

 The next day the episode airs, and he makes a quiet promise to himself to do his best to earn a more significant presence on the next one.

  As he finds his way to the TRC headquarters come Monday, a sleek, modern building, a quiet determination is burning in him, a determination which is quickly clouded by shyness, like the sun on an overcast day, the moment he enters the moodily lit training room to spy Hyuna already there. 

 The TRC rehearsal space they’re using is lit almost like a stage, tracklights mounted on the ceiling shining their light towards its centre, the outer edges, lined with benches fading into the slightest cover of shadow, and it both sets Sicheng on edge, and puts him into a performance headspace. A strange combination to him.

 And then Hyuna speaks and she seems very immediately....sweet, and Yerim and him can’t help but glance at one another in surprise, which triggers a laugh from her. The veteran girl seems to be quite self-aware, which comes as a relief to Sicheng, who is very happy to find that she’s not about to beat his ass if he says something half-cross towards her or slips up. 

 When Moon Bin arrives, he exudes an exuberance that is infectious, and Sicheng finds his spirits lifted. Perhaps this group thing isn’t doomed, as he’d feared. They don’t get along horribly, he doesn’t think, in spite of Yerim’s subtle petulance. 

 It doesn’t take long to name Hyuna as leader. Yerim questions Sicheng’s vote momentarily, but caves when he notes that she’s the most experienced, and therefore easily the most well-equipped to do so. They decide on Hot Summer, because the song is timely, they think, it really being summer. Sicheng hopes out loud that what he thinks is a cute and clever choice of song is appreciated even a little by the judges. 

 As the days go by, Sicheng becomes more confident, and comes to quite like his new pair of friends. 

 Moon Bin is even cuter in person, and speaks English with a British accent that turns Sicheng’s stomach in a very pleasant way. He clings to the other boy just a bit as the week wears on, acting just a little cutesy, the hair bleach having served to fully decalcify his sub twink brain, apparently. He’s thankful that in Korea a bit of affection and what he considers to be light flirting between two boys isn’t really perceived as flirting, and Moon Bin seems to just think he’s cute and young. Sicheng’s broken Korean seems to aid in this image, too, although the group spends just as much time speaking to one another in English.

 He ends up assisting the other boy quite often with his dancing, which he doesn’t quite understand. Hot Summer is hardly an intense dance routine, but that doesn’t stop Binnie-hyung, as Sicheng takes to calling him every ten seconds, from struggling in the first few days to really keep on rhythm and in sync with the other three, who pick up the choreo like it’s feather-light. 

 But Sicheng’s thought processes are always turning, so as he grows more comfortable around the other three he begins to suggest ideas. Minor things like a wink here, a finger heart there, a hair flip then. Things to enhance their performance, he hopes.

 He takes a liking to Hyuna, too, who he repeatedly calls noona out of habit, despite her insistence that it’s fine to be more casual. Each time he does, he apologises, and Hyuna becomes both more exasperated and more amused. She one time asks him quietly when the other two are resting if Yerim is always...like that, having found out that the two younger team members attend the same school, and Sicheng giggles and informs Hyuna that she is. 

 “She’s nice, really. She’s just like...a bratty little sister.” he says, sure to be complimentary towards his friend on-camera.

 The four of them iron out most all of the kinks over the course of the week, and Sicheng feels a strange surge of confidence build. 

 The day of filming is always initially a nervous day, but filming a television show is a lot more time-consuming than it seems from your couch, viewing the tightly edited product, and as they warm up backstage, adjusting their costumes, sprucing one another up, Yerim fixing Sicheng’s hair a little and advising he tuck in his shirt, they watch the other groups perform, and in their wait the nervousness fades a little bit, for Sicheng at least.

 There’s sound checks, camera checks, light tests, lots of tedium before the performances actually begin, and Sicheng finds that it saps at his stage fright until it’s not quite so bad. Still present, certainly, just not unbearable. It can be swept away, ignored.

 When it’s their time to perform, it flares up briefly. They step on stage. The lights come on, the music starts, and it’s like some sort of clockwork mechanism unfolding for Sicheng across the stage. 

 He’s aware of the other three moving around him, but his eyes are on the camera, a pleasant smile gracing his lips and eyes, tapping his feet along with the staccato rhythm of the song. He does his best to take advantage of it every time he’s in the centre of the routine, finding the little red light of his camera, looking into it and interacting with the audience, working a couple finger hearts into the choreography, at one point attempting and somewhat failing a wink, smiling and blushing red, even as Hyuna and him switch spots so she can do her part. 

 He’s not a bad singer, although he’s not great. Luckily, the parts that have been selected for him aren’t exactly the most vocally intensive, so he’s able to keep up with them well by keeping his breathing under control, hoping to make up for any lack of vocal impact by being cute. 

 During the end pose, as the music dies, he feigns a bit of exhaustion narrowing his eyes and fanning himself as though he were overheating.

 Their group makes their way backstage, Yerim giving him a peck on the cheek, Moon Bin pulling the two of them into a hug, and Sicheng is happy. He hopes he’s done enough not to fall into the shadow of any of his group mates, and enough to be noticed, but either way...he’s proud of what he feels is an accomplishment. Hopefully the first of many.

[rkkyularch]

 tiny dancer @jkkyul_   •   40m ago

okay wtf i wasn’t expecting the groups to be this professional. mildly impressed

tiny dancer @jkkyul_   •   40m ago

live updates unless i get carried away when my baby gets on stage

tiny dancer @jkkyul_   •   37m ago

team a is perfoming that weird ddu song.  wasn’t expecting it buT DAMN OKAY JUNMYEON I SEE UR FINE ASS OKAY YES. 

tiny dancer @jkkyul_   •   30m ago

tEAM B MY BABY!! SUPPORT HIM EVERYONE #4034 LAI GUANLIN DONT U FORGET IT  he did so good 대박... so proud ㅠㅠ

tiny dancer @jkkyul_   •   27m ago

okay team c has hyuna and i’m *** 

tiny dancer @jkkyul_   •   11m ago

we’re down to team f and can i just say,,, jinsoul is??? so freaking good like??? i was totally missing out on tHIS and yerim bby girl ye s i see u 👀

tiny dancer @jkkyul_   •   11m ago

btw anyone hating on yerim just step tf up bc like. really?

tiny dancer @jkkyul_   •   5m ago

...

tiny dancer @jkkyul_   •   1m ago

okay i’m just gonna be upright and say it. chungha and her ass stole the damn show okay

[rksaememories]

NEKKOYA.

✰ ┋ @rkyxrim!

it really only just feels like yesterday that seungyeon and her cousin seokjin were standing by waiting to audition for mga season three through the deathmatch system. thankfully, it’s safe to say that she has grown a lot from her experiences, from then all the way up to her becoming a trainee at sphere. she’s definitely not that girl anymore. so now, it makes seungyeon happy to see people on the path she's on, following their dream, doing whatever they can to make it work. seungyeon’s close friend yerim, is one of those people.

seungyeon had taken it upon herself to organise a little sleepover catch up session for the two of them. sphere’s weekend schedules were rather forgiving, finishing at 5:00pm. the two caught up with eachother and grabbed some take out and snacks to bring back to seungyeon and seokjin’s place. she wanted to try and make the most of the time she could with yerim; after all, with the mgas and that happening, it was likely she was going to get extremely busy and especially if she earns a contract out of it. 

her mouth is agape as she re-reacts to yerim’s audition video. she had seen the live screening of it on television, but she hadn’t had opportunity to actually sit back and analyse it. after all, yerim was a dancer like seungyeon, so it was only natural to go through this process. seungyeon is sitting cross-legged on her bed, back against the wall while pearl the ferret bounds around on the floor, underneath seungyeon’s bed and desk. “yerim!” seungyeon exclaims, brows narrowed, mouth still agape. “you’re so good, you’re bound to go far this season.”

[rkkyungri]

SPOTLIGHT.

✧ ┋ @rkyxrim!

episode one of the mgas had already happened, and both kyungri and yerim’s auditions had been aired to the public, thankfully, with mostly positive reviews and feedback. it felt as though this was a new beginning for kyungri at least, no one was really getting jumpy at the fact that she was an ex-idol trying to make her return to the entertainment industry. then again, she could understand why if people were getting jumpy; she had experience that others didn’t and maybe it would be somewhat of an unfair advantage. kyungri had read the fine print when she signed on for this. nonetheless, she was happy it was over, from here on out, both her and yerim had a lot of hard work to do if they wanted to do well on the program.

kyungri stands by the stove top, poking at the homemade ramyeon she was making for dinner. she had invited yerim over for the night to not only hang out but to put their heads together to see if they could help eachother out. maybe it felt a little weird to be helping out a rival, but yerim was more or less family to kyungri. she was the little sister she never had, and she’s sure that yerim wouldn’t mind kyungri being a bit sisterly towards her. 

“i usually only ever cook for myself, so consider this a treat.” kyungri says, switching off the stove top. “i’m kidding.” she says, looking over her shoulder with a smile, undoing the apron and tossing it aside. “i’m happy i get to cook for you, it’ll be nice to enjoy a meal with someone.”

[rookieskrp]

Every week, there will be an activity check to sweep out inactive rookies and reward those who have stayed active, with skill points! If the rookie hasn’t showed up in at least one week, they are cleared from the masterlist with no warning, while the names not on the sweep list can add three skill points using their TALLY SHEET. You can distribute +3 skill points in whatever categories you want! Please make sure that you add a link to this post on your tally sheet for proof! You do not need to verify these points.

TRAINEES may now turn in their POINTS VERIFICATION SHEETS for the week of 7/18-7/25; instructions for doing so as well as the appropriate form and the link to the verification blog can be found on each company’s workshop page. Once your form is posted to the verification blog, you may update your points tracker with a link to the verification blog post. Points must be turned in before 8/01 or they will not count! If there are any complications that prevent you from turning in your points on time, please talk to Head Mod Kyle before submitting them late.

Please include today’s date (July 25, 2018) at the top of your verification form! Even if you turn in your points later this week, put July 25th as the date. This is mandatory!

Reminder: - the deadline for all July evaluations is midnight EST on July 31st. evaluation forms are due the following week with Aug 1st’s activity check! - MGA4 contestants have until 5PM EST on Sunday, July 29th to turn in their next solos!

▸ ▸ ▸ DROPPED .

-

▸ ▸ ▸ CLEARED .

do kyungsoo

kim myungsoo

wang, jackson

↺ URL CHANGES

choi yerim: rkyxrim to rkyerim

[rkmg]

dance with me.

mga starter for @rkyxrim !!

Even though he couldn’t ignore the fact that he was quickly improving, he still hated that he couldn’t get the choreography exactly right. He wished that he was as good of a dancer as Won was, but he also acknowledged that he has had a lot more practice. Years of experience can’t be acquired overnight... obviously. It would literally take him years. Though, that’s not the kind of time that he had at the moment. He only had a week to get everything perfected... or... less than a week at this point. Still, he managed before and he had faith that he would again. Just... perhaps not all on his own. Even so, he never opened his mouth to ask for help.

Maybe if he made it obvious he was having troubles, one of the better dancers of the group would offer to help him. It was a gamble, and he’d probably be better off just asking for assistance, but what if everyone was busy doing their own thing? Regardless, he should have known better... they needed him to succeed in order for them all to succeed... Besides, everyone in the group were people that he quickly grew extremely fond of. He was lucky, honestly... this group was destined for greatness. He just... needed a bit of guidance.

[hyunarkarchive]

ashashbaby                           ♥ 20.1k likes ✏ 3.6k comments

✏  ashashbaby don’t forget to watch the next episode of the mga4!! team f, consisting of contestants #4035 feisty choi yerim,  #4029 lovely dong sicheng, #4032 big bro bin and  #4008 myself! a special shout out to the dancing queen jinhee with number #4011, and dancing king yoongi, #4016 !

♥ LIKE   ✏ COMMENT  

[rkhosung]

MGA third round team f; the starz ( @hyunark, @rkxsicheng, @rkyxrim ) song: hot summer — f(x); line dist.  outfit: here

Ooof.

Bin wasn't much of a dancer, so the prospect of singing whilst moving his limbs coordination to the beat felt like a daunting task. Even though he'd been taking dance classes for the past seven months it didn't come easy to him. Everyone else—Hyuna, Sicheng, and Yerim—had the skills to easily learn the choreography and execute it flawlessly whilst he stumbled through it, often forgetting what came next. He felt apologetic towards his team mates for holding them back, often saying how sorry he was that he had two left feet and a body memory like a damn sieve. Sicheng and Hyuna took it all in their stride, giving him pointers and running through the choreo on a one to one basis. Yeri on the other hand... if looks could kill Bin felt like he'd have been mortally wounded and left to bleed out.

Being the weakest link on the team, Bin felt like he had to make up for lost time and practiced almost non-stop for three days, deciding to sleep in the practice room to cut out the commute time from his apartment. If anyone looked at the cctv footage they'd see him there in his dance clothes, earphones in ear as he listened to the song over and over repeating the steps his team had so kindly guided him through, sleeping only for a few hours before beginning the next practice. On the fourth day Bin finally made it through the choreography from the top without messing up once, making him break into a cheerful smile as he hugged Sicheng happily.

"Thank you for everything, guys."

As much as this was a competition, Bin couldn't help but get attached to his team, even to the prickly Yeri. He learned that they all knew English making for some interesting conversations and new words whilst they practiced. He was grateful for Hyuna for stepping up and being the leader and taking care of them all so well, making sure they were fed and had what they needed to polish the performance to a tee. It made him hopeful that they wouldn't be in the bottom in rankings but then again... the panel was unpredictable.

Friday rolled around much too soon for his taste, making waves of butterflies roll around in his stomach. Now it wasn't just his shot on the line, it was his whole team. If he managed to royally fuck things up on stage they'd be penalised as well. That realisation that they were all in it together sent him into a momentary state of panic. They'd all hate him if he bombed this stage. But one glance at his team calmed him; he could do this, they could do this.

Being Team F meant that they could watch several teams perform before them on the screen backstage. Bin thought they looked near professional, dancing and singing and being charismatic. He wondered if they'd be able to stand out and hold their own. It was no secret that the general public was curious to see how Hyuna (and her team) would do, but it also meant that she was under enormous pressure to deliver. Bin didn't want to make that any harder than it already was. Thanks to Yeri who had chosen their outfits (and fussed about their looks on more than one occasion) he felt confident that at least their visuals were on point.

"Shine bright! Hello, we are The Starz!"

Their greeting was bright and cheerful, perfect for their summer concept, and it highlighted the youthfulness of Sicheng and Yeri who he knew looked super cute. It was now or never. Once they got into their starting positions, Bin couldn't help but to glance at everyone one last time, drawing strength from them and their faith that they'd all do well.

The music started and everything he had been thinking about disappeared. His body moved of its own accord remembering the hours of practise it had been put through. Bin's expression was happy, he was smiling at the cameras hoping that it would be enough to capture people's attention. It wasn't a particular difficult song to sing and he was glad that all his gym workouts had paid off when he found his singing suprisingly stable as he moved to the front after Yeri had finished her part. The small gestures came naturally, as he continued to showcase the 'happy bin', one that was excited for summer and happy to be there on stage showing off what he could do.

All through out he managed to execute the choreo without missing a beat and keep his voice stable as he smiled cutely. After the ending pose they were all ushered off the stage and Bin felt like it was something out of a dream. They'd done. They'd performed a great cover of a classic song. Everyone was smiling at each other and Yeri even pinched his cheek affectionately. It was magical. Overcome with emotion he didn't even realise that he was crying until a staff handed him a wad of tissues as they walked backstage. Bin laughed and heard his voice crack a bit but shrugged it off, reaching out for Hyuna's hand as well as wrapping and arm around Yeri and Sicheng's shoulders, bringing them in for a quick squeeze.

"Thank you for believing in me. We did well tonight."

[rkxsungwoon-blog]

sungwoonie @hahawoon97 • 28m

ㅠㅠ team fresh n’ fruity... i miss you guys so much... working with you all this week was the best part of the mgas so far. i’m so proud of you and the stage we put together! 

‹  💬  ◦  ↻   ◦   ♡  ◦  ✉   ›

sungwoonie @hahawoon97 • 23m

#4035 our cherry yerim 🍒- even though you had to pretend to be in love with funny-looking me, you did such a good job with your expressions (especially with the anime blush!) with your expressions, dancing, and even rapping. good luck with your new team and i’m always cheering you on! i can’t wait for you to show us more of your talents. 

‹  💬  ◦  ↻   ◦   ♡  ◦  ✉   ›

sungwoonie @hahawoon97 • 19m

#4049 our apple mingyu 🍎- remember what i said!! believe in us and we’re not going anywhere. you’re not going anywhere! you deserve to be here and i hope you can trust in that from now on. i hope you get more chances to shine and show off your rapping abilities this week too. i’m going to be one of your biggest fans going forward. fighting! 

‹  💬  ◦  ↻   ◦   ♡  ◦  ✉   ›

sungwoonie @hahawoon97 • 15m

#4027 our peach jinsoul 🍑 - who knew we had a friend in common! i guess we were fated to be in a team together... thank you for all your help this week; i wouldn’t have been able to get without your notes and your ideas. i hope you get to sing that high note this week because i believe in you! believe in me believing in you! 

‹  💬  ◦  ↻   ◦   ♡  ◦  ✉   ›

sungwoonie @hahawoon97 • 11m

ah... seriously, i’m so sad. i wish we could be a team forever, but i know mnet can’t grant all our wishes (thanks, santa claus). still, i wish you guys the best of luck and i hope we can meet again in this competition sometime! 

‹  💬  ◦  ↻   ◦   ♡  ◦  ✉   ›

sungwoonie @hahawoon97 • 10m

team fresh n’ fruity for life!

‹  💬  ◦  ↻   ◦   ♡  ◦  ✉   ›

[rkkyularch]

tiny dancer @jkkyul_   •   6m ago

haven’t spoken much about the mgas, but send my faves all of your support!

tiny dancer @jkkyul_   •   5m ago

good luck to my baby chick #4034 and my #4035 cutie

[rkkyularch]

heat of the night

* &. there's no secret you can’t steal,  ⇝   @rkyxrim .  

kyulkyung had become too used to this routine - waking up in expensive, crinkled sheets with her makeup from last night still covering her face. eyes that were once fixed and colored to perfection now lay smeared on a pillow case and staining her under eyes. she rises to an empty bed - he always left early, usually hours before she awoke - and collects her clothing before heading out the front door. 

she’s dressed rather skimpily for such early hours, but the walk of shame is not an easy one. shoving her phone into her bag, the girl starts down the stairs that lead into the street - not really watching where she’s going as she emerges onto the sidewalk. kyulkyung bumps into another body, the hit knocking her back a few steps - the back of her heels clanking loudly against the metal of the staircase.

“sorry, i wasn’t paying attention.” cheeks flushed hot in embarrassment, she raises a hand to brush a few strands of dark hair from her face - curling the locks behind her ear as she glances at the person she had run into. kyulkyung pauses, recognition striking both shock and nervousness deep in her chest. “yerim?”

[rkxsungwoon-blog]

always a loser

✦ — an mga4 episode four starter for @rkyxrim

the feeling sungwoon remembers the most from last week is anxiety over how their performance would go, whether or not they’d be able to pull of the choreography, and so on. but this week is different; maybe it’s the fact that he’s grouped with younger contestants, all of them possessing their own kind of infectious energy, or maybe it’s simply that that their song is fun and exciting. whatever the case, sungwoon finds himself looking forward to this week’s filming, confident that they’re going to kill it up there. they’ve all been working hard to come up with the best stage possible and he’s looking forward to how it all turns out.

one of the funniest parts of their performance is the choreography he shares with yerim, the maknae of the team who sungwoon feels victimized by a lot, but he admires her outspokenness and and her skills at the same time. she’s been a real help with learning the dance and rearranging the choreography. he trusts in her to make this stage a great one. there’s only one problem, and that has to do with maintaining character. “okay, remember: you’re a young girl in love, so absolutely no laughing. just be like, uh, shy and demure? with an anime blush if you can manage it.”

he will 100% own up to being funny-looking when it comes down to it, but their stage has a specific atmosphere they’re supposed to evoke, and, you know, giggles don’t factor into it. the music starts again and they begin, but as they get to their shared part and turn to face each other, sungwoon’s the first one to burst out laughing when they make eye contact. god, okay, get a grip. you’re setting a bad example. but objectively, this scenario is hilarious and he’s having a hard time taking it seriously himself. 

[rkxsicheng]

Cats Without Claws

rkcharity! starter for @rkyxrim

 Yerim was...controversial, and yet Sicheng found that he really quite liked her. 

 Initially, he wasn’t sure what about it it was about her that made her so much fun to be around, but he’d come to realise that he was a bit of a human sponge; he absorbed just a little bit of whoever he was around when he was around them. 

 So to be around Yerim meant that he received a boost of confidence, and a very powerful sort of confidence, where it was okay to be a little bitchy, and it’d done wonders for venting a lot of the bitterness that’d begun to stew within him.

 And truth be told, a lot of her attitude either rolled off of him, or he was capable of giving back what he got, but in a generally playful way. Perhaps they were just on a similarly catty wavelength, and therefore able to get on well enough.

 Perhaps it was fitting then, that they’d ended up where they currently were; at the animal shelter. 

 Neither of them were all that interested in doing any of the dirtier jobs, cleaning kennels, or grooming, or anything, much to the irritation of the shelter’s employees, so they end up in a cozy room, its only contents a rocking chair, a big plush sofa, the two humans, and a dozen or so kittens who needed socialising. 

 Sicheng snorts, massaging the forehead of the fluffy little creature in his lap, “We’re really doing this community service thing like...incredibly, eh? Mother Theresa found dead in a ditch.”