PARADISE| I-LAND

TWENTY-SIX

"What about you, Taki?" This was the part Raina was not looking forward to.

"Ah yes. I've never been a leader before. There have been challenging parts, but it's going well thanks to Heeseung and Sunghoon's help." Taki nervously said and Raina felt a tug of relief that Heeseung had taken her advice and helped guide Taki.

"Which team do you feel most threatened by?" This was pretty much a no brainer in Raina's opinion. She glanced to her left and caught Jay's eyes, although Raina herself did not feel threatened by them. Realistically, the DNA team was the strongest out of the three units.

"These two teams don't feel very threatened by 'I NEED U' team. What do you think about that?" Sung Deuk asked. This broke Raina out of thoughts and she turned to Jungwon who had glanced at her. Raina smiled at him and nodded her head as she looked at Sung Deuk.

"It gives us more of a reason to prove them wrong and go beyond their expectations of us. So we're practising hard to show them just that." Raina said firmly. Her determination caused Sung Deuk to suppress a smirk, however, Jay and Heeseung could not suppress the small barely noticeable smirk that made its way on their plush lips. Raina's constant determination and drive to prove others wrong was one of the many traits they admired and adored about her.

"Okay so the most threatening, DNA team, should we start your midpoint evaluation?" Sung Deuk said and soon the DNA began their performance. Raina studied their performance, they were in sync, their lines were even and in place. Their movements were powerful and precise, and their facial expressions were good. However, it was lacking, there was no flair to their performance something she didn't expect them to be lacking in. And Raina didn't seem to be the only one to notice this, because when their performance ended Sung Deuk released a disappointed sigh.

"It was whatever, to be honest." Ouch. Raina thought was she internally grimaced.

"They think you're the best in this competition, but I don't think you guys need to think of them like that. I don't think things will be easy for you guys."
Double ouch. Raina thought once again, her face remaining emotionless as she listened to the feedback.

"Next is FAKE LOVE this team has three members with the badge. I look forward to it." Sung Deuk expressed. The FAKE LOVE unit then began their performance, Raina once again studied their performance and noticed Taki was falling behind, he was either completing the moves too early or too late. Their facial expressions remained the same throughout the performance, their vocals wavered throughout the song. Once again Sung Deuk looked utterly disappointed and it caused Raina to shift in her spot slightly.

"This team is horrible. It was awful. It's so visible how unready you are. I could tell from your facial expressions, you're expressions are just not there. What are you trying to show? What are you trying to convey? I didn't feel anything. I couldn't focus." Sung Deuk disappointedly expressed. Raina reminded stoic and kept her eyes focus forward, as much as it hurt her heart to listen to Sung Deuk's harsh criticism towards her friends and see their reactions. It was something that needed to be done. They need to know where they fucked up so they can better prepare themselves for the real deal.

"And Taki. You did the worst here. You're the only one without a badge and you're their leader. I can tell you don't have confidence, you can't catch up with their energy, you can't follow the beat, can't follow the moves. You'll never get a badge like this, Taki." Raina's hands clenched at the criticism and willed herself not to look at Taki, knowing his reaction would hurt her. As mean and as harsh as Sung Deuk's words were Taki needed to hear them. But that didn't stop his words from hurting the young boy any less.