𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐌𝐀, i-land

016.

「 CINEMA ‧₊˚ * 🎞 」
╰► 016. fire

HARU GAVE HER ALL ON THAT STAGE, AND IT SHOWED. Her expressions were close to perfect, littered with small details that drew the producers' attention. She stopped worrying about how well she was doing at some point during the performance and began having fun, leaving the stage with no regrets. The i-landers gathered in the lobby and sat down in their designated seats, waiting for what came next. Everyone was too preoccupied with worrying over their performance results to care about Haru's mere presence. She was thankful for it.

"The teamwork test results will be announced now," The voice declared through the speakers. The i-landers grew nervous, though not as nervous as the prior test. The anxiety was impossible to miss.

"From Heeseung's eyes, in the end, I saw a lot of potential in him," Rain commented, the other producers humming in agreement.

Zico pitched in, "He's looking directly at the camera despite not knowing how he appears on screen, yet he pulls it off... I'd like to give that part a high score."

The producers nodded. Zico continued, "Also Haru..."

"She was crazy. Seriously," Rain leaned forward and expressed.

"Right?" Zico nodded enthusiastically, "Her performance met the expectations I had from her demo stage. She topped it actually."

"I'm surprised she did so well despite what happened at the midpoint evaluation..." Zico admitted, "I thought that would've damaged the group dynamic but they actually did very well!"

"Right, they found out she was a girl, right?" Rain asked in remembrance.

Songdeuk and Zico nodded.

"First, the elimination table," The voice spoke out again, the blackened screen lighting up with the same table they remembered all so well. "The average of the individual scores is the team score. That score will determine the number of disqualifications."

They watched in silence as an empty grid appeared on the other side of the screen.

"The individual scores and the team score will be announced."

With that came reactions of pleasant surprise, as the first individual score came out to be 80. Following that was an 83.

"Woah!"

"What's happening?"

The i-landers cheered in awe at the next score being an 88. The highest so far.

"Who is that?"

"I don't believe it!"

The score after came out to be a 90, throwing the i-landers into an even bigger fit of cheering and applause.

Haru stared wide-eyed and bewildered, "90?"

"Almost 100 points?" Sunghoon asked in awe.

The rest of the scores appeared one by one, their cheers consistent throughout.

"No one has under 50?" Jaebom muttered in disbelief.

"The teamwork score matters the most," Jungwon reminded as they realized it was going to be announced next.

Haru and the boys watched the screen intently as the number 80 appeared in the empty box, cheering almost instantly.

"Why is our score so high?" Sunoo asked in surprise.

Haru was pleasantly surprised as well considering how little they'd thought about teamwork initially. She was glad the last-minute intervention they'd had was enough to get their acts together. She was more glad to know her little accidental reveal hadn't ruined things in the way she was worried it would.

The gleaming circle beneath the numbers swirled as it presented the final overall score: a 78.

Haru glanced over at the elimination table, "It's four people?"

Heeseung confirmed, "It's four people."

"By the test result, 4 people will be eliminated."

Taeyong sighed softly, "that still doesn't make me super happy... 4 people is a bit..."

"But still, we made a lot of progress," Geonu spoke up to reassure the boy.

"Right, our scores were in the 50s before," Sunghoon hummed.

"We all did very well, I'm glad," Haru smiled.

Unexpectedly, the screen was replaced by 7 empty cards, scores written on top of them. Upon closer inspection, she realized they were the top 7 scores.

One by one, the cards flipped to reveal EJ in 7th, Sunoo in 6th, Ta-ki in 5th, and Sunghoon in 4th. Haru was pleasantly surprised. She supposed they did very well since she couldn't quite remember much from the performance itself. She clapped for the boys with a wide smile of pride.

In third was Heeseung, followed by K in second. This made her wonder who made it to first place. She wondered if it was herself but she bit back any words she wanted to say, not wanting to hold onto that hope in case it wasn't her. Wasn't keen on coming off as egotistical on top of being a deceiver. Despite that, it did hurt a bit hearing no one utter her name while they made their guesses for first place. It made her worry a bit. Did she not do as well as she thought she did?

"We will now announce the first place i-lander who can use the exemption pass."

In a matter of a few seconds, all eyes were laid on her as her face appeared in the empty card slot. Haru, first place with a score of 90.

The applause sent her way was noticeably muddled, a mixture of loud and quiet. Ultimately, less enthusiastic than the previous ones. It was almost as though they didn't want her to get first place, rather they forgot about her presence.

It hurt. It really did, but Haru's expression didn't waver. Her smile widened a bit but she kept quiet. Seon looked over at her with a small frown of worry.

"The exemption card can be used on any of the 4 people who are chosen to be eliminated. You can also use it on yourself," The voice explained, Haru's smile falling, "However, in the case that you use the exemption card, the next elimination candidate will be eliminated."

Haru's gaze fell to the floor as the voice continued, "Voting for the member eliminations will begin in 2 hours."