Dinner time was coming. The guys were drenched in sweat and bad feelings towards the tomorrow performance.
"No, it's not when three-four-five but three-and-four, tac tac, then you push during five-six and finally seven-eight you stay still. You got it, Jeongin?" Wooyoung's eyes were about to explode. Deep dark-circles were the most vibrant thing on his unusually pale face. He was everything but calm at the moment. Jeongin kept got the beat wrongly on the music. Wooyoung didn't want to be rude, but that's exactly the way he had acted for the previous two hours.
His group was made of Yeonjun, Jeongin, Jisung, Winwin, Kai and Jisung, again, whom they called Han not to confuse between the two. They all spent the previous days to practice almost all the day long. If it were up to Wooyoung, they'd skip meals and sleep time to practice, but of course no one seemed to accept these working conditions.
Furthermore, Wooyoung tried to act as a leader, but then he could only shut up during the singing practice or Jisung would punch him. They were a good couple of leaders, after all.
And they were also a good team, too.
If just Jeongin could catch this damn beat.
"Listen, Wooyoung... It's late, we're beat. Please, we need to rest a bit. We can practice tomorrow morning before going on air." Kai was praising him with his eyes. The others all agreed but no one had enough courage to face the overworked Wooyoung.
"No way. We still don't get that part of the choreo.
Don't you remember who we are facing? There's San, Seonghwa, Yeosang in the enemy group. They're among the best, here.
Do you want to come back home? Glad for you to love so much your mother, but I want to stay here. I haven't wasted the past two months to get slapped off in the first episode." Wooyoung nervously passed his fingers through his shapeless and slightly damp hair, his eyes about to shot laser beam if it was possible. Never in his life he had felt so stressed and pissed off by something.
Yeonjun gave a look to all the others. There wasn't a single possibility they could handle a minute more of practice.
He walked to Wooyoung's direction, aware of being the only one able not to be eaten by his anger.
"Woo, look... It's true that that point of the choreo isn't turning out good, but we don't know if the other group is going to do a perfect dance performance. Remember, we also have to sing. Don't focus on a single detail.
And we're tired... You know too well we can't practice good if we're this tired.
Come on." Yeonjun voice was calm and lovely, but his expression betrayed his good intentions. He was exhausted, too. And despite his relationship with Wooyoung, and being aware of this attitude during training and practice, he needed to eat. A lot. And sleep even more.
Wooyoung stared deeply into the taller's dark eyes before saying anything.
Why no one wants to work, here?
Why am I the only one who seems to care about even the smallest details?
"Fine. Go wherever you want.
I'm staying here, if you want to come after dinner." His voice flat as his will to live in that particular moment.
"You should come eat somethi-"
"I'm not hungry now. See you back at the room." Wooyoung cut the other off.
Of course, he wasn't about to comeback in the room. Well, not soon, at least. The same as the others not coming to practice again.
___ • ___
Midnight
That's when Wooyoung slowly walked into the dark room. Yeonjun was already asleep. Probably he went sleeping right after dinner, he didn't look alive at all. On the other hand, Wooyoung gave himself a couple more hours of practicing.
There wasn't a proper point in practicing alone, to be fair. The crucial was to try the general outcome in group. But, as usual, Wooyoung felt like it still wasn't enough.
He needed to sleep so bad.
He had spent the previous days totally awaken because of his worries. Trying every possible way to shut his thoughts, he finished by writing down some ideas on his sketchbook. Ideas about choreos to create one day or another in his future. Becoming an idol also meant he wasn't going to have free time to spent on his passions, but he didn't seem to care.
Not that he wasn't sure about being an idol anymore. But the last days had been the most tough in his whole life. Even tougher than the previous two months, it was unbelievable.
The difficulty of working with those people wasn't the only thing. There was a general stressed air which was suffocating. He wasn't sure he could finish that competition with a stable mental health, if every day was going to be like those.
And if this wasn't enough, the worries of the upcoming episode were growing bigger and heavier. Wooyoung was sure that the opponent group were preparing in a more proper way. He knew how San, Seonghwa and Yeosang used to work. He wasn't sure about the other four, whom weren't among the first 10 of the ranking, but, as everyone in there, were still very good.
He was scared to be eliminated. That feeling never felt so real like that evening. That's why he decided to keep practice in the dance studio. Despite being aware of not making any difference with his only training, it helped him to shift his mind to other topics.
He quickly took a shower and laid in his bed with eyes wide and opened.
Please, let me sleep. Just five minutes.
___ • ___
"I think you guys did a nice job, after all.
Wooyoung, you weren't so stable and you lacked in confidence during your parts, but the general performance was good.
You, Jeongin, still lacks some technical skills, but still good, too. Same for Yeonjun.
Winwin and Jisung, I think you were the second greatest after Han Jisung. He had a perfect performance. His dance wasn't perfect, but since he was stable and charismatic, we couldn't notice the technical lacks.
That's how you all are supposed to work, okay? Don't think to be the best in every single activity. You must keep doing a good performance even when you're not the centre. That's the only moment when you need to stand out.
Fine, we will tell the winners in about some minutes.
Remember that if you're among the first 8 voted by the fans, or if you're the winning team, you can't be eliminated. Otherwise, watch out: these can be your last minutes here."
All the boys bowed before coming back to the backstage. Wooyoung patting everyone's shoulder saying they did a good job. It wasn't the truth, actually: he had seen someone not catching the beats sometimes, his voice cracked a bit in his part, but it was fine. Or, better to say, there's nothing to do, now, so better keep a nice mood before the winners announcement. He wasn't that evil to kill everybody's mood in such a delicate moment.
They sat and drank some water to recharge energy after the tough performance. Wooyoung rested his head in his hands, the hope of leaving any sound away from his ears, but couldn't handle it. He wasn't ready to face the result.
Team A, made by San, Seonghwa, Yeosang, Minhyun, Soobin and Taehyun, did an overall great performance. Of course, San was the center, but he didn't steal others' attention anyway. He just did his part better than anyone else and remembered everyone that they could nothing but cry at his natural talent.
But, in general, each of them managed to show their best sides and were more in sync in dancing than the Team B.
Wooyoung felt a lot frustrated. Yeonjun, sitting next to him, had a blank expression, his head landing on the wall behind him.
"Do you think we have any chances to win?" he muttered to Wooyoung.
"You want the honest answer or the cheering answer" Wooyoung's voice plain as his expression, the sound muffled by his hands, still over his face.
"Honest. So, you think we'll lose, don't you?"
"I do." Yeonjun took a deep breath. "What if we come back home?"
"We won't. I'm sure that some among us were worse." He took Yeonjun's hand and gave it a firm squeeze. "We won't get eliminated tonight, ok? Don't even think that. You're a good dancer and singer Yeonjun. Trust me." This time, he stared deeply into Yeonjun's eyes. His words weren't lies. He was sure that his friend was a good one, together with him. The judges must have noticed their talent, despite their low ranking.
The both teams were called again on the stage for the final judgement.
"The winner is...
Team A."
A light shined over Team A's members hugging themselves and sharing some huge smiles. On the other side on the stage, the Team B's members bowed their heads towards the floor.
We lost.
The judges called also the second losing team on the stage. The voices arrived muffled at Wooyoung's ears.
We lost.
Other eight guys reached the stage, not a single one with a calm look. They were trying to hide the anxiety without succeeding.
None of them was in the first 8 ranking. This, actually, comforted Wooyoung and the others a bit: the possibility of being eliminated were lower. Still, three people were going home. Yes, three, not just one.
"We watched every one of you for the past week and for today's performances. We already told to each of you what you lack.
It seems like some people still aren't ready for this program. And the fans noticed it, too."
The tension was suffocating.
Wooyoung's heart was about to explode out of his chest; Yeonjun nothing but a pale figure standing on two feet.
"The eliminated are..."
Commercial break
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DON'T HATE ME
This chapter was turning out very long, so I decided to cut at the end
i bet you really hate me right now HAHAHA
btw i decided to keep updating three times a week, so: tue, thur and sunday ✨
and for those of you who are worried about san YOU SEE THAT EVEN WOO IS SUFFERING NOW I HOPE YOU FEEL BETTER NOW
plus: SEONGHWA IS RED WTH???? WHAT IS HAPPENING ON KINGDOM IM NOT READY