The next morning me and Jay were leading practice. Jay was showing the moves while I walked around and helped everyone. That was the whole day until night time.
Even I was tired, "Jay shouldn't we let them rest?" I asked.
Jay glanced at the group while we watched the tablet, "We have to focus. If the I-landers don't do well enough we have to perform. We're going up against I-Land at this point, and we only have five days."
I sighed, "You make a fair point but I think it's time for dinner."
Jay hesitated, "I am hungry."
I smiled, "Good." I turned to the tired group of boys, "Okay we can stop for dinner. Then we go back to practice."
When we got to the eating room there were already lunch boxes for the each of us, "I think we should finish what we can today and to rest up afterwards." Daniel suggested.
I nodded, "We're on a time crunch. We need to reduce our sleep."
"Our physical condition is important too." Sungchul pointed out, "A person has to be in good condition to feel less tired doing anything.
"That's true, but I don't think we can finish everything by today. Even with what we did today, we've only come this far." Jimin added.
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Niki, Youngbin, Jake, Jay, and I were sitting at the table while everyone was in the practice room, "I don't understand how even the highly skilled people from I-Land work really hard, by the Grounders dont seem to be practicing that much."
"In their defense they really have nothing to lose. There's the chance we won't even get to perform and stay here. For those four, they've been in the Ground the whole time. It's their mindset." I explained.
"Even though we worked so hard, the seven of us got disqualified." Jake said, "I don't get it at all."
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During practice I was watching everyone dance with Niki. During one part Jimin wasn't going fast enough on the beat. Niki tried tutoring him but it seemed repetitive, "he can't do it right now because he's not feeling well." Sungchul told Niki, "I think he'll be able to do it tomorrow."
It was true, Jimin had a mask on and wasn't feeling well. But we had barely any time for anything other than practicing
"That wont work." Niki said blatantly.
I glared at Niki, "Wait- everyone pause." I turned to Niki, "We can't practice tomorrow if they're all dropping dead. Jimin isn't feeling well, we can go over his part tomorrow."
Niki shook his head, "Earlier, we agreed that we need to focus."
"There's a difference between not focusing and not feeling well. You need to know that." I said sternly, "None of us had proper rest yet. Their bodies can only take so much."
Jimin stepped up, "I know that right here I need to go bigger."
"You did it earlier." Niki said.
"Im doing- im doing it the same way. Can you show me the difference?" Jimin asked.
"I told you already." Niki huffed, "You're not focusing."
"I am."
"You didn't, which is why you're doing it wrong."
"I said I was focusing."
I grabbed Niki's shoulder, "Niki- stop arguing with him."
Niki ignored me and continued to criticize Jimin, "You're always late on the beat. I told you that too."
"Just show me what I did before and what I'm doing now. Then I'll fix it."
Dance practice basically dissolved into a debate over who's in the wrong. Eventually Niki leaves the room. I sighed, "Everyone continue your individual practices. I'll go talk to him. You guys are doing good." I said before chasing after Niki.
Niki and I went outside and met up with Jay. We explained the situation to him.
"What do you want to do?" Jay asked.
"We need to talk about priorities and our focuses." Niki said.
I nodded, "We also need to address the difference in opinions and work ethics."
Jay sighed, "Alright let's go talk to them."
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Jay, Niki, Hanbin, Sungchul, Youngbin, and I were in the break room talking about today's practice, "To be honest, today's practice-"
Jay cut off Sungchul, "If we can't get this down by today, then the schedule will be messed up." Jay complained, "Why is everyone being like this?" Jay buried his face in his hands, "This is so stressful, hold up. If we don't get it down by today, there are no answers."
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The next day I approached Jay, "Jay we haven't practiced the stunts yet."
Jay didn't seem bothered, "I know. It hasn't been my priority."
I stared at him, "Not your priority?!" I whispered yelled, "It's the most important part."
Jay looked at everyone, "It's too risky for us. It could be dangerous."
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Later that day we were all surprised when produced Rain and Doobu, "Are you practicing well?" Rain asked.
"Yes, we're practicing hard." Daniel answered.
"Let's gather over here." All of us gathered in front of rain sitting on the floor. Rain sighed, "Right now, you all are too stiff. So I'll ask again."
"You're hyung." Youngbin answered quietly.
"OUR older brother." Rain corrected, "Now, who is your implicit leader?" Rain asked.
Everyone looked at me, Niki, and Jay, "Right now it's, Niki, Jay, and Chaeri." Youngbin explained.
"Niki, Jay, Chaeri? It looks like the leaders are the ones from I-Land." Rain observed, "What are the people who were originally in the Ground doing then?"
everyone seemed silent and shocked at the question, "We are..." Sungchul didn't seem to know what to say.
"You're just following them?"
"Yeah. We just trust them since this is about teamwork." Sungchul said slowly.
"You don't look like you mean it." Rain pointed out.
"No! I really mean it!"
Rain looked at us sternly, "Okay I'll remember this. I'll assume you have good teamwork. I'll see when you're dancing and when you're done dancing. I'll be watching throughout your 24 hours.
We then moved into our scattered positions in the room while Rain and Doobu sat in chairs in the corner, "Jay, take the lead and let's see your dance."
The dance pretty much fell apart by the chorus. We didn't do any of the stunts because Jay said we needed to focus on the other dances and mostly because they were nervous. I didn't mind doing the stunts but I didn't want to argue since the tension was already high.
When we finished we gathered in a line and waited for our evaluation. Rain sighed heavily and looked at us, "I'm- im really flustered!" That was not good, "You steal glances at each other, wondering where my spot is or what I should be doing. The formation is all off too." He pointed to Jay, "Jay you haven't even tried doing that part and you say you won't do it because it's too dangerous."
Rain shook his head, "What is this disrespectful behavior?"
"I'm sorry." Jay said loudly.
"No respect at all, no respect. Isn't it?"
"I'm sorry!" Jay said once again.
Rain continued to scold us, "The audience won't buy it."
"I'm sorry!"
"Can you even sleep when you go back to your dorm? Can you?"
"No." Youngbin said quietly.
"Let's say that you couldn't do it because it's too dangerous, Jay. The fact that you would come into this with that mindset to begin with is disrespectful. I can agree that you coding do it because it's dangerous, but there's no one who would sympathize with that."
"Yes I understand." Jay said.
Rain pointed at Jay, "Jay, this is really important. This is the basics."
So then throughout the next hour we all practiced the stunts. Gradually it started work. And we became really good at it.
"Hey!" We all turned to rain, "It works. You guys are catching him well and you're trusting him to fall so it's coming along well." Everyone seemed to be relieved, "If one of you guys said, "let's practice this together" and done it at least ten times, you guys could've done it. That's why I'm a bit disappointed."
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"Chaeri!" I stepped forward, "You got part two, yes?"
I nodded, "I did."
Rain smiled, "I'm excited for this. You did a great job being center last test."
I bowed my head at his compliment, "Thank you."
"Of course. Now please sing your line."
"Ni meotdaero sareo eochapi ni kkeoya Aesseuji jom mareo jyeodo gwaenchana." I sang the lyrics but it felt weird trying to make my voice louder and more confident like Jay. Fire was the first song I sang like this.
Rain pointed his hand up, "Ni meotdaero!"
I tried copying him but it wasn't perfect. Rain gave me a sympathetic smile, "Outside of your comfort zone?"
"Sort of."
Rain nodded, "That's good you should be challenging yourself. Keep practicing to make your vocals stronger."
I took the advice and stepped back into line next to Jay. Then watched everyone else do their vocal check. Unlike last test, I had a good amount of confidence in us.
As mean as it sounded, I hoped the I-Landers don't do good, if they do, then we won't get an opportunity.
I sighed. I missed I-Land. I missed my friends. I missed Jungwon.
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𝐈-𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒-
I'm not gonna lie- but Chaeri scolding Niki was like a mother scolding her child 😭
Chaeri seems more open and bubbly unlike the first episode! ☺️
Jungwon looked so pouty when he entered the blue room and Chae wasn't there 💔
Chaeri's such an awesome leader 🥰