The time stamp in the corner indicates about six hours have passed. All twelve remaining contestants are standing in formation, with Collin standing in the front and calling out counts as they slowly shift through several movements. After a minute Collin sighs and calls for a water break.

He grabs TJ and Na Sanghyun and pulls them aside.

"Hey, do you two want to work on this part privately for a few minutes? Everyone else is pretty much ready to keep going but you two still seem to be struggling."

TJ look embarrassed but he nods. Na Sanghyun nods as well.

"Yeah, I keep nearly elbowing Danny in the head. I'm not sure he appreciates that much."

Collin shrugs. "It's a tough choreo, the kind you need near perfect synchronizations for. After School may not have the best singers or rappers but their choreographers know what they're doing, and the ladies know how to execute what they're given. Come on we'll start from the top."

While Collin, TJ, and Na Sanghyun go to a different practice room to keep rehearsing, the other nine contestants settle themselves around the room.

Danny is sitting alone against one of the mirrors and draining what looks to be his third water bottle when Hongsol sits down next to him and offers a warm smile.

"I heard you talked to Doyeon yesterday."

Danny takes a moment to process the sentence. "Oh, TJ. Yeah, we talked."

Hongsol leans back against the mirror, still smiling. "I'm glad. You two would be good friends I've always thought. But anyway I haven't talked to you in forever, how have you been lately?"

Danny again needs a moment to follow the non sequitor, but he eventually replies. Whatever he says isn't caught, though, as the camera changes view to show Seongjun and Do Sanghyun chatting in another part of the room.

"I'm just saying we should to the cool hand-dancy part! I know, like, Doyeon or Danny-hyung couldn't handle it but they could do an easy version in the back while the dancers do the more complicated version. I mean look around, most of the people left are dancers after all!"

Do Sanghyun does look around thoughtfully at the other's observation. "I'll think about it. Collin-hyung still has about half of his agreed-on time left. But now that you point it out, a weirdly disproportional number of these guys are dancers, aren't they?"

"Right? How am I supposed to stand out as awesome if half the group are great dancers?" Seongjun complains, with little real bite in his words. "I mean, I'm not saying I wish they'd been eliminated or anything, but I wish no one had been eliminated. Also we're dangerously low on good singers, did you notice? You and Jude are the best singers left, and no offense but you aren't the best vocalist in the world. I would have put money on Soul or Doc still being here, but I guess JYP is actually going to hope that he ends up with a balanced group at the end."

Do Sanghyun remains quiet through Seongjun's musings, but he looks contemplative. A moment after Seongjun finishes talking he replies. "Well you and Ant aren't terrible, you'd just need some more training. Personally I was surprised when Noheul was eliminated, he's quite charismatic off screen. I guess he got the short straw having to work with Doc so early in the show though, those two have been at each other's throats from day one."

The camera again jumps to a different conversation.

Jude offers the lens half a glance just after it starts recording before going back to chatting with Xaris.

"I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying that Collin does have a point. Survival shows are about making the audience love you, and talent unfortunately rarely factors in."

Xaris rolls his eyes. "Still it was out of line saying that Soul never had a chance challenging you. He's a great singer and one of our closest friends." He emphasizes 'our' pointedly and looks over at Jude. "Aren't you at least a little upset by Collin saying that?"

Jude is starting to look a tad uncomfortable, and he again glances at the camera before taking a breath. "I'm not thrilled but Collin is Collin. You know he means well, he can just be  bit abrasive at times, it's who he is. Not unlike Gosaeng honestly, and you get along with him just fine."

"I generally ignore Koda unless he's being stupid and then I either laugh or try to correct him." Xaris's response is immediate. "He's easy to ignore if you try. Collin seems to go out of his way to be too annoying to ignore."

"I think he just knows how to push your buttons is all." Jude is clearly getting very uncomfortable with the topic but is doing his best to disguise that. "All I can say is to keep trying to ignore him, he'll get bored eventually."

"That's terrible advice." There's no malice in Xaris's voice, just exhaustion. "Hey you think I'd be able to sneak a nap before break is over? I just realized we haven't slept in days."

Jude shrugs thankfully and Xaris leans back and closes his eyes.

The time stamp jumps forward, the screen flashing between shots of the group continuing to practice. Eventually it settles at eight PM, when the tired contestants get another break.

Do Sanghyun and Collin chat quietly together near the door along with Ant who's mosty just listening and nodding every so often. The rest of the contestants are all sitting or lying down on the floor, grabbing quick naps or draining the last of the water bottles.

Koda whines pitifully when he finishes his bottle. "Why were we only given three packs? That's not nearly enough water for two days and twelve people, when my old crew practiced we'd have a bottle per person per every three hours. That was the rule of thumb."

TJ shrugs helplessly. "What do you want to do? Sneak out and try to steal more water from the staff room or something?"

Seongjun, who'd been listening quietly up to this point, lights up with an impish grin. "Why not? We have a full twenty minute break while the 'leaders'" He makes air quotes around the title pointedly, "Talk with Ant about how to put their songs together so Yeou knows where to start for his section. Why don't we go get more water?" He sits up, growing more excited with the idea by the second. "We can be like James Bond, sneaking around and fighting the good fight!"

"The fight for more water." TJ points out, laughing a bit but clearly tired.

Koda seems gungho though. "Alright, let's do it! You and me Junnie!"

Seongjun sticks his tongue out at the nickname. "Sure thing Gogo."

"Boo, no, bad nickname. Bad friend."

TJ just laughs at them as his eyes close. "You two go have fun, tell me how it goes."

Koda pokes him with his foot. "You're not gonna come adventuring with us?"

"Nah, I'm sleepy."

Seongjun shrugs to Koda before they sneak out of the room, leaving TJ to curl up and nap.

The image switches between several empty corridors before finding Seongjun and Koda walking down a long hall, speaking to each other in tones louder than perhaps they should have been considering their self-assigned mission.

"So I'm just saying that with you and me as the dancers that would mean KimQ and Collin won't debut. Which I guess they don't sing that well and if we want Doyeon debuting with us that would be good."

Koda bristles. "We do want him to debut! So that's three, who else? Hongsol-hyung right?"

"And Jude-hyung obviously. And then obviously Yeou. So that two really good singer, three good dancer, two good rappers, but I guess Jude is a main vocal so he wouldn't do any rapping so really it would just be you-"

"Yes! More parts!"

"I guess it's pretty good for a final lineup, we could pull it off!" Seongjun nods happily. "I can't imagine debuting with anyone else anyway. Maybe Xaris-hyung but everyone says it's going to be a six-member group."

"Where did you hear that anyway I never heard that a number was actually chosen." Koda tilts his head as they turn the corner. The camera angle switches to show them coming up a new hallway.

"Hongsol-hyung, where else? He always knows stuff ahead of time becaue the staff love him." Seongjun laughs. "Okay here it is." He tries to open the door, but it's locked and he frowns. "We didn't think this all the way through did we?"

"We can figure this out! We won't be bested by a door!" Koda proclaims and rattles the handle more.

Seongjun just laughs and leans back against the wall while Koda continues struggling with the lock.

"Do you have a hair thingy? Those little things that girls put in their hair for some reason?"

"It's to keep their hair out of their face, and no, I do not have any bobby-pins hyung." Seongjun laughs.

However before Koda can reply the door swings open and nearly hits the dancer in the face.

The two boys stare wide-eyed at the MC as he steps into the hall holding a mug full of a dark liquid and eyes them with mild annoyance.

"What are you two doing, exactly?" He sounds as tired as the contestants look.

Seongjun clears his throat awkwardly. "Well you see we ran out of water bottles and everyone is very thirsty so we though-"

"That you'd break into the staff room and steal ours?" The MC lightly rubs at his temple with his free hand, and then waves for them to go ahead into the room. "The full packs are in the closet at the back, try to leave us a few. Oh and there's leftover chicken from the staff meeting this morning so I guess you can take that as well."

Both boys look overjoyed as they bound past the MC, with Seongjun calling "Thanks so much sir, you're the best!" as he passes.

The MC just gives another long-suffereing sigh and heads down the hallway.

Back in the room, a few minutes later, the rest of the contestants are waking up from their naps as Do Sanghyun fusses with the sound system. He scans the room quickly, and then frowns somewhat nervously.

"Um guys? Where did Seongjun and Koda go?"

Jude, who had been taking his time stretching and getting up, is immediately on alert. "That's never a good combination." He mumbles to himself, though the camera hanging over his head catches it. Louder he adds, "TJ, any ideas?"

TJ is still lying on the floor in an attempt to claim a few more seconds of sleep, but he finally gives in to the waking world and sits up slowly, rubbing at his eyes blearily. "Sure, they went to get water during the break. They should be back soon."

And with oddly perfect timing the door swings open to reveal the two missing contestants. Seongjun is struggling under the weight of five cases of water while Koda is balancing three plates of chicken. The smell hits everyone at the same time and suddenly everyone is awake and on their feet, asking the two how they'd gotten the foor and helping take some of the weight off of them.

TJ laughs and sits next to Koda as they gather on the floor for their impromptu meal. "Don't tell me you actually broke into the staff room?" He jokes.

Koda shakes his head happily. "The interviewer guy let us in, and even told us about the chicken! He's really nice when he's not being mean."

TJ only hums in response as he tears into his food, along with every other contestant.

Do Sanghyun takes a moment longer to join the feast, worriedly looking up at the clock. Then he sighs, shrugs, and joins in.

The time stamp shows that there are ten hours until the performance starts. The contestants seem more alert as they work, scattered around the large practice room.

Collin is again working with TJ and Na Sanghyun on his section of the dance, and the two seem to be much more synchronized than in the early shot of the dance. Do Sanghyun is with KimQ, Seongjun, and Koda running a portion of Sorry Sorry. The rest of the contestants all seem to be working on different sections of the performance, except for Ant who isn't in the room at all.

The scene changes to show the quiet producer sitting alone in a sound room, tapping away at a computer. The room is dark except for the light from the screen illuminating Ant's face.

After a moment the lights suddenly flip on and Ant startles, squinting against the sudden glare and trying to see who was interrupting him.

Kangjoo looks slightly embarrassed standing by the door, hand still posed from hitting the lights. He waves awkwardly to Ant, who relaxes when he sees the other trainee.

"Oh hi. I'm almost done."

Kangjoo shrugs, closes the door, and sits in one of the other chairs to wait. "I can go somewhere else if you want, I didn't realize anyone was in here. Why do you always work with the lights off?" The question is apparently rhetorical as Kangjoo doesn't seem to mind the lack of an answer. "I guess your challenge is almost finished by now. We just started ours it feels like. Though ten hours isn't quite at the start. We only have fourteen left. One day to make a presentation and only one group can win. We just recorded some back track for our performance." Kangjoo seems content to keep rambling but Ant chooses that moment to interrupt.

"I'm finished."

Kangjoo startles, and then nods. "Okay yeah, sounds good. Um, it was good to talk to you?"

Ant shrugs and exits, leaving Kangjoo looking awkward and a bit downhearted in the room.

The young composer returns to the main practice room, and is at first ignored as the others are still practicing parts of the song.

Jude notices him first and waves him over before nudging Collin, who he was dancing with prior to Ant's arrival. Collin pauses in his dancing to glance over and quickly heads over to Ant the moment he sees the other in the room.

"Hey you finish cutting everything together?"

Ant nods his affirmative and Collin happily grabs the USB Ant holds out and hurries to the sound system, waving to get everyone's attention as he goes.

"Alright let's run this thing from the top, yeah? If we get it in one go we can go back to the dorms and get some proper food and sleep!"

Some of the contestants give sleepy cheers to this and the group get into formation as Collin starts the music.

However within ten seconds Danny stumbles and knocks into Seongjun who then misses his cue to cross the group, leaving everyone confused.

Collin sighs, a bit dramatically. "Or we'll stay here for the next nine hours and trip over our own feet. Also an option."

The scene fast forwards through the next five hours, slowing every so often to show a specific incident. At four AM TJ accidentally elbows Ant in the face, causing the entire practice to grind to a halt and the cameras to start recording at regular speed again.

"Sorry! Sorry sorry sorry!" TJ seems genuinely worried and upset as he fusses around Ant.

The composer seems unalarmed as he uses his sleeve to attempt and stem the steady stream of blood now soaking into his shirt.

Hongsol is panicking. "Oh my gosh what do we do? Are you okay? Is there a medical kit somewhere? What do we do?" He's a mess of nervous energy as he flits around Ant asking the same questions over and over again.

Collin also looks extremely worried as he watches the incident unfolding from a few feet away, though he makes no move to help.

KimQ is the one who ultimately calms everyone down by pulling a medical kit out of his bag and gently helping to patch up Ant's nose while the others hover awkwardly around him. He smiles warmly as he gives his prognosis.

"It does seem to be broken, but it snapped into place easily so it was a clean break. I'd say you'll be back in perfect shape within two weeks."

Do Sanghyun frowns. "If his nose is broken now, will he still be able to rap his section for the performance?"

For the first time since the accident Ant reacts. "I can." He sounds insistent, but he winces as he speaks and his voice comes out sounding stuffed up.

Collin shakes his head. "No way, not with your nose like that. If you tried rapping it would only make it worse. Alright, Jude? You can rap, can you take his parts?"

Xaris looks annoyed. "Why don't I take them? I'm a better rapper and my current part is pretty short."

Collin rolls his eyes. "Okay rephrasing that. Jude you're the only person who can not only rap but also probably relearn the entire dance in the next four hours."

Xaris opens his mouth, and then sighs. "Okay point."

"But if he does Ant's part who will sing the opening for Sorry Sorry?" Do Sanghyun objects quickly. Collin thinks for a moment, and then shrugs.

"You? I don't think you and Jude were ever that far apart anyway, so then Ant can take your part, you didn't have any lines right?"

Do Sanghyun contemplates his words and then hesitantly nods. "That... could work, yeah. Okay, everyone else go shower or something you smell terrible. We'll try to get you guys aquainted with your new parts."

Na Sanghyun raises his hand. "Since we didn't have enought time to finish mine I think we can probably leave them to do what they were already doing with that, just so not everything gets confused."

The other two leaders agree and the majority of the contestants head out after deciding to meet back in the practice room by six AM.

The time stamp speeds forward and several clips are shown of the group in the practice room working to perfect their new choreography interspersed with shots of the other contestants at the dorms, eating and napping. TJ and Koda look to be arguing at one point, but Soengjun's laughing at them and their return laughter reveals it to be something different.

Jude and Do Sanghyun both pick up their new dance rather quickly, but Ant struggles to remember and seems to be growng frustrated as six AM rolls around.

As the other contestants return, Do Sanghyun grabs Hongsol and pulls him aside.

"Hey hyung, do you think you can keep an eye on Ant during the performance later? He still moves at the wrong time, and you're pretty close to him for a lot of the performance, so could you just pull him back or something if he does the wrong move?" His eyes are wide and pleading, but it's unneeded as Hongsol doesn't hestitate in the slightest with his reply.

"Of course! I'll keep and eye out for him, and I'll ask Danny too, he's usually nearby in the formations."

Do Sanghyun nods in relief as Collin calls for them to get into position so they can practice with the new formation.

The music starts, and then the screen briefly goes dark and silent.

When it lights up again the contestants are all crowded into a makeup room. The microphones are picking up nothing but chaos as coordinators and stylists shout orders and requests to the contestants who try to comply as quickly as possible in the cramped space.

Ant has carefully placed himself at the edge of the chaos as a makeup artist gently places the finishing touches around his nose.

"There, you can't see the bruising at all sweetie. Now why don't you come with me and you can watch from the sound area until it's time for you to perform. We don't want anything messing up that makeup, or worse your nose!"

Ant smiles awkwardly as she leads him from the room. Jude looks up and smiles at the younger contestant as he passes, but Ant doesn't notice as he keeps his head carefully tilted down to prevent any more unwanted incidents.

Hongsol is standing next to his friend, bent down awkwardly so one of the stylists can mess with his hair. He attempts to look up at Jude without the stylist getting upset, but she quickly gives him a light flick ont he forehead and he looks down again.

Jude notices the interaction and speaks first. "You nervous?"

Hongsol hums, trying not to move. "Of course. Performing at JYPNation has always been one of those things that means you made it, you know? You're part of the family now." He frowns at the floor. "But that's not really the case this time is it? Half of us are still being eliminated, plus three of the eliminated contestants are, as we speak, performing to get another chance to debut. It feels like a mean prank. Giving all of us this chance and then yanking it away."

Jude rubs his back lightly. "Try to just enjoy it Hong. It's once in a lifetime, and you've earned the right to be up on that stage."

Hongsol smiles a bit. "Yeah, you're probably right."

The lights in the room suddenly flicker, and Do Sanghyun startles a bit.

"What does that mean?"

The stylist sighs and gives up on Hongsol's hair, patting his shoulder lightly before she files out along with the rest of the staff.

As Hongsol stands up and braces himself against the wall, Jude replies. "That's the ten minute signal. We're the opening act guys, so let's go get our mics, and then let's go give those fans the best performance of their lives!"

The contestants cheer and file out past Jude, until only he and Hongsol are in the room.

Hongsol seems to have gotten his balance back as he stands straight and moves towards the door. "That was cheesy even for you hyung."

Jude shrugs. "Meant every word though. Ready?"

"I've been ready for six years now."

The camera cuts out to the audience, who are giggling and whispering to each other excitedly. Then the music blasts on and everyone starts screaming in excitement.

The contestants continue to wave to the fans for as long as they can before the next act is announced and they're forced to head backstage to get out of costume.

Koda is practically vibrating in excitement. "Did you see those posters? My fans were right up at the front! Naturally of course, my fans are the best."

TJ rolls his eyes at Seongjun over Koda's shoulder and both both laugh a bit while Koda continues rambling on about how great his fans are, and how great he is as well.

JYP greets the group in their change room, and everyone scrambles to bow, causing Ant to let out an uncomfortable whine when his nose is bumped by a stray arm.

JYP is smiling brightly, and Jude, KimQ, and Hongsol all start to look a bit wary, while the others are still too high from the successful performance to notice the CEO's strange expression.

"That was extremely well done, all of you! Leaders you did a great job putting together your performances."

The three beamed.

"It's too bad that at least six of you will not be debuting next month, you really are a wonderful team."

And just like that all the joy was out of the room as each contestant was reminded of the impending eliminations.

"However, those votes won't be tallied until after the rescue round is aired next week, so you all have ten days to relax and enjoy your successes. Congratulations again!"

The CEO leaves with a bright grin, leaving the contestants looking distincly terrified of what is to come.