chapter 005.   Episode 2 of Making Mystique (Part 2)

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Group B

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As Eunkwang made his way back onto the stage and the judges gave comments for Group C's performance, the next group, Group B, were standing by next to the curtains leading up to the stage. They waited patiently while listening to the critiques and advice being given to their fellow trainees.

“I’m quite nervous now,” Suah mumbled, mostly to herself, but her worry was still loud enough for the rest of her groupmates to hear. She rubbed the back of her neck worriedly, opting to focus on the intricate patterns of the dark red curtain and blocking out the judges’ voices.

“We’ll be fine, guys,” Yeonhee reassured, flashing a bright smile towards her fellow peers as she wrapped her arms around their shoulders to bring the three of them close into a hug. Although nervous, herself, she tried to mask the feeling inside, and rather focused on the bright side.

Soomin didn’t say a word, only choosing to smile back at Yeonhee’s attempt in easing their nerves. Although little, the gesture helped a tiny bit and she was grateful for that.

“If anything happens, I just want to let you know that I liked this team a lot,” Suah’s facial expression eased into a teasing frown, her lower lip puckering out. Soomin and Yeonhee chuckled lightly, Suah joining in afterwards, and the three girls felt the tense mood alleviate.

“You sound like someone’s going to die, Suah,” Soomin commented, slowly edging from her safety bubble as she grew quite fond of her two teammates, and grinning. Suah covered a hand on to prevent from roaring into laughter, as the judges were finalising their comments in the background.

Soon enough, the members of Group C clambered back behind the curtains, shuffling past the three girls who were next in line to perform on stage. Straightening themselves, they heard their sunbae, Eunkwang’s, voice boom across the performance hall.

“Next up, we have Group B! Let’s give it up for them!”

A few claps followed after the announcement, cueing for Soomin, Suah, and Yeonhee to make their entrance. They practically half-jogged-half-walked to the stage, before they stood in their respective positions.

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Soomin as Chaeyeon | Suah as Momo | Yeonhee as Eunsuh

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As the performance ended, Eunkwang jogged back up on stage to join the girls. He could hear all three of them trying to catch their breath as he stood next to one of them.

“Wow! That was a very electrifying performance! What do our judges think?” Eunkwang inquired, turning towards the judges who were comfortably seated in front of the stage.

Junyoung reached for the mic confidently, as this performance laid comfortably within his realm.

“Good job to you three! I really enjoyed watching your performance. I almost felt like a proud father when I was watching,” Junyoung joked with a gentle smile, but heard the other two judges snicker quietly immediately after. He shot them both a death glare, but only to gain more laughter from the pair.

After the two other judges settled down, he continued, “The only negative comment I have for your group is synchronisation... but considering that you only had 48 hours to perfect a dance, you girls did pretty well.”

“Yeonhee, you moved beautifully, but sometimes your expressions were a bit lacking. I’m not sure if you were giving off a charismatic look or you weren’t feeling up to it,” the dance instructor pursed his lips then shrugged a shoulder as if to brush off his comment towards the trainee, “But your dancing was superb, nonetheless.”

Yeonhee nodded as she took in the words, silently noting in her head to work on her expressions more later on.

“Any additional comments? Jiyool? RD?” Junyoung turned towards his other fellow trainer-judges, offering the microphone towards them expectantly. Jiyool shook her head, sending a smile towards the girls’ way.

Rap Dragon, however, plucked the mic off the dance instructor, swiftly commenting, “Nah, all good. Awesome job,” then he shoved the mic back to Junyoung without another word. The dance instructor lifted a brow at him but said nothing.

Grinning from ear-to-ear, Suah bowed towards the instructors, with the other two of her teammates following suit. Yeonhee muttered her thanks in between bows while Soomin flashed a smile, then they scurried towards the back as Eunkwang took the stage again.

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Group A

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Behind the curtains of one of Cube Entertainment’s performance halls, Seorin peeked around to the stage and beyond, where the trainers were sitting at the second row of seats in the middle, giving their advice and praises to the girls of Group B. She gulped nervously, quickly averting her eyes away and took a few deep breaths to calm her own nerves.

A few feet away, also behind the curtains, stood Miyoung. All dolled up, she fixed her long semi-curled hair with a swipe of her hand, then proceeded to crack her knuckles. She kept a straight face as she did this, her mind whirring with lyrics for the performance, as well as hopes that her teammates wouldn’t ruin their stage. She had confidence in herself that she would do well because she has trained for so long. For her other teammates, however, she wasn’t so sure but she could hope.

Iris sat at a chair next to Miyoung, her eyes darting around absentmindedly as she went over the lyrics in her head. She rested her elbow on her leg, and her chin onto her resting palm, while tapping her cheek with a finger.

The three girls waited behind the stage as Eunkwang continued to talk onstage.

“... And, without further ado, let me introduce to you the last group: Group A!” Eunkwang announced, which was the three girls’ cue to walk onto the stage.

Since Seorin was already standing by the curtains, she looked over her shoulder towards her other two teammates, Miyoung and Iris. The dark-skinned girl stood up from her seat, sending a small reassuring smile towards Seorin’s way.

Seorin smiled back, her clouded mind feeling a bit clearer from the silent support passed onto her.

"Good luck, girls,” Miyoung smiled towards Seorin and Iris, patting the both of them on their backs before heading out the curtains and towards the stage first. Iris followed close behind, with Seorin emerging from the dark but safe confines of backstage.

Eunkwang walked off the stage to give the remaining girls, who were yet to perform, all of the stage’s space to move about. The lights dimmed as the girls moved into position.

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Miyoung as Taeyeon | Seorin as Baek Ayeon | Iris as Tiffany

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Eunkwang joined the girls on the stage again.

“WHOO!” he shouted, jogging over to stand beside the girls who stood in a systematic line. “Can you girls sing or what?” he exclaimed excitedly, earning laughter from the girls.

“Personally, I found your performance breathtaking, however, what did our judges think about it?”

Passing the mic over to the judges, the girls tensed up and seemed nervous about their opinions, despite their sunbae’s previous compliments.

The trainer who was sitting in the middle reached for the mic first. “Hmm, I know this wasn’t a dance performance but I really appreciated that you girls added some choreography in, whilst still managing to keep your vocals stable. I’ll let Jiyool comment more on the vocals,” he commented, ending with a fatherly smile on his face. He passed the microphone to the next trainer.

“Nice work, girls,” the only female trainer present stated emotionlessly, as she kept an icy stare on the three girls.

“Miyoung, you really did a good job on those high notes. You absolutely nailed each and every one of them,” Jiyool commented, allowing the corners of her lips to curve upwards slightly.

Miyoung grinned brightly as she heard the praise directed towards her, particularly since it was coming from one of their most strict instructors. “Thank you so much!” she chimed, bowing respectfully.

Jiyool sent a reassuring nod to the trainee before diverting her gaze to the next girl.

“Seorin…” she started before letting out a heavy sigh, her smile long gone as she tapped her pen on the table. “You sang your lines, yes. Good job on that, but... Where’s was your emotions? Where’s your feelings?"

“You grew up in the US, so it should be easier for you to understand the lyrics; to deliver the feeling the lyrics are portraying. I’m disappointed to say that I felt nothing from you.”

Miyoung put her arm around Seorin, patting her reassuringly. Seorin stared stone-faced at the instructor before bowing slowly, mumbling her thanks.

“I’m telling this to you now because I know you have it in you to improve. Work harder on what I’ve told you from now on, okay?” the vocal trainer added, easing up her expression to give her a gentle smile.

Seorin nodded firmly, seeming as though she was processing the criticism she just received.

“Finally, Iris!” Jiyool chirped, “You have improved so much since you first joined us; you also really know how to play to your strengths. I think Rap Dragon will agree with me when I say that your rapping is solid, hopefully anyway,” she chuckled softly at her final words. “We’ll just have to see how far your strengths will take you, though. Anyway, is there anything you’d like to add Dragon-ssi?”

Rap Dragon took the mic from Jiyool, before saying softly, “Nope. Good job, Iris, on the rap. Nice lyrics and great flow,” he put the mic down and gave two thumbs up to the final girl.

“Thank you for the comments judges! It was a great performance that will definitely be remembered!” After receiving comments from the judges, the three girls bowed together for one final time, before they shuffled offstage, leaving Eunkwang to comment away towards the camera.

Authors' note:

Hello, everyone! Finally, we're on time in posting a chapter, haha! I hope you all enjoyed the remaining performances! Thank you so much for the support so far -- you guys continue to inspire us to keep on writing! Do leave more comments down below, tell us what you think and all that, and share the love ♥ -the-badguy-or-hero-

Hi! Here's the final performances for the first challenge! Which group do you think performed the 'best'? With the perfomances over, the elimination round draws nearer. What do think will happen during this round? Until next time o/  Forever-Beast