Seventy-Two Hours :: BTS
Twenty-One :: A JYP Survival Show
1
"Who all look thoughtful save for Reito, who's brow is furrowed as he attempts to figure out what exactly they're doing"
When JYP enters the practice room, the butterflies that are already fluttering around Retio's stomach step on the gas, and he momentarily feels an urge to be sick. He glances over at Jaejin - no, it's Doc now, remember to use the stagenames -, wishing the older boy was sitting closer so he could ask for translations.
JYP is speaking quickly, but Reito catches the names of some of the other trainees, and a group of them leaves the practice room a moment later.
Okay just listen for your name and leave with the other people called, that's easy enough.
He focuses hard on JYP's words, catching something about dancing and three more names, but this time no one gets up and he panics again.
Wait, how do I know if I get up or not then? Why can't the CEO speak a bit slower?
He startles when he feels a hand on his shoulder, and he looks up to find a smiling Na Sanghyun shooting him a thumbs up.
He smiles weakly, feeling the butterflies slowing down slightly. He really was lucky to find such a great group of friends so soon after starting at JYP.
He's pulled out of his thoughts when he hears his name, and the momentary calm he had been feeling is violently shattered.
I missed everything he just said! What do I do? What's going on? He looks around frantically, trying to gauge what everyone else is doing.
I didn't even hear what other names were called with mine. Stupid Reito, you need to pay better attention!
He realizes that there are fewer people in the room than the last time he'd looked around - clearly another group had been called while he was distracted. Even more confusing was the fact that JYP was nowhere to be seen - how had he missed the CEO's departure?
"Reito." His name is repeated, and he realizes for the first time that it's Byunjae speaking to him. Both he and Sanghyun are standing, clearly waiting for him to do the same. "Come on!"
Reito doesn't know where they're going, but he follows his friends to the door, where Xaris, Jihyun, and, much to Reito's relief, Doc are already standing.
Xaris begins speaking immediately, his words quick and commanding. Reito attempts to translate, but he's already exhausted and his brain politely refuses to cooporate.
A light hand on his bicep draws his attention, and he finds Doc standing just behind him, looking sympathetic.
"Need a translation?" He asks in fluent Japanese.
Reito doesn't even have time to feel embarrassed by the language barrier around the rush of relief he feels.
"Yes please."
2
"Hey hyung, what brings you to the chaos palace?"
Seongjun glances mournfully at his phone, wondering if he'd be interrupting anything if he were to dial Doyeon right then. He could certainly use a break.
"Well if you weren't so dang stubborn about always being right maybe we wouldn't be having these problems." Kangjoo's voice sounds in his ears, and the dancer reluctantly removes his head from the table to see what's happening this time.
It's been this way since they arrived: Kangjoo being a know-it-all and Danny having none of it. The resulting stalemates have ground their work on the song to a near stand-still multiple times already and its barely been two hours.
Seongjun sighs, barely registering Danny's retort and retreating back into his own head and trying to focus on the sheet music in front of him.
But he can't concentrate. Instead his eyes wander over to where Ant is hunched over his own section of the song, working diligently.
How does he do that? Seongjun wonders, almost annoyed at the other contestant's ability to tune out the constant warring between the other two members of their group.
Ant has always been a bit of a weirdo in Seongun's opinion. Not in a bad way, but it was really hard to befriend the quiet teen since it alway felt like he was just a little detached from the world around him.
Maybe that was why he was so good at ignoring Bicker and Bicker-er.
Seongjun nearly sighs again, before realizing Danny and Kangjoo have gone quiet. He glances up to find them both looking at him, Danny with amusement and Kangjoo with annoyance.
"You really should get that spacing-out thing under control." Danny teases.
Seongjun shrugs. "Well we weren't getting anything done so I don't see the harm." He sticks his tongue out cheerfully.
It's nice to be able to talk comfortably with Danny again, especially after the strain between them when he first started hanging out with Doyeon and his group rather than Danny. But really, Danny can't blame him for not wanting to be around Byunjae after the incident.
"Well maybe if you weren't distracted we'd be getting more done." Kangjoo points out dryly.
"Maybe if you weren't such a bossy little brat!" Danny counters.
Seongjun plants his head back on the table as their bickering is reignited by the comment. It's going to be a long twenty four hours.
3
"We only have 15 hours left thanks to someone getting distracted goofing off with his friend"
"Could you two please calm down and focus?"
TJ and Koda either don't hear Xaris, or, more likely, purposefully ignore him as they continue their odd game of two-man tag around the practice room.
Xaris groans. "Why would JYP not put them with some of the sane people from their group? No one else can control them."
Doc shrugs in disinterest while Jihyun grins.
"He probably did it on purpose. Failure is way more entertaining than success after all." He says it snidely. "So why don't we just ditch the monkey and do this ourselves?"
Before Xaris can reply, a thud resounds through the room. Both contestants glace over to find TJ on the floor, whining sadly as Byunjae laughs, his foot still outstretched.
Koda whoops. "Byunjae is on my team!"
Jihyun immediately starts protesting. "Guys no. No teams!"
But he's too late, as Byunjae enthusiastically joins the strange game.
"This is no fair! It's three against one!" TJ whines cheerfully as he doges Na Sanghyun deftly. "Collin-hyung join me!"
"Heck no, whenever I get mixed up in anything involving your groups I regret it. I'll see you guys later." Collin stands up and brushes off his jeans before making or the exit, moving causally despite the chaos around him.
"See you guys later." He adds, looking more towards Ash than Koda as the latter is still running around the practice room.
"Boo you. Fine, Ash, support me!" TJ cries.
"Am I a replacement?
"An improvement! Block Byunjae!"
Ash looks mildly amused as hs does as instructed, and Byunjae runs straight into him.
"Guys, no. Why." Jihyun deflates as he spots Reito joining in with gusto, jumping into the path of Na Sanghyun as he closes in on TJ.
"What are the rules even?" Xaris asks.
Jihyun turns to him. "Oh god not you. Tell me you aren't considering joining this... this juvenility!"
Xaris shrugs and grins. "Hey it does look like fun!"
"Sweet! Xaris-hyung's on my team!" TJ yells.
Koda stops his running around to frown. "But that leaves me with Jihyun! Jihyun won't be helpful!"
"Oh my god you all ."
Xaris seems to have given up on timing things well as he teases Jihyun. "Actually, as the one person not having any fun, you're sort of the one who ."
"That was the fastest defection to the dark side in all of history." Jihyun laments, flopping back onto the ground overdramaticaly.
"Hey, you can't help if you're sitting! TJ why do I get the broken teammate?" Koda manages to pout even as the strange chase game continues.
"Don't call me broken dummy."
"Takes one to know one!" Byunjae jabs cheerfully.
"Okay that's it, you're going down."
"Wait, Jihyun, he's on our team!"
"Free for all!"
Xaris laughs as he finds himself racing after a giggling Reito.
I guess having some fun wouldn't hurt. Just for a few hours.
4
"we only came back here an hour ago because one of the staff people got mad at us for walking around and taking naps"
It had already been a rough enough week without having to deal with the weirdness that always accompanied getting caught up in whatever TJ was doing, so Collin felt his decision to duck out when he had was the right one.
Thoug admittedly it was usually pretty fun getting caught up in their shenanigans. He was just too tired for it today was all.
That was what he kept telling himself anyway. The whole week leading up to today had just been one bit of bad news after another and the weight of it all was made no lighter by the fact his one somewhat close friend had basically shut him out.
He's not sure where he's going when he leaves the practice room, just that it's somewhere else. Somewhere quiet maybe. He can't remember the last time he got any sleep. Decent sleep anyway.
Why had he chosen to room with Ant again? The kid snored louder than a monster truck. Not to mention how much Jihyun complained. Seriously, he must have been really out of it when rooms were being divided.
Focused completely now on sleep, Collin finds his feet leadng him to a familiar room. It's supposed to be a private vocal room where trainees can practice on their own time, but he's spent more time here napping between rehearsals than actually accomplishing anything of note. His skillset lies in the pysical motion of performance, not so much the vocal parts.
He peers into the room, hoping that it isn't occupied by any of the girls. To his relief it stands empty, and he lets himself in and promptly curls up.
However, despite his exhaustion, sleep doesn't come easily. His brain is on hyper drive, flashing through everything that's happened in the past week.
Yejun being dropped like he had had been a blow to all of them. In their little group he was the closest they'd had to a heart of sorts, and losing him had completely torn them apart.
The worst part, Collin thinks, is that it happened right when this stupid show started. No one was saying anything, but everyone had seen a survival show before. They were brutal. People's careers could be ruined by one word being edited out o context. Having your whole self in view for everyone to see and judge was terrifying, and now he didn't even have his friends to support him through it.
Collin attempts to close his eyes further than they already are, begging sleep to hurry up. He doesn't want to think about these things right now, he just wants to rest.
Of course when he finally does relax enough to start slipping into a light slumber the door swings open.
Somi blinks in surprise. "Oh, hey Collin. Are you using this room?"
He sighs and stumbles to hi feet. "Nah, you go ahead." He shuffles past her, more asleep than awake now but with a new destination in mind.
Before he can reach it though he's intercepted by a rather infuriated staff member.
"I thought I told you to get back to your practice room!" She snaps.
Collin blinks. Maybe he's gone insane in his sleepiness, but he does not remember talking to this woman. "I don't...?"
"Don't sass me, your friends are already there, now get."
Collin sighs as he realizes she'd likely grouped him with the idiots playing chase. But he's too tired to argue it and heads back to the practice room, resigned to his fate. Hopefully Koda could shut up long enough to let him get that nap he wanted.
5
"I came close a few times, but something always comes up"
Jude isn't sure why he's still looking. Even with Do Sanghyun helping they hadn't been able to find a director in twelve hours, and there was even less chance of him finding one by himself with less time to work in.
He'd sent Sanghyun back to record his lines almost an hour earlier, and he knows he ought to return to do the same, but something keeps telling him to try for just a bit longer. He's confident he'll get his parts recorded in one take anyway, his all together way-too-many years of training would see to that, so there isn't really any harm in staying out for just a little longer.
And he doesn't really want to go back right now besides. Just from the thirty minutes he'd been with his group, Jude can already tell he's going to have to take charge more often than not, and this moment of personal space might be the only one he gets for a while.
This really better be worth it. He sighs aloud and pulls out his phone. There is one place he hasn't checked yet, though he's not optimistic about how helpful she'll be either.
Geonhee picks up on the third ring. "Wassup little bro?"
"Please don't call me that."
He can hear her laughing. "Lighten up a little. I hear you're going to be on TV soon, you'll need to take a chill pill if you want people to like you."
"I hate you."
She laughs again. "I assume you didn't call just to charm me with your clever banter, so what's up? Need help with something?"
He sighs. "I was wondering if any of the directors you've worked with would be available to help with a survival show challenge. It would be-"
"You don't need to give me the spiel Crooner, I know it would be huge publicity if one of our guys was on a JYP show."
"Seriously would it kill you to use my name?"
"Probably. I'll ask around but I can't promise anything. Text me where you'd want to mee them, and I'll call you back in a bit, k?"
"Alright. Thanks sis."
"What are big siblings for?"
He hangs up, smiling rather reluctantly. She may drive him insane but Geonhee was a great sibling when push came to shove.
It takes her almost an hour to call him back, at which point he's turned around and started back towards the JYP buidling, resigning himself to having to direct alone and trying to plan things out in his head as he walks.
"Hey, anything?"
"Mr. Cho said he might be able to make it but he can't promise anything. Otherwise nothing. You know, you'd think people would jump at these kinds of opportunities." Geonhee sounds annoyed, and Jude gives a sympathetic smile, though he knows she can't see it.
"It is what it is, nothing we can do. Thanks anyway."
"I'll keep digging around on my end, maybe we'll get lucky. Either way, good luck! I'll be rooting for you!"
6
"Doc and Jihyun are finishing up with our part of the assignment so they'll be here in an hour or so"
"Why did I have to come with you, this is stupid. You could have done this by yourself."
Doc rolls his eyes. Jihyun has been complaining non stop since they first headed out, and he is starting to really hate Xaris for making them stick to the stupid buddy system.
"Because you were the best dancer in the group so it's okay if you miss some of the dance practice since you'll probably pick it up faster."
"Ugh, my gift is a curse."
It takes all of Doc's patience to not try and shove Jihyun out the open window of their bus.
"How much further is it anyway?" Jihyun huffs, slumping back into his seat and crosing his arms.
Doc raises an eyebrow. "Seriously? You live in Seoul, you should know this."
"Well I didn't exactly hang around with commoners growing up. I've never been to Lotte World before."
If he wasn't so annoyed, Doc might have actually felt sorry for Jihyun. As it was he didn't really care. "Well we'll get there when we get there. Stop complaining princess."
Jihyun rolls his eyes but thankfully opts to remain silent, so the final ten minutes of the ride are blissful for Doc.
Honestly, despite the company, he's glad Byunjae thought of Lotte World when he did. The JYP building is stifling to be in, so the excuse to stay out for just a bit longer was welcome.
They stay quiet as they exit the bus, and Doc starts looking around for a staff person to speak with.
"See anyone?"
"Huh?"
Doc looks over at Jihyun and finds the other contestant looking around in child-like excitement. "Do you thik we could go on a few rides while we're here?"
"No. Come on we need to find a staff member."
Jihyun immediately begins complaining again, and Doc does his best to shut him out as he scans the mess of people in front of them for someone who looks like they could be useful.
It takes a few minutes, but the bosy eventually find someone who gets them to the manager of the Lotte World Stage.
"Hm, we may have an opening for you guys, but it won't be free."
"That's fine, my uncle can cover the expenses." Doc hates negotiating with people. It makes him feel like a rich .
"Very well, we'll need half up front to reserve the stage."
Doc freezes. He doesn't have that kind of money on him.
He feels himself being shouldered out of the way.
"Here." Jihyun flourishes a credit card in front of the stage manager. "Put it on this."
Doc blinks in surprise as the card is accepted and swiped.
"We'll see you in a few days then sirs."
Jihyun replaces the card in his wallet as the two walk back towards the main gates.
Doc clears his throat awkwardly. "Hey, um, thanks. We'll compensate you for it." Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that Jihyun had been with him.
Jihyun gives a Cheshire grin. "You could. Or we could go on some rides?"
Never mind. "No."
A thus I finally put down my pen and release this story as truly complete. Hope you guys enjoyed the BTS and that you'll check out my new apply Princess!
Comments