D-Day :: BTS
Twenty-One :: A JYP Survival Show
1
"Let Noheul do his thing, you don't have to deal with him."
Three years of training in a growing company gives a good perspective of the industry, and more importantly what the industry wants. Noheul knew this, and he observed carefully during his training.
People like composers, so he works on composing. People like variety-dols so he studies up on puns and casual jokes and practices regularly. People like intelligent idols, and he's definitely that.
Noheul grooms himself, using his self-praised brilliance to cover for every possible scenario he can think of. And of course, he's a tested genius so he thinks of them all.
At least, that's what he believes. But while he's practicing interviews, the other trainees are goofing around during their water breaks. While he studies English and Japanese the others create inside jokes. And when he sits down for lunch, no one tries to talk to him.
Noheul is a self-sufficient machine, but he never notices that he's alone. In three years he makes no close friends, doesn't get involved in any acitivites outside of school and training.
A few try to get closer to the oddly outgoing yet mysterious trainee, but his attitude soon drives them away, searching for more open-minded people to speak with.
Yet Noheul never notices. He lives in a world perpetuated by beliefs that he's well-loved and always right, and with no one to correct him this impression remains steadfast as he ages. Trainees come and go, and eventually even the new ones stop trying to approach him, learning early to keep away from the red-haired vocalist who only cares for himself.
When the show is announced Noheul is confident he'll make the lineup. After all, there's no way someone of his incredible with and talent could be overlooked.
But when he ranks low in the first round, for the first time, reality pushes it's way through the cracks in his world. He starts seeing the others, and seeing the gap between them. He pushes it away at first, reluctant to release the happy world his mind has existed in for so many years, but when he's finally eliminated the floodgates are forced open, and he finally, finally takes a hard look at everything he's believed in.
He sees Ash helping Kangjoo with one of their warmup dances, and he wonders why no one has ever asked him for help. He spots Reito struggling through a new song but is rebufed when he tries to help. And what strikes him the most isn't te rebuttal itself, but the way that it's done. It's almost apologetic, as if Reito thinks he's wasting Noheul's time simply by existing.
And it hurts. It hurts a lot out in the real world.
But he's Noh Eul, smartest trainee in all of Korea. He'll figure this out.
Probably.
2
"You're talented and popular with fans."
Getting eliminated is easily at the top of Reito's list of worst things that have ever happened in his life.
Of course, not much has really happened in his life, so each new letdown still feels like the sky falling to him. But because of that the elimination hits him hard, and he spends the night after crying and hoping no one will hear and make fun of him.
He gets used to it slowly, falling back into the familiar routine of training. It helps that he isn't alone - he's not sure what he would have done if he'd been in the first group out and there had only been two others training with him. Probably cry a lot more.
Of course there is the second rescue round still. It lingers in the air, and unspoken promise of possible recovery, a second chance at debut. Reito pretends to not think about it, but it's all that occupies his thoughts in the weeks following his elimination. It drives him to wake up early and go to sleep late, to occupy every moment with practice.
To improve himself enough to be loved again.
His abrupt drop in the ranks is what hurts the most. Everyone had loved him, and then all at once they decided they didn't anymore. He doens't think he did anything wrong, there's nothing he can think of, but clearly something wasn't good enough. And as the deadline for the final showdown approaches he pushes harder and longer than he ever has in the past.
He can't let this pass. He needs to win. Needs to get back on the show.
When he hears that it's a group effort he's worried. How can he stand out if he's with two others? And it's only worse when his groupmates are Noheul - one of the most disliked trainees at JYP - and Jihyun - one of the biggest troublemakers. If they're getting back in as a team he's basically screwed.
And Noheul's answer to his question - why he'd been chosen for the group - only makes things worse. He's popular? No he isn't. He'd still be on the show if he was. He isn't liked anymore and he doesn't know why.
He stews in his own internal blend of panic and misery until he finally snaps. Noheul and Jihyun aren't getting along - because of course they aren't what the heck was Noeul thinking? - and he lets out all his frustration and pent up desperation at once.
And it works. They stop fighting, and when the peice is finished Reito almost lets himself hope they might just be able to pull this off. That maybe Noheul did know what he was doing when he picked the group.
Then of course JYP pulls the carpet out from under them all. Only one person from each group.
Now it's personal, and all of Reito's nerves come crashing back down at once.
Because a small part of him knows - he's not getting back in.
3
"It was pretty lucky that there was no one in that recording booth though."
The recording booths have been off limits to trainees ever since the show started.
Kangjoo didn't think he minded until he was eliminated and couldn't access them anymore. Then he realized he absolutely did mind and he can't wait for this silly show to be over with so he can get back to his compositions - which he'd unfortunately left in one of the sound booths after the mad scramble that was the first episode.
So when there's an opportunity to use the booths for the rescue round he jumps at it. He can't get to the main one unfortunately, but one of the smaller side booths is open and Kangjoo is happy.
The other two split shortly after he begins working, but he barely notices. He's back in his element and he hasn't been this content in weeks.
He's spent so much time worrying about the competition, about doing well and impressing a bunch of strangers through their televisions, that he's forgotten why he cares in the first place.
Losing to Do Sanghyun has given him a different persepctive on the entire situation. Honestly he doesn't care if he goes back, or the fact that there's probably only one person from each team getting back in (because when has their boss ever played fair when there are ratings involved?). He just wants to do a good job. For his group and for himself.
Mixing the music only takes ten minutes, but he stretches it into thirty, messing with beats he knows are fine and trying a few techniques he's been hearing about before quickly reverting everything back to how it was.
He finally acknowledges that he should stop wasting time and, with one final edit, saves the music and uploads it to a harddrive. He plucks it out and then exits the booth, glancing back briefly just before he locks the door.
Practice goes as well as it can, with Ash a nervous mess and G being surprisingly patient for someone who, in Kangjoo's only real memory of him prior to the show, punched a wall once. Kangjoo still isn't sure what that was about but he's smart enough to know not to ask. Not many things make people want to punch walls and they usually don't like being reminded of those things later.
He has fun too. Rapping is weird but it's nice to get some real tips about it - it will definitely help his composing. He's never been able to really get help before, nor has he ever really looked for any. He knows that he isn't the most popular trainee around, and it doesn't bother him.
But maybe he could stand to talk to the others a bit more. Could ask for their advice and suggestions on skills he's not comfortable with, or for thoughts on his new songs.
The three head back to the dorms pretty late, and Ash is telling a weird story about Pokemon. Kangjoo rolls his eyes as he listens, but he catches his reflection in the glass of one of the sound booths they're walking by and he's surprised to find that he's smiling.
So maybe some good has come from the competition. But he'll still be glad when it's over.
4
"Then some people would actively try to sabatoge their teammates."
It would be so easy.
So easy to teach them incorrect techniques, so they would flounder and fail at the performance tomorrow. They have complete faith in him. It's almost cute.
The only thing keeping Jihwan from steering them astray is the miniscule statistic that perhaps this really would be a team effort. He doubted it, everything the CEO had done up to this point was a stark disagreement to the entire premise of teamwork, but on the off chance this challenge was different he shouldn't completely ruin the performance.
So he compromises. He teaches them the basics, but allows bad habits to slip by. He corrects some flow problems but not all of them, only enough for things to sound decent enough come performance time.
He doesn't trust JYP to not pull the rug out from under them at any moment, but he also knows to never assume anything with their boss. One day he'll be their best friend, the next he's pitting them against each other in a vicious and desperate attempt to bring fame to a new group.
Thought to be fair, survival shows are proven to work. Jihwan is beyond confident that TWICE wouldn't be half as popular today if it wasn't for their survival show. They aren't any better than the other groups currently out there after all. The only difference is that people got to watch them suffer on camera for their chance at debut.
People don't realize that that suffering happens whether there are cameras around or not. People, Jihwan thinks, are stupid.
It's not an uncommon thought for him, especially now when he has entirely too much time on his hands with which to think about such things. He'd never been the one who wanted to be an idol, but he'd never really analyzed the situation until his only reason for staying was abruptly yanked away from him.
Now that's he's had some time though, he's realized exactly how miserable the idol life is. And exactly how disinterested he is in dealing with it by himself.
He'd texted Yejun the night before, and his friend had been so excited for him, saying he had a good feeling and that people on the forums were growing fond of him and his honesty about the show.
It made Jihwan laugh. They liked his honesty? Then why were they watching, knowing how terrible things are for them all? Really they just like seeing someone do something different. ANd he is that different. A way for them to say "I'm better than you because I like G for ting on the survival genre" while simultaneously watching another. It's all hypocrisy, just like everything else in this industry.
When JYP makes the announcement Jihwan is more surprised to find that a few other people had made the same realization as him than he was to see that most of them had really, blindly believed that this was a group effort.
Jihwan is entirely disenchanted with idol life, and he spends the rest of the night sleeping, getting up just in time to make the performance the next morning. He's off the hook now for having to help anyone, and he's decided that he doesn't care.
However this show turns out, he's leaving JYP. None of this is worth it.
5
"Don't you mean the group will be disqualified?"
Jihyun doesn't kid himself about being popular among the other trainees. He's a force of personality, and he prides himself on it haters be damned.
But unlike what most believe about him, it doens't mean he dislikes the others in turn. He understands that he can be overwhelming at times, not everyone can handle being around someone as wonderful as he is every hour of the day, and he doesn't blame anyone for it.
So when he hears that they're working in teams for the final rescue round he's actually quite pleased. He can whip up a choreography no problem and show off whoever he's working with and they'll win for sure.
He's less thrilled when Noheul ends up in his group, but he can handle it. He's Kim Jihyun after all, not even the notoriously impossible to work with Noh Eul will stop him from making this team amazing.
Well, maybe it could, but Reito gets them back on track and Jihyun makes a point to apologize and thank him later after the song is finished. He's never really paid attention to Reito before since the teen is an awful dancer, but he'll be sure to do something about that if they get through this.
After the initial strain practices go quite well. Jihyun is happy to have his friends around to help him with the dancing, and maybe he does ignore the other two in favor of them more than once but the performance comes together so they can't really complain.
And when it's finished Jihyun declares it one of their best choreographies yet. There's no way they aren't going to win this.
Even if he'll be pitted back against them next round, the teamwork is a nice break from everything else. So when JYP casually reveals that the groups are just another twisted way to drive them apart he's furious.
More than that he's hurt. Because as soon as the reveal is made his teammates pull away. Become suspicious. They opt to practice by themselves and are hesitant to accept his pointers when before they'd had no problem. Even Noheul had quit complaining and was even taking a few of the tips Jihyun had given, but he's regressed again into bad habits.
Jihyun doesn't kid himself about being popular among the other trainees, but he'd at least thought they'd give him enough credit to know he's not underhanded. He is exactly what he presents, and it's all by design.
Apparently the design isn't good enough though, and he stews internally as the hours tick by to the final performance.
And maybe it makes him a little snippier than he needs to be when judging the group that goes before him.
But what pushes him over is Ash's confirmation that everyone apparently thinks he's so self-centered that he's incapable of basic logic.
"This is a group project, which means the whole group should look as good as possible. If I danced full out it would make my teammates look bad and that's not what a team is about. We have to all make each other shine however we can. So don't tell me I could have done more because this isn't a solo show, this is a group."
Maybe he was a little rude, but he's not sorry. If that's his image then he wants to shed it.
Jihyun is a lot of things, and he wants everyone to know every single one of them. Because he's pretty damn awesome and it would be a shame not to share.
6
"Pretty sure you can't even hit high notes."
Byunjae has a turbulent history at JYP despite it being a short one compared to many of the other trainees there.
Kangjoo remembers Byunjae's first day quite well himself. Mostly because his voice was so infuriatingly loud Kangjoo could hear it from across the building.
No one at the time realized that they'd just accepted a ticking bomb into the company. Even Kangjoo, who likes to think of himself at pretty good with reading people, wrote Byunjae off as a hyperactive idiot to be avoided if possible. Nothing more sinister than that.
The first time he lost his temper it was almost justified. Almost. Honestly, in retrospect, he probably only got away with it because people liked him more than they liked the other trainee, an arrogant hot head who has since finished his contract. Everyone wanted to shove the guy into a mirror and call him a self-absorbed prat an some point - it was almost theraputic to watch Byunjae blowing up at him during a late night vocal practice.
The next time he blows isn't for a few months, but this time it's directed at Hongsol, and no one takes well to it. Byunjae spends the next two week apologizing and trying to worm his way back into people's good books, but his innocent image is blown. Even the ones who forgive him, among whom is Hongsol himself, are notably more wary about how they act around him, and Kangoo isn't surprised when Hongsol ditches the group shortly after to spend more time with Jude and his friends.
Things calm down for a time after that as Byunjae struggles to check himself. There are a few close calls, but he reigns himself in and eventually people begin to relax around him again. That was probably a mistake.
The way Kangjoo rationalizes it, Byunjae had been penting so much up that the moment it looked like he wouldn't have to anymore he exploded. It started with Seongjun. A simple disagreement over a warm up dance expanded into an all out screaming match that was barely broken up in time to prevent the trainers from hearing and kicking them both out. Everyone thought Byunjae would calm down after that but it only seemed to incite him more, as less than a week later he blew again - and this time was much, much worse.
Kangjoo wasn't there for what they all now call The Incident, but maybe the rumors surrounding it have made him more antagonistic towards the older vocalist.
Whatever the case, something in him snaps when he hears Byunjae insulting his singing, and he gets angry without thinking.
It's not like him, and yet something about Byunjae infuriates him.
Maybe that's why arguments and broken friendships seem to trail behind him whever he goes.
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!
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