Episode One

Part One

The camera panned in on a large building, grey and almost foreboding. It took a hard left, instead entering straight into what look like a dormitory. The lobby was painted a boring cream, no one at the receptionist desk. Potted plants were the only decoration and the camera made it's way towards the elevator, passing a sign.

Plan A Entertainment Trainee Dormitories? But why would the staff be here?

The scene cut, a plain brown door in sight. A hand reached out to knock loudly. All chattering that could be heard behind the door stopped, and pattering footsteps approached the door. Seul opened the door, eyes wide with surprise upon seeing the camera. The maknae of the competition froze, unsure of how to react.

"Unnies?" Her sweet voice called, and four others came to the door without hesitation. The Plan A line was shown in their pajama-filled glory. Taeha cleared and stepped up, the only one not a '92 or a '99 liner. She instead was a sweet middle, and her smile reflected this.

"Can I ask what's going on?" Her blonde hair shone and the PD asserted from the background, instructing the staff to get mics on them. The quintet were whisked off into the living room of the dorm room, flustered beyond belief. The PD began to speak yet again, and the girls hung onto her every word carefully.

"We'll be starting to film RUSH now. Please follow us," She instructed and left the room. The staff followed, makeup artists hurriedly doing jobs as the large group walked.

"Hold on, that means my bare face was back there-"

"Big deal, Seoyun, your bare face is pretty!" Suji pouted as a zit was buried in concealer. Minyoung and Seul awkwardly hung in the back, unused to each other's presence. To the left, Taeha was speaking animatedly to the cameras.

"This is so exciting! They never told us when filming would start. Like, a survival show? This is the ultimate test of skill!" Her high evergy infected the  others, and soon Minyoung could feel herself starting to warm up to the cameras.

"I may only be seventeen, but I think I'm ready for th-" Her words were cut off rudely, though actually painfully considering she ran into one of the hundreds of potted plants in the buildings. Seoyun and Suji immediately began to fawn over her (Though Seoyun much more than Suji) and the staff laughed. Taeha popped back up into view, an unreadable expression on her face before it went back into a grin.

"I wonder who the other girls are?"

With the LOEN trainees, it was pretty boring. The girls were already gathered in front of the filming area, waiting for the other five to arrive so styling could be finished and clothes could be changed. Nabi was sitting on a metal beam, being suspended by a thick wire chord. By now the others had stopped trying to get her down, and she contentedly played on her phone, trying to find something interesting to say when she finally jumped down.

"Do you think Nabi Unnie is gonna come down soon?" Iris asked Sophia aimlessly.

"Probably, the others will be here soon."

"Unnie, come on down! The staff will just edit you out!" Lily said, unable to hide her worry for the elder. At the younger's pleading look, the rapper made her way down and to Lily. Songeun gravitated to her, and the LOEN seven continued their impatient wait for Plan A's trainees. The wait was not long, as the five who were finally styled like the others. As soon as the thirteen were together, the voice over spoke.

"And so the RUSH to debut begins!"

But first, a special MV from the girls of RUSH!

The set was a pale blue, thirteen seats lined up in an open arrow. A large stage was before them, which connected to the judges panel. The girls, from twenty-four to sixteen were ready to finally achieve their dreams. For some, it was just the start of their career. For others, their last. RUSH was a new opportunity for all of them, however, and they knew this was it. Starting right then and there, they had to fight for their careers, for their lives. Some were more ready than others, or so they thought. There would be surprises no one was ready for. And now those thirteen would be subjected to it all.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the first episode of RUSH, are you excited?" Screams filled the room as soloist Minji entered. Her signature y smile was in place as she set down her note cards, not bothering to read off from them, "I'm Minji, a soloist, and I'll be the main judge for RUSH! Before anything else, let's have the girls introduce themselves! We'll start with the youngest, to the oldest. If you'd please."

"Hello! I'm Seul, a sixteen-year-old from Jeollanam-do. I'm a vocalist!" Yiseul bowed deeply and waved, clapping a bit before motioning for Minyoung to go ahead. The young rapper bowed to the crowd.

"I'm Lee Minyoung, on a 'Rush' to debut!" She smiled and waved, "Please look after me well!"

"Helloooo!" She smiled, eyes becoming cresent moon shaped as she grinned and waved with both hands, "I am a LOEN Entertainment trainee, Sophia! Please give me lots of love~"

"Hey, I'm Kim Nari! It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm currently twenty years old in Korea and I came from the humble land of London," The crowd began to murmur, but the '97 liner kept her pleasant smile and waited for the next trainee to introduce herself. Bonnie's grin seemed to infect everyone before she spoke.

"Hello there! I'm Bonnie Nam, nineteen years old international. I'm your only '96 liner!" She giggled at the awws from the audience.

"Hello everyone! Rising star Stacy here! I'm one half od the '95 line that coincidentally look very similar," She ran a hand through her blonde hair, a nervous habit, and looked to the next girl.

"Hey guys! I'm Rush's crocodile, Taeha! Maybe I should dye my hair so you can tell us apart," She joked, winking.

"Annyeonghaseyo," Iris bowed before giving a charming smile, "I'm twenty-three year old Minji, or Iris. Please take care of me well!"

"Ah, hello!" Daily said, unprepared for her turn. The audience laughed at her mistake and she blushed, "It's nice to meet you, I'm Daily. I train at LOEN, and I'm currently twenty-two years old."

"Hello! I am Rush's charisma and energy, Nabi. I'm twenty-two years old and I'm a rapper and dancer. Please take care of me!" Everyone ooh-ed at the bold intro, attention having a hard time turning to the next contestant.

"Hello everyone, my name is Minri though please call me Phoenix. You might know me from Chrysalis, but probably not. I mean, I hope you look forward to the show and support us all!" She seemed to stumble partway through, and simply took a deep breath, waiting for Seoyun to take the spotlight. The vocalist bowed excitedly at a full one-hudred eighty degrees, earning prasie from the crowd.

"Annyeong! I'm a second oldest member as well as the best vocalist in RUSH!" It was as though a bomb had set off, the audience talking nonstop. She spoke over them easily with her signature grin, "Please take care of me!"

"Hey there, I'm your oldest trainee, Suji!" The rapper bowed before standing up and clapping, "Please take care of me and all my dongsaengs well!"

After a good few moments of cheering for each contestant, the crowd became quiet and Minji spoke again.

"Thank you to the girls for their intros, though some were better than others, " She smirked, "So, while I may be the main judge of the show, every week I'll be accompanied by two guest judges, one from each company. Allow our first guests introduce themselves!"

"Hello, I'm Song Kyung Il. The leader of HISTORY," He waved at the crowd, his replies being screams. He cooly sat down in his seat, and the camera moved onto the next guest judge.

"Hi! I'm Jung Eunji, the main vocalist of APink!" Eunji clapped with an embarassed smile. She sat down as well, laughing into her hand. Minji looked them over for a moment, and took her place in the middle.

"Now, before anything, we'd like to test both your "idol" skills and your adaptability," Minji spoke carelessly, keeping a poker face despite wanting to laugh at the scared looks the trainees had, clicking her pen, "You have two hours to prepare something to show us. You can pair up with no more than two other trainees, or go solo if you prefer. I want all of you to show us what you've got, so pick one skill to showcase to us, and one skill only. You can also assist another trainee, but this will not go towards your score out of one hundred and will only waste your time. You'll be given criticism and two girls will be picked by draw to be team leaders- Six and seven. We'll get into the specfics of that later. Break!"

The thirteen girls filed out, and the scene cut to the interview room and Sophia, who immediately groaned.

"A test so soon? Without warning?" The '99 liner laughed fearfully, pouting with crossed arms, "I guess it makes sense, though- Idols have to be able to work with sudden changes, so I think this can be good practice! I have a good song in mind so I'll go it solo this time."

Suji was the next shown, though in the black room instead of the normal interview room, and she rocked on her heels as she thought.

"As the oldest, I feel a duty to take care of my dongsaengs, but I think this once I'll be selfish and perform on my own!" She giggled and the camera switched to Taeha who sat on the floor of a practice room.

"Honestly? I'm counting on winning, and to do that I can't rely on teammates!" The blonde winked at the camera as though she knew something they didn't, "I want to sing on my own because of that. I'll make my Appa proud on my own!"

If even the youngest is going solo, is anyone grouping together?

"Seul, Bonnie Unnie, and I are gonna do a dance performance together!" Lily's smile lit up the room as compared to Taeha's pout, "We're the dance line so we thought we could work together on this! I think we're all very talented and we'll impress the judges."

"Woah, seriously? You'd actually help me? Thanks Jaigya!" Suji hugged Seoyun tightly, grinning. Seoyun hugged back tightly before pulling back and linking their pinkies. She waved at the camera.

"Yeobo and I have eleven kids. We've been happily married for almost two years!" Suji frowned, shaking her head and pushing Seoyun away.

"Nuh-uh! You're way too ugly to be married to-"

"Yah! Unnie!" Seoyun complained, chasing the eldest across the training. Phoenix looked at them out of the corner of her eye before returning to her phone, staring at the lyrics of the song she chose to perform. It was a ballad, and she was quite unsure if the choice would work with her- You could tell just by her expression. The '93 liner did a few warm-up notes, cheeks heating up at the sight of cameras surrounding her. They cut to the interview room.

"Do you think you can win RUSH?" The PD asked quietly from the background. After a few moments of silence, Pheonix nodded slowly, her newly-cut hair bouncing.

"I'd like to think that the emotion in my voice, which is my best feature, will get me far."

"Do you have anything to say to your former bandmates?" He questioned. Minri's face contorted for a short moment before she parted her lips to speak.

"Thank you for giving me this chance. I'll use it well."

Her voice was monotone.

The former idol immersed herself in her vocal exercises, hoping the cameras would move on. The next shot showed Bonnie, directing both Seul and Lily to their spots. Lily was center, the remaining two flanking her. Though no music played, Bonnie counted to four. The trio began to dance to only the sounds of their rivals. The staff was, frankly, impressed but mere seconds in, Bonnie called it to a cut.

"Hey hey hey, Nari, I know you're trying hard, but you're offbeat. If you can't dance it in synch without the music, the dancing becomes souless. Replay the song in your head, alright? Seul, keep doing what you're doing. One, two, three, four!" The three girls were back at it, and the cameras moved onto Sophia whow as practicing her breath control. She knew that it was one of her faults, and she already knew the song she was singing by heart. There was no way she'd mess it up. The PD spoke up.

"How does it feel to be competing with twelve other talented girls?"

"It's amazing!" Her cheeks were a pale pink, showing her shy side quite obviously, "Working with so many awesome people is just a dream. I can't imagine anything better. I think I want to see the finalists as much as you do!" She winked at the camera before turning back to the mirror in front of her. She needed to focus.

"Isn't she a charmer?" Minyoung chucked from the side. The cameraman turned towards her immediately, and she only smiled at Sophia's confused look, "We may both be '99 liners, but we sure have different talents. I think it suits us well! Don't you?"

Before she could speak further, the training room door opened. Everything stopped, all thirteen trainees turning to look. Seul could hardly hold back her excitement at the sight fo Kim Namjoo, Apink's secret triple threat. Feeling all eyes on her, the singer cleared before beginning.

Who could this guest possibly be?!

"Hey all! I'm Namjoo of Apink~ Some of you are from my company, and some of you aren't, so I just want to say that no matter who makes the team, I'll be happy to call you my hoobaes. Since I can sing, dance, and rap, I'll be giving you each ten minutes with me! The time you spend with me won't be included in your two hours. If you wish, you can reject time with me, though you won't get an extra ten minutes. The list has been randomized, so we'll start with Taeha? I remember your CF's from when we were young, I was excited to see you on the list!" Namjoo gave her dimply smile, waiting for her to respond.

"Oh, no thank you!" The blonde smiled, though inside she was hoping that the rejection would bring enough attention. She'd taken a gamble, a big one, and more than anything Taeha relished the gasps and whispers that begun immediately. Namjoo barely faltered, however.

"No? Alright then. Iris?" The brunette motioned for the rapper to follow her out the door.

Behind-the-scenes unreleased footage!

"All I could think about was how much Taeha could ahve used my gift," Iris nearly snorted in distate, and she shook her head, "It could have been her, but no, she instead chose to grab more attention. Sorry, you should edit that out. We don't want a scandal so early~"

CUT

"Man, you're kind of really cute aegi!" Suji hugged Minyoung tightly, "Let's be fake rivals, okay?"

CUT

"Songeun and Seul and by are the worst contestants talent-wise. But at the same time they're not the bad, What do you think, Nari?" Jaili asked the younger as they sat on the couch in one of the many styling rooms together. The dancer pondered for a moment, before nodding.

"I still think they'll do well, though."