Episode Four

Chuseok special/episode four, part two

When the scene switched, it showed the remaining twelve girls in a training room at LOEN. They had just finished the "Secret" choreo yet again, and obviously feeling the effects of their ever-constant work. Minji looked over the others, feeling as though she needed to do something to give them a bit of a laugh.

"Well, I'm beat. Who wants a drink?" She stood up, stretching. All eyes were on her, and she laughed, "Well, obviously I can't carry all twelve by myself, who wants to come?"

"I'll go!" Taeha immediately volunteered, offering a sugary smile, "It wouldn't do to have Unnie do it all herself, right?" The tension in the room rose, as did Phoenix to hopefully keep the piece.

"I'll go too, two of you isn't enough. We'll all be back soon," She ushered the other two out, and a camera followed them.

"So, what drinks are we getting?" Taeha chattered, smiling at the two widely.

"I think we should get a lot of juice," Phoenix commented, "The sugar will help everyone get some energy back, and I think we're about to get a new mission."

"No soda..." Taeha pouted.

"No soda," Iris confirmed, a bit icily, "It's fattening."

Uh-oh...?

Taeha blinked- Was that an insult to her weight?- Before the scene switched back to the practice room. Daily and Bonnie were lying next to each other, half-playing Go Fish, half sleeping. Bonnie was being particularly kind to Daily, probably because of rewatching the episode that aired while she fought with Stacy about her lack of Korean skills. Recently Daily'd made a lot of progress, though, so she was feeling much more confident. Bonnie had been taking more vocal lessons to help with her lack of enunciation when singing, and now her projection had improved a lot. Her vocal trainer said her voice would be much more stable now, not that she felt so.

Sophia had been focusing on trying to be a better dancer, because honestly, nothing but her singing was helping her in the competition. Repeatedly she had been criticized for her out of time moved and general lack of ability in that department. She was kind of passable now. Seoyun's dancing had become sharper, Lily's rap more pronounced, Minyoung's vocals significantly improved, and Suji just stayed...Suji. She possibly became less likeable. Stacy became a slightly better dancer, much more in-synch with the others. The three who had gone to get drinks simply had became stronger in their respective categories. Overall, things were good, really.

When Taeha, Iris, and Phoenix came back, it was with a mix of apple juice, orange juice, water, and some canned coffee. Bonnie immediately took a coffee from Taeha, the rest of the drinks being distruibuted. The eldest two picked last, left with an apple juice and water. Suji, hating apple juice, went for the water bottle. Seoyun was happy with her apple juice, and thanks chorused around the room. As everyone happily sipped their drinks, Minji's voice played from the speakers.

"Hello, girls!" Minyoung would deny choking on her orange juice, "It's time for your new teams to be announced. On Team Sunshine will be Seul, Bonnie, Sophia, Minyoung, Iris, Stacy, and finally, your team captain, Taeha, who was picked on account of her overall performance through the past episodes."

For her part, Taeha seemed shocked but inwardly grinned to herself as she took a drink of coffee. A great way to get attention, for sure. Iris seemed a little less thrilled with the idea.

"On Team Vanilla are Seoyun, Daily, Lily, Suji, and Phoenix, the team captain! She was picked for her leaderly abilities," Phoenix seemed to doubt that, but Suji and Seoyun were too busy gushing how excited they were to work with their "Jagiya" and "Yeobo" to care. Daily and Lily seemed a little more in tune, and scooted closed to their temporary leader, "Let me be very clear, dears. You each get a choreographer and a composer, but how everything else is executed is up to you. You'll have to pick the concept, how the lines are distributed, tell the stylists what you should wear...Good luck! You have ten minutes before Team Sunshine will be transported to Plan A practice rooms." The speaker cut out and immediately everyone was with their own team.

Taeha vs Phoenix, who will win?

"Five and seven? That's so unfair!" Suji whispered furiously to Daily who seemed to agree.

"But it could be an advantage to us, less to deal with. You heard everything we have to do," Phoenix replied, nearly smiling. She was, surprisingly, fond of her team. They were all people she could get along with well, and they were all talented. She really had hope.

"That's true. So, what kind of concept are you thinking of, Captain?" Daily asked, looking to the former idol for direction. It was a strange feeling to be a "leader" again...

"I think it depends on what the composer has for us, but I wanted to do something unique- Since we're all very different colored people," The vocalist had said it seriously, but Suji pulled her into a very surprise hug.

"You're such a cute little leader!"

On the other team, Taeha was certainly lost. She wasn't sure what a leader was supposed to do, and that was showing in the group. Minyoung was, though disorganized herself, annoyed. To Bonnie, it was pretty obvious how unqualified she was to lead, and she nearly didn't say that outloud. Almost.

"You're bad at this," She spoke bluntly, true to herself, and Taeha kind of gaped at her for a total of three seconds before realizing how foolish she looked. Minyoung was giggling to the side with Seul, and Taeha's cheeks burned. Bonnie shrugged, finishing off her water before getting up to throw it away. Sophia nearly felt bad, but the situation was funny and she instead chose to keep her face impassive.

This team has some trouble...

"Hey everyone! I'll be your composer for this round," Jinsoon grinned, "I already have plenty of compositions for you to look through. I'm sure you guys can figure something out."

That "figuring something out" took two hours. The camera flashed between the clock and snippets of arguments between the girls.

"That's a horrible song- Sorry, Jinsoon-ssi- Taeha! There's no way we could use it," Bonnie groaned.

"This one isn't bad," Minyoung held it up.

"Isn't it too short?" Iris rejected.

"Jeez, are we ever going to agree?" Seul whispered to herself.

Two hours was enough, apparently, to hesistantly agree on one.

With the other team, Phoenix's request of "something unique" wasn't a challenge for Jiyeon, who ready had a number of songs available.

"I like this one," Daily decided only half an hour in, passing it to Seoyun who feverently agreed. And so Team Vanilla had their song.

Good luck to Vanilla and Sunshine~~

Behind-the-scenes unreleased footage!

"Did...You call me fat?" Taeha asked, looking at Minji with utter distaste.

"Not at all," The rapper denied with a smirk.

"Minji-ssi, you're not being very mature. Cameras are filming us right now," Minri whispered, pulling them along.

---

"Taeha's a ," Suji rolled over, speaking to Seoyun, "I like her but damn, anything to win."

"You're not much better, Ahjumma" Seoyun replied with a pout, choosing instead to speak with Seul. The youngest tried to ignore the eyed burning into her.

---

Sophia had locked herself in the bathroom, assessing herself in the mirror. She'd lost weight, but not enough. Her voice had improved, but not enough. Her ratings had gone up, but not enough. She felt the need to put herself more out there, "I guess being laid back isn't the best thing, here."

---

"Thanks a bunch, Jins-" After a furious elbow from Taeha in her side, Bonnie corrected her informal speech, "I mean, thank you so much, Jinsoon-ssi."

---

"Jian, I want to go home," Jaili whispered into the phone, one hand covering her eyes. She was alone in her temporary bedroom, door locked and she felt sad, "They actually got rid of Jisoo, ohmygod..."

"Then come home, Jaili, no one will be disappointed. It's so hard watching you all the way over there," The sound of her elder brother's Cantonese was so comforting, she could just melt in it. But she knew better.

"I can't, you know that..."