EPISODE 2

After a brief montage of what happened last episode, the camera pans in on Haneul coming onto stage.

All the judges except for Cipher react to his appearance. Yeonhee gasps loudly and stage whispers to Seona "is that Song Haneul from Pandora?" Carver looks surprised and leans back while Kangho grins. Only Cipher keeps his bored look, chin leaning on his hand.

Haneul bows to the judges. "Hello I'm Song Haneul," he says brightly. "Some of you may know me from a certain group called Pandora."

A montage shows the former maknae and visual of the successful group Pandora in action during their hay-day. Haneul had been a baby then, debuting at 15 year old and active as a successful idol until they disbanded in 2013. After that he was mostly known as an actor until he made a splash as king on Masked Singer.

"What brings you here, Song Haneul?" Seona asks with a smile.

"I thought I'd give it another shot is all."

 

The scene shifts to Haneul sitting for his interview against the Do or Die backdrop. "Ever since Pandora disbanded I've been busy with my acting career, but I found that I really miss the stage. Then I heard about Do or Die and I thought this is perfect! I can give it another shot. I've been training a lot and have gotten much better at singing since my Pandora days and I can't wait to show you! Fighting!"

 

"Ah we're lucky to have such a handsome and well-known contestant!" Yeonhee says, clapping her hands. "You used to be the visual of your group, correct?"

Haneul frowns at that but rearranges his expression into a smile quickly. "That's correct! I've trained a lot since then and I'm excited to show you that I am more than just a visual now. I believe I'm main vocal material."

"Is that so?" Carver says, leaning forward with interest. "Show us what you've got then."

Haneul takes center stage as his backing track start playing. All the judges are surprised when it turns out to be a rock song and Haneul kills it. Yeonhee mouths a 'woah' at the high note, and Seona's smiling by the end of the performance. All judges applaud him when he's done.

"You're Milkyway Emperor," Carver says, referring to Haneul's name on King of Masked Singer, where he's won 5 rounds in a row. "Oh can I say that?"

Haneul nods. "I lost last round, it should air before this does. You've got keen ears."

"They don't keep me around for nothing," Carver says with an amused smile before getting back to business. "You've got a good voice Haneul, a far cry from your Pandora days isn't it? You're right, you might just be main vocalist material. I'm impressed." Carver leans over to Seona and Yeonhee. "This is what I mean when I say that anyone can learn to sing with proper training. He used to be so unsteady live and look at him now."

Haneul all but glows with pride.

"But still," Carver starts and Haneul's smile falters a bit. "I still think Geomi is better when it comes to control and delivery. I can give you a respectable #2 position in the vocalist team."

Haneul nods and thanks the judges but he looks noticeably disappointed with the result as he moves to the vocalist area and exchanges pins with Inshik.

            The next two contestants come onto the stage. The first has a very unique, almost elfish face and is noticeably older than the other contestants so far. The other one is, well, tiny, with bright pink hair. The two are night and day as they walk onto the stage together.   "Oh he looks cute," Yeonhee says to Seona. The pink haired one scowls in answer to that.   The older one is the first to introduce himself. "Hello, I'm Han Kyungtaek, I'm 30 years old and excited to be given he chance to participate in this show."   "Woah you're 30 years old?" Yeonhee gasps.   "He's the oldest contestant we have," Seona supplied.   "What made you want to be a part of the show, Kyungtaek?" Yeonhee asks.   "Well I've done a few months of training back in the day but in the end it was determined that I would be better suited for a position as a manager," he explains. "I've seen worked extensively behind the scenes but I could never stop thinking about this dream I once had to sing and stand on stage. Hearing about Do or Die inspired me to try one last time to make that dream come true."   "Well said Kyungtaek," Yeonhee says. "This is why I'm so thrilled about this program, Seona. There are so many contestants here with extraordinary stories grasping this opportunity to debut. I look forward to your performance Kyungtaek."   Next up is the pink haired boy. "My name's Jeon Seowoo and I'm 20 years old," he says.   "Oh you look younger," Yeonhee exclaims.   "So I've been told," he says without an ounce of humour. "I'm a composer."     Seowoo is next shown being interviewed in front of the show's logo. "I work in the music production department at Pledis, working mostly for Seventeen." He glows with pride just talking about it.     "So you also worked behind the scenes before this," Yeonhee says. "What inspired you to try and become an idol instead?"   "Working with the idols recording songs I've worked on, I couldn't help but wonder what it might be like to stand on stage myself."   "Alright, Seowoo please return to the wings while we watch Kyungtaek's performance first."   Kyungtaek takes center stage as the familiar melody of Someone Like You starts playing. He has a calm and deep voice that matches the song well and a bit of an accent as he sings the English lyrics to the song. It's not the most impressive vocal performance, he's not very stable and goes a little off-key at times, but he's visibly doing his very best.   "Wow," Yeonhee says when Kyungtaek has finished his song. "That was really sweet."   "We have a lot to work on with you in terms of any kind of technique," Carver says. "But you've got a good tone and you have promise and it is always useful to have a baritone in a group for diversity."   "Understood, thank you," Kyungtaek says with a bow. Then he exits the stage to replaced by Seowoo, a stool, and a mic stand.   Seowoo sits on the stool with his guitar and starts playing. This song is also simple and Seowoo balances playing guitar and singing effortlessly. He, too, is not always very stable and his technique is lacking, but it's a pleasant listen anyway. Carver starts first this time.   "You show excellent musicality, of which I expected nothing less. However your singing can use a lot of work. Good thing that is exactly what I'm here for," Carver says.   Kyungtaek is brought back onto the stage for the final rankings. "Seowoo, your technique is lacking but you showed a clear feeling of musicality today. Kyungtaek you have a pleasant voice but you have no training and it shows. That's why Seowoo, you will be ranked #3, above Changui. Kyungtaek I'm giving you rank #5."   Kyungtaek bows politely as he receives his ranking pin. He doesn't seem disappointed by it and simply accept what he is given. Seowoo scowls as Changui hands him the pin, visibly disappointed by how low he's ranked.            

 

The camera shows Hyuk during his interview. "Hugo kind of scares me," Hyuk admits. "He's- he's very intimidating, with that mask. During the mic check I lost my mic and I didn't even ask him but he just pointed at it. It was resting on a crate that he wasn't even facing but he just- he just knew where it was. I think he has eyes in the back of his head."

"Hugo is- I don't even know what he is," Changui says in his own interview. "One of the staff members was being mean to Geomi and he just stared her down until he left. Didn't change expression once. He just stared with those smiling eyes. It was kind of awesome. Plus the guy know how to dress to impress."

"Hugo is a weirdo," Seowoo says with a scowl. "Why are you even asking me about this?"

 

Back to the stage, two boys enter. One of them is handsome with this boy next door look to him with comfy clothes and a snapback. Nothing really stands out. The other guy, well, he stands out. A blonde perm. A black facemask with white fangs. Eyes perpetually smiling with mirth. Clothes that wouldn't look out of place on the streets of harajuku, pastel punk with nerdy pins pinned to his jacket. This guy is hard to miss.

Cipher actually snickers when he sees Hugo enter, though he's quickly silenced by a jab from Kangho. Yeonhee, for once, is at a loss for words. The guy grins with his eyes, the rest of his face obscured behind the mask. "Name's Ji Hanseok," he says. "Though you should call me Hugo."

"Hello Hugo," Yeonhee says, regaining her ability to MC. "You're quite the sight. It- ehm- it says here that you have experience with performance?"

"Something like that... Well I work in a club," Hugo starts. "It's a paid performance for the crowd... I make sure they have a real good time..." If possible his eyes get even merrier as he lets the pause and the implications thereof stretch. Yeonhee exchanges a helpless glance with Kangho. "That's what we DJ do best," he finishes eventually and Yeonhee lets out a breath of relief mouthing what most likely was an "oh thank god".

"Ehm how about you?" Yeonhee quickly shifts the attention to the boy awkwardly waiting for his turn who had a horrified look on his face during most of Hugo's speech.

"Oh- ah- h-hi I'm, eh, I'm the person who just raps, Park Bomseok," he manages to get out the introduction he'd obviously been rehearsing with some difficulty. Cipher hardly has to perk up at the mention of his field, he'd been paying attention as soon as Hugo entered the stage. He peeled his eyes off of the kid in the mask to actually pay attention to Bomseok.

"Are you a rapper or are you a rapper," Cipher asked, eyebrows raised and regarding Bomseok's very flowerboy appearance.

"Ehm, which one is the good one?" Bomseok asks, confused. Cipher sighs.

"Guess we'll find out.You go first I want to close with this guy."

"Ehm Cipher," Yeonhee whispers. "That's my job."

Bomseok takes the stage anyway as Hugo disappears into the wings. Bomseok takes center stage and turns his snapback around as the piano notes of his backing start playing. He goes from the slightly nervous and otherwise unremarkable guy to a rapper in under 5 seconds. As soon as he starts everyone is paying attention. His rapping is not the most high energy, and not the most rhythmic, but it's slow and he makes sure to hit every single beat he has to. It's easy to tell that these lyrics are deeply personal and they're his own. When he finished the judges clap and Cipher nods in approval.

"Rapper it is," he says with a grin. "You surprised me kid. Not gonna lie, I thought we were gonna have another Jinwoo on our hands here. It's not perfect, you've got that trainee polish but being a rapper you need more than that, but we can work with it. You need experience. We'll get your there. To hell with it I'm gonna give you #1 I'm impressed, kid."

Bomseok looks more surprised than anyone, and a quick pan to the rapper's corner shows that Jinwoo and Jeongha are surprised as well, though Ted is stoic as ever. Jeongha gives him a friendly clap on the back when Bomseok joins him and happily hands over his #1 pin.

Next up is Hugo though what comes out of wings resembles very little of what went into the wings. The mask is still on, that much is true, but everything, well. Hugo is now sporting a brown wig styled in pigtails, one of them dyed red and one of them dyed blue a la Harley Quinn, a matching bat in his hand. That is perhaps the least shocking detail of his transformation. Hugo is now sporting a school uniform. A pink and grey girls uniform. Cipher almost chokes on his own spit as he bursts out laughing.

Kangho just looked stunned and Carver's eyebrows are raised as far as they anatomically can. Yeonhee coughs to mask her own laugh as Hugo takes center stage.

And Pick Me starts playing.

Cipher can hardly breathe from laughing throughout the performance. Halfway through Kangho just buries his head in his hands. Carver watches with an increasibly desperate expression. Yeonhee is having the time of her life, singing along with the chorus and micking some of the dance from her chair while the guys sitting in the back hoot and holler along. Seona watches stone faced as ever. When the song ends only Cipher is clapping, giving a standing ovation.

"I don't know about you but I would give that an A," Yeonhee says, having the time of her life.

"This is- this- just- I can't do this." Kangho buries his head in his hands. Cipher picks up his microphone.

"What my colleague is trying to say is that was beautiful. Thank you so much. I think that was the best dancing we've seen," he looks at his fellow judges for approval but they stare at him blankly.  "Okay then. You get #1 dancing rank-"

Kangho picks up his microphone very quickly at that. "No! No, no! No he doesn't! He does not get #1 dancing rank thank you Cipher."

"Didn't you say dancing was about feeling? I'd say he was feeling it-"

"Cipher," Carver warns, and Cipher raises his hands, backing down with a roll of his eyes. Hugo just looks on with amusement.

"I don't want to judge this," Kangho says, desperation in his voice. "The dancing it- it wasn't good. I might be able to forgive, well, all of this," he gestures at all of that. "If the dancing had been good- just- why?"

Hugo shrugs. "I like Produce 101. I chose it to entertain. You friend Cipher seems entertained."

"Amen to that," Cipher says but quickly shuts up when Carver shoots him a serious look.

"Just-" Kangho is still flustered by the whole thing. "You get lowest rank. Just go."

Hugo does a theatrical bow and joins the other dancers in their square. 

          As the next two contestants enter the stage Yeonhee does her gasp. "Oooh I know these two!"     The scene shifts to one of the two conducting his interview. "Hello I'm James Kim, but you might remember me as Koa from the duo X2."     "Koa!" Yeonhee says with a broad smile.   James smils back. "I go by my real name James now, but I'm glad you remember me."   "Who is this?" Kangho asks.   "He used to be in this duo called X2, remember that awfully catchy song Bounce? That was them! So what brings you to Do or Die, James?"   "As you know X2 had to disband shortly after our debut. I decided then to not continue my career as an idol but I've come to see that as the greatest mistake I've ever made. When I heard about Do or Die I saw it as my last chance to try again." James says without missing a beat.   "Ah this show really brings the most interesting people doesn't it?" Yeonhee says. "Speaking of that. Yoonshik, you've been out of the public eye for just as long haven't you?"   The other guy nods. "That's right, I had my debut in 2011 as well," Yoonshik admits. "My career never went further after my debut either. I've wanted to be an idol since I was a child but then it all came crashing down at once. But when I heard about Do or Diei I found that I wasn't ready to give up on this dream yet. So here I am, hoping that I can be given a second -and last- chance."    "I'm glad this competition could create such opportunities for the both of you," Yeonhee said gracefully. "Now Yoonshik would you please wait in the wings. James you're up first."   James goes to the wings and came back with- big ski gloves on. Kangho facepalms for a moment before turning back to the stage as a familiar song starts playing, the B-side to X2's Bounce single. It's definitely what any of them expected and Yeonhee is loving it, squirming at all the aegyo in the performance, and there is a lot of aegyo. Cipher just rolls his eyes through most of it. As James takes his final pose he sends a heart and a wink to Yeonhee and she giggles happily.   "Wow, James," Kangho starts. "Even if you didn't really show it off, it was evident that you're a very good dancer. I can appreciate showing a bit of all your talents, rapping and singing included."   Cipher raises his eyebrows at that but remains silent, going back to leaning on his hand being bored.   "It's clear you have experience," Carver adds. "You're so at ease up there. Your singing can def