EPISODE 6

As always Do or Die logo appears on screen as a camera pans over a stage without audience where the contestants, the judges, and Yeonhee wait once more to deliver the verdict of the previous episode.

It is time for eliminations.

After the pan, the camera comfortably returns to Yeonhee who gives it a warm smile. "Welcome back once more to Do or Die," she says. "Tonight we will find out which of the contestants will sadly have to leave us."

The contestants are shown in various states of anxiety, each in their performance groups.

The vocalist team is noticeably nervous, but there's a subtle air of unity to them. Changui has a supportive hand on Inshik's shoulder, at ease and giving the younger guy a reassuring smile. Jaemin looks tense and worried and like he could burst into tears at any second, in other words a look he's worn every single elimination to date, but he exchanges a quick glance and small smile with Yoonshik. Seowoo looks completely serious as usual, but he's not standing slightly apart from the others this time, mostly because  Haneul has an arm slung over him and the other other over Changui, and is firmly keeping him in place.

There is a stark contrast with the dancer team who look obviously awkward on top of anxious. Yeonin is standing almost halfway between the dancers and the vocalist, and has eyes mostly for his former team. Daebak and Hyuk are noticeably standing apart, with James and Alex acting as a buffer, and Hyuk is staring at his shoes intently. Alex is fidgety, he can't sit still, and he looks absolutely terrified. James looks grave but at ease, and at one point he grabs at Alex' hand to try to stop his fidgeting. 

The rappers are the most at ease and visibly united. Hanjin has a hand rested on Inho's shoulder and one on Ted's. Both Ted and Inho are unreadable rocks, but Inho cracks a small smile when Jeongha nudges him with a grin. Bomseok looks worried but resigned. Hugo has his hands in his pockets and is smiling merrily, looking like he doesn't have a care in the world.

"Ah, we must find out which team member of each team will be up for elimination," Yeonhee says regrettably. "I always hate this part. On with it then. From the vocalist team, Jeon Seowoo, please step forward."

A flash of irritation is on Seowoo's face before he can control it and he steps forward into the spotlight.

"So far both eliminations have been vocalists," Seowoo says in his interview section. "I really don't want to follow in Kyungtaek and Geomi's footsteps."

Yeonhee turns towards the dancers. "As for the dance team, the contestant up for elimination will be Alex Yang. I'm sorry Alex, but please step forward and join Seowoo."

Alex doesn't even look surprised, he glances at Ted who nods gravely at him. Then he wipes his palms on his pants and steps forward.

"The contestant with the fewest votes in the rap team is," Yeonhee continues. "Lim Ted. Please take your place with the other two."

The camera focuses on Alex first, who does look alarmed now. He whips around to look at Ted and mouths a silent "no". Ted just steps forward without fuss. As soon as he reaches his spotlight Alex reaches out to grab his hand, looking all but panicked now. 

"Unfortunately one of you will be leaving us tonight," Yeonhee says. "But there is hope yet. Before the audience left tonight we asked them for one additional bit of voting," Yeonhee continues. "We asked them which performance impressed them the most this week. That team will be immune from eliminations no matter the votes their weakest link received."

"Without further ado then. The team with the most votes is-" Yeonhee opens the envelope she's been holding. "The rap team! Congratulations, Ted you can rejoin the others!"

Ted breathes out a sigh of relief and cheers erupt from the rap team. The loudest is Cipher, who jumps up from his seat and runs toward his team,  dragging Ted with him, and pulls them all into a celebratory and involuntary hug. Hugo stands a bit to the side at first, not entirely sure if he's a part of this celebration, until Cipher pulls him in as well.

" it!" Cipher yells at Kangho in particular. 

Ted is the only one who still looks worried by the time the hug breaks apart, the rest of the team looks ecstatic. He keeps shooting worried glances at Alex, who is trying to laugh with the others at Cipher's excessive show of pride but it comes out hollow. 

"I'm so proud of you - guys." Cipher quickly corrects himself quickly with a clearing of his throat. "You too Hugo. You're honorary rap team now." 

Hugo' s eyes show that he's grinning from ear to ear under his mask and he nods at Cipher. 

It's Seona who clears to get things back on the road, and Yeonhee smoothly takes it from there. "Congratulations to the rap team for their victory."

Cipher actually takes the hint and exchanges one final high ten with Hanjin. "Right. Guys. You did adequate I suppose. Keep up the good work." 

Kangho rolls his eyes as Cipher slides back into his chair with a eating grin. "We'll get them next time, team," Kangho says.

"Now, unfortunately, there is still the matter of the elimination," Yeonhee says, and the mood quickly returns to severe.

Alex and Seowoo both look like they're sweating bullets. Seowoo is keeping his chin raised, defiantly staring into the camera like he's daring the viewers to eliminate him this time. Alex is keeping his head down and looks like he could start sobbing at any moment.

Yeonhee opens her second envelope and her face shows initial shock as she reads what's written inside. She quickly gathers herself and turns back to the contestants. "I'm sorry Alex," she says. "You will not be continuing on this show."

"No!" Ted bursts out before he can stop himself.

Alex bursts into tears immediately, shaking his head in denial. Ted rushes forward and barrels through a startled Yeonhee to pull Alex into a tight hug. Alex clings to him, sobbing into his shirt while Ted rubs his back.

The camera pans over the other contestants. Jaemin is sobbing himself while Yeonin is awkwardly patting him on the back and looking like he'd rather be anywhere else. Inshik is trying very hard not to cry and failing while it's Changui who's comforting him and doing a much better job of it than Yeonin. The others simply watch in various states of shock while Alex' sobs echo through the studio.

"I feel really bad for him," Bomseok says in his interview. "Sure, Alex isn't always easy to work with, but he works hard and he deserves to be here. I don't think anyone expected him to go home so soon, if at all."

In the end one of the staff has to come and Alex off the stage while Ted can only watch in defeat. 

"These things are never easy," Yeonhee says at last. "And he will be sorely missed, but the show must go on. I won't keep you longer, go back to the dorms and get some sleep, the next challenge will start in the morning."

 

       
After the short break the show returns to the contestants sitting in the main practice room, waiting for the next challenge to be announced. There's a bit of tension there, nobody is sitting very close to Ted in particular. While his face is stoic as ever, he radiates malcontent.

There is an awkward silence as most contestants still seem shaken up by the last night's elimination. Jaemin's eyes are red and puffy, he's been crying fairly recently. Changui reaches out to try and offer some comfort but Jaemin rejects it, scooching closer to Yeonin, Bomseok, and surprisingly Yoonshik. Both Seowoo and James sit a little apart from the rest as always.

The door opens and the three judged come in. "Good morning," Carver says cordially. "It's time for everyone's ranking."

Kangho starts first this time. "As I've told both of you before, Hugo and Hyuk, I can only give you lowest two ranks due to your respective skill levels, but Hyuk I have to say I was especially impressed by you last week."

Hyuk all but beams at the praise as he accepts his #3 pin, and Hugo pins it on in his usual flippant way.

"I'm very sad that we lost one of our best dancers," Kangho says, and Ted's eyes harden at the mention, though he continues to stare ahead at the judges. "He had a lot of potential and I had hoped he'd hang around longer. However, the show much go on. Daebak, you were instrumental in pulling your team together last week and choreographed most of the routine, and for that I am giving you top rank again this week. That means you, James, will have to make do with the #2."

James accepts the pin without a fight and pins it to his shirt. Daebak looks a bit more hesitant. "I could not have done it without Hyuk," he says, while accepting the pin. "He helped much."

The camera focuses on Hyuk whose face drops as he just stares at the ground, fidgeting with his pin.

Kangho nods. "Be that as it may, you have earned your rank."

Carver steps forward then. "Lowest rank goes to Changui for once again not singing," Carver starts immediately, handing the pin over to Changui. The guy doesn't seem too bothered as he pins it on with a shrug.

"#6 goes to Jaemin. Don't think I didn't notice that you didn't sing the harmonies. If there's anything I dislike more than overt lipsyncing it's sneaky lipsyncing. I know why you did it, but instead of pretending you're participating you should focus on your technique and actually fix some of your problems."

Jaemin does look very bothered by the #6 pin he's received. He bows deeply to Carver as he accepts it but when he sits down he's noticeably upset. 

"I'd really wish Jaemin would just let me teach him," Yeonin says in his interview. "I know I can help him with his technique so he doesn't sing with such a stylistic approach anymore and can learn to moderate his voice to fit with others, but he refuses whenever I bring it up."

"#5 goes to Seowoo. You contributed a bit but your hamornies were hard to hear and I swear I could hear you dropping down to the melody at some point."

Seowoo receives the pin respectfully enough, but the scowl as he sits back down says everything about how he feels.

"#4 goes to Haneul," Carver says, and Haneul is visibly surprised. "You did a good job covering Yeonin's lines, but Inshik shone more this performance. It was too easy to tell that Inshik really felt what he was singing, whereas I don't think you put your heart into it."

"Of course Haneul hyung didn't put his heart into it," Seowoo says in the interview section. "What does he know about last chances?"

"The #3 goes to Yoonshik," Carver says. "While you did get the flashiest of lines, your sincerity shone through. I could tell that the lyrics of the song resonated with you, and you sold the performance."

Yoonshik nods, and he does look happy with the rank he received.

"The #2 goes to Inshik," Carver continues, handing the pin to the young vocalist who looks really proud of himself. "You sang well, your adlibs were great, and you were the steadiest in the harmony sections. You can be quite proud of yourself."

"And thus that leaves the #1 to Yeonin," Carver hands the pin to Yeonin, who looks surprised. Or, well, that might just be his face. With Yeonin you never know. "Your willingness to jeopardise your own performance to help your old ones is admirable, and without you this performance would not have been. You deserve the top rank."

"Yeonin hyung didn't even perform!" Haneul says in his interview section. "Yes, he helped us, and I'm really grateful for that, but I still think that Carver ranks us unfairly. He should be looking at vocal skill and performance, not at things that don't have anything to do with vocals."

Carver gleefully wrings his hands. "Aaah I do love judging people," he says with a grin.

"What made him so cheerful?" Seowoo mumbles, soft enough that Cipher doesn't hear.

"His team won," Yoonshik says with a shrug.

"Jeonghaaa," He says brightly, pointing both hands at the rapper. "Congratulations on your shiny new spot as lowest ranking rapper! Please do crawl your way out if it, I know you can do better."

Jeongha doesn't even looks surprised or disappointed at the pin, he simply accepts it and pins it on.

"I don't know. I figured I'd get the lowest rank," Jeongha says in his interview section. His usual energy and spark seems to have disappeared. "It wasn't really a surprise."

"Ted, my man!" Cipher continues. "You continue to disappoint when it comes to conviction, in your last rap I saw all bravado and no sincerity. Do fix that, if you please." He hands Ted the #4 pin.

Next Cipher extends his hand, pointing at Inho with a eating grin. Then he shifts his aim to Bomsok. "Bomseok! You were good, but not good enough. Enjoy that mediocrity once again, buddy."

"Is this the real life?" Cipher asks. "Is this just fantasy? if I know. Catch." Cipher tosses the #2 pin at a surprised Inho, who just about manages to catch it. "Not only did you manage not to disappoint this time, you even managed to impress me. Your rap was honest, self-depreciating, and clever. You did good."

Inho tries to keep it cool as he pins the rank to his shirt until Hanjin elbows him and they exchange a proud grin. 

"That leaves the one and only," Cipher says and tosses the #1 pin to Hanjin. "Good job as always. I'm really proud of all of you for taking the ultimate win last week. You can trust in me, I will never let Kangho hyung forget it."

Kangho rolls his eyes. "We'll get you. Just you wait."

Carver clears his throat, causing both Kangho and Cipher to selttle down. "It is time to announce the next challenge."

Carver gestured to the board that had been set up behind them. At the bottom of it were 16 little magnets with the faces of the contestants on it. Then there were 16 empty bubbles on top, arranged together. Two sets of 3, and one set of 10.

"This week's challenge is about risk," Carver continues. There will be three teams, two of three members, and one of ten. Two fo these teams will lose one member, and one of them, decided by the voters, will be safe. Do you choose a small team to stand out? Or do you choose the large team for safety? That is the question."

"You will get to choose by rank," Kangho jumps in. "From the lowest onwards, when we call you, you will put your magnet in one of the spots. The ones with the higher ranking are allowed to replace someone else's spot, if it is full, and place them elsewhere."

There are groans from the lower ranking guys as they realize what a disadvantage that brings them. 

The first ones up are Changui, Jaemin, Seowoo, and Jeongha who each take a spot in the ten member team. The first one to branch out is Haneul, who goes straight for one fo the small teams. Hugo, Ted, Yoonshik, Hyuk, and Bomseok all take spots in the large team as well, leaving only one more open. Then Inshik takes the last spot in the big group.

James steps forward, and pauses in front of the board, frowning. He thinks long and hard before taking his magnet and pushing out Ted in favor of himself. Then he puts Ted in the empty 3 member group and sits back down.

Inho and Hanjin exchange words before Inho steps forward and places his magnet next to Ted's. 

Yeonin goes up to the board and frowns. Then he places his magnet right next to Jaemin's, glancing back at Bomseok apologetically before placing him in the group with Haneul. Bomseok does not seem pleased. 

Daebak goes up and looks back at Hyuk before placing his own magnet in the big group as well, moving Seowoo to the group with Inho and Ted.

"It was so unfair!" Seowoo says in his interview segment. "I really didn't want to be in a group of three! I've almost been eliminated twice now and really don't want to take any risks, and definitely not with Hanjin and Inho."

Lastly Hanjin goes up to the board and immediately moves Ted to the group with Haneul and Bomseok, taking his place next to Inho.

"Alright," Carver says, looking at the board. "Changui, Jaemin, Yeonin, Jeongha, Hugo, James, Yoonshik, Hyuk, Daebak, and Inshik you can stay in the big practice room. Bomseok, Ted, and Haneul will have practice room 2, and Seowoo, Inho, and Hanjin can take 3. Good luck."

         

The camera returns once again to Yeonhee, standing on the familiar stage. Once again the studio audience seems to have grown, this time to quite the respectable size, and there's more signs than ever bearing name of the contestants. Especially Hyuk and Yeonin seem to have had an exponential growth of fans, though Hugo's crazy ones are a constant as ever.

"Welcome back to Do or Die," Yeonhee says. "Today we have quite the challenge for you! We've asked out contestants to split into three teams, but with a catch! One big team and two small, and two of the teams will end up losing a member. Your votes will count more than ever this time. You're voting for who is immune, but you're also voting for the team member that you would rather see eliminated. There are no easy choices tonight."

"That being said, tonight we will start with a bang," Yeonhee says, and the crowd cheers at that. "Let's see how our largest group managed to do!"

A timestamp shows it is the first day of the challenge in the afternoon. The group of ten is sitting in a circle, each with their own lyric sheets ahead of them. 

"We can change things up a bit," Changui suggests. "Take a line here and a line there. We don't have to be faithful to the song structure and should probably focus on the performance as a whole."

James nods. "That's a good idea. Focus on the dance and performance."

Yeonin frowns. "We have a lot of vocalists though, we should not neglect our vocals."

"Seconded," Inshik says.

"Why don't we just combine it all?" Yoonshik says. "Have sections that focus on performance, sections that focus on vocals. Harmonies and a dance break? We can make it a bit longer than performances usually are, I think we get up to five minutes of time. We're a group of ten with various strenghts. Use them."

"I still think dance should be our primary focus," James argues. "The other tea-"

"Of course you do," Yoonshik interrupts him. "You're a dancer. Earth to James, you're not in this team alone."

"As I was saying," James says. "The other teams will be rap and vocal focused. We're the only team that has any dancers at all. We should showcase that."

"And we will," Yoonshik says. "But we will showcase all of our various talents."

"This team?" Hugo asks, answering an off screen question in his interview. He thinks it over for a bit. "Ah! Greece in 431BC."

The team goes to work structuring their performance, though it's mostly Yoonshik and James who are debating. "We should start with vocals," Yoonshik argues. "Use Yeonin who is our powerhouse and then lead into a harmony part. Then we can lead into a dance break."

"No we should start with dancing," James counters. "Use the four of us who are in the dance team alone for the dance break and then lead into your vocalist section."

"Why don't we do a bit of both?" Hyuk suggest. "Oh- eh- sorry I didn't mean to in-"

A flash of annoyance crosses James' face before it's smoothed over."

"It's fine," Yoonshik says. "You are allowed to have a say in this too, just because everyone else seems to have left it to just us doesn't mean either of us is actually in charge. What do you suggest?"

"Well... why don't we start with a vocal line," Hyuk says. "Only one. And lead that into a dance part? So Yeonin will do one line to lead into the performance, we do a bit that's more theatrical, and then we segue into the actual song?"

Yoonshik and James glance at each other. "Could work," Yoonshik says. "Yes. I like it." 

After some more deliberation on the structure of the song Yeonin goes off to rearrange it and then its time for the division of lines.

"Why doesn't Jaemin do the opening line?" Yeonin suggests, even though it seems to make Jaemin uncomfortable. "His voice is unique and would bring an interesting flair to the performance."

"But you're the best vocalist," James says, frowning. "Why wouldn't you take the spotlight?"

"The audience already knows that I'm a great vocalist," Yeonin says. "But Jaemin hasn't been able to show off yet.

"Yeonin hyung is..." Yoonshik says in his interview segment. "I don't always understand him and his weird honour code. He's handed a piece of spotlight on a platter but would rather give it to someone else. Still, it's his decision and that should be respected."

"Okay we'll try it with Jaemin," Yoonshik says. 

"No but-" Jaemin splutters. "It's okay if someone else wants it."

James sighs, obviously irritated at how long this is taking. "Just take the part," he says.

"You three don't really have any lines," Yeonin says to Changui, Hyuk, and Hugo. "Just harmony bits. Is that okay with you?"

"I didn't do so well the last two episodes so I figure I probably owe it to you guys to do whatever in this one." Changui grins. "I'm sure we'll do awesome with or without my voice, I'm alright with it."

"It's okay," Hyuk says. "There are so many better singers than me and I know there aren't really any more parts. We're a big team."

Hugo just shrugs.

Aside from that the division of parts goes rather smoothly, and then it's time for the choreography.Yoonshik and James are in charge of the staging, and the rest will be used as props to block out the performance. That's not to say things go smoothly.

"It's just a gimmick," Yoonshik argues.

"No, using a table and chairs as a prop will bring something unique to our performance and allow us to use a more two dimensional space," James explains.

"We don't need it, it was fine the way I choreographed it."

The others in the room look uncomfortable as yet another argument breaks out between the two of them.

"I'm a professional choreographer," James argues. "I know what I'm doing. Do you?"

"I've had extentisve training in dance as well," Yoonshik snaps right back. "What do you think I've been doing the past four years without any schedules?"

"I really wish they'd just stop fighting," Inshik says in his interview. "Both of them have good ideas why can't they just come to an agreement in the middle?"

Both Hyuk and Changui try to get compromises going wherever there are arguments. The chair and table props are used but the vocalsts get to show off more of their stuff and they only exist for half of the performance. There is a dance break but Yoonshik gets to lead it. Small steps treaded around the big egos to make sure that any work at all gets down.

The James and Yoonshik conflict isn't the only one around. All throughout the practice Hyuk and Daebak are awkward around each other. 

At one point Hyuk and Daebak are taking a break while the others are going over a section that doesn't involve them. "Hey," Daebak says cautiously. "Are we okay?"

Hyuk snorts. "What? No! Of course we're not okay," he says. "Look. Daebak. You said some really insensitive things about my country and it was hurtful."

"Yes- but-" Daebak seems to struggle for words. "You're not like other Americans," he ends up saying. "You're like- you're more Korean than American."

"That's supposed to make it better? That I'm not like other Americans? My country is all bad but I'm okay because I'm more Korean?" Hyuk seems really upset by this. "Do you even understand what you're saying?"

"I- ye-" Daebak struggles again.

"Just leave me alone Daebak," Hyuk says. "I can work with you but I don't really feel like talking to you."

All is not particularly well with the vocalists either. The timestamp shows this is the fifth day of the challenge, close to midnight. Yeonin is sitting behind the keyboard trying to guide those who are participating in the harmony. 

"No Hyuk, it's this note," Yeonin plays the note on his keyboard. "You're flat, just aim to hit it a little higher and keep your note in your mind so you don't slip back to the harmony. Let's try it again."

The harmonies weren't coming easy to any of them. 

"These guys aren't vocalists," Yeonin says in his interview. "It's hard on them, harder even than it was last week with the vocal team. I wish Jaemin would at least try."

"Come on Jaemin," Yeonin says back in the practice room. "The first group could really use a strong voice to anchor it. If you'd only let me help-"

Jaemin shakes his head. "No hyung I've tried. It just doesn't work with my voice. But it's okay I've got some parts in isolation it shouldn't be so bad."

"It could though!" Yeonin maintains. "Look I know all you need is a correction of technique, that is all."

"Hyung. No." Jaemin maintains, standing his ground for once. "I have good technique, it just doesn't work. I've been doing this for years."