Cheshire looked up and down the line of trainees waiting for K. Will to give the go ahead on their performance. What the judges were saying honestly didn't matter to her right now she just wanted to get it over with so that she could watch their dancing honestly. Once they started Chess was actually kind of disappointed. She was not a fan of slow songs and they chose a slow song of course. They sounded really good though and the little bit of english they spoke was immaculate. She couldn't find anything she didn't like besides it just being to slow for her taste. They were really good at making sure to highlight who was the main for each part. The judges began their comments and slowly but surely Chess's turn came around.

"I really liked your stage. I'm not a big fan of slower songs in general but this was enjoyable. You looked like you all had fun and had practiced really hard. Your english was immaculate and I can't think of anything other than the tempo that I disliked but that's not anything big. #Gun you looked really good up there especially your solo bit at the end when everyone was facing away from you. Good job," Cheshire heard Hoyoung chuckle as he pulled his mic up.

"I guess Jooheon's gonna have to fight #Gun for your attention now!" Everyone laughed including Cheshire and they went back to analysing the performance for a quick moment before they called Team Ohjangnam back to the stage. Team Segyero won and honestly Cheshire couldn't even be upset. She agreed for once. Apparently she had actually been the vote that made Team Segyero win. She felt bad for her choice though when she saw Jooheon and Shownu's faces. They almost broke her heart and she started thinking about the fact that they were going to have to eliminate someone this round. She almost couldn't take it it was so painful. Chess gently shook her head to clear her thoughts that was something to deal with later not now.

Team Ohjangnam was up first again for the dance portion of the mission and to say that Cheshire was excited was most definitely an understatement. She couldn't wait to see what Shownu had come up with, knowing what she did about the boy she expected some really impressive . When they entered in orange jail jumpsuits Chess chuckled a bit to herself. She knew they had to have something good planned. K. Will had them describe their idea behind their dance and Jooheon told them it was a prison break. Chess thought about what she wanted to see and honestly ended up just visualizing a whole bunch of acrobatic moves. Soon after the performance started.

They did great telling the story and their moves were super solid. When Minkyun jumped face first for them to catch him and throw him back Cheshire audibly gasped and covered with her hand. It was amazing the amount of trust that he had just given the other boys. She could hardly contain herself. They had some really cute moments in their dance too and Chess couldn't help but giggle at some of their antics. She bobbed her head as the song switched. She really liked the mix that they had come up with. Suddenly Shownu had an outfit change and the music changed once more. The moves felt sharper and stronger now. It was amazing how many different styles they had put into this short time span. When they finished Cheshire clapped maybe a little too loudly but she couldn't help it it was impressive, what they had just done. She quickly reached for her mic before anyone else had even really thought of it ready to give them her thoughts on how they did. K. Will just kind of raised his hands in surrender and let her say her peace.

"Wow... Just wow... That was awesome guys. I can tell that you practiced really hard on that. You also just looked like you enjoyed the hell out of it too! You just owned the stage. Minhyuk... Oh my god... You are my new hero... I would never have been able to just jump like that and expect someone to catch me. That was amazing. You are badass. I cannot believe that was so good. You enthralled me from start to finish and you told a complete story and with dance sometimes that's a bit hard to do. Shownu, your solo bit there? That was killer. I love how you managed to incorporate so many different styles while staying true to one general theme. Good job!"

The rest of the comments were really similar but it caught Chess off guard when Giri complimented Jooheon. She actually snapped her head towards him with her eyes widened in shock before reigning in her features. She had no idea if Jooheon could tell or not but Giri had to have LOVED his performance to give that compliment as small as it sounded. Giri was not the type to get over something very quickly and this was definitely not what she would have expected from him after their conversation outside. When she finally got herself together she turned to face the stage finding that again Jooheon was looking at her again. Yup, he knew that he had started something and he knew that this compliment was definitely a lot bigger than it seemed on the surface. Chess just chuckle and rolled her eyes while slightly shaking her head. It was good to know that at some point Giri would get over whatever it was that had gotten into him.

Team Ohjangnam was sent back and Team Segyero entered the stage shortly after. Honestly Cheshire thought they kind of looked stupid but she wasn't going to say that out loud it was just a bit too mean. When they described their concept Chess couldn't contain her eye roll. If she thought they looked stupid their concept sounded even worse. She could already see how it was simply a ploy to cover for #Gun who was apparently not that great at dancing but she tried to contain her judgement until after she had seen them perform.

She was happily surprised to find that they were doing a nice job with their kind of meh concept. They kept making her want to giggle but she tried really hard to keep that contained. Until the stupid song said 'go ahead and go ham sammich' she burst then. She couldn't stop laughing. Which worked out because at that point Yoonho was pretending to be broken. She got herself back to normal in time to watch them do some sychronized dancing that was actually pretty sharp and she had to admit she was in love with #Guns expressions. When the song changed she was actually surprised to find that she really enjoyed the variation that they had made. She loved the isolations that they pulled off before the sudden tempo change. Suddenly she was amazingly impressed. Not so much at the choreography but the fact that #Gun did so well! The judges took their turns complimenting them and praising them before it was Chess's turn.

"I am not a fan of your concept. It was just kind of meh to me. But I did like the actual performance. I'm just the home of conflicting opinions of you guys today!" Chess giggled a bit at her own lame joke before she continued. " I know that you went about it to try and cover for #Gun's lack of dancing ability but honestly he was my favorite to watch. #Gun, you had perfect facial expressions the entire time and I was very impressed with your dancing actually. It was just so entertaining to watch you. Unfortunately, for me that means that I spent the entire time watching you and not seeing anything else. No one else stood out to me. Even though I know Yoonho, you had a lot of mini solos I just wasn't that entertained by it. The only team bit that I really saw and focused on were your isolations. I'm a er for some good isolations and they were. I wish you would have put more in it would have fit your concept a bit more I think. Overall it was a good stage I just wish it hadn't been SO #Gun centric."

K. Will made it a point to talk about how hard this was going to be for the judges as the boys left the stage and Chess found that he was right. She knew she was voting for Ohjangnam to win the dancing bit but she couldn't tell you at this point who she would vote to eliminate. She could already feel the decision tugging at her heart. She really wasn't sure she could do this. She had been so sure the decision would be easy when she had first got here but now she didn't want to see any of them leave.

When the boys came back onto the stage Chess could feel her chest start to tighten. She was not prepared for this, not at all. She heard K. Will tell the boys how well they had done and how proud of themselves they should be. She watched as Team Ohjangnam bowed after being told they had won the dance portion and how they immediately tensed when they were told that Team Segyero had won the mission overall. She felt everything in her fall as K. Will asked for a word from Shownu who immediately took the blame for them not winning. She refused to cry. She would not. But despite everything in her tears were starting to pool in her eyes. She couldn't take anymore but she knew the worst was yet to come.

The judges were debating and Chess was trying her damnedest to keep her emotions in check but she couldn't help it when she knew what she had just voted for. She hoped against hope that her vote wasn't the deciding one this time though it wouldn't help her feel any better knowing that she had even had to vote in the first place. She couldn't look at the boys standing at the front of the stage and decided the safest place to keep her eyes was on her hands clenched in her lap. Suddenly Giri's hand landed on one of her balled up fists and he squeezed it gently. She released her fist only to intertwine her fingers with his as his thumb rubbed soft circles on the back of her hand. He knew she was going to break when the elimination happened. It wouldn't take long to set her over the edge into a saddness that couldn't be helped. She didn't want to end any of these ten boys' career now. They were all too good for that and she couldn't believe the disappointment that was about to be set upon one of them.

It felt like an eternity before K. Will finally spoke up again. And when he did he excused himself apparently in roughly the same shape as Chess was. It was understandable though. The two of them had been the only ones that watched every challenge and saw every improvement that the boys made on their way to debut. It was hard. Tears actually left Chess's eyes against her will when the short break was called. Giri pulled her chair to him and reached around to rub her back with his free hand. Sitting in that almost hug position Chess laid her forhead on Giri's shoulder and tried to breathe as evenly as she could to calm the raging current of emotions in her chest. As soon as she had herself almost to a decent point she chanced a look at the stage. Shownu was already crying. Chess was never going to get herself back to normal after that sight. She couldn't handle that. Of all the people on that stage Shownu had to be the one that it hurt the most to see like that. He just always seemed so strong and almost detached but seeing him like that broke her heart. Chess hated this show after that. She could never like anything that made him look that pitiful. She couldn't. It was like watching someone kick her little brother when he was down. She had never felt so attached to someone that she knew almost nothing about but damn if she didn't want to run onto that stage and comfort him now.

By the time that K. Will came back Chess could only bite her lips hoping that the tears would hold off for just a little bit longer. K. Will sat down and took up his mic making the boys line back up at the front of the stage. When he called out Minkyun's name Chess pushed away from the table and stood up. She couldn't help the tears flowing from her eyes. She knew it was coming but that just made it feel worse. Watching Minkyun break down though? That made her practically run from the judges table. She was done. Her knees gave out when she managed to look back and see #Gun crying. She sobbed openly at that point. She knew how far he had come, how hard he had practiced, how he always had a smile on his face. She couldn't bear it. He was like a ball of sunshine. She knew it seemed hypocritical of her to cry over this when all she had wanted in the first mission was for him to be last and how whenever he got on stage she subconciously keep preparing herself to hear him screech but every time he had proved her wrong he made her like him that much more. This was the worst.

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A/N I honestly cried writing this. I was never a big Minkyun fan but when he got eliminated it hurt my soul because he was just always so happy.... But... Brightside.... I.M will be in the next chapter! Yay! As always Thank You for Reading! Kamsamnida!