The logo is back to normal this week, and is shattered to the sound of an alarm clock going off.

The scene following the logo is rather chaotic, changing between views every few seconds, now showing girls getting out of bed, now focusing on Hiroko brushing her teeth while Yoonhee squeezes in next to her to brush her hair. There's an order to the girls' movements though, and they weave around each other, each clearly knowing where they're going and how to get there without interrupting anyone else's morning routines.

It cuts to an interview with Jiwon.

"We've been living together for two months now, so we know each other's rythms quite well at this point." The teen explains with a shrug. "People have left but it honestly doesn't affect the mornings that much. Maybe you get a bit more time in the bathroom."

The scene returns to the dorms where Jakyung is entering the main living area, dressed and ready for the day. She seamlessly catches an apple that Minah, who's sitting on the couch also ready to go, tosses to her.

Jakyung plops down next to Minah and, grinning, balances the apple on her wrist.

Minah raises an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"I got the new apple watch!" Jakyung exclaims.

Minah just smiles and bites into her own apple. "Eat your breakfast Jakyung, the others will be done in a minute and we'll have to head out."

Jakyung pouts but does start eating the apple. "I thought it was clever."

Sure enough the rest of the girls all enter the room within the next two minutes, ending with Natchaya hurrying in, still running a brush through her hair.

Hiroko looks slightly annoyed as she takes the brush from Natchaya the moment the other finishes and tosses it back towards the bathroom.

A quick cut away shows the brush landing in the bathroom sink.

The contestants exit as a mass, but by the time they've reached the main Arirang theatre they've divided themselves into their respective teams.

Hyomin is already waiting for them as they file in.

"A few minutes late but that's your time lost I suppose." She remarks. "We'll waste no time today. Your challenge for the week is 'Crossing Borders.' As always you'll be performing at the end of the week for a live audience. Gyujin and Doyeol will show you to your practice rooms." With that she departs.

Miyeon frowns. She leans slightly towards Jiwon, hesitates, and then pulls back. Jiwon doesn't notice as she leads Team One after Doyeol while Team Two follows Gyujin.

Gyujin leads them to their usual practice room, where the girls fall easily into a circle before sitting on the floor.

Hiroko nudges Minah encouragingly and the team leader clears nervously.

"Okay. So the theme. It's kind of weird huh?" She looks embarrassed as soon as the words are out of , but Yoonhee rescues her from the awkward phrasing.

"Tell me about it! Crossing Borders? What does that mean? Wasn't it a movie? Do they get their ideas from movies?"

Hiroko waves a hand to quiet the maknae. "Why don't we just brainstorm for a bit? Does anyone have any ideas?"

In another room with Team One they're already getting to work.

"I have to say I've never been happier to be on a team with you Jiwon." Miyeon comments as the two girls stretch. "We probably would have been stuck trying to think up something to match the challenge theme for hours if it wasn't for you."

Jiwon shrugs. "I like to stay informed, that's all. Shisae has the difficult task of actually choreographing something."

Miyeon hums.

Kaerin appears behind them, energy flowing off of her in waves. "We're totally going to win this! No way Team Two can come up with anything better than our idea!"

The scene shifts to an interview with Miyeon.

"Jiwon's idea is going to be tough to execute, but if we do it right it's going to be mindblowing." She says confidently.

"Has it been weird not being in charge in your team?"

Miyeon is clearly caught off guard by Doyeol's non sequitr question, and she shifts uncertainly.

"Um, I... I'm not quite sure what you mean by that?" She smiles nervously. "I don't mind not being the leader if that's what you're asking?"

"More than that, Jiwon has had a lot more creative say in the group that you have, isn't that true?"

Miyeon opens , and then closes it again, looking thoughtfully confused.

The scene cuts to a different interview with Shisae.

"How do you feel being the leader?" Doyeol prompts her.

She thinks for a moment, and then shrugs. "I feel more like the choreographer than the leader honestly. Not that I mind at all, I like putting the songs together. Miyeon and Jiwon tend to be more leaderly than I am."

"If you could step down as leader then, would you?"

Shisae hesistates. "I... I actually don't think so. There's always been tension between Miyeon and Jiwon. Giving only one of them the leader position probably wouldn't end well."

"Who says one of them would be the new leader?"

Shisae shrugs. "I guess I assume that would be the case. Kaerin and Ahri couldn't lead, no offense intended."

The next interview is with Ahri.

"Leader? Me? It would be an honor but honestly... I think I'd rather not. Shisae-unnie has to do so much, I coudn't do half of what she does."

Doyeol chuckles from behind the camera. "You're aware you wouldn't have to choreograph anything, right?" He points out.

Ahri actually looks annoyed, a foreign expression on her usually relaxed features. "Of course I know that! But we have Jiwon and Miyeon on our team and Shisae has to play peacemaker a lot more than you'd think. I mean they aren't as bad as they used to be but those two in one room is a ticking time bomb. I think the only one who doesn't realize that is Kaerin, but she's, well. She's Kaerin."

"Our group gets along really well!" Kaerin proves Ahri's point in her subsequent interview. "It's because we all do our parts and don't get in each others' way! We're like a big functional family!"

The amusement is clear in Doyeol's voice. "Is that so?"

Kaerin nods eagerly. "Yeah! Miyeon and Jiwon are the leaders, and Shisae raps and dances and choreographs and stuff, and me and Ahri are the singers!"

"It sounds like Shisae is doing most of the work, don't you think?"

Kaerin opens to respond, pauses, and then closes it, frowning.

The scene shifts back to Team One's practice room, with a note at the bottom stating that three days have passed.

The air in the room is tenser than it had been in the previous shot.

The girls are performing a dance, though no one seems to be in sync with anyone else, and after a moment an exhausted Shisae stops the music.

"Okay. Guys. We're supposed to be telling a story here, but all I'm seeing is Miyeon hates Jiwon, Ahri is trying to avoid them, and Kaerin is just scared of everyone. And that is not our story." The leader sounds vaguely infuriated. "We were doing fine on the first day, what on Earth happened that screwed with our dynamic this much?"

"Nothing. Our dynamic has always been like this." Jiwon replies calmly. "It's just more evident now. Why now I couldn't say though." She adds thoughtfully.

Shisae sighs. "Not helpful Jiwon. In fact, take a walk. Of everyone you have the moves down best, but also seem to be the center of discontent."

Jiwon looks like she wants to argue for a moment, but then she looks around at the other three girls, none of who make eye contact with her, and something akin to understanding flickers in her eyes. "Alright. I think there's someone I need to talk to anyway."

After the team maknae has departed, Shisae rallies the rest of the group to their feet.

"Come on guys, let's run it again-"

"Why are we even doing this? It's really complex and Kaerin is an awful dancer still, even if she has been practicing. We didn't even talk about other options before taking Jiwon's suggestion." Miyeon interrupts. "Maybe we should try something else. To make sure everyone will be able to show their best abilities." She adds.

Ahri and Kaerin awkwardly look between Miyeon and Shisae, both shrinking back slightly in a clear attempt to remove themselves from the conversation.

"Do you expect me to just come up with a new choreography? Teach it to you all in even less time than we already had? Miyeon if you really have a problem with our performance you should have said something earlier." Shisae's voice is quiet but firm.

Miyeon backs down. "Fine, let's just keep doing this then."

The girls begin to once again start working on the dance.

"So what exactly is your performance about?"

The scene cuts to an interview with Jiwon. The teen looks rather impatient, but gives a rather heavy sigh before responding to the question.

"The performance? Well I guess I can tell you but then I want to get back to the matter at hand." She waits for an indication that her terms have been accepted before she explains. "Well Crossing Borders is actually the name of a movement to help North Korean refugees escape across the border into South Korea. I suggested we could try doing a sort of interpretive or expository dance routine to show the struggles and elation of these people on the journey and after they've entered into freedom." She looks rather proud of herself. "And Shisae-unnie did an amazing job with the dance as well." Then she seems to remember her purpose and grows serious again. "But back to the matter at hand."

There's an almost too obvious edit before Jiwon's next words, as she completely changes position.

"We never heard who lost the last challenge." Her tone is challenging.

Doyeol's reply is carefully neutral. "Who's to say there was a winner or loser? Last week was about togetherness and holiday cheer."

Jiwon is unimpressed. "If that was true we wouldn't have been split into teams at all. And we all heard Hyomin unnie telling the audience to vote for their favorite anyway, she speaks really loudly."

Doyeol can't stop a chuckle. "Can't argue with that. But really it doesn't matter. The win loss counts from here on out are cumulative. The group with the most wins by the final episode will be the one debuting."

Jiwon stares at him for a long time before speaking again. "But... if we don't know who won how can we know who has more points?"

The grin in Doyeol's voice is obvious. "You'll just have to work hard and hope you're getting the points, won't you?"

Jiwon doesn't look particularly happy with his response.

The time has rewound some, as a date stamp in the corner shows that it's the day before Team One's meltdown.

Team Two seems to be functioning more effectively than Team One was, at least until the sound cuts in.

"No, you need to stop putting so much pressure behind your mask, it's giving your voice this really whiny vibrato that doesn't work at all with the song." Hiroko sounds extremely frustrated.

Yoonhee looks at her feet apologetically. "I'm trying." She mumbles half-heartedly.

Hiroko sighs. "Maybe we should give this part to someone else."

Yoonhee immediately looks up again. "No! No I can do it, I swear! Just, let's try again. I can do this." She's clearly determined, her eyes pleading as she looks at Hiroko.

The Japanese girls sighs. "Alright. Let's do it again then."

Nearby, Minah and Natchaya are doing vocal exercises with Jakyung. Or at least it looks like they're supposed to be, as Minah attempts to practice her vocal runs while Jakyung and Natchaya goof off.

"So I would say the steaks are high!" Jakyung exclaims, looking extremely proud of herself.

Natchaya is laughing. "Oh my god five minutes of set up for that? Jakyung you are crazy, I love it!"

Minah sighs quietly and attempts another run, only to choke as she tries to shift into her mixed register.

Jakyung looks over. "Ah, sorry Minah. I got distracted, didn't I?"

Minah shrugs. "It's fine." She says quietly.

Jakyung nudges the leader. "Aw don't be so down, you're doing really well unnie." She grins and Minah blushes faintly.

"Uh, right. Thanks Jakyung." Minah clears . "Um, any pointers on that last run?"

Jakyung shrugs. "I wasn't listening! Could you do it again?"

The scene cuts to an interview with Minah.

"I mean, we're a good team and I like Hiroko's idea, but I'm..." She hesitates, looking torn. "I believe in us, I do, I'm just.. I'm not sure we'll actually be able to pull this off." She mumbles the last part, clearly ashamed.

"Isn't the leader supposed to always have faith in her group?" Doyeol sounds carefully neutral as he speaks to the downtrodden contestant.

"Yeah. I'm not really much of a leader." Minah admits quietly, seeming to close even further into herself.

The scene cuts back to Team Two, where all five girls have come together and are attempting a few harmonies, though they're very obviously struggling.

"Minah-unnie, I know the lower harmonies don't sound like much but they're actually really important to the overall sound." Hiroko sounds rather strained as she waves for the girls to stop singing. She then looks over at Natchaya. "Though it would help if your harmony parter was actually singing the right part."

Natchaya rolls her eyes. "You barely give me any lines, the least you can do is let me sing the damn chorus." She replies, foregoing formalities.

Hiroko runs a hand down her face, clearly frustrated. "Fine! You know what fine. Jakyung can take the second low harmony part and you can sing the main section with me, alright?"

Jakyung shrugs indifferently and Natchaya looks pleased.

Hiroko glances to Minah, hesitant. "Could you show her the low harmony parts? I'm going to work with Natchaya and Yoonhee for a bit on their bridge parts."

Minah's nod is jerky but determined and Hiroko gives a faint smile.

The scene cuts to an interview with the Japanese woman.

"I actually think Minah could be a good leader. I mean, you saw during the cheerleading challenge she did a great job coordinating Group C. She just needs a little motivation."

Doyeol doesn't sound convinced. "Is that why you're taking control of your Team?"

Hiroko is immediately defensive. "She asked me to help out!" She explains tersely. "I'm only being a good teammate."

"There's helping out and then there's completely taking over Hiroko." Doyeol points out, and the contestant grimaces, looking torn.

"...I know the difference." She finally replies.

Natchaya disagrees. "Hiroko just completely takes over every time we practice. I mean, I'm not complaining, she's probably better at getting stuff done than Minah would be, but she's so needlessly bossy. I mean she isn't really the leader, she needs to chill out a bit."

"Like you always are?" Doyeol sounds vaguely exhasperated.

Nachaya grins and shrugs. "Yup, basically."

However the group is anything but chill when the scene returns to their rehersal, two days before the performance.

Yoonhee is practically in tears, crouched on the floor with her arms curled around her legs.

Minah is crouching next to her, rubbing her back and murmmuring quietly.

Meanwhile Hiroko and Natchaya are having a face down with Jakyung watching impassively.

"Look I know you're capable of doing this-"

"Of course I am, I'm me." Natchaya interrupts. "But I'm not going to. You're being a huge ผู้หญิงเลว to Yoonhee and I'm not assisting with that."

The Thai word is left uncensored but it's clear from her tone it's not a particularly kind term.

Hiroko can tell as well. "I am not being a... whatever you just said. I'm trying to make sure we don't fall on our asses during the performance. Yoonhee can't carry the high harmony by herself, so I need you to learn it."

"And why don't you? If it's so important." Natchaya challenges, clearly not intending to backdown whatsoever.

Hiroko grits her teeth. "Because my voice is the main one during the chorus, that's why. My vocal color works in that part, yours doesn't." It's said extremely bluntly, and it's clear that the Japanese contestant is at the end of her rope.

Jakyung chooses that moment to step forward. "She's right Natchaya, we really need you on the high part. The whole performance would fall apart if you didn't." She looks quite serious. "The success of this performance rests entirely on your shoulders here. Do you choose to accept this challenge?"

Natchaya opesn , looking like she's going to keep arguing, but she sighs.

"Fine, I'll learn it. But only to prove that I'm the only one who could." The Thai girl grumbles.

The scene cuts to an interview with Jakyung.

"Nat is a good kid, but stubborn, especially when she's with Hiroko. Those two are a rock and a hard place personified." She sighs. "I just wish I wasn't always stuck betwen them."

"So if you weren't on Team Two, do you think things would be worse than they are currently?"

Jakyung nods without hesitation. "Absolutely. Natchaya actually does like to help people, but she likes getting in authority figures' faces even more. And Hiroko most definitely acts like she's an authority."

"Do you think she is?"

Jakyung shrugs. "As long as things are getting done, I can't say I really care."

Yoonhee has a similar opinion on the matter, though she looks significantly more upset than Jakyung had in her interview.

"I mean as long as something is getting done, it's good." She stares down at her feet.

"But?" Doyeol prompts.

She sighs, still staring at the ground. "I hate that I was the one who failed. I said I could handle the high part of the harmony by myself but I can't do that and get the bridge parts right in just a week." She sounds teary, though her eyes appear dry. "I don't want to be the Team's weak link."

"If it makes you feel better, I think your total lack of a rapper is more of a weak link than you are." Doyeol offers.

Yoonhee does not look reassured.

The next cut to Team Two's practice room is one day before the performace.

The five girls are again attempting to harmonize, and while it's better than it had been it's still clearly off.

Yoonhee is the one to give up first. "I'm sorry, I need water." She doesn't make eye contact with anyone as she grabs a water bottle and downs it in one go.

The other four grab water as well, with varying levels of enthusiasm for the break.

Hiroko decides to at least try to make the pause somewhat productive as she stands up in front of the others.

"Alrigt why don't we think about which parts we struggled with the most and-"

"No. Right now is water time. If you try to make us work constantly we'll burn out and it will only make things worse." Jakyung is surprisingly the one who cuts Hiroko off.

Hiroko gaeps but reluctantly sits back down, sipping her own water almost pettily.

Jakyung just gives another shrug in her interview. "Overworking is just as bad as underworking." Is all the explanation she'll give.

Back with Team Two, the girls are just wrapping up their water break when there's a sharp knocking at the door.

The five look at each other for a long moment, confusion and nervousness clear in their expressions.

Finally Minah moves to open the door, but it swings open before she can reach it.

Iseul stands in the doorway looking slightly amused. "Do none of you know how to open a door?"

Hiroko recovers first. "Um, hi unnie. What are you doing here?"

"A source informs me you guys could use some vocal assistance." Iseul retains her look of vague amusement as she lets herself into the room. "So I'm here to help. Let's hear what you guys have got so far."

The view cuts away to Team One. There's a tense silence in their room, though it seems the dance is somewhat coming together as no one is running into anyone else.

Their door swings open a moment later, and all five look towards the newcomer with confusion.

Hyunmi pays them no mind as she strides to the front of the room. Once there she finally turns to run a critical eye over the five of them.

"Alright, show me what you've got. We have a day and a half to fix whatever mess you've put together."

Shisae almost looks like she wants to protest, but then shrugs.

"Alright, let's run it from the top guys."

There's no fast fowarding through the performance, but most of the focus goes to Hyunmi as she carefully watches the dance and takes several notes. When it's over, she turns off the music and turns to the group.

"I like the idea, but you're not quite telling the story you want to. Ahri, you especilly keep missing the beat and your part is pretty important."

Ahri looks ashamed. "Sorry, I think I have a cold or something." She mumbles.

Miyeon immediately is by her side. "What? Why didn't you say something? If you aren't feeling well you should be resting."

Ahri shrugs Miyeon off, looking embarrassed. "It's just a cold, I'm fine. Let's let Hyunmi teach, okay?"

Miyeon steps back, only to be replaced with Kaerin, who drapes herself over Ahri but doesn't say anything.

Ahri looks confused, but lets Kaerin remain on top of her and Hyunmi gives out her critiques.

"Shisae it's obvious you know a litte too well what you're doing. Odd note, I know, but your character is lost and confused, I'd like to see more of that reflected in your movements. Acting is as important to a performance like this as dancing is."

She turns to Jiwon next. "You're doing well enough to pass, but you're not quite there with either the dancing or acting. As things are now you appear to be one of the better performers due to the fact you balance both requirements well, but once these four have improved on their weaknesses you'll easily fall into the background. I'd reccomend picking one of the two to focus on and do your best to improve it between here and the performance."

Jiwon nods, brow furrowed, and Hyunmi moves on to Kaerin nd Ahri.

"Both of you need to work on your dancing. Otherwise you're doing well Kaerin. Though your part is very close to your actual personality." She adds with some wry amusement.

Kaerin lights up at the compliment. "I'll work hard!" She promises.

Hyunmi now focuses completely on Ahri. "Ahri though, in addition to your dancing, your performance feels flat. You look tired most of the time. Maybe it would be a good idea to rest a bit?" For a moment she almost looks concerned, but Ari shakes her head.

"I'm really alright. Thank you though, I'll work hard as well." She bows as best she can with Kaerin still hanging off of her.

Hyunmi turns to the last member of the Team. "Miyeon. Your acting was actually quite impressive, and you followed the dance well enough. Honestly the only problem I saw with you was the fact that you don't seem to be quite in sync with the rest of your teammates. Otherwise good job."

Miyeon nods quietly.

For a moment they all remain silent, and then Hyunmi claps her hands. The sudden loud noise startles all five contestants.

"Well," Hyunmi says. "Let's get started."

The Arirang theatre is completely filled with people. Several are holding signs supporting their favorite team, as well as specific members.

Hyomin and Gyujin have to wait longer than normal for the applause to die down before they can begin their announcements.

"Wow, what a great group we've got here tonight!" Gyujin cries enthusiastically, waving to a few fans who are holding up signs his his name on them. "Can we get these guys free tickets for the next show?"

The cheers start again and Hyomin manages to look both amused and annoyed simultaneously as she once again has to wait for enough quiet to be able to speak.

Backstage, several stage hand are running around, expertly dodging one another and calling instructions into their headsets. Within the chaos is Doyeol, who carefully wades through the mess of people towards the changing rooms.

Before he can get there he's accosted by a middle-aged woman in a headset.

"Doyeol, you're going back to see the girls right?"

Doyeol nods. "You need me to tell them something?"

"We're having some technical difficulties with the blacklights that are supposed to be used for Team One. We're switching the order so Team Two is performing first instead while we fix that."

"Does Hyomin know?" Doyeol questions, pausing for the first time and earning an annoyed glance from a stagehand as he has to abruptly change course to avoid a collision with the now stationary cameraman.

"I informed her just before they went out. I'm sure she'll think of some way to tie it into the week's challenge, she's worked around unexpected technicalities before. I just need you to tell the girls about the order switch." The woman speaks briskly, and Doyeol nods.

"No problem. Though why not have one of your guys do it?"

She gives him a highly exasperated look. "We have to switch the sound and lighting systems over to Team Two's set before Hyomin finishes speaking, plus we still have to fix the blacklights. I don't exactly have anyone who's standing around with nothing to do right now."

"And I look like I'm standing around doing nothing?"

She smirks. "You don't run camera for the actual performances, so yeah, you do."

She hurries off before Doyeol can react, and he ends up just sighing and continuing on.

He knocks on Team Two's door first.

The five girls pause a surprisingly solid harmony practice to greet him.

"Is everything alright?" Minah apparently picks up something from his expression, and she sounds worried.

Doyeol nods quickly. "Everything is fine. There's some tech stuff that isn't working so you guys will be performing first instead of Team One."

All five girls immediately look nervous.

"We're first? We haven't finished warming up yet..." Yoonhee sounds extremely worried, looking over at the other four.

Natchaya pats her shoulder lightly. "Hey, we've got this. Iseul said we improved, yeah? We're going to blow them all away." She gives Yoonhee a cat-like grin, and Yoonhee can't help but smile back.

Doyeol interupts the moment with an noise of impatience.

"That's nice and all, but you need to get to places and get your mics checked."

The girls are immediately off, leaving Doyeol to head to Team One's waiting room.

Team Two navigate the slightly less chaotic backstage mostly with ease, though Jakyung barely manages to avoid getting into a small collision with a lighting operator.

"Good thing I'm light on my feet!" The singer exclaims cheerfully, loud enough to be picked up over the general hum of activity permeating the area.

Natchaya laughs, while the other three members are joined in their amused eyerolls by several of the staff surrounding them.

The five do a quick mic check, and are ushered onto the stage shortly after.

The view switches to show them entering as Hyomin and Gyujin take their seats beside the judges.

In the far left, Iseul gives the five a thumbs up, and receives a few grins in return. Then the music begins and the five prepare to start.

Hiroko - BoA;Blonde, Jakyung - Bohyung;Far Right, Natchaya - Narae;Dress, Minah - Sihyun;Short Hair, Yoonhee - Jiwon;Center

The audience is applauding before they've even finished the final notes, several members even stand up out of their seats, causing both Yoonhee and Minah to tear up some.

Even Hyomin is applauding politely, a look that could almost be described as impressed teasing at her features.

Once the audience has calmed down, the host speaks.

"Quite an impressive performance. But how does it relate to this week's challenge?"

Hiroko clears , but it's Minah who nervously steps forward.

"Um, the song was originaly penned and performed in English, but was bought and rewritten in Korean in 2003. Thus the song crossed borders in a way, to be appreciated by a larger audience." She sounds somewhat hesitant in her explanation, but her voice remains mostly steady, pitching up only slightly as the sentence ends.

Hyomin nods slowly. "I suppose that works." She nods to Iseul, who grins.

"Honestly, good job overall you guys. As a team you blended the harmonies pretty well. There were a few times I lost the high parts but overall, considering the time you had to perfect this, it wasn't bad." She lets them enjoy the praise for a moment before speaking again. "However, individually there was quite a bit of messiness.

"Natchaya, you were inconsistent during the chorus, switching between the high harmony and the melody at random. And during your solo sections you clearly strained your vocal chords during the long notes."

Natchaya makes a face but nods.

"Yoonhee, I admit I didn't think you could pull off your part, but in the higher sections you did alright, though you were a bit too airy. However I could barely hear your low notes. I'd reccomend staying in your mixed and upper registers in the immediate future, since your lower one just isn't properly developed yet. Something to work on when you get back to training." Iseul gives the team maknae an encouraging smile, which Yoonhee attempts to return with limited success.

"Jakyung and Hiroko, excellent job. You both have very strong voices and during your rehearsals you both had trouble blending with the other three, but you did a much better job in this final performance. Hiroko, you were a little overwhelming in the chorus, but otherwise I have no complaints for you two."

Hiroko awkwardly offers a high five to Jakyung, who contemplates it for a moment before conceding quite enthusiastically.

Minah shifts nervously as she waits for her own critique. Iseul regards her quietly for a moment before speaking again.

"Minah. Your vocal tenor is unique among females, similar to Jakyung. However you're rather clearly untrained, as your breath was never correctly placed during your solo section, and you failed to tranfer through your mixed register at all, resulting in very heady sounds in your higher notes. You have potential, but you seem to be scared of trying anything outside of your vocal comfort zone, which made your sections fall a bit flat."

She glances at Inho and Hyunmi, who both shrug. She then nods and looks back to Hyomin, singalling the end of her observations.

"Well Team One will certainly have quite a high bar to overcome, won't they?" Hyomin takes to the stage as Team Two exits quickly into the wings.

The cameras follow the Team as they move back across the much quieter backstage area to their dressing room, speaking softly to each other as they go.

"Yoonhee you sounded good. We'll just avoid your lower range next time, but the song wasn't ruined." Hiroko is attempting to comfort a sniffling Yoonhee, who doesn't seem to be very receptive to the consolation.

Minah also looks quite disheartened, but she's keeping to herself at the back of the group while Natchaya and Jakyung joke around at the front.

They pass Team One on their way, and the two groups nod to each other politely.

The camera focuses in on Team One as they slowly make their way towards the stage.

"Seriously Ahri, you look terrible. Are you sure you're alright?" Miyeon is half supporting Ahri as they walk.

The singer sniffs and wipes at her eyes. "I can get through the performance, I'll be fine." She smiles blearily. "Maybe I'll get some sleep afterwards though."

"That would be best." Jiwon agrees. "You're more burden than asset as you are now, and as one of our main vocalists we'll need you in top form for the next challenges."

Ahri nods quietly as they reach the wings and wait for their cue.

Gyujin glances at them from the stage and gives a worried glance towards Ahri. Shisae gives him a shrug in return, and the cohost follows Hyomin offstage as the lights dim.

The blacklights take a moment to come on, but after a breathless moment they light up the stage from below.

Jiwon and Miyeon, who had separated from the group shortly after reaching the wings, enter from the opposite side of the stage, and the camera switches focus so it's hovering over the audience as the music begins to softly sound through the speakers.

Jiwon and Miyeon's movements are careful and fluid as they move through a series of steps, remenicent of people trying to hide from someone.

The lyricless music become more desperate as they traverse the stage, a sense of confusion and loss clear in their movements.

Shisae and Ahri appear from the opposite direction. Shisae is moving easily, easily captivating attention away from Jiown and Miyeon as they carefully move to crab a prop they'd laid aside when they'd first entered.

However, after a moment all eyes are on Ahri as she stumbles slightly, missing several steps. Even Shisae hesitates, glancing back at the other girl.

It seems to happen in slow motion, but in reality only lasts a few seconds.

One moment Ahri is attempting to keep up with the dance. The next she's passed out on the floor.

The audience is silent for a long moment as they process the turn of events, while her three teammates onstage rush to her side, shortly joined by Kaerin who rushes out of the wings, eyes wide with worry.

Hyomin attempts to calm the chaos before it starts, but she's a moment too late and the audence explodes.

Faint snippets of words can be heard within the chaos, mostly people asking what happened and if Ahri is alright.

Hyomin struggles to be heard before she throws her hands up and storms backstage. Gyujin and the judges make their way onto the stage and gather around a stirring Ahri with the rest of her team.

Hyomin appears back onstage a moment later, weilding a microphone. She taps it twice, causing screeching feedback to sound through the theatre. Everyone quickly falls quiet, covering their ears.

"Thank you." Hyomin speaks into her mic, a bit louder than she needs to. "Due to unforseen circumstances we'll have to declare this challenge as incomplete. Now if you'll please exit in an orderly fashion it would be greatly appreciated. Again we apologize for this but if you buy tickets for next week's performance as you leave they'll be half off." Her voice is part consiliatory, party commanding, and the audience slowly makes it's way out of the theatre.

Once it's empited Hyomin turns back to the group behind her, who have been joined by Team Two during the audience evacuation. "HOw is she?"

"'M alright." Ahri attempts to speak, but is cut off by Iseul.

"She's got a temperature, I'll take her back to the dorms. She needs to rest and relax."

Hyomin nods. "Good, go. The rest of you may change out of your costumes and then meet back here in an hour for your new challenge."