Episode 2
« Produce 99 » « Cancelled »
aired: sept 21 2018
The show flashes to the Naver Trending page right after the broadcast of Naekkoya on M Countdown, where Produce 99, Jung Gaeul, Im Mosu, Amano Midori, and Lexi Park are trending on the top spots, with Paradise and Song Liling trending on the #7 and #8 spots.
They then show headlines in Korean, Japanese, English, and even Mandarin. Produce 99 has already become a global hot topic!
How do our global trainees fare in their evaluations? Find out now!
Some scenes from last week are shown as a reminder: the logo of SM, Jung Gaeul coming in and bowing to the judges.
There’s a cut to an interview with Gaeul, sitting in front of the very pink Produce 99 backdrop. “I’m SM’s forgotten trainee,” Gaeul says again.
Gaeul takes her place in front of the judges, and she’s brought a mic stand with her. She takes her pose and the music turns on.
Gaeul lies on the floor, finger to her lips, playful smile still on her face as she breathes heavily. For a moment the whole studio is silent.
“Woaaaaah!” Takayami Sora’s (Avex Trax) jaw looks like it might hit the floor if she’s not careful.
“I thought to myself, so this is the power of SM,” Yang Jeongha (Cre.Ker) says in an interview section. “She definitely made an impact.”
In a similar interview, Lucy (Helix) is seen fanning herself. “Wooow. She should have been singing So Hot, if you know what I mean,” she says in English. “♪ Neomu areumdawo~” she sings the Monsta X song making a heart with her hands.
“She’s not the best dancer but she knows her skills well and she’s very polished,” Yikwang says as the judges deliberate.
“I would say the same about her vocal skills,” Eunha replies. “She has very good control over what her voice can give.”
“She definitely knows how to captivate an audience,” Chanhee adds. “Alright, put your votes in, where should she go?”
“A,” Yikwang says. "That's where she belongs."
“Her dance was well executed but not very difficult,” Bae Yoonjung says. “I’m not confident that she’ll be able to master the dance in three days. I want her in B.”
“Me too,” Candy chimes in.
In the end Chanhee is the tie-breaker. He grins. “How much do either of you offer for me to take your side? Really though, Jung Gaeul, you seem very aware of what you are capable of, what do you think?”
Gaeul looks a little taken aback. “You want me to choose?”
Chanhee nods. “You know yourself better than we do. Class A gets shorter lessons, since we assume that you’ll be able to grab the choreography and the lyrics much quicker than someone from, say, F might.”
“Oh, send me to F, then!” Gaeul says with a laugh. “Should I go back and redo it a little bit worse?”
Chanhee laughs at her cheek. “This one’s one to watch!”
Gaeul shrugs. “I’m okay with a B, it’s not like I’ll keep it.”
“B it is,” Chanhee stamps her form - he seems to have regained sovereignty over his stamps - and Gaeul bows and takes her leave.
She flashes a V sign at the backstage camera before she retrieves her sticker and sticks it onto her nametag.
Chanhee calls the next group of trainees into the room and it’s a trio group of colourfully dressed girls.
“Aaah, how is she so pretty?”
“I feel like I’ve seen her before, somewhere,” Gong Seulrin (Maroo) whispers to the girl next to her.
“Do you think she’s famous?” Kim Jihee (Maroo) asks.
Even the judges aren’t immune to her charms. “Look at the one on the right,” Yikwang says, pointing at a girl dressed in all red. “She caught my eye immediately.”
The girl, Yang Taeyoung, beams at the compliment and her smile is dazzling, even Candy and Eunha aren’t immune, and the production team doesn’t hesitate to edit blushes over their face and sparkles around Taeyoung.
“Doesn’t she remind you a bit of Kyulkyung?” Candy comments.
“It says here that you used to be a child model and actress?” Chanhee asks her.
Taeyoung smiles and nods. “I used to commercials for Lotte when I was little!”
“Of course!” Seulrin exclaims. “Those commercials were everywhere!”
Clips of the commercials flash on screen, with a very tiny and very adorable Taeyoung starring in them, when she was just a button of a girl.
“Sometimes people will stop me in the street and ask me if I’m that girl from the Lotte commercials,” Taeyoung says in her interview. She buries her face into her hands. “Ah! It’s so embarrassing!”
Back in the studio Chanhee smiles and nods. “Shows us what you’ve got.”
“Phoo, what to say about this?” Chanhee sits back in his seat.
“The basics are there,” Eunha says. “But it’s all a little sloppy. You’re missing words, not fully singing lines, your ad libs are there but shaky and offkey. You even look uncomfortable while singing them.” She shakes her head.
“Most of the rap is in English and you’re going to have to work on pronunciation of you want to attempt it,” Hana says, cold as ice. “I could hardly understand either the English or the Korean.”
The girls bow and an overlay shows their grades: Taeyoung gets an F, while Hana and Junghwa each get a D.
Next the show shows two girls backstage and they’re giving each other some nervous side-eye. The first one is wearing a blouse with a big black bow and a poofy black skirt, she looks simple but chic. The other is just wearing a black sweater, shorts, and a plaid shirt around her waist, looking a lot more casual. Neither of them are very conventionally pretty.
Ryu Haesung (independent) vs. Rachel Oh (Top Media) vocal battle!! The captions read.
Rachel Oh, the girl in the plaid, is the first one to walk onto the stage and introduces herself.
Eunha leans over to Hana. “I thought Top Media only had boy groups?”
“They must be branching out,” Hana responds. “Where are you from, Rachel?”
“I’m from San Francisco,” She responds, pride in her voice.
“Ooh, that’s a long way from home.” Hana says approvingly.
“It says here that you’ve featured in songs before but you’ve never actually debuted?” Chanhee asks.
Rachel nods. “That’s right. I’ve been featured in the song Cherish with my Up10tion’s Sunyoul sunbae, and I’ve also been featured in Niel sunbae’s Spring Love, but I’ve never got to debut with my own song or group.”
“I really thought that, when they let me record those duets that my debut was finally coming near,” Rachel says in her interview. “There were quite a few other girl trainees, there was no reason to think we wouldn't debut. But nothing happened for another year and girls kept being dropped until I was the only one left. And now I am here.”
“You have a very nice voice and you look very comfortable on stage,” Candy says. “But can you dance, too?”
The camera zooms in on Rachel’s face, looking worried, with an added gulp sound effect to really rub it in.
Before the results of Rachel are announced, the show switches to the other girl, Ryu Haesung (independent). She's standing backstage, watching Rachel get asked about dancing, wringing the microphone in her hand with worry.
“What do you think your biggest strength is?” a producer asks her off-camera in a solo interview.
Haesung’s face lights up at the question. “Music, of course! I do a lot or composing and songwriting, although…,” She laughs sheepishly. “Not in any professional capacity just yet.”
“And what would you say is your weakness?”
More nervous laughter as Haesung grows a little red. “I'm… not really dancer. I mean I used to be an idol trainee but that was years ago!”
Lim Eunha leans forward. “What song was that?”
Haesung beams at the question. “It's an original,” She says proudly. “I'm calling it Hole, because it sounds like whole but is the exact opposite of it.”
Eunha nods in approval. “It takes guts to come onto this stage and perform your own composition.”
“That being said,” Bae Yoonjung starts. “Are you here to debut in a girl group? Can you even dance?”
Haesung laughs nervously. “Ehm… about that… well... But that's why I've come here! To relearn everything I've forgotten.”
“If that's the case we know what to do, right Yoonjung-saem?” Candy says with a grin.
The show gives a split screen of both Rachel and Haesung with their grades: Rachel gets a D and Haesung gets an F.
Next three familiar girls are shown entering the little backstage room. It’s the Paradise girls: Kyungmi, Liling, and Juri. They’re wearing cute red, white, and black outfits almost looking like they’re off to a sweet first date, not a girl group survival show.
“It’s been a while since we’ve been here,” a stunning girl called Song Liling says, waving the handheld microphone for emphasis. “Microphones, cameras, spotlights.”
Kyungmi smiles. “I’ve missed it so much. It’s a second chance.”
The show switches to a solo interview with Kyungmi alone. “We, the three of us, debuted four years ago in a group called Paradise.” A short clip of their debut song Pitapat is shown as a reminder. “I thought we were doing okay, we were gaining fans slowly.”
“We just stopped getting music two years ago,” Liling continues the story in hers. “Management kept saying ‘Soon! Soon! You’ll get a new song soon!” but nothing happened and nothing happened. They started avoiding us altogether. When months went by it dawned on us that this was it. We weren’t going to promote ever again. I’m sorry-” Liling stops and dabs at tears in her eyes.
“Management had given up on us,” Juri says very matter-of-face. “We were on our own.”
The camera switches back to Liling, who is trying furiously to dab tears faster than they manifest and the editors throw on a slow motion filter for added effect. “T- this is our last c-chance,” Liling manages to get out between sobs.
Back in the present in the backstage room Kyungmi is shaking her hands. Liling grabs her hand and gives it a squeeze. “It’s okay unnie,” she says. “We’ll be okay.”
The three of them walk onto the stage and bow to the judges. “One two three,” Juri counts them down.
“We’ll take you to paradise! Lee Juri-”
“Kim Kyungmi-”
“Song Liling! Hello, we are Paradise, please take care of us!”
“Paradise!” Candy exclaims. “Oh my gosh, what are you doing here? Liling, Kyungmi, Juri, it’s good to see you again!”
The Paradise girls smile back. “Chaerin-unnie!” Liling calls back.
“You know them?” Vocal coach Lee Woosung asks.
“We debuted in the same year,” Candy explains. “We used to do run into each other backstage all the time, I have more of their CDs than I can count! Remember that Dream Concert where we had change rooms next to each other and we were watching the really popular artists from those backstage balconies?”
“When 4Minute was performing and everyone was arguing whether one of your group members looked Gayoon-sunbae or not?” Liling asked, grin cracking on her face.
“They kept denying it but it was so obvious to me!” Chandy becomes more animated, hands flying as she talks.
“And then I said ‘they’re performing right there, we should look for ourselves!’” Kyungmi supplies, eyes far away at the memory, nerves momentarily forgotten.
“But Yoonji was in the middle of changing because we had this special stage after, but she’d forgotten to take off her heels in the commotion,” Candy continues. “So she hobbles to the balcony to see 4Minute, still in the process of taking off her shorts, and she trips and she almost fell off the balcony right there! In her safety shorts! If it weren’t for Juri she would’ve tumbled right off!”
Liling and Kyungmi giggle, and Juri even cracks a smile. “Both of our managers were furious!” Liling exclaims.
Candy’s face falls. “Oh. But now you’re here. How come?”
“We weren’t successful enough,” Juri says with the same matter-of-fact tone of her interview. “The company gave up on us and we’ve been on hiatus for 2 years.
“Oh no!” Candy exclaims. “You had such cute music! I used to play that one… what’s it called? Atlantis Princess?”
Liling giggles. “No unnie that’s BoA sunbae’s song, ours is Journey to Atlantis.”
“That one! I used to play it all the time when my manager used to make me clean my room.” Candy’s face lights up and then falls again, going through a million emotions at once.
“Song Liling, You’re from Hong Kong, right?” Chanhee asks in Cantonese, stepping in before Candy derails things more.
Candy looks perplexed. “How are you-?”
“I grew up in Hong Kong,” Chanhee explains.
Liling laughs, a melodic sound. “Yes I’m from Hong Kong! I’ve lived in Korea for a very long time now though, and I love it here.”
“Great to hear, I look forward to what performance you’ll bring,” Chanhee smoothly brings us back to business and the girls bring out three stools and get ready to perform.
The studio is quiet when they finish and the camera focuses on Bae Yoonjung pulling a grimace.
“I kind of expected better… I mean they’ve been in the industry for a while but there were a lot of trainees that were better than them,” Seo Bitna (RBW) admits in an interview bit. “It was just alright.”
“I thought to myself: I’ve been training for years,” Kim Yuna (MMO) says in another. “Trying to become the best I can be, but these girls debuted and all they have to show for it is this. It felt unfair.”
“Whenever someone brings out a chair for an audition show like this,” Yoonjung starts. “It’s either because they’ll utilize it in a creative way, or they’re trying to get away with hardly dancing at all.” It’s clear which one the Paradise girls are and they each look down at their feet.
“We will now deliberate,” Chanhee says, and the judges stick their heads together.
“They don’t perform like 4 year veterans,” Lee Woosung says. “There’s none of that confidence on stage.”
The show cuts to all of the judges back in their position. “YNB trainees,” Chanhee says. “I will now announce your grades. In A there is… no one. In B there is… no one. In C there is Kim Kyungmi and Lee Juri.” The camera gives a closeup of Liling who looks at her feet, defeated. “In D there is Song Liling.”
The girls make their way off the stage. “Shame, I expected better,” Eunha says.
“Give them time, I think they might surprise us yet,” Yikwang says. “I can feel it.”
The next group is revealed backstage first, where they're busy going over the dance moves. “One two three four five six seven eight,” Lexi Park counts while leading the practice. “No Areum, raise your hands higher, they have to be at the same level as us.”
“I don't think my hands can reach higher, you're all too tall!” the pretty one appropriately named Shin Areum whines, but she positions her hands higher anyway.
“Ah my mic pack keeps slipping.” A tall girl named Choi Juyeon fiddles with the black rectangular Mic pack clipped to her skirt.
“Here, I've got it.” Lexi steps forward and adjusts the pack.
“Be ready in 3,” A producer tells them off-screen.
“Are we going to do a cheer, leader-nim?” Na Chaerin asks with a cheeky grin.
“I'm not the leader!” Lexi argues, before stretching out her hand. The others join and Lexi counts down. “Three, two, one-”
“Brand New Girls hwaiting!”
The girls come out onto the stage and bow to the judges. “We are the Brand New Girls, please take care of us.”
Bae Yoonjung laughs at the display. “Brand New Music, huh? You have quite the legacy to live up to.” The show provides some convenient clips of the audition of the Brand New Boys as well as Daehwi and Woojin in Energetic.
“We know there's a great burden on our shoulders,” Lexi says gravely. “We've come here to make our company proud.”
“Ah, she's so serious!” Candy laments.
“Promising,” is Hana's answer to that.
The girls get to their places. Just before the music can start, Lexi steps up and repositions Areum to be in line with the others, before taking her place again.
(It's not dreamcatcher again. the thumbnail lies!)
“Aaah, as to be expected from Brand New Music,” Bae Yoonjung says. “The dance was very good. Just like their labelmates last year they’re very well practiced.”
“I think this might be the most solid team we’ve seen,” Yikwang says. “At least overall.”
“It says here that you choreograph, too?” Candy asks Lexi. “Was this dance one of your works?”
“It is,” Lexi beams at the recognition. “I choreographed it myself and I taught them.”
“While Lexi Park is undeniably a great dancer, I do think she lacked in her expressions,” Hana says. “You were overshadowing your group members, and not in a good way. You’re a very strong dancer, very girl crush, but you stood out like a sore thumb doing a song like Ice Cream Cake.”
Lexi’s eyes widen, she looks surprised at being called out.
Candy nods. “It’s great to have powerful movements but you have to know when to tone them down and make them soft, too.”
“You’re all from Rhymer’s company, but none of you are rappers?” Hana asks, genuined curious.
Na Chaerin puts up her hand. “I’m a rapper,” she says. “I can- there’s a rap I prepared...”
“Go ahead,” Hana waves her on.
There’s thunderous applause when she’s done.
“I had chills!” Gong Seulrin (Maroo) exclaimed in a solo interview. “Chills!!”
In the studio Ito Chiyo (Sony Japan) grasps Amano Midori’s arm. “I have no idea what she was saying but I never want her to stop!” Chiyo exclaims.
Even Hana slowly claps. “That was very impressive, Na Chaerin. Everything from your lyrics to your flow was top notch. Rhymer should be proud.”
Chaerin beams and bows a thank you.
Chanhee proceeds with the ranking straightaway. “In A there is…. Choi Juyeon and Na Chaerin.” The two share a glance and grin proudly. “In B there is… Lexi Park and no one else. In C there is Shin Areum. Thank you very much.”
The next girl is shown backstage watching the audition of the Brand New Music girls with a smile, nodding in approval at the dance break and generally looking proud at the grades they’ve received.
“I know some of the girls here, yes,” Hwang Jiho says in a solo interview. “Lexi Park and Choi Juyeon used to train with me back when I was with JYP. I expected nothing less than that stellar audition from the Brand New Girls.” She smiles a little cheekily. “Lexi dances very well, but I dance better.”
She comes out wearing a simple white cropped sweater and black track pants, her hair loose and falling around her shoulders. She sinks to her knees on the stage, the music turns on, and Hwang Jiho starts to dance.
Jiho’s stare bores into the camera when the dance finishes and thunderous applause sounds when she’s finished. She’s breathing heavily but the fierce expression quickly turns into a genuine smile and she bows in thanks at the response.
“When I open my dance studio, can I recruit you?” Candy asks and Chanhee laughs.
“You’re not here to recruit for yourself!” he argues.
“I can do both!”
“You’re obviously a great dancer and a treat to watch,” Yikwang says. “I have nothing to add to that, you were fantastic. But as you know, being an idol isn’t just dancing. Can you sing something for us?”
Jiho looks uncomfortable at the request. “Well… actually…”
The scene switches to Jiho in her separate interview. “I used to be a vocal trainee,” she says. “Then, out of nowhere 7 years ago, I'm practicing and I open my mouth and…. Nothing. Not a sound. Vocal cord paralysis, the doctor said. They didn’t even know why it happened, it just… did. But I wouldn’t give up on my dream, from that day onwards I focused on dancing. If I couldn’t sing… well… I was going to dance.”
There’s a cut to further in the interview, and Jiho is dabbing at tears in her eyes. “The worst part is I don’t even remember what I sounded like, I spent months not even being able to talk. I feel like I sound different now, it doesn’t feel the same, but I don’t remember what I sounded like before in my own ears!”
“Vocal cord paralysis?” Eunha asks back in the studio. “How are they now?”
“They’ve healed, slow but surely,” Jiho explains. “But they’re still very weak and I’ll probably never sing the way I used to ever again.”
“Can you sing some for us?” Chanhee asked.
“Right,” Chanhee leans back. “Thank you, Hwang Jiho, you get a D for now. Show us that you can sing and you’ll climb ranks before you know it, okay?”
“I hope that, with more time for vocal lessons with you, we might be able to help you,” Eunha says.
Jiho nods and bows and gets off stage. “D!” she tells a backstage camera as she sticks the letter onto her name tag. “I really hoped I wouldn’t have to sing but- ah. It happened anyway! I’ll have to work hard to get better, and I will!”
Jiho isn’t the only girl with throat problems as the show cuts to the the last half of another audition, this time a Japanese one.
“Fujioka Mai,” Chanhee says when they’re done, switching to Japanese again. “How is your throat?”
Mai laughs a little sheepishly. “I’m a little hoarse,” she says.
“Do you have a cold?”
“I had a cold when I was 5,” Mai says, smiling broadly. “And it never went away!”
Chanhee laughs and translates for the other judges.
Eunha leans her forehead on the table as well. “You need a voice as an idol!”
“That one did have infectious energy,” Chanhee says. “Did you see her smile throughout? Even standing there she's beaming!”
After some deliberation, Chanhee addresses the girls again in Japanese. “Fujioka Mai, you get a D. Takayami Sora, you get an F. I don’t want you to feel discouraged about this, see it as an opportunity to grow and I look forward to what you’ll show in the future.”
Mai bows and thanks them in Japanese, but Sora manages a clumsy “kamsahamnida”.
“See, she’s already working on it,” Yikwang says with a kind smile. “They might surprise us yet.”
There’s something of a montage next. The MMO girls are shown briefly covering Darling in pink tops and frilly skirts.
“It wasn’t bad it just wasn’t… good either,” Lee Woosung whispers to Eunha.
“If it’s not memorable it’s a D or F,” Bae Yoonjung says.
“The song was way out of their range,” Eunha argues.
“They should have picked a song that fit them, then,” Hana counters.
“I liked the part at the beginning, this girl was really cute!” Candy offers.
In the end the grades are displayed on screen: Ahn Minji and Kim Yuna get a C, and Ahn Nami, Park Dain, and Park Chanmi get an F.
The Maroo trainees are also briefly shown doing a not very impressive cover of Miss A’s Only you.
Eunha has her face buried in his hands, Candy is offering a desperate smile that looks almost like a grimace, and Yoonjung has that expression that signified immediate death.
“Look at their shoes, why are their shoes like that?” Hana, too, looks in despair. The camera offers a closeup of the red trainers of one of the girls and polka dotted ones of the other, neither of which matches their outfits.
“It’s nothing I haven’t seen you wear before,” Chanhee jokes.
Hana looks at him with cold intimidating eyes. “I pull it off.”
Chanhee throws up his hands. “Alright, alright Medusa!”
Hana smiles at the acknowledgement but says nothing more. The grades are shown on-screen: both Gong Seulrin and Kim Jihee get an F.
Then the Cre.Ker trainees are shown during a lively performance of Twice’s Touchdown (until 1:26).
As the judges bend their heads together to discuss judgments, Hong Gayoung steps forward and clears . “Eh- excuse me? Could I sing another song?”
“You want to perform again?” Chanhee asks, perplexed.
“I just want to show a little bit more of my vocals,” she says. “Please.”
“A bold request,” Hana notes.
The judges glance at each other. “I don’t see why not,” Eunha says.
“Wow, I didn’t think that would come out of her!” Yang Taeyoung (TS) says in a solo interview. “Oh! That’s a weird way of putting it isn’t it? Oops. I mean she hadn’t been bad before but WOW.”
The judges seem very impressed, too. In the end Hong Gayoung gets a B while Yang Jeongha gets a D.
The show switches to backstage, where a group of five girls is everything but quiet. “Oh my god, look at them!” Sunisa exclaims, watching the MMO trainees on the backstage screen. “Oh they're so cute in those outfits! It would match well with your hair, unnie.”
Jeon Taeri, very much not dressed in pink but in white and denim like the rest of them, laughs next to her. “I think it would look awful, too much pink!”
“Good thing we're not Apink then!” Sunmi adds.
“I wouldn't mind being Apink,” Sunisa adds. “Did you see how well I'm So Sick charted?”
“Shhht Sunisa,” Jung Haneul weakly tries.
“Woah, She looks so cool and confident!” Kim Jinri says as they cut to the five of them watching the EM girls come on.
“Eclipse is such a good song,” Taeri notes, one hand playing with a glass pendant around her neck. “I really like the choreo.”
“I bet their audition will be top notch,” Sunisa adds. “Called it,” She grins moments later when Havana plays.
Aren't any of them nervous? The overlay asks.
They're still happily chattering when a producer tries to ask them to get on stage. He has to ask three times and tap Haneul's arm before any of them notice. “Oh, sorry! Let's go, fighting!”
All five of them bound up onto the stage. “Hello, we are the Plan A trainees!” they say in unison before introducing themselves individually.
“They've certainly got an energy to them,” Eunha says with a laugh.
“You're Apink's little sisters, aren't you?” Hana asks.
“We are!” Sunisa confirms.
“We've practiced very hard to not disappoint them,” Haneul adds.
“Sunisa, where are you from?” Yikwang asks the obvious standout of the group.
“I’m from Thailand!” Sunisa says proudly.
Candy looks expectantly at Chanhee.
“Why are you looking at me?!” Chanhee exclaims. “I don’t speak Thai!”
“What? But-”
“Candy, do you think I speak every language?”
Candy grows a little red. “Noooo of course not.”
Sunisa giggles at the exchange. “Sawadee kaaa,” She says brightly with a little wave. “But don't worry I speak Korean.”
“Alright, Plan A trainees, show us what you've got!”
There’s a cut back to a solo interview with Kim Jinri. “Taeri-unnie will probably get an A,” she says. “She’s such a good dancer.”
“Who might get an A out of all of us?” Jung Haneul repeats the question in her own interview. “Taeri is the only one with a chance.”
The camera pans over the faces of the Plan A trainees as they wait for their verdict, none of them jovial anymore now, Taeri is still fidgeting with her little pendant. “Plan A trainees, here are your results,” Chanhee starts. “In A there is… Jung Haneul and no one else.”
There’s a gastp from Haneul and surprised looks from the other girls. Taeri just looks at her feet, looking defeated.
“In B there is… Kim Jinri. In C there is Sunisa and Park Sunmi and Jeon Taeri.”
The girls move off the stage, Sunmi puts a hand on Taeri’s back, but Taeri already has a shaky smile on her face.
The show switches to what looks like a break room where two girls are seated. A pan to the EM logo on the wall beside the door gives context, as does the entrance of 365’s most popular member Shiha.
“Hello,” She smiles as she gracefully sits down on a cushioned chair, brushing the dark blonde hair off a shoulder. She's wearing a baggy denim coat, faded denim shorts, a bright yellow patterned tank top, an overly long string of beads around her neck, and chunky military boots. The whole thing shouldn't work, but somehow Shiha's confidence and charisma makes it work. Both of the trainees look in awe. “I hear that both of you will be representing the company in Produce 99.
Han Moonae takes the lead, hair only a tiny lighter than Shiha's and clothes vaguely similar. Bada is still gaping at Shiha. “We are,” Moonae says. “We've been practicing very hard on our audition.”
Shiha smiles. “I thought you might like some advice before you go, I imagine you're both very nervous! I remember how terrified I was when I first debuted.”
“It would be an honour, sunbae,” Moonae says it with such reverence one can almost see the stars in her eyes. Bada still hasn't closed .
“Just be yourself,” Shiha says simply, grabbing their hands in hers. “And listen to those who are there to guide you. I know both of you have what it takes to make EM proud and ensnare the hearts of the nation, you just have to show them.”
“But also don't be afraid to be a little rebellious,” Shiha adds with a little laugh. “It's not all work and no play. Enjoy yourselves, enjoy the stage!”
Back in the studio the two of them come onto the stage. “Hello, I'm EM's Han Moonae,” the blonde one boss.
“I'm EM's little dragonfly, Ha Bada!” The second one bows and does a little pose.
“Oh no, she's cute,” Chanhee laments. “Save me from the cute ones!”
“Why a dragonfly?” Yikwang asks.
“Because they're pretty, like a butterfly but with more bite!” Bada says with total conviction.
Yikwang turns to Candy. “This is the one you choreographer for, right?”
Candy smiles proudly. “I choreographer Eclipse for Han Moonae!” she confirms. “Good luck, Moonae!”
“Alright, Han Moonae and Ha Bada of EM,” Chanhee says. “Show us what you can do.”
“Moonae was so confident, it was like nothing she did could go wrong,” Woo Reni (Sidus HQ) says with wide eyes, in a solo interview. “I’m pretty sure she could have messed up a hundred times and we wouldn’t even have noticed.”
“She was amazing,” Takayami Sora (Avex Trax) says in her interview. “I thought to myself, that’s what I want to be like, someone who can believe in herself so much. I know I have a long way to go but maybe I can be like that too, someday.”
Yikwang smiles. “That’s what I call an ace performance,” he says. “They knew what they wanted to do and they did it.”
“Moonae, it was hard to keep my eyes off of you,” Eunha says. “You pull the audience in with your charisma, it was very impressive. Even vocally you were very stable.”
“I will now announce the results for the EM trainees,” Chanhee starts. “In A there is… Han Moonae-” she lets out the breath she’d been holding. “And no one else. In B there is… Ha Bada.”
“Thank you so much!” Both of them bow and exit the stage.
“Aaah!” Bada dramatically clutches at her heart as soon as the two get off-stage. “That was terrifying!” She puts up her hands. “Up top!”
Moonae looks taken aback for a moment but then she returns the high ten. “We did it.”
“You betcha we did!”
The next girl waiting in backstage looks very confident with her blonde bob. Her arms are crossed as she’s watching the Plan A girls on the screen. Behind her the Cre.Ker girls are glancing at her with uncertainty.
“She looked really intimidating!” Yang Jeongha (Cre.Ker) says in her solo interview. “She was just exuding this aura of ‘do not mess with’, you know? It was kind of scary.”
Footage of the independent trainees first entering the studio is shown, as Song Yoonbyul goes up the stairs with purpose and sits next to the WM trainees without even looking at them. Yoon Jisun (WM) looks at her and back at Seulgi next to her, both of them confused about what to do.
“She was really scary,” Jisun says in her own interview. “I knew right away that she had to be really good, no one else would have that kind of charisma. It was like the room chilled by 20 degrees.”
Back in the backstage area, Han Moonae and Ha Bada (EM) are shown coming back from their evaluation and there is a look between Moonae and Yoonbyul that’s augmented with a lightning effect and a helpful growling lion sound.
Then Yoonbyul comes up to the stage and bows to the judges. “Hello, I’m independent trainee Song Yoonbyul.”
“Sing, dance, rap, she was top level for it all!” Gyeon Youri (Urban Works) exclaims in an interview bit. “And she doesn’t even have a company!”
“Her expressions were no joke, she was incredible,” Go Yoonseo (FNC) says in hers.
“We will now announce the results of independent trainee Song Yoonbul,” Chanhee says. “It’s an A.”
Yoonbyul’s face lights up and she bows deeply, and for the first time a smile breaks out on her face. “Thank you so much!”
A wide shot of the studio and all the chairs shows the CT girls being called to prepare to audition. Yeeun climbs down the #1 chair, met with stares from the other girls.
Lucy (Helix) is clapping her hands together excitedly before nudging Wu Yingmei (MBK) beside her. “It’s her it’s her it’s her!”
“There she goes,” Jeon Taeri (Plan A) whispers to Sunisa next to her, awe in her voice. “This is gonna be good it has to be.”
The girls appear before the judges. “Hello, I’m CT trainee Kim Yeeun.” she bows.
“You’re the one who sat on the top chair, aren’t you?” Candy asks. “Exciting!”
“There’s some serious expectations that come with a decision like that,” Eunha says.
Yeeun nods. “I understand.”
“Alright, show us what you’ve got!”
“Yeeun,” Hana says dangerously.“Do you even want to be here?! You have girls like Lee Yujin and Han Maeri right next to you giving it their all and meanwhile you dare to stand next to them like you don’t even want to be here. Yujin sang her heart out because she wants this-” A closeup of Yujin who juts out her chin proudly. “What about you?”
“Do you know how many girls want to be an idol?” she continues. “Look around you and there are already 98 of them, a fraction of the trainees in Korea. If you want to be an idol you have to want it, you have to fight for it. Well?” Hana asks. “Do you want to be here?”
Yeeun hesitates for just a moment. “Yes,” she says, though she wavers.
“You will have to prove it,” Hana says. “And not to me, but to the national producers out there who will decide your fate.”
“I will now announce the grades of the CT trainees.” Chanhee says, as usual. “In A there is… Lee Yujin and...-” a closeup of Yeeun, who keeps her head up but bites her lip. “No one else. In B there is… no one.” Another closeup, Yeeun fidgets but keeps her head up. “In C there is… Kim Yeeun.” Han Maeri and Bang Yemi are briefly shown getting a D and the group leaves the stage.
“Unnie-” Yemi goes to touch Yeeun’s arm but she pulls it back.
“Stop. Don’t talk to me.” Yeeun sticks on the letter and doesn’t say a thing.
In the studio Hana leans forward on the desk. “I hope whoever’s next does better.”
Chanhee smiles. “Let’s see if they can restore our faith in trainees, shall we?”
The group waiting backstage doesn’t seem very aware or bothered by the responsibility now placed on their shoulders. A group of six girls, each dressed in chic black and white shorts and blouses, is chattering amicably. Or, well, at least two of them do.
Im Mosu leans into the mirror, seemingly fascinated by the array of bulbs that line it. “Why are there so many?”
“So there aren’t any shadows on your face, unnie,” Moon Chaewon supplies immediately. While Mosu proceeds to pull funny faces in the mirror, Chaewon looks around her. “Are we the last ones to perform?”
“It looks like it,” Won Seoyun says.
Park Haeun grins. “They saved the best for last.”
“Ah, Starship!” Bae Yoonjung smiles as they come on. “They always send quality trainees. Yeonjung and Sewoon were excellent vocalists.”
One by one they introduce themselves:
“Hello I'm Starship trainee Won Seoyun.”
“I'm Starship trainee Wang Sooyoung.”
“I'm Starship trainee Moon Chaewon.”
“I'm Starship trainee Im Mosu.”
“I'm Starship trainee Ren Huiyin.”
“Hi, I'm Starship trainee Park Haeun, at your service.”
“I hear you were the first one to sit in the top chair, weren't you?” Chanhee asks a little amused.
"I was!" Haeun says proudly.
Bae Yoonjung leans over to him. “Oh I see what the producers are doing.”
“Well then, this is your chance to prove at least one person who sits on it is worthy,” Hana adds almost lazily, like she doesn't really expect it to happen.
“Oh hush, Hana, give her a shot!” Chanhee tells her playfully. “Go ahead Starship trainees, show us what you've got.”
(Just like ignore that it's kinda op as hell it's all I could find that wasn't ITNW and can you really imagine Haeun?? Let’s say until 1:15)
There is thunderous applause when they're done.
“Woah that's Starship for you!” Sunisa (Plan A) excitedly whispers to Taeri next to her. “It's like Yeonjung but now there's like 4 of them!”
There's a shot of Ji Yona (MLD) with her hands over her eyes, fingers only slightly parted to see through. In her interview she explains why. “They were too good! I thought, well, everyone else must look so weak compared to them. Well except maybe Brand New Girls or- or- or Choi Bitna but certainly not we!”
“A! A! A!” Takayami Sora (Avex Trax) whispers excitedly to Mai. “They have to all be A right? They just have to!”
The judges bend their heads together once more. “There were some weak spots in the formation, it wasn’t all in sync,” Yikwang notes. "Especially not her and her."
“The vocals were very good, though I wish there would’ve been more solo parts,” Eunha says. “Harmonies are great but we’re here to assess individual skills.”
“Being able to effectively sing harmonies while dancing is skilled, though,” Lee Woosung points out. “If they lack then their second evaluation will show that.”
“Yes but we should sort them effectively so they can be trained to their full potential,” Eunha countered, annoyance in her voice. “It’s not sink or swim.”
“Those who put in the hard work will thrive,” Hana points out. “Wherever they’re sorted.”
“I agree,” Bae Yoonjung weighs in herself. “I’ve seen girls in F who clawed their way up and I’ve seen girls in A who have struggled to maintain their rank. It all depends on how strong they are mentally, let them prove themselves worthy of it.”
The Starship trainees glance at each other nervous while all of this is going on, and Chaewon reaches to hold Mosu’s hand.
“At least keep this one apart, she really needs work,” Eunha concedes, though she’s not happy about this.”
“Alright, we have -finally- come to a decision,” Chanhee side-eyes the others a bit. “In A there is… Park Haeun and… no one else. In B there is… Moon Chaewon and Im Mosu and Ren Huiyun and Wang Sooyoung. Won Seoyun, you get a D.”
The Starship trainees get offstage, relief plain on their faces. “Ah, you're incredible unnie!” Chaewon links arms with Haeun. “You got an A!”
Mosu puffs up her cheeks a little. “B is good too!”
Haeun laughs. “I'll see you in A later, then, Mosu?”
Mosu grins. “Oh you bet.”
A wide shot of the outside if the studio shows that it is now long long dark. The moon is high in the sky, and the auditions are finally over. The judges are standing on the stage now to address the contestants.
“Ah, all the evaluations are over and done with, so you know what that means, right?” Chanhee asks with a sneaky smile. “But first, the full announcement of the results.”
“In A there are 15 trainees,” Chanhee announces. “In B we have 18 trainees. In C we have 21 trainees. In D there are 22 trainees. And finally we have 23 trainees in F.”
Hana takes over for Chanhee. “From this point forward you will all receive classes according to the rank you've received.”
“Now without further ado,” Yikwang takes over. “Let's take a look at the song that will introduce our trainees to the national producers. Produce 99’s title track: Nekkoya!”
On the screen a video is played of the song and standins dancing the choreography. The girls gape at it, taking it all in. Some, like Sep Bitna (RBW), already copy some of the choreography. Others, like Yang Taeyoung (TS) just stare slackjawed.
“The choreography looks really hard already!” Taeyoung says in an interview. “I guess I should get used to grey…”
Eunha takes over on MCing duty next. “For the next few days you will be learning the choreography and the lyrics in your respective grades, and of course all of this will be for a live performance at M Countdown.”
There's applause from the trainees at this, which dies down soon as Bae Yoonjung starts speaking. “But there isn't room for everybody on stage: your position on stage will be according to your rank. Those of you who are A will he the mains of the song, standing in the very front of the stage.”
Chanhee takes over again. “B will stand behind A, C will stand behind B, and finally D will stand behind C. F will not be able to stand on stage at their level and will be backup.”
There are gasps and worried looks from the Fs. “Oh no, they would do that?!” Tanaka Yuki (Sony Japan) whispers.
“That's so cruel,” Ito Chiyo (Sony Japan) agrees.
“But don't despair yet!” Chaerin quickly interjects. “Those of you who are now Fs could still rise to A, and those of you who are now As can still fall to F. In 3 days everyone will be re-evaluated and receive new ranks. Anything can still happen!”
“After the final ranking you will all decide on the Center, who will be one of the A trainees,” Chanhee continues. “You know how important a Center is, don't you?”
“Ah, Yoojung,” Ahn Minji (MMO) whispers.
“Daehwi! Daehwi!” Lucy (Helix) bounces in her chair.
“Lee Yoojung and Lee Daehwi both made it into the final group after being Center,” Minhyuk says. “You will be the Center of the stage, you will represent Produce 99.”
“It's basically a guarantee to debut,” Na Chaerin (BNM) says. She slams her fist onto her palm. “I must become Center! No matter what!”
“Ah! I really want it!” Kim Eunbi (BBC) exclaims back in the studio.
Song Jisoo (BBC) gives her a little shove. “We're Fs!”
“Good luck,” Chanhee finishes. “And now off with you! Out of our sights!”
The girls all stand up and punch their fist in the air. “Fighting!!”
~*~
The next shot is a pan of the English Village, or the Produce 99 training center as they're calling it, and 99 suitcases and their attendees invade the artificial little town, already under the light of the sun. They're wearing jackets over their auditions outfits, looking various states of exhausted and excited.
“It's so cute!” Im Mosu (Starship) exclaims, definitely in camp excited, twirling around to look at all the artificially western buildings, almost tripping over her suitcase as she does so.
Kang Chaerin (Leon) is in camp exhausted, as she almost walks straight into an old-fashioned street lamp, eyes puffy and sleepy.
The girls filter into their dorms, each housing 6 girls according to rank. “Oh look, cameras!” Kwon Girim (MLD) points at a camera mounted in the ceiling of the dorm room.
“They're really going to film everything, aren't they?” Ming Fen (Woollim) asks.
“Of course they are!” Rachel Oh (Top Media). She holds up one of the very green D shirts. “Yikes. Green is so not my colour.”
Some of the C trainees open up the little closets in their dorm to find bright yellow. Shin Areum (BNM) already is hers on. She moves her fingers like antenna on her head. “I'm a bumblebee!”
“You need black stripes for a bumblebee,” Lee Juri (YNB) points out. “You'd look cute as a bumblebee though, keep it in mind for Halloween.”
Areum blinks. “Eeeh… thanks?”
In one of the B dorms Jung Gaeul (SM) pulls out an orange shirts and holds it in front of her. “It's oraaaange!”
“Who even looks good in orange??” Kim Jinri (Plan A) laments. "We'll all looks like oranges!"
Gaeul glances her way. “Do you challenge me, Jinri?”
In the A dorm someone opens a closet and gasps. Chae Seulgi (WM) reaches in and retrieves the soft pink shirt with a big sparkly A on it. “It sparkles!”
Na Chaerin (BNM) lifts one up and holds it in front of Min Hwari (Cube). She brushes some of the girl's very pink hair over it. “Perfect match! You have to stay in A now, it was meant to be.”
“Aah I'm so happy I'm A,” Park Haeun (Starship) says dreamily, the sparkly sequins on the shirt.
And then, in the F dorms, someone pulls out a grey shirt. “Ah, whyyy,” Ryu Haesung (independent) says miserably, holding the shirt out.
“I don't want to wear it!” Tanaka Yuki (Sony Japan) whines. “Do we have to?”
“The F is so big…” Ito Chiyo (Sony Japan) says. “Do they think we’d forget, otherwise?”
In another room Lucy (Helix) giggles, holding the shirt against her chest. “I'm here I'm here I'm really here!” she sing-songs in English.
Yang Taeyoung (TS) already has her shirt on, she flashes a winning smile and does the twinkle gesture under her chin. “I twinkle twinkle anyway.”
In one of the D dorms is having some trouble translating. “Do you want the top or bottom bunk?” Yang Jeongha (Cre.Ker) asks one of the girls.
“Eeeeh?” Fujioka Mai (Avex Trax) shakes her head. “I don’t know,” she says in very broken Korean, voice raspy as ever.
Hwang Jiho (independent) taps her on the shoulder and points to the top bed and then the bottom bed.
“Ah!” Mai taps the top bunk. “I’ll take this one,” she says in Japanese, though nobody understands her.
Jiho nods and does the OK sign. “Okay!”
Things are a little different in another room. Takayami Sora (Avex Trax), Ito Chiyo (Sony Japan), and Tanaka Yuki (Sony Japan) are awkward talking amongst each other, a little hesitant amidst all the Korean around them. Meanwhile Ryu Haesung (independent) looks unsure of what to do either.
Gong Sohyun (Urban Works) steps up, taps Sora on the shoulder. “We should choose beds, is there one you want?” she asks in Japanese.
Sora jumps like she’s seen a ghost. “You speak Japanese!”
Sohyun smiles. “I can translate if you need me, okay?”
With the dorms all taken care of, the girls are shown entering the same big studio as before, each dressed in the ranked shirts and black shorts and leggings, arranged in neat rows of grey, green, yellow, orange, and pink. Chanhee is standing the head of it all, on what had before functioned as an evaluation stage. “Today,” he says. “You will learn the choreography of Nekkoya. It may be difficult for some of you, but trust in your trainers and work hard and I have all the confidence that you’ll make us proud.”
“I want to learn everything the teachers can teach us,” Aihara Yuka (Brave) says, a monologue played over her image as she gapes at Chanhee. “I want to become better than I am now, I want to become like the unnies around me.”
On the stage are Bae Yoonjung, Yikwang, and Candy. “We will be starting the dance class,” Yikwang kicks things off. “Put your hands together like this and move it to your shoulder,” he starts to teach, telling them each how to move while the three of them demonstrate.
The girls in A are already picking it up quickly. The two Bitnas are standing side by side and it all goes easy. Then the camera pans over the trainees who have it a lot harder.
Amano Midori (Sony Japan) is blanking completely, staring at the teachers. She tries to move her hands like the others but by the time she’s got the gist of that everyone has moved on to 3 paces ahead of her.
A lot of the Fs look completely lost, too. Sora (Avex Trax) is just staring ahead, not even trying to move along. Yang Taeyoung (TS) is at least trying her best. Lucy (Helix) has her tongue poking out of as she tries her hardest to keep up, doing wrong and sloppy versions of the moves Yikwang is showing them.
Yikwang just continues teaching. “After that- and after that- and then- and after-” it goes over and over.
Up in B, Yong Jisun (WM) is also having trouble with the dance. She’s going very slowly and very sloppily while Kim Dohee (WM) next to her has picked it up quickly.
And thus training truly begins, and back in the English Village each class gets customized lessons in vocals and dance, and of course independent training time, all according to a tight schedule.
The first group shown is group B, who’s starting with dance lessons. “Who do you think will come in?” Jang Miyoung (FNC) asks as they’re waiting for their assigned trainer.
“I hope it’s Yikwang sunsengnim,” Hong Gayoung (Cre.Ker) says. “He’s really cute!”
The door opened and, complete with flowers and pink overlay, Yikwang enters the room. “Hello!” he says cheerfully. “Are you ready to do some dancing?”
“Yes!” the class chants and bows.
“Good! Why don’t we check how well you've been practicing? Jung Gaeul!” He calls out, and Gaeul looks up in surprise. “I think we’re all curious what the SM trainee can do, you want to show us what you’ve got?”
“Sure!” Gaeul takes her place in the center of the room while the others make room. She starts off really well and Yikwang looks impressed.
“That must be the power of a big company,” Hong Gayoung (Cre.Ker) whispers to Hong Yejin (Urban Works).
But then she starts slipping, moves get sloppy and mistake after mistake gets highlighted. “Stop, stop.” At the trainer’s words the music cuts out and Gaeul stops dancing. “That started off really well,” he says. “Make sure you practice the rest just as well if you want to move up.”
“Maybe not,” Yejin whispers back to Gayoung.
“Okay, everyone, let’s take it in turns now,” Yikwang instructs. “You, you, you, you, you, and you first.”
The others move to the side while the first six dance in a row. It goes well for most of them, but in the back Yong Jisun (WM) gets confused and falls behind after a few seconds. Han Siryung (Pledis), Jang Miyoung (FNC), Kim Jinri (Plan A), Bang Hyowon (C9), and Moon Chaewon (Starship) are all keeping up but Jisun is trying to follow what they do. Yikwang grimaces.
“You’re in B,” Yikwang says when they’re done. “We don't have time to hold your hand through this class, if you can’t keep up then I don’t think I can put you on a stage.”
Jisun brushes tears from her cheeks but she bravely nods and joins Dohee on the side.
The next row takes their place and starts dancing. “Stop stop stop,” Yikwang stops the group after a couple of seconds.. “Lexi Park, just you.”
The music turns back on and Lexi (BNM) dances her heart out, it’s obvious she’s doing her best to show how great of a dancer she is, but when she’s done Yikang grimaces. “What am I going to do?” he asks. “I know you’re a great dancer, but this isn’t a boxing match where you have to hit hard and fast and sharp- okay close your eyes.”
“What?” Lexi blinks.
“Just do it,” Yikwang says. “Close your eyes and imagine it. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for, your heart is about to burst. Okay? Think of the lyrics. Feel girly and fresh, you’re reaching out for your dreams with your heart. How do you dance that? Not like this.” Yikwang dances an exaggerated version of Lexi, hitting everything with excess swag. “But like this!” He transforms into a dainty girl, his movements are feminine and demure to the max and the girls all burst out in giggles at the sight. “Now try it.”Lexi nods and tries again and Yikwang claps. “Much, much better!”
The residents of C aren’t quite so lucky with their trainer. Complete with threatening music, Bae Yoonjung opens the door, and some clips from Season 1 show exactly why the trainees should be nervous around her.
“She’s so scary!” Sunisa (Plan A) says in her solo interview. “I mean I knew she would be but seeing her up close is something else entirely. She looked ready to eat us!”
“Let’s see if your leader has lead you well, shall we? You’re C so I expect you to follow well.” Yoonjung walks to the front of the class while the trainees gulp. There is a shot of Shin Kayeon (Pledis) with the sticker looking worried.
The music is , the group dances, and Yoonjung’s expression is dark. “Stop! Stop!” she calls out.
The C trainees are lined up, looking at the floor.
“Where is the energy? I can see the steps but I don’t see any of the feeling behind it. Kayeon, you’re the leader and a dancer, why didn’t you teach them?”
She doesn’t say anything and just stares at the ground.
“Kim Taeri, Go Yoonseo, and Lee Juri,” come up here.” Yoonung says and the music turns on.
The three of them dance a lot better than the others, the first two nearly perfectly and Juri not far behind. Yoonjung smiles when they’re done and relief floods their faces. “See? That’s how you’re supposed to do it,” she says. “If you manage to sing well too then you’ll surely move up to A.”
Jeon Taeri (Plan A) is glowing in her solo interview. “A is just within reach I can feel it!” she says. “Pink t-shirts, be mine!”
“Kim Yeeun, Kim Kyungmi, and Ha Jinsil, you’re up next.”
Those three dance a whole lot less. It’s sloppy, they’re missing movements, and Kyungmi forgets half of what they’d just learned. “Kyungmi,” Bae Yoonjung says dangerously. “You’re a debuted idol, and you still can’t follow a choreography? Haven’t you done this before? There is no motivation here from any of you. Jinsil, Yeeun, why are you here?”
Ha Jinsil (MLD) is the only one who answers. “To debut as an idol,” she mutters.
“Say that again?”
Jinsil looks up. “To debut as an idol,” she says, louder this time.
Yoonjung nods. “Good. Now prove it.”
Back in A, Lee Woosung enters the room while they’re practicing their dancing. He claps. “I see you’re all working hard,” he says. “Now let’s see if you can sing, as well.”
The girls all gather around, lyric sheets in their hands, while Woosung leans on a keyboard. “Who wants to go first?” he asks. “How about you?”
Im Sungsook (FNC) steps forward, she looks confident when she does, and a clip of FNC’s Lucky Strike audition and Sungsook’s easy high notes shows why. She starts singing but Woosung quickly stops her. “Come on,” Woosung is starting to sound impatient. “Sing it brighter! You’re not singing at a funeral, be cheery and girly and dreamy!”
She clears and tries again but it’s all the same.
“I’m a rock singer,” she says in her interview. “I mean I sing pop as well of course, for practice and stuff, but it’s always been rock or girl crush. This sugary stuff isn't where my strengths lie.”
He looks around the room and shakes his head. “Ah, why do half of you look so serious. How about you with the pretty pink hair? You look like you’re girly, demonstrate how it’s done.”
Min Hwari (Cube) looks startled at being called out. She uncertainly steps towards the keyboard, takes a deep breath, and sings. “Kkumkkweowatteon jigeum i sungani-” It’s perfect, she’s clear, she’s on pitch, and it sounds nice. Woosung claps for her. “That was very good! The song suits your voice very well!”
“Thank you!” Hwari says, beaming.
Next up is Na Chaerin (BNM). She starts singing the song but her voice keeps cracking on the higher notes.
“You have a lower voice,” Woosung says. “Ah, that’s not going to suit this song well.”
Chaerin looks frustrated in her solo interview, tears glinting in her eyes. “I thought it was very unfair! We’re rappers too, but they’re evaluating us like we’re vocalists. Why couldn’t the song have a rap section instead? Or are we rappers just delegated to a lower rank because we’re lesser?”
Choi Bitna (independent) is up next. The show plays a clip of Bitna rapping at first, with the captions will this rapper fail, too? Bitna clears and starts singing and… it’s great. She hits the notes cleanly and adds a little twist swag at the end. “That was very good!” Woosung praises her. “See? Rappers can sing when they put their minds to it.”
A shot of Chaerin shows her biting her lip, anger still on her face, but she holds her tongue.
Next up Woosung is seen teaching the D class the song. “Alright, who’s confident they can sing the song well?”
Rachel Oh (Top Media) steps forward immediately. “I am.” She looks at her sheet and starts singing and she manages, with a minor pitch correction from Woosung, to sing the song nice and clean.
He nods. “That was very good,” he says. “Who’s next? How about the leader.”
Hwang Jiho (independent) steps up and it’s obvious she’s worried. She tries to sing but it comes out hoarse and she stops before the real high notes.
“What’s wrong? Woosung asks. “Why aren’t you singing?”
“I can’t hit notes that high,” she says.
“Just scream if you can’t hit the note singing,” Woosung says. “The most important thing is that you hit it.”
“I can’t,” Jiho says, and you can tell that anger is forming as she struggles to control her expression.
“Of course you can,” Woosung waves it away. “If you don’t then you’ll surely remain in D.”
Jiho looks like she wants to tell him off but she controls herself and sits back down. She still looks very upset in her solo interview. “Ever since I lost my voice I know what it’s like to do without, it was horrible and I never want to deal with that again. I have to be careful with it, and that means not being able to scream or stretch my limits.” She pats her tshirt, which includes the little “L” leader sticker. “I guess I’m staying green for a little longer.”
There’s more trainees who struggle with the notes. Ming Fen (Woollim)’s voice comes out thin and she has trouble with the high notes. “You won’t be able to rise if you can’t sing it,” Woosung says. “And you’re standing still now. If you can’t even sing while standing still, how are you going to sing while dancing? I don’t think you’ll be able to stand on stage like this.”
There are tears in Fen’s eyes as she hears this and tries again, but now her voice just cracks.
“I felt so useless,” Fen says in a solo interview. “He was right, I can’t even sing while standing still.” She blinks her eyes, trying furiously to ot let the tears spill.
“All of you have a lot of work to do before you can stand on stage,” Woosung says. “I don’t know how your dancing is going but overall I’m disappointed with your level of singing. I hope you practice hard and well and I look forward to seeing what you’ll manage.”
In the C class’ vocal session, one after the other trainees are messing up. Go Yoonseo (FNC) and Shin Areum (BNM) crack at the high notes, Shin Kayeon (Pledis) is off-beat, Choi Dahee’s (FNC) voice won’t even come out for half of it, while Sunisa (Plan A) stumbles over the words. Trainee after trainee mistakes are made.
After the onslaught of bad singing and “I want you pick me uUuuUuUp”s, Eunha looks like she’s having a mental breakdown. She’s pinching the bridge of her nose, bent over the keyboard. “You, Chaerin, give it a shot.”
Then Kang Chaerin (Leon) steps up and she sings it perfectly, the relief on trainer Eunha’s face is palpable. “That’s the first time this class that I’ve heard how the song is supposed to sound!” she says. “Well done.”
Next up is Ha Jinsil (MLD), and it starts off well, her voice is a little soft and thin but she’s hitting the notes well, until she goes completely flat on the higher parts. “Stop, stop, you’re flat,” Eunha stops her. “Here’s a little trick: if you think you might be flat, raise your eyebrows while you’re singing, it’ll raise your pitch just a bit,” Eunha says. “Obviously don’t do it while actually performing or you’ll look like this on camera.” She raises her eyebrows all the way and widens her eyes and the trainees crack up. “Jinsil, try it.”
Jinsil starts singing again, and this time she raises her eyebrows and it sounds perfect.
“See! Eyebrows!” Eunha points at hers. “You did really well!”
Back in the A practice room, Yikwang is teaching the dance lesson.
Seo Bitna (RBW), Chae Seulgi (WM), Choi Bitna (independent), and Song Yoonbyul (independent) are dancing to the song with ease.
Yikwang claps his hands when they’re done. “As expected of A, I hardly have any teaching to do! If anything, some of you could teach me something,” he laughs. “Next four, come on.”
Jung Haneul (Plan A), Na Chaerin (BNM), Han Moonae (EM), and Park Gido (KQ) step up next and start the dance. It becomes clear quickly that Moonae is struggling with the moves.
“Aren’t you the girl who already debuted?” Yikwang asked. “Why are you struggling now?”
“I’ll get it. I will,” Moonae says with absolutely conviction. “I’m sorry. I will.”
“Okay, practice hard.”
“I have to stay in A,” Moonae says in her solo interview. “I just have to. There’s no other option.”
In F class the door opens and…. Bae Yoonjung steps in. There is immediate apprehension in the eyes of the F trainees in their dreary grey shirts as she walks in and seats herself in front.
“Don’t worry too much about being in F class now,” Yoonjung says. “We split everyone up so we can teach you with your peers, but what really matters is who will be in F group in two days.”
Yoonjung gets to work and the trainees slowly go over the dance. She’s a lot more patient with them than she was with the C class, she actually goes slowly and corrects moves, until she gets to a girl whose moves she has to correct over and over.
“Yuki, up up up!” she says, correcting the position of the Japanese girl’s hand again.
“I’m sorry,” Tanaka Yuki says in Japanese. She tries again and still she gets the move wrong.
Yoonjung sighs. “We’ve already wasted 5 minutes on just you and we haven’t even gotten to the chorus yet,” Yoonjung says. “If you can’t keep up, I can’t keep teaching you separately.”
“I’m sorry,” Tanaka Yuki says in shaky Korean this time.
She moves on and the rest of the trainees are doing quite well at this slow pace, so well that Yoonjung is impressed. “Ah, your energy is better than C class,” she says. “Well done. Now let’s go through all of at once.”
There’s an interjection of Ryu Haesung (independent) in her solo interview. “It’s been so long since I’ve had any sort of dance class,” she laughs. “I thought getting Bae Yoonjung sungsengnim first thing was the worst luck I had but she was actually a good teacher. Harsh, but good. Still going from the kiddie pool into the deep ocean, but not as bad as I thought it would be!”
She divides the group in rows and, at the very first steps, there is something that’s not quite right. Lucy, tucked to the side, is fumbling the moves, constantly glancing at the others and trying to belatedly copying them, but it’s not working.
“Lucy!” Yoonjung calls out. “Did you forget the steps already? Start from the beginning.”
Lucy glances at the girls next to her who give her space. She tried the dance on her own, slowly, with no music, but she stalls after the first few steps.
“Your dancing skills are horrible,” Yoonjung says. “What was I just teaching these steps for? Have you already forgotten?”
Lucy looks confused, the language barrier definitely pressing on her. “Mianhaeyo,” she says with her thick accent.
“Ah, she’s one of the ones who doesn’t speak Korean, isn’t she?” Yoonjung asks. “She’ll just have to work hard, it won’t be easy with an added barrier.”
A girl steps up and taps Lucy on the shoulder. Ryu Haesung (independent) leans over and whispers a translation of everything Yoonjung just said. Lucy’s eyes widens and she bows to Yoonjung. “I will do my very best,” she says in English. “Like no one ever did.”
“To overcome this song is my real test,” Lucy says in her interview. “To stand on stage is my cause. I have travelling across the sea, searching far and wide, for a company to take me in for the potential that’s inside-” she laughs. “I should probably stop this, but A here I come! I won’t rest until I kick ! Naega jeil jal naga! Well, I’m not the best, but I can do my best!! F-class fighting!!!”
“It’s a reminder to all of you, if you don’t work hard and learn this song then you won’t be able to stand on stage. You’ll be backup, and don’t you want to be a star? I really want you to be able to stand on that stage. Let’s all go up, okay?”
“I love being in F,” Yang Taeyoung says in a voice over after Yoonjung left, while footage of the F trainees working hard to improve graces the screen. “We take care of each other and help each other. Other grades are competitive but we have nowhere lower to go, why would we be?”
There’s footage of Lee Inree (independent) helping Kim Saebom (Urban Works), the 14 year old trainee, with the steps. “One day I’m helping them,” she says in a voice over. “And the next day they’re helping you. We helped each other.”
“They were all there for me when I was crying or felt hopeless,” Aihara Yuka (Brave) says, a voice-over to footage of her sitting in the corner of the room, legs drawn into her chest and sobbing. Several girls including Inree come over quickly to try and console her. “Sometimes it felt like I would never get better, like I would never get the dance, but then they were there to encourage me.”
“I think we really helped each other a lot,” Park Dain (MMO) says, her voiceover to footage of her helping several of the trainees with their dance steps. “It’s easy to get discouraged when someone tells you that you are the all at the worst level, you know? It’s easy to believe that you are, but only one person has to remember that that doesn’t have to be true and it helps.”
“I want all of us to move up!” Kim Saebom (Urban Works) says in her interview as she punches her first into the air. “Let someone else wear the grey!”
“We all want the same thing,” Ito Chiyo (Sony Japan) says in Japanese. “And that made us so much stronger. All we want is to go on that stage, to not be stuck as backup.”
“Stage!” Gong Seulrin (Maroo) points at the camera. “Here I come!”
Candy throws open the door to the dance room. “Who’s ready to learn some dancing?” she asks. “Have you all be practicing? We’re gonna have you all A’s in no time!”
“Candy was so cool and nice!” Ji Yona (MLD) says in her solo interview. “She was really supportive of us and didn’t yell even when I made a mistake a bunch of times.”
“I’m her fan now,” Yang Jeongha (Cre.Ker) says with full conviction. “I mean I always liked their music but she’s my one true bias now, nothing else to it.”
“Her instruction were… interesting,” Rachel Oh (Top Media) says with a laugh.
“And one two fan yourself as if you’ve just seen Kim Seokjin backstage, perfect. Now trace a tear down your cheek because he’s leaving and you’ll never see something as beautiful as that ever again, wonderful!”
“One and two and three and four,” Candy counts the beats slower than the song goes, letting the D trainees go through the paces slowly first. “Lip rub one, lip rub two, lip rub three, like it’s 2010 and we’re an angsty boyband, great job guys.”
“Step, step, step, air punch YEAH!” Candy looks back. “Come on you’re supposed to say it with me! Let’s try that again: step, step, step, YEAH!” This time the others join and she grins. “Great! Now we do two little stretches like you’re exhausting from all this dancing-”
“Now, just the girls who are having trouble,” Candy says. “Girim, Yona, Mai, Fen, Midori, Reni don’t try to hide behind Liling I saw you missing some of those steps!”
She does it all again for the struggling girls, a little faster this time, correcting them as she goes, even trying to communicate with gestures for the Japanese girl. At one point she steps towards Midori, who’s doing the hand movements just a little wrong. Candy takes her hand and folds it to the pattern of the dance and Midori nods and she doesn’t do it wrong again while Candy beams at her.
“Okay, Jeongha and Jiho step forward please, just you two,” Candy instructs. The music turns on the and the two dance the whole thing perfectly while Candy grins. “Ah, there was no reason for that, I just wanted to see you guys do that. I look forward to seeing you in A!”
Both girls glance at each other and grin proudly.
“Since the two of you are top notch dancers, I expect you to help the others, okay?” Candy says. “I see you’re already the leader, Jiho, that’s great! Lead them well.”
“I will!” Hwang Jiho (independent) says proudly.
“Perfect! Now let’s all run through it one more time together and then that’s it for the lesson!”
Afterwards both Jiho (independent) and Jeongha (Cre.Ker) are shown gathering the rest of the D trainees together and teaching them the dance, taking them aside one by one when one is struggling to show them where they’re going wrong.
The camera pans over the training center at night, moon risen high in the sky, but even at this hour there are still girls practicing.
Han Moonae (EM), Park Jaeeun (FNC), and Min Hwari (Cube) are the only ones left in the A training room at this hour. Moonae and Jaeeun are furiously going over the dance on their own in one corner, meanwhile Hwari is standing right in front of the mirror, as close as she can get without touching it. She doing understated versions of the moves while she stares at herself in the mirror pulling different expressions. Sometimes she redoes a part just to see how it will look with a different expression. The camera fast-forwards and she’s still going for an hour, practicing and practicing her expressions even when Moonae and Jaeeun leave.
In another part of the building, Jung Gaeul (SM) is alone as she practices over and over again. She has a tablet with the video on it that she’s following and she seems to be having a hard time.
“I have all of these expectations to fulfill,” Gaeul says in her solo interview. “I know I shouldn’t be anything less than A, I can’t be, and I think that weighed on me so much that I started making mistakes I wouldn’t usually.” She smiles. “Thankfully I wasn’t alone!”
Another girl comes out of a practice room and taps her on the shoulder. “Come on, practice with us!” Ha Bada (EM) drags her into the room with a big smile, where a handful of other orange shirts are practicing under guidance of Chae Seulgi (WM) from A. It seems she started helping out her labelmates Jisun and Dohee and gathered an audience of struggling Ds. Gaeul joins and together they’re helped by Seulgi.
In another part of the building one training room only has 3 grey girls left in it. Lucy King (Helix), Tanaka Yuki (Sony apan), Takayami Sora (Avex Trax), and Ito Chiyo (Sony Japan) are practising, trying to get the moves down somehow but they’re still very sloppy, all of it filmed from a camera in the ceiling.
Then the door opens and a girl in pink glances inside. Seo Bitna (RBW) comes into the room, she looks at the girls a little bewildered before she says “I help,” in English, before taking her place in front of them and trying to teach them.
Even the dorms don’t escape their fate as practice grounds. Kwon Girim (MLD) is laying in bed on the top bunk, humming the song and moving her arms to minimalist versions of the choreo while others are sleeping.
Even in the morning before the re-evaluations the practice rooms are filled to the brim with dancing and singing trainees.
And then the sun rises high and it is time for the evaluations. Each trainee will tape themselves dancing and singing to Naekkoya, and they will only get one chance to do so.
B is shown first. The full group gathers in their training room where one handheld camera is set up on a tripod.
The first girl to come up is Im Mosu (Starship). She bows to the camera first. “Hello I am Starship trainee Im Mosu,” she introduces herself, and then she gets ready.
But first, a clip is shown of her vocal class the day before where she can’t hit the notes. Her voice is quite deep for a girl and she has trouble reaching the super super high Naekkoya, Will she be able to do it well today?
Her dancing is a little sloppy and as soon as the song gets higher her voice leaves her and she stops singing, she only dances. She sits down defeated.
The next girl is Ha Bada (EM), and she already starts off a little wonky, but she quickly forgets everything and does a silly dance in place while she sings the rest of the song.
“It’s so hard to remember in front of a camera!” she says in her interview. “That little red light made me forget everything I’d practiced.”
Then Jung Gaeul (SM) steps up. She takes a deep breath, introduces herself, and starts dancing and… it’s quite good! The dance isn’t entirely perfect but she manages to sing and dance at the same time and makes it look effortless too. She’s glowing by the end of it as she sits down.
In C things aren’t going perfectly, either. Kang Chaerin (Leon) blanks on the dance, Shin Areum (BNM) blanks on everything. But then Jeon Taeri (Plan A) comes up and she manages to dance and sing the whole thing perfectly, the rest of the C girls looked in awe.
“Taeri was the only one of us who could actually sing the ‘because you’re my star’ part,” Sunisa (Plan A) says in her interview. “I was so proud of her!”
In D, Ming Fen (Woollim) is dancing and, while vocally she’s very out of breath and impossible to hear, her dance is actually quite well! She looks very proud of herself as she sits down.
Another girl, Ji Yona (MLD) isn’t quite so lucky. She starts off well but she can’t really sing and halfway through she blanks on the choreography. She returns to her seat between Hwang Jiho and Kwon Girim. “I’m so sorry,” she says, tear in her eyes as she grabs their hands. “You tried so hard to teach me but I just- I couldn’t remember anything up there.”
“Shhht,” Girim her hair. “You did your best it’s okay.”
And then comes F and it’s like a virus going around and infecting everyone. They’d looked so promising before but one after another they forget the choreography, they can’t sing, and sometimes just stand still and do nothing at all. Gong Seulrin (Maroo), Lee Inree (independent), Kim Eunbi (BBC), Yang Taeyoung (TS), one after the other it infects girls and the mood in the room grows darker and darker. There are sighs and downcast eyes and a lot of crying. As Taeyoung sits down after her own failed attempt she just breaks down, but this time there’s no one to support her as everyone is stuck in their own negativity.
“I thought we’d all stay here,” Seung Hyemi (Urban Works) says. “No matter how hard all of us practiced, there is no out for us Fs. I think we all thought that.”
Then Tanaka Yuki (Sony Japan) steps up, the first of the Japanese girls, and she’s the first that actually remembers the whole choreo! It’s still not very clean and she only sings a little bit and mispronounces a lot of the words, but she actually does it and smiles appear on the F girls’ faces.
“Then Yuki comes out and she’s the first who doesn’t fail!” Hyemi continues her story. “And suddenly it feels like we don’t have to be resigned to backups, she broke the curse!”
The girls in A are nervous, too, as pressure sits on them to stay in their top spots. It starts off well, Im Sungsook (FNC) performs the song with ease, even before the camera. Song Yoonbyul (independent) does, too, and she even manages to sing without even a bit of breath loss, she sounds great. Then, even in A, mistakes are made.
Park Haeun (Starship) walks up confidently introduces herself, and starts dancing but something seems to short circuit and she can’t get a single word out, she looks a bit like a deer in the headlights. Zhu Mengjie (Yuehua) stumbles over the Korean and is unintelligible.
And Min Hwari (Cube),oh Min Hwari (Cube). She gets up there looking pretty confident in herself. Then she stands there and… stands there while her face makes the expressions that she practiced so hard in the mirror before, but she just… forgets to dance along with them. She’s singing and it sounds incredible, she’s making facial expressions that would have been great, and she doesn’t move another muscle in her body. When she realizes she stops entirely and runs up to the camera to turn it off in tears.
Armed with clipboard all of the re-evaluation videos, the trainees gather in a dark room to watch and re-grade each and every one of them. There’s a whiteboard divided into A through F with pictures of each of the trainees and a big screen to watch the videos on. Chanhee taps his clipboard “Are you ready to watch a lot of videos?” he asks.
“I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of changes,” Yikwang says.
“Let’s check them out right away!” Chanhee says. “It’s gonna be a long night.”
They start with A, and the first one up is Choi Bitna (independent). “Is anyone else feeling a bit of a deja-vu?” Chanhee asks.
“As expected, she’s great,” Bae Yoonjung says. “It was the same last time. She can sing, she can dance, she can rap. I’m not sure if there’s anything she can’t do.”
Seo Bitna (RBW) is next and she does a great job, too. “It seems like it’s good to be named Bitna around here,” Chanhee jokes.
“She picked up the dance so quickly,” Yikwang says. “She didn’t even need the grade classes.”
Chae Seulgi (WM) is shown next. “Why isn’t she singing?” Candy asks.
“I’m not sure if she doesn’t know the words or can’t find the breath,” Eunha says. “Either way it’s disappointing, she dances so well.”
“Turn it off, this is all we need to see,” Yoonjung says.
“Another one who’s not singing,” Chanhee comments at Park Haeun’s (Starship) tape. “Isn’t she a vocalist?”
“Is it too much for her to memorize some lyrics?” Yoonjung asks. “She’s a vocalist, tsk.”
Yong Jisun (WM) from B stops dancing midway and just hums the tune, brushing a hand through her hair in distress.
“Come on, pick it back up,” Candy says. “You can do it!” But it doesn’t look like Jisun can.
“Oooh look at this one go!” Chanhee whoots at Lexi Park’s video where she nails both singing and dancing.
Yikwang laughs. “She managed to tone herself down!”
Jung Gaeul’s (SM) is shown next and she does really well. “That’s the SM girl, isn’t it?” Hana asks. “The one who asked to be sent to D?”
Yikwang nods. “She struggled a bit with the dance but she pulled herself together.”
“She sings and dances together really well, too,” Eunha says. “She’s been taught the proper breathing techniques and everything. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised considering she’s been training for 9 years”
The trainers just sigh at the next one who forgets all the words and the dance at once, Shin Areum (BNM), as she just hums a little and bounces up and down.
Then there’s Hwang Jiho (independent) who dances perfectly, if a little too sharply, but only raspily sings the lower sections of the songs. “She wouldn’t even try to sing higher,” Woosung says with obvious distaste. “She had given up before she’d started.”
“If only she could sing as well as she dances,” Candy says with a dreamy sigh. “Look at that!”
Amano Midori (Sony Japan) is up next. “Wow!” Candy says. “I didn’t expect her to do so well!”
“You can tell she practiced a lot,” Woosung says. “Despite the fact that her singing is still a little weak, she’s stable enough.”
“She knows how to look in the camera, look at her,” Yoonjung says. “Her expressions show that she’s done this before, they’re even better than the Paradise girls, and look at how quickly she improved.”
“She’s one to watch,” Chanhee nods. “Just you wait.”
Yang Jeongha (Cre.Ker) is shown doing very well in both dancing and singing as well, and Rachel Oh (Top Media) is one of the few who manages to sing powerfully even if her dancing is a bit weak. “The Ds are doing well!” Yikwang says. “You taught them well, Candy.”
She beams. “Teaching is really fun when your students want to learn!”
Then the Fs start, and there are a lot of them who didn’t even manage to do anything. Yoonjung’s face is blank as she watches them. “So disappointing,” she says. “A lot of them had promise.”
“Ah, why did they send her?” Hana exclaims when Lucy's (Helix) tape starts playing. “I can’t watch this.”
Lucy starts dancing and… she’s not that bad! She actually remembers the choreo at least, even if it’s still weak, and she manages to sing much of it. Her moves are all a little soft and bouncy and the result is hilarious, especially with the added sound effects.
Candy is giggling at the sight. “I can’t hate this! I just can’t! She’s trying so hard!”
“She improved so much, she must have worked really hard,” Yoonjung says. “When I was teaching the Fs, Lucy kept stalling us because she was so bad and look at her now. I didn’t even expect her to finish the dance.”
Then there’s Seung Hyemi (Urban Works) and Yoojung actually smiles. “She improved a lot, look at her go.”
Then there’s Takayami Sora (Avex Trax) who also does well, though the dancing is definitely stiff and a little awkward, she does her best and manages to sing a bit as well. “Her pronunciation is really good!” Chanhee says. “It might even be the best amongst the Japanese girls, good on her.”
Kim Saebom (Urban Works) is quite a terrible dancer, too, but she skips with energy and keeps her smile up and she tries so hard. “She’s one of the 14 year olds?” Yikwang asks. “That must be where all that energy comes from!
“Ah, she so cute.” Candy says. “She’s terrible mind you, but I love her anyway!”
“Who’s this?” Chanhee asks suddenly when a grey shirted F is dancing and singing perfectly. “Why is she in F?”
“Park Dain,” Yoonjung says. “From MMO. They did that forgettable Girls’ Day song.”
“She’s certainly not forgetable now,” Hana says with a smile.
And that was it. All the grades have been stamped into little white booklets. How will the rankings change?
There’s a preview for next week when the trainees will be told their new ranks. Each of them will receive the little white booklet with a new grade in it. A trainer is seen talking to the girls after the handout. “Those who got an F, please move to the new room,” Candy says. One A trainee with a blurred face gets up while the others gape at her. There’s also two unidentifiable grey shirts who enter the A room. Han Moonae is shown angrily rubbing tears from her eyes. A trainee is shown crying in the staircase. What will their rankings hold? Who will get to fight for center and who will not even get to stand on stage?
Find out next week on Produce 99!
And then, finally, the current rankings flash across the screen.
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