A team battle with big consequences! Which girls will win and gain the extra votes, and which girls will lose?

Find out now on Produce 99
 

There’s a recap of the battles of last week. The two Like Ooh Ahh teams squared it off as Yuki pulled hers into a victory, and the IOI battle went head to head but left the viewers hanging before they could find out who won. What will the results of that battle be?

Chanhee stands ready on stage, cue cards in his hand and suit as sharp as ever. “Welcome back to Produce 99, national producers! Are you ready to the see the result of a week of hard practice, blood, sweat, and tears~?” He sings the latter to the tune of BTS.

The crowd screams YES in response.

Chanhee laughs. “Ah nothing like some good enthusiasm. As you know, the girls will compete in two teams against each other and our live audience here will decide who wins and who loses. They battle for honour, and of course for the 4000* extra votes granted to the winner, to be added to their grand total in the eliminations next week. So, it goes without saying that these girls are fighting tooth and nail to win that great advantage, why don’t we see which team won the IOI battle from last week?”

 vs. 

Clips are shown of last week's Very Very Very and Wee Woo performances. Reni shining as Center, Jang Miyoung’s high notes, Lucy's enthusiasm, Sunisa’s rap, Taeyoung’s beauty. Who will end up on top?

There's a small room that's barely big enough to contain the two benches, one black and one white, facing a black screen set in the usual triangle set design. The door opened and both teams filter in, taking their team’s allocated seats.

Miyoung clutches Yeeun's hand. Jiho stays firm but allows Reni to slip an arm through hers. “Let's get this over with,” Jiho says.

On the other side the Superstar F girls are all interlocked into one big mess of nerves. “I can't look!” Taeyoung has her eyes pinched shut, clinging to Sunisa. “Unnie be my eyes!”

“Omo!” Reni points as the screen which has flickered to life just as Lucy jumps so high in fright she lands on Sunisa’s lap.

5...

4...

Yeeun leans closer, her coolness bubbling away almost entirely.

2...

1...

Yeeun face falls as she sees the numbers. Miyoung's lip is quivering while Reni gasps at the number attached to her name.

“What!” Lucy exclaims, eyes as wide as they physically can be. “Is that…” she frantically points at herself.

Taeyoung throws an arm around both Lucy and Sunisa and pulls them close. “We won!! I can't believe it!!!”

“Honestly, I really didn't think we'd win!” Taeyoung says in her interview, face animated. “I was totally cool with just putting together a performance that would at least make people go ‘on, those Fs aren't so bad, you know? But no we actually won! Take that everyone who doubted us!”

Miyoung is shown sobbing,  pulled into a ball and face buried in her legs.

“Of course I’m sad we didn’t win,” Jiho says in hers. “I still think we did a better job overall, but it’s a big learning experience on what the audience looks for in a performance.”

“I don't want to talk about it,” Yeeun glares at whoever conducts the interviews. “Drop it.”

 vs. 

And it's dropped. Back on the stage Chanhee stands ready to introduce the next battle. “Aha! It is time for some good old fashioned classics. Here to do justice to Fin.K.L’s legacy are team 1 with U-Go-Girl and team 2 with Forever Love!”

“Hello we’re OK!” Team 1 says in unison, clad in colourful clothes and doing the OK sign with their hands.

“I’m Choi Bitna, OK!” Choi Bitna says to the style of U Go Girl, looking mildly ridiculous.

“I’m Im Mosu, OK!” Mosu looks much more natural, sending a finger heart with her OK.

“I’m Park Jaeeun, OK!” Jaeeun somehow manages to make it sound y.

“I’m Won Seoyun, OK!”

“I’m Kim Yuna, OK!”

“I-I’m Amano Midori, OK!” Midori stumbles a little over the Korean but she manages and beams at the audience, getting great cheer in return.

“Sometimes sweet, sometimes strong, we’ll show you the perfect performance!” They finish in unison and Chanhee is trying his very hardest not to crack up at the display.

The other team is dressed in only the most al of white dresses. “We are the dreamgirls,” Eunbi introduced her own group and each of them lifts their skirts ever so slightly to do a little curtsy. She winks at the audience which whoots in return. “Let us show you what you dream of.”

“Well well well,” Chanhee steps in. “That’s quite the introduction for both of them, why don’t we see how your practices went last week?”

~*~

The two groups are sitting on the gym floor beside each other, the scene obviously taking place right after the very stressful song race and opponent selection shown last week. The U-Go-Girl group sits around in silence, staring at the lyric sheets in front of them while the atmosphere is very very awkward. Meanwhile Mosu is looking up looking like a guilty puppy.

“So,” Choi Bitna starts gravely. “U-Go-Girl.”

Mosu buries her face in her hands. “The colours were so similar I thought I was grabbing Boombayah but I got U-Go-Girl instead!”

Seoyun puts a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, it’s not your fault.”

“We’re gonna have to make the most of it,”Choi Bitna says. “And we will.”

The distribution of positions goes smoothly until the question of who is center pops up.  “Honestly I think most of you could be center,” Seoyun says. “Choi Bitna and Mosu are charismatic, Jaeeun and Midori are beautiful...”

Midori perks up. “Center!” she repeats.

The girls laugh. “Of course that’s the word she understands,” Mosu jokes.

“I think we should all try out fair and square and take a vote," Choi Bitna says.

They try one by one. Seoyun and Yuna are both unremarkable in their attempts at expressions while Mosu is adorable, Midori is pretty, Choi Bitna is fierce, and Jaeeun is surprisingly y. In the end nearly all of them vote for Choi Bitna.

“You’ve done it before,” Seoyun says. “I would feel very secure with you as our center.”

"Neomu neomu power," Midori adds.

“She has charisma for daaays,” Jaeeun says in her solo interview. “Of course I want to be center too, I want to be center at least once before the show is over for me, but right now I think it’s important to catch everyone’s attention and Choi Bitna knows how to do that more than any of us.”

“I haven’t been a center in Nogizaka46 since I debuted,” Midori says in her own. “But I also don’t think I’m good enough right now to try, I would only be a burden, and Bitna-chan is amazing.”

"I shall dub us the X-Men," Mosu says back in the hall. "We're no avengers, we're cooler and more diverse than that, and we all have the x-factor."

Choi Bitna grins. "I like it. The X-Men. Leggo!"

Across from them their opponents are struggling with their vocals as they desperately try to fill the main vocal slot for Forever Love. Leader Eunbi is first and she sounds absolutely awful. Jisoo is even worse, actively off-key. Only Hyedam manages to shakily hit the notes and the other three applaud. “We have our main vocal!” Eunbi claps her hands together happily.

“No no, I really don’t think I should do it,” Hyedam tries to get out of it, eyes wide, looking like a part of her soul just left her body at the idea. “I couldn’t!”

“Nonsense, you hit the note!” Jisoo backs her labelmate up. “You sounded really good.”

“Please, you have to do it, unnie,” Saebom implores her. “No one else can!”

“That’s how I became main vocal,” Hyedam groans in her confessional. “I don’t know how I’m going to do it but I have no choice.”

“Let’s decide on the center!” Eunbi claps her hands together. “That’s much more important! And we all look the part perfectly.” The camera pans over the four visuals for confirmation. “I assume everyone wants a crack at it, you can be sure there won’t be a group with a prettier center than ours!”

Each of them (badly) sings the chorus line of the song, smiling as prettily as they can while doing it. Eunbi is classical pretty with a dose of smouldering, Jisoo isn’t very interesting but relies on her looks, Hyedam is cute but sweet, but Saebom is the best of them all. She smiles widely, giving it her all with a dose of cuteness and sincerity that cannot be denied. When it comes to voting, Eunbi votes for herself, but Jisoo and Hyedam both vote for Saebom, sealing the deal. “And the center iiis,” Eunbi announces a little sourly. “Saebom!”

“Really?” Saebom smiles from ear to ear. “Oh truly? Thank you so much!”

Unfortunately the group finds that positions are easily picked but dances are a lot harder to grasp. None of them are dancers and they all stare at the screen of the tablet while the video plays. Hyedam tries to copy a few moves but she’s too slow and half of it is wrong anyway. “Lets, eh, watch it again?” Eunbi asks and they do so, but it doesn’t really help anything.

“It was a disaster as soon as we started trying to learn the dance,” Hyedam continues. “We’re all Fs and Ds, none of us are really good or even okay at dancing, I had no idea where to even start learning a choreography without someone teaching me!”

“I really don’t know if we can do it,” Saebom says. “But we can’t give up!”

The ancient question: visuals vs. talent, which shall it be?

It doesn’t take long to find out. The show fast forwards to the first evaluation where Yikwang is smiling at the U-Go-Girl team. They’re all doing very well, Midori is the only one looking a little stiff but she’s keeping up well enough and Yikwang applauds when they’re finished. “I don’t really have anything to add here,” Yikwang says. “You already did great and I look forward to your performance. Midori, work hard to keep up, okay?” He makes a fighting! poses so she understands.

“Yes!” Midori says with a quick bow.

Then the Forever Love team steps up. Saebom is visibly nervous as they take their positions, she in the center. The song starts and they’re a mess, none of them are singing, Hyedam is the only one who seems to have gotten any kind of grasp on the choreography but not too much credit can be given there. “Stop!” Yikwang looks desperate. “What is this? Did you not practice at all?”

“We did,” Hyedam says with equal desperation, glancing at the other members of her team with worry. “We’re just… none of us are dancers…”

“You’re going to need a lot of work to put out something that’s stage ready,” Yikwang says. “I hope you’re up to the challenge.”

Saebom and Hyedam look crushed but Eunbi hasn’t held her chin up higher than she does after the tragic evaluation. She gathers the team and shakes her head. “No, it won’t end like this,” she says. “We’re going to practice and practice until we know that dance well, and then we’re going to practice and practice until we can sing the song well. We will show them what we can do, that with enough willpower the prettiest girls can stand on our own.”

Will the visuals manage to get it together?
 

~*~

Back in the studio Eunbi’s team gets ready to perform first.

“I’m really worried about this team,” Yikwang says backstage in the special room for the trainers. “They had a very rough evaluation.”

“Let’s see if they managed to overcome it,” Eunha says.
 

Kim Eunbi (Lee Nakyung / loose hair), Kim Saebom (Baek Jiheon / flower crown), 
Park Hyedam (Park Somyeong / little bow in her hair), Song Jisoo (Yoo Jina / ponytail)

“Geez, Saebom is cute!” Candy says, face saying she’s grabbing desperately for something nice to say.

There’s a lot of cringes in the backstage room where the other contestants are gathered to watch the performances on a TV. Lots of cringe and shared glances of yikes.

Hyedam almost collapses with relief when they get off-stage. “Oh my gosh we did it!”

Even Eunbi lets out a breath of relief before gathering herself. “We showed them,” she says it more to herself than the others.

Then it’s time for the other team to perform. Mosu looks a little jittery but the rest of the team is calm. It is obvious that Choi Bitna and Midori have done this before, even if Midori looks a little wide-eyed at the sliver of audience they can see from here. Choi Bitna gathers them all up into a huddle. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Boombayah or U-Go-Girl, let’s show them there’s no concept we can’t handle,” she says.

“Fighting!”

There are considerably more cheers when the group comes on. The camera focuses on a lot of audience members, mostly men, carrying Midori banners. There are quite a few others, this time mostly women, carrying banners for Choi Bitna as well, and a good amount of Mosu fans are present too. Mosu is beaming at the attention, she can’t help but wave at one of her fans before Bitna taps her arm and she gets into position.
 

 Choi Bitna (Jeon Soyeon / red shirt), Park Jaeeun (Soojin / pink shirt red hair), 
Im Mosu (Yuqi / pink shirt and black hair),  Amano Midori (Shuhua / blue shirt),
Won Seoyun (Sunisa / yellow shirt), Kim Yuna (Miyeon / striped shirt)

“I didn’t know U-Go-Girl could look so cool!” Candy says with big eyes, this time completely genuine in her compliment.

Yikwang laughs. “Don’t let Lee Hyori sunbaenim hear you say that.”

“No no she looks y but this looked cool!”

Choi Bitna is the picture of confidence as she descends the stairs down to the backstage area. Mosu behind her, not so much, she’s grinning from ear to ear. “Did you see us?!” she asks the camera. “We were amazing!”

Even Midori lets out a breath in relief, one hand on her chest like she’s trying to hold it all in. “That was amazing,” she says. “I’ve never felt such a rush for a performance before! They cheered so loud for us.”

Jaeeun throws her arms over Choi Bitna and Seoyun. “That’s what hard work and a good team can do!”

~*~
 

Both teams filter into the votes reveal room, Choi Bitna’s team a lot more confident than Eunbi’s. They hardly have time to settle down before the screen turns on and the countdown begins.

5...

Mosu grabs Seoyun’s arm in anticipation, eyes wide and plastered onto the screen.

3...

Hyedam’s lip quivers.

1...

Hyedam bursts out into tears and Saebom soon follows, while on the other seats Mosu lets out a cheer before glancing guiltily towards the sobbing losers. Midori reaches out across the seats and grabs Hyedam’s hand. “It’s okay,” she says in her accented Korean. “It’s okay.” She just repeats it, unable to say anything more, and looks distressed herself that she can do or say nothing else to the crying girl.

Choi Bitna just nods at the results and shares a glance with Jaeeun where neither of them are able to suppress their smile.

“It always feels good to win,” Choi Bitna says in her interview. “But I also know that in the end how the national producers feel about you matters more. I hope they keep that in mind, it helps.”

Hyedam is shown drying her tears. “We did our best,” she says when she composes herself. “Nothing more we could have done.”
 

~*~
 

 vs. 

And it is time to carry on with the show! “Up next we’ll have a fierce battle. Representing the strong girl crush Blackpink, here is team 1 with Boombayah and team 2 with Whistle!”

“Black World in your area!” Team 1 chant together as they’ve entered the stage wearing black edgy clothes to fit their concept.

“Let us take you into our world,” Na Chaerin says with a wink and is rewarded by screams from the audience.

“We’re After Eight!” The other team introduces themselves, this one quite a bit larger and looking chic in their blouses and shorts.

“We’re a snack to the eye and the ears and the heart,” Yoon Goeun says. “Look forward to it!:

“Now Hyemi, you’re going to be showing us your very first rap stage aren’t you?” Chanhee asks.

Hyemi nods with a proud smile. “I’ve never rapped before but Na Chaerin taught me. I hope you’re all excited to find out if I’ll sink or swim!” The audience cheers in response and Hyemi’s smile grows bigger, feeding off their energy.

“Why don’t we see how you fared,” Chanhee says.

Turning the clock back to the first day of practice and the Boombayah team is having some issues. They’re sitting in a practice room going over their song and Na Chaerin’s rap is fire, but Hyemi is rapping too and she’s terrible, Hana is even worse, and Saeron is struggling to be a vocalist. The whole result is pitiful and Na Chaerin cringes.

“I’m rapping!” Hyemi says proudly in her interview, she actually looks excited at the prospect.

Na Chaerin grunts in her own confessional. “I thought Hyemi was one of the rappers in her team. Turns out none of my girls are rappers…” She looks off into the distance and part of her soul visibly disintegrates. She lets out one big sigh. “It’s not totally hopeless. I can fix this.”

In the room Hyemi is sitting on her own. She’s going through her lines over and over and over again, snapping her fingers to the beat. “Been a bad girl, I know I am. I’m so hot, I need a fan…” Her English is very accented and she’s struggling getting the words out even in the Korean bits. “Racks on Reks- Racks. Racks on Racks I’m flet- fletch- flekusing crazy? Aaah what do these words even mean?!”

Na Chaerin opens the door and peeks into the room to see Hyemi sitting alone trying to pronounce flexing. She sighs and can’t help but smile “Come on.” she pulls the sheet towards her. “Let’s split these up into chunks, okay? Listen to the beat like this. RACKS on RACKS I’m FLEXing CRAzy, see how the intonation goes?”

Hyemi nods eagerly and listens attentively.

“She’s my responsibility,” Na Chaerin tells the camera. “And she volunteered to take the second rap part even though she’s not a rapper. I have to help her.” She frowns and looks off to the side again and lets out a very very deep sigh. “Gods of kpop help me.”

Next up is the vocal and rap evaluation. The group is standing in front of Woosung and Hana, the latter of which is nodding appreciatively while Na Chaerin does her rap. Then Hyemi follows and instantly stumbles. “Racks on reks eh fletch- flets-” it only takes on jumbled line for her to lose everything instantly.

Hana’s smile evaporates. “Try it again,” she commands.

“Racks on fletch- no”

“Again.”

“Racks on racks flashing-”

“Again.”

“Racks on racks on craz-” Hyemi is looking more and more distressed with each attempt.

Hana sighs. “Have you ever rapped before?”

Hyemi shakes her head, eyes wide.

“I thought so. It’s not easy, is it?”

Hyemi shakes her head again, eyes wider.

Hana taps the rhythm with her pen on her clipboard. “Racks and racks I’m fletching crazy, repeat it back to me.”

Hyemi clears . “Racks on racks I’m f-fletch-ing crazy.”

“Try it again.”

“And again.”

“And again.”

Hana makes her say the one line over and over and over and over again until it comes out smoothly. “If you have no feel for rap yet, all you can do is memorize the rhythm until you mumble it in your sleep. That’s how I started, that’s how a lot of idol rappers start. Memorization of intonation and rhythm.” She smiles. “I’d better hear you perform it perfectly, okay?”

Hyemi smiles too and nods. “Yes, sungsaengnim!”

True to her word, Hyemi is shown practicing at all sorts of times. In the corner of the practice room while the others go over the choreo. Above a bowl of ramyun during lunch. In her bed at 3 AM until Na Chaerin throws a pillow at her to shut her up. Backstage while a stylist is working on her hair.

~*~
 

And, finally, in the wings before they go onstage. “Racks on racks I’m flexing crazy,” she whispers to herself right up until the group is called on stage to perform. “Racks on racks-” Na Chaerin nudges her and Hyemi nods, shutting up as they enter the stage.

It’s now or never.
 

Seung Hyemi (Go Yujin / turtleneck);  Na Chaerin / Lee Chaejung / stripey tunic);
Choi Hana (Park Chanjoo / white shorts);  Jeon Saeron (Won Seoyeo / bowie shirt); 
Lim Siseon (Kim Sohee / black shirt no print)

Hana doesn’t say anything during Hyemi’s rap break, she just smiles with obvious pride.

“Wow!” Eunha looks star-struck. “Who knew Hyemi would be so pretty?”

“She definitely stood out the most,” Yoonjung agrees. “She belongs on stage.”

Hana nods, smile widening. “She does.”

Hyemi squeals and hugs Na Chaerin as they get off-stage. “You did it!” Na Chaerin grins.

“I did!” Hyemi gushes. “Oh, I did!”

Back on stage Chanhee is back to commence MCing duty. “That’s a performance that’s going to be hard to top, don’t you think?” Screams from the audience confirm that sentiment. “Our next team is sure going to give it their best, but first, let’s see how they manage their practice, shall we?”

Earlier that week, the Whistle team is shown practicing the dance, and they’re the biggest group yet. Eight of them are in one part of the practice hall and they’re already making mistakes. Leader Goeun, the only A in the group, is trying hard to get a handle on the dance from a practice vid on an ipad but she’s having trouble translating the image to movements. She’s joined by Junghwa and Inree but all of them are just as confused.

“Blackpink is the group I wanted to avoid most,” Haesung says. “I was trying so hard to get Twice so we could get a song that works with our numbers. Ah Blackpink…” she buries her face in her hands. “It’s so hard!”

“I love listening to Blackpink don’t get me wrong,” Inree says in her own interview, looking just as distraught. “But performing their songs….” she lets out a tremendous and defeated sigh. “I don’t even know where to begin getting any sort of swag.”

“I think we have some good trainees, we really do,” Junghwa says with confidence. “We have good singer and good rapper, all we need is believe in ourselves. Who cares that we have a lot of members, that’s just more girls to vote for, right? It’s an advantage!”

Next to them the Boombayah team is already practicing the full choreography, with Na Chaerin guiding her team. Meanwhile Goeun is slowly teaching her group as she and Dahee second-guess moves half the time and Inree and Haesung are already having trouble grasping them at the slow pace.

“I’m really worried about this team,” Dahee confesses in her interview. “We have the skills, I’m sure we do, but nothing is falling into place… no, we have to do well. There is no such thing as a do-over.”

It looks like Dahee was right to be nervous, their vocal and rap evaluation in front of Woosung and Hana isn’t going very well at all. The whole group is singing through the song but Sooyoung sounds unmotivated, the rappers sound very unconvincing, and as a whole the song sounds more like a question mark than an exclamation mark.

“Sooyoung, are you bored?” Woosung asks out of nowhere.

Sooyoung actually takes a step back, looking like a deer in the headlights. “N-No?”

“Then why are you singing like you’re sitting on the sofa watching some uninteresting drama?” He leans back into his seat with half-lidded, bored eyes, popping an imaginary crisp into his mouth and mimicing Sooyoung’s singing. “Idaero jinachiji mayo neodo nacheoreom nal ijeul suga eobtdamyeon whoa a a~. Do you hear how that sounds? Ryu Haesung, sing your part, please, right at the start.”

Haesung nods and sings her opening lines with just the right amount of lazy swag.

Woosung points at her with his pen. “Now that is energy and swag, Haesung here knows how to deliver. I suggest all of you take a page from her book if you want the audience to pay attention to the right things.”

“Do you have any confidence at all, as a group?” Hana jumps in. “Your rappers sound like they’re questioning themselves every line, is there a question mark attached to any of these lines? Well?”

Dahee shakes her head. “There isn’t.”

“That’s right there isn’t.” She’s silent for a moment, just staring at them all and the girls squirm in discomfort. “You’re all actual rappers, you have trained as rappers, your profiles tell me that you're rappers, correct?”

The girls nod with downcast eyes.

“So either your profiles are lying to me or you all just decided to show the worst you’re capable of today.” Hana looks seriously pissed. “You had better practice and be careful or Seung Hyemi will upstage you without any experience at all.”

The camera catches Hyemi, who’s sitting down to the side with the rest of the Boombayah team, looking startled at being singled out.

“How come we’re given more grief than the girl who couldn’t even remember her lyrics??” Park Gido demands in her interview. “For real though, we weren’t perfect but we were better than Hyemi. She’s not even a rapper! That was suchs bull- eeh nonsense?”

“It was… harsh critique,” Dahee says a little begrudgingly. “But we took it and we worked on it and I’m sure that we can deliver now.”

Will they whistle like a missile or will they bomb bomb?

Ryu Haesung (Lee Seoyeon / black dotted blouse and ponytail));   Yoon Goeun (Cho Yuri / flower blouse); Lee Junghwa (Lee Saerom /  white dotted blouse); 
Lee Inree (Lee Haein / black sparkly blouse and fringe);  Wang Sooyoung (Park Jiwon / silver blouse);  Choi Dahee (Kim Myungji / orange blouse);  
Park Gido (Hong Siwoo / labo shirt); Lee Junghyun (Lee Youngyoo / see-through white blouse)

There are cheers and whoops from the other contestants watching when Goeun does her twerk. Woosung nods. “They improved,” he says.

~*~
 

Both teams make it to the results room where they sit down on the provided seats (well, Haesung, Goeun, and Junghwa sit on the floor since the 8 of them don’t fit). There’s a real tension in the room, Dahee casts a nervous look at Hyemi, who is chewing on her hair with nervous. She almost jumps out of her skin when the countdown starts.

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

Hyemi just stares at her score with gaping open, unable to compute.

Chaerin laughs at her. “Hyemi, close your mouth!”

Hyemi closes and opens and closes .

“I just- I just couldn’t believe it,” she says in her interview, still looking flabbergasted. “That was me?! I wasn’t even center, how did this happen?! Was there an error in the voting? There must have been.” She leans forward toward. “Do you guys re-count the votes? Do you double check?”

Chaerin pulls her into a rough embrace, laughing with joy. The other three Boombayah girls are a little less enthusiastic.

“Did they see us at all?” Siseon asks in tears during her interview.

The Whistle girls look defeated at the numbers in front of them.

“We didn’t even stand a chance,” Inree says in her interview.

“I guess she won.” Gido looks defeated in front of the pink Produce screen.
 

~*~

 vs. 

Chanhee stands ready to introduce the next two teams, he looks at his cue card and smiles. “Ah the next battle will be a tough one. Which girl group do you think of when I say impeccable dancing and singing alike?”

“Gfriend!” Is the overwhelming response thrown back by the audience.

“That’s right! Our next two groups will be duking it out, Gfriend style! Here is team 1 with Rough and team 2 with Love Whisper!”

The show gets right into the thick of things, the Rough team is sitting on the floor of the gym and things don’t seem to be going smoothly. “I want to try being center,” Kang Chaerin says, forward right from the start.

“I didn’t manage to become main vocal,” Kang Chaerin says in confessional. “I really thought that if I don’t get center I wouldn’t be noticed at all.”

“I think we all want to be center,” Kim Jinri says quickly. “Don’t we? We should all try out for it.”

“I mean, you would have to be crazy not to want to be center,” Jinri asks. “It guarantees spotlight!”

“I think Chaerin should be the center,” Ha Jinsil says. “She looks very striking and I think she’ll be able to catch the attention of the audience.”

Yoon Joori and Rachel both nod their agreement, leaving only Jinri looking sour at being ignored. Kang Chaerin smiles as she receives the center sticker and sticks it proudly onto the front of her shirt. “Thank you, I won’t let you down."

Then  it's time for the dance evaluation, Bae Yoonjung is watching them with an eagle eye as they show what they've been practicing so far and it's not impressive.

“Where is the center?” Yoonjung asks.. He sticks her hand out in front of her. “This is where the center should be.”

Kang Chaerin moves over, looking embarrassed. The dancing does not improve.

“Who’s the leader here?” Yoonjung demands.

Ha Jinsil raises her hand. “I am,” she says, none of her characteristic confidence is left.

“Did you practice at all? Why are you all so out of sync? It looks like you each learned the dance in a different room.”

A flashback shows exactly what has been happening. The group has been taking it easy, taking frequent breaks during practices. Even when they do practice it’s messy, everyone seems to be doing their own thing. Off to the side Rachel is practicing her notes while Kang Chaerin is struggling with the dance and Ha Jinsil and Kim Jinri are teaching her two different things.

At one point they’re shown in one of their dorm room sitting and eating snacks in their pyjamas. “Shouldn’t we be practicing?” Kang Chaerin asks, chewing on some potato chips.

“We should-” Jinsil starts but she’s interrupted by Rachel.

“Relax! We've got this!” Rachel says. “You've seen what we're up  against right? I mean I feel bad but this won't exactly be hard. We can get a decent night sleep.”

The flashback ends and back in the evaluation with Yoonjung, Kang Chaerin is looking down in shame. “Not only have you not memorized the dance yet, but you're an unremarkable center. You're forgettable . I recommend changing center to someone who’s more charismatic. Is there anyone else who wanted the center position?”

Kim Jinri raises her hand immediately. “I did,” she says.

“Give it a shot."

Jinri performs the chorus on her own and she’s a lot better than Kang Chaerin was. She's the only one in the group who knows the dance and she's confident in her performance, two things Kang Chaerin was sorely lacking. Yoonjung nods and taps his clipboard. “Jinri makes a much better center.”

A closeup of Kang Chaerin reveals that’s she’s looking very tense.

“I can’t believe I failed so soon already,” she says in her interview. “That really hurt, and that my team would abandon me so quickly.” She sighs. “I mean I get it, the performance must come first, but I wanted to at least try one more time.”

“I got center!!” Jinri looks over the moon in her interview, pointing energetically at the Center sticker now on her shirt. “I did it!!”

~*~

Back in the present the group gets on stage, ready to perform.

“I’m curious to how they’ll do,” Bae Yoonjung says to the other trainers. “They had a tumultuous time practicing.”

“The rocky ones are sometimes the best ones, right?” Candy asks.

Yoonjung looks sceptical.

Kim Jinri (Jang Gyuri / tied hair);  Rachel Oh (Kim Nayoung / brown hair); 
Kang Chaerin (Lee Yoojung / bob); Ha Jinsil (Cho Yuri / ponytail); 
Yoon Joori (Kim Eunseo / loose black hair)
 

“Very impressive!” Woosung says. “The main vocalist especially is quite capable, maybe there’s some merit in what you said, Candy.”

Candy beams. “Yeah there is!”

The girls look relieved as they go backstage. Jinri looks happier than she's ever looked. “That was amazing!” She says before sending some crazy winks at the backstage camera.  “Oh my god there were so many cheers!”

Jinsil looks extremely  relieved. “I'm happy,” she tells the camera. “We did it well. Good job!”

 

The Love Whisper team is ready in the wings. They're a lot more nervous than the other team was and it shows. “Whatever happens, we'll know that we did our best,” leader Yang Jeongha says tensely as they watch the Rough team get on stage. “I want you all to know I’ll be proud of you regardless of how we do.”

The show returns to the first day of the challenge. They're all sitting dejectedly in the gym, the girls who didn’t get picked during the team selection. There is a sense of hopelessness in this corner, all of them look deeply miserable.

“Gfriend songs are really hard,” Yong Jisun says in a confessional. “It was the worst song we could have gotten. We all felt like this was an impossible thing being asked of us.”

“Come on,” Jeongha says desperately. “Doesn’t anyone have any parts they would like? Center? Main vocal? Anything?”

None of the other girls are responsive, they’re heaped up together, some of them looking close to tears and others just staring into nothingness.

It’s also the group with the most Japanese girls, counting Aihara Yuka, Fujioka Mai, and Uchio Maki, the latter of which stares at the lyric sheet in confusion. “Can you read hangul?” Jeongha asks in fluent English. She points at the words on the paper. “Read? Okay?”

“A little,” Maki says in shaky Korean, while Mai just shakes her head.

“At least there’s no rap in this song?” she offers weakly in an attempt to raise the mood but nothing happens. “Does anyone want to be center at least? It doesn’t mean you have to sing a lot, just center?” she sounds desperate for any kind of feedback.

“I’ll do it,” Yuka says, the only one of the Japanese girls whose Korean is somewhat passable.

Their attention is grabbed by the group next to them where Rachel and Kang Chaerin are almost flawlessly singing Yuju’s high note in a competition for main vocal. The camera zooms in on Jisun who swallows, sound effect included.

“I ended up the main vocal,” Jisun continues her little interview. She looks completely dejected.. “No one else wanted to do it.” She buries her face in her hands. “We’re doomed!”

The next scene is the dance practice and the group is failing hard. Not only do they barely managed to sing at all, Yong Jisun included, but half of them get lost instantly. Jisun keeps glancing at Jeongha, trying desperately to copy her moves and keep up. Mai is completely lost, three moves behind, and looking panicked. Yuka, the center, tries to keep up but does half the moves wrong and keeps almost bumping into Maki.

Bae Yoonjung’s face looks strained. “You’re the leftover team, aren’t you?”

Jeongha flinches but nods. “We are.”

A note of sympathy creeps into Yoonjung’s features. “You’re the leader aren’t you? You have a long road ahead. It’s up to you to whip them into shape, okay?”

Jeongha gives a tense nod.

“It’s not going to be easy but it won’t be impossible. Good luck.”

After the evaluation the team morale is at an all time low. Jeongha is sitting in a corner away from the others, curled into a ball, face against her knees and hidden from view. The shudders of her shoulders are the only inclination that she’s crying.

Jisun is the one who notices first. “Oh unnie.” she rushes to Jeongha’s side and throws her arm around her but Jeongha doesn’t look up. The other girls join a bit more apprehensively. “It's okay unnie, we're here.” Jisun rubs her back.

Jeongha looks up now and her face is red and wet and puffy from crying. “I just want us to do our best,” she says, sniffling. “I want to show that I can do this but nothing is working. Don't you all want to show that you're more than just the rejects, too?”

“Of course we do!” Jisun says.

“If we don't do this then everything will be for nothing,” Jeongha continues. “All of this.”

“I'm just a slow learner,” Jisun says. “But if there's anything I've learned it's that with enough practice anything is possible.”

“And that's why we won't give up,” Nami chimes in.

“We'll make it works, unnie,” Yuka says.

Jisun gets up and holds out her hand. Jeongha looks at the outstretched hand through teary eyes and for a moment it looks like she won't take it, then she sniffles and accepts. Jisun pulls her up to her feet.

“It felt like whatever we did it wouldn't be enough,” Jeongha says in her interview. “Like however much I bashed my head at the wall, nothing came of it.” She dries her eyes here, too, and then she smiles. “But we came together. We didn't give up.”

There's a montage of the group working day and night to get this dance down. Jisun is seen practicing her notes in a booth while Jeongha is leading the dance practices step by step, with a timestamp showing the practices went on well into the night even the day before the performance.

~*~ 
 

And now they are here, ready to go on stage. “Let's give them our best!” Jeongha says. “That's all we can do.”

“Fighting!”

Yang Jeongha (Son Eunchae / lil bun), Yoon Jisun (Wang Ke / loose hair,
Fujioka Mai (Yamada Noe / ponytail), Uchio Maki (Muto Tomu / hair half tied back),
Aihara Yuka (Ichikawa Minami / white headband), Ahn Nami (Nagano Serika / Two tiny lil pigtails)
 

There is a thunderous applause in the contestant room right when Jisun does her desperate high note.. In the room with the judges they're smiling too. “She did it!” Eunha clutches at her heart. “Jisun did it! I'm so proud of her.”

“They've come a very long way,” Yoonjung says, smiling that proud lopsided smile of hers.

The girls hug frantically when they get off the stage. Jeongha burst out crying again while the others comfort her. “I can't believe we did it!”

“It’s over unnie why are you still crying?” Jisun laughs and her hair.

“It’s happy tears!” Jeongha laughs and brushes them off her face. “Come on, let’s go to the other room.”

~*~
 

Both teams enter the small room where they'll be given the results. Jeongha's face is still a little puffy from crying but she's tense now, none of those smiles from before. The Love Whisper team all hold hands. The Rough team just looks at the screen, waiting for it to activate, and then it does.

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

Jinri’s face falls when she sees the few votes she's been given. The Love Whisper team’s shoulders all sag and the younger girls start trying. Not Jeongha this time though, she just bites her lip and takes in the scores.

Jisun frowns at the screen but Jeongha reaches out and squeezes her hand. “We tried.”

Kang Chaerin reaches out to Saebom and gives her a hug. “You did really well,” she says, trying to comfort the girl while the others in her group stand around a little awkwardly. “I’m sorry!”

“I felt so bad for all of them,” Kang Chaerin says in a voice over while the image on screen remains her hugging Saebom in slow motion. “I wasn’t the one who picked them to go against but they still only got this song because of us. Maybe they could have done better with a different one.”

“I didn't think we'd manage to win this,” Jeongha says in her interview. “I don’t think any of us are surprised. At least we worked hard and gave the best performance we could.” She nods and brushes away a single tear. “It’s okay.”

~*~

 vs. 

“This next girl group has shaken the nation with their catchy tunes and daring concepts,” Chanhee reads off the cue cards with a cheeky smile. “I sure listen to this group all year round, here to capture your heart with 365’s songs are team 1 with Peekaboo and team 2 with Step!”

The two teams come on stage and the audience cheers. One pan shows that Jung Gaeul’s center stint has already gotten her a number of fans. She waves at them, smiling wide at the attention. Lexi has some banners too, one of them reading NEVER HAJI HAJIMA, PARK SORA!!! And Lexi stiffles a laugh at the sight of it.

“Hello we’re Black Cat!” team 1 introduces themselves, making little cat paws with their hands.

“We’re gorgeous and elegant,” Jung Gaeul says.

“But we can leave a mark!” Gyeon Youri finishes the catchphrase, miming a clawing.

When the other team steps forward there are a lot fewer cheers. “We’re Kimbab Girls,” they introduce themselves.

“Each of us adds her own flavour and together we’re the perfect kimbab!” Jung Haneul explains.

“Now Jung Gaeul, you’re the center of Naekkoya,” Chanhee says and her fans scream in response. “Doesn’t that put a lot of burden on your shoulders?”

“Of course,” She says. “But my team has got this! With girls like this I don’t feel burdened at all.”

“It must be hard on team 2 as well, going against the center’s team,” Chanhee continues.

“Of course,” Moon Soomi says. “But them winning would be the straightforward thing, right? That’s so boring! Don’t you all love a good underdog story?” More audience screams “Vote for us for a good narrative!”

Chanhee laughs. “Mnet should hire you as a writer,” he says. “Let’s look at your backstage narrative then, Moon Soomi.”

The atmosphere in the Step team is low, they’re all sitting in a circle in the gym, staring at the sheet of paper with no energy at all. The sound of Peekaboo team practicing the song can be heard from behind them.

“We were picked by Gaeul unnie’s team,” Ahn Minji says in defeat. “We all knew we can’t compete with her popularity and talent, it’s a done deal.”

“Come on we should practice,” leader Jung Haneul pleads desperately. “If we just sit here we’re never going to even pose a fight.”

Then Moon Soomi grabs her lyric sheet, rolls it up, and smacks each of them on the head. “None of this,” she says firmly. “We have a song to prepare and if we’re not going to win then we’re at least going to do our best.”

There’s a switch to the vocal practice and it’s like their lack of confidence has completely evaporated. Ahn Minji flawlessly sings the main vocal parts, Lee Yujin is competent on her lead vocals, and to top that off Jung Haneul kills her rap.

Hana and Eunha are smiling by the time they’re done. “That was excellent,” Eunha says. “You kids are a force to be reckoned with.”

“You all fit together very well,” Hana says. “You’re one of the most balanced teams I’ve seen. Moon Soomi, I know you’re not a rapper, but you’re able to convey your lines with so much charisma to make up for it. You're on the right path.”

Soomi beams at the compliments and Haneul sends her an encouraging little smile.

The camera offers a closeup of the Peekaboo team who are watching the practice with tension. Shin Areum, especially, looks almost petrified at their competition.

“Our teamwork is great!” Soomi says in her interview. “Haneul unnie tells them what to do and I make sure they actually do it and then everything is great. Here’s to standing a chance!”

Can David slay Goliath, or will the avengers team be victorious?

~*~

“I look forward to this one,” Hana says right as the team gets onto the stage. “I have a good feeling about this.”
 

Jung Haneul (Tasha / no sleeves);  Moon Soomi (Lee Sian / criss cross sleeves); 
Ahn Minji (Shin Sia / stripey sleeves);  Lee Yujin (Bin Haneul / solid sleeves)

~*~

The Peekaboo team is sitting in the gym determining parts, Jung Gaeul, bearing the mark of leader, motions to a strikingly pretty girl next to her. “So we all agree Areum should be our center, right?”

“The members said that they thought I would be a good leader since I’ve been training for so long,” Gaeul says proudly in her interview. “I thought it would be an honour!”

“You sure you don’t want to be center?” Areum asks a little hesitant.

“Nah!” Gaeul says. “I was already center for Pick Me, I’m not greedy for more just yet. Besides, I picked you to be our center, you’re striking!”

Areum strikes a pose. “That’s what I was named for!”

“I have a great feeling about this team,” Gaeul says. “Let’s go learn this dance and kick , shall we?”

But that ends up being easier said than done. The scene shifts to Gaeul trying to teach the dance. “Okay so put your leg out like this and swivel out and-” She sounds sure of herself but Lexi Park is very obviously side-eying her.

“You’re out of formation.” Lexi says.

“Oh!” Gaeul looks back and quickly steps to the side. She mimes wiping sweat of her brows. “Phew, so I was! It’s so hard without a mirror.”

Another instance Lexi just takes over. “No it’s supposed to be like this,” she demonstrates a move Gaeul had been doing wrong.

“They kept contradicting each other,” Shin Areum says. “Gaeul unnie would say one thing and Lexi unnie another it was so confusing, I didn’t know who to follow. It was like they were competing on who would lead.”

“Which one of you is the main vocal?” Eunha asks during the vocal evaluations.

Gaeul raises her hand. “I am.”

“I ended up being the main vocalist,” Gaeul says in her interview. “I had… kind of forgotten about that part when I was choosing my team. But my voice is stable and has the nicest tone so here I am!” She crosses her fingers. “Here’s to hoping I can do a good job!”

Back in the evaluation they’re running through the song and it sounds nice, all of them are fairly competent singers, even Areum just about holds her own, and Ito Chiyo just has a rap line but she’s managing. Then comes Gaeul’s part and… she sounds quite nice. Her voice is a little high and a little thin and a little shaky on the belts but she holds her own and Eunha nods in approval.

“Your voice suits the song very much,” she says. “I think all of you are doing a phenomenal job. Chiyo, you need to work on your pronunciation a little but aside from that I look forward to seeing your performance.”

“She liked my voice!” Gaeul’s interview continues. “It was such a relief to hear! Look forward to our performance, we’ll show you what we can do.”

There’s a montage of Gaeul practicing and practicing and practicing her lines while in the background the other girls can be seen practicing dancing, or Lexi helping Chiyo and Areum with the movements.

They perform the full song for all of the judges for the dress rehearsal and things go really well. All of them have the dance down pat, even Areum and Chiyo, and Gaeul hits her high note well. All of the judges smile with approval.

“I have nothing to add to this,” Yoonjung says. “You’re ready.”

Eunha gives them a thumbs up. “Good luck tomorrow!”

“Thank you!” the girls bow in unison.

~*~

“Come on, let’s do a cheer,” Gaeul says before they’re all called on stage. They all put their hands together.

“Fighting!!”

Shin Areum (Wang Yiren / orange sleeves);  Jung Gaeul (Jang Gyuri / ponytail);  
Lexi Park (Lee Gaeun /  half ponytail / super sparkly top);  Ito Chiyo (Matsui Jurina / brown belt);  Han Maeri (Alex Christine / shorty);  Gyeon Youri (Bae Eunyoung / bob)
 

The girls in the backstage waiting room look shocked at the screen, unable to compute that the center of the show had just made such a big mistake. There’s a closeup of Ha Bada with her hands in front of just staring at the screen.

Gaeul laughs nervously as she goes off stage, it’s obviously that she’s trying to keep a smile up while struggling with her emotions.

“I feel like maybe we stand a chance,” Ahn Minji says with a hopeful look. “We might just win this.”

~*~
 

The groups filter into the results room. Gaeul sits a little apart at first until Areum pulls her in. "It's okay unnie," she says. 

Gaeul smiles. "Let's see how this story ends."
 

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

Throughout the reveal there is a glimmer of hope for the other team. Han Maeri looks devastated as she gets only 4 votes, Jung Haneul easily beats out Gyeon Youri, and Moon Soomi’s mouth falls over when she sees how many more votes she has than Lexi Park. And then Jung Gaeul’s score is revealed and the averages flash on screen and Step team’s faces fall.

“Woah!” Gaeul gapes at the result. “That’s me?”

“Perks of being the Pick Me Center, I guess,” Yujin says with a clear edge of bitterness.

“We came so close.” Minji’s shoulders are sagged and her eyes are watery as she sits for her own interview, still wearing the stage outfit.”I’m not sure if it’s better or worse to lose by so little.”

Back in the room Soomi pulls all of her girls in. “It’s okay, we got real close and we did our best!”

“I guess that’s no surprise reversal for us,” Soomi says sadly in her interview. “The center wins anyway.”

~*~

  vs. 

And then it’s time for the next battle, the show doesn’t wait for tears to dry. “The next team will be duking it out to the tunes of one of the nation’s greatest girl groups, APINK!” Chanhee says, back in his MCing role. “Team 1 is here to bless your ears with No No No while team 2 will try to win you over with LUV.”

“Hello we are Dugeun Dugeun!” the first team says in unison, wearing matching sailor dresses and making a heartbeat motion with their hands.

“We’ll make your heart race faster!” Song Liling says with a wink and a guy in the audience screams his lungs out in response. “So look forward to our performance.” There’s already a mountain of applause for the group and the camera catches several fans in the audience with Paradise banners up for Liling.

“I heard you had a little center trouble,” Chanhee says.

Liling laughs. “Don’t all teams? But I have the utmost faith in our center, she’s going to do great!”

The camera focuses on Fen who smiles a little embarrassed at the attention.

“How about we take a look at how that all went?” Chanhee asks.

“I think Fen should be center,” Liling says right off the bat. “I think she has what it takes, she’s so pretty!”

Leader Seo Bitna looks surprised. “You don’t want to be center yourself?”

“Well of course I do,” Liling says. “But I think Fen would do a much better job. Do you want to be center, Fen?”

Fen considers it and then she nods. “I want to try,” she says.

Liling smiles proudly and sticks the center sticker onto her shirt. “Then it’s official! Center Fen!”

“I got elected as center!” Fen says happily in her solo interview. “I thought people would be fighting over the center position and I was totally fine with not getting it but they all said I would suit the concept!” Her face falls as something occurs to her. “Oh no, that’s a lot of pressure. Oh no I hadn’t thought of that before.”

The team immediately sets to work on the song, and thankfully after just one watch of the provided video, Seo Bitna already has a good grasp of the dance. The group sets to work with good cheer as Seo Bitna breaks the dance down to bite sized chunks and starts teaching. She's patient with all of them and before long they have the basics down.

When evaluations roll around it's really no wonder that, for the most part, they have the dance down pat. Unfortunately it's center Fen who falters.

“Very impressive everyone,” Candy applauds them. “This is what good teamwork looks like, I can tell you all work really well together! There's just one thing.” She looks at Fen.. “Fen honey, you need more time and... some more expressions.”

Fen looks alarmed (which is an expression). “I'm sorry!”

“The center for this song is all about the dance break,” Candy says. “You have your weakest dancer the center position, Why? Why not appoint Seo Bitna instead so she can show everyone how it's done?”

“We think that Fen's visuals will be appreciated as Center,” Liling says. “She suits the image the most.”

“I'm not going to force you to change it of course,” Candy says. “But if you keep Fen as center you'll have to teach her right, else it can ruin the whole performance. It'll be easier to just switch and mask her shortcomings.”

After the evaluation the team huddled together. “What are we going to do?” Seo Bitna asks. There's a glint of longing in her eyes.

“Maybe we should switch,” Ming Fen says, looking dejected.

“There's wisdom in that,” Hong Gayoung says. “It'd be the easiest thing to do.”

“Nonsense.” Liling grabs Fen's hands. “We chose you because you suit center and I'm not about to just give up at the first evaluation.” She turns to the other girls. “What say you? Want to help me turn Fen into a super center?”

“Yes!” Lee Soomi cheers.

Seo Bitna nods. “I think it can be done,” she says. “If we work hard and focus on Fen we can do it.”

Gayoung looks a little reluctant but she nods. “Alright, but you'll have to work hard, okay?”

Fen has stars in her eyes, that's how awed she looks. “I will!”

“They all believed in me!” She says in her interview, eyes still sparkling like she escaped from a shoujo manga. “I can't let them down."

“I'm not someone who boots out a center so quickly,” Liling says. “Fen is gorgeous and sincere and she embodies that innocent look, she's the perfect center, she just has to practice more and we have her back.”

Footage is shown of Fen practicing hard both with the group and on her own. The members seem to take turns in one on one sessions and she improves rapidly.

Will Fen manage? Or will the whole performance be a No No No?
 

  Ming Fen (Noh Jisun / fringe),  Song Liling (Yu Jina / black hair); 
Seo Bitna (Chu Wonhee / tied hair w. fringe);  Hong Gayoung (Lee Dahee / shorter black hair); Lee Soomi  (Bae Eunyoung / tied hair no fringe) 

The members look radiant as they take their finishing poses and the girls in the waiting room watching the performance go wild.

“Aaah that was so wholesome!” Candy says.

Eunha smiles. “Very well done!”

There’s a shot of the nervous team 2 watching from backstage.

How did team 2’s practices go?

On the floor of the gym, leader Yoonbyul is busy. She’s single handedly teaching the members of her team the dance and correcting them where they’re wrong. “No, right foot forward-” “Sona you’re not in position-” “Make sure you lean to the side during the position change or you’ll bump into Jina.”

“Yoonbyul unnie decided all of our position,” Kim Jihee says in her interview. “But I’m center!”

“She definitely has… a vision,” Baek Jina says in hers. “And she doesn’t like things straying from her vision...”

“I wouldn’t have picked APink myself if I could have,” Yoonbyul says in her own confessional. “It’s so… cute. I’m not really the person to go to for cute, I’d really hoped for Boombayah but Na Chaerin beat Chanmi to it and here we are. A group with two rappers and an APink song…”

Yoonbyul works her members hard and there’s a shot of Sona staring longingly at the No No No team beside them who are laughing as Liling messes up and Seo Bitna scolds her jokingly. “Come on Sona, pay attention,” Yoonbyul snaps her fingers in front of Sona’s face. “Get back in formation.”

While it might not be a pleasant environment, Yoonbyul does create results. During the dance evaluation the girls set down a near perfect performance, and yet Candy is frowning. “There is a tension here,” she  says. “Don’t you get along?”

The members of the team glance nervous at one another. Even the No No No team who is watching the evaluation look confused.

“I can’t deny that you know the steps,” Candy says. “But there’s all tension and no girlishness! You miss the light daintiness the song require, it’s almost like it’s a fight of who does it better. Where is your teamwork?”

Nobody answers her and she sighs. “You don’t have to answer, but like this it’s not a very nice performance to watch, do you understand?”

Yoonbyul nods.

After the evaluation the group remains awkward with each other, not sure what to say after that sort of feedback. “Well,” Yoonbyul says. “She said our dancing was good, we just have to work on being more… girlish… we can do that.”

“Of course it hurts,” Yoonbyul says in her interview. “I’m the leader and she basically told me I’m a bad leader! But I’m here to guide them and lead them and with hard work we can show our best selves.”

There’s a switch to Sona’s interview as she just inhales and lets out a deep sigh.

~*~
 

“Let’s show our best selves,” Yoonbyul says right before the girls are about to go onstage. “Fighting!”

“I have to show that I made the right decisions,” Yoonbyul’s voice is projected over her worried face. Then the girls get called on stage an the rest will be history.
 

Kim Jihee (Naeun / middle part);  Song Yoonbyul (Jinsol / headband brown hair);  
Park Chanmi (Rachel / ponytail);  Baek Jina (Yena / bun); 
Park Sona (Chaewon / Headband black hair);  Zhu Mengjie (Chaekyung / headband caramel hair)

~*~

After the performance both groups filter into the result room and take a seat on the bench. Team 1 is noticeably united, holdings hands. “Oh I can’t stand the pressure!” Liling says in exaggerated distress.

“It’ll soon be over unnie,” Fen responds.

On the other side team 2 is a lot more tense. Yoonbyul stares head on as if showing any kind of nerves would be a show of weakness.

“There it is!” Seo Bitna calls out, grabbing Gayoung’s arm.

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

Seo Bitna grabs Gayoung tighter. “Look at your score!” She says. “And Fen and unnie!”

“We did it!” Liling pulls them all in with both arms. “We won!” She leans her head down towards Fen’s. “You are the best center ever!!”

Fen smiles wide. “You’re the best leader, unnie.”

Gayoung laughs. “Amen to that.”

Yoonbyul says nothing, she just looks at the ranking and bunches up her skirt in her hands.

“I’m so happy!” Fen says in her confessional. “I thought I was going to do horribly but I didn’t! I did good!” She’s beaming so much that the voice behind the camera chuckles.

“I’m so proud of all of you.” Liling pulls her team into a big hug. “You did great!”

Jihee glances at them with envy. All there is for their team is their own islands of disappointment.
 

~*~
 

 vs. 

Chanhee is up again to introduce the next team-up. “Up next representing Miss A is team 1 with Bad Girl Good Girl and team 2 with Hush!”

Two groups march out, one clad all in white, and the other clad all in black. There’s screams from the audience and a quick pan shows girls waving NCTizens For Kim Dohee banners with both Doyoung and Dohee’s faces on it. Back on the stage Dohee seems to have seen them as well and is growing red.

“Hello we are Shht!” The group in white each hold a finger in front of her mouths and shush with one leg raised up, showing off their legs in the short shorts.

“Our performance of Hush will be so magical you’ll be hushed the entire time,” Bang Yemi says with a shameless grin.

“We are Chic Chic,” Kayeon says in her turn, speaking for the group in black. “So bad we’re good, no, great.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Chanhee asks. “Let’s find out how Team 2 prepared for their stage, shall we?”
 

The scene shifts to earlier that week, where the Bad Girl Good Girl team is dividing the parts in the gym, or, well, leader Kayeon is. “So our main vocal will be Cho Yeji,” she starts dictating. “Pattita you should take sub vocal 2. Since there’s unfortunately no rap part, I’ll take sub vocal 3. Kim Dohee can do sub vocal 4 and Ji Yona can do the last one.”

Pattita and Yeji glance at each other while Dohee sits farther apart from the others, face troubled but staying quiet.

“Eh, I’m not very confident in my vocal,” Yeji tries to say but she’s quickly cut off by Kayeon.

“Nonsense, your group’s auditions was very good. As for center, I almost shed some real blood trying to get us a song and even if I didn’t manage I think the effort should get me center, right?” She looks at the others. “Are you okay with me being center?”

“I’m not happy at all with the song choice,” Kayeon says in her interview, both the leader and the center sticker stuck prominently to her shirt. “I’m more of a rapper, I’m not a very good vocalist, but I have to work with what I got and I think this team will do well enough, trust me.”

“She was really scary,” Ji Yona lets out a big sigh. “I wish we ha a better song, too. I'm really cute but I don't really know how to be tough.”

Then it’s time for the dance evaluations.

The team shows off what they’ve practiced so far and it’s a bit of a mess. Most of the girls dance well enough, but the only one with any real presence is Dohee. Kayeon is stunning, but there isn’t any substance behind it, she’s just a pretty blank canvas, and Bae Yoonjung’s expression sours.

“What is this?” she demands. “Where is the energy? This song is supposed to be filled with spunk but it looks like you’re performing at a funeral. Who’s the leader, Shin Kayeon right? You were completely forgettable, did all of you choose her for center?”

The girls look down at the ground, an obvious admission.

“I’m sorry,” Kayeon says grudgingly.

“Don’t apologize to me,” Yoonjung says. She points at the other girls with her pen. “Apologize to them. They’re the ones you’re letting down.  You’re pretty, but being pretty is not enough. Is there anyone else who wants to be center? What about you, Kim Dohee?”

Dohee looks startled at the sudden callout. “Me?”

“You did well,” Yoonjung says. “I recommend you switch your center to Dohee.”

There’s an awkward look between them while Dohee tries her best not to look too proud. A close-up of Kayeon shows her biting her lower lip with a dark expression.

The vocal evaluation doesn’t go very smoothly either. They’re all standing in front of Eunha with her keyboard but Yeji keeps going out of tune when she goes high.

“Why can’t you hit the notes?” Eunha asks. “Why were you chosen as main vocalist?”

“It… it was a team decision…” Yeji offers lamely.

“Dohee, why don’t you try,” Eunha asks.

Dohee starts again. “Me?”

Eunha nods. “You have a clear, high pitched voice. Give it a shot.”

Dohee nods and sings the main vocal part and she's a little shaky but she hits them. Eunha claps. “If you want to win this battle I suggest making Dohee your main vocal.”

The show switches to a confessional with Dohee who laughs nervously. “So…. That’s how I became both center and main vocal.” She buries her face in her hands and grunts. “I had better deliver or we’re doomed.”

Will Dohee manage to pull her team to victory?

~*~
 

Back in the studio the team gets onto the stage. The camera focuses on Dohee’s face, she looks drawn and tense as she takes her spot, but as soon as the music starts she’s a star.
 

 Kim Dohee (Kim Minkyung / cat ears); Shin Kayeon (Kang Yebin / bob); 
Ji Yona (Kim Jisung / striped shirt);  Pattita (Kim Woojung / blonde hair); 
Cho Yeji (Kim Eunjung / ponytail black dress)

 

Dohee’s ending pose is more relief than charm and Yona hugs her as soon as the lights turn off. “You did it!”

Dohee looks a little surprised and for a moment it looks like she’ll push Yona away, but she awkwardly gives the girl two pats on the back before disengaging “I did, didn’t I?”

The next team is already in the wings, ready to come out. They’re shown watching the other team perform and Girim’s smile is as wide as physically possible. When the other team takes their final poses, Girim hoots from the wings before Yemi gives her a little tap on the hat. Girim laughs unapologetically. “Sorry, unnie.”

How did team 2’s practice fare?

Their flashback goes straight for the kill, tuning in at their first evaluation with Yoonjung and boy are they a mess. Only Moon Chaewon is dancing well, the others almost seem to be doing a different dance altogether, it resembles an infomercial in its horribleness. There’s a closeup of Dohee cringing as Yemi collides with Girim during a position shift, and then the girls manage to almost throw over the frame they’re dancing with and Yemi only barely manages to stabilize it, and Yoonjung’s face really falls to dangerous levels when Sojin trips and loses her footing during a dip, face planting right on the cold hard ground.

“Stop!” Yoonjung says right as Sojin desperately tries to scramble back to her feet. The girls line up, glancing at each other with expressions that shows that they know exactly how ed they are. “What is this?” Yoonjung asks. “This is one of the biggest messes I’ve ever seen. Did you practice at all?”

“Of course we-” Bang Yemi swallows her words when Yoonjung makes eye contact. “We did,” she tries again.

Chaewon raises her hand timidly. “I, eh, I taught them individually first,” she says. “They needed it.”

“I tried teaching them all together at first,” Chaewon says, clear despair on her face. “But… well…. That happened. Girim unnie is decent enough but the other two… and we also had Yingmei unnie leave- am I supposed to say that? Let’s just say none of this has gone as planned.”

After the beat down they’re all sitting in the practice room. “So,” Yemi starts it off as the leader. “That didn’t go super great.”

Girim laughs. “You can say that again. One of the worst she’s ever seen?”

“But it’s fine!” Yemi continues. “We’re still at the start of the week, of course it didn’t go well yet! Even the other team was a mess.” She grabs the hands of the girls next to her. “It’s going to be okay, we’re just going to work hard and listen very very well to our Chaewonnie’s instructions and we’ll do good, I promise.”

The group practices hard, even when the timestamp shows them going past midnight, past 1AM, past 3AM. “I can’t! Not a moment longer!” Kwon Girim says, spread out on the floor, before Yemi and Chaewon pull her back up and she resumes the practice. Slowly they go from constantly bumping into each other to hardly bumping into each other to a team that actually has their together!

The scene shifts to the dress rehearsals only a day ago. The Hush girls are performing on stage while the trainers watch them and they’re doing well! The singing is still not super great but their dance is actually pretty polished.

“These are the girls you were talking about?” Candy asks Yoonjung. “They were one of the biggest messes you had ever seen?”

Bae Yoonjung looks equally stunned. “They were,” she says, then she smiles one of those rare approving smiles. “They really got themselves together.”
 

~*~
 

Bang Yemi (Lee Saerom / long sleeves);  Kwon Girim (Noh Jisun / herself / fringe with v-neck);  Lee Sojin (Jang Gyuri / choker); 
Moon Chaewon (Kim Myoungji / turtleneck no sleeves)
(Ignore the dance break, ok?)

“Did you see Girim?” Yikwang asks. “She was so striking!”

“Who would have thought?” Eunha asks, looking seriously confused. “Are you sure that’s Kwon Girim?”
 

~*~

The girls all let out breaths of relief as they move backstage for the results of the audience voting. Girim instantly grasps Yona’s hand when they meet the other team and filter into the room. She sits on the very edge of her team’s couch so she can reach across and hold Yona’s hand.

“Ah!” Yona almost falls from the sofa when the screen turns on

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

Girim stares at the screen like it just grew two heads. “What? Why?”

Yona hugs her. “Congratulations, unnie!”

Girim still seems sceptical, staring at the screen like at any moment it’ll be like oops sorry and switch her votes with Yemi. Yemi just gives her a hug. “You saved us!”

“Yes but how?!” Girim asks, still staring at the screen.

The camera focuses on Kayeon who’s face is completely neutral as she does a polite clap for the other team.

“It’s bittersweet isn’t it?” Dohee asks in her interview, still wearing the little cat ears headband and stage outfit. “To get so many points but it’s still not enough?”
 

~*~
 

 vs. 

“Of course we’re saving the best for last,” Chanhee says, back into his MC position. “The National Girl Group and queens of the Hallyu demand nothing less than perfection, will the teams be able to do Girls’ Generation justice? Here is team 1 with Mr. Mr. and team 2 with Lion Heart!”

The last two teams come on stage, the first of them come in all dressed in suits and black fedoras while close behind a team dressed in sparkling silver flapper dresses catches the light.

“I’m really looking forward to this battle,” Eunha says backstage. “Both teams are formidable.”

The Mr. Mr. girls pull their fedoras low over their heads and strike a very Michael Jackson-esque pose. “We’re Miss Mr and when we’re done you’ll never think of suits as men’s wear again.” They each blow a kiss to the audience.

“One two three,” Han Siryung counts down for her team.

“Because we’re happy~” they all sing in harmony. “We’re Happiness, which is exactly what we’ll leave you with after our performance!” This time there’s winks for everyone and Siryung sends finger hearts everywhere as the crowd goes wild.

“Go Yoonseo, how do you feel about going up against your labelmates?” Chanhee asks. “You must know Im Sungsook well.”

“Unnie is a great vocalist,” Yoonseo says. “But we have our own secret weapon in Juyeon!”

“Yoonseo is a good rapper,” Sungsook says in turn with a laugh. “So I’m not too worried.”

“What about you Ha Bada?” Chanhee asks.

“Oh I know Moonae very well, no doubt she’ll have the perfect performance ready for you,” Bada says. “She does nothing that’s not perfect, but you know what we have? We have so much heart it’ll make you love us and eclipse~ their performance.” She sings the word to the tune of Moonae’s Eclipse and shoots various hearts at the audience who cheers in response.

Chanhee laughs. “It’s hard to go against that isn’t it? But all that is just talk, why don’t we see how the teams fared this week?”

Across from them the Mr. Mr. team has smoothly transitioned into practicing their lines. Im Sungsook is both leader and vocalst and she belts out the notes with ease while Bang Hyowon swiftly transitions into the rap portion of the song. Then Jeon Taeri opens , raps two words, and…. Stumbles.

“We only have one rapper and two rap parts,” she says in her confessional. “So I’m… a rapper now…” she bends over, hugging her knees and groaning. “At least it’s in English... mostly…”

“Stick to the rhythm,” Hyowon tries to help Taeri, hitting her hand to the beat. “Hey misteo look at me now,” she gives the heavily accented example which Taeri tries to follow. “Better, that’s better.”

“Hyowon looks so tough,” Taeri continues in the interview. “But she’s been super patient with me, it would’ve come out as garbled nonsense without her. Now it might only be half of the lines that come out as garbled nonsense,” she laughs softly and buries her face again. “At least I got center out of it.”

One thing has to be said, the atmosphere in the group is really good, the girls all seem to get along swimmingly. “Aah I’m so glad you managed to get Mr. Mr.,” Bada nudges Taeri. “This suits us so well!”

“Did you have to pick Yoonseo's team though?” Hwari asked. “They're all A's and B's.”

“It was the right thing to do,” Taeri says. “Besides, all of us are A's at heart. We can do this.”

Both teams come together for the vocal and tap evaluations with Eunha and Hana. The Lion Heart team is shown first and they're doing very well. Siryung is the only one who’s shaky but she only has two lines and they’re easy enough for her weak voice.

The Mr. Mr. team watches with nervous looks.

“I forgot that Moonae is good at everything she does,” Bada says in her interview. “But we're not gonna be easy prey either.”

And indeed, when it’s their turn they’re don’t disappoint. They’re singing through the song and Sungsook hits the notes with ease while Hyowon’s rap is fire. Taeri… tries very hard with the English rap and Hana laugh. “You sound good! Have you rapped before now? You’re a vocalist, right?”

“A little bit,” Taeri says. “We all did a bit for our audition but it wasn’t like this. Hyowon has been helping me a lot.”

Hana nods. “You have promise,” she says. “Keep working at it with Hyowon and I see a good performance in your future.”

“Thank you!” Taeri beams at the compliments.

“She complimented me!” she says super stoked in her interview. “the Hana complimented me! I can die easy now.”

“Hwari, you have a very pretty voice,” Eunha says. Hwari looks up and smiles a the compliment. “But that’s all there is to it. I don’t feel anything coming from you.” Hwari’s smile drops instantly. “Pretty is not enough, you have to have something to say. What are you trying to say here, Hwari?”

Hwari blinks. “Eeeh…” She glances at the girls next to her, obviously unsure of what to say.

“Are you just standing there singing prettily with your pretty voice? Or are you saying ‘hey there mister, take me out tonight’?” Eunha makes a come hither movement and gives the worst wink in the history of humanity.

Hwari giggles despite herself.

“Work on it, alright?” Eunha says.

The team is shown working hard and playing hard, they get along great and the atmosphere is light.  Hyowon looks a little annoyed when Taeri messes up her rap but they laugh it off and start over. Hwari is often seen sitting on her own the background practicing the song, other times Taeri is with her and they’re practicing together, until Bada comes over and throws them water and drapes herself around their shoulders. It’s easy laughter and easy practicing.

There’s footage from the dorm taken by the ceiling-mounted camera as they’re all sitting on the floor in their pyjamas eating snacks between them. “Do you think we can win?” Hwari asks.

“I do,” Sungsook says. “I don’t know if we will, but I know that we can.”

“We’re gonna try our best in any case,” Taeri says. “That’s all we can do, right?”

“We’ll be like Batman versus Superman!” Bada chimes in. “Whoever wins doesn’t matter if we’re both really great, right?”

Hyowon scoffs. “That movie was horrible do not associate us with that garbage.”

“We can be proud as long as we put down the best performance we’re capable of,” Sungsook says with finality.

“Fighting!” Bada punches a fist into the air.
 

~*~
 

 Jeon Taeri (Tasha / shoulder length hair) Im Sungsook (Lee Haein / Ponytail)
Min Hwari (Bae Eunyoung / long wavy hair) Ha Bada (Lee Youngyoo / black hair)
Bng Hyowon (Bin Haneul / braided headband)

“Oh my god!” Sunisa looks star struck. “That was so good!”

Hana is smiling with pride. “Taeri nailed it, she was a great center too.”

“We left the best for last, didn’t we?” Candy asks with a grin.

“It’s a shame about Hwari,” Eunha says. “I saw no improvement there, but Sungsook and Bada did very nicely.”
 

And then it’s time to check in with the Lion Heart team at the of the week. They’re very busy deciding on the positions. Han Siryung  seems to be leader and she’s taken the task to heart. “We can all agree that Juyeon is the best vocalist, right?” she asks. “So would you like the main vocal position?”

“Yes, of course,” Choi Juyeon says instantly. “Thank you.”

“Who is the second best?” Siryung asks. “Moonae? I did adore your song by the way.”

“Thank you,” Han Moonae perks up a little at the compliment. “I wanted sub vocal 1 anyway.”

“Great!” Siryung says. “Dain, what about you? I don’t know your singing very well but do you think you’d like to try sub vocal 2?”

“Sure,” Park Dain shrugs. “Doesn’t seem much difference after 1 anyway.”

“And Yoonseo, I know you’re a rapper but I thought you sounded very nice singing in your audition,” Siryung says. “Sub vocal 3 sounds like something for you and I don’t mind doing 4.”

When the positions are all handed out there is only one more thing to delegate. “Now about the center,” Siryung says. “Since I don’t have a lot of lines I would love to try out for the center position.”

“Me too,” Dain says. “I mean when it comes to lines I don’t think it matters much and I want to be center too.”

There’s a closeup of Moonae who looks less than pleased, with a quick switch to a confessional.

 “I saw what she was doing,” Moonae says. “Making it center about lines after she gave me subvocal 1, effectively shutting me out of that competition. Not cool.”

Siryung and Dain both sing the "Lion Heart~” part and add the best expressions they can and afterwards a blind vote is called. Moonae and Yoonseo vote for Dain while Juyeon votes for Siryung.

“Congratulations Dain!” Yoonseo says. “You’re the center!”

Dain glows while she puts the little diamond sticker on her shirt while Siryung’s face falls.

“I was really disappointed,” Siryung says in her solo interview. “I feel like everyone always just treats me like a pretty face, nobody ever expects me to be anything but a visual.” Tears are filling her eyes as she says this and she hastily wipes them away. “I just wish I could prove myself… but I’m sure Dain will do a stellar job…”

“Did you all choose Dain as center?” Yoonjung asks.

“We did,” Moonae says.

“Well…” There’s a close up if Siryung as Yoonjung says it and she’s looking ever so hopeful. Dain looks cautious, as if waiting for bad news. “That was a great choice, Dain absolutely has what it takes to be a good center.”

Dain lets out a breath of relief and smiles. There’s another shot of Siryung with just the slightest pause before she smiles too and pats Dain’s shoulder affectionately.

“This group shows a lot of good teamwork,” Yoonjung says. “If you keep at it yours will be a performance too remember.”

“Thank you so much!” Siryung beams as they all bow their thanks.

“They are really good,” Taeri says in her interview. She laughs nervously. “I'm definitely regretting my decision a little.”
 

~*~
 

Back in the studio the group is getting ready to go on stage and they’re pumped. “Let’s do this!” Dain says, all but jumping up and down.

Siryung waves at the camera. “Look forward to our performance!” She makes a heart with her hand.
 

Park Dain  (Solbin / brown hair with bling clip);  Han Siryung (Haeein / black hair); 
Han Moonae (Yoojung / short brown hair); Choi Juyeon (Soyeon / blonde); 
 Go Yoonseo (ZN /  bling headbad)

“The center did really great!” Candy was smiling from ear to ear. “That was so good!”

“That’s Park Dain,” Yikwang says. “She’s the one who went from F to A!”

“She’s something special then,” Candy says it with a little nod. “One to watch.
 

~*~
 

After the performance both groups make it to the results room and take their seats. “All I want is for this to not be my last stage,” Bang Hyowon’s words are heard over a closeup of her biting her lip with nerves, eyes ever on the screen that will present her results.

“We worked so hard for this,” Siryung’s voice over says over own nervous face as she reaches out for Juyeon’s hand. “Please let it not be for nothing.”

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

All the girls gape at the results. Siryung actually looks upset even though her team won by a large margin. The other team claps without malice and there are smiles and attempted smiles through watery eyes.

“Congratulations guys,” Bada says. “You really deserved it! Looks like you win this time, Moonae.”

Sungsook squeezes Yoonseo’s hand. “Well played.”

Hwari starts sobbing and Taeri is rubbing her back. “It’s okay sweetie,” she coos.

“Oh, come here!” Dain pulls both groups into a big group hug.

“I felt bad,” Siryung’s voice-over says over images of the groups hugging and comforting each other. “We won, but the other team did so well too and it hurt them so much to lose. I thought, wouldn’t it be better not to win at all?”

Hwari is shown rubbing tears from her eyes in her interview.  “It felt really bad, it was like nobody cared about my performance even though I tried so hard.” She takes a dream breath and closes her eyes. “It just means I have to try harder. I have to. This can’t be my last stage.”