IN THE COMPANY BUILDINGS, DEC 2019

Near the end of the year 2019, some trainees would be allowed to head home over the holidays to spend those with their family. Some others were told to stay behind. A few of these, 101 to be exact, would get the thrilling news of being selected to participate on Produce R 101, and began to practice their audition songs for the first episode. These 101 trainees had to work their butts off to make an impression, while their labelmates were enjoying the end of the year holidays at home. But it was all worth it, they were selected for the show after all. They were the crème de la crème of all those ten thousands of trainees, they were the most interesting ones.

MARINE ENTERTAINMENT

Foreign trainees either stayed behind in Korea or went back to Japan for the time being. The Marine entertainment trainees that had applied, for example, had flown right back to Japan to continue their busy schedule.

Marine entertainment had applied a total of five boys to Produce R 101, because... they didn't really have a valid reason asides from one of them being kpop crazy and begging the company to go. This trainee group consisted of Miyazawa Reo, the leader/dad, extremely skilled in dancing and overflowing with confidence; Ando Natsuki, a silent, but deadly beautiful creature; Goto Tsubasa, the sad attempt at a peacemaker, vocalist and bouncy ball; Hayashi Mitsuhiro, who is a lot of idol talent in a tiny body; and the youngest. Sakata Nagito.

This one was the culprit. When Natsuki introduced kpop to the rest of the group, Nagito had become kpop crazy, and had a dream of becoming a 'kpop oppa' (his words, not mine). While he was clearly the cutie of the group, with his glasses and sunshine energy, Nagito was also the tallest, to the dismay of Mitsuhiro. No one could really come close to Nagito in height, so he is the one who's usually noticed first in this rowdy group of boys.

These five boys were already an actively promoting group, named Knight & day. Because of their innovative concept of mixing 2D and 3D idols into one, the boys didn't always have to show their faces behind their 2D masks. But for the end of the year concerts that were always very popular, they showed their real selves, in full glory. Because of this scheduling, sleepless nights were in the cards for the boys. They did not know it yet, but they would have to perfect an impressive audition very soon, and then rush to Korea.

They were gathered in their practice room, practicing for their regular shows when a staff entered, looking unusually happy. The boys immediately stopped the music upon noticing the staff in the mirror, and quickly took some towels and water before approaching the woman that had entered. While grabbing their towels, Mitsuhiro quietly mentioned to Natsuki how the staff was weirdly happy today, while she was usually one of the more sour faces of the company. But today she was radiating sunshine like she was possessed by Nagito. She greeted the five curious boys before announcing why she had appeared.

"Boys, I have amazing news!" she announced happily, and paused, probably to let the boys sit on their anticipation a bit longer. "What is it?" Reo was wondering. "What are you waiting for, tell us!", Tsubasa was this close to bouncing off the walls, but had to contain himself. Mitsuhiro and Natsuki let the others speak, but couldn't hide their curiosity either. "Wait... ARE WE GOING TO PRODUCE 101?" Nagito's voice was heard above everyone else as he exclaimed, being unable to contain his excitement before the news even got announced. Everyone stared at him as the staff sighed. "Way to ruin a surprise, Nagi. I was so excited to tell you guys too," she commented, but her words were drowned out by the excited screams of the five boys. Well, it was mostly Tsubasa and Nagito, but even quiet Natsuki couldn't help but scream in excitement upon hearing the news.

"We did it! We're going on the show!" Mitsuhiro exclaimed, showing a rare grin as the whole group huddled around their leader, Reo. "I'm so excited!! We're going to gain so many new fans!" Tsubasa was the most energetic of all, still jumping from excitement. "I'm finally going to become a kpop oppa!" Nagito laughed. "You're cringe, Nagi" Natsuki chuckled in response, "But do you think Nature could appear on the show? I like Nature...". "You're both cringe, I don't know why they even gave in to your crazy ideas," Mitsuhiro responded with a gentle laugh, shooting both of the big kpop lovers a playful glare. "Now now, come on boys," the sandwiched leader grinned as his four boys were still huddling and bouncing around him, "Calm down, I'm getting suffocated here- We should start preparing our audition, we have a lot of schedules ahead." Upon hearing this, the boys escaped from the huddle, all four huffing and sulking towards their leader. "You're no fun, Reo-kun, let us celebrate a bit first..." Nagito pouted, crossing his arms as if he was a child, earning a scoff from Natsuki.

OACA

Times were busy in the OACA building. After Absolute-Z and Fusion-VII mysteriously cancelled some schedules and disappeared from the surface of the earth except for a select few members, fans were wondering what was happening. They were worried that a disbandment was nearing, and that the quiet seven members had left the companies. But the fans didn't need to worry. The members still active were actually staying at home, while the ghostly seven were in the middle of deciding their audition song for Produce R 101. These ghostly seven were oldest Zhao Bolin, cool Alyssa Chen, loud Xu Haitao, quiet Zhu Junjie, shy Zheng Lushi, queen Marelaine Li and the rowdy Zhao Deshi.

"How about we take a kpop song? I think it would be best to show off our Korean knowledge." The seven labelmates were sitting together in their assigned practice room. They were given complete freedom to decide their audition song, so they really wanted to pick something unique, nice and impressive. Bolin was the one to take the lead, of course. "That sounds like a good plan, to appeal to the Korean audience. We're not just there to gather international support," Alyssa, the other leader, agreed, nodding and putting a pen on her lips to focus. "You think we could look for a seven membered group? That way we can choreograph based on their original positions," Marelaine continued, leaning back as she laid her eyes on the most quiet member, who was a genius dancer, "Junjie, you think that would be doable?" Junjie quietly nodded, "Hmm. I can do that with Lushi," the boy hummed. He has always been on the quiet side of things, which had pushed him back in the shadows in absolute-Z, giving him insecurities. "You think..." he continued in a soft spoken manner, "I could get some center time? I really want to... show myself-" Junjie looked down at his feet, which were wiggling nervously. "Of course! Go for it, my dude!" Haitao's voice raised the volume immediately, providing a big contrast to the younger. "Of course! As long as I can also get some center time," Marelaine flipped her hair and chuckled, putting up her diva act. "Guys, let's concentrate on picking the song first," Alyssa interrupted the conversation, wanting to go on so they could start choreographing and practicing immediately. What followed was a long silence, as the trainees thought and thought about a potential song. Occasionally, a name would pop up, but immediately shot down. Most of those were joke suggestions from Haitao.

"Actually," Bolin's face lit up, "I think I have an idea! There was this group that I promoted with when I was part of The Legend... Their name was A-jax. I've bumped into them a few ti-" The oldest could not finish the sentence, as Lushi squealed, finally letting herself be heard. "I love A-JAX! Oh my god! That is a great group! Can we use them? Pleaseeee?" Lushi was usually almost as quiet as Junjie, but if she was excited, she could babble on and on about her interests. "A-Jax? I haven't heard of them, they must not be that known," Deshi shrugged, sitting back nonchalantly. "I think they're inactive right now, unfortunately... But we could check out some songs, I think Hot game is a good idea?" Bolin responded while standing up to grab the laptop which was standing on a nearby table. He sat down again and crossed his endless legs, putting the laptop in the middle of the circle as Hot game started playing. Lushi of course was vibing, being a big fan of the song. Most of the group was visibly enjoying the song and feeling the vibe, as the trainees' heads started to bop along, one by one. Only Deshi seemed to be a little unimpressed. Junjie and Lushi, the two dancers, were already popping some small moves together to gather inspiration for the choreography job that was waiting for them.

When the song ended, most of OACA were statisfied. "I love these vibes!" Haitao basically yelled before clapping his hands like a seal, excited about the progress they had made. "Yeah, I like it," Junjie agreed, but with a much lower volume. Lushi was nodding energetically, obviously excited that the others were picking up on a song of a group she liked. "I'm not sure..." Deshi muttered, "There's not so much rap in it... Alyssa, what do you think?" the youngest looked over at the other rapper of the group, who was thinking about it as well. "Well... that is true, but we can show off our rapping in individual stages so pfft, I think we'll be fine, Deshi," the older dismissed his remark. Deshi tried his best to hide it, but his older brother ended up laughing, pointing at the youngest. "Look guys! He's sulking," Bolin laughed, almost rolling on the floor, teasing his brother and his spoiled personality. "So... Is this the song? If yes, I'll start working on the choreography right away," Junjie stood up with a cool expression, while some of the others were still laughing about the sulky youngest. Lushi stood up as well, looking at her fellow dancer with a slight pink flush on her cheeks, "I'll help you, Jie."

As the two started thinking about dance moves immediately, Haitao scoffed. "Psh, these two are so serious." Marelaine on the other hand was looking at them with a smug expression, twirling a strand of her long hair around her fingers, "Haitao, you're blind. There's something more going on here," she spoke gently. It resulted in the loud one looking at her with a confused expression, clearly missing the whole point. "You're stupid, Haitao," Deshi snorted. Haitao stood up in his defense, his volume rising as he felt offended, "Respect your elders, you !"

INDIVIDUAL TRAINEES

Every big produce-like survival show has their individual trainees. Company-less hopefuls that just refuse to give up despite everything being against them. One of them was spending her time practicing at her parental home. Her family heard her wearing herself out to her audition song of choice all day. Day in day out, her parents had to hear Super love by Dami Im blasting through the house as this trainee spent all her time preparing for the show. It was Tse Shu Kei, better known as Shuki. Her parents had initially been against her participation, not knowing that Shuki had experience as a youtaite, but after hearing her practice, her mother had warmed up to the idea. Or maybe she just wanted to make sure that Shuki was healthy and happy, and therefor took care of her during these long practice days. She was already accepted anyway, there was no stopping her. Her parents had accepted the decision after some struggling.

When she headed downstairs for a break, Shuki's mom was already waiting for her with some water and fruits to freshen and energize her daughter. Shuki plopped down in the couch before taking a huge sip of the water, mumbling a quick thanks in the progress. Her mother sat down besides her, but in a more gentle manner. "How's it going, sweetie?" she asked, swiping some sweaty strands of hair away from Shuki's face. "I think I'm making progress? But I'm still worried..." the girl responded, her breathing still heavy. Shuki attacked the fruits, munching on them as her mom sighed, resting a hand on her shoulders. "Don't worry about it too much, I know that you're going to do just great, ah mui..." her mom spoke comforting words, but Shuki still couldn't help but worry. She stomped a piece of orange in and quickly ate it before whining. "I feel like I'm not good enough! I'm just a nobody... They've never seen my face before! What if they're going to dislike my appearance? What about..." Shuki's words faded away as she looked down at her left arm. That damn arm that was filled all the way to her hand with scarring from a corrective surgery long ago. Her mother took the scarred hand in her gentle hands and held it tightly, her eyes looking right into Shuki's. "Ah mui, don't worry about it..." her mother up her scarred arm gently, as to tell Shuki to not worry about it, "We'll find you a gorgeous dress that covers it up... And also..." Her mother paused for a moment, averting her eyes, before she suddenly jumped to the attack, squishing a struggling Shuki's cheeks and speaking with a cutesy voice. "You're so cute, sweetie! You're so cute cute cute! Of course the viewers are going to absolutely love you! Because you're so cute!" her mom puckered her lips as she launched a chain of compliments at Shuki, but it wasnt long before the struggling daughter escaped the cheek squishing. "We love you and will support you, Shuki," her mom sighed, leaning in to the girl's hair gently, "I will tell all my friends to vote for you every day. We will come to Korea and scream for you during the live shows too! They won't know what's coming," she grinned gently. Shuki shook her head quickly, her messy hair swaying from side to side, "Mom I love you, but please don't."

"Hey Wookie! How's it going, absolute little sweet pea of mine?" Jaegyu's voice echoed from the phone as she sweet talked Jaewook, her twin brother. She knows that it's something he really doesn't like, so she does it a LOT. "Please stop, Gyugyu, you're already ruining my excitement," her twin brother responded with an absolute deadpan voice. "Hey what's up, Gyu!" Byungwoo's low voice was heard from a bit further away as he yelled his greetings to Jaegyu. "Hey, Woo! The sky, no?" Jaegyu landed a stupid joke in response to Byungwoo, making the quieter Jaewook roll his eyes. Both of the individual trainees had been practicing their audition song together. They had gotten the news earlier that day, but they had gotten so excited beforehand that their audition song was basically good to go. As Byungwoo continued to practice the dance, humming to M.I.B's Chisa bounce quietly, Jaewook continued to talk on the phone with his sister. In all this rush to practice, Jaewook had straight up forgotten to call Jaegyu about the news that he had been selected for Produce R 101.

"Well, Wookie, what is it that you wanted to tell me about?" Jaegyu spoke cheerfully over the phone. Back over at her training rooms, she was with the rest of the cherries, who were huddled together to study performance videos. "Gyugyu... I have amazing news," Jaewook couldn't hide his excitement very well, his voice getting shakier with every word he spoke, a wide grin plastered on his face. "We've made it~" the boy broke the news to his twin sister, his smile growing even wider. But he did not get the excited and proud squeaks he expected from Jaegyu. "Made it to what?" his twin sister acted innocent, but behind her, Yuyan and Hyunsook were giggling among themselves. "Come oonn~ Are you thick? Produce 101, Jaegyu! Byungwoo and I have made it to P R O D U C E ONE O ONE!" Jaewook walked into the trap with both eyes wide open, whining to the sister that was just playing dumb. The rest of the KQ cherries were bursting into laughter, listening in via Jaegyu's speaker, but she shushed them quick. "Ohh! Wow Wookie! That's so amazing! I'm so proud of you, my bro," Jaegyu cheered happily. Part of it was a play of course, but Jaegyu did feel immensely proud of her brother. "Hey we're in i-" Jungil started to yell to the phone, immediately getting jumped on by both Yuyan and Hyunsook to shut him up. "What was that?" Jaewook asked over the line. "Nothing, just some trainee yelling, we're still practicing over here," his twin sister spoke casually. It was a bit obvious to some that she was hiding something, but Jaewook and Byungwoo were both too into their own heads to notice.

"Are you practicing well? If you're going to appear on the show and be linked to me, you have to be impressive, you know?" Jaegyu continued to joke around. Her brother laughed as well, "Don't worry, we have been practicing this song for weeks already, it will be great." Byungwoo stopped practicing for a moment to push himself into the conversation again, yelling at the phone from far away, "You'll really enjoy it! It's amazing!" Jaegyu laughed before answering, "I'm genuinely happy for you both, but I'll let you be now. You must be practicing hard for the audition." "Oh, every day, the apartment smells like sweat," her twin brother replied, grinning.

As both of them said their goodbyes and ended the call, Jaegyu returned to the rest of her little trainee unit and sat down with them. "Jungil, you're a , you almost exposed us," she sneered at the youngest, who laughed it off, narrowly avoiding a swat from Hyunsook by rolling over on the floor, laying himself down right next to Jaegyu. "Our audition song is cool, but it's going to be a hard one to do..." Yuyan remained serious as her younglings played around for a bit. In front of her was the training tablet, and it was playing Jopping by SuperM.

SIEN'S CORNER!

Omg guys I did it, I wrote another teaser smdfjkslm. I hope this one is a bit good, I wanted to get it out today and I really have to go to bed (early shift rip) so no proofreading. I really wanted to give a proper introduction to all of the babies so far, including the applicants. I really hope I did them justice ;w; Also, since KQ and ByungWook were covered a lot in the last teaser I tried to cover them less here, but the segment still got a little longer than expected, ah ;;;; im sorry. I hope you guys like this though!