June 4th, 2018, one of sunlight's training rooms

When the group of Daehwan, Myunghee, Gaeul, Codi and Sohee began looking for a song to perform, they didn't expect it to be such a struggle. Hell, they didn't even manage to find a song everyone agreed on on the first day. The group they shared the training room with had already begun choreographing, and this group was still looking. Because this was an important evaluation, the most important one so far, every trainee was at least nervous in some kind of way. Even the most stress-resistant ones were on edge at this time. The trainers were constantly roaming around the training rooms, not to help the trainees, no, they were all on their own, but to observe. Observe how the kids merged together, how hard they worked, if there was anyone having notable behavior, both positive and negative. With the stricter Hayley Kwon currently looming in the corner of this group's training room, they could feel a cold stare on their backs. It sent shivers down Myunghee's spine. It was not looking good, but no one dared to speak up... not yet.

After yet another hour of discussions and watching songs to then go back to square zero, Daehwan had enough of it and dared to speak up. "Alright, we really need to hurry and do something about this," he groaned, rubbing the back of his head. He was really fed up, but not the most talkative person, so he had kept quiet for most of the time, observing the younger trainees. Now it was time to take everything into his own hands. As he noticed that all eyes were on him, Daehwan felt intimidated. He was supposed to be a maknae, not a leader. He didn't feel ready for this. But he fought the demons in his head and expressed his thoughts. "I have a few things I want to say. First of all, when we're deciding on songs, it's really not a good idea to just throw things around. Uh..." It was obvious that the oldest wasn't really used to this, making him hestitant to keep speaking to the youngsters in such a... demanding way? "You know what? I think we should pick out a group that has 5 members, including 2 rappers. This way, we don't need to waste too much time on line distribution and we can base our choreography on their original formations," the youngsters were all nodding, they seemed like children listening to a storyteller. But they were not the only ones listening, the looming dance teacher in the corner was listening in as well. Daehwan continued, getting less hestitant as moments passed. "Second of all, we need to make an impact in this evaluation, that's why I think we should go for a song that's not common. A surprise, something they haven't heard in an evaluation before, something fierce and impactful. What do you guys think?" the oldest glanced from one trainee to the other with hopeful eyes. He didn't really expect a good response, but to his surprise, all of the trainees agreed pretty smoothly. "I think that's a good idea, we lost quite some time here," Myunghee agreed, her lips pouty as she nodded. The quieter members, Gaeul and Codi, both answered with a hum which was almost in sync, but also sounded very out of sync simultaneously. "So... do you have a song like that? I don't really know any lesser known songs..." Sohee turned to their impromptu leader. "I think I have an idea..." Daehwan nodded, taking the laptop out of his lap and putting it down in the middle of the circle. His fingers started typing furiously to find the song he had in mind. Daehwan really couldn't start choreographing fast enough. They had lost a whole day. Yes, he was partly at fault for not daring to speak up, but this group was a mess, and if no one else was going to keep them in check, he had to do it.

"So the song I thought of was Imfact's Feel so good, I'll put it on now," Daehwan mumbled in a rushed manner while preparing to put on the song. He was in full focus mode, ready to get stuff going. As the other trainees huddled around him to be able to view the dance practice, Codi mumbled that he remembered seeing Imfact somewhere before.

As the video started, Sohee immediately chortled upon the sight of one of the Imfact member, "Psh, this guy has weird hair!" Daehwan shushed her: "Quiet, we have to concentrate, this is serious," he spoke in a half whisper, his eyes locked on the screen as he studied the choreography. "Okay, grandpa," Sohee sulked, puffing her cheeks. "I'm not-" Daehwan couldn't finish his complaints as Gaeul shushed them both. "Shhh! Concentrate," and both the oldest and youngest fell silent to watch the video. No one said a word during the rest of the dance practice, but some of the trainees were vibing, mostly Codi and Myunghee. When the video ended, Daehwan leaned back to look at the other trainees, waiting for their opinions. "It's a good song, I think it will fit us and make an impact," Gaeul commented, statisfied. "The vocalists are soft, which I'm happy about because both me and Gaeul have soft voices as well," Myunghee added, nodding happily. Now it was Codi's turn to speak up, "the choreography was a bit silly though... I don't want to look like an idiot," he sighed, afraid of being laughed at by the other trainees for the choreography that looked silly. "Don't worry, I can choreograph, we can change some steps and make it look cool as hell," Daehwan responded, and Codi was visibly relieved. The only one that didn't seem to really feel it that much was Sohee, "I don't know... Don't you think it would be too cool for me?" Sohee looked at the other trainees, pulling a bit of a sulky expression. "No worries," Daehwan gave the youngest a gentle smile, "I believe that you can pull it off." Myunghee laughed gently, "You're such a dad, Daehwan!" "I'm not, please stop this slander," Daehwan groaned, hiding his face in his hands.

June 11th, 2018, one of sunlight's training rooms

It's been exactly a week since Daehwan's group had found their song and began training. The choreography was pretty much done, the line distribution had been no problem, it seemingly went smoothly, but there were issues. The group was beginning to mesh well better than in the beginning, and Daehwan was growing more and more into his leader role, which didn't go by unnoticed. This group would've been a mess if they didn't have Daehwan, and the other trainees were all very quick to admit that. This didn't go by unnoticed by the people lovingly named the 'looming figures', also known as the trainers of the company.

Daehwan took the choreography and ran with it, and had it mastered and known by heart in a day by working all night with the assistance of Myunghee. Both of these dancers had it down very quick and helped the others with the dance. Surprisingly, Codi turned out to be a quick learner and got the dance quite quick as well. It wasn't that easy for Gaeul and Sohee, but they were slowly getting there. "Gaeul, you're getting the hang of it," Daehwan commented while he was observing the group dance, himself sitting down in front of the mirror to get a public's point of view. The group finished the song for the nth time. Daehwan stood up to speak his thoughts, and the other trainees almost all plopped down on the floor, exhausted from the endless practice. Only Codi remained on his feet, still feeling the need to practice some of the harder moves. "Hey, Codi," Myunghee spoke with a heavy breath, "I know you really want to be perfect, but believe me, you're doing amazing, take a breather." Codi stopped his moves immediately and turned to look at his temporary groupmate. "Okay," he muttered quietly before sitting down. In this past week, the others had to stop Codi several times to avoid him from overworking himself. He was doing amazing, he had the lines and the choreography down incredibly quick, but he was so self-concious that he felt like he was not good enough just yet, while he was probably the best performing of the group as of this time. So he didn't really have to be concerned. The concern lied with someone else.

"Sohee," Daehwan sighed, putting his hands on his sides. A real dad move. The youngest of the group perked up and gave her leader her signature 'I'm innocent, I didn't do anything' look. "I know you're young, and cute, and you're really doing a good job, don't get me wrong," Daehwan started to explain, but he was a bit hestitant. The leader really didn't want to hurt anyone, but he saw Sohee's expression drop, and a panic welled up from deep inside him. "No! No no don't worry!" Daehwan quickly kneeled down in front of the youngest, "You're really going to get there with the dance, no worries! We still have two weeks. I... How do I say this-" Daehwan stuttered, really being unable to bring out the words he wanted to say out of pure fear of making Sohee sad. "He wants you to dance more powerfully," an unknown female voice echoed from the other side of the room. A trainee of the other group that was currently on break stood up and approached Daehwan's group, squatting down next to Daehwan in front of the sulking maknae. "He really thinks you're doing a good job and improving, don't worry about not being as quick as the rest... The others are just hella fast," the woman chuckled a bit, leaning in to ruffle Sohee's hair. "But you could use some more power to your moves, that's all," she finished butting in, and stood up to head back to her own group. "T-thank you, HaeAh," Daehwan muttered, stunned about the easy handling of the sad maknae, his eyes locked on the second oldest trainee of the company, who was leading the other group. Na HaeAh was also one of those parent figures, but she was the opposite of Daehwan, and they complemented each other very well. But for now, they were separate, to the disappointment of Daehwan.

"Don't worry, Sohee!" Myunghee's words brought Daehwan back to earth, and she showed the maknae a bright smile, "We all believe in you, and we're going to help you! It's all going to be just fine," the cheerful girl continued. Sohee nodded gently before standing up and brushing off her sweats, "Let's continue practicing." Codi was of course the first one to jump up after her. "Let's do this!" Daehwan cheered before turning the song on once more.

June 24th, evaluation day

After everybody worked their asses off for three weeks straight, all the exhausted trainees and not-as-exhausted staff were gathered in the main training hall. Valentina J. Angelicat Her Fluffness the First was strutting around, taking this moment to show off once again how beautiful she is. On her way, she decided to hiss at Haoran before moving on to jump on the lap of Jeonghan the scouter. Jeonghan was mr. resident cat man, so he was very happy that miss queen had picked him out to be her cushion for this important occasion.

After CEO Lim had a long and clumsy speech about debuts, not giving up and all of that stuff that no trainee really paid attention to, the evaluations began. Most of the groups managed to whip up a more than decent performance, but it was often noticeable that some weren't really prepared to be in a co-ed group. A few groups completely flubbed their performance, one trainee even ran out of the hall because she had accidentally tripped another one of her group, of course completely overwhelmed, the poor child. 

"Next up, Daehwan's group," Taesung checked his list, and the five trainees got up. Daehwan was surprisingly calm about all of this. The others all had their nerves, but Sohee and Codi were definitely suffering the most, being noticeably on edge before the performance. "Don't worry guys," Gaeul rested her hands on both of their shoulders, "We can do this." Daehwan chimed in: "Just imagine that it's just another practice, you guys were perfect in practice." "Fighting!" Myunghee finished the pep talk by cheering. This brought at least a bit of calm to the hearts of Codi and Sohee, but they couldn't help but still feel nervous. The group took their formation, and the music started, causing whispers to well up in the spectating trainee group. What was this?

Daehwan = Taeho, Myunghee = Jeup, Gaeul = Sang, Codi = Ungjae, Sohee = Jian

Hustle life and real life
mak naganeun nallari
nugun malhae mangnani
But I don’t worry
I’m sorry hey ye
cheoreopseo cheoreopsi
noldaga jugeuri jugeulhim dahae nan
nan mwodeunji da hae da geurae
I’m young and wild

nuga nal ssibeodo
I’m bubble, bubble, yo
nuga nal yokhaedo
I’m hustle, hustle life

nuga mworadeon gadeon gil gamyeon dwae
geurae nan hal iri neomu mankie
I feel so high, high
geurae jom himdeureodo fly

eodume kkeuteul chajasseo
himihan bichi boigo

jichyeotdeon naye gaseume nae onmome
bureul jipyeo deo tteugeopge deo taoreuge
cheongchuneun kkwaena chinjeolhae
Oh naege geureoni jigeumbuteo

Feel so good, yeah, yeah, yeah
Feel so good, yeah, yeah, yeah

Feel so good
I feel so good girl
I feel so good, good
Feel so good, I feel so good girl
modu nareul ttara ttara hae
I feel so good, good

Ay I’m a rock star
You see a monster
manyak nal bondamyeon domanggagil
Like a gangster

nuga nal ssibeodo
I’m bubble, bubble, yo
nuga nal yokhaedo
I’m hustle, hustle life

makganeun rider
nuga jom jyae jom mallyeo
mwora hadeon naneun dallyeo
nan jeolmeumi akkawo uh

eodume kkeuteul chajasseo
himihan bichi boigo

jichyeotdeon naye gaseume nae onmome
bureul jipyeo deo tteugeopge deo taoreuge
cheongchuneun kkwaena chinjeolhae oh naege
geureoni jigeumbuteo

Feel so good, yeah, yeah, yeah
Feel so good, yeah, yeah, yeah

Feel so good
I feel so good girl
I feel so good, good
Feel so good, I feel so good girl
modu nareul ttara ttara hae
I feel so good, good

yeogie naega itjana everyday
jogeum deo neoreul naeryeonwa
jichyeoitdeon nae gaseumsok jeonbureul
bureul jipyeo tteugeopge
taoreuge nae modeun ge
[MY/GA] geureoni jigeumbuteo

Feel so good, yeah, yeah, yeah
I feel so good, good
Feel so good, yeah, yeah yeah
I feel so good girl
modu nareul ttara ttara hae
I feel so good, good

The performance was a big surprise to many, as this group had one of the worst starts with the song selection struggles. But in the end, they looked cohesive and coordinated, despite there still being some rookie mistakes. Most of the group, except for Daehwan, had some breathing problems, which was because they weren't experienced. On the other side of that was Daehwan, who had a few issues with sounding flat in his lines. But unfortunately, Sohee's nerves got to her, and in the end she ended up making a choreography mistake which shook her for a few seconds. But outside of that, the dance was executed really well by everyone.

The group shared a little group hug, relieved that they had brought all this hard work to a good end. "Impressive, and original," dance trainer Hayley clapped in approval, "Very nice dance and choreography." Vocal instructor Jia nodded in agreement, "Vocals could be better, but this is something that can definitely be worked on, it's not a big problem." CEO Lim remained quiet and tried to not show any emotion to not reveal any bias, but when Daehwan's eyes landed on his, he swore he could see them twinkling.

"Mrow!" Valentina Her Fluffness the 1st expressed her opinion from atop her royal cushion.

"That's her meow of approval," royal cushion Jeonghan grinned.

sien's corner : I really came into this thinking I'd publish a 6k word banger but oh boy was I wrong... this took me hours, and its not even as long as chapters I usually end up seeing. pfff im sorry that my teasers are on the shorter end but this has left me exhausted. I have the same issue when reading longer chapters, I really do not have the attention span to do more than 3k words in one ;w; but I hope that this did all the characters justice, and that you guys appreciate this! Don't forget that the deadline is slowly creeping closer and closer!