After Sunggyu’s fainting incident in the bathroom, everyone took extra precautions as they prepared for the contest. No one ever found out WHY exactly he fainted, since he was too stubborn to talk about it. The day for the contest came closer and closer, and the seven continued to practice like crazy. Woohyun’s foot was finally healed, and he was able to dance freely. For once everything was going smoothly.

The day of the concert, the seven gathered nervously in the waiting room. All the groups going against them in nationals also gathered around, talking loudly and excitedly. The seven were way too nervous to even talk. Sunggyu and Woohyun sat in the far corner, observing all the contestants. The all looked like a tough competition.

“Hello everyone!” a new voice said as someone came walking into the gathering.

“Unni!” a girl squealed, causing Sunggyu and Woohyun to turn and see a small girl slapping her friend’s arm. “It’s him! It’s him!”

“My name is Suho,” the guy continued. “I’m from an idol group called EXO. My company, SM entertainment, is working along side Woollim entertainment today to pick who the winner will be tonight. The winner will get the chance to debut Woollim entertainment. In a way, this is your audition, I guess you can say.”

“We have the chance of being an idol like you?!” Sungyeol asked, waving his hand in the air and he jumped up and down.

“Yes Sungyeol, you know this,” Sunggyu hissed, pulling him so that he would sit down.

“I just want to know, hyung!” Sungyeol cried, frowning at his roommate, before looking back at Suho.

“Yes, you’ll have the chance to be an idol like I am,” Suho said with a small smile. “I wish all of you luck! Can’t wait to see who will be our winners!”

“Sunbae-nim, what are the prizes for second and third place?” a small boy asked from the other side of the room.

“Second place gets a chance to go on another music show. Third place gets to be in our next variety show,” Suho replied. “There’s also money prizes along with that. It’s the same amount all your previous competitions had. First place will get the 30 thousand dollar award, second place will get the 15 thousand dollar award and third place will get the 10 thousand dollar award. Who knows, the winning group will have a total of 60 thousand dollars in the end.”

“I hope we win!” Sungyeol cried, causing Suho to laugh.

“I bet ALL of you do. One of you will have that winning prize, so I guess we’ll see,” Suho said, smiling over at Sungyeol.

“Who are the judges?” another guy asked, carefully eyeing Suho.

“The judges are one of the EXO members, Sehun, a music instructor from Woollim, the Woollim CEO and the SM CEO,” Suho told him. “In all cases, this is really serious and I wish you all the best of luck.”

With that, Suho left the room and everyone went silent again. Sunggyu turned to Woohyun and squeezed his hand in anticipation. The tv in the corner of the room and the mcs popped up on screen. They were two members from the girl group, SNSD, Sunny and Tiffany. They started talking to the crowd, which was full of fangirls and actual guests to the contestants alike.

“Thank you for coming everyone,” Tiffany said to the crowd, causing the fangirls to scream loudly. “Today is the national singing contest to figure out who will be the next idol group! We have some really great talent waiting backstage for us. Maybe we should introduce you to our judges first.”

“Yeah,” Sunny said, nodding her head. “Over here we have EXO member, Sehun.”

“I know him!” Woohyun cried as soon as the camera focused on the said boy. “Gyu, we met him on the street! Remember? He’s the one who went to our school!”

“Oh, right! I remember,” Sunggyu replied, nodding his head. “He was rooting for us too!”

“Hello everyone, my name is Sehun!” the boy cried, waving at the crowd. “I’ll be honest and say that a group from my old school actually made it to nationals. Our school’s best singers! I’m excited to see what they have for us. However, I will be fair and judge everyone the way I need to. I can’t wait to see what everyone has for us tonight!”

“And I’m Kim Young Min, CEO of SM entertainment. I’m also excited to see what these young artists have in store for us,” the guy sitting next to Sehun said, smiling. “I’ll make sure to judge fairly, and I’ll pick no favoritism.”

“I’m Kim Jungryeol. As of right now I’m a vocal instructor in Woollim entertainment, the label that will bring the new group in. As soon as they debut, I will become the new group’s manager,” the younger man next to Youngmin said with a bright smile. “I can’t wait to meet the group I’ll be working with.”

“And I’m Lee Jungyeop, CEO of Woollim entertainment. The winner here tonight will be entering my company,” the last guy said with a small smile. “I wish all the contestants luck! I hope you entertain us well!”

“Alright, thank you judges,” Sunny said, before smiling back at the audience. “Can we please have our first contestants step out... Infinite from Daekyung University!”

“What?!” Sungjong cried with wide eyes, staring at his friends. “Why are we first? I’m so no ready! Why do we have to go?”

“Calm down, Sungjong,” Sunggyu said as he stood up, pulling Woohyun along with him. “It’s okay. We’ll do fine. We got this!”

“Let’s go!” Woohyun cried, leading the group out of the room. “Make sure you all turn your mics on. No talking once it’s on.”

“Alright, noted,” Sunggyu stated as all seven of them their mics.

They slowly made their way on stage. They could hear a lot of cheering, but they couldn’t see anyone. The lights were off, making it hard for the seven to adjust in their positions. The song Sunggyu wrote was called Request. A song all of them put a lot of emotion into while practicing it.

The music started playing and the lights slowly . The boys gave each one last look before dancing smoothly to the song. Hoya then stepped up and started singing, shocking the whole crowd. Everything was silent as the seven went on dancing and singing. Woohyun moved smoothly on his feet, dancing past his friends and grinning at Sunggyu.

The response from the crowd was positive and regenerating. They cheered together, letting the seven know that they were there for them. Woohyun scanned the crowd, spotting Sunggyu’s family. He grinned before looking at his friends. Just like that, they ended song and the crowd cheered even louder.

The seven bowed together before running off the stage. Everyone applauded them as they rushed to the waiting room, passing the next group. Once they made it to the waiting room, they all plopped down on chairs and started cheering as well. They couldn’t believe they did it. It was a bigger crowd they were used to, but they did it.

Woohyun sighed loudly, before leaning his head on Sunggyu’s shoulder. Sunggyu smiled and pulled him into a hug as they watched the performances on the tv screen in the room. The group that was on stage were dressed in all white and they were doing some sort of mirror dance. Woohyun had to admit that it was pretty impressive. He hasn’t seen a dance as cool as that.

The next few contestants went on, and Woohyun could’ve sworn they were way better than he and his friends were. There was so much talent. Woohyun couldn’t believe they were going against all of these people. He secretly wished he and his friends had practiced more.

Soon every performer went through and the MCs were back on stage. The girls both held up envelopes and smiled at the crowd. They were getting ready to announce the winners, making the seven boys really nervous. Sunggyu shut his eyes and started muttering a prayer under his breath. He wanted this win more than anything.

“Okay, so I guess we can announce third place,” Sunny said, starting to open up the first envelope. She was about to say the name, when someone came running up to her with a note.

“Oh, it looks like the first place contestants were disqualified,” Tiffany said, taking the note and reading it. “Apparently they got in a fight with the staffs... Which means second and third move a place up.”

“So should I just announce the second place winner, then?” Sunny asked, looking at Tiffany.

“No, we’ll wait for that,” Tiffany said as she took another envelope from the guy. “Okay, I’ll announce the NEW third place winners. Wow guys, it’s your lucky day! You barely made it!”

“The third place winner gets 10 thousand dollars and they get to be in EXO’s next variety show,” Sunny stated, causing Tiffany to nod. “Alright, let’s have our lucky winners come out!”

“Third place goes to a girl group called APink! Congratulations!” Tiffany cried, causing a group of girls next to the boys jump up in excitement and hug each other.

“We did it!” one of the girls shouted.

“Come on, let’s go!” another girl cried, and they all rushed out of the waiting room.

“I wish we would win something,” Sungyeol said, pouting. “I know we’re not going to win anything. Those girls were amazing! Way better than us.”

“I agree,” Woohyun replied. “But at least we tried. And we had fun.”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to say,” Sunggyu stated, nodding his head. “Good work, all of you.”

The seven boys stopped talking and turned to the tv again so they could hear the girls’ speech. They were standing on the stage with huge smiles on their faces, waving at the audience. The girl speaking kept bowing repeatedly to the judges, before turning and bowing to the MCs. After they finished their speech, they stepped back and handed the mic to Sunny. Sunny smiled at them before stepping up again.

“Great job, girls. I really enjoyed your performance,” Sunny said, smiling at them. “So now I guess we can announce the second place winners.”

“That we can,” Tiffany replied, nodding her head. “These wonderful guys will get to go on another music show for yet another chance to be idols! They will also win 15 thousand dollars.”

“These young men were very inspiring. Their dance really threw me off! I’ve never seen such an impressive dance,” Sunny added, glancing at the card in her hand. “So the winner is a five member boyband, B1A4!”

“Well, I’m done,” Woohyun said, jumping up and walking towards the entrance of the room. “If they won, there’s no WAY we’re getting first.”

“Woohyun, don’t leave!” Sunggyu called after him, grabbing his wrist. “Don’t give up just like that. There’s still a chance. It might be a very little chance, but there’s still a chance!”

“Have you SEEN how many good performances there were?” Woohyun asked, gesturing around at the contestants who were now watching them. “Everyone in here were so much better than we were! We’re still amateurs. We need more practice, Gyu! There’s no way in hell we’re beating the B1A4 guys! They were AMAZING! It’s useless! We didn’t win!”

“Don’t talk that way, Woohyun! You’re not one who usually gives up hope! Just wait a little while longer, okay? We worked hard for this! We’re not going to let our hard work go to waste!” Sunggyu cried, pulling Woohyun closer to him. “Just don’t give up, okay? You’re so much stronger than this, Woohyun-ah. Have faith in all of us!”

“I don’t know,” Woohyun whispered, shaking his head. “I do have faith, but it’s just really hard to accept the possibility of winning. Not with all the amazing talents here tonight.”

“Guys! Sush! They’re announcing the winner!” Myungsoo hissed, causing the two to stop talking and turn on the tv again.

“These boys... Wow, they’re the LUCKIEST tonight! If the first place contestants from earlier weren’t disqualified, then these boys wouldn’t have the chance to be idols. At least not yet,” Sunny was saying. “I honestly really loved their performance and I’m so glad they won.”

“It was a really nice song,” Tiffany agreed, nodding her head. “I heard they wrote the song, created the choreography and did everything else on their own.”

“Most of the groups here did that,” Sunny said, frowning at her.

“Well, that’s true,” Tiffany stated, smiling. “But more than anything, I keep hearing Suho talk about ONE of their group members who seems very energetic about winning this thing.”

“Well, it’s a good thing they won then, now isn’t it?” Sunny asked, laughing. “Can I have Lee Jungyeop and Kim Jungryeol come up and announce their new idols who will be training under Woollim Entertainment from this day forward? With the prize of 30 thousand dollars. Wow, these boys are getting rich!”

“I wish I were them,” Tiffany said with a laugh. “I want that much money.”

“I know, so do I,” Sunny agreed, also laughing.

The Woollim Entertainment CEO walked on stage with Jungryeol right behind him. Someone handed him the check he would give the winners, while Tiffany handed him the microphone. Jungyeop smiled and bowed to the audience before bringing the mic up to his mouth to speak into it. Back in the waiting room, Sunggyu anxiously grasped on to Woohyun’s hand, closing his eyes tightly. Woohyun could feel that Sunggyu’s hand was sweating.

“Before I announce the winner, I hear that two of the members in this boy band are dating,” Jungyeop stated. “And I wanted to let everyone know that I have nothing against gay relationships. I’m going to accept them no matter what. All that matters is talent, dedication, and most importantly, personality. I hear these boys are a great set of young men. I’m very excited to be working with them. I’ve heard alot about them from one of our judges.”

“Does that mean...?” Sunggyu asked, opening his eyes and looking around at his friends. “Did we...?”

“And so the winner is the boy band Infinite from Daekyung University!” Jungyeop cried, causing the seven boys to drop to the ground in shock.

“No no no, it can’t be,” Woohyun whispered, shaking his head repeatedly. “Did we... did we really win?”

“I told you not to give up,” Sunggyu whispered, before standing up again and pulling Woohyun out of the room.

The couple was the first on stage, clasping hands tightly. Their friends followed closely behind as they nervously walked up to Jungyeop. Woohyun could see all their friends and family jumping out of their seats and chanting their name. He finally was able to smile as they made it to the CEO. Jungyeop and Jungryeol shook each and every one of their hands, congratulating them.

“Welcome to the company,” Jungyeop said with a wide grin. “I’ll be your new boss, and Jungryeol here will be your vocal instructor until you debut. When you debut, he’ll be your manager. You will be starting tomorrow morning, where you’ll come in and sign a contract. There we’ll discuss album details and training details. I need you to come in with your parents... or guardians, because I’ll need them to sign as well.”

“Congratulations, boys,” Jungryeol said, grinning at them. “You made it.”

“YES!” Sungyeol cheered, throwing his hands up in the air. “WE’RE IDOLS NOW!”