Win the Untold Story-Chapter 2

May 31st- Evaluation Day

The van pulled up under the awning of the YG building depositing team B for their monthly evaluations. The vehicle was in absolute chaos as everyone struggled to grab all the props for the two performances. Hanbin was the first to escape its clutches and step onto the pavement. He took a deep breath and reached back for the bag Jinhwan held out to him.

“This never gets any easier.” Hanbin said under his breath.

“I know, but thinking about the ultimate goal in all of this helps. Just knowing that all our label-mates went through the same thing makes it a little more bearable.” Jinhwan replied.

Team B’s leader just grunted in response, as if to say ‘yea that may be, but it doesn’t change the fact that I still dread this day with every fiber of my being’.

Jinhwan just laughed before moving over to let the other members out of the vehicle. They huddled close together and made their way towards Team A who were waiting for them just outside the main door.

“Yo guys whats up?” Mino yelled. “You get my text?”

“Yea, I got it you big goof. You would know that if you bothered to check your phone.” Hanbin teased. 

Mino wasn’t known for his communication skills, but he had a big heart and always tried to bridge the gap between the two groups despite knowing in reality they were each other’s competition.

“Whatever that takes too much work, besides my phone died. I forgot to plug it in last night.” He replied.

Hanbin shook his head and couldn’t quite hide his smile at Mino’s forgetfulness. “Well I will save you the trouble then. I said we’re in for some late night snacks after. How could we not pay a visit to our favorite ahjumma?”

Mino clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s my boy, I knew I could count on you!”

It was then that Bobby joined in slinging an arm over Mino’s shoulder. “So what do you guys have in store for today? Did you write a sick rap?”

The deep voiced rapper of Team A winked, “That would be telling and then I’d have to kill you.”

The boys laughed it off and made their way down the stairs to the practice room on the first floor basement.

Opening the door Taehyun gasped in response upon noticing the abnormal amount of people gathered. Not to mention the excessive number of cameras. The rest of the boys quickly stumbled in bowing in greeting before forming a tight knit group in the relative safety of the corner bench.

Whispers broke out between the members as each tried to puzzle out what was going on. Their speculations soon came to a halt however as the man himself walked in, the president/CEO of YG entertainment, Yang Hyun-Suk.

The room was suspended in a state of anticipation for what papa YG might reveal, yet they would have to hold their curiosity for a little while longer.

Yang Hyun-Suk sat down in the center of the bench, crossing his legs and casually placing his clipboard across his knees. “Shall we begin?”

That was it. No explanation, no logic as to why this evaluation was so different, he simply sat down and wrapped his aura about him before instructing the boys to begin.

The guys all looked at each other with trepidation as they scrambled to process what just happened. It was Seungyoon who broke rank first gathering team A in front of the mirrors to start.

The team B members stuck close together on the bench to watch their rival’s first performance. Jiwon bobbed his head along to the beginning beats of ‘Heart Attack’ by Trey Songz as it started to play through the speakers accompanying Seunghoon’s self written rap.

It wasn’t long before Seunghoon’s nervousness got the better of him though and he jumbled up his lyrics. Hanbin who was only half paying attention at the time shot his head up in surprise watching as Team A all bowed in apology and asked for another chance.

This time when the music began Seunghoon was able to get thorough his rap without a hitch. Team B focused their attention on their friends, noticing both their strengths and weaknesses, but all together just enjoying the show. Little did they know that in a few short hours it would be difficult to watch any future performance without anything but a critical eye.

As the song came to a close with the soothing voice of Nam Taehyun team B along with the rest of the judges joined in on a polite round of applause. There was a short awkward silence as papers were shuffled around and notes were being hastily scratched down before Yang Hyun-Suk gave the universal nod for Team B to take their place.

Hanbin shared a meaningful look with s communicating his confidence in them as well as trying to release some of the nervous energy that seemed to permeate the room. Bobby smirked back as if to say ‘we got this’. A few more fidgets and then the familiar chords of ‘Hard’ by Rihanna echoed throughout the room.

Snapping into focus the six boys of team B did their best to enjoy their few short minutes as the center of the attention for the critical eyes of the some of the most important employees in YG. Almost too quickly the song came to an end and it was time to switch over to the dance portion of the monthly assessment. 

Jinhwan kept stealing glances at the CEO to try and figure out his thoughts, but as usual Yang Hyun-Suk had his game face on. A gentle tug on his elbow by a fellow teammate finally broke his silent appraisal signaling it was time to go get changed. All of team B with the exception of Bobby filed out of the room in organized chaos.

“Yah did you get a good look at papa YG’s face?” Donghyuk asked nervously.

“No, I was too busy trying not to mess up.” Junhoe replied.

Hanbin clapped them both on the shoulder. “Stop worrying about what you can’t control and start focusing on what you can. It’s a waste of time to even begin to guess what goes on in our CEO’s twisted mind.” He paused while pulling his sweatshirt over his head before continuing, “I swear it would be just like him to set up a bunch of fake cameras and pretend they are rolling as a method to increase the tension.”

“Thats true…” Donghyuk conceded. “But still it wouldn’t hurt him to be a little more transparent would it?”

“Whatever, just hurry up and get dressed it’s almost our turn.” The leader scolded. “We’ll have time to speculate later.”

The members quickly finished changing outfits and rushed back down the hallway to the main practice room.

“Dude can you believe Seunghoon messing up his lyrics?” Yunhyeong asked in disbelief. “He rarely makes mistakes that big.”

“It could’ve easily been any of us, just be thankful it wasn’t.” Hanbin said seriously. “We should be sure to buy him some extra snacks later tonight to try and cheer him up.”

“I’ll treat him.” Offered Jinhwan.

“Yaahhhh treat me too… buy for me tooooo!” The maknae whined, while snuggling up against the oldest member of Team B.

“Hey! I always buy, how come you never treat your hyungs?”

“Uhhh that’s because… I’m cute?”

Jinhwan narrowed his eyes.

“I mean, ummm I don’t have any money.”

The eldest slowly approached Donghyuk who looked like he wanted to bolt away at any second.

“Uhhh ummm what I meant to say was…”

“Yes?”

“I’ll buy tonight!” The newest member of team B blurted out.

Jinhwan gave a satisfied smirk. “That’s what I thought.”

“Hey we can enter now the A team just finished.” Hanbin informed his team.

In a blur of shuffling feet Team B joined Bobby in the front of the practice room for the last portion of the assessment.

The strong hip-hop synthesized sound of ‘The Motto” by Drake signaled the start of the well choreographed dance of the younger team. Everything went smoothly and no major mistakes were apparent. The leader even approached Yang Hyun-Suk staring him dead in the eye earning the team one of his rare smiles of approval before the song faded out.

And just like that it was over.

The 11 boys whispered quietly in the corner while the judges finished evaluating before being asked to line up in front of them for comments to begin.

Yang Hyun-Suk stood up and paced in front of the two teams clicking his pen in that intimidating way.

“Why do you think there are all these cameras here today?” Papa YG asked the room. “Truthfully no one knows…”

“When do you think you will debut? Hanbinnie?”

The leader of team B swallowed nervously.

“You can be honest.”

“I was hoping maybe late next year…”

“And you?” The CEO addressed Seunghoon of Team A.

“I originally thought maybe late this year, but now i’m thinking maybe next year as well.”

“As you all know we don’t produce many new groups. It’s been 8 years since BigBang debuted and 4 years since 2ne1. At first I was thinking of debuting a new girl group, but I’ve changed my mind.” Hyun-Suk explained. “Two teams are here right now, I will make one of them debut this year.”