The alarm clock rang and Sunggyu was the first to wake up. He got up from the mattress and trudged towards the wall area when he would stick all kinds of things on. “Looks like it is already February,” Sunggyu muttered to himself as he tore a page of the calendar.

As per normal, Sunggyu went on to wake the other members up, beginning with Woohyun and lastly, Dongwoo, who always sleeps like a dead log. After they got ready, they waited at the living room for their manager, who would bring them their breakfast. “Where’s the manager?” Woohyun grunted and pointed to the direction of the door, “Dongwoo-hyung, scout for us please.”

Dongwoo, the member with wild eyes, walked up to the door to take a peek outside. He could see no one and so, he stepped out of the house to look at the never-ending road outside. “There he is, Manager-hy -“, Dongwoo stopped in the middle of his sentence because what he was hearing was not what he wanted to hear.

“This is not right, President, give me some time. I’ll pick the talented kids to see you and will tell you who are weaker. Yes. Yes. I know 7 might be too much,” their manager said on his cellphone.

Random thoughts began to appear in Dongwoo’s head, “What is Manager-hyung talking about? Why is the number 7 too much? Is it –“

Dongwoo paused his thinking and ran back into the dormitory, accidentally slamming the door in the process. The sound of the door being slammed shocked the manager that he ran up to check what happened to the boys. “Are you boys ok? The door -” the manager asked.

“It was Dongwoo-hyung!” Sungyeol, the childish member, quickly shoved the blame in Dongwoo’s face.

“Anyway, these are your breakfasts,” the manager replied as he gave out the food packets.

Myungsoo, the mysterious yet handsome trainee, opened the food packet and grumbled, “Lean meat and vegetable again?”

“Don’t complain guys, you all need good bodies. I’ll go outside now,” the manager said as he left the dormitory.

“Guys, I heard,” Dongwoo blurted.

“What?” Sungjong, the youngest, was quick to ask Dongwoo.

“Manager-hyung, he was talking on the phone,” Dongwoo started talking and his face turned serious.

“Dongwoo-hyung, your face is serious, it is not like you,” Howon, an observant trainee, pointed out.

“Listen to me!” Dongwoo raised his voice.

“Hey, all of you, let’s listen to what Dongwoo has to say,” Sunggyu attempted to make the other guys to calm down.

“Manager-hyung said the number 7 is too much. Could 7 be the number of members in a group? Us?” Dongwoo tried to explain.

“What does he mean by too much? They want a smaller group to debut?” Woohyun asked.

Dongwoo told the others everything he heard. The boys started to discuss and voice their thoughts about it.

“So they might kick some of us out, I see.” Sunggyu gave his conclusion and frowns were plastered across the faces of the boys.

Soon, it was time to walk to their training studio with their manager. During the short journey to the destination, the manager was giving advices to them and complimented Dongwoo and Howon as they recently got better at singing.

It took only about ten minutes for them to reach the training studio. As soon as they reached, they began their dance routine. Their dance instructor, Hyeonbae, observed them. Due to the thoughts of possibly getting kicked out, it seemed like Hyeonbae was scrutinizing their every move, making the boys unable to afford to make any mistakes.

Eleventh dance routine and the boys started to get tired. “Alright boys, I will give you a 10 minutes’ break. Hydrate yourselves,” Hyeonbae instructed.

Then, Hyeonbae walked towards Dongwoo and Howon and praised, “You two are doing well, so much intense passion in your eyes and your moves were slick. Good job.”

They continued with their dance routine and soon, it was time for Dongwoo and Howon to practice their rapping. The pair moved to the extreme left of the room and began practicing diligently.

“Dongwoo-hyung, Howon-hyung, they are good in everything. I am jealous.” Sungjong voiced out his feelings.

“Now that you said this, I am worried,” Woohyun replied.

“Why?” Sunggyu asked.

“Isn’t it obvious, hyung? They are good in everything; dancing, rapping, singing. President has a lot to gain by keeping them,” Woohyun substantiated his point.

“What? There is some truth in whatever Woohyun-hyung said,” Sungyeol added.

“Let’s not think too much –“ Myungsoo tried to stop the members from jumping into their own conclusions.

“No, there is some truth. It means that it is one of us. Woohyun, Sungyeol, Sungjong, me or you –“ Sunggyu broke his silence and pointed to Myungsoo.

“I won’t get kicked out,” Myungsoo confidently said.

“Up to you, Myungsoo-hyung. We must save ourselves, if not everything will be for Dongwoo-hyung or Howon-hyung.” Sungjong showed his jealousy.

“What can we do?” Myungsoo said with a purpose to make sure the five of them were safe from being kicked out from the group.

“Later, there will be a golden opportunity,” Sunggyu said.

“Yes, President will be talking to us individually later, you all don’t read your schedule, do you?” Woohyun continued.

“So, let’s just highlight the negative aspects of Dongwoo and Howon. The instructors and manager can praise the two of them up till the sky, but if the five of us complain about them, President’s impressions of the two of them will definitely be not that favourable,” Sunggyu explained.

“Bingo,” Sungyeol replied, “now, all of you better think about what to say.”

After a short discussion without the interference of Dongwoo and Howon who were busy focusing on their rapping practice, the rest continued their dance routine. Dongwoo and Howon, who were considered the “triple treats” for being good at singing, dancing and rapping now became the “triple threats” for Sunggyu, Woohyun, Sungyeol, Myungsoo and Sungjong. A wall of distrust separates the two groups and the other five boys started to ignore Dongwoo and Howon. Their acts of ignorance caused Dongwoo and Howon to feel awkward being around them.

It was 8pm and it was about time the President would come in to have a talk with all the boys individually. The President came in five minutes later and briefly talked about his main objective talking to them, “I want to know how you all have been doing and your relationships among each other here.”

First up, it was Sunggyu who was sent to talk to the President at the staircase outside their training studio.

In the room, the atmosphere was filled with tension as no one talked. It seemed like everyone were fearful of a possibility that one might be kicked out. Howon decided to stop the awkwardness and spoke, “Guys, I am sorry if I am the one who will have to go, or cause any of you to go.”

But the only responses he got were stares from Woohyun, Sungyeol, Myungsoo and Sungjong. Dongwoo noticed them and added, “Same goes for me, whatever Howon said.”

Sunggyu then came back from having his personal talk with the President. He opened the door of the training studios and peeked out, nodded to Woohyun as if signalling he had done what was planned. “Dongwoo, it is your turn to see him,” Sunggyu coldly called his friend.

Dongwoo left and soon, all the members had their personal talk with the President. The President went back into the training studio to debrief them.

The President began, “I have heard feedbacks from your manager, instructors and friends about each and every one of you. What is funny is that the feedbacks from your manager and instructors are different from your remarks about your friends.”

After the President said that, all of the boys’ faces changed.

He then continued, “I heard from one of you about the kicking out a member because 7 members are simply too much for a boy band. What is this all about? I have a feeling this has been circulating among you boys. If this talk worries you and you are afraid of being kicked out, then do not show your bad side. You guys just showed me your bad side by talking only about the weaknesses of other members.”

He sighed and continued, “Looks like you boys are not ready to debut. You boys are not united, if you boys are, then you all would have talked to me about saving everyone. I am honestly disappointed. I will meet you guys again next time and do reflect on what I said.”

The President left the venue and the boys looked at the ground in shame. The manager wanted to save the situation and broke the silence in the studio, “Boys, it is ok, your relationships can get better and by the next time the President is here, you boys can show off how united you are as a group.”

Those comforting words from the manager gave courage to the boys to apologize to one another. All of them hugged one another and promised to strengthen their unity as a group. Due to that one day in their trainee history, the seven talented boys: Kim Sunggyu, Jang Dongwoo, Nam Woohyun, Lee Howon, Lee Sungyeol, Kim Myungsoo and Lee Sungjong became so united. Their unity is displayed through their 99.9% synchronized dancing that it was said to be their speciality soon after their debut and remains up till today.

∞♥∞

Written by IN7JAN and edited by muffinsanddolls. Photo credits to acciomyungsoo on Tumblr.

On a side note, I am writing another super long fanfiction on Infinite, I don't know whether I'll be able to complete it. I need to know the response for this one shot before completing another fanfiction. Thank you for reading.