#but it's also from hard times that they covered together after mgas | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

luffles424 · 4 years

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Dark Side (01)

☼ Pairing: Namjoon x reader x Jungkook

☼ Genre: Star Wars au, Sith!Namjoon, Sith!Jungkook, Sith!reader, fluff, (future) smut, bit of angst, e2l, magical artifacts

☼ Count: 16.8K

☼ Warnings: violence (there’s some fight scenes), minor unnamed character death, mentions of enslavement

☼ Summary: You end up in the wrong temple at the wrong time and you’re certain that it spells nothing but your death. Except, it doesn’t. Has everything you’ve learned about the Sith been wrong? Or is it perhaps just these Sith that are different?

(This takes place long before the movies, it’s based around the SWTOR game, so it takes place roughly 3500 years before the events of the movies.)

☼ a/n: This is just... so wildly different from what it was originally suppose to be (originally was just a pwp with just Joon) and now there’s so much plot I’ve had to split it into two parts because now its a monster. It was also suppose to be posted on Star Wars day and I’ve clearly very badly failed on that part. This is primarily inspired by Joon’s 2018 MGA outfit and then Kook’s look when he wears a giant hood and looks like a sith. (I’ve also got some pictures of all three looks if y’all are interested in me posting that (they’re just from a dress up game but I have zero drawing skill)) Let me know what you think! My ask box is always open ~ 💙💙💙💙

Part 2

You press yourself back against the pillar, the coolness of the stone seeping through your ragged clothes, a stark contrast to your heated skin. It’s too hot on this planet, even down in this tomb it’s too hot. You listen, hearing the scuff of footsteps against the sandy stones before they stop. They’re close. So close to you, it feels like your heart is in your throat as you wait and hope for them to leave.

Your gaze darts around and you spy your pack, too far away for you to reach without moving. And no matter how hard you try, you know what a futile attempt it would be to try to move with all the sand, even the slightest adjustment of stance would be audible. Because if you could hear this other person, they’d most assuredly hear you too.

It remains quiet for a few more moments before they let out an irritated sigh. “I know you’re there. You might as well just come out.” You remain frozen, you know they didn’t see you, their shadow gave them away before you would’ve been visible to them. There’s an annoyed growl. “You can either come out on your own or I can force you out.”

They put a weird emphasis on the word force, it makes something in you prickle at the overall command, something that sits just under your skin. You glance to your pack again. If you can edge your way out in front of them just right, you can get closer to your pack and subsequently, to your balster. It’s a shitty little thing. It’s probably not good for anymore than just one shot. But if you’re lucky, you’re only going to need the one shot.

You step out, shuffling a few steps towards your pack, as close as you think you can manage without the other growing suspicious. You know how you look, how you always look, a little dirty from scavenging, clothes torn and repaired, not necessarily with the steadiest of hands. Eyes hard from years of distrust. You let your shoulders slump, you know you can try to play up the runaway slave easily. You’ve done it before, it’s not entirely difficult given that you actually are one, but you’re far from that scared, timid girl anymore.

You keep your head down, but let your gaze wander over the man before you. His dark hair is longer than you’d expect of someone on this planet and its fluffiness is at odds with the glower on his face as his eyes rake over you too. He’s too clean and put together to be from around here, you know that much immediately. His clothes are dark, from the black cloak around his shoulders to the layers of black cloth and leather that cover him. The only thing that stands out is the red leather straps that accent his boots and the deep red fabric cinched around his waist, which draws your attention to the silver and black glint of metal hanging from his belt, signifying what he was. Sith.

Your stomach drops as your blood runs cold. Your chances to get out of here just got even lower, practically nonexistent. You were nothing to him and a sith would have no problem with getting rid of you should you be in his way, which given that you’re scavenging in a tomb, you probably are. You glance quickly to your bag, even if you die, if you were quick enough maybe you could still get your shot off. You certainly weren’t going to make this easy for him.

He follows your gaze and snorts. “Don’t even think about it.”

You’re going to die anyway. There’s no way you’re getting out of this, you have nothing to lose.

But you don’t even get a step before he’s thrown a hand out and you feel your oxygen cut off. Your hands scramble uselessly at your neck, but there’s nothing there for you to try to pry away to give you your breath back. He tuts at you, walking closer until he replaces the force choking you for his own hand. He tightens his grip and you claw at his hand, struggling to get away. You barely register his words as you try to get him off of you.

“Now then, little runaway, before I drag you back to whatever sorry hole you thought you could get away from, you have something of mine and I’d like it back now.”

He lifts you, until your toes are just barely brushing the ground. You don’t know what you could possibly have of his that he’d want, this isn’t even a sith tomb. Your mind races, you’re short on options at this point, held with your oxygen cut off like this. If you could just get to your bag. Your hands wrap around his forearm for lack of anything else to do. Then a small glimmer of a plan forms. It’s certainly not the best and if it even works then you’ll end up on your ass too. But it will hopefully serve as enough of a distraction for you to be able to grab your pack.

You tighten your grip as best as you can and look him in the eyes. He looks annoyed and you’re fairly certain that he’s said something else, but there’s a ringing in your ears now and your vision is starting to go black. You muster every ounce of strength you can and lift your legs, planting them firmly on his chest and push, relishing his brief look of surprise as your feet lift.

You expect him to maybe stumble, caught off guard enough that he releases your throat at the very least. What you don’t expect though, is for him to fly back 20 feet to slam into a pillar on the opposite side of the room. You hear his wheeze as his breath is knocked from him as he slides down to the base of the pillar to crumple in a dazed heap.

You hit the ground with a gasp, the air burning your throat and lungs as it floods your system. You take only a single deep breath before you’re scrambling closer to your pack and yanking your blaster free from the confines. You turn and point it at him just as he gets to his knees, hand outstretched to do… something. Something that you really don’t want to find out.

But there’s a shout of ‘enough’ that comes from neither of you that halts both of you. The power in the command makes you falter just slightly, end of your blaster wavering from where it’d been pointed at the other man. The other man looks equal parts pissed and nervous. You glance towards the entrance and watch the one who spoke enter. He’s dressed in a similar manner to the other. His hair though is shorter, blond, and more meticulously styled than the other’s. Fuck, just your luck, two sith. He waves a hand passively to the man you had been fighting.

“That’s enough, Jungkook.” His voice is soft spoken, but there’s an undeniable undercurrent of ‘or else’ that follows it that has you wanting to follow his order even though it wasn’t directed at you.

The man, Jungkook you presume, drops his hand and his murderous gaze turns to you. “She’s in the way, master,” he spits out.

Another hand wave and Jungkook slumps down, clearly upset that he’s not being listened to. The man approaches you, head tilted in curiosity. He flicks his hand and your blaster flies from your hand to smash against a pillar. You’re so dead now, you clutch your pack closer to you like a shield.

He reaches out a hand, unphased by the way you push yourself back. “You have the holocron I’ve been looking for. Will you hand it over?”

Your brows furrow, glancing from your pack back to this man. He must be crazy if he really thinks you’ll just hand something over that you could sell and get yourself off this blasted planet.

His face is disarmingly serene when he drops his hand after you refuse to respond. You don’t know whether you should be relieved or on edge. He studies you and seems to come to a decision. He turns and walks away, leaving you even more perplexed.

“Jungkook, bring her with.”

Twin shouts of ‘what’ ring out. Yours in confusion and Jungkook’s in anger and indignation.

“You can’t be serious!” he continues.

The man turns to him and you can see the fire in his eyes despite the fact that his face remains passive. “Do you think you know better than me, Jungkook?”

Jungkook shrinks under the look, murmuring a soft, “No, master.”

“Then take her to the ship. She may hold on to her bag if it makes her feel better.” He gives him a warning look. “It shall be handled carefully, we cannot afford for that holocron to be broken. It will set my work back years.”

The man leaves, ascending to the exit and leaving a heavy silence in his wake. You wonder if you could run. A scoff finally breaks that silence and you jerk your head to stare at Jungkook. He mutters something further in a language that’s unfamiliar to you and approaches, running a hand through his hair.

“I don’t know why Namjoon won’t just let me kill you or send you back to your little shithole.”

You glare at him, putting the strap of your bag over your head to let it hang, hand still clutching the strap tightly. His master may be willing to bring you with, but Jungkook clearly doesn’t share that sentiment and you wouldn’t put it past him to lie and say you tried to run. You straighten your back and make every attempt to look imposing.

“Listen here, you rockhead, you don’t scare me.”

His eyes widen in surprise, but you don’t give him a chance to respond, instead turning on your heel and following his master out of the tomb. You might as well milk his kindness while he’s got it. Before he changes his mind and you maybe end up dead in a sandpit somewhere.

You don’t really know how long the trip lasts. Once you exited the tomb, Jungkook seemed to have snapped out of his stunned surprise, quickly following so he could seize your arm roughly and drag you in the direction of a nearby ship. Not like you couldn’t have puzzled out that it was theirs, given that there was nothing around for miles. It’s nice, nicer than anything you’ve seen in a long while in this place. You’re surprised that it stands untouched given the sheer amount of scavengers on this planet.

Once drug on board, you’d been shoved into what you assume Jungkook is deeming your temporary prison. It’s too big to be such, and given the ship, you doubt that they actually had any sort of dedicated jail space on board. It’s a small room that looks more like it’s usual purpose is for storage. Containers are stacked neatly along the walls and there’s a cot in the corner as well. That’s where you take a seat for the duration of the ride.

When Jungkook had pushed you in, he’d looked you over in disgust, muttering out a warning about not trying anything and then the door was sliding shut and you heard the lock engaging. What did he expect you to try in a glorified closet? As far as you can tell, the things that are stored here would do little to help you. Although you do have to resist the urge to swipe some of the nicer looking spare circuitry, knowing how much you could sell it for.

So instead you sat and thought. Tried to figure out what this sith could possibly think about offering you that he couldn’t just do so in the tomb. Or why he didn’t simply kill you and leave you there. You wouldn’t have even been the first scavenger body left in that tomb. Anyone who found you would’ve just thought you to be another unfortunate scavenger. And there’s certainly no one who would’ve come looking for you or asking questions.

It makes you wary. Sith aren’t the paragons of trust anyway, but one that seems to want to take you to a place that you don’t even know the name of is a little alarming. You don’t think you could outpower him either. Jungkook, probably. Your scuffle in the tomb spoke volumes of the fact that you could maybe have taken him. But Namjoon, you definitely couldn’t. He’d wielded his power so easily and effortlessly when he’d talked to you that it looked like he hadn’t even thought about what he was doing, just something that was second nature to him, as easy as breathing.

You only know that you’ve arrived at whatever the destination is by Jungkook’s return. The glower is still painted on his face and he’s quick to take your arm again and pull you along. You blink as you exit the ship, eyes widening as you take in your new surroundings. You’ve never seen so many towering buildings in person before. The sky is clouded and you would think it night were it not for the fact that it’s clearly busy as if it were the middle of the day.

“Where are we?”

Jungkook scoffs. “Stars, seriously? This is Dromund Kaas. The seat of the Empire.”

He tugs you down the ramp, but you’re too distracted by the buildings around you. Everything gleams despite the low light and your eyes shine with wonder. Everything is so full of life. And once you exit the port into a more prominent thoroughfare, people move in large crowds, shopping and laughing. There’s stalls with food that others stop at. Your stomach growls at the scents that fill your nose but Jungkook pays it no mind, either not having heard it or, more likely, he doesn’t care.

He weaves through the crowd easily until you come to a large building and you’re led inside to a lift. You startle when it starts to move. You’ve heard about them before, but you’ve never seen one before, let alone rode one and the sensation is disorienting. When the lift stops, the door swishes open and Jungkook is moving before you can even blink. You pass by a window, freezing when you see how high up you are. Everything looks so small from up here. You’re stopping forces Jungkook to stop as well, both angered and perplexed that he can’t tug you along.

The city sprawls out below you, the view is both breathtaking and terrifying. You thought you’d be doomed to a life of sand and sun, but even if Namjoon decides to kill you to get what he needs, then at least you can say you’d gotten to find your favorite view. Jungkook tugs you roughly and you stumble towards him.

“Come on, runaway. You don’t want to keep Namjoon waiting,” he smirks then and it’s full of malice. “Or maybe you should keep taking in the view. I think I’d like that outcome much more.”

You glare at him and push him in the direction he had been headed before you stopped. You weren’t going to make it that easy for him. He sighs, like he had wished that you would choose to stay in place. Arriving at an innocuous looking door, Jungkook enters a code into the lock and the door grants you both entry.

He leads you through an opulent apartment, the colors are all muted but warm and while there seems to be a lot of metal used, it looks cozy. The most startling thing is the greenery. There are plants everywhere, the one point of color in the room that isn’t muted. They all look well maintained and cared for and you’ve never seen so much green in one place. Especially one so small. There’s more windows that you pass as Jungkook takes you down a short hall to another door.

He knocks once before entering, giving you a shove as he releases you and he moves off to the side to lean against a wall. You stumble and glare at him as you right yourself. You glance around, he’s brought you to an office, your gaze settling on the large ornate desk in front of you. Lifting your gaze, you realize this must be Namjoon's office, given that he’s sat behind the desk, reading through a datapad like he hadn’t just taken you from another planet and might be preparing to have to get rid of a body.

He pays you no mind for a while, leaving you to shift uncomfortably. Was this meant to be a ploy to get what he wants, make you make the first move? You won’t play into his game and you straighten and stare him down, expression carefully blank. You’ve certainly kept your face blank through worse, dealing with your old seller. Finally he looks up, looking bored. He glances over you, eyes pausing on your pack that’s still clutched close to your body. He looks back to the datapad before setting it down and folding his hands together in front of him casually, like this is an everyday occurrence for him.

“I have two options for you moving forward.” You wonder if one of those is death. “The first is, give me the holocron in your bag there and in return, you will receive 1 million credits and a ride to whatever planet you wish to travel to.”

You blink. Had you really heard him right? A million credits? And you get to leave, alive? There’s no way. He stands, moving towards the window in his office. How many windows did they have here? They were everywhere. You couldn’t really have windows back home, too much sand and solid walls kept the heat out better.

He paces for a few moments like he’s mulling over his words before he continues. “Or,” he stops, back facing you. “You give me the holocron and you can become a sith.”

Jungkook makes a noise of protest. “You can’t be serious! Her? A sith? That’s a joke, right?”

Namjoon turns, giving Jungkook a dark look that shuts the younger man up immediately. His attention turns back to you and he moves closer, circling you. You feel like you’re on a selling block being inspected. “You’ll become my apprentice, train under me, carry out missions, and rise through the ranks. You’ll gain unimaginable power.” He stops directly behind you, leaning in till his lips just barely brush your ear and you shudder. “Isn’t that what you wish for most? To never be as powerless as you were when you were enslaved?”

He walks away, going back to his desk and picking the datapad back up to read like he didn’t just offer you a new life on a silver platter. “The choice is yours. You may think it over for a while. But time is precious and I won’t wait long.”

With that, his attention is completely taken by the datapad in his hand. You see Jungkook fuming in the corner, clearly not liking the offer Namjoon has extended to you. You can’t even enjoy it, your mind is reeling from the deal.

A million credits. Even in your wildest dreams you never envisioned having that much. You could get so far away from your old life. You’d never have to worry about money again. Never have to worry about looking over your shoulder, waiting for someone to catch on that you’d run from your owners. You could live a normal life. The money makes his other offer seem so absurd.

You? A sith? Could you really do something like that? You know you’ve never been entirely innocent, stealing a regular occurance when you were just trying to survive. But sith are evil. Did you think you could be evil?

Namjoon must think you could be, you doubt he extended the offer for no reason. He must see something in you that makes him want to train you. You think about the power you’d gain. No one could control you again without your permission. You could defend yourself so easily. You’d wield power you never could’ve imagined.

You lick your lips. It’s so enticing. It’d be so easy to just say yes, to hand over the holocron and become his apprentice. He didn’t seem wholly evil. He offered you money or a new life. But appearances could always be deceiving. You have no idea if he would follow through with his side.

You reach into your bag, pulling the glowing pyramid out. You stare at it and you know your decision. You set the holocron down in front of Namjoon and he looks up expectantly.

“Train me.”

He smiles and for the first time, you realize he has dimples. They would make him seem sweet and innocent were it not for the holocron below, casting red across his face and making the smile seem far more sinister. He nods.

“Wise choice, little one.” He waves Jungkook over. “Take her to Korriban. Get her registered at the academy and started on her trials. You can work on your training there as well while you wait.” He glances over you from head to toe, lips twisting in distaste. “Take her to get more appropriate clothes as well. And her saber when she passes. Ensure that she gets anything that she needs.” He turns his gaze to Jungkook, expression dark. “Understood?”

Jungkook’s lips twitch. “Yes, master.”

Namjoon turns back to you, a pleased smile curling his lips. “I have a few things that will keep me here for a while so I won’t see you until you return. But you will have your hands plenty full taking your trials. You will be in excellent care while I’m occupied as Jungkook will also be there. If you need anything, be sure to contact him.” Namjoon seems to realize something. “Right, Jungkook, get her a communicator as well when you’re getting her set up at the academy.” He looks thoughtful for a moment before nodding. “That’ll be all. Jungkook, go ahead and take the smaller ship.”

With that, Namjoon’s dismissal of you both is clear as he turns his attention to the holocron. Jungkook storms out of the room and you hurry to follow after, knowing that he won’t wait for you in this mood. He angrily paces the living room for a few moments before he’s rounding on you, finger jabbing into your chest.

“I don’t know what Namjoon is fucking playing at, but you will not be his apprentice. That’s me.” He sneers. “You’re going to be eaten alive at the academy. Namjoon has lost his mind if he really thinks you have what it takes to be a sith.”

You tilt your head, smiling and taking a step closer to Jungkook that seems to throw him off guard. “Oh? Namjoon certainly seems to be confident in my abilities. I’m sure it’ll be no time before I take over for you.”

His tongue pushes at his cheek in irritation. “Stars, I can’t wait to watch you fall. Won’t be so fucking cocky then, will you, runaway?”

He turns and leaves, you trail along after him, smirk firmly in place. Even if you don’t make it through whatever training you’ve got coming, you’re certainly going to enjoy teasing Jungkook. Especially when he makes it so easy to do.

Once back down on the ground, Jungkook continues his pace. You’d think he was trying to lose you in the crowd but his pace is just slow enough for you to just keep up with him. You come to a large plaza and you look around in wonder at all the people and merchants here. There’s more people here just shopping than there was in the entirety of the village you grew up in.

You almost lose Jungkook, distracted by a stall selling shiny trinkets, but he doubles back to drag you away. You can feel the irritation rolling off of him and that just makes you giggle. He finally comes to a store, one that’s actually in a building, and shoves you through the doorway.

The walls are stacked high with rolls of fabric, from sheers and lace to leather in every shade you could ever imagine. You stand in the doorway, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of fabric in the room. Jungkook slips past you, craning his neck to search the shop.

“My, my! Is that my little Jungkook again!” A voice calls from somewhere among the stacks of fabric.

Jungkook’s cheeks flare red and he glares at you as you bite your lip on a snicker. A small, older woman finally comes into view, pulling on a pair of glasses. Her already wide smile widens when her gaze falls on Jungkook. She immediately prods his stomach.

“Have you been eating well, boy?”

Jungkook pouts, actually pouts, and gently pushes her prodding hands away. “Bhea, please. Not now.” He whines and oh, you’re so enjoying this. “I have work for you.”

The woman, Bhea, frowns at that. She steps back slightly to look over Jungkook’s figure, shoving his cloak off so it puddles on the floor at his feet. She tilts her head and gestures to the expanse of him and you can’t help the way your eyes trail along his figure, the thick red belt at his waist does wonders to accentuate his tiny waist. He may be a jerk, but he’s got a great ass.

“I see nothing wrong with what I’ve already made.”

Jungkook makes a face, quickly stooping to pick up his cloak and fasten it back around his shoulders. He shakes his head and gestures towards you. “Not for me. A… new recruit.” His face twists with the last word.

“Is that your way of saying you’ve got a girlfriend? My little Jungkook is growing up so quick.” She rests a hand on her heart and Jungkook’s cheeks flood red and he waves his hands.

“No, I- That’s… She’s not my girlfriend. She’s nothing to me.”

Bhea gives him a nod and smirk and you can’t tell if she said that to tease him or if she really thought that. But the reaction was certainly worth it so you can’t be too upset by it. She turns her gaze to you finally. “Oh my, what a pretty little thing you are.” She coos, stepping closer as she inspects you. “We’ll get you fixed up with something much more suitable. Not these rags here.”

Your cheeks heat in embarrassment. You knew your clothes were shabby, but you didn’t think they were all that bad. You did your best to keep them looking decent.

Bhea pays no mind to you, taking your hand and leading you towards the back of the shop. Jungkook follows behind. She leads you to a room where a droid sits, coming to life once she enters. She gestures to it.

“This is T43, he’ll take your measurements and then we can go pick out some fabrics and talk styles.”

She encourages you closer to the droid before turning and shooing Jungkook from the room. “You go, you don’t need to be in here for this.”

Jungkook splutters a protest but does nothing to stop Bhea as she pushes him out of the room and closes a curtain. She turns back to you with a smile, directing you so the droid can take all of your measurements while idly mentioning what sort of styles and colors would look good on you.

You barely get a word in as she happily rambles and you think that she’s mostly talking for her own benefit. Once you’ve been measured, she leads you back out to the main part of the shop and you see Jungkook looking over a stack of reds. You want to laugh at the predictability but Bhea is pulling you towards a stack of sheers.

Jungkook notices your return, frowning when he sees what Bhea is pawing through. “Those seem unnecessary.”

Bhea shoots him a look, eyebrow raised. Her gaze drops to his belt before dragging back up to look him in the eye. “Is it? Who says that a sith must dress boring in order to be a sith?” She taps her chin. “I would think Sith would be much more flexible in clothing given how simple the Jedi go. Am I wrong? You chose that belt when you didn’t need it.”

Jungkook pouts and you really wish you could get a picture for posterity. He might hate you, but he’s adorable when he pouts like that. “I suppose. Just… Make sure she can fight and move in whatever you make.”

She gives him a patronising smile. “What sort of seamstress do you take me for? She’ll be able to do anything in whatever I create for her.”

Jungkook bows his head, looking thoroughly chastised. “Of course, Bhea. I do not doubt your abilities.”

Nodding, Bhea turns back to the fabric, pulling colors out to hold against you before putting them back. She leads you around the shop, stopping at the leather fabric and linen as well. Finally, you’ve circled back to Jungkook where she waves you both out.

“Come back in 3 hours and she will have her clothes.”

“What? But-” Jungkook starts.

She holds up her hand before pointing out the door. “Go. Eat. I’m sure you’ve journeyed far today. Come back in 3 hours.”

Jungkook sighs but nods, turning and leaving with you in tow. He stands outside the shop, hands on his hips as he looks around.

“Where are we going?”

Jungkook’s face morphs into a scowl. “I’m going to get something to eat. I don’t care what you do.” He starts to walk away.

You follow, nudging his shoulder. “Namjoon told you to take care of me. So we’re going to get food.”

Jungkook opens his mouth, likely to argue but you catch the scent of something that makes your mouth water. You grab his arm to keep him still and inhale deeply. “Stars, what is that smell?”

You look around, eyes finally landing on a stall nearby that seems to be selling grilled meat. Your eyes alight when you see it and you immediately move towards it, dragging a protesting Jungkook with you. He can protest all he wants, it’s been so long since you’ve seen so much meat.

You stop in front of the stall, pouting up at him. “I want these.”

Jungkook looks at you like you’ve grown another head. “Then buy them.”

You look down, toeing at the ground. Maybe you shouldn’t have asked. Jungkook doesn’t seem likely to be sympathetic to the fact that he interrupted your attempt to get credits earlier. The silence stretches before Jungkook seems to realize the problem. “You don’t have any money.” It’s not a question.

“I would’ve if you two hadn’t shown up and taken what I was going to scrap.”

Jungkook looks even more perplexed. “You were going to scrap that? Do you know how much you could’ve sold that for elsewhere?”

“And how the hell would I have done that? Did you see any convenient places to do it while you were there?” You turn and walk away. Namjoon can tell him what to do till he’s blue in the face, but you know that won’t change Jungkook’s behavior when Namjoon’s not there to force him to be nice. “Do whatever you want. I’ll see you back at the shop.”

You wander the market for a little while. Trying not to stray too far and get lost. That’s the last thing you need, getting lost on an unfamiliar planet with no money and no place to go. You don’t walk for too long, fear of getting lost and hungry forcing you to head back to the shop, finding a bench nearby to sit on. At least sitting wouldn’t expend your energy too much. You watch people as they come and go in the market, thinking about how the future might end up.

You’re tired, but years of being on the run keeps you alert enough, knowing that this is the worst place you could possibly fall asleep. Even if you don’t have that much with you, you’d most likely just be sold off yourself. A shadow falls over you and you look up to see Jungkook. You close your eyes. You don’t want to deal with him picking another fight right now.

The smell of cooking meat fills your senses and you blink your eyes open to see a skewer of meat in front of your face. You look up to Jungkook’s face and he’s stubbornly looking away. You reach up slowly, afraid that this might just be some cruel trick, and take the meat from his hand.

Once you’ve taken it, he moves to sit beside you. “I guess I can’t let you starve if I want to see you fail the trials.”

You hide your smile by taking a bite. That’s a flimsy excuse and you both know it, but you let it slide. Jungkook produces a small box full of more skewers and sets it on the bench between the both of you and takes one for himself.

You eat in silence and it’s nice. You don’t feel quite as alone with him beside you as you did when you were here by yourself. Even if he does wish that you’d been left in a tomb on some backwater planet. It’s not friendship, but it’s something. It’s enough for now.

The time passes quickly, it gets marginally darker, but the cloud cover makes it hard to tell that any time passed at all. Jungkook stands and leads you back into the shop. Bhea is waiting for you both when you enter.

“Excellent. Everything is all finished. Come, come. Let’s get you changed.”

“Bhea.” Jungkook stops her and she glances at him in confusion. “We’ll take them to go. She can change on the ship. She should bathe first. It’s been a long day.”

You can’t tell if that’s a subtle dig at you or if he’s being genuinely caring. Or if he just wants to leave. Bhea purses her lips before she looks you over and tuts.

“Fine. But you still need to come with me so I can make sure you know how to wear everything.”

Jungkook’s brows furrow. “It’s clothing. Is it really that hard to figure out?”

You pat his cheek. “When it’s high fashion, if it’s not complicated, it’s not good.” You look over his clothes. “You probably wouldn’t understand.”

You turn around before you catch the way his face scrunches up as Bhea laughs. She leads you to the back room where she meticulously goes over each piece. Turns out you really do need her instructions, simply for the fact that she gave you options and she needs to tell you how to mix and match. Once you’re reasonably confident that you understand the different pieces to what is essentially your new uniform, she packs it all up for you.

When you take it, she folds her hand over yours to keep you in place and looks you in the eye. She nods. “You’ll fit very well.”

You frown at the cryptic words. Does she mean the clothes? Or is there something else to them? She releases you, shooing you out to Jungkook.

“I’ll send the payment request on to Lord Namjoon.” She smiles and waves.

Jungkook gives her a small bow and you do the same. You exit back to the market and Jungkook turns away from the port. You frown in confusion, following after.

“Where are we going?”

“You need a comm and it’s better to get it here than on Korriban,” he states matter of factly.

You let out a soft ‘oh.’ That made sense although you don’t know much about this Korriban. But you figure Jungkook probably knows the best place to get a communicator. You’re a little giddy. You’ve never owned one. They cost far too much for you to have ever afforded and you had no need for one when you were alone.

You only take a few turns before Jungkook is stopping at a stall where a person with soft mint colored hair is sorting through a box of electronics. The man at the stall turns before either of you say anything and he blinks sleepy, cat-like eyes at you before his gaze slides over to Jungkook. His lips part in a smile.

“Ah, Jungkookie. What can I do for you today?”

Jungkook flushes at the name, gaze darting to you before going back to the man before you. “Just need a communicator.”

The man raises an eyebrow, glancing at you. “Got something to hide from Namjoon?”

Jungkook flushes darker and glares. “No. It’s for her. Namjoon is paying for it.”

The man chuckles, holding up his hands in surrender. “Whatever you say.” He turns to you. “What kind of communicator do you want? I think I’ve got a few in stock right now.”

You blink, opening your mouth before closing it again. You look at Jungkook helplessly. He sighs when he sees your gaze, turning to the man.

“Just pull them out, Yoongi. She’s not going to know the technical differences. She can just pick whichever she thinks is prettiest.”

You bristle slightly at the words. Yoongi shrugs, tugging a few devices out from a drawer beneath the table and setting them in front of you. You look them over carefully.

Jungkook sighs again. “Just pick one. It’s not that hard.”

You glare at him before looking back at the items in front of you. “Just because I’ve never had one before doesn’t mean I don’t understand how electronics work.” You give him a look. “Did you forget how I made a living?”

Yoongi hides a chuckle and picks up one of the devices. “This is probably the newest I’ve got. It’s only one or two models behind what’s current.”

You take it from his outstretched hand, inspecting it carefully. “How did you come by this one?”

“Bought it off a guy.”

“Why did he sell it? What’s wrong with it?”

Yoongi smiles, looking pleased with your questioning. “Nothing’s wrong with it. The idiot got in debt to the wrong person and he needed credits quick. I was happy to oblige.”

You nod thoughtfully. “This is good then. I’ll take it.”

Yoongi nods, putting the other comms away. “You said to bill Joon?” He looks to Jungkook for confirmation.

Jungkook nods. “I’m sure I’ll be bringing it back soon though.” He says with a malicious smirk directed at you.

You smile sweetly up at him. “Aw, are you planning to buy me a better one once I pass my trials? That’s so sweet of you, Jungkookie.”

Yoongi’s laugh interrupts whatever Jungkook was about to say. “Oh, I think she’s going to do very well.”

Jungkook’s face twists as he spins on his heel to stalk away from the stall. “Let’s go.” He snarls.

You giggle, giving Yoongi a wave before jogging to catch up to Jungkook. You make your way through the city, trying not to stop and stare in wonder and hoping that you get to come back here when you can explore the place freely. Jungkook stops to talk to someone at the entrance to the port before he’s continuing through the doors. He walks past ship after ship, each one more impressive than the last.

Finally he stops in front of one that’s a little smaller than many of the previous ones but no less grand than them. He leads you up the ramp and gestures to the left. “There’s a bedroom that way with a bathroom attached. You can shower and change there. The trip to Korriban isn’t terribly long, but better to get ready now. It should be daybreak when we get there and you can be registered and sent to your trial right away.”

He walks the opposite direction before you can ask anything further. You watch him as he disappears around a corner before making your way in the direction he has indicated, hoping it’s easy to find the room he mentioned. Lucky for you, there appears to be only two doors in this direction, the first revealing a storage room and the second revealing the simple bedroom he’d indicated.

You set your things down on bed, running a hand gently across the bag. It’s the first time in a long while that you’ve actually gotten new clothes, especially ones that are made with such nice fabric. It makes you want to do good in the trial all the more. To prove to Namjoon, and even more so to Jungkook, that you deserve to have these. You sort through the different pieces, choosing what you want your outfit to be and lay them out on the bed.

You move to the bathroom, it’s small but still more hightech than anything you’ve ever used before. You strip in the doorway, leaving the shabby, dirty clothes from your old life on the floor as you step into the bathroom properly. It only takes you a moment to work out the controls for the water and soon enough, hot water is pouring over you as the small room fills with steam.

You groan, the water almost too hot to handle, but the way you can already feel the grim sliding from your skin makes it more than worth the slight sting from the heat. You stand under the spray and your thoughts drift again to what the future may hold. This is an interesting opportunity, you certainly never thought that you would end up with the possibility of becoming such a powerful being.

But on the other hand, could you be evil? You’ve really only heard of sith before, stories passed around the compound at night and things told to make a child listen. Meeting Jungkook and Namjoon was your first encounter with one ever and they weren’t quite what you’d come to expect. Did becoming a sith mean something different than what you had originally thought? Were they wholly evil?

Namjoon certainly didn’t seem that way, he could’ve just killed you, easily at that, and left your body in that tomb. No one would’ve known. But he didn’t. Instead, he offered you a choice, money or power. The two things you’ve never had, two things you’ve wanted for as long as you could remember. To have enough of either that you could be your own person. He offered you that chance, how could you say no? When everything you wanted was within your grasp.

Even Jungkook didn’t seem that evil. You really don’t think that evil people would get embarrassed and blush the way he did with Bhea. Or have such a clear respect for her the way he did. For all the anger he holds towards you, he doesn’t seem to be purposefully malicious. Maybe you could be a sith. Maybe they’ve only gotten bad reps because of the few incredibly powerful sith out there. The public ones, the ones that make names for themselves, that want to be remembered for millenia.

You look around, finding some soap and scrubbing yourself almost raw in the need to finally feel clean. Once you deem yourself clean enough, and with the idea that maybe you don’t have to be totally evil to be a sith, you shut the water off. You look through the storage cabinets until you find something to dry yourself off with and make your way back into the bedroom.

You dress slowly, relishing in the feel of the fabric against your skin. It’s so different from the rough material you wore before. You step up to the mirror, making a few final adjustments before you’re giving yourself one last lookover.

You have to give it to Bhea, she certainly knows how to dress a sith. The leather pants are soft and supple, you’d thought they’d be stiff, but you know you’ll be able to easily move in these. They blend in well with the black leather boots. The shirt itself is simple, just a plain black tank top in a soft, breathable fabric, but it’s topped by a short vest in a deep blue, strands of beads latching it closed across your breasts and joining the collar to close around your neck.

Bands of black metal wrap around your wrists and mid-bicep holding sheer fabric in the same shade as the vest, one large slit running the length to allow better movement . Your belt wraps around your waist, a mix of more blue fabric and black metal, panels of more sheer hanging down to your ankles in shifting shades of blue and purple and speckled with glitter, giving the impression of a galaxy.

You’d think that the skirt would make it hard to move efficiently, but a few experimental stretches show that the panels are put together in a way that they hold large slits to not hinder your movement. You run your fingers through your hair and smile. You feel like an entirely new person and you can’t help but think that maybe this would be a really good change.

You open the door, startling when you come face to face with Jungkook, who looks just as surprised as you. His gaze drops to your new clothes, eyes widening as he takes in the expanse of skin exposed on your neck and upper chest. You see him swallow before he’s jerking his gaze away, cheeks turning red and his tongue pushing against his cheek, though this time it seems to be for a reason entirely unrelated to being annoyed at you.

“I was just coming to make sure you didn’t break anything.” He mutters. “I see that you’re fine. I’ll be in the cockpit.” And he turns and walks away before you can say anything.

You hold in a snicker at his reaction, pleased at the way he tried and failed to hide the way his cheeks flushed. You dart after him, following him the short distance to the other side of the ship.

Your snarky comment dies on your tongue as soon as you cross the threshold, suddenly staring out into space. Your mouth drops open and you move closer to the window, gaze wide eyed as you watch the stars pass you.

Jungkook watchs you quietly, scowl softening at the way the starlight shines on your wonder-filled face. He clears his throat, shaking his thoughts from his mind, “You might want to sit down. Now that you’re done, we’re going to jump to hyperspace.”

You turn to stare at him, watching as he takes a seat at the controls and it takes you a second to realize what he said, scurrying to take the seat beside him before he decides to go ahead while you’re still standing. You watch in fascination at the way his hands flit over the controls, completely at ease and confident in his motions.

The ship jerks slightly and you turn your gaze back to the window as the stars turn into streaks of light, blurring by as you fly through space. You don’t know how long it lasts, it feels like you blink and the stars are starting to return to pinpricks of light as a massive red planet looms before you both.

Jungkook sets the ship down with minimal fuss before he’s leading you off the ship. The land surrounding the landing bay is arid and sandy and your nose wrinkles in distaste. You just came from sand and now you’re back. Why couldn’t they have built this somewhere nicer.

You trail after Jungkook as he moves inside, easily navigating the labyrinthine hallways of the building. He stops by what appears to be an armory, motioning for you to stay by the door while he goes to speak to the Twi’lek in there. They exchange a few laughs before the Twi’lek hands something to Jungkook that looks like a stun baton. He hands it to you once he’s close enough.

Frowning, you tentatively take it. “What is it?”

He snorts, eyes rolling as he starts walking again. “Well you can’t get a saber until you pass your trials. But you need some sort of weapon to take them. That’s a training saber. All acolytes use them for their trials. If you pass, then you’ll get a lightsaber.”

You give it a few practice swings, testing its weight, narrowly missing Jungkook’s arm. He gives you a dark look and you sheepishly drop your arm. You hadn’t actually meant to almost hit him, the balance hadn’t been what you were expecting. He makes a few more turns before entering another room. You linger in the doorway but Jungkook waves you to follow until you’re standing before a man sitting at a desk.

“Overseer. This is the… acolyte that Lord Namjoon would like to put into the trials.”

The Overseer’s brow raises, a playful smirk on his face as he eyes you over before he’s looking at Jungkook. “He looking for an upgrade?”

Jungkook’s shoulder tense, but his words come out friendly and joking. “Shut up. You know no one can best me.” He gestures you closer. “She’s all yours. I’ll be upstairs in the training rooms.” He pauses before an almost sinister smile stretches his lips. “Test her well.”

You bat your eyelashes up at him, lip jutting out in an exaggerated pout. “Aw, you’re not gonna stick around to watch me pass? I thought we were friends.”

Jungkook makes a face of disgust. “Like I would ever stoop so low for friends.” He snarls before leaving.

The Overseer laughs as he watches Jungkook’s retreating figure before he’s standing and beckoning you to follow him through a different door.

The room he leads you to is massive, but holds only a large table in the middle of the room. With a wave of his hand, the table comes to life to reveal that it’s a holo map. He walks the length of the table before stopping at an outcropping of rocks. He gestures to the ends of the table where you can see what looks like part of the building you’re currently in is sat then draws your attention to the area he’s standing by.

“That is the exit to the Valley. This is a tomb that holds a holocron full of ancient secrets. Retrieve it and bring it back here.”

You squint at him. That seems way too easy. “That’s all?”

He gestures to the expanse between the two points. “Well you have to get there on your own. And remember the way back. If you get lost out there, you’re on your own.”

“How long do I get?”

He snorts. “You just need to bring it back. Time doesn’t matter for this.”

You step closer to examine the map. It doesn’t seem too terribly far to the tomb, though there are a few twists and turns on the way and it certainly seems like it’d be easy enough to get lost. And getting lost on a desert planet is never good.

“Do I get supplies?” You look up at him.

“Do you need them?” He seems slightly perplexed, like he’s never been asked that before.

You walk around the table, tracing the best path to take. “It’s not very long. But given the unfamiliar terrain, weather, and day cycle, it could take longer than one would think. Also, once in there it could take a while. I doubt this would be some sort of trial if it were as easy as walking a ways to a tomb and retrieving a holocron.” You glance at the saber. “And highly doubt I would need a weapon for something easy. So, yes, supplies seem necessary.”

He nods appraisingly at you. “I can see why Lord Namjoon is interested in you.” He gestures behind you to a set of large double doors. “When you go through there, there’s a small requisitions area you can get supplies at. The room then opens out into the Valley.” He approaches you. “There’s one last thing before I let you go. ‘Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.’ The Sith Code. That is your new philosophy. Learn it. Etch it into your heart because it is one with you now as much as the Force is.”

You nod, repeating the words in your head, feeling exhilarated at the rush of power that follows.

The Overseer nods and gestures to the table. “Take as much time as you need in here and begin whenever you are ready. You know what you must do.”

With that, he leaves, retreating back to his office. You watch him go before turning back to the map and looking over the path you want to take to the tomb. It’s simple enough but you go over it multiple times, committing it to memory and working out landmarks you can use to keep you from getting too hopelessly lost if you happen to get turned around out there. He said there was no time component but you can’t help but feel like you need to go at least a little fast. Something about the dismissive way that Jungkook thinks that you won’t pass makes you want to succeed and succeed quickly. Maybe also because you want to impress Namjoon, prove that you’re worth the chance he took on you.

Once you’re reasonably confident that you know the path, you go through the door the Overseer had indicated, met with a smaller room that opens to the outside. The building sits on a rise on this side, you can see the sand sloping away from the building and the way the maze-like canyon of tombs is laid out almost from above. The room for the most part sits empty, sand beginning to creep back into the building from the doorway to outside. One wall of the room is taken by a counter, behind which you see a Chiss woman working among some shelves.

When you approach, she looks a little surprised but pauses her work to meet you at the counter. “How can I help you?” She asks with a tilt of her head.

“I wanted to get some supplies for my trials.”

“For your trials? You think it’ll take that long?”

You don’t understand why they keep pushing like this is strange. There’s obviously more to your trial than what was told. Being better prepared means that you have an even better chance of survival. “Yes.” You gesture toward the door leading out. “You can’t predict weather in a place like this. Or what’s going to happen once you get into a tomb.” You knew that one painfully well. “If I want to survive and pass, I should make sure I’m as well equipped as possible, yes?”

Her lips curl into a pleased smile. “Of course.” She slides a small datapad over. “This is everything available to acolytes. Choose whatever you feel you need.”

You glance over the list, it’s fairly small, but you suppose they don’t want to give too much to people who may not return and they’d prefer to not lose things to the tomb when they already hold such secrets. That certainly won’t be you though.

“I’ll take a medkit, a couple of rations, a fire starter, flashlight, and a small blanket. Oh, and a shoulder bag.”

The woman nods and moves among the shelves, gathering the things that you noted. She slides them across the counter to you.

“You’re all set. Good luck acolyte. You certainly have more promise than some others I’ve seen venture out into the desert with nothing but their training saber.” She gives you a nod and turns back to the shelves.

You take the bag, arranging your supplies in it before slipping it over your head and adjusting it so it sits comfortably on your hip. You pause at the doorway, looking out over the Valley before you. You close your eyes and recite the code in your head again, smiling when that same heady rush of power fills you. Determination in your eyes as you open them, you set foot into the Valley.

You make it to the tomb relatively easily. You barely had to rely on your memory of the location, your body just seemed to know where to go and you trusted your instincts. You had one momentary hiccup where you had to fight a giant beast with tusks that were easily the size of your arm. You’d thought you’d be able to just skirt around it, but it seemed to sense you and once it’s gaze locked on you, it was relentless in pursuit. It was an ugly thing but fierce. Luckily it was so big that it wasn’t very nimble and you could easily navigate around it. You’ve fought big things before and know that if you can get on top that it’s all over for them. Especially when you have something as powerful as the training saber. You can’t wait to get your real one.

The entrance to the tomb is open but deserted and it leaves you instantly on high alert. You move slowly inside to see that torches have been lit and hung on pillars, casting a flickering glow on the walls. You pause, listening to see if you can hear anyone else, but there’s only the faint sound of the wind blowing through the valley behind you.

Moving cautiously, you creep further into the tomb. The Overseer didn’t tell you where exactly the holocron was going to be, but the tomb can’t be that complicated to navigate, at least given the previous one you’d been in. You check for signs of recent activity, but aside from the lit torches, there appears to be no signs of people having recently been in the antechamber.

You take a second to look closer around the room, noticing two halls that branch off from this room. Pursing your lips, you move closer to one side, trying to read the inscription beside the hall but it’s written in a language you don’t understand so it’s not particularly helpful.

You glance between the two ways once again, but something tells you that this is the one you need to go down. Your instincts haven’t failed you yet so you head down the hallway, careful to keep your steps light and soundless.

The path doesn’t branch, just twists and turns and it feels like ages before you come to another room. You crouch, because you hear voices echoing here. You peek around the corner, keeping yourself pressed as close to the wall as possible and slowly scan the room before you. It takes you a few minutes before you discover the source of the voices, a few figures tucked amongst some pillars and rubble and shadows.

You double check the rest of the room, ensuring that the only people here are those gathered in the small group. When you confirm the rest of the room's emptiness, you look for a way to creep closer, there’s too much echo and they’re speaking too lowly for you to hear what exactly they’re saying beyond that they are speaking. A downed pillar stretches out from the door towards the group and if you stay low enough to the ground, they won’t be able to see you.

Creeping along, you’re careful to avoid any loose rubble so you don’t alert the others to your presence. Once close enough, you stop and listen to the conversation happening.

“We’ve tried everything. We’re never going to pass if we can’t get in there.” One says, voice laced with irritation.

“I know that. But it’s clearly meant to be open. We just have to find the right key. What did the inscription say again?”

“The essence of life, the key to power, bathe the crystal to gain it’s knowledge.” You hear a third recite.

You didn’t see any sort of crystal when you entered. It must be further in then.

“That’s so stupid. Why do they always have to be vague?” The first one sighs.

You listen as the two begin discussing what they’ve tried and what the inscription could mean, missing that the second person hasn’t spoken in a while until their voice suddenly comes from much closer.

“Well, well. What have we here?” You look up with wide eyes as the red skinned man towers over your crouched form. You’ve never seen a Sith pureblood before, but you’ve heard plenty about them. His eyes shrewdly take in your form before he’s laughing cruelly. He glances over to his companions. “I think I’ve got a few new ideas to try to get that door open.”

He reaches for you but you quickly push yourself back and scramble to your feet. You see the other two have also risen to their feet and look startled by your sudden appearance. You put some more space between them and yourself. You look them over and see that they each have training sabers of their own. Acolytes. You knew it wasn’t going to be as easy as just walking into a tomb and retrieving a holocron.

The Sith approaches you slowly. “You know, there’s one thing that’s very vital to life. Something that just happens to be liquid and we can easily use to bathe a crystal in.” He muses and you feel your stomach sink at the implication.

The other two look lost for a moment before realization crosses their faces, replaced by matching smirks. One of them speaks. “Seems there’s someone looking out for us.”

Three blades are pulled out and your chest constricts. One you could probably take. Three at once? You’d think you’d have better chances at fighting a herd of those beasts from earlier. You roll your shoulders and pull your own saber out. You think of Jungkook and the smarmy look that would surely be on his face if you fail and let that rage fill you.

You smirk. “You can certainly try.”

The Sith steps back, letting the other two advance on you. You know there’s too much rubble where you were eavesdropping for a good fight, all too easy to lose your footing and so you back up towards the middle of the room where the rubble is more sparse. They follow, and you can tell by their snickering that they think you’re backing away because you’re scared. What a joke they’d make becoming sith if they can’t even think about their surroundings while starting a fight.

Your saber hums to life with little effort and you level the two with an eyebrow raised in challenge. The smaller of the two charges, saber held aloft and you easily deflect the intended blow. He’s sloppy in his movements, he clearly doesn’t have a lot of formal training weilding a weapon. Sabers and poles are vastly different but many of the principles are similar and that is going to give you an advantage over this one at the very least.

He lets out a frustrated cry and spins to try to attack again, but it’s another blow that you easily shrug off. If he was smart he’d work with his companions to attack instead of doing it alone. His next attack, you deflect and grab his wrist twisting until he drops his saber with a yelp of pain. Once it’s out of his hand you shove him roughly away and he stumbles and falls at his companion’s feet.

You stoop down to pick up his fallen saber, grinning at the three wide eyed looks you recieve. You twirl them both. “Well, are we doing this?”

The one who’s saber you took struggles to his feet, looking helplessly to his companions. The other leans over to whisper in his ear and then they’re both moving together, the smaller one circling behind you, while the other approaches you from the front. You listen carefully for the one you can’t see while keeping your eyes focused on the one in front of you.

This one seems a lot more calculating in their movements, slower and more careful to act than the first. They’ll be a little more difficult, but they still seem to underestimate you. They attack and you block with one saber while using the other to make your own attack while they’re distracted. They’re not distracted enough, just barely dodging your attack and moving quickly out of your range. You meet in a few instances of blows and parries before they manage to catch your wrist when you try to attack.

You're quickly seized from behind by the other, arms tight around your waist. You squirm in his hold but his grip remains firm. The one holding your wrist tightens their grip in a clear bid to get you to drop the saber but remembering your fight with Jungkook, you quickly lift your feet, taking advantage of the one holding you and kicking the one in front of you.

All three of you are pushed back, your landing cushioned by the body beneath you, leaving you less stunned than either of them. You turn quickly, slamming the butt of the saber into the side of his head and his head lulls to the side. You try not to think if it’s in unconsciousness or death. That’ll be something to dwell on later.

Panting, you push yourself to your feet, watching as the other struggles to their feet as well, blood dripping from their temple. They look furious and rush you, clearly past cautiousness and just wanting to be rid of you. Their fast and brutal attacks leave you struggling to keep up and block, a couple glancing blows leaving burns on your arms.

You can’t let this be the end. You didn’t run away from your slave life just to fail when your true freedom is within reach. You take a deep breath, steeling yourself, and let the force flow through you. You push back, forcing the other to take steps back or risk being hit. They get only a few steps before they trip over a piece of rubble, saber dropping from their hand.

You point one saber at their throat. “I would give up.” You warn.

They snarl at you. “As if I ever would. You’re weak.”

You press the tip of the other saber to their chest until they cry out from the searing pain. They spit something else at you, blindly reaching for their saber and you press the tip more firmly into their chest, it sinks half an inch into the flesh.

“Surrender.”

“I’ll die either way. Better in a fight than to be called a coward.” They push themselves up just enough for the saber to sink a little further in, crying out in pain.

You hesitate. Did it make you evil to kill them? It was self defense. Kill or be killed. Would they have been killed if they made it back unsuccessfully? You realize that the way the Overseer had spoken that yes, they were likely to be killed if they made it back without completing their task. Or worse, enslaved. This is a mercy, you think as you push the saber completely through their chest.

They splutter, blood dripping from their mouth as they twitch once before dropping, lifeless, back to the ground. You take a second to process, even when escaping enslavement, you hadn’t killed anyone. You blink a few times before jerking the saber out of their chest, ignoring the conflicting feelings you still have and turn back to the Sith.

He hasn’t moved since he discovered you, standing there passively observing your fight with his own saber drawn. He looks from one body to the other and shrugs.

“Well you saved me the trouble. But I’m afraid that this is the end for you now.”

You snort. “Good luck.”

He tilts his head. “Bold for someone untrained.”

“No, I just know what’s at stake and what I have to prove.”

He nods slightly, stepping close but stopping a few feet away from you. He doesn’t move further. He’s a lot more confident and most likely has had more training. You assume this was exactly what the Overseer was banking on since he didn’t seem confident in your return. He doesn’t even seem all that worried about the impending fight, stance relaxed, saber held loosely at his side. He looks more like he’s going for a stroll than a fight.

You flex your grip on your sabers. You’ve never fought two handed before, but having them in your hands feels right. It gives you the confidence that you can handle this fight.

He continues to stand in place and you assume he’s waiting for you to make a move, hoping to use whatever momentum you create against you. Meaning that you can’t attack first, you have to wait. It’s strange to stand there waiting to be attacked, but you won’t give in to his play.

He snorts when the minutes continue to stretch then his free hand raises and with a flick of his wrist, you’re pushed back; stumbling and tripping over some rubble. Your arm scraps against the stone, fine lines of red forming. You push yourself up, face hard. Against your better judgement, you charge. You have to, you have to get close to do any damage. Your control of the Force is severely lacking and that’s definitely come back to hurt you here. You just have to think a step ahead of him; if he knows what he’s going to do when you charge, you have to know how to counter that.

He sidesteps the attack and you turn, foot kicking out and connecting with his side. He slams into the pillar. He shoves himself off of it with a snarl. He seems to be done playing around, advancing on you slightly quicker than you had anticipated. You take a few steps back, feet shifting to give you a better bracing stance. You know his attack is going to be fast and brutal, giving you no easy way to maneuver so you need to be prepared now.

The first clash of his blade against yours has your feet sliding back an inch with the force of it. The impact vibrates your whole arm. You try to get an attack in with your other saber, but he quickly grabs your wrist, squeezing until it starts to hurt. You push with the other blade, just enough force to send him back and get him to release your hand. You only get a second’s reprieve before he’s attacking again.

Time blurs as you fight, it’s a struggle to keep up with him. He’s at an advantage, he didn’t have to fight 2 other people first. Your muscles ache but you can’t stop for even a second; it could be a matter of life or death. He gets a few hits in, nothing too bad, but you can feel the blood dripping from each wound, feel the tug of singed skin with each movement. You get a few hits in too; which seems to enrage him all the more.

He begins to get sloppy the angrier he gets; it makes his moves both easier and harder to predict. But you work out a tentative plan, if you can get him prone, you can win this. You’ve just gotta get him on the ground first. Your fight has moved you across a large part of the room and you manage to catch sight of some large loose stones behind him. You grit your teeth, forcing him further back, towards the stones. He deflects your attack and you are completely blindsided when his fist connects with your jaw.

It sends you stumbling, one saber dropping from your hand and you taste iron on your tongue. You spit, turning back and bringing the saber still in your hands down with all your strength. He stumbles from the force of the impact, taking a step back to brace himself but he ends up stepping on some rubble and he falls.

You stomp the heel of your boot into his wrist until his saber falls and you kick it away. His hand raises and you can feel the Force gathering around it. You mirror him, trying your best to draw the Force to you the way he is. The blasts meet between you both, each of you being pushed back a few inches. Sweat beads along your hairline as all your concentration and will goes into matching the strength of his push.

Pain blossoms in your head and you wince, but you push past the pain, ignoring it as best you can as you struggle to take a step forward. It takes a minute, but you manage the step and the small victory gives you enough of an encouraging boost to continue to slowly advance on the man. He seems mildly surprised but aside from the slight rise in his eyebrows, he appears unphased.

The pain in your head is excruciating when you’re finally close enough to him and something wet drips from your nose. It takes everything you have left to lift your other hand, the one that, by some miracle, still clutches your saber. You take a breath, gaze meeting his and you smirk in triumph.

He looks confused for only a second before you embed the saber in as far as you can. His hand spasms and a massive burst of energy erupts, sending you both flying. You slam into some rubble, wheezing as dust rises around you. Stars dance in your vision and you can feel consciousness slipping away from you.

Gasping awake, you stare at the ceiling. You hadn’t even realized you’d passed out; you also have no idea how long you may have been passed out for. It could’ve been minutes or hours, even a whole day or more is possible. All you really know is that everything hurts. And it’s a testament to how out of it you are that it takes you a moment to realize that the fact that you’re awake at all must mean that you succeeded.

You pant as you struggle to push yourself upright. You hurt and when you reach up to touch the back of your head, your hand comes away red and wet. That certainly explains the dizziness and the difficulty you have standing now. You have to take a moment standing completely still before you feel confident enough to move at all and even when you do, you stumble and trip the whole way to your pack.

You dig through it, pulling the medpac out once you find it and rifling through until you find the bacta salve. Your fingers slip when you try to open it and you nearly drop it. Wiping your hands off on your clothes, your second attempt is much more successful. Blindly reaching behind you, you rub some of the salve onto your head where it seems wettest; it leaves your hair feeling heavy and greasy. You have no idea if you actually managed to cover the wound with the healing salve but the lessening sting you feel seems to say that you at least got some of it close enough to get some of the effects. You spend some time spreading some across the rest of your wounds and the small container is quickly emptied. You can only hope nothing worse happens to you.

You slump against the pillar once finished. You feel like you could sleep for a week. But you don’t have the luxury of time here. Plus, you’re fairly certain that even if your current competition is dealt with, there’s sure to be more coming. You give yourself a few minutes though, taking the time to see if the medpac holds any sort of painkiller; which to your luck, it does.

You swallow the pills dry before you push yourself back to your feet. Shouldering your pack and collecting both your saber and the new one you’re now claiming as yours, one of which you have a hard time prying from the chest of the dead Sith, you move towards the only other door in this room, the one that the three other acolytes had been gathered next to. If you’d been the first one here, you probably wouldn’t have even realized it was actually a door. The whole thing was made of the same stone as the wall and pillars surrounding it, the seams barely noticeable. The only difference to the walls is the small plaque sent into the wall beside a recessed circle of stone just a little bigger than your hand, a small crystal set in the center of it.

You look over the plaque, but it does you no good because you have no idea what language it’s written in. It takes you a minute to recall what the acolytes had said it said. The essence of life, the key to power, bathe the crystal to gain it’s knowledge. They had seemed to have some idea of the answer when they discovered you. Essence of life? You glance at your hand, once again streaked with blood. Oh, essence of life.

Tentatively you reach out, smearing your blood onto the crystal. You step back expectantly. You frown when nothing happens, blood has to be the essence of life. Why didn’t it work? You think through the inscription again. You’ve got the essence of life… The key to power?

Oh. Oh, you need more than just the essence to open this. You step forward, you don’t have the slightest idea on how to do this, but you’ve got to try at the very least. The circle did seem pretty conveniently hand sized. The stone is cool against your palm, but the crystal feels oddly warm. The Force is the key to power, you just have to figure out how to channel it with no previous training. Closing your eyes, you focus on getting something to happen. But after a few moments where nothing changes, you open your eyes again with a huff.

You think back to when Jungkook had you by the throat and the power you felt gathering around you when you kicked him away, to all the occurences during the fight where you felt the force surround you like a cloak. But no matter how hard you try, there’s no shift in the air around you. You growl in frustration, shoving ineffectually at the wall.

Why was it so hard to get the Force to cooperate with you now? You hadn’t even been trying before. You think back through everything you’ve been told, which isn’t all that much, but you really hope that maybe there’s a clue hidden somewhere in someone’s words. But you woefully can’t find much of anything that might help, the only thing you really learned was the sith code.

You pause, the code. You know you might look stupid, but luckily there’s no one around right now to see that. You place your hand back in the circle, taking a calming breath. Then you recite the sith code, feeling power cloak you and slide down your arm. It connects with the crystal and searing pain shoots up your arm as lightning races across your skin.

You cry out in pain, jerking your hand away from the wall. The pain stops immediately but the door remains firmly shut. You chew your lip, looking down at your hand. It looks completely unscathed, you wiggle your fingers and aside from a slight tingle of discomfort, you’d have thought you imagined the lightning.

Had you done something wrong? The inscription seemed easy enough, there doesn’t seem like another component to it. You decide to try again, maybe you just weren’t concentrating enough. However the same thing happens when you try again. You need to do this. You need to prove that you have what it takes, you refuse to give Jungkook the satisfaction of seeing you fail and being right. You know you’re strong enough to be better than him.

Your eyes widen, strength. That had to be what you were missing here. With power, sith value strength, if you lack strength then you lack power. You stare at the wall, this isn’t going to be pleasant.

Putting your hand back into the slot, you steel yourself, gritting your teeth as the lightning starts as soon as you finish reciting the code. It hurts. You have to brace your other hand on the wall in an attempt to keep you grounded and from pulling your hand away. You think of how smug Jungkook would be if you never came back. You refuse to fail.

You don’t know how long the pain lasts; you feel slightly delirious from the crackle of power that traces your veins. But as abruptly as it came, it stops, leaving you breathless. There’s stone grinding against stone and the wall rumbles beneath your hands. You slowly pull away, afraid that it’ll stop and you’ll have to endure another round of pain. To your relief, it continues and soon enough the door is swinging open before you. The hallway that is revealed is dark for a moment before crystals lining the walls slowly come to life, swathing the length of the hall in a red glow.

You wait, making sure that nothing else is going to happen before stepping cautiously into the hall and making your way down it. Halfway down the hallway, an odd feeling settles in your gut and you find yourself stepping back. Your confusion at the action is short lived when a moment later, lightning arcs between the walls where you had just been about to walk. It looks much more lethal than what engulfed you to open the door.

You breathe a sigh of relief, thankful for whatever it was that tipped you off to the trap. You proceed carefully, hoping that there’s not anymore traps or if there are, that you can sense it before it’s too late. You safely reach the end of the hall, the room is small, barely wider than the hall. In the center of the room is a pedestal, about the width of your shoulders, on which sits a jet black pyramid, the top quarter of which is clear.

Approaching carefully, you look through the transparent material and can just make out the shape of the holocron within. You run your fingers across the surface of the pyramid, looking for anything that may open it, but the material is completely smooth, even where the two different materials join is seamless. You look around the room, hoping for any other clues, but the room is all smooth stone, no inscriptions or writings or anything. You walk a few circles around the pedestal, trying to figure out how to continue when something begins to glow in the corner, drawing your attention. A wash of blue fills the corner, quickly forming the shape of a woman. It’s hard to tell her race, her entire being is tinted blue, but she’s unmistakably a sith. There’s something about the way she holds herself and the thick black robes that shroud her form.

She gazes at you calmly, gaze trailing slowly over you and you’ve never felt more insignificant and scrutinized, not even when Namjoon looked at you. Her lips curl into a pleased smile and she gives a small nod. A soft click sounds and you turn to see the pyramid has opened, granting you access to the holocron within. When you turn back to the figure, whether to question her or thank her you’re not sure, but she’s gone once you look back.

You belatedly realize she must have been a Force ghost. You’ve heard the tales of them, but you didn’t think you’d ever encounter one in your life. She had looked almost… approving of you being here. You wonder who she was and, more importantly, why she had helped you. At least, you assume she helped you. There’s really no other explanation as to why or how the pyramid opened when she nodded. You quickly gather the holocron, tucking is safely away inside your bag.

You take the hall back to the antechamber, sparing a glance to the bodies that remain. You feel a little bad about just leaving them there. But you know if it were reversed that they’d have left you here to rot too. And, you reason, this is a tomb. Bodies are meant to rest here. It’s better than being left outside and rot away under the sun just to be torn apart and eaten by animals.

You continue through the ruins, retracing your path back to the entrance quietly, sure to keep an ear listening for anyone who may have come after you. You encounter no one though and you take only a moment at the doorway to outside to recall your route back to the Academy before you’re setting out.

You make it maybe halfway before the wind picks up. You freeze, sudden wind is never good. You take a look around, quickly locating the rapidly approaching wall of tan in the distance. Scanning your surroundings in the valley, you see no immediate place to take shelter and panic rises in you. You try to recall the map and if there’s something nearby, but you hadn’t paid much attention to other tombs and areas of the map. You really wish you had. You glance back to the approaching storm, you don’t have long before you get trapped in it. Quickening your pace, you continue on the path back to the academy, hoping that you can find shelter along the way soon.

The sand starts to whip around you and you grab a cloth from your bag to cover your nose and mouth to at least keep you from breathing in the sand now that the storm is practically on top of you and you’ve yet to find somewhere to hide. You’re about to give up hope on finding shelter when the slightest glint of metal off to your right catches your attention and you don’t even think twice before sprinting towards it.

You make it through the threshold just as the storm begins in earnest outside, the sudden gusts pushing you further inside. You double over, coughing, as you try to catch your breath and expel the sand that you managed to breath in. You wheeze for a moment before pushing yourself upright, glancing around to finally take in your surroundings.

You assume it’s another tomb, though this one appears far more modern than the previous one, given that this one is all polished metal. There’s signs that this has been explored thoroughly, which leaves you feeling a little relieved because that means that it’s unlikely that anyone will be here right now. Turning, you look out the opening to watch the sandstorm. You have no idea how long it’ll last, sandstorms are incredibly unpredictable and you could be here for only a few minutes to a few weeks. You just hope that it’s not the weeks option.

You set your bag down by the door before slowly making your way around the room, fingers tracing along the wall as you look at the different inscriptions and occasional graffiti. You freeze when your fingers connect with a section of wall that feels different. You take a step back, looking over the wall and trying to figure out what’s different.

It looks the same as the rest of the walls, but when your fingers touched it, you could tell there was something different. You put one hand on the section of wall that’s odd and one on the wall beside where it starts to feel different. It takes you a few moments before you realize what the difference means. This is a door. One that’s incredibly well hidden, blending in perfectly with the walls that surround it.

Leaning closer, you begin to look for a way to open it. Deciding to use some of your newly gained experience, you use a bit of the force to assist you and a panel slides open, revealing a crystal similar to the one from the other tomb. You’re leery of activating it, for fear of the lightning happening again, but also that something worse might happen. But the idea of finding something that had been missed sends a thrill through you and you smile at the image in your mind of gifting whatever you find to Namjoon. You wonder if he’d give you a dimpled smile again. You wonder how pissed Jungkook would be to see you hand something new over to Namjoon.

You squeeze your eyes closed as you touch the gem, willing a little of the Force into it. There’s a click and then the crystal is sliding away from your fingers at the door swooshes open. The room revealed is small; you’ve seen closets bigger than this. You step forward, there’s not much to see in here though and you feel dismayed that this has been found already.

There’s a small chest on the wall opposite the door and you pick it up to take it back out into the antechamber so you can keep an eye on the storm. You sit against the wall, watching the wall of sand outside before turning your attention to the chest. Opening reveals that maybe the room hadn’t been discovered because the chest is still full.

You pull the items out one by one; there’s an amulet, a bracelet, a ring, two scrolls, and a small black dagger. You feel a faint thrum of power from each of the items as you turn them over in your hands. You have no idea what any of them do or are for, but you know this seems exactly like something Namjoon would enjoy. At least you hope so. You don’t know a lot about your future master, but he seems the type to like knowledge. You tuck all of the items safely away in your pack, resolving to keep them hidden from the Overseer. He never said you had to turn everything you found in, just the holocron.

Setting aside the chest, you stare out the door for lack of anything else to do. It seems it’s going to be a longer one when one hour then two pass and the storm has yet to lighten up in any way. You eat, pace the perimeter of the room again, look over the artifacts you found. But nothing outside changes. You’re not even sure just how much time has passed, but you know it’s been a while because it’s nearly pitch black out, making the howling of the wind all the more eerie. Deciding that there’s nothing else you can do because of the storm, you pull out the blanket and your fire starter and create a small fire with some of the discarded items strewn about the room. You hunker down beside it, blanket wrapped around yourself. You’re just glad that you’re used to sleeping in uncomfortable positions, sleeping on this floor is nothing and you drift into a light doze soon enough.

Bright sunlight jolts you awake. You blink at the brightness, squinting as you look towards the door to see that the storm has cleared finally. You groan and push yourself up. Your whole body aches, the effects of the fight making themselves known. You pay it little mind, gathering your things and stepping back out into the Valley. It takes you a moment to get your bearings, but you see that the storm didn’t get you too far from the path you need to take. Confident that you can make it back to the Academy soon, you set out once again.

Lucky for you, you do make it back with no more issues and the cool metal interior of the Academy is the most welcoming thing you’ve ever experienced. The shop is shuttered so you limp your way through the room and to the map room. It also appears empty and so you make your way to the Overseer’s office and hear voices. You’re relieved that you won’t have to try to hunt for someone in this massive building.

You enter, realizing that the Overseer is actually talking to Jungkook. Well, it seems more accurate that they’re laughing and talking shit about you. Anger bubbles up in you and you stalk forward, digging the holocron from your pack as you go.

Slamming it on the desk between the two, they both startle, turning to look at you. You stare at Jungkook. “Your holocron, Overseer.”

“There’s no way-”

You wheel on the Overseer, expression hard. “Would you like to go see the corpses?”

He looks taken aback, quickly averting his gaze from yours to carefully take the holocron from you. He turns it over a few times before nodding. He looks apologetically to Jungkook.

“Congratulations. You’ve passed. We can continue on to less time consuming trials.”

You beam, turning back to Jungkook. “How lucky for me, hm?”

The rest of your trials go well and, in just a week, you’re back on the ship, headed back to Dromund Kaas, much to Jungkook’s absolute displeasure. The more of your trials that you passed, the more irritated you could see him getting. You take an incredibly long shower once on the ship, accessing the damage still prevalent on your body. After seeing a medic, you’re not as torn up as you had been. But there’s still some slight bruising and minor scratches you can see.

The shower does wonders to revitalize you after your trials, as does the knowledge that you’re on your way back to see Namjoon and you can present your findings to him, hopefully with Jungkook in the vicinity. You don’t spend any time with Jungkook on this trip, choosing instead to stay in the small bedroom, and he seems putout that he has to come find you so you can both leave.

Once you arrive on Dromund Kaas, Jungkook leads you to the Academy and towards the Artificer in the basement. There, you take great delight in learning and helping craft your two new sabers, happily clipping them to your belt once finished. You make note to come back here to learn more from the Artificer because this seems like an interesting skill to take up.

Jungkook rolls his eyes when he sees you have two sabers strapped to your belt. “Really? Need a backup just in case you fumble?”

You glare at him. “Hey rockhead, plenty of accomplished sith have used two sabers. At least it’s not a double sided one.” You smirk as your gaze drifts to his own saber resting on his hip. “Those aren’t even that useful in combat.”

You walk off before he can respond. You have absolutely no idea where you’re going, but you’ll be damned if you let Jungkook get the last word. If you really need help, you can always just ask someone to point you in the direction of Namjoon’s office. You hear the thud of boots and then Jungkook is beside you, gently directing you towards a lift. It doesn’t take you long to reach the office and Jungkook is quick to knock once reaching the door.

Hearing a soft ‘enter,’ Jungkook presses the door controls and they swish open before you. Namjoon doesn’t look up when you enter, deeply engrossed in reading something on a datapad before him. He only looks up when neither of you say anything for a stretch of time. He smiles and you’re a little dumbfounded to see his dimples again and that they make him look absolutely adorable without a sinister red light shining on his face, words you would definitely never mention to his face.

“Little one, you’ve returned.” His eyes trail slowly across your figure, taking in your new clothes and he pauses at your sabers, grin becoming impossibly wider. “I see you’ve passed. As I knew you would. I assume everything went well then?”

You go to speak but Jungkook cuts you off as he shoulders past you. “It went just great.” He grumbles, moving to stand beside Namjoon’s desk and faces you, a scowl firmly on his face.

You scowl back before turning back to beam at Namjoon. “I did. I seemed to impress a lot of people.” You step up to the desk, lifting your bag to rest on the edge as you quickly dig through it. “I had to make a small detour due to a sandstorm during my trial in the valley. But,” you give a smile of triumph as you pull the dagger, scrolls, and amulet from your bag and present them proudly to Namjoon, “it seemed to work in my favor. I found these.”

Namjoon’s eyes widen as he looks at the items in your hands. Jungkook looks just as surprised to see that you found something you hadn’t mentioned before now. Namjoon takes them from you, carefully inspecting each of them, his face inscrutable.

“What useless garbage.” Jungkook looks up at you as he takes a step, reaching out and roughly grabbing your arm. “How dare you waste Namjoon’s time like this, you ungrateful little-”

“Jungkook, enough. Let her go.” Namjoon cuts in.

Jungkook stares at him in bewilderment, grip tightening around your arm. “You can’t be serious, master. She’s just wasting your time with some useless trash that she thinks will get her into your good graces. You can’t-”

Namjoon’s hands slam on the table as he stands, startling both you and Jungkook. He looks far more imposing when he draws himself up to his full height. “I said that was enough, Jungkook. I believe it is for me to decide whether the items are of worth or not, not yours.” His gaze hardens the longer Jungkook continues to hold your arm until finally he rips his hand away from you. You definitely don’t envy him for being on the receiving end of that look. “You may leave now, Jungkook. You have training in the morning. I will send you the instructions later.”

Jungkook stands there, mouth open for a moment before he snaps it shut with a growl. He throws one last hateful look at you before storming out of the room. Silence descends on the room and you begin to nervously fidget the longer it stretches. Maybe you shouldn’t have brought anything back. It probably wasn’t anything that important.

Namjoon sits back down in his chair with a small sigh. “I’m sorry about him, little one. I don’t know what’s gotten into him, he’s usually much friendlier.” He looks up at you with a smile. “But we can deal with that later. I’d rather focus on your accomplishments right now. Not only did you complete your trials, which are incredibly difficult for even acolytes that have trained for it their whole lives, but you managed to find something extra.” His eyes twinkle with mischief. “And you snuck them out of the Valley rather than turning them in.”

He looks over the items again, much more at ease now that Jungkook has left. “Where did you find them?”

“I’m not sure. The tomb looked more recent than the one I went into for my trial and it seemed like whatever of importance was there had already been taken. I took shelter there from a sandstorm and while waiting I found a secret door and these were behind it in a plain chest.”

He purses his lips, carefully inspecting each of the items before setting them down on his desk. “I’ll have to take some time to carefully go over these, but they certainly seem like they’ll be fascinating to study. I’m quite proud.”

You feel yourself flush at the praise.

He stands and motions for you to follow as he leaves his office. “Now, I’ve gotten a place set up for you, it’s next to Jungkook’s and in the same building as mine, just on a lower floor. I can take you there so that you can get settled in before we start on your training in earnest. But first,” he grins as he steps out of the academy, arm wrapping around your shoulders. “I believe we should go celebrate such an accomplishment, don’t you think?”

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mahalkitajohnnysuh · 4 years

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Love Song

To soften the blow of the previous post, here’s a fluffy one-shot guaranteed to make you feel warm in this rainy weather. Well, if you also come from where I am though – ingat tayo, mga kaibigan!

Grab a mug of your preferred hot beverage, and cozy up to this piece inspired by my favorite song from Neo Zone!

Too bad there’s no GIF for that though, so please enjoy this aesthetically-pleasing one of what you should do right now.

Mahal ko kayong lahat! :)

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POV: 3rd person since this is part of my recent writing before coronavirus made us its prisoners.

Word count: 1,200 + words

Warning: This is fluffy as hell, and this is a Johnny/Essie piece before they got together.

Recommended listening: Do I even need to say it? Stream Love Song, you guys! I repeated it over and over until I finished writing this.

–––

Who would’ve thought that sharing an umbrella would spark something between two friends?

It was already the rainy season, and Johnny hated it. He didn’t like lugging around an umbrella, which he thought added unnecessary weight to his bag. He’d rather wear a cap instead, but knew that wouldn’t do anything to protect him from even the lightest of rains.

Essie, on the other hand, was alright with it. She was used to constant rains since it was the only other season she had in her home country. She was always equipped with a small umbrella inside her bag, and if the weather forecast reported that there would be heavy rains, she stuffed her parka into it as well.

The two were about to meet for their usual Starbucks hangout, but then it suddenly rained hard. Johnny groaned at how unfortunate this was, frowning at the large droplets that decorated his window.

Oh man, it’s raining. I hate it, he texted Essie, leaning against the wall and looking at the dreary landscape outside his apartment with disdain.

Aw, it’s fine. Just wear your raincoat and bring an umbrella. And don’t forget to waterproof your stuff too, just in case, was her reply a few seconds later, making him groan louder.

This woke up his roommate Mark, who was sleeping on the sofa. “Hey, what’s up, hyung?”

“Hey Mark, it’s raining. Essie and I are supposed to meet at Starbucks today,” Johnny replied, pointing to the window with his thumb.

“No wonder I feel like sleeping some more,” the younger guy mumbled, lying down on the couch again and wrapping himself in the thick blanket by his foot.

“Ugh, this sucks. I can’t stand the rain,” the older guy whispered to no one in particular, staring at his window until the rain started to calm down.

///

After a few more text exchanges, Essie decided to pick up Johnny at his apartment. You’re a big guy yet you can’t handle the rain, she messaged him, her annoyance evident in her tone.

Hey, what’s it to you? I really don’t like it, babe. I’m sorry I have to make you do this, but I promise, I’ll return the favor tenfold, he replied, rolling his eyes at how irate she sounded in her message.

Well, have you experienced getting your home flooded? I would get it if you have trauma because of that, but never mind. I’m already on my way, was her last message which he didn’t have anything to say back.

He has read the news that it is common for her home country to get flash floods during the monsoon season, which made him wonder if her house there has indeed been flooded before.

///

Essie arrived a few minutes past 2 p.m. and was completely dry (and cozy) in her olive green parka. She gave Johnny a silent wave once he opened the door.

“Hey, baby,” he pulled her a bit closer to him and kissed the top of her head. “Thanks for doing this. I’ll make it up to you,” he hooked one arm around her waist and closed the small gap between them.

“Uh, thanks,” she mumbled, leaning her cheek against his shoulder. “But we better get a move on. The rain might get stronger soon..” She pried herself off him and took out the umbrella that she stuffed on the exterior pocket of her jacket.

When she opened it, Johnny laughed. “Essie, how will we fit in that?” The girl’s umbrella was good for one person, cramming two would result in one’s shoulders getting drenched.

“That’s why I said you should wear your parka,” she sighed, stepping away from his doorway. “Let’s go, Mr. Suh.”

///

Usually, it took them 10 to 15 minutes to walk to the nearest Starbucks. However, since it was raining, it felt like forever.

Essie insisted to be the one to hold the umbrella, despite hitting Johnny’s head numerous times with it. “Baby, please,” he grumbled, “let me hold the freaking umbrella. You know I can definitely cover both our heads with it without injuring the other.”

“This is part of my service to you, sir,” she replied, accidentally hitting his head again with the umbrella. “Sorry about that!” She giggled at the sight of her companion rubbing his head and making faces on how it hurt.

If he was being honest with himself, he wasn’t hurt by the times she hit his head repeatedly. He was enjoying every time their shoulders bumped into each other as they walked. He pretended to be hurt initially, but when he didn’t get a reaction from her, he let it slide and watched her intently as she held the umbrella as high as she could without losing her focus on the road.

If one of his shoulders kept hitting hers, the other was soaked. He was glad that he followed her advice and wore his parka. Although he felt cold on the outside because of his damp shoulder, his insides felt warm because of their proximity.

He wanted to slip his free hand into hers and give it a gentle squeeze as a way to show his appreciation. He was able to do so when Essie walked a bit too early for the pedestrian light to go green and was about to be hit by a motorcycle. He pulled her toward him before something bad happened, and both looked at each other in shock.

“Essie, be careful please,” he said softly while squeezing her hand.

“I’m sorry, John,” she replied in the same manner, her hand still in his.

As the pedestrian light went green, the two never let go of the other’s hand. Once they reached the other side, Johnny plucked the umbrella from Essie’s grip and held it. “Now let me, please,” he said, earning the nod of his friend.

They walked in silence toward Starbucks, which was only a few meters away. Both processed what just happened, and to an outsider’s perspective, their cheeks (and ears) were flushed.

Johnny thought that he was starting to like the rain better, minus the part that his best friend and secret crush was about to be hit by a motorcycle. Essie was convinced that sharing umbrellas can be a sweet (and cute) way for people to get together. Not that she’s expecting Johnny to court her soon, but she felt something in the way he held her hand when he pulled her toward him.

She took a glance at him, and he caught her. “Yes, baby?” He asked, flashing him a smile that made her cold heart warm.

“Thanks for, you know, saving me,” she said in a small voice before looking away. She felt her ears were burning at how flustered she was.

“Aw, no problem. You know I’ve always got your back,” his hand that held hers now moved around her waist and pulled her close to him. “And now we’re here.”

Both looked up at the logo of Starbucks above the door, and Essie got the umbrella from his other hand to close it. Johnny opened the door once that was done, and they took refuge in the warmth that their favorite coffee shop had to offer.

–––

FIN

#nct drabbles #nct scenarios #johnny drabbles #nct 127 fan fic #nct johnny #nct fluff #nct au #johnny suh fluff #johnny suh #johnny suh imagines #johnny imagines #johnny scenarios #johnny suh fanfiction #johnny suh au

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akmalane · 3 years

Text

CHRONICLE: HOW DO I STRUGGLE TO BECOME MSUan

First of all, I am proud to say that I finished my high school in a school where you would never expect to pass the SASE (MSU's entrance exam/to avail scholarship when you get a highest score). I am not underestimating our school but actually this is the truth. It is not as good as other schools in the province of lanao del sur. But again, I am truly proud that I had finish my secondary here. And most of my siblings finished their secondary also in this school.

So when I graduated from elementary, I was given by my parents a choice whether to enroll in one of the schools in Marawi or they will just buy me a bicycle and study instead in my hometown Mulondo. Since I'm an obedient son, I choose a school where they cannot spend too much money. I decided to enroll in Mulondo National High School. They actually offered me to study in Dansalan College for my high school but then they have given me a choice also of studying in inged (hometown). In my entire high school days, I really study hard so that my parents would be proud. From first to third year high school, I was the first honor and the class valedictorian in my fourth year.

During my last year in high school, I really aimed to study in Mindanao State University as it is known as one of the best schools in Mindanao. This is also the cheapest school as well. I studied very hard to get a good score in SASE. Fortunately, yes fortunately because most of our batch got a below 50 scores. But fortunately I got 55, a good sign that I can study in MSU since 50 was the cut of score for College Bound Program that time.

During my graduation in high school, not to brag, but I received a various academic, and non-academic awards as well. I was the class valedictorian, best in english, scientist of the year, among others. I also awarded with leadership awards from President GMA and gold medals from senators such as Francis Pangilinan and Franklin Drilon.

Right after graduation, I enrolled in CBP together with my batch but unfortunately he was only allowed to enroll in technology, a 2-year course program. As far as I remember, we were only two I think who studied in MSU in our batch. It was batch Dodie who enrolled in Technology Program. Being MSUan is an honor and privilege. Not all students from all over lanao are given a chance to study here. But to me, I was so thankful when I was able to enroll for CBP knowing that my score is so low. 55 is not a bad score that time, still I can say I am proud of.

My CBP days were also fun, I was able to met students coming from different places. Most of our section are from ILS. As we go along, I tried my best to attend every day classes. I did all my best to be able to pass such CBP and be allowed to enroll in any 4-year course program of the school. Alhamdulillah. Fortunately again, I passed the CBP. I got a score of 70. That time, the cut of for 4-year course for CBP was 65. And Alhamdulillah, I'm lucky that I got enough score. Some of my classmates didn't make it. They didn't reach the cut of score. But MSU is giving a big chance to those who are deserving to study in MSU. Those who didn't pass the cut of score were also allowed to enroll for CPC, another six months preparatory course for college. Its like the CBP but differ only on the duration of classes, the CBP is only for two months whereas CPC is for six months.

Fast forward, I tried to enroll in the Nursing department because I dream of becoming a doctor of medicine someday but due to the high standard, I was not able to get in. I was frustrated when I knew that I couldn't enroll for my desire course. I don't have any choice but to find another course that suits me. I went to biology department, tried to inquire. Unfortunately I was not accepted too due to my lowest grades in science subjects during my high school. I was very frustrated, then I thought of enrolling in any course and planned to shift another course after a semester. Tried also in Political Science department but they also have a high standard in accepting freshman.

While I was walking on the covered walk going to comcent, I bumped into my batch in CBP and told me "Malin, miyaka-enroll ka? If hindi, try mo sa International Relations department, kasi roo kami ko mga ped ta sa CBP." I told myself to enroll in this department because I'm already exhausted going around every department asking if I reach their requirements. So, it went very smooth and fast when I enrolled in International Relations, no entrance exams. It was Sir Ayo who assisted me in my enrollment. He immediately accepted me. I don't know, may be because its already past 5 in the afternoon. Other enrollees of such department were required to take the qualifying exams. I have asked some of them. Accordingly, they were required to enumerate countries in Asia, Europe, America, etc. and to identify the capital city of every given country. Alhamdulillah. I got accepted immediately without such qualifying exam.

From then on, I choose to stay at the International Relations department rather than transfer or shift to another course. Some of my subjects would not be credited if I shifted to other program or course. I have loved my department when we got to our junior year. I thought of shifting during my sophomore year to education but then I got hesitant because of its effect to the subjects that I have finished. I feel like the 9-unit subjects that I finished would be useless if I shifted. Alhamdulillah. I'm not extended, I was able to graduate on time, after 4-year to be exact.

Throughout my college days, I studied very hard because I'm a bit nervous that I might get extended in MSU. Get extended meant to graduate after 5-7 years in college. Some really extended in MSU. I knew some who graduated after 7-8 years. But Alhamdulillah I was never extended. I graduated on time. I have thought to shift in other that time to other course/department but I felt lazy asking/pleasing other department to accept me. By the way, I enjoyed being an International Relations major. We were able to spent our internship in Department of Foreign Affairs-Main office. We had a chance to tour in different government agencies in Manila. Malacanang Museum and Library and different embassies to name some.

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yuzurk · 4 years

Text

「 How’s this? 」 ⇢ RK Heartz Audition Solo ⇢ Small step for her career, huge leap for the Yuzu

“ impatience wasn’t her motivation. more so the adventure and hunger for new challenges. ”

When the announcement came, it was almost like her and Gahyeon had a telepathic conversation. They waited until they were home because there was no need to wake sleeping dogs if things hadn’t been discussed and talked about. The two were quick to jump to a conclusion though: they’d try out. When Gahyeon had first opened up about feeling restless and lost, Yuzu had just waited for a new opportunity. Thankfully it seemed like sphere was still looking for girls and so the debating began.

Yuzu was thankful to the opportunity but she also had taken three tries to get into the company and she was still worried about the stigma following her for being song jieun’s cousin. she wonders if following her cousin’s path and moving to sphere would only fuel the comparison but gahyeon and her were a team.

they had promised to stay together so they’d go together.

the theme was perfect for them as well! a girl crush concept was exactly right up their alley and yuzu was all too eager to run her ideas by her roommate and allow them to hype each other up for this. the song choice gahyeon had chosen for herself was perfect for her, that was for sure. yuzu was confident in her own choice as well she only hoped she was good enough for them to consider her.

among the royal girls she was the newest girl and she had no idea who else would apply for this kind of opportunity. she had been turned down once by the other ceos during the mgas and mustering up the courage to put herself out there again was a lot. she had practiced hard since coming to royal. her dancing was decent at worst and her singing and rapping skills had improved massively.

she was a legit triple threat now.

setting up the camera in the practice room after thoroughly preparing this song, she adjusted the taped on mic she had purchased from her own pocket solely for this audition. having a knack for technology it came in handy that she could provide high quality content for her audition alone. satisfied with the set up she checked a last time if the video was running before taking a step back with a smile. “good day, sphere staff -nims I’m Choi Yena and will submit this video as my audition for heartz,” she begins with a bow of her head before beaming a bright grin at the lens that really was more that of an adorable munchkin than a girl crush potential.

“To highlight my variety of skills I shall present you a triple threat performance with “how’s this”! Please enjoy,” she rounds off her introduction, the streamer antics still laced into her speech a little.

She comes quiet then, looking down at the ground and waiting for the song to start. The video itself had been cut of course but except for perhaps Yuzu standing a millimetre off to the left there was no indication in her expression or posture.

As the song began it was like a switch had been swapped. All her adorable smiles and gentle voice was gone and replaced by strong, raspy vocals and charismatic movements. Going from cute to girl crush in a matter of seconds was after all a strength of hers many had called her out for before. She had planed to deliver and deliver she did. A one take audition that had taken several tries to get right as shown by the way her bangs were slightly sweaty in the take she decided to use for her final cut.

Yuzu loved the song. It was bratty, it was confident and it was teasing but most of all it was cool and she could make heads turn with this. She even let a smirk slip into her performance here and there, adding a wink where she saw appropriate and licking her fingers for that extra touch of ~swag~. It was obvious she felt beyond comfortable in the concept and had no issue falling into it and executing it.

Movements sharp and guided with purpose, she managed to keep her vocals steady for the most part as well. Having good stamina and practice under her belt surely had made her a much better performer than what she used to be when Baek Jiyoung saw her at the mgas last. Also seeing her perform during the last eval she knew that Yuzu’s talents extended beyond being a good performer to playing an instrument as well and having a gentle voice that worked with acoustic covers as well. They hadn’t after all won that trip for no reason. The more she danced the more confident she became, running a hand through her hair or doing a hair-flip just for that extra flare of OOMPF to really drive that girl crush vibe home.

She wanted this. For herself and for Gahyeon. They wanted this together and even if they applied separately, Yuzu gave 210% to not hold her best friend back so they could both debut under this new group together. With also Minhee eonni in mind, the desire to make it was even stronger. She’d show everyone this time that she was more than just a funny entertainer. She had improved and she had come to slay and she wasn’t letting anyone off easy.

Eyes fierce as she dropped into her finishing pose the female breathed heavily and let herself rest for several seconds before rising back to her feed and inhaling one last calming breath to steady her voice again.

“This concludes my audition. I hope you enjoyed my performance and will seriously consider adding me to your project. I promise to not disappoint if given the chance,” the girl rounds up with another bow before tapping forward towards the camera with a giddy squeal. The last part she decided to leave in if only to accentuate her duality and variety again.

#rkheartzcasting2 #solo;#(ahw shiiit here we go)#gahyecnrk #rkxminhee

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rkjinwook · 4 years

Photo

• • • STARTING LIVE!

02AUG2020 | 🐥 JINWOOK’S HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🥳 🥳 DURATION | 1:02:22

it’s a cute set, albeit typical for this kind of broadcast. the staff have provided jinwook with a fixed camera framing his mini birthday table, complete with multicolored balloons decorating the back wall. there’s a small tablet to monitor the stream and comment feed, which jinwook fiddles with as he waits. in retrospect, he thinks it would’ve been nicer to hold a more casual conversation with fans for his first solo live, but that might just be the nerves talking.

he fills the silence with music, his guitar in his lap. it’s an everyday sight, but jinwook realizes most fans won’t have heard him play much, so he takes care to warm up cleanly, and warm up his vocals too. he only alternates between a few simple chords, though. it’s the sort of background music he used to hear when he’d occasionally attend church services with eve. as jinwook plays he imagines an audience quietly filing in, taking their seats at his birthday party as they each receive the live notification. finally the staff motions for jinwook that the actual video is starting, and he rests the instrument in his lap, out of view for now.

“hello! i’m convex’s sunshine, jinwook.” the greeting is bright and familiar as he dips his head toward the camera. it’s unlikely that the viewers, who arrived so early from a notification, don’t know his name, but it can’t hurt to start off formally. “today is my birthday! yay!!” also evident from the title and the backdrop. jinwook gives himself a round of applause anyway. then he picks up a party hat from the table and slips the cone over his head. “tada~”

“since we can’t meet in person, i wanted to greet you all with a live today to celebrate.” there’s a pause as jinwook adjusts the thin elastic of the party hat. he takes a breath. “last year, hmm...” he taps a finger to his cheek as he thinks back. “oh, last year i made cupcakes! i was helping our team sphere on the mgas.. so i couldn’t meet consta that time, either.” jinwook hums in thought, suddenly a bit nostalgic about his time as a coach. he shakes his head. “so i’m excited to try this out now.”

“let’s see...” he says, quickly moving on, “is everyone settling in here alright?” he peers over the tablet and rests a finger over the chat to pause its scrolling speed. the amount of viewers is staggering and the number only keeps rising, but jinwook focuses on the individual users sending messages instead. it’s a relief to see the majority in his native language. “hello and hello and hello,” he says, reading off a string of usernames and greeting each one individually, “and thank you for coming, and thank you for coming, and thank you for coming~!”

when jinwook releases his finger from the screen, the chat jumps back to life, shifting too quickly to read. he frowns and tries to pause it again. it takes some concentration to read off the unusual username combinations, but he does his best.

💬 : happy bday 🥳 🥳 🥳 💬 : you look handsome!!! 💬 : happy birthday oppa~ 💬 : thank you for being born 💖🎁🎁 💬 : bare faced jinwook is the best!

“ah, thank you~ hello!! thank you too~ thank you for being by my side! oh! this one...” jinwook is startled into a laugh at the last comment, bringing a hand over his mouth. when he drops his hand he shows his full face to the camera, grinning. “this is definitely not bare faced jinwook, but, still i appreciate you thinking so~”

as he tries to keep reading, he tilts his head and squints. many of the messages are just full of celebrating emoji or animated emotes. it’s less to parse, but more noise to sort through. “ah, so much emoji in chat, you all must’ve learned from me, huh...” he muses.

after another minute he leans back again, his nerves settled. well, jinwook’s never had much trouble even talking to himself, so it shouldn’t surprise him that speaking to a bustling chat window comes naturally, too.

💬 : did you have a good day so far?

“i’m happy today!” jinwook answers confidently. “my grandmother always wakes up early on sunday mornings, so i called her on the way to practice! and later tonight i’m going to video call with my family. actually i told my sister what time i was going live, so she might be listening too?” jinwook squints back down at the tablet and bites his lower lip. “ah, the chat is going way too fast to tell...”

💬 : where are the other members!!

“hmm, training?” jinwook grins. “i’m taking a break to talk for right now~ but we are all working very hard otherwise!” he shares another smile, proud of himself for not mentioning anything further - although if his eyes sparkle, he can’t be held responsible. “they might stop by at the end!”

“that reminds me!” jinwook reaches below the table for his bag, pulling out a fresh journal that jaehyun had gifted him in the morning. he holds it up for the camera, proudly showing off the nice foil accents and the fold-out attachment. “my roommate, haru, got me this really pretty notebook. it’s supposed to work as a real midi keyboard.” jinwook’s runs his fingers over the cover. “he has good timing since i am almost out of pages in my old notebook... i’m excited to use it.”

💬 : oppa’s hair is cool today!

“my hair, ah..” jinwook reaches absently to touch it, pleased. “it grew!” it’s worn longer than it was for pretty u era, freshly dyed and parted down the middle. he’s lucky he’s even allowed to have it showing for the live right now, since it’s a similar shade to his old cut. “i’m kind of happy, since it feels healthy recently...” he chuckles a little, the compliment leading him to another train of thought.

“speaking of cool, consta, did you guys see our call me baby special stage last week?” jinwook looks up to the camera and leans in, curious. “the concept was slightly darker for us, since unit black is so, you know... cool.” jinwook gestures vaguely but laughs at the understatement. it’s not a big enough word to describe some of the biggest superstars in the industry. “we have songs like rock but it’s different from convex‘s usual image, maybe,” he adds thoughtfully, knowing full well that their next comeback is inching in that direction. “do you think we suited it well?”

💬 : convex is cool too!

jinwook nods, pleased by the positive responses in the chat. “so it was okay, then?” he laughs a little because of course, they’re all biased fans and he asked for it on his birthday, but it’s still reaffirming. “mmm, it still felt a bit refreshing and funky like convex, too. so i think there can be a middle ground,” he says, as if simply imagining how things could evolve in the future. “something smooth like that stage?”

something smooth. jinwook’s thinking of crazy in love, specifically, but the title song itself is an even bigger departure from their pretty u sound and aesthetic. “ah..” he shakes his head with a sheepish grin, “i think i’m rambling a lot.” jinwook takes a dramatic deep breath and collects his thoughts.

then he shifts away from the tablet to pull up the guitar in his lap. “i wanted to answer a lot of messages, but i actually prepared a song for you, too.” he strums a bright chord for emphasis. “it’s nothing fancy but i thought consta would maybe enjoy something like this. so i don’t have to sing happy birthday to myself, or anything,” he jokes.

🎵 : heartz / minhee&luda — i’ll be there

“this is one of my favorite songs recently! i thought it would be nice for our fans, too.” it’d been an easy choice when jinwook was preparing for this stream. it’s a recent sphere release, plus he’s been listening to and singing the song since it came out, so he already knew most of the words. still, jinwook pulls up the lyrics on the tablet just in case. since he frames it as a fan song, there’s no need to change the gendered parts, although he doesn’t think he would have bothered, either way.

jinwook only slows the tempo and lowers the key slightly to fit his guitar and his voice. the song has a different energy with an acoustic guitar instead of the bouncy synths, but it’s just as sweet and upbeat. he takes his time, singing all the way through both verses and two choruses.

just before the bridge, jinwook trails off with a little smile. “ah, i just practiced up until here so far...” he keeps strumming idly as he leans over the tablet again. the comments flood with cheers that jinwook only can read some pieces of. it feels good, though, and jinwook feels confident about the vibe.

he watches several prying questions about heartz fly by in response, and carefully doesn’t acknowledge any of them. “of course i’ve been cheering for heartz,” is all he says. “i really liked around you and vivid also! and i’m excited for the next singles released this week, too.”

💬 : please a convex song next!!

“oh,” he says, “a convex song?” jinwook takes a break, first, to roll out his wrists. then he hums in thought, searching for something he could play on the spot. “do you remember this one?”

🎵 : convex — 20

he transitions into a familiar guitar intro. long-time fans might recognize it as the vocal unit song from convex’s debut album, but jinwook is pleased to introduce it to anyone else who’s unfamiliar. personally, he thinks it has held up pretty well over the past two years. “shh—” he mimics the sharp first line, then smiles as he continues strumming and begins to sing.

the song proves difficult to solo, and jinwook wishes he’d thought to prepare more material ahead of time. a medley could’ve been nice, but with all of the comeback preparations going on..... instead jinwook giggles as he trips over the lyrics, attempting the first verse’s backing and lead vocals both together. “hm..” he mumbles, glancing up at the camera. he casually redoes the section to make a decent recovery, and the chorus soars as intended.

“ah...” says jinwook wistfully after he eases to a stop, “i’ll have to come back to that one someday. that one is nice to sing to consta, too. i always liked the lyrics a lot. you’re my twenties~”

he taps his fingers against the body of the guitar and is reminded of the special day. “but today my twenties are officially half-over, aren’t they? wah... scary....”

twenty-five. he stares blankly toward the tablet, thinking he should follow up: then i’ll just spend the second half of my twenties with consta!

these days, though, it feels like an unfair promise to make.

💬 : like a gorilla like a gorilla!

his eye catches on one of the suggestions breezing down the chat window, and it interrupts his brooding with a burst of laughter. “gorilla? de:code’s gorilla?” he repeats. he tries a few chords but they’re not in the right key, and jinwook grins as he puts away his guitar on its stand. “i don’t know, that one would be an interesting acoustic cover.” he sings a little phrase of it anyway, a random adlib from the ending: “girl you make me feel~!”

“but!” he points a finger at the camera, not wanting his opinions to be twisted. “maybe one day i could cover their song beautiful, or i’m fine from predebut!”

💬 : what are you listening to recently?

“hmm... what is new?” jinwook absently adjusts his elastic party hat elastic and pulls out his phone. “i like lee hi’s holo! per_se have a nice summer album.. with o sole mio, and of course...” jinwook hits a pretty falsetto as he opens the music app: “this is how i feel about you, twilight~”

“it’s like twilight, yeah~” he flicks through his playlist and wonders if he should just share screenshots of the whole thing on fancafe. “ah, and eclipse’s comeback!” he adds. “look, isn’t the album cover pretty?” his screen is probably illegible, when he holds it up close to show the camera, but at least his enthusiasm is clear. “i like their night side the best, with that unique rock sound...” jinwook pauses, and reconsiders. “actually, navillera was totally my style, too.” he shakes his head and grins. “eclipse is definitely cool no matter what.”

💬 : it is already 4 in the morning here why 😭

english. jinwook has glazed over every message in foreign languages but he laughs at this one. he trips over a stilted reading of the comment, and quickly switches back to korean to answer. “i’m sorry ahh, next time i have to think of different timezones, right?” he tilts his head. “mm, it seems impossible to find a good time for everyone all around the world? but i’m happy you could visit with me for even a little bit. please make sure to rest well~” as an afterthought, he finishes in english: “and goodnight~”

💬 : can you show a rap verse?

“rapping?” jinwook’s eyes light up at the suggestion, and he laughs out loud. “can i tell a secret?” it’s not the right question to ask, judging by the staff’s reaction. but jinwook leans in sneakily, and continues despite their concerned looks. “we tried to switch parts for adore u once, so i learned seungcheol’s rap! that choi seungcheol,” he says with a grin, “has pretty good expressions on stage these days... his parts are fun! i like practicing his pretty u verse, too.”

he tells the story casually, although that part switch was not just boredom in the practice rooms, but an official planned anniversary release. that weekend in incheon is still a fond memory despite the disappointment of never getting to see the final edit.

he rolls his shoulders. “anyway, i don’t have the nice low voice for it, but there is a little melody to his parts a lot of the time...” jinwook postures up for full effect and puts on his best rapper expression. “how can you dazzle so much? you’re so pretty it’s—”

it’s probably for the best that he is interrupted by a loud knock and a rowdy chorus of happy birthday starting right outside the door.

➡️ : continued in part two...

#& sns #&& vlive #rkvlive #& solo #&& 07.20 #wc / 2500

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itsjusta · 3 years

Text

WEEKLY UPDATE # 9

Dec. 6

I slept good gabii and dali rako ka sleep kos gikan ko cry hahah but my heart is so heavy doe idkkk a lot of thoughts bother me. getting news about your lovelife makes my heart heavy because aishhh but i’m really happy for you doeee

i will try not to cry na cos i’m always crying na doe i look like an idiot naaa i just hope the heaviness goes away cos it’s so lain sa feeling (i cried after dis doe hahaahahah 🥺)

it’s 10:30 am pa but i’m crying na aishhh why i cry in the morning and at night aishhhh why does everything have to hurt this much doe :( i really am happy for you but it hurts so, so much to see you opening your heart and giving your love to another. i’m happy na you’re going to new places and going on adventures that we didn’t have the opportunity na to go to. it hurts na we didn’t have the chance to go to these places together but i hope you fill this new chapter of your life with adventures and i hope you have the best time of your life ❤️ i’ll support u gyd bsag unsa pana 🤗 someday soon, i will get over with all this pain. somedaaaay.

today was just chill but my heart was heavy the whole day. i dont like days these doe but its okay, i will see better days. i just wish btaw na by one year na break nata, i’m gonna be better and you’ll also be genuinely happy na. i hope things will be better for us by then.

also at dinner doe i was pusa-ing the sili in my sauce and i remember when we have sauce kay ako gyd tig lata sa sili cos ma scared ka and imo i cover imo eyes or magpalayo hahahahah aishhh what a scaredy cat 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

i also looked at mom’s pics in her gallery doe she has pics of us sa house atong mga april and i miss those days aiissshhh i was happy back then, we were happy. i wasn’t dealing with a heartbreak, i was just enjoying quarantine pa and now its been months na so sad and kapoy hayst ux2 ko nalang bumalik :(((((

Dec. 7

separate post hehe

Dec. 8

Woke up with a heavy heart doe. This morning, I asked for strength from the Lord. I have a feeling you and I are gonna undergo a lot of changes doe. idk i’m so weird but i have a feeling you will start to distance yourself from me and it’s gonna be super hard for me gyd so i’m asking na my heart can take the pain 😔

but u know what, i went to the backyard today and i saw na it’s such a beautiful day today doe. the sun is up and it sounds so calm and i realized na i should not waste a beautiful day like this being sad hehe and i wanna say this to u but im shy cos u didnt reply to me na hahaha but i want u to also enjoy this beautiful day!!! ♥️♥️ i hope you will be happy today doe and good luck with everything! (HEY IDIOT U VISITED TUMBLR JUST BEFORE I WROTE THIS PLS COME BACK AND READ THIS PART COS I REALLY WANT U TO READ THIS PARAGRAPH 🥺)

after the sun went down, na sad napd dayon ko doe aishhh i get so annoyed with my thoughts doe cos i always think like where u are, what u doin stuff like dat and it annoys meee cos ako ramay gaka bother nge :((( so i sometimes turn my active status sa messenger off so i dont see nga offline ka or online naka doe aishhhh i hate this brain doe dapat not na sya sge think about saimoha everyday!!!!

also, u played poker tonight and i just wanna tell u to amping pauli doe cos its very gabii na u drive safely okay and i hope u have fun playing but dont gasto too much 🤦🏻‍♀️ i’ll just say this here cos i dont want u to think na im samok samoking u too much hehe pls amping always!

Dec. 9

I went to the backyard again this morning and I talked to the Lord doe and naka cry ko hahah I just told Him everything has been so hard doe and I wish for the bad days to end soon. Right now, I think I’m just borrowing strength nalang gyd from others doe cos my heart is so tired na doeee hehe but i know all of this will end i can fully accept na gyd everything and even then, i will always have love for you. Thank you also doe for giving me strength. 🤗

Today was a better day doeee not so many things running through my mind heheh

Dec. 10

Heyyy thank u so much for today doe and for the gifts heheh i had fun today!!! and i was really happy cos its like our tambays sauna here in the house na we just being idiots lang 🥺 i’m also happy that we’re not awkward doe cos aish dats so lain hahahah

u know i imagined na i would cry a lot this day cos i was planning to tell u gyd like face to face of my feelings, like how i’m so proud of u and how i will always be there but idk i get shy na dayon in person HAHAHAH but i think u got my msg na with the letters doe cry pa gani ka a lot heehhe not my fault 🤪🤪🤪

also i hope not ko ipa maoy2 na dayon the next days cos ang motto raba sako life karon kay happy for 1 day, sad for 1 month! ahhahah grrr 😡 but thank u very much!!!!! dat was a much needed hang out doe thank u ♥️

if u want a break from everything, i’m always just here in the house with the idiot dogs hahahah i’m always here for u doe!

Dec. 11

it’s back to my old life nga wala i look forward again!!! hahahaha 😢😢 I went to the dentist today to pa pasta doe and i tot everything was okay na with dad like balo na sya pila cos mom man nag say saiya doe and mom said okay na but when i said now nga 4,700 tanan including my pills he pamalikas doe i was so bv

i said to mom cancel nalang cos dad was yawyaw na big na daw au gasto saako teeth and i wasn’t the one raba gyd nga nag say magpapasta many it was mom but i thought nag agree najd sila doe aishhh i dont like gyd nga mangayo kwarta kay daddy doe cos it makes me feel utangan and i dont like feeling like dat cos i dont wanna be indebted to him i dont like having connections with him hahahah

i think i cannot have gyd a good relationship with him doe cos i got traumatized by the things he did in the past maybe if i have money na in the future magpa therapy ko doe to resolve issues in my past maybe ma forgive nako sya and ma okay2 nami doe and i think i’ll also become a better person if i can resolve my issues with him doeee

mom also chika that she didnt ila u yesterday abi niya tig deliver ka sa lazada kay ikaw daw nag tunol and nag mask and kalo pa gyd daw ka hhahaha aishhh she just asked a few things also doe hehe u visit dis idiot again soon! i uban2 also to her sa laguindingan naa lang gihatag kay ate sweet

i was also pissed with khalid doe cos he got a task na tig 2000 words each two kabuok and i said 1,500 he said overpriced daw?!?!? he said 1k ra daw kayahay buh!!!!!! aish idk doe if im really overpricing i wanna ask u now but i think u dont wanna talk to me now doe heheh next time nalng if mag talk nata

its gabii na doe and naa ko friend nag chika saiya 2020 tas nag ask sya how my 2020 went issa naka hilak na nuon ko doe cos it makes me cry to remember everything jd HAHAHAH aisshhh imbis wala pako ka cry today 🥺

Dec. 12

good morning!! u amping going to binuangan doe!! 😊

i went to the mall this afternoon i like to lakaw2 cos it takes my mind off things but usahay ra au ko makalakaw aishh

Dec. 13

today was a very boriiing and long day doe nag tan awa rajd ko teen wolf tibuok adlaw as in!!! i also cried for like 5 mins kay mag sleep unta ko pero aish u know what, bisag dugay2 na inani ako life like wala jd koy ka storya whole day, mag tan awa rako, lain gyd ghapon sa feeling doe. it’s like anad naman ko nga inani pero dili gihapon ko anad nga i feel so empty doe like idkkk hollow lang jd ang feeling :((

i just miss really being happy gyd doeee now i mostly feel like okay lang or sad. usahay lang ko ma happy but not gyd genuinely happy and it still makes me cry doe loollzzttt days like these i really want someone to say na all will be okay, but ako nalang gyd mag tell sa ako self ana doe cos days like these all i got is myself gyd

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rkvok · 5 years

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Private Audition for SPHERE ENTERTAINMENT Date: 14th November 2019 Location: Sphere Entertainment building, Itaewon, Seoul Song: ‘Real Fact’ by Jang Moonbok, ft. Seong Hyunwoo and Yoon Heeseok (00:23-00:41, 00:44-01:08, 01:16-02:02) [Timing arranged to fit within time limit] Outfit: x Gif credit: Donghans

It feels like fate to have his audition on the 14th of November. While Chaewon is sitting her CSAT, here’s Moonbok, sitting outside the audition room at Sphere Entertainment. If he wasn’t so nervous, Moonbok would have laughed at how it all worked out. And even despite the nerves there’s a thrill of excitement. He’s about to do what he’d promised (threatened) he’d do when he was 12 years old; audition for an entertainment company. Every so often, Moonbok can feel himself starting to grin like an idiot and he has to try to force his expression into something a little more mature and calm looking.

It’s not like this is his first audition, after all.

He’s still somewhat bewildered that he was scouted walking around in a glorified cosplay, doing nothing of note. And yet, nothing came from his efforts at the MGAs or the TRC Triple Threat Challenge except disappointment and humiliation on national television. It’s why (yet again) Moonbok hasn’t told anyone except Yena and Yoona that he was scouted. After all, if he doesn’t tell his family and he succeeds, it’ll be a (hopefully) pleasant surprise for them. If he fails, well, at least only he and the girls will know and he’ll have spared his family the humiliation at being rejected for a fourth time in 12 months.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he scans his lyrics yet again. After getting Yena’s approval, he’d decided to go with a song he’d been writing for his audition instead of simply covering another artist. He’d intended on saving it as a collab piece for him and some other members of odd society, but after looking back over it, Moonbok had realized that the song was a good way to show off a side of him that he’d never really displayed musically. And given that he was performing for Baek Jiyoung herself, Moonbok knows he has to leave an impression this time. He didn’t want her to still think he was ‘coasting’ in his journey to become an idol.

Truth be told, that was still one of the most painful things anyone had ever said to him. Had it been from anybody else, even one of the other Big Five CEOs, perhaps he would have gotten over it in time. But because it was Baek Jiyoung, the CEO he admired, it had been like she’d stabbed him in the heart that day.

No. Being stabbed in the heart would have hurt less.

He shakes his head firmly with a soft noise of disapproval. Now was not the time to think about this summer. That was then, in the past. What matters is what’s happening today, now.

His stomach rumbles and Moonbok is glad he’s alone, not that it stops him from making an irritated face. When he’d gotten up that morning, all he’d been able to stomach was a cup of coffee and even then he’d abandoned it halfway through. Figures that his stomach would complain about being empty just before he auditioned. That said, it could also be his nerves too.

Not that he’s nervous for just himself, that is. He can’t help but wonder how Yoona’s audition will turn out. Will his cousin get a contract? He hopes so. Moonbok is still in shock that both of them were scouted (albeit by different companies) at the same time. Another intervention of Fate?

Before he has much time to think about it, the door opposite him swings open and a staff member steps out. Moonbok almost has a minor heart attack, his hands clutching hard at the seat beneath him as the words he’d both been waiting for and fearing rang out in the corridor.

“Jang Moonbok? We’re ready for you now.”

“Coming!”

Hurriedly clambering to his feet, Moonbok brushes himself down, straightening his shirt and sliding the sheet of lyrics back into his sling bag, having no need for them now. (But he still wasn’t going to leave them lying around where anyone could take off with them, it’s still an unreleased song, after all. His unreleased song, come to that.) Taking a steadying breath and saying a quick prayer to himself for luck and strength, he makes his way into the room.

Even though he’s been in front of Tiger JK for the Triple Threat Challenge and the entirety of the Big Five for the MGAs, he still can’t help but feel somewhat intimidated at the panel watching him enter, particularly when Baek Jiyoung herself is seated in the middle of the other assessors. However, nervous as he is, Moonbok gives the panel a sunny smile and bows deeply.

“Hello! My name is Jang Moonbok, thank you so much for inviting me here today!” Straightening up, he looks the CEO in the eye and gives her a grateful nod before continuing to the point of no return.

“Today I’ll be audition with a song I’ve written myself.” He holds back from adding ‘again’ to the end of the statement, not so pig-headed to believe that he made enough of an impact for anyone to remember his performance of ‘Red’ during the summer.

“It’s called ‘Real Fact’ and it’s a lot different to the stuff I’ve written or performed before. I hope you’ll like the new side of me that you’ll see~” He offers the judges another smile, daring to hope that the shadow of a smile on Baek Jiyoung’s face isn’t just a figment of his imagination.

“So, I’ll begin, now!”

With a nod towards the staff member manning the music, Moonbok takes a deep breath in as the music begins before beginning to sing.

I just wanna be with you, baby. Again today, it was you for me. I just wanna be with you baby. If you still doubt me, oo-ooh~ My words are real facts

It’s funny, in a way. It’s as though he’s singing about wanting to be scouted by Sphere itself. Moonbok doesn’t blame Baek Jiyoung for perhaps still having doubts about him. But he wants to prove his sincerity to her and the other judges. That his wish to be an idol is a real fact, and not just a childish whim.

My words are real facts Fact, fact, fact My words are real facts

As usual, he doesn’t dance. Not that he’s unable to, because he’s certainly improved from even this summer. It’s just that he never envisioned this song as anything more than an odd soc release, and so never thought about choreography. That said, he doesn’t stay still, leisurely pacing back and forth to the music, gesturing with his arms energetically, all with a grin.

God, he really loves this song. And not just because it’s something out of the ordinary for him either.

My feelings for you are real facts Whenever it is, I’m always there for you Even if I’m not good at expressing myself Just understand me, ‘cuz when I’m in front of you My heart beats so hard I need to tape my ears together

How many times has he said words like that to other people? To Yoona, Hyunjin, Daniel, Jihyo and his own sister. The phrase ‘I don’t know how much help someone like me could be, but I’ll always here for you’ a staple of his vocabulary for as long as he could remember. He likes to help others, purely because he wants them to succeed and be happy, like anyone has the right to.

A guy like me can’t go on without you So there’s no games when it comes to you But you already know how I feel As if you already received the letter I’m gonna give you

At this stage, no one should be shocked that he chose to rap. It’s what he’s known for, after all. And it’s what Moonbok does best at. Still, this cheery flow is different to the raps he’s performed before; instead of the melancholy of ‘Reflection’ or the confusion of ‘Red’ and ‘Boy in Luv’, this is a rap filled with optimism.

My heart is for real I wish you would believe me I’ll honestly show you my everything My heart is a real fact You can try to test with me.

He hopes he’s showing how sincere he is about all this. He knows this is not just a test of his skills, but of his perseverance too. After all, how many friends of his that he’d made over the last year or so already give up on their wishes to be an idol? Moonbok is here to show that no matter how many times he fails, he’ll still return to this dream and one day, he will achieve it.

I just wanna be with you baby, I’m rowing in your forest I just wanna be with you baby Again today, it was you for me. I just wanna be with you baby. If you still doubt me It’s only you in me, my only light I’ll only look at you even deeper

The chorus this time is shaken up with another rap, Moonbok proud of how he’s able to transition from singing to rapping without his breath hitching or his voice cracking. This time last year, he’d needed a sizable gap between vocal and rap parts to give himself time to transition. He’s come a long way from that first time he showcased his singing publicly during MGA season 4.

My words are real facts My words are real facts Fact, fact, fact My words are real facts.

The music fades as he reaches the end of the song and Moonbok smiles once more. After a second’s pause, he bows to the panel once again, speaking once he straightens up, his words and smile sincere.

“Thank you so much for listening to me. It was an honour to perform in front of you.”

And it was. A company audition is so very different to one done on TV. It feels more… real, in a way. With one last smile at Baek Jiyoung, Moonbok takes his cue to leave, shutting the door behind him as he re-enters the hallway where he had been waiting.

With a shaky sigh, Moonbok leans against the wall, taking deep breaths to calm himself. He was glad he’d been able to hide his nerves while performing, because if the judges were to see him now, shaking like a leaf, Moonbok would have died from mortification. Giving himself a moment or two to settle down, he exhales deeply and pulls away from the wall, heading towards the exit.

He’d done his best, done all he could do, much like Chaewon was sure to have done in her exams. Now for the both of them, the rest was up to the powers that be.

[Word count without lyrics: 1610]

#;; solo #wc: 1610 #rkzombiescout #(I'm so sorry for how the song is arranged pls don't hold it against me dskfhjsd. It should come to EXACTLY 90 seconds--)#(if not; he's fixed it so that it HAS)#(But yay bby's first private audition and he lived~)#(because mentioned:)#yuzurk #rkyoona #rkxhyunjin #danielxrk #rkpjihyo

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rkevent · 5 years

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The new episode starts with the highlights of what happened last week. The best performances get their own seconds to glow, as well as disappointed faces during the eliminations. With each week providing a new setup for challenges, the contestants are brought back to the set to show something completely new. If they’ll impress both the public and the judges is not something they can be completely sure until it’s their turn under the spotlight.

As the many chairs are filled with the remaining contestants, the CEOs make their way towards their own chairs waiting for them high above the ground and appearing much more comfortable than any object you may have in your house. “Welcome to the fourth episode the Mnet Global Auditions.” Tiger JK greets the hopefuls below him as well as the public at home. “Today, we’ll take on the second round of duo challenges. All partners were switched for this moment and we’re expecting some good results to come out of this.” The man nods.

“Let’s bring the first duo to the stage, please. ZHOU JIEQIONG and LEE SUWOONG.” The contestants leave their seats for the center wearing silk and black. “Hello!” The two greet enthusiastically in chinese before introducing themselves individually. “Don’t blink, or you’ll miss something amazing.” Suwoong is the one to say it before they’re getting into their positions. “Jieqiong and I had problems at first,” the boy comments during his interview, “but we worked it out quickly!”

They sit on the floor with their backs to each other and blindfolds covering their eyes. The cheery energy from their introduction turns into something more serious as the chosen song starts to play. Their movements are all perfectly calculated to follow even without being able to see each other or the stage around them. Desperation is their act and they act following it. Jieqiong removes his blindfold first and later he’s the one to take hers off. She runs and jumps to his arms, the two twirling together on the stage. They stand close to each other until they separate again, bringing an end to their performance.

"Everyone says I look scary when I’m not smiling because they’re not used to it!” Suwoong adds. “And to be honest, when Jieqiong looked at me all super serious for the first time, I was scared too! It’s not something you see from both of us, but we worked really hard to make sure our expressions were right since it’s a really emotional performance.” Jieqiong appears next to comment as well. “I want to be in the top 3 so so bad and I know I should be grateful, but I can’t help it.” She raises a hand to her cheek. “Everyone wants to be number one, right?”

“I am pretty sure the performance between Suwoong and Zieqiong caught everyone’s eyes.” DO KYUNGSOO gave an awkward smile. “Jieqieong and Suwoong were really risky! I love that.” TAKADA KENTA says. “I kind of understand why Suwoong said I’m too cute to be sexy now because he himself is clearly a sexy master. They had good chemistry, and they’re both really captivating onstage.” He nods. “I think it’s one of my favorite performances on the show so far, actually.”

Two boys are next, and they’re more than ready to introduce themselves. “Hello, everyone. I’m your right-wing, YOO TAEYANG,” the first one says. “And I’m your left-wing man, NAM JOOHYUK.” Together, they announce their team name. “We’re the SPIKERS!” They finish off their introduction with a high-five to complete their volleyball reference. Joohyun appears in his interview before their performance starts. “He’s literally one of my best friends and to be able to perform with him in the MGAs no less, is something I wouldn’t forget ever.”

As their song starts to play, the two start fighting over the flowers one of them is holding. Taeyang twirls away as Joohyuk tries to catch one, all while singing and dancing to the music. They eventually each hold a flower just in time for the chorus. Later on, they incorporate their hats into the choreography as well, making their movements big for the performance. They pose with big grins at the end, proud of what they did. “My performance with Joohyuk today was very different from what I’ve done so far.” Taeyang comments. “I eagerly dipped my toe into the waters of singing, which is a skill that I want to become stronger in, and out stage overall gave off a different vibe. I think that I did well today, with him by my side.”

There are two more boys that go next, this time WONG YUKHEI and PARK WOOJIN. “Hi, we are the big bad wolves!” They say together with a hand up to imitate claws. Each of them gives their personal introduction and bow to the judges before getting into their places. “Xuxi was really fun to work with,” Woojin says with a nod. “He wasn’t as in-charge as Kyulkyung-noona was, but that made for a different experience,” Yukhei adds his thoughts in as well. “Suwoong is so loud, and Woojin is a lot quieter. This week I had to sort of step up and do that myself, since Woojin’s less talkative. That was fine though, he’s a nice guy and I think we got along well together.”

Their performance starts with the two dancing together and following the same movements. It’s when Woojin comes slightly forward that he’s the first one to start singing. With a spin, the boy is more towards the back and Yukhei is the one singing the chorus. It’s a song with a sensual message, but nothing that ever went overboard. Unlike his usual dance-focused performances, Woojin does even the needed ad-libs instead of Yukhei, who had been singing since the start. The latter tackles a rap instead, proving that he can be successful even with such skill. Before the last portion of the song, Woojin scratches Yukhei’s chin like he’s a pet. It all ends with a final dance break.

“They really looked good together.” HWANG YEJI says. “I really enjoyed their performance, it was great.”

Next comes two more people, a boy and a girl with a flowy red dress. They’re TAKADA KENTA and MIYAWAKI SAKURA, the two japanese contestants. “We’re the global couple duo! And this is our performance for today!” The girl is the one who introduces the duo. “We’re going to take you around the world! Please enjoy!” He adds before they’re moving to their positions. “It’s like, oh hey a fellow japanese person!” Sakura smiles brightly during her interview, chuckling a bit in her seat as she shifts herself slightly. “He’s great to work with off the cameras. We’re good friends!

Kenta is the first one to sing and gestures to the judges while Sakura dances behind him. When the girl starts singing in Spanish, he joins in the dance. She spins under his arm and they dance close together before parting once more. They harmonize some of the parts together and it all eventually leads to a final rap verse for Sakura to perform. The boy dances around her and gets on a knee as she finishes it. They end their performance with her hand reaching for his chin.

“I think they did the best today, chemistry-wise.” PARK WOOJIN comments. “Kenta-hyung really pulled out his charms this time, though it makes me a little awkward to watch.”

For the next performance, two more people appear with an interesting introduction. “La da da dah, it’s the one and only H.y.e.joo,” the boy introduces SON HYEJOO first before she’s the one to do it to him. “La da da dah, you know I’m rapping with H.y.eon,” she introduces LEE HOHYEON. “it was great to work with her,” Hohyeon says in his interview. “I really felt that, by the end of the week, we were a proper team and I am confident that we could continue to work well together.

It’s the girl who starts rapping the song while the boy stayed behind her waiting for her verse to finish so he could rap as well. When he’s the center, the two start to dance together to their prepared choreography. It stops eventually, and they continue to only rap up until the end of the song. They bow once they’re done, thanking the judges. “I’m happy with it,” Hohyeon says. “I think we both showed our skills and proved our abilities.” Hyejoo also comments on their performance. “I love this song and it was an honor being able to perform it on a stage like this. I could only hope I brought justice to it.”

“Ah… Was I the only one who saw Hyejoo’s transformation?” SHIN RYUJIN comments. “The stare she gets when she’s getting serious gives me the chills, it’s just too breathtaking. Not to mention the performance itself with Hohyeon, I wish that I could have been part of that myself.” DO KYUNGSOO adds his comments after. “Hohyeon and Olivia’s performance was not one of my personal favorites because the song started so…abruptly. I feel like I missed the first part of a movie and got thrown right into the action bits.”

It’s time for two more boys to tackle the stage, SOHN YOUNGJAE and KIM YUGYEOM. “Bang bang! Shooting for your heart, we are sharpshooters!” They say in unison along with finger guns to match. “It was fun getting to work with him and choreograph our performance together.” Yugyeom comments, followed by his partner. “I mean he’s totally cool and an absolutely amazing dancer, but hyung! Please stop doting on me already! I’m not a little kid!”

They take their places on the stage and along with the start of the music comes the voice of someone else to which Youngjae mouths along to, followed by Yugyeom who does the same. They act as if they’re trying to one-up each other with every new line, dancing along to their prepared choreography. In the end, they pose together but try to get in front of the other. It’s when a new song starts to play and they act like they’re friends dancing together instead. They smile at the camera when it’s the official end of their performance, happy with their performance.

“It felt good getting out of my comfort zone with dance and working together with Eric had really made it fun.” Yugyeom nods.

The first duo of only girls appears in the form of SHIN RYUJIN and SIA KIM. One of them introduces herself with someone people should already be expecting from her. “Do you see me? I’m Sia Kim!” The bow to the judges before the start of their performance. “She’s like a little sister?” Sia says. “I was a little worried because she’s so young that she wasn’t getting enough rest, but every day she’d come in and make sure that we were both refreshed and ready to work. She’s very diligent, and I admire her for it.”

Their performance starts with only silence and Ryujin’s rap on top of it. The two girls walk towards the center of the stage where they meet. As the rap goes on, the song starts to play around them as well. They share a secret handshake that follows the beat of the song and it ends right at the start of Sia’s verse. Ryujin uses her fingers as a crown to put on Sia’s head, and the singer mouths some of the rap lines along with her partner. They end it with their fingers making an x to match the title of their song. “While I was lucky I hope that she won’t suffer from being paired with me,” Ryujin comments. “She has been by the top three two weeks in a row already so the pressure and expectations are high. I hope that our duo was satisfying.”

“I’m sure I’ve mentioned Ryujin before,” NAM JOOHYUK says, “I’ve always considered her stage presences one of the stronger ones out there. I think she’s a phenomenal dancer and she could really get far in this industry.”

After them, there is still more, and more would come after these as well. SEO CHANGBIN and HWANG YEJI are the ones this time and they bow to the judges before introducing their team name. “Hello we are Banji,” they say in unison. “It stands for be authentic and never jeopardize individuality,” Yeji says this in English while Changbin changed it to Korean. “I want to show different sides of myself but I think that getting picked as the best dancer that one week, as much as i appreciate it…” Yeji says, “it has felt more like my achilles heel, I’m a good dancer but I want to improve in other areas as well.

They start by standing side by side, moving along to the song while the intro played. The girl starts it off by singing her lines first, and then Changbin goes after with his rap. Unlike during performances of the original song, Yeji got a dance solo by herself to show off her dancing skills, as expected of the considered best dancer in the competition. In the end, the two strike a pose and hold big smiles on their lips. “We wanted to show a new side to ourselves – something more fitting of summer and light-hearted,” Changbin comments “so I think the portrayal came through to the judges”.

A new pair steps up to the challenge in the form of PARK JUNHEE and KIM MINKYUNG. They move towards the stage and prepare their starting positions, waiting for the song to start. It all starts with the girl’s lines who gesticulates as she sings. The chorus requires both of them and they harmonize together. Minkyung playfully shoves Junhee without any actual power in her action and the boy moves onto the last few lines of the song, bringing their performance to an end. “I think Minkyung and I did well,” Junhee says, “We worked very efficiently together and I think that showed in our performance.”

“Truthfully, ever since her first performance, I’ve kept a close eye on Minkyung,” LEE SUWOONG comments on the performance. “She has this energy that fills up the stage, even though she’s only singing.

Next come two more people, NA JAEMIN and JEON HEEJIN, both who walk to the center of the stage and wait for their song to start. “I enjoyed working with Jaemin a lot,” Heejin says. “I feel like I’m very lucky to have been paired up with good partners for these last two stages.”

The girl starts to sing and she moves simply along to the music as her words follow the lyrics. Jaemin takes on the rap after her verse ends, and then it leads onto the chorus. They intercalate their parts going back and forth, echoing one another. Her voice fades out after the last line and the track fades along with it until their performance is completely done. “Even if we don’t get high recognition like I’m hoping for, I have confidence that our duo will be fine.”

“Heejin is very stable and consistent.” KIM SEUNGHUN says. “I don’t think there’s any performance that I didn’t enjoy. Her voice is really nice! I like how she worked with Jaemin this time. I felt bad for not giving him proper attention before because he’s super talented too. They were a great duo this week! The best in my opinion.”

Two girls go next and, once they’re on the stage, they introduce themselves. “Hello, I’m LEE NAKYUNG!” And just like she did, the other also says her name. “Hello, I’m KIM JUNGEUN!” And with that, they move over to their starting positions.

They stand on their starting positions at the stage wearing suits and the first song to play is something probably unexpected for the two of them. It’s a strong song by Tiger JK himself and a camera makes sure to zoom in on his surprised expression. Neither of them is rapping, however, and only follow along to a choreography they had prepared. It doesn’t take too long before the song cuts and changes completely to a song of yet another CEO, except this time it’s Katie Lee who also gets her face on the screen. They throw away their suits to sport brighter songs instead and this time they also sing to the famous lyrics sporting the winks and smirks of a typical Katie Lee song.

“I think we did well,” Nakyung says. “Since we changed partners, everybody is different, so we had to think of something different to do. I think people could agree that our performance was at least surprising. I hope the CEOs thought we did their songs justice, at the very least. Maybe we won’t win today, but I don’t think we’ll be eliminated.”

“Nakyung has a tendency to throw away her coats.” LEE SUWOONG comments. “This is the third time, isn’t it? What does she hope to gain from that?” He cocks his head. "Her performance with Jungeun wasn’t bad, but she had better chemistry with Minho last week. You remember it, right? The cat and dog one? It came together really well and deserved the best duo win.” KIM SEUNGHUN appears as well. “Nakyung always surprises me! I think there’s always something smart and creative about her performances and it wasn’t different this time. Mixing completely different songs from Tiger JK and Katie Lee and doing it well was a smart move and I have to applaud Nakyung and Jungeun for that.”

There are two more girls after them, this time LEE CHAERYEONG and JO YURI. Yuri sits on the floor in front of Chaeryeong with her arms wrapped around her legs, head down. When the music starts, she raises her head and her arms crossing at the wrists and then sways with Chaeryeong above her. Soon after, they’re sitting side by side in chairs. Chaeryeong raps to her part confidently, followed by Yuri’s vocal lines. They stand up from their seats to dance and sing at the same time. The vocalist shoots finger hearts in the direction of the judges and the two have fun dancing together. They stand back-to-back, in the end, to bring their performance to a finish.

“It was fun to perform together and her voice is really pretty, right?” Chaeryeong starts. “I hope I conveyed the message of the song well with my rap, too.” Yuri goes next. “The performance went off without a hitch, so…” She shrugs. “I think we did well.”

After girls, come two boys. The two steps onto the stage, KIM SEUNGHUN and CHOI MINHO. The latter one is the one who introduces himself first. “Hey, I’m the fiery red rose of the group, burning with my passion for you.” Minho kisses the rose in his hand and throws towards someone seated on the chairs, LEE NAKYUNG, his partner for the previous week. “Hello, I’m the duo’s innocent daisy and vocalist, Kim Seunghun, so you don’t have to pull petals off to know my love for you.” The other boy throws his flower as well, and it lands on KANG HYUNGGU’s hands. “I accidentally threw a flower at Hyunggu-ssi today,” Seunghun admits. “I apologize for that! But I hope you liked it.”

While the instrumental that starts playing is of one song, Seunghun starts singing another which signalizes the start of a mashup. Minho is the one who sings the lines of the first song, bringing the two together. After the chorus, he also gets to show off his rap. On the other hand, the singer gets to show off his vocals with the help of some well-executed high notes. They smile at each other when they're done and then bow to the judges before leaving. "I think we bloomed on stage, don’t you?” Minho says. “Ah, Spring has come and the flowers are beautiful.” Seunghun goes next. “Now that I think about it… Did it look well on the screen? He’s more handsome than Hyunbin-ssi, I hope I didn’t look like a goblin beside him.” The boy laughs.

“They also did great.” KIM HYOJIN says. “The reversal from one type of sexiness to another type of sexiness was really wow!”

Two more boys appear ready with their own introduction. “F2!” Both KIM HYOJIN and KANG DANIEL say in unison while the latter plays a chord on his guitar. “You’re excited to see what we’ll do next, right?” He says before introducing himself, the other boy doing the same. “Everyone says nice things about their partners, but Hyojin is a really good singer– like, really good,” Daniel says. “We got along well, and our styles really complimented each other.”

They take their places on the stage, each with a microphone stands in front of them. It starts off with a short guitar intro, followed by Hyojin’s vocals, the one who also has a keyboard prepared. The two intercalate their verses, one singing popular korean songs while the other takes on the most famous western hits. The beat builds up and drops down, following the changes that come with a mashup of so many different songs. They finish it off with a harmony, voices blending together until the end. “We spent a lot of time on the details and refining everything so that it’d sound good, and I think it turned out well in the end,” Hyojin says. “I hope we manage to get some compliments this time around.”

“Daniel did a very nice performance, with Hyojin.” YOO TAEYANG comments on their performance. “It was clever using a medley, that way they can show many different genres and many different techniques.”

Heading into the final three performances, the next duo shows up on the stage with their own special introduction. “Byeol su!” KANG HYUNGGU shouts. “Byeol gu.” DO KYUNGSOO says back, this one much less energetic than his partner. Together, their arms form a cross in front of the two. “Cross!” They say it together this time. “Hello, everyone, we are Star Cross!”

The two start on the ground, their backs against chairs and looking away from each other. Hyunggu starts the song off and when it’s Kyungsoo’s turn, they face each other, jumping onto the chairs. They rest their heads on each other’s shoulder, but only for a second before they pull away. They dance along to the chorus, continuing to act along to their concept of lovers who couldn’t bear the idea of being any further away. The boys bang against an invisible wall that should be between them before changing places on the stage as if looking for each other. In the end, Kyungsoo takes his chair and walks away, leaving Hyunggu behind, the end to their tragic romance. “I feel like I’ve been improving, slowly but steadily,” Kyunsoo says. “Hopefully the judges can see I am a fast learner and capable of demonstrating multiple performance skills, which is necessary to become an idol.”

“Kyungsoo’s dancing is really improving through this show, right?” TAKADA KENTA says. “It was fun watching the two of them, the song choice was so pretty and I think their chemistry worked well together!” SEO CHANGBIN comments on this as well. “Hyunggu… I was surprised by his song choice with Kyungsoo, but I think it was actually quite moving.”

Two performances left and two more people move on to their performance. It’s JUNG EUNJI and HA SUNGWOON who introduce themselves as Nala and Simba, respectively, a reference to their chosen song. They sit down on stools, facing each other as their song starts. Their song is the classic duet from the musical and they show off their vocals singing along to it. While they sing and their performance gets closer to the end, a timer appears at the bottom of the screen to show the public how much time they have left. When it reaches two minutes, the song stops playing, but the two contestants continue to sing.

It takes Hyun Bin grabbing his microphone and telling them to stop for them to do so. “You went over your time limit.” He says strongly, his features clearly not at all content. “I’m sorry.” Eunji bows immediately and soon the two contestants return to their seats without finishing what they had prepared. “I wanted to challenge myself to try something new,” Sungwoon says. “I don’t know when else I’ll get the chance to experiment with different styles of music like this again.” And then Eunji appears in her own interview. “I... don’t know what to say,” she pauses. “We messed up.”

“Eunji and Sungwoon… they had a technical difficulty,” PARK JUNHEE leads, “Eunji is a very hard-working person, and I admire that about her... she’s been through a lot. I wish that the focus wouldn’t be on them getting cut off so suddenly... they both did well.” KANG DANIEL appears next. “They went over their time limit, and I’m…worried for them. In my eyes, it’s not a big mistake, but the judges may feel differently, and it’s their call in the end. I want them to stay, though, or to at least go home due to their skills instead of this.”

After that, comes the final performance. “Hello, judges! I’m CHOI YEWON your favorite cute rapper ready to upgrade my status and show you a new, cooler side of me.” The girl says in her bright orange outfit. “Hey, I’m Vernon,” CHWE HANSOL introduces himself while also wearing a bright orange outfit. “It’s about to get a little hot in here.”

The song starts to play and Yewon is the first one to go, showing off her rapping skills but this time going nowhere closer to her cutie title. While she does so, Hansol adds some hype to keep her going. He has his own verses after, projecting his lyrics into his mic. When the beat drops, he drops his microphone as well but takes it with his other hand instead of letting it fall on the floor. As they change the title of the song once again, they get back to each other’s side until the beat halts to its end. Yewon throws her hair over her shoulder and shows a peace sign.

“I think my performance this week shows a different side of me that I haven’t yet shown on this stage before.” The girl says. “A lot of my other performances were very sweet or cute, but this week I get to show my girl crush side, which I don’t think a lot of people realize I have,” Hansol comments next. “It was a new challenge for her and helping her, I learned some things about myself and we came together to hopefully create a catchy and hype stage for everyone.”

With all the performances done with, it’d normally mean going into results, but something else seems to be happening. Clips of the performances that were just shown play again but only small seconds and all in a wide shot. Slowly, the camera zooms into two empty seats that were there all time long until the screen shakes and all the contestants there disappear. On the previous episode, six contestants were eliminated, and this is their time to show any performance that they’d like to win over the judges and public once again.

Instead of having the presence of 17 duos, there were only 3, and the first one was called onto the stage to perform. YOON JEONGHAN and HWANG MINHYUN who didn’t get there together were paired to show what exactly they had to show. “We’ll be singing for you today. We’ll do our best to impress you.” Jeonghan is the one to say it, and then they move to take their spots. “The stakes are high, now. Higher than before. I know I’m not mediocre. I’m not some kid with a pipe dream - I’ve worked too hard for too long to be told i’m not good at what I do.”

They each got their stool and the boys were sat on it. Jeonghan closes his eyes as Minhyun starts off the song only to have the other join him at the end of his line. They had chosen an emotional song to perform, and as they move their heads along to the beat they try to pass on that feeling. There are high notes spread throughout the song and each time it’s one part of the duo who sings it. Then the instrumental starts to quiet down, notifying the coming end of the song. They continue seated, letting the song fade away.

“I think Jeonghan hyung and I did our best,” Minhyun says. “Our fate rests in the hands of the big bosses now.”

Next comes the two other boys under the same situation, WANG JACKSON and PARK JINYOUNG. Their introductions are formal and brief, and there are no props for their stage. The two just stand on the stage waiting for their song to start. They jump right into a harmony, followed by some high notes here and there at the end of their verses. Throughout the song, they are switching roles, at one point someone carries the main lyrics while the other carries on with the ad-libs, and then they change their position for the other to show off what he got as well. They harmonize the final few words and then let the song go until its very end.

“I know they don’t owe me anything, they’ve made their decision and I won’t go against that.” Jinyoung comments. “All I’m going to say is I’m glad we at least got a chance to prove them wrong. We got lucky compared to the others. Or maybe we’ll just get sent home again.” He chuckles. “That’s also a possibility. But we had the chance to perform again, and that’s as good an opportunity as any other.”

It’s time for the only two girls there to show what they got. SONG YUQI and CHOI YOONA walk towards the stage and bow to the judges before saying a few words. “We’re so happy to have this opportunity to redeem ourselves, thank you for allowing it! I hope you enjoy much better this time!” Yuqi says. “Again, thank you for allowing us this opportunity. We promise you won’t be disappointed.” Yoona adds her own few words before they take their starting positions.

There are a few seconds before Yoona is the one to start them off, taking on the first verse. They rap the chorus together only for Yuqi to come through with her own rap afterward. Once she’s done, they tackle the chorus once again, leading the song towards the end, which also meant the end of their performance.

“I know there are mixed opinions on what happened,” Yoona says, “but in the end I… I don’t know, there’s a reason I was in the bottom. I was disappointed, but at the same time, watching all the performances, I can see why.” Yuqi appears next. “Well, I hope that Yoona and I make it back onto the show,” she says with a shrug. “I hope that the judges see how much we want to be here. How much it matters to the both of us.”

The six of them stand together on the stage side by side. The time is now for them to find out what their destiny will be.

“You all did a great job today,” Baek Jiyoung starts to comment. “I know it wasn’t easy to come here in the situation that you are right now, so we hope that you’ll take the experience you had here with you for life. Just because your road in this show came to an end, it doesn’t mean this is the end of your dream.” She smiles at the six people below her before continuing. “Sadly, from the three duos here today… only one will be able to return to the show.”

The woman presses her lips together. “We believe you all got to show the best of your skills, but we came to an agreement on who should move on.” Right before they can announce any results, the screen returns to these filled with the other contestants, and a different judge picks up his microphone to comment. The results to who would return will only come later into the episode.

“I think it’s safe to say that we had some of the best performances of the season here today.” Seo Jisub comments even if the happiness in his features can only be seen in one of the corners of his lips. It’s important to keep a poker face in these situations, but something more would have been gladly welcomed. “It was a very close vote, but we’re ready to announce the top three performances of the day.”

Just as before, tense music starts to play. The camera pans over some of the seated contestants and then the other judges before it settles on Seo Jisub once again. “We’d like to call on the stage SHIN RYUJIN and SIA KIM, KIM SEUNGHUN and CHOI MINHO, and KIM HYOJIN and KANG DANIEL.” The others clap politely as the teams make it onto the stage and stand in a line. “Two of you already familiar faces in his position,” the camera zooms on Minho and Sia, “but you shouldn’t let it get to your heads. All three performances showed us the caliber that we’re looking for. Your song choices were all very interesting and refreshing, and it leaves us wondering what exactly you could come up in the following week. However, as close as voting was, we had to choose one performance as the best, and that duo is…”

With some more zooms and cuts, the screen finally shows the two winners of the day, “SHIN RYUJIN and SIA KIM.” People clap for them as they are deserving of. “You truly managed to make the song your own and turn it into an interesting performance. As said before, we can’t wait to see what you’ll be able to come up with next. It’s great to see the change of image throughout the episodes and with only some left, I’m sure things will get each time more interesting. Congratulations to all the three duos and especially you two girls. You may return to your seats now.” With the return of the claps, the six contestants get back to their places knowing that they’re safe for the time being.

Baek Jiyoung picks up her own microphone to speak. “You weren’t the only best duos today.” The camera focuses on some other faces, capturing any sign of surprise. “Earlier today, those eliminated in the last episode got to perform another song for a chance to return to the competition. From the three duos formed, only one of them which was considered the best performance got to return. So, please, welcome our returning contestants to the stage!” With a hand motion, the CEO points forward, drawing everybody’s gaze to where two people are coming from. They are two men, WANG JACKSON and PARK JINYOUNG. They are welcomed with the proper cheering and stand on the center of the stage.

“Wang Jackson and Park Jinyoung were able to show the best of their skills on the stage and received this great new opportunity. We believe they may continue to shine on this show if they wish to do so as well. Please, take your new seats.” The two empty chairs receive their new owners and with the end of these announcements, it is time for the real deal.

As things work, a different judge is the one to announce what’s next. “And now, from the seventeen other duos who performed here, three of you will be eliminated. This means that six contestants in total will be leaving us today.” Katie Lee is the one to share the news, although things are working the same way as last week. “As close of a vote as it was for choosing the best, we thought a lot about who we should send home today as well. With each passing week, only the best remain, which means the performances are overall each time better as well.”

Her gaze stops on a few contestants as she takes a look around the room which probably made some think their name would be the first one called. “With this in mind, the first duo leaving us today is… SON HYEJOO and LEE HOHYEON.” She nods in their direction before continuing. “Perhaps you were trying to show a lot and the many things the two of you can do, but there were parts that felt empty and parts that went a bit over what would probably be the best for you two. While we’re certain there are a lot of things that you could show us, that, sadly, won’t happen in this competition any longer.” With one down, there were only two left to go.

“The second duo leaving us today is... “ the screen shows different faces, some that were probably your favorite contestants, others that you wish would leave, “PARK JUNHEE and KIM MINKYUNG.” The woman nods again, this time to the new pair. “While it felt like the previous duo showed a lot, it felt the opposite with you two. You got to show some of your skills but it felt a bit lacking. Choosing a fun song doesn’t necessarily make the stage fun. You also had to put in your weight, which was probably what was missing.” And with that, there is only one duo left.

Katie Lee looks down at what’s in front of her and swallows. “The last duo to leave us today is… JUNG EUNJI and HA SUNGWOON.” She stares them from where she’s seated, the microphone waiting in front of her lips for her to say anything else. “The instructions to the mission were clear to all the other duos except the two of you, it seems. Each performance was only allowed a maximum of two minutes and you passed that during yours. Since that went against the rules set, it made your elimination the easiest of the day. We hope you’ll get to reflect on this for your future.”

And that’s how the eliminations end. Maybe it’s a high note for some and definitely a low to others. There are only thirty contestants left in the competition and it’s time for a new challenge to meet them with a few perks that haven’t yet appeared on this season. Still, something new and something old is what this season promised, and the judges are ready to announce it.

To see all the of this season’s contestants, click here!

And now, let’s see what’s in store for our fifth episode!

After the announcement of the latest eliminations, those who moved on to the next challenge were once again organized in a new format. Instead of duos, the contestants were organized in trios. All people involved should show at least one of their performance skills. The theme is to impress and to manage to show your colors even when sharing the stage with someone else. A list of the trios can be found below:

#5002 - CHOI MINHO #5013 - JEON HEEJIN #5050 - ZHOU JIEQIONG

#5004 - CHOI YEWON #5007 - DO KYUNGSOO #5039 - SEO CHANGBIN

#5006 - CHWE HANSOL #5022 - KIM JUNGEUN #5045 - TAKADA KENTA

#5011 - HWANG YEJI #5017 - KANG DANIEL #5036 - PARK JINYOUNG

#5014 - JO YURI #5033 - MIYAWAKI SAKURA #5047 - WONG YUKHEI

#5018 - KANG HYUNGGU #5025 - KIM SEUNGHUN #5026 - SIA KIM

#5020 - KIM HYOJIN #5042 - SOHN YOUNGJAE #5048 - YOO TAEYANG

#5027 - KIM YUGYEOM #5035 - NAM JOOHYUK #5046 - WANG JACKSON

#5028 - LEE CHAERYEONG #5030 - LEE NAKYUNG #5038 - PARK WOOJIN

#5032 - LEE SUWOONG #5034 - NA JAEMIN #5040 - SHIN RYUJIN

From the ten trios, the bottom five will have one of their members eliminated. This means that even if your entire performance is considered sub-par, only the contestant who was considered as having the weakest performance will be eliminated. Make sure to work well together and choose something that fits all people involved. Or not! If you were waiting for a time to try making yourself stand out maybe this is the time to do it.

Of course, there’s a new twist. Unlike in previous episodes, the contestants will be recorded during their preparation time. How will this be done? Just like the season before, the five companies prepared one of their practice rooms with cameras and will allow the trios to practice inside with free use of the high-tech equipment available in it. As mentioned above, however, each company is giving one practice room for use. With ten trios and five rooms, this means that these rooms will have to be shared and the cameras will be watching for any conflict that may grow between the groups. The companies each trio will be in can be seen below:

SPHERE ENTERTAINMENT - TRIOS 1 / 2

NOVA ENTERTAINMENT - TRIOS 3 / 4

TRC ENTERTAINMENT - TRIOS 5 / 6

KT ENTERTAINMENT - TRIOS 7 / 8

ROYAL ENTERTAINMENT - TRIOS 9 / 10

All contestants are supposed to make their own way to the recording studio prepared specially for this episode. The set will be slightly modified and will look something close to this. On each side, 15 chairs will be prepared for the contestants to sit on and watch each other’s performances. The trios should sit together and, to ensure so, the seats have been marked with their numbers. Starting from the first chair on the left and going all the way to the last one on the right, the numbers will follow the list of trios found above. Just because most eyes will be on the performance doesn’t mean no one will be paying attention to you. A set of cameras will have their lenses ready to capture any sort of interesting reaction from those watching (beware of the evil editing) while a couple more will allow different angles of the main performance to be captured.

Sitting on the higher ground, much more comfortable chairs are lined in front of the stage — five in total. This is where the CEOs of each big company will be sitting to make sure only the most captivating contestants will continue their journey to make this the best season yet.

Tune in next Saturday, the 27th, for our fifth episode!

MGA Season 5 episode five preview: With a new challenge ahead, the contestants also have a new setting to get used to. Now that they are able to practice in the same building as the CEOs, will this make a change in their performances? Will it make people fall for them or realize what they’re really all about? Tune in next week to find out

[ All of the performances were aired in their entirety. Cuts from the show itself were uploaded to Mnets’s Official Youtube Channel. ]

If you made it this far, either if you were eliminated on this episode or not, you may add +3 POINTS IN A PERFORMANCE SKILL to your points tally. Make sure to link back to this post for verification.

Contestants have until midnight EST at the end of Friday, the 26th, to post their 200+ words solos about the trios challenge in front of the CEOs. Please tag all related posts with #rkmga5 and #rkmga5trios. They’ll have three minutes to perform their chosen performance to capture the attention of the CEOs (as long as it doesn’t break any laws). Good luck! Song choices should be submitted to the rkevent inbox. Two trios performing the same song will not be allowed and this will be chosen on a first come first serve basis. Any group chats made for plotting should include both Mod Bianca (luvseungjoon on twitter) and Mod Gab (jindeukii on twitter) for monitoring.

After the last performance is done, the CEOs will leave to discuss their thoughts privately. While this happens, the contestants will be taken one by one into a small room to be interviewed on their thoughts of the current state of things. They will be asked a variety of questions and some may be included in the list found below! Feel free to come up with your own questions if you think they can be fitting.

What did you think of the results last week?

How was it like working with your trio?

Did practicing in the company’s practice room make a difference?

Did the trio that shared the room with you ever interfere on your plannings?

How do you think you did?

Were there any performances you liked?

Were there any performances you didn’t like?

What did you think of ___’s performance?

Which trio do you think complemented each other the most?

Was there anyone you think that brought their group down?

Is there anyone you are certain will move onto the next phase of the MGAs?

Is there anyone you are certain will be eliminated today?

Once they’re done, they’ll be taken back to their seat to wait, or may go to the bathroom if needed.

You may also write an extra 200+ words solo about your muse’s interview, as explained above, to also be posted until midnight EST at the end of Friday, the 26th. For doing so, you may earn +2 CHARISMA OR CREATIVITY POINTS and these can be added to your points tally as soon as it is posted. Please tag all related posts with #rkmga5 and #rkmga5trios. Please link this post as verification.

#rkmga5 #rkmga5duos2

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danielxrk · 4 years

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✞ DID THE HEARTBREAK CHANGE ME? * MAYBE

sure, the evaluation proves distracting as always, but daniel needs something different. first, it was putting together the arrangement for the evaluation, but after, all that was left was singing, no dancing required this month, therefore easily skipped. it requires less work than usual, singing coming more easily to him than anything else. no, that’s a lie; what comes easiest is his fingers on strings, fret boards, recording studios, and music so loud and heavy that it shakes the entire stage.

well, he wouldn’t know if that last part comes easily anymore. judging by the state of his band, now officially crushed into a thousand pieces with their lead singer enlisting in the military, it wouldn’t be easy at all. it hurts too much to play any music with the members that remain, and hurts too much not to. everything hurts.

it’s why he knows he needs something different, and in the end, he always falls back to writing a song, or playing an instrument, or both. bass is where he started, and he wants to think bass is where he’ll finish, if he’s ever done with music. it seems a fitting choice now, when it feels like the end of the world.

dua lipa’s album is groovy, full of synths and disco beats, but more importantly, bass. he got hooked on it for that reason, such dominant and important bass lines more of a rarity in popular music these days. he managed to listen to it frequently in the early part of april, but since sungwoon’s enlistment, it felt too happy, like salt in wounds that couldn’t heal fast enough.

he wrote a song, listened to songs about heartbreak, lamented over failing an audition, likely due to the build up of stress from the month. he tells himself it’s time to move on in all meanings of the phrase, even though he knows it’s easier said than done. he doesn’t know if he’ll ever move on from sungwoon, but he also knows he has a tendency to be dramatic. at least it’ll be more fodder for songs he can write-- songs about heartbreak, songs about being in love forever, songs about not moving on, and then eventually, maybe, songs about moving on too. the part of him that loves songwriting almost looks forward to seeing that evolution.

he wonders what his life will look like in a year. will he still be heartbroken? will he still be a trainee? will he still have the friends he does now? daniel of a year ago-- daniel who just released an album with his band --couldn’t have imagined his life ending up like this.

worse. it’s so much worse. why did he ruin all of it? why did he insist they sign up for the mgas? why did he put everything on the line for greed? they didn’t need more fans. he would’ve been happy performing their songs to 30 people in underground clubs if he had to; they all would’ve, he knows. they could’ve promoted their album all summer, and started working on more songs, and released another one in two more years. maybe sungwoon would’ve been so happy with them that he wouldn’t have enlisted. maybe, maybe, maybe.

he wonders if he’ll ever forgive himself for it. he wonders, too, if they’ll ever be friends like they were again. sometimes he hears hyunggu’s voice saying maybe it’s a way of the world saying you need to branch out and not only rely on the same four people for your entire life, and then he remembers all of the people he started relying on leaving, hyunggu included, and it all turns bitter.

sometimes he hears woong’s voice saying god never gives you more than you can handle, too, and he has to believe there’s a reason for it all. he remembers the people that are still here: haknyeon, woong, eunwoo-- some of the most important ones, but not the only ones.

he starts writing lists of things he’s thankful for in the back of his notebook, working back to front. one day, the song lyrics and thank you notes will meet, and maybe they’ll combine into a song of gratitude for everything he still has in his life. he doesn’t want to wallow. he knows he’s done too much of it in the past year.

somehow, this loss isn’t as bad as the loss of empty enigma, even if it brings the mourning back. maybe it’s because he knew for months, and had time to prepare-- time to love sungwoon knowing that time would run out, four months of loving as hard as he could and giving it the very best he had. that was one thing he could never regret.

it still hurts, but eventually, he can listen to happy music again, and he falls back into the bass lines of the future nostalgia album. he needs something different, and he had absent minded thoughts of covering a song for this album before, so why not all of them? it’ll just be him on the bass, no vocals, no original rap-- a medley of bass, and that’s all.

his face isn’t even included. it’s just his camera pointed at his bass and and his hands, so the chords he plays are more evident. it’s the names of the song each bass line is from popping up in the closed captioning each time he transitions between them. it’s just him, jamming out on his favorite instrument, not trying to be anything he’s not-- unapologetically the purest form of himself, and the part he likes best.

#;solo #;futurenostalgia #( * fr the bass on this album is SEXY #it's so good #anyways this is a mess and i'm not rereading it so yeet but #i wanted to get this in writing and make it canon #and unpack some stuff )#( * the quality of this graphic is so bad also ugh love it ! )#;yt #rkcreativity

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novaent · 5 years

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The difference between this and any other episode is clear from the start. The camera hovers over the crowd and the currently empty stage as everything happens live. A single low note plays from the speakers and the lights start moving around the set. Receiving the change as a notice of an episode that is about to start, the crowd cheers for what is actually going to be the end.

Shadows can be seen walking to the center of the stage and they’re a total of six. When the view zooms in, the proper song starts to play and what appears to be a boys-only special stage. While they start dancing together, the performance breaks into pieces as each trainee gets their chance to shine with a solo dance break before they come back together to proceed with what was prepared. Once they stop in place for their final pose and the song slowly starts to fade away, the camera pans over the crowd while they quickly leave the stage.

A new song starts to play and when the stage is shown again, there are a total of eight different people. This time, it’s time for the girls to shine. The structure it follows is about the same. They start together, each gets their own time for a solo dance break and then come back together to finalize the special performance. This is something the public had no idea would happen, but also something expected to come from Nova. When they’re done, though, the special stage isn’t.

The boys return to the scene and a piece of new music starts. They keep the dancing groove, continuing with a new flow. When they walk towards the center of the stage, the girls join them, bringing the performance to its final and, probably, most exciting part. It wasn’t any day you got two see males and females dancing together under these companies. Through the course of the show, even if they were close enough to be living together, it is the first time this happens.

When they’re done, the song slowly fades into something the public is familiar with. The screen and lights turn blue and the opening tune starts to play along with the known animation. It’d be the last time now.

The trainees all stand together now in a line. Beside them is the famous MC Lee Kyungjoon. “Welcome, everyone, to the last episode of the SuperNova Project!” The crowd roars in response and he hopes the people watching at home are excited too. “Today, the fate of these fourteen trainees will be decided all with the help of our amazing judges: Han Yonghwa!” The screen shows the coach’s face as he waves. “Kim Hyemi!” The only female trainer nods at the camera. “Park Minsoo!” The last of the three who closely spent their time with the trainees’ smiles. “And, of course, our beloved CEO, Hyun Bin!” The man shows off his best expressions, even turning a bit to smile at some of the people in the crowd.

“Now, we’ll let each of our contestants introduce themselves one final time. Why don’t we start with the girls?” And so they do. There are eight of them: Heo Solji, Kim Hyuna, Kim Yongsun, Lee Kaeun, Lee Sunmi, Meng Meiqi, Son Chaeyoung, and Son Seungwan. Each of them gets only a few moments to say their name and thank the audience before it’s the next one’s turn. They’re followed by the six boys: Ha Huidong, Joo Haknyeon, Kang Yuchan, Kim Hosung, Kim Jongin, and Kim Jungwoo. “Well, didn’t they all do great so far?”

The crowd cheers in response, some fans screaming specific names and love confessions. “They prepared this special opening stage through the course of this final month, as well as a lot more that is about to come. So why don’t we take a look back and see how their training was?” While people clap and the stream turns into recorded scenes, the trainees leave the stage to prepare themselves for their following performances.

As tradition goes, the screen shows an image from the top of the girls living room, and then it changes to the boys. While the images play on screen, the words on the bottom change from ‘Month 3, Week 2’ to ‘Month 3, Week 3’.

The three coaches are shown introducing to them their latest challenge: the opening stage. While at first the trainees may not have looked too surprised, the news of them having to choreograph something themselves hit some harder than others as the cameras do a good job of zooming into their surprised faces. Hosung sits in front of the camera by himself for the interview as he runs his hands through his face. “Then seconds doesn’t seem like a long time but when you’re creatively challenged - like me - ten seconds seems like a whole lifetime to fill.”

Followed by him is Solji sporting a golden vest. “It’s fun but hard at the same time. I haven’t done a lot of choreographing of my own dances, so that part was a bit of a struggle. I just hope that what I’ve come up with is acceptable!” She joked, her laugh sounding more out of nervousness than of thinking she was funny. “With things coming to an end soon, how are you feeling?” They ask her. “It feels more… real than it has ever felt before,” the woman admits. “Before, there was that thought of, oh, if I don’t do well, I have another chance to redeem myself. There’s no turning back at this point now. If you don’t do well, it’s over. There are no more chances.”

Yongsun appears practicing her dance by herself inside one of the practice rooms and when the camera slowly moves to the side, it shows Haknyeon silently watching her from the doorframe. When she’s done, he finally claps his hands, eyes bright and smiles wide. “Noona! That was great!” He walks over to her. “You think?” And she smiles back at him. “Yeah. Back during the MGAs, you were… lacking a little,” the boy says. “But you’re much better now noona. I’m really proud of you! As your old personal coach, it’s really great to see how much you’ve improved.”

“Thank you, Haknyeon-ah. I can’t let you down now, can I, coach?” She muses at him. “That’s right!” Haknyeon replies, smile bright as he laughs. “You’ve made your coach proud!” Meanwhile, another person who used to struggle appears on the screen. “Choreographing is hard.” And perhaps Jungwoo is still struggling as he sighs. The next scene is of him with one of his many coaches. “Noona, I have no idea how to choreograph something that doesn’t look stupid. Help, please.” The boy shows big puppy eyes at the other with a pout to complete the set. “I know you don’t,” Sunmi says with a sigh. “You doubt yourself too much to.”

She keeps looking at him, apparently unphased by his charm. “You know you can challenge yourself to show competence but… don’t try anything too ambitious. You’ll end up embarrassing yourself.” But she relents. “But I’ll help you so that doesn’t happen.” Jungwoo nods. “It’s not long, I’ll try o lean it quick. I know you need to practice a lot too.”

The one next on an interview is Kaeun. “This week felt like a lot of recap from the last two weeks in preparation for next week. Sometimes I feel like I fall asleep to the music of ‘Hush’ and wake up dancing to ‘Omona’.” Someone else doesn’t appear too excited. The local symbol of these types of emotions, Meng Meiqi. “Do you like the choreography?” They ask her. “That doesn’t really matter though, does it?” Her smile is clearly forced. “If i like it or I don’t, I still have to work hard and do my best to enjoy what I’m doing on stage because when if I’m not truly happy with it, won’t it reflect in the performance? Everyone will be able to tell.”

This time it’s a boy who’s asked questions, the youngest of them all. “The last week. Are you ready?” And Haknyeon replies. “I don’t know if I have an answer for that. I’ve practiced as much as I could...I’ve given my all… I want to believe that I’m ready. I-” He stops for a moment. “I’m scared. I want to do well. But I don’t know… I’m trying really hard, but I never know if it’s good enough,” the boy starts choking up. “I’m scared.”

The last of the three girls who made it up to the SAFE zone, Yongsun hears something in her own interview. “So here we are, at the end of the road.” Before the girl can reply, the scene shifts back to Haknyeon, except this time he’s practicing and a piano version of the usually happy opening tune starts to play. He stops and stares at himself in front of the mirror, drenched in sweat. “Am I good enough?” The boy asks himself.

[ tw: blood mention ]

Slowly, while the sad song continues to play, his nose starts to bleed. “Shoot,” he says before putting a hand over it. Haknyeon quickly rushes out of the room, but then returns with tissue paper and bends down to wipe the blood from the floor.

[ tw end ]

The boy remains squatted for a moment before he buries his face in his knees, bursting into tears. “Why can’t I be better?” He asks himself. It’s a feeling every other trainee has felt throughout the project. Scenes start to be replayed, showing highlights of the contestants while they gave their hardest. There’s Ricky, who after practicing too hard, fell asleep in the practice room and Hugo had to carry him to his bedroom. The boy’s voice appears in the background, mentioned how he couldn’t sleep well from the early episodes, and then him turning in his covers. There’s Jungwoo who, after trying his best to perfect different choreographies, received criticism from different people. Sunmi shows the bruisings on her legs before she’s crying in her room, receiving a visit from Wendy to make her feel better. It’s in the same room that the two had their discussion regarding Wendy’s lack of attention to her own health. Meiqi runs away from her rap performance after she forgets the lyrics to it.

There are new scenes now, too. Hosung is shown at a fast speed as he spends time and time trying to come up with a good choreography for his dance before he just lays on the floor, exhausted. Sunmi and Wendy get a new highlight again when the girls wrap up a group practice and the younger approaches the other to thank her. The two hug and Sunmi tells her some kind words. “I love you all very much, okay? I always want to make sure you guys are doing your best.”

The next scene is of Haknyeon back in his practice room, except he decides to wipe away his tears before he plays the song again. No matter what happened, they all continued giving their best. Then it returns to Yongsun’s interview, the one that was cut earlier on. “So here we are, at the end of the road.” They say again, but this time she gets to reply. “Maybe it will be the beginning of another road?” She smiles playfully.

To bring the scene to an end, deeply thought words from Chaeyoung herself. “If you asked me before this project why I wanted to become an idol, I think I would have given you a different answer to the one I’m about to give you right now.” She stops momentarily. “I want to be an idol so that I could inspire people. I want to be that person that advocates growth and development. I was just like the many people who so wanted to be an idol and I hope that throughout this project, people can see that it’s possible to be a talented performer with a good heart.” The screen freezes and the kind words ‘Thank you for your continuous dedication, trainees!’ appears before it’s back to the present time.

The MC stands in a corner of the stage, smiling at the camera until they give him the cue to keep the show going. “I’m certain that the public could all feel their passion and dedication through the screen. These fourteen trainees have been practicing under this project for three long months and today is the day that will conclude it all. The original songs they’ll show today for the first time learned under only one month but they can already be considered professionals. Please pay attention to the first song of the day, ‘OMONA!’ by the girls!”

There’s a warm reaction by the crowd while the trainees walk to the center of the stage, preparing themselves for their first concept. They start off with a cute song which is quite clear from the start. Even if it’s their first time listening to it, the crowd sways as if it’s their long-time favorite song. While its core concept is cuteness, the girls also get to show off their rap abilities quite well, as well as something off to a more mature side in certain moments. Once they’re done, claps and cheering can be heard all around before they quickly make their exit.

“Well, wasn’t that incredible?” The MC asks, and the crowd cheers in response. “Continuing on with their cute sides to show, this time we have the boys with their song ‘I Like It Too’!” There’s just as much cheering as before, and just as said, the boys make their way to the stage this time to show off their charms. The same way the girls had their chance to show off each of their talents, the boys also get the same opportunity, melting all of the listener’s ears like honey with their soft words about love. After they’re done and set on their final positions, the camera changes back to the MC so they may make their escape silently.

Just as before, the man takes a few seconds to smile and nod before he begins to speak. “I hope you enjoyed those cute, soft stages. Did you, audience?” The crowd shouts out different types ‘yes’ which makes the man chuckle before proceeding. “These trainees, however, are no one trick pony! They just showed you their cute sides, but this doesn’t mean that’s all they’re able to do! Their second songs are here to show off their tougher side. Maybe this change will make you say ‘omona!’ but their next song is ‘HUSH’! Please welcome our girls for their next performance!”

Even with only a few minutes to change, these trainees had to learn the hard way how to quickly become professionals. They’re all dressed in new clothes and ready for the second round of showing what they got. With a heavy contrast from the previous concept, the girls go off with a girl crush vibe this time around. Just as before, however, they aren’t stuck to one solid vibe and get to show off their different charms throughout the song. Both the vocalists and rappers get something that makes them shine. Once they’re done, the girls leave again, but this time this doesn’t mean they must get prepared for another performance. They’re done for their time, and must only wait for the boys before they can hear the results.

“They’re certainly girls you must keep your eye out for, but they’re not alone! Coming back with a new image, the boys return to the stage with the last song of the day, ‘WHAT?!” With the MC’s enthusiastically spoken english word, the camera changes over to the six boys onstage. This song certainly adds a new definition to the word ‘exciting’ and makes the crowd put their hands in the air, as the lyrics ask them. The rappers get a lot of highlight for this, but what the song slows down on the vocals, the trainees need to make up for in high-energy dancing. When they’re done, the crowd cheers for them just as energetically.

They don’t leave the stage this time, but the camera still pans over to the MC to hear his following words. “With this performance, the four original songs prepared came to an end. Our trainees have organized themselves in a line here,” the man stops to point at them, and the screen shares a common image. “Fans of the show may already know what this means. At the end of each month, the CEO, Hyun Bin, gives his thoughts on the completion of a mission. This is the third and last month and Hyun Bin’s original thoughts and plans will finally be shared with the public for the first time.”

When the man stops speaking, all eyes fall at the man in question who slowly picks up his microphone. “Firstly, I’d like to thank the trainees for all the dedication they put into this project. I got to watch you closely during these months and am happy to share with you what will be of you from here on out.” He stops for a moment to let the audience clap before he proceeds. “Overall, you all did a great job with the tools you were given. You only had under a month to learn two songs and their choreographies and I have to say your training wasn’t in vain. I believe everyone here and at home could see how much each of you grew under this project. However,” the soft cheering from the crowd stops, and a single ‘ey…’ can be heard.

“I can confirm that not all of you here will leave this project with a confirmed path to debut.” This time, more people in the audience react, but it’s still all self-contained. “There were a lot of questions throughout the show regarding why both male and female trainees were competing and what would be the outcome of this… well, you’ll have to wait just a bit longer to know that.” The audience complains again, but Hyun Bin carries a smirk on his lips. “What we’ll deal with right now is eliminations. While we took into consideration all of your progress up to here, it was this final month that confirmed each of our decisions, whether they were good or bad to you.”

The man stops a moment to irk his head before proceeding. “Those who trained for longer clearly had more advantages during this project, the same way that those who took part in competitions before this one also had tricks that others didn’t share. However, tricks can be learned, can’t they? If practice time was all it took, there’d be more of you here today. What was stuck in my mind was the composition of the group, and how well each of you would work together, and if each of you would have something to contribute.”

“Lee Sunmi and Ha Huidong… they both contribute with their dance abilities, but they also help the other trainees and bring the best out of them. Wendy and Jungwoo are both great singers that helped make their songs pop out. Just like that, I felt like someone had to be taken away for harmony to be better.” Hyun Bin stops, tension building up in the air. The more he waits, the more people anticipate a commercial break. “While this person’s abilities grew, they weren’t able to reach our expectations. Today, the one to be eliminated is Kim Yongsun. You’ve given your best this far, but it wasn’t the best we wanted. We could all agree that you’d be the best choice to make as far as eliminations go. You’ll continue with Nova Entertainment, of course, but you’ll remain with your trainee position.” The camera focuses on her face. “Thank you for your time here, and now you may leave the stage.”

And so the camera looks back to the CEO while the girl is escorted out. “And the next to be eliminated is…” the man continues only after a blink. “No one.” The crowd reacts one again, but this time in confusion, as many should be feeling. “When thinking about the outcome of this project, the question was always if it’d be boys or girls. I didn’t want to do a co-ed group, but that wasn’t a wall that’d stop us. When we gave you all the opportunity to take part in this project it was with the intention to debut two groups, a boy group, and a girl group.”

Hyun Bin takes a brief second to breathe in. “In case the message isn’t clear, all of you who are standing on stage right now will be debuting.” The man stops again, but this time the audience reacts more appropriately. “I give you all my word, both you, the trainees, and the public, that both groups will make their debut before the end of the year. They’ll be the latest addition to the Super Nova universe and new energy to this world.”

The crowd cheers and a camera pans over the trainees' reactions. “The two groups will act as sibling groups and, for this, we’ll reveal their names right now.” Hyun Bin points a hand forward and to the screen behind the stage. An animation following the style of the usual intro twists and turns until two words appear on the screen. “Following the mythology, ANDROMEDA was saved by PERSEUS and shared their story until the end, when they both became constellations in the sky. These names were modified to fit the modern times.” While he speaks, the names are changed on the screen. “PERSEUS has become PER_SE, with a symbol representing the sea he lived his adventures in, while ANDROMEDA became AND*ROMA, with a symbol representing the stars.”

Once the explanation is done, the focus returns to the CEO. “Not all is done, however. The end of each month comes with another tradition. Even if your positions have already been confirmed, there is one more title to give. To congratulate you for your hard work, Lee Sunmi and Ha Huidong were chosen as the final MVPs of the project. You both showed not only talent by yourself, but through the help, you’ve provided to your fellow trainees.” The audience keeps on with their wave of cheering, the results appearing to satisfy them.

“Congratulations to all of you and, to all of you at home, you can be sure you’ll be hearing from them soon.” The camera changes over to the MC who stands beside the line of trainees. “Thank you all who tuned in for the grand finale of the SuperNova Project. Please look forward to your favorite picks in the future and make sure to tune in for further news with Nova Entertainment. Have a great Sunday, and thank you once again for your support. Goodbye!” The view is slowly zoomed out, showing the trainee reactions on the side. While the screen stops by the judges to show them clapping, ‘OMONA!’ starts to play as a background tune before attention returns to the grand victors of the day. The stream keeps live for one more minute before it simply comes to an end.

#nova:sn #nova:snep7

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