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rkxsicheng · 6 years

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MGA4 | EP 3 | 2011 Classics

MGA4 Episode 3 | 2011 Classics Team F | The Starz [ @rkyxrim, @hyunark, @rkmbin ] Song: Hot Summer by F(x) [line distribution] Outfit: [x]

The panel passes the microphone down its length like a cross country baton, not only reading out the names of the eliminated, but speaking criticisms against them, some so harsh that Sicheng winces in sympathy. The silence before each of these names is spoken is lead-heavy in the air of the room. And it seems like it might go on for forever, and then it’s over, and there seems to be a collective sigh of relief that rings out once it’s clear that that’s all, before the outpouring of excitement as everyone fully processes that they’ve made it one more round.

Sicheng is thrilled to have made it, of course, but he’s notably less-thrilled to find that it’s a group challenge. He was expecting that this would happen eventually. It happened during the last season, apparently. And it only makes sense; the judges’ ultimate plans were to debut any trainees they picked up by way of this show in idol groups, so they needed to see how these prospects would behave in their potential future work environment. Not to mention the potential for quality reality television that grouping all of the contestants together might brew.

He just wasn’t the easiest person to get to know. He was able to exude a certain charisma on-stage, sure, but in the realm of interpersonal relationships, he tended towards bashful, shy, soft-spoken, and nervous with all but those he was most close to. How well would his disposition play on camera? Would it at all? Which would be worse?

To not be worth the notice, or to be noticed for something embarrassing?

And then he finds out who his group is, and he’s struck with both relief and anxiety. Yerim? The two of them knew one another from school, and were friends. She was...a brat, but had a strange charm to her, Sicheng thought. Moon Bin? He hadn’t exactly given the guy much thought, admittedly. He was quite handsome in his way, and a competent vocalist. But Hyuna? He found himself terrified by the prospect of being on a team with her. All he knew of Hyuna had been gleaned from the handful of MGA3 clips he’s perused on YouTube after Mark had told him of these auditions; she was cool. She isn’t a shrinking violet, she’s a bad girl. That whole shtick. Her performances for this season of the show had been compelling; it was obvious she was trained, in her presence on stage, in her everything. Not to mention that her profile on the show thus far had been enormous. Her return was one of the show’s foremost storylines thus far.

Sicheng’s fear, thusly, is fading to the background.

He discusses this with Yerim over text later that night, although most of the discussion is a vent of his underclassman's frustrations, in the form of whiny complaints, and a few well-conceived insults regarding Hyuna’s performance.

“She already did this and failed! Like what’s the point of her even coming back? Clearly it’s not gonna happen.” she exclaims on Saturday, having come over to help Sicheng bleach his hair blond.

He understands her anger to a degree, but he’s decided that being put in a group with Hyuna is an opportunity, and does his best to communicate this to Yerim, who is somewhat placated by the thought that Hyuna’s group is likely to receive more interest and attention, both from the public, and the show’s producers.

Hence the makeover.

Sicheng was pretty, of that much he was aware. There were many ways in which he didn’t feel particularly worthy, but he knew he was pretty. He’d turned out looking like his mother, and although she’d managed to pick at everything else about him, she only ever had positive things to say about his face, because it was hers.

He just needed a bit of enhancement, was all; so gone was his natural black hair. He was now a much more eye-catching blond. Yerim teaches him how to apply a neutral mascara and a very subtle bit of eyeliner so faint that it wasn’t really identifiable as make-up, but still served its purpose of defining his eyes.

He can’t help but feel like hot shit as he looks in the mirror. He looks....good. And as Yerim continues to complain he snaps a few selfies to send to his friends as a surprise.

The next day the episode airs, and he makes a quiet promise to himself to do his best to earn a more significant presence on the next one.

As he finds his way to the TRC headquarters come Monday, a sleek, modern building, a quiet determination is burning in him, a determination which is quickly clouded by shyness, like the sun on an overcast day, the moment he enters the moodily lit training room to spy Hyuna already there.

The TRC rehearsal space they’re using is lit almost like a stage, tracklights mounted on the ceiling shining their light towards its centre, the outer edges, lined with benches fading into the slightest cover of shadow, and it both sets Sicheng on edge, and puts him into a performance headspace. A strange combination to him.

And then Hyuna speaks and she seems very immediately....sweet, and Yerim and him can’t help but glance at one another in surprise, which triggers a laugh from her. The veteran girl seems to be quite self-aware, which comes as a relief to Sicheng, who is very happy to find that she’s not about to beat his ass if he says something half-cross towards her or slips up.

When Moon Bin arrives, he exudes an exuberance that is infectious, and Sicheng finds his spirits lifted. Perhaps this group thing isn’t doomed, as he’d feared. They don’t get along horribly, he doesn’t think, in spite of Yerim’s subtle petulance.

It doesn’t take long to name Hyuna as leader. Yerim questions Sicheng’s vote momentarily, but caves when he notes that she’s the most experienced, and therefore easily the most well-equipped to do so. They decide on Hot Summer, because the song is timely, they think, it really being summer. Sicheng hopes out loud that what he thinks is a cute and clever choice of song is appreciated even a little by the judges.

As the days go by, Sicheng becomes more confident, and comes to quite like his new pair of friends.

Moon Bin is even cuter in person, and speaks English with a British accent that turns Sicheng’s stomach in a very pleasant way. He clings to the other boy just a bit as the week wears on, acting just a little cutesy, the hair bleach having served to fully decalcify his sub twink brain, apparently. He’s thankful that in Korea a bit of affection and what he considers to be light flirting between two boys isn’t really perceived as flirting, and Moon Bin seems to just think he’s cute and young. Sicheng’s broken Korean seems to aid in this image, too, although the group spends just as much time speaking to one another in English.

He ends up assisting the other boy quite often with his dancing, which he doesn’t quite understand. Hot Summer is hardly an intense dance routine, but that doesn’t stop Binnie-hyung, as Sicheng takes to calling him every ten seconds, from struggling in the first few days to really keep on rhythm and in sync with the other three, who pick up the choreo like it’s feather-light.

But Sicheng’s thought processes are always turning, so as he grows more comfortable around the other three he begins to suggest ideas. Minor things like a wink here, a finger heart there, a hair flip then. Things to enhance their performance, he hopes.

He takes a liking to Hyuna, too, who he repeatedly calls noona out of habit, despite her insistence that it’s fine to be more casual. Each time he does, he apologises, and Hyuna becomes both more exasperated and more amused. She one time asks him quietly when the other two are resting if Yerim is always...like that, having found out that the two younger team members attend the same school, and Sicheng giggles and informs Hyuna that she is.

“She’s nice, really. She’s just like...a bratty little sister.” he says, sure to be complimentary towards his friend on-camera.

The four of them iron out most all of the kinks over the course of the week, and Sicheng feels a strange surge of confidence build.

The day of filming is always initially a nervous day, but filming a television show is a lot more time-consuming than it seems from your couch, viewing the tightly edited product, and as they warm up backstage, adjusting their costumes, sprucing one another up, Yerim fixing Sicheng’s hair a little and advising he tuck in his shirt, they watch the other groups perform, and in their wait the nervousness fades a little bit, for Sicheng at least.

There’s sound checks, camera checks, light tests, lots of tedium before the performances actually begin, and Sicheng finds that it saps at his stage fright until it’s not quite so bad. Still present, certainly, just not unbearable. It can be swept away, ignored.

When it’s their time to perform, it flares up briefly. They step on stage. The lights come on, the music starts, and it’s like some sort of clockwork mechanism unfolding for Sicheng across the stage.

He’s aware of the other three moving around him, but his eyes are on the camera, a pleasant smile gracing his lips and eyes, tapping his feet along with the staccato rhythm of the song. He does his best to take advantage of it every time he’s in the centre of the routine, finding the little red light of his camera, looking into it and interacting with the audience, working a couple finger hearts into the choreography, at one point attempting and somewhat failing a wink, smiling and blushing red, even as Hyuna and him switch spots so she can do her part.

He’s not a bad singer, although he’s not great. Luckily, the parts that have been selected for him aren’t exactly the most vocally intensive, so he’s able to keep up with them well by keeping his breathing under control, hoping to make up for any lack of vocal impact by being cute.

During the end pose, as the music dies, he feigns a bit of exhaustion narrowing his eyes and fanning himself as though he were overheating.

Their group makes their way backstage, Yerim giving him a peck on the cheek, Moon Bin pulling the two of them into a hug, and Sicheng is happy. He hopes he’s done enough not to fall into the shadow of any of his group mates, and enough to be noticed, but either way...he’s proud of what he feels is an accomplishment. Hopefully the first of many.

#rkmga4classics #rkyxrim #hyunark #rkmbin #wc:1758 #rkmga4s

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