prodigy.

the past days to week has hwan busy with a new experience he has never gone through before. sure, he has performed before in monthly evaluations and what not, but this time it feels different. with the freedom and creativity that they are given, hwan decides to bring out an old song; one that he wrote when he first started liking music, a song he first wrote after getting out of his slump from his child acting experience. a song that gave him a new life and motivations of living, and a composition of who hwan is.

before he presented his idea and song selection out to suho, whom had eagerly meet his excitement as they work alongside helping one another with the stage production of their individual performance, there is a small aching feeling to his heart that never leaves like a ghost residing in an abandoned house. as much as it is his first song, one he wrote many years back and despite the ones whom had known him as klein on soundcloud, had listened to it - he wonders if it would be enough to impress. wonders if he has actually grown with the ability to showcase his true self.

the ideas comes on later, that instead of performing as the song is originally composed, he settles with the idea of reproducing the song with some band music elements from his recent hyperfixation on tweaking with band application and watching movies with band themes. hwan decides that instead of relying on samples he could get online, he gets the help of doyeon and her bandmates to help with his preparation (though not without offering a sort of benefit to doyeon in the form of 'information revolving minseon'. hwan feels threaten that there is someone out there who is after minseon's best friend position but he knows that minseon would never replace him with anyone else).

it's a rebirth hwan thinks, when he takes a day to attend their band recording session that is held a few days before the evaluation day - the drums doyeon plays enhances his music maturely, the strings of the lead and bass guitars plucks out a heavier heartstring, and hwan's vocals and rap verse easily compliments his own song when he runs a practice round. the band won't be there physically on the day hwan gets evaluated but in that moment of their recording, he finds a sort of peace in music that he has never experienced before.

the evaluation day comes, as he gets himself ready for his stage. the coat he wears feels heavy on him; as if overwhelmed. "don't screw this up, hwan. it's your own song and you will own your stage" he mumbles to himself in his native language before he's called for his turn once one of his fellow trainee mates has their stage wrapped up. the raven haired trainee gets worried about the remarks, considering the judgement comes when each performance ends but as he positions the microphone stand in the center, hwan throws all thoughts aside as he takes a deep breath. it's do or die, the worst can come later.

his performance is simple compared to the others, but given how hwan's previous evaluation had him dancing and forming choregraphs and formation lines, such stage he present for his own comes off as a reversal charm. the mr version of his recording plays, starting out with a classic guitar intro as hwan paces around the floor as he gets himself absorbed into the rhythm. he closes his eyes and he places a hand over the microphone when he moves closer, humming along the second line of the guitar. the first verse comes easily, as hwan sinks into emotions by singing his line.

his performance is kept simple and clean with his movements being gestures created from his hand and arm motion. when the second verse comes, he takes the mic off from the stand, now using the stand as a prop. as the music progress, his movement gets bigger with bold gestures and body movements yet kept simple without any actual choreography. the drop of his music comes after the second chorus before he continues as he vocally scats to bridge and ends the song with calm demeanor, keeping an eye contact with choi yohan who's seated in front of him.

hwan bows once he is done and as a staff comes to take the microphone stand away before bringing in the props for the next trainee. he waits as the panel before him discuss among themselves as they write remarks, possibly in regards to their scores. jang hei-ran is the first to speak, "i must say, it feels like we are seeing a new hwan lee, to which, isn't a bad thing. in fact, it surprises me that you are capable of such calm performance in contrast to the hwan we know, who brings talent and passion to the stage. what surprises me mostly, is that you are capable of singing. admittedly, when you started the song, we were all taken aback with the genre since i'm sure that not only myself, but as well as ceo yohan and director haru, had totally expected a more rap styled performance. you have definitely built an image for yourself being a good rapper, but with this, you gave us more reasons to expect more. and definitely, we hope that you will get to shine more with your singing capabilities."

choi yohan adds, "it was definitely surprising to see how talented you could be. i would also like to give props to you for bringing an original composition to the table, and having heard the original version of when we first casted you, i must say i am definitely impressed with the way you had reproduced this song and the image that you have created. i believe we have ourselves someone who may be one of the best singer-songwriter of the generation. and of course, it would be nice if you have the confidence to showcase your singing in the future, hwan-ah."

the last to comment is the creative director, ahn haru himself. "my thoughts of your composition is the same as ceo yohan and consultant hei-ran, which we all know you have the talents for not only the basic skillsets of an idol but also as a composer and songwriter, but for me there was something lacking in terms of your creative performance. while we could see that you can write good songs and was able to deliver an overall good performance by bringing out your raw skills, it lacks creativity when it comes to showcasing yourself. it felt that you had played it safe by only using one prop to which was the microphone stand, but personally, i felt that you could challenge yourself to show an even better stage presence. you could try incorporating more usage of props, or a small bit of choreography especially when you get to the climax of your song. because it's only you in the stage and that there was no live band in particular, it felt rather empty with all consideration that you were doing hyped song as compared to singing a ballad that requires less movements. i hope that you would be able to utilize the space around you to not only fill up the lack of presence, but so you could feel more comfortable. even if you had tried to walk around each sides instead of sticking within the center, it would have brought up more flavor to your performance."

"thank you for all the feedbacks, i will work harder with the stage ideas," hwan takes the advice sincerely despite it being the first that he has heard of rather 'harsh' feedback in a while. at least with this, hwan now knows what he needs to work on even more aside from practicing his singing and composition skills.

overall, hwan is satisfied that he was able to execute his performance without any bad hitch, and that itself, is an achievement of his own.

hwan should be used to evaluations by now with all consideration to his thirty months of training, but his heart thumps aloud when jang heiran enters dance studio number four with her team. he has heard of her before this; about how strict she was with high regards to details and vocal stability. upon her settling down, choi yohan is there to introduce heiran and her team before hwan calls out his team greetings as well with the other trainees; one of the roles he had to fulfill as the team leader.

they quickly get into positions to perform the song that they have trained for weeks now; a song called 'the answer' to which hwan had personally participated actively in during the song writing process and choreography that he worked alongside suho. the introduction starts in a teamwork piece of choreography, one he and suho had worked hard to make it seem like clockwork yet would visualized as 'entering a dimension' as such their song has reality versus virtual themes to it. suho starts the first verse with ease to which hwan smiles as he moves along with the dance, a feeling of relief wash over him but nothing to be too comfortable yet when he has to get to his part.

the pre-chorus and chorus breezes easily as they all coordinate their movements. by now, it would be hard to forget when they all worked hard practicing it hours after hours and as every day pass leading up to this day. in comes the second part to which hwan had took part with rap writing for the first time.

switch off, wanna get you out of my head, uh [all part] what you gonna do? what, what you wanna? feeling this kind of likeness towards you feels like a gimmick the truth i desire comes from within will you slip into my reality and match with me my love for you is wider than the pacific ocean

the confidence he gains to showcase his part in particular heightens when it comes to his verse. hwan executes his rap flow well, never stuttering or fumbling his lines despite his part being in the mixed of both korean and english. after all, hwan made sure to practice his verse at least five times a day; to memorize it by heart and mind, that it is inked on him forever, and he would never forget them like even after the evaluation is over.

his part passes easily and any breath he held during yejun's main vocalist parts were only sighs of relief when the younger male sings his part without faltering or having his voice cracked. with that, they wrapped up the song with high tension considering the concept they are heading for was defining 'their youth'. as the song comes to an end with their coordinated group dance and ending pose for each member, they take a few second to collect their breaths before gathering in line to say their thanks with hwan leading to it.

the performance ends and they're given some time to collect themselves as choi yohan, jung heiran and her team gathers to exchange reviews and feedbacks with each other before they're told to gather for their on-spot evaluation. each of his fellow teammates have their review done first and when it's finally down to hwan's turn, he steps upfront when being called; palms pressed together as he waits with anticipation yet nervousness for his evaluation result.

"first of all, i would like to recognize once again that you were able to fulfill your leadership skills and i could see that this time, your communication with the members work out smoothly." choi yohan remarks, to which hwan offers a smile and a quick word of gratitude. the ceo adds on, "i could even see the smile you had when suho was able to breeze his part through. and in that moment, i think that not only was it charming, but you were able to shine through as a leader!"

once again, hwan offers his gratitude to the ceo for his recognition and takes the time as well to thank his teammates for making it easy for him by listening well and providing feedback that helped with the evaluation in terms of choreography and song writing. his attention is then turn towards to jung heiran whom now inputs her remarks.

"i must say, the song we've given you this time, is different from what we originally planned for. i believe you were able to encapsulate the song itself with your song writing, and your rap verse in particular was refreshing to hear. it was something that we would not imagine hearing when we first had this song produced. and for that, i'd like to give you kudos!" heiran compliments him, offering a smile. in that moment, everything hwan knows by secondhand knowledge of the woman being strict seems to fly out of an imaginary window.

"however," heiran adds, returning to her stern nature, "it would have been nice if you had more singing parts, it seems the past evaluation from what we reviewed and the current evaluation had you rapping only. it would be nice if you would venture out of your comfort zone, and in that way you can grow to be an all-rounder." she comments, offering a piece of advice to hwan. the raven-haired trainee nods on the advice offer.

"lastly, i'll like to give you props as well for being able to tackle on the responsibilities we have given you. not only were you the leader, but you had to write for the song lyric as well and do the choreography. to be honest, i've personally kept my expectations low, and i understand that you've gotten help from suho as well in terms of the choreography as well, but we did give you the workload to test you all. thankfully, you were able to maintain the expectations, if not, to raise the bar higher of what we thought of you. you've worked hard, trainee hwan lee." heiran offers her last piece of compliment as hwan bows respectfully and thank not only jung heiran and the choi yohan for their time and advice, but as well as for heiran's team and towards his teammates once again.