#(( this is...........

Vampires.

Minjae couldn't have been more pleased with the concept that he and his groupmates had come up with for their performance on EXTRA. There were so many different directions that they could have taken it ( with the rising popularity of vampires in the past few years, the monster had quite a variety of "images" ), and he liked knowing that they had plenty of options. After much discussion among the members, they managed to agree on all of the details pertaining to what would be the first performance on the show for all four of them.

The weeks leading up to the new show's pilot episode were long and tiring. Along with all of the usual lessons that came with being an idol trainee under Galaxy Records, he also needed to make time to prepare specifically for EXTRA --- both with his groupmates and alone. And of course, with Taemin currently in the hospital, frequent visits to see his boyfriend were absolutely crucial. Needless to say, Minjae was exhausted. But at the end of the day, he didn't regret it. Each of those things ( lessons, practice, and hospital visits ) all benefited him in their own way --- and not just him, but those around him as well ( and that was, in the trainee's mind, just as if not more important ).

When the day finally came, the trainee couldn't help feeling nervous. Sure, he'd been on stage before, but mostly as a backup dancer, where the spotlight wasn't on him and his presence wasn't necessarily vital to the performance. As he peeked out at the hundreds of people seated before the stage, and reminded himself of the possible thousands that would be watching from their TVs or phones, the twisting sensation in his gut was only inevitable. Of course, this didn't stop him from trying to keep his teammates feeling at ease; while Akari seemed to be doing just fine, he was particularly worried about Sehyeon and Minhee, and made sure to give them lots of encouragement all the way up until the moment they had to go up on stage.

He liked to believe that his own nerves hadn't shown. But he was probably wrong.

Stepping onto the stage, Minjae looked out at the audience, a million thoughts flooding through his mind at once. This first episode, this first performance, was going to be very important. It was his chance to show them what he was capable of and to raise expectations for the following episodes. His performance, if not careful, could bring not just him but the rest of his team down. His gaze flickered to where the other contestants sat, and just before the music began he was reminded of someone who would have loved to be there as well, someone who was stuck watching from a hospital bed due to immensely unfortunate circumstances.

I have to do well for you, too.

Cue that first roll of digitalized thunder, and it was as if someone had hit a switch. The trainee's entire demeanor had changed, perfectly suiting the creepy and somewhat sultry nature of the group's performance. Everything came naturally to him, each movement fluid but sharp where need be, intricately calculated from the glint in his eye to the curve of his finger. Despite his usual timid and often times awkward tendencies off stage, "sexy" was an image that Minjae pulled off exceptionally well, and that fact rang true as ever that night.

It wasn't until he heard the audience's applause that he came back down to Earth. The performance was over. He could only hope that all of their hard work together had paid off. He'd been confident in his group from the get-go ( how lucky was he to be put with such amazing dancers? of course, it was bound to happen when the show was full of them. ); he knew that they would do well and he was certain that they, like him, had given their all. Now all that was left was the results.