#be:ngs1p4

the screen splits into three with each section showing a shot of a different practice room and each of the teams meeting together. two weeks before the performance… the captions read. after a few seconds, the segment containing the LIME ENTERTAINMENT team takes over the entirety of the screen.

upon closer inspection, it seems that the members of the lime entertainment team are not as bright as one might hope at this point in the competition. shots of HWANG BADA and LEE NOEL struggling in group practices play out over the screen. they’ve been the subject of scrutiny for a while now. but it’s not only them; PARK DOHYUN looks frustrated and LEE SEOJUN looks a bit tired as they power through their various rehearsals, lessons, and independent practice times. lime entertainment would be the team of underdogs if it wasn’t for the young woman who seems to have taken up the mantle of their makeshift leader, LEE NAYOUNG, who currently sits in the number one position for the entire competition. it’s nayoung who directs the team in dividing up their parts for the song, who helps lead the others in practice, and even encourages her teammates who seem to be a bit down on themselves. 

“this is difficult mentally,” noel appears in the interview room, “ i’d like to climb the ranks, but i’m against people who have been singing or dancing for years. i’m against people who know what they’re doing.”

dohyun is the first to approach nayoung with concerns. “hey nayoung, sorry, could i ask you about the lines?” he seems a bit timid, maybe even intimidated by the woman’s presence. who can blame him? she’s beautiful, talented, and currently in the top spot; she’d be intimidating to anyone. “do you think, um, maybe that some of my singing lines should be distributed more out? i just, i don’t think, um…”

“you don’t think what?” though nayoung comes across a little harsh at first, her demeanor seems to soften as if she realizes how difficult it might be for dohyun to approach her with this. . “if you’re just not feeling confident, you should be. you’re the best vocalist on the team,” she assures the young man, “i think all of the others would agree.”

“i don’t want to let the group down,” dohyun is still rather quiet as he responds to nayoung, not immediately taking her pep talk to heart. this must be serious. 

“it’s easy to listen to others that may put you down, or make you feel unimportant, insignificant,” dohyun says in the interview room, followed by a shot of him sitting there quietly. who made him feel this way? the captions and viewers alike must be asking the same question.

without the situation being resolved on camera, another teammate with struggles approaches nayoung as well. this time it is hwang bada who is approached once again by nayoung, the supposed cheerleader for the lime entertainment team. “you open the song for us,” she reminds the other girl, “so you need to at least pretend to be confident. attitude is everything, remember?”

“i know,” bada responds with a weak smile, though she avoids eye contact with nayoung. she’s once again an intimidating presence. “sorry,” bada apologizes, “i’m trying, i promise,”

“it’s been hard for me to assimilate and learn the ropes,” bada says in her interview shortly before the scene changes to a clip of her, teary-eyed, from a previous practice session. this competition has been hard on the girl and it’s difficult not to feel sympathy for her.

mental challenges aren’t the worst that the team has to face either. when the scene changes, it’s to lee noel dancing in his socks on a slick practice room floor. as soon as the thought occurs that practicing this way might not be in his best interest, his feet slide out from under him and he hits the floor. one might be reminded of matty and his fall and the injury that ultimately lead to his removal from the program. is noel in danger of a similar fate?

“are you okay?” seojun is by the other’s side in a moment. but, like dohyun and bada’s insecurities, the situation is again left unresolved onscreen.

they’re not entirely without hope, though. scenes of sarang interacting with his teammates play across the screen. the young man seems to be doing his very best to keep morale up despite the challenges ahead of them. “you should hydrate,” he squeezes noel’s arm reassuringly as he asks him to take care of himself, “trust me—you’ll feel a little better if you pause, drink some of this, and take a breath.”

“not only can you sing, but you’re handsome and you take good care of yourself? wow—what a catch! you’re going to make someone special really lucky someday!” he gushes to dohyun during a vocal rehearsal. after his recent conversation with nayoung, surely that had to help to some extent.

“my confidence with singing was always a bit low in the beginning,” seojun’s words might only be about his own personal experience, but it seems to encapsulate the experience of the entire team all the same; “but i feel that started to change with this song so i’m hoping that will continue moving forward since i want everyone to see me confident in more than just dancing.”

rather than move onto the performance of the lime entertainment team, the scene instead changes to the STUDIO DELTA team. the dynamics are noticeably different. while there’s still a vague sense of stress and all of the team is working hard together, the unease and desperation is not nearly as intense as the previous team. MOON SAEA brings the entire team banana milk before practice one day to encourage them. likewise, SEO JUNHO brings the entire team a meal to share together, dishes upon dishes of homemade food shared with the others. the girls, saea and MIN HYEJIN, practice together with smiles on their faces. it’s a lighter atmosphere overall, though that’s not to say it’s completely without its challenges.

it’s during a dance practice that ZHOU RENYI suddenly excuses himself from the rest of the team. at first it’s thought to just be a quick break, maybe a bathroom run, but something about ren’s expression captures junho’s attention. the other young man follows the first just a few moments later. while they entered an area that’s not usually monitored by the cameras, the talented crew manages to send part of their team to capture what will certainly be a significant moment.

“i can’t do it, i shouldn’t be here–” renyi’s breath comes in ragged gasps, just barely audible as the production team struggles to capture the interaction between the two men. junho runs his hand through renyi’s hair to comfort him even as the boy gasps and half-sobs, “i’m dragging everyone down.”

clips of renyi failing over and over again in practice are played on screen. he appears in the interview room not a moment later, looking to be on the verge of tears yet again as he speaks. “every day i’m here, i can’t help it…i can’t help but wonder what i’m doing here.”

junho appears in the interview room a moment later. “i suppose just the competition ramping up is what I find hardest,” he explains, “the pressure to get better and better and never fall down. you can’t make mistakes in things like this, there’s no time to mess up, not when the people around you might take that chance to leap over you and get ahead,”

again, the situation is left unresolved for the moment. can renyi get back up? what can junho do to help him?

rather than give the viewer any answers, the show instead turns to the SR MEDIA TEAM.

if the lime entertainment team had been dark and the studio delta team a bit lighter, then the sr media team is sunshine and rainbows in comparison to the other two. the team seems to be heavily involved in the creative direction of their performance, JUNG JOOMI composing a brand new arrangement while MOON CAMERON focuses on the visual aspects of their performance. namely, the styling.

“i think the best thing i have that i can show everyone is my ability to write music,” joomi explains to the camera in his interview. and while the full song has yet to be revealed, it seems that it’s something to look forward to.

“joomi, what do you think about me distressing some sweaters for our outfits?” cameron holds a garment up to joomi as he asks his opinion. the concept? zombie princes, apparently, tying together the original concept that cosmo had in their music video with a fun spin of their own. a preview of the arrangement that joomi is working on sounds like something made for halloween; the creative aspects of this team are truly something else.

they practice the performance just as hard as they plan it to the point that joomi lays down on the practice room floor, totally and completely spent. “haneullllll,” he whines to his teammate, “can you get me my water bottle? if i move i’ll die.” rather than hand him his water, CHO HANEUL instead elects to be a little playful with the other, leaving it just out of reach and laying down on top of his teammate instead.

“you’re lucky i like you. i would let you die of thirst otherwise,” haneul teases his friend and teammate.

“you’re lucky i like you too, otherwise i would smack you with this until you get off of me,” joomi managed to wriggle out from under haneul just enough to reach his water and also sit up, lightly tapping the other man with his water in an empty threat.

“was very lucky to have the group that i did this time,” cameron says in an interview. and it’s true, this is a team with excellent chemistry.

“we all seemed to get along really well,” haneul is the next to be seen, “so it was easy to make decisions when it came to the line distribution and how we should sing. there was a lot of constructive criticism and advice going around, and i’m really grateful for everyone in the group.”

it appears that the whole team was like this. a scene of everyone piled on top of cameron earlier in their rehearsals plays across the screen, the laughs of the young men echoing around the practice room. but just as much as they play, they work even harder. MOON JINYOUNG rehearses his singing with haneul, carefully working through the difficult parts until he can both sing and dance at the same time; it was something he was not able to successfully accomplish during my turn. the proof of his improvement is right there on screen, the show even sharing a clip of jinyoung’s poor previous performance in comparison to what he does now in practice, just in case anyone forgot.

as good as their synergy is, there are some hiccups. something is off between jinyoung and joomi and the cameras are quick to point it out. jinyoung had joined in the pile on cameron, but he carefully stayed away when haneul laid on joomi. jinyoung laughs easily with haneul and cameron, but he seems to avoid alone time with joomi. 

“hey, jinyoung, can we practice our part?” joomi is the one to approach the other. the part in question? a clip from the original music video plays on screen; a rather close moment between the original performers of the song, the two men face to face as they circle around each other before dramatically breaking away. with how awkward jinyoung and joomi are being, is it possible for them to pull this off?

jinyoung looks startled that joomi even approached him.

each team is left on a cliffhanger, unsure if they’ll be able to overcome their challenges for the final performances when…

“we have a surprise for you,” rian had visited each of the teams, an identical sly smile on her face as she appears making the announcement three different times, once to each group. “we’ve brought in special experts to help you rehearse and perfect your performance today. they’re waiting just outside of the room. shall we invite them in?”

in unison, all three practice rooms are edited together saying “please come in!” to their mystery guests. their eyes widen, jaws drop, and the shocked expressions from the preview at the beginning of the episode finally make sense. into the lime entertainment practice room comes JOOYEON, BORA, HYOJIN, and EUNHA of CHERISH; the studio delta group is greeted by O.N, BYUL, and CADE of VERTEX; and last but certainly not least, the sr media team meets the entirety of COSMO.

“i know i love every member of the group,” seojun’s interview plays over his awestruck expression after meeting the girls for the first time.

“what song are you doing?” jooyeon asks the lime entertainment team, a genuine interest in her expression and voice as she interacts with the contestants. she looks excited when someone tells her that it’s the boys. “oh!” she exclaims, nearly as giddy as the contestants themselves must be, “that’s a good one, very powerful. you guys will definitely win with that one,”

“i can’t help but notice,” bora remarks with a funny little grin on her face, “half of this team is boys,” a good laugh goes up between the members of cherish, the staff, and even any of the contestants who have snapped out of their shock and started to loosen up a little.

the girls ask to see what the team has worked on so far and they watch with careful attention as bada, nayoung, noel, seojun, and dohyun perform for them. eunha murmurs something to bora not caught by the microphones and despite their friendliness, it’s clear that they’re giving a sort of evaluation.

“this song is a very confident, empowering sort of theme,” hyojin gets to her feet, explaining what she means by demonstrating one of the dance moves herself. “this right here, this has to be powerful yet elegant. it’s not easy,” she asks each contestant to do it one by one until she’s satisfied with their performance. 

when given the opportunity, bada dares to ask the senior idols a question: “were there any rituals you guys followed before performing the boys? it’s quite a confident and powerful song, how did you psych yourselves before each performance?”

“we cried backstage,” bora jokes and eunha smacks her arm lightly before giving a more serious answer, “we had to live and breathe this song for several months as we prepared for the comeback and then promoted it on shows. i know you don’t have that long, but a lot of it it was about believing everything we were singing. even the first words of the song were a sort of encouragement for us. ‘if you haven’t even started because you’re scared, then stop complaining. if you hesitate, opportunities will pass by you so open your heart and come out.’ it’s all true.”

while the girls from cherish mentor the lime entertainment team, the creative masterminds and members of vertex greet the studio delta team. the cameras immediately zoom in on hyejin, who seems to be minding her expression very carefully.

the scene changes to one of just saea and hyejin in a practice room, rehearsing together. “you’re a fan of vertex right?” saea asks the other.

“i am,” hyejin confirms, “i had to stop myself from having a full blown fangirl moment. like i never imagined meeting them this close ever.”

“are you all working hard?” o.n asks the contestants, a smile on his face. “we weren’t sure how you were doing, so we brought vitamins for everyone, here,” he gives a grocery bag to the nearest contestant, sharing the gift with the entire team. “make sure you all stay healthy!”

like cherish had with the lime entertainment team, the members of vertex also want to see the studio delta team’s progress with their song. unlike cherish, though, byul is terrible at masking their expressions.

“i know you’re still practicing,” byul speaks slowly, choosing his words carefully despite his thoughts probably already being out in the open with the expression on his face. “but i have to say, i’m a little disappointed… i thought we were the only ones who could pull off this song,” what started sounding like a criticism turns into a huge compliment and a wide grin splits his face. “there’s definitely a little refinement needed, but you guys are doing great.”

cade is rather quiet during his time there, though he does single out renyi for a moment. “your voice is really good,” he praises the young man openly despite usually being of few words, “no matter what happens in this competition, please continue to practice and work hard. when you have a gift like that, it needs to be shared with the world.”

vertex have a very busy schedule and a comeback to prepare for, so the members can’t stay too long. they bid the team farewell. no sooner does the door close behind them does saea grab junho’s hands, jumping and squealing out her excitement about meeting vertex in person. "wasn't that the coolest thing ever?" she exclaims.

despite any expectations the viewers may have of junho, he’s right there jumping and fangirling with saea. “that. was. so. damn. COOL!” he gushes, clearly unable to keep his cool.

while the studio delta team celebrates, the sr media team finally meets their idols as well; the entirety of cosmo fills up any of the empty space in the practice room. it seems that the studio delta team aren’t the only ones who want to fangirl; it’s only barely caught on the mic as cameron whispers to haneul “hannie, hannie, pinch me please! i can’t believe they were just here, i can’t believe they know we’re performing their song now. like how am i supposed to do that now with that knowledge?!” jinyoung looks equally as starstruck as his teammates.

“oh, they’re handsome,” KYU remarks to MINSOO, “when i heard they were competing to be trainees, i didn’t really know what to expect, to be honest. they’ll definitely debut,” the two share a laugh, though it doesn’t seem mean.

“enough, you two,” SEO MINJAE scolds his members lightly, “we’re here to help them with their performance, not flirt.” M.Y snickers behind kyu and minsoo’s backs as they get in ‘trouble’ with their leader, who already looks exhausted with his team.

“we heard that you did something new with the arrangement of this song,” JAEYOUNG directs cosmo back to the topic at hand with a genuine interest in hearing the new variation of their song “we’ve performed this a couple different ways before so i couldn’t help but wonder how you could make this feel new again. i’m excited to see.”

the contestants get into formation to share what they’ve made of frost to the group who originally performed it. they’re only a few seconds in when the microphone catches SUBIN murmuring praise: “it’s completely different,” he remarks to minjae, “but it sounds really good,”

again, the editing is careful not to reveal the entirety of joomi’s arrangement before the final performance is revealed, just a teaser no longer than 30-seconds. cosmo, of course, saw the performance in full. “this is incredible,” minsoo is open in his praise right away, “you’ve completely transformed frost. did you make this yourself?” he looks around the team until it’s indicated to him that joomi is the mastermind producer behind the remix. “you’re really talented!” he can’t help but gush. who’s the idol and who’s the fan in this situation…?

“it really leans into the scary parts of the song,” minjae nods his approval, “i think you guys are doing a really good job of that. even singing it the way you are… oh, i’m getting chills!”

“i think you guys just need to tighten things up a bit,” jaeyoung points out, “there’s some inconsistency in your angles. jinyoung is out-dancing half of you which makes him stand out in a bad way. there’s some room for originality, but you want to look like a cohesive group too.”

each idol group stays and practices with their teams for a few hours, the screen showing a short montage of clips rather than the boring details of everything that was discussed. and there’s a few more days of practice with the teams and their regular teachers before the final performance. however, the countdown is quickly running out and d-day is upon them before they know it.

“the order of today’s performances has been decided by the current ranks,” jian explains to the audience as clips of the three teams preparing and waiting backstage flash across the screen, “the team with the lowest average ranking among its members is going first, with the highest ranked team performing last. everyone has been preparing hard, with special lessons and advice from the original artists themselves. who’s excited to see what our contestants have come up with this week?”

she pauses as if to listen for cheers and the three judges humor her; YUNA and SEO RAN actually call out their cheers while YOON JIHUN smiles and claps beside them.

“lime team is up first,” yuna remarks, looking at a sheet of paper in front of her. “i hope they do well. it feels like our company’s pride is on the line,” she smiles but there’s a hint of nervousness to it. ran reaches over to squeeze her hand in comfort while jihun sits back with the faintest smirk on his face; he obviously seems a little overconfident that his company’s instructors are the best, but how true that is remains yet to be seen.

they watch in silence as the group of contestants take the stage, make their introductions, and wait for the music begin. again, the audience is reminded of all of the struggles of their rehearsals. will bada find her confidence? what became of dohyun’s lines? is noel hurt after his fall? the camera zooms in on each and every one of them, capturing any nervous expressions or tics they may have.

finally, the music starts.

it goes remarkably well for how many trials the team had endured over the last several days. bada in particular doesn’t seem to struggle too much with her part, that nervousness all but completely gone as she becomes more comfortable on the stage as the song goes on. dohyun looks much more confident than he had been during this conversation with nayoung. and noel doesn’t stumble or fall at all, any signs of injury carefully hidden away.

there are no surprises, no dramatic issues or flaws that hinder their performance. and when it comes to a close and the cameras zoom in on each member’s face, each looks rather proud of their performance. the camera loves seojun’s bright smile and sarang’s good looks, noel flashes an ‘L’ with his fingers before it becomes a heart with his other hand, and nayoung and bada smile brightly.

“we all just wanted to put on a good performance, and i think we delivered on that!” bada’s voice plays over an image of her ending fairy shot. “i’m glad we could deliver something to be proud of.”

the contestants are able to relax and then stand in line for their evaluation from the judges. yuna is the first to speak, a smile on her face. “congratulations,” she tells the team before them, “i know this performance was hard for some of you. you did an amazing job, i don’t know if even cherish themselves could have done better. bada, noel, you two in particular have improved quite a bit. it’s very exciting to see. bravo,” she smiles at the contestants warmly.

“it was a good performance,” ran speaks next, smiling despite the feeling that the other shoe is about to drop, “but when we assigned this mission, we expected you all to make this song your own, make us forget about cherish and believe that this was made for you. i just watched a cover. it was a good cover, but i don’t feel like i learned anything about your musical style or preferences. sarang and seojun, you two in particular did not stand out as much as i hoped you would in this performance. sarang, you’ve shined so brightly on every other stage. i’m not sure what happened here, but i hope we see your sparkle again.”

ran’s critique is barely over when jihun is picking up his microphone, sharp eyes fixed on one contestant in particular, “lee nayoung,” he calls the young woman out, “we decided you were the best after the teamwork evaluation last week, but i think now that we made a mistake. you really put yourself in the center a lot, didn’t you?” the callout is clearly not a compliment. “you’re talented, but the job of a leader isn’t to make themselves the center of attention all the time. i know you did support your team this week, but none of that showed on stage today. i shouldn’t be watching nayoung and her backup singers, i wanted to see a more cohesive team.”

“also, noel,” jihun isn’t done yet, apparently. he makes the ‘L’-shaped gesture back at the young man he’s addressing. “what does this mean? in our day, we used it to call others ‘loser’. were you trying to insult us?” he laughs, as do the other two judges, but there’s something a bit threatening about it that remains unresolved.

“good job, everyone,” jian takes over again as the judges wrap up their review of the performance. it’s the cue for the team to leave the stage and wait to return after the next two teams perform. “up next, we have jihun’s team, representing studio delta with their performance of hot by vertex,”

the team takes their places, renyi notably holding a guitar. “is this a band concept?” ran’s brow raises in surprise and anticipation as they wait for the team to begin their performance.

their intro starts and from the beginning, their performance is different from what is expected from vertex. it’s dramatic, building as renyi and junho sing a few opening lines, before suddenly breaking into a guitar solo, performed by ren, as saea and hyejin come forward for a featured dance break. it’s high-energy, it’s unique, and it shows each member of the team off in their own unique way.

the guitar was just for the beginning, apparently, and a staff member takes the instrument from renyi as he joins the rest of the group in the original choreography of the song. while in the beginning they had all shown their unique talents, now the group comes together as a team to perform in sync with one another. their hard work and practice pays off and they give an excellent show on stage.

jihun is already applauding them as the cameras focus on their ending fairy shots, each team member highlighted in full; saea smirks at the camera, hyejin smiles, and junho breathes heavily as the cameras show only their best angles.

“i always thought…i’d be behind the scenes i guess, making music,” renyi’s face appears in the interview room, looking a bit emotional though he holds it back as he speaks. “but now…” scenes of the studio delta team practicing together flash by, renyi smiling and laughing with his teammates in particular. “here’s something about doing it as a team, with people who believe in you—” his voice breaks and the young man looks up at the ceiling as he continues to fight tears. “my teammates are the only reason i’ve made it this far.”

the scene changes back to the group on stage, performance now completed and lights back to ‘normal’ as they await their review from the judges. jihun obviously looks quite pleased with what his company was able to make of this group in such a short time and wastes no breath before picking up his microphone. “this is what we wanted to see,” he glances at ran, as she had made the comment about the lack of innovation from the last team. “all of your talents were on display today. i feel like everyone really shined in this performance. renyi showcasing his instrument skills, saea and hyejin with the dance… really great stuff.” he doesn’t say it, but there’s the sense that he wants to remark about how much better this team was compared to lime entertainment. yuna’s lips are pressed into a tight line, but she doesn’t make any remark for the moment.

“it was an excellent performance,” ran agrees, “though i feel that wonjae was lost in the shuffle. renyi, you really stole the show with your guitar solo. hyejin, saea, you’re both excellent dancers and it was a treat for you to share that with us. and even junho, i know you said you struggle to work with a team, but we couldn’t see any of that struggle here today. your chemistry on stage with ren was amazing. wonjae, you sort of… disappeared.”

“i agree,” yuna finally speaks, smiling despite her apparently displeasure with jihun. “it was a very engaging performance and ran’s critique included a lot of what i noticed as well. for someone who says he doesn’t know how to work with a team, junho, you’re shaping up to be a very talented leader. i’m excited to see more from you as we go forward. thank you all for a great performance.”

the team give their thank yous and bows as they’re dismissed from the stage and jian’s smiling face is once again the focus. “our final team had the highest average scores from last round,” she announces, hyping up the sr media team before they even take the stage. shots of their backstage preparations play across the screen; haneul rehearses his lines quietly as he shakes out his hands, jinyoung similarly shakes out any lingering jitters.

“performing frost by cosmo, please welcome sr media team to the stage!”

the boys take the stage, seemingly confident and cool despite the nerves that had been on display backstage. cameron’s ripped sweater concept and hints of zombie makeup already sell the concept of their performance before they’re even in their places.

“they look like a sr media group ready to debut,” yuna remarks, sending a smile to ran. ran smiles her thanks and looks rather pleased with the contestants representing her company. jihun is notably silent and stoic.

the group stands in a single-file line, ambient sound and glitchy audio their intro as joomi is the first to dance. after a few seconds, the real song starts, and finally the remix that has been teased all episode is revealed. a haunting melody rings out behind moon jinyoung’s voice as he opens the song vocally, “i’m so shocked,” he speaks in english as he staggers forward, laughing, before reaching over to joomi as they both seem to gasp for air.

while no changes were made to the original choreography, the zombie concept seems to create a new spin on the execution of it. suddenly those jerky, staggered movements take on a new meaning, a new story as the young men interact with one another throughout the performance. they mimic the stylized singing of cosmo’s original performance, perhaps covering for some of the weaker vocalists’ abilities with artistic liberties. they seem to fall deeper into madness and zombism as the song goes on, each contestant losing himself in the performance and the story they tell on stage. they end with the dance break, jinyoung at the center, and a clean performance is completed successfully by sr media team.

“i thought we looked and sounded very cool,” cameron sits in the interview room, looking quite pleased with the performance they just pulled off, “i’m looking forward to the critiques we will receive.”

ask and ye shall receive; the scene changes back to ran picking up her microphone with a wide smile on her face. “i’m sorry, do you guys want to debut tomorrow?” she’s half-joking, laughing with the other judges before she continues. “i know i’m biased to my own company’s training, but you all looked like a cohesive group and not just a temporary team for a survival show. with such a short time to practice this, that’s very impressive. you look like a sr media group already with the makeup and storytelling of your performance. honestly, i couldn’t be more pleased,” her expression matches her words, a rather proud look on her face as she congratulates the contestants on a successful performance.

“i hate that i have to agree with ran,” jihun speaks next, “that was an excellent performance to pull off in such a short amount of time. joomi, i heard that you composed the arrangement?” he waits for the young man to confirm before continuing, “it was good. you completely transformed a popular song and made it your own, which is exactly what we wanted you to do with this mission. cameron as well, you helped out with styling, right? great job, truly. it’s that sort of attention to detail that helped you all pull off such an engaging performance.”

yuna is the last to speak, her expression pleasant but unreadable as she picks up her microphone. “jinyoung,” she begins slowly; the camera zooms in on the young man’s face as he’s addressed, “you’ve improved a lot with singing in a short time. you’re still a very talented dancer but we’re starting to see you become a more well-rounded performer. joomi as well; you came into this competition not knowing how to dance, right? you’re doing a great job. cameron, haneul, you both were able to use your previous experience to help your teammates. if there’s anything negative to say about this performance, it’s just that kou seemed to be a little disengaged. it would be nice to see you own this more, kou,” she sends a smile to the young man despite the critique, obviously encouraging him to do better.

the judges take a few moments to discuss the results of the performance and what they believe the current rankings should be, a short montage of their discussion playing before the results seem to be decided.

“congratulations to all three teams for their successful performances,” jian announces, the stage suddenly rearranged for the results and ranking announcement the next time she appears on screen with contestants from all three teams gathered again. “i personally thoroughly enjoyed all of your performances and it’s been amazing to see you all grow since this all began. however, there must be a winner and unfortunately some of you will be sent home today. this is my least favorite part of my job,” she pouts, looking toward the judges as she accuses them, “this is so mean.” jihun laughs in response.

“i have the results of the performance evaluation here,” she holds up a cue card, brandishing it to all of the contestants before she decides it’s time to open it and reveal the winners. “as a reminder, the winning team members are all safe from elimination this week. second and third place are in danger of some of their members being sent home.”

she opens the card, taking a breath and revealing a smile before she reads off the results. “in first place… SR MEDIA TEAM!” the team in question is bathed in bright lights, a round of applause going up from the judges, jian, and other contestants as haneul, cameron, kou, joomi, and jinyoung are given time to celebrate their victory. “congratulations, all of you are safe from elimination.”

“you put on the best performance,” ran explains, yuna and jihun nodding despite the bitterness that must come from their companies’ teams not being the winners of the week, “and really transformed cosmo’s song until it became truly your own. congratulations, we look forward to seeing what you all do next,” she smiles proudly.

“unfortunately, that means that the lime entertainment and studio delta teams are in danger,” jian resumes her emcee responsibilities, glancing at the losing teams once the sr media team has left the stage safely. “the last place team is lime entertainment,” red light bathes the team in question, their position the most fragile as the ultimate losers of the day.

“only one member is being sent home today,” jian announces, sighing as she reads the name off of the card in front of her. “i’m sorry, HWANG BADA, your journey with us ends here.”

the team is given time to console their eliminated teammate before yuna picks up her microphone, a sympathetic frown on her lips as she speaks. “bada, we still see a lot of potential from you. however, you’re just not at the same standard as the rest of your teammates just yet. i hope you continue to practice and perform and we get to see you on stage again someday. unfortunately, the next gen stage will not be your next performance.”

sad music plays as bada is escorted off stage separately from her team that will continue in the competition. it’s heartbreaking; a short montage of bada’s previous weeks of practice and performances play out in grayscale and slow motion as the girl is dismissed from the program. her presence will absolutely be missed.

“studio delta team,” once the time for tears is over, jian’s thankless job begins again, “you took second place today. however, one team member is also going home today.” she looks across the team as if she’ll be the one to decide it, though in reality it’s written on the card in front of her. she glances down, and with a frown, reads out the name: “GEUM WONJAE,” she reads, “i’m sorry, but you have been eliminated.”

“for two weeks in a row, you completely disappeared,” jihun explains to the eliminated man, “i’m not sure what’s going on, but it’s clear to us that you’re not ready for our training programs, let alone to be an idol yet. you’re talented. i hope whatever is going on gets sorted out, but unfortunately we cannot justify your place in this program any longer.”

perhaps it’s harsh, especially when tears are shed over a lost teammate so easily. but wonjae too is escorted out the same way bada was, with a slow montage of his previous weeks and teams and performances. it’s a shame that his talent had to go to waste like this.

“congratulations to all of the surviving contestants,” jian is once again surrounded by all of the next gen participants, their numbers much smaller than they had been at the beginning of the show. “our judges have shared the updated rankings with me, if you could please direct your attention to the screen,” the large monitor on stage reveals the updated rankings one by one, giving each contestant time to react to their position before moving on to the next. first and last place are the last to be revealed.

“we’re getting close to the end of our competition,” jian explains once the excitement over the rankings dies down, “your next performance will be your last. but it will also be the most exciting. each team will be given an original song, never before revealed to the public let alone performed by another artist. and what’s more; you’ll be performing in front of a live audience who will vote on your performances in real-time. the final winners of the competition will be decided by both these votes and the judges.”

three songs are revealed, only played in a short, 30-second preview, each with a very different concept from the last. onscreen, it’s explained that the audience will vote on which contestants they want to see perform each song. instructions are given to vote online and the results will be announced in the next episode. instructions for where to buy tickets to the next gen ‘concert’ are also given to the audience.

“however,” jian takes over for the informational screen for the immediate next mission, “you’ve all worked so hard to get this far. so the next time we meet, we’ll be doing something a little different. the weather is getting nicer now, so we’re going to give you all a little break with a sports day! no eliminations will take place next week so you all have ample time to prepare for the big finale.”

although cam had wanted to complete all their sweaters for the day of, he’d eventually agreed with joomi that it would be safer to ask the stylists for the show to help them. cam had brought his one mock up and asked them sweetly if it would be possible to do something similar for their outfits and, if it was feasible, get some crowns to do somewhat of a zombie prince look- which tied into some of the original promo looks for cosmo’s album. cam wanted to contribute something special and make use of his interest in fashion for once.

now that they were on stage under the lighting, he thought they looked very cohesive and cool. the five of them looked like a real group. if that were even a possibility, he didn’t find himself mad at the idea- his group mates this round were all very talented and unique in their own ways. they all came together for a good mix. 

while he didnt have many lines this time around, he was making good use of his stage presence he’d worked so hard on when he was still active. if there was one thing he was gonna be on stage, it would be an eye catcher. the few lines he did have, he made sure they didn’t fade into the background, wanted to be just as noticeable as the others.

what was good about the song they’d been given and the concept they’d fiddled around with, cam could go a little more wild. in past performances he’d offer a wink here or there- liked playing around and engaging with the judges. now he was using his siren eyes and smirking, acting cocky and on the bridge of insanity.

“i’m hollowed out”

             “i’m dying”

it was thrilling being back on stage, with a proper theme and other people with him that were all working hard. he couldn’t see how the judges felt, but he hoped what they’d shown today was enough to save anyone from the team being cut.

she isn’t thrilled about her team. she’ll be working with three of the bottom five contestants for their next performance, but she figures that’s only fair in the end. she hasn’t bothered doing math to determine their average ranking, but she figures they probably even each other out into something closer to the middle, and rankings change week by week anyway.

she’ll just have to whip them into shape, and that’s exactly what she tries to do, easily taking charge once again. she settles the line distribution with some input from the others, then tries to help everyone to the best of her ability. thankfully, she loves the boys, and has for years; she already knows all the lyrics and the dance, so she feels extra qualified to help this week, on top of being a former trainee and first place. she knows, despite her current first place ranking, that she’s not the best in the competition at anything, really, but maybe she’s the best at being able to do everything. she hopes so, and she hopes it’s enough.

it has to be.

she’s sort of the one to start off their performance once it’s their turn on stage, or she's at least the one to stand in the center (like she deserves.) she does the iconic speaking parts to start them off, changing the first one to next gen, and then trx, then sarang takes over the center role, which he also deserves, admittedly.

nayoung has more speaking parts littered throughout the song, mainly because she didn’t trust many of the others to put their whole heart into them. many of them were too shy or not confident enough, but she didn’t have a problem with it.

she takes her place in the center for the first chorus, too, as she leads the way on the changed chorus lines, too:

next generation make you feel the heat the entire world is focusing on you

she doesn’t sing again until the next prechorus, a more challenging vocal part to contrast the first parts she has, which are closer to raps, but it’s not too difficult.

show me your tenacity shake the earth a bit so that everyone can see you

her next part (and her favorite) comes in the bridge, when she gets to strut to the center and immediately drop to the ground in the iconic dance move from the boys. she raps again:

i wanna dance right now i will lead you, come out

it’s funny how much her lines suit her lyrically, too, as the self-appointed leader of their group.

the bridge passes, as do seojun and dohyun’s more difficult vocal lines, which they get through successfully, thankfully. (nayoung knew dohyun had no reason to worry.)

her most challenging part comes next, where she sings

girls bring the boys out

four times, raising in pitch each time. during practice, she had some problems with her vocal range reaching high enough, and even considered asking dohyun or seojun to take the part, though she never said so aloud. luckily, she doesn’t have to dance while she sings, and can focus fully on the notes, higher and higher, until she reaches the last, and she stays on pitch the whole time.

she thinks so anyway, but there’s no time to consider it for long, because then comes the final chorus, which she starts in the center for (and that’s the real reason she wanted the part she just sang.)

she puts everything she has into it, making sure her energy doesn’t fade, and tries to only make it even more powerful for a strong ending.

bada ends them off, and then they all settle into the ending position. nayoung flashes her best smile to the camera.

as always, waiting for their turn to perform is the most nerve wracking part of the process. jinyoung has anxious energy. he bounces in place, shaking his hands by his side as he tries to expel those extra jitters. but not too much, because he doesn’t want to exhaust himself before the performance either. he hums the melody over and over to himself; he’s long since committed it to memory, though singing and dancing at the same time still makes him a bit nervous. haneul has helped a lot with that; the whole lip sync thing worked after all. jinyoung glances at their makeshift leader, trying to catch the man’s eye to share a reassuring smile between them. he needs to see it more than he wants to send one to haneul.

there’s cam too; he’s also been a huge help. between the two of them, their team had a lot of practical experience. throw in jinyoung’s dance prowess and joomi’s voice that impressed the judges so much and on paper, jinyoung might say that they have the strongest group of contestants of any of the other teams. and kou; they also have kou.

he can’t help but glance at joomi too. is he anxious under pressure? does he swallow it down and hide it better than jinyoung does? does he care at all that they’re about to step on stage, that they only have one shot to make it look good? jinyoung is sure that he does. they’ve been awkward these entire last two weeks and it’s probably jinyoung’s own fault. he hadn’t noticed at first how he avoided joomi; he didn’t want to touch him the same way he casually hugged and leaned on his other teammates, he didn’t have much to say to him when it came to chatting during breaks. and yet they share an intimate moment up on stage, heads nearly pressed together as they stare each other down. jinyoung is determined to be professional despite the odd relationship between them. he thinks joomi can do the same, but he just really doesn’t know him well enough to tell.

it’s their turn on stage eventually and jinyoung shakes out the last bit of nerves he can and feigns confidence as he and his team take their places. he has the first words of the song and while it’s not exactly singing, he sets the tone for the rest of the performance. desperate, a little unhinged, at wit’s end. jinyoung knows the feeling all too well, it’s easy enough to tap into. but can he do it with eyes staring at him, looking for every little mistake? he hopes so. at least he’s in the back, a few seconds of intro and dancing before the others part ways and he’s the center of attention. he gets to his feet, staggering not unlike a zombie as the concept they decided on demanded, reaching desperately forward as he continues to sell the act that the rest of the team had already started to dance to.

“i’m so shocked,” he wails before breaking off into laughter, trying to express a pain so excruciating that he can’t even cry anymore, or perhaps so mind-numbing that he’s lost his brain entirely (hence, zombies). he reaches toward joomi as they both inhale a great breath, and the performance really begins.

he has so many lines this time. thankfully, none of them are particularly difficult. jinyoung probably had overreacted a bit when initially reviewing his part, making it up into something big and scary in his head when really... half of it was just shouting in tune anyways. he nearly lost his voice in practice trying to learn how to make the right sound but he’s been careful and a little break actually suits this performance better anyways; he wants to give the sense of fear and desperation, not of a perfectly stable singer. maybe jinyoung can relate to the concept a little too much. sure, he’s never been a zombie, but the lyrics of confusion, loneliness, hurt... those he understands all too well. he tries not to think too much about it, especially now that he’s on stage.

the part with joomi comes all too soon and thankfully he doesn’t have to sing through it, that’s kou leading up to it and joomi taking over as he ‘pulls’ jinyoung around by the shoulder before ‘grabbing’ the back of his neck and pulling them in close. it feels more intimate here despite being so much more exposed. he can see every pore on joomi’s face despite the layers of makeup, he can smell the sweat on his skin and feel the heat of his breath on his face. he doesn’t break eye contact. if he’s flushed, it’s from the performance. if joomi looks different right now, it’s because of the stage lights and costumes and all of those things that make idols shine on stage. nothing else. still, he nearly stumbles as joomi spins away—a move that jinyoung taught him to execute correctly in the first place—and takes a deep breath to re-center and refocus himself.

there are much more important things to think about right now than jung joomi.

thankfully, he doesn’t have to sing again until the chorus. and even then, it’s the shouting on-pitch technique again. jinyoung wants to shout. despite the way he’s starting to feel a bit winded, the end of the performance wearing on his body and pushing his endurance to its limits, he half-screams his lyrics out at the judges. angry, upset, confused; all of those ugly things he wanted to cry and scream as a child, now on display for the millions of people tuning into next gen. let them think he’s a good actor, that it’s not his own pain he’s drawing from and is instead some imagined hurt. don’t let them know how he knows these emotions so well, just that he can execute them on stage at his own will.

working with him proves nearly as challenging as combining singing and dancing during practice. there is an awkwardness that joomi wasn’t quite expecting. sure, they got off on a terrible foot, but joomi thought they made progress since then, and were friends, albeit tentatively. it doesn’t feel that way, though, with jinyoung so at ease with everyone else and so...cold around him.

it bothers him at first; far more than he wants it to. their parts, though, force them to work closely together. joomi realized that only after they settled on them, each of them assigned to a cosmo member so they could spend less time on line distribution and more on practicing. joomi has a part that has enough vocal lines, but not too much time in the center dancing. that means eyes should only really be on him while he’s singing, and that’s what he wants.

he also wants to remix the song, and thankfully, the rest of the team is open to it when he brings it up. he knows, in theory, he should dedicate any time he spends messing with the track to improving his dancing instead, but it’ll be a nice break and opportunity for him to fall back on what he loves most. it’s something special he can contribute, too, and a skill he considers one of his best that he hasn’t shown off on next gen at all yet. he wants to do it at least once.

he’s pretty free to do what he wants, and ends up making their new instrumental even darker than frost’s original, more dramatic and a little creepy. he thinks it’s what they need, though; performing frost as it is at this stage in the competition feels lackluster, especially when he suspects the other teams will be taking advantage of their own creative freedom and switching it up. 

when he nervously presents the demo of his remix, his voice over the new instrumental, the rest of the team likes it. joomi’s relief in that moment rivals the relief he felt when he was finally finished with my turn.

they talk more then, about their concept: the slow descent of princes into madness, but...zombies. it matches the slight lean of joomi’s instrumental towards horror, and it’s unique. it’s exciting.

as the days go on, he and jinyoung become a little more comfortable with each other, too. or joomi makes that up in his head so he can practice with him without that lingering frustration and anger that only proved as a distraction. they aren’t as friendly as joomi would like, or thought they might’ve been able to be, but they can work together, and for this purpose, that’s all that matters. jinyoung helps joomi with his dancing, and joomi helps jinyoung with his singing, and despite everything, they both improve.

on the day of the performance, strangely, joomi feels at his most confident yet. maybe it’s not necessarily confidence, but it’s excitement; excitement for everyone to see their performance, albeit nervous that they won’t like it. at least they tried to do something unique to stand out, though.

he’s barely even afraid he’ll mess up his dancing. it’s still tiring to make it through the entire routine of singing and dancing, but not nearly as difficult as it was before, and joomi knows he won’t forget the moves. they’re ingrained into his mind and muscles by now; it’s just a matter of staying on beat and in synch enough with the others. 

he thinks he can do it, though, and if not, he’ll do his best. he can’t do worse than he already has on this show.

he has that familiar feeling he did when he performed my turn, though, when he gets into formation on the stage, waiting for their track to start: the new burst of nerves, but he tells himself they’ll go away once the performance actually starts. it’s like the build up of a roller coaster; anticipation that is equal parts good and bad.

maybe it’s scary because he is the one in the front to open up the performance.

their track plays. it’s ambient noise first, then static, and he stands up slowly. by the second static sound, he tries to feel it in his entire body, and jerks forward with it. come the third static sound, he does the same, and buries his face in his hands. one more, and he violently rolls his neck, then steps aside, sure to give the camera a wild look as he does.

he felt stupid at first, practicing expressions and trying to appear so crazed, but once he got over the initial weirdness, it was sort of fun to get into it. it’s the same now, and then the attention is onto jinyoung for a moment, and joomi can take a brief breath. then, jinyoung’s hand is on his throat, and he falls to the floor.

he sings the first real lines of the song, too.

spring's here but warmth is nowhere to be found sharp needles sprout out the window

jinyoung takes over then, and his voice has grown significantly since the start of their practices.

meanwhile, joomi gets to sit on the ground for a little longer and take in as much air as he can before he stands up, gets into line with the others, and starts dancing.

focus is on him again for the prechorus, where he stands in the middle of the others. he tries his best to look sufficiently deranged and jerk his head to the right in time with the others, because after all, he sings,

faint voices don’t know why my fate is what? what’s the right answer? really lost my mind really really really lost it

then, for the chorus, all he has to do is dance in the back. thank god. it’s not too difficult, and the fact that he can even think that borders on miraculous.

it’s in the post-chorus instrumental that he has to step up to the plate again, and he puts that crazed look back on his face in advance. he should probably just keep it on the whole time, actually. admittedly, it’s a little hard to stay in character and make sure he breathes right to get through the performance without sounding too out of breath.

kou starts off the second verse, and then comes the part that joomi is actually most afraid of: jinyoung grabs his shoulder, and he turns around, grabs jinyoung by the back of his neck himself, and rotates them. then comes his nemesis: the spin, however easy it should be. it proved a challenge for him all throughout practice, and his voice still isn’t remarkably steady as he does spin (is it even possible?) but he doesn’t overspin, and ends up in the right position. he does it all while singing:

only freezing wind to greet me somber flower in lightless ice

more relief comes when it’s over, and cam takes over the singing.

his next part comes in the prechorus again, that same joker-like smirk on his lips.

really lost my mind really really really lost it

haneul leads them in the second chorus, and joomi ignores how tired he feels and tries to compensate by keeping some of the darkness of their performance in his eyes, so he’ll at least look into it if anybody, for some reason, looks at him dancing in the back.

the end of the song is actually his favorite part; at least sonically. the bridge is light and elegant compared to the rest, and when the music pause a beat for him to say,

am i ready for this?

he really means are you ready for this? because he thinks the build up to the final chorus is good and dramatic and fitting for the finale of their performance. still, he tries to keep in mind that this is their final form, too: crazed zombie, final shreds of their humanity fading.

the outro, essentially a dance break, is difficult with how tired and heavy his body feels, and he’s not in the back this time, even if he’s still not the central focus. he hopes it’s fine, though, if his body looks a little tired; he’s supposed to be a zombie, after all, and he still gets through all the moves until they drop down to the floor.

maybe the hardest feat of the entire performance is standing back up for their final pose, the goodbye of the back track, and one final deranged look at the camera.