❝ RISE / SHINE.
seoul, south korea / on-set.
written, with love, for 박두리 !
hot topic ( k ) eps 6 & 7 filming.
if there’s one thing that nina seo absolutely hates about being an entertainer, it’s the fact that call-times are often at the crack of dawn—or sometimes worse: before day even breaks.
as a kid, she remembers literally fighting her uncle every time he woke her up for school in the morning, but back then, her start-time was typically around 7:30am. now? well, she’s lucky if she can get away with sleeping in that “late.” many people wouldn’t consider that a luxurious or indulgent time to rise, but she’d happily take 7:30am any day over the timeframes she’s left to deal with now. most often, she’s expected to arrive on set by 6:00am or far earlier, and today, unfortunately, is no sweet exception to that rule. being that she signed up for this opportunity, she’s really not too upset about it, but that doesn’t mean that she’s anymore pleasant to deal with. well, at least she wasn’t for the first few hours of this gig.
with a face full of make-up, hair styled beautifully, and her outfit hugging her curvaceous figure; nina sucks down her third extra-sweet iced latte and is FINALLY feeling a little more energy in her system. luckily, the trainees she’ll be mentoring momentarily aren’t having to deal with a freshly awakened artist, so all should go well—especially because her co-mentor, duri, is around to help lighten the mood. he’s someone that she’s always loved having around, but sadly, he’s also someone she doesn’t get to see that often. their paths seldom cross, and she’s unsure if that’s mostly because they’re in different companies and have really busy schedules, or if she’s just the absolute worst at keeping up with people. the likeliest bet? it’s a mixture of both.
either way, she sends him a large smile from across the room;
waving at him sweetly as she gets her microphone put on.
when she’s done, she wanders over to him; not hesitating once to lean in and immediately wrap her arms around his waist. “hey, you!” she exclaims, loosening her grip only to look up at his oh-so handsome face. “what the fuck, i haven’t seen you in so long? do i just absolutely suck as a person?” nina chuckles, nodding her head as if to unintentionally answer her own question.
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Those involved in Hot Topic(k) this month may earn up to 6 points total for writing, by the end of January 31 KST:
Completions of the two interviews included in the in-character prompt. (1 point each, up to 2 points total)
A headcanon of 400+ words of your muse’s “lesson plan”* before going in to complete their mentoring gig. (2 points).
A solo para of 400+ words based on filming |OR| a thread with the mentor for the same skill of at least six posts. (2 points *points may only be collected for one or the other).
These do not count toward monthly limits or toward normal schedule points. All posts for this task block should be tagged with #fmdht2.
IN-’VERSE INFO
A week before they’re scheduled to film, the idols chosen are informed that they’ve been cast as mentors for the episode 6 & 7 block of the show. They’re informed of their filming time, the skill they’ve been chosen to give a workshop on, and the other idol that will be helping with the same skill. They will also be told the songs and arrangements the idols will be performing for their respective position evaluations. Dance mentors will also be given the choreography ahead of time to familiarize themselves with.
There will be five contestants performing each song.
Episodes 6 & 7 (Position Evaluations) - January 11
The mentors will arrive at the studio where the show is filming on January 11. The vocal mentors will coach in the morning, the dance mentors in the afternoon, and the rap mentors in the evening. The pair will be filming their mentoring at the same time, though they may mentor separately, together, or switch on and off as they see fit.
Before doing any other filming, the mentors are pulled aside for a short talking head interview as follows:
Which song do you consider to be the harder performance of the two?
If you were a contestant on the show, which song of the two would you have wanted to chose to perform?
What do you expect a pre-debut trainee to struggle most with for their position evaluation?
The pairs will mentor the first group listed for around an hour and then switch to the second group listed.
Once inside each room, they’ll introduce themselves and the members of the group they’re helping will introduce themselves to them (note: Muns of mentors may write interactions with NPCs in the groups to their liking, but please avoid writing detailed interactions with every single member of the group since some contestants may later not be NPCs).
The group will then show the mentors the current state of their performance. The mentors will be expected to give initial critiques and feedback on their performance before working more in-depth to help improve their performance over the course of the hour they have with each group. Though other performance elements may be in play in a performance other than the specific skill the position evaluation is for, the mentors are suggested to keep to advising on the specific skill they are there for.
At the end of their time mentoring, each mentor is asked to pick an MVP from the contestants based on what they’ve seen from the workshop. They may use their own criteria to pick this.
After they have completed their time mentoring, they will be asked to give one more talking head interview before leaving:
How do you feel your mentoring session went?
Did anything happen that threw you off of your original plans? Did you realize they were struggling with anything unexpected or did you add on any other tips in the moment?
Do you feel you’ve grown or learned anything from mentoring? Do you feel that vocals/dance/rap is in good hands with the next generation of idols?
The position mentors are also invited to come and be filmed watching the live performances for their specific position on filming for the final stages on January 15 to react to the stages. This is optional.
OUT OF ‘VERSE INFO
Every mun who submitted for this casting should have at least one muse receiving a mentorship role, either during this filming or the last one. Most muns should have gotten their first choice muse in, but a few may have gotten a second or third choice muse in and not their first choice. This is simply because the first choice muse was submitted to fewer categories and/or only to more selective categories and has lower odds of being selected, while the second or third choice muse was submitted to more categories and/or less selective categories and had higher odds.
* = The “lesson plan” headcanon doesn’t have to take a specific format or resemble any kind of real lesson plan; it should just detail what your muse is anticipating having to teach and help with and what they did to prepare for mentoring.
Any questions can be directed to the main’s ask box!
“this is pathetic — you had all that time to write your verses and this is what you guys bring? there’s no rhyme, flow’s flaccid. the gestures are all garbage.” a hand rubs against his jaw, a smack of his mouth inside the beat of silence (he’s never been one for image play). patience is running thin, and gyujeong has no more fucks to give when talent is baseless inside the show — why he’s here, he’s doesn’t know. (lost motivation in the first ten minutes, and now come the cue of tears from the faces.) “there’s no point in giving tips when there’s not even a morsel of talent to salvage. i give up — you all deserve to stay trainees. don’t debut, it’d be a disservice to the public who has to listen to whatever trash this is.” he bites back the curse words that line his tongues, the defenses lined when cameras are rolling.
teeth pressed hard against his bottom lip, gyujeong waits. lets hesitation and the simmering tension filling the space between him and however many bodies of faceless trainees to make the notion clear: it’s a hopeless cause, lost and done.
fuck his ignorance for trying to make something out of complete shit.
it’s this blaring mantra that brings the echoes of his footsteps by the time he storms out of the room. mic still on — he’ll be plagued a villain in production editing, but he gives no fucks. not when the respect of his soul becomes severed in a mockery of laughs and lackluster passion.
gyujeong’s ready to berate whichever staff follows him through the door, but when the sight becomes one of jaewon, he holds his breath once more, mouth closed, tongue sliding past his teeth. “i give up — no way in hell i’m going back into that room.” he says, voice yanked down low in clear-cut gravity. “i’d be stupid to believe any of those kids know how to rap, or even care superficially about the role — low expectations to fill the role of ‘idol-rappers’ and they can’t even do that correctly.
“they’re all beat-deaf, can’t even rap four bars to a cover song. how’re they expected to even make it to the final cut when they can’t do the bare minimum?”
the last strand of patience is tested by the time he walks back into the room of hopeful faces — some faces already swollen and red from the outburst a few minutes prior. (chummy shoulder taps and whole hearted smiles have never been his forte. at least not in the pretense of a show like this).
they’re just a sea of faces, dying to debut. something he forgets is worth saving when he’s nine years in and every hour of the idol life and the attachment of “knight” becomes a dig deep into raw wounds, never sewn back up. it serves as the disconnect when there’s no extension of warm hands when all that comes is sheer desperation and the eyes of innocence that don’t know what they’re lying their woes for.
(he doesn’t break it to him, why should he? they’ll learn the first month in.)
instead, he gives it to them cold. stoicism: it becomes brushed over in his gaze piercing deadly when his eyes narrow in, harsh. his lips furl into a near snarl by the time his tongue presses into his cheek and he flicks his brows for another go at their task.
the bare minimum, it’s what he expects. not a beat-deaf marred composition of half-assed raps hitting everything off the beat of the track.
his fingers tap against the table, eyes adjusting to the paper in front. the first trainee goes, and his attempt at bobbing to the rhythm fails when another verse is hit off-course, awry. patience is tested, hit at an all time high when he heaves a deep sigh, chest heavy — (doesn’t bother to look up, can’t manage to face the repercussions of what sits off his tongue).
“did my first words of advice go ignored?” gyujeong spews, fingers pinching his lips together into a purse with a tone far from ambivalence that it encroaches the underlying bitterness. “you’re still beat deaf, you’re off beat every other bar — that’s not how the track plays your bad rhythm.” his index finger flies out to the air, tweaks downward in one slow motion of a unspoken do it again.
but in case they’re that deranged, his voice adds another layer — “do it again, this isn’t even the bare minimum.”
he reels back further into his seat, this time attributing the soles of his shoes against the ground. it’s another take of the same shit, another pass. and for once, he concedes. (it’s not bound to get better, in fact. time makes it worse.)
notes: just his second interview,, truly just had a good time !
how do you feel your mentoring session went?
“i think my mentoring session went really well!” he started off by saying, a nod leaving his head. “everyone was really attentive and ready to learn, they had open ears! which was really nice, so i think they really attained a lot of information, which they showed throughout the practice! so, i’m really looking forward to the final performances.” he said, his smile growing a bit more.
did anything happen that threw you off of your original plans? did you realize they were struggling with anything unexpected or did you add on any other tips in the moment?
“i think before going in, i had already picked up on something that some of them would be struggling with, and that was mainly with playing with fire. it made sense, because i don’t think they’re fully experienced with a song of that sound, especially in the nature that they put it in. for a trainee, it must be hard to really know how to make your voice edgy, while not hurting your voice in anyway. so, i had to help them with that, while still making their own voices fit within that type of song. i think it went over well, however.”
do you feel you’ve grown or learned anything from mentoring? do you feel that vocals/dance/rap is in good hands with the next generation of idols?
“i think i’ve learned a lot about mentoring and how people respond to mentoring, which could be useful to myself if ever get the chance to return to mentoring again. i also think i’ve learned something about different voices and how to make sure they work for a song, which i think will really help me with composing for other people! i’ve also learned how to properly make sure the different voices are being cared for and how to help them reach new heights with their voices.” he explained. “i think vocals are in very good hands with the next generation of idols and i can’t wait to see how they grow.”
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sung wouldn’t go into this mentoring with a strict plan in mind
while he prefers being able to map everything out, he’d been chosen to give advice for a specific performance, rather than teach the trainees what he knows about dance at all
blessing amongst the worst, although he’d been dancing for twelve years by that point, that was still nothing to those that had been dancing since before they left their diapers, and lived and breathed it since then. he’d never be able to match
if he recalled correctly, dowoon was the same as him, so, best they both stick to only hands on advice
in what could be called preparation, sung was determined to add speaking with dowoon to the list
since schedules were hard to link up, they were only able to facetime after having learned the choreography themselves
unsurprisingly to himself, he’d have much preferred the choreography for shape of you, from versatility, tasteful prop usage, and interesting formations
the choreography for get ugly wasn’t what he was used to, not with element, on his own as a soloist, or what he choreographed for others
out of his comfort zone, he needed to think harder about that choreography, and even seek out advice from dowoon about it, since charm had some releases that called for similar dance stylings
however, seeking advice from his mentor partner wouldn’t be his top priority, as his own feelings and thoughts on the choreography mattered as well
he’d really want to get on the same page about what was important to get across, for the both of them
and to get on the same page about supporting one another
having general talking points on the importance of the two routines, but also supporting each other when they went off script, esp bc neither of them had detailed itineraries
if they contradicted one another, it would be too complex to the trainees on what they were supposed to follow
so he’d want to employ a ‘yes, and’ method
for example, if they had two separate ideas on how to get the result they were asking for, and dowoon suggested one way, but sung had another, he’d agree with dowoon’s path, and offer the alternative to the group as well, should dowoon’s not work well for them
aside from that, he’d make small agreements with himself to not be too strict with the trainees, to not be so heavily hands on in fixing them
both of which he would fail miserably at keeping to
which song do you consider to be the harder performance of the two?
“they both have their challenges, though, from a dance perspective, the choreography for get ugly utilizes more separate techniques, which means needing to master more areas. isolations can prove to be difficult for some people, but there is a lot of quick footwork that’s easy to muddle together for anyone who isn’t already a master.”
if you were a contestant on the show, which song of the two would you have wanted to chose to perform?
“shape of you, definitely. it’s more of my kind of performance, because the focus is more on the performance aspect? get ugly is the type of routine that feels like putting together elements of any kind of typical boy group dance routine, while shape of you creates a picture, and environment, that’s more like an art piece. it reminds me of dowoon’s group charm, actually.”
what do you expect a pre-debut trainee to struggle most with for their position evaluation?
“nerves are fickle, and troublesome, when they can get in the way of something like this, that these trainees have been possibly working years and years towards. obviously, we would love if positional evaluations took into account our growth, and a sample size of all evaluations before it, but that can’t always be the case. they’ll need to give it their all every time, and leave worries behind, even if only for those five minutes. it’s a difficult thing to achieve, when even i am not perfect at it.”
post-interview
how do you feel your mentoring session went?
be nice. keep your words in check. “it was an interesting experience, for sure. i’ve never mentored in this way before, as in, giving advice to the next possible generation of idols? within my own company, our youngest group debuted so soon after element, so it’s a new experience for me in general, to work with young trainees. i’d love to have the opportunity again.”
did anything happen that threw you off of your original plans? did you realize they were struggling with anything unexpected or did you add on any other tips in the moment?
“although this was my first time mentoring, i think i learn it’s important to be adaptable as a mentor. the trainees asked questions that i didn’t anticipate and had their own unique troubles person to person that affected their work. in order to appeal to the needs of each individual, i had to learn what made them tick, and try to use it to the advantage of the performance.”
do you feel you’ve grown or learned anything from mentoring? do you feel that dance is in good hands with the next generation of idols?”
“the passion these trainees have is something i’m going to be taking home with me. if they keep being persistent, and keep working on the skills they’re budding with, i have no worries about the next generation of idols.”
summary: lesson plans for the teenage soul
warnings: none
wc: 528
gyujeong doesn’t come in with any serious lesson plans because he knows that in the short burst of time he has here, it’s nearly impossible to teach kids how to rap if they’ve just been ‘idol’ standardized
plus, he’s given rap lessons before so he likes to think that by now, he can tell within the first two bars how the entirety of the rap — it’s basically predictable? how these kids are going to rap since they’re all trainees and he doubts anyone has actually wanted to rap / finds it more than just a ticket to idolhood
first thing’s first, he plans on listening to the verses written — the position evaluations require taking on a song, not exactly “covering” it but also spinning it so there’s some originality in terms of creative writing that these trainees can do
he’s gonna listen for first eight bars? so half a verse, but he’ll most likely cut it after four and give his opinion. he’s not here to listen nor be kind — he’s here to critique on what they have written
if it goes terribly wrong, and the trainees have mediocre raps (ie: 나는 고양이 나는 남자지.. 이건 랩이지.. i guess, the translation would be if they literally said ‘i am a cat, i have a bat, and im on a mat’ aka the last syllable only matching) — he is gonna call that out and tell them if this is the best they got, and give them 10 minutes to come out with something better
but before he gives them the 10 minute cut, he’s gonna give a speech on what a proper rhyme is, what a verse entails and how to maximize on the gut-punch aspect of a flow. aka: he’s gonna dissect rap the easiest he can and hope they take some of it
he’ll listen to their verse, and critique them on their execution. most times, he thinks idol rappers don’t have the grittiness? and just sound all too passive, so he’ll teach them to roughen up their voice — sound like they mean what they’re speaking instead of lying low in the crowd.
he’ll also criticize gestures, often times the ‘coolness’ does not feel valid when these kids do it — it feels like 허세 (idk the term for this in english), so he plans to yell at them until it comes more natural and within than something awfully staged
overall, he has a very harsh approach coming into the lesson plan. there’s no bolstering of confidence nor is there a fake “ooh try harder! you’ll get em next time, tiger!” it’s gonna be more like “you suck, you’re untalented. do it again.”
he’ll make them rap till their voice is hoarse and they can actually eloquently proceed
loud voices and angry expressions — that’s how he’s gonna be pictured on cameras.
if they dont follow suit? he’ll just tell them to re-write their verses, and come up with something on the spot (freestyle) to prove his point that they still have a long way to go if they want to succeed.
aka: he’s gonna be a nuisance to these poor children.
