#nova:sn

Shadows can be seen walking to the center of the stage and they’re a total of six. When the view zooms in, the proper song starts to play and what appears to be a boys-only special stage. While they start dancing together, the performance breaks into pieces as each trainee gets their chance to shine with a solo dance break before they come back together to proceed with what was prepared. Once they stop in place for their final pose and the song slowly starts to fade away, the camera pans over the crowd while they quickly leave the stage.

A new song starts to play and when the stage is shown again, there are a total of eight different people. This time, it’s time for the girls to shine. The structure it follows is about the same. They start together, each gets their own time for a solo dance break and then come back together to finalize the special performance. This is something the public had no idea would happen, but also something expected to come from Nova. When they’re done, though, the special stage isn’t.

The boys return to the scene and a piece of new music starts. They keep the dancing groove, continuing with a new flow. When they walk towards the center of the stage, the girls join them, bringing the performance to its final and, probably, most exciting part. It wasn’t any day you got two see males and females dancing together under these companies. Through the course of the show, even if they were close enough to be living together, it is the first time this happens.

When they’re done, the song slowly fades into something the public is familiar with. The screen and lights turn blue and the opening tune starts to play along with the known animation. It’d be the last time now.

The trainees all stand together now in a line. Beside them is the famous MC Lee Kyungjoon. “Welcome, everyone, to the last episode of the SuperNova Project!” The crowd roars in response and he hopes the people watching at home are excited too. “Today, the fate of these fourteen trainees will be decided all with the help of our amazing judges: Han Yonghwa!” The screen shows the coach’s face as he waves. “Kim Hyemi!” The only female trainer nods at the camera. “Park Minsoo!” The last of the three who closely spent their time with the trainees’ smiles. “And, of course, our beloved CEO, Hyun Bin!” The man shows off his best expressions, even turning a bit to smile at some of the people in the crowd.

“Now, we’ll let each of our contestants introduce themselves one final time. Why don’t we start with the girls?” And so they do. There are eight of them: Heo Solji, Kim Hyuna, Kim Yongsun, Lee Kaeun, Lee Sunmi, Meng Meiqi, Son Chaeyoung, and Son Seungwan. Each of them gets only a few moments to say their name and thank the audience before it’s the next one’s turn. They’re followed by the six boys: Ha Huidong, Joo Haknyeon, Kang Yuchan, Kim Hosung, Kim Jongin, and Kim Jungwoo. “Well, didn’t they all do great so far?”

The crowd cheers in response, some fans screaming specific names and love confessions. “They prepared this special opening stage through the course of this final month, as well as a lot more that is about to come. So why don’t we take a look back and see how their training was?” While people clap and the stream turns into recorded scenes, the trainees leave the stage to prepare themselves for their following performances.

As tradition goes, the screen shows an image from the top of the girls living room, and then it changes to the boys. While the images play on screen, the words on the bottom change from ‘Month 3, Week 2’ to ‘Month 3, Week 3’.

The three coaches are shown introducing to them their latest challenge: the opening stage. While at first the trainees may not have looked too surprised, the news of them having to choreograph something themselves hit some harder than others as the cameras do a good job of zooming into their surprised faces. Hosung sits in front of the camera by himself for the interview as he runs his hands through his face. “Then seconds doesn’t seem like a long time but when you’re creatively challenged - like me - ten seconds seems like a whole lifetime to fill.”

Followed by him is Solji sporting a golden vest. “It’s fun but hard at the same time. I haven’t done a lot of choreographing of my own dances, so that part was a bit of a struggle. I just hope that what I’ve come up with is acceptable!” She joked, her laugh sounding more out of nervousness than of thinking she was funny. “With things coming to an end soon, how are you feeling?” They ask her. “It feels more… real than it has ever felt before,” the woman admits. “Before, there was that thought of, oh, if I don’t do well, I have another chance to redeem myself. There’s no turning back at this point now. If you don’t do well, it’s over. There are no more chances.”

Yongsun appears practicing her dance by herself inside one of the practice rooms and when the camera slowly moves to the side, it shows Haknyeon silently watching her from the doorframe. When she’s done, he finally claps his hands, eyes bright and smiles wide. “Noona! That was great!” He walks over to her. “You think?” And she smiles back at him. “Yeah. Back during the MGAs, you were… lacking a little,” the boy says. “But you’re much better now noona. I’m really proud of you! As your old personal coach, it’s really great to see how much you’ve improved.”

“Thank you, Haknyeon-ah. I can’t let you down now, can I, coach?” She muses at him. “That’s right!” Haknyeon replies, smile bright as he laughs. “You’ve made your coach proud!” Meanwhile, another person who used to struggle appears on the screen. “Choreographing is hard.” And perhaps Jungwoo is still struggling as he sighs. The next scene is of him with one of his many coaches. “Noona, I have no idea how to choreograph something that doesn’t look stupid. Help, please.” The boy shows big puppy eyes at the other with a pout to complete the set. “I know you don’t,” Sunmi says with a sigh. “You doubt yourself too much to.”

She keeps looking at him, apparently unphased by his charm. “You know you can challenge yourself to show competence but… don’t try anything too ambitious. You’ll end up embarrassing yourself.” But she relents. “But I’ll help you so that doesn’t happen.” Jungwoo nods. “It’s not long, I’ll try o lean it quick. I know you need to practice a lot too.”

The one next on an interview is Kaeun. “This week felt like a lot of recap from the last two weeks in preparation for next week. Sometimes I feel like I fall asleep to the music of ‘Hush’ and wake up dancing to ‘Omona’.” Someone else doesn’t appear too excited. The local symbol of these types of emotions, Meng Meiqi. “Do you like the choreography?” They ask her. “That doesn’t really matter though, does it?” Her smile is clearly forced. “If i like it or I don’t, I still have to work hard and do my best to enjoy what I’m doing on stage because when if I’m not truly happy with it, won’t it reflect in the performance? Everyone will be able to tell.”

This time it’s a boy who’s asked questions, the youngest of them all. “The last week. Are you ready?” And Haknyeon replies. “I don’t know if I have an answer for that. I’ve practiced as much as I could...I’ve given my all… I want to believe that I’m ready. I-” He stops for a moment. “I’m scared. I want to do well. But I don’t know… I’m trying really hard, but I never know if it’s good enough,” the boy starts choking up. “I’m scared.”

The last of the three girls who made it up to the SAFE zone, Yongsun hears something in her own interview. “So here we are, at the end of the road.” Before the girl can reply, the scene shifts back to Haknyeon, except this time he’s practicing and a piano version of the usually happy opening tune starts to play. He stops and stares at himself in front of the mirror, drenched in sweat. “Am I good enough?” The boy asks himself.

[ tw: blood mention ]

Slowly, while the sad song continues to play, his nose starts to bleed. “Shoot,” he says before putting a hand over it. Haknyeon quickly rushes out of the room, but then returns with tissue paper and bends down to wipe the blood from the floor.

[ tw end ]

The boy remains squatted for a moment before he buries his face in his knees, bursting into tears. “Why can’t I be better?” He asks himself. It’s a feeling every other trainee has felt throughout the project. Scenes start to be replayed, showing highlights of the contestants while they gave their hardest. There’s Ricky, who after practicing too hard, fell asleep in the practice room and Hugo had to carry him to his bedroom. The boy’s voice appears in the background, mentioned how he couldn’t sleep well from the early episodes, and then him turning in his covers. There’s Jungwoo who, after trying his best to perfect different choreographies, received criticism from different people. Sunmi shows the bruisings on her legs before she’s crying in her room, receiving a visit from Wendy to make her feel better. It’s in the same room that the two had their discussion regarding Wendy’s lack of attention to her own health. Meiqi runs away from her rap performance after she forgets the lyrics to it.

There are new scenes now, too. Hosung is shown at a fast speed as he spends time and time trying to come up with a good choreography for his dance before he just lays on the floor, exhausted. Sunmi and Wendy get a new highlight again when the girls wrap up a group practice and the younger approaches the other to thank her. The two hug and Sunmi tells her some kind words. “I love you all very much, okay? I always want to make sure you guys are doing your best.”

The next scene is of Haknyeon back in his practice room, except he decides to wipe away his tears before he plays the song again. No matter what happened, they all continued giving their best. Then it returns to Yongsun’s interview, the one that was cut earlier on. “So here we are, at the end of the road.” They say again, but this time she gets to reply. “Maybe it will be the beginning of another road?” She smiles playfully.

To bring the scene to an end, deeply thought words from Chaeyoung herself. “If you asked me before this project why I wanted to become an idol, I think I would have given you a different answer to the one I’m about to give you right now.” She stops momentarily. “I want to be an idol so that I could inspire people. I want to be that person that advocates growth and development. I was just like the many people who so wanted to be an idol and I hope that throughout this project, people can see that it’s possible to be a talented performer with a good heart.” The screen freezes and the kind words ‘Thank you for your continuous dedication, trainees!’ appears before it’s back to the present time.

The MC stands in a corner of the stage, smiling at the camera until they give him the cue to keep the show going. “I’m certain that the public could all feel their passion and dedication through the screen. These fourteen trainees have been practicing under this project for three long months and today is the day that will conclude it all. The original songs they’ll show today for the first time learned under only one month but they can already be considered professionals. Please pay attention to the first song of the day, ‘OMONA!’ by the girls!”

There’s a warm reaction by the crowd while the trainees walk to the center of the stage, preparing themselves for their first concept. They start off with a cute song which is quite clear from the start. Even if it’s their first time listening to it, the crowd sways as if it’s their long-time favorite song. While its core concept is cuteness, the girls also get to show off their rap abilities quite well, as well as something off to a more mature side in certain moments. Once they’re done, claps and cheering can be heard all around before they quickly make their exit.

“Well, wasn’t that incredible?” The MC asks, and the crowd cheers in response. “Continuing on with their cute sides to show, this time we have the boys with their song ‘I Like It Too’!” There’s just as much cheering as before, and just as said, the boys make their way to the stage this time to show off their charms. The same way the girls had their chance to show off each of their talents, the boys also get the same opportunity, melting all of the listener’s ears like honey with their soft words about love. After they’re done and set on their final positions, the camera changes back to the MC so they may make their escape silently.

Just as before, the man takes a few seconds to smile and nod before he begins to speak. “I hope you enjoyed those cute, soft stages. Did you, audience?” The crowd shouts out different types ‘yes’ which makes the man chuckle before proceeding. “These trainees, however, are no one trick pony! They just showed you their cute sides, but this doesn’t mean that’s all they’re able to do! Their second songs are here to show off their tougher side. Maybe this change will make you say ‘omona!’ but their next song is ‘HUSH’! Please welcome our girls for their next performance!”

Even with only a few minutes to change, these trainees had to learn the hard way how to quickly become professionals. They’re all dressed in new clothes and ready for the second round of showing what they got. With a heavy contrast from the previous concept, the girls go off with a girl crush vibe this time around. Just as before, however, they aren’t stuck to one solid vibe and get to show off their different charms throughout the song. Both the vocalists and rappers get something that makes them shine. Once they’re done, the girls leave again, but this time this doesn’t mean they must get prepared for another performance. They’re done for their time, and must only wait for the boys before they can hear the results.

“They’re certainly girls you must keep your eye out for, but they’re not alone! Coming back with a new image, the boys return to the stage with the last song of the day, ‘WHAT?!” With the MC’s enthusiastically spoken english word, the camera changes over to the six boys onstage. This song certainly adds a new definition to the word ‘exciting’ and makes the crowd put their hands in the air, as the lyrics ask them. The rappers get a lot of highlight for this, but what the song slows down on the vocals, the trainees need to make up for in high-energy dancing. When they’re done, the crowd cheers for them just as energetically.

They don’t leave the stage this time, but the camera still pans over to the MC to hear his following words. “With this performance, the four original songs prepared came to an end. Our trainees have organized themselves in a line here,” the man stops to point at them, and the screen shares a common image. “Fans of the show may already know what this means. At the end of each month, the CEO, Hyun Bin, gives his thoughts on the completion of a mission. This is the third and last month and Hyun Bin’s original thoughts and plans will finally be shared with the public for the first time.”

When the man stops speaking, all eyes fall at the man in question who slowly picks up his microphone. “Firstly, I’d like to thank the trainees for all the dedication they put into this project. I got to watch you closely during these months and am happy to share with you what will be of you from here on out.” He stops for a moment to let the audience clap before he proceeds. “Overall, you all did a great job with the tools you were given. You only had under a month to learn two songs and their choreographies and I have to say your training wasn’t in vain. I believe everyone here and at home could see how much each of you grew under this project. However,” the soft cheering from the crowd stops, and a single ‘ey…’ can be heard.

“I can confirm that not all of you here will leave this project with a confirmed path to debut.” This time, more people in the audience react, but it’s still all self-contained. “There were a lot of questions throughout the show regarding why both male and female trainees were competing and what would be the outcome of this… well, you’ll have to wait just a bit longer to know that.” The audience complains again, but Hyun Bin carries a smirk on his lips. “What we’ll deal with right now is eliminations. While we took into consideration all of your progress up to here, it was this final month that confirmed each of our decisions, whether they were good or bad to you.”

The man stops a moment to irk his head before proceeding. “Those who trained for longer clearly had more advantages during this project, the same way that those who took part in competitions before this one also had tricks that others didn’t share. However, tricks can be learned, can’t they? If practice time was all it took, there’d be more of you here today. What was stuck in my mind was the composition of the group, and how well each of you would work together, and if each of you would have something to contribute.”

“Lee Sunmi and Ha Huidong… they both contribute with their dance abilities, but they also help the other trainees and bring the best out of them. Wendy and Jungwoo are both great singers that helped make their songs pop out. Just like that, I felt like someone had to be taken away for harmony to be better.” Hyun Bin stops, tension building up in the air. The more he waits, the more people anticipate a commercial break. “While this person’s abilities grew, they weren’t able to reach our expectations. Today, the one to be eliminated is Kim Yongsun. You’ve given your best this far, but it wasn’t the best we wanted. We could all agree that you’d be the best choice to make as far as eliminations go. You’ll continue with Nova Entertainment, of course, but you’ll remain with your trainee position.” The camera focuses on her face. “Thank you for your time here, and now you may leave the stage.”

And so the camera looks back to the CEO while the girl is escorted out. “And the next to be eliminated is…” the man continues only after a blink. “No one.” The crowd reacts one again, but this time in confusion, as many should be feeling. “When thinking about the outcome of this project, the question was always if it’d be boys or girls. I didn’t want to do a co-ed group, but that wasn’t a wall that’d stop us. When we gave you all the opportunity to take part in this project it was with the intention to debut two groups, a boy group, and a girl group.”

Hyun Bin takes a brief second to breathe in. “In case the message isn’t clear, all of you who are standing on stage right now will be debuting.” The man stops again, but this time the audience reacts more appropriately. “I give you all my word, both you, the trainees, and the public, that both groups will make their debut before the end of the year. They’ll be the latest addition to the Super Nova universe and new energy to this world.”

The crowd cheers and a camera pans over the trainees' reactions. “The two groups will act as sibling groups and, for this, we’ll reveal their names right now.” Hyun Bin points a hand forward and to the screen behind the stage. An animation following the style of the usual intro twists and turns until two words appear on the screen. “Following the mythology, ANDROMEDA was saved by PERSEUS and shared their story until the end, when they both became constellations in the sky. These names were modified to fit the modern times.” While he speaks, the names are changed on the screen. “PERSEUS has become PER_SE, with a symbol representing the sea he lived his adventures in, while ANDROMEDA became AND*ROMA, with a symbol representing the stars.”

Once the explanation is done, the focus returns to the CEO. “Not all is done, however. The end of each month comes with another tradition. Even if your positions have already been confirmed, there is one more title to give. To congratulate you for your hard work, Lee Sunmi and Ha Huidong were chosen as the final MVPs of the project. You both showed not only talent by yourself, but through the help, you’ve provided to your fellow trainees.” The audience keeps on with their wave of cheering, the results appearing to satisfy them.