he'll be honest—the drinks had turned out way cuter than he thought they would. he knows his knife skills are good, but it still kind of exceeded his expectations as he finishes putting them together. he had some ice cups from the convenience store and he was planning to add ice once everyone had arrived back at the dorm so that they wouldn't be watered down before they were in the hands of the other member.
running through the ingredients again, he hopes that it's to everyone's taste. strawberry kiwi juice, with some cider to make it fizzy. he had avoided citrusy flavours for luciel's sake, but the drink itself is very pleasantly green.
"the strawberries were really easy to cut into hearts, by the way," haneul comments, pleased with the presentation of the drinks and he turns to glance at his fellow leader for this month.
"are you almost done with the snacks?" he asks, placing the drinks onto the side table they had set up, having decided that a puzzle with 1000 pieces would probably do best on the floor and they didn't want to have other things there that could be knocked over. "the ddeokbokki is almost ready too, i think it just needs to simmer for a little bit longer. it should be done by the time everyone comes home!"
when chaerin first met siwoo on next gen as a participant and special coach, she didn't think their connection would extend this far. however, he got signed to lime ent, where she happened to be, and now it almost seemed like she could never get away from him. she says that with affection, of course.
getting to join what seemed to be a huge project was exciting, and even though it may not be her debut project, she was aware that if she did well in this performance, it would look good for her later on.
"looks like you can never get rid of me," she stated as she watched siwoo walk into the practice room. she had arrived a bit earlier to warm up on her own. the last thing she wanted to do was be a nuisance to the boys. chaerin was here to help them and make more of a name for herself. she didn't want to bring them down in any way.
"it'll be our first time performing together after next gen. how nice, huh?"
PROJECT GREEN: PERFORMANCE
in which haneul performs in front of the higher ups
all in all, haneul wouldn't say that he's super nervous about this performance or anything. honestly. he thinks that they've all worked really hard and that the members worked well and practiced well together. he still makes sure to record everything during practices so that they can monitor them afterwards. because of this, he feels relatively confident.
or so he would like to think. fake it until you make it, or whatever, right?
when the day of the performance itself arrives, haneul finds himself going through all the motions that he would for any sort of evaluation. he reviews the choreography and also the lines, wanting to make sure everything went smoothly. especially since he has the title of 'leader' for this month, he truly wants it all to go well.
they gather in front of the higher ups and he bows as they introduce themselves, despite knowing that everyone in the company probably knew them considering that they were being evaluated as a pre-debut group. it feels all very official, and he wipes his sweaty palms on his pants and hopes that he doesn't look like he wants to melt into the floor. that wouldn't be good for anyone.
when the music plays, haneul lets all of his worries and doubts roll off his shoulders and performs the very best he can. honestly, he thinks the best performances are ones that people are nervous for, because it means that they want to do well.
and boy, does he want to do well for this one. as a former trainee, he knows that there's a pressure on his shoulders that none of the others have to deal with as much. of course, it's put on him by his own self but he hopes that he can prove—not only to the higher ups but to himself as well—that he belongs here. and that he belongs on stage.
the movements come to him naturally, both from the not-as-choreographed duty free (though he had sort of come up with a vague path that he wanted to follow) and the heavily-choreographed siren. he sings (and raps) and dances to the best of his ability, hoping that his presence stood out. but not too much. he hoped that they all meshed well with one another and that their charisma and stage presence melded and meshed well together. so that project green truly looked like a group and not just six individuals shoved together haphazardly.
from his monitoring, he had thought they looked good. a group that he would be proud to call his own and would hopefully be part of for a long time.
as the music fades, he straightens slightly in his ending position, holding it for a moment. he's feeling ... pleased. and that's always a good sign. he feels something else too, fluttering in his chest.
seojun had made sure to take the needed amount of rest before they had to perform. he had been practicing his dancing and singing the days leading up to their performances so he made sure to take vocal rest as well as let his body relax. no one needed him to lose his voice or have his muscles be strained. that wouldn’t look good at all for himself or for the group. though he couldn’t control his nerves or the excitement he was feeling. both songs were great and he couldn’t wait to perform them alongside the chaerin and the other project green boys.
once he’s there with everyone else, he listens closely to hear for them to get into their places. he made sure he warmed up a bit beforehand and eagerly got into his spot. this felt so real to him and he let himself take a deep breath and waited till the song started. his eyes glance around quickly, finding himself looking between everyone, a small smile on his lips. this would go over fine. if anything, they’d learn what more they’ve have to work on which was what he’d appreciate. he was always up for improving himself more.
once the music starts, seojun is in his element. he finds himself dancing like he practiced with everyone else. he’s glad they seem to be all in sync and he didn’t notice any slip ups from the corner of his eyes. he just felt like he could do both songs in his sleep at this point and he was glad he had practiced so much.
he sings his lines like he’s practiced, making sure his voice was stable as much as he could the whole time. he didn’t want it to sound shaky like he was nervous or sound like he was trying to rush through it. he just took everything he learned from training and from next gen to push himself more. would the higher-ups see all their hard work, he hoped so. all he can do is show his all and prove that he’s a great dancer and singer as well as that he can flow well with the group without fading into the background. he doesn’t want that to happen again or to end up in the danger zone.
he can’t help but feel happy hearing chaerin singing along with them. it feel like they are already a group with this performance though he knows there will be so much more to go before the chance to debut is there. though all this reminds him of his busking days. performing in front of people who were very important only happened a handful of times when he was busking but he let his stage persona and presence push him to go all out. that was what he was doing now and not letting himself falter in anyway possible.
after it is all over, seojun can’t help the way he’s smiling as he’s catching his breath. he’s crossing his fingers that the higher ups saw their potential out there. he had a ton of fun performing and looks forward to what more will come their way. right now, all he wants to do is sleep for a while and let his body relax before the next thing they’ll have to do for project green. at least he is proud of them all and wonders what will be said about everything.
kian gave himself a day of vocal rest before the performance, and though it wasn't at the behest of the company, he felt it necessary to cease from speaking, singing, humming, anything for an entire twenty-four hours. though he broke the streak by warming up his for awhile before the stage manager called 'places', he still hasn't uttered a single word to anyone. he's focusing so intently on executing a proficient display of his skills that he's trying his hardest not to get distracted, which he knows he's prone to. he needs to use his voice strategically now, so all the talking he wants to do can wait until later.
for the time being, kian finds his spot in the opening formation of "duty free" and reminds himself of a few things:
he's properly hydrated.
his voice is warm, like apple cider.
he knows these songs front-and-back.
he can count on his group-mates and chaerin.
above all, he's here to have a good time; this is fun.
counting his blessings in this way gets his mind right for the set, and he tries his darnedest to forget that, beyond the stage, is an audience of very important people—vip's, one might say. instead, he replaces them with visions of all the people who built him; the ones he loves so much, who he knows are cheering him on silently and loving him right back. it's that love that sets him at ease, eradicating the nerves that settled in the pits of his stomach the instant 'duty free' starts.
getting an opportunity to perform with chaerin makes this extra special, and he hopes that, though this is a specific debut project for he and the other male trainees, she gets her flowers for doing a great job and working extremely hard. the two of them carry a lot of the vocal weight in this song, and as that's kian's strongest suit, he's feeling confident. every line sits comfortably in his high tenor range, and his ad-libs at the end are clear, refreshing, and supported.
he's glad that he's finally able to show off his pipes. the covers they performed didn't allow for much vocal creativity, but this one offers more room for him to play around with his upper register; his most sharpened tool, the one that he knows how to use with precision.
all this confidence and the fun he's having is conveyed throughout, and as the first track comes to an end, he's got the biggest smile on his face; feeling good about how everything went. though, he's not forgotten what's coming up next, and while he's desperately trying to cling onto the good vibes of 'duty free', 'siren' slightly reignites the nervousness. it's incredibly visceral, but he pushes through as best he can—psyching himself out for it until it begins.
when the first powerful line blares through the speakers, he can feel the energy amongst him and the rest shift. this concept is completely different, and it requires a new layer of bravado. not to mention that it's primary element is the powerful choreography. the vocals take a backseat, the performance is front and center, and thanks to the help he received from the others, particularly haneul, he's feeling better prepared; using the anxiety within him to electrify his limbs into performing each move with the right strength and flair.
his voice work follows a similar pattern. instead of technically sound, he focuses more on style; adding distortion where necessary for a tougher delivery. he makes sure to do this healthily and carefully, as he doesn't want to cause any damage, and gets the job done. this song ends at light-speed though. not only is it shorter, but the high velocity of it makes it feel like teleporting somehow.
when it's over, sweat covers his brow, and he's eager to know what comes of it. they've worked hard for this, it's said and done. all he can hope is that they receive good news.
to say luciel holding suspicions about project green being a debut project isn’t wrong, it’s a feeling he had when he first moved into the dorms all the way back in august. he only wasn’t certain of those feelings because of how long he’s been training, it didn’t seem like it was enough, didn’t seem like he deserve it. at the back of his head, there’s so many more people out there—true stars who had been chasing after their dreams of debuting and performing on stage. they should had been in his position, not luciel, but them. he’s lacking the fiery passion, lacking the shine.
or is it that he’s too familiar with remaining in the shadows, and dare not take a step to where the light shines upon?
luciel wonders how it feels to be excited and nervous when the news broke. his mind instead wandered to: ‘am i worthy of this? what will they think about it? is this what i really want?’ only **a cold **emptiness was left in his heart.
the months flew by in a blink of an eye. one performance, two, and then three. recording a song, then recording a performance while carrying the responsibility of a leader. it’s stupid, really. involving himself with the process as much as he could, working himself beyond the point of exhaustion, and then fainting from it — all for a vague dream.
in spite of that, luciel will never cease to carry on the facade of a normal human being. if he must chase after a vague dream even if it’s out of reach, then he will. he’s here from a choice he made himself. here, standing before the higher-ups, to show them that he’s worthy of the debut, that he belongs to this group.
luciel falls into position and allows himself to be engulfed by the stage. if he can’t be a star, then he’ll just pretend to be one, indistinguishable from the others. and that’s what he did.
duty free’s singing parts begins with him, after all that rapping from siwoo and noel, luciel captures his audience with his voice ( or so he hopes he did ). it’s one line, but he’ll leave an impact for his very first line, leave the audience wanting for more. luciel is a vocalist, but he has some rap lines too. it’s surprising that he’s been trusted with them, and that’s ever the more reason for him to pour in effort. a while ago, he had little to no knowledge of rapping. now, he’s getting used to it.
of course, rather than just pure skills, luciel doesn’t forgets about the vibe of the song. it was difficult for him to connect to the song initially, with the theme of freedom and a ‘i don’t care’ attitude being present. through countless of training sessions with the others, and then getting to know how they perceived the song, he’s eventually got it down. maybe the bonding session did helped, seeing that the team seemed to be more in sync compared to their previous mission.
even for a heavy dance song like siren, the song he had much uncertainty with in the beginning, turned out to be better than he thought — it’s a loose, less uniformed kind of choreography that lets them add their own flair and groove to it, while being in sync at the same time. the formations stand out a lot too, so he focused on that. luciel isn’t the best dancer, but he’ll keep up, and make it seem seamless.
performances will inevitably come to an end, but there’s always a next one to look forward too, right?
✦ * · ˚ LIME PROJECT GREEN.
chaerin gets the chance to perform in front of senior artists and higher ups.
chaerin was a little nervous to say the least.
for some reason, she found this even more nerve-wracking than next gen. perhaps that was because she wasn't exactly the main focus on next gen. sure, she had to perform in front of judges and an audience, but she wasn't the one being evaluted.
this time, however, she would be.
of course, even now the focus would be more on the boys as it was their debut project. however, it was still an opportunity for her to really make an impact and hopefully remain in the minds of the higher ups for whenever they decide to create a girl group.
all in all, this was probably the biggest moment for her during the two years she's spent as a trainee. taking a deep breath, she tried her best to relax and just think of the performance. chaerin knew better than anybody else that trying to change things up for a big performance would only make things worse. she had to think of this as nothing more than any other performance she's done before.
it's not like she would be alone, either. she's spent a lot of time practicing with the others, and she was pretty confident that they were all going to do a great job. once again, chaerin reminded herself that she was simply here to add something to the performance and make some sort of impression on the higher ups. outperforming the boys wasn't on her to do list, and she kept that in mind as she was practicing.
before she knew it, they were being called into the room to perform. taking one last breath, she hummed her parts to herself before stepping out to do her very best.
she doesn't participate in the beginning of duty free. it's almost like she's supposed to be a surprise when she steps out for her first part in the chorus. chaerin remembers to smile and put on her very best expression because this is supposed to be a rather free performance, just like the name of the song.
the performance goes pretty smoothly in her opinion. chaerin likes to think she's pulled off all the little tidbits she worked on with the others, making sure that they really looked like one group. the adlibs at the end, especially, were something she focused a lot on, and it seemed like the effort she put into her vocals over the last couple of the years as really pulled off.
the performance comes to an end rather quickly, and she makes sure to stay in the last ending pose for a couple of seconds. looking around, she snaps out of stage mode and gives a bow to the higher ups before being escorted back out as the others had another song to perform.
again, she's not sure how the senior artists and higher ups will evalute her, but for her first stage in front of so many important people, chaerin likes to think she did a good job. hopefully, this is only the beginning of her journey to really becoming a debuted idol.
this is kind of terrifying. no, not just kind of – this is really fucking terrifying.
it's not like siwoo is some kind of stranger when it comes to performing in front of an audience. even before next gen, he'd gone for piano recitals before as a child, briefly again when he was a teenager. though that had been short-lived, siwoo thinking that he had no real talent for music after all.
but he's here now, standing in front of the higher-ups, fighting, no proving to them why he should debut. the loss of a project green member doesn't go undisturbed by him, siwoo recognizes this, knows very well what this means – that at any time, any of them could be kicked out. it's a debut project after all, and he needs to prove himself. prove his worth to the rest of them.
his palms feel a little sweaty; there's too much on the line here. the higher-ups... some of which, siwoo's sure he's never seen before – would this perhaps their first impression of him? ah, fuck. he really can't fuck this up.
he takes in a deep breath, closes his eyes and thinks briefly about the future. his future, whatever it may be. and all he knows, is that he really wants this. he wants to debut, and to take the fucking world by storm.
duty free starts off with him – which is a little daunting for siwoo, it feels like a lot of pressure, but he needs to live up to his own expectations of not being a fucking failure.
there are eyes on him, and while siwoo isn't one to fear things easily, he understands the heaviness, the weight, of it all. he'll do good he has to. these months of training, months of sleepless nights, had led up to this moment. his inability to accept incompetency is something that he wants to prove, today and on future stages too.
the song starts off and he allows himself to get immersed in the stage. he isn't a terrible rapper anymore, he's decent if anything – no, he thinks, i'm fucking good. he's honed his skills, this is something he can be confident in.
an original song, a song with his name attached to it. so he does his best, feels himself melting into his element. a rapper, a performer, an idol that's exactly what he wants to be.
duty free comes to an end, and next it's siren.
siren is – siren is dance heavy. and siwoo, from the time he's spent with the other project green boys, has come to the conclusion that they aren't terrible dancers. but siwoo needs to keep up, he needs to make sure that he doesn't fall into mediocracy.
there's more formation and dancing than there is lines, so siwoo focuses on that, tells himself to fall into position like he's practiced and rehearsed with the other members. they have to do well, they need to do well.
soon enough, the performance comes to an end and siwoo finds himself taking catching his breath.
it's over – the performances are over. but his journey has only just begun, he's sure of it.
