the day that they'd all been working so hard for. sure, it wasn't debut day but it was the day where hyunbin would come and check on their progress towards debut and see their performances for the very first time since they were assigned them. showing anything to their ceo made hosung nervous. hyunbin was a hard critic to please—sometimes he still had cold sweats thinking about the mgas and the super nova project. he remembered all too vividly how he was placed in the danger team and told that he couldn't sing nicely enough. that was not a fun time for him.
but now he had another concern: would he be able to stand out in the group or would he just become a face in PER_SE? at first he'd been rather fine with the line distribution—if a tad disappointed—but as they were introduced to the choreography hosung found himself more and more troubled by the fact that he had very little time to put himself out there. on one hand he was thankful that for a lot of the time he was towards the back of the group in both dances, but on the other he had come to the realisation that if he was in the back no one could see him, despite his massive height. if no one could see him then how would he even get fans? or worse, would he get scolded by hyunbin for failing to hold his own?
these thoughts swirled around hosung's head, growing louder as the evaluation day approached. was he good enough to be on the team or would he be sent packing despite the announcement of who was in the group already being out there? but dwelling on it wouldn't solve anything, in fact it would probably make things worse. all he could do was get out there and perform his parts to the best—and beyond—of his abilities to be some type of memorable in people's minds. if he could get through both songs without making any mistakes he would be satisfied.
this is probably what celebrities had meant when they said busy schedule. they’d just returned from california a few days back, and here haknyeon was on the set of running man. not that he’s complaining –– he’d never complain. this was like a dream come true. a show he’d only seen through a screen, and now he was a part of.
though, it wouldn’t be far fetched to say that he was absolutely nervous, especially since he was alone, representing his group. still, he’d told himself that he had to do well, to get both per_se’s and his name out there.
he’d spent the car ride practically clinging onto his manager, asking her a bunch of questions (to which she’d reply with the same expression he’s seen on hui).
he makes sure to greet every staff on set, bright smile and eyes wide; everything was so new to him. “i’m junju of per_se! please take good care of me!” he introduces himself.
it’s sort of like what he’d imagined it would be, the mcs look even more like celebrities up close and he wonders if his amazement shows.
as the filming begins, haknyeon’s sure to react with bright smiles and loud laughter where he can. truth be told, he still feels as though he’s watching everything through a screen. the seniors know when to react, and exactly what to say, which is amazing in itself.
“let me introduce our guests! firstly, junju! a member of per_se!”
haknyeon takes that as his cue to introduce himself. he bows and clasps both his hands together, smiling. “hello!” he beams, clapping his hands.
“i noticed that while everyone was talking, you had such an amazed look on your face!” one of the mcs says, to which haknyeon laughs.
“ah... it’s because i’ve always been a viewer of running man! so it feels like i’m watching tv! i can’t help thinking to myself that i’m surrounded by celebrities!” he waves his hand around and smiles.
throughout the rest of the filming, haknyeon tries his hardest to be as active as possible, his childlike wonder something that he couldn’t quite hide though.
he finds himself clapping and laughing quite often, mostly at the antics of the longtime guests. and when prompted to, he does put himself out of the box, randomly dancing in a silly-like manner when asked. it’s the least he can do, in hopes that he’d get another invite.
this felt like the super nova project still, minus the absence of cameras. it was the exact same set up, working all month on learning performances and doing them for the coaches and hyun bin himself. they had been confirmed members of the final group, they were per_se, however it didn’t feel real yet. it felt like they were still being monitored, scanned over for any flaws that would give an excuse to kick them out of the group and crush their dreams.
the aches and pains of the month felt a lot like super nova conditions as well. they were in dorms together now too, still living together, though his room was quieter now that it was just him and ricky. still, it all felt like nothing was set in stone yet. it was still as nerve-wrecking and desperate as before. what if one of them suddenly wasn’t good enough anymore? these doubts kept crossing hugo’s mind, and he had to keep looking to huidong’s form for reassurance. that was their leader. their leader was confident in them, so hugo would be too.
adrenaline kicking in due to the nerves always helped with these evaluation performances, because it pushed him to go as hard as possible and show everything he had. the thing that helped the most, however, was how much of a unit per_se felt like. it was as if their energy was an aura outside of their bodies, and when they performed, their energies merged into one aura, and they truly performed together. they were each star in the constellation of their namesake, and all together they made per_se. it was their first time performing together for anyone as per_se, and it felt right.
to say hugo is shocked would be laughable. for someone who had been on the verge of being eliminated before the finale of the super nova project, feeling like he had barely made it into the group, he was surprised with the amount of lines he had been given for their debut singles as per_se. he had achieved the main rapper role of the group, which is what he had always gunned for, and would have punished himself harshly for had he not obtained it. rapping was what he brought to the table as a team member for an idol group, he excelled at it and hyun bin had commented on how he had been the best rapper in the project. having achieved this, he should have expected that he would have a good share of lines, but this amount? it was more than shocking.
he was flattered, immensely so, and he felt like he had truly earned his spot in per_se with this reward he was being given. it meant more work on his part, but he was determined to nail all of these rap lines (plus some singing-esque lines) for the recording and their debut. this was the part he looked forward to pouring hours of work into, learning the lines. rap was his skill, so he looked forward to it specifically.
the choreography was where he became more concerned. he was the only member of the group without a dancer title (and with good reason, he wasn’t a dancer). he had improved his skills immensely, enough to earn debut, but beyond that he didn’t really impress. he had gifts in other areas that made up for this major flaw of his, but he had to dedicate his extra time to nailing this choreography. he had no doubt he would be put in the back whenever it wasn’t his part in the song, but he had a lot of parts in the song, meaning he’d be front and center a lot. this... was going to be difficult.
if haknyeon’s being honest, he’s very much afraid of hyunbin. he’d never been one who was that much afraid of higher authority (and his teachers would back anyone up on that), but hyunbin was different. there was an aura about him that had haknyeon cowering. sure, he’s performed in front of hyunbin before, but all those times he’d performed in front of the ceo he was still afraid.
this time they’re performing their debut song in front of hyunbin to check and the ceo’s criticism is still fresh in haknyeon’s mind. that he can’t sing. and haknyeon’s always been aware of that, that he’s a terrible singer in most cases and that’s exactly why he’s been working on it.
and while he probably won’t admit it out loud unless asked, he thinks that working on his singing has helped him on his rapping as well. whatever the case, hyunbin’s scary and haknyeon always got a little quiet around him.
he takes a good look at himself in the mirror and lets out a shaky breath. he’s practiced as hard as he could to try and get the songs as perfect as possible. still, he’s not sure if that was good enough. performing in front of hyunbin was always scary.
after convex, per_se would be the next boy group to debut under the big five. haknyeon’s well aware of the fact that hyunbin probably has big plans for them and he’s gotten so far, he can’t afford to mess up.
“haknyeon,” he hears jungwoo say, he turns around and he sees the older boy standing there with a smile. he puts a reassuring hand on haknyeon’s shoulder and haknyeon smiles back. “everything good?”
“yeah,” he smiles, “it is now. thank you, hyung.”
that’s right, everything would be okay. haknyeon’s aware of how much effort he’s put in and he’s ready to show hyunbin that he made the right choice.
once the ceo’s arrived, they exchange their greetings and the group gets into position to show hyunbin their progress. both songs have intense choreography, and if haknyeon’s being honest again, he finds it fun. it’s always nice to have choreography that truly shows out your character and what you can do.
he follows the movements like he’d practiced, gaze intense. during his parts, he makes sure his voice is loud, pours his heart into it. if there’s anything haknyeon thinks he’s good at aside from dancing, it’s his facial expressions and he plays with that as well.
they perform both songs in front of hyunbin to check on their progress and haknyeon tries his hardest; everything that he’s learnt in the past month, he puts into this performance. because he knows he can only get better, and that this is debut. per_se needs to succeed and haknyeon wants to help them with that in any way he can.
the songs are. well, they’re definitely strong. haknyeon had been curious as to what kind of concept they’d go for; sure he’d gotten an idea about it when they gave the members a short brief on what to expect, but listening to the songs presented to him, he can definitely tell that they’re going for a stronger concept.
there’s a distinct sound to both songs that immediately catches your attention and he finds himself nodding his head along to the songs as they’re presented to them. instinctively, his shoulders are moving on their own and his brows are furrowed as he focuses. this is it, he thinks. this is what they’ll be greeting the public with.
and then they’re shown the choreographies and lines and it’s starting to feel realer than ever. nova is nova for a reason and haknyeon realizes that as he watches the choreography. sure, he’d like to think of himself as a pretty decent dancer but the dance that they’d been given most definitely isn’t easy, if anything it’s the exact opposite. it’s challenging but in a way that has haknyeon excited.
they’re told that they’d have to present this to hyunbin by the end of the month and haknyeon’s filled with all kinds of reactions, all sorts of feelings. he doesn’t have time to rest anymore; and he tries to take it with stride. this is what he’s always wanted. debut.
treasure
among the two songs with choreography presented to them, treasure was decided to be the debut song. haknyeon finds himself spending hours trying to perfect the choreography, every angle he intends to get exactly right, as he memorizes the steps.
he’s given a good amount of lines and he wants to make sure that he’s able to perfect them too. haknyeon’s practice style has always involved pieces of paper and a pen.
on the paper are his lines, scribbled with notes and ticks here and there for him to work on. he underlines some words that he thinks he needs to emphasize on, and circles words to write notes on like “intense!!!” and “leg!!!”.
it’s a strong song with a tough choreography, definitely something he thinks is nova-like as well. over and over again, he goes through the choreography, over and over again, he goes through his lines.
they’re told to start dorming together, that they’re no longer allowed to go to seocho to practice and are to focus at the nova building instead. it’s understandable, but it gets haknyeon a little further away from other people (further away from juyeon).
but he needs to focus, and the only thing on his mind is debut, debut, debut. it’s harder to keep in contact with people, though his mother does call him from time to time.
it’s not far fetched to say that nova’s become his second home. that he spends more time at the nova building than anywhere else.
as he’s practicing, he realizes that the mirror becomes fogged with sweat and for some reason that makes him proud. he lets out a loud huff after a second of rest before he walks towards the speakers again.
With the SuperNova Project done and over with, the contestants-turned-future-idols were given a bit over a week to rest and catch up with everything that happened in the outside world while they were gone. It’s the first Monday of June, the 3rd, when they are all gathered by their three trusty coaches as soon as they arrive in the Nova building for a rundown of how things will go.
Starting from that day, the members of future boy group PER_SE are to focus their training only on the Nova building and avoid going to the Seocho Training Complex altogether in order to focus on their training together as well as grow their affinity with the company. While they’ll keep following the same time slots stipulated on their schedule, the boys will instead have private practices, as well as their own personal trainer during gym workout.
To make sure everything goes according to plan and also help strengthen their group bond, as any group should, the members will have to move to a dorm of their own different from the ones they used during the SN Project. This time, they’ll have the freedom to go out, as long as they’re present during the stipulated practice time. Their new home will have three rooms, one of which is a suite. To decide who will room with who, and who will get the privilege of having their own bathroom, the coaches decided there was only one real and fair way to do it.
Minsoo holds a ladder game for the boys to fill in with lines however they want as can be exemplified in this image or this video. Each boy will get to write their name down in one of the top slots of their choice, in order of age, while the bottom slots are already properly covered in adhesive paper to hide the number of each room. They’ll then be able to use their pens to draw lines along with the board and, like so, change their destiny. The members will have between June 12th and June 14th to complete their moving process. More information about their dorm and the final roommates can be found on this page.
Once they get that out of the way, the time to fool around is over with. If they’d like to debut two groups by the end of the year, they would all have to give their best to make sure everything was going to go smoothly. It’s then that the coaches tell them that, from the two groups, PER_SE will make their debut first. It’s that same day that they are introduced to their title song, as well as a bit of something else.
PER_SE will debut with a mini-album, but for now, they’ll only focus on two songs. They are both shown to the boys on the same day. First is ‘Pirate King’ and the second is ‘Treasure’. Both songs will have a music video of their own, but ‘Pirate King’ will be released first as a teaser for their debut, and ‘Treasure’ will be their title song. For the time being, they’ll have to dedicate themselves to learn and perfect the songs. Since they’re going first, Nova made sure to distribute their lines beforehand to quicken the process since the coaches already spent time enough learning what each member is good at.
Later into the month, on the 17th, the boys will start to learn the choreographies to both ‘Pirate King’ and ‘Treasure’. In ‘Pirate King’, the dance starts with Huidong as the center and the first chorus goes from Huidong to Yuchan. On the last dance sequence, it’ll go from Huidong to Haknyeon to Yuchan, leaving Haknyeon as the center in the back and Yuchan in the front. The song ends with Jungwoo as the center. In ‘Treasure’, the first and second chorus starts with Jungwoo and goes to Yuchan. They’ll be expected to be completely focused and prepare well, especially since on the 30th of June, Hyun Bin will come down to watch a performance of both songs to check their progress.
Write one four post thread or one 300+ words solo about your muse’s reaction or the learning process for any of the songs for +3 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE AS YOU WISH and +2 DEBUT POINTS.
Write one four post thread or one 300+ words solo about the day of the performance for Hyun Bin for +3 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE AS YOU WISH, +1WK RELEVANT ACHIEVEMENT and +2 DEBUT POINTS.
The tag for this evaluation will be #perse:juneeval and posts should be up by midnight EST at the end of June 30th. PER_SE members are told not to share the information given to anyone outside of NOVA or else they’ll risk losing their place on the debut team.
PER_SE JUNE EVALUATION (for the July 3 verification form)
PROOF OF ACTIVITY: [ x ]
+3 ___ POINTS
+2 DEBUT POINTS
NEW DEBUT POINTS TOTAL:
PROOF OF ACTIVITY: [ x ]
+3 ___ POINTS
+1WK MODELING ACHIEVEMENT (NUMBER OF TIMES TAKEN + CURRENT LEVEL)
+2 DEBUT POINTS
NEW DEBUT POINTS TOTAL:
