the day felt as though it would go on forever. there was no end to the performing—no end to the sweating—no end to the heat. the only thing that kept dawon going was her own will, and she reminded herself that it would have to end eventually. this was a day like any other, and she would persevere just as she had every time before. she sucked in a deep breath, pressing her own bottle of water against the back of her neck in hopes of keeping cool.
when she spotted yet another passerby, this one seemingly on a skateboard, dawon is quick to put on the same smile that she’d used when greeting everyone that came before him. no one should have to suffer through a day like this one without something cool to drink, and dawon is happy to be of assistance to anyone that she can. “you skateboard? that’s so cool.” there’s genuine interest in her voice, considering that she’s always been interested in learning how to skateboard—she’s just never had the chance. “here, you should take some water to help you keep cool—this heat isn’t fun for anyone.”
《 ★ @rkohsehun 》 there’s not enough towels in the city to make up for how much sweat he’s losing because of the pure heat. his skin feels torched to the touch and he can’t tell if he’s got a fever or if it’s the sunlight clinging to every inch of his body. it’s not the dancing that will bring them down but the summer heat and, little does he know, the summer rain later on. he can swipe at the beads of sweat lining his brow with the back of his hand but more is soon to follow and it’s fruitless effort. walking over to sehun, one hand on the younger’s shoulder, he smiles though the exertion shows on his body after eight hours of this, of dancing, of peddling water bottles here and there, and of being out in the unforgiving heat. “you know how eight glasses of water is recommended. do you think we’ll need double that because of everything we’re doing?” it was meant to be a joke but it’s unnerving how true it might be. maybe they do need more water than everyone else out there. “how do you feel?”
despite his lack of skill in dance, for once, seungcheol is grateful for it. finally, it feels as if he’s being challenged by the company itself again. their recent evaluations hadn’t been easy by any means, but the challenges of them had been most set by himself. last month, though he had to dance then, too, it hadn’t been too complicated, so the real difficulty lay in dancing and playing the keytar at the same time — something they had persuaded themselves to attempt, as actually playing the instruments hadn’t been required. back in january, he had learnt the harmonica for his monthly evaluation; again, something he chose to do himself to give him an edge. whilst he isn’t going to be impressing anyone in terms of skills this month, maybe it’d finally be made a bit more obvious that where he lacks in talent, he makes up for it in effort. every trainee works ridiculously hard, he knows he’s not anything special, but it never feels as rewarding to complete another month where he’s the one challenging himself.
still, there’s a limit to how far the human body can be pushed, and with the sun beating down on them, he’s balancing precariously on that fence.
“you look parched.” he comments, offering sehun a water bottle. it’s a pointless observation, however, since everyone is, but small talk is the best seungcheol has to offer as a greeting when he’s this worn. “drink up.”
an unpleasant heat suffuses her body: the first bad sign. joohyun’s already grateful to have lasted this long outside without collapsing ( as every single part of the girl’s limbs currently ache with soreness whenever she moves ) so accepting the inevitability of sickness comes easily. she’s rain-slicked, with moisture pearling on her pale face and arms before a soft towel is quickly found and wrapped snugly around her. joohyun breathes out a shaky ‘thanks’ to seulgi, her lips trembling as she forces out a tight smile to the girl. the warmth of the towel does help and joohyun clings to it with a white-knuckled grip.
what a mess she must look like, with tangled wet hair and ruined makeup like a drowned rat. joohyun glances at the café’s window and shudders violently when she sees the streaming downpour lashing against the glass. it reminds her anew of the unnatural sweat that clings to her forehead and neck, as well as the cough she can feel beginning to build up in her lungs. “h-how long until the next... d-dance?” joohyun manages to ask seulgi, her voice quivering faintly.
stopping in and out of cafes weren’t so bad yet that means it costs money but at least there is comfortable seating inside the cafes plus some air conditioning too. the female headed inside the cafe after handing out a few water bottles to some similar faces and not so similar. she tries to see if she could find where the other girls were, maybe some were out on water bottle duty even though it was lunch time now which must suck for them. a somewhat solemn looking ice princess catches her eye in the cafe, activating protective unnie mode as heads over to the other to find out what was wrong. is she is struggling with the evaluation or could it be something else? nonetheless, princesses must stick together.
“what’s the matter soojung? you look a little bit out of sorts.”
The ability to grin and bear it even in uncomfortable conditions might be the most important quality in an idol. Stamina is important as well, and this month’s evaluation focuses on both. It might be familiar to some of the senior trainees, because some have already done it before. A reminder never hurts, and neither does testing the resilience of newer trainees.
Each company’s male trainees and female trainees will be given dance routines to learn starting July 5th. They’ll perform twice an hour from 10AM to 10PM in the hot Korean sun at the end of this month. While there will be a small tent as a rest area with water and snacks available, don’t get too comfy- when you’re not dancing, it’s your job to pass out company-branded water bottles to people passing by. Don’t let your tiredness show- be charming and be ready to show some fanservice at the drop of a hat (practice that aegyo!)
The weather forecast in Seoul this month is unpredictable, but high, scorching temperatures are certain. When the sun starts to set on a long performance day, it’ll start to rain, and soon, it’ll be pouring. The show must go on regardless, and you must represent your company well even in the face of the unexpected. There may not be many people to pass water bottles out to once the rain starts up, but if there are, you still must do your job. The performances will continue, though the demand for water bottles might decrease. Company staff can think on their feet too, and instead, you might want to share a company-provided umbrella with anyone passing by to briefly save them from the rain until they can get to better cover. Surely keeping an umbrella all to yourself wouldn’t reflect well on you.
Trainees who already have the STAMINA ACHIEVEMENT won’t have such a hard time of this- you came prepared!
Trainees who do not have the stamina achievement will, at some point during the day, suffer from exhaustion or a rain-induced injury and will have to head to the hospital for one of those infamous IVs or an examination. Write a solo or four-post thread about this hospital visit to earn ONE EXTRA SKIP DAY toward your stamina achievement! Note that when you turn in your stamina form you will need to link to the verification form for this eval to prove you get two skip days.
Private trainees will not be made public through this, as their names won’t be revealed, their participation won’t be advertised, and they’ll only be seen by a small audience.
Trainees should write two 250+ word solos or one four-post thread for this event. Hospital solos/threads do not count for this. You may write about any part of the evaluation you like, from learning the dances to performing them to interacting with people passing by. Posts must be completed by midnight at the end of July 31st, EST. The tag is rkjuly17eval.
JULY EVALUATION (for the August 2nd verification form)
[ links to proof of solos or thread ]
[ link to proof of hospital solo or thread, if applicable ]
+1WK RELEVANT ACHIEVEMENT
+2 RELEVANT SP
+2 DEBUT POINTS
NEW DEBUT POINT TOTAL:
More info on the performances under the cut!
The groups will be performing the following songs, alternating between all three but only performing one at a time (meaning song #1 at 10:00AM, song #2 at 10:30AM, song #3 at 11:00AM, etc)
If trainees outnumber the members in a group they’re covering, the formations will change accordingly so they can all still dance together. In videos where the main performer/s are mostly still, you can assume the trainees will be doing the part of the backup dancers when applicable. These are all dance performances only!
KT BOYS - LC9′S “1 OF 1” & “TELL ME WHAT TO DO”, SHINHWA’S “TOUCH” AT A GANGNAM CAR SHOW ON 7/30
KT GIRLS - CHICHI’S “LIONHEART” & “YOU THINK”, KATIE LEE’S “BLACK” AT THE ABOVE-GROUND END OF A GANGNAM SUBWAY ENTRANCE ON 7/29
NOVA BOYS - MYNAME’S “THE EYE” & “BAD”, RAIN’S “THE BEST PRESENT” ON A STREET FULL OF HAGWONS IN HONGDAE ON 7/30
NOVA GIRLS - MYNAME’S “BTD”, RAIN’S “RAINISM”, JEWELRY’S “ONE MORE TIME" IN AN OUTDOOR MALL IN HONGDAE ON 7/29
ROYAL BOYS - KIM TAEWOO’S “FOLLOWING”, H.A.M.’S “TELL ME”, LEE SEOKHUN’S “ANIMAL” OUTSIDE OF THE DONGDAEMUN SHOPPING COMPLEX ON 7/30
ROYAL GIRLS - HAN YEJIN’S “YES, NO MAYBE”, H.A.M’S “WHY SO LONELY”, BRAVE GIRLS’ “ROLLIN’” ON A SMALL STAGE AT THE DONGDAEMUN MARKET ON 7/29 (NOTE: IN ROOKIESVERSE, ROLLIN’ WAS NOT A SINGLE BRAVE GIRLS PROMOTED. TRAINEES WILL BE LEARNING CHOREOGRAPHY FROM A SPECIAL CLIP DANCE VIDEO BRAVE GIRLS RELEASED.)
SPHERE BOYS - CHAOS’S “PLZ DON’T BE SAD” & “YEY”, JUNSU’S “ROCK THE WORLD” AT AN OUTDOOR MARKET IN ITAEWON ON 7/30
SPHERE GIRLS - SHE’Z’S “FIVE”, “CAUSE YOU’RE MY STAR” & “ONLY ONE” AS GUERRILLA PERFORMANCES ON THE STREETS OF ITAEWON ON 7/29 (NOTE: SPHERE GIRLS WILL NOT HAVE A STAGE OR A TENT BECAUSE THEY WILL BE ON THE MOVE- THEY’LL BE DANCING ON THE STREET AND STOPPING VERY BRIEFLY IN CAFES INSTEAD)
TRC BOYS - FEELDOG & RAEHWAN’S “GOOD BOY”, RAEHWAN’S “RINGA LINGA”, BIGSTAR’S “FANTASTIC BABY” OUTSIDE OF THE YONGSAN ELECTRONICS MARKET ON 7/30.
TRC GIRLS - FEELDOG & BARAM’S “ZUTTER”, ANDA’S “LIKE FAMILY”, GLOBAL ICON’S “COME BACK HOME” NEAR THE ENTRANCE TO N SEOUL TOWER ON 7/29.
Don’t worry about assigning everyone parts- there’s no need to get super in-depth with exactly which dance moves your character is doing at a given time and trying to assign each trainee a part is a logistical nightmare. Remember, plotting is about character development, not about knowing exactly where your character is standing on stage!
the heat is unforgiving. and to pair it up with the rain that comes, leaving nothing but gross humidity after? sic would rather be anywhere else, if she had the choice of course. this month’s evaluation incorporated not only dancing but out in heat where it rains out of random. sic’s having the time of her life (not). her knees pop as she squats, wincing as she stretches out-- straining her muscles as she gives herself a moment of break before the next set of performances start.
her tongue swipes over her mouth, pokes against the inside of her cheek as she lets out a long sigh. she turns her head to address one of the other girls by her, offering a cheeky grin (that’s littered with exhaustion). “this sucks, doesn’t it?” she murmurs quietly-- hands rubbing at her knees as she shakes out her head. she doesn’t want to speak too loudly, gain unnecessary attention and unnecessary negativity out in the open like this. her tongue clicks against the roof of her mouth, tired eyes staring up at the other girl. “if i have to hear zutter one more time i think i’m going to break my skull.”
deja vu. two years ago they were in the same situation — two years ago and so much had changed; so much between them alone had changed and tiffany hopes everyone’s faring better than the last time. not many trainees remain from back then. at least, not as many as tiffany would hope there is now and she can only hope that if the ones they’re training with these days aren’t there for the next evaluation like this, it’s because they’ve debuted, taemin and tiffany included in that.
two years and she never would’ve guessed they’d be back doing this again. jason and baekhee from dream high. two leads still trying to lead themselves down a different path than that of acting. the show had been a dream but the one they originally had is still the same, just with a few featuring changes.
she’d come to check on the guys and she knew that one of the trainees who would undoubtedly fare well was also one to be just as concerned, if not more, about. “hey, how you doing?” her hand touches his shoulder lightly and she smiles once she’s got his attention, holding out a pouch of a herbal tonic. “i think everyone will be needing one of these because of this weekend. oh, i do have aloe drinks instead if you want.” a drastic change from the last time when she poured water over his head, a quick way to cool down before.
