💖 #teamtiffany : #3009 ( kwon yuri ), && #3020 ( jeon jiyoon )
press play! 잘 알지도 못하면서 ( you don’t even know ) 1:59 to 3:24 ✨
it’s said that those with nothing to lose have everything to give and that’s how tiffany views the upcoming performance. all or nothing, all in, heart, mind, body, and soul. every cliched phrase she could think of and more. but it had taken her a day to readjust, reevaluate, to accept and to change. to decide she’s tired of being passive, of acting as if merely doing their best is somehow good enough for mnet because it’s not and if it’s impact mnet is looking for, she’s willing to provide it. the flicker of annoyance in yuri’s eyes during the broadcast of the street performance with jaebum proves to her that she’s not the only one.
hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
their team is now a trio of women, burnt by the vicious flames of malicious, misguided editing and judgment that doesn’t seem right. not with the faith tiffany has in her team, in the way they perform. because their best had been enough to be selected for the mgas over a multitude of others in korea and yet it was as if they somehow fell below par now, as if minds had changed, fickleness that is more punishing as the competition continues.
it’s terrifying, and it’s what tiffany doesn’t want yuri or jiyoon to forget any time soon. she doesn’t want them to let go of that feeling. no, she wants them to use it the way mnet used footage of the team against them. the idea doesn’t come at first, especially with a hwang miyoung that not only faults herself but shuts herself off for the night, escapes mentally and physically. there’s no allowing herself to hide in the comfort of bobby’s embrace. she deserves it even less this time because they came in fourth. fourth and he should have been safe. jaebum should still be on their team.
as if it wasn’t enough to remind everyone of how it is a competition, of how they could be competing ultimately with each other ( and they are when it comes to eliminations, if it happens ), the show goes from mentally tearing everyone apart to actually doing so. even saying goodbye to jaebum, she can’t hold it together. hours later and she only worsens, skin pales in dull water, shrivels and wrinkles, subject to far too much water for far too long. bubbles no longer dance along the surface and what was once scalding hot is ice cold.
porcelain is more inviting than her warm bed, a bitter ocean of her own, tears that seem to drain her energy. the phone rings and she only answers hours later, a weary hello exchanged with her sister who is loud at all hours. advice given and barely heard let alone heeded— until her sister calls her out on the most prominent fact of the moment, being so self-loathing is not only pretentious but selfish. where is she when she ought to be with her team? licking her own wounds instead of healing herself and them. satisfying the demons in her mind rather than the angels on earth she’s come to meet, to lead, to care for as one of her own.
joke as she may that there’s no ‘i’ in team but there is one in tiffany, teasing words none of the members had meant, she will no longer allow the possibility for it to become reality exist.
—
vocal lessons, both her own during her morning training and ones throughout the afternoon and night. there’s no end to the practice, to the sheer effort placed into this performance. it’s on a whim that she asks her former boss at elysium if they could borrow the stage during the day, allow the girls to experience what it’s truly like to perform live, to function with an inner ear, to not let it overpower their own sound, their own voice. because that’s what their song is about, letting out their own voice.
there’s no place for silence any longer in this competition.
the frustration they have with competition, with the producers for editing the way they did in the last episode, with anyone stifling their dreams including jimin’s and jaebum’s, it’s about to be set free and she feels it whenever they sing. the first line gave her chills when they wrote it together and it gives her chills now as she holds her breath backstage. curled fingers, bated breath, an unstable core, an unyielding stare, and an inability to see anything past them. because mnet could do what they want this time around, she practically dares them to but this song, it’s theirs. this moment belongs to them and the truth belongs to the audience.
/// MGA 5TH ROUND - TEAM COMPETITION #3 : #teamforeign #teamjinri
{song: It’s Okay // Time Cut MV } | Outfit
Kris had been rather excited to see their promotions and then the stage that Jinri and Jinwook had come up with. But of course the MNET editing showed them as not even doing anything. Kris was angry. There was an obvious bias towards the other teams and particulary Jihyun’s team and Taeyeon’s team, since they were shown as being good and hardworking even though both teams were doing the exact same thing. They were different and yet nothing about them. However the stage that Jinri and Jinwook put together was amazing and it reflected in the results. It was sad, that they weren’t the best but they weren’t the worst. The eliminations went through and So Jisub took the microphone. Kris listened as the CEO talked about twists and the next challenge. Ballads? Okay, they could do this.
Of course, Jinri had been upset that they were always the middle of the pack and they had to work harder with the ballad challenge to be on top. The song they had chosen was a challenge for them all. Kris had never rapped slowly and the two vocalists never hit notes that high, so this would be fun to try and do this. the choreography was simple enough and with the stools, they could do this.
They practiced the choreo as a team, moving according to the song. Picking up the stools and moving around the center microphone, cleanly stepping in time with the song. Kris also spent time on his own practicing the steps in his kitchen as he cooked and then of course, his rapping as he cooked as well. He had to be slow enough for it to be a ballad and he had to be charismatic at the same time.
They practiced as a team again, making sure that they had the had the right steps and the right cues from each other.
The day of the performance came and Kris was a bit nervous. It was a ballad and thus would be difficult to execute, but he knew that they could do this. They practiced.
Once they were called on stage, Xiao was in the center with the microphone, Kris was off to her left and as she rapped, they moved the stools, dancing cleanly and cleanly switching positions. Then he cleanly took over her, softly taking the middle and rapping cleanly. He tried his best to show his skills and that he was good enough to be there.
시끄러운 알람이 새벽부터 날 계속 재촉해
쫓기듯 나선 집 밖은 틈
없는 벼랑 끝 같아
알아 나도 바보 같은 거
남 앞에선 괜찮은 척
티 없이 해맑던 예전의 넌 지금 어딨니
Then Jinwook and Soojung sang and Kris found himself shocked at her high vocals. That high note was impeccable. Xiao seemed shocked as well and she had almost missed her cue, however she didn’t and once Jinwook sang his line, Kris rapped.
한 번쯤 여유를 가져도
나쁘진 않을 텐데
지금 내가 외롭진 않을 텐데
Then a while later, it was him and Xiao and they did pretty well together. They were a great team. Somehow they bounced off each other really well.
기대해 즐겨 듣던 그 멜로디
Then they were all together and it was great.
라디오에 흘러나올 그 목소리
Kris danced with ease and even though it was his worst skill, he was still doing fairly decent. He had to prove that he belonged on that stage.
Jinwook and Soojung closed the song off strongly and Kris was really happy. They had all done their best and he was very proud.
Ahn “Elly” Hyo-jin; #3011 “ 아버지 날 보고 있다면…“
team royal, #teamjihyun ( #3005 ; #3007 ; #3024 )
*zion.t - 양화대교 ( 1:07-1:37 ) *outfit
Her breath was stuck in her lungs, as the results from the two weeks were shown on the screen.
Was the world lying to her? Did they really do it?
They did. They actually did and the only thing Elly could feel inside her chest was warmth, accomplishment and that she was worth standing on this stage.
They all deserved that. The hard work and sweat from everyone brought them there. The sleepless nights they had come over, it felt amazing to actually be standing on top. Together, as the team from Royal Ent, as Jihyun’s team.
Ahh, she reached up, wiping another tear. Maybe she didn’t work so well under pressure, but in the end, it was all worth it.
However, the joy was short lasting. The words, double elimination being thrown at them, punched the wind out of the blonde’s lungs and her expression froze.
The last four teams, were listed soon after, followed by the names.
Kwak Heeo, was there and somehow, the victorious feeling Elly had felt until now, was destroyed so so suddenly, she didn’t have enough time to understand it.
But it had happened, both the younger rapper and Bobby had suffered a great deal in this show, and Hyo-jin was sure, Tiger JK would not be pleased by that.
And the tears build up again. They didn’t fall this time. This is definitely Show Me The Money. Survive, or be eaten alive by Mnet and the viewers. There was no other option and it pained her to be so aware of the situation. She found it hilarious, yet she couldn’t bring herself to smile as her eyes landed onto her childhood friend and the girl under his wing.
The blonde could hope that it would be just another way to give them strength and grow even more. She didn’t miss the opportunity to hug almost every single contestant, but she lingered the most in Jihyun’s embrace.
She felt warm, yet her heart was rather cold.
Again, she found herself in the well known practice room with Team Royal, thinking of their next possible song.
A few ideas were thrown, discussed, but eventually, they stopped with Yanghwa BRDG, and this time, all of them were singing. Elly didn’t have any complaints about it, she would do it. She was willing to do it, with the arrangement that she didn’t have to sing any high notes. Just harmonization, she could do that.
They all could do that, she just needed to keep all of her emotions under a lock for this performance, because she knew. She knew her dad and mother had watched the last episode. She was very aware of the texts she had been ignoring, the missed calls, the familiar cars waiting for her outside of the Royal’s building, and in front of her own apartment. She knew it all, and she was willing to deny it as well.
On the day of the performance, they were ready to set the public on fire with emotion and hopefully tears.
There was a soft tune playing in the background, the lights illuminating the group as they stood still. Hyo-jin was the first to press the mic to her lips, the way she would hold it when she raps, and her eyes lifted from the ground, looking over the the audience.
그 때는 나 어릴 때는
아무것도 몰랐네
그 다리 위를 건너가는 기분을
She sang softly, her voice stable like usual but it was also lighter. She had tied to keep her vibrato as smooth as possible, mainly working on that withe the coaches and Jihyun, remove all the wrinkles possible and just relax. Hyo-jin was grateful that she could do that now.
Closing her eyes just a bit, she leaned back in her seat, swaying softly from side to side. It was a nice, relaxing song, yet painful and full of sadness and sorrow.
What was family to her?
She had none at the moment. She had none.
What did she do so much, to deserve the slap across the face, the backstabbing action, the betrayal. She followed her small dream, what more could she do?
There was no emotion in her face, but her voice was enough. It wasn’t something she could control very well, but she had the ability to try.
Her family, was Hyuna at the moment and her cat. She had them, and maybe, just maybe, it was more than she would ever need in this moment in time.
The mic was brought back to her lips as they sang together, in what seemed to her like a perfect union. She had turned slightly to the side, making sure to look at Baekhyun, because he had turned into her pillar when it came to harmonization. She needed to follow him now and then.
The high notes were like honey for Elly’s ears, causing her shoulders to relax, eyes closing and she was left to enjoy the music. What more could she wish for at the moment?
행복하자
우리 행복하자
아프지 말고
As the sing went on and on, Hyo-jin was going back to the events in her life in the past few weeks. She was sick, not physically, but mentally.
아프지 말고 그래 그래
And with that, she smiled, the song ending peacefully with the last high note.
She was happy, and proud. The sickness was going to go away slowly. She had people beside her.
when baekhyun thinks about the theme for the next round, the next challenge, there is a wave of songs immediately flooding his mind, all kinds of beautiful sounding ballads with moving messages and intense emotions popping up in his head almost shouting out for him to be suggested into the round.
there are just so many possibilities, so many songs they could perform – some that would stir the nostalgia in the audience, maybe, some old memories, some that would move them to tears or just make them close their eyes for a moment with a content smile on their lips. ballads are made to make all these different feelings well up inside the listeners, to make them think of something, to make them remember something, and that’s why baekhyun likes singing them so much, likes listening to them so much.
but through the various choice of songs, there’s still a certain one amongst them that calls out to him the most, the melody stuck inside his head for hours and just stubbornly not leaving his thoughts. and he’s more than glad when everyone in his team has the same opinion, the same tune playing back and forth inside their heads.
and it’s probably the best choice;
yanghwa bridge is just a beautiful song with a message that everyone can relate to somehow, it’s a song that’s able to touch every single person who listens to it; because family is always the most important thing. it doesn’t matter if family means parents and siblings for someone, or just the grandparents, whether family is a best friend or even just a pet, this song speaks to everyone in some way.
also besides that, it’s also really nice to listen to with the nice arrangement of string instruments and zion.t’s smooth voice pulling at heartstrings.
it causes a weird sense of excitement to rise up inside baekhyun that settles deeply inside his bones, seemingly to never disappear again, because this certain song speaks to him as well, although he usually tries to ignore and overhear the message the lyrics are trying to tell him. because, even though he’s pretending that everything is alright with his family, that he’s completely fine with the way it is, now, and that nothing about it bothers him, when he listens to it, it reminds him that, actually somewhere deep inside, he isn’t at all fine with it, that it actually does bother him.
a lot.
and when he sits on a stool, right next to his other teammates, his companions and friends, his hands holding the microphone resting on his lap, he closes his eyes and listens closely for once. he listens to elly’s voice, soft sounding as she sings her part before he raises his hand almost without noticing it, and joins in.
어디시냐고 어디냐고
여쭤보면 아버지는 항상
양화대교, 양화대교
이제 나는 서있네
his voice is strong but still gentle as he sings accompanied by seunghwan’s deeper tones, his eyes flickering over to the other male before he looks back into the mass of people in front of them, into their audience and the words are just continuing to spill from his lips when all their voices harmonize together briefly. and he doesn’t lower the microphone, keeps it close to his lips during the instrumental break, ready to continue.
그 다리 위에
all those people in front of the stage are paying attention to them, are listening to them and so baekhyun pours all his emotion into his high notes, his powerful voice filling the entire space around them. and he wants every single one of them to hear them, to listen to their message. baekhyun’s eyes flutter shut again, body leaning slightly forward to pull more strength out of himself.
sungkyung starts singing the chorus at the same time, her voice carrying on to bring across all the emotions and baekhyun belts out another high note, his hand coming up into mid-air. there’s a tight feeling in his throat – let’s be happy, let’s be happy – his thoughts with his family, full with memories of how everything used to be when his parents were still in love with each other, before they moved away and when coming home actually meant coming home, not entering an apartment that was filled with only yelling and shouting; the time were they were still a family and when they still were happy – and they’re still happy, now, right? they’re all happy again, and he keeps telling himself that it’s fine, it’s okay, yes it’s okay.
but no, it’s not, because he wishes they’d be happy together, as a complete, a whole family.
and he can’t deny how much he wishes it back, how much he wants just to get the old time back and see them together. because baekhyun just doesn’t know where they went wrong, when things started to turn out for the worse back then.
아프지 말고
tears are prickling at the corners of his eyes, he can’t just wipe them away and it’s a little embarrassing for baekhyun because he’s sitting right there on the stage, in the spotlights; that’s the reason why he always tries to overhear the message. but he tries to swallow it down and keeps going, keeps on singing together with his teammates in harmony, all their voices fitting together beautifully.
아프지 말고 그래
그래
and when the songs fades out, when their performance comes to an end, the hand holding the microphone is trembling slightly and he lowers it, placing both of his hands back into his lap like he did before the song started. there are stil so many usually locked away feelings running through him and baekhyun’s not sure if he’ll be able to tuck them away again, if he, maybe, shouldn’t and he lowers his head, looks down as he closes his eyes again.
Team Royal/Jihyun ; #3005 Lee Seunghwan
#3007 Byun Baekhyun, #3011 Ahn Hyojin, #3024 Lee Sungkyung
Zion T.-Yanghwa Bridge (Produce 101 Version) 1:07-2:37
Outfit
Was he dreaming or did they really passed this round without losing any member at all? It was still unclear to him, but when looking at the others joyful screams, he finally understood the whole situation. They had indeed passed. They were still together. As one of three teams who were still complete. The urge to puke suddenly came over him, although he held back. Unbelieveable. And moreover! They had show everyone how hardworking they were. Started from the bottom, rushing straight to the top! Seunghwan was overpowered as he saw the rankings, happily he jumped over to their coach, hugging her tightly. Without her help they would have never gotten this far, the male definitely had to thank his friend with a big party afterwards.
Ballads? He grined and gave his teammates highfive as the next theme was uncovered. The male wasn’t the best singer for sure, but he definitely knew how to use his looks and his voice to make his audience, especially the females ones, to succumb to his charms. As they ran off the stage, dozens of songs were thrown back and forth. There were so many choices they were able to make, beautiful, sad ones and heartbreaking songs. It was too bad, they wouldn’t be able to perform every single one, especially not with the short preparation time and the maximum 90 seconds to perform. After a fiery discussion they had finally come to a definite song choice.
It kinda made him excited to show the viewers another side of him, he had mostly got cute, happy screentime moments, that deformed his true self quite a bit. But now with that kind of song that was dedicated to the songwriter’s father, he would get to show himself more.
As the spotlights shone on them, they were already sitting on chairs in the center of the stage. Looking down, just slowly putting the microphone to the lips, when the music started. Since it wasn’t his part yet, he was stroking gently the dark blue long coat, he was wearing. This time, they singing part division wasn’t as clear as before, they were adding adlibs, high notes and sighs as the topic of their song was quite sad and heavy. Melodic sounds coming out of the beautiful lips, Kang Joon looked up, whispering into the microphone at first. Then slowly his voice got stronger as he supported Baekhyun’s high note with harmonization.
Whenever I asked him where he was
Yanghwa Bridge, Yanghwa Bridge
Don’t be sick
Let’s be happy
Don’t be sick, Don’t be sick
Let’s be happy, let’s be happy
Don’t be sick
As he hears the others singing, his whole body begins to shake. Slowly goose bumps cover his skin, and he gradually loose the focus, the more he sings. He feels the shaking hand that was tightly grabbing the microhphone. Memories at the age of 4, when he lost his parents, comes up. His throat begins to dry out, his voice gets rougher as he tries his best to not let tears roll out. The faces of his parents are clear right in front of his eyes, although quite the amount of time had passed and he was now an adult, he still remembered the length of his mothers eyelashes as she winked at him with a sweet smile, still remembered his fathers scent after coming out of the bath. His hands automatically move as if he was playing the piano, recreating the melody of his mother’s favorite Chopin work.
The darkness that enwraps them, moves closer to his mind, he forgets the competition, the cameras, is just singing his heart out. Seunghwan’s singing is filled with sadness and sorrow, as he sings to be happy. Hopefully they were happily watching him right now from above. His eyes are closed the whole time, too strong is the urge to wanting to shed a tear. The male didn’t liked crying people. It wasn’t like he wasn’t sensitive, it was more like he thought that crying was to weaken himself. He didn’t wanted his parents to be sad for not being able to care for their child more. To be strong and to be their pride, was his ambition.
Shivering he keeps singing, as his longing grows stronger. To be able to see them one more time was his only wish. To be able to tell them how much he was missing them and what he had learned from them, although they were just a few years together. Loneliness convulses his inner core suddenly, although there were people around him and thousands of eyes watching him. It did’t matter to him, what they were thinking of him at the moment. If they were thinking that he was faking the feelings or not, he hoped his honest feelings spreaded farther, towards the heavens where his parents where able to hear his voice and could proudly send him the love he was always carrying deeply hidden inside his heart.
★ MGA3 PERFORMANCE: BALLAD PERFORMANCE ★
★ KT TEAM // coach taeyeon !
★ #3012 kang heegun ; #3017 kim jiyeon ; #3026 kim seokjin ; #3010 kim jongin !
★ song ! (2:10 - 3:40)
once again, this mga round proved to be a challenge for jongin’s skills.
not as terrifying as the weakest skill rule last time (jongin doubted anything could top that, or at least he really hoped not), but stressful nevertheless. ballad singing definitely fit better with his vocal range and timbre, though the longer and higher notes were certainly a motive of worry. he was certain seokjin and jiyeon would do great, plus with their song of choice heegun would get to show his rapping talents just the same, so it was undeniable that jongin felt a little pressured to try to get on his team’s level singing wise.
being assigned the last part of the song meant an opportunity for jongin to provide some dance to the performance as well, an opportunity to add a dash of his main skill just to avoid being overshadowed whatsoever, but it also meant that he had to end the song nicely. having his team members do an amazing job just for jongin to ruin it during the last few seconds was the worst case scenario imaginable to the young dancer.
thus it went without saying that, as per usual, jongin spent countless hours practicing his voice as well as working extra hard on developing a choreography to go with the song. the support from his team members and coach had been crucial and although jongin was definitely starting to feel more and more worn out as the rounds went by and the challenges grew, he never once thought of giving up. he was doing all of this for himself and his dreams and he did it willingly, even if it meant aching limbs and loss of sleep.
until everything sounded right, until everything was put into place in a way that left jongin satisfied with the result, he wouldn’t allow himself to rest.
the performance day rolled around and after having his make-up on check and going through those long, dragged seconds of waiting backstage, it was finally time to show the judges that no matter what they threw their way, their team would pull it through.
the song starts off with heegun’s rap and jongin keeps his position more to the side, giving the rapper spotlight but also allowing a clear view of his dancing for the judges just the same. he kept his movements smooth and coordinated, attempting to incorporate the melody into his dance and speak through his body, show that dancing could be as expressive and full of words as singing just the same.
his dance became slower when jiyeon’s part came in, movements dragged as if in slow motion, a progression towards a gentle stop rather than an abrupt halt to it, so he could smoothly switch to singing without making it look sudden or off.
아직도 울고 있잖아
don’t let me cry
여기서 기다리잖아
가슴이 지치도록
don’t say goodbye
내 곁에 돌아와
언제라도 찾아와
he prolongs the last note just like in the original song, eyes closed and brows furrowed a little as he tried to deliver his part as best as he could, allowing his voice to grow softer until it faded away with the melody. his eyes remained closed until the very last notes of the song and only then did jongin open his eyes, glancing over the judges and the crowd.
he didn’t feel as confident this time, which he hoped didn’t show, but there was an undeniable nervous feeling that he might have sounded weaker vocally wise when ending the song, especially after seokjin and jiyeon sang their parts so well. he figured, or hoped, that if anything, it would be only fair to consider his strongest skill there was still dancing, and hopefully his choreography would make up for anything that his ballad singing lacked.
he looked towards his team members then, warm smile of reassurance spreading on his lips like it always did after their performances, wanting them to know that no matter the results from that night, jongin still thought their team’s dynamic was wonderful.
Team KT
Coach: Kim Taeyeon
Team: #3010 Kim Jongjin, #3017 Kim Jiyeon, #3026 Kim Seokjin, #3012 Kang Heegun
Song: Once Again (2:09 - 3:38)
When it was announced that their next mission was to do a ballad Jiyeon was relieved, feeling like she would be able to do alright since she was someone who frequently listened to ballads. She also really loved to sing ballads as well so she had some experience with singing them, her playlist on her iPod consisting of basically nothing but ballad songs with maybe a few upbeat ones. The song they had chosen to do made her even more happy when it had been suggested, unable to hide the smile on her face at the time.
Even distributing the parts between all of them hadn’t really that hard to do. Gary would be doing the rap while Jongin, Jin and Jiyeon all did the singing, which Jiyeon was relieved about because she didn’t have to rap again like they had previously done. Though she still couldn’t help but feel nervous since the last eliminations happened and it had been announced that the MGA’s would be ending after a few more episodes. It made her realize just how easy it was for one of them to get eliminated and she was thankful that she had even managed to make it this far, also glad that her team was still together and she hadn’t had to deal with either leaving herself or even one of them leaving. She hoped that they could all make it to the finale together, though she didn’t want to get her hopes up since there was always a chance for one of them being eliminated before then.
Now they were all backstage waiting for their turn, Jiyeon running through the lyrics one last time and going around to her other team members to wish them good luck and tell them that they could do this. Yeah she was nervous herself, though she didn’t want to show it this time. She wanted to try and be a little more brave, to not look so scared like she always did. During the past couple episodes she had felt that she had gained a little more confidence in herself, that she could do this if she only believed in herself and that’s what she was trying to do.
When it was time for them all to go up on stage they all got into place and she took a short moment to take a deep breath and exhale, relaxing a little before they finally began. Gary began rapping to start them off before it was Jin’s turn and finally time for her to sing.
I’m standing in front of destiny
That has passed me by again
Was it a dream that we couldn’t wake from?
You’re getting farther away and I couldn’t tell you
My heart
She put as much emotion into the song as she could, imagining herself being in a situation where she missed someone she liked and was singing it for them. Jiyeon closed her eyes for a few seconds as she sang before she reopened them and looked in front of her as she finished up her part and moved the microphone away from her mouth while Jongin began singing, subconsciously mouthing the lyrics. The whole time she kept her expression the same, not once smiling and keeping a straight face even when she was lip syncing during the other’s parts.
When they finished and they left the stage she couldn’t help but smile to herself, proud that she hadn’t allowed herself to become nervous, proud that her team had done a good job. She felt like even if she were to be one of the people eliminated before the finale, that she wouldn’t have any regrets. Jiyeon would probably cry, though she wouldn’t be upset because she got to not only get this far in the MGA’s but she had also managed to gain a little confidence because of it, also she had got to meet Taeyeon, Jin, Jongin and Gary. If she ended up getting eliminated she would always remember this as a happy memory and would try even harder in the future when given the chance again.
like a living nightmare, the days following the last episode cast a dull pallor over chorong’s every thought; reminiscent of the grief of the week before but, somehow, feeling even worse. not being chosen as mvp seems like a negligent matter now, for even during that humbling douse of insecurity, there had still been the four of them: the four strong competitors that had become friends to chorong... like a family the young woman had grown far too attached to in such a short amount of time.
last place. they’d been last place.
losing seolhyun was akin to a heartache and chorong isn’t able to shake the sinking feeling even as the staff member urges her to join her other two companions on the stage. sadness weighs heavily down upon her heart, slowing her footsteps to a crawl at the remembrance of seolhyun’s beautiful, tearful smile. it hurts and continues to hurt even as chorong silently takes her seat onstage. with a sweep of pink taffeta under her legs and the lights bearing down upon her, chorong glances out to the darkened audience, hoping beyond hope for even the smallest glimpse of their partner’s familiar face.
but the darkness makes that impossible.
resting her bare fingers upon the black and white keys, chorong waits for the end of the mc’s introduction before she begins the heartrending notes of ‘fiction’’s opening instrumental. jonghyun’s violin is soulful as it joins her piano, and seulgi moves center stage like a mournful swan-- her arms and legs gracefully extending in passionate movement as the music rises and swells.
this song is seolhyun’s-- for her, always.
jonghyun’s voice flows out effortlessly and chorong plays for him, swaying gently as the vocalist sings wistfully to the one whom they claim as their lost love.
-- even today I can’t send you away like this.
it’s so very, painfully true. chorong brings her head forward, lips hovering against the microphone as she continues on without hesitation. long black eyelashes flutter above sombre brown eyes and chorong looks outwards, wondering if the girl is listening. if she knows.
I will rewrite it again,
our story will not end
I will bury fact that reality is
seeping into my skin for now
I rewrite it once again,
the start beginning with you and I smiling happily
In case you will leave me,
the background is a small room without an exit
she remembers vividly the first time she and seolhyun met, the vision of a harried, beautiful woman who’d propositioned chorong with an evening to draw the reticent girl out of her safe shell. seolhyun had taken a chance on her, judging the elder as someone worthy of her company, and chorong had given her trust in return, opening up to the younger about the writing that meant so much to her.
if only chorong could rewrite this part again.
seulgi’s voice is pure when it resounds through the hall, causing chorong’s heart to pound strongly in her chest as the maknae proves why she, too, is worthy to be on this stage. it’s a soft, beautiful verse that suits her and inspires chorong to do even better. even without one, they still have each other here and now. for however long, maybe even for the last time, they have each other.
gentle and full of longing, chorong soars in.
like this again
i can’t forget you
a surge of emotion brings stinging heat to her eyes and chorong blinks furiously as seulgi and jonghyun continue to sing. her fingers dance along the keys solely by memory from rehearsals that now all seem like nothing more than a daze of reluctant ‘moving on’. they know they have to continue on this competition, they know that this group won’t remain whole forever as more cuts are made in the final three episodes. but is it so wrong to cling to a memory of a time when all four of them were truly happy? laughing and smiles that transformed body-breaking stress into moments worth cherishing forever?
