it’s a whole new experience -- all of this. from being on a set to script readings, fittings and intense acting classes the whole afternoon. and baekhyun is used to the backstage rush before a performance, to getting his makeup done and rehearsals. he even has been on a filming set before for that one samsung commercial but it’s nothing compared to right now. taking in the set, being briefed on how certain things work. it’s so much to take in, overwhelming and unfamiliar and it makes baekhyun equally nervous and excited ;
something he would’ve never expected with his lack of interest in acting.
but, maybe, he’s just so glad to finally get a chance to shine again in something. to get out of that repetitive circle that is training. for a chance to show what he’s got. although, not everything about this is great in baekhyun’s opinion. like, the fact that some of them will have to stand on platforms for filming to make them appear taller -- some of them, including baekhyun. “i’m not even that small,” he keeps going even after fifteen minutes of complaining, arms crossed in front of his chest and lips formed into a sulky pout, “i don’t get it why i have to get on that thing? seolhyun, yeah — “ he takes a brief look at minseok next to him as they watch some of the others go through their scene, wating for their turn ( the platform’s turn ), “ — i even understand why you have. but i? why? i know i’m not as tall as, like, jaehyun or kangjoon, but a platform? seriously?”
it’s a show that probably everyone knows of. running man. the name itself is popular and even if you’re not an avid viewer, you’d probably have heard of the show and some of the cast members. giraffe kwangsoo, nation’s mc yoo jaesuk, sparta jungkook and the list goes on. jaehyun’s a casual viewer, had stopped watching it or keeping up with it as much as he grew older though he definitely knew the gist of it all and how popular the show truly was.
he never quite thought that there’d be an evaluation like this; testing their variety skill abilities. sure, variety is important, and sure, jaehyun would love to be on some shows when he debuts, but he never quite would have guessed that they’d put their trainees under this kind of evaluation.
still, jaehyun’s a rather competitive guy and he doesn’t like to lose; even if this is just a simple game for an evaluation. he lets out a deep breath and begins stretching, because as far as he knows, running man involves a lot of well, running. and he’s actually kind of glad he’d been in some kind of sport back in high school and that he’s been hitting the gym more often.
the rules are simple. rip off name tags and kick ass. kinda.
jaehyun finds himself a spot and keeps an eye out for the royal trainees. sure he’s fond of them, his second family, but this is a game he really wants to win. the game starts and jaehyun’s rushing off, ready to attack.
he tries to be smart with where he hides, since he doesn’t want to get found so easily. he kind of feels like a child again, playing a game like this. at what he feels is the right timing, he runs out and begins to go after the other trainees, eyes sharp and smile on his face.
it’s then when he spots seonho not so far off and his eyes dart to the younger boy’s back, searching for his name tag. he turns his leg, ready to run towards the boy but seonho, as though able to figure out just exactly what jaehyun’s up to, immediately runs away before he can get a good catch on him. which is fine, really, because not too far off jaehyun spots an unsuspecting minseok.
minseok’s nice. he’s a sweet kid and it’s evident when he greets jaehyun with a wide smile. “hi hyung!” he says, bright, as though jaehyun wasn’t just about to rip the name tag off his back.
“minseok,” jaehyun greets back, and he lifts his hand to wave as he approaches the younger boy casually.
“hyung what are y––”
and in a swift movement, jaehyun grabs the name tag off of minseok’s back. the younger boy looks at jaehyun in shock, mouth agape and eyes wide and maybe if it weren’t a competition of sorts, jaehyun would’ve felt a little bad. if anything, he thinks minseok’s reaction is cute though, but he always thinks that minseok is cute. “sorry minseok!” he says, holding up his friend’s name tag, “i’ll treat you to something nice later!” and then he’s running off again, to find his next target.
royal was supposed to be the garden to many beautiful flowers and while kang joon liked this kind of concept (every single trainee in the company was drop dead gorgeous and therefore perfectly fit in), he sometimes thought that being a royal flower felt like a burden. flowers were beautiful, delicate evidences of the earth's love of life, and being subbed with one of those didn't felt right to kang joon at times. especially now that he seemed to be out of it for a little while, he wondered if calling himself royal's white lotus was even appropriate anymore. when he had first decided on that trainee title, kang joon had a special message in mind, mostly for himself. it wouldn't matter how much he lacked, what kind of person he was and had been, he would outgrow himself and rise from his past self. but now that he felt lost and disoriented, the male couldn't make out a path to return to that kind of mindset.
as he sat down in a practice room to think about a different trainee title (of course it wasn't that much of an importance, since it didn't reflected a possible future stage name at all), kang joon scribbled down a few flower names, loosingly drawing circles and arrows around them. he wasn't even seriously thinking about changing his flower because he prefered the lotus after all, but it was kind of fun to google flower names and look up their meanings.
coming across a special kind of flower he looked over to minseok who happened to be in the practice room as well. they didn't really interacted with each other yet, but kang joon didn't see a problem with that at all. there was always an opportunity to become a little closer, just like now. "hey minseok, come take a quick look at this flower here!" he handed his phone to the younger trainee and grinned. "do you think there would be a brave royal trainee who would take on this flower's name someday? and the meaning behind it could be something like: the rafflesia is the biggest flower in the world and a worldwide phenomena that attracts people from all around the world. as the bearer of this name the trainee is striving to surpass every single flower in the garden. what do you think?"
lullaby by got7 (choreography)
group: @rkjeon, red shirt ; @rkhyojeong, pale yellow shirt ; @rkmseok, white shirt ; @rkljhyun, black jacket ; @mxnhork, plaid jacket ; @rkhyunjoon, bright yellow shirt + hat.
caption -- 「 you can see more of everyone in the group on their instagrams~~
hyojeong @.phantomhyo (ig)
hyunjoon @.headchef_hhj (ig)
minho @.dance_mh (ig)
jaehyun @.ljhyun (ig)
minseok @.meamk_99 (ig)
jeongguk @.allmight98 (ig)
」
-- 6th APRIL 2019
They’d worked on this as a group for just over a month now, coming together on weekends to practice the choreography with Yuta at the lead. Not that he necessarily needed to hold their hands throughout the process. Hyunjoon was quick at picking up the moves, Minseok was dedicated to perfecting them, Jeongguk was a natural at it. Each of them could hold their own to varying degrees of skill and for Yuta, that left him focused on bringing them together as a group and working on their synchronisation. Still, even when they were practising, it was fun to come together. Minseok brightening up the room whenever they paused for a break, Hyunjoon and Hyojeong sharing their inside jokes, Minho’s soft energy being given a chance to be polished off and encouraged into something more. Yuta had noticed some minor awkwardness between Jaehyun and Minho, but brushed it off as nothing more than nerves. It’s not as if he knew Minho to be energetically extroverted. Every weekend had begun to become something Yuta looked forward to, seeing them bring together everything and watching each of them help one another through any difficulties that came up.
A month passed by quickly, leaving them sharing glances after the camera was set up and the music started to fill the inside of the dance studio. It was not an easy routine and Yuta was proud of how much effort each of them had put in. Slacking was always an option if they weren’t serious about what they were doing, but he wanted to believe they had all put in as much energy and effort as they could.
Yuta was the first to move forward into the space the camera was focused on, loosely playing the the music and coming to his place in the center. The other members following in after him, finding their places and positions. Jeongguk to his right and Hyojeong on his left, and the urge to check if everyone else had found their place which he couldn’t fulfil as the beat shift to the starting point of the choreography. The tips of his fingers curled into his pants as he began the steps, with confidence in himself; with confidence in the group that stood with him. More than once he’d gotten them to go through the whole routine without him in place, studied how well they had their positions memorised and how smooth their movements were.
Throughout the dance there was a chance for some of them to have the center, to take the spotlight with their own brief dance and Yuta had worked with each of them specifically for them. Incorporating their wants, with what would best fit the dance and allow them to shine for those seconds. Jeongguk’s was a slick, charismatic walk, purposeful gazes as if he were the vocalist of the group, and that was followed in succession by Minseok, There was no chance to check if they were doing well, if they were holding their own, if they were enjoying themselves. Yuta having to more than once dip to the floor, to twist, to pull himself back up onto his feet with the rest of the members. No matter how much they practised together, if they weren’t feeling the song or the routine, or what they were performing, Yuta knew it would be lacking.
These were the sorts of worries that made him dislike being the leader of any group; worries he pushed from his mind as they performed. He wanted to have fun too, like they did when they exhausted themselves running the routine and he could still hear his heart thudding in his ears. A smile tugging onto his lips as he took front and center again, rolling his body, feet slipping across the floor and running his hand around the outside of his head. It might have been his favourite part when he could run his hands down the front of his body, to press to fingers to his lips, to rock and move with the beat. The rush of the slight jump, of moving forward and going back; his bangs falling around his features and the smile crinkling in the corner of his ears. People complained about dancing a lot, especially as trainees, where they were forced into hours of lesson -- but Yuta loved it. He loved dancing, he loved having people around him who felt the same as he did and put in the same energy.
It was Hyojeong who got to perform cutely and yet coolly in the center next. He didn’t know if it was because he taught her outside of the group, but he liked to give her more help through the steps -- whether she needed his aid or not. Double checking that she had them down, making sure she was comfortable. Maybe it was because she was the only female in the group too. Yuta didn’t want to her to fade out into the background with the rest of the boys there or struggle on her own. She was going to be as charismatic as the rest of them and show her best side.
The lift of their shirts when Yuta stood in the middle again had come with a light, ‘only do it if you want to’, and completed with a definite promise that he intended to. It was rare that he got to show off the abs under his shirt, he’d worked on them with childish pride as a gift for Taeyong on Valentine’s day the year before and he was not going to pass up the chance to shameless give a peek while he danced. There was no pressure on anyone to follow through with him on the teasing though. The energy of the dancing shifting as Yuta took enjoyment and delight in the performance and played around; the movements slightly easier through the section and allowing them a break -- and for Hyunjoon to take the spotlight and show off his skills.
By the time Yuta’s laid back on the floor, he can feel his heart pumping in his chest; arms flat at his side as he lifts his hips up and crosses his legs over. The cold floor beneath him chilling the heat that came of his skin from the exertion of the dance. A brief and barely there respite, that ended when the beat picked up again, and he had to be back on his feet again.
Hyojeong and Jeongguk, followed by him and Jaehyun playing around with twirls -- the energy rising back up again through the section that he’d insisted they enjoy themselves with the most. ‘Do what you want’, ‘feel the beat’, ‘catch you breath’. But they had to snap back into position at exactly the same time for the perfect effect to be made. Yuta biting down on the inside of his lip as he hoped that they would pull it off well. The rest of the song going through with the chorus once more, repeating the choreography from earlier and slowing down at the end; Yuta standing in the center, conducting them with the motion of his hands and the draw of his arms in. A grin resting on his lips, and then bitten away as they fell back in sync again, one foot behind the other and turning his head to follow the movement of his hand.
A cool ending pose that they were to all hold together, even while his chest rose and fell with panted breaths.
MARCH 2019 EVALUATION
ROYAL JSM COVERING ; JONAS BROTHER - SOS
seonho’s part ; joe jonas lines playing drums
this is an sos don’t want a second guess this is the bottom line
this months eval was one of great excitement for seonho as he loves any and all excuses to learn a new instrument. he grew up learning piano and will always love the piano, and then in the last year he had taken some time to learn the guitar. so when his hyungs and him had come together to try and figure out a plan for this eval, the idea for doing the drums had really just stuck with seonho. he wanted so bad to learn the drums. even if the song wasn’t really something he would typically do, the drums would be so much fun.
and he had been so right.
learning the drums through out the month of march had been great. he loved jamming away to them aimlessly and then also with aim. mainly though he’s been banging at them without a care in the world. he’d even gone and bought a drum set to put in his personal studio ( which he’s very glad that the studio hadn’t been under his moms name and that his dad doesn’t care enough to check because it means the studio was still his private place ). the drum set looked super awesome in his studio and he would spent a lot of time banging away and doing different combinations.
then there is the fact that this eval is once again with two of his favorite hyungs. jaehyun and minseok hyung are always so much fun to do evals with. their cool group of royal jsm which is kind of like a parody of the popular cbx ( and theyve covered a good handful of cbx already ) was a fun thing for them to put together. he always really does enjoy working with his hyungs.
the jonas brothers song--while not his favorite--is a good one. he’s jammed out to sos a few times before when he was strolling american song charts. and now he’s covering a a song of theirs. it feels so throw back but also really awesome!
and he’s playing the drums.
balancing the drums with vocals was kind of odd at first. seonho struggles with dancing and singing--which is why he tends to end up not dancing when its hit part unless its a whole group sings at once thing--but playing the drums was a whole new ball game for him. a challenge he was enjoying a whole lost. and his victims for testing were his poor hyungs and the poor instructors. all of which probably had ringing in their ears for a while.
seonho also had ringing in his ears for a while ( a month ) but he really had a blast with it! and he supposes thats what matters. so what he missed a few cue’s for his parts so the beat would start just slightly off, he was smiling the whole time. luckily his vocals stayed fairly steady. given, he’s worked his ass off for two years now and if his vocals aren’t steady when he’s spent so much time working only on those--he’d just have to give up and be a rapper.
he knows he has many years to go before he can even think to compare to baekhyun or any of his other sunbae in the company. but he thinks he’s starting to make his own headway. his own standing in the company. its nice to feel like he belongs.
if you could pick five members of the royal boys to debut in a group with you, who would you pick and why?
he takes a good few seconds to think, eyes staring down before one name immediately pops out. “mingyu.” he says, nodding his head slowly. “ah...baekhyun? an’ seonho,” he thinks of the boys of royal that he feels more comfortable with, feels bad about the ones he doesn’t mention. “an’ ...minseok? then probably jaehyun. there’s-- not really any specific reason why.” he scratches his cheek. “i know mingyu the-- best? i’ve worked with him on the mgas...i think most o’ the reasoning is comfort ‘an anything else.”
he’s in another fucking group with taemin, and sungho wants to scream. why does this keep happening to him? it puts him in a sour mood, but as much as he doesn’t get along with the guy he has to acknowledge his talent. he better be fucking talented after being a trainee for what, like five years? though to be honest, sungho can’t complain too much about the talent in this group. he might not like or know everyone, but they’re pulling their weight.
this kid, though, is surprisingly okay.
sungho doesn’t get along well with anyone, but there’s a special place in his bitter heart for idol wannabe brats with no sense of realism. maybe minseok’s smile grates on his nerves when he’s already tired and frustrated, but the kid has the skill to backup his go-lucky attitude. where he’d usually want to throw a fit practicing one on one with a trainee he hardly knows, sungho finds himself okay with this. maybe he doesn’t like it, but he doesn’t quite hate it.
“your voice could be better,” the look he sends the kid isn’t quite a glare, but a calculative narrowing of his eyes. “you should work on that.” a sungho to human translator would be able to tell that he means the words encouragingly, though a rough tone makes it harder for a stranger to understand.
