they say the camera adds ten pounds and, looking at himself in the video they’d just taken, he has to say it might be true, but that’s the least of his worries at the moment. no, what worries him most at this point in time is the fact that he can’t watch himself without cringing at the way he moves, because he certainly can’t call those moves dancing. that would be a disservice to the art. it doesn’t help that most everyone around him is dancing at a level so much higher than his own; he finds it hard to even look up at seungjoon, even when the video is over and he’s left staring at his own reflection on the black screen.
“okay, you can say it,” he says, finally speaking after a few moments’ silence. he’s already bad enough with silences as it is when he’s always so talkative, but when there’s an unspoken comment hanging in the air between them, it just seems so much worse. “i look like an octopus flailing its limbs around.” which is a feat, considering he only has four limbs, and an octopus has eight. “you know what, that’s an insult to octopuses. they are very intelligent creatures, and would probably be able to dance better than that if they were taught the choreography.”
the spring has been particularly rainy this year. it’s no terrible thing for a farmer whose livelihood partly depends on rain, but the sky is overcast and the ground is oversaturated, so most days, jinwook finds himself missing the sun. “still,” he says to his favorite dairy cow, running a hand across her back, “it’s nice to see seungjoon no matter what the weather is like.” jinwook perks up as soon as he sees the veterinarian’s familiar car pull up at the farm’s entrance. “speaking of lee seungjoon!” with one last pat to her back, jinwook leaves the barn and makes his way to the gate in a light jog, ducking his head in the rain.
“i was just telling assa that you were— whoa!” just as he reaches the fence, jinwook’s foot catches in a hidden rabbit hole. he flails and lands on his hands and knees, sending a splash of mud in seungjoon’s direction. “i’m so sorry!” jinwook yelps. it takes an extra minute for him to get off the ground, between his laughter and the wet ground. the mud is fresh and heavy, clinging to his overalls in clumps. when he stands, he wipes off when he can and quickly opens the gate. “please come in, i’ll—” jinwook glances over the state of their clothing and finds a sheepish smile, his cheeks flushing. “i can get you a towel right away!”
he sneaks, just like a snake, except using his two feet—which snakes don’t have, or any type of feet. but they did once? he doesn’t want to waste time trying to remember the times when biology was an important part of his life past the point of realizing when your body is about to collapse. he’s a trainee now in trc entertainment which, funny enough, is right where another person is also a trainee.
so he sneaks, just like a snake, behind her. how old would she be now? ten? eleven? that didn’t matter (and he actually didn’t know.) he catches up to her and before she can make sense of who exactly he is and with just a little bit of impulse, seungjoon twist his leg back and hits her right on the butt with the side of his foot. “heejin!” he exclaims on his usual high tone. “happy birthday!”
heejin is embarrassed by just how loudly she yelps once she feels the initial contact his foot makes against her butt, body jumping both in shock and surprise ( maybe even with the tiniest dash of disbelief because, really, did he actually just do that to her? ), legs prompting her to turn so she’s facing him directly with wide eyes and a lack of proper words. what could she say now, mind still blank as she tried to register his words. happy birthday.
“it’s my birthday….so you kick me in the butt?!” it’s not often others found heejin yelling in genuine exasperation, tiny hands balling into even tinier fists. she doesn’t know what she wants to do more— hit him back, or laugh. “you couldn’t just ruffle my hair or flick my forehead? it had to be a kick on my big day?” her eyes narrow, a finger lifting to point straight at him as a warning. “count your days, old man, because they’re numbered.”
TRIPLE CROWN ENTERTAINMENT, or TRC for short, was founded by the former composer and rap artist, TIGER JK. originally created on nothing, Tiger JK's ambition to have his trainees carry on his legacy became an avant garde sensation in the States, Japan and Korea. Currently, TRC Entertainment remains the hardest company to enter.
The training period for TRC Ent. is brutal and only a few trainees ever get to see the limelight of the stage. Only the most talented artists can survive TRC's rigorous training and see the shining end to their efforts.
CURRENT MALE TRAINEES: @rkpcy, @rkxtae, @rkseungjoon, @changminxrk, @rkxsicheng, @rkxjongsuk, @rkhyunjoon, @rkwoong, @rkyoungjae, @rkdongmin, @yutark
if there was one thing that yeji had expected it was to see him in trc, how long had it been since she had seen this face-- it was one that she had remembered. from way back when--, they had both auditioned for trc on the same day. seeing him in trc made her realize that he had made it. despite how nervous and tense he had been on that day.
"seungjoonie," called out to the male, her tone friendly.
yeji still believed that they were close to the same age, if not the same age-- little did she know that he was older than her. in this sense ignorance was bliss.
seeing the male in trc made her remember their first conversation, "look at you, you made it back then."
she smiled at him, "it took me a while and for tiger jk nim to change his mind, but i have made it as well."
her eyes turned into crescents, "you made it after your audition right?"
it was nice to pretend like this-- pretend that everything was ok, eventually, it would be ok. yeji knew that but for now, she had to put on a strong front. until it she was fine, until her heart was done healing.
yeonjun, like a typical person who's a child at heart, loves disney (and related) movies and will not hesitate at all to show how much he loves them. though he has not seen all the movies, the ones he have seen get a certified yeonjun thumbs up for movies. however, if he was to choose which movie he liked the most that wasn't from marvel, he'd probably choose monsters inc., the iconic movie about two monsters and a little child named boo from 2001.
why did he like this movie the most anyway? because it taught young yeonjun two valuable life lessons: take risks and not judge others. watching sully and mike's development throughout the movie as they did anything to try and protect the little tiny boo from other monsters never fails to make yeonjun emotional. not to mention, mike was most definitely the best character in the movie as one of the main characters and the comedic relief.
so when the news about disney+ came out, of course he had to download it in order to stream all his favorites. however, not wanting to wreck himself from watching the mcu movies (especially iron man, press "f"), he clicked on the lighter (in his opinion) movie to watch as a way to not get him to be immediately upset if he sees tony stark or steve rogers after may 2019. he was in the mood to smile and he knew he could count on his favorite one-eyed monster for that.
so he sits at the bus stop, watching the opening credits with his data (thank god he didn't use it all up in the last few weeks) as he waited patiently for the ride. he's not being discreet about it, so he keeps his battery percentage up so that anyone nearby can see what he's watching, but not hear it since he has his headphones for that. is he trying to flex that he was willing to pay 6,000 won a month for this app? ... yes. yes he was.
“i don’t know how this qualifies as variety, hyung.” hyunjoon says from behind his phone, finally lowering it again so he could post the third story featuring said hyung before him. it’s late--as in they both just got back from training and since no one was home, hyunjoon had asked seungjoon if he could stay over until someone was back. if he remembered right his brother was at a friend and his mom had a late shift. they’d been going over ideas for the next part of the months evaluation. thinking up skills or things they could do to show off their variety sides that would appease the judges. “you just look....” he pauses, not sure how he wants to word this. dumb was what came to mind but he isn’t trying to upset the older. his thought process pauses though as he finishes taping the caption for the story and he frowns. “we really need to get you a instagram... it’s so lame not being able to tag you in these.”
after the initial reveal of the theme of the month, yujin’s allowed a breath of fresh air as she’s finally back in her element. not to say she hasn’t been enjoying actually training her skills, but being silly and entertaining comes much more naturally.
such as the current situation, in which she finds herself the star of one of her absolutely favourite shows. anyone from her generation will attest, the nametag ripping game stands legendary among the masses. yujin’s only dreamed of participating in one for realsies, and now? well, well, well...
it’s a dream come true.
“changmin...you can trust me!” yujin tilts her head innocently even as she approaches the boy at a steady pace. “how long have we known each other— hey! wait!” her voice bursts out in laughter as she takes off running after him, long legs finally coming in use.
her many years of track meets? rewarded, as she almost catches up to the boy in their sprint down the hallway, but as they turn the corner, she runs straight into one of the unfamiliar trainees that changmin had somehow slipped past. “oh. uh—sorry, but i gotta jet!” she excuses herself before the man can target her for elimination, and thankfully, he doesn’t seem to give chase.
though many people (namely, jinsoul, hyunjoon, and somi), have eluded her so far, her stamina lasts her for longer than she expects. she suspects it’s partly the adrenaline keeping her pumped and ready to go at the drop of a hat. she’s already managed to snag two other nametags from random faces in the building, but there’s no reason to stop there. might as well go for three— no, five! heck, why not go for all of them?
and that’s when she runs into seungjoon, poor, unsuspecting little seungjoon. it takes almost no effort to sneak up behind him and rip off his nametag in one swift motion, the action now familiar and unforgiving. “sorry,” she shrugs apologetically, unable to hide her smile. “this is probably one of the only things i’ll be good at here so— let me have this one,” she tries to make it up to him with an excuse, but it proves fruitless as he walks away, betrayed. a sigh leaves her lips.
eventually, she manages to fail victim to her legs giving out a superior competitor right after securing her final nametag, and she’s exiled to the gym to think about what she’s done. no regrets, though, she thinks proudly on her walk towards said location, but her victims greet her with less-than-happy glances. maybe part of her feels bad for having eliminated them, but she’ll find a way to make it up to them somehow.
