❛ 우리 집에 왜 왔니 ?! ❜ [ + ] lee, jihyun —————— ✦ ˟
› ! royal survival &. episode finale: the final perfomance .
₊˚· ┄ ROYAL FLUSH ┄ ·˚₊
the end. a normal circumstance that normalized the finales of happy go-lucky fairytales and clichéd movie franchises. much like them, reality television had itself a common entity. each lived for the keeping the audience on their toes. when the prince loses the princess, when the seemingly good relationship gets ruined by one secret and when the results of a show gets cut off by a commercial break.
unlike those, jihyun’s living it in realtime. she watches from behind the scenes as light fixtures and cameras are rotated into their places. everyone walks by, busy as ever, trying to get everything right for the next performance; making sure that everything looked it’s pristine best for royal survival’s last episode.
it’s a blur, hypnotizing her as she watches on -- caught on the daze. a romanticized gleam that steal her attentions until eunae comes up from behind her, hands interlocking with her own -- breaking that enchanting spell that had sunken it’s claws deep. the familiar call of unnie has her turning, a sentimental smile donned. this really was it, she thinks as they’re rounded up. their little circle of five, arms round one another as they call for one last meeting ( hopefully not the very last ) as royal flush before the curtains were drawn.
of course, it wouldn’t be like her to let this one slip without any sort of encouragement;
❛ no matter what -- i’m not going to regret a thing,
i love you guys and that’s that. i know we’re going
to give it our all and kill it. ❜
she shares smiles, the tightening of her embrace with jiwon, keeps her close a little while longer, as her lips whisper good luck and praises, alike; each one different, a variety of sentimental love that wraps around her tongue and sings its way into her members’ ears. she hopes the best for each, and until the very last second when they’re nothing left but them and the darkness of the stage -- she’s there, tightening her hands around eunae and jiwon’s before letting go.
here goes nothing.
the strong beginning comes and it’s lisa’s time to shine. and shine, she does -- jihyun couldn’t be prouder. for all the worst the show had thrown at lisa, she’s still standing here beside jihyun, and the older girl couldn’t be prouder. the countless times she’s told the other she deserved it and that her time would come. she could see it now, she was shining as bright as the diamond jihyun was convinced ( from the very beginning, like she had always said back during the mgas ) lisa had always been.
WILL YOU COME TO ME MORE,
LITTLE BY LITTLE --- ❜
jiwon comes after and jihyun can’t help but look at her. look at her. for as much as she thinks she’s not a dancer, jihyun wants to tell her she’s as natural as can be -- better than the other gives herself credit for. the lines don’t do her voice justice and for that, jihyun feels a pang of guilt especially when she remembers walking into the other’s recording session with the girls. a planned surprise that called for hugs and a little more praise -- the other’s tears bringing jihyun close to her own at the time. she can see now that jiwon deserved more and for that, she hopes this wouldn’t be the other’s last. there was so much more that jiwon had to offer.
and if jiwon had much more to offer, so did eunae. a favorite from the beginning, everyone knew eunae -- they knew the talent the girl had. and as someone jihyun held dear to her heart, she had rooted for the younger girl to the very end. when they had switched places, it was jihyun would had come to the other near tears, telling her that this wouldn’t be the end of it. they were both going to make it to the end. and here she was, her very own colorful rap shining amongst a group of vocalist. a powerful talent that, if anything, could easily shine on its own -- blending in perfect harmony with their voices. if anyone could do it, jihyun knew it would be eunae. it had to be eunae, and as much as she loved elly as well, jihyun was glad she had eunae beside her in team a.
❛ BUT STILL,
I CAN LOVE YOU .
and for dearest of dears, she couldn’t believe it -- not that she was surprised but because soohyun was here, in the same group as her. it had been something talked about, a wish with a substantial amount of hope lingering behind it. jihyun wanted to debut with soohyun and seeing soohyun beside her in the final group leading up the the finale had made her heart as whole as it come be. soohyun had been a favorite, one she knew would capture everyone’s hearts and for her to be standing beside jihyun, jihyun couldn’t believe it.
from the start, their relationship had begun to rock in unsteady waters. when she had fallen from grace, left in minors -- to majors, all the way to the very last episode. surprise was an understatement. from the wasted attempt at an audition, jihyun had felt she had failed soohyun and had spent episode after episode trying to make it up to the other. proving to the younger that she was someone to look up to -- that the respect she had garnered for jihyun wasn’t for naught. it was now, that she could truly and finally prove it. she had made it to the end -- if it hadn’t been for soohyun pushing her, would she had really made it all the way? no more would she have to prove it to her -- now that she was right next to the other, she was going to show her she wasn’t finished yet.
as individuals, they each had their strengths. but as a group, it meant bringing all those strengths and making them work in unity. royal flush, for jihyun, were the best at it. their colors were a strong blend of charisma and individuality that jihyun had fallen for faster than she’d thought. and in it, she feels comfortable enough to play at her strengths, knowing that the others would not only match her own but elevate the groups’ potential as well.
and as one of the group, jihyun knows now isn’t the time to let everyone down. quite the contrary, it was the time to put it all on the line. she works past her own insecurities to show off her strengths. the thing she was so sure about from the beginning and makes a run for it, a breath in as the awaiting high note comes closer and closer and --
all or nothing, it was the last episode, after all.
she didn’t want this to be the end for them, if anything -- it was going to be the beginning.
🎼 want you to say — playback — ft. @seolhyunrk, @rkseoyoung, @rkrose, @ellyrk
it felt nearly impossible to believe that royal survival was truly coming to an end. it had been a long and eventful journey, though, if she were being honest, the time had slipped by much faster than dawon had expected it to. it almost felt as though just yesterday she had been filming for her audition, anxious and unaware of what her future might hold. auditioning had been one of the most difficult decisions of dawon’s life thus far, though, looking back now, she finds herself grateful to have taken the risk.
“this one’s for you, junyeong,” she whispered herself as they prepared for their stage, and dawon’s quickening heartbeat resembled some of her earlier performances. this was the do or die moment, and dawon wasn’t sure as to whether she felt excited or terrified, though she assumed that it was some weird mixture of both. she took one final look at her team around her, smiling once in seolhyun’s direction as they prepared for what might be their last performance together. dawon wasn’t ready to leave these girls, not yet—she had no choice but to give this performance her all, and she had no intention of holding back.
쳐다봐 날 또 피하다가
계속 엇갈리는 Sign
Play me your song
Play 처음부터 Playback
when it’s her turn to sing, dawon does her best to smile for the camera, hopefully showing off some of the charisma she had worked so hard to improve on. she was far from the most charismatic on the show, that much she wouldn’t deny—but it was difficult for dawon to ignore the progress she’d shown over the course of the show—the effort she’d put forth into becoming someone that wasn’t completely forgettable. her time on the show (and her teammates) had helped her to come out of her metaphorical shell, hopefully leaving her in a position to show the world what kind of performer nam dawon truly was.
기다렸잖아
I waited
좀 더 다가와
Come come to me now ooh
as the main vocalist, dawon felt that she had to be absolutely perfect when it came to the execution of her lines (making her particularly grateful for the lack of complicated choreography whenever it was her turn to sing). she found herself thinking back on what so jisub had told her in one of the earlier episodes, after her team’s performance of over u: ‘dawon, every time you open your mouth to sing, i don’t think anyone can possibly focus on anything else but where it’s coming from’. she found herself hoping that that would be the case once again today, and there was no way she’d allow herself to walk away without delivering any less than what should be expected of the main vocalist (in fact, it was her intention to go beyond what was expected, as scary as that thought seemed).
알고 싶어 니 모든걸
사소한 버릇까지도
What you like
What you hate
Yeah I’m so 사랑으로 빠졌어
Yeah baby boy
she can’t help but think of how much she enjoys listening to rose sing, and now more than ever she found herself grateful that they were on the same team. rose was someone that dawon had enjoyed practicing with, and she looked forward to their potential future together as members of luxe. when it came to her lines, however, they were far less demanding than what was required in the chorus, though she enjoyed herself while singing them all the same. she enjoyed the song more than she had expected to, and dawon feels that it’s one that she’d listen to a lot in her spare time.
기다렸잖아
I waited
좀 더 다가와
Come come to me now ooh
it was impossible for dawon to ignore the thought of how right this feels. performing alongside seolhyun, seoyoung, rose, and elly... they were some of the girls that she had grown closest to over the course of the show, and she couldn’t bear the idea of leaving them now. they were her team, and, no matter what results may follow, she doesn’t imagine that anything would be able to change that. there was a genuine happiness that she felt throughout the entirety of their performance, and she knew that it came from those that she was on stage with as they all put on one final performance before royal survival would finally come to an end.
(난 언제나)
I’m waiting for you
(그때까지)
I’ll always be right here for you
더 기다리겐 하지마
as she and seolhyun sang their part of the bridge together, they were soon gently holding hands, even if only for a brief moment. there wasn’t a word to describe how much contentment dawon felt standing on stage alongside her friends, and she could only hope that they were doing a good job of showing their chemistry off to those watching them. these were the people that dawon wanted to debut with, and that is what constantly fueled her to give her all to the performance, determined to show so jisub how much she had improved from her performance of pattern all those months ago.
she had worked on her singing technique, improved her ability to carry out high notes—she felt that she was a much better singer than the day she had auditioned, and she doesn’t suppose that she owes that to anyone more than so jisub himself. it was strange, in a way—it almost felt as if the man was her friend, which was a far cry from her relationship with hyun bin, for whom she still felt intimidated by (though she still appreciated him taking a chance on her more than anything).
she put as much as she could without straining herself into her high notes, which came easier than they would have in the past, making her that much more grateful for the hard work she had put into training her voice over the course of the show. she had to assume that it would make the notes more pleasant to hear, too, though that was ultimately for so jisub to decide.
기다렸잖아
I waited
좀 더 다가와
Come come to me now ooh
the performance was drawing to a close, though dawon didn’t want to think of it as the ending. she didn’t dare to think of this as the ending, lest she run the risk of crying just as soon as their stage was complete. in the final moment, just after their performance had ended, dawon realized that, in that moment, she felt happier than she had in a very long time. this was everything that she’s ever wanted. she could only pray that it wouldn’t be over before it had the chance to truly begin.
royal 👑 survival final mission (episode 7)
ROYAL FLUSH ♠️♣️♥️♦️ PRESENTS:
“why did you come to my home?”
ft. ‘ace’ @rksoohyun, ‘king’ @rkeunae, ‘queen’ @rkqri, ‘jack’ @rkjiwon, ‘ten’ @rklisa
the tension backstage could be cut through with a knife, but it's a mixture of nervousness, relief, sadness. nervous about what's to come, relief that they're finally about to know the outcome of this great journey, but sad that they will have to part with friends. although eunae gets along well with everyone and that she's upset she couldn't perform at least once on stage with her roommate dawon, she couldn't be happier about her teammates. she's already worked with jihyun and soohyun earlier in the competition, they know how to communicate well, plus they're probably the strongest vocalists in the competition. jihyun makes a wonderful leader, guiding them through most of the steps with her experience. lisa is the bright star shining among them, the diamond in the rough that's been polished these past few months. she's also a wonderful friend, somebody eunae wants to make it with to the end the most. then there's jiwon, whom she knows the least, but possesses a strong aura and various talents that will help pull the team forward. they're definitely strong, ready to play with their strengths and work together to set fire to the stage. it's what eunae is most known for after her cherry bomb performance, and she's intent on sharing whatever little knowledge she has.
they've been holding hands and cheering themselves on, waiting for the cue to come in. they're the first to go. eunae turns to lisa, cupping the girl's face into her hands. "one last step towards the dream!" she says, pulling her friend into a warm embrace. she hugs everyone else, too, staying in jihyun's arms a little longer to gain as much energy as she can from the team's queen.
"team a, you're up!"
it's now or never. there's no turning back now, no second chances. they'll either make it or they won't. funny, when you think about it. they spent so much time training together, living together, dreaming together. this last week has been intense but so has the rest of the survival. they lost a few, but gained so much in the process too. and now it's all about to end, for the better or for the worse depending on which side they'll stand on. as much as she likes and misses the kt trainees, she can't imagine herself going back after this. it would feel so... surreal. to leave after all of this. to go back to a normal, every day training schedule.
royal flush walks on stage, gets into position, forming a straight line with jihyun in the center and lisa closest to the front of the stage, ready to take on her first line.
Why did you come to my house?
Why did you come to my house?
since eunae’s solo parts only come near the end, she can really focus on the performance aspect in the beginning. being the strongest dancer of her team, there's something she needs to prove and so she gives it her all, showing off sharp and dynamic movements she's been practicing relentlessly all week. all of the girls, even those who claim they're far from dancers, really put their everything into mastering the choreography. it's something no one has seen before. there's no comparison possible as it is when they usually cover songs. so it's even more important that they leave a strong impact. the song is youthful, playful, energetic. it can easily pull people along, hype them up. they have to live up to the same energy in the way they communicate with the audience.
it's lisa's turn and boy, she shines. it's effortless, graceful. lisa only has to step in and all eyes are on her, people applauding. so jisub can, of course, criticize her flaws and ask of her that she improves. still, no one can deny how charismatic she is. she has a star quality that even some of the most talented people on earth could only dream of having. her vocal parts suit her perfectly, too. it's between singing and rapping, which she manages wonderfully.
once the chorus hits, she's once again impressed at how stable the three vocalists sound. soohyun, jihyun, jiwon, eunae could only hope to be half as good as them one day. she knows she has room to improve, but there's no way she could ever be such a strong singer. that's why she's a rapper, and why she's dead set on working hard to become a female idol rapper that gets recognized.
where does jihyun even pull those high notes from? she's heard them countless times during practice, but with the stage lights, the outfits, the audience screaming, she sounds even more powerful. there's fire within that tiny body of hers, that's for sure.
eunae's part approaches and she goes from supporting her group to walking in center, leading it with her rap.
You already know my heart
I’m sick of slow steps
I already cleaned the house
My heart is wide open
My past love has become a scar
But now only you can have me,
only you can protect me
Do you know how much I want you?
it's about love, but eunae interprets it differently. it's as if talking to so jisub, asking him to choose her. does he know how much she wants this? he's the only one that can decide of her faith, the only one that knows if she belongs in luxe or not. it's not just a matter of working hard, or standing out. he probably has a clear idea in his head by now, so if she's not already included, she can only hope to change his mind by the end of this performance. she can dance and rap, but there's a lot more she can do, too, and that she has yet to show. and so much room to grow.
she's the only one dancing right now, the others standing on the sides and waiting for her to finish before coming back together for the chorus. eunae steps back in the formation, making place for soohyun and jihyun's powerful combo. as soohyun delivers the chorus, jihyun belts out inhuman high notes that sends shivers down eunae's spine. is there anything she can't do?
it might not be perfect, but once they leave the stage, eunae is convinced the audience won't have forgotten them by the time team b is done.
♡ #rkroyalsurvival, episode 7! — want you to say ( rose as woolim ) ft. royal gems!
even now, rose is asking herself how she’s still here, despite all she’s been forced to overcome. she’s curious if now is the moment where all comes undone and her efforts to keep herself afloat are the doings of her sinking. what a shame that would be. rose had begun this journey strong, but afraid; turning heads only to then disappoint again and again. and she’s grown accustomed to change and to disappointing people, she can handle criticism and harsh words. she digests, processes them, all of which help her grow, to bloom brighter and further. and somehow, the dahlia of royal entertainment had made it to the end of the road: alive.
she enjoys the moments spent alone with elly, seolhyun, dawon and seoyoung. she looks at all of them with soft eyes, a smile pulling at her lips as she reaches for their hands, squeezing each reassuringly, muttering words of support and comfort as she did so. maybe this wasn’t the line-up she had seen herself alongside, but it’s the line-up she believes in and accepts, willingly, wholeheartedly. they’ve been given, to rose, what feels like the perfect song; the dance and the lyrics compliment the five of them perfectly and the tone, the feelings of which the song gives off are age appropriate. the concept is youthful but mature at the same time, and rose is thankful that the strongest emotion that she’ll have to convey on stage is that of happiness.
rose pulls at the small, wrist length gloves she wears, eyes running over her manicure briefly. she’s content with what she’s been given to wear for this final performance, and while not very glamorous; it’s comfortable and form-fitting, it compliment’s rose and her figure. fitted high-waisted trousers, a fitted black turtleneck and a frilly checked crop top over the top. she loves the cropped denim jacket and the doc martens on her feet, the hooped earrings in her ears and her hair of which falls gently over her back and shoulders.
and time comes out from beneath her, before she knows it, rose is carrying herself outwards onto the stage, standing in formation with the other girls waiting for the song to sound. the intro is sweet, the girls spin and turn around each other, bouncing gently before falling into the beginning places. oddly, rose is centre for what feels like a good portion of the performance. she feels as though she’s come full circle, from being criticized for her lack of presence and poor dance skills, to being here at the end of the road, smiling brightly amongst her team members. the song in rose’s opinion is tastefully cute, and all she has to do is smile.
what are you thinking about? i feel like i’ll know. your chin is in your hands, acting like you don’t know, why so secretive?
the song isn't hard for her to sing, in terms of pitch, it’s just right and she hears herself loud and clear. live singing is something of which she’s come to master this past year or so, being a trainee and all. one part of the song has rose leaning on seoyoung and elly’s back, who hold dawon and seolhyun in front of them, tightly, all smiling, playing the part they’ve been given. she moves back, out of the spotlight and dawon takes over for her. to rose, this moment is probably one of her best, one of her happiest. for once, she feels present amongst the other girls, dancing and smiling. it’s that which rose has come to understand that jiseob was criticising her for, never being present. while rose had always been there, dancing, she was never really living in the moment. and it’s that she does now alongside the girls.
want you to say! oh, oh-oh!
shifting back into the centre, rose takes control for the beginning of the chorus. in unison, the girls dance, wave and move their bodies to the music, moving together, through their positions, permitting dawon to take centre stage for the remainder of the chorus. rose continues to smile and be present within the moment. if she goes home empty-handed, she wants to do so without regrets. tonight is the opportunity for her to enjoy herself one last time on stage, amongst elly, seolhyun, dawon and seoyoung; she’s not sure if she’ll get another chance.
stop right there, show me a more manly you. what’s important is our connection, no more calculation. why are you trying to package yourself?
she returns to the centre again, strutting forward; flipping her hair over her shoulder, a mass of waves flutter through the air momentarily. the smile on rose’s face is one brought on by pure joy, excitement but also nerves which thankfully don’t shine through. the dance feels natural to her, she sways along to the music, closing her eyes for a moment to enjoy this for what it is. rose effortlessly grooves to the side, letting dawon take her place in centre. it’s exciting to see everyone have their moment, to hear lyrics spill from everyone’s mouths. the distribution for this performance was so fair, everyone got their moment to shine bright, unlike the past.
want you to say! oh, oh-oh!
they move into the chorus as they did before, effortlessly. it’s after this chorus that elly has her moment to shine to whine has rose internally screaming, of joy, of course. they dance behind her, apart of the routine has them on the floor, to which rose is thankful she’s wearing trousers. they stand and elly returns to the group, all five of them dance in unison, as though this is their song and this is their stage, of which it is, but only for very few moments.
i can’t hide it anymore, i just can’t hide.
they fall into a line once again, side profile’s towards the audience. the song breaks itself down, slowing. each girl has a moment to show herself vocally, minus elly who just tore the stage up. the girls move, coming in towards rose. she’s still smiling, gently, running her hands up her thighs gently only to bring them up over her head, shaking hair away from her face slightly. they move around, almost in a circle-like formation, before forming a line once more, rose centre.
want you to say! oh, oh oh!
and together, all five girls strut forward with a bounce in their step, smiling ear-to-ear. they are free to dance, move however they want, however they need to; after all- this is it, the conclusion of the chapter they’ve been living for these past three months. together, not just as team a and b, but as a group, all thirteen of them; they’ve made it through highs and lows. royal survival is everyone’s story, apart of everyone’s journey to stardom and rose believes that to be critical information. for the ending verse, the five come together as one group vocally, shuffling into their ending pose, cheekily looking over the top of one another’s heads, smiling brightly at the camera and the audience. and while she can, rose throws a wink at the camera.
“the moment i always waited for, like destiny.
don’t stop, play our song. i just want you to say.”
✿ royal survival show, episode 7
required solo; want you to say
When Elly was told that it was their final mission, that there will be no major and minor, that there was no more time.
And their final mission was given out. A unit song, as she'd call it, and a whole group song, and every minute, every second spend with the girls, made her more and more aware of the fact that it could be her last time sitting in the practice room.
It made her sad. It made her really sad, but she knew she could and would push through with it. So that was how she ended with her group consisting of Dawon, Seolhyun, Rose and Seoyoung. She thought it was an interesting mix, because the other group had three very strong vocalists, as well as a charismatic rapper and probably the most eye catching person on the show. However, she was very happy with her group. She liked it, it made it whole because everyone could contribute with different stuff to the song.
And the song was something Elly never expected. Compared to Wilds, Want you to say was definitely the concept she could accept to debut with. However, she loved Want you to say, compared to the other song choice they could have been given. Sure, the lyrics weren't something she'd write, ever in her life, but she was sure she can learn and was willing to accept this whole experience.
Yet, she couldn't stop thinking about how things have changed. How much time has passed, with such amazing people and staff, So Jiseob as well. Everything, was coming to an end.
She had learned a lot, maybe molded a bit too much to be a proper idol as well, but she was happy.
Elly was happy as she steppe don stage and was ready to show everyone, what she can do.
What they as a group can do.
Because during the short week filled with constant dancing singing and rapping, it was obvious how much their teamwork had developed, how much they were willing to help each other and bring out the best within each other. It made her all warm and smiley, even slightly mush on the inside, as she was enjoying her potentially last stage with Dawon, Seolhyun, Rose and Seoyoung.
She hoped it wouldn't be her last one, she wanted all of them to debut together, but she would accept the fate Jiseob had for them. Since everything in life has a start and finish, she could just enjoy the rest of the song, portraying the proper emotions and expressions on stage, Elly wanted to deliver her best performance yet on this show.
that’s what she kept telling herself. she felt similarly to how she had in the earlier episodes, back when everything seemed so new—so terrifying. the results were almost upon them, meaning that there was so much riding on this final performance. she wasn’t just fighting for herself anymore, after all; she had her team to think of—her friends,—and she knew that there was no way she’d manage to live with herself if she were to let them down. seolhyun; seoyoung; rose; elly—they were all relying on dawon’s ability to do well, just as she was relying on them, and that thought alone served as constant motivation throughout her week.
the emotions in the practice room were hard to read at times, but it was obvious that most (if not all) of them were nervous. they were in the closing days of the competition, and soon enough they’d either be returning to their trainee schedules or confirmed to debut as a member of royal’s latest girl group, luxe. it was impossible not to be nervous, really—as much as she missed the nova girls, dawon hardly felt that she could comfortably return to nova at this point. she had already grown so attached to her fellow contestants, so excited by the possibility of debuting alongside seolhyun, that she didn’t want to think of what it’d be like to return to the halls of nova as if nothing had happened (not to mention the fondness she had come to feel for so jisub, which was preferable to the mild fear she felt for nova’s ceo).
despite feeling as though she should be channeling all of her focus into nonstop practice, dawon couldn’t help but feel distracted. she was concerned for her friends, primarily seolhyun, and she felt incapable of waving off the older girl’s troubles as nothing just so that she could continue to get more practice in (that would be selfish, and, in a time when teamwork was key, selfishness was to be avoided for more reasons than one). “how are you feeling?” dawon asked the older in a soft tone, concern written clearly across her features.
“honestly... i’m terrified,” seolhyun had confessed, and it wasn’t difficult for dawon to empathize with her. she had every reason to feel terrified. they had been through so much just to reach this point, and now they faced the risk of everything slipping through the cracks of their fingers mere seconds before crossing the finish line. dawon had always admired seolhyun more than anyone else in the competition. challenge after challenge, she had presented herself as such a strong and worthy competitor, surprising no one with the fact she had never fallen from major. but, now, dawon can’t help but sympathize with how much pressure that must have put on her friend’s shoulders—dawon can’t even imagine what she must have been going through.
signing up three months ago, dawon had never expected to make it this far in the competition. it was easy to imagine herself returning to nova after being the second or third trainee eliminated, wearing a smile that would have reflected on the personal growth she had experienced from her brief (yet meaningful) time on the show. she had expected to return to training alongside min, hyuna, and wendy, praying that they wouldn’t harbor too much resentment towards her for her decision to try something that seemed new and exciting.
if she could only survive one more day, she had always told herself, she would be happy. but things were different now. time and time again she had struggled to prove her worth, making her way up the ranks from minor to major; and, by some miracle, she had managed to stay there. she had fought to maintain that position, as she could remember from her one-on-one battle with soojung, and somehow she had succeeded. after a year of feeling scarcely a hint of confidence in herself, she could finally see that she was capable of overcoming these great obstacles—she was finally starting to believe in herself again.
now that she was nearing the end of the competition, dawon was beginning to realize just how much she wanted this. debuting under royal would be a dream come true, especially when she took into consideration the girls that she was on a team with. while it was true that she had known some longer than others, they had each come to mean so much to dawon, and there wasn’t a single part of her that felt she was ready to let them go just yet. these were the girls she wanted to debut with, and she believed that with all of her heart.
“me too,” dawon admitted in a soft, hesitant tone, placing a comforting hand on seolhyun’s shoulder. she did her best to offer her friend a warm and reassuring smile, hoping that she could ease the girl’s nerves, even if only a little. soon enough, they were back to practicing, with dawon pouring as much effort as she could muster into perfecting the choreography. her dancing has improved since joining the competition, though she felt equally as nervous now (if not more) as she had several months ago, back when they were filming for the team vcr.
when seolhyun fell, dawon felt her heart drop as she rushed to her friend’s side, wasting no time in checking if she was okay. an injury helped no one in terms of readiness for their performance, but dawon couldn’t care less about the performance in that moment. she only cared about making sure that her teammate was okay, which is why she helped seolhyun to the side of the room, doing her best to encourage her along the way. “you’re okay,” dawon had assured the girl, doing her best to offer a warm smile to lighten the mood. “it’s going to be alright. just... try to rest for a bit, okay? here, i’ll sit with you.” it was valuable time that could be spent practicing, but dawon didn’t care. the practice could wait.
soon enough, she was going through the choreography again—and again—and again. if dawon had any hopes of debuting in royal’s girl group, there was absolutely zero room for error. they had to put on a perfect performance as a team, showing so jisub why they should be the members of his next girl group, rather than the members of group a. the competition was fiercer than ever, though dawon tried not to dwell on that thought—she believed in her team, and it went without saying that she had no intention of going down without a fight.
adapt or die, she thought to herself one last time.
they first learned the choreography with yoo jaekyung's help, but there's so much she can do for them if they don't practice outside of the regular schedule. they have so little time and so much to not only learn, but execute perfectly. their choreography is the key to this performance. it's fun, energetic, and it can really stay imprinted in people's minds if they pull it off. if not, well... eunae refuses to consider this option, because the five of them are able to do it. they're royal flush, after all, and they chose their name because it's said that a royal straight flush is an unbeatable hand in poker. it means that if they put all of their strengths together, they can be unstoppable.
now it's past midnight, they're exhausted, their feet are blistered and their muscles sore. but they still get in formation, this time without the music, to go through the steps again and again until no mistakes are made. eunae never thought in a million years that she would end up being the one helping with dance. she does have some talent as a dancer but she's far from being as strong as jazz was. it feels out of place to oversee the choreography and comment on the girls' moves, but the four of them put their trust in her and she doesn't want to let them down. she watches them closely through the mirror in front, individually but also the overall appearance. "ok, lisa. just take like half a step back, we can't see jiwon well. there, perfect." she winks at her friend, then jihyun counts down to zero and they start, walking forward in line, then backwards to go back to where they came from, lisa then taking her center.
"woo! it's looking great, everyone!" she chants, thinking that it might be it. they might get to the end without any setback, executing their moves flawlessly. it's not really about perfecting the dance yet, but about remembering the steps, the formations, where to go when they finish their parts. it's about not colliding with each other, working in unison.
