#wc. 333

[mijongsuk]

.hail to the king

PART ONE of a REWARD SOLO for PROMOTION TO SECOND-IN-COMMAND 

tw: death, kidnapping

“I guess you’re probably wondering what the fuck you’re looking at right now, huh?” He pauses, a grin tugging at his lips which indicates that he’s having a much better time than the six Hydrus members tied up in the middle of the large factory floor. “Guess you probably recognize these unfortunate sons of bitches. I’m just gonna get straight to the point… I am about ninety-nine percent sure that one of our brothers here has been feeding more information to a rival gang. I know that we all identify as snakes here, but some of these people just take that title way too seriously. Now… A little bird told me that Lynx knows more than they should about our current situation, and I narrowed it down a bit… Tried weeding out the ones I knew had my back. All signs point here. The issue is… I have no way of knowing which one it probably was, and I know that none of them would flat out tell me.” He laughs a little, as if the situation is humorous to him. “We have a lot of mean, selfish people here. Hell, that’s what makes us so fun.” After another short pause, his expression hardens once again. “Which is what leaves us here… I’m going to let you decide what happens. Their venomous little lives are in your hands, Dante.” To punctuate his statement, he moves closer to Dante and puts an arm around him, briefly squeezing his shoulder and looking him in the eye to indicate that he trusts him to make the right call. Seconds later, he’s retreating and turning away as he continues to speak.

“If it were me, I’d just kill ‘em all to make sure I eliminated the threat, but… This is a test, so I want to see what you do to help this shit storm of a situation. Everyone in here is looking to you for a solution. If you want to be Second in Command to the King… you have to know how to lead your people and make these tough calls. So… Fix this.” 

Jongsuk’s expression is carefully blank as he eyes the men lined up before him. 

To anyone who doesn’t know him, he might even look bored by all the pomp and circumstance of this little test-- but this is a show meant only for an audience of one. 

This is a show put on for a King. 

So Jongsuk plays his part. He stands tall and listens to King’s monologue, to his taunts and insinuations. He doesn’t flinch when the old man throws an arm around his shoulders with a sharp smile either, doesn’t shudder despite the contact making his skin crawl. There’s no doubt in his mind that if he makes the wrong move here, his blood will be left to stain the filthy concrete of the warehouse floor right along with the blood of the men bound before him. 

King’s little line up is a mix of familiar faces-- some more so than others. A few Jongsuk recognizes from past jobs worked together. Others, he recognizes only in passing. None of them are anyone he’d have considered worthy of note, however it's clear they've done something to land themselves on King's radar following Drifter's betrayal. 

Time is not on Jongsuk's side tonight. 

Under other circumstances, he would take his time with the six men before him, extract the information King seeks with his blade, but answers aren't what the boss is truly after. No. He'd bet his life on it that King already has all the answers he needs from this lot. 

This isn't an interrogation. 

It's a test-- King said so himself, after all. 

All too aware of the boss’ sharp eyes on him, of the collective gaze of the Hydrus members gathered, Jongsuk reaches for the gun holstered at his hip. He draws the weapon with practiced ease and levels it at the man nearest him. His expression is cool, detached. 

"After all this fuss, we can't afford to leave any loose ends," he decides before he squeezes the trigger. 

[lgcdom]

debut eval, group —

the easiest group performance, by far, was haru's dangerous. dom's vocal ability far exceeded his performance capabilities, so having a vocal-forward song with ( comparatively ) slower, minimal choreography allowed him to perform at top shape.

mdsz's earth, wind & fire wasn't that vocally difficult for him either, but with the song being upbeat, he struggled to make 'appropriate' expressions ( read: smiling ). he often had to remind himself to look like he's having fun, which unfortunately led to instances where he would perk up when he was near the front ... only to return to his normal resting bitch face once he went to the back. despite these setbacks, his singing surprisingly suited the song well because it was in a ( comparatively ) higher vocal range.

the hardest ( no pun intended ) was type zero's hard. it wasn't so much the concept, but rather, the choreography. his stamina's not that great, so with a fast-paced choreo, he was already struggling to keep up, oftentimes having to sacrifice singing his part in order to catch his breath or focus on the movements. he didn't have any confidence going into this week, but he was relentless in practice, putting in a lot more hours to perfect this song over the other two. in the end, it wasn't his best performance of the three, but it was the one he felt proudest of since the improvement was drastic.

his overall demeanour during these few weeks was desperate. as one of the oldest trainees, he felt like this was the last resort eval. the good: he pushed himself harder than he ever did ( and lost his voice for a brief moment during small group week ), and he finally ditched the button-ups and slacks for some worn down shirts and sweatpants. the bad: he got frustrated with himself and the other trainees whenever they weren't doing things right. ( there was one instance where he made a fellow trainee cry because he was being too nitpicky. he apologized some time later with some snacks. )