Jae-in had heard of Absolute Unit through the excited albeit hushed tone of Phoenix’s Senior Manager as if the show had to be kept a secret from him. Variety wasn’t his strength at least in comparison to the other members. He could charm his way out of any conversation. His problem was remaining engaged if the topic was —in his opinion— painfully dull. The muscles of his face were far too honest, unable to hide his boredom or distaste from the viewers.
However, he didn’t think that had been the reason why he had been excluded from the conversation. He knew better than to take it personally. After all, Phoenix’s Senior Manager probably needed a much needed break from the youngest member. It was not a mutual, unspoken decision between the two of them. While his schedule was usually sparse, he had sudden moments of non-stop schedules that came out of nowhere before he had a long break with only group schedules to attend. Chaotic like him.
Luckily for him, the competition program required an audition tape to be sent rather than send out invitations for specific members. Would it be wrong to audition without letting his manager know? Maybe, but he would win him over if he made it on the show. If he didn’t make it through the audition process, then he would be prematurely worrying over nothing. After choosing a botanical garden as his shooting location, he enlists the help of his other manager to help him shoot his video.
“Phoenix’s Ash, here!” He beams at the camera, bowing at the camera properly before standing upright with impeccable posture. “Today, I’ll be auditioning for the Blue team by dancing to Blue.M’s Bloom Bloom.” He stopped himself from pointing the on the nose background of cascading blue flowers that formed a path behind him. “I associate Spring with declarations of love, and there are blossoming relationships everywhere you look... Some of us are innocently envious, and others are enjoying the beginning of something special.”
“Just like in Bloom Bloom, Low Low is full of boyish charm with a bright and catchy tune, which is why the song stood out to me the most.” He firmly nods, biting back the sheepish grin that dares tug on the corner of his lips. “If I’m chosen, I’d try my best to do it justice and portray the earnest plea of love with authenticity despite being terribly unexperienced.”
He releases a soft, airy laugh before the camera zooms closer to his face as Blue.M’s Bloom Bloom begins to play in his ear. He wouldn’t know the pain it would be to superimpose the audio later, but he didn’t want to be a nuisance in a public area. Well, at least a bigger nuisance to the staff allowed him to film half an hour before opening.
tldr: Minho is going to the countryside! What ridiculous thing did he bring that Han no doubt later repacks for him?
The camera begins recording while Minho nearly has his face pressed against the lens, nose a mere centimeter away from poking the camera off its little portable tripod. He blinks right into the bright red light signaling recording has started. Success! He told Han he could do this on his own! He walked back, so his whole body could be captured on camera. The idol’s bright clothes stand out against the mostly green background and clear blue sky. It was clear he was in the middle of some kind of garden, stretching on the length of half a playground. Beside his brightly colored overalls, Minho wore a large floppy sun hat and carried with him a large wicker basket and a single garden trowel, handle painted a cute baby blue.
“Hi My Little Country!” He waves the hand carrying the trowel, nearly vibrating with enthusiasm. He had already been excited for the show before he knew about the cabbage garden. Now that he knew there would be cabbages?
It was only fair he show off his own! He even got special permission to come back home to show off the garden.
“Everyone,” he says loudly, without a care in the world how much his voice might carry or who else might hear him, “welcome to my garden!”
The young idol placed the trowel into his wicker basket, clumsily pulling out a chubby head of cabbage instead. He holds it above his head, singing the Lion King theme song. With a big smile, he comes closer to the camera to allow for closer inspection of the cabbage he proudly showcased. “Did you know cabbages are in season all year long? You can have them any time of the year! So you have no reason not to eat your veggies, okay? You can put cabbage in anything. Your eggs, your ramen, even your cake! Probably!”
For a few minutes, Minho attempts to balance the cabbage on his head, finally getting the balance right after a long attempt. He grins toothily into the camera, careful not to dislodge his hat’s new hat.
“Our pretty Blossoms already know this, but I’ve grown cabbages forever! My mom and dad got me this garden when I was in elementary school! I went on a field trip to a farm and really liked it, so they decided to let me have my own farm at home. Isn’t it nice? The gardeners are so helpful and we always sing to the veggies together! The cabbages like Etoile the best, of course. But the berries really like Dandelion noonas’ songs! I like Red Flavor the best. Chorong noona is so refreshing in that song right? Our cherry noona? We don’t have cherries in season right now, but those are super yummy too.”
Minho continues to blab on about his garden, picking up the camera to walk through the rows and rows of evenly planted and carefully cultivated fruits and vegetables. Somehow, the cabbage stays planted on his head until he makes a turn into a new row, tumbling down onto the ground. The boy picks it up carefully, dusting off any dirt and sweetly apologizing to the cabbage for dropping him. He returns the cabbage to the wicker basket, allowing it a steadier ride through the garden.
“That’s my special talent! I have a green thumb! Not really, my thumb is skin colored.” He pulls off both his gardening gloves, as if to prove his fingers weren’t a magical different color than the rest. “I’m really excited to grow vegetables with my new family! I learned a lot of new songs so we can all enjoy it together! I even practiced with Hannie hyungie!”
Minho starts swaying side to side, cheerfully singing an English song for the camera.
The video cuts to another scene. Minho is sitting in the middle of a large room, prettily decorated, not unlike a child’s. There are pastel colored toys and a cream colored bookshelf filled with books and toys. On the walls are photos of a young Minho with his parents and multiple Etoile posters.
“Hi everyone! Welcome back! I’m still at home, so I decided to show you the three things I’m bringing to the countryside!”
The first item in his hands is an assortment of cat treats. “There are lots of cats in the countryside,” he begins confidently, “so I want to feed all of them. I don’t know what type of food they like though, so I just brought all the ones I saw on the shelf! I’m going to miss the cats near our dorm, so I’ve left Hannie hyungie and Subin hyungie with super careful instructions on which cats like which treats.”
He puts the cat treats down to lift up a frankly enormous fox plush. “My second item is Luna. He’s one of my newest stuffed animals, so I thought he would miss me the most if I went away for a long trip to the countryside. He’s going to keep me company and be able to see the world! Maybe he’ll even meet his cousins!”
Finally, the idol brandishes his final item. An Etoile lightstick. He waves it around, giggling happily. “Of course I have to bring my lightstick too! You never know when you might need it!”
Minho claps his hands once, turning the lights in the room off. He then clicks on the lightstick, illuminating his face. “Isn’t it pretty? It’s the prettiest lightstick ever, don’t you think?”
He claps his hands again, turning the lights back on. “That’s it from me! I can’t wait to see everyone again in the countryside!”
when moonsik first heard that they were searching for participants for absolute unit, he was sure that he wouldn’t be a good fit. but, with a little pressure, he found himself sitting on the floor in the phoenix practice room, camera propped in front of him to record the scene that he had been practicing nonstop for the past week. he watched the screen in silence for a moment, ensuring that everything was positioned properly as the light starting flashing to indicate that he was being recorded.
“hello. im choi moonsik also known as lune from phoenix. i’m going to show you what i’ve prepared but first, I suppose i should explain why i think i want to audition.” he leaned back onto his hands, looking off into the distance for a moment. “once i was on a show where i got to show off my rapping skills and i don’t think that i got the chance to do that to the best of my ability. i think that being a part of the red team would help me redeem myself. especially since i’ll have a team to work alongside. i think i have skills that i will be able to use to help this team. please enjoy consider me and enjoy my performance.”
quickly getting up, moonsik shuffled back so that his body fit the frame, nodding to someone off-screen to play the music that he had queued prior to filming.
concentration covered moonsik’s face as he danced through etoile’s bon bon chocolate. he usually wasn’t the type to know girl group dances but he figured it would be a good opportunity to show off his versatility. he had spent all of his free time for the past week practicing, wanting to impress whoever got to see his tape.
finisihing the dance he gave a deep bow to the camera before waving. “thank you for considering me.”
park had meant to start the filming hours ago, but time ended up quickly slipping away as he spent the evening curled up on the couch in meta’s dorm, chewing on the end of a pencil as he thought over how to script the video. his managers words rand through his head for the millionth time. ‘just be yourself’. maybe he had a point, after all.
abandoning the idea of scripting, he leans forwards to hit the button on the camera he had strategically set up atop of a pile of books on the coffee table. sure, there were probably much easier ways to set up the device to record. but park had never been the type of person for practicality.
he grins wide as the small light on the device begins to blink red, waving his hands enthusiastically. “hello everyone! i’m park of meta and i’m here to show off my most valuable skill.” he shifts forward to grab the camera, letting out a laugh as he catches it from tumbling to the ground. “how does this work?” he mumbled under his breath before turning the camera to show off the state of the meta dorm. it was clean enough. but clutter and randomly discarded items littered the room. “my talent is that i can make all of this disappear super fast!”
the camera shook as park bounded down the hallway, knocking on doors as he went. his voice rang out, playful yet stern. “kids. clean your stuff up. we’re living in a mess.” he made sure to show his members wandering out of their rooms before ending the shot.
clips cut in and out of park wandering throughout the dorm, barking orders of chores that needed to be complete before he settled back onto the couch.
“while i’m working my magic, i’m going to show you all what i know i can’t live without, which is why i’ve chosen these as my items. he reaches for the first item, taking up the entire frame as he showed off the well-used acoustic guitar that was covered in an array of stickers. “this is my baby and i don’t think that I’d last a day without it so of course this was my number one choice! and it will be great to life our spirits. maybe i’ll even be able to talk someone into a sing-along.” the grin stayed plastered on park’s face as he set his instrument aside.
“it took a bit of thinking to decide on my other items, but i think that i’ve made good choices.” he leans forward to show off a small handheld fan, holding his hand in front of it as he attempted to show it off like he had seen people do in their vlogs. he quickly corrected his hand position at the advice of one of his members in the background. “i don’t really enjoy being hot. it makes me grumpy, so i’ve decided to bring this fan to make sure that i stay super happy!”
carelessly tossing the fan aside, he tapped on a quick drumroll on the arm of the couch. “and last but not least! my emergency snack bag. i always bring this with me since because you never know when you’re going to need a little extra sugar.” he set the bag aside, giving the camera quick jazz hands. “tada! these are my choices. and we’re just in time to show off the results of my magic.” he stood, panning the camera over the now nearly spotless dorm.
“all it takes is a few words and i was able to organize our living space. i hope this is the kind of skill that you look forward to seeing more of.” turning the camera back to himself, park finishing with a quick peace sign. “and I hope you look forward to seeing more of me! i’m super excited. see you soon!”
yeonsu groans out loud as he turns at the sound of his phone alarm ringing. he’s already slipping back into the realm of sleep as the ringing of his phone starts to drift further and further away. but, the quiet whine of ‘hyung’ from one of his other members pulls him back and he grabs his phone before snoozing the alarm.
5.00am.
with another quiet groan full of sleep deprivation, yeonsu grabs the camera lying beside his pillow and turns it on. he presses the record button and gets a few seconds showing the time on his phone before he turns it off. the silent debate that had been going through his head within those seconds had him giving in and returning back to sleep.
the second time that yeonsu’s alarm goes off, it’s 5:45am and he finally pushes himself to get up and get ready for the day. there wasn’t much on his schedule perse, but exactly also the reason why it was easier for him to film this video for my little country at his own pace and convenience.
once he’s in the bathroom, he turns on the camera and sets it on top of the sink. he records his daily routine in silence, washing his face, brushing his teeth, moisturizing and then retreats to the living room. at this point, the sun has barely begun to rise but it’s rays of light peeking from the east can be seen.
yeonsu records the city from inside for a few seconds before turning it back on him.
he looks up with a small smile before walking towards the couch as he finally greets the camera, “good morning everyone. this is yeon of phoenix.”
with a stifled yawn, he rubs his bare face and the remaining sleep from his eyes before getting settled.
“it is currently now 6:20am. i’m not the only awake out of all our members but i am the only one awake out of the ones still at the dorm right now. today i’m filming this video because i will be joining the cast of ‘my little country’ on the countryside very soon. uhm… i will also be showing you guys what i can contribute to the cast once we are together.”
yeonsu then gets up and casually treks over to the kitchen before he aims the camera towards the sink full of dishes.
“tada!”
as quick as he displays the mess, he returns the camera to himself while laughing softly.
“i will be doing the dishes that our messy members have left behind! we usually have a system and help keep the dorm clean together. but every now and then everyone gets busy with their own schedules so the dorm gets messy and things pile up. so when i have time, i will usually take care of what i can like the dishes today.”
“my little country viewers, haha, this is the skill i can bring to our cast out in the countryside. i’ll be the tidy cleaning fairy.”
with that, yeonsu props the camera at an angle on the drying rack before he begins washing the dishes. he’s sure that the company’s editing team will speed things up and so chooses to stay silent as he goes through the entire process of cleaning the dishes down to scrubbing the sink until it sparkles. only after he finishes with drying off the counters does yeonsu redirect his attention back to the camera.
“and here we go! everyone, look at how clean the sink is. oh- you can even see my reflection in it,” yeonsu chuckles and he leans over the sink with camera in hand. and truth be told, the silhouette of yeonsu’s head can be seen at the bottom of the sink.
“now that i’ve cleaned the dishes and sink, i will be showing you all the items that i have chosen to bring with me to the countryside.”
with that, he sets the camera down onto the dining table before walking away to grab his things. his footsteps can be heard moving away and coming back before the camera shakes from impact as he places the items onto the table. after a bit of more shuffling, yeonsu grabs the camera before angling it towards the first item.
“i called my mom earlier this week and when i told her about the show, she said that i should bring a good sunhat with me in case if we have to do any farm or garden work. this way i can protect my face and neck if the sun gets too strong while we’re outside.”
he twirls the hard around to show the straw weaving of it as he explains why he’s chosen this piece before moving the camera onto the second item.
“here i have one bottle of medicine and one bottle of vitamin gummies.”
each bottle is strategically placed so that the brand names are turned away but the pills and gummies in each can be seen.
“i don’t like getting sick and even though going to the countryside means there will be fresh air, there’s still the possibility of getting sick so i want to make sure i have something to prevent and help if i do feel anything.”
“and lastly, i thought of bringing a generator but my company said i couldn’t bring that haha, so-” and then he pans the camera to the last item, “i’ve decided to bring an alarm clock. i don’t really like waking up early… it’s hard to do that haha but i like being productive and waking up early lets me get more things done in a day. so since we can’t bring our phones, i’ll be using this to help me wake up once we start filming. it’s also a quieter alarm clock since i don’t know all the details about the sleeping assignments. if i have a roommate, i don’t want to be rude and wake them up too early.”
with the last item being shown, yeonsu turns the camera back on himself and smiles brightly as he gives his ending greeting.
“alright! that was all that i had to show you everyone today. i’m very excited and happy to have the opportunity to join the cast of ‘my little country’. i hope that you guys will enjoy the show too and what i have to bring!”
note(s): the actual performance is left a little vague because i couldn’t find a nice equivalence to reference!
when she’s approached by the company about an opportunity for a variety show, yurim thinks they must have called the wrong girl. it’s a widely known fact that she’s never done the best on shows because of her demure personality. most of the times, she preferred to stay out of the spotlight. however, once yuseong explains the premises of the program, she doesn’t think it’ll be a bad idea.
because if there’s one thing that’s true about yurim, it’s that she loves performing. it’s what continues to motivate her, and the only thing that she likes to think she can’t be hated on for. even if she doesn’t seem the most enthusiastic during shows or appearances, she’s never slacked off on a performance.
the only other requirement is an audition tape. that takes her by surprise because when was the last time she’s auditioned for anything? even when she was coming into yuseong, she only had to audition for the open competition but not the company itself. it’s been, what? almost six years then since her last audition? with etoile’s image, she wonders what’s something new she could bring to the table.
they’ve done some retro stuff, some more mature concepts and, of course, some that lean a little further into girl crush as well (namely their debut). she likes to think that she’s already shown a lot of sides on stage. nevertheless, if she had to prepare an audition, then she’d like to show something that’ll get people paying attention from the very beginning.
it was a risky choice, but she decided on lee hyori’s 10 minutes for her audition tape. with the lyrics and outfit choices from the past, she knows that it leans a lot sexier than she’s ever done before, but it’s a risk that she thinks is worth taking. they’re looking for something new, aren’t they? if she had stuck to something safe then it wouldn’t be fun.
the whole point of the program for her now is to show her fans a new side of her. “hello. i’m etoile’s yurim, and i’ll be trying out for the white team. i felt the slightly more mature yet challenging choreography would be a challenge and a chance for me to display something new. thank you.”
her words are stoic like always though she makes sure to give a nice bow to the camera since it is an audition after all. however, once she gets into position and the music starts playing, she lets her fully practiced body take over. in the midst of her schedules, she didn’t have too much time to practice, but she’s a professional, isn’t she?
✱ In which Seojin films his video for MY LITTLE COUNTRY.
The soloist is no editing master ㅡ obvious, when his video began with a flash of a piece of cardstock, his name crudely scribbled on it.
He gives a stoic wave to the camera and immediately begins laying out a bowl of cleaned potatoes and a basket lined with a plastic bag.
Without warning, he holds up a knife in an attempt to show it off to the camera. It’s a slightly curved blade with serrated edging at the bottom. ( Certainly, the image might appear momentarily menacing, particularly with such a blank expression plastered across his face. )
“My dad gave me this. It’s really good for cutting vegetables.” He states plainly, reaching for one of the potatoes that he begins peeling perhaps a bit too fast.
“I’m going to show you how fast I can peel all of these. Then ㅡ “ He clears his throat and slides a raw fish into view. “I’ll fillet this fish that I caught myself.” Well, perhaps he is embellishing the details there but no one would have to know this. And, of course, it can always be used in a comedic fashion just for the sake of it.
Needless to say, he wanted to put his cooking skills on full display as being a necessity to being chosen for the show. He isn’t entirely sure if surviving in a country house could be quite possible for the others without it. Paired with his abilities with his knife and other practical skills, Seojin views himself as an invaluable asset to the show.
( Of course, he can show off his variety skills during the filming. As he understands it, this is simply for the “contestants” to show off. )
The video cuts to him sitting in front of his coffee table now, with his three intended items laid out in front of him. He gestures to each one of them as he speaks.
“I’ll be bringing these things with me. I think they’re pretty necessary. A multitoolㅡ” Maybe it’s cheating to go for it. He could have simply chosen only one of the implements within it but the added benefit of having a couple more tools, including a firestarter and a screwdriver, seemed like nothing but the right choice. “my pocket knife and a first aid kit. I’m sure the staff will do their best to take care of everyone during the shooting but it’s a just in case thing.”
He gives the kit a firm pat and nods in the direction of the camera. Perhaps it’s far too survivalist minded for a simple trip to the country but there’s no telling if any of his chosen items would even benefit his “family” or not.
