Hyun-Shik the General

A week had passed since the events at the mall with Hyun-Shik. He seemed to have forgotten about what was bothering him. Or at least, he was hiding it from everyone else. The recording for the third episode had just started, and we were gathered in front of EVE, waiting for the challenge to be revealed.

I had come up with a plan that would help Hyun-Shik. All I needed now was a chance to put it into play. I was relying on the challenge being along the lines of what I had predicted, which was a challenge to do with live performance again.

We were in luck.

"I shall now reveal your next challenge!" EVE announces.

The TV screen turns on again, showing us images of various groups during their trainee days, busking for the public.

"Your next challenge is as follows:

You will perform 3 different songs for the public.

Your first song is to be performed in a group of 9, the second in a group of 3, and your final performance is to be solo. You will then be judged by the very people you performed in front of. They will vote, and the two people with the lowest combined votes after the three rounds will be ejected from the show. The performance will be in two weeks time"

At the mention of elimination, the room suddenly became very serious. It had finally been introduced. The stakes have been raised.

ADAM then went over all the extra rules before we were to begin. "First, the 9 member teams have already been organised. All you must do is select a leader. The leader's job will be to pick the song and distribute the lines for the group. They must also organise the training and divide out all remaining jobs to their members. They are also to decide on the 3-man group's compositions that will be made from within the 9 member groups. Solo performances will be decided by each individual."

ADAM and EVE then shut off, and everyone else begins to join up with their teams. In the end, they look like this:

Hyun-Shik, Chu Jin-Ho, Akizuki Akira, Kyu-Bong, and 5 of the introduced trainees. On the other team were DongBang, Hayashi and Seol Young who had an issue with DongBang. While we were just standing there I could see him glaring at DongBang. The next job was to select our leaders. We very quickly had Hyun-Shik elected, he graciously accepted the role and promised to work hard. Meanwhile, the other group seemed to be locked in an argument. Seol Young and one of the other trainees seemed to be fighting over the position. The rest of the group looked disinterested in the position and just wanted to make a decision.

Very soon our group got bored of watching and decided to move off and work on the song. The camera crew for the show looked happy at least. This would provide some good drama for them at least. Very soon the sound of murmuring came from through the wall of the dance studio we were in. Akira took a look through the door window. "Looks like they made a decision on the leader" he mutters. Looking out the window we could see the group sitting in a circle muttering something. Seol Young was standing in the centre looking triumphant as if he had just won a war.

"Alright. Let's stop worrying about the other team and focus on ourselves!" Hyun-Shik interrupts us, dragging us back to reality. We all turn to him, ready for whatever plan that he has. At the same time, I was putting my plan into action. "First thing is first. We need to pick a song. What ideas do you guys have so far?" We all suggested various songs and we created a list from those.

The list:

Super Junior: runaway

GOT7: Girls Girls Girls

SHINee: Ring Ding Dong

BTOB: WOW

From there we selected WOW by BTOB as the song we would perform. We then got put into three groups of three and given one of the remaining songs on the list. This was a very simple system that Hyun-Shik had come up with, and it worked well. He then distributed our jobs for the 9 member group act. Kyu-Bong would be the main rapper, while I would take the main vocals and Akira would take the main dancer. The other trainees all were given lead and sub roles according to their abilities. They didn't seem to have any complaints against the role distribution which was good. Hyun-Shik then outlined our training plans. We would spend 4 hours each day practising as a 9 man group, and then each 3 man group would be given 2 hours a day to practice. Our solo training was to be organised outside those times by ourselves.

Next, he distributed the lines. This took him a solid hour. While that was happening he made us watch the choreography multiple times and start to learn it. After the 4th run-through of the full choreography, led by me and Akira, he had finally finished the distribution of the lines and handed them out. What surprised us the most was that the lines had been carefully considered for each person. It was like he had spent years with each of us and knew exactly which person was good at what. Kyu-Bong was given all of the speed rap parts as that was his biggest strength. The other two rappers were given an even spread of the melodic rap which Kyu-Bong was weaker at and they were better at. The vocal lines were spread perfectly as well. Akira and one of the other trainees who were more dance inclined were given fewer lines. The ones they were given allowed more stability in vocals while dancing. The other four of us were given the more advanced vocal lines as we were better trained. Hyun-Shik and the other two trainees took the more mid-range vocals, that their vocal ranges could reach and their melodic styles suited. I was given every other line that was left as according to Hyun-Shik I "Had a god-given talent to sing anything I was given perfectly," and that my range was "Too good to be true." Once the lines had been distributed we immediately began to practice. Hyun-Shik again was like a general in the middle of combat. "Akira, slow down on the movements so the others can follow a little easier!" "Chan Bingwen, sort out those vocals, you sound shakey and strained. You need to relax your diaphragm more!" "Kyu-Bong, you're rap pattern seems out of touch slightly. Instead of putting the pause here, try adding these words in this sequence and pausing here. Your rap is much faster than the original so you need to change where the pauses are!" It was like he knew each member of this group inside and out. He knew what was wrong almost immediately, and was very good at telling us exactly what to do to fix it.

Soon our 4 hours were up, and we had to move into our 3-person group training. I had been put in Hyun-Shik's group along with one of the other trainees who was a very good dancer but had weak vocals. We were the second team to practice, so we were taking a small break.

"Ok, so I have finished dividing up our parts for Runaway!" Hyun-Shik announced as he walks into my bedroom with the other trainee. His name was Seonu Min Ki, He was a half Thai half Korean dancer who had joined the company last year. After sitting down, he handed out the sheet with the lyrics on it. What I saw distressed me a little. Hyun-Shik literally had three lines to sing and one line to rap in the entire song. "Hey, Hyun-Shik. Why do you have such a small amount of lines? Surely you can sing a few more of these?" I ask. His head slowly drops as he faces the floor.