Signal Song (2)

"Ugh..." Is the sound I wanted to make, but I held it back due to the cameras. Although it'd only been an hour, it was hard not to get bored sitting and watching the same song being performed, nothing notable had happened so far either. At this point I'm sure nobody had a problem remembering the lyrics too. 

Luckily, there was a clock hanging by the entrance, so I knew that each group took about 15 minutes to go through. If there wasn't I didn't know how I'd stay sane, not knowing how much time had passed.

In the meantime, I spoke with Eunho to pass the time, we had managed to get grouped together once again, it was like a string of fate was tying us together. We also took the effort to cheer whenever someone did well to not look like we didn't care about the practice at all, just in case. 

"Hyung, do you think we'll be able to return as ourselves?" Our conversation had naturally evolved into our bizarre situation. 

I thought for a second before replying, "Hm... Honestly, I don't think so. Even if we went back, would we be able to return to our normal lives? Becoming a famous idol is sure to take a lot of time."

Eunho smiled with sad eyes, "I guess so..." however his expression quickly brightened up, "Well, I guess there's nothing we can do now except work our butts off" 

I shook my head with a smile, this kid's emotions jumps all over the place don't they? 

"Of course, we're gonna survive together." I said as I returned my eyes to the current trainees that were being evaluated. 

"Forever sh-ining star!" the last trainee, who happened to be Haru had been told to repeat the ending he had been struggling with numerous times. "Isn't he gonna just break his voice if they keep making him sing like that...?" I whispered to Eunho.

"He has no choice, they're probably gonna highlight this scene in the show if they're spending this long on one part." Eunho whispered back as he looked at the trainee with pity. I bit my lip in nervousness, I hope neither of us get ridiculed later on...

"Stop. Stop. I think that's enough." Mentor Jung Suri said while putting her hand up in a stopping motion. The trainee was stopped in the middle of repeating the line again and he looked like he was about to break into tears.

"Sigh. I really don't know what to say, you can't even do this as a 4-star?" she continued speaking with an exasperated expression plastered on her face. 

"Is she really saying that after forcing him to strain his voice 10 times in a row?" I thought, but of course the answer would that it was just for show. I felt immensely bad for him since he was my roommate but I could only look out for me and Eunho here.

Shortly after, Dohyun's group evaluation had ended, Dohyun being the only trainee to be criticized despite him practically being marionetted into doing worse. His group happened to be beside mine so I patted him on the back once he sat down.

"It's okay Dohyun, that wasn't your fault." I said in an effort to comfort him.

He said nothing and instead silently nodded, staring at his fidgeting thumbs. I decided that he just needed some time to himself and let it be. 

"Ah, it's Kim Hajun's turn." I said to Eunho as I saw Hajun's group slowly walking to the area in front of the mentors. I smirked, I could tell that he was shaken up by the dance practice as he could barely look up at the mentors, randomly being rude to us must've brought him bad karma.

Aidan was part of his group and was first to sing, his smooth voice entered my ears. I recalled that he had sung an ballad song during his audition. He had placed 3-stars as he had minimal dancing in his performance. 

"Reaching out my hand, guide me in this dark tunnel. I can feel the light, you make me shine bright."

I couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh~" his voice perfectly suited this song and it felt like I was tasting honey through my ears. Aidan somehow heard me and looked my way before shyly turning back to the mentors as the next trainee continued the song to their part.

"Why is he suddenly acting shy? He was pretty loud during our games yesterday and he even drew on my face" I mumbled to myself.

Regardless, the vocal practice continued and it was finally Hajun's turn, he had ended up being assigned the repetitive chorus part that had back to back high-tuned vocals. 

"Shi-shi ning. Shining-Shining-Shining Star" Despite his nervous expression, he calmly sang his part. However, I tilted my head in confusion, he had lowered the key, despite everyone else attempting to at least reach the original key from the demo.

Especially after Dohyun had just suffered right before him, I had a feeling that he'd get scolded for the same reason he had just been before. I winced as Mentor Suri abruptly raised her microphone, causing a momentary screeching sound to blast. 

Ignoring the sound, she instantly remarked on what I'd been thinking about, "Trainee Hajun, what are you doing right now? Why are you lowering the key all by yourself?" 

Hajun's eyes started to dart around. At this point I was starting to feel some sympathy for him, I'd be nervous too with her stern gaze.

"I- I was just-", he tried to explain, however Mentor Suri interrupted him. "You have no excuse, start it again. Do it right this time."

Damn. Mentor Suri had definitely been one of the kinder mentors so far so her curtness for two trainees in a row was quite surprising. I started to feel chilly as I remembered that Eunho and I would also have to go through her comments after her mood had probably worsened.

I turned to Eunho and said "Let's do well Eunho-ya..." he turned to me with worried eyes and shakily said, "O-Okay hyung."

I patted his back as Hajun finally gathered himself and started his 2nd try of the chorus. However, it felt like deja vu, he was going through the same treatment Dohyun had just trialed. 

While rubbing her temple, Mentor Suri finally told him to stop. I cringed internally, this was way too hard to watch, as much as I don't like that guy. She had spent a whole 5 minutes on Hajun's part and it seemed like it finally got too much as she decided to ask Aidan to show Hajun how to do it instead. 

"Me?" Aidan said with a cartoony tone, causing the mood to lighten as the mentors chuckled, before Mentor Suri nodded her head. 

Clearing his throat, Aidan repeated the part that had been replayed multiple times.

"Shi-shi ning. Shining-Shining-Shining Star~" He flawlessly executed the part and bowed to the mentors as they started lightly clapping.

"Do you hear that? This is how you do it Trainee Hajun, we've spent too much time on this part so let's just move on for now." Mentor Suri said as she turned her head to Hajun. Hajun definitely felt humiliated as he just nodded and looked down at his lyric sheet. 

After, Hajun's group uncomfortably finished their practice as Hajun was once again criticized when he sung through the whole song alone. I was dumbstruck. At this point, my grudge against Hajun had passed as this was way too unfair, although she was a mentor, all she did was beat him down without actually giving any constructive feedback on how he could hit the notes. 

I started to dislike Mentor Suri but I chalked it up to the producers asking her to play this role as she was still our mentor after all. After two more long rounds of trainees, it was finally my group's turn. It seemed like Mentor Suri had finally calmed down as she stopped being so harsh on the trainees after Hajun. 

We made our way to the same spot in front of the mentors as Mentor JP distributed our parts. I ended up getting the opening part and started singing.

"Reaching out my hand, guide me in this dark tunnel. I can feel the light, you make me shine bright."

"Pause." Mentor Aki suddenly spoke out, causing me to get startled as I started singing the next line. 

"Trainee Sunwoo, why are you making such a constipated expression while singing?" He deadpanned. 

"H-HuH? Sorry- what?" I was so dumbfounded that my voice cracked which caused me to get even more twisted up. I wasn't expecting such a word to come out of his mouth especially on an idol show like this. 

"What I'm saying is that you need to fix your facial expression, this song is supposed to have a refreshing mood, not a suffocating feeling." He said, ignoring my embarrassing moment.

"Yes sir!" I nodded with a loud voice to hide my embarrassment.

I sung once again, this time paying proper attention to my facial expression, safely passing my part. As the next trainee started singing, I came to realize that I hadn't thought about what expression my face had been making during all our practice so far. My cheeks started to heat up as I imagined myself dancing during the audition with a "constipated" look.

Regardless, I started to pay attention once again as it was Eunho's turn. Luckily he didn't get the vocally straining part. So he calmly sang his part,

"I lock my eyes with yours, the sparkling light I can see in my reflection. Is this what you see? Because you're my shining star." 

As soon as the next trainee started singing, he whipped his head to me, I gave him a small thumbs up in approval, he returned it with a smile. I was relieved that we both managed to pass safely without Mentor Suri's sharp comments.

However, that quickly changed during the individual run-throughs. My vocal grade was decently levelled so I perfectly sang the whole song. Eunho on the other hand hadn't touched his vocals at all, which were sitting at the D grade. As Eunho strained his voice on every high note- which there were way too many of- I could see Mentor Suri losing her mind.

By the chorus, she couldn't take it anymore and spoke into her microphone, "Trainee Junwoo, please stop. Sigh. I know from your audition that you're a talented rapper, but being an idol these days means being an all rounder. Does singing not matter to you at all? With your skills right now I don't even know if I can say you have a chance at singing." 

Eunho bit his lip, silently taking in her criticism. I was upset that I couldn't do anything right now but watch. 

Mentor Suri continued with a soft voice, "Please tell me you'll work hard from now on okay? I believe you can do it."

It seemed like she had grown a conscience, "Junwoo" was only 17 years old after all, and he looked like he was about to cry too. 

"Y-yes! I'll do my best to improve my singing from now on!" Eunho yelled out with his eyes closed, bowing to Mentor Suri. I held back a chuckle as I could tell he was fully genuine about his determination.

After this, Eunho shakily finished his solo practice and we were sent back to be seated. As we sat down, Eunho instantly started to cry. I hugged him while rubbing his back, I knew the tears were just flowing out after all the tension was released so I just silently comforted him. 

After our group, nothing noteworthy occurred and the vocal practice ended on a somewhat anticlimactic note. 

Mentor JP then stood in front of all the trainees with an announcement to make, "That brings the end to the group signal song practice, you worked hard everybody. Like the previous seasons, you will all have three days to prepare for your final star evaluation. Remember that you will have mentors to rely on during this time so don't try to be a lone wolf."

He took a short pause before continuing, "In addition to the group signal song performance, each trainee will also be given a chance to display their charms with a solo signal song video." 

I could hear whispers breaking out as this was a new addition to the show but Mentor JP continued speaking. "Like previous seasons, the trainee who receives the most views on the group signal song on their fancam will receive 100,000 bonus votes. However, this time there will also be another trainee who'll receive 100,000 votes if they receive the most views on their solo signal song video."

I continued to listen intently as the trainees around me continued to discuss the new feature. "In addition to this, the solo signal song video will also be entirely self produced, each trainee will receive a $100 dollar budget to spend on costumes, effects and the sorts on the video. I hope everyone will be able to make a unique performance and receive the benefit."

"Wow that's basically guaranteeing surviving past the first elimination!" Eunho said with sparkling eyes, he seemed hyped up for some reason.

"Finally, the video will be released 3 days after your star evaluation, which it will stay up for 24 hours. Once the 24 hours are up, only the most viewed video will remain public. With that, I hope all of you trainees will do your best for the upcoming week."