Show Your Case Part 1

"Hyung… we finally made it!" Zee said in between his heavy breathing.

The rest of the group were waving to the audience who were screaming out our group name. We just finished performing our debut song for the first time in MNET's Music Bank. I can still hear the heavy breathing from my members after it.

I thought to myself… finally, we're here…

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1 year ago…

"Zhang! Lift your hand a bit higher, it's kind of out of place compared to the rest." I said as did the choreography from one of Shinee's songs.

We were already 2 years in to our training and tonight, we would be showcasing in a show that existed only in this world. It's called Show Your Case.

It was a show from MNET which made the 5 major companies showcase their trainees that would possibly be debuting in the next two years.

This show was created to avoid rumors that might hurt the company if they did not debut any new group. The show also allowed the viewers to see the current trainees and root for them even while they were training. This would help solidify the fan base once the group debuted.

What happens is that 2 female and 2 male groups from each company will present a joint dance to represent their company. Then the male groups will then be pitted against each other. It was the same for the female groups.

Sometimes, some of the companies would decide to only have one group to show case or none at all.

The thrilling part of this show is that all the CEOs of each company would be present and that there is a possibility that they would name trainees who would be forming a group. Sometimes the group name would be revealed, sometimes they won't.

As I've said before, once you are part of a group, you'll have a little bit of special treatment. Like the usage of facilities, allowance, dorm, your own training room and even tuition fees. Everyone wanted that.

What I hate about this show though is that trainees who had the lowest scores in the past few months according to their teachers and coaches, would be dropped out of the company. Other companies would then do a thing called re-contract, meaning they would put the person under their company to train instead. This is usually in the Buy-Off segment.

What's even humiliating is that if the CEO does not like all the group's performance, the CEO would not announce their team to debut. In short, there won't be a group debuting for that company in the next year or only one male or female group gets to debut.

It was a brutal show to be honest…

When we were trainees with members of Got7, they were showcased that year and had already been announce to debut that year. Although they debuted with all members, it was still weird listening to their songs which I have never heard before. They also debuted a little earlier than expected.

When they were announced that they were debuting soon, the treatment towards them drastically changed. For one, they didn't have to ride the bus anymore since they used the company's cars. But that was just the start of it.

"Hyung… I can't do it anymore… can we have a break? We've been practicing since 9AM." Zee complained.

I turned to look at everyone and saw that they were already exhausted. After checking my watch, it was already past 2PM. We didn't even have lunch yet.

I guess the pressure is getting to me. "Sorry guys. Let's head to the cafeteria for lunch and come back at around 4:30PM to finalize everything."

They then erupted in cheers.

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We were heading to the cafeteria and were really quiet. I knew that everyone was really tired from practice but it seems like they were angry at me for letting them miss out on lunch.

I just hung my head low and didn't talk to them since I was scared.

Jeong Do then looked at me and said, "Don't worry JayB. We're not mad at you. We're just hungry and tired. That's all."

When everyone heard that, they turned to look at me and smiled. "Really hyung? You thought we were mad?" Woo laughed really hard after he said that and the rest followed.

Matt placed his arm around me and said, "We get it. We feel nervous too so we understand. Now let's go grab something to eat, shall we?"

I just nodded at them and we cheerfully headed towards the cafeteria.

As soon as we arrived, we realized that the place was already full. Most of them were trainees as well.

They also might be feeling nervous too since the place felt gloomy and tense.

We decided to get some food and wait it out. Just as we were done getting our food we heard someone call us.

"Yow Jinbo! Over here!" We turned to look at who it was and saw Jackson signaling us to join them.

We didn't hesitate and just joined their table. They were really nice guys. We also knew them because we had the same classes together back when they were trainees.

"It's been a while guys! How's the stardom life?" I joked as I sat down beside Yugyeom-hyung.

"Pffft! What stardom life? We're still rookies you know?!" Bambam replied as he laughed at what I said. "Hey Seiji-hyung, I'm pretty sure you're regretting backing out on joining Got7, huh?" He continued.

Seiji was actually offered to join the Got8 at that time. But he flat out rejected it on national television saying that he still needs to train even more which was a lousy excuse of wanting to debut with us.

Seiji just chuckled and shook his head at Bambam's comment.

"Enough Bambam. Leave Seiji alone. Anyway, how are you guys feeling? Are you nervous about tonight? Jinyoung-hyung asked.

"Hyung… we now understand what you feel. We're really nervous." Yo Chul who was usually quiet spoke up first.

The Got7 members laughed at what he said. Mark-hyung then spoke, "That's practically normal. But that doesn't excuse you from missing out on a meal. Jinbo, you should take good care of your members. I understand that you are nervous, but I also know that you guys have already worked hard enough for tonight. Just do what you do best. Steal the show! And it will definitely work out."

I just nodded at what he said.

Mark-hyung was right. I was just caving in to the pressure. I didn't even bother checking on my members. Some leader I was.

Then I felt a tap on my shoulders. I checked who it was who was standing behind me and saw Jackson behind me. "Jinbo… you are doing well. Even your members think so too. Don't be too hard on yourself. You guys get some sleep after this one. We will join you in your practice studio to make sure you guys sleep."

"But hyung, don't you have any schedules today?" Woo asked.

"Oh we do, but it's still at 6PM so we will wake you up before then. You'll go to MNET's studio by 6PM too right?" JB-hyung asked.

I just nodded.

"Then I guess we'll be going together then. So eat up!" he responded.

Afterwards, we ate as we talked about our trainee life before and they also shared to us about what to expect after we debut. I personally really learned a lot from them.

In the previous life, I may have trained with BTS and was about to debut with them but I didn't get the chance to do so. Even when I was a producer, I was pretty much just making and creating songs.

It was different now. I really wanted to debut. And to do it with these guys too.

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Because of our Got7 hyungs, we were able to sleep well. They even scolded the managers or trainees that came in to the room to wake us up.

Before we knew it, it was already 6PM.

We freshened up a little before going to the studio. The Got7 members went ahead of us since they were heading in to a different venue.

Us on the other hand, went to one of the dressing rooms that we were assign in. We had our hair and make-up done by age so Seiji had to go first. The rest of the group were either warming up their vocals, practicing their lines or recalling the steps of the dance.

Because we had the chance to sleep well earlier, we were now 100% ready to go!

After all the preparations were done. We huddled together with our stylists, make-up artists, and managers.

I turned to look at everyone in the room. "First of, I want to thank our managers, stylists and make-up artists for supporting us tonight. Without you guys, we wouldn't know what to do. So thank you!" My group members said their thanks and applauded for them.

"Now guys! I want you to know that whatever happens today, I'm proud of each and every single one of you. Whatever the outcome is, it really is an honor to be able to train with each of you!" I told them sincerely.

We did a group hug and cheered for everyone and with that we bravely made our way to the studio for the live broadcast.

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The lights slowly dimmed and spotlights focused itself to the emcees.

"Hello everyone! My name is Taeyeon from Girl's Generation!" Taeyeon greeted the audience as they cheered.

Another Emcee then introduced himself. "Hey everyone! My name is G-Dragon from Big Bang and we are your emcees for this year's…"

They both looked at each other and yelled, "Show Your Case!"

After they introduced the show, the crowd just went wild. This show was done once a year. And almost everyone in South Korea or even people from other countries would watch this.

"GD-ssi, I'm really excited for tonight's show!" Taeyeon said excitedly.

"Oh? Why is that Taeyeon-ssi?" GD played along with the script.

Taeyeon then giggled before she replied, "Because all the five major companies have gathered their cream of the crop to see if they are worthy to debut!" She replied still in an excited tone.

GD then smiled at her and responded, "Wow! That's why! Taeyeon-ssi, do you still remember when you were on this show?"

Taeyeon then pretended to shiver and looked at GD, "It was a nerve-wrecking moment for me and my members at that time. Remembering it gives me the chills."

"I really know what you mean and I'm pretty sure the trainees themselves are feeling the same thing." GD replied.

"So let's not waste any more time G-Dragon-ssi and let's call on our trainees." Taeyeon said,

Then they both gave the cue by saying, "Give it up for this year's Trainees representing their respective companies!"

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We were not allowed to see other trainees since it would spark up an unfriendly competition. But as trainees, we all knew that there was only one competition here. It was between us and our CEO's favor.

"This is it boys!" I yelled as I got a response of yells and cheers on my own.

We made our way in as we stood towards our assigned place on the stage. This has got to be the biggest stage a trainee could stand on. Figuratively and literally. There were almost 20 groups here. The lowest member count is probably 5 members and the rest had more than 10.

The music turned on and it was a song that didn't come from my previous world. But I liked it nonetheless since it was an epic musical score.

The trainees danced as if their lives depended on it. Each group was given a 32-count highlight and that was our only shot to grab the audience and our CEO's first impression. I could even feel my heart pounding from my chest.

I've never been this nervous in my life.

Our company was the second to the last to give a sample piece. I noticed that there were familiar faces which kind of distracted me.

First, the Big Hit Entertainment's corner. Gfriend's members were there, but that was not enough to distract me. There was a group of people that caught my attention. It was the BTS members.

"So they've finally showed themselves… it must be fate." There was a chance that I might be debuting with them at the same time. It's funny how fate works.

Next was Pledis with so many people there but…

Only one group for the male? Wow! How many are there?

I counted how many there were. Once I did, I knew immediately who they were.

"Seventeen made it too. Oh? I hope Pristin would last long in this world. I'll help them if they'd ask for help in the future." In the previous world, Pristin was disbanded after their short career which was sad news for us.

The group had a huge potential. Let's just see how this will go.

YG came up next with some familiar faces…

"Oh? IKON members. And wait… isn't that Lisa? Well I guess she really did heed my advice. I didn't expect her to go for YG though." I knew most of what was happening inside YG since I'm also secretly a major shareholder too.

"Even in this world too, huh?" I thought to myself.

Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. Seiji was signaling me to go.

We immediately ran towards the center before dancing our hearts out. We could hear the people cheering and some of them even asked if we were really trainees.

It's not even our debut but it felt like one already!

After we went off the stage, it was SM who went on the stage with just 2 girl groups. I guess there isn't much to do about it.

I saw the members of Red Velvet happily making their way to the center and performed their hearts out.

We all went back on stage to do the joint dance. After ending it with a pose, the crowd went crazy for everyone. The crowd yelled different company names and I could barely hear from my in-ear monitor.

We might not have debut yet, but if this is what it feels like, then I want more.

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