KIBA ; STRAY KIDS

44 ; KIBA

Kingdom was finally due, and we were back in the same backstage room. This time for round 2 we were to perform other groups songs in our own style. I was pretty nervous this time round as I was a main focus point towards the end of the song, and I had a pretty high note to exercise in this live performance.

We were dressed in mostly all black with little white decorations of our clothes. I had a pretty open bit on my chest, and I had cloth tied around my waist with some shoes which had a small heel on. I was standing comfortably at 6'0 now with the heel, and I towered over some of the members.

To get straight to it, SF9 were the first group to perform. They decided to perform their own version of THE BOYZ' song 'The Stealer'. After my talk with Seungmin, we were definitely on better terms now, so I was happy to actually pay more attention to the performances. SF9's performance was super strong - there was fights going on, shirtless men, guns with amazing dance breaks.

"Wow, they really went all out." I said as they ended their performance with pretty ending fairies.

We talked about the performance for a while before Changmin came on screen to announce that THE BOYZ would be the next team to perform. THE BOYZ were performing 'The Red Wedding', a very mature and sexy themed song. There were incredible gold cages, and old jazz dances and they even included the Tango and finally there was a lot of captivating red. They were all so in sync when they danced too, it was so fun to watch.

The next team to perform was IKON sunbaenim. I was very excited to watch them perform an ATEEZ song since I liked ATEEZ' songs a lot. I wanted to see how they would interpret an ATEEZ song and turn it into their own. The TV flashed on again, and immediately I could tell it was 'INCEPTION'. I watched closely - there was a lot of moving building like the movie inception, and there was a total beat change with a dance break. It was all so cool.

Bobby came on screen, with his chill vibe and there was an effect placed on him from the camera and he looked so cool.

"Ugh Bobby sunbaenim!" I cried out - he was so fucking cool.

Then they completely switched up again and this this massive optical illusion with their arms. I was blown away from this rendition of 'INCEPTION'.

ATEEZ was next as they were performing an IKON song and the song they chose was the classic 'Rhythm TA'. Their performance started in a van, the lights went out as they crashed and then when the lights went back on, they had masks on their face.

"Woah." I let out in a breath.

Their performance was no less than incredible - I was convinced ATEEZ could do anything and make it one of the best things to watch. The theme, the costumes, the makeup, everything was on point. The singing, and the beat drop into the dance was immaculate and I just got up and started jumping on the balls of my feet lightly. I could feel for once, the size of my 'doe' eyes.

There was a cool part of San doing a type of dance but on the floor and using a rope to make it seem like he was really climbing this rope. I cheered loudly. They opened this bank and Hongjoong came out and started rapping.

"Oh Wooyoung-ssi!" I jumped in excitement at the face Wooyoung pulled when he came on screen.

Then something happened, and Hongjoong was speaking English into a microphone on a podium. I got that it was from a show or something, but I had never seen it before, so it was pretty new and fresh - I totally liked the concept. Then a massive blip came out from the opening doors, and it was releasing papers over the whole studio.   

Then Jongho hit this incredible high note again.

"Yah, Jongho-ssi." I smiled and clapped but silently.

Jongho hit another high note as the dance break happened, and I watched intensely. ATEEZ performances just hit different. Then they had a final bit which was added; HongJoong in a costume breaking some glass to retrieve an hourglass.

"Oh, it's the start of the wonderland performance. The hourglass!" I pointed out and the other members 'ohh'ed' to show they understood where I was coming from.

"Wah, Kiba you're a big fan huh?" Changbin teased and I smiled as I sat down again.

"Yeah, I really like them." I agreed with myself and Chan chuckled.

"Your so cute."

I rolled my eyes playfully. Then we kind of grew quiet as it was announced that the next group to perform would be BTOB who were performing our song 'Back Door'. SKZ knew they were doing a more mature, Jazz/Rock vibe to it but they had an amazing stage which was like backstage to a show. I watched it gratefully.

Then Peniel came out with a super cool rap which was new to our song. They exited the backstage area and came onto stage with back up dancers acting like fans. Then Eunkwang hit this super high note and I got up and jumped again, super happy with the way they performed our song. Then they had a dance break and pretty much all of us were on our feet dancing along.

Don't even get me started. I practically screamed when Minhyuk ripped off his shirt. I was crying, laughing, choking on my saliva, and lying on the floor all at once because of the torture he just put me through.

It finished way to quickly in my opinion. I clapped happily and sat back down to gather my breath.

"Wow, I'm so moved." Changbin said.

"Who choked? I heard coughing." Han asked and I put my hand up, "Of course it was you."

We got quiet again, it was finally our turn.