Off-Screen (무대아래에서) | Haobin

Only Here (화장실에서만)

The Dual Position battle starts by choosing their team and their song through 밀어내기 (mironaegi), which at first makes the Global team cheer and the Korean team groan -- except for the top-ranked Korean trainees, who all seem to relax. 밀어내기 sounds like it's good for the lower-ranked trainees at first because they get the first pick of which song they want to do, but it's actually brutal because the higher-ranked trainees can push them out of their selected team once it's their turn to choose a song. Every Korean has felt the sting of being pushed out of a group they wanted to be in by 밀어내기 during their school years. Hanbin realizes he has nothing to worry about when they announce this -- since he's ranked first, he'll be able to pick whatever song he wants with no risk of being pushed to a different group. And he'll be able to pick a team that's already assembled, since everyone will have picked their song before him. It's not a good feeling to push someone out of a team they wanted simply because you have a higher rank than them... but it's a survival show, so of course they'd use 미러내기 as a means of choosing the songs.

He also has the most time to think about which song he'll pick, and this surfaces the anxiety from the elimination round. How can he show the Star Creators a new side of himself? He may be in first place now, but the audience could easily tire of him if he doesn't keep improving. Outwardly he strives to appear calm, but inside his heart is racing. He needs to seize this opportunity and be strategic about his song selection.

The 밀어내기 goes mostly as expected, with a lot of unhappiness radiating from the people that get pushed to different groups. Hanbin carefully watches the teams form. He needs to do something that's less... nice than what he's been doing. Love Me Right was sweet, and fit his existing image. Even the signal song is sweet and cute, and Hanbin's image fits that as well. But he has range, he has power, and if he can show that -- with the right team -- he'll be able to hold his position. He feels sure of it. He can't let himself get pigeon-holed into the cute/sweet category when he can do more than just that.

As they come to the end of the 밀어내기, Hanbin picks his team and his song. He makes his way slowly down the aisle, the other trainees shouting and excitedly exclaiming when he gets near their team. He turns and stops by the Tomboy team. It's a full team, and they're mostly high-ranked, so all of their faces fall at the prospect of being pushed out of that team and into a team made up of mostly lower-ranked trainees. Gunwook is hiding his face entirely, looking down in submission. Hoetaek looks genuinely crest-fallen as if Hanbin has already pushed him out of the team. And then there's Hao Hyung, standing behind Gunwook, hiding his expression behind his hand because he can't control it. Hanbin knows why. If Hanbin pushes Hao Hyung out, then he has to go to a rap and dance team. Hao Hyung can dance very well, but he's not a rapper; it's perhaps his one weakness. If he can't showcase his powerhouse vocal abilities, he might drop in the ranks.

Hanbin isn't that cruel. Still, this is an opportunity to create some harmless tension for the viewers. He hides his smile and slowly walks up past Gunwook to Hao Hyung, who goes white, but puts his hands down away from his face. He visibly steels himself for the rejection. Hanbin lets the tension mount before he moves past Hao Hyung and hugs Seung-Hwan instead. He apologizes to him softly, and Seung-Hwan just frowns and nods before he leaves the team. Seung-Hwan takes a moment to look disappointed, then recovers his energy and excitedly joins the Gang team, who welcomes him with equal enthusiasm. Hao Hyung smiles at Hanbin covertly, obviously relieved and grateful that Hanbin didn't push him out of the group, before he straightens his face for the cameras again.

Hanbin had been serious when he told Hao Hyung that they might be on the same team soon. But even he didn't realize that he'd been waiting for Hao Hyung to be released from the cage of the Global Team so that he could get to know him. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he thinks of Hao Hyung as the most talented trainee, and he wants to be close to Hao Hyung's energy, the same way the other trainees try to be close to him. Despite his efforts not to expect anything, he does expect Zhang Hao to be on the final debut team... and he wants to know the musical prodigy better before they debut together. Hao Hyung could teach Hanbin just as much, or more, than he can teach Hao Hyung while they're still trainees, fighting to survive to the end.