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this makes it the second survival show that eunbyeol has starred on; only this time, she's alone and presenting her rapping skills rather than her dance or vocal ones.
at first she only sent in an audition video for fun but after being accepted, her shock was through the roof. it took a lot of convincing for jyp to let her go on the show, and it didn't help that chan was hesitant also.
before even talking to jyp about it, she had brought it up to chan who immediately disapproved of the idea at first.
"hey, oppa," eunbyeol softly began as the two sat in the studio. "you know about 'show me the money', right?"
chan hummed in response, not taking his attention off of the production equipment in front of him. from the bean bag in the corner of the room, eunbyeol huffed.
"i sent in an audition video."
"you what?"
"it was for fun! jisung oppa and i were in the practice room and we were playing around."
"how does that lead up to auditioning for 'show me the money'?"
he was now turned around in the rolling chair, facing the young girl with an eyebrow raised.
"i was telling him about how i really wanted to start rapping more—"
"then you go back to uploading your tracks just like we did before debuting, or we give you more rap verses in the album."
"no!" eunbyeol sat up. "i want people to see me, moon eunbyeol. huang xiaoxing. xiao. not moon from stray kids who isn't capable of doing anything on her own."
chan's eyes softened for a moment, but his rejection was still firm. "you're going to be surrounded by guys—"
"i already am."
"byeol."
"i'm sorry, but i'm serious! jisung went on 'masked singer', why can't i be on 'show me the money'?" she asked.
"that's different."
"how so?"
"jisung was with other idols, you'll be with complete strangers. something could happen that could ruin your reputation."
eunbyeol shook her head in frustration and stood up, grabbing her backpack and cellphone with her.
"forget i ever said anything."
and out the door she went.
but later that day, chan had gone to talk to her and actually confessed that he supported her in participating. he just wanted to see how passionate and serious she really was about it.
persuading the head of the company wasn't easy but since chan was close to him, eunbyeol didn't have to talk to jyp on her own.
that was all a couple weeks ago. now, it's the first day of filming. eunbyeol kept a low profile, having her face semi hidden underneath one of changbin's hats (the oh-so-special one she calls it considering he wore it during the battle against the trainees at yg on their survival show).
before getting inside of the venue, she noticed a lot of rappers she knew and sometimes listened to. mkit rain members nafla and loopy, h1gher music artist ph-1, and so many more.
i had a feeling triple 7 would have great rappers, but i didn't expect this, she thought to herself.
about a thousand people were inside of the building which could've been mistaken for a club with all the flashing lights and loud music.
"welcome, everyone, to show me the money triple seven!" a man announced. "let's meet this season's first producer team."
"unique and creative lyrics, all rounded musician, giriboy! and the biggest influencers of the hip hop scene, swings!"
eunbyeol stood against the wall, watching as the two producers shone under the spotlights pointed on them.
"now that's a duo," she mumbled.
"the second producer team: the head of the label and swept the hip hop scene, deepflow! with a rap flow that overwhelms the audience, nucksal!"
"the third producer team: the excellent beat maker who is leading trends, code kunst! the constantly evolving perfect rapper, paloalto!"
"the fourth producer team: illionaire records ceo, the quiett! deokso's genius artist, changmo!"
stuffing her hands into the pocket of her hoodie, eunbyeol pushed herself off of the wall and gazed at the four duos on different sides of the space.
"to the one thousand applicants who have passed the video auditions, congratulations! everyone, you must decide which producer judges you. you may now go to the team which you want to be judged by."
that's new, eunbyeol thought.
she pondered for a second before being stuck between choosing giriboy and swings or the quiett and changmo. giriboy and swings already had so many people, so she went with the latter and stood a good distance away from others.
she quietly watched as rappers were either dismissed or given a necklace until changmo called on her.
"can i request someone?" he asked one of the staff members. "i wanna see the girl back there perform."
eunbyeol looked at changmo from underneath her hat and her lips parted in shock. everyone turned to her and she shyly met changmo's eyes.
"let's see what you got," he said, beckoning her over with the wave of his hand.
the crowd made a pathway for her to walk through and she did so semi-confidently.
changmo had an almost nonexistent grin as she approached him. he knew who she was, having listened to her predebut mixtapes several times. likewise, other contestants knew her as her underground name: xi.ao. as an underground artist, she didn't reveal what she looked like — not until actually debuting and saying that she was xi.ao — but after seeing stray kids on a show, changmo had a feeling that the two artists were similar.
eunbyeol stepped up onto the stage and stopped in front of the producer.
"whenever you're ready, xiao."
rather than questioning how he knew who she was without a name tag, she went right into her freestyle.
it lasted for nearly a minute when changmo held up the necklace, gesturing her to let him put it on.
"congratulations. i'll see you at the rapper evaluations," he smiled.
applause filled the audience and eunbyeol bowed and returned the grin.
➥ 終 [fin.] ➥changmo's too cute 😔 and i'm too hungry right now
