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a day later and she was back at the same venue. eunbyeol already knew what she was going to show to the judges once she left the preliminaries.
she walked in along with everyone else and suddenly felt so small. bleacher-like seating was on both sides of the room with the evaluation stage in the middle. across from that was a platform with four couches, most likely for the producer teams.
eunbyeol decided to sit up on the top row on the right side of the stage and looked around for a bit before the host began to speak.
"fiercer than ever, the surviving 140 rappers made it through two battles. congratulations!"
clapping sounded throughout the warehouse and cheers emitted from nearly everybody.
"one thing has completely changed for show me the money triple seven," jinpyo said. "all one hundred and forty rappers will all receive public evaluations."
he continued to talk about how everything would work, but one thing stood out.
"those who pass will have their rap associated with a money amount. that money will go towards future fight money."
sitting quietly and attentively, eunbyeol rested her elbows on her knees and put her chin in the palm of her hand.
the producer teams started to walk up the stairs and take their own seats. changmo had taken a quick glance at the rappers and immediately caught eunbyeol's eye since she was seated close by.
he flashed her a smile and the girl did the same, nodding her head a tiny bit.
jinpyo held up his cue card and said, "show me the money triple seven! what's your rap worth? who will be the first rapper to be called?"
"out of the thousand or so contestants from the rapper preliminaries, this was the first rapper to be judged.. bully da bastard!"
eunbyeol's eyes focused on the man on the other side of the room and followed as he headed backstage. when the doors opened, he stood up there with smoke lingering around his feet.
a little bit of small talk was made between him and the judges before he began his performance. listening to the lyrics and the beat, eunbyeol drummed her fingers on her cheek.
towards the end of his rap, changmo and the quiett hit the fail button, catching a few people by surprise. with a fight money amount of ₩700,000, bully da bastard passed.
the show continued on, rappers getting eliminated left and right until one of the popular winning contenders stood on the stage.
the atmosphere turned eerie after giriboy had criticized osshun gum negatively, and when loopy went up, swings confronted him. despite calling the show out, loopy was now starring on it.
luckily, the air seemed to get lighter once swings said he'd cheer him on.
┊〄┊
it took quite a while until eunbyeol's stage name was called. her nerves almost entirely disappeared during the wait, but right when jinpyo announced that she'd be going, they instantly came back.
"this contestant is seventeen [korean age] years old and already a known artist and producer," he stated. "xi.ao!"
the girl saw changmo snap his head towards her as she stood up from her seat.
"seventeen!?" "doesn't she look familiar?" "that's moon from stray kids, isn't it?"
she ignored the whispered comments and made her way behind the stage where a staff member showed her where to go.
out of anxiousness, eunbyeol fixed her hat and made it so it would cover her eyes from others even more. letting out an exhale, the doors in front of her slid open and everyone's eyes were on her.
"hello," she bowed, walking out to the end.
"you seem really familiar," nucksal mentioned. "changmo was the one to judge you, right?"
she hummed and nodded in response.
swings leaned his elbow up on the armrest of the sofa. "can you take your hat off for a second?"
with a steady hand, eunbyeol gripped the bill of changbin's hat and lifted it off her head.
exclaims of shock came from all around the venue, the judges being no exception. giriboy's eyes widened and he looked at code kunst, his mouth slightly opened.
he held his mic up and said, "you're from stray kids!"
eunbyeol softly laughed and nodded. "i am."
"what made you come on show me the money?" paloalto asked.
"ah, well.. i wanted to showcase my rapping more since on my group's survival show, i was doing more vocals and dancing."
"and you produce music too?" the quiett inquired to which eunbyeol hummed at again.
changmo grinned at his ceo. "i used to listen to her predebut mixtapes a lot, so i was really happy when i saw her audition video."
"thank you so much!" eunbyeol smiled, bowing at the elder.
"okay, xiao, are you ready? play the music, dj!"
she put her hat back on and nodded her head to the beat, the corner of her lips turning up as she heard the familiar ringback tone and her signature, "hey. it's xiao".
〔xiao's performance starts at 00:28 and ends at 01:28!〕
the other contestants and some of the judges nodded their heads to the beat, finding themselves immersed in the upbeat song.
"this is her beat!" "she's so young yet her experience is through the sky." "fucking cool!"
the instrumental then faded out, and she had four passes. nucksal and changmo were standing up and applauding, putting eunbyeol's nerves at ease.
"there's something i wanna know," the quiett said. "why aren't you mentioned as one of the winning contenders?"
"seriously!" giriboy added. "and that was your track, wasn't it?"
"yes!"
"how long have you been rapping and making your own beats?" code kunst asked.
"i started when i joined jyp, so about three years."
"that's a lie. your talent is like one of ours!" nucksal breathed out with a smile of disbelief.
"alright," jinpyo interrupted. "producers, how much fight money will you give to xiao?"
➥ 終 [fin.] ➥stan haon stan h1gher music stan aomg edit: i changed the song xiao performs!! it went from 'ooooool' to haon's school rapper performance!
