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within the 24 rappers on the stage, eunbyeol stood between kid milli and coogie. they had just found out that zene the zilla, chaboom, ph-1, and ek passed the resurrection rounds and would be joining the competition once again.
jinpyo was presented in front of them, announcing the next battle which was a group one. calling nafla and superbee up to the front, murmurs were heard among the rappers.
"i guess they're the leaders," kid milli commented.
after the rules were clarified, it was time for the two to choose their teammates. nafla picked eunbyeol as his second teammate, loopy happily messing around with her by tugging her bucket hat further down and patting her head.
nafla and superbee continued to take turns in choosing their team until they were instructed to their designated practice rooms to decide who raps on which beat.
eunbyeol followed behind coogie considering they (along with a few others) were together most of the time and had grown close. after nafla took a seat in the middle, coogie pulled out the chair to nafla's right for eunbyeol.
"thanks, oppa," she said in a soft voice.
he simply shot her a smile and occupied the space beside her.
"alright.." their leader exhaled. "shall we listen to the beats?"
while going through the instrumentals, the members tested themselves over tracks they think would fit their rapping style. eunbyeol was a little shy when ek called her name during one of them, suggesting that she gives it a try.
"i bet she's good at every genre," he added, everyone agreeing.
chuckling along to get rid of her blush and feel more comfortable, eunbyeol shook her head. "i'll give it a try!"
she then continued to do a freestyle over the music. cheers of encouragement emitting from the guys.
odee clapped his hands. "superbee's team already lost!"
coogie rested his arm around her shoulders while the others chose their parts. it was flowing well, the beat designations being over before they knew it. now, it was time for the group to organize a performance.
they moved the table and chairs off to the side before coming back together.
"okay, since we practiced our raps, we need to come up with moves to catch the producers' attention," loopy said. "xiao, i'm pretty sure you have the most experience with this. any ideas?"
and that's how they planned an impeccable stage. they used their remaining time to go over the entire thing, successfully running through everything without any mistakes multiple times.
"team nafla, it's time to go out on stage!" one of the staff members called from the doorway.
prior to exiting, they all stood in a circle and put their hands together, yelling a cheer with excited and determined smiles.
the two groups simultaneously gathered on opposite sides of the stage. the producers talked for a few minutes and in no time, the first beat began to sound throughout the studio.
as it progressed, nafla's team won the first round and superbee's team conquered the second. eunbyeol was set to go during the first round after slick o'domar and before coogie.
right after qwala finished his rap, he put the mic back on its stand and she immediately went for it.
"finish! line! we so! live!"
nafla and coogie had two supporting microphones as eunbyeol held the main one, but even so, every team member shouted the lyrics they had come up with. their voices traveled within the venue.
to provoke superbee's team, eunbyeol cupped her hand around her ear, saying, "what? what? huh?" before going straight into her verse.
〔time: 4:40 – 5:50 finish line isn't one of the beats they were given but i LOVE haon's verse so byeol & milli are rapping over it instead!! "H1GHR GANG KIFF CLAN" is changed to "JYP SKZ"〕
code kunst quietly laughed to himself and hit paloalto's shoulder with the back of his hand.
"look at d.ark — i think he just experienced what love is."
paloalto almost choked on air as he threw his head back, letting out fits of laughter.
"i hate you so much for saying that," he told code.
the young boy he mentioned was gazing at eunbyeol almost as if he was lovestruck, and it amused the ones who noticed.
once the last word left her mouth, the producers were cheering and kid milli took the microphone right as it was back in place.
the others on superbee's team chanted, "indigo! we just go!" and when milli made eye contact with eunbyeol, he almost forgot his lyrics upon seeing her smile and nod her head to the beat. but luckily, he was able to look away and continue without any mistakes.
┊〄┊
each team took a win and now that the third round was over, everyone was back in their practice rooms while the producers had a meeting.
"thank you all for working hard," nafla said, glancing around at his teammates.
"we did really well," loopy added.
they continued to share positive thoughts for a long time before they were finally called back out.
eunbyeol gazed up at coogie. "ah, i'm so nervous.."
"me too, but i believe in us."
and for the nth time that day, the rappers gathered on stage and gave jinpyo their undivided attention.
"it's now a situation of a one to one tie," he said. "so which team will win fifty million won?"
fingers crossed, heads down, each one of them internally praying for a win.
"team nafla!"
eunbyeol's head snapped up in shock, her mouth falling agape and curling into a big smile. there were cheers all around her and she stayed frozen until loopy tugged on her shoulders to bring her into a bear hug.
"we did it!" he yelled.
cheerful embraces were shared among the team as a huge weight slipped off their shoulders. the girl seemed to be in a daze while observing them, pondering on how stray kids would've acted the same way.
➥ 終 [fin.] ➥ i've literally never been so tempted to write chapters for the entirety of finding skz and the 9th but uh is that too much??
