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one. seven months before debut.
THE FIVE MEMBERS walked inside the room, thrilled to show the producer their performance of the month. It was a cover of their senior group, 'bulletproof' by BTS. They practiced very hard for it and put all their blood, sweat, and tears into providing the best performance. They had to show the producer and their CEO, Mr. Bang Si-Hyuk, that they were doing their very best for their upcoming debut.
However, weeks of practice didn't prepare their minds for the final performance and as they all went to their positions in the center, all they could feel was the nervousness and the anxious feeling of accomplishing the company's high expectations towards them.
"Let's see if they'll really live up to the company's standards as bts did."
They heard one of the staff members say and they felt their heartbeat soar, a strong feeling of pressure overwhelming them. "Music cue," the producer said and with a wave of his hand, the music started playing.
The members leaped into action and started the dancing, however as Yeonjun sang, Taehyun behind him accidentally stepped on Beomgyu's foot, resulting in an error in their movements. Mr. Bang immediately spotted the mistake and sighed softly to himself but continued examining their movements.
The next mistake happened when Soobin carried Yeonjun to do the final move that his senior, Jimin, did that included stepping on the other member's backs while being hoisted around by Soobin. The problem was that Soobin suddenly felt an aching pain in his back while carrying Yeonjun that made him fall down on the floor along with him.
"Stop." Mr. Bang gestured the staff to pause the music and silence consumed the whole room.
The boys immediately went into a line and bowed down apologetically. "We're sorry, PD-nim."
Mr. Bang stood up and looked at them with a dissatisfied expression. "I gave you weeks to prepare for this but you still gave me an unsatisfactory performance. You couldn't even finish the song."
Yeonjun shot Soobin a glare, blaming him for the mess they made. "We're really sorry, PD-nim. We won't fail you next time," Soobin apologized.
Beomgyu rolled his eyes secretly, glancing at Taehyun from the corner of his eyes.
"There won't be a next time."
Their eyes widened, a look of disbelief on their face. "Wh-what do you mean by that, PD-nim?"
"Tell me...am I overworking you, boys?" Mr. Bang asked as he crossed his arms.
They all looked away as the thought hit them right in the bullseye. The reason why they couldn't perform to their best was because of the lack of rest. They spent weeks training on end, from vocals to dance to expressions, everything was to be polished from day one.
"This gives me the answer I need then." The producer paused for a moment, looking them all in the eye. "I'll meet you all in the studio at three pm."
Then Mr. Bang exited the room as well as the staff, leaving the three boys alone.
Chaos arose.
"It's all Soobin's fault!" Yeonjun scowled at the boy, pointing an accusing finger at him. Soobin looked at him apologetically, "I'm really sorry. My—my back suddenly hurt and—"
"Who cares if your back hurt or not? You sacrificed our performance when you could've just kept it in! Look what happened!" The older yelled, making Soobin lower his head in shame, feeling the guilt bear down on him.
Beomgyu cleared his throat, narrowing his eyes at Taehyun who stood a few meters from him. "Taehyun also stepped on my foot during the first part. Bang-PD noticed it too."
"Hey! You were also in the way. Didn't you notice how you moved from your initial position?" Taehyun fired back, feeling irritated at how he had put all the blame on him.
"Really? Now you're accusing me. Wow!" Beomgyu glared at Taehyun. Hueningkai who stood beside Taehyun shot a disappointed look at the other boys. "We should just let it go. It's already happened. Didn't you all notice that all of us made mistakes?"
"Soobin made Yeonjun fall, Taehyun stepped on Beomgyu's foot, Beomgyu moved away from his position at the wrong time, I sang one line wrong and Yeonjun also moved a bit farther from his position during the chorus." Hueningkai pointed out each and every one of their mistakes.
Yeonjun looked away and let out a disheartened sigh. "We're all a bunch of disappointments. How are we even going to debut like this?" he muttered to himself before walking away and out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Beomgyu followed Yeonjun and also went outside, leaving Soobin, Taehyun, and Hueningkai alone inside. "Meetup at the studio at three pm. Don't forget," Soobin reminded them one last time before exiting the room, his footsteps heavy as he did so.
Time passed by and soon they found themselves together in the recording studio with Mr. Bang once again. They all felt the tension in the air especially after the argument and with the producer right in front of them, most of them felt very apprehensive regarding the situation.
"I called the five of you here to ask about what kind of music you all prefer. I'd recommend a series for the albums of the first few comebacks. Regarding that issue earlier, I can overlook it as long as you train hard," Mr. Bang told the five boys.
"Thank you, PD-nim. Um...actually, I think a soft concept would suit us for our debut," Soobin answered.
"No, it would be nice to showcase our manly charms like BTS did on their debut," Yeonjun opposed.
"But it would also be nice for us to have a boyfriend theme at first," Hueningkai said.
"A boy crush theme is better though." This time it was Beomgyu who spoke.
"But then—"
"Enough," Mr. Bang interrupted. "I thought you all were over it but it seems not. I don't think you're stable enough to debut."
They all fell silent at his words.
"What I mean is that I'm giving you all a chance to learn. I understand it must be tiring and you're all passing the burden to one another," he continued. "which is why I'm giving you all a few days off but you must all spend time together as a group and reflect on your actions and decisions. There must be an improvement by the time you come back."
"I don't want to see you argue like this with each other when you get back. Am I clear?"
They all nodded.
What was about to come, however, was something that would completely change them and the way they look at each other.
