I Love You 3000 (Y.Jw)

Chapter 13

Everybody had wished each other a good luck for the last time, no matter who it was, before we had gone up on stage and performed for the last test, now it was all up to us to vote out four fellow applicants. Everyone seemed to not like that thought, but it was how it was going to be.

I had hated every moment in the voting room, but had eventually picked my four I would vote out, but I still felt terrible about having to take that decision, especially with how hard everyone had worked. Now I could just hope that not too many had voted me out, and that the producers wouldn't vote me out either. If I were voted out I had to go to the Ground where we would be given three days to prepare the performance all over once again, and perform it, just to end up relying on the global votes in the very end. 

When I got back to the lobby everyone were pacing back and forth or impatiently sitting in their chair bouncing their leg up and down, as everyone would go in individually to vote. Everyone just seemed so nervous, which only contributed to tense up the atmosphere even further.

"It's gonna be fine," I assured Geonu as he clearly was in distress, calmingly patting his back, as he sat in his chair in complete silence as he bounced up both his legs, "I promise you, it will be fine."

"What if I get voted out? I've only been in I-land all this time, but there's nothing special about me," he muttered, sounding to be all panicked just by the mere thought of not continuing from this round.

"Don't say that," I shook my head and sat down cross legged on the floor in front of him, so I could see his face more easily, "you're one of the best vocals here."

"One of them," he pointed out to me, seemingly losing all his hope and confidence all in one go.

"Seriously... I mean it. You have an amazing voice and so much control over it, you have no idea how impressive it is," I pointed out to him and he hummed in response, seeming too sad to even say anything in response, "even if you get to the Ground today, I can inform you that the Ground is great too, and I believe that you will be coming back here for part two through the global votes."

"You really think so?" he questioned, looking up at me carefully, and I nodded.

"Weren't you the only one from your unit that passed the entry test? Weren't you the one who had either part two or four for every test? Didn't you perform Butterfly with Heeseung? Who also won?" I questioned him, making a small smile appear on his face in realization of how well he had done throughout the competition, "everyone who is voting should know you're insanely talented and worthy of debuting, so if they don't vote... I don't even know why they wouldn't vote for you honestly."

"You seem so passive aggressive about this," he let out a small laugh at me.

"Ah no," I shook my head at him, "this is nowhere near passive aggressive. Believe me."

"Jiyeon is right, you're too good to just go, hyung," Jungwon nodded as he approached us, he was clearly agreeing with me.

"See? I'm always right," I pointed out happily making Geonu smile softly down at me.

"I-landers, the eliminated will now be announced."

I quickly got up from the floor and sat in my seat in the half-circle. One by one the four people who had been voted out were announced along with how many votes they had gotten. Only three had been revealed, and even though I were extremely nervous I didn't want to let it show.

"The fourth dropout. With five votes. Choi Jiyeon."

I silently nodded before showing a small smile, then it came to everyone who had been chosen by the producers. In the end it was me, Seon, EJ, Jaebeom, Kyungmin, Youngbin and Geonu who had to go to the Ground. We all retrieved our nametags to the stand, before grabbing our bags and began saying goodbye to everyone, for now at least. Who knows who would be back? 

"Ji!" Jungwon called out to me and I turned around and opened my arms for him to immediately attack me in a tight hug, "promise to be back."

"Of course," I muttered to him as I hugged him tightly, really not wanting to just leave like that.

"I mean it," he pointed out to me as he pushed me a bit away from him, to look in my eyes, "I refuse to go on without you."

"You have to if I don't come back," I reminded him with a small smile as he just stubbornly shook his head, making me clasp his face between my hands, and looked sternly at him as I continued to talk, "Yang Jungwon, you listen to me right now. You're gonna continue in this competition whether I'll be back or not. You're not gonna let me determine whether or not you should conquer your dream."

"I don't know if I can," he shook his head, seemingly on the verge of tears, but not really wanting to admit that he was sad.

"Look at me," I told him making him direct his eyes back to mine, "you deserve to be where you are right now. You deserve to debut, you're talented enough, you're good enough. You're not gonna let my faith affect yours. I swear I'll cut any contact to you then, you hear me?"

"Okay," he quietly nodded, knowing well enough that he would not be able to convince me otherwise, at any point in his life.

"Good," I smiled widely before hugging him once again, letting it last a bit longer and enjoying it just a bit more, as I never knew when I would get to see and hug him once again, "I'm gonna miss you."

"Mhm... I'll miss you too," he agreed quietly before I walked up into the egg with the other boys and stood watching everyone look quite sad.

In the Ground we had to work all over once again, this time I had landed part two, which was a lot bigger than what I had been used to be given in I-land so it was a nice change, but then again it was also an unsure change. With this change it might mean I would not debut if the global votes didn't allow me to, if I didn't do well enough, but at the same time it could not matter. I could easily get very few global votes just because I was a girl.