novelraw Chapter 236: THE EIGHTH EPISODE (I)
Chapter 236: THE EIGHTH EPISODE (I)
THE following day, all the teams pushed through another long round of practice. With only two days left before the live performance, there wasn’t much time to waste. Tomorrow they would have a full rehearsal, which meant today was their last real chance to work through any remaining issues. Everyone was focused, running their choreos over and over, trying to smooth out the rough spots before they had to perform in front of an audience.
As that was happening, fans of the show waited eagerly for the eighth episode to air that evening. They all wondered what the episode would be about. Would it be another relaxed one like the beach day? Or would they finally show the next mission? Either way, they were excited to see what would come next.
And just like that, the eighth episode aired.
*****
The episode opened with a shot of the performance hall. All forty contestants stood in neat rows, arranged by their current rankings. The lighting was dim, and a low, steady piece of music played in the background. It wasn’t sad exactly, but it carried a weight that made the moment feel serious. A subtitle appeared at the bottom of the screen: [What has brought our contestants together today?]
The camera shifted to the stage. A large divider stood at the center, tall enough to block whatever was behind it from view. It was clear the production team had set up something. Whatever was hidden back there, it had to be connected to the next mission.
After a while, Dyna walked onto the stage and faced the contestants. She announced that the next mission would be a dance mission. She explained they would be divided into ten teams, with two teams performing the same song and competing against each other. There were five songs in total. She gestured toward the large divider behind her, showing that the song choices were listed there. Each contestant would go up one by one, in order of their ranking, to choose a song. Once they picked, they would receive a card with instructions. A song would stay available until eight contestants had chosen it. After that, it would be locked. She then called Han Seojun, the first ranked contestant, to come forward and make his choice.
Han Seojun walked toward the stage and disappeared behind the large divider. Once on the other side, he found himself facing five stands, each displaying the name of a different song. In front of each stand sat a small table with eight cards neatly arranged in a row.
Han Seojun stood in front of the five song titles and stared at them. For a brief moment, an uncertain look crossed his face.
[Crown the March] by Atlas
[Heart Skip!] by Double U
[Starlight Fever] by Infinite Boys
[Right on Time] by Stera
[Over the Edge] by Phenix
After a moment of consideration, Seojun walked over and stopped in front of the stand for [Starlight Fever] by Infinite Boys. He picked up one card from the small table, then walked toward the backstage exit.
He looked at the card in his hand. It was sleek and black, made from a smooth, sturdy material. The front was completely blank. He turned it over. On the back, written in clean white letters, were the words: Please proceed to Practice Room 3.
The scene cut to an interview with Han Seojun. The interviewer’s voice asked why he chose [Starlight Fever]. A sheepish look appeared on his face.
"I think everyone already knows I’m not exactly a talented dancer," he admitted with a small, self aware smile. "I’m not saying I picked [Starlight Fever] because it’s easy or anything. It’s just the song I know best. And if I’m dancing to something I actually love, maybe that’ll help me do better."
"Are you confident you’ll keep your number one spot with this song choice?" the interviewer asked.
Han Seojun let out an awkward laugh and scratched the back of his neck. "Honestly? I still don’t really get why I’m ranked this high. But I’m really grateful to everyone who voted for me. I don’t want to let them down, so I’ll do my best to give them an excellent performance."
The next scene showed Jung Taeyang stepping behind the divider. Unlike Seojun, he didn’t spend time looking over the choices. He walked straight to the stand that had [Crown the March] by Atlas written on it. Then he took one card from the table and headed toward the backstage exit. On his card, the instruction read: Please proceed to Practice Room 1.
Just like with Han Seojun, the episode cut to an interview with Jung Taeyang.
"You made your choice pretty fast. Can I ask why you picked [Crown the March]?" the interviewer asked.
"Out of all five, [Crown the March] suits my skill level the best," Taeyang answered honestly. "If I picked something else, I don’t think it would really show what I can do."
"Some might say that song is the hardest one to dance out of all five. Are you saying your skill is at that level?"
"In the spirit of not sounding arrogant, I’ll just say that my dance skills are good enough to handle it."
The scene showing Li Wei picking his song came next. He chose [Starlight Fever] by Infinite Boys, the same song Han Seojun had picked. Then it was Jeon Hyunsik’s turn. He walked up and selected [Over the Edge] by Phenix. After him, Park Mirae stepped behind the divider and chose [Heart Skip!] by Double U.
Not every contestant’s choice was shown. A few that made it to air included Kang Haneul picking [Over the Edge] and Robin choosing [Right on Time]. A couple of others were shown briefly as well. After that, the scene shifted to the contestants heading to their assigned practice rooms. They walked in one by one and waited for the others who had picked the same song to arrive.
Once all eight contestants were gathered in their assigned practice rooms, the show cut to a scene of Dyna explaining the full details of the dance mission.