#kt; eval

[rkxroyal]

                                    SEPTEMBER EVALUATION — dancing focus.                    NAM WOOHYUN dancing to 679 by fetty wap ft. remy (dj spider remix)                                                                 (0:02 - 1:23)

the more woohyun dances, the more woohyun realizes you can put forth just as much emotion into it as you can do with singing. he’s not a dancer at heart, that’s for sure-- but woohyun’s always wore his heart on his sleeve; he’s always been able to display his emotions loud and clear, and it’s hard for anyone to read them wrong. he’s an open book, a willing one-- one hundred percent ready to bare open his heart and let the masses take a peek inside.

this is just an evaluation, but it’s more than that.            this could be the last evaluation as a kt trainee -- and that’s a thought that propels woohyun forward. it makes him want to work harder, showcase his work. if woohyun is going to leave, if he’s going out to try to debut under sphere, the least he could do is give it his all and give the very best he did as a kt trainee.

kt deserves it. everyone there deserves nothing but the best so woohyun will give it all in full. 

when the song starts woohyun shuts his eyes and exhales, offers a lazy smile on his face as his body moves automatically to the beat. little sways and jerks and slight movements of the beat as he lets his body find a natural rhythm, remember practice and the muscle memory. he pops his body and move his arms, teeth biting into his lip as he tries to keep it as up to the beat as possible; popping isn’t something he’s good at, but the song doesn’t have a whole lot of it so he’s thankful for that.

once he hears the lyrics being spoken up, background at first-- woohyun steels himself. he inhales sharply, and tightens his body. once the lyrics starts and the beat gets faster along with the words, his body moves, feet shuffling and arms moving, sharp movements and stretches that he does with a concentrated face and held breath. 

in general, the song is fun. a lot of spin movement, exaggerated arm stretches and wide swings. the further he gets into it, the more his face relaxes; a smile takes over as he lets his body move into muscle memory, enjoy the feel of the beat. he has more fun at a part with his arms stretched out and slow movements forward as he spins his arm. it’s a fun, slower move that requires a lot of focus on his part, but the sight of it in the practice mirrors always brought a smile to his face so he hopes it does the same for the ones watching.

he slides across the floor, arms following the movement of the beat and mouth moving the some of the words he can understand. his clothes brush on his skin with each movement, and woohyun exhales sharply through his nose, eyes narrowed with focus. 

once the chorus hits and woohyun’s left arm raises high as his waist and hips move along with the song, he steers himself for the breakdown. he swallows tight but tries to loosen up the features of his face so he doesn’t look like he’s struggling or it’s hard. his feet move across the floor as his arms move in tangent with his other limbs. 

once the beat drops, he’s moving-- body going into muscle memory as he exhales, lips quirking up and eyes falling shut as he jerks his body into the proper motions. once the breakdown moves into the next chorus does woohyun begin to slow-- the song fading out as he breathes out harshly, raking a hand through his hair as he stills.

              if there’s anything he knows, it’s that he did his best to showcase what he’s learned so far. he’s come a long way, and he hopes that the coaches think so as well.

[rkiny]

     ♡   ◞   𝐀𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐋 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎 𝐄𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐔𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒.   ┋   icy ⇢ hip   !!

     while she’d been happy, albeit a bit nervous, diving into evaluations this month, nayeon finds herself enjoying herself amongst a new crowd of faces. it’s not often that she outs herself out there this much, throwing herself into a promising group with other trainees she’s not met before, but quickly comes to like, but through it all, there’s no regret on her part.

     maybe it’s the subject matter for that month, their focus being entirely set on dance, on learning and memorizing choreography down to its very essence, honing and perfecting it all until they’re able to come together and perform practice runs with ease. months like this, where there’s no need to worry and fret over vocals and dance, that nayeon always finds herself enjoying the most. not having to worry about her voice stuttering, about losing breath due to overexertion, about having to tone down her movements in order to make sure she could still sing whenever her time came— no, there was none of that.

     instead, all she had to focus on were perfecting her movements, in making sure she flowed harmoniously with the other girls in her group so they could pull their performance off without fail. by the time they in position on the day of, nayeon feels they’ve got this in the bag and is confident.

     it’s when the music changes, different melodic lines and instrumentals floating around them that she finds her mind drawing a blank. a quick glance towards the others, as well as the sharp eyes still watching in assessment, are quick to quell growing confusion— this was meant to happen. so, she continues dancing, a bit more hesitant that before, but after a moment, she’s able to find her bearings.

     the tempos are the same, familiar base beats providing a frame for her to work with, so, just as the other girls seem to figure out, nayeon keeps going, inner voice humming along with a different tune to try and keep herself on track, and her body goes on autopilot.

     by the end of it all, though silently amused ( she knows that, maybe a day or so from now, she’ll laugh abut this ) nayeon is far more tired mentally than she thought she’d be.

[lmhwanwoong]

Song: Mad Clown ft. Jooheon ;; Hear Your Colors With: Solo Colour: Violet, blue, yellow, red, black, purple

Jinwoo felt as though he had to ask himself the same question every single month: when would there ever be an evaluation he didn’t feel was out of his league? It wasn’t even because the execution itself bothered him much this time as rap in the first place was about managing your voice to show emotions, and he had thought it had been simple, but finding an actual song to perform had been so stressful he had been pushed to a point where he was wondering if he could even do it. 

That’s why he could only praise himself lucky to have such great seniors around. He’d definitely have to thank Gray later. Figure out what the other enjoyed, maybe cook him something. It was a lousy payback but it was the best he could do. Thus, here he stood ready to present his piece, for a change actually not feeling much of a sense of stage fright. He wasn’t the best rapper around -- he wasn’t the best at anything really and probably never would be -- but he had at least gained more confidence in his skills since signing. Furthermore he wanted to develop his own skills further.

While he had always used his dance as an anchor of confidence to pull through with (even when acting was on the evaluation menu) Jinwoo had already decided that such would play a minimal role and his interpretation was going to be through his rap. A very basic self developed dance was accompanying his performance, but as he rapped - and even sang the smallest amount in the chorus - his voice gained and lessened in strength to represent his understanding of the lyrics. A complicated an frustrating love towards someone whose colours were too fleeting to understand. A wish to proceed, but also a feeling of needing to turn around and leave before it was too late. Standing at a halting red light, unable to make a decision. While he knew nothing about love himself, Jinwoo could only imagine how frustrating it must be, and it was with such a sentiment he executed his performance.

[rksunyoung]

I’M SO FRUSTRATED, GOING CRAZY I DON’T KNOW WHY THIS IS HAPPENING I’LL GATHER UP MY COURAGE ONCE MORE AND  ----------    SEND YOU A SIGN, SEND YOU A SIGNAL!

                         may evaluations × twice ; signal × current mood: pull the trigger, piglet

unlike most trainees, sunyoung doesn’t think much about the absence of an evaluation this month. no, unlike most of the others who have taken to panicking in the midst of a surprise evaluation, or something even worse, if possible ( she has come to realize how wild their imagination can run when faced with the unknown ), sunyoung has accepted her fate. if something were to happen, then she would have no other choice than to adapt to it. but if not, then revel in the fact that there is a training god and he is merciful at times, allowing them to go through a month without the looming event of an evaluation.

unfortunately, the former became reality, and sunyoung isn’t surprised in the slightest.

it’s a muted frenzy when the evaluation is announced literally last minute, panic, dread, fear permeates the theater in which they sit, filling it up to the brim with negative energy; sunyoung literally doesn’t have time for that. there’s no use for could of should have would have at this point -- she instead focuses on herself and what she should bring to the stage.

it’s times like this that she’s thankful for her dad blessing her with a surname that didn’t have her become the first sacrificial lamb -- and at the same time, it’s a curse. while nerves doesn’t prick at her as she watches some of the trainees sink ( and her heart weeps at taeyeon, feels bad for the other guy and many others who can’t come up to the plate ) and other swim, she becomes engulfed in the performances and almost forgets that this is an evaluation, not a performance show or something of the sort. she forgets and claps when needed, looks down when she can’t bare to watch any longer, and becomes so focused upon everyone else until--

“park sunyoung.”

-- she is called, with nothing prepared. fuck.

shit shit fuck god damn asshole fuck fuck motherfucking shit. bitch.

the nerves come in full force as lithe legs slowly make their way towards the stage, forgoing the steps and simply climbing onto it with a swift jump ( classy ) before walking to the middle with a slight wobble in her step. the lights are hot and her mind is running a mile a minute and her hands and heart and legs are all an earthquake, shaking with a force that feels like the whole country is about to break away from the asian continent to chill with japan as an island -- when in reality her shivers aren’t all that noticeable. time is ticking and sunyoung is just standing there because what in the entire fuck is she supposed to sing?

                                                                                                                              ( trying to let you know                                                                                                                            sign을 보내 signal 보내                                                                                                                                    i must let you know                                                                                                                          sign을 보내 signal 보내 )

the damn song is the only thing that comes to mind and she refuses -- she didn’t even like the group to begin with due to their lack of talent and kt girls doing cheer up last year was enough aegyo to last a lifetime, according to sunyoung. she begs her mind to give her something else to work with, another song that actually fits her skills... and yet ..

                                                                                                                         ( sign을 보내 signal 보내                                                                                     sign을 보내 signal 보내

                                                                      sign을 보내 signal 보내 )

time is ticking, it’s probably been about 20 seconds of silence from her end, and coughs and anticipation from the judges and crowd and all she has said was a droning “uhhhhhhh ..... “ meanwhile the childish song still plays in her head, and she hates that she it’s the only thing her mind is giving her, but there isn’t much to do about it now.

if she’s gonna sing the fucking song, she might as well give them a show -- or at least have fun with it herself.

from some point, i started liking you you fool why don’t you know my heart?

when are you going to stop being so dumb and only treat me as a friend? ‘cause that’s not what I want

it’s an odd place to start, right in the middle of the song at the main vocal’s entrance, but she doesn’t care. all caution is thrown out the window because this is a song way below her skill level ( she might as well of sung the pororo theme, and she’s actually regretting that she didn’t ), her deep tone sounding a bit off with the high pitched cuteness of the original, but it gets the job done, she supposes.

sending you a sign, sending a signal electric electric electric electric i want you, i want you but why aren’t you reacting?

every time we meet, with all my heart electric electric electric electric i’m waiting, you can see everything but why don’t you know?

embarrassment shows within her features as she starts to do the simple choreography, raising her hands posed as cutesy antennas while she ticks her hips to the time of her voice, throwing hearts every single way as the dance calls for it. she’s sure she can see some of the boys cringing at a 24 year old trying to do the dance of a fresh and sprightly teenagers, and there’s a portion of her that wants to laugh at them. at herself. at this entire situation, especially how the judges refuse to show any type of emotion at her talent show, but she doesn’t.

trying to let you know sending you a sign, sending a signal i must let you know sending you a sign, sending a signal

if i look at you and smile, you should know i’ve already looked at you and smiled so many times today if i keep talking to you, you should feel it i keep staying by your side

too bad that the only part of the choreography she knows is the chorus, because now she’s back to staying still and sunyoung decides to just wing it at this point. when the talking turns into singing once more, voice probably the most stable it’s every been and smooth as it transitions ( it’s hardly a challenge ) she dedicates this song to the judges and trainers up front, giving winks and extra hearts their way while doing body rolls and shaking her hips while not moving too vigorously -- her vocals were supposed to shine through. they might not match the somewhat innocent nature of the song, but if she’s singing it, then she could make it into whatever she pleases.

from some point, i started liking you you fool why don’t you know my heart?

when are you going to stop being so dumb and only treat me as a friend? ‘cause that’s not what i want

she ends upon the same verse she started on, still doing ... whatever she was doing that could be passed off for dancing. sending finger guns towards the each one of the judges as the table before doing it to the crowd, pointing at her heart and pouting with the acceptable line, and doing the point dance one last time before she abruptly ends. that was a minute, right?

nothing else is needed, nothing else to be said as sunyoung simply bows and makes her way off the stage and back to her seat.

[rkevent]

MAY EVAL CONCLUSION!

After all performances are done, trainees are told to wait quietly while CEOs and coaches of all companies gather in a corner of the auditorium with their notes to evaluate the performances and pick the winners of the day. It takes them around fifteen minutes to discuss everything and after some debate they all seem to agree on the names. 

Trainees are now instructed to go on stage for the results and from up there is clear that not all CEOs are happy with the outcome. Hyun Bin is the one with the microphone. “We expected more of today’s performances but it seems like most of you tried to play safe.” The first words are not the most encouraging, but he continues. “I won’t go into details right now. The coaches will do their best to share our thoughts later when you’re back to practice. Some of you really need it.” 

The microphone is handed to Sphere’s CEO whose expression is a little brighter. “I’ll announce the winners.” She says, looking down at the notes. “Let’s start with the girls! The winners are KT and Royal. Congratulations, we enjoyed your performances!” A round of applause before the woman reveals the other winners of the night. “As for the boys, TRC team 1 and Nova won the battles for your CEOs’ contentment and our last winner is... KT again. Congratulations!” More applauses follow the announcement.

But it’s not the end. Holding the microphone, Katie Lee is the one to bring the best and hopefully most expected results. “As we promised, two groups will win 2 days off to enjoy a trip to Busan with all costs covered by us.” She starts with a smile. “A bus will be waiting for you in front of Seocho on the 12th after you’re done with training and you return on the 14th at night.” After all the details are shared with them, it’s finally time to announce who will be traveling to Busan in a few days. “The winners are… Royal Girls and TRC Boys team 1. Congratulations!” With this, everyone is excused to return to practice and the CEOs get up to return to their companies.

[rkxluda]

                                                     Lee Luda | KT Ent                                                        rksdcasting20

1. Windy Day (2:04 - 2:18 + 2:40 - 2:56) 2. Dracula (1:32 - 2:20) 3. Love Whisper (0:50 - 1:20)

To her own surprise, she felt calm. Was it the concept, maybe? Pure (and innocent) was something that came naturally, that she felt comfortable with. Many thought it was easy. Compared to girl crush and the like? Anyone could do that! But in her opinion, it was difficult for its own reasons.

All day, my heart used to feel restless But it was all for this Emotions that were pressed into a corner of my heart Have awakened from a deep sleep

The clear vocals of the song suited Luda well, or so she was told by a friend. The singing alone wasn’t as much of a problem, but as she wanted to present both skills right at the beginning, she had to choose a song with a good (meaning difficult) choreo (after all, who knew how far whoever was judging these would watch? She had to show them what she got right from the first second!). So the manageable vocal parts instantly became a lot more difficult. And, because that wasn’t yet enough, she wanted her choice to portray the pure concept as well.

Maybe the dances weren’t as hard, but a lot of idols—she found, while researching songs—overacted. Tried to be too coy, too deer-eyed, resulting in them giving an unbelievable image. Others obviously looked uncomfortable with something so cute. Maybe it was still easier than other genres, but people didn’t give it enough credit.

Makes me shake and shake… Windy day windy day Windy day windy day Windy day windy day

The first part of the dance had been a bit easier, but after the little skip, her problem part followed. Whether the moves by themselves were all that difficult, was a different matter. But all the jumping, throwing her arms around and singing at the same time, made her happy that she’d decided to record everything on different days and ask a friend to help her putting everything together. The 30 seconds were over soon, and her old, white, frilly dress changed to a more elegant one that she borrowed from a friend.

And while she had problems with concepts like girl crush (though depending on the song) and especially with anything remotely sexy, this was very much her. Was it enough to debut? She couldn’t tell, honestly she wasn’t sure whether she was ready.

Much better now to let these dreams take flight! Please don’t make me love you Please don’t make me need you Simplify my life just by setting me free!

Originally, Luda hadn’t been sure whether to include this song or not. It wasn’t very pure, but it was indeed challenging, vocal-wise. Many high notes and all, so she decided to go for it. To show her singing skills.

5 years of training, even 10 weren’t unheard of. She was becoming worried, for whether she had a chance at all. Her contract would be over soon and aside from the worry of debuting, she couldn’t help but feel nervous at the thought of not being re-signed.

Promise me you’ll do this Only you can do this Please don’t make me love you Unless you love me

She’s never been in love, nor did she care much for it, her dream didn’t include that possibility until she’d be older. Except she did care deep down, with 22, almost 23, she’d never really been in love, never felt more than a crush and never been in a relationship. But pain she’d felt and that’s what she concentrated on, singing the song, putting her everything into it, until the last notes faded in almost a whisper.

Some of those she was on the mgas with already debuted and she was sure some more would soon follow. There was no guarantee for anything, which she’d known from the beginning, but living it was a bit different, still.

Hey, yeah! I can hear it from anywhere If I open my ears When I open my ears To the trust you have in me Like your eyes that twinkle I’ll tell you a precious story

This time her dress changed into a cute white and blue outfit, part of which she’d recently bought for spring. If this didn’t scream pure, she didn’t know what would. This song, she’d luckily practised for an eval before, so she knew what she was in for. Like Windy Day it wasn’t exactly the easiest, but she still remembered much. At first she’d only wanted to show the dancing, then added the vocals of the 2nd half, but felt it looked awkward to only do half, so she ended up singing everything.

And yet, if Minhee hadn’t convinced her, she wouldn’t be here now, so maybe… she was the one holding herself back without realising it? Worried that if she got the chance, she’d mess up? It would be very much like her, she couldn’t deny.

Open your ears Our unforgettable voices and stories Are filled with my heart for you That fluttered like a dream

On another note though, performing was still as wonderful as her first live stage on the mgas. The feeling of everything coming together as she practised more and more, all her efforts finally paying off as she flew over the stage, singing her heart out.

Exhausted from the constant practising, planning and general figuring out what would be best to do, she was happy once she was able to end the last song with a smile, though breathing more heavily than she’d hoped to show on camera. But it was done and after all the editing, it came out better than she’d hoped for. There was also something else she noticed while watching the finished video—Luda wore an old dress, then a borrowed one and finally some new items, paired with a blue blouse. It’s almost as though she was prepared for marriage. And who knew? Maybe she’d “marry” into a new company and finally a group to debut with.

[rkharuto]

❛ you raise me up

a panicked haruto during eval preparations with @jkookrk

while he was thankful that his second evaluation under kt was based around dancing, when he found out that he gained himself a couple of center parts, as well as having to be lifted up in the air, it was needless to say he was a little worried about it. what on earth had he done to deserve this sort of treatment? while he was sure others would be thrilled to be in his position, haruto was nothing more than a shaking wreck just at the idea of having to dance in the middle and have most of the attention on him. 

“i don’t know about this...” he murmured, unable to stop himself from backing off from jeongguk ever so slightly, “you’re going to drop me.” and that was nothing against the other trainee, it was just that he didn’t really trust any of them to lift him up without dropping him. and the last thing he wanted was to break anything. maybe. maybe if he broke something he could get out of actually having to do anything - which would be nice.  

[rkxrm]

Saturday Night Fever||

@rkxbk

Frustrations with learning the routines for the eval and even dance practice at kt in general was starting to irritate Minhyuk even more than he wanted. Add onto that frustration constant commentary of oh you’re not doing that right from the kt dance prodigy himself, and Minhyuk was done with putting up appearances that he knew how to dance (key word: he knew ballroom, but dammit classical dance lessons won’t help him in this quest). There was only one thing that he knew that he could do. Sign up for some actual hip hop dance classes and hopefully study there long enough to be tell taemin to shove it. 

He came across a dance school that taught hip hop and other dance styles to all levels  during his lunch break and figured that he had nothing to lose  with taking some extra classes. Maybe that was going to help his own skills too. He had some hip hop skills but his actual talent was not very existent (since he was mostly legs and charisma. he was a rapper, not a dancer, but he may have to become a dancer in order to make it into the group). Also he wanted lessons out of sheer pettiness. 

after practice and training at the company, minhyuk dragged his weary bones to his car and then to the dance academy so that he could take some actual beginner level classes and hopefully not be as shit as he was normally. He walked inside the school and sighed. This was a good idea. He could totally do this. He walked up to the front desk and introduced himself before asking where the beginner class was. he was directed to a door and he peeked inside. “hello?” he asked very hesitantly. “i hope i’m not too early..” 

[rkxdowoon-a]

May Evaluation - Royal Entertainment Inter-company Competition; Royal Boys vs KT Boys Song: Hey! by GOT7 Seven O’Clock Line Distribution: x Performing with: @rkxbin Outfit: x Gif credit: x (Blog closed)

It’s been exactly 12 months since he’s joined Royal and had his first evaluation. Dowoon can’t help but look back on that day with both fondness and embarrassment. Fondness because it was a mark of achievement for even getting into Royal to start with. Embarrassment because of the circumstances in the weeks before the evaluation and because of the actual performance itself. 

It’s been a strange twelve months. And even after all he’s achieved, Dowoon feels as though he’s going nowhere fast, as though he’s not properly utilizing his time in Royal. While this time last year, he was optimistic about his future in the company, now he’s filled with fear and uncertainty.

That is, until Changbin lays a hand on his shoulder, squeezes and smiles at him. Despite himself, Dowoon returns the smile and nods. There’s no point dwelling on the past, not when they’re about to perform in front of both their peers and all of the CEOs.

Dowoon has to admit, he’s glad they were pitted against the KT boys, who seem to have a similar dearth of numbers, though at the same time, he’s not underestimating the others. He’s worked with Haruto, he knows how easily the younger boy can adapt to the situation. (Last month’s evaluation being a perfect example after all) The others he doesn’t know as well, but Dowoon knows that they’re good. They have to be, if they were scouted by KT, after all. His stomach begins to tighten with nervousness.

Performing in the TRC Triple Threat Challenge was somehow easier than this.

Before he knows it, he and Changbin are being called to perform and Dowoon picks up his cajón with shaking hands, making his way to the CEOs. Setting the instrument on the ground, he bows to the CEOs with his teammate before they assume their positions, grateful that they were allowed to bring the props they asked for. 

And that they didn’t have to dance either. He’s eternally grateful for that too.

He watches out of the corner of his eye as Changbin begins the performance, trying on a leather jacket in front of a mirror, while Dowoon pretends to be more engrossed with his cajón. As they’d practiced, he hears Changbin’s groan of frustration and not a second later, his vision is obscured as the jacket suddenly lands on his head. Beneath the covering, Dowoon can’t help but grin at the shocked and confused noises of their audience, who no doubt thought that the incident was an accident. But he quickly schools his face into an annoyed expression as he yanks the jacket off his head and turns to ‘glare’ at this teammate.

“HEY!”

He marches up to Changbin and shoves the jacket firmly into his chest, trying so, so hard not to break character and start laughing and the noises of panic and worry amongst the others. (In particular, he can hear Daehwi’s worried call of ‘hyung?!’ and he figures he might be putting on a bit too good of a show) Luckily instead of ‘attacking’ Changbin anymore, Dowoon starts the song, and their performance proper.

I don’t get it, why did it have to be him? The person you chose huh People say girls are attracted to bad boys I didn’t believe it but they were talking about you?

As he backs off, ‘leading’ Changbin towards their instruments, he puts as much effort into sounding as irritated and incredulous that their hypothetical female friend would choose someone like Changbin, all the time while keeping to the song’s original melody. When Changbin raps back at him, he pointedly rolls his eyes to the ceiling at his words, but it doesn’t stop him from flashing his friend a grin as he’s ‘backed down’ on his cajón.

HEY you, be careful, you be careful Cherish her by your side HEY you, be anxious, be anxious I might steal her from you HEY she is too good for you HEY this is a warning HEY if you make her cry again, I won’t let it go bad boy HEY she is too good for you HEY this is a warning HEY if you make a mistake again HEY be a MAN

As they reach the chorus, their backing track is replaced by them on their instruments, and Dowoon can easily hear his brother’s admiration, along with other noises from their audience. But he tunes them all out, almost even forgetting that all fives CEOs are watching them too. All he cares about his performance as he and Changbin continue to throw shade at each other.

HEY you, be careful, you be careful Cherish her by your side HEY you, be anxious, be anxious I might steal her from you

At the bridge, they leave their instruments once more to circle each other and their audience, still ‘criticizing’ each other’s faults though the song. At once stage when Dowoon glances away from his partner, he can see that long-haired rapper from the MGAs desperately trying to hold in his laughter (Dowoon hopes the fact that he’s laughing is a good sign) along with Daewhi cringing at his attempts to be macho. He doesn’t look at the CEOs, knowing it will throw him off.

Instead he advances back to the center of the stage as he and Changbin sing the final chorus in alteration, making their final threats to each other. As they yell out the last line, Dowoon reaches towards the other and grabs his collar, feeling Changbin do the same to him.

HEY! BE A MAN!

The hold the position for a moment before releasing each other and turning to their audience with a grin. Now that the performance is over, Dowoon is aware of how hard his heart is beating and how much is legs are shaking. Still, he’s proud of what they’ve done and they bow in unison before collecting their instruments and getting off the stage.

One year since his first ever trainee evaluation, and no matter how the results go, Dowoon knows that this eval has been his favourite.

Word Count: 911 (Without lyrics)

[rkxjongsuk]

Back Back Again ||

@rkharuto

semi one-sided conversations with the cute japanese human from kt entertainment in seocho about babymetal and how pretty damn awesome they were bonded jongsuk and haruto quite well. it was nice finding someone who liked the same type of music and bonding over that and how epic the girls were. Babymetal had been perfect for the october eval and jongsuk ended up doing Doki Doki Morning from the group because that song was just too cool. But Jongsuk was pretty convinced that since they bonded over babymetal, they could potentially do another song together and he was going to seek the other boy out and suggest his idea. 

he wandered the halls of seocho complex, looking for his intended target. “haru-chan!” he exclaimed, seeing his target in the cafeteria. “haru-channnnnnn,” he flopped down at the table across the other boy. “So, i’ve had an idea and i wanna run it by you because you’re my friend!” he started. “we should do a song together for this eval!” he exclaimed, wiggling his eyebrows. 

[rkxroyal]

AUGUST EVALUATION ✨       nam woohyun & tuan yien performing beautiful liar 

things are getting easier everyday. things aren’t so hard to do, his mind is a little bit more clear-- the slump still hits him from time to time but it’s not as hard to ignore, not as hard to suffer through. training helps, it helps keep his mind off of it. 

this time around, the evaluation isn’t hard to do either. he’s back in his element, back into the comfort of something he’s confident in. yien’s been a blessing to work with, and it’s been smooth sailing. despite the slight hiccup with his throat being sore (nothing tea and honey couldn’t fix), everything has been great and woohyun feels great. 

“let’s do our best.” he beams at the other boy before they perform. the kind words and hope, he wants to express to yien the best he can. woohyun trusts yien, and in turn-- after all the hard work they’ve put through with this, the long days and nights of practice, he hopes yien does too.

“this is a beautiful lie,” woohyun starts, voice soft. “my last lie. even if it hurts to death i am hiding myself under a mask for you.” he lowers the microphone, stepping back to give the attention yien, nodding his head to the beat. his expression is schooled into the proper one for the feeling of the song, a somber one as his eyes flutter shut, loosing himself into the lyrics and yien’s voice. 

lifting up the microphone to harmonize, and he lets his voice reign through. “i’m letting go of your rightly held hands, but my heart is still the same; but i’ll let you go. i’m letting go of your hands, but my heart is still the same.” yien finishes the verse with his rap as woohyun inhales, throat catching as he coughs lightly, gathering composure and continuing.

“this is a beautiful lie. my last lie. even if it hurts to death, i am hiding myself under a mask for you.” his voice isn’t as light as he’d like, and it cracks at the beginning but woohyun has done this multiple times before. he doesn’t let the concern show, keeps his expression perfected as he continues. “it’s alright if you leave me. i want you to be happy. oh i’m, i’m a beautiful, i’m a beautiful liar.”

his hand lifts to his throat, massaging it as he clears it as quietly as he can as yien continues. his tongue swipes across his lips, sniffling as he rakes a hand through his hair to calm his nerves. 

“i won’t hang onto you. i will smile. this is me, don’t hesitate anymore. leave me--” he blends into the chorus immediately, and his voice sounds better this time around; there are no hiccups, but woohyun is hoping that everything else settles perfectly. 

the next harmonization comes, and woohyun waits with the microphone perched at his mouth patiently. “it’s time for me to give you the last bits of my heart. the fact that we loved it beautiful.” yien’s voice fades out and woohyun continues. “me with iron shackles on my legs is more like me than ever before.” 

the song is haunting. woohyun almost resonates to it, but he tries not to focus on it. his fingers twitch around the microphone. 

“it’s a beautiful pain, letting you go. i have to kill myself inside. swallow my tears-- and put on a smiling mask.” a relatable song indeed. “i feel so relieved now. please don’t worry about me. oh i’m, i’m a beautiful-- no a cowardly liar.”

[rkiny]

     ♡◞ DECEMBER EVALUATIONS   ┋   cf improvisation, jewelry ad  !!

     when push comes to shove, nayeon has learned some things are easier said than done, especially when it came to doing certain tasks in front of a large audience. she isn't quite sure why the thought of performing in front of so many people causes a chill to travel up her spine, the fact that the majority of those she'll be stood before are those who she's fairly familiar and friendly with only confusing her more. performing for an audience had never been an issue for her, the brief period in time in which it had been something that bothered her having now long since passed thanks to boosted confidence and time.

     as her eyes sweep across the table of assorted props and accessories, all ready and waiting to be tossed their way once called, nayeon begins to understand why her stomach continues to flip.

     for all the practice she's done, all the spare moments she's given to studying expressions and movements so common to a majority of advertisements, there would still be an element of surprise that no one would be able to fully predict no matter how prepared they may feel they are— for all she knew, one of the acting coaches could toss a box of tissues her way and wait with hardened eyes to see what she'd do.

     what would she do? cradle the box like a newborn child,  precious and delicate as if its contents weren't meant to catch whatever gunk flew out of sickly noses during flu season? take tissues out delicately and blow into them with the same amount of grace she'd had when she'd done the same actions not even a few weeks ago, dizzy and feverish? surely that wouldn't sell, not even to the oddest of crowds.

     nayeon prayed she wouldn't be given tissues.

     by the time she called to stand before the camera, her hearts hammering in her chest, a somewhat tight-lipped smile on her face as she waits for her prop to be assigned. imagine the joy that spreads across her body as a small set of jewelry is handed to her, gaze lighting up as she counts her blessings and action is called.

     for this, talking is the least of her worries, the objective clear in her mind as she moves to put a ring on, thankful for her long, slender fingers as the metal slides on nicely. in this moment, it isn't supposed to be about her, it's about the product— all she has to do is look pretty and draw attention to wherever the accessories fall. so, she holds a hand up, feigning blocking the sun from her eyes, making sure to angle herself to the cameras can view the ring along with her profile. her necks on display as she puts the necklace on slowly, letting is shine in the fluorescent lights. she puts on an earring for the hell of it, the final coming in the forming of tucking hair behind an ear as she stares at the camera with wide, pretty eyes, and effortless grin growing on her lips as the earring dangles freely.

     despite not having to use much of what she'd practiced, she's more than glad she'd taken the time to check her angles.

[lmhwanwoong]

Ah Wae (I Wait)

rk June eval ;; preparation solo

Irritation. Irritation and annoyance at himself. How could simply picking a song be such a hard task when it had sounded so simple in the beginning? He knew plenty of songs with colours in the lyrics, but that was exactly the problem: they were songs. Still a massive, crippling, disadvantage, but maybe Jinwoo even feared trying to get better, not only because of the mockery he would surely face, but also of the worry that he was possibly beyond help. What would he do if he had started singing lessons to improve but the teacher gave up on him? No, then it was better to stay the way he was and focus on improving the things he actually could do.

But why did the lyrics have to contain a colour. He couldn’t think of many songs with a long enough rap verse that also contained mentions of colours of any sort, and that was a very stressful feeling. Especially with the deadline rapidly approaching. There was only really one thing left he could do, although he felt awful about it. Jinwoo couldn’t shake the feeling that he always had to rely on someone else, and it bothered him so much. He wanted to be able to do things for once. Maybe one day he could be someone who gave advice as well. But as of now he was simply the youngest and the newest, the one who knew nothing. Swallowing his pride, Jinwoo went on a quest to locate Gray, hoping the senior rapper knew of some obscure song he had never even heard of.

[rksunyoung]

❝ I MISS YOU, OH MY L O V E,

                                                            i miss you so much more today. ❞

                              PARK SUNYOUNG ; KIM BOHYUNG  - I MISS YOU ; TRANSLATION                                                         ⌦ APRIL EVALUATIONS ; SEOCHO BUILDING

at last, it felt so nice to to be back in the recording studio.

though it was quite obvious to anyone within the seocho building that there was more to being an idol than just singing, the past few evaluations left her rather jaded, to say the least. modeling, looking pretty for the camera -- while was an important aspect it was all rather mundane to her, the core of it all lay upon their bodies and image and not necessarily their talent. ( something that even with almost three years of training underneath her belt, sunyoung still finds herself uncomfortable with. )

but this? this is her area, her forte, her home. be charismatic in front of the camera all you want, but she wholeheartedly believes that an idol is much better off if they can at least, at least, keep a note.

( or so she hopes. )

the dull hum of electricity is the only thing that can be heard in the room as she adjusts the settings of the mic height to her liking -- not even a sound from one of the trainers fine-tuning the soundboard ( who, unfortunately, was not one of her favorites. ) silence is ruptured by the woman’s shrill tone floods the speakers, a “why the long face?” leaving her lips and mahogany hues flicker to the woman behind glass encased wall. pearly whites sink into soft flesh as she holds in an unbecoming scoff, because sunyoung knows that she could care less about her feelings.

“i’m getting in the moment, is all.” and the girl watches as the woman lifts an eyebrow at the reply, but tilts her head and before counting her off, the soft chord of piano keys flowing into her ears after the drop of one.

she moves away from the mic to take a deep breath before she starts.

how much more do i have to cry how much more do i have to hurt to forget you? to erase you?

i want to turn back time so i can’t see you anymore so my foolish heart can forget you

it starts off gentle, soft, eyes fluttering closed by the end of the first verse -- there was no need to look at a sheet because the lyrics have already become a part of her; late nights in dark training rooms and scalding criticisms coming from trainers all revolving around this song. vibrato seeps within her tone due to force of habit, even though she could feel the woman in the other room’s expression twist with sourness due it it being an “outdated” singing technique that made her sound “old”.

( sometimes, you gotta say fuck it. )

like a cold wind your heart is endlessly far like a fool, i can’t forget my heart keeps going to you

i cry quietly i see the painful end but i miss you, i miss you today more than yesterday i miss you oh my love i miss you more today

and it’s memories from past loves, past relationships that only ended in regret that cause her to bring the emotion home within the chorus -- brows furrowing with every note she holds and fingers gripping the cool metal of the stand in front of her. sunyoung is reverted back to seventeen years old when she begged her boyfriend to not leave her, to not give up on them, on her. her words weren’t enough to satisfy him and there’s a part of her she feels he took with him.

( she tries to focus on the emotions of that moment and not think too deeply about it, because the more she does the more she realizes that he was a douchebag who didn’t treat her right through out the course of their relationship and she was better off without him. those feelings should be saved for something more beyonce and less sad. )

exhausted by destiny i hold your cold hand but my heart crazily looks for you

like a cold wind your heart is endlessly far like a fool, i can’t forget my heart keeps going to you

i cry quietly i see the painful end but i miss you, i miss you today more than yesterday

or maybe she thinks about her time in seoul where she was convinced that she didn’t need anyone, that she couldn’t love anyone because obviously there was something wrong with her if she’s gone through three relationships in her life and all of them ended horribly, right? but yet, deep down, she still longs for the touch of someone who would actually care for her; to do away with the bitter feelings she has upon seeing a couple in love; to be first in someone’s, anyone’s life instead of playing second fiddle.

( the image of a certain someone comes to mind and she tries hard to block it out, not now. )

i can’t hold onto you but i can’t lose you i can’t live without you because your last lips your last scent still remains in my heart

i only loved you i only wanted you so beautiful that it hurt my one and only love i miss you oh my love i miss you more today

the image of losing him comes to mind, if he was the person longed for within the song and sunyoung feels a dull pang within as she sings, as her voice raises with sadness and dies out with pain. she’s not the type to think about the future, only focuses on the present -- but she hopes that isn’t something that she will experience. at least, not in the foreseeable future.

the song ends with the fade of “my love” leaving her lips, opening her eyes to meet the stone cold gaze of the woman’s, who gives her a head nod as a sign of a good performance.

[jkookrk]

『 Here We Go Again 』 ⇢ 2nd SPOP Audition | +3 CH ⇢ Jeongguk yet again wondering what the hell he was doing

“ His life had become the definition of ‘whatever’ by now. ”

Going into this again after being rejected the first time, he wonders if KT would offer him a bone to keep him yet again away from interfering with their precious debut line up. Speaking of debut line up- he couldn’t even team up with Johnny for another hilarious audition anymore.

Yet he had perceived and went anyway, finding someone to audition with. The guy was nice and one of those who’d been stuck with him in the “unwanted” eval group back when Jaehyun was still around too.

The guys had grown somewhat close since and apparently loved to jokingly call Jeongguk ‘boss’ these days. Not that he didn’t like it, it just made him laugh every time cause it felt ridiculous to him still to be considered anything close to a leader. He could coordinate a choreography and make people laugh but that was the limit of his leading abilities.

One of them had approached Jeongguk about auditioning for the new try outs for the trainee mc thing and because he was a good hyung and could never really say no, he agreed. The guy’s name was Kibum and he was a dancer, like Jeongguk. Thankfully his English was decent as well, so when they ended up getting the dance how to setting for their audition, Jeongguk felt somewhat glad that they could work something out neatly together.

Given only a few moments to prep, the male felt a wave of tiredness overcome him when Kibum openly expressed to be relying on his guidance, making him miss the nsg boys even more. He missed the back and forth of chaotic ideas he had come up with together with Johnny. 

No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t find it within him to open up enough to consider any of the guys as friends. They just hadn’t been through the same things outside of KT.

How long had it taken him to get close to the lunch squad? How long had he needed to open up to Namjoon after he joined the company? Pursing his lips together the male exhaled a sigh. “Okay, how about this-,” he began, narrating his ideas to the male and feeling relieved he seemed to find them hilarious and executable. It was obvious he had better sense for variety than Jeongguk but at least Jeongguk was funnier.

When they stepped in front of the camera and began their playful banter back and forth about how challenging dances could be and how they looked easy but weren’t, Jeongguk rose his hand, a smug smile on his lips.

“Well fret not,” he spoke in English, his accent only slightly audible. “Everything seems difficult until you try to learn it step by step. So how about we do just that?” More banters back and forth among them choosing which dance to show, they ended up doing rock, paper, scissors to decide which personal selection would be chosen and who would begin.

With Kibum winning he let the male start, going for Eclipse’ Love Whisper, a nice, refreshing summer song. Explaining the steps one by one, they went for solely the signature move since the audition was to be kept on the short side. 

Once they had introduced the steps and dances them through themselves while singing along cheerfully, the boys came to a stop, smiling brightly. Jeongguk was about ready to hand someone a gun and tell them to shoot him. Please.

At least the audition was over though and by the way Kibum hung of his shoulders as they exited the room, he was beyond satisfied about the ‘boss’ help.

[rkharu]

「 all about the face 」

a rkdec19eval starter for @rksihyeon

when the announcement for this months evaluation came jaehyun couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic, remembering back in february when jiwon had challenged him to apply for the commercial that ended up with hi getting offered a contract. hence why he ironically calls himself the face genius of kt-- sometimes unironically as well because jaehyun was aware that he was above average in looks.

in his aimless walk he found himself wondering what he should choose to advertise this month. since he could choose anything he'd like.

"hm," jaehyun pondered on it while he walked into the cafeteria-- he grabbed some food and wondered where he should sit-- the table with the older hyungs was awfully loud and jaehyun didn't want to kill the mood. so instead he contemplated to sit down on a table by himself but in the corner of his eye he noticed sia-- and jaehyun opted for the table she was sitting by.

"noona," he said politely, "is this chair free?" he lifed his brows carefully, if it was occupied then he wouldn't bother her and his feelings wouldn't be hurt either. jaehyun hadn't really interacted with the female a lot but during the last eval, jaehyun had given her one of his heat packs, just in case she was feeling cold.