CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“We will reveal the next test,” said the Voice of I-LAND.
The screen revealed what the next test was going to be.
“Concept.”
“What does he mean by that?” I asked myself.
“This next test will be a performance based on the chemistry with your trainee mates and the concept theme that you select. The only time to practice for it…is two days!”
Two days, I thought, But that’s a short amount of time. Will we even have enough to practise the entire dance?
“The cooperation of the choreography is crucial to this test,” said the Voice of I-LAND, “This will be based on your leadership responsibilities and the average of the scores will become the final score. That will define which of the contestants shall be going to GROUND. Every single one of you must keep a high score…so that more people can come to I-LAND. This time, it’s up to you who stays and who goes.”
“Boys,” said Sunoo, “We have to make sure that Y/N does not get sent to GROUND. Even if she chooses to take one of our places, she deserves to be up here more than anyone else.”
“And most importantly,” said Jaebeom, “We have to keep that high score. Which could get Y/N and the other girls get sent to GROUND.”
“If you don’t let anyone be eliminated…” said the voice, “Then the GROUND stage is canceled. The one I-LANDer with the highest score will receive an exemption card. It can be used for no more than 3 people. Including yourself. If you do happen to use it, then the next elimination candidate is out. Decide on your parts now. You have just only two days, eighteen hours, and twenty-four seconds.”
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It was already a month and we had to work on our next test. It wasn’t hard. But it wasn’t at first easy. There were parts we had to be assigned. And yes…we are doing our own thing. I was not working to get the highest score. I’m going to do what I want to do…and that was to get Jake out of GROUND.
We were in the practice room figuring out our “concept” song. We already had choreography ideas, it was just choosing a song…and figuring out our parts. We thought and we thought and we thought, Until…
“Wait, guys!” said Hinata, “Instead of doing it as one big group, we could have a separate performance! Y/N, you can do it with Galway Londoners and that will leave us as a sub-unit!”
“What’s a sub-unit?” I asked, tilting my head.
“I think it’s when a few members from a group make a team and they produce their own songs, and not the entire band themselves.” said Holly, “But you, my best friend, are going to be a leader in both groups!”
A leader? In both groups? I was confused. I didn’t know that they chose me to be the leader! I was always thinking that Leila, the oldest, would be the leader. But I guess not.
“But why would you think of me as a leader?” I asked.
“You fought bravely for us and stayed so strong, we decided you should be our leader.” Erika said.
“You’ve done so much for us.” added Holly.
Thankfully, I accepted.
Meanwhile, in GROUND, Jake and the other GROUNDers were sitting in a circle and they were deciding on their parts as well. Jay, especially, didn’t want to be humiliated again. So, he made himself the leader. But Jake thought of him as unfit to rule a whole group of GROUNDers. But he let Jay have his way.
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“We should be able to have enough parts for the next test. There are at least twelve of us.” Jay said to the GROUNDers, “So we should begin with our assigning parts.”
The first one, they made Jay have it. Daniel the second part. And Jake the third. The rest of the boys could decide on their own. But Jake didn’t feel like dancing at all. He was missing me so much. And to be honest, I missed him to bits too. But what can you do about it?
He laid on the floor hopelessly. Daniel and Young-bin sat beside him on both sides. But that didn’t help. They patted his back. That didn’t work either.
They saw how many tears were in his eyes.
“Don’t cry, Jake,” said Young-bin, wiping his tears with his long sleeve, “Y/N will be fine, and she will use the special card to get a few of us out of here.”
But Jake didn’t answer. He still sniffled and softly whimpered.
Back in I-LAND, there was nothing else to do. I walked by the big closet. I saw that there was a section for girls and boys. I took a black hoodie and a pair of track pants. When I changed and looked at the mirror in my new outfit, I looked back during the time when I met the eleven girls at Dream Life. I had so much nostalgia, I felt like I was going to cry.
Heeseung found me and said, “Jake misses you, you know.”
When he mentioned Jake’s name, I knelt down and my eyes welled with tears. I felt more depressed than I ever thought I was.
I sat on the couch in my dorm room. I spaced out a lot. I didn’t even know that the other boys had already entered. I didn’t want to deal with them at the moment, so I let them come in.
But they saw how depressed I was. EJ and Sunoo then sat down next to me.
“I want to be alone.” I said with my voice muffled with my hands covering my face.
“Well, we don’t,” said Sunoo, “You have been depressed all day! Let’s go do something! Let’s go out to eat, or shopping or do a Tiktok!”
“What’s a Tiktok?” I asked, sniffling.
I never had a Tiktok. I never allowed myself to have one. It was considered “addicting” in my home. However, I let my mum have one. But she doesn’t use it much.
Later on, Sunoo and EJ took me out on a walk. We then passed by GROUND. Coincidentally, I saw Jake, walking out to the snack bar.
We then looked each other in the eye. There was silence.
“How are you doing in I-LAND?” he reluctantly asked.
“What does it matter to you?” I stammered (I didn’t want anyone to know that I really liked him), “You are in GROUND and I am in I-LAND. You should know I am doing all right.”
“A simple ‘I’m doing fine’ would have been better.”
“Well, I am doing fine! I’m just annoyed that GROUND and I-LAND have separated us!”
“Me too!”
“Well, Mr. Sim Jae-yun, I have to get going! I will wish you good luck!”
“And I wish you good luck too!”
“Hmph!”
“Hmph!”
We stormed away in a huff. I didn’t notice that Sunoo and EJ were snickering at our slight argument. But it didn’t matter much then. I was only upset that he had to go to GROUND and that the voice told me I belonged up in I-LAND.
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“And what do you mean by that?” I said, complaining at K and Jungwon’s supposedly “funny” joke, “I don’t have a crush on him…I haven’t known that long yet. That wasn’t very nice.”
“Then how come you blush whenever we mention his name?” Sunghoon asked, snickering.
“I am probably embarrassed. And flustered. And frustrated.”
“We’re sorry…” said Sunoo, “Are you still mad at us?”
“Very!”
At night, I couldn’t wake up. I was in the middle of a really good dream. I remembered seeing Jake and I singing together in a live show. He was singing Justin Bieber and I was singing Taylor Swift. Eventually, I then felt him kissing me. It was such a good dream that I just did not want to wake up. However, I heard Hinata’s voice and her hand shaking me.
“Y/N! Y/N!” she said.
Wha-what…?
I fluttered my eyes open. But they had been closed for a long time, so I struggled to keep them open. I rubbed my eyes.
“Is today the test already?” I yawned.
“No,” said Hinata.
I then went back to bed and to sleep.
“But we are late for practice.”
I then sat up.
“In that case…!”
I hurried up and got dressed and literally slammed my hand on everybody’s dorm doors. Bouncing off of the walls, I could not help but feel so rushed. This was another thing that had never happened to me before. Especially back home in Ireland.
After slowing down, we rushed to the practice room. And there was Pdogg, ZICO, and Son Sungdeuk right there, standing in front of us. And the rest of the girls were squealing like CRAZY! Crazier than when he first met RAIN (Jung Jihoon). I ran over to try and calm them down, but they wanted so much to praise them. So I let them do so.
“You are very excited to meet us, yes?” asked ZICO.
But the girls clamored with their overlapping voices.
“Well then,” ZICO said, slightly nervous, “Hi everyone, I am your producer ZICO. I’m here for I-LAND’s midpoint check. I will be content to be working with you for many tests to come.”
“I am Son Sungdeuk,” said the man next to ZICO, “I’m your performance director. I help with the choreography.”
“And I am Pdogg,” said the other man that stood on the other side of ZICO, “I am your music director. I help with songs and lyrics.”
We then tittered about the three handsome men. Except me.
“So…ladies first,” said ZICO, “How are you all doing? Are you adjusting well?”
“We are doing well,” I said, “We have been working hard for the second test. And we really hope that what we sing and dance to…is to your satisfaction.”
“She is well-spoken,” whispered Pdogg.
“And at sixteen…they are so good!” whispered Sungdeuk.
ZICO gave it a thought. He hadn’t known that we were aspiring K-Pop idols. We knew that we had another chance at debuting. Of course, he wanted us to debut. However I could tell that he was starting to think twice about us.
“Let me see your dance.” he said, in a cold tone.
Our choreography was a three-song mix. The first one was “Somebody to Love” by Justin Bieber, “PlayBoy” by NineMuses, and, my personal favorite, “Catch my Breath” by Kelly Clarkson. Our moves stunned everyone in the room. Including ZICO. Once we struck a pose, ZICO couldn’t even speak.
“W-wow.” he said, speechless, “I…Si-hyuk wasn’t kidding about them. I’ll let you ladies debut on that one! I wish you good luck!”
But forget about the boys. Since it had already been a day, theirs was a bit rushed. But the men suddenly felt calm about it. They wanted to help them softly and kindly.
While us girls took a break, I went to visit GROUND. But I then saw RAIN with the guys. The rest of AO3 came along with me and we went inside quietly. But RAIN already noticed us and gave us a very warm smile.
“I see you are visiting.” he said.
“We are.” said Hinata.
“We thought we would visit our friends that are here.” said Livia.
Fastforwarding to the lessons, RAIN was teaching the famous song “Fire” by BTS. I then figured out what we were going to do for the test after this one.
“‘Then live your life the way you want it’,” Ni-Ki sang, “‘It’s yours, anyway’!”
RAIN corrected how Ni-Ki sang it. He then brought up Hinata to show an example. And of course, she did it better. And so, he tried it again. This time it was better.
It was Jay’s turn to sing the beginning part.
“‘FIRE’!!!” he sang, “‘We shall set every single thing into flames! Bow-wow-wow’!!”
RAIN smirked.
“You should have sang it that way while you were dancing!”
He smirked again and we applauded.
And then it was Jake’s turn.
“‘When I wake up in my room’–” he rapped.
“‘When I wake up in my’…” RAIN corrected, “‘When I wake up in my’… ‘room…I have nothing left!’”
Honestly, I had never seen anyone who had such vocalization and had a passion for music this way. He then called me up. I sang the verse perfectly. And Jake looked directly at me as if he was envious of me (which I’m pretty sure he was)!
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Five in the morning. Hours before the second test. Of course it was the time we used to get up for Dream Life entertainment. In reality. We did not like to get up at that hour.
We ate a hearty good breakfast and we got into costume. I asked if we could go last, since ours was over a few minutes long. We prepared ourselves to go up on stage.
“Let’s be brave,” I said to the girls, “With no intention of any of us being sent to GROUND or permanently disqualified, terribly. Let’s go!”
“I-LANDers forever!” we all said in unison.
Up first was, of course, the I-LANDers. They sang a mix of songs. I couldn’t remember which ones, but I assumed it was Seventeen or NCT. Or maybe Stray Kids. But it was a mix of a lot of songs.
After they finished their performance (which kind of looked passing in some sort of way), it was our turn. We walked up on the stage like pros. Our formations were rare and stunning. We had hoped it would wow the judges. And it pretty much did.
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For some reason, he’s so handsome!
The words that he once said were so sweet!
But the look that had stared at me,
Was not so ordinary.
Of course, so naturally,
Put your arms all over my shoulders!
It was your skill at raising
And you were so exceptional at it!
As I had expected,
I must ask, why are your premonitions always right?
As for the ominous feeling I feel, you were such a womanizer!
What you said to me was,
Not only me but others too!
And this one goes for all women too!
I don’t want a playboy
I don't even know what love is anymore!
How did you end up with a beautiful woman you don’t know?!
I don’t want a playboy
I despise these kind players! And explain to me why am I crazy?!
Be cautious and pay attention, as I say to you! No playboys!
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For you, I’d write a symphony
I’d tell the violin, we’ll either sink or swim
Watch them play it for you
For you, I’d be running a thousand miles
Just to get to where you are, step to the beat of my heart
I don’t need a whole lot, but for you, I admit I
I’d rather give you the world or we can share mine
I know I won’t be the first one giving you all this attention
Darling, listen
I just need somebody to love
I don’t need too much, just somebody to love
Somebody to love, I don’t need nothing else
I promise, girl, I swear, I just need somebody to love
I need somebody, I need somebody
I need somebody, I need somebody
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I don’t want to be left behind
Distance was a friend of mine
Catching breath in a web of lies
I’ve spent most of my life
Riding waves, playing acrobats
Shadowboxing the other half
Learning how to react
I’ve spent most of my time
Catching my breath, letting it go
Turning my cheek for the sake of this show
Now that you know, this is my life
I won’t be told what’s supposed to be right
Catch my breath, no one can hold me back,
I have no time for that
Catch my breath, won’t let them get me down,
It’s all too simple now
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The next day, it was time for the final score for the test.
“I-LANDers. And Galway Londoners…” said the voice, “For this test…everyone passes. And the person to get the extension card is…Y/N L/N.”