Chapter 27: BTS Upset
"I wonder if she's nervous?" Jungkook thought out loud.
Jimin answered the maknae who was staring both blankly and pensively at the screen of Produce 48. "Maybe. This is the first elimination after all, and she doesn't know the voting status as well as the producers do."
"Ah, I really hope she continues rising," said V nervously with a toothy, square smile. Whether he was smiling genuinely or just clenching his teeth when he was anxious, his mouth looked the same—it was the characteristic V smile.
"She definitely will," assured J-Hope with a bob of his head.
"We'll make sure she will," laughed Jin confidently. "Army and—wait, does she have a fandom name?"
Everyone's mouth opened slightly in a partial gasp as they realized that Iris didn't have one yet.
"She hasn't debuted yet, but it's true she doesn't even have a fandom name on YouTube. I guess she didn't get around to deciding or asking her fans for name suggestions." Namjoon explained while thinking back to how her half million subscriber count turned into millions almost overnight when she was revealed to be a Big Hit trainee on Produce 48.
"Maybe we can think of one for her?" prompted Jungkook.
Taehyung thought for a moment and then suggested first, "Lala?"
"LaLA?" incredulously repeated Jungkook, Jimin, and Jin almost at the same time.
"How the heck did you come up with that name?" Jimin smiled mirthfully.
"Because she's from L.A.!" Taehyung explained enthusiastically with wide eyes. "And that's where we met her first!"
Everyone paused. They were too used to V's strange thinking by this point to be surprised anymore at what came out of his mouth.
"Let's not have her fandom be named by V," snorted Jimin before adding, "And what's with your similar naming? Tata, Lala?" He was referring to the BT21 characters each one of the BTS members had created. V's was Tata, a heart shaped character with big lips.
Taehyung chuckled good-naturedly. "I don't know!"
Jimin shook his head, and the others smirked wryly. Jin finished the conversation topic saying, "We can think of that as we watch or keep it in mind for later. Let's watch, the results are being announced now!"
"Wait, that reminds me, where are—?" V's words were cut short by the rapid pounding of feet approaching their door. It was flung open by their hoobaes who were out of breath.
"Sorry! The dance teacher kept us because we kept messing up a part of the new choreography…" informed Yeonjun apologetically with a small bow and two hands clasped together.
"Oh? The new choreography to your title track song?" piped up J-Hope with strong interest.
Jin cut off the conversation with a wave of his hand and a shout. The eliminations had reached the rankings in the forties. He gestured for the soon to be TXT members to come over quickly.
Yeonjun nodded to J-Hope's question on the way over, and the older man winked at the boy with a smile and thumbs up. "I'll check out your dance later, okay?"
Yeonjun broke out into a grateful grin, knowing that sunbae meant that he would observe and possibly give them pointers. Although they were just beginning to learn the choreography, so of course it would be difficult at first, just having their sunbaes there for support was a motivation booster.
The TXT boys settled down on the carpeted floor in front of the television with BTS behind them on the couches. The five young boys all secretly relished the time they spent with their sunbaes and getting to watch and know more about Iris on the show.
Soon, the eliminations hit the rankings in the teens, the last row before the top twelve debut positions. As each girl was called out with some saying words of thanks, the camera panned over the awaiting remaining girls. They zoomed in on Iris a few times. Her face was usually a mixture of composure and eagerness.
Her head teemed with anxious thoughts. 'I jumped to rank 7 on the second episode because that was my performance evaluation, but then I dropped to rank 16 on the third before going back up to 12 on the fourth because of my group battle…' Iris knew that one could rise through the program, but her precarious ranking position still concerned her.
"Rank 13…Iris Huang."
A little part of her sunk inside hearing her rank, but Iris kept positive. For someone who was completely unknown, this wasn't a bad rank. She comforted herself and went up to the pyramid with a smile.
Taking the mic, she thanked the national producers, staff, and teachers. "I want to especially thank my 'Very Very Very' group-mates. This was my first time performing like this on a stage in front of such a large audience. It was a great experience, and I'm so glad to have shared it with you all."
Iris bowed deeply and then turned her upper body around to look at the pyramid. She glanced back to the front and pointed with a hand at the debut positions. "I hope that with hard work, I can make all the national producers who voted for me proud and join the top twelve. Thank you!"
She bowed for the last time and then went to her position on the pyramid. On the way, she high-fived or hugged everyone she knew. After she sat on the seat, she breathed a sigh of relief. The first elimination was over, and thankfully everyone from her group battle team had made it through.
However, Kim Choyeon from A Team entertainment was ranked 42. She was the lowest ranked in the team. The next lowest was Kim Minjoo from Urban Works Entertainment at 16. Iris had prayed that the rest of her team would make it.
But she didn't have to be worried as Lee Chaeyeon ranked 10th, Kwon Eunbi at 5th, and Miyawaki Sakura at 4th. Half of her team had made it into the debut lineup. It was truly amazing; although, a prick of envy stung as Iris wished she was up there with them.
After the elimination results concluded, the trainees moved onto the third evaluation round, the position battle. The top trainee in each group could gain 5000 bonus points, and the top in either dance or vocal/rap could gain an additional 100,000 votes.
Compared to the measly 3000 vote benefit in the previous group battle, this position battle was a crucial round that could potential rocket one to safety in the next elimination round.
Iris had to really up her game in order to score one of the first places. She felt that if she didn't make it into the debut lineup by the next elimination, then she wouldn't be able to debut in the final group by the end of the show.
This time, the grouping was blindly done. Each trainee from ranks 13 to 58 would choose the song they wanted in order of rank. But the catch was that the top 12 would choose last and could kick out anyone from a group that was already filled if they wanted that song.
Iris at rank 13 was naturally the first to choose. And her choice was clear. Out of the eleven songs available, one instantly caught her eye. It was BTS's song, "The Truth Untold." Their song was basically crying out for her to chose, so she did.
As the songs filled up, her new teammates by the end of the 13-58 choosing were Jang Gyuri, Miho Miyazaki, and Saho Iwatate. The song could only hold four trainees, so Iris desperately prayed that none of the top 12 would choose this song, or at least not kick her out.
Truth be told, she was surprised that two Japanese trainees chose this song, but she acknowledged that BTS were truly international superstars.
The twelfth rank Honda Hitomi choose Touch by Little Mix, but with the eleventh ranked Miyu Takeuchi, Iris ran into trouble quicker than she thought. The Japanese trainee had chosen BTS's song! She was a fan of their music.
Iris gulped as she watched the Japanese trainee pace back and forth while looking at their group. 'Please don't pick me. Please don't pick me.' Those four words repeated themselves inside her head like a chant as Miyu approached them.
Instead of going by Iris to the trainees behind her, Miyu held out her hand to Iris at the front. For a moment, Iris's head blanked. 'No way! She chose me?!!' Still in shock, she somehow managed to calmly hand over her song card to Miyu and walked away from the group amidst surprised gasps from the rest of the trainees.
Later on in an interview that should be shown directly to viewers at home after Miyu kicked out Iris, the Japanese trainee explained her thinking. Since Iris was a trainee at Big Hit who signed BTS, she felt that Iris would be her biggest competition after factoring in this and her strong singing and dancing abilities.
"Unnie…" Chaeyeon and Eunbi in Demi Lovato's "Sorry Not Sorry" mourned for their friend when they learned of what happened after Miyu kicked out Iris from "The Truth Untold." Many other friends also similarly lamented for Iris.
As for those watching the episode, the BTS and TXT members were momentarily outraged at the situation. Their poor Iris, the first trainee to chose their song before anyone else, had gotten kicked!
"Wuh, I can't believe this!" exclaimed J-Hope with a shake of his head.
"That's not right," remarked V somberly.
The TXT trainees shouted their agreement. "The debut members can knock out their biggest competition! That's unfair, how will the other trainees rise?"
Iris had to choose from song groups missing members, so she settled on Fitz and the Tantrums "HandClap." Luckily, she found a familiar face with Kim Choyeon in the group.
"At least she reunited with a former group member," noted Jin positively.
"Yes, but half of the members are Japanese…" noted Namjoon with a concerned expression.
Except for one other Korean in the group, three others in the group of now six members were Japanese. It was truly an international group. Iris thought back to the claim of Produce 48 on making an international girl group. While the idea was great as she originated from the United States, Iris knew communication was going to be a real hurdle in HandClap.
.
.
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[ A/N here because exceeded 500 character limit:
In reality, Choyeon ranked 41 and Minjoo at 15, but because Iris replaced Aoi Motomura who ranked lower than both, their ranks dropped by 1 so Iris could place 13th.
Also, the top 12 would automatically kick out the lowest ranked member from a full group, not anyone that they wanted. But for the sake of the story to progress in a believable way, I made Miyu kick out Iris. (Don't hate on Miyu in real life please!) Additionally, Aoi Motomura actually was in the HandClap group lol, so there 'actually' was a missing place.
Even with these changes, it's kinda eerie how the placements/adjustments are fitting really well! You'll see what I mean by the end of the "show." ;)
The next chapter will finish episodes 6+7 of the position battles and move onto episode 8. The show is 12 episodes long by the way, so this little Produce 48 arc will finish up soon. Place your bets now for what Iris's final rank will be, lol! ;D ]
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