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mins-fins · 10 months

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❛ spring breeze ❜ — kim taerae

| synopsis . . . if there was one thing y/n knew, it was that he was mortifyingly in love with kim taerae, the same kim taerae who is an entirely different group.

| tags . . . kim taerae x m!reader , reader is apart of wakeonez ensemble , and is also mortifyingly in love with taerae , the feelings are returned , pretty angsty , only fluff at end , so sorry for this

| warnings . . . mentions of depression, slight mentions of fainting.

| moni (@taerrrrrae) wished to be tagged, your wish is my command :)

for the past few days, y/n has been absolutely hopeless.

it's been almost a month since the end of boys planet, yet he still curses at himself for not winning, for disappointing not only himself but everyone who rooted for him as well. he can't process the fact that he didn't make it.

he didn't make it, but taerae did.

he remembers taerae simply falling into his arms, immediately clutching onto his shirt, y/n had told him that he was proud of him, tears still clinging to his eyes as he told him that he'll miss him, that he loves him, that he hopes to see him again around the wakeone building.

he really cursed himself with those words didn't he?

y/n loves each of his fellow wakeone trainees, don't get him wrong, but it's always been different with taerae. they've always been particularly close, having known each other even before auditioning for wakeone.

they seemed to be attached by the hip, doing pretty much almost everything together. y/n would always offer to help him when he didn't get a certain move during practice, but then they would end up giggling about stupid stuff for four whole hours.

they simply fit together, like the two final pieces of a puzzle.

too bad the universe didn't agree.

y/n swore he wasn't gonna cry, really, but then taerae mentioned him in his speech and he broke down into tears. he cried into his hand the whole time, devastated.

it's probably his fault for deciding to join a survival show.

y/n can't escape the image of taerae, pretty pretty taerae, his eyes shining as he stared at him with so much love, appreciation.

he will never forget the small whisper. taerae pulling him into a hug and whispering a small; "i love you" before he walked up the stairs, winning sixth place.

he can't get rid of the absolute disappointment he feels for not debuting.

the days after were horrible, he simply can't do anything without being reminded of taerae. the two of them are still friends, obviously, but everything is so different, because now he's no longer with him.

he can't do anything without hearing his voice, his pretty voice, his guitar strumming as he sings, like he always used to do when they were trainees.

it's like y/n is there, but he isn't, he's just constantly in a state of disassociation, listening to his friends speak but not really hearing their words, speaking but not really making sense.

trust and believe, y/n has tried, but he can't bring himself to talk to taerae. this makes no sense, because they always talk so effortlessly, but every time he sees him around the wakeone building, he freezes and immediately walks away.

he could text him, yeah, but he always gets nervous whenever he opens his contacts list and sees taerae's number.

he hates it, he hates this problem he's having.

he feels like an idiot, a fucking idiot. after everything he did, all the training, all the scolding, all the bullying, all of those times he collapsed from overworking himself, and he couldn't debut.

he's cried so much in the past few days that he feels as if he physically can't anymore.

it's clear that hanbin wants to say something, but whenever he tries to bring it up, y/n just lies, giving a fake smile then locking himself in his room for three hours.

everybody notices the spiral of depression that y/n is currently falling down. he never talks anymore, instead resorting to chewing on his nails, he always fidgets, doesn't sleep properly, doesn't even like eating.

it's safe to say, he's been a mess.

he sometimes just spends all day in his room, none of the wakeone trainees wanting to go in because he's just gonna lie again. it's not like their company cares, and taerae, the only person he wants to see, is busy, having literally flown to another country for kcon.

everything is messy.

but he can't just stay like that forever.

that is exactly what jeonghyeon thinks as he walks into his room, having pushed the door open because he knew if he knocked y/n still wouldn't open the door.

he frowns at the sight before him. "y/n".

said boy looks up, smiling, before he throws his badtz maru plushie across the room, it landing right in front of his closet door. "hi" he says quietly, crossing his arms and sighing at his computer.

jeonghyeon sits down beside him, sighing. "y/n, when do you plan to leave your room?"

"what do you mean?" y/n asks in that tone of obliviousness he always used when he would deny his feelings for taerae. jeonghyeon blinks, shaking his head at the older.

"y/n, all you do is sit in your room, listen to love begins with a confession on loop, cry into that badtz maru plushie you just threw across the room, then sleep in your bed and not make it afterwards".

y/n deadpans, but jeonghyeon is right, that's all he's been doing this past week. he huffs, crossing his arms. he enjoyed doing those things, for jeonghyeon's information!

"okay, and?" jeonghyeon laughs at y/n's tone, shaking his head once again.

"and, you've rewatched every episode of pucca seven times already".

y/n scoffs, jaw dropping in shock. "what do you want, jeonghyeon?"

"y/n, you have been trapped in your room for a whole entire week" jeonghyeon states, and y/n immediately looks away. "i'm worried, hanbin's worried, junghyun's worried, woonggi's worried, even seunghwan's worried! and he isn't even in this company—"

"just get to the point, jeonghyeon".

"you need to finally get out again" jeonghyeon quickly says, and y/n bites his inner cheek, gaze moving towards the badtz maru plushie he'd thrown across the room.

the one taerae bought for him..

"alright y/n" the lee clears his throat. "to get you to finally leave your room, were going out tonight".

y/n raises his eyebrows. "going out?"

"me, you, hanbin, minseok, woonggi, seowon, haruto, seunghwan, a bunch of the eliminated trainees" he explains, but y/n still seems pretty hesitant. "were getting together for the night, for you".

"what about mun junghyun? don't exclude him, he's one of us too, you know" y/n responds, as if completely ignoring everything else jeonghyeon had said just to talk about the 05 liner.

"junghyun is a child, he can't go out with us".

"he isn't that much younger than haruto, though".

"that's off topic" jeonghyeon smiles. "come on, y/n, you've been cooped up in your room all this time, and we don't just want to sit by and not do anything about your depression".

y/n sighs, reaching over for his laptop, which is paused on episode 20 of pucca. he looks over at jeonghyeon, whose patiently waiting for a response.

"of course i'll go jeonghyeon".

jeonghyeon gasps, his jaw dropping, like he wasn't expecting that response. "i— i really shouldn't just be sitting here and doing nothing while you guys are worrying about me, so of course i'll go with you guys!"

jeonghyeon smiles softly at y/n, staring at his friend so fondly it looked like he might cry. "hey, don't get emotional now, lee jeonghyeon".

"i know, i listened to you cry over taerae for a whole entire week already—"

jeonghyeon gets a pillow thrown right at his face.

"shut up, jeonghyeon!"

"but it's true!"

"i still can't believe you guys made me spend all of my money".

hanbin continues to complain whilst jeonghyeon chuckles and y/n whistles. he had a seriously good time going out with his friends, it was nice to see all of his friends again, hear their loud voices and screams from doing stupid things.

it seemed that woonggi had agreed, because he continuously kissed y/n's cheek and hugged the hell out of him the whole time.

reuniting with the old trainees was nice, they were all insanely chaotic, which was oddly comforting to him, as he hadn't heard any loud voices in so long, being trapped in his room almost all week.

"your the one who said you could manage all the financial stuff" jeonghyeon replies, y/n nods, yawning as he hears hanbin begin to complain once again.

"yeah! but you guys wanted so much! i'm not ricky, you know?"

y/n giggles at the joke, stuffing his hands into his pockets as the trio continue walking. he couldn't deny, he really did have fun, he can't help but be thankful that jeonghyeon dragged him out of his room for the night.

"you guys, thank you" y/n states when they get to the front of the wakeone building. "i probably would've gotten worse if you hadn't dragged me out of my room, your seriously amazing friends for including me instead of just leaving me to rot there alone—"

hanbin and jeonghyeon exchange glances, a knowing smile coming to their faces as they stare behind their friend. y/n blinks, tilting his head in confusion. "what?"

hanbin chuckles. "y/n".

y/n doesn't get what the hell the two of them could be snickering about. "guys, what?"

jeonghyeon simply points behind him, unable to control his laughter.

"hi".

"ah!"

y/n jumps, immediately placing a hand on his chest. "holy shit, kim taerae, you need to stop scaring me".

wait— who?

when y/n turns around and sees taerae standing behind him, smiling, he jumps again, screaming. taerae laughs, and y/n covers his face.

"hi y/n".

"oh" y/n laughs, face burning with embarrassment as he looks over at hanbin and jeonghyeon, who whistle and look away. "taerae, hi".

"you two should talk" hanbin immediately says, grabbing ahold of jeonghyeon who squeaks in agreement as he allows himself to get dragged away by hanbin, waving at the pair.

"why are you so surprised?" taerae laughs, y/n simply stares, as if not believing that he's real. "did you think i wasn't gonna come see you?"

"taerae" he repeats. he's said his name so many times, but actually seeing him is so.. weird after the finale and him having flown to japan for kcon.

"y/n" taerae says, he walks forward and grabs y/n's hands. "what's wrong?"

y/n resists the urge to absolutely break down in taerae's arms, he tightens his grip around taerae's hands, staring at him for so long that everything starts getting blurry.

"oh my god" he whispers, and taerae laughs once again. he's in shock, taerae is here, yeah taerae trains in the wakeone building, obviously, but taerae is here, with him, holding his hands.

"y/n, i'm here, hi".

"shit, hi".

"i— i just can't believe your actually here, in front of me, it feels like it's been forever since i've seen you".

"jeonghyeon filled me in on your situation" y/n winces to himself as taerae begins laughing at his expression. "love begins with a confession on repeat? seriously? you were thinking of me, right?"

"wasn't it obvious?" y/n inquires back as the two of them begin walking together, hand in hand. "i sat in my room for a whole entire week, crying into that badtz maru plushie you got me, rewatching almost every single episode of pucca".

"you love that show!"

"exactly! it was comforting to me!"

taerae chuckles, staring at y/n with those fond eyes. "i thought you were in japan?" he asks, and taerae shakes his head.

"i was" he replies. "i only flew back a few days ago, and jeonghyeon called me to explain what was going on with you, and i felt bad".

"bad? for what?"

"because i was in a whole other country and you were here suffering because of me!" taerae yells, and y/n frowns, swinging their hands back and forth.

"i was just.. disappointed, because i lost" y/n mumbles, and taerae caresses his hands as he opens the door to y/n's room. "and i couldn't debut with you, it felt like i was empty".

taerae hums, closing the door. he frowns at the sight of the badtz maru plushie laying face down in front of the closet. "what happened to badtz maru? i got that for you, you know".

"oh" y/n pauses. "i threw it in a fit of frustration".

taerae snickers, nudging y/n, which makes him whine in complaint. "how rude of you, i got that for you as a good luck charm!"

"i mean— it was! but i kept getting reminded of you whenever i looked at it, and i cried into it most of the time so i was just frustrated and threw it!"

taerae lets go of his hands, crossing his arms and pouting. "i can't believe you, y/n, you have betrayed me".

y/n stares at taerae, smiling. this is kim taerae, his longtime best friend kim taerae, his one and only kim taerae, his love kim taerae. he can't comprehend the amount of love he feels, just looking at him as he laughs.

just like old times, huh?

"y/n" taerae calls out, making said boy snap out of whatever daze he was having. "you should've told me, talked to me, i would've been willing to listen".

"i know but—" y/n pauses, sighing. "i didn't think you'd have time for me, because you now have a group and schedules and i couldn't work up the courage to call you.."

taerae stares at his love, instead smiling as he grabs his hands again. "y/n, i love you".

"taerae, i love you more".

at his response, taerae giggles, his face turning a shade of red at the response. "okay, stop it".

"sing for me".

taerae blinks, staring at y/n for a long moment before smiling. "like the old times?"

"like the old times".

taerae hums, letting go of y/n's hands to grab the guitar he keeps in the corner of the room. "what do you want me to sing?"

"spring breeze" y/n replies, and taerae seems a little surprised, tilting his head.

"spring breeze?" he raises an eyebrow; he always liked that song.

"yeah" y/n nods happily, sitting down beside taerae on his bed. "it's the only way i'll go to sleep tonight".

"sounds like an excuse" taerae is quick to say, making y/n frown. he pushes taerae slightly, making the boy laugh once again.

"sing for me or i kick you out of my room".

"that in love with my voice, huh?"

"just sing, i need to relax".

so that my winter can end— we really love each other, you come to me like the spring breeze.

that's just how they were.

y/n couldn't find a better circumstance to be in that night.

#kim taerae #zerobaseone #zb1 #zb1 taerae #zb1 scenarios #zb1 imagines #kim taerae x reader #kim taerae zb1 #kim taerae imagines #zb1 drabbles #𑁍 ࣪˖ 𓂃 isa's works!

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rosinbae · 11 months

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see you again ⋆ kim taerae

◜✧◞ SYNOPSIS ─ as the episodes of boys planet progress, y/n finds himself drifting away from his best friend, kim taerae, who seems to no longer need him anymore.

◜✧◞ PAIRING ─ kim taerae x male!reader

◜✧◞ GENRE ─ angst, fluff if you squint.

◜✧◞ CONTINUATION ─ eventually

y/n feels hopeless.

kim taerae is his best friend, or was his best friend? he doesn't even know if he gets that label anymore. he's observed, watched with close eyes as the male he considers his best friend in the whole wide world slowly drifted away from him.

it's ironic, because he was the one who suggested that they join boys planet together. he was the one so excited about joining the show with his best friend, the two of them stayed up together giggling about how great it would be for the two of them to debut together.

that all seems to have flown out of the window now.

y/n knows mnet is fishy, he knows they evil edit whoever they want to for the sake of publicity and attention. he assumed that he would sort of be safe because he was a korean trainee.

oh how wrong he was.

it seemed that in the flip of a switch, everyone apart of the korean public was against him, like all it took for them to now hate his guts was mnet pulling a little trick.

he hates how overly emotional he is, because he had a breakdown about it a few hours after filming had been finished.

and of course, taerae was there. he was there to console him, comfort him, give him solace as he let y/n cry in his shoulder.

that was before he became.. well— distant.

the last real conversation he had with taerae didn't really end on a good note.

"you.. don't want me in the team?"

"no— y/n that's not what i mean" taerae says in an instant. he takes in a breath, biting his inner cheek. "it's just that, we have to kick someone out, they won't let us keep everyone".

"and i was the first choice?"

"well we talked about it—"

"without me?"

taerae shifts his gaze away, not saying more than he has to. y/n sighs, he's a chronic people pleaser, he wants to scream and shout and put out every single complaint he has, but he just decides to deal with it.

"i'm sorry, i'm being too difficult" he mutters, a wave of disappointment washing over him. "it's alright, i'll find another team that'll let me in".

if it's not too late…

"y/n, i—"

"it's okay, rae-yah" he says simply, smiling painfully as he stares at his best friend. "i understand, we can talk about this later, okay?"

taerae sighs, glancing around the room. "i'm sorry" he whispers.

"it's okay".

but it wasn't. of course it wasn't.

that conversation was in february, february. y/n watched two months go by and his relationship with his best friend has been deteriorating ever since they had that conversation about y/n getting kicked out of the back door team.

taerae's barely around anymore, he notices. now, when he sees y/n, instead of hugging him to death showering him with tons of affection, they just share awkward hi's and hello's.

it's not only him that notices, everyone else does too, especially their fellow wakeone friends.

"did you and taerae get into a fight or something?"

park hanbin has always been head on, he isn't afraid to bring up stuff he knows other people have been hiding.

"what? what do you mean by that?"

"are you serious y/n? you two could barely even leave each other alone for two seconds when you guys auditioned together, and now you guys barely acknowledge each other's existences anymore! it's shocking, that's what it is".

y/n stays silent, staring at his friend as if he's said something shocking, but his expression changes, gaze falling down to the floor as he realizes that hanbin is right.

"taerae doesn't need me anymore, he's made it extremely clear.."

"if i told past you that you said that in the future you'd probably have a heart attack".

y/n sighs. "hanbin, what is this even supposed to mean?"

"y/n, you know i love you, right?" he begins, y/n doesn't respond, biting his tongue. "taerae is your best friend in the whole entire world, it's not like you two to be on bad terms. i hate seeing the two of you upset, and it's so obvious that you wanna talk to each other, i know that it might take some time but you have to make up".

y/n takes in hanbin's words, processes them.

they have to make up.

y/n manages to catch taerae.

well— not catch per se, y/n can barely even spot him in the practice room full of eighteen other boys. taerae is too immersed in his conversation with junhyeon to even notice his presence.

y/n feels embarrassed, he turns around to walk away with his eyes closed. he's about to walk out of the door when a shout catches his attention.

"y/n, wait!"

he recognizes that voice, that voice, that voice that he loved listening to all the time, that voice which would whisper overly sweet compliments and comfort him whenever he felt he wasn't good enough.

"y/n, can we talk?" taerae asks. he isn't exactly casual about it, it's awkward between them now, something they never imagined happening.

"outside.." he clarifies, gesturing to all of the other people in the room, meaning that the conversation he wanted to have with him was probably pretty personal.

"sure- ah! okay!"

before y/n can even fully respond, taerae drags him by the hand outside of the practice room. he can't recall the last time taerae held his hand, at all, it's funny, really.

"okay, taerae, what is this about—"

"i'm sorry!" he immediately blurts, letting go of y/n's hand in embarrassment as he looks away with a red face.

"sorry for what?"

"for doing that to you" taerae mutters. "i excluded you, i made you feel horrible because i kicked you out of the team and i've been avoiding you like the plague, that makes me a bad friend and i can't stand myself for what i did to you!"

y/n is used to this.

he's used to having conversations like this with friends, all of his ex best friends who just couldn't stand when he finally put his foot down and stopped wanting to be used by them.

but taerae would never do that—

right?

"it's okay, taerae" he says. that's not what he wants to say, of course, but he couldn't think of any other response to that sentence. "i forgive you".

but it wasn't okay.

of course it wasn't okay.

what is y/n's problem? why can't just stand up for himself? why does he let people walk all over him as if he doesn't have a mouth which he can use to speak up for himself?

that conversation didn't turn out too well either,

because they had a fight only a few hours after that.

y/n realized after he let out all of his thoughts that he sounded a little selfish, much to his own horrible thoughts. he feels as if he did something horrible, despite all of his honesty.

and taerae simply seems so nonchalant about everything.

y/n wonders.

how did they go from being the best of friends attached at the hip to now barely being able to look at each other without it being awkward?

it scares him.

every other day, he feels himself getting even more hopeless, knowing he had messed up everything and that nothing would ever be normal between them again.

were they even friends anymore?

it's like taerae is haunting him. every other thing he can't help but think of taerae, kim fucking taerae, the one who would always stare at him with lovestruck eyes, the one who could resolve any problem they had, the one who knew each and every one of his fears, the one who he had to constantly deny his relationship with because they looked like they were utterly in love.

maybe he was.. maybe.

but it's not like it mattered anymore, did it now? they weren't friends or anything, they didn't fit that label anymore.

which is ironic to say, because it was assumed their friendship would've lasted the longest.

"that was dumb— your dumb!"

"i am not!" y/n whined, stomping his feet on the floor as he stared at his best friend. "i should be telling that to you, with your stupid glasses! you looked like an idiot!" he retorts, making taerae gasp and place a hand on his chest, directly where his heart was located.

"i did not look like an idiot!" taerae rolls his eyes. "you did, as always!" he says, and y/n mimics his previous gasp, appalled.

"i wouldn't be saying this if you didn't insult me first.." y/n mutters under his breath, yelping when he felt taerae push him.

"gosh couples! cut it out already you guys are annoying!" hanbin yells from across the room. "get a room or something!"

"were not a couple!" the two best friends shout in unison. they also seem to blush in unison, faces turning red and heating up at the comment. taerae scratches his arm, too flustered for his own good. y/n laughs, though his face is also red, he doesn't want to make it obvious.

"how do they even think were dating?" taerae starts, ironically as he reaches over for y/n's hand to look at the rings on his fingers.

"i don't know, we aren't even a couple, are we?"

taerae furrows his eyebrows, as if the question confused him. he stops staring down at y/n's rings, and looks back up at his face. his breath hitches when he realizes they're a little too close.

his eyes go wide and he freezes for a moment, but then he shakes off whatever thoughts he was having and smiles. "why are you asking that like the answer isn't obvious?"

"well i don't know what you think" y/n responds, clicking his tongue as he decides to intertwine their fingers. taerae felt the cold metal brush against his fingers for a moment, and he has this unknown feeling. "maybe you do think were a couple and i'm just oblivious to everything—"

"shut up, y/n" taerae scoffs. "no, were not a couple, even with how much you want us to be".

"me? you want us to be one, you can't resist me".

"don't let your ego suffer when you find out your being delusional".

"nope, you love me".

"that's a big word, don't say it again".

#kim taerae #zerobaseone #zb1 #zb1 taerae #zb1 imagines #kim taerae x reader #kim taerae imagines #zb1 scenarios #zb1 drabbles

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gunwookstan · 1 year

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WAKEONEZ | boys planet stages

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kpop77i · 10 months

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#wakeone trainees #WAKEONEBOYS #WAKEONE BOYS

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kpopmultifan · 1 year

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Mnet idol survival show BOYS PLANET (the boys version of the successful GIRLS PLANET 999 which spawned Kep1er) has released a set of profile images of the competing trainees.. The series debut is scheduled for February 2nd.

1. Kim Gyuvin (Yue Hua Entertainment) 2. Kim Jiwoong (Burn It Up 30 alum; INX alum as Jinam) 3. Kim Minhyuk 4. Kim Minseoung (Redstart ENM; LOUD alum) 5. Kim Taerae (WAKEONE) 6. Kum Junhyeon 7. Lee Daeul (143 Entertainment) 8. Lee Donggun (Great M Entertainment) 9. Lee Dongyeol (TOP Media; member of UP10TION as Xiao) 10. Lee Hoetaek (CUBE Entertainment; member of PENTAGON as Hui)

#boys planet #profile image #boys planet: profile image #kim gyuvin #kim jiwoong #kim minhyuk #kim minseoung #kim taerae #kum junhyeon #lee daeul #lee donggun #lee dongyeol #up10tion: xiao #lee hoetaek #pentagon: hui

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boysplanetrecaps · 1 year

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Boys Planet Episode 9: Master Post and General Episode Recap

Hey, fellow Star Creator!

It’s time to talk about Episode 9!

This post is actually just going to be a master post for the episode, in which I cover:

The great reshuffling of the teams

The beginning of the show (fans outside, returning trainees, etc)

The field day

The visit with the parents

An overview of what’s going on with the teams

I’m going to cover the five teams’ rehearsals and performances in separate posts, which means that Supercharger and En Garde will be ready soon, while the other three teams will be covered later.

So, let’s go!

If you want to skip the preview and whatnot, the episode actually starts at 2:37.

We start the episode at the end of the previous elimination ceremony, watching the boys hug and cry and say goodbye to each other. We see a few of the boys sobbing disconsolately, including Brian and Lee Yedam. It’s pretty heartbreaking.

Later, the surviving boys go back to their dorms and talk. They seem to be gathering in little bunches for comfort. Kim Tae Rae is sitting with Lee Jung Hyeon -- they’re both WakeOne trainees and came to the show together, along with Lee’s good friend, Mun Jung Hyeon, who was just eliminated. TaeRae is telling his younger friend Lee to keep going and keep trying on Mun’s behalf.

In another room, Kim Guyvin says that he wants to win first place in something so that he can “call the names of the eliminated trainees one more time.” That’s sweet and everything but it sounds like he’s in the Hunger Games. I am kind of worried about Gyuvin -- he was so confident when he arrived and the judges seem to have beaten him down to pulp. He’s always so bummed out and nervous now. I want to see that confident mop-headed kid again. You’re still in there, right Gyuvin-ah?

That’s my little cousin Kum Jun Hyeon in the bed on the left, and the one curled up in the corner is Lee Seunghwan, based on his pajamas, which we saw in the Ggang segment, but I can’t see the others clearly enough to recognize them. The sign over the middle bed says something like “one chicken per person.”

But then… in the next scene, it’s a bright and cheery new day! All the sadness is gone completely!

3:48 The Great Re-shuffling Begins

So, it’s time for THE GREAT RESHUFFLING. Some teams were left with too many trainees, and some teams were left with too few, and now some teams will have to kick some of their own members out, a process that’s so stressful that people actually feel kind of sorry for the team whose entire contingent of ten survived.

The stakes are pretty high here. There are at this point only three or four days before the actual performance. Changing to a new song at this point could be disastrous for anyone who is slow to learn choreography or lyrics. Also, the song with the most open spaces is Supercharger, which is not only a terrible song,* but also features choreography so difficult that even Haruto had trouble with it after many days of working on it. Anyone who gets kicked out of their team has approximately a and you have a decent chance of being stuck with Supercharger.

*So, I ran a poll on the topic of the song Supercharger, asking people if they liked it or not. A lot of people said they genuinely liked it, so… I guess I stand corrected. For me, just the fact that it got stuck in my head doesn’t mean that I like it.Being sticky isn’t the same thing as being good. I mean, I’ve had honey get stuck in my hair. That doesn’t mean I want it there. But yeah if you like Supercharger, that’s cool -- you do you, boo. I like Danger by Wooah and Firetruck by NCT and Obsession by Exo and Wing Wing by Kepler and a bunch of other weird songs, so I get it. People should like what they like! I’m still not adding Supercharger to my playlist, but I understand why maybe someone else would.

Anyway, so here’s our team status report:

Team En Garde, wearing light pink, have 7 members remaining and need to lose 1.

Currently on the team: Kim Gyu Vin, General Park Gunwook, my little cousin Kum Jun Hyeon, Hui, the formerly blue haired Park Hanbin, that peach Lee Seung Hwan 🍑, and Hiroto.

Members who have gone home: Lee Yedam, Oh Sungmin, Ji Yunseo

Team Over Me, wearing white, have 8 members and need to lose 3.

Currently on the team: Chen Kuan Jui, Jay, Keita, Lee Jeong Hyeon, Ricky, Wang Zi Hao, Yoon Jong Woo, Zhang Hao

Members who have gone home: Lim Jun Seo, Ma Jing Xiang

Team Say My Name, wearing black, have 10 members and need to lose 5

Currently on the team: Cha Woong Ki, Han Yu Jin, Kim Ji Woong, Kim Tae Rae, Ollie, Seo Won, Seok Matthew, Sung Hanbin, Takuto, Yoo Seung Eon

Team Supercharger, wearing purple, is down to just Haruto from the 11 members it used to have. The team needs five more members.

Members who have gone home: Bak Do Ha, Chen Jian Yu, Cong, Jung Min Gyu, Lee Da Eul, Lee Dong Yeol, Mun Jung Hyun, Park Hyunbeen, Park Ji Hoo

Side note: For this scene, MNET uses piano music that is so over the top dramatic sounding that it would be appropriate for a story about a family losing everything they owned in a house fire. Because it’s so over the top, a viewer will probably subconsciously disconnect with the very real and reasonable pain and anxiety Haruto is feeling right now. Nice work, MNET!

Team Switch is just Na Kamden and Z-Bo, kind of sitting there looking uncomfortable. The team needs 4 more members.

Members who have gone home: Anthonny, Brian, Cai Jin Xin, Choi Woo Jin, Dang Hong Hai, Jung I Chan, Krystian, Lee Dong Gun, Wumuti, and Zhang Shuai Bo

The teams aren’t totally sure how they will be reshuffled because it has worked in different ways in different seasons. The leader of team Over Me, the comeback kid Yoon Jong Woo, suggests voting. Woongki on Say My Name is worried that it might just immediately be decided by ranking, which, ha ha, it kind of will be! And everyone is slightly worried that the surviving members of Supercharger and Switch will get to come steal the people they want.

And in to En Garde’s rehearsal room comes Haruto with big glasses and a clipboard. I love this guy.

I love how Kamden and Z-Bo can’t quite keep up with Haruto’s complete commitment to his bit. Good stuff. So yeah, Haruto manages to almost convince the teams that he and Kamden and Z-Bo get to steal whoever they want from the other teams and make them join Supercharger or Switch. Of course, they can’t. They can make their sales pitch, however, and they do, trying to poach some of the higher ranked team members with promises of big parts like main vocal or the Killing Part. Haruto will peel off that Killing Part sticker right now and slam it right on your solar plexus if you will just join him in Supercharger, assuming you are Park Gunwook.

So En Garde has to figure out who to eliminate. The team is really strong, and its members survived in a convenient distribution, with one person per part, except for the Killing Part and Main Rapper.

Looking at the roster, I theorize that the team would have voted out Hiroto (who is not only the lowest ranked on the team but by total unrelated coincidence the only non-Korean member of the team) and then made one of Gunwook or Gyuvin the main rapper, and then given the other one the Killing Part + Sub Rapper 1.

But that’s all theoretical. Looking at the part distribution gives us a hint as to what really happens, because Park Hanbin, who won top spot in Law, who led both his teams to victory, who was given All Star ranking both times, THAT Park Hanbin, is currently subvocal 3 with 10 seconds of center time?

Um, no.

Park Hanbin tells his team that he has decided to just walk away and join team Switch.

Naturally, Kamden and Z-Bo are delighted to have him join their team. I think team En Garde is just glad that they don’t have to vote someone out.

You guys, the story is going to get even better but we’ll get there.

Next, the recruiting teams go to Over Me and pull the same stunt with their clipboards and self-assurance. Kamden makes a passionate play to try to recruit his friend Jay, offering him the main vocal part. It’s like, 10% cringey, but I don’t mind too much.

So, after Hiroto and co. leave, the Over Me team talks about it. No one wants to leave, so they have to vote to decide who will be kicked out. Each of them makes an argument for why they should stay, and Yoon Jong Woo’s mini speech is about how he’s poured himself into this, deciding on costuming, choreography, etc. Hmm.

Here’s the team as it stood, with their rankings -- those with the Killing Part are marked with a *:

*Zhang Hao 2

*Keita 8

Jay 12

Ricky 14

L - Yoon Jong Woo 15

Wang Zi Hao 19

Chen Kuan Jui 22

Lee Jeong Hyeon 24

They vote for the teammates they want to keep, and Haruto and co. wait in the hallway to see who will be kicked out.

The first to walk out is the smiliest man on earth, 😁Wang Zi Hao😁. Haruto is so happy to him, because if anyone in this whole show can handle Supercharger, it’s 😁WZH😁.

Everyone is shocked to see Keita when he comes out of the rehearsal room, but I really can’t tell if Keita is surprised or not. He’s smiling in a way that is hard to interpret. Last to emerge is Yoon Jong Woo, who is clearly so shocked and angry at the betrayal that for now all he can do is smile.

I have theories on how each of them ended up getting kicked out, because it obviously wasn’t just ranking. Shall we walk together for a while? We shall! Here we go.

My theories on all this:

First off, Zhang Hao wasn’t going to get kicked out -- he’s Zhang Hao. Jay’s voice is super well suited to this song and they need him. Ricky is well suited to the vibe of the song, as well. Chen Kuan Jui is a fantastic dancer who can dance in this style, and also, he’s really good friends with Zhang Hao.

As for why they kept Lee Junghyeon, my theory is that it was in part because he’s their maknae and they care about him, in part because he wrote that rap for the song already and they feel like he has to do it, but mostly because even though he’s good during the performances and won’t ruin anything, he isn’t a threat to steal votes from them.

So in some ways, those who got kicked out are just those who weren’t those five. But I think there were a few other factors in play.

I went back and rewatched the bits of the team interacting from Episode 8, and I noticed that when they circled up for a group convo, Wang Zi Hao ended up sort of on the outside, and they didn’t open the circle for him.

Also, look at them sitting in the producer’s office, also from Episode 8:

Left to right: Wang Zi Hao, MJX, Lee Junghyeon, Ricky, CKJ, Zhang Hao, Jay, Lim Jun Seo, Keita, Yoon Jong Woo

I don’t know what order they sat down on the couch, but look at how cozy Hao is with Jay and CKJ. Look at Yoon Jong Woo inexplicably taking up too much space on the couch so that Lim JunSeo has no room to move his elbows? Does JongWoo not notice or not care? Why doesn’t JunSeo say something? And look at Wang Zi Hao sitting politely to the side, just completely separate. So much to unpack…

You guys? I think they voted out Wang Zi Hao because they’re not friends with him. It’s just that simple. I’m sure he could dance in this style, and we heard him singing in the previous episode and he can actually sing just fine. They don’t dislike him, I mean who would dislike him? -- but he’s not their friend.

Now, Keita. It’s my belief that they voted out Keita because he’s a fucking THREAT. Plus, I don’t get the feeling he’s really their friend, either.

Consider, in episode 8, when they were voting for the Killing Part. Keita, being honorable, voted for Zhang Hao for the killing part. Who did Hao vote for? Chen Kuan Jui. Come on. We all love CKJ, but in what world is he better at a killing part than Keita? I really believe that Hao is smart and strategic enough that he voted for CKJ not because he thought CKJ should get it, but rather to waste his vote and make it less likely that Keita would get it. And it worked, in that Keita ended up coming in second in the vote.

And, now that they’ve both survived, Zhang Hao must be worried he might lose the Killing Part after all. So. Remember how Zhang Hao and Ricky are friends from the same agency (Yuehua)? They’re likely to team up. We’ve also seen how much Zhang Hao and CKJ get along -- they’re really good friends. It wouldn’t have shocked me if Hao, CKJ, and Ricky got together the night before and agreed to vote for each other to stay, and to make sure that Keita was out. They might even have gotten Jay in on it.

I actually think that Keita didn’t see this coming. He’s really smart, and he must have known it was possible, but I think that maybe he isn’t as good at social engineering as he is good at literally everything else. He strikes me as a direct and honest kind of person, so maybe it never occurred to him that his team would do this to him because he himself would never try to vote out the best teammates. He’s friendly and always appreciates how good everyone else is. Yet you rarely see anyone hugging him, you know? I think everyone likes him, but not a lot of people are close friends with him. So he’s not in the cool kids clique, and when push comes to shove, he gets the shove.

So what happened to Yoon Jong Woo? Well. I have a lot of answers to that.

First and foremost, I think he was a threat too. I think he really really suits the style of this song, and he’s a great dancer, and I think he would have been great at this. He might have even won the vote on D-Day. They weren’t going to risk that. Plus, he keeps climbing up the charts. They don’t want him climbing up into top 9! Tossing him out and having him risk landing in Supercharger is a sure way to sabotage him and keep him out of the Top9 so there is more room for Ricky.

Also, I think -- and this is wild speculation on my part but -- I think they were getting sick of him. I really do. I think that Jongwoo’s aggressive attitude toward MJX made the rehearsal room a little unpleasant to be in, and I think stress has made him a little anxious and sharp. His little speech about how he was contributing so much to the song was designed to make them want to keep him, but maybe it reminded them that he’s doing too much (in their opinion)? Something like that…

So yeah, those are my thoughts on what happened with that team!

Anyway.

Back to the reshuffling!

Next, Haruto and co. go see team Say My Name and again, they make their pitches. Here are the ten Say My Name trainees, along with their episode 8 ranks:

Sung Hanbin 1

Han Yu Jin 3

Seok Matthew 4

Kim Ji Woong 5

Kim Tae Rae 7

Yoo Seung Eon 17

Seo Won 18

Takuto 25

Cha Woong Ki 26

Ollie 27

The only one who seems interested in the sales pitch is Matthew, who listens to Switch to see if he likes it, but then also jokes that his name is Seok Woohyun (that’s his Korean name, apparently) and that he doesn’t know who Matthew is. So no Switch-switch there.

However, as we find out, Kim TaeRae does in fact want to switch to Switch, saying: “I think this team [Say My Name] has a lot of members who can do a better job than me. In order to show my strength more, it might make more sense for me to join them.” His choice is quite interesting and I will get to it in a bit. It’s not clear how he ends up on Switch as opposed to Supercharger, but maybe since presumably all five trainees wanted Switch, the Switch team was allowed to pick the trainee they wanted. Or maybe because TaeRae was was ranked the highest, or because he volunteered to leave, he was allowed to choose.

The other four SMN teammates who get kicked out are coincidentally the four lowest ranked, Takuto, Ollie, Seo Won, and Woongki. I’m sure you’ve noticed that they are the four cutest on the team, so it could also be theorized that they were kicked out for being a threat, but I don’t think that Takuto was a threat.

I actually think that Takuto and Ollie in particular were kicked out because they’re so young looking. I know that Ollie is older than Han Yujin, but even so, and even though he’s so tall, he comes across as younger. Knowing as I do now that the team is going to go for a “high teen” concept, you can’t have actual teenaged looking people on the team or they’ll make Sung Hanbin look old (he’s not, but he looks older than his age [21], in my opinion).

If you watched Girls Planet 999, you might remember this performance of Yes or Yes, with the 25 year old Wen Zhe and the like, 15 year old Kim Sein. This is also a high teen concept, and having little Sein there made Wen Zhe look like a 35 year old, which in kpop is the same as being an actual brontosaurus. It made the whole team feel out of balance, too.

So yeah, it made sense for the Say My Name team to kick the "little kids" out.

As for Seo Won and Woongki, I really think it was mostly that they’re low ranked. I don’t think that the team viewed them as a threat either, because they’re low ranked and don’t stand a chance at winning the vote compared to them. I mean, Woongki couldn’t win the vote against Z-Bo in Feel Special, you know? I love Seo Won and Woongki too, and think that after the show they will probably have tons of offers to be on reality shows and stuff, because they’re lovable AF! But I still don’t think their teammates viewed them as a threat.

In any case, all four of them end up on Supercharger, much to their intense chagrin.

Ollie is being sort of comical about his distress, but he also kind of means it. It’s cute to see his friendship with Haruto, but it also makes sense. Haruto is completely fluent in English, as we see in this episode, and Ollie seems to speak English possibly as a first language, so it makes sense that these two friendly, English speaking dancers would have gotten close. In any case, this team is going to have a tough time, as we’ll soon see.

Ok, so here is a final list of the trainees and their songs they ended up in. I include the song they originally had if they switched. Incidentally, everyone originally had the song they asked the audience for, except for Lee Seunghwan, who originally wanted Say My Name but ended up in En Garde.

En Garde:

Kim Gyu Vin

Park Gunwook

Kum Jun Hyeon

Hui

Lee Seung Hwan

Hiroto

Over Me:

Zhang Hao

Jay

Ricky

Chen Kuan Jui

Lee Jeong Hyeon

Say My Name:

Sung Hanbin

Han Yu Jin

Seok Matthew

Kim Ji Woong

Yoo Seung Eon

Supercharger: first team

Wang Zi Hao Over Me

Seo Won Say My Name

Takuto Say My Name

Cha Woong Ki Say My Name

Ollie Say My Name

Haruto Supercharger

Switch: first team

Park Hanbin En Garde

Keita Over Me

Yoon Jong Woo Over Me

Kim Tae Rae Say My Name

Na Kamden Switch

Zhang Shuai Bo Switch

Or, if you prefer an infographic:

And thus ends… t h e g r e a t r e s h u f f l i n g.

Then from 17:10 to 17:40 it’s just a preview of the performances, so you can skip that if you want.

After that, we visit each of the five teams for 4-8 minutes each, to see how their rehearsals are getting started.

Supercharger (average rank: 21.8)

At 17:40, we visit team Supercharger for almost six minutes.

The gist of what’s going on is that they’re super discouraged, since most of them don’t feel like they’re a good fit for the song. They’re also worried about learning new and incredibly difficult choreography, and they’re sad that they got kicked out of the group they’d been in, especially Woongki, who had a ton of ideas for Say My Name.

For a more in-depth review of their rehearsal and performance, click here.

Say My Name (average rank: 6)

At 23:30, we endure the gut-churningly uncomfortable atmosphere at team Say My Name for a solid eight minutes.

The gist of the situation is that Matthew wants to have a big part and makes everyone feel bad when he is given a smaller part, even though (a) it’s not a tiny part and (b) it suits his voice so much better than the original part that it actually is a benefit to him as well. I know some people think this is “evil editing.” But this is stuff he’s actually doing, and if anything the show seems to be on his side, as far as I can tell.

It’s ok if you still like him -- in fact, good for you for showing such grace and kindness to him! We all deserve kindness when possible. And his negative behavior is a consequence of an extremely stressful environment, and doesn’t mean that he’s a “bad person.” I am not saying that Matthew can never be forgiven or that I hate him. But I am saying that he’s being immature, entitled, oblivious, and just an enormous pain in the butt right now.

I’ll talk about this a lot more when I post my in-depth review of their rehearsal(s) and performance. When it’s ready, you’ll be able to click here. (It’ll be posted when Ep 10 is up.)

Switch (average rank: 14.5)

At 31:45, we visit with team Switch for four whole minutes!

The gist of what’s going is that Park Hanbin has already learned the choreography to the song, because he pretty much planned all along to switch to Switch. This shit is amazing. He ends up with the killing part, because that’s how good he is at the choreo already. Kim Tae Rae, who has switched here from Say My Name, ends up with the main vocal, so a win for him as well. He also ends up having a bit of trouble with the choreo in the very first lesson, which is hardly surprising in any way. He’s a main vocal, folks. And…?

I’ll talk about all of this a lot more when I post my in-depth review of their rehearsal(s) and performance. When it’s ready, you’ll be able to click here. (It’ll be posted when Ep 10 is up.) But I’ll tell you right now that I’m super excited for this performance!

En Garde (Ave rank: 14.2, but without Hiroto would be 11.4)

At 35:50, we visit team En Garde, and spend about 7.5 minutes with them, most of which are unnecessary.

The gist of what’s going on is that they need to pick who will get to keep the killing part, and they choose Gunwook over Gyuvin. Then later on they prank Gunwook and tell him that they’re taking the killing part away and he’s actually pretty nice and mature about it, and then they reveal that it was a prank.

Then Hui says something interesting. “I worried if things were going too well.” Why would you worry about that, Hui? Hmmm…

I’ll talk about this a bit more when I post my in-depth review of their rehearsal(s) and performance. When it’s ready, you’ll be able to click here. (It’ll be posted when Ep 10 is up.)

Over Me (Ave rank: 14.8)

At 43:13, we visit with team Over Me for about 4.5 minutes. The gist of their situation is that they’re trying to shake off the guilt of having gotten rid of Yoon Jongwoo, and they do just that by electing Zhang Hao their new leader and re-distributing the parts. Jay is confirmed as main vocal, and Hao get the killing part. Again, we don’t see them rehearse at all.

I’ll talk about all this a bit more when I post my in-depth review of their rehearsal(s) and performance. When it’s ready, you’ll be able to click here. (It’ll be posted when Ep 10 is up.)

Time passes, and now it’s…

Showtime (47:50)

Fans are waiting outside the studio, holding up signs, excited for the show. There’s a sign that just says “Yujin” and one that says “Park Hanbin” in Hangul and then in English “PHANBIN”.

I know most of you can’t read Korean so here’s a few screenshots with translations of whatever I was able to read:

By the way, I’m doing my last editing pass on this and I just noticed that that light blue rectangle that says “Lee Sunghwan” in the top image should be in the middle of the bottom image, over that light blue sign in the middle. Don’t know what happened there. Sorry. Oh, and the red and black sign says Keita I think.

There are signs for Kim Gyubin, Ollie, Lee Sunghwan, Zhang Hao, Kim Tae Rae, and tons of other trainees. There are Na Kamden signs in English, Keita signs in Japanese, and look, it’s Haruto’s mom with a group of Haruto’s fans! Aww, she looks so much like him! (That’s his dad in the back, with the tinted glasses.)

As the fans go inside, we spot some of the eliminated trainees, here to see the show and perform in it, too.

In the top photo, that’s Wumuti waving, then Choi Woojin in the dark jacket, then Lee Hwanhee partly hidden by Jung Mingyu (who is wearing a white shirt). I can’t quite place the guy in the blue and white shirt or the guy in the middle with the reddish hair. 🙁 In the bottom photo, that’s Hwanhee, Brian, Ji YunSeo, Wumuti, and the guy in the blue and white shirt again. If you know who he is, or who the guy with the reddish hair is, let me know! I feel bad that I don’t recognize them.

Mingyu says that they will get to show off the performance they’ve been practicing, which is nice! From what I’ve heard there are lots of long pauses in these performance stages while the show is filming reactions and stuff back stage, so while they’re doing that, management could let these guys perform to entertain the audience. It’s win/win!

So, then the teams start entering. Switch team is super brightly colored. I’ll have to see what it looks like when they’re in motion -- I mean, Exo’s Obsession outfits were a LOT but they worked on stage.

Then Team En Garde comes out, in military-esque leather outfits that aren’t thrilling me, but I reserve judgment. Supercharger jumps up and down with the audience, who seem happy to see them. And then the Say My Name team come out in a “cool school boys after school” look -- a style they call “high teen” in Kpop land. It’s designed to be immediately loveable to the majority of the age groups and sexual preferences of the audience. Finally, Over Me comes out, and Chen Kuan Jui sees something in the audience that really gets his attention.

Click to enlarge

It’s such a weird moment. Ok, he’s been making hand half-hearts and stuff, right, but then he stops and almost reflectively makes a butterfly hand gesture, while staring in amazement, then his hand goes to cover his mouth while he continues to stare. It happens at 49:20 or so -- I can’t figure out what he saw. I assume a fan was holding up some sort of fan art of the Butterfly performance, or was dressed like a butterfly, or something…? I wish I knew! It obviously really surprised and touched him.

We see that each fan has been given a light wand that they can also use to vote. I’m not going to say what I think those light wands look like, but they definitely look like sex toys.

The boys are all gathered on stage, and it looks like the performances will start any minute…

… but nope. Instead, it’s time for…

52:09 A special video of a special surprise fan meeting

The boys are out at a sort of field day event and find out that they have a surprise fan meeting later that day. They have to win prizes they can use to prepare for the fan meeting.

It’s hard to recap this kind of thing because there’s no point to it, so I’ll mix recap with just random stray thoughts!

🌟I thought it was funny when boys joked that they might have to be in a “zoning out competition” and we see a montage of Na Kamden zoning out. Fun fact -- I showed my fella the dance practice of Switch and he was like, “that guy” (Kamden) “needs to show a facial expression of any kind.”

🌟I loved Woongki going “woooOOOOoooh!”

🌟What happened to Keita? Why does he have a band-aid on his nose?

🌟I’m glad that they’re all performing as a big team instead of competing against each other. Yes, a common enemy!! Co-op board games keep me and my fella from getting too competitive! Co-op games for the win!

The game where they wore party hats over their eyes to restrict their vision and have to try to match childhood photos to their subjects was pretty cute. They end up getting 5, which means they get to give their fans some tissues. I love how at the start of the game, the staff tells them that the other boys can’t help the searchers, and how they do anyway and no one cares.

I also love how someone says, of elementary school aged Hui, “He looks like he would’ve liked potatoes.” I have no idea what that means or if it’s a Korean saying or what. But I love it and am going to start saying it about people given the slightest opportunity.

🌟Aww, Ricky says of his 11 or 12 year old photo, “I was so ugly.” Every human being is a little bit ugly at that age. And he already had great eyebrows! I bet girls had a crush on him.

🌟Aw, Woongki was the same as a kid! But hold on, I’m still not clear on whether or not that kid in the swimming pool really was Hiroto.

Next game is a quiz game, whether they’re shown random photos and have to recognize them -- other trainees, the judges, etc. They managed to win the mics. I think the show threw the game to make sure they at least got mics.

The third game is to win food for the visitors -- they have to throw each other candies and catch them in their mouths. If they get 20, they win a steak dinner; if they get only 15, they get galbitang, which a beef short rib soup; if they get 10, they get only gimbap, which if you’re not familiar, is a bit like sushi in that it’s seaweed wrapped around rice, but it has a really different flavor -- there isn’t vinegar on the rice, it’s sesame oil instead, and the fillings can vary a lot. It’s tasty and all that, but it’s considered a sort of casual comfort food in Korea -- not exactly fine dining. It’d be a bit like serving your guests PB&J (USA) or beans on toast (UK) or whatever the version of that meal is where you live. Anyway, turns out Jay is really good at catching candies in his mouth, and catches 11, and hey, gimbap is better than nothing.

🌟 I liked them joking that it would have been great for TaeRae to be the one who catches the candies, because his mouth is so big, and TaeRae just being like, yep.

Then all of a sudden they tell us that the boys won hair and makeup and costumes in games we didn’t get to see…? What the everlasting fuck, MNET? Was Haruto just too charming in the bit that you had to cut it?

So, with the field day over, the boys return to the dorms to get ready for their show and put on regular but nice looking clothes, then get their hair and make up done. Then they go to the venue and hang up balloons and other decorations for their guests. But who will their guests be?

When the guests are revealed, my first thought was, “there’s more men than I thought there’d be.” My second thought was, “wow, they’re all middle aged, or a little older -- where are the screaming teenagers?” and then I was like ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. It’s their families!

🌟 I love Haruto’s mom -- of course his mom would be so outgoing and silly.

🌟 Park Hanbin’s mother is saying, “Our son became this pretty? Our son became so pretty!” First, if you’re not aware by now, the Korean word translated as "pretty" (it sounds like "yeppo") is applied to men and women alike in Korea, so don’t be throw off by the word choice or think it's a veiled insult. Second, hey, Hanbin’s mother, he’s always been pretty!! And he looks just like you so…. I mean…

🌟Seo Won’s parents make bunny ears at him -- he looks almost irritated at them. Maybe it's a family joke he's really sick of.

🌟We get to see 😁Wang Zi Hao’s😁 dance teacher, who is named Trix. In an interesting coincidence, my fella recently sent me a video of this dance crew called Monster Woo fam. Well, Trix is a member of that crew. Since he’s Korean, it's probably much easier for him to come to something like this than it would be for 😁WZH’s😁 parents to come, and I'm glad that 😁WZH😁had someone to support him, but I'm sorry it couldn't be his family. It's also kind of interesting that he had a Korean dancer teacher, but seems to still be not that great at speaking Korean. Maybe he understands a lot more than he can say.

🌟Keita’s dad, who looks exactly like MMA star Choo Sung Hoon, is also there. (My fella came in while I was writing this and was like, “wait, why is Choo Sung Hoon on your Korean singing show?” My fella watched Physical 100 and recognized him from that.)

🌟 Wumuti is also there! Wumuti is everywhere. Wumuti is IN YOUR BRAIN. I love that Wumuti is so glad to see who is on team Switch -- it’s like, he can relax knowing that if Keita is there, it’s going to be ok.

🌟Woongki is crying, and in a kind of a surprise, so is TaeRae. TaeRae’s mother, who totally has his exact cheekbones, is like, “Oh no, our TaeRae is so sensitive.” P-Hanbin is also tearing up.

🌟15 year-old Han Yujin says “my heart just felt strange” when he saw his mom. I can imagine that -- you kind of build up a wall and almost convince yourself you’ve never been anywhere but here, and then you see people from your old life and the wall crumbles down. Side note: his mom is really pretty. She looks like she could be an actress or something.

🌟Na Kamden has an identical twin brother! Wild. Kamden is the younger of the two (by however many minutes) so has to call his twin “hyung.”

🌟Ok, this is weird -- when the staff is bringing out the gimbap, we see that Haruto’s manager and Dongmyeong from k-band Onewe (check out their song “Gravity”) are there. That’s random. But Dongmyeong’s been on ALL the reality shows so maybe he’s just there because he gets it? But I really don't understand -- Haruto is under WakeOne and Onewe is under RBW, and I double checked but neither of those companies owns the other so really, this is super perplexing.

They’re all nervous to perform in front of their parents and other family members. Keita says it’s the first time he’s ever performed for his parents, which seems wild to me -- they’ve never seen Ciipher perform?

🌟We find out that Kamden’s brother came all the way from the US to be here. And I love the way the two of them greet each other -- like vague acquaintances. I have cousins who are twins, and they’re like that with each other. They ask the brother if he’s ever seen Kamden’s “aegyo” (over the top cute behavior) and the brother is like please no.

🌟TaeRae is crying so much he almost can’t sing.

🌟Oh, that’s Cai Jin Xin in the audience! Maybe some of the Chinese trainees had a hard time booking the flight home or had a flight home scheduled for some weeks from now, so they’re stuck in Korea for the time being -- something like that? Anyway, CJX was on the original team Switch and can’t help but dance along. It's cute. Both CJX and Wumuti look great styled in their natural personal style (I assume). I'm low-key obsessed with CJX's bizarre hoodie cape thing.

🌟Oh, Keita’s mom is also so pretty. Keita says he had a hard time preparing for this mission, and I think he’s just so exhausted on every level, giving it his all this whole time. I'm voting for you, sweetie.

When it’s time for “Over Me,” I couldn’t help but think about how embarrassing it must have been for the trainees to perform that song in front of their parents! Here are some sample lyrics, from the video on a youtube channel called ms start+ . The parts that were in English originally are in green -- the rest is translated (kind of poorly, I think) from the Korean.

I swear that I won’t leave without you / this breathless emotion is through/ come closer and hold me tight, tonight with you / I want to stay with you … Burning more and more we’re on fire, you and I are going to the end of the night. / We don’t need to hide our desire/ to wake up with you over me

Doesn’t matter whether you speak Korean and no English, or English and no Korean, you’re going to understand this song. Seriously, I would be so uncomfortable performing this in front of my parents. I noticed that they didn’t use the red fabric ties -- did they just not have them, or did they scrap them at the last second to make the dance less overtly sexy?

🌟We see that Zhang Hao and Ricky’s agency manager is here, watching proudly. She’s wearing a gray hoodie over a white turtleneck with a black coat over the hoodie, so I hope she’s warm enough. We also see that some of Yoon Jongwoo’s chingus are there, finding the whole thing pretty cringey. Love that.

Then they do this awful thing where they make Han Yujin tell his mom he loves her, and he cries, and I hate all of this, but his mom is also really pretty! So is Gyubin’s mom -- we see her at 1:14:53. Aw, all the moms are pretty. Yay! But no one is eating the gimbap -- ha ha. First time I watched this I may have been a bit... lofty... and I was like, damn, if you guys don't want that gimbap, give it to me...

So the families all love the performances, and then the boys are told that this is actually an evaluation performance and that their families will be filling out evaluation sheets. The boys go back to their rehearsal rooms to read their evaluation forms. The show seems to vastly overestimate how much suspense they can eek out of this as the trainees react to the eval forms. It’s so obvious why they’re reacting the way they are, I mean, duh, MNET. Shock of all shocks, the families really just wrote notes of support and love instead of criticizing them harshly! WUTTT?????? It’s still really cute and made me tear up a little because as you know, I’m a light touch.

🌟We never see Takuto reacting to any of this -- I think maybe his parents weren’t there? If they had been, I think that the show have focused on that. Poor Takuto, not being able to see his parents! He's like, a high school sophomore. He's not even old enough to take the SATs.

Side note: we get to see a bit of the note that Keita’s dad wrote for him, and it’s almost all in hiragana. That’s a Japanese syllabary, kind of like their alphabet, as opposed to the kanji characters, which are the more complex characters that have been adapted from Chinese. It’s considered a sign of good education to use kanji where applicable, and just supplement with hiragana as needed to conjugate verbs and stuff. So Keita’s dad is either maybe not super well educated, or is just writing very casually to his son and chose a more simple method of writing. I remember in a few animes, characters being made fun of for writing in just hiragana -- like Sailor Moon, noted ditz, only uses hiragana -- but I don’t want to base my cultural understanding just on anime, so if anyone knows the sort of ins-and-outs of writing quick notes in Japanese, and whether people are likely or unlikely to use kanji in a casual note, let me know! The reason I’m interested in not at all to insult Keita’s father -- it’s more that knowing that Keita comes from a more working-class background makes what he’s doing all the more special. So many idols come from super upper class backgrounds -- Jay from Enhypen, Tzuyu from Twice, Wendy from Red Velvet, Umji from G-friend, those are just a few that pop into my head. Keita being able to develop his talents without the financial backing of rich parents -- that’s just extra cool. We stan a self-sufficient talent.

Anyway, that was a cute interlude, but I’m glad I was able to skip it when I watched the episode the first time to get to the next segment! I don’t mind filler per se, but when you’re dying to see what happened to team Supercharger, you just want to go to…

1:21:28 Supercharger

The team introduces itself as “96.” Subtle. 😛We see their rehearsals -- a study in misery, desperation, and hard work -- and then their performance, which is… surprisingly good? We all knew Haruto would nail it, but this is the first time I feel like I saw Wang Zi Hao look like an idol, rather than just a really good backup dancer, and everyone (but poor Takuto) really pulled it off. I’d say Woongki surprised me, but he didn’t really -- if you watch some of his performances with T01, you’ll see he can totally rock this kind of thing. Hiroto comes in first with 852 votes, which is well deserved.

For my more in depth discussion of their rehearsals/performance, click here.

1:41:57 En Garde

The team introduces itself as "En! Butter." It’s apparently kind of a reference to redbean butter bread, and makes sense with the name of the song. This team really had nothing to worry about, so they kind of invented problems to overcome (at least, that’s my take on what happened) and then put on a perfectly good performance that oddly doesn’t sway me much, despite the fact that I like all these performers a lot. I think it’s just that the song is kind of boring to me, personally. I know other people like it and that’s totally cool. We all like different things. Gyuvin comes in first with 742 votes -- I suspect this is controversial because apparently a lot of people don’t like Gyuvin, but I like Gyuvin just fine and don’t mind.

For my more in depth discussion of their rehearsals/performance, click here for my En Garde recap!

1:58:43 Say My Name (not really)

We see the team backstage, then immediately flashback to their rehearsal time. It’s all really uncomfortable. I know people probably are curious about what I have to say about Matthew, but I don’t want to go into too much detail here and now. My short answer is, again, I don’t see this as evil editing. I see this as immature unpleasant behavior from Matthew. It’s not unforgivable or beyond understanding, and there are times that certainly we can see that he’s trying his best, but overall, I don’t love what I see here. I mean, his team is still super uncomfortable even as they go up onstage!

I’ll talk more about it in a separate post, linked in the episode 10 recap!

Side note: Ok, hey, LipJ, like, I thought it was kind of funny how you found the boys attractive, but back off from Han Yujin, ok? He’s a child. You’re twice his age. It’s really not ok. Alright! That’s enough of that.

Interim ranking posting:

And then the show posts a few of the current ranks, just enough to achieve some nefarious purpose. This is what they show:

Keita

Ricky

Park Hanbin

Lee Jeongyheon

Kim Gyuvin

Yoo Seung Eon

Cha Woonki

Enhh. You guys, the purpose behind this seems so obvious I almost feel like I don’t need to say this, but I’ll just say it anyway, in case you’re thinking the same thing as me and wondering if you’re imagining things. You’re not imagining things. MNET revealed that Keita and Ricky are ranked so high in order to hurt them, and revealed that those five Korean trainees were ranked comparatively low in order to help them. The idea is that people won’t want to vote for the trainees that are ranked high, because they don’t think they need help, and will want to vote for the trainees that are ranked low, because they think they DO need help. And no, it’s not a coincidence that the higher ranked trainees are foreign and the lower ranked trainees are Korean.

So, that's my ep 9 general recap. Here's a link to my general recap of episode 10! As always, thanks for reading and stay tuned! You're the best.

#boys planet #boys planet recap #haruto #keita #ricky boys planet

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