At that moment, their song was replayed in Jun's head and he wasn't satisfied with the performance.
He can't help but frown as he glanced at the vocalist who messed up.
But, since the judges didn't comment about it, he kept silent regarding the matter and thanked them before returning to his seat.
All the performances are finished by lunchtime and Jun returned to the dorm.
Entering the room, he found his roommates are dispirited and exhausted. Their eyes don't contain hope and some of them also looked like they cried a lot.
The expression is something that's too familiar for Jun. He was reminded of his former self.
He knew they haven't done well in the evaluations and are likely to be eliminated from the program.
He had participated in a lot of auditions and boot camps back when he was in middle school and high school and even managed to get into one small agency, but he was got kicked out in just a couple of months because of being average whether it's the appearance or the talent.
From then on, he lost hope and eventually gave up his dream.
Jun can see the same eyes inside them too. Jun wanted to say something to cheer them up but he wasn't able to say anything to them. After all, Jun knew how tough the road is for average talented people like them.
In the evening, the boys' list was posted in the entrance hall of the training facility while the girls' was posted on the first floor.
As Jun came to the training facility, he saw a few girls are already leaving the building with their luggage in tears.
Ignoring them, Jun entered the hall and saw a pack of kids, looking at the list. Some are happy while some were disappointed. He saw a familiar person in the pack.
Not intending to join the crowd, he called out his name, "Daniel…"
Upon hearing Jun's voice, Daniel turned his head and nodded as a greeting before continuing to look at the list.
Finding the names, he turned around with a smile, "Hyung, we made it…"
Jun sighed in relief, despite being confident of making it to the list. He clenched his fist, 'I'm now one more step closer to my dream.
Everyone who made it received a message of congratulations along with three days of break.
They were also given the assignment to prepare a solo performance for the opening day. They are informed about the recording.
Jun returned to his home to spend time with his mom. Dahyun didn't make it home since she was busy preparing for the upcoming concert.
Three days later, when Jun returned to the dorm, he found out the beds are reduced. Instead of eight, there are only 6. The same with the other rooms.
Not that it became spacious but atleast, he felt less suffocating than before.
As planned before, Daniel moved to his room. To his surprise, along with Daniel, even Shonwu and Songmin also moved to his room.
Jun was a little bit disappointed that Yeongue didn't move to the room and decided to stay with his roommates. He has taken a liking to this little harry potter.
As for the other members of the group, they didn't get a chance since two of his roommates made it to the program.
It was also a shock to Jun since he expected them to be eliminated.
Only after hearing it from Daniel did he understood that the way the rookies are evaluated is different from former trainees. Unlike them, the rookies are evaluated individually.
***
Nov 15th, 2017;
At 2 O'clock, early in the morning of Wednesday, the lights were switched on in every room of the dorm.
"Hyung…" "Hyung… wake up…" A familiar voice disturbed Jun's sleep.
*Yawn* "Is the bathroom free, right now?" Jun asked as he woke up.
"Yeah. Quickly, go… before the rest of them woke up." Daniel slowly replied.
Maybe, it's because of the voice or the lights, Jun heard someone else yawning.
Looking towards the source, Jun saw someone woke up from sleep. It's Shonwu.
Without wasting the time, Jun sprung from the bed and rushed to the bathroom with the towel, toothbrush, and toothpaste.
Shonwu, who was a couple of seconds late, knocked on the door. "C'mon. Jun…"
Jun responded with a laugh, "the early bird takes the worm."
15 minutes later, Jun came out and started to get ready.
As he applied the cream, wore his best outfit, a notification rang in his head followed by Aria's sweet tone.
*Ding! Your appearance temporarily increases by 1.
'Good.' Jun nodded in satisfaction, and then, took a few selfies, some are solo, and some are with Daniel or Shonwu, and a group selfie with roommates before leaving the building.
Three buses are arranged for the boys and three for the girls with the last one filled with staff.
Jun was actually surprised by this transportation. He thought there will be trips per batch but it looks like the production team isn't backing away with the budget.
When he thought of the food serving at the cafeteria, Jun didn't find it weird at all.
Seven buses reached KBS studio at Gyeonggi Province at 3:30 A.M.
Many of the rookies are still sleepy while the former trainees like Jun who were prepared by having enough sleep looked energetic.
100 boys and 100 girls are then kept waiting at the entrance hall until they were called to the set where the shooting will take place.
Jun and the other contestants followed the staff and reached the set. It was a massive hall, which is as big as a movie theater.
It is indeed a grand set. There is a Judges' table in the center with five seats. It means two more are going to join YG, JYP, and Bravebrothers.
On either side of them, there is a section with 15 seats each allotted to the staff that is also going to judge the contestants.
Behind the judges' table lie the staircases to 21 seats with numbers on them.
There are four rows. The first one is from 21 to 12. The second one is from 11 to 6. The third one is from 5 to 2 and the highest row only has one seat with the number 1 as well as the crown symbol on it.
Other than that, there are several seats behind the mentors' panel. The girls' section is on the left and the boys' section is on the right.
Everyone's attention was on the number 1 seat, which looked like it was looking down on others.
The staff told them to go and choose the seats as they wish.
Thinking that they are telling them to take the seats behind the mentors' section, everyone started to walk. But, right then, a girl asked as she pointed her finger, "can we sit in those seats too?"
"Ah! Yes. You can…" The staff replied.
Everyone including Jun froze on their spot.