Three weeks passed away in a blink of an eye. Jun continued to maintain his number 1 position as well as the leader of the dorm. However, he had yet to perform solo in the evaluation rounds.
During the first week evaluation round, he performed "Red Sun" with Chaeyoung, earning praises from everyone. This led to increasing pressure on the remaining rappers, especially those who are trained.
Subsequently, in the challenge round where he was challenged by Jung Jinwoo, he performed a Korean version of "Try Everything."
Then, during the next week, a dance contest was conducted.
While he didn't end up in the top 3 to receive the additional bonus score, Jun still managed to score the top in the second-week evaluation, performing another mixed duo, this time with NC. A. Both of the vocalists gave a thunderous performance, singing "Tears + She's gone."
He had the help of her in arranging the song and JYP also mentored them, turning the song into a huge success, earning almost a perfect team score of 422/425.
In the end, Jun topped the rankings with 458/500.
Now, only the finals were left and this time, it is mandatory for everyone to perform solo.
The contestants were given two weeks for preparation. In the third week, two more contests were held.
One is a vocal contest and the other is a rap contest.
With no surprises, Jun easily won the vocal contest with perfect votes, singing "Because I miss you" by Singer Jung Yong Hwa from the tv drama Heartstrings.
After winning a 50 bonus score for the finals, he couldn't participate in the Rap contest.
During these three weeks, he managed to stock up the credits and bought an audio song. Four days before the finals, he was finished with recording the background music, which is mostly piano melody. There's violin and light drums music included too.
YG personally monitored him and he was satisfied with the song. The lyrics were very meaningful, the composition was simple but very good and Jun's magical voice increased it to a whole another level.
In fact, in his mind, he's already making preparations for Jun's debut.
It was Sunday evening. Everyone gathered downstairs, putting aside the practice for a while.
Shonwu was nowhere to be seen as he ended up at 8th position during the previous evaluation. Instead of him, there's Jung Jinwoo. Aside from that, there were no changes.
At around 10 p.m. on KBS2, the fifth episode is about to begin.
The fourth episode was the opening ceremony, where Jun was shown on television for the first time.
The fifth episode started with the camera showing the ex-host Ro Jongsu facing the cameramen who were on the stage. The judges and the mentors, and finally, the top contestants sitting on their thrones were shown. Jun was zoomed super close.
"I look better on television. Did they use filters or something?" Even Jun himself was amazed by his looks when it was closed in, although the fact that his appearance stat was just around 7 back then.
Then, it's time for Girls' practice. They were first showing the practice and the little discussions that occurred during the practice sessions, then, forward to the performance.
About half an hour later, Jun's practice session was shown. Jun stole the most amount of screen time there.
They didn't cut the scene of Jun helping out 12-year-old Yeongue.
The scene was suddenly there and he was once again, the focus of the show, this time, there's a solo cut for him.
Jun was walking into the training facility after lunch.
It was where the elevator scene was shown.
Jun and Yuju were standing in the elevator as it was going up to the 14th floor.
"Oh, the hero meets the heroine." Daniel cheered while the others also laughed together.
Of course, there's not much to see except for awkward introductions and silence. But, the fact that it was telecasted made Jun look away in embarrassment and inwardly curse the editing department.
The reason they added this clip in the episode is that he will pair up with Yuju, in the upcoming episode, and they will pair up, one more time again, after a few more episodes.
Jun felt thankful that they didn't follow him and record when he's outside because he went to the church with Yuju during the first week.
The episode was finished with Jun going down to the second position due to the harsh evaluation of JYP. It's not because he sang badly but it's because he sang too well and overwhelmed two of his teammates' performances while the fourth one landed in the hospital and the fifth one left the program.
Jun didn't think of a singing practice that night and went to sleep.
The next morning, he went to the vocal training room while Daniel is busy with dance practice.
The timetable they had set only applied for the first week. This time, as the management didn't set any rules, their timetable has been changed a lot. Instead of several hours, they took two hours turn.
Daniel and Vernon shared the dance training room while the remaining three vocalists shared the vocal training room.
After lunch, it was supposed to be Jun's turn to use the vocal training room.
He sat there and practiced the song he prepared for the finale for an hour. Of course, the main reason behind his intense practice isn't to perfect the song. He already did that long ago. Jun aims to reach the 9 point vocals before the finals. He was only 0.25 points away.
However, at around 3 in the afternoon, a surprising announcement was made through the speakers.
"Han Sung-Jun is summoned to the Central Block, the second floor. I repeat Han Sung-Jun is summoned to the Central Block, the second floor."
YG's voice was familiar to Jun. So, he easily recognized the voice. He wondered what it might be the reason.
Will he perhaps sign the contract with Genesis Entertainment before the finals? Or will YG go to introduce to some industry insiders? Or will someone is interested to buy the copyrights of his songs?
Jun's mind was filled with a lot of expectations. How he could he not get excited? After all, there were only three days left till the finals, and then, a few days later, his foot will finally be in the Kpop world. His dreams were about to become true.
As he reached the second floor and asked the staff member where YG is, the lady told him to go straight and right. It was the third room.
Jun went to the room and knocked on the door.
"Yes, come in."
He opened the door and saw YG is sitting there in silence. The latter stood up on his feet and walked towards him. There was no usual smile on his face.
YG patted Jun's shoulder and let out a deep sigh, "Jun-ah, please prepare your mind for what I'm going to tell you."
Jun was taken aback by his strange behavior. But, his positivity made him believe that YG was going to give him some good news. Usually, in dramas or shows, celebrities do this often, act sad and then, give a loud cheer.
Jun nodded in silence. He was trying to calm down his excitement and control his rapid heartbeat.
YG proceeded to say, "Earlier, a while ago, your mother suffered a heart attack and was admitted to the hospital. The situation is serious. You need to leave."
"Eh?" Jun was stunned. "My mother is in the hospital? You aren't kidding, right?"
His mind went blank.