"The show's program director and his crew are a bunch of sadists," Jun murmured after turning off his mic.
The staff made the Greenhouse Inhabitants excited, showed some wholesome clips in the recap, and then plunged them into an embarrassing state afterward. On the big screen, the emcee was justifying the outcome of Jun's use of his privilege, and the Inhabitants looked like they were at a funeral as they saw three participants off. These three were Xavi, Jun, and Daeho. Afterward, an interview occurred where the Inhabitants expressed their shock at the results and worry about the next mission.
Where else could you find a survival show like this? The first-ever episode the contestants watched was full of depressing scenes!
'Our PD is truly one of a kind!' After seeing everyone's expression, Jun inwardly shook his head.
The participants watching the live broadcast remained seated but secretly exchanged glances with each other, although a few avoided looking in Xavi, Daeho, and Juwon's directions.
With invisible dark clouds above everyone's head, they continued watching. A female song played, and the contestants were captured listening attentively.
Min's face looked weird as he forced a laugh, "Ah-ha-ha… I remember this part. The moment I heard Miss Why's voice, I thought it was really beautiful and that she's amazing at expressing emotions."
"I have always been her fan because she has a unique voice and writes beautiful lyrics," said Juwon. Hyeon-ju smiled brightly as he shyly raised his hand, "Me too."
Then Min added, "But then we realized that we have to sing her song. Haha, our souls left our bodies for real. It's a Miss Why song, after all."
The other Inhabitants laughed, dispelling some awkwardness in the air. They made fun of each other, pointing at the screen whenever a contestant's reaction to the song was highlighted. For example...
"Look, Kato looks like he's about to cry because of the high notes!"
To this, the Japanese guy protested, "Absolutely not!" It prompted a round of teasing from those seated near him.
The broadcast continued.
It became awkward again when the Inhabitants were shown electing Sujin as their leader. The boy did not look thrilled to get the part, especially since the applause he got was quite perfunctory; they only clapped because they successfully threw an unwanted role at somebody else.
Neo, still an Inhabitant then, fought for the center role. Those who did not know the truth, in other words, the former Landers who climbed to Greenhouse after this mission, appeared too amazed at Neo's dance, which he used to win the part.
"He's so good. I heard he's even younger than Seth. How did he become this good?"
"I once asked Neo about it, and he said his dad is a professional choreographer in Japan."
Dae-Hyun was one of those captivated by Neo's dance. He prided himself on being great at dancing, but the Japanese contestant whose face currently occupied the screen made him feel insecure. He could not move his gaze away from the other boy's clean, graceful, and groovy movements, and before he knew it, he was imitating Neo while still seated.
"I've seen it up close in person, but yeah, seeing Neo on big screen, I can say he's a dance prodigy." Sujin nodded as he commented.
Jun smiled. 'Well, that boy will become more amazing in the future. Our generation's future dance prince.'
Of course, the admiration they felt stopped at that. The original Inhabitants merely smiled wryly when the mid-check for Golden Sun came, signalled by the arrival of the producers slash mentors. Thanks to Neo, the choreography did not pose a problem. However, the place descended into silence due to the conflicted and dissatisfied look on Producer Keys' face after the performance.
"I think the center is the weakest link right now. Neo, you need to work on your vocal ability. I don't know if you can do it in three days. If you can't, I want to suggest a re-shuffle of parts."
"... Yes." Neo could not raise his head due to a voice crack that ruined the chorus.
"Sujin, you're a main vocalist and you've long proved us why you have that badge. But I feel like you can do better in terms of being a leader. The part distribution is quite messy for us."
"I'm sorry." When Sujin apologized, he appeared not to know where to look.
The critiquing part ended, followed by discussions of strategies and stuff in the practice hall.
After Sujin's struggle as a leader showed, scenes in the Barren Land finally played.
Jun laughed when he saw himself frequently scratching his head. The editor probably fell in love with his eyebags, so they purposely highlighted them in the clips where he was shown leading the Landers.
For real, though, the ungodly amount of high notes in the song was insane. If the Inhabitants were struggling, the Landers were struggling more. It became a problem because they had to dance a somewhat difficult choreo while singing them.
In the end, Jun gathered his teammates and decided to brave the anger of the choreographers, sacrificing the group dance and formation for a more vocally stable performance. Only after they decided on their new stage direction did their practice become smoother.
Fast-forward to the day of the performance. All sorts of edits, including but not limited to slow-mo, exaggerated subtitles, cuts of reactions, etc., flashed before their eyes. Because the center of the Greenhouse team did not change, they got a low average. On the other hand, the Landers performed well. Even though not all of them went up, those watching knew that many Landers escaped anonymity because of this performance.
Juwon whispered in a low voice, "I'm sure after this episode, the WeTube page of our show will post the two versions of Golden Sun."
"Yes. The comments sections will probably be lively," replied Jun.
"Or brutal."
At this point, they were just watching the mentors' reactions and explanations about the scores while the Inhabitants voted on who to drop out.
Jun nodded to Juwon's statement. Looking at the video playing in front, he suddenly remembered what happened on the first mission. When Jun dropped out of the Greenhouse after using his privilege on Juwon, a question kept playing on his mind.
'Why did Juwon get so many votes again?' He was referring to the elimination votes Juwon got for the first mission.
He could not help but stare at his seatmate and momentarily narrow his eyes. The behind-the-scenes before the Greenhouse Team performed their version of Golden Sun also crossed his mind.
If he saw it correctly, Juwon was putting a wall between himself and the others in the Golden Sun mission.
The difficulty of the rap mission and the sudden regressions distracted him, so Jun only remembered it today. Thinking about that day, he really found it weird. Juwon's being quiet and not wanting to talk much during the second mission was reasonable. People wanted him to leave the Greenhouse for unknown reasons even though his score was in the top 6. Of course, he would feel hurt and distrustful of others. It was already impressive that he cooperated well, even after that incident.
But what were the other Inhabitants' reasons for voting for Juwon?
'... Is there an angle to this issue that I have neglected?' He felt worried.
Absorbed in his thoughts, Jun did not notice that Sujin's gaze was on him.
After the episode viewing and the brief interview, the Greenhouse Inhabitants returned to their rooms or explored the various rooms in the Greenhouse that were not frequently visited.
Sujin bumped into Juwon in the pantry. No other people were around since it was pretty late in the evening. The former giggled upon seeing the best BOI visual casually washing apples.
"Hi," Sujin spoke in a low voice without hiding his curiosity. "So, you haven't told Jun why others wanted you to drop out of Greenhouse that time?"
Juwon immediately answered, "Nope."
"Why not?" Sujin sounded amused.
"Why do you think I should tell him first?" Juwon proceeded to cut the two apples. The slices were then neatly arranged on a plate.
Sujin came over to steal a slice, which earned him a glare. He shrugged and replied, "I believe Jun deserves to know since he's involved."
Juwon took the plate away and gave the other an impassive glance. "Really? How is it important to let Jun know that the others want me out so they could get more screentime by sticking to him?"