CHAPTER 222: TEAM RAINBOW SPRINKLES

"Hello to the wonderful audience. It’s lovely to see you all today. Did you enjoy the mini showcase?"

- Yes!!!

As the screams filled the studio, MC Ryan Leary smiled widely.

"That’s good to hear! Today is all about you, the fans. The teams were formed by your recommendations. The concepts were chosen based on your survey results. And the performance order will also be chosen by all of you!! I know that you’ve all been waiting to see the amazing performances that you voted for, so shall we get started????"

- yessss!!!!

"I can’t hear you!!!!!"

- yessssssssssss!!

"Beautiful. Now, if you all look up at the screen, you’ll see the 7 categories: Athletic, Bad Boy, Cute, Military, Sexy, Sci-fi, and Summer. The production team assigned each of the 7 different teams 7 different concepts that you voted for, giving them free rein to choose everything from the song to the choreography, costumes, and more. Our only requirement is that water is somehow included. The boys have all practiced hard, and now they’re ready to show you the result of their hard work. Before we get into it, let me tell you about today’s process. Once a team performs, you have the opportunity to rank them from first place to seventh place. Additionally, you’ll be asked to select which team member you think had the best performance and the worst performance on that team. The top three teams will be getting an amazing prize. Each member of the team coming in third will be getting 50,000 extra votes each. The team coming in second will get 100,000 votes each. And finally, the team coming in first will receive 200,000 votes as well as $1000 to split amongst themselves. Additionally, the best performer on each team, as voted by the audience, will earn an additional 50,000 points. While the best performer voted by the judges will earn an additional 50,000."

Hearing mumbles of confusion, MC Ryan Leary continued explaining.

"If you have no idea how impactful that is, the contestants currently ranked in 49th and 50th place have around 149 thousand and 150 thousand votes, while the people currently in first and second place have around 1.5 million votes and 1.3 million votes, respectively. So this would be a life-changing amount of votes and could definitely help save your contestants if they ranked lower or push your contestant up debut ranking or even to first place."

Hearing the calculations laid out like that, the previously relaxed gazes of the audience members became fierce as they began calculating and making deals on how best to get their favorite contestants the points.

- Please vote for William, and if your pick is on a different team, I’ll vote for them too.

- Anyone want to swap votes?

- If you vote for Ben, I’ll vote for your pick.

"Now that the tension is sufficiently raised, I want to remind you that for those of you who were lucky enough to win the FAQ card, you may notify the staff member and come up and ask your question after a team performs. Understood?"

- yessss!

"Good. Without further ado, let’s get going. I’ll now give you 30 seconds to vote on the category you want to see first."

- What should we choose?

- Cute? I feel like I already know the contestants on that team, and it’s probably a boring performance

- What about bad boy? It could look like the Warrior Performance, right?

- Ooooh

"3! 2! 1! The votes are in and- The! Winner! Is! Cute! Our first performance will be the cute concept! Please welcome Team Rainbow Sprinkles."

As Ryan Leary waved with jazz fingers and the audience cheered, seven boys dressed in monochromatic colors came onto the stage in rainbow order.

Their outfits consisted of long shorts, matching oversized rainbow colored rain boots, and oversized raincoats with hoods up.

In their hands, they held colored umbrellas that were slightly translucent and held them over their heads as if it were raining.

When the audience saw the unexpectedly cute styling that was very different from the clean formal look that they were previously wearing, shrieks rang out as several people saw the contestants that they were supporting.

- Jin-kun!!!! Ahhhhh, your raincoat is so cute! You look like Little Red Riding Hood!!!

- Daniel Kim!!! Kim Daniel!!!! My little orange drop! Smile this way, please!!! Show me your dimples!!!

- Seobin! My blueberry muffin top! Come here, let me pinch your cheeks!!!

The contestants smiled and waved shyly at the audience before turning around and posing with their umbrellas and waiting for the music to start.

And after several seconds, a familiar intro that everyone knew filled the area.

Ooh-whoa-oh, ooh-whoa-oh, yeah

Uh-huh, listen, guys!

To my life story

My angel (ha)

and my boys (ha),

In the sunshine

Or the rain

Uh, uh, let’s go

Boom!

Boom!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With a dramatic flair, when the drum sounded, each contestant spun around while spinning the umbrella dramatically before closing it and beginning to sing and dance to the very familiar song.

"Gee, gee, gee, gee, baby, baby, baby

Gee, gee, gee, gee, baby, baby, baby"

The dance steps were light and springy, the facial expressions were cutesy, and the voices of the boys were loud and energetic as they playfully splashed around in the pool of water gathering at their feet on the stage.

Even Daniel Kim, who usually rapped with his unexpectedly deep voice, managed to sing in a higher tone while keeping his dance lines cute and fluid.

Although the vocals became breathy and sparse due to the energetic choreography, the audience couldn’t help but be entranced by the lively and charming visuals of the performance.

They marveled at the umbrellas that were opened and closed in unison like flowers and used to accentuate the contestants who were bouncing around on stage like rainbow sprinkles.

Additionally, the splashing water gave it a music video-like quality that made everything shimmer like crystals, especially with the stage lights shining so brightly.

"Gee, gee, gee, gee, baby, baby, baby,

Gee, gee, gee, gee, ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba."

As Jin sang the final line, the seven boys organized themselves back in rainbow order, jumping while spinning their umbrellas one last time, and landing with a huge splash.

Then, clasping each other’s hands while standing in a line, all seven boys bowed deeply before standing up and displaying cheerful smiles to the audience’s applause.

- It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was.

- No, it was actually so cute. They’re like cute ice cream toppings. And I love that their hair matches their rainbow color.

- Good job, team Rainbow Sprinkles!

Whistle!

As the cheers subsided, MC Ryan Leary magically appeared on stage, somehow wearing a matching raincoat and rainboots with the contestants.

"Thank you, Team Rainbow Sprinkles, for that energetic, cute, and fun performance. Can we get the judges to say a few words and give their critique? Let’s start with the beautiful Selena, who helped to choreograph this number."

The MC turned to the judges’ table, where the 6 judges dressed to the nines and Bing Yongsun sat with microphones.

As the applause for her calmed down, Selena grabbed her microphone and began speaking.

"Even though I may be a bit biased as the choreographer, I want to say that this team nailed the dance aspect of the performance. Even though the choreography was less strict and required energy, it never looked sloppy, which is quite difficult to achieve when you have to keep your balance and jump around. So good job all of you, but an especially good job to Daniel Kim. My eye couldn’t help but be drawn to you constantly." Selena generously praised the team freely since she was pretty proud of how they had danced.

"Thank you very much!"

"Wow, thank you, trainer Selena!"

"I wouldn’t get too happy if I were you." Larry Jackson’s snide voice cut in, and the previously smiling contestants froze nervously as he continued, "Visually, your performance was decent, but anyone with ears can tell that this was a subpar vocal performance. While there’s no strong vocalist on this team, it seemed that the majority of you just devoted your energy to dancing without worrying about our ears. And that’s unacceptable. We’re looking for well-rounded pop stars, not backup dancers."

- booooooooooooo

- It wasn’t that bad

- Actually, it kind of was. But the dancing is good!

- Don’t cry, Daniel! Big sis will protect you!

While some audience members began booing Larry Jackson, especially as some of the contestants began tearing up, he shrugged before continuing his words.

"That’s my opinion of your overall performance, and even though it was subpar, there were still those who did better than others. Daniel Kim, Jin. Good job. The rest of you, I suggest you live in the practice room and work on those vocals."

"Well, thank you, Larry Jackson and Serena. Executive creator and performance Director Bing Yongsun, we’re always glad to have you. Would you like to say a few words?"

The older Korean director adjusted his glasses and picked up his microphone before speaking in his usual slow, methodical way.

"Visually, it was quite a clever way to use the concept, but unfortunately, the substance was lacking. I hope you all have better discernment about what part of a performance is needed and what can be discarded in the future."

When he was done, Bing Yong Sun placed his microphone down, causing the shoulders of the contestants to rise, then slump at the compliment, followed by a critique.

"Ah. Thank you, director. Now, is there anyone in the audience who has a question for the contestants on this team? If not, let’s give a final round of applause to Team Rainbow Sprinkles as they head to the back. You all now have 30 seconds to vote for your next team!"