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part five of episode one
pt 5, ep 1

51 trainees , but how many will make it to the final episode?

= ♡ =

𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐄
♡

[the screen fades from black to showing the seating area with the trainees. it specifically zooms in on the seventh and ninth alliances, who are sitting below/above each other.]

💬 XIAO FANG | alliance seven :
⠀ I still cant wrap my head around the fact that you've been a trainee for like... over half my life!

💬 YUEBIN | alliance nine :
⠀ I'm just dedicated, I guess! 

💬 XIAO FANG | alliance seven :
⠀ How have you even managed? Like- and under CUBE too? 

💬 YUEBIN | alliance nine :
⠀ I honestly don't know! I've just... trained, I guess! I have a routine that I'm honestly too used to, like waking up this morning and not going to the CUBE Building, but instead hoping on a train and going here? It felt so wrong!

💬 XIAO FANG | alliance seven :
⠀ Understandable!

[the camera then switched to focus on the sixth alliance, sitting at the left half in the fron of the right section.]

💬 DABIN | alliance six :
⠀ I have more bread, if you want some!

💬 YUE | alliance six :
⠀ Bro, I literally love you, you're officially my new best friend!

💬 DABIN | alliance six :
⠀ Just because I'm giving you food?

💬 YUE | alliance six :
⠀ YES!

💬 DABIN | alliance six :
⠀ I did not expect this when I got here this morning, but I'm lovin' it!

💬 YUE | alliance six :
⠀ Me neither! But it's great! Did you bake this yourself?

💬 DABIN | alliance six :
⠀ This bread? Yeah! Bread is one of the only things I can actually bake.

💬 YUE | alliance six :
⠀ Seriously?

💬 DAEUN | alliance one :
⠀ Yepp! I'm the one doing all the cooking!

💬 YUE | alliance six :
⠀ You two! The best set of twins there is! 

💬 DABIN + DAEUN | the twins :
⠀ Uh, thank you?

[within a few moments alliance four and eleven are in focus, the alliances sitting in the front of the middle section.]

[Arson, from the fourth alliance, has seemingly moved their seat forward and Marie, from the eleventh alliance, has seemingly done the same thing - just backwards and not forward. Arson is hanging on Marie's shoulder whilst also playing with their hair.]

[you can see Soojin, from the sixteenth alliance, whispering something to one of the people in her alliance, before flicking their wrist and looking towards Arson and Marie.]
if you know, you know

[the camera then pans back and the stage, along with all of the tunnels are visible. just as a person gently walks out the camera slowly zooms in on the middle tunnel. it's IU!]

[gasps can be heard from all around the seating area, with, among others, the whole sixteenth alliance practically sobbing at seeing their role model.]

[IU smiles gently towards the trainees as the camera continues to focus on her as she walks up to towards the stage. her iconic outfit from the celebrity mv is on and, all of a sudden, the instrumental track for Celebrity starts playing. IU picks up her purple microphone and starts singing, with many of the trainees silently singing along.]

https://youtu.be/JtFI8dtPvxI

(stan talent, stan iu)

[after the beautiful performance was over the trainees can be heard cheering and applauding, the sixteenth alliance as a whole regretting not taking their lightsticks with them.]

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Hello, 

🗯️ the trainees :
⠀ Hello !!

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Woah... well, as I was going to say - hello and welcome to 'CRUSH' dear trainees! I'm your host, Lee Jieun, also known as IU!

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ I understand that you're all very tired, I heard that some of you have been here since 6am! 

[Luna, from the seventeenth alliance, sheepishly looked down at the floor for a moment, causing her friends to giggle.]

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ But I hope that you're excited! Because, drum-roll please...

[a few of the trainees started doing drum motions with their hands, cute.]

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Your first mission will start, well, now!

🎬 ─────────────────────────

💭 Chen Haiyun / YÚN | solo-cut :
⠀ I was, well, surprised? 'Cause I thought it'd at least a few days before we had our first mission!

一 一 一 一 一 一 一 一 一 一 一

💭 Moon Nabi / KOCHO | solo-cut :
⠀ My first thought was, "Great! I'm gonna show Jieun-sunbae what I can do!"

───────────────────────── 🎬

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ I can see many surprised faces right now, but don't worry! There'll be no eliminations this time around! It's just a mission to make everyone used to how these missions will be carried out!

[multiple sighs of relief could be heard in the room, as most trainees had thought that they wouldn't even get a chance to be there before having to say goodbye.]

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Now, before I get carried away with other stuff, let me present this first mission!

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ I present to you... The Lovers' Demo Stages! 

[the room slowly lit up, the lights on each seating row betting dimmer as lights from the floor and roof slowly got brighter.]

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ In this mission you will be divided into groups, based by - well I'll tell you in a bit! But, as I said, you will be divided into teams, ranging from being solo up to being 8 member teams! You will then, as a group, pick a song and put it up on a wall that we will be showing you in a bit!

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Then you'll get four days to master this song before then performing it here, in front of the judges. The judges and the mentors - who will be hidden up until a later point - will then discuss  and put you into the Love Zone and Friend Zone respectively. 

🎬 ─────────────────────────
 

💭 Lee Chungcha / NIX | solo-cut :
⠀ I was honestly getting pretty nervous, because like, what if I end up fucking up?

一 一 一 一 一 一 一 一 一 一 一

💭 Jiang Suyin / SUYIN | solo-cut :
⠀ I was literally praying to end up in the same group as Hannie or Seul, like it was the only thing I could think of...

───────────────────────── 🎬

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Now that you know the basics of this mission, let's get to how the teams will be created!

[the trainees looked at each other, a few with slightly shocked expressions - had these groups not been created already?]

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Me and my co-judges - who, don't worry, you'll be introduced to before you present your performances - have decided that, to form the groups this mission will be carried out in, you will get to play a game!

[a few of the trainees laughed slightly, as they'd definetly not expected that to be how these teams would be made.]

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ At first, we'll randomly be picking out 5 trainees, these get to pick out one trainee, or no trainee at all, that they'll be in the same team as! Their group will then be given a hidden letter and all trainees who end up being assigned that letter after the game has been carried out will end up in that group! 

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ These formed teams that've come from the 5 trainees will have the slight special perk of having whatever song they pick immediately be theirs - whilst for every other team, it's first come first serve.

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ And, these 5 trainees, will not be revealed until the end of the game! So - to keep these trainees secret - all of you will be taken into the room right there, and - if you're one of the trainees - we'll show you your letter!

[the trainees excitedly nodded.]

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Sadly, we're not able to play a really fun game - like Hibiscus Has Bloomed - this is because of there being, well, 51 people and the fact that we're trying to divide everyone into teams!

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ The game we're going to play is one that me and the judges came up with ourselves! Well, I guess it's a mix of a few other games, but do excuse us if it's a bit boring...

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ At first, you're going to play rock, paper, scissors - first to reach 3 wins win - to divide you into smaller groups, then you're all going to pick up a paper with a part of a letter on the backside and then you're supposed to find the people with the same letter as you to build the full letter! There are a few papers with a whole letter on them, if you get one of those - you're in a single team! 

[the trainees could be heard 'ooo'-ing at IU explaining the game. some of them were just happy that they'd be able to properly move around after having sat down for so long, others were excited for the game - cause it sounded fun!]

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Okay, so, now that I've explained it, get up and walk to the booth, so that you can get to know if you're one of the chosen ones! From the seats the furthest to the right and at the bottom to the seats the furthest to the left and at the bottom!

[within a couple of minutes all the trainees had walked taken into this seperate room - and the randomly selected trainees had been shown their letter and had, obviously, been told that they were one of the selected few.]

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Now... start with the rock, paper, scissors!

💬 HIKARI | alliance three :
⠀ Rock, paper, scissors!

[soon there were two teams built, 25 on the losers side and 26 on the winners side. the trainees were then allowed to go pick up a paper, before then - finally - being properly let loose to find their soon to be teammates.]

💬 WINNIE | alliance five :
⠀ I think I have pieup... or maybe yae!
ㅍ / ㅒ

💬 DABIN | alliance six :
⠀ Me too! 

💬 HYERIM | alliance five :
⠀ Unnie! We're in the same group!

💬 MARIE | alliance eleven :
⠀ Oh... good luck Scorch!

[the trainees started swarming up, running around with their papers trying to piece together what letter they had and other people who also had that letter. within a couple of minutes the "teams" stood in a line, with their papers formed to the letter they'd been assigned.]

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Now... the chosen ones, take a step out from your letter-teams!

[Arson Hwa, from the (ㅁ) mieum team, which was a solo group, took a step out, followed by Liang Mingyue from the (ㅂ) bieup team, Jo Iseul from the (ㅈ) jieut team and Yang Aria from the solo team (ㅏ) a. and, lastly, Xu Chunhua from the (ㅇ) ieung team took a step out.]

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Who do you choose to be in your team? Or do you want to go solo?

💬 Xu Chunhua / CHUHUA | trainee :
⠀ I'll go solo!

💬 Jo Iseul / ISEUL | trainee :
⠀ Since I don't want Suyin-unnie to be alone, I pick Suyin-unnie to be in our team!

💬 Liang Mingyue / YUEBIN | trainee :
⠀ Yah! Hei-Hei! Get over here!

💬 Yang Aria / ARIA | trainee :
⠀ Woozi-unnie! I don't want to be alone, so c'mere!

💬 Arson Hwa / ARSON | trainee :
⠀ Mai~ Chérie~ Come here Angel!~

[the trainees that had been called on by their friends all walked from their previous team to their new one. well, walked probably is the wrong word to use, since Suyin practically ran from their lonely spot to come stand next to Iseul and the members of their new team, and since Marie ran and jumped up into their best friends arms, walked definitely is the wrong word to use.

[Kocho, who'd previously been in the same team as Marie, turned to look at Soojin - who was standing in the (ㅌ) tieut team a bit further away from Kocho herself - and flicked her wrist before nodding towards Arson and Marie, both meant as a 'yeah' and as a 'those two'.]

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Alright! Then this will be your teams for this first mission! Treat your teammates well, and good luck!

[a door, which previously had looked a lot like a wall, then opened up, behind this door there were a 22 doors alongside a corridor - 10 on each side - before a last door at the end of the corridor. this last door was closed and, presumably, locked.]

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ For the coming four days, this will be your rooms! there is a room for each alliance, with an exception for the seven member team who gets two rooms, and four bigger training rooms, but there is space in your - soundproofed - 'dorms' to do milder dancing and there is also room for you to sing and practice your formations in these dorms.

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Then, after this mission, you will be introduced to the proper dorms - the Love Zone and the Friend Zone, when we get there I'll explain those rooms more in depth, mhm?

[the trainees nodded with big smiles on their faces.]

💬 MAKO | trainee :
⠀ Just a quick question sunbaenim, where are the bathrooms? Because, uh, yeah!

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Ah, right! Thank you for reminding me, Mako-ssi! 

[Mako turned to the people in their team with big eyes, miming the words "she knows my name?" to them before turning back to face IU.]

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ They're outside this door that just opened!

[IU pointed towards two doors on the wall beside the newly opened door.]

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ There are 15 toilets behind each door, which means that there are 30 toilets in total. It's not ideal, I know, but you'll have to live with it for the coming few days!

💬 LIQIU | trainee :
⠀ A-are there any showers too, or...?

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Oh, well yes of course Liqiu-ssi! In the training rooms there's a seperate little bathroom with a toilet and two small showers - with a wall in between, don't worry!

[Sofia and Bora could both be seen shaking their heads in slight disappointment, as if they'd hoped that there wouldn't have been a wall between the showers.]

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Are there any other questions? Don't be shy, just ask!

💬 ROBYN | trainee :
⠀ How will we do with on-stage clothes? Like for the performances?

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Oh, you'll be informed more on that on the fourth day, don't worry about it!

💬 RAECHA | trainee :
⠀ Are our bags here? Like, the backpacks we were asked to pack with our essentials?

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Yes, of course! They're in the closets next to the locked door on the end and beside this door!

💬 RUBY | trainee :
⠀ A-and, uh, are there, uh...

💬 XIAOYU | oldest trainee :
⠀ Are there pads in the bathrooms?

💬 IU | mc / judge :
⠀ Yes! There's enough for everyone to survive for 4 days, but I'm pretty sure not all of you are on your periods - so it should be more than enough!

[the screen faded to black before showing a still image of the cast, with IU in the middle and the name of the survival show - 심쿵, along with the english title, which is CRUSH, underneath - written in big letters above the cast.]

THANK YOU FOR WATCHING THIS EPISODE OF 𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐇 ♡

< 3

give me your hand and promise , let's just run for our lives
～ singing till the end , this song will be endless ～

[ 🪶crush ]
-gahyeonlovebot
2022

authors note -
i just like realised-- the budget for CRUSH is oFF thE rOOOFFF, don't ask me what happened or how, because I honestly don't know.

anyways, i hope you liked the chapter!

keep working hard on your forms for the mission, remember that you have until FRIDAY (25/2) to finish everything! But don't take 325928375 years just cause you can- pls-