"Alright, enough fooling around. Let's divide the lines," Nayeon said, her tone turning serious as she rummaged through her sling bag and pulled out copies of the songs.
Llana and the others quieted almost immediately, their earlier chatter fading into silence. A few murmured agreements passed between them, but no one interrupted. They simply waited, all eyes on their oldest unnie as she took the lead.
They would be performing two songs for this battle.
Both songs were new and prepared by the company itself. JYP even gave Llana a specific look when he said it. Llana couldn't produce another song this time, much to the minors' relief. None of them knew what kind of unpredictable song Llana might create again if given the chance, and frankly, they don't really wanted to find out.
For the first round, each group would perform different songs, specifically chosen to test their strengths and weaknesses.
Their group, the majors, had been assigned a track titled 'Truth.'
'Truth' had parts that required strong rapping and singing, but their group wasn't worried about it since their lineup was pretty good. There was no real sense of worry among them.
The minors, however…
Llana was unsure how to phrase it even in her own thoughts.
All she knew was that this challenge would push them hard.
Minor group lacked a main vocal, which was already a significant disadvantage. On top of that, their group composition only made things worse. Firstly, they just five members, a glaring imbalance compared to the others.
[Author: I forgot that the minor group would only have five members. I realized it too late, so there's nothing I can do about it now.🤦 ]
Honestly, everyone was a bit surprised that JYP didn't do anything about it. He could have easily adjusted the groups to make things more balanced, maybe added one or two members from the majors to help ease the burden. He had done it before during the first group performance, when she, herself was added to Chaeyoung, Momo, and Tzuyu's group to balance things out.
But this time, he hadn't do anything.
Maybe that, in itself, was part of the test.
Still, it didn't change the situation. The minor group was made up of younger trainees -Natty, Chaeryeong, Somi, Dahyun, with Mina as the oldest. They were all talented, but they were still young and lacked experience compared to the others.
The gap between the groups was hard to ignore.
Llana couldn't help but feel bad for them. But there was nothing she could really do. That was the company's decision, and all they could do was accept it.
Dahyun had even called her that night, crying over the phone.
In the end, she could only trust the minor group to handle it. Mina would most likely end up carrying the heaviest burden in the group.
Good thing the song given to them was 'Going Crazy.' They didn't need outstanding singing for it; what they needed was to stay on rhythm. Every lyric was connected to the beat, so if they missed, they'd fall out of rhythm.
The company would also assign a dance instructor to handle their choreography, so they wouldn't have to create it themselves. Unlike Llana's group, where they were expected to come up with their own dance steps.
As for the second round, they would be singing the same song and performing the same choreography, so they would be heavily compared. That meant they had to perform well.
The song for the second round was called 'Do It Again.' This song would represented TWICE's musical direction.
Llana knew these songs.
All the songs they had been given were part of TWICE's first mini-album, "The Story Begins." She had heard them before through her system's music library.
Back when VP Byun explained the show, she had searched for TWICE's songs out of curiosity. She had been surprised by how many albums they had. Even now, she still hadn't finished listening to all of them.
It made her wonder.
Did TWICE even exist in her previous world?
She couldn't remember ever hearing about them.
It was a shame her system didn't have a search function. Otherwise, she would have gathered every piece of information she could, even across different versions of Earth.
"Here."
Nayeon's voice pulled her out of her thoughts as she placed two copies of the lyrics on the floor. "Which one should we start with?"
"Anything, unnie," Jihyo sighed.
Nayeon uncapped her pen and lay on her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows as she scanned the lyrics. "Llana will take the first part of the first verse."
She tilted her head back to look at her, silently asking for confirmation. Llana met her gaze and gave a small nod.
"For the rap part…" Nayeon continued, tapping the paper lightly, "Chaeyoung and Momo can split it."
She shifted the paper slightly and pointed to the next stanza. "Who should take this part?"
"Someone with a pretty tone," Jihyo said thoughtfully, resting her elbow on her knee and her chin on her hand as she considered it.
"Sana unnie's bright voice and Tzuyu's soft tone would fit well here," Llana suggested.
Nayeon nodded almost immediately.
"Alright. Tzuyu, Sana—try it."
"Malhalkka mareulkka gobaekhae mareulhae, oh baby, oh baby…"
Sana went first. Her voice came out light and cheerful, carrying a natural brightness.
"Oh, that sounds nice!"
The others broke into smiles, clapping without hesitation.
"Really?" Sana asked shyly, covering part of her face as she laughed.
"Your turn, Tzuyu," Llana said, giving her a small encouraging nod.
Tzuyu nodded and sang, "Malhalkka mareulkka gobaekhae mareulhae Oh baby Oh baby."
Everyone watched her closely, their expressions brightening even more as she finished.
"Oh, nice!"
This time, the applause was louder, accompanied by a few approving nods.
"Do you both agree with taking that part?" Nayeon asked.
"Ne~"
"Okaay!" Nayeon quickly wrote their names down, her pen moving swiftly across the page. "I'll take this part, Jihyo takes this one… and then Jeongyeon here."
They continued like that, carefully distributing each line, occasionally pausing to test parts or suggest adjustments. It didn't take long before they finalized the first song.
Without wasting time, they moved on to the second.
It didn't take long before they finished and started practicing.
Their practice room schedule was from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., so they still had plenty of time to practice.
But today, they planned to leave early to eat hotpot together.
Unfortunately, Llana had to decline since she had already made plans with her older brothers and Dolores to have dinner outside.
After practice, just as she was about to leave with the group, a staff member hurried over to her.
"Llana-ssi, don't leave just yet. Someone requested to interview you. It's from the Philippines."
Llana halted and blinked in surprise. She hadn't expected anyone to request an interview, especially from the Philippines.
She turned to her unnies, gesturing for them to go ahead, before facing the staff again.
"Noted, sir. Thank you. Where should I wait, and what time? Would it be alright if I change and fix myself first?"
She hadn't changed after practice, and she was sure she didn't smell pleasant. At the very least, she wanted to look presentable.
"They'll interview you here. They should arrive in about fifteen minutes, so please hurry," the staff member said with a nod before leaving.
Not wanting to waste any time, Llana quickly grabbed her bag and stepped out of the practice room to change. As she walked down the hallway, she remembered she was supposed to leave with Dolores, but she might end up being late.
She pulled out her phone and called Dolores, telling her to go ahead without her.
After freshening up, Llana returned to the practice room. The moment she opened the door, she was greeted by six unfamiliar faces.
Three interviewers and three cameramen.
Her gaze swept across them, taking in the familiar logos printed on their shirts and microphones. She immediately recognized them.
They were from UNTV News, ABS, and GMA. Three well-known TV stations in the Philippines.
"Hello po, good evening," Llana greeted in Filipino, bowing slightly. "I'm Llana Kim. Nice to meet you all."
They responded warmly, returning her greeting as they introduced themselves.
"Miss Llana, we're here to get to know you better. We'd like to ask about your background, as this is currently a hot topic in the Philippines. Is that okay with you?" asked the female reporter from GMA.
"Sure, I'll answer as much as I can."
Llana smiled and nodded politely.
"Llana, many people are wondering why you chose the Philippines as the country you represent in this program, knowing that you have more Korean blood," the UNTV reporter began. "I'm sure you're aware of this since it's also being discussed here in Korea, and there has been criticism. What can you say about that?"
Llana wasn't surprised. This had been an issue since the first episode was released. Many Korean citizens had criticized and bashed her, calling her disrespectful. They believed that since she was half-Korean and only a quarter Filipino, she should have represented Korea instead.
She hadn't been able to respond before because she didn't have an official account. She couldn't use her personal one, and JYPE hadn't released any statement either, simply letting things be.
So Llana chose to ignore it. Thankfully, she had more supporters defending her online.
"I chose the Philippines for a reason. I was actually born there, and I lived there until I was scouted and came here to Korea. If I'm not mistaken, I've only been in Korea for almost half a year. We usually just come back here during vacations, and we don't stay for more than three weeks."
"For me, it would be more disrespectful not to represent the country I grew up in."
"Why didn't you live here?" the ABS interviewer asked curiously.
"My mom has works in the Philippines, that's why," Llana answered, half-truthfully.
"How were you scouted?"
"I was scouted at my cousin's wedding. I performed a song at the time, and I didn't know there was a JYPE staff member attending. They approached me after my performance. You know what happened next."
The interview continued for almost half an hour before it ended. Much to Llana's relief, she had actually enjoyed the experience.
But now, she was running late.
She still needed to go home and get ready.