Rise of a Star - a Minsung Story

Chapter 7

Author's note

You might notice me hating on mnet a lot in the next chapters (We all know and hate them, but I might have exaggerated in some parts). For the sake of this story, I decided to write the staff working for mnet as mean and unfriendly, but I want to remind you that we obviously do not know if any of the staff were actually this mean or how the process of filming for the survival program went in general. Please never forget this is a work of fiction and I do not work in the reality TV show-industry, therefore I do not know much about how such shows are filmed. This is simply what I came up with.

Have fun reading!

"What the hell are you trying to do, Han? Do you really think we are going to be allowed to debut if you put zero effort into dancing?", Hyunjin scolded his member as they were practicing for their monthly evaluation.

A few months had passed since the eight boys met and the filming for the survival program had already started over a month ago. So far, everyone enjoyed the attention the group was suddenly getting and in general you could say everyone got along really well. It was just that Hyunjin and Jisung seemed to never stop their bickering and because of the recently added stress, it had only gotten worse. Since every TV show is very scripted, mnet and JYPE had asked the two to act like they were fighting a lot throughout the show but unfortunately, non of their fights were acted. They were just letting out their stress on each other and it did not do well on the group. The producers of the show had also shared a few other scripted points with the members, although they purposely avoided to tell them about all their plans in order to catch the boys' real emotions on camera. For example did Felix have to act like he barely understood any Korean and had just moved to the country two months before the beginning of the show, although he had moved there at the end of November the year before and could already have full conversations in Korean. Of course, he was still struggling quite a bit, since the language wasn't easy, but he was a lot better than how he had to act for the show. Also, to make sure Jisung was safe, the company had come up with a complete life story for the teenager. Officially, he had joined JYP in 2015 and had been Chan's best friend since then, which had led the leader to put him into the group. That had the consequence that Jisung needed to practice double the amount than a usual trainee, because they needed it to look like he had actually been a trainee for two years and not just a couple of months. This life story concept didn't come out of nowhere. The police still hadn't found Jisung's abuser, meaning it was very dangerous to show him on national TV since it could tell that man where Jisung was currently living.

Currently, Stray Kids were being filmed for the upcoming episode of the survival program.

"What do you mean zero effort, huh? What did I do wrong now?", Jisung snapped, clenching his fists and Hyunjin rolled his eyes. "Your movements look all lazy and sloppy. We are all tired but if you don't try to do it correctly, we will never be able to go to bed", Hyunjin explained, still angry, and Jisung decided to ignore him. Hyunjin was right, Jisung didn't put all his strength into the dance. He had slept a total of six hours in the last four days, because he was busy producing tracks with Chan and Changbin and all the extra lessons he was taking combined with school didn't leave him time to sleep more. His regular schedule ended 11:30 pm and he still had to study and film for the survival program afterwards, how was he supposed to be perfect at dancing at 4 in the morning? The others were also busy but no one's schedule ended this late and everyone got at least some free time throughout the week, except Chan but that was his own choice.

The leader turned the music back on and Jisung tried really hard to focus, doing everything he could to make it right – and it worked. He got through 2/3 of the choreography without any mistakes until Chan stopped at turned around to look at Jeongin. "Your movements aren't clear, Jeongin. Try again", he said, sounding slightly annoyed. Jisung was panting and his head spun slightly, but he tried not to show how miserable he was. Jeongin tried to do the part on his own multiple times but Chan always found something he didn't like. "Again", the leader said for what felt like the twentieth time and Minho interrupted him. "Watch me, Jeongin, and try to follow my movements. Don't stress yourself, just focus on dancing", the second oldest said calmly and helped the youngest do it correctly. After another ten minutes they tried the whole choreography for a last time this night and finally everyone was satisfied. Doing the ending pose, the director just wanted to yell "Cut!" when Jisung's legs gave in and he crashed onto the floor unconsciously.