Four people came up on stage.
Kwon Hana, Jeon Harang, Eun Sera, Lee Dohee.
"Kyaaah!!!"
"Dohee!!!"
"Seraya!!"
"Hana unni, look here!!!"
"Haranga~!!!"
A super team comprised entirely of popular members.
As such, despite being the very last performance, the cheers were deafeningly loud.
All four were wearing pant suits.
'Wow... Sera looks pretty even in clothes like this!!!'
She screamed at the top of her lungs to drown out the voices of the other trainees' fans around her.
"Aaaah! Seraya!!!! I love you!!!!"
"Seraya, look here!!!"
Whether she did or not, the four on stage began their greeting at the MC's request.
"Hello! We are"
"the"
"Fem"
"me"
"fa"
"tal!"
The MC smiled lightly and said,
"All four trainees really do suit the femme fatale image perfectly!"
'Yeah, only Sera fits that bill. Right.'
"Then shall we all express femme fatale with your faces at the same time? One, two, three!"
Each of the four made a deadly expression.
Eun Sera, Jeon Harang, and Kwon Hana expressed it with their faces alone, but Lee Dohee alone struck a 'shh' pose between them.
'Why is she the only one doing that.'
The malicious anti-fan of Eun Sera, nitpicking from the start. She was losing her mind, seemingly unable to accept that the two she particularly despised were on the same team as Sera.
"Then please say a word of resolve as the leader, Kwon Hana."
"Yes! We really practiced day and night to do our best. We've prepared a stage where we can show each individual's charm, so please enjoy watching, and please vote a lot for all four of us!"
"Yes! Great. Then how did they cover the full-fledged FATAL stage! Let us begin!"
The lights went out.
Various props came and went on stage.
Before long, orange lighting came on.
A stage reminiscent of a jazz bar.
The orange lighting captured a vintage yet calm and emotionally rich feeling.
And four premium vintage-style chairs evocative of the mafia.
And sitting on them, the four.
Jazz-like music played, and the four raised their heads, looking at their respective cameras with mysterious gazes.
Then they rose from their seats and walked to the standing mics with leisurely strides.
The harmony of their gazes, movements, and the background music evoked the romantic vintage elegance of an economic golden age seen in books.
Lee Dohee stood before the standing mic and went 'ahem,' clearing her throat.
The gesture and sound were clearly intentional.
And the one phrase she let out in a low alto register.
-I wanna steal your lips
With that phrase, she struck the 'shh' pose.
The same pose she had struck during the MC interview just moments ago.
More than anything, what suited that pose was the hair and makeup.
Long straight hair parted 2:8.
Revealing her forehead and neckline, it gave off a thoroughly sexy image.
Moreover, the thick eyeliner drawn long at the sides and her red lips covered her still childlike face, highlighting her maturity.
'Wow... I didn't know Lee Dohee had such a nice low register...'
She was Eun Sera's anti-fan, but for a moment, she was mesmerized by Lee Dohee's voice, expression, and face.
Even before the intro fully flowed, the audience was so immersed in the four's intentional performance that silence fell over the studio.
And finally, the full intro began.
R&B-style rhythm with snare sounds heard in between.
No.
It was pitch-shifted heel sounds.
-Your eyes~
Eun Sera's sultry vocals and gaze.
-look me look me look me look me
And the following background vocal chorus from the other three brought out the R&B rhythm to the fullest.
-Your eyes~
-look me look me look me look me
Clear yet comfortable.
Subtle yet enchanting like perfume.
The hand gestures of the four as they sang—caressing their wrists, grazing the stand mics, tucking hair behind their ears—truly evoked a femme fatale.
'What the...? Why are they all so pretty and good at this...?'
That atmosphere continued until the first chorus section.
The four rolled up their sleeves.
The four forearms revealed beneath white sleeves.
They were just a woman's forearms, which normally gave no particular feeling, but strangely, perhaps because of the mood or because the gesture was sultry, they looked oddly provocative.
As kick drums were added between the snare sounds, the beat grew slightly faster.
Lee Dohee matched that changed beat with natural hand gestures and head bobs, singing the killing part.
-Fatal love, my heart that can't be hidden
Fatal love, your heart that can't be hidden
Then she traced her bright red lips with her thumb.
-One step before you, I'll long for your lips
At Dohee's sultry expression and movement, even the girl who had been her anti-fan swallowed her breath for a moment.
'Wow... holy crap, she's insane...'
After the chorus ended.
The four detached their mics from the stands.
-look me look me look me look me
This time, an interlude starting with the background vocals of the three excluding Jeon Harang.
Jeon Harang held her mic freely and came to the center of the stage.
Jeon Harang crouched down.
A rap delivered nonchalantly, as if uninterested.
-Escaping from this quiet place
Wanna know me? Wanna have me?
hand in a pearl, that nonsense is me
Femme fatale, I am your greed
'...She's so good...'
After Jeon Harang's verse ended came the second chorus, the killing part.
Kwon Hana and Lee Dohee alternated parts.
-Fatal love, my heart that can't be hidden
-Fatal love, your heart that can't be hidden
Lyrics that gave the feeling of a conversation despite being a song.
I felt a build-up rising within that conversation.
And the bridge leading into the final highlight.
The part in the original song where they perform a dance break.
'Ah... here!'
But the direction chosen in the arrangement was not that.
Together with simple, captivating movements, Jeon Harang's singing rap burst out.
-Honestly, I'm going crazy over you too
Unlike the first rap part delivered nonchalantly, an agitated tone.
With that tone, the atmosphere reached the peak of its ascent, like climbing a hill.
The ultimate killing part that would blow this up in one go.
For this chorus, she had a feeling Sera would take the mic.
'Seraya...!'
But the voices of three people flowed through the speakers.
Eun Sera's insane high note.
Kwon Hana's smooth mid-register.
Lee Dohee's solid low note.
-Fatal love~ my heart that can't be hidden
-(My heart, my heart, baby~)
And Jeon Harang's background vocals filling the empty space that could have felt dull.
The four truly seemed to enjoy the stage, meeting each other's eyes and matching their harmonies.
-Fatal love, your heart that can't be hidden (Your heart that can't be hidden, baby~)
-One step toward you, I'll long for your lips! (I'll look at you!)
Without realizing it, she was captivated by the stage itself, thinking nothing at all.
'These guys... they have to debut no matter what...!!! They're definitely number one!!!'
Even though voting hadn't started yet, she was pressing the remote control vote buttons wildly without discriminating between members.
***
Before voting began.
"It's time for final appeals!"
The MC looked at us and said.
Do we really need to appeal?
I felt like we showed it through our stage.
If the first round was fun because it was our first stage, this time the stage itself felt fun.
We went up after a preparation period of less than two weeks; was it okay to be this happy?
In the glances that secretly met when our harmonies aligned, I could feel everyone's joyful eye-smiles.
Still, I guess we have to do the appeal...?
"Hello! I'm Lee Dohee↗... of Topist Entertainment."
Ah.
She did the stage well but messed up the greeting with a voice crack.
.
.
.
As if unable to come down from the excitement, Harang unni used vocabulary inappropriate to say in front of a camera.
"Wow, we freaking killed it, admit it?"
But honestly, she had a point.
"Agreed~"
"Who do you think got first among us?"
Harang unni brought up something she normally wouldn't say.
Still, I was curious.
"Me."
I arranged everything and did the killing part, so obviously it's me.
"What are you talking about, didn't you hear people screaming during my rap? It's obviously me."
"No, it's definitely me with the high note!"
Hana unni said with a flushed face.
"Stop it, are you guys babies? More importantly, did you hear when we were leaving? The audience was shouting that we all did great."
"Ah, really?"
"Wow, amazing!"
"I was the best..."
Sera unni's endless self-assertions.
She has no tact.
"Yeah, Sera unni is the best."
"Right!"
Sigh.
Us entering the monitoring room for the results announcement.
Now was the time to check the aggregated votes.
-10. 9.
A countdown began on the monitor screen ahead.
Honestly, I definitely won.
No matter who looked, I was the coolest and sexiest, right?
-1.
"Uh!"
"Huh...?"
Ah.
-Jeon Harang, 590 votes
-Lee Dohee, 588 votes
-Eun Sera, 588 votes
-Kwon Hana, 584 votes
What the hell.
"Yahoo, I'm first~!"
She got first by snatching the honey part all to herself.
This is cheating.
Can't accept it.
***
Unlike the atmosphere during the first round where people hesitated to give spoilers, it was now confirmed that there was no problem giving spoilers.
Those who had attended the filming were all giving spoilers, however faintly.
[2nd Round Live Audience Review]
FATAL
Cupid - Rendezvous Team
Kim Seoyun, Kim Naeun, An Eunseo, Gu Eunhee, Jeong Euna
First of all, their stage was so good from the start
It's not easy to do better than them
The arrangement was really good too
Now let me give individual evaluations
Kim Seoyun - Confirmed main vocal. I think she was so clean that she didn't really need comments. Good dancer too
Kim Naeun - She lost the main vocal position, but proved she has sufficient capacity as a vocalist. She's tall so her movements feel stretched out and clean. Good dance
An Eunseo - It's subjective, but personally I thought she was average. Really cute when doing her personal appeal, not on stage.
Gu Eunhee - Lacked the most among the five, but did her part suffi...
.
.
.
And finally, the highly anticipated 2Q-FATAL team
Eun Sera, Lee Dohee, Jeon Harang, Kwon Hana
You saw the members?
1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 7th place in one team.
I doubted my own two eyes.
But more importantly, the stage was insane.
Wow... I don't know who came up with the idea but they were just insane, the kids were so good and professional, it's hard to explain
There was no need to evaluate them separately, they were just one team
Wow really, the afterglow still hasn't faded
You absolutely have to watch the live broadcast
Really, that one stage alone made me feel like the hardship from morning till dawn was worth it.
-Who cares, fucker
└This guy's cursing even though we're giving him proper spoilers now
└ Real lol that's why we didn't tell you