Back to the screen at the same time.
The trainers’ final lesson.
After the vocal, rap, and dance classes ended.
The trainers explained to the trainees how the center for the final stage would be chosen.
[Filming singing and dancing at the same time...]
Interviews with all the trainees who hoped to become center passed by one after another.
[Since it’s the final stage, I really want to be center.]
[Because this is my last chance...]
[I want to show you.]
Leaving viewers who were dying to know who the center was behind, the VCR ended with a caption.
And the MC returned to the stage and took the microphone.
As expected of a famous MC with years of experience, he skillfully mixed in ad-libs as he interviewed the trainers, buying time for the participants to prepare for the stage.
“Now! Then, at long last, after this long journey, the final debut evaluation that will give birth to the seven-member debut team!”
After stalling for just the right amount of time, the MC finally shouted.
And successive cheers echoed throughout the hall.
“The thirteen trainees have been divided into teams of six and seven, and they will be presenting two songs.”
“Two stages. Two centers. Choosers, you’re curious who became center too, aren’t you?”
“Yes!”
“The centers! Will be revealed through the stages coming up soon! First! Let’s take a look at the team’s center selection process and their stage! It’s show time!”
***
“Ah, the bathroom? Hurry up and come back!”
Seoyun unnie dashed out of the waiting room toward the bathroom.
Good grief, Kim Seoyun.
The waiting room beneath the bustling stage.
Staff members shouted in every direction.
“Team! You need to move to the stage in three minutes!”
The hands of the hair, makeup, and styling teachers, who were fixing up everyone’s appearance one last time, grew busy.
They brushed and neatened hair.
Checked outfits and makeup one more time.
“We’re moving now!”
On the way out of the waiting room.
Seoyun unnie, who had somehow already gone to the bathroom and returned, came over and gripped my hand tightly.
‘What’s with her all of a sudden?’
“Dohui, let’s not get nervous and just do what we always do. Okay?”
It seemed like she was trying to act all older-sisterly as she said it to me.
But Seoyun unnie’s hand was trembling violently.
“Shouldn’t you be taking some Cheongsimhwan or something?”
“...I forgot to bring it.”
Seoyun unnie often got nervous.
Even during the trainee monthly evaluations, she had lived on Cheongsimhwan.
“Hana unnie had one, though?”
“Really? Ah, you should’ve told me sooner!”
Kim Seoyun ran off again toward Hana unnie, who was passing through the corridor ahead of us.
“Good grief...”
Amid the chaos.
The team moved beneath the stage.
At the cheers ringing out from above the stage, my own hands soon began to tremble again, little by little.
Excitement. Or maybe nerves.
‘Maybe I should’ve taken some Cheongsimhwan too.’
The members stood in a circle.
Just when I wanted to blurt out any nonsense at all because of my nerves, Hana unnie, her face flushed red, stretched her hand toward the center and shouted.
“Guys, hands in, hands in!”
Everyone shouted a word or two and gathered their hands in the middle.
“Yeah...!”
“Yes!”
“Hoo... let’s go!”
“We can do this!”
Me too.
“Yeah!”
Hana unnie led the cheer we had made during practice, based on the song title.
“Rush to Flight!”
“““Fighting!”””
And the staff member who had received a radio call urgently shouted several times.
Pointing at the stage equipment.
“We’re getting ready now! Getting ready! Going in!”
***
Back on the stage, on the screen.
The team’s center selection process was playing.
[Chaerin is really refreshing, so...]
As viewers watched the participants praising one another, they desperately hoped their own pick would become center.
At last, the final two center candidates, chosen through an internal team vote.
The two faces appeared in a split screen, accompanied by captions.
-The center has to be Dohui, fuck lolololol
-Shut up, it’s Sera
-Queen Sera’s aura is no joke lololol
-I love that Dohui and Sera both made it as center candidatesㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-And so, throughout Produce... I never got to see our Hana as center...
-Chaerin and Seoyun would’ve suited center really well too...
Individual interviews with the two center candidates appeared.
[Eun Sera: I... do want to be center, but... Dohui is cute...! It’s okay if she gets center!]
[Lee Dohui: I’m happy just to have become a center candidate, but I really do want to be center!]
[Q: Trainee Eun Sera said it would be okay to yield the center position to Dohui...]
[Lee Dohui: (flustered expression) Um... ah... Sera unnie, fighting!]
With the caption, the broadcast returned to the performance hall.
On the broadcast feed, the screen behind the stage came into view.
The screen was divided into six sections, each showing the members’ faces.
The theme melody of “Rush to Flight!” began to ring out.
And a sky-blue gradient like wind seeped across the screen.
At last, cloud-colored letters rose as if soaring over the sky drawn on the screen.
[Rush to Flight!]
In time with the theme melody and uptempo beat, the stage apparatus in front of the screen slowly rose, and the audience reflexively burst into cheers.
When the stage apparatus had fully risen, those cheers reached their peak.
On top of the stage apparatus stood five members in a semicircle formation around one center, hands placed on one another’s shoulders.
And the trainee standing alone and proud at the focal point tilted her head upward and smiled brightly.
As the camera zoomed in on her, captions appeared on the broadcast feed.
-Wow seriously what do I do why is she so pretty I’m dying seriously this is insane seriously why is she this pretty she’s insane I’m dead
-Center has to be Dohuiㅠㅠㅠ
-Dohui is freaking pretty
-The kids’ visuals lololol this is what a girl group is!
-Our Dohui is main vocal and center tooㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-...(stopped breathing, dead)
The six members posed on the stage apparatus.
Starting with Dohui, the center, they began walking out toward the stage as if on a runway.
And the outfits they wore in different variations—white and black punched off-shoulder blouses, lace sleeveless tops, tube tops, sheer blouses, dresses, and more.
That youthful, feminine feeling somewhere between girlhood and adulthood already had the viewers’ eyes fixed on them.
At last, the six members took their places on the stage.
The theme melody of “Rush to Flight!” gradually faded and disappeared like an echo growing distant.
The lights, too, went completely dark, leaving not a single beam visible on the stage.
Now even the audience stopped cheering and looked toward the stage with expectant eyes.
The intro began, a refreshing white noise flowing like ripples.
The white noise gradually formed a melody, becoming the theme melody.
And when dazzling light burst from the stage.
The six stood in a single line with Dohui, the center, at the front.
Whether because Dohui’s face filled the entire electronic display, or simply because the audience reflexively cheered at the start of the stage, it was hard to tell—but the spectators screamed loudly enough to burst eardrums.
Amid that roar, Dohui’s voice, in charge of the intro and center, pierced through like a meteor cutting across the night sky.
-A star shining from the deepest place
Behind her, five arms stretched out as if drawing a star.
The members folded their arms and energetically spread out from the line, moving into position.
The choreography was big and powerful, with movements reminiscent of cheerleading.
-I’m following it now
Starting with Kim Seoyun, who took over from Dohui’s vocals.
-Look at me again today
The participants took one line each and stepped forward into the center.
-Dreams dance between my fingers
Giving off the brightest light
Shine on me again today
The beat grew stronger with each passing line.
As it entered the pre-chorus, it calmed for a brief moment, like the lull before a storm.
-Even if darkness falls
As long as I have you shining for me
The participants smiled at one another as they danced mirrored choreography, as if cheering each other on.
-As long as there’s a star to shine on me today
When Eun Sera, who stepped into center, let out the first high-note part with volume that pierced through the AR.
For a moment, the comment section was filled with brief exclamations of “wow.”
Before anyone had time to write a long impression, the song reached the peak of its uptempo rhythm.
They entered the chorus, sung together.
-Step by step, moving forward
Even if the road is long, I’ll never stop
Paradoxically, unlike the beat that had reached its climax, the flashy, powerful, high-difficulty choreography changed into light, simple, cute movements, such as extending their feet and crossing their hands.
-The song that soothes me toward my dream
Thanks to that, the spectators, who had been watching the high-quality stage with their mouths open, now raised the corners of their lips at the cuteness.
Finally, the last center part of the chorus.
Together with over-the-top comments like, “Stop acting so charming!!!” and “No, let go of me, I’m telling you Dohui seduced me first!”
Dohui’s voice, softened once more, spread out.
-Rush to flight, flying even higher!
As the first verse ended, the tempo dropped sharply.
As if swept along by a wave, the participants on the stage quickly moved to a new formation for the second verse.
The second verse.
A widened stage.
The lyrics were the same, but the formation changed.
First, the lights rotated and focused only on the participant singing that part.
At that moment, the participant in charge of the part moved first.
Then, as if drawn by gravity, the other members moved belatedly after them.
It was choreography expressing a shining star and the planets orbiting around it, but the viewers simply found it elegant to look at and went, “Oh...” and “Wow...”
Then came Gong Chaerin’s rap part in the pre-chorus.
-I’ll illuminate the darkness, shine so bright
So nothing can stop me
I’ll fly up to the highest place
I’ll protect you, trust me, it’s a certainty
The short but charming flow was more than enough to leave a strong impression.
Even the second chorus passed.
Everyone turned their backs and stood in a straight line.
The long-awaited bridge part.
-My heart leaps up
First, Ahn Eunseo turned out to the left.
-Even if I’m afraid of tomorrow
Kwon Hana to the right.
-The words, let’s go together
Kim Seoyun took two steps to the left.
-I’m overwhelmed.
Eun Sera took two steps to the right.
Finally, Dohui, the center and the one in charge of the main vocal part, turned around from the middle.
Riding the soaring scale, she pushed her voice up into a high note.
-At this moment, Rush to flight!
The instant the high note reached its peak, confetti scattered, and the final chorus began.
-Step by step, moving forward (Oh~)
Dohui continued the high-note ad-lib of “oh.”
-Even if the road is long, I’ll never stop
With Dohui at the center, the remaining members spread out in five directions, facing the audience and encouraging a response with cute hand-movement choreography.
And following their lead, not only the live audience but quite a number of viewers beyond the screen hummed along to the easy chorus and copied the hand movements.
-The song that soothes me toward my dream
After finishing the call-and-response, the members gathered back toward the center.
-Rush to flight, flying even higher!
After the chorus ended, the cheerful melody carried an inexplicable wistfulness, giving off the atmosphere of a closing ceremony.
And the ending pose, which they usually finished while looking straight ahead.
This time, all the members ended the stage while looking at the sky behind them.
True to its uptempo dance-pop nature, “Rush to Flight!” had been an exciting composition.
But the final melody and ending pose blended together, making viewers realize the sadness of it being the final stage and leaving behind a strangely lingering aftertaste.
And the first comment to appear after the stage ended.
[What, it’s already over...? Give me back my stage...ㅠㅠ]