"You're so good at this, Chan!"
"Encore, encore!"
A crowd of men in black shirts are now cheering in dormitory number 4.
As much as that sounds odd, just know that it is currently happening, and that I may or may not be the first cause.
Why is this, almost a dozen men cheering for me as I use a random hanger as a makeshift microphone, happening, you may ask. I promise that it was for a good reason, I think.
Let's replay the scene but in a nutshell:
So it all started when I lifted a new shirt looking—according to Nikolai—tired and unamused. And then I turned my head to see Kato suddenly doing a handstand on the big bed in our room.
"How come you didn't even jump? Hae-an, are you sick?"
"No, why are you calling me that?"
We somehow ended up working out together, and I taught Kato and Nikolai how to do yoga.
Then Mahesha suddenly busted the door down, already dressed in his own black shirt with no shirts underneath, and spoke loudly, "Good morning! Chan, did you know that Dani got sick?"
"Ha... I do."
"You guys- why is he doing a handstand on the bed?"
That last sentence was said by Akira who entered with a sheet mask on his face.
Put four hyper-active morning (or just extroverted) guys hyping up a single man in a room. That is how loud noise was made, slowly inviting all the people in like, two other dormitories into this single room. All to "heighten" my spirits.
By the way, Daniel just stood by the door, watching everyone tiredly.
And because the hidden cameras were for sure rolling, I ended up having to play along at 7 in the fucking morning.
"Alright, the next song is..."
There came a sudden loud sound of music, one I was familiar with, through somewhere in the walls.
It seemed that each dorm room had speakers built in?
In any case, the sound startled all 12 guys present in this room, though my smile almost dropped when I heard it. It was the show's theme song in a different octave and with autotune, but since I already knew the song, it felt weird having to act confused.
"Ding-dong! It's time for the participants in floor one to have breakfast. Please come to the cafeteria immediately!"
An obviously fake voice resembling that of an old man's rang through after a short preview of the theme song. There was a moment of silence before I had the turn to hype everyone in the room for breakfast.
"Yay! It's food, let's go!"
I don't know how old most of the people here were, but they were all pretty excited to eat. We all marched out of the door happily that it probably startled the participants from like, the six other dorms in floor one.
It's too bad that Dojun and the David in the line-up are both in the second floor dorms. The former said he was the roommate of two David's, so I told him to make friends with both of them since at least one has got to be in the line-up. By the way, the line-up David is in grade 2, the other is in grade 3.
Forget about that. Right now, I'm lining up to get some food. It's a buffet style and we get to pick on whatever food there was with no portion limiters. As the one standing behind Kato, who was first to grab a tray, I had to make sure he didn't overeat.
"Miss food lady, are those in the second floor going to eat here right after us?"
I phrased the question as I waited for Kato to move, making sure he heard me and the food lady saying "yes" clearly.
"Ah, so we better make sure everyone gets a fair portion, then."
Kato flinched a little at that before turning to me, tongs in hand, "Okay, I got it! I'll keep my food to a minimum."
"I didn't say your name, did I?"
"Dang it..."
Breakfast was peaceful after that, even if the space was crowded with 30 people starving after only getting to eat at 9 in the "morning." The other guys listened well to my words and weren't greedy with their rice, those who heard what happened last night feeling bad about it. It was pretty unfair to do the meal distribution this way, anyways.
I hung out and ate with my dormmates and those in room 1. Akira actually performed with his two friends, whom I also know of, though they got into grade two. Those two sat beside Akira at the end of the long table and we were pretty far away.
30 minutes into breakfast, PD Bang Inho barged in the cafeteria and clapped his hands to gather attention, a person behind him holding a camera as if there wasn't a whole crew in here already.
"Alright, everyone! Who's had their fill already?" The PD laughed by himself, strange as always. "Let's cut to the chase: I need all you kids wearing black to come with me. Because it's time for—drum roll please—the theme song!"
Surprisingly, no one clapped. They were amused but still focused on eating.
"... Are you going to do that too when it's the other floor's turn?" I asked hesitantly.
The PD just laughed in confirmation and continued, "Because you have received the achievement of charming the audience and our lovely judges, all twelve of you shall get to listen and memorize the song earlier."
Now the others—at least the ones wearing that sleeveless black shirt—are getting excited. I already listened to the lines until I got sick, but I had to act just like them. Thankfully, I was done eating, so as soon I finished drying the plates, I flew over to PD Bang.
I spun around excitedly where the others in grade one were gathering, waiting for a few people.
One of those people was Daniel. Earlier, I told him not to rush in eating since it must be hard to swallow with a sore throat, but...
"Daniel," Mahesha called out from the side, already by the door. "Eat quickly, do you want us to leave first or something?"
Daniel mumbled something as he heaved to chew faster.
"Just give the poor guy a few minutes..."