✧。the prologue

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└──           ◦✧◦           ──┘

no matter how hard they practice

no matter how much they hope

they never see seas of light

instead they continue to wallow

in seas of darkness with

no sight of escaping.

until they took the chance to

embark on this journey

to see their names in neon lights

◦✧◦

clips of lighted up crowds fade

into nothing at all.

7:08 AM

A PARKING GARAGE

the footage starts up with a boy wiping
sleep out of his eyes

▎BAE MINHYUK [ #08 | CUBE ] ;; it's too early~

the boy spends the next 5 minutes stretching without even acknowledging the camera

▎BAE MINHYUK [ #08 | CUBE ] ;; why am i awake? *blinks* it's cold? *blinks* cars? *blinks*

finally the boy looks straight at the camera

▎BAE MINHYUK [ #08 | CUBE ] ;; oh hi !

the sigh of the cameraman is lost in the sound of scientist suddenly playing

▎BAE MINHYUK [ #08 | CUBE ] ;; oops that's my backup alarm ! *laughs*

he makes no move to turn it off

▎BAE MINHYUK [ #08 | CUBE ] ;; come on let's wake up

[ for time purposes, his singing and dance
demonstration was cut off after a second ]

◦✧◦

the next scene opens up to a guy
wrapped in a jacket sitting on the curb

▎KORAIN SEONG [ #10 | STARSHIP ] ;; when did you say the car was going to be here?

▎CAMERAMAN ;; soon. come back into the garage though.

▎KORAIN SEONG [  #10 | STARSHIP ] ;; soon? *sigh*

▎CAMERAMAN ;; garage???

▎KORAIN SEONG [  #10 | STARSHIP ] ;; nah it's warmer out here *leans back* come, sit.

sadly for the cameramans, this wasn't the
only trainee that gave them trouble...

▎KWON MYUNGJOON [  4 | PLEDIS ] ;; it's only been 30 minutes?

he twirls his bracelet repeatedly

▎KWON MYUNGJOON [  4 | PLEDIS ] ;; no one's coming for awhile right?

▎CAMERAMAN ;; sometime soon.

▎KWON MYUNGJOON [ 4 | PLEDIS ] ;; more than 5 minutes right?

a pause due to the
cameraman's hesitation

▎KWON MYUNGJOON [ 4 | PLEDIS ] ;; ok i'll be back in 5 minutes

he took off running

▎CAMERAMAN ;; wait what- hold up!

[ insert excluded footage of the cameraman
trying to keep up with myungjoon ]

◦✧◦

▎ROMAN HWANG [ #03 | 5DAYS ] ;; This is a weird place to start shooting a show.

Roman looked around the empty lot before meeting eyes with the cameraman.

▎CAMERAMAN ;; keep talking. it's going to be awhile.

▎ROMAN HWANG [ #03 | 5DAYS ] ;; very weird.

the birds can be heard in the distance

on the other hand there was a trainee
that never ran out of air

▎NAKAMURA TAKUMI [ #14 | BNM ] ;; people really need to start appreciating gray more

▎NAKAMURA TAKUMI [ #14 | BNM ] ;; like it's so calming and it really goes with anything

▎NAKAMURA TAKUMI [ #14 |BNM ] ;; it's a support color really. you see each of these cars look even shinier because the wall is gray

▎NAKAMURA TAKUMI [ #14 | BNM ] ;; I once had gray hair and my mom told me I looked like my grandma

legend says he never stopped talking

◦✧◦

a lot of waiting was done peacefully and quietly...

▎XIA QINGYU [ #11 | PNATION ] ;; do you want some of this bar?

The boy offered the cameraman, sticking
out the granola bar in his hand.

With a head shake in response, the boy
went back to nibbling on his food.

i guess...

▎YOON JINU [ #01 | CUBE ] ;; meet my travel buddy tom. *gestures*

▎YOON JINU [ #01 | CUBE ] ;; for legal reasons his face can't be shown nor can his name be revealed

▎YOON JINU [ #01 | CUBE ] ;; but i can tell you that he has hot chocolate eyes and kissable lips *winks*

▎YOON JINU [ #01 | CUBE ] ;; for legal reasons, that was a joke.

◦✧◦

enough with waiting

What happened when the cars arrived?

▎JACKIE CHOI [ #05 | INCLUDE ] ;; and you know what he said? where's my tractor? *cackles*

While he is laughing, the door of a parked car opens and a person dressed in black comes up from behind.

Just as the person goes to wrap cloth around his eyes, Jackie's fist lands straight in his face.

▎UNKNOWN PERSON ;; ow *whines*

▎JACKIE CHOI [ #05 | INCLUDE ] ;; so sorry, but you definitely shouldn't walk up behind me. thought i was getting killed.

eyes camera

▎JACKIE CHOI [ #05 | INCLUDE ] ;; on camera...?

◦✧◦

▎DANIEL CHOI [ #09 | BNM ] ;; we've been standing here too long that I eye f**ked a spider and found it fun.

▎DANIEL CHOI [ #09 | BNM ] ;; if we don't get this show on the road, I'm going to take this face elsewhere

A person comes up from behind and
easily wraps cloth around his eyes.

▎DANIEL CHOI [ #09 | BNM ] ;; now we're talking

◦✧◦

▎KWAN BYULYI [ #02 | JaCKs ] ;; is that jacket warm enough?

the cameraman nods

▎KWAN BYULYI [ #02 | JaCKs ] ;; oh here, have some of my water. don't worry, I haven't had any yet.

when sticking his hand out with the water, the camera gets

a good view of his hand which was shaking slightly.

a car pulled up.

after one glance, byulyi suddenly darted for it. luckily,

the door opened in time for him to jump into the car.

▎UNKNOWN PERSON ;; wtf, are you guys going to let me have any fun???

don't worry mystery staff

the next trainee has you covered

it was quiet all for the tapping
of the trainees foot

the mystery person is seen in the
frame making a gesture to the cameraman

▎CAMERAMAN ;; so... how did you get here?

▎LEE HYEON [ #12 | 5DAYS ] ;; hm? i took the bus over on...um...5th...i think?

after he finished talking, the blindfold was
in his view and he felt the person's presence.

and like any normal person, he screamed
and stumbled backwards, falling down.

▎LEE HYEON [ #12 | 5DAYS ] ;; ow... my chapstick

◦✧◦

well...

after being 'kidnapped'

what happened?

▎JEONG HYUNJIN [ #13 | SOURCE ] ;; YOU'RE MY VIOLETA !

he sings out of lung

making the cameraman question
why he let him choose the music

▎JEONG HYUNJIN [ #13 | SOURCE ] ;; amazing wasn't it?

dead silence

▎JEONG HYUNJIN [ #13 | SOURCE ] ;; i'm going to take the dark silence as a yes because there's no way you didn't.

◦✧◦

▎MIKAEL KWON [ #15 | STONE ] ;; you're suddenly blindfolding people? don't you think that's inconsiderate and rude? *pouts*

▎MIKAEL KWON [ #15 | STONE ] ;; you better give them cake...

▎MIKAEL KWON [ #15 | STONE ] ;; i think you should also give me cake.

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▎JEON RYUHWAN [ #07 | INCLUDE ] ;; this car ride is calming and all, but i just bought the new volume of *** and was hoping to read it on this trip? so if it won't hurt the whole concept, can i take this blindfold off?

▎CAMERAMAN ;; as long as you put in back on before we get there...

▎JEON RYUHWAN [ #07 | INCLUDE ] ;; thank you

he takes off the blindfold before moving
to sit cross legged with the comic

◦✧◦

another trainee was leaning on the window

▎DRIVER ;; is he sleeping?

within a split second, he was sitting
straight up in his seat.

▎SONG NARUU [ #06 | JYP ] ;; sorry, we weren't supposed to? sorry...

▎CAMERAMAN ;; no no it's fine, sleep.

he keeps his former posture, holding his
hands together in his lap with his lips tight.

look what you did !

on the other hand, a lot of other
trainees were able to sleep peacefully

or eat

or sing

or complain

or even write blindfolded

but hopefully they had enough
rest for what was coming...

┌──           ◦✧◦           ──┐

COMING UP NEXT ON NEON LIGHTS !

▎??? [ UNKNOWN / ??? ] ;; *gasp* you're bleeding!

▎??? [ UNKNOWN / ??? ] ;; oh no no that's just ketchup- oh f**k

└──           ◦✧◦           ──┘

A/N
this chapter is meant to almost be like
a pre-episode and is the only one that
I'll make sure every trainee appears. simply
to introduce each trainee a little, but also apologies if you think your trainee's part
was too small. aka the one sentence um
haha. if i think someone's screentime is too small, they'll probably end up with more
later on ^^ anyway, i hope you enjoy!