Lunch sat uneasily in my stomach the whole walk to Hall One.
I arrived at one-forty-three.
The other seven were already there.
Nobody talked.
Above the doors, a red sign bled light across the ceiling:
EVALUATION IN PROGRESS
Sealed inside, somewhere, the Dance team was finishing whatever Miyeon and Seongwoo had put them through.
The doors were soundproofed well enough that nothing leaked out except, occasionally, the faint pulse of bass through the floor.
I watched the sign.
Yuhyun stood beside me, arms crossed, jaw set. Sejin had his eyes closed. Harin kept rolling his wrist—an old warm-up habit, probably. Woobin stared at the wall.
Nobody talked because there was nothing useful to say.
Then the doors opened.
Dance team filed out.
I found Jinwook immediately.
His face told me nothing, which told me everything—he'd trained himself not to react on camera.
Taeyong came out behind him looking like he'd bitten into something sour and couldn't spit it out.
