Jungsu sat on a chair in the backyard along with the other contestants. They all sat in a large circle chatting amongst one another as the filming crew was setting up the necessary equipment. Jungsu remained silent as he listened to Yeong-cheol chatter on about his family.

"You know, my mom would like you a lot. She always wanted a practical, handsome, and elegant-looking son. She got me instead though." Yeong-cheol laughed at himself, spreading his arms to flex his large biceps.

Jungsu smiled slightly as Yeong-cheol continued to appraise his own muscles.

"My sister is already half in love with you. She's one year older than you, but it could work out. If you ever want to marry her," Yeong-cheol looked up and down at Jungsu. "I will approve of it."

Jungsu stared at him in surprise, not knowing if he was serious, or if he was joking.

"Yeong-cheol," Seung-gyu said from beside them while grinning, "you're gonna scare Jungsu away. Look he already looks like his brain is working too hard."

They both looked at Jungsu who looked to be malfunctioning, and laughed out loud.

"Sorry, Jungsu." Yeong-cheol said, wiping tears from his eyes. "That was a joke. I mean... unless you really want to marry her..." Yeong-cheol trailed off as he scratched his chin.

Jungsu simply blinked in response.

"Okay everyone, good morning! Today, we are going to have our very own... talent show!" Bo-mi exclaimed.

Jungsu bit the inside of his cheeks in thought as he wondered how exactly this would play out. Was he supposed to showcase talents? Or was this something that was meant to be casual and not serious?

"Rather, this will be a talent relay as we like to call it! Since there are twelve of you, you all will be split into four groups of three and will be required to choose your talent of choice. The categories will be sports, entertainment, arts, and comedy!"

Jungsu let out a breath as he already was dreading where this was going. Entertainment was a no for him. While he could draw, he wasn't excellent, and sports were never really something he had indulged in, aside from martial arts. Music wasn't really something he thought he belonged in either. But then again, Jungsu didn't care about what category he was in.

"To make sure all of you are putting in your best effort," Bo-mi narrowed her eyes as she looked at each and every one of them. "the prize this time will be something much higher. A day outside, albeit filmed, but anywhere your group chooses in Korea!"

Jungsu perked up at that, the wheels in his mind churning at a faster speed as he considered all the possibilities.

The contestants began to talk excitedly to one another, their spirits uplifted at the opportunity to go outside.

"You will be able to head outside after the first episode of the show airs, which will be tomorrow. Thus, you will be able to go the day after tomorrow. This way you might bump into any fans, and the promotion for the show will go more smoothly. Whichever group wins will have to decide on their destination today so we can arrange for your arrival along with some other plans."

"Jungsu," Yeong-cheol whispered, and Jungsu turned towards him.

"We have to win this if we are on the same team." Yeong-cheol made a fist as he nodded at Jungsu in determination.

"We have many different items in place for each category, and regardless of the specific type of art, entertainment you are best at, one of you will draw whichever type of the category your group will be performing in."

So that was why he had spotted a soccer ball, clay, recorder, and other items in the storage room yesterday.

"Don't worry too much, as most options in the category will be five of the most commonly known and practiced in the category. However, you must also be careful as if you are really bad at one thing in your chosen category and you picked it in hopes that your group would choose the option you are good at, you will be in trouble. You will also trouble your group even more, so I suggest you think hard on this before deciding on a category."

Jungsu's brows creased as Bo-mi assured them not to be worried, then in the next moment told them to be worried.

"Each one of you must choose a group and decide on who will draw the item or option. Once you have drawn that, we will give each of you ten minutes in your groups to practice with the item or option and then you will form a relay line. The first person in the line will start with the item, and if their performance meets the standards of the staff, they will hand over the task to the next person, and so forth. This will be timed as well as judged based on both the difficulty of the task and the performance in itself." Bo-mi said as she smiled down at them.

As the staff started bringing in items while separating them by a large sign that stated the category they fell under, Bo-mi picked up her microphone.

"Okay contestants, you may now get up and look around the categories. We will give you all five minutes before you have to make your decisions. Remember that there can only be three contestants in each category. If there are too many, the person that chooses last will have to leave. So, ready? Get set, go!"

Everyone ran towards the categories as they searched through the options in front of them. Jungsu looked around in front of him at the soccer ball, badminton racket, basketball, volleyball, and american football under the sports category. Jungsu could see that three guys had already chosen the category as they'd raced towards it. Dong-ha, Seung-gyu, and Jae-ho stood in a line of three, cheering as they already seemed to sense their victory.

Jungsu moved towards the art section, seeing Yuri standing there. She looked back at him and smiled as he gave her a curt smile in response. Jungsu glanced at the clay, water colours, gouache, pencils, and charcoal in thought, before moving onto the other section that was entertainment. Jungsu stared at it for a second, seeing Yeong-cheol waving at him in excitement and calling him over before turning around abruptly.

"Hey, Jungsu? Jungsu!" Yeong-cheol called after him, but Jungsu kept walking.

Finally, Jungsu arrived at the music section and saw the various instruments lined up along the ground in their cases. The instruments ranged from a recorder, keyboard, violin, flute, and kalimba. Jungsu supposed that the options weren't the most uncommon, however, some of them required a very unique set of skills that very few people would have. There was only one person standing in the the music category, which was unsurprisingly Min-ji, as she'd had previous experience with the piano as an idol. Perhaps she also had basic knowledge of the other instruments.

Jungsu turned around and headed towards the arts category, deciding that he would take his chances there when he realized that the category had been filled. In dread, Jungsu looked at the comedy category which had one open spot. However, that spot was soon claimed as not many contestants could play instruments. Jungsu, in resignment, headed towards the music section along with Ae-ri who could be heard crying in defeat.

Jungsu had spent too long thinking about what category he should be under. But it didn't matter, this would do fine so long as he didn't have to play the keyboard.

He appraised the categories, determining which would be likely to win and most easiest to win. Jungsu knew that he had most likely chosen the hardest category, but he wasn't sure whether he should be sad or happy about that. Getting to go outside was a great opportunity, yet Jungsu also didn't know what would be required from him outside. For all he knew, they would host another talent show wherever they went. Still, Jungsu decided that he would put in some effort into challenge. At least his group deserved that much, he thought as he looked back at Ae-ri who seemed both nervous and angry.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

The groups were as followed; the music group with Min-ji, Jungsu, and Ae-ri. The sports group with Dong-ha, Seung-gyu, and Jae-ho. The arts group with Yuri, Yoo-jin, and Tae-joon. And finally, the comedy group with Yeong-cheol, Na-yeon, and Hye-sung.

"Alright! Time's up now. Anyone who wishes to change groups, too bad!" Bo-mi chuckled as she saw a couple of faces deflate.

"Now, can each group pick a representative to draw out their task?"

Jungsu looked back at Ae-ri and Min-ji and held his hands out, signaling that either one of them should go.

"I'll go." Min-ji said, and they agreed upon it as she stepped forward to grab a sheet of paper from a bowl a staff member held.

As she opened the paper, her face visibly fell. She turned towards them and showed them their task.

Violin. It read, and Jungsu decided that they were unlikely to win.

Min-ji walked towards them while chewing on her lip in worry.

"What are we going to do now? I can only play a little of the piano! But violin? Min-ji please tell me you know how to play?"

Min-ji laughed nervously as she replied, "I know how to play every other instrument. I know the basics though."

Ae-ri's face relaxed a bit upon realizing that one person knew at least something. Meanwhile the other teams rejoiced upon learning that the music group was in trouble.

"Jungsu, can you play...?" Min-ji asked with hope in her eyes.

"Yes, I know the basics." Jungsu replied, and both Ae-ri and Min-ji straightened in surprise.

"Okay, okay then we're not that screwed." Ae-ri nodded her head happily.

Picking up the violin, Min-ji moved towards Bo-mi and asked her what would be required from them, folding her hands together as she pleaded with her to make things more fair.

Min-ji came back and smiled at them.

"Okay, so all we have to do is learn twinkle twinkle little star. I think that's all they will demand from Ae-ri and you Jungsu, but I don't know about me." Min-ji said.

"That's okay, we should start practicing now." Jungsu said just as Bo-mi interupted.

"Alright everyone! You have ten minutes to practice your talents. Remember that this is a relay! Until all of you succeed, we will not move forward. In addition, we can ask of additional things from you if we feel that the task is easy for any one of the members."

Min-ji immediately picked up the sheet music that she had been handed and placed it onto the stand that had been provided.

"And your time starts now!"

Min-ji started playing the violin, quickly going through twinkle twinkle little star once, sounding a little rusty, but soon getting the hang of it towards the end. She handed it over to Jungsu, but he shook his head as he thought they should focus all their efforts on Ae-ri.

And so, both Jungsu and Min-ji started explaining the song to Ae-ri, placing her fingers onto the stickers that had thankfully been provided on the violin. Ae-ri shifted her fingers once or twice in place, before getting the hang of the first half. Jungsu corrected Ae-ri's posture slightly before making her fingers repeat the movements of the different notes.

Ten minutes were soon up and both Min-ji and Jungsu prayed that Ae-ri had fully memorized the song as she had no idea what notes fell on what string, thus couldn't read the sheet music.

"Alright, first team up is... sports category!"

Jungsu watched as Dong-ha, Seung-gyu, and Jae-ho grinned at each other, confidence radiating from their faces as they balanced the soccer ball on their feet.

Their task was to juggle the soccer ball on their feet thirty times for each member.

As Dong-ha started off the game, he successfully completed his thirty dribbles before passing the ball to Jae-ho. Jae-ho however, messed up on the twentieth dribble, raising the annoyance of Dong-ha. After their third try, they finally succeeded, and ran around in victory.

The next group was the entertainment category in which Yeong-cheol, Na-yeon, and Hye-sung had to do some aegyo, causing everyone to laugh as Yeong-cheol, the strong and tall man started posing in a cute manner. Even Jungsu had to burry a small laugh.

The next group to go was the art group with Yuri, Yoo-jin, and Tae-joon who had to complete a drawing based on a word that the staff member had given to the first in line. From there the last person had to guess what they had drawn along with adding in their own details to the drawing. The end result was quite messy, but still impressive as all artists had managed to create something that was interesting to look at. After two rounds, they finally guessed the word 'Jump' from their drawings.

Finally, it was the music group's turn and both Ae-ri and Min-ji stood jittering in place as their nerves took over their senses. Jungsu stood at the end of the line, while Ae-ri stood at the front in case she messed up, and Min-ji in the middle, who wanted to sound good to everyone after the horrible performance of Ae-ri's.

As Ae-ri started playing twinkle twinkle little star, both Jungsu and Min-ji swallowed hard as the harsh screeches on the violin echoed over the contestants.

Ae-ri missed a note, however, the staff let it go as they were much more lenient on the music group, not expecting much. Exhaling hard, she looked around, realizing that she had gotten through the piece.

"Oh thank the lords! Onni, great job!" Min-ji exclaimed as she grabbed the violin from Ae-ri's hands.

Min-ji started playing a more sophisticated version of twinkle twinkle little star. The staff and contestants smiled as more pleasant music filled their ears, causing Min-ji to smile slightly as she played. The camera zoomed in on her delicate and elegant features as she played the violin surprisingly well. Once she'd finished, the staff gave her a pass and let her off with a thumbs up, not wanting to demand too much from her innocent and elegant self.

Min-ji finally passed the violin onto Jungsu, appearing worried as she realized that she hadn't heard him play once they'd decided to focus on Ae-ri.

Jungsu grabbed the violin and started playing, then stopped. The staff looked at each other as he tightened the bow and adjusted his fingers while the violin rested between his neck and shoulders.

Finally, Jungsu played a simple version of twinkle twinkle little star, quickly going through the piece, not bothering to embelish it in any way. However, the staff had heard the way his notes sounded smooth in comparison to the two, and the way his posture appeared to be perfect.

Jungsu dropped the violin when suddenly Bo-mi through her speaker said, "Jungsu. Could you play something a little more complicated?" She grinned.

Jungsu, wondering why he had been singled out, let out a breath and nodded. Picking up the violin and placing it between his neck, he lifted the bow and placed it on the bridge. Thinking of a song while running through the options in his head, he finally arrived at one.

As the contestants and staff waited with bated breath, he finally moved his arm to play.