Fun Was Not The Word That Could Explain Her Mood But She Supposes It Was The Best Way To … Levy The

໒꒱ . TRAINEE MISSION # 15 、REFLECT

this is stupid, she thinks. 

it’s a waste of time, is another thought that boulders by, when she’s saddled with the sash that cinches her waist and nearly ceases the blood flowing along her thigh. when fingers curl into said sash, she feels her veins pop and her body tense against impact. it wasn’t that lili couldn’t play the game — she could if she really, reallytried to — it’s that she would rather be doing something that wouldn’t ruin her hair that she had spent all morning straightening out and give her blotchy bruises that would take weeks to go away. something like kite flying or throwing those sticks around.

what was it called again? yut … something …

yutnori, was it?

it was harmless — throwing around sticks until one or the other gets mal and is back to the beginning.

yeah, that was easy — that was fun. lili had enjoyed that. would probably go as far as to say it was one of her favorite games in the last few weeks. because that wouldn’t result in bodily injuries being subjected under the guise of friendly competition.

yeah — that. lili would much prefer doing that instead of being thrown about like a rag doll in the eyes of some murderous trainee who lili had probably fucked over sometime this year. ( not a joke, also not funny — and lastly, ow )

thrown onto her back — she cries foul! 

that time she really must have dislocated something, her shoulder? her neck — her entire left buttock, perhaps? something to excuse her from the ordeal of basically being pretzeled minus the salt. the round lasts for less than a minute, a flash dance of limbs leaving her breathless and finally she’s removed from the ring, left to nurse her ‘wounds’ by the side with a horrifying grimace upon her lips. the aching at her hip was sure to leave one of those nasty bruises she was hoping she wouldn’t be getting. 

but alas, said murderous trainee just had to throw in some type of special taekwondo move into the mix. 

once more, the thought crosses as she hisses at the pain now echoing from her pelvic bone: 

stupid, stupid, stupid.

CHEF BOY ARE WE FUCKED. where lili is no chef and @jiahlgc knows.

lili could feel it in her bones: exhaustion.

and it wasn’t even the good type of exhaustion — the one you usually get after a good dance practice, or after a hot stone massage. no — it was the one where every part of your body ached, even just moving a finger seemed to hurt. she frowns, pulling on the tap to turn on the hot water, ready to scrub her hands raw — as if doing that would clean them well enough to do their next task: cooking.

ugh, it never seemed to end, did it?

were they supposed to be variety stars or manual laborers?

“ugh, my fingernails are filthy.” lili mutters, more to herself than to anyone really. though, it doesn’t really hurt that the only one in earshot happens to be her roommate, who she is sure is already used to lili’s dramatics — if one could call it that.

her eyes pass from where she was currently brushing, hard, at her fingertips to jiah’s pretty manicure. “how’d you clean your nails so fast?” 

and then, after a long pause, with a hint of disbelief at the sight of her roommate: “— wait, you’re not seriously going to cook are you?”

being on her best behavior makes lili a boring girl.

and the last thing lili was — was boring.

maybe that’s why, when mischief springs into play, lili is like a moth to a flame. following her curiosity — to hell with the cat! —she wanted to find out just why this box was walking and who the fuck was hiding underneath it. there had to be a reason, right? what if there was a special prize involved?

phone in hand, lili forgoes the pictures she had been editing — the photobooth snapshots of her and maylin could wait — and follows behind the box, watching it wobble here and there until it finally stops.

and when it does, lili can only laugh as her shutter goes off with a giant, blinding flash! 

oh — was this her special prize?

“oh my god —”

or was this what they meant by good things come to those who wait? who would have known that all her effort — read: no effort — would pay off in such a way. for in her hands now lay the perfect blackmail:

han seunghyun, in all his scandalized glory, dressed up in what lili can only assume is some kind of mario brother parody — but uglier. 

and she was loving it.

“say cheese, seunghyunnie ~ or mamma mia or whatever your character says.” she laughs, taking her chance to get as many pictures as she can. 

✄ ⸻ 𝚂𝙷𝚄𝚃𝚃𝙴𝚁 ;

@lgclili

Han Seunghyun does not get embarrassed.

He does, however, get so terribly humiliated that he finds his way inside a company costume party from the hidden staff entrance and hides out behind one of the abandoned non-alcoholic punch bowls with a ( confiscated - sorry, not sorry Jino ) box over his head for at least a half hour.

Why he felt so compelled to go along with this stupid bet in the first place is beyond him. This whole having morals and sticking to one's word thing was really starting to get old - Shit, footsteps.

Who dared to encroach upon his hiding place? He found it first! While silence would have been the better option, his curiosity truly does get the best of him. A little peek wouldn't hurt. Particularly if it was one of the model managers, he needed at least to know what kind of story he was going to have to concoct to explain away why he was hiding in the first -

"You."

A BITTER TREAT. sometimes the sweetest treats are made bitter, black banquet filming site — @hyunsoolgc

lili was bored. 

sure, this may have been her first time on a film set — but the glitz and the glamour of it all had worn off the second she had stepped off the car and entered the wardrobe truck. it was no different than a day in the life of her famous grandmother. all politics and circumstance, all frazzled nobodies running around as if their heads had gotten cut off in search of their master ( read: the famous starlets that would lead this snazzy film ) — for lili, the rose-tinted glasses of film were quick to wear off.

but it was fun — being away from practices and demanding coaches for a while.

it also helped that these snazzy film starlets had such devoted fans who bought and hired yummy coffee trucks that catered to the film staff. and since, today lili happened to be one of said film staff — even if she was a nameless nobody with no lines and her face was completely covered by a masquerade mask — and that was all that she needed to exchange her pretty, pearly smile for an ice hazelnut latte. yum.

now, to thank the snazzy film starlet whose fans were dedicated enough to allot an atrocious amount of money for some parasocial relationship that would never be. she turns the cup around and almost feels her jaw drop in shock before her teeth begin to gnaw at the straw. 

how annoying. heading straight to the source, she hands him his own drink — “thanks for the coffee, i hope you thanked your precious fans for it.” 

so much had changed in the scheme of hosting. rather than the direction of lines being read and executed, not only were they expected to improvise, they were also implored to do so with an ease of a natural — even if the language spoken was far from your native tongue.

even more so, in these cases.

all while being as confident as possible when faced with the barrel of a red-lighted camera, airing live to thousands across the nation. and worse — millions across the world. 

it’s these types of pressures that didn’t bother lili — but the fact that they acted like they were doing a service to them. improvisation of a music show scene was beyond a day’s work — unless your goal was to be a host at the end of the day and well, since lili didn’t like to call herself a all-rounder for nothing.

( truly — lili was just complaining to complain )

but in today’s case, as she sits next to kyoka and looks at the other’s notes once more — unprompted and concerned — she tries to tweak the frown on her face, “how did you feel about the lesson?” she asks, after having looked over the other’s notes, and having seen all the question marks. “it was kind of a lot, right?” 

Kyoka’s not a complainer. She happily does what she’s told unless there’s something else that catches her attention, in which she then gets distracted. But that’s beyond the point. Point is, rarely does she ever feel upset or slighted with what’s expected of her.

What that doesn’t mean though, that she never has any negative emotions. Like now, pure confusion and maybe a teensy bit of frustration creeping in too.

What, a whole script for a music show scene? Wasn’t a music show hosting just a simple who what where when why? Who changed that format? What happened to it? Where did this new expectation come from? When did it become a thing? Why?

Ah… too much thinking, not enough answers. Her brain is turning to mush, she can feel it already.

Kyoka is still staring at her notebook, eyes already glazing over when a voice knocks her out of her trance. “Huh? Oh, ummm yes,” she squints at her notes, which really was just a row of question marks and nothing else, “my notes. Yes, they’re my notes.”

CHALLENGER APPROACHES ❗️❗️ XU LILI AS ❪ BAYONETTA ❫

@LGCENT just posted a photo!

fun fact! did you know that the year of the snake is my chinese zodiac? so, as my zodiac intends, and as the clock strikes on the last hour of my birthday, i declare that this will be my year of transformation, renewal and spiritual growth! 

#lgctrainees #lgcent #xulili

it’s an act, she tells herself.

it’s all an act and all the world’s a stage — lili knows this.

it’s easier to remember when she knows minkyu is doing it on purpose because as much as she knows him, he knows her all too well and it would be a little too easy to reveal her cracked charade to the nation.

“let’s hope you’ll say the same after the lesson.”

her smile stays soft — the grind in her teeth hidden behind a gentle curve of fulls lips and a flutter of eyelashes, a bat here; another there. the picture of enthrallment, as if minkyu’s charm had truly had her smitten until her insides fluttered — or churned, whatever best describes the millisecond of queasiness she feels as he finishes off her laces. 

( is this how it felt to be the eye of someone’s unparalleled attention? )

“hold on, minkyu-ssi!” she laughs, the fingers that had slyly wrapped his pull him back; reaching for the helmets they had left by their feet at the bench — “don’t forget your helmet,” by first instinct, lili would have held the helmet to minkyu for him to take — but through helpful pressured guidance of the cameras all around him, she, instead, steps towards him and carefully places the helmet on his head; toying with the straps to secure it firmly beneath his chin, “let’s not get hurt today, okay?”

Oh, he knows. He knows all too well that Lili is quietly fuming over his decision to choose skiing. He knows her well enough to be certain that, under normal circumstances, she would be scolding him right now, perhaps even nagging just a little.

But that’s precisely what makes this so amusing. Watching her tuck away that sharp tongue of hers, replacing it with the angelic, patient, and ever-so-loving demeanor she wants the cameras to capture; it’s a performance in itself. A carefully crafted image, all in favor of being adored by viewers.

“I am in luck indeed,” he finally responds when she mentions that she knows how to ski. His eyes crinkle at the corners, and he grins up at her with a sweetness so genuine it could melt the iciest of hearts. That look; the one he knows makes fans weak, the one he always has when he’s with those he cherishes. Complete attention, unwavering devotion, as if nothing else in the world exists but the person in front of him.

In this moment, the cameras fade into the background. His focus is solely on easing Lili into her ski boots, hands grazing her legs only when necessary, careful and respectful, like the kind gentleman he is. “I couldn’t imagine a better teacher than you.”

This may be a show, but to Minkyu, it’s something more. It’s a challenge they set for each other: a playful game of who could outdo the other in delivering the most heart-fluttering, drama-worthy moments. Yet, as the minutes pass, he finds himself forgetting the game entirely, instead surrendering to his natural instinct to romanticize every fleeting moment.

He doesn’t miss the subtle squeeze on his shoulder. If anything, it makes his smile soften, a flicker of something almost bashful in his expression.

Shifting to sit beside her, he quickly secures his own boots, giving them a firm pat before meeting her gaze again. “I’m all good, thank you.” And then, he rises, extending his hand to her, fingers curling just slightly in invitation.

“Shall we?” He nods toward the slope. “I can’t wait to see the skiing princess in action with my very own eyes.”

@LGCENT just posted a photo!

i'll be your chocolate, if you'll be my valentine?

#lgctrainees #lgcent #xulili

she doubts it — but lili should be thankful for zoe’s optimism. it might be the only thing keeping her hopeful for the rest of the day until the ride home. just a couple more hours and they were home free — at least, this is what lili thought.

lili was not a work with what’s available but god told her beggars could not be choosers — and it is only today that she realizes the truth of those exact words. with a grim smile and a hand to hide it she feigns a dramatic sigh before falling onto zoe’s shoulder, “don’t worry, zoe, once we get back, you’ve got a ginseng chicken soup with your name on it on my dime, i swear it.”

only a couple more hours, she tells herself, and lili is near ready to  buy their whole dormitory soup if she needs to speed up the process. sitting up straight, she raises a brow, genuinely pondering what part of the weekend that she enjoyed — sparingly — there were times here and there she liked, if she truly could get out of her nitpicking ways to admit it. 

“mm,” she thinks for a minute longer because it was genuinely that hard for her to find some part of the weekend she actually found enjoyable — because knowing lili, this weekend was not her top ten — nor top one hundred — best picks of a good time. “spending time with you and jiah, i guess. but like —“ she lowers her voice to a whisper, a hand raised to cover her lips lest their be lip-readers in their midst. “i already hang out with you guys back home and at least there we have cell service.” before dropping her hand. “but i guess the chickens were kinda cute — smelly, but cute. kinda like you.” she laughs before pinching the other’s cheek, “kidding but you definitely did stink after friday.” 

— 🐰 » 

Zoe watched Lili with a mix of amusement and concern, noting the exhaustion etched in her friend's features despite her attempts to maintain a smile. Being on their feet for hours wasn't easy, especially when trying to promote something as seemingly mundane as soap bars at a fair.

"Grace, indeed," Zoe replied, her accent softening with empathy. She could sense Lili's frustration, the subtle strain in her voice as she talked about luck. Zoe leaned more toward believing in hard work, but she understood how luck could sometimes sway things.

Zoe chuckled and shook her head. "Well, you're so right there, but I guess we'll just have to work with what's available. Who knows, maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised today," she said optimistically to Lili's mention of the disappointing food, though she shared her doubts about the culinary offerings.

The mention of ginseng chicken soup brought a wistful smile to Zoe's face. "That does sound amazing," she agreed, imagining the warmth of the soup on a chilly day like today. "But hey, even if the food isn't great, at least we have each other's company," she added, playfully nudging Lili.

Zoe's gaze softened as she looked at her friend, silently offering her support. "Hey, amidst all this chaos, did you manage to enjoy any part of the day?" she asked, genuinely interested in hearing Lili's perspective.