The audience went loud before he finished the sentence.
Seojun was already on his feet.
No stretch. No warmup. He stood and looked at Doyun across the stage.
Doyun looked back.
The host leaned back just slightly.
He was ready to document this.
"Are we ready?"
"We sure are."
★☆★☆★☆
The stage change took four minutes.
The buzzer stations cleared. The floor opened up. Both groups went to their sides and the room went from game show energy into something else.
Everyone already knew who LUMEN was sending.
Doyun stood up before his name was called.
On the NYXALIS side, Seojun did the same.
Neither of them looked at the host. They walked to the centre of the stage and stood there while the crew finished setting up, looking at each other across twelve meters of empty floor.
The host looked between them.
"Right," he said into the microphone. "I see we are skipping the introduction."
The audience laughed.
Doyun and Seojun did not react.
