YG Treasure Box, Episode 8: Now I’m taking this personally.

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(Written March 11, 2025)

I’m excited for this episode!  We have several more elimination battles to see, which will hopefully keep the showrunners too busy to torture and embarrass our trainees.  At least until Shining Solo airs. 

But first, we have to talk about that building with the cool yellow entrance from the last episode.  I wrote in the recap that I hoped someone won an award for that.

Well, I looked it up, and the building is part of The Imprint in Incheon, Seoul.  It’s an entertainment facility made up of two buildings that have to be seen to be believed.  The architectural firm that built it, MVRDV, won three awards for it, including a German design award.  These buildings are insane.

MVRDV builds incredible structures like this all over the world.  If you want your mind blown, go to mvrdv.com/projects and click around.  My new goal is to someday be rich enough for this company to design my house. 

Now, let’s move on to our group of trainees who hope to someday be that rich as well.  (How’s that for a segue?) Welcome to Episode Eight!

We’re back in the boxing ring.  The next elimination battle will be between future P1Harmony member Kim Jong Seob and Japanese trainee Kotaro.  Another low-stakes battle for Treasure fans, but I like P1Harmony, so I’ll pull for Jong Seob.

I’ll mention one thing from the flashback we get.  Back in Episode 6, these teams were being picked like sports teams in school, and I was sad that someone wasn’t going to get picked.  Here, we find out Jong Seob and Kotaro were the ones left over and now have to battle each other by default.  They barely even know each other that well.  If I were an architect for MVRDV, I’d redesign the YG building as an actual portal to hell.

Let’s see how this turns out.  Their song is “The Monster” by Eminem.  Let’s go.

Okay, let’s unpack this.  They are both solid performers.  They had energy and fire.  The problem is that they looked like they had rehearsed separately and just put it together when they hit the stage.  We do know from the flashback that they did in fact practice their own parts separately because they didn’t know each other very well.  It’s unfortunate, because if they had performed as a team, it would have been amazing.

I’m stunned when CEO Yang says the exact same thing.  “What’s interesting to see,” he says, “is that despite performing the same song, you didn’t come off like a team but more like a competition.”

CEO Yang and I had the exact same opinion.  I feel like I should alert the media or buy a lottery ticket or something.  I am in genuine shock right now.

After consulting with the other producers and coaches, CEO Yang declares Jong Seob the winner.  It’s hard for the Japanese team to say goodbye to another one of their teammates, especially since Kotaro was their leader.

No time to dwell on goodbyes.  The next battle duo is future WHIB member In Hong and future Treasure maknae Junghwan.  I don’t have an official Treasure light stick, so I’m waving a flashlight while I cheer for Junghwan.  Sometimes a recapper’s gotta improvise. 

Right away, the judges tease them for how cute they are.  They’re both considered teenage stunning visuals.  They’re also very close friends, so it’s hard for each one to try to get the other one eliminated.  They take the stage to “I Need a Girl” by Taeyang.  

Junghwan has got In Hong beat on expression.  They sing equally well, but Junghwan is flirting and smiling and just pulling the viewer in.  In Hong has no expression.  It’s like he’s not sure what he’s doing up there. 

Of course, we know Junghwan will win.  It’s just interesting to see the battle showing why.  In Hong doesn’t even show any expression when he learns he’s lost.  Out of curiosity, I checked out the WHIB video for “Rush of Joy,” and he seems to be way more comfortable expressing himself now.  (That’s a really fun song.  Check it out.)

Next up, we have future Treasure member Asahi and future WEi member Seok Hwa.  Fun Fact:  This is one of THREE survival shows that Seok Hwa will do.  Another one will be a show called Build Up.  One of the winners of Build Up was our own Jay Chang from Boys Planet, who debuted with the winning group B.D.U. and then released a solo album AND is also part of One Pact.

Where was I?  Right.  Asahi vs. Seok Hwa.  Man, it’s too easy to fall down these K-pop rabbit holes.  Anyway, here are some screenshots I really like from the flashback we get now.  It’s Asahi and Yoshi working on music together.

I love these guys.

Okay, now for Asahi to battle and beat Seok Hwa.  It’s another Dean song, “What2Do.”

Again, it’s an expression thing.  Seok Hwa is a blank slate.  There are times when he just stares at the stage floor while singing.  Meantime, Asahi’s eyes show everything.

However, CEO Yang feels Asahi could have shown more energy.  (Dude, it’s a ballad.)  He gives them both a poor review before picking …

Holy shit.  He chooses Seok Hwa as the winner.

What the hell.  Asahi gets eliminated?

I’m stunned and VERY curious to find out how Asahi will make his way back into Treasure.  This is the first time on this show I’m truly upset to see a trainee eliminated.  And it’s yet another Team J trainee.

We watch Asahi take the elevator and then walk away down the street.  I keep waiting for someone to call him to come back.  But nope.  Off he goes, back to Japan.  

Back to the boxing ring.  Our next battle will be Me vs. CEO Yang.  Wait, sorry – we have our Treasure guy Jae Hyuk vs. Si Yun.  Now that I know there’s no plot armor on this series, I worry that Jae Hyuk will be sent packing.  This show owes me a SERIOUS explanation.

We only get a few seconds of their match.  Not even enough for me to hear what song they’re covering.  Jae Hyuk wins.  That whole battle took 15 seconds.

We don’t get to see any of the next battle.  We just know that Yun Seo wins.  I don’t even know who got eliminated from that one.  Oh wait, there’s Sung Yeon, headed for the airport.  Bye, Sung Yeon!  Have fun debuting with the group 13Found in 2024!

Now for the final battle, which means we’ve probably skipped a few.  But this is the one everyone’s been looking forward to:  Treasure’s Chaotic Style King Hyun Suk vs. the babyfaced rapper Jun Hyuk.  To show my support for Hyun Suk, I have ransacked my closet and am now wearing a Monsta X hoodie over the maid of honor dress I wore to my sister’s first wedding, paired with flip flops and an Incredible Hulk pendant I got with a comic book.  Hey, it’s all I could throw together on short notice.  Back off.

I do like this flashback of these two rehearsing, because they’re adorable together.  I enjoy watching them have fun until I remember that one of them will be eliminated, and then I lean on the fast-forward button.  This is gonna hurt.

We can’t put this off with more flashbacks.  It’s showtime.  They’re doing “Yammy Gang” by A$AP FERG.  Come on, Hyun Suk … 

It’s an intense battle to a violent song.  They’re both incredibly skilled rappers.  It’s just that I can’t take these aggressive lyrics seriously from Jun Hyuk.  He sounds like a little boy imitating his favorite rapper.  It’s the only edge Hyun Suk has over him.  If they had picked a more fun hip-hop song, it could have gone either way.

CEO Yang tells them they should have debuted as a rap duo instead of going on this show.  This will be a hard decision for him.  After a very long pause, he announces the winner as Hyun Suk.

Hyun Suk crumbles to the ground while Jun Hyuk tries to hug him.  If I were watching this without audio, I’d think he lost.

The two take the elevator together, both crying.  God, this is hard to watch. When the younger one finally leaves, the other trainees close ranks around Hyun Suk as he cries.  Now that the battles are over, they are all physically and emotionally exhausted.  Plus, there’s some survivor’s guilt.  There’s some of that on all these shows.

Now we move forward to the next day at the training center.  The trainees are told of another battle to determine the finalists, and it will be a team performance, five members per team.  It looks like CEO Yang is still determined to make Treasure a 5-person group.

But wait.  There are only 14 trainees in the non-Treasure group.  That means one of Treasure 6 will have to go back to being a regular trainee.  It will be one of the trainees on the team that got the fewest online votes from the last battle.

The team with the highest number of votes is Yedam and Keita.  No surprise there.  Second place is Jeongwoo and Haruto.  That’s three Treasure guys safe.  That leaves two non-Treasure guys, Seung Hun and Byoung Gon.  Now the other four members of Treasure 6 will have to decide which one to kick out.

Seung Hun and Byoung Gon

 

Come on, show.  You used to be cool.  Don’t go back to being a total dick.

The Top 4 go off to talk alone.  We fade out and then back in.  I don’t know why they’re making Keita break the news, but he announces that Byoung Gon will have to return to being a regular trainee. 

They do a group hug.  Okay, we need a plan to get this number “5” obsession out of CEO Yang’s head.  We could replace all the songs in his phone with the greatest hits of the 70s rock band 10cc.  Scatter dimes all over his house.  Take him bowling.  Ask him about his favorite decade in music.  Get the K-pop group Up10tion together to show up at his house and sing a new song called, “Bring Asahi back, You Dingus.”

So Byuong Gon returns to the regular trainee group because our CEO doesn’t have TEN functioning brain cells to rub together, and everyone prepares for the team battles.  I do get a laugh when we get Byoung Gon in a confessional, and when asked if there’s anything he’d like to say, he asks, “Can I curse on camera?”

We now have 20 trainees left.  Five in Treasure 5, and 15 regular trainees.

Now to divide the 15 into three teams.  Is it going to be an unnecessarily complicated process?  You bet your ten fingers and ten toes it will be!

First, the show had some poor sap lug all the trainees’ lockers into the studio.  Brilliant start.  No notes.

Now, each trainee puts pictures of themselves in the lockers and oh for fuck’s sake just divide them into teams randomly.  This is ridiculous. 

The locker vote ends, and I feel sorry for the guys who have to drag those lockers back to where they came from.  After fast-forwarding through all the hoop-jumping, here are the teams.  Future Treasure members are highlighted.

The episode ends with instructions for fans to go online and vote for their seven favorite trainees.  While you’re voting online, please also take the time to spam CEO Yang’s email with links to 2pm’s “10 out of 10” video.

Spam this man at WhatComesAfterNineYouIdiot@YGEntertainment.com.

 

See you next episode.  Justice for Asahi.

Episode 9:  We are now at DEFCON Catastrophe.

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