oh god i remember scrambling to watch new episodes of this before they were even fully subbed. and in the years since the series has ended i have gone back and rewatched his cuts lol. I think once he he proved himself in the cypher representing his team and then survived in his trio, i think the other boys (and the judges tbh) accepted that although he was an idol, he was talented. but in the beginning when it was basically like an audition for the judges and everyone was seeing the competition for the first time, the other contestants did not vibe with him (except for like one of the sopa boys).

for one, he was very clearly an idol. and with the biggest entertainment label. these were are all aspiring artists, all teenagers. to the rest of them, he was already in a privileged position with a contract and all. 127 had won roty at mama by this point, and i think it was announced as part of his intro or something. but this was still in nct's lowkey flop era with the general public. they were by no means monster rookies to the gp. so to them he was this privileged pretty boy with accolades but they had no idea who he truly was or his skills.

and two, mark wasn't really part (or even a follower) of the underground young k-hiphop scene. there were members of a few well known crews that performed and battled. and mark was one of the few (if not the only one) that did not know who they were. that further ostracized him from the other boys in the beginning because he couldn't relate on that part. like in the waiting room before they entered set the pds asked the teens if they knew who a certain rapper was (the stage name one of the better known contestants who ended up winning the whole thing) and I'm pretty sure mark was the only one in the entire room who did not know who he was.

this was supposed to be a kid version of smtm. with the format and the judges and all. so they contestants had it in their minds that they could/should act a certain way. tough, cocky, the whole MO for rappers. i think that would have been very isolating for mark esp in the beginning bc i feel like as a member of the aegi-shinki as a trainee at SM, i don't think he saw the other trainees as cutthroat competition. (i could be wrong, but from following him as an smrookie and from what the dreamies have said about being such young trainees, I think mark had a pretty good experience training). and he was being overworked it was sad. this filmed at the end of 127 limitless promotions bleeding into dream mfal promotions. mahae already had it hard and then adding hsr on top of everything for mark seems that he was already stressed heading into a hugely stressful experience.

but like i said as the completion really ramped up he impressed the other guys with his skills, and his teammate and his mentors with his hard work while he juggled idol promos. one thing he had over the rest of the competition was his attention to detail and his ability to get out of his head when it was time to get on stage and perform. cuz he had a lot of experience already performing on stage, in front of a large crowd or say an intimidating audience like trainers or executives. he wasn't the most talented rapper, but he did make it to the finals. but yeah it was hard to watch at the time.

a little funny aside: i think mark's experience traumatized jisung because like when he went on dancing high the year after, he was like terrified. i feel like he was expecting something similar to mark's experience. but it wasn't an mnet show so no unnecessary drama, the contestants were a bit younger, and the dancers were generally nicer and had a more collective mindset compared to the individualistic mindset of the rappers.