Chapter 145: Up All Night

"Alright, guys. I think it's best if we hit the sack," Sehun said, yawning. "We want to get plenty of sleep for tomorrow."

"Let's go," C-Jay said, being infected by Sehun's yawn.

"Even if we said we were going to end early today, we still ended up practicing until 10 p.m.," Jakob chuckled.

"That's early in my book now," C-Jay said. "You guys are practicing monsters. I'm going now. My eyes are about to fall off."

"Good night!"

"Good night!"

They exchanged greetings before going back to their rooms. June walked back to their room, but as he stood outside the door, he felt like he still had to do something.

June brought out the lyric sheet from his pocket and looked at it in wonder.

Even if he had upgraded his rap skill to a B-, he still didn't feel satisfied.

June needed to improve even more if he wanted to defeat Team Risers.

And right now, there's only one way to do that—practice.

Practice makes perfect.

That's definitely a fucking lie.

If the statement was correct, then the former Choi Joon-ho would have gotten all A's by now.

However, even if practice doesn't make perfect, practice definitely makes an improvement, especially since June had already built a good rap foundation.

With those in mind, he decided to go to the place that served as his solace during this mission.

As he walked, he muttered the lyrics under his breath, not wanting to waste any time.

However, June was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he bumped into another person.

"Sorry," he apologized to the person before him.

Xin.

Xin had a smug look as he looked at June in the eyes.

"Fancy seeing you here, former teammate," Xin exclaimed in fake joy.

June pursed his lips and nodded, not in the mood to talk.

Xin clicked his tongue in annoyance. "You really think you're better than me, don't you?"

June frowned. "I didn't even say anything."

"And you don't have to," Xin said. "I can see it in your eyes—you're looking down on me. I was a fool to think you were a good person. Hoon had always been right," he whispered the last statement, so June wasn't able to hear it.

"What are you talking about?" June asked.

Xin cleared his throat. "Where are you going?" he suddenly asked, changing the topic. "Aren't you going to sleep yet?"

June became even more confused. Nonetheless, he answered since he didn't want to prolong their conversation any further.

"No," June answered. "Now, if you don't have anything else to say, then I'm going to leave."

With that, June left the weird guy alone.

As Xin turned back to watch June's retreating back, he smirked to himself.

"Stupid...stupid, June," Xin muttered.

Xin had been looking for the perfect opportunity to infiltrate his room after Hoon instructed him to find something...anything about June, and he never had the opportunity since June was always in his room.

However, now was his perfect chance.

Akira is Xin's roommate, so he knew that the Japanese idol was already sleeping in their room. Moreover, Jaeyong, June's roommate, had been staying in that room, too, after Team Risers kicked June out.

It was obvious that he still felt guilty about how the situation panned out.

Jisung, based on the stories he had heard, is a very heavy sleeper.

So, he wouldn't be much of a problem.

With stealthy steps, Xin walked to June's room and opened the door. As expected, it was unlocked.

The doors were expected to be unlocked in the dorms since the production crew said something about their lives always having to be "accessible" to the public.

As he opened the door, he quickly removed his jacket and covered the camera before going inside the room.

Then, he wasted no time and went to June's bed. He opened his phone flashlight before glancing at Jisung. Indeed, he was as still as a log.

As Xin illuminated June's bed, he stopped and stared for a second.

It was neatly folded like the ones in a hotel room!

Even his nightstand appeared straight out of a home catalog. His creams, lamps, accessories, and masks were neatly perched on top of the wooden table!

Xin clicked his tongue as he couldn't find anything suspicious with his items. He made sure to place all items back to their original places so as to not raise any suspicion.

Feeling disappointed, he slumped on the floor and placed his phone down.

However, his phone flashlight illuminated the contents underneath June's bed, causing Xin to halt. He went on all-fours to peek under the bed and saw multiple items hidden underneath!

And it wasn't any regular items!

These were luxury items!

Xin softly gasped as he pulled out the paper bags containing an expensive-looking shoe and a watch.

He frowned as he observed them.

S

ince C-Jay had a big, loud mouth, Xin was able to overhear that June's living conditions weren't the greatest.

From his stories, it sounded like June was poor.

However, looking at these items, there might be more than what meets the eye.

So, without any hesitation, Xin snapped pictures of the items one by one.

He's definitely going to send those to Hoon.

***

"One more time," June sighed.

"Fuck! Just once more..."

"Alright, one more, and I'm done."

"These fucking lyrics are hard to rap. Why the hell did I write them?"

"Okay, for the last time, let's do this."

June had always been a man of persistence, and tonight was no exception. In the dimly lit staircase, cluttered with crumpled paper, frustration etched on his face. He had been practicing all night, chasing a "lacking" element in his voice that seemed to elude him.

"Come on, June, get it together," he muttered to himself, running a hand through his disheveled hair. He played back the recording of his latest attempt, his brows furrowing as he listened critically.

There was something missing, something that gnawed at him like an itch he couldn't quite reach.

Undeterred, he pressed on, replaying the melody over and over, experimenting with different intonations, and pushing his rapping limits. The hours seemed to blend together as he persisted through the night, each attempt taking him closer to that perfection.

Then, after what felt like a million attempts, June finally sighed in satisfaction.

"Shit," he muttered. "I'm tired. Time to hit the bed."

He walked back to his room, staggering a bit because of his tiredness.

Some rays of sunshine crept through the windows, but June didn't even notice them.

"June," Zeth, who had come out of his room, greeted him with a sad smile.

However, all June could hear was the sound of a soft lullaby.

Zeth pursed his lips and choked back a sob as he looked at June's staggering figure.

"He must be really sad about this," he muttered.

June was just sleepy.

He arrived in his room and saw Jisung already getting ready.

"You're up so early," June said, his voice quite raspy.

"Huh?" Jisung tilted his head to the side in confusion.

Just as he was about to collapse into bed, exhaustion taking over, the blaring sound of his morning alarm jolted him awake. He stared at the clock in disbelief.

"What the hell?" he exclaimed.

It's morning already?

He had been practicing all night, so lost in his pursuit of perfection that he failed to realize the value of time.

It was now the next day—the day of the mission.

June sighed in frustration, angry that he didn't get his beloved sleep.

However, as his eyes strayed to his bedside table, he saw something that made him wide awake.

On the nightstand, there was a slight angular change...merely 15 degrees.

But June noticed it.

"Who moved my lotion?"