Chapter 166: Seventh Episode (3)

"Will you stop crying?" Sasha slapped Mimi's back. "Five teams have already performed, and you're still crying over June getting kicked out?"

"But he looked so sad!" Mimi exclaimed. "And now, it looks like everything is going well for Team Risers!"

- Kyaaah! Skateboard Ride is the best.

- I feel bad for the team who will perform last. They won the arm-wrestling competition, but they chose to perform right after this team? What a joke.

- Is it just me who found Lin Zhi's high note weird? Why didn't it focus on his face?

- I thought I was the only one who noticed. It looked almost lip-synced.

- What are you talking about? His lips literally moved. It's live.

- I can even hear his breathing through the microphone. I'm a professional vocal teacher. It was not lip-synced, and the note was fully-supported.

- Nah, man. I'm a fan of Lin Zhi, but that looked lip-synced.

- Whatever! Skateboard Ride performed the best out of everyone. I'm sure they'll win.

After 'Skateboard Ride,' it was time for Team Aglet to perform. A snippet of them looking nervous backstage was shown, with June patting them on the back and reassuring them they can do it.

"I'm curious about this one," Jangmoon said. "Nobody really knew what was going on in your practice room."

"That's because we were located at the very back," C-Jay retorted. "You'd even have to pass through the Janitor's closet before reaching our training room."

They turned their attention back to the screen. The stage was set, enveloped in a soft glow. As the lights illuminated, revealing the team standing in formation, the footage on the screen shifted.

It was the moment where the team was first assigned their roles, and June was given his Main Rapper position.

- Main Rapper? That's a joke! Does he even know how to rap?

- Alright, I love June. But why are they making him rap?

- Is he even a rapper? He's going to put GroovyTune's song to shame at this point.

Truly, the rapper duo GROOVYTUNES, who were currently watching the episode in the comfort of their own studio, began to feel nervous. They were yet to meet the team and record the full song, so they didn't know what to expect. Honestly, they wanted higher-ranked trainees with more experience in rapping to perform their song, so they couldn't help but feel disappointed after seeing the trainees that were actually performing it.

After settling their positions, the scene showed the team struggling with their choreography.

The editing team even placed creaking sounds and some "boings" whenever the trainees struggled with the movements.

The boys burst into laughter when they saw C-Jay attempt the wave move in the chorus.

- Well, this team is definitely fucked. It's just the rehearsal, but I can't dare watch it.

- I guess I should give out an early congratulations to Team Risers.

- Good job to Team Risers. You've proven that trainees at the top will always remain on top.

After that, more of Team Aglet's struggles were shown - how they stumbled and tripped over each other and how their movements were out of sync. The editing team definitely did their best making them look pathetic.

The next shot focused on June, who sat alone in the corner of the room, a blank sheet of paper and a pen in his hand. His brows furrowed in concentration as he tried to put his thoughts into words. His fellow trainees watched him, some skeptical, others worried.

- Give up, boy. Just focus on being a Main Vocalist.

- It's confirmed. He's not rapper-material.

The montage continued, showcasing the moments of doubt and frustration the team had experienced. From the looks of it, their performance was going to be the worst out of all.

"How long does this have to go on for?" C-Jay exclaimed. "We've had some good times, too!"

It just got worse after that.

Because the next scene showed how Sun-Y shitted on them during the interim evaluations.

"I still don't understand why you guys got Sun-Y as a mentor," Akira said. "We got Kiera from GIRLS' EVOLUTION."

"And we got Rhino," Zeth said. "He was really cool."

C-Jay laughed sarcastically. "Good for you guys, then."

They focused once more on the screen, where the Team Aglet was seen standing before the stern-faced mentor. As they launched into their performance, the initial strains of the song filled the room. The lyrics seemed disjointed, the flow awkward, and the harmony nonexistent.

"Oh, this is bad," Minjun said, breaking the silence. "I bet June's going to be worse."

The camera panned to June, and almost everyone held their breaths in anticipation. The guys were expecting him to do well—since he killed it during the actual performance. June closed his eyes since he already knew what to expect.

He wanted to get this scene over and done with, but it seemed like the editing team wanted to stretch it out as far as they could.

Why the hell do they have to repeat the scene and exaggerate each breath that came from June's lips? Right now, it looks like those Bollywood dramas where a single drop of a coin suddenly leads to the female main character getting hit by a car with a curtain wrapped around her neck.

Then, it came.

June flinched as he heard his nonchalant tone. His voice wavered, and his lyrics came out in a mumbled mess.

- Yikes. HAHAHAHA. Knew it. Bye-bye, June! Let's go back to the 30th rank.

- Worst. Rapper. On. The. Planet.

- He isn't even that bad! It's his first time rapping.

- I just know this performance is going to be hilarious.

Mimi watched the scene with confusion while Sasha and Lala guffawed by her side.

"I'm sorry," Lala apologized. "I know he's your favorite, but he can't rap for shit."

Mimi continued watching the tense scene before her. Lala and Sasha were confused as to why Mimi didn't retaliate at all.

"Hey, did I take it too far?" Lala asked.

"He's...terrible," Mimi said, causing the other two to look at each other in surprise. Mimi can actually say a bad thing about June?

"Uh, yeah. But are you alright?"

"It's weird," Mimi said. "Because he was really fucking good during the performance.," she whispered.

Insults for June were thrown left and right. And as June watched how he rapped just now, he thought that maybe he did deserve it.

But then, he snapped out of his thoughts when he saw a familiar staircase on the screen. The silence of the scene caused the others to watch silently, too, but dread filled June's mind.

"Ah, fuck," he whispered.

June forgot about it—the camera on the staircase.

And just like that, his sincere conversation with Sehun was shown, surprising the viewers with his sudden show of vulnerability. With each confession he made, tears swelled up in Jangmoon's and C-Jay's eyes (Zeth's and Jaeyong's, too, but let's pretend we don't know that).

"I didn't know you thought that way, bro," C-Jay sniffed.

Jangmoon slapped the back of Jaeyong's and Zeth's head. "You gave my big bro such a hard time."

Zeth scratched the back of his head while Jaeyong guiltily looked down at his lap.

June held his breath as the scenes continued on. He knew being evil-edited was bad, but he hated being pity-edited, too! The comments under the livestream weren't any better.

- June...Just how much did you endure all alone?

- He's being a crybaby.

- Fuck, now I'm rooting for this team. Please, please, please do better!

The montage continued, shifting from the mentors' harsh critique to scenes of the trainees practicing relentlessly. Despite the setbacks and criticism, there was a sense of camaraderie among them, and they shared moments of laughter and support.

As the montage continued, it showed June practicing late into the night, his determination unbeatable. The clips revealed a side of him that the audience hadn't seen before—the tireless work ethic and the burning desire to prove himself.

- Why does this look like a documentary of an underdog indie band that made it into the big scene?

- Team Aglet, you've got my support.

- June's actually hardworking?

- What do you think so, dimwit? He's improved the most out of the competition.

C-Jay turned to June with wide eyes as the scene finished. Nobody from Team Aglet knew about his late-night practice session.

"You practiced more?" he asked in disbelief. C-Jay expected June to just be good at everything he does. For C-Jay, June was the type of person who didn't have to work hard. He was just born with it.

But seeing him tirelessly practice his lines while the rest of the team slept made C-Jay respect June even more.

Finally, the screen faded to black, and the spotlight returned to the stage.

Then, June smirked.

June proved the live audience wrong once.

And boy, was he ready to do it for the second time.