Chapter 233: Dream Crusher

June sighed as he stared at the envelope the production crew had handed him.

All of the individual winners of the group were gathered in a small room and given an hour to pick someone from their team to eliminate.

June never expected this to happen.

As expected, Azure was just as bad as Fu, who hasn't even given him a mission after completing the last two.

[I'm working on it!]

But right now, it seemed like Azure took the cake.

Nothing could beat the twist they came up with. June wished baldness for the person who came up with the concept.

Meanwhile, in Cindy's office, she suddenly felt an itch on the right side of her head.

June was having a hard time. No matter how much he thought about it, June couldn't think of a member of their team who deserved to be eliminated.

He glanced at the other winners and saw that they seemed calmer than he had expected.

Lin Zhi, who appeared to be in a bad mood, quickly stood up and dropped his envelope inside the clear box.

Then, he got up and left the room.

All other four winners stared at his retreating figure. It seemed like he didn't even have a hard time choosing a teammate to eliminate.

Then, a heavy sigh was heard in the room. Sehun quickly wrote a name—someone he thought worked significantly less than most of his teammates. Afterward, he stood up and placed the envelope inside the box.

Jisung, feeling pressured by the two of them, wrote the name of the teammate who had a lot of side comments for the other trainees—the guy who underestimated June even after their amazing performance.

With that, he stood up and smiled at June as he placed the envelope inside the box and left the room.

And then, there were two.

Zeth also had a hard time choosing a teammate to eliminate. Akira...Jaeyong...Jaxon...Yuri. All of them brought something to the table, and he knew how much their team had worked hard for this.

However, there was a reason why they were not at the forefront during this mission, and Zeth knew that one person contributed most to that reason.

So, with a heavy sigh, Zeth wrote down his name and went out of the room, nodding at June in acknowledgment as he left.

Now, June was the only one left.

He sighed in defeat as he slumped on the floor.

How the hell did those trainees come up with a decision in such a short amount of time?

Maybe June was the weird one for thinking so much about his teammates' feelings.

June glanced at the timer and saw he still had 40 minutes left.

"Let's think about this," he muttered, leaning against the wall.

Daeho...he was the one who came up with the choreography along with Casper, and he also wrote his own lyrics. When Jangmoon joked around, he was the one who snapped the group back to serious mode. Although he was silent most of the time, only occasionally saying his opinions, June could see that Daeho worked harder than anybody else. He was the one who didn't suit the concept based on his looks, but he blended seamlessly with the group.

Casper led the team without complaining. He was the one who collated their ideas and made sure the team always met in the middle. June also didn't have any complaints about his leadership since Casper truly did his best. He did say some weird comments from time to time, but it wasn't a deal breaker.

Besides, Casper had the second-largest fanbase in the show. Eliminating him meant that June would make a lot of enemies.

Ren, on the other hand, was also a vital part of the team. Not only did he edit their song to make it sound more professional, but he also had a lot of input in the lyrics. Moreover, he recently gained his confidence back. June would most likely feel like shit if Ren lost it because of him.

And lastly, Jangmoon—one of the people he considered his friend in the competition. There were times when June wanted nothing but to hit Jangmoon with all his might, but June held back since he knew Jangmoon never meant any harm.

Besides, Jangmoon had shown impeccable improvement throughout the show. Although his personality was happy-go-lucky, June could tell he cared a lot about the people around him.

Despite lacking in the talent department, Jangmoon compensated with his hard work. June also knew that Jangmoon loved performing and being an idol in general. He would have never come this far if that wasn't the case.

"I'm fucked," June muttered in defeat, looking at the ticking clock that showed less than 30 minutes.

30 minutes?

That was still a decent amount of time.

He turned to the single crew member left inside the room and stood up.

"I just have to turn this envelope in within the time limit, right?"

"Yes," she answered.

"Then, I can go wherever I want first?" he asked.

The crew member scratched the back of her neck. Honestly, she wasn't oriented about the details of the elimination process. She only knew that she had to take the envelopes to Yejin and Yena after the given deadline.

"Umm, sure," she hesitatingly said.

June muttered a small 'thanks' before leaving the room, quickly running through the hallways and to their practice room.

He barged through the doors, wanting to see his teammates so he could finally make his mind.

However, June froze when he realized their practice room was empty. He looked around the place where they tirelessly practiced for the past week and felt even more conflicted.

He would be the reason for someone's dream ending today.

And June didn't want to make the decision.

This should have been an easy decision for him. Being in the gang for so long, he was used to disposing people who didn't have any use for the gang.

However, this wasn't the White Tiger gang, and June wasn't the same man he was before.

Or maybe he had always been this warm-hearted. He just never realized it in the first place.

"Fuck," he cursed loudly while staring at his reflection in the mirror.

June knew time was ticking, but every time he thought of someone to eliminate, that certain someone's smile popped into his mind, and he was back to square one.

June shook his head and decided to vacate his heart of any feelings.

Then, he turned around, taking a deep breath as he prepared to leave the room.

However, at that moment, the door opened, and he was met with eyes that were filled with nothing but happiness.

"What are you doing here?" June asked.

"Just wanted to talk to my big bro."