Chapter 297: Not Safe

It seemed like the toe-sucking incident had benefited June more than he expected.

Not only did Chul stop calling him 'Hoho,' but he also started ignoring June's existence!

It was definitely not ideal to ignore your artist as a manager, but June liked it better than Chul being passive-aggressive.

Two days had passed since they posted their teaser photos, and the boys were busier than ever.

The pressure of living up to their debut had finally hit them, especially after their concept photos had garnered a hefty amount of likes for a rookie idol group. All of the individual photos garnered more than 100,000 likes each, and their group photo even peaked at 212,000 likes.

Even now, when there were still two weeks left until their debut, the boys were working harder than usual.

Their choreographer, who was under the same agency as Gun, watched them with hawk eyes as they reached the final chorus of the song.

June stared at himself in the mirror, sweat dripping from his temples. It was already afternoon, and they had been practicing since morning, so the boys felt more tired than usual.

However, since the choreographer promised them that this would be their last round, the boys bust their best moves, all eager to go home.

June also observed his other teammates, a satisfied look passing through his eyes.

They really looked like a real K-pop group now. June hasn't seen their stats ever since Rising Stars ended, but June could tell that they've also improved by a lot.

As the last notes of the song faded, Akira fell to the ground, panting like a thirsty dog.

"Oh gosh," he gasped. "That's the hardest I've ever danced today. I'm definitely not going to do that again."

"We should, though," June said. "We looked really good just now."

"You were observing our group dance?" Ren asked, surprised. "I was too tired to even look at myself."

"June's right," Tank, their choreographer, said. June didn't know if it was a requirement in their company to have weapons as names, but he found it quite ridiculous.

"That was your best performance just now," he continued. "Gun wasn't lying when he said you guys were talented. Keep this up, and I think you'll be ready for your debut stage."

Zeth proudly smiled. "Thanks, Tank."

"No worries. Just make sure to control your breathing well so you'll have stable vocals," Tank smiled. "Well, I need to head home now. My wife's calling. Don't forget to cool down and stretch before going home, alright?"

"We will," Jaeyong said, although that was a blatant lie. They were all too tired to even move their pinkies.

"I'm going first," Tank said, waving goodbye and leaving the room.

The cameramen, who were filming the process of their debut, also left the room, leaving the eight boys all alone.

As soon as the others were gone, they sighed and acted more comfortably. Casper even inserted his hand inside his sweatpants and scratched his itchy butt.

"I'm hungry," Jisung said. "Should we order some food?"

"Should we? What do you want to eat?" Ren asked in a baby tone, acting like Jisung was a child. As the dynamics of their group started kicking in, it was obvious that Jisung was going to be the baby of the bunch.

He was the youngest member of the team, only two months younger than June, and he also had a really soft personality.

Ren, in particular, was very fond of treating June like a younger brother. On the other hand, Akira was the cool 'older brother' who coaxed Jisung to move out of his comfort zone and commit borderline crimes.

"Yo, Ji," Akira nudged his shoulder. "You want spicy fried chicken, right? That's what I'm craving."

Ren clicked his tongue and pushed Akira away. "I'm not asking you. Jisung, respond."

"I'm fine with anything," Jisung softly said.

"See?" Akira exclaimed. "He's fine with anything. Let's just get spicy fried chicken."

"Call!" Zeth exclaimed.

"But I want Jajangmyeon," Ren whined. "We had fried chicken yesterday. Y'all are going to reduce our stamina with the amount of fried food we've been eating."

"You're speaking like Jajangmyeon is healthier," Akira scoffed.

"Yeah, I'm kinda sick of fried chicken, too," Jaeyong chimed. "Let's get some Tangsuyuk along with the Jajangmyeon."

"I'm not in the mood for noodles," Akira whined. "Let's just buy from separate places."

"It's a hassle!" Jaeyong interfered. "And our meal allowance is getting depleted. You guys eat like people who haven't eaten for days."

Ren clicked his tongue. "Then, what should we order?"

"Ask June," Zeth said.

They all turned to their second youngest member. In their eyes, June was the oldest in their group. However, there were also times when they wanted to take care of him.

"Barley Rice and Whole Chicken Soup," June responded.

The room turned silent, the other members still internalizing June's words.

"Isn't that what old people eat?" Akira asked, breaking the silence.

***

In the end, they decided to take June's suggestions. By this time, they already knew that trusting June would be the best decision for the group.

Akira groaned in satisfaction as he took a bit out of the chicken leg. "Thank goodness you suggested this, bro! We've been so fatigued these days, and this feels like the remedy."

Zeth nodded in agreement. "I'm reminded of the times I visited the province. My grandparents would feed me a whole chicken, and I'll be energetic for the entire day."

June continued eating in silence—like the real connoisseur he was. The group continued eating their meal when Sehun suddenly brought up their debut.

"There's like less than two weeks until our debut stage," Sehun said, causing Akira to spit out the soup he had just sipped.

It splattered all over Ren.

"What the fuck?"

However, Akira ignored him and shook Sehun's shoulders.

"Don't say that!" he exclaimed. "My heart jumps whenever I think of our debut."

"What are you so nervous about?" Ren asked, still wiping his soupy arm with some wet wipes. "You've already debuted before."

"Everything!" Akira exclaimed. "Just—It's different when you're there, you know? Right now, it feels comfortable because we're by ourselves, but once you see the other idols performing, you'll become nervous...and uncertain...and it just cascades to questioning your self-worth!"

"Is it that bad?" Jisung asked, almost shaking.

Jaeyong chuckled. "This dude is just exaggerating. It is very nerve-wracking, though—especially when we have a big group coming back the same week."

"BOYMYSTIC's coming back next week," Jaeyong pointed out. "Do you think we'll run into them?"

"Most probably," Casper said. "But it wouldn't be too bad since their nomination week will be our debut week. That means we can still get some music show wins."

"Casper's right," Akira said. "Come to think of it, they're our biggest competitor for the month. Oh wait, there's LUNIX, too!"

"LUNIX is coming back?" Sehun asked with wide eyes. "I love their songs."

"Well, it seems like somebody hasn't been monitoring social media," Ren said. "Yeah, they're coming back the same week as BOYMYSTIC. I'm a fan of them, too."

"Oh, good," Sehun said. "So, there are no other groups debuting at the same time as us?"

"Not that I remember," Jaeyong said. "There are other groups coming back, but they're from relatively smaller companies. So, I think we're safe."

Meanwhile, Zeth scrolled through his phone as his members conversed.

His feed was filled with photo edits, video edits, velocity edits, and fanart of himself.

Zeth's heart couldn't help but swell in happiness as he scrolled through the posts.

However, he stopped scrolling when he saw an eye-catching post from StarSync, a very popular Korean Entertainment News Media Outlet.

"Oh, we're definitely not safe."