Chapter 393: Survival Deja Vu

King of Kings.

June had never heard of it before. However, as his teammates played the commercial for the K-pop survival show on the TV in their practice room, everything started making sense.

Still images of the stage were shown on screen. It was reminiscent of the stage they had during Rising Stars. However, this time, it was definitely more grand—more fit for idols and not mere trainees.

Then, a female robotic voice started speaking as the lights danced on the stage.

"The prince, adorned in music's grace."

"Bows to seek the king in this sacred space."

A loud bass resonated in the room, startling the members of EVE.

"A throne awaits, anointed with song."

"The king's identity, to whom does it belong?"

"Holy shit. This is so cool," Akira exclaimed as the camera panned to Kim Wonbin, a popular host and comedian in Korea, standing at the center of the large stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the ultimate battleground of K-pop excellence! Get ready for a musical spectacle like no other!"

"It's time to determine the king of kings!"

With that, the commercial came to an end, leaving the group to chat excitedly with one another.

June, however, stayed silent, trying to internalize what he just watched.

King of Kings.

It was definitely the first time he had heard its title. However, it dawned on him that it was a franchise of the popular survival show 'Queen of Queens.'

Mei Ling was a fan of survival shows, so June also recalled her watching it. However, it wasn't the type of show she religiously watched, so June didn't know much about it.

All he knew was that chosen girl groups or soloists competed with performances, remixes, covers, and even original songs to determine who was the best among the group.

June also remembered it having a lot of drama, which was Mei Ling's favorite aspect of the show.

Aside from that, June recalled GIRLS' EVOLUTION joining the first season of the show. They got third place out of seven artists, but they also made quite a lot of enemies. Up to this day, there were rumors that most of the groups who participated in the first season of 'Queen of Queens' were still not on speaking terms.

"I can't believe this," June muttered, already feeling lightheaded.

He was still recovering from Rising Stars, and now, they were going to participate in another survival show?

Not only that, but they were probably going to compete with a bunch of older and more experienced groups!

June could already feel the pressure of the competition even though it hasn't started yet.

"June's broken again," Jisung said, poking June's cheek.

It didn't elicit a reaction from the latter, causing the group to burst into laughter.

"He's just shocked," Jaeyong said, wrapping one arm around June. "We were the same when we first heard about it."

Jaeyong continued to observe June's shocked expression but tilted his head to the side when he saw how clear his skin was up close.

"Did you really just come from the hospital?" Jaeyong asked.

June finally snapped out of his thoughts and wordlessly nodded.

"Damn. Your skin is immaculate! Does the hospital have some special kind of air?" he asked, also poking June's cheek.

Akira went closer to June, narrowing his eyes.

"You got more handsome, too," he said. "It looks like you weren't even shot at all."

"And your cheeks aren't hollowed now," Ren added. "What did they feed you there?"

June sighed, pushing their faces away from his.

He definitely looked and felt a lot better because of Grandma's homemade meals, along with the Beautify potion. At least Fu was still useful in some sense.

"Come on. Tell us your secret," Akira urged. "I feel so haggard, especially since we have so many things to do. Aside from practicing for the opening performance, the company's also starting to formulate the concept of our next album."

"Tell me about it," Jaeyong sighed. "I feel like the day isn't even enough with what we have to do."

"And to make matters worse, we don't even know who we're competing with," Sehun added.

June tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"They haven't told us who we're going to be competing with yet?" June asked.

"I don't think they're going to tell us until the day of the filming," Zeth said. "I heard from Kiera that everything was a surprise to them back then. She also said it was fun but very stressful, so let's brace ourselves,"

"Could it be more stressful than Rising Stars?" Akira chuckled.

"Wait," Ren suddenly said. "You're speaking with Kiera?"

Zeth froze while the other members suspiciously stared at him.

"You got her number, right?" Casper suddenly said, making the members even more suspicious.

Zeth cleared his throat. "That's not what's important. What's important is we start practicing for the opening performance again. We need to change a lot of things since June's back."

Although they were still suspicious, the members decided to forgo the issue...for now.

"I still don't think we're heading the right route, though," Ren said. "I feel like we could do so much more for our opening performance."

"That's true," Jisung sighed. "It's because we heard about the show quite late. I heard from Jay that some of the groups already knew they were going to be part of the project since December of last year."

"Wait, when did you guys hear about this?" June asked, joining the conversation.

"About a week ago," Sehun responded.

"How come I didn't hear about it?" June asked.

Ren frowned in confusion. "Didn't Jay tell you about it?"

"He didn't," June said.

Jaeyong cleared his throat. "Actually, Jay told me he didn't tell you about it."

June frowned. "Why not? I'm part of the group, aren't I?"

"That's what I also told him," Jaeyong said. "But he said it was an order from the higher-ups. They were expecting you not to be able to join the first episode anyway, so they said it was no use."

"No use?" June asked. "I was projected to be discharged from the hospital three days from now, though. I'm sure we still have time."

His members stayed silent, glancing at each other with knowing looks.

"What?" June asked in confusion.

Jaeyong awkwardly chuckled, scratching the back of his neck.

"Well, the thing is...we don't have much time."

"The first episode will be filmed one week from now."

June's jaw dropped.

It felt like Rising Stars all over again!