Chapter 640: Through and Through

June ended his song and was met with a loud round of applause. He saw himself on the screen and noticed that his cheeks were red from embarrassment.

He didn't think much about it when he was singing, but it seemed like he was actually pretty embarrassed to sing in front of the trainees.

The trainees didn't fail to notice this, and they started fangirling about June once again.

"I can't. I need to take care of him."

"Why is he so cute?"

"Seriously, why am I fawning over a grown man?"

"That face—I want to dominate it."

"Girl, I sure hope that the cameras didn't catch what you just said."

Meanwhile, Lee Sik nudged June's shoulder.

"You're really good at singing now," he said.

June raised one eyebrow in a teasing manner. "Does that mean that I wasn't good at singing back then?"

"You were," Lee Sik said. "But you're improving so fast. Sometimes, I feel like you've debuted for more than ten years."

June shook his head at Lee Sik's ridiculous statement.

"The two of you sang it very similarly," Ji-hyun suddenly said, her hand covering the microphone.

Gun couldn't help but exclaim in disagreement.

"They didn't sing alike at all."

"Well, obviously, their skill set is different," Ji-hyun elaborated. "But they sang it with the same emotion. Am I making sense? Or is it my menopause talking?"

Gun chuckled loudly. "Come on. You're not that old. Now that you've mentioned it, they did with the same sentiment."

Ji-hyun chuckled along with him. "I thought I was going crazy. How are we going to evaluate her, though?"

Amira pursed her lips. "I can't talk about her skills. I don't think she's ready to be an idol at this time."

Bone hummed. "However, I do believe that everybody has the potential to improve. Her looks and her stage presence are actually not that bad."

"Not that bad?" Lee Sik exclaimed. "It's actually very impressive. She was singing out of tune most of the time, but did you notice that the audience was still paying attention? You need to have a lot of stage presence for that to happen."

Gun nodded in agreement. "And her looks are actually phenomenal. I can already tell that she's going to be popular with the public just based on her appearance."

"She's going to get a lot of hate for being unskilled, though," Amira said.

'No! No!' June exclaimed in his mind. They were saying the things that he didn't want to hear.

The fact that they were talking about her for so long already meant that she was going to get a lot of screen time. That wasn't ideal! Now that Mei Ling is within his grasp, he wants to protect her at all costs.

What better way to do that than to make her practically unnoticeable so she can be peacefully eliminated? Just like those trainees who become forgettable after the show!

However, things weren't looking good for June or for Mei Ling.

Regardless of what June said, Mei Ling was going to get a lot of attention—both negatively and positively, more so on the former. People on the internet were honestly ruthless.

"Based on her potential alone, I think we can give her two stars," Lee Sik said.

"What?" Ji-hyun asked. "That's too high."

"Really?" Bone asked, scratching the back of his head. "I kind of agree with the two stars now that you've made your points."

"How about one star then?" Gun asked, making a suggestion.

Amira sighed and glanced at Mei, who appeared to be wandering off into dreamland already.

"I still think that it's too high. She can't keep up with simple dance moves. One-stars already have basic foundations."

"Goodness, this is the most difficult evaluation today," Ji-hyun muttered.

"Why aren't you speaking, though?" Lee Sik suddenly asked, turning to June.

June was caught off guard, and he stammered.

"N—nothing," he said. "My voice is getting hoarse."

"Oh," Ji-hyun said, believing his excuse. "You do need to preserve your voice."

"What do you think, though?" she couldn't help but ask. "What rank can we give to this girl?"

June pursed his lips and thought for a moment. He recalled his rank during Rising Stars. He got three stars for such a mediocre performance.

When he was in three stars, he had a hard time adjusting to the skill set that the other trainees already had. Maybe that was what Mei Ling needed so she could withdraw from the show.

It wasn't too late to run from Azure!

"Umm, three stars?" he suggested, causing the others to look at him with wide eyes. Even then, he was also unsure.

"Alright, let's not ask for your opinion next time," Lee Sik chuckled.

June scratched the back of his head. At this point, he still didn't know what to feel or even think of.

He didn't get a lot of attention when he was in three-stars because there were more trainees with better skills than him. He only started garnering attention when he was moved to zero stars.

So, he just wished that Mei Ling wouldn't end up with the same fate as him. He could still imagine the stress he went through when he was in zero stars.

"Wait, I just realized. We still haven't asked her about her predicted rank," Amira suddenly said.

"Right," Ji-hyun exclaimed. "I was curious about that! It's covered by her jacket."

"Hmm," Lee Sik said. "Why don't we just follow whatever her predicted rank is since we can't come to an agreement."

"That's actually not too bad," Gun said.

"What if she predicted her rank to be five stars, though?" Amira suddenly asked.

"Nah," Gun shook his head. "You could tell from the empty white spaces that it can't be more than four stars."

Amira shrugged, leaning against her seat in a relaxed manner.

"That's fine with me, then."

"I'll do the honors," Lee Sik said.

"Mei," he said to the mic after a long deliberation. The other trainees finally paid attention. It seemed like an eternity had passed before the judges spoke!

"Can we please see your predicted rank?" he asked.

The others were confused as to why Lee Sik suddenly asked that particular question. Nonetheless, they were also curious about what Mei thought about her own skills.

June pursed his lips and waited in anticipation.

'Not zero stars,' he thought.

'Please—not zero stars,' he said.

Mei didn't hesitate to move her jacket to the side, finally revealing her predicted rank.

Then, she brought the microphone to her lips.

"It's zero-stars," she said.

June felt like he was kicked in the balls.

Goodness.

They really were siblings.