Chapter 82: Fed Up

The team sat in silence, looking at the floor with dark expressions.

June lifted his head and looked at his teammates one by one, and he was getting frustrated by their tense silence.

"We need to talk about what happened," June said, breaking the silence.

Lin Zhi sighed, raking his hands through his hair. "What else is there to talk about? Let's just get this over with. Hwan already told us to start all over."

"And whose fault do you think that is?" Leo muttered.

Lin Zhi frowned. "You keep talking with that cocky tone of yours, Leo. Are you blaming us for the failed performance?"

Leo sighed, his gaze fixed on Lin Zhi. "Well, if we would have gotten our singing down this morning, then we wouldn't have been the center of mocking during the evaluations."

June sighed. Instead of smoothing over the wrinkles of their performance, they were fighting once again.

"And how is that my fault?" Lin Zhi exclaimed. "You messed up during your solo dance, and the choreography you did was too hard. That's why we were so out of breath by the second verse."

Leo was about to stand up to confront Lin Zhi, but Yuri held onto his shoulder.

"Don't blame Leo for your incompetence in singing," Yuri calmly said.

That seemed to aggravate Lin Zhi even more.

"Let's not fight, guys," Jisung said, getting nervous. "I think we should talk about the performance."

"We're already talking about the performance. And while we're at it, let's talk about how unsynchronized you and Zeth were during the chorus," Leo snapped, causing Jisung to cast his head down, looking like a kicked puppy.

"Don't speak like that," Zeth said to Leo. "It's not helping with our situation at all."

"Your soft leadership didn't work with this team, Zeth," Yuri said. "It's not doing us anything good. And I think it all boils down to your leadership skills."

"Fine," Zeth sighed. "Let's say that I wasn't such a good leader, but I tried my best to incorporate all your suggestions no matter how ridiculous they seem. I even forgone the center position because Leo wanted it," he retaliated.

Lin Zhi clicked his tongue. "It's still surprising, though. Why would you even pick a ballad song to perform, Zeth?" he asked. "It's not like you're good at singing at all."

June raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Zeth, too, seemed to be taken aback by Lin Zhi's statement. It was a big blow to his ego as the first-ranked trainee.

June sighed, feeling fed up with their constant bickering.

Zeth was about to retaliate when June finally spoke.

"If ya'll don't stop, I'm going to bang your heads together until you all become incapable of thinking."

Ah, shit. He couldn't help himself.

His teammates all looked at him with surprise. June sighed and decided to finish what he started.

"Ya'll are blind and deaf if you think only one person has something to do with the outcome of the interim evaluations," June started.

"This is a collective fault. I have been observing from the very start, and I have a lot to say. First," June said, facing Yuri and Lin Zhi.

"You're focusing too much on your pride. Both of you want to become the main vocalist, so your harmonies sound dissonant. You keep trying to outsing each other, so it doesn't sound pleasant to the ears. Frankly, it sounds like the two of you are always battling against each other. Just because you sing more loudly does not mean you're more skilled," he bluntly said.

"And you three," June turned to Zeth, Leo, and Jisung.

"Splitting the choreography wasn't a good idea. It's like we're dancing to three different songs. It's difficult to transition from one part to another because your styles are too different. It would have been resolved if you had communicated about it."

"Of course, I admit I have some fault in this too," June said. "But I didn't want to add more fuel to the fire. However, we have less than three days until our performance, and there needs to be some changes," he continued. "If you think we're going to win just because of our ranks, then you're absolutely wrong. Our opponents are more desperate than us. And from the interim evaluations, we had the worst performance among all. I thought Hwan's comments would help this team snap out of it, but we're still the same."

The team went quiet as June finished his speech.

'He's so freaking cool,' Jisung thought, looking at June with wide and amazed eyes.

Lin Zhi's thoughts also turned as he looked at June. 'The more I spend time with this guy, the more I see Jun Hao in him.'

June was about to say something more when the door suddenly opened, and mentor Jihyun entered the room.

"Oh," she exclaimed when she felt the tense atmosphere. "Did I interrupt something?"

The team forgone their argument and stood, greeting mentor Jihyun with a bow.

Then, June lined up along with his teammates.

"You didn't receive good comments during your evaluations," she said, taking a seat next to the music player. "I, too, expected something more from you. But don't worry. You still have three days to change your performance."

"That's why I'm here to help you guys," she added, looking straight at June. However, the trainee didn't even bother looking at her.

She awkwardly cleared her throat and straightened her posture. "Alright. Shall we start?"

Jihyun turned on the music, and undoubtedly, the group tried their best to show that they didn't argue just moments ago.

Yuri took a deep breath and began to sing.

"I looked once again up at the blue skies,

A memory, long-lost, held within my eyes."

Then Lin Zhi joined him for the chorus, their harmonies blending in a technically sound performance.

However, Jihyun's expression remained unreadable, occasionally nodding in approval. However, she felt there was an intangible energy missing, a spark that would truly connect the song to the hearts of the listeners.

Moreover, June's words were right. Although their voices were technically harmonizing, the volumes weren't quite right since they wanted to outshine each other.

As the second verse approached, June let out a shallow breath before singing his lines. Come to think of it, this was the very first time June had sung the song without doing anything else. Earlier, during the interim evaluations, he was focused more on his dancing since it was a bit tough.

However, with the still atmosphere, June couldn't help but feel his past emotions.

"Unspoken words, a silent ache,

A love unclaimed, a heart at stake."

His voice was soft, contrasting with how Yuri and Lin Zhi sang their lines. However, despite the soft volume, it had an emotional weight that resonated with every note. As June sang those few lines, the air seemed to change. The room was hushed, and the team members exchanged glances, feeling like they were able to genuinely hear the song for the first time.

Jihyun's eyes fixed on June, then a spark of recognition flickered in her gaze. Out of all the members of 'Team Aces,' June was the only one who had unlocked the song's hidden message. At that point, she realized that it was the emotional core that had been missing from their performance.

When June's voice faded, there was a moment of silence, and Jisung almost forgot his lines.

However, the performance continued...but Jihyun's mind still lingered on June's lines.

It was far too little for someone as talented as him.

As the song finished, Jihyun turned to June and said, "June, could you sing the bridge part just by yourself?"