41 She Tea

June sighed in frustration as he popped a gummy in his mouth under his mask. He was on his second pack of BenBen gummies. He's been addicted to them since he bought it last week.

However, he didn't even grow an inch! Those little kids said it could make people grow in just a day.

What a scam.

Everything was shitty.

The gummies are shitty (although they taste really good).

Their singing was shitty.

Their dancing was shitty.

The entire performance was shitty!

And Eli's continuous goat-like singing is the shittiest of them all!

And to make things worse, these people don't even want to listen! If June could use violence like he did in the gang, he might be able to get them to follow. But this was an idol survival show, and June was sure he was going to get kicked out if violence of any kind was imposed.

"Will you guys listen for a second?" June asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Yet, his teammates remained stubborn. Hoon and Bin continued to polish the dance routine separately. Minx was busy learning his rap verses. C-Jay and Jangmoon were busy playing around, and Eli was still trying to sing June's part.

"Guys," June said, his voice getting louder this time. "We need to talk about what we could improve in our performance."

"Will you keep quiet?" Hoon snapped. "I'm trying to come up with new choreography here."

June bit his lip in frustration.

He looked at his teammates, and it appeared like they couldn't care less about their performance.

June wanted to rip his hair off but decided to walk out to calm himself down in the meantime. He sat down in the lounge area and leaned against the wall.

[Another side quest is open: The side quest is entitled: Lead the Way! Add aspect LEADERSHIP under the skills status window. Become more empathetic and lead the team to victory! Starting level: C. Do you want to accept the side quest?]

June looked at the new pop-up with wide eyes.

This is exactly what he needed!

Fu isn't as useless as he thought he would be.

'I accept,'

[Very well. Here is your mission: Comfort a person. Practice your leadership skills and comfort someone until they feel better. Deadline for the quest: 3 hours. Failure to fulfill the side quest leads to a regression of skill. Good luck!]

'Three hours?'

Before June could even think of where he would find a person to comfort, he suddenly heard a sniff coming from behind the wall. He frowned and peered over the source of the noise.

He saw Akira sitting on one of the seats, appearing to be down.

June smirked. It seemed like he didn't need to search far and wide after all.

June walked cautiously to RAVEN's Japanese member, sitting down next to him silently.

Akira lifted his head, unshed tears in his eyes. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Are ya alright?" June asked, scratching the back of his head.

Now that he thinks about it, he's not very good at comforting other people after all.

The only person he had comforted in his life was his sister—and that's when her favorite groups were disbanding, which included RAVEN.

"What do you think?" Akira asked. "Our team is a mess."

"Tell me about it," June sighed, leaning against the chair.

Akira glared at him. "What do you know?" he asked. "You're not even taking this competition seriously with your bright-ass mask and nonchalant personality. However, it's different for me. This is my last chance to debut."

"Do all RAVEN members think like that?" June asked. "Why do you all assume that I'm not taking this seriously?"

Akira looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Look at your cat mask! Who the hell wears that for a competition?"

"I have my reasons," June explained. "And I have my reasons for joining the competition, too."

Mei Ling.

"The two of us may have different reasons as to why we want to stay here, and I'm sure it's difficult to take part in an idol survival show when you've already tasted what it's like to become an idol once. You must have gone through a lot to achieve your dreams, but it feels like you're going back to square one," June said, his mind lingering on thoughts about his sister.

"You did so much to protect the things you love, but it just seemed futile in the end—all the hard work, sacrifices, and kiss-assing you've done are all lost. But there's nothing we could do but face whatever's handed to us. Because in this way, we're protecting what we love, too. In your case—it's your dreams."

And in June's case, it's his sister.

Akira looked at him with an unreadable expression.

June cleared his throat and looked away. He hadn't spoken such a long statement since forever, so he felt awkward.

Akira felt like June was a completely different person right then and there. He had spoken to Jaeyong about June, and Jaeyong always told him that he's a typical guy who only wants to become an idol for shits and giggles.

But listening to him now, it seemed like June's actually a decent guy.

"I'm sorry," Akira muttered. "I'm just frustrated, I guess," he honestly said.

"Jaeyong and Evan are on the same team, but I'm stuck in a team that's bound to lose," he continued.

*In Japanese* "They're a bunch of idiots," Akira said in his mother tongue.

June chuckled. "They are," he responded in Japanese too.

Akira looked at him with wide eyes. "You know how to speak Japanese?"

June shrugged. He was well-versed in the language since he made a lot of negotiations with Japanese gangs, too. He's definitely not as good as Akira, though.

"You could say that," June said, still speaking in the foreign language.

"Oh my goodness! I've been looking for someone to speak my language with. So, are you of Japanese descent?"

"No," June shook his head. "Just happened to learn it."

"That's so cool," Akira said with bright eyes, visibly looking better.

[Congratulations, host! You have completed a side quest. You now have the aspect LEADERSHIP on your status window. Current grade: C]

June smiled under his mask.

"Let's go back to the practice room. I think it's time I knock some sense into their brains."

Akira nodded and also stood up. "I'll help you, my friend."

The two of them walked back to the training room, but June paused when he realized that Akira could help him with something else too.

"Hey," June said, holding onto his arm.

"Yes, brother?"

"Do you mind giving me your signature?"

[Mission Completed: Get a signature from a famous person/celebrity. Please pick an aspect to improve.]

'Dance.'

[Dance + 1. Current grade: C-]