Chapter 417 Small Change
"Baek, as the original singer of the song, do you have anything to say to CHAOS?" Haemin asked. The crowd cheered as the famous, seasoned idol took the mic. "Well, first of all, I want to congratulate you for an amazing performance," Baek started off. The members of CHAOS turned to each other with satisfied expressions. "You really embodied the colossus that our song was pertaining to," Baek continued. 'However,' June thought. "However," Baek said, causing the fans in the audience to mutter in surprise. "Wait," Akira said, sitting on the edge of his seat. "Baek has something negative to say about their performance? I thought it was perfect." "And he's saying this about CHAOS? He's truly brave," Eric nodded. Y clicked his tongue. "Senior Baek is undoubtedly on the same level of fame as CHAOS. He's also the original artist of the song, so he has every right to comment on their performance. Besides, I also felt like something was missing in their performance."
June nodded. It seemed like Y also caught on to what was happening. "I would have liked to see something different from you, guys," Baek said, causing CHAOS' faces to fall. "It's not that I want a complete remodeling of the song. However, in a competition where you're performing your senior artists' music, it would be nice for it to feel like a revamp rather than a mere cover. In that sense, your performance wouldn't be compared as drastically to ours." Haruki, always calm and composed, nodded in understanding. "Thank you for your wise words, senior," he humbly said. "Nonetheless, you guys did a very good job." With that, CHAOS left the stage with bittersweet feelings. While waiting for their next performance, June took a picture of his hair and uploaded it on his Navel account. He was bombarded with notifications as soon as he posted it. However, he ignored them to focus on the next stages. BOYMYSTIC and Robby now took the stage, and it seemed like they still haven't shaken off the tension between them. This resulted in quite a bit of a disappointing performance—especially since the song they chose needed to be performed with genuine joy. OCTA and MORPH3D, however, performed 'You're Mine' by FINITE pretty well. They put their own innocent twist to it since they were all young with minimal experience in love. In the end, it turned out pretty cute yet enchanting. However, despite CHAOS receiving some criticism from Baek, it seemed like they were still the front-runners of the mission. June was determined to change that, though. When OCTA and MORPH3D were receiving their comments, June's team made their way out of the holding room, silently giving each other supportive looks. Meanwhile, the audience was already in a frenzy. "What the heck? They really put SPADES and EVE together?"
"Where have you been? They already uploaded the teasers!" "I don't want EVE performing with those dinosaur-age idols." "SPADES deserves better teammates." "SPADES is doing charity work once again." "I bet EVE disrespected SPADES during their practice." "That's already certain. It's all over the previews that SBC had put out." Jia frowned as she heard the conversations around her. She had also seen all of the teaser videos, and it really did seem like putting EVE and SPADES together was a recipe for a disaster. "It's going to be tough for them," Wei said. Bora nodded in agreement. "Will they be able to perform as a team?" Speculations went around the room, with most people doubting the outcome of the last team's performance. The other participants, now done with their performance, also watched the screen intently, wondering what kind of stage the two would put out. Even during the song and team selection, they appeared to have a strained relationship. Robby smirked as he leaned against his seat. He knew their performance wasn't the best, but he was confident that SPADES and EVE would also fuck up their performance with their lack of unity. Finally, OCTA and MORPH3D left the stage, passing by EVE and SPADES with respectful nods. Uno raised his eyebrows in surprise when he saw June. Seven, too, stopped as he came face to face with the idol he respected. "Wait—" Seven exclaimed. "Let's do this," June said, ignoring their stares. "The last performance of the night has finally come!" Haemin exclaimed, taking center stage. "I'm sure most of you didn't expect this combination, but I'm also sure that most of you are excited about their performance," he continued. "Coming from different generations, let us all welcome—EVE and SPADES." The crowd burst into cheers, surprisingly louder than they had anticipated. It seemed like fans of EVE and SPADES made their cheers a competition, determined to scream the loudest between the two fandoms. It benefitted EVE and SPADES pretty well, and their morale was quickly boosted as they heard their fans' voices. June ran his hands through his hair as the members started entering the stage. He clicked his tongue when some hair strands fell out. His scalp had been feeling sore since the morning, and he wondered why idols deliberately do these to themselves.
The screams became louder as June entered, being the last one in the line. However, their screams quickly turned to gasps when the camera focused on him, placing him on the big screen. Jay smirked and confidently crossed his arms in front of his chest as squeals were heard even in the holding room. Robby was captivated for a second when June was shown on the screen. However, he quickly frowned when Jordan chuckled. "He suits it really well," he said. "What do you mean?" Nico scoffed. "I looked better when I had that hair color." The members of EVE and SPADES looked at June, amused, as his cheeks reddened from embarrassment. He even turned around to look at himself on the LED screen, subtly shaking his head for the camera to stop focusing on him. Meanwhile, Jia's eyes widened, and her mouth instantly watered. "Calm down. Calm down," Bora said, already expecting the worst from her friend. Jia turned to her, still with wide eyes. "Calm down? How can I calm down when he's blonde?"
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel