"Therefore, I am not affiliated with the Chois in any way…since my real parents are dead," June concluded, and with that, Cindy finally sighed in relief.
"Was that alright?" June asked.
Cindy silently nodded as she removed the memory card from the camera.
There were some pretty decent clips. It also appeared like June was speaking out of his heart, so the public might believe him once Cindy uses some of her magic with the footage.
June still looked pretty stiff in some moments, but Cindy thinks it's definitely better than nothing. It's not something that blue color-grading and sad piano music can't fix.
"This is alright," Cindy said. "For now, I suggest you lay low before the elimination episode. I'll edit it in a way that will gain the viewers' sympathy. You're alright with that, right?"
If this was June from last week, he would have said no.
However, today's June confidently nodded. "Yes, I'm looking forward to it."
Cindy sighed as she stared at the memory card. Now, she has to face her computer screen to polish the entire episode and edit June's scene.
Cindy faced Jia with a disappointed expression. "I'm sorry, bear. I don't think I can grab dinner with you. I'll have to start editing the episode now before I send it to the broadcasting station."
"It's alright, Mom," Jia said, pushing Cindy out the door. "Just contact me when you're done."
Cindy stopped for a while and looked at Jia with raised eyebrows. "Is it just me, or are you excited to kick me out?"
"It's just you," Jia quickly answered as she closed the door.
Cindy shook her head as she looked at the closed door.
On the other hand, Jia fiddled with her fingers as she looked at June, who was busy reading something on his phone.
Jia peeked over his shoulders and saw that the Navel app was open. She felt sad once more since June must be reading hate comments.
In the meantime, June was looking through the "gang" topic—his guilty pleasure.
He clicked his tongue as he scrolled through the photos. These weren't real gangs! All these posts consist of high schoolers posting on the streets with high MJ shoes and weird hand signs.
And their captions were all—"Gang Gang!"
June shook his head in disappointment. Gangs these days have changed!
Jia mustered up the courage to tap June's shoulder, causing the latter to turn off his phone and look her way.
"Yes?" he asked.
Jia bit her lip as a thousand thoughts raced in her mind.
'Just do it! When will you ever have the opportunity to grab dinner with your favorite trainee?'
With that thought in mind, Jia let out a deep breath and looked June in the eyes.
"Umm, do you want to accompany me to—"
June listened intently to Jia, but that was practically impossible when a pop-up suddenly occluded his view.
[You have a new side quest! Operation Tomb Raider: Locate your Parents.]
[Do you accept or decline this quest?]
"I accept," June uttered, causing Jia's eyes to widen in surprise.
"Really? That's great! I know a place that makes really good Kimchi Jiggae. If you want—"
"Wait, what?" June asked, finally snapping out of his thoughts.
"You'll go and have dinner with me, right?" the girl asked with wide eyes.
June pursed his lips and cursed inside his mind.
"Umm, can I get a rain check?" June asked. "I have something important to do right now."
"Oh," Jia said, not being able to hide her disappointment.
"Sorry," June apologized, but Jia quickly shook her head.
"No, it's alright! You have something more important to do. I'm rooting for you."
"Thanks," June smiled. "I'll see you around, I guess?"
"Yeah," Jia shyly said. "I'll see you around."
With that, June left the room and settled in an area without any people.
"I accept," he repeated.
[Congratulations! You have accepted the side quest: Operation Tomb Raider. Deadline of mission: 72 hours. And since Parents' Day is coming up, Fu is kind enough to not give any repercussions this time!]
June scoffed. "It's been long overdue. What's the mission?"
For a while, Fu didn't respond. And if Fu was a real person, June could practically see him smiling widely before him.
[Did you know? Fu loves the color pink!]
***
Cindy sighed in exhaustion as she finished editing the other trainees' interviews.
It was quite hard to accomplish since all of them had varying reactions. Ren looked numb. Jangmoon was elated yet emotional. Zeth looked more passionate than ever. And Yuri appeared to be very disappointed.
In the end, Cindy had to set different tones for each of the interviews.
She glanced at the clock and saw that it was already 10 in the evening. She decided to take a quick break from editing, brewed herself some tea, and microwaved a glazed donut.
Then, she sat back down on her chair while munching on the donut.
"Let's see the footage we filmed first," she said as she continued snacking.
She opened the very first clips they filmed and shook her head in disapproval.
"This really won't do," she said, her hand hovering above the delete button. Without any hesitation, she deleted the clip from her archive.
Then, she clicked on the last clip they filmed. It was a 40-minute clip that consisted of June answering Cindy's questions. She skimmed through the scenes and tilted her head to the side.
"This will be very hard to edit," she muttered, her mouth filled with the pastry. "But I guess it's better than nothing."
Cindy was about to drag the clip to the editing software when she saw that there was another clip just right before this one.
She frowned and clicked on it without any hesitation. It was a 20-minute clip, and Jia's voice echoed in the room as soon as it was played.
Cindy's frown deepened. "When was this filmed?" she asked, leaning closer to the monitor.
She thought that it was some kind of mistake—maybe Jia accidentally turned on the camera when she wasn't around.
However, as Cindy continued watching the video, her eyes widened with every word that came out from June's lips.
Cindy had stumbled upon gold content.
