"Oui, oui! Perfection!" Kumo exclaimed, kissing his fingers.
June was jolted awake by the hairdresser's loud voice. "It's over?" he asked, yawning.
June honestly didn't know what happened. He remembered sitting down, getting his hair washed and dried, and then after that, everything just became a blur.
"Oui!" Kumo said. "I made it fast for you, customer. I noticed your face and was motivated by your handsome looks! Are you, perhaps, that trainee from Rising Stars?"
"Uh, yeah," June said, still a little bit out of it. "How much was it? 75 dollars, right?"
He stood from the chair and offered Kumo the money.
"Why are you in such a rush?" he asked. "You still haven't seen the final result!"
"Right," June said, scratching the back of his neck. "I'll be satisfied as long as you follow the photo inspiration I showed you."
Kumo merely smiled, which should have been a warning sign to June already.
Kumo went to the mirror and quickly removed the black sheet covering it. June waited in anticipation. He had never dyed his hair before, and thankfully, he slept through most of the process so he didn't feel his scalp burn like what others had testified online.
"Heed my masterpiece!" Kumo exclaimed.
June nonchalantly looked at the mirror, fully expecting a head of brown and muted pink.
However, his eyes widened in surprise when he caught a glimpse of his hair.
"What do you think? It's perfect, right?" Kumo proudly said. "I'll give you a discount since I really like how it came out. How about 50 dollars, huh?"
50 dollars?
This guy should be paying June at this point.
Because his hair wasn't muted at all.
It was bright fucking pink. Like cotton candy.
[Yay! This is the pink I was looking for. You have completed your side quest: Dye your hair pink. Now, you can raid your parents' tombs!]
***
In the households that had 'Rising Stars' playing on their television, there were two emotions that stood out: shame and sympathy.
Jia sniffed as the scene transitioned to June bowing on stage. It continued on with the sad music still playing in the background, and as he fixed his gaze to the front, the people who once threw hate on him began to cry.
- Umm…
- I feel…ashamed?
- Fuck, I'm crying. What the hell are these emotions?
- Is it too late now to say sorry?
- My mom's crying. My sister's crying. I can't deny it. I'm crying, too.
- Nobody told me that this show was a tearjerker.
Undoubtedly, the people who cried the most were encased in the small apartment complex.
Jangmoon practically wailed as he looked at June's bowing figure. C-Jay, too, held Jangmoon for support, crying just as loud as he was.
Jisung, on the other hand, looked up at the ceiling to hold his tears. Akira cried silently by his side while Jaeyong sobbed like a little baby. Minjun clicked his tongue as he observed the five grown guys.
"Grow up," Minjun said, although deep inside, he wanted to cry too.
June has been through a lot, yet they were so insensitive about the situation.
"I want to see June right now," C-Jay sniffed. "I can't believe I doubted him for a second."
"Let's not doubt him anymore, hmm?" Jangmoon said. "Now that I think about it, everything he said turned out to be true."
Akira smiled in shame. "It was. I don't even think I can be called his friend now."
"Me too," Jaeyong muttered.
"You weren't friends to begin with," C-Jay said whilst crying, causing Jaeyong to sulk like a little kid in the corner of the couch.
Grandma sighed and shook her head as she listened in on their conversation. She grabbed a box of tissues from the drawers and gave them to the young men.
"June is a good person," Grandma said. "It may not seem like it because he doesn't have a bright personality, but he's very understanding and forgiving. He cares a lot about his friends. He cares about Minjun and I…and he's one of the kindest boys I've ever met."
"I'm sure he'd warm up to you if you apologize sincerely," she said. "But let me warn you…If you hurt my little Junie once more, I'll have my old friends go in front of your houses to play Mahjong all night. I assure you…your neighborhood wouldn't be able to sleep for a whole week."
The five looked at the old woman with wide, horror-filled eyes.
"You got that?" Grandma threatened.
They quickly nodded, evading their eyes away from her.
Then, they focused their attention back on the screen. Right now, June's bow had just finished, and the background music had gradually faded.
He turned around, every step he took to his seat still sounding sad.
- I'm so sorry for not believing in you, June! I'll gift you 1,000 stars in return.
- I might actually continue watching this show and root for this guy. He seems like a very genuine guy.
- Welp. I came here to shit on the guy, but now I've become a fan.
- Let's make him trend, guys! #JuneOurRisingStar
- #JuneOurRisingStar
- It hasn't even been proven yet. We're just believing these guys' words?
- SHUT UP! The kid is mourning. I can't believe people are still questioning his sincerity.
- Holy shit. Look at Choi Pablo's page. It seems like this guy's telling the truth!
"What's that?" Jia asked as the comment section began speeding up once more. Na-ri went near the TV to get a better view.
"Choi Pablo? They're telling us to check Choi Pablo's Navel page," she said.
Jia wasted no time in opening her Navel account to go to Pablo's page. It was a very popular page, with over 700k followers. Then, she refreshed the page to see his latest post.
Her friends hovered above her to look at the post. They let a collective gasp when they saw June's face plastered on his wall.
For a second, they became distracted as they observed the photo.
"So…handsome," Jia said in a daze.
Soo-min chuckled. "Guys, snap out of it and read the post."
"Right," Jia said, snapping out of her daze. "Let me read it out loud."
