"Time is up! The representative for Casper's team, please come up to the stage," Minho said.
"Wooh, go, June!" Jangmoon cheered. The others talked among themselves as they watched June walk to the front.
"Woah, he's actually going to pick their genre first? He's always been unfortunate when choosing songs," Steel said.
"Yeah," a trainee chuckled. "It seems like everything he performed was out of his will. But now, he gets to choose first."
"I feel pretty proud of the guy," Bin said. "He'll finally get to perform a song and genre he actually likes."
Lin Zhi held back a scoff as he looked at June's figure.
Their team should have won the prizes and the privilege. He had underestimated June and his skills while they were playing a while ago. He seemed to have a lean body, but how did he move with such speed and precision during the games?
'Whatever,' Lin Zhi thought.
Just as long as he doesn't take Moombahton or Trap K-Pop, then Lin Zhi could forgive him. His pride still hadn't accepted the fact that June had now surpassed him in ranks, so he wanted to outperform June in this mission.
June stood at the center of all the choices, glancing at each signage. He walked over each signage, the others holding their breaths, silently hoping that June wouldn't seize their preferred genre.
"I think he's gonna go for Trap K-Pop. A lot of the teams here would love to take that genre."
"Any genre is fine with me as long as it isn't Bubblegum Pop."
"It sucks for Jisung's team. They might actually get stuck with Bubblegum Pop."
June only pretended to think, but in reality, he already had a genre in mind.
Without any hesitation, he walked to the fifth option.
"Wait…is he really going to take that?"
"What the hell? Does he want to fail or something?"
Minho and Bone looked at each other, surprised that June unexpectedly took the least wanted genre among the choices.
His teammates, too, watched June with wide eyes as he took the sign that had 'Bubblegum Pop' written on it.
They seemed to be regretting it now.
***
The five men sat in the practice room in a circle. They all stared at the pink signage in the middle. The words 'BUBBLEGUM POP' written in capital letters and a bold font greeted them, and dread seemed to fill their hearts.
June sighed and clapped, making his teammates snap out of their dazes.
"Bubblegum Pop? We're going to make a cute pop song?" Daeho asked, looking like he had lost it.
Jangmoon chuckled absent-mindedly. "I like watching girl groups do aegyo, but are you saying I'll be the one to do it now?"
Ren kept silent, his lips pursed out of disbelief.
"You guys said I can have the privilege to choose our genre," June deadpanned.
"Yes," Daeho said. "But we didn't expect you to pick something like this. I mean, look at us!" he exclaimed, gesturing to the four tall trainees.
June looked at them one by one and was suddenly struck with reality.
Jangmoon with his 'rugged' looks.
Daeho with his 'serious' face.
Casper with an 'actor' face and an athletic build.
And Ren with a more 'elegant' look.
Right, there was one thing June didn't consider—their aesthetics. However, he was determined to make this stage work, so he crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"What do you mean?" June asked, taking a deep breath before saying his next words. "Y—you guys are c—cu…cut…c—cu."
June tried to sound confident in calling his teammates cute, but in the end, he couldn't do it.
"See!" Jangmoon exclaimed. "You can't even say it. We're not bubblegum material. Honestly, we're tough like beef jerky," he said.
"Hey," Casper and Daeho said in unison, a bit offended by what Jangmoon had said.
Jangmoon sighed. "I'm just telling the truth. It'd be hard for us to look cute when we look like…this," he gestured to his face.
"Hey, bro, leave me out of it," Daeho said. "I may not be cute, but my face is still pretty good."
"Oh, whatever," Jangmoon chimed. "You know what I mean."
June sighed. "Well, there's nothing we can do. We can't just trade our genre with another team."
"Do you want me to ask C-Jay?" Jangmoon asked.
June clicked his tongue and shook his head. "I need you guys to listen to me for a second. This concept—I believe that this is something we can pull off. Besides, don't you guys recognize a pattern in all the missions?" he asked.
"Pattern?" Daeho asked.
"There's usually an outlier in all of the songs—a 'controversial' song if we can call it that," June started explaining. "For example, the girl group songs during the first mission, the sole ballad on the second mission, and the only sexy song among the choices in the third mission. There's a pattern. There's always a song that's bound to stand out."
His teammates listened intently.
"Moombahton, Trap, Grunge, Electro-Techo—these genres are under a gray area. Of course, they're still different genres, but if not executed well, it can sound just like the other genres. It's monotone. And with rookies like us, it's easy to combine elements that will make our song generic."
"Bubblegum Pop is the only genre that has a distinct sound," June continued. "So, I chose this one to make our team stand out."
His teammates were stunned to silence after June finished explaining. Now that they have thought about it, June seemed to be right.
And that was also the reason why all of June's performances had been iconic—because it was the most different.
Jangmoon scratched the back of his neck. "Well, I'm down for the challenge. I just don't know where to start."
"What are we worried about?" June asked.
"We have the trainee who has the best song-production skills on our team," he said, glancing at Ren, who was busy drawing circles on the floor.
His other teammates also looked at Ren, causing the trainee to look up.
"Wait, me?" Ren asked with raised eyebrows.
