There was a commotion backstage as the prize was revealed.
"Our own variety show?" Seven asked, his eyes glimmering with hope.
"And it's going to be aired early in the evening?" Tres added. "That's basically free promotion!"
"I don't know if we still have the chance to get such an honor," Rex sighed. "But it would be really nice if we did."
Robby glanced at the screen before turning his attention back to his phone.
In the beginning, he wanted to show off his popularity to the younger groups participating.
However, now, he had finally accepted that he had no chance of winning. In the end, EVE still managed to beat him even though they'd only debuted for about three months.
Meanwhile, June slumped in his seat in disappointment after the revelation of the prize.
Akira slapped his shoulder with wide eyes, making June glare at the older member.
"What?" June asked.
"Why are you sighing in disappointment?" Akira asked.
June shrugged, taking a sip from his water. "I was expecting an overseas trip."
Akira face-palmed before turning back to June. "You're clueless. Our own variety show will be big! Imagine the amount of new fans we'll get."
"I guess," June said, still not getting the appeal of the variety show.
Jia's eyes sparkled as she heard the precious prize. If EVE wins, she'll be seeing them two times more in a month. She couldn't wait for them to win the benefit! She brought out her phone and started pestering her mom to vote for EVE until the voting ended.
- Alright, we're onto a lackluster start.
However, Jia smelled something familiar—like old clothes and dried saliva, making her grimace. She looked around the venue but didn't see anyone familiar. In the end, she brushed it off and focused her gaze on the stage.
The first performer of the night was Robby, and it seemed like he had given up. He performed his latest song the usual way without much innovation. Sure, they weren't given anything for this particular mission. However, his performance was definitely not worthy of a finale.
He lip-synced during the choruses when he didn't even have to dance that hard.
In the end, only his fans (which were only a few) voted for him.
- Alright, we're onto a lackluster start.
- Maybe Robby should focus on his acting career instead of his idol career.
- Yeah, he doesn't seem passionate at all.
- Let's pack it up, Robby!
Fortunately, the second performer of the night was BOYMYSTIC, who livened up the atmosphere as soon as their performance started.
The members of EVE glanced at each other with satisfied looks on their faces. Their predictions had been right for the last two performances. BOYMYSTIC actually stuck to the bubbly yet EDM-inspired genre.
Their experience shone on stage, and even without special effects, they managed to make the audience members jive to the beat of their song. Even the judges gave them quite a lot of compliments. It seemed to be the best performance for BOYMSTIC in the duration of the show.
The next performers, however, undoubtedly overshadowed BOYMYSTIC.
Well, what more did June expect from their rival group OCTA?
They had been improving with every mission, and June could see their determination to win despite the huge gap in the score between their group and CHAOS.
EVE watched their performance silently, taking note of their improvements and arrangement choices. June had already acknowledged his rivalry with Uno. However, the other members, too, couldn't help but feel more fired up after seeing OCTA's performance.
"That was really good," Jisung whispered, staring at the youngest member of OCTA as he appeared on the screen. "Seven stood out in this performance."
"Yeah," Jaeyong nodded in agreement. "And he's only 17, too. What a scary young lad. It makes me think of his potential to improve."
Sehun pursed his lips. "The younger boys are really scary these days," he said, his eyes straying to June.
"I think it's more amazing that we're three for three right now," Zeth pointed out. "How can we guess their concepts so perfectly?"
Ren nodded. "They're even wearing racing outfits like we had predicted."
"Maybe we're psychics or something," Zeth laughed. "Or maybe we have someone who transmigrated among us and knows everything about the future!" he joked, but June froze as soon as he heard the word 'transmigration.'
Well, he got half of it right. June couldn't really see the future, but he indeed transmigrated to Choi Joon-ho's body.
The performances continued, and the stage continued to heat up.
It was almost unbelievable how EVE guessed the concepts of all the performances so far.
MORPH3D performed with their usual rock band sound while SPADES kept their 'chorale' brand.
Now, it was time for CHAOS to take the stage.
As expected, the cheers were on a different scale than those of the rest of the performers. They wore their signature dark outfits, and they strutted to the middle with confident smirks.
When they were deciding the order of performances, half of the members of EVE wanted to have CHAOS perform first. However, June strongly disagreed with the idea.
Having CHAOS perform first would only mean they'd set the expectations for the rest of the performances. The first and last performers always make the most lasting impressions, so June didn't want to give CHAOS that kind of benefit.
Moreover, he didn't want CHAOS to have the most time to garner votes after their performance. If they performed just right before EVE, then maybe, just maybe, EVE would be able to change some of the viewers' perspectives.
"Shh," Akira exclaimed, even though none of the members of EVE were talking.
They all paid attention to the stage, wondering if they had also guessed CHAOS' concept correctly.
June hoped they did.
Only then will their plan become perfect.
As the members of CHAOS took their positions, June held his breath. Their formation was the same as their past performances of the song, so June was quite sure they were going to employ the same dark concept, too.
However, as the lights illuminated the stage, June's breath got caught in the back of his throat.
It wasn't what they expected.
.
