?"Look at all these comments. They're very unethical," Bora said, shaking her head as she scrolled through her Navel account.
"Stop reading them," Nari sighed. "It's not good for one's mental health."
"Yeah," Soomin nodded in agreement. "Chaotics and astras are basically on each other's throats because of the shared win. Can't they just be happy that two groups won instead of one?"
"Tell me about it," Wei chimed. "People nowadays really hate sharing. What has our world come to be?"
"Oh, I'm definitely not going to stop reading," Bora chuckled in amusement. "Reading these fan wars is really fun. I haven't had this much fun since the day I fought one of Lin Zhi's fans on Navel during Rising Stars."
Soomin shook her head in amusement. "Ah, right—Lin Zhi. I almost forgot about that guy. How is he doing right now?"
"Well, after it has been leaked that he cheated during the show, he had been pretty inactive," Wei said.
"Thank goodness!" Bora sighed. "He should stay inactive until the rest of his life."
"Bora, that's mean," Wei said. "You don't even know the guy."
"You don't, too," Bora deadpanned. "He cheated on the show. He manipulated his rankings. Who knows what he's capable of? He might even be a murderer or something."
Wei, being a fan of Lin Zhi in the past, clicked her tongue. "Well, Phoenix released a statement that it was one of their staff members who did the ranking manipulation without Lin Zhi's consent. In the end, he was only blamed for getting help from a producer during the production mission."
"That's bullcrap," Bora said. "He's a grown man with grown pubes. Of course, he's aware of such things."
"Again, we don't know that," Wei said. "He also came out with a public apology and has been spotted in temples plenty of times since Rising Stars had ended. It seems like he's repenting for his mistakes sincerely."
Bora narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Wei.
"And why do you know this?" Bora asked.
Wei scratched the back of her head. "Well, I'm still following his hashtag on Navel. I just see his news from time to time."
Bora clicked her tongue and slowly shook her head. "Traitor. You really have the worst taste in men."
Just then, their conversation was interrupted by a loud groan.
They all turned to the source of the noise and saw Jia getting up.
Bora clapped loudly as Jia looked around her surroundings.
"The princess is finally awake!" Bora exclaimed.
Jia frowned when she realized she was already back in her dorm room.
"What happened?" she muttered, holding onto her aching head.
"The live show ended, so we brought you back here. Carrying you was a pain, by the way. Even though you were unconscious, you were so hard to drag away," Bora sighed.
Jia's memories started resurfacing—of EVE's performance, the winner's announcement, and the unfortunate ending.
"Right," Jia sighed. "It's a shame, isn't it?"
"What is?" Bora asked.
"That EVE didn't win. I was so excited for their upcoming variety show," Jia dejectedly said.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that one," Bora smiled. "They're going to film the variety show anyway."
Jia's eyes widened. "Huh? Did Azure announce that they'll be having their own show?"
"No, silly," Bora chuckled. "They won—that's why they claimed the prize of having a variety show."
"What?" Jia asked, still looking a bit dazed.
"Oh, right. You were passed out," Bora muttered.
"Long story short, it ended with a tie, so EVE and CHAOS are going to be filming a variety show both separately and together!" Bora excitedly shared.
Bora definitely shouldn't have said it so fast, though.
Jia's heart wasn't prepared for such announcements.
So, in the end, Jia's eyes rolled to the back of her head once again.
"Not again!" Bora exclaimed.
***
The morning after.
In Azure's recording studio…
"In short, we need that song in two days," Ted concluded, making the members feel even more miserable.
They already felt miserable since they had to wake up at 4 AM and didn't even get to celebrate our win.
"Geez. Not even a congratulations or something?" Akira deadpanned.
"Is this what we get after winning King of Kings? Where's our special treatment?" he exasperatedly asked.
The members nodded in agreement.
Ted sighed before leaning against his chair.
"Be thankful that you even have the opportunity to produce a song," Ted said, thinking about Mari and her beautiful face.
If it weren't for her, Ted would not have let EVE even touch the production process of their songs.
June sighed, raking his hands through his hair.
"Could you move the deadline then?" he compromised. "You have to understand that we just finished another survival show."
Ted sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose.
He was the most appalled by June since he seemed to be the member that Mari liked the most.
"Yes," Ted smirked. "The deadline will be in two days' time. If ever, only if ever, your song gets to be picked as the title track, then we need to hire choreographers, think of a concept video, formulate the album design, and the like."
"So, give us the song in two days. We already gave you an ample amount of time."
June clicked his tongue before bringing out his phone.
"I guess I'll call Mari and ask her for a favor then," he said, subtly making his voice louder so Ted could hear him clearly.
Akira turned to him with wide eyes.
"You have her number?"
June shrugged. "She just gave it to me."
Ted spluttered as he struggled to find the right words to say. He practically had to find her resume and application letter just to get her personal number!
She wasn't comfortable giving it to Ted and only gave him her work number, so he had to do a whole investigation.
Yet now, you're telling him that Mari just gave away her number to June?
"It's probably her work number," he muttered, snatching the phone out of June's hand without his consent.
He read the numbers on the screen, his eye uncontrollably twitching when he realized it was, indeed, her personal number.
How'd he know? He memorized it, of course!
"Can you give that back?" June asked.
"Fine!" Ted exclaimed. "You have three days," he said. "Just—
just don't message Mari anymore."
June smirked. "Got it. Three days."
With that, he stood even without Ted adjourning the meeting.
"Let's go, boys. We have a song to make."
