As the two individuals walked down the hallway, the people around couldn't help but catch a glance. Within a few seconds, they became a spectacle, almost like zoo animals caught in the wild.
June felt embarrassed as people started whispering among themselves, even laughing as they passed by.
"A tong and a thong? They might just be geniuses, I fear."
"If they wanted to capture the audience's attention right away, they made the right choice."
"I bet this challenger is a comedian. Who else would have thought of such a costume?"
"Agreed! Do you know any comedian singers?"
June sighed as the theories of him being a comedian started circulating. No one even thought of him being an idol!
June finally arrived backstage and waited for Kim San, the host, to call the challengers for the first performance.
Currently, he was all alone, sitting backstage. His opponent was nowhere in sight, and he still had no idea whether they were a man or a woman.
There was a large screen before him where the panel and the stage were currently being shown.
His eyebrows raised in surprise when he saw many familiar faces among the judges.
Mimi from GIRLS' EVOLUTION was the most notable one. There was another actress that he couldn't name, some other rookie groups that he promoted with, and some veteran singers that fell off but were still relevant in the industry.
All in all, June already dreaded revealing himself to the panel of judges. He just wished that his opponent would have an equally ridiculous, if not more ridiculous, costume than him, so he wouldn't be too made fun of.
Just then, his opponent finally arrived, and it seemed like June's wishes were all futile.
Standing about the same height as him, the man appeared more dazzling than the sun itself.
He merely glanced at June, even scoffing, before sitting far away from him.
June was taken aback by his behavior. However, he still couldn't believe the fact that his opponent was dressed in pearls, the little white beads looking real, while he had a tong on his head!
"Must be nice," he bitterly muttered.
"What's with the costume?" his opponent suddenly asked, his voice unrecognizable.
There was one thing June noticed, though—whoever this person was, he was sure that he'd be pretty young. It was almost as if he had only hit puberty.
June nodded to himself.
'He must be a new idol,' he inferred.
"Hey, I'm talking to you," the boy said, causing June to snap out of his thoughts.
If he was a new idol, then why was he speaking so disrespectfully? June shook his head and faced the pearly boy. However, he didn't say anything and merely read his body language.
As expected, this boy must be young—he lacked manners and appeared to think he was the best in the room.
The boy scoffed as June continued staring at him.
"Are you trying to capture the audience's attention with your costume right off the bat?" he asked.
"That's not cool at all," he muttered.
"However, it doesn't matter!" he exclaimed, standing from his seat and pointing at June.
"I'm going to show everyone that I, a member of MATCHSTIX, can eradicate anyone who comes my way!"
June chuckled in amusement after the boy had just revealed his identity. This kid must be here to promote their debut album, too. It was impressive how he got such an opportunity before he even debuted.
The boy, however, seemed unfazed, merely waiting for Kim San to call them to the stage.
June, too, couldn't wait.
He didn't respond to the pearly boy because he thought he wasn't worth it. It seemed like he was just a kid who had a weird superiority complex.
However, that doesn't mean that June wasn't annoyed at him.
In fact, June was annoyed as hell.
However, he didn't want to retaliate against the young man in case he looked immature. Instead, he'll just retaliate on stage
—where he least expected it.
"Let us now welcome our first two challengers!"
"They will be singing 'Life of the Party' by the popular band THORNS! Please give them a round of applause."
Kim San's voice rang backstage, followed by the sound of loud applause.
Pearl boy shook his hands and stood straight before heading to the stage, not even looking back.
The crowd gasped in amazement when they saw his costume, pleasantly surprised by its quality. Under the stage lights, the white pearls glistened even more, and although his face couldn't be seen, they already inferred that the person behind the costume was a dazzling, promising artist.
However, the crowd's attention was quickly taken away when June entered in a half-pastel yellow and a half-pastel pink jumpsuit. He took extra precautions to not let his bulge shine through! However, the people continued gazing at him, dumbfounded by the tong on his head and the kitten on his shoulder.
"What's he supposed to be?"
"A tong? That's such a random item!"
"Oh, he's definitely a comedian."
"Tongman? That's freaking genius. I'm rooting for him now!!"
"With a costume like that, I'm afraid he might not be so talented."
Jia covered her mouth as she uncontrollably chuckled. The man before her had a lean but muscular body. However, she couldn't focus on that because his costume was just plain ridiculous!
"He must be your age," Jia whispered to her mom.
Cindy shook her head.
"Come on. Not even people my age would wear that kind of thing," she retorted.
"We have our first two challengers—Pearl Boy and Tongman!" Kim San exclaimed, earning a round of laughter from the audience.
Pearl boy clenched one of his fists from behind his back when he saw that most of the people were looking towards Tongman's way. On the contrary, June wanted the audience to divert their gazes away from him and his costume!
After a few seconds, the LED screen behind them became dark, setting the mood for the rock song they were about to sing.
Then, the spotlights shone on the two of them, only emphasizing the differences in their costume.
The audience continued to laugh at Tongman as he nodded to the beat.
However, at that moment, June already tuned them all out.
His mind was focused solely on performing.
June felt like he was back in the past, where he was being judged just because of his ridiculous cat costume.
He proved the audience wrong back then, and he certainly wanted to prove the audience wrong after this performance.
