The trainees burst into applause and laughter as the live-stream mission video ended. The last scene showed June's obviously displeased reaction after receiving his prize—five bottles of bleach.
Jordan chuckled into the microphone before turning serious again.
"That was a fascinating video," he said. "Let's congratulate trainee June once more for winning the live stream mission!"
"Wooh, June!"
"How was the bleach?"
The trainees clapped while teasing June.
Hoon didn't bother clapping for June at all. Instead, he clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes.
What June did wasn't even amazing! They're acting like he saved the world.
How could someone like that rank higher than him?
"Back to business," Jordan said, his voice cutting the fun atmosphere. The room had once again turned into a bundle of nerves as the tension-filled background music played.
"Let's start with the 34th place..."
"Congratulations, trainee Yoonjae! You made it with 657,801 thousand stars! Please come up the stage."
Jordan still took his time announcing the trainees' names, but June was thankful that the pace had somewhat picked up.
"33rd, Kyungho"
[Good day, host! You have a new side quest. The title is Ethereal Glow. Get glowing skin! Good for 3 hours. Ethereal Glow is immediately activated after succeeding in the side quest.]
June's eyes widened in surprise as the side quest popped up.
"32nd, Sunghoon"
'Really, Fu? Right now? I decline the side quest.'
[Action cannot be processed. This is a mandatory side quest.]
'What? We're in the middle of the eliminations. I'll get called anytime soon.'
"31st, Eun"
What's with the sudden side quest?
And why was Jordan Lee speeding up now?
[Host accepts the side quest.]
'I didn't even say anything! What even is Ethereal Glow? Are you going to turn me into Edward Cullen or something?'
[Here is your side quest: Say 'I Love You' to a fellow trainee. Deadline of mission: 10 minutes. Good luck! Failure to fulfill the side quest entails a regression of one skill.]
'What the fuck? Who the hell says 'I love you' in this context?'
June hasn't even said that to a woman before! He shook his head and massaged his wrists.
And he had to accomplish it within 10 minutes? Should he just take the L and move on?
June shook his head. It's damn hard getting all his skills to level up. There was no way he was going to fail this time.
"27th, Zachary"
The trainees exclaimed in shock. Zachary's rank had gone down by eight steps!
June bit his lip. If his predictions are right, he's going to be called next. So, he had to accomplish the side quest as soon as possible.
"Akira," June said, holding onto his wrist.
Akira, who appeared nervous, glanced at June. "What is it, brother? I feel like I'm going to shit my pants."
Come to think of it, Akira's rank was 29th in the first episode. He must be nervous since his name still wasn't called.
June sighed. Here goes nothing.
"I love you," June quickly said.
Akira's eyes widened in shock. "What? You're confessing right now?"
June quickly shook his head. "No, not like that—"
"You're gay?" Akira whispered.
"No, no...Let me explain. You're my frie—"
"25th place—trainee Akira, please come up the stage!" Jordan quickly cut June's statement.
Akira quickly stood up, a huge smile on his face. He went to the stage without letting June finish his statement.
"...friend. You're my friend," June absent-mindedly whispered.
[Congratulations! You succeeded in the mission: Ethereal Glow. You now have glowing skin. Good for 3 hours.]
June wanted to laugh out loud. This was ridiculous! He looked at the skin on his hands and found nothing different.
"Nothing even fucking happened," he whispered.
"Thank you, trainees ranked 25th-29th. Please head to your seats."
June lifted his head and watched as the 25th to 29th seats filled. For some reason, he started getting nervous.
If he wasn't in that rank bracket, then does that mean he ranked higher?
It was definitely much higher than what he had expected.
"Now, we're nearing the top 20s. But first, let's call out the trainees that almost made it to the upper ranks."
"For 24th place...Hoon!"
June raised his eyebrows. This gloomy kid actually got in 24th place? But then again, he also stood out during their Mermaid Melodies performance. Moreover, Azure portrayed him as a hardworking trainee alongside Bin. There were some ambiguous moments, but it wasn't enough to tarnish his reputation.
Hoon proudly stood, his lips quirked into a cocky smile.
He went to the front and said a small speech. His eyes strayed to June, and he couldn't help but rejoice.
In his mind, he had already won. There was no way June's rank was higher than his this time.
"23rd Gyeore"
"22nd Johnny"
June frowned. Alright, he really needed to be called out this time.
"21st Anthony"
Just how much did he rise or fall down in ranks?
Jordan Lee's eyebrows raised in surprise as he gazed at the next name. "And now, let's give it up to the trainee who just made the biggest leap in ranks..."
"Please, please, please...Let this be June," Jia whispered, praying to every god in the universe.
"Trainee June! You have secured the 20th place. Congratulations!"
- OHMYGODOHMYGOD! My dream came fucking true. June, my man!
- 20th? I didn't expect it to be that big of a jump.
Jia screamed as soon as June's name was called. Na-ri, Soo-min, and Wei covered their ears in surprise.
"Shh!" Na-ri said. "We're going to get a noise complaint at this point."
"I don't care!" Jia exclaimed. "This is the happiest I've ever been."
The room erupted into a chorus of cheers and applause, many trainees clearly shocked by June's unexpected climb.
But alongside the applause, there were also envious whispers:
"Seriously? How did June manage to jump that high?"
"Guess some people get all the luck."
"Did he bribe the judges or something?"
June, seemingly unfazed by the attention, stepped forward to the stage. This was definitely higher than he expected.
He took the microphone and cleared his throat.
"Umm, thank you," he said. "Really appreciate it, guys. Thanks for the stars."
With that, he placed the microphone back on the stand.
Jordan and Gun exchanged confused glances.
"Is that all?" Jordan asked.
June nodded, causing Jordan to laugh.
- As expected. June never breaks character!
- That somehow sounded sincere, though.
- What do I do? I keep falling for him more.
- Ungrateful trainee.
"I think you can say a bit more than that," Jordan urged. "You might want to thank other people."
June pursed his lips. "I guess I want to say thank you to Grandma and Minjun, who lives downstairs...Mr. Cheng, who owns a convenience store in the neighborhood...my landlady..."
- Why is he thanking random ass people?
- This might be the funniest acceptance speech in the history of Rising Stars.
Hoon, standing three people away from June, burned holes at the back of June's head.
His thoughts dripped with jealousy. Not only is the faceless trainee's rank higher than his, but he actually made it into the top 20?
What a fucking joke.
Then, he smirked.
There was only one thing he could think of that would instantly trigger June's downfall.
At the end of the day, nobody liked ugly idols.
So, in a deliberate yet accidental manner, Hoon tripped on the 23rd-ranked trainee's foot, lurching his body toward June.
And in lightning speed, Hoon held onto June's mask to seek anchor.
Everything seemed to turn to slow motion as Hoon yanked the bright pink cat mask off June's face.
