From Thug to Idol: Transmigrating to a Survival Show

Attractive K-pop idols gathered, all with wide smiles on their faces. Surrounding them were cameras filming every angle and lights that were almost blinding.

The hosts, Lee Taemin and Ong Manchae, two promising young artists who were quickly rising to fame in their respective fields, waited for the director's cue.

They had cue cards in one of their hands and a sparkly mic in the other.

BOYMYSTIC and LUNIX, the nominated first placers for today's music show, stood at the very front. Meanwhile, OCTA and EVE were behind them, also anticipating the winner's announcement.

Varying lightsticks from different fandoms were seen in the crowd. Best believe that Jia and her friends were there since they couldn't miss EVE's first official music show stage. However, since they were a relatively new group, EVE still didn't have a lightstick.

As a result, Jia brought a pink kitty lightstick from the dollar store and used it to cheer for them instead.

Finally, the director gave Manchae and Taemin the cue, and they quickly wore bright smiles on their faces.

"Sharing music all over the world—the pride of K-pop," Taemin started off.

"This is…"

"Music Apex!" the two of them simultaneously said.

"Tonight, we have our two lovely nominees—LUNIX's Fairy Lights and BOYMYSTIC's One Stop Shop. Who is going to reign on top? Let's see their scoreboard," Manchae said.

Their stats with moving numbers were shown on screen, the two nominated artists watching in anticipation.

"Music Streams…"

LUNIX took the cake.

"Album Sales…"

BOYMYSTIC won this aspect by a landslide.

"Broadcast Score…"

"Viewer's Choice…"

"And the winner for this week is…," Manchae said, waiting for their score to be totaled on the screen.

"BOYMYSTIC!" she exclaimed. "Congratulations, you have won this week's Music Apex. Here's your trophy."

Akira, who was entrusted to give the team their flowers and trophy, happily handed them to Jordan.

Confetti flew everywhere, scaring most of the artists. Some of them faked their reactions just so they could make it into those 'Cute Idol Shocked Moments' posted on different video platforms.

"Uh, thank you so much for giving us our second win for this song," Jordan started off. "We're so happy that you've been with us since the very beginning."

Just then, he started tearing up, causing the other artists to turn toward their way.

His teammates, too, were shocked by the sudden waterworks.

"Umm, I don't know if this is going to be our last comeback," Jordan said amidst his tears, "but all I know is that all of you made it memorable."

"For our bombastics, thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to make you happy for more than two years."

Fans in the audience started crying, and the other members tried their hardest not to cry.

Nico, however, was fully sobbing after the speech of their center and leader.

June looked at their team, all comforting each other with wide smiles on their faces. Then, he looked at the trophy in Jordan's hands, the shiny fake gold glistening under the stage lights.

June felt something tug at his heart as he watched their reactions to their shared victory.

He smiled and shook his head.

Somehow, he really wanted that too.

***

The boys were waiting for Chul to come to pick them up when Akira called Jisung to watch some videos on LikLok.

Akira laughed as he scrolled through the videos, causing Jisung to frown.

"Why are you laughing, bro? If I were placed in one of these compilations, I would be very sad," he dejectedly said.

Akira laughed even louder as he ruffled Jisung's hair. "Oh gosh. You really are our youngest. Loosen up. His contents' just for fun."

"No, it's not!" Jisung exclaimed. "This Idol Sniper guy is literally taking out idols one by one."

"But it's not for serious scandals," Akira countered.

"Idol Sniper?" Zeth asked. "Is that the guy who exposes idols for the stupidest things?"

"Yeah," Akira said. "I've been laughing my ass off since morning because of his videos."

"I hate that guy," Zeth sulked. "He placed me in one of his compilations."

"Well, was it a good one?" Casper asked. "I was in the 'Hunky Daddy Idols' compilation."

"No," Zeth deadpanned. "I was in the 'Idols Who Seem Like Narcissists' one."

"He isn't wrong, though," Ren said, causing Zeth to glare at him.

"At least you weren't in those insecurity compilations," Sehun said. "I was in the 'Kpop Idols Who Have Your Insecurities: Flat Nose' one."

"Oof," Jaeyong said. "I saw one of mine, too."

"What is it?" Akira asked.

"Idols who look smart," Jaeyong responded.

Akira pursed his lips. "Well, he's not ALWAYS accurate, I give him that. It's a good thing I haven't been placed in one of his compilations."

"What do you mean?" Ren asked. "You were. I saw something two days ago, I think?"

Akira's eyes widened in surprise. "What? And you didn't bother to tell me?"

Ren shrugged, looking for the video on 'Idol Sniper's' profile so he could show it to Akira. "I didn't want you to make such a big fuss about it."

Akira smirked as he took Ren's phone. "I'm assuming it's a good one—"

However, his smile quickly dropped when he saw the title. It was under the same series as Sehun. However, instead of 'flat nose,' it was changed to 'big mouth.'

Akira tossed Ren's phone to the table and pouted. "I don't have a big mouth, do I?"

His teammates didn't respond.

"Ah, whatever!" Akira exclaimed. "At least I'm not in his Friday specials. I don't know where this Idol Sniper guy gets his information, but it's insane how much he has found out."

"Yeah," Jisung said. "I saw last week's special. Was it about that guy in DEN? They debuted not long ago, but he was already exposed for having stinky feet."

"Yikes," Ren said. "I wouldn't be able to show my face to the public afterward."

"It came with screenshots from his college friends and a pair of his socks, too," Casper said.

"Geez," Akira said. "My big mouth doesn't seem too bad now. But, speaking of his Friday specials, isn't it about time that he posted something...right about now?"

Just then, a notification popped up on Akira's feed, causing Jisung to glare at him.

"You have your notifications turned on for this dude?"

Akira scratched the back of his neck. "He's funny."

Jaeyong scoffed. "You just want to see if you made it into one of his good compilations."

"Shut up," Akira said. "I'm going to see who his victim is this time."

Akira was about to click on the video when he saw who was in the thumbnail.

"What?" Jaeyong asked. "I'm curious now. Who is it?"

Akira's eyes searched the room before they landed on pink hair.

"It's June."