From Thug to Idol: Transmigrating to a Survival Show

- The most unexpected twist of the night is Mei being in tenth place.

- I don't know, man. I think she deserves to be in the tenth place. It's where she belongs.

- I think this might be better. Skillwise, she shouldn't even be in the top ten.

- I just know that she's very sad. It looks like she's numb. She didn't even have any reaction when her name was called.

June couldn't take his eyes away from Mei even after the cameras stopped rolling.

As expected, Jeemin had retained her number one spot, and Mina managed to get into the top five.

Meanwhile, Ara took Mei's previous spot, while Mei had gone down by five ranks.

It was a shocking fact since most of them had already instilled in their minds that Mei was going to be in the top five.

However, Mei appeared like she didn't care about her rank at all.

Instead, she felt completely lost because her teammates were now gone, and she was all alone in her team.

To add fuel to the fire, Yena went up the stage for a new, cruel announcement.

"Tomorrow morning, please get up at 5AM and go to your respective practice rooms. You shall now group up for your final teams for the next mission."

"Teams who have extra teammates, please choose who shall leave. Then, those kicked out shall pick a team they want to join. The faster you are kicked out, the faster you can pick a new team."

With that, she went down the stage, making Mimi shake her head in disbelief.

"They're still cruel, huh?" she asked. "But they do know how to make a good show—I'll give them that."

June also shook his head. "They're not letting the girls grieve."

Mimi clicked her tongue. "But then, I guess, this seems much kinder compared to the reality of becoming an idol. I'm sure you feel it too, hmm?"

June pursed his lips and nodded.

Mimi sighed before continuing her rant.

"People think that being an idol just involves singing, dancing, and acting pretty...However, it's much more complex than that."

"We have to be literally perfect," she chuckled.

"We can't make the same mistakes that all people do just because we're idols. We can't have a single pimple or body hair, but those who criticize us can."

"It's ironic, isn't it?" she said in a bitter tone.

"A part of me is thankful that GIRLS' EVOLUTION didn't grow as big as the other K-Pop groups in our generation. The bigger you are, the bigger the burden. I've seen plenty of big stars lose themselves in the industry, and I don't want that to happen to me."

Then, Mimi glanced at June, who seemed to be deep in thought.

"I don't want you to lose yourself, too."

June turned to Mimi and tilted his head to the side.

"What do you mean by that?" June asked.

Mimi shrugged. "I don't know. Just—don't lose yourself. It's an easy advice, but I bet it'd be hard to do."

"Don't forget how you started—your origin."

June sighed, already sick of hearing that particular word.

What was the use of the word when he didn't even know the real meaning of it?

"Are you Fu?" June bluntly asked, causing Mimi to raise her eyebrows in surprise.

"Fu?" she asked, sounding confused. "Who's that? A cartoon character or something?"

June smirked in amusement before shaking his head.

"Never mind," June said.

"You should head home," he continued, changing the topic.

"I bet Nico is waiting for you already."

***

June was on his way to the parking lot when he received another call from Dr. Oh.

He sighed and answered it.

Dr. Oh didn't even greet him when he answered the phone.

"Please, please, please, just come to where I am," Dr. Oh said.

June sighed in frustration. "What now? I just visited the hospital recently."

"I know," Dr. Oh said. "But you have to hear this."

"Just tell me over the phone," June insisted.

"I can't!" Dr. Oh exclaimed.

June shook his head. "Well, did you at least do the favor I asked you to?"

"Yes," Dr. Oh exclaimed. "He tried to come here earlier, but those guards you hired stopped him. The nurses also know not to let him in now."

June nodded in acknowledgment. "Good. You did a good job."

"Just please, come here to the restaurant where my wife and I are having dinner. I'll send you the address, then we can talk. I promise—"

June ended the call before Dr. Oh could finish his statement.

There was no way he was going to interrupt Dr. Oh's date with his wife!

It seemed like the woman wasn't too fond of him already because Dr. Oh always came running to his aid.

However, Dr. Oh was stubborn, so he called June once again.

"June, come on. My wife said it's okay—"

"Have fun with your wife. Plan for another child or something," June quickly said before ending the call once more.

He shook his head and continued his way to the parking lot.

However, his phone rang once more, making him sigh in frustration.

"Make your wife happy!" June exclaimed, ready to turn off the call once again.

However, another voice spoke, causing June's eyebrows to furrow.

"Finally."

June let out a small sigh.

"Laohu," June said, out of instinct, causing Laohu to stay silent for a couple of seconds.

June's eyebrows raised in panic since he realized that he shouldn't have known his name...

...not in this life.

"How do you know my name?" he asked, sounding suspicious.

June pursed his lips and quickly came up with an excuse.

"You should really teach Lin Zhi how to keep his mouth shut," June said. "He's not a good lackey."

Laohu chuckled in amusement.

"I see," he said. "Well, he's always been a little bit incompetent. I can't get rid of him, though."

June frowned. Even back then, Lin Zhi had been mediocre in his tasks. He had quite a lot of charisma, but he definitely wasn't as efficient as Jun Hao. However, he was highly praised within their gang. He was also promoted quickly by Laohu.

Meanwhile, Jun Hao was the most hardworking and undoubtedly had the most success in his missions. However, he was given the bare minimum for a considerable amount of years!

"What do you want?" June asked, going back to business.

"I know that Lin Zhi's threats hadn't worked on you," he said. "He was upset once again this morning for a reason I don't know."

June smirked. It must be because he wasn't allowed to go inside Grandma's room.

"Moreover, those guards you hired for that little kid are quite efficient. It's disappointing that we weren't even able to leave a traumatic mark," he continued.

"Get straight to the fucking point," June snapped.

"Oh," Laohu said, chuckling. "Such dirty words coming from a pretty idol."

"Well, I also don't have much time, so I'll say this only once."

"Hand me the briefcase," he said, his voice deeper this time.

"I know that you have it."

"Once you hand it to me, the rightful owner, then we shall finally leave you alone."

June smirked. He knew that Laohu was spouting nonsense. With everything that had happened, Lin Zhi would definitely not let this go.

"I know that Lin Zhi's threats are not much of a threat to you."

"However, I'm different."

"I'm much...more...different."