The team sat in silence, looking at the floor with dark expressions.
June lifted his head and looked at his teammates one by one, and he was getting frustrated by their tense silence.
"We need to talk about what happened," June said, breaking the silence.
Lin Zhi sighed, raking his hands through his hair. "What else is there to talk about? Let's just get this over with. Hwan already told us to start all over."
"And whose fault do you think that is?" Leo muttered.
Lin Zhi frowned. "You keep talking with that cocky tone of yours, Leo. Are you blaming us for the failed performance?"
Leo sighed, his gaze fixed on Lin Zhi. "Well, if we would have gotten our singing down this morning, then we wouldn't have been the center of mocking during the evaluations."
June sighed. Instead of smoothing over the wrinkles of their performance, they were fighting once again.
"And how is that my fault?" Lin Zhi exclaid. "You ssed up during your solo dance, and the choreography you did was too hard. That's why we were so out of breath by the second verse."
Leo was about to stand up to confront Lin Zhi, but Yuri held onto his shoulder.
"Don't bla Leo for your incompetence in singing," Yuri calmly said.
That seed to aggravate Lin Zhi even more.
"Let's not fight, guys," Jisung said, getting nervous. "I think we should talk about the performance."
"We're already talking about the performance. And while we're at it, let's talk about how unsynchronized you and Zeth were during the chorus," Leo snapped, causing Jisung to cast his head down, looking like a kicked puppy.
"Don't speak like that," Zeth said to Leo. "It's not helping with our situation at all."
"Your soft leadership didn't work with this team, Zeth," Yuri said. "It's not doing us anything good. And I think it all boils down to your leadership skills."
"Fine," Zeth sighed. "Let's say that I wasn't such a good leader, but I tried my best to incorporate all your suggestions no matter how ridiculous they seem. I even forgone the center position because Leo wanted it," he retaliated.
Lin Zhi clicked his tongue. "It's still surprising, though. Why would you even pick a ballad song to perform, Zeth?" he asked. "It's not like you're good at singing at all."
June raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Zeth, too, seed to be taken aback by Lin Zhi's statent. It was a big blow to his ego as the first-ranked trainee.
June sighed, feeling fed up with their constant bickering.
Zeth was about to retaliate when June finally spoke.
"If ya'll don't stop, I'm going to bang your heads together until you all beco incapable of thinking."
Ah, shit. He couldn't help himself.
His teammates all looked at him with surprise. June sighed and decided to finish what he started.
"Ya'll are blind and deaf if you think only one person has sothing to do with the outco of the interim evaluations," June started.
"This is a collective fault. I have been observing from the very start, and I have a lot to say. First," June said, facing Yuri and Lin Zhi.
"You're focusing too much on your pride. Both of you want to beco the main vocalist, so your harmonies sound dissonant. You keep trying to outsing each other, so it doesn't sound pleasant to the ears. Frankly, it sounds like the two of you are always battling against each other. Just because you sing more loudly does not an you're more skilled," he bluntly said.
"And you three," June turned to Zeth, Leo, and Jisung.
"Splitting the choreography wasn't a good idea. It's like we're dancing to three different songs. It's difficult to transition from one part to another because your styles are too different. It would have been resolved if you had communicated about it."
"Of course, I admit I have so fault in this too," June said. "But I didn't want to add more fuel to the fire.? However, we have less than three days until our performance, and there needs to be so changes," he continued. "If you think we're going to win just because of our ranks, then you're absolutely wrong. Our opponents are more desperate than us. And from the interim evaluations, we had the worst performance among all. I thought Hwan's comnts would help this team snap out of it, but we're still the sa."
The team went quiet as June finished his speech.
'He's so freaking cool,' Jisung thought, looking at June with wide and amazed eyes.
Lin Zhi's thoughts also turned as he looked at June. 'The more I spend ti with this guy, the more I see Jun Hao in him.'
June was about to say sothing more when the door suddenly opened, and ntor Jihyun entered the room.
"Oh," she exclaid when she felt the tense atmosphere. "Did I interrupt sothing?"
The team forgone their argunt and stood, greeting ntor Jihyun with a bow.
Then, June lined up along with his teammates.
"You didn't receive good comnts during your evaluations," she said, taking a seat next to the music player. "I, too, expected sothing more from you. But don't worry. You still have three days to change your performance."
"That's why I'm here to help you guys," she added, looking straight at June. However, the trainee didn't even bother looking at her.
She awkwardly cleared her throat and straightened her posture. "Alright. Shall we start?"
Jihyun turned on the music, and undoubtedly, the group tried their best to show that they didn't argue just monts ago.
Yuri took a deep breath and began to sing.
"I looked once again up at the blue skies,
A mory, long-lost, held within my eyes."
Then Lin Zhi joined him for the chorus, their harmonies blending in a technically sound performance.
However, Jihyun's expression remained unreadable, occasionally nodding in approval. However, she felt there was an intangible energy missing, a spark that would truly connect the song to the hearts of the listeners.
Moreover, June's words were right. Although their voices were technically harmonizing, the volus weren't quite right since they wanted to outshine each other.
As the second verse approached, June let out a shallow breath before singing his lines. Co to think of it, this was the very first ti June had sung the song without doing anything else. Earlier, during the interim evaluations, he was focused more on his dancing since it was a bit tough.
However, with the still atmosphere, June couldn't help but feel his past emotions.
"Unspoken words, a silent ache,
A love unclaid, a heart at stake."
His voice was soft, contrasting with how Yuri and Lin Zhi sang their lines. However, despite the soft volu, it had an emotional weight that resonated with every note. As June sang those few lines, the air seed to change. The room was hushed, and the team mbers exchanged glances, feeling like they were able to genuinely hear the song for the first ti.
Jihyun's eyes fixed on June, then a spark of recognition flickered in her gaze. Out of all the mbers of 'Team Aces,' June was the only one who had unlocked the song's hidden ssage. At that point, she realized that it was the emotional core that had been missing from their performance.
When June's voice faded, there was a mont of silence, and Jisung almost forgot his lines.
However, the performance continued...but Jihyun's mind still lingered on June's lines.
It was far too little for soone as talented as him.
As the song finished, Jihyun turned to June and said, "June, could you sing the bridge part just by yourself?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)