From Thug to Idol: Transmigrating to a Survival Show

With Bo Wen on his side, June thought he'd have a greater chance of getting his revenge. He found it hard to do dirty work as an idol, and although Jay was a great informant with regard to his idol life, having Bo Wen would let him gain a deeper insight into his current situation.

The first week of the promotion period had already ended, and to be frank, the results of their comeback weren't as great as they expected. Of course, their group was still doing well. However, for someone with two million albums sold, their streams on different music platforms didn't reflect it. It was true that 'Skyrocket' wasn't really a general public-friendly song.

Nonetheless, June eased his mind a bit since they were going to be promoting Luster by the second week, which he believed was a song that would be better received by their fans and the public.

Right now, though, he had another problem to solve.

"Can I watch inside? I've always wanted to meet professional dancers!" Jay exclaimed. He was clad in baggy jeans, an oversized t-shirt with what seemed to be a gang sign but was just 'cute' in Chinese letters, and a bandana tied around his head.

"You're more excited for this than me," June sighed. "I almost forgot about it. I wouldn't have gone if you didn't remind me."

"What?" Jay exclaimed. "And miss out on meeting the dancers from Street Fight Dance?"

"Street Fight Dance?" June asked in confusion.

Jisung, the TV show addict, went out of his room and looked at June with narrowed eyes.

"You don't know Street Fight Dance?" he asked.

"No," June said. "I don't have much time these days."

"You should have stayed up with Akira and me so we could watch it together! It airs every Wednesday!" he suggested.

June shook his head. "No, thank you. I'd much rather sleep than watch a show. Why? Is it popular?"

"Extremely popular!" Jisung responded. "They have even more views than some idol dance practices these days. It's basically a show where dance crews battle it out to see who's the best. They make choreographies and do freestyle dances, but the best part is--there is a lot of drama! SBC edits it in a way that makes you think the dancers hate each others' asses!"

"Alright," June said. "What does that have to do with this then?" he asked Jay.

"Well, the special anniversary video for Gun's studio is going to feature the leaders of the different dance crews! Isn't that great?"

"And where did you hear this information from?" June sighed.

"Duh! From my informants. Who else?"

June shook his head and placed his mask and hat on. Honestly, he didn't know what to expect for the shoot. All he knew was that they were going to dance to some song, and it would be uploaded on Gun's dance studio's channel.

"Can I go in? Please? Please? Please?" Jay continued to chant like an annoying little child, so June sighed and nodded.

"Fine," he said. "Just don't bother me."

"Oh, I won't even look after you. I'll be busy looking at all the crew leaders!"

Jay drove June to the dance studio, all while humming 'Luster.' Although he had heard it plenty of times, Jay still couldn't get the song out of his head.

"We're here!" Jay said in a sing-song voice.

June peaked outside the window and frowned in confusion.

"Why are there so many people outside?" June asked.

"I told you, man!" Jay exclaimed. "These people are the shit right now. They have fans like idols, too, and the show's doing really well because of them."

June shook his head and made sure his face and hair weren't visible before going out of the car.

"Hey, wait for me!" Jay exclaimed, but June already made his way inside.

The people didn't even bother looking toward June's way because his outfit was too low-key. On the other hand, as Jay attempted to chase June, he was mobbed by a group of people.

"Wait! Wait!" he exclaimed, yet it was drowned by screams as the people thought he was one of the dance crew leaders.

June shook his head and entered the room without knocking. There, he saw the dance crew leaders that Jay was talking about.

They, too, didn't notice June coming inside. June looked around and didn't find Gun or Tank, so he decided to settle at the corner and wait for the filming to finally commence.

There were two groups inside the room, one for the men and one for the women. Judging from their looks, they really did appear like dance crew leaders. All of them wore hip clothing, and most of them had piercings that weren't placed in conventional areas.

He definitely felt out of place with his all-black outfit and worn-out shoes.

June was situated near the men, and June happened to overhear their conversation. He wasn't eavesdropping! Their voices were just too loud for him not to notice.

"Do you already have a special guest for the next mission?" one of them asked.

"Yeah. I contacted this really dope dancer from LA. He's coming round tomorrow, and he has prepared some sweet moves for us," another responded.

"Dang. That fast? I'm still looking for someone who will get us the most amount of support."

"If you want that, then you should just get an idol to feature," the first man said.

June subtly nodded in agreement. Idols really were the greatest clickbaits for K-pop fans.

However, much to his surprise, the group of guys suddenly laughed out loud.

"Yeah, right," one chimed. "An idol will definitely make us win the voting poll, but then, we'd be criticized by actual dancers."

"That's true," another agreed. "While idols are great dancers, professional dancers are just different, you know?"

"Definitely. We wouldn't be called pros without a reason."

June shook his head in amusement. While he agreed that professional dancers were on another level, he believed that these dancers had an underlying prejudice against idols. Of course, they were going to be better at dance performances! That was their main job.

Meanwhile, idols have to juggle different skills all at once, so it would make sense if some of them lacked in other areas and excelled in others.

"It seems like we're on the same page. Whoever recruits an idol in the next stage will definitely be eliminated then, okay?"

The others nodded in agreement.

June pursed his lips. Maybe coming here wasn't that great of an idea after all.

They looked plenty enough, so Gun probably wouldn't notice if June wasn't around, right?

June planned on going out of the room when Jay, all sweaty and messy-looking, suddenly barged into the room.

"June! There you are!"