From Thug to Idol: Transmigrating to a Survival Show

[You're going to let go of me so soon?]

June shook his head and ignored Fu for a second as he made his way inside the room.

"Well, you're early," he said, causing Mei to gasp in surprise.

She stopped what she was doing and quickly turned off the music player.

"Mentor," she greeted and slightly bowed her head.

June's eyebrows raised in surprise. "That's a slightly different greeting. You usually just nod at me."

Mei pursed her lips. "Can't you just accept the bow?" she impatiently asked, causing June to chuckle in amusement.

Yet, of course, he won't give the system just yet.

Not now.

He wanted to see the end of this mission before he gave away his precious (not so precious) system.

[Hey!]

Moreover, it was still the third week of June. There was some time left until he would actually die.

June was about to tease her more when the other girls made their way inside.

Ara stopped and looked at them with raised eyebrows. "You guys are early," she remarked.

June smiled at the girls and slightly bowed. "I just got here."

"Oh," Yeri apologetically smiled. "Sorry, Mentor. We should have gotten here before you."

June waved her off. "It's alright. You're right on time. For now, let's sit in a circle so we can discuss what we've written during the night."

The girls bit their lips, seemingly nervous about what was going to happen. June saw this and assured them it was alright.

"I won't judge," June said. "I'm also bad at songwriting."

Zonya shook her head. "You don't expect us to believe that, don't you, Mentor?" she teased. "Almost all of the songs you've co-written turned out to be great hits."

"Yeah," Ara chimed. "It's not like you were bad, to begin with. You've always been great with words ever since Rising Stars! I bet what I've written would sound silly in your ears."

"Well, if it's something you've worked hard on, then there's no reason for me to think that it's silly," he said.

"Let's start, shall we?" he said, marking the official start of their training.

Yeri raised her hand. "I'll go first," she said, wanting to get it over with.

"Wooh! Go, Yeri," Ara cutely cheered, causing the older girl to pat her head.

"Alright, here goes nothing," she said.

"You were there before I was...

Yet, we both navigated the world for the first time.

Oh, the time has gone by so fast.

Now, the world is as sour as a lime.

Speaking of limes, you're a sour one.

So, shower once."

June pursed his lips as Yeri continued her verse. He felt that it sounded amusing. However, she sang it so seriously that June didn't have the heart to laugh.

Ara, on the other hand, wasn't afraid to show her reactions.

"What the heck! That's so random," she said after Yeri finished her verse.

Yeri scratched the back of her head. "Yeah. It's harder to find rhyming words than I expected. I also don't know what it's like to have a sibling, but I searched some videos on LikLok, and they all described a sibling as an annoyance."

June smirked. "Well, you're not wrong about that. There are some times when you want to throw your siblings off a cliff."

The girls turned to June in surprise.

"I thought you didn't have any siblings?" Mei asked.

June cleared his throat and straightened his posture. "It's also based on my research," he muttered.

"Why don't we have the other girls go next?"

The other girls took turns roughly singing the lyrics they'd written, and as expected, June didn't find anything suited for the song just yet.

After Ara sang about the pure love between a brother and a sister, June couldn't help but shake his head.

"I think it sounds too much of a love song," he remarked. "Our song's title is 'Sibling's Love,' so I think we should clearly draw the line. You know that a lot of weirdos are out there."

Ara sheepishly chuckled. "You're right. We don't want any fetishizers making the performance weird."

June nodded. "Well, we still have one more person. Why don't you sing for us, Mei?" he asked.

Mei gulped, appearing more nervous than usual.

She closed her eyes and shook her hands, garnering worried looks from her teammates.

"Are you alright?" Ara asked.

"Yeah," Mei said. However, her voice betrayed her as it broke at the end of her statement.

"Are you nervous?" Yeri inquired.

Mei, once again, shook her head.

She was telling the truth this time.

She truly wasn't nervous.

However, there it was again—the heavy feeling inside her chest.

Mei had written a short verse after being unable to sleep yesterday night, and for some reason, she wrote it in only a few minutes.

She didn't know where she got the inspiration from, but it was definitely strange.

How could she write so well about a sibling who didn't even exist?

"I'm ready," she said after a while, making the others watch her intently.

June paid his full attention to his sister, wondering how she interpreted a sibling's love.

June knew that Mei didn't know about their past relationship as siblings, but he held a glimmer of hope in his heart.

Maybe, just maybe, a part of her knew that she had a brother—

even if that wasn't June.

"I'm not going to sing," she said. "This is just a poem that I curated yesterday night."

They all nodded and waited in anticipation for her to begin.

With her first utterance, June couldn't help but hold his breath.

"You are the person I know the most,

A mirror reflecting my soul, yet cast in a different light,

We are the same person in different fonts,

Parallel lines of thought and heart."

"They say opposites attract, and with that, I agree.

Too similar, we often find ourselves repelling,

Yet the magnet of our bond still works,

A silent force drawing us back, time and time again."

"Brother, I don't know where you are,

But I hope the world is kind to you; I hope you are happy.

Are you happy?"

Mei closed her eyes as the image of a man emerged in her imagination once more.

"I miss you, though the words remain unspoken,

A quiet ache that lingers in the silence.

I love you, though you don't have to hear it,

I hope you don't hear it."

"I just hope you know it,

Please know it,

Because the words escape me, lost in the space between us.

I don't even know where you are,

But in the quiet of my heart, you are always here."