June smiled to himself as he watched EVE's very first practice video for their mini-concert. Although it hasn't been announced yet, they were already preparing to give the best possible show for their fans.

However, June had to stop when he was called by Director Yejin to go to the stage.

"The show's starting," she said, making June turn off his phone before placing it in his pocket.

June nodded and followed after her.

As he reached the dark waiting area, he could already hear the bustle of the crowd. June watched the fans through the monitor, most of them excitedly chattering while waving their banners high in the air.

His eyebrows raised in surprise when he saw Jia holding up a banner of what seemed to be Mei.

Meanwhile, Jia couldn't contain her excitement in the audience. It has been an entire year since she went back to Azure's studio, and all of the nostalgia hit her.

It seemed like yesterday when she was dragged to this very stuby her friends, adamant about not liking idols. However, she becthe greatest fan out of all of them, and she even found herself following the Rising Stars franchise.

"You're rooting for Mei?" Bora asked as she held onto her Heemin banner.

Jia shrugged. "Why not? She's very pretty, and she's the realest person on the show."

"You didn't like her in the beginning," Bora pointed out.

Jia clicked her tongue. "That's because I didn't like how she sang. She had improved a lot in the last episode, though."

"Improved?" Bora asked. "She wasn't even able to sing."

"That's because she lost her voice from working too hard!" Jia said. "That's when I realized that she has a lot of potential."

"Is that really the reason, or is it because she looks like June?" Bora chimed, making Jia pursed her lips.

"Well, that's half of the reason," she muttered.

"But!" she quickly added. "It's also because I quite like her personality. She's quiet most of the time, but when she speaks, it just hits hard. She's very down-to-earth, but I could still feel a lot of passion flowing from her despite her lack of skill."

Bora shrugged. "Fair enough," she said. "You've always been a fan of those types of trainees anyway."

Jia shook her head. "And you've always been a fan of fully-furnished trainees."

"You got that right," Bora smirked.

Just then, their conversation cto a halt when a dazzling creature graced the stage.

All of the chatters turned into exclamations of amazement as June arrived at the stage, the cameras focusing on him and flashing him on the big LED screen.

"Waaah!"

"It's June. He's really here!"

"I wasn't expecting him to be here since he's still filming for Untouched Souls."

Jia's eyes also widened in surprise. It had been a while since she last saw June, and it felt like she was seeing him for the very first tagain.

"Gosh," Bora muttered. "Why does this guy look perfect in every way?"

"Good evening, everyone!" June greeted, making the crowd erupt into cheers.

The mentors, who were already settled backstage, covered their ears in surprise as the audience continued to cheer.

Gun massaged his ears and shook his head.

"His popularity is even greater than that of Minho during Season 1," he remarked.

Ji-hyun sighed. "It's hard to believe that he was one of the trainees we've mentored. He's cso far in such a short amount of time."

"Thank you all for coming here tonight," June continued, glancing at his cue cards.

"I'm glad to see new and familiar faces. Honestly, it still feels weird to stand here before you as your host when I've only been on this stage as a trainee."

'Awws' were heard from the audience.

"Nonetheless, I am also very excited for tonight's performances."

"Do you feel the sway?" June asked, and the crowd erupted in cheers of agreement.

"Well, tonight, there would be a total of ten performances. However, instead of battling with another team, they would be battling within their own teams instead."

The crowd murmured in confusion, the concept sounding new to almost all of them.

"Each team has ten members, but they are divided into two subteams with five members each. In every performance, each subteam will wear opposite colors. That's how you will determine which subteam they are a part of."

"At the end of each performance, all of you will vote for your preferred subteam. Moreover, at the end of every performance, you will be granted the privilege to vote for the best team of the night!"

"Azure never runs out of ideas, I swear," Bora muttered.

Jia nodded in agreement. "If only they weren't such a shitty company, then they would be even bigger than what they are now.

"Each winning team will be granted great benefits, so make sure to choose wisely. Choose the best performance not just because your favorite trainee is in it," June teased, knowing that the other audience members already had someone to vote for, although none of the teams had performed yet.

Sof them chuckled, while sof them felt guilty as charged.

"So, without further ado, let's get straight into tonight's performances."

"This is the Team Kill Mission!"

With that, the lights dimmed, and the first team of the show introduced themselves to the audience.

As usual, those with less popular trainees performed at the beginning, so the reactions weren't explosive just yet.

Meanwhile, Azure saved those who had the most fans at the end—just so people wouldn't leave in the middle of the show.

June went backstage to join the other mentors to watch the performances for tonight.

He felt nervous yet excited at the stime, which was strange since he wasn't even the one performing on stage.

Or maybe he just knew the feeling, so it all cback to him at that moment.

Gun and Lee Sik waved him over, so June quickly sat on the chair between the two of them.

They watched the performances intently, jotting down the groups' flaws so they could relay them in the next performances.

Although the girls appeared to be doing their best, it was also evident that they still lacked in skill.

There were a few stand-out trainees, but all in all, the group performances had been underwhelming.

Gun clicked his tongue. "I don't recall the first mission being this bad last year."

too," Ji-hyun chimed, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Well, they are undertaking a new mission—one that had never been done before—so it must be hard adjusting to it," Bone said.

"Agreed," Gun said. "This 'team kill' concept is leading them to desire to outshine the others. However, they're compromising their teamwork through that."

"That's it," Amira said. "I was wondering what was strange about the group I've mentored, but it turns out that their teamwork is lacking. I wasn't able to point it out during the initial evaluations."

too," Lee Sik sighed. "I thought it was just snerves since they were still getting to know each other."

"Countin that train," Gun chuckled.

"Well, it's safe to say that I'm not fond of most of these performances," Ji-hyun said. "I just hope the next one's going to be okay."

"Who's going to perform next?" Amira asked as she flipped through the next stage.

June focused his attention on the screen, his legs crossed and his hands tapping his knees in concentration.

"The team that I've mentored."