From Thug to Idol: Transmigrating to a Survival Show

Meanwhile, in a tall building with a yellow interior, stood eight young idols in a star formation.

"Dos, you're not aligned with Tres," Uno, their leader, said, manually moving his fellow member to the right position. "We need to make sure that everything's perfect."

"Of course," Quattro exclaimed. "We won't settle for anything less than perfect."

Just then, the door of the prestigious practice room opened, revealing their smiley manager.

"I have good news, boys!" Kun exclaimed, stumbling on his feet as he entered the room.

Uno sighed as he looked at their hopeless manager. "What is it this time?"

"Well, you're happy to see me," Kun sarcastically said. "Like I said, I've got some good news! Your group debut photo tied with the numbers EVE had achieved."

"Really?" Tres exclaimed. "Did we beat them?"

"We don't know that," Kun said. "Navel doesn't show the whole number. But the two of you ended at 212,000 likes in 24 hours. It's honestly insane how that happened."

"Dang, that's a lot," Cinco exclaimed.

"Of course, it's a lot," Ocho said, wiping his sweat as he leaned against the mirror. "You shouldn't expect anything less than that. We should have beaten them."

"Loosen up," Seven said. "Those are great numbers."

"I can't loosen up," Ocho snapped. "Why are you named 'Seven' while I'm stuck with Ocho? It's fucking unfair."

"We've already gone through this," Kun massaged the bridge of his nose. "You're sticking with the number concept. Don't you think it's pretty cool?"

"I think it's cool," Seven exclaimed.

"Well, try being in my shoes," Ocho exclaimed. "I sound like a chocolate snack."

"That's a good thing, though," Seven pointed out. "Lots of people like chocolate."

"It can't be changed," Kun sighed. "Your concept photos have already been posted. Besides, we can't call Seven 'Siete.' It's too close to shitty."

"That's a good thing, though," Six exclaimed, causing Seven to stick his tongue out at him.

"Whatever, let's go back to your good news," Ocho rolled his eyes. "Is that all? It's not even good if we didn't beat EVE."

"Ocho's right," Uno said. "It's a shame we couldn't beat their record."

With Uno's utterance, the seven other boys turned silent.

As their leader and official center, Uno had a lot of influence in the group. Having trained the longest and undoubtedly having the most talent, his opinions were held in the highest regard.

Seven, who trained for only three months before joining the group, was about to speak, but Six quickly covered his mouth and shook his head.

In the end, Seven succumbed to the pressure.

"Well, that just means we have to work harder," Uno said, sounding more determined.

"That's right," Kun proudly smiled. "You guys just work hard. The company will provide everything for you."

Uno nodded. "Good," he said. His presence was even more overwhelming than that of their manager itself.

"Now," Uno said in a serious tone, "get to work."

***

Weeks turned into days, and now, the time left for their debut was coming close.

Three days, to be exact.

The group was currently in one of the company's conference rooms, waiting for their teaser to be released.

Coincidentally, OCTA was in the same situation. In a bigger conference room than EVE's, they silently waited for their teaser video to be released.

"It's out," Uno calmly said.

Kun played the video while the group of eight boys watched intently. All of them had serious looks on their faces, wanting the best for their teaser.

Even with just their teaser, the viewers could tell that their song and music video was going to be hot and intense.

Dos observed Uno and frowned. It was hard to gauge their center's expression. He couldn't tell if Uno liked their teaser or not.

The group felt more anxious than usual since their debut was pushed earlier than expected.

They were supposed to debut on the first week of December, but it was moved to November 21st instead.

It wasn't that big of an adjustment, but it still rattled their mindset to some degree.

However, as their teaser ended, the members couldn't help but exclaim in satisfaction.

"It's good," Ocho said. "It's going to be a hit."

"I think so, too," Six said. "Songs like these are trending these days. BOYMYSTIC's release, which did relatively well, also has this sound."

"Well, this sound is a guarantee for success," Cinco said. "So, I think we don't have anything to worry about."

Uno nodded in agreement. "This is good. I feel confident."

"Hey," Seven suddenly spoke. "I heard EVE was going to be posting their music video teaser tonight, too. Do you guys want to watch it?"

Ocho quickly turned to look at him. "You're insane for suggesting that."

"I think it's alright," Uno said, causing Ocho to quickly shut his mouth.

"Should I?" Dos asked.

Uno nodded.

Dos quickly navigated the interface and went to EVE's page.

The members couldn't hide their smirks when they saw their view count was behind a couple of thousand viewers.

Dos quickly clicked on the video while the others waited in anticipation.

At first, Uno thought their concept was unique and very wise. However, as he thought harder about it, he realized that a beach concept wouldn't succeed in a boy group if there wasn't anything unique about it.

The teaser finally played, and a refreshing tune resonated in the conference room.

The members watched intently, looking even more serious than when they were watching their own teaser.

Their teaser definitely didn't give out a lot—just a couple of individual scenes in front of the beach and them dancing some of the choreography.

Uno smirked, feeling a bit more confident as the screen turned black.

In those twenty seconds, he couldn't find anything special.

***

"I can't believe they hid the production from us," Akira whined. "I don't have a clue how the music video will turn out."

"Yeah," Jisung said. "It's like we're watching the process of our debut with our fans in real-time."

"But it's pretty cool," Ren said. "Oh, it's posted!"

The eight of them excitedly turned to the screen. Even June couldn't contain his excitement.

He fiddled with his fingers under the table as Jaeyong played their video on the screen.

He felt his heart thump inside his chest.

The teaser was only twenty seconds, but it already encapsulated what June wanted from the song.

Wait, no.

It wasn't entirely captured. There was something missing…but June wasn't disappointed.

In fact, it was perfect.

It gave just the right amount of anticipation.

"They didn't show THAT yet, huh?" Akira asked.

"Yeah," Zeth sighed in disappointment. "I was hoping to see THAT already."

"I think it's all good," June said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "It's just...right."