"The past?" Casper asked. The other members, too, were confused by June's sudden suggestion.
June now knew why he had performed dark and emotional songs up until now. It reflected the life he had.
It was also the reason why he had been struggling to connect with the concept they were trying to portray—a cute, jolly person who was supposed to be carefree and full of the joys of life.
The times when he tried to push a smile onto his face and failed was because he couldn't help but feel the weight of reality pressing down on him. For most people, life had become complicated, and genuine smiles were hard to recreate, especially when you were not in the moment.
But as June glanced at his member's faces, he realized that their concept may have been hidden in their hearts all along.
As June looked back on it, he remembered the days of his childhood when he would run to a candy shop and buy one piece with a measly coin.
The times he had genuinely smiled were when he was reminiscing about his childhood. The ice cream…the candies….singing…, and the feeling of family from Grandma and Minjun. All of those triggered his sweet memories, a window into his genuine happiness.
And Hana's words also resounded in his mind—"You were cute. This was the cutest, most genuine smile I've ever seen you in, so I decided to snap a photo."
And it seemed like his teammates had similar experiences. Everything they shared all tuned back to the time when they were young.
He remembered how, in their rehearsals, they would often share stories from their past, moments from their childhoods when they were cute and innocent before life's complexities had taken hold.
"We can't do a retro theme," Jangmoon whined, snapping June out of his thoughts. "It's already so overused…and my mom lived in the 70s. I don't want to act to act like my mom."
"True," Ren said. "And the team performing Grunge Pop-Rock is also employing a retro theme, I think."
"Not like that," June said. "Not retro…Not the 80s…but our childhood. All of your sharings…they all point to your childhood. And what's cuter than being an innocent child in this cruel world?" he asked.
As his teammates didn't respond, June continued speaking.
He stared off into the distance as he tapped into his heart, trying to convince his teammates that this was, quite possibly, the best way they could tackle their performance.
"In the garden of our youth, we reveled in the joy of our innocence," he started off. "Where every moment was a treasure and happiness was our constant companion. Yet, as we grow old, we find our hearts are not weighed by the richness of what we possess, but by the lightness we once had."
"We're so focused on our objectives that we fail to see what the real objective is—to be happy. So, for us to emanate that happiness, maybe we can remember our past. For in the echoes of our childhood laughter, we find that, maybe, the truest essence of happiness is reminding us that our most precious treasures are not the things we lack, but the memories we hold."
The lone cameraman filming the scene was stunned by June's words. The young adult was merely in his 20s, yet he already spoke with so much wisdom.
He had filmed quite a number of teams during the show, yet there wasn't a single trainee who came close to June when it came to creating concepts.
His teammates stayed silent as June's words resonated in their minds.
"You…you said you weren't great at writing!" Ren exclaimed, feeling betrayed.
"I'm not," June defended.
"Then why the heck are you so good with your words? Were you a poet in your past life?"
June shook his head. Nope, he was just a thug.
Jangmoon attacked June with a tight hug, causing the latter to groan in pain.
"Let me go," he said, pushing Jangmoon away.
The tall trainee looked at him with puppy eyes. "You really are my big brother. I can't believe those words came freely from your mouth. Now, I'm inspired to not write about pussycats anymore!"
Casper shook his head in disbelief after hearing June say those words.
At the start, when he watched June perform the Little Meow Meow song, he was reminded of his precious black cat—Luther. And that was the main reason why he had grown interested in June from the start.
However, he never really thought that June would be a contender for the debuting idol team.
It was only when he performed in the second mission that Casper realized June might be more talented than he had expected.
However, even now, June has exceeded his expectations.
From the start, he thought Zeth was his born rival. Even as trainees, they had always been compared with each other. They had similar builds; they both dabbled in rap and dance; and they were the faces of the trainees in their respective companies.
However, hearing June's words and even knowing that he produced the song they were going to perform, Casper realized that he and Zeth were facing a very scary trainee.
And if he looked back to the days when June struggled to even keep up with the beat of the song, Casper couldn't help but feel amazed.
Just how much was he going to improve?
"I like it," Daeho shyly admitted. "I think we can even use some of your words for our lyrics. I also got a burst of inspiration for the choreography, too."
Casper nodded, snapping out of his thoughts. "Thank you for everything you've contributed, June," he sincerely said. "I honestly wouldn't know what to do if you weren't in our team."
June scoffed. "Well, you'd definitely be happier if I wasn't on your team. You guys would have chosen a different genre and wouldn't be struggling as much as this."
"But I don't regret it," Ren chimed. "I think you guys have noticed that my mood has been pretty down for a while now, and I guess I was just losing confidence as the competition progressed. There was a time when I even wondered if I wanted to become an idol in the first place. But being in this team, I felt the joys of performing once more."
Daeho smiled at Ren. "This is also the first time I'm going to perform something like this, but I'm looking forward to it."
Casper chuckled. "So, we've got our concept down. I guess we just need to divide our team so somebody can do the choreography and the lyrics at the same time?"
"I'll help June with the lyrics," Ren suggested.
"Me too," Jangmoon chimed.
"Then, Daeho and I will create the choreography and formation. Will that be alright?" Casper asked.
"It's more than fine!" Jangmoon exclaimed, feeling more happy than ever. He glanced at June and felt happiness and admiration swell inside his heart.
Jangmoon had been in June's team for a total of two times, and in those two times, he realized that being with June was the best.
"Let's do this!" Jangmoon screamed, all hyped up. "Let's show these bitches that we, beef jerky-like trainees, can be as sweet as bubblegum."
Daeho clicked his tongue and shook his head. "That's just you."
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