From Thug to Idol: Transmigrating to a Survival Show

June didn't get a wink of sleep last night. He was so busy editing their song that morning had come before he even noticed.

So, when they drove back to Seoul, he was knocked out the entire trip.

And when he woke up and saw himself in the car's mirror, he cursed loudly when he saw atrocious doodles all over his face.

He should have known better than to sleep in a car filled with hooligans.

"What the fuck?" he exclaimed, looking at the others, enraged.

He observed his face once more and felt his eye twitch.

"Fucking boys," he cursed, looking at the poorly-drawn male genitalia on his right cheek.

The others held back their laughter while looking at him.

His forehead was also drawn on with poop and flies, then his other cheek had an identified black blob?

"That's Luther," Casper said, confessing his crimes.

June clenched his fist and couldn't hold himself back. He drove his fist to the person next to him, who, by ugly coincidence, was their sleeping manager.

Right then and there, it felt like the world had stopped.

Chul woke up and felt like his internal organs were bleeding.

He looked at the boys with wide eyes, then turned to June. Chul was about to scold him when he saw the state of his face.

Chul looked at June with a disgusted expression and shook his head. "You know what? I don't even want to talk about it."

June pursed his lips, smoke almost coming out of his ears, and stayed silent until they reached their destination.

They didn't have any wipes nearby, so he was stuck with that kind of face for the rest of the car ride.

Jisung looked through the tinted car window and frowned. "Wait, we're not going back to the dorms?"

"I already told you yesterday," Chul said, flinching when he fixed his posture. His damn head and abdomen were hurting because of June, and it only fueled his dislike of the pink-haired idol.

"We're going to be recording some of your songs today. We only have less than a month until your comeback, so we're in a rush."

Akira groaned and thrashed around his seat like a little kid. "But, I'm so tired, manager. We haven't even had breakfast yet."

"Eat there," Chul said. "We have sandwiches prepared for everyone. And you," he pointed to

June. "Wash your face before you go to the recording studio."

June merely nodded, still angered by the situation.

With that, Chul left the car while the others quickly followed. June pulled his hood down so his entire face wouldn't be visible.

Then, without saying anything, he went to one of the restrooms to wash his face clean while the other members headed straight to the studio.

After washing his face, June quickly followed after them. They were already eating their sandwiches while the producers briefed them on what they were going to do.

"So, we'll take it easy with the first song and record First Love. We'll normally start with recording the title track first, but since it's still not finished, we'll go with the easiest track on the album."

"I've finished it," June said, interrupting their conversation. He was still standing near the doorway, so they all turned to him, surprised, when he spoke.

Chul frowned. "You've already finished it? Your teammates said you haven't started it."

"Yeah," Ren said, confused. "You told me you haven't even started on anything yet."

June shrugged, bringing out Ren's laptop from his backpack. "I just finished it yesterday night. I recorded the lyrics for the outro, too."

"And you did that in just one night?" Rody, one of the producers, asked.

June nonchalantly nodded.

Ren looked at June in disbelief. He always thought June had the potential to become a great producer after the Production Mission. However, he never expected June to improve this fast.

"Well, let's hear it," Cody, the other producer, said.

"Do we even have time for this?" Chul asked.

"We do," Cody said. "We're going to be doing this tomorrow anyway. It's best to hear it now so the boys can familiarize themselves with the song."

Chul clicked his tongue and eventually agreed.

Meanwhile, June set up the laptop, asking Jisung's help to connect it to Zeth's loud and expensive speakers.

Then, without any hesitation, he clicked play.

The members of EVE paid more attention than usual since this was the very first time they'd be hearing the song after their last meeting.

It definitely sounded way better than they had imagined.

Jaeyong, who was so dead set on Restart, failed to realize that this song was, indeed, what June had made it out to be.

It was refreshing yet hot all at the same time.

However, for the keen hearing of the producers, they felt like the song was…different.

And it was better.

"What is this?" Rody whispered to Cody.

"I don't know, but it sounds more complete."

June couldn't help but smile as he listened to his masterpiece.

He had been in a creative slump for a while, and he struggled to find the missing element of the song.

The pressure to create a hit and to live up to Fu's words had overwhelmed him, and he realized that he'd been over-complicating things.

However, after his conversation with Jia, he had an epiphany.

June was a natural.

So, he added nature.

He incorporated elements into the song—the sound of waves crashing and the ambient sounds of the beach.

"This kid…has talent," Cody absent-mindedly said.

Chul heard him and felt somewhat bitter. He always thought June never deserved to be the center, and he didn't want to act impartially to a person who didn't deserve their position.

However, it was getting harder and harder to give him unfair treatment when the people around them seemed to like this June kid so much.

Chul continued with his pessimistic thoughts. However, when the outro of the song came, it was as if his mind had become clear.

He stopped and listened intently to the soothing melody.

The others, too, paid more attention to the added part of the song.

And then, when it was over, Jisung and Akira couldn't help but clap.

"Damn," Zeth chuckled. "You just made a hit song."