From Thug to Idol: Transmigrating to a Survival Show

The peace was once again disrupted when Jaxon, the loudest popular trainee among all contestants, entered the room with a smug smile. 

June sighed as he watched the handsome kid fist-bump with everyone in the room. Even though they hadn’t been in the same group before, he could already gauge Jaxon’s personality—like an extroverted frat boy. 

June already had a hunch that their team would have the highest-ranked trainees once more.

The lowest-ranked among them was Xin, who’s currently at rank 39, and the second lowest was him. 

Daeho, another trainee that June hadn’t been acquainted with, entered the room. If Jaxon was the frat boy of the group, this kid seemed to be the model student—someone who went to classes early, aced all his subjects and even had time to go to church. 

Then, the unthinkable happened. Jaeyong, ranked 4th, came into the room, which sent the others into a state of excitement. 

“Jaeyong’s here too?” Lin Zhi loudly exclaimed. “This will be a damn good stage.” 

“Oh damn,” the others started exclaiming in shock when Casper, too, entered the room. June observed the way he seamlessly joined the conversation. It was a reminder of the connections he had formed with the other trainees. 

Casper looked up for a second, meeting June’s eyes, and then he softly smiled. 

June awkwardly smiled back. He guesses Casper wouldn’t be too hard to work with. 

As soon as Casper came in and their team was still yet to be full, June knew who would be coming next. 

Zeth walked in, his presence instantly brightening the atmosphere with his confidence and enthusiasm. However, as he walked past Casper, there was a slight tension between them.

Nonetheless, they seemed to be pretty civil, so June didn’t have to worry about another fight breaking out at least. 

“Little bro,” Zeth excitedly ran to where June was, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

“Seems like we’re on the same team again. Let’s make another legendary stage.”

“Mmmh,” June merely hummed.

June glanced at the circle they’d formed, observing the ten trainees he was going to perform with. 

“I have a good feeling about this team,” Bin said, breaking the silence. “Let’s get along well from now on.”

Chimes of agreement were heard in the room, and June wondered if he was dreaming. There wasn’t any tension within the team…no weird feeling. It was the very first time he had felt like this during the team selections. 

The production crew gestured to the sticker-covered stand next to them. The trainees knew the moment had arrived—they were now going to reveal their song. 

The air became thick with anticipation as the trainees awaited to reveal their assigned song.

Amidst the tense atmosphere, Jaxon’s enthusiastic presence decided to take the lead. 

With a Cheshire grin, Jaxon stepped forward. “Alright, alright,” he said, rubbing his hands together as he leaned against the stand. “Let’s get this party started!”

He livened up the atmosphere like a real party host. If he does debut, he’d earn a reputation and become popular in fanfics as someone who hosts a huge party for other idols. 

“Now that we’re here to reveal our song, I’ve got to know – what’s on everyone’s minds? What song do you all want to perform?”

The trainees exchanged glances, and from the looks of it, they seemed to agree on the song selection. “Definitely ‘Skateboard Ride.’ The song is just so catchy, and I can already imagine the choreography being amazing,” Steel said. 

Lin Zhi passionately agreed.  “Oh, absolutely. ‘Skateboard Ride’ would be such a hit. I might just kill someone if I don’t get that song,” he jokingly said, but June internally rolled his eyes. 

He would do that, wouldn’t he?

“Well, let’s hope it is ‘Skateboard Ride.’ I also want that song,” Jaxon said. 

Casper’s calm voice added to the unanimous consensus. “I think we’re all on the same page here.”

June had a good feeling about the song reveal. He was teammates with both the first-ranked and second-ranked trainees. As far as he knows, they had always performed the song they wanted to perform. 

June guesses they were just born with it.

June, on the other hand, never ended up with the song he had desired. However, with their presence, there might actually be a change. 

“Ah, I can’t wait any longer,” Jaxon agitatedly said. “I’ll reveal it now.” 

With deliberate slowness, he peeled back the sticker…

He was taking too damn long! 

“I thought you couldn’t wait any longer,” June muttered under his breath. However, Zeth seemed to have heard him as he chuckled and ruffled June’s hair.

Fortunately, Jaxon sped up and removed the sticker, revealing the words “Skateboard Ride.” 

Cheers immediately erupted in the room. Bin and Steel even jumped up in happiness as they realized they were going to perform a song by PCatt.

“Yes!” Xin said, raising his fist in the air. He was elated that he was going to perform a good song, but other than that, he felt like he could suck-up to the fame of his fellow trainees and finally rise in the ranks. 

As the others celebrated their assigned song, June read the other contents of the board. 

“Skateboard Ride by PCatt.”

And beneath that was a number—8. 

***

After the song reveal, the team decided to watch the performance video before delegating the parts. 

June felt a dreadful feeling in the pit of his stomach. Things have been going pretty well so far, but the part distribution always seemed to tear the teams apart. 

Lin Zhi, who had taken the role of the leader after much deliberation, sat at the very center, leaning against the mirror. 

Originally, Casper and Zeth both volunteered to be the leaders. However, the group was torn on who to vote for. It was exactly 50/50. So, in the end, Zeth and Casper both agreed that they’d step down and have another person become the leader since they’d already experienced being one in their past groups. 

Nobody but Lin Zhi volunteered to be the leader, so he automatically took the title. 

“It says here that we should duplicate two roles for the moment. I don’t think we should duplicate the mains, so why don’t we use the Sub-Vocal 1 and the Sub-Rapper 1?” he suggested. 

“I don’t have any problems with that,” Steel said. 

“Me too,” the others agreed. 

Surprisingly, Lin Zhi was doing a pretty good job at leading the part distribution. Well, he’s always been good at distribution, even back then. 

Drug distribution, that is. 

“Umm, and then let’s start with the Main Vocal,” Lin Zhi continued.

Zeth raised his hand, causing the others to pay attention to him. “After listening to the song, I can’t help but let his voice come into mind,” he started off. 

Then, he looked around until his gaze met with June’s. 

“I think June should be the Main Vocalist this time around.”