"Yeongue has a fever and Ji-hwan left the camp?" Jun was indeed surprised by the sudden news.
There's only one day left for the evaluation and these two caused trouble.
Jun asked about Jihwan first. He wondered whether it's because of the mental pressure. Back when the past Jun was in ZC he saw a lot of kids quit being a trainee because of that very reason.
They weren't able to handle the strict regime of an idol training program and their normal life at the same time.
Now that the 13-year-old boy quitted due to family issues, Jun felt a lot better. "Well, he is still young… As long as he doesn't quit his dream, he would be fine…" Jun waved his hands, gesturing not to worry about him.
"And how is Yeongue's fever?" Jun then asked about his little harry potter who stuck with him after the final auditions.
"38.3 Celsius (101 F)" replied the 15-year-old, In Jihae.
"Okay." *Clap* Clapping his hands, he spoke, "let's check up on him after the practice. First, we have to do something about Jihwan's parts."
Jun then walked to the desktop and took the lyrics sheet from the drawer before sitting down in the middle of the room.
As both of them nodded and sat before him, he took out the marker and started to mark the parts of the missing teenagers.
"We only have four hours of practice left. Both of you try these parts and let's see the result by lunch. I already know the lyrics of the song, so, I can sing them at any time. So, there's no pressure."
Jun then divided Jihwan's parts equally between the two of them. Although it appeared generous, he did it so that if Yeongue won't able to perform, he might have to sing his part.
If he sings Jihwan's too… It'll be too one-sided and will give a negative impression.
For the next three hours, the two fifteen-year-olds kept on practicing the lyrics while Jun was trying to correct them patiently.
He knew that the judges were monitoring him. He already lost 5 points. He can waver as a leader and lose more points again.
In the final hour, their mentor, Chiyeul suddenly checked upon them after hearing the news.
"Oh! Then, let's see how it goes… Sungjun-ssi, you can sing Yeongue's parts, right?" He asked Jun.
Jun nodded in response.
Four minutes later;
"It doesn't go with the world
That I used to see and feel" – Kim Seong-Min"
The song was perfectly ended by the other vocalist who is a former K-pop trainee with 10 months of experience. 15-year-old Seong Min is the only one who had prior experience besides Jun in this group, although he was ended up on the rookie list back then as his experience is less than a year.
"Hmm…" After listening to the whole song, Chiyeul voiced his opinion, "If you would sing this song just by yourselves like how you did now, your group will receive a high score but your two individual scores will be lower than you expected."
When they heard the first half of the sentence, a smile appeared on the three of them but the later half made the smile disappear right away.
Even Jun can't help but frown. According to him, they sang well. Then, why was he saying that they will receive the lower scores?
Singer Chi Yeul, as if he realized their thoughts explained, "Sungjun-ssi, your vocals are dominating theirs. Previously, your parts are between each of them, so, there was no worry but if their parts were cluster together on one side and your parts on the other side, it will do more harm than good for them…"
"But, we didn't have time to rearrange the whole song and practice. Tomorrow is the evaluation, and Yeongue is still suffering from fever. We don't know whether he will be ready for evaluation. Chi-Yeul-nim, can we something about it?" Jun asked for his advice.
"Hmm…" The singer thought for a while before asking the two of them, "do both of know the lyrics of the song, completely?"
Both of them nodded.
He then looked over Yeongue's parts and divided them into three parts. As Jun was singing the key parts of the song, he received less while the others received more.
"If Yeongue's condition doesn't improve until evening, all of you have to get ready with the new arrangement. Until then, you can practice on the 14th floor with Sung-Jun."
Jun was taken aback.
He looked at Jun and said, "You were given a private cabin as a part of the reward. You can share it with them."
"Are they allowed?" Jun asked him again for confirmation.
Originally, he also had the same thought but didn't speak of it, fearing the chances of getting negative points if he were to do that. He can't break the rules…
"Of course, it's yours. So, you can share it or leave it all you want." Chiyeul shrugged his shoulders before leaving the room.
"What should we do?" As soon as the mentor left the room, In Jihae looked at Jun in worry. "I'm actually not confident to sing the new parts without any mistakes.
"Well, you can at least try. As I said before, I got you covered. Just sing the parts you are confident in, and leave the rest to me. Putting aside whether you get high or low individual scores, you did well without making any mistakes."
As a leader, elder, and the one with the most professional training experience, Jun thought it is his duty to help them. Of course, there's also his selfish motive of getting more bonus points, so that his penalty points may get erased.
*Clap* "Okay, there's still 45 minutes left… Let's continue with new parts."
90 minutes later;
After finishing his lunch, Jun get back to the dorm and went straight to the fifth floor.
He saw a couple of rookies sitting on the sofa, watching the television.
"Excuse me…" Jun called out to them.
"Oh My!" They suddenly exclaimed in surprise and stood up.
"Hello… Where is Kim Yeongue's room?" Jun asked them for he only knew the floor, not the room.
One of them, pointed to a room, "It's that one but he isn't there. A couple of hours ago, he was moved to the hospital."
"Eh?"