Bad blood

As the karaoke contest resumed, Ichiko sat watching along with her teammates, Ivonne Flores, Ivelisse Belaunde, Izetta Yarlequé, and Io Mamani.

"Say, think they'd-"

"No, we aren't doing a musical comedy," Ivonne growled.

With turquoise hair that completely covered her eyes complete with a sleeveless hoodie, Ivonne gave off the aura that she was more of the introvert type, which was true to some extent. Though she didn't mind being out in public so long as she wasn't accosted by crowds of people. Her main line of work was DJing, mainly for her friend and teammate, Io Mamani.

Io was a rapper by day, and a breakdancer 24/7 365 days a year. Ivelisse was also a breakdancer and singer, with Izetta being a failed singer turned producer. Izetta was usually a bitter woman, but she did her job to the utmost, hoping doing so would better etch her name into the history books. She also had a hidden soft side, evidenced by the fact that she kept Ichiko on as a contracted comedian, despite Ichiko's low popularity. Perhaps it was due to pity after seeing some of herself in her, but if that was the case, it never left her lips, as she was constantly yelling at Ichiko for her antics.

"Ugh, I can't believe you shaved your head and eyebrows bald. Marketing you just got impossibly harder, you know!" Izetta fumed as she smacked Ichiko's head.

"Bald is peak femininity. And I can prove it. One of my old friend's student ended up having a massive nosebleed while watching me go bald. If a young man like him finds-"

"Ichiko, you're a mainstream comedian, not a niche milf fetish idol."

"But the boys like mommy bald," Ichiko pouted in a cutesy voice.

"I AM NEVER PRODUCING IDOLS! RAPPERS, SINGERS, COMEDIANS, ANYTHING BUT IDOLS, DAMMIT!"

Izetta's aversion to idols was deeply rooted in her failed singing career, or rather her failed idol career. Failing audition after audition greatly soured her perception of the field, leading to her developing a hatred of the career and idol culture itself.

"Oh, well good news for me I suppose," an orange-haired woman sneered as she strutted up.

Izetta slammed her fist down and rose up instantly, her glare aimed directly at this well dressed woman. "Moon Chun-hwa," she snarled as the woman smirked and flicked her hair.

Moon Chun-hwa was a famous producer in the republic of Korea, known for being behind some of the hottest K-pop idols and groups out there. Her and Izetta also had a history, and a vicious rivalry. Chun-hwa had more international fame thanks to her currently being behind one of the hottest K-pop groups around, Malasangre.

The group's name itself was a major point of contention, as it was quite literally Spanish for "bad blood". It was also the name of a metal group Izetta had tried to start up solo following her failed idol career, making her feel Chun-hwa was only taking swings at her.

As for Malasangre itself, it was a group made up of 4 young women, Park Ye-bin, Young Ju-hye, Oh In-hye, and Noe Da-som. All of them along with Chun-hwa were competing as a team at the Chess Olympics, though the move was mainly a publicity stunt as everyone wasn't too great at chess. They were decent, but had an average team rating of 1778, one of the lowest out of all the teams with 5 members.

They also weren't doing very well, but all Chun-hwa cared about was them being on camera. In her mind, all she was thinking about was the fame and paycheck from the Korean chess federation she'd be getting for making their game more popular. To her, chess was just a flavor of the week.

Izetta was the complete opposite. She had studied chess at a young age and found the game very enjoyable, managing to climb up the ranks to receive the Women's WWCF master title and a rating of 2168. When she was approached by the Peruvian chess federation about representing the country at the chess Olympics, she accepted with honor and when given the opportunity to recommend some members to the team, selected some of her artists that were also good chess players such as Ivelisse, Ichiko, and Ivonne. She also decided to invite Io despite her not being rated above 2000, not as a publicity stunt, but to give her more experience with the game to hopefully push her above 2000. Publicity was not Izetta's priority, showing chess prowess was.

The two teams were unlikely to face each other in the main tournament, but here, there was a chance. Staring Chun-hwa down, Izetta rose and began walking towards the DJ table. She attempted to first challenge Chun-hwa 1 on 1, but when Chun-hwa refused, she tried to set up a match between Peru and the Republic of Korea, but before she could, Malasangre took the stage, drawing everyone's attention.

"Apologies, everyone. 6B is on hold while we treat your ears to the hottest K-pop idol group from Seoul, MALASANGRE!" D.R. Passant proclaimed.

As the group took the stage, the room erupted in cheers. "Hello Budapest! Are you ready for an exclusive concert!?" Ye-bin asked as she flicked her long black hair.

The crowd responded with more cheering as Ye-bin nodded. "Then get hyped cuz we bout to collab with some familiar homies. First up, the bad bitch straight out of Qırmızı Qəsəbə, Quba's pride n' joy, RAYA BAGHIROVA!"

The crowd cheered as a bespectacled girl with green hair strutted up to the stage.

"She wishes she was from Hellsinki, or Hell itself, but this bad girl just can't help but play good music, SWEDEN'S HELLE DAHL!"

A punk woman with short red hair and a fire tattoo running down her left arm nodded as she hopped on stage with electric guitar in hand.

"She wears steel kicks since they're the only thing that can withstand her hot beats. From the other side of the Baltic sea, EGLĖ VIZGIRDA!"

A woman with long black hair sporting shiny silver sneakers leaped up to the stage and waved to the crowd.

"And finally, the Gaelic songstress and scholar herself, FIDELMA FERRITER!"

Fidelma calmly waved as she gracefully walked up to the stage.

"And now, we debut our new hit single, Culture salad!"

As the group began singing and the crowd began cheering. Izetta watched in fury. "Chun-hwa, I'm going to ensure you never smirk again when I'm through destroying your little Malasangre," she thought.

This conflict wasn't the only one brewing though as towards the other end of the room, Alya had encountered Anastasia yet again. Only this time, both were with teammates, making things all the more likely to escalate, especially since Alya's teammate, Katryana Moskal, was not only the wife of one of Russia's most inhumane generals, but also one of the most anti-Ukrainian people in the world.

The other woman with her an Alya was a well-dressed upper-class woman named Galina Los. Galina looked like a stereotypical Russian with her long blonde hair, fur coat and ushanka, and typically was one who would "grab the popcorn" so to say whenever a squabble arose.

To their part, Mira and Oksana attempted to try and ignore the Russians and steer Anastasia away with them, but Katryana fired the first shot. "Oh? I don't remember the government giving permission for a second Russian team. In fact, isn't it against the rules for any other than the host nation to have more than one team? Well, guess we'll need to host the next Olympiad in Moscow so that the world's beloved Russian B-team can play chess as a team."

And after that, not even Mira and Oksana could hold back their anger. Poor Alya was about to have her chances at reconciliation further hindered as everyone began to lunge for each other. Yet before a punch could land, Raymond appeared.

"Do try to keep physical altercations to a minimum. Or perhaps, would you all like to compete as teams in the 6B?"

The Ukrainians stopped and diverted some of their anger towards Raymond.

"Why the hell did you even allow them to compete!? They're war criminals!" Anastasia fumed.

"They are a powerhouse chess nation, thus they should compete with the best of the best to see who truly is the best of the best. It matters not who they are as people or what they have done, all that matters is that they play chess."

All of Anastasia's animosity immediately centered on Raymond. "Seems the WWCF itself is rotten to the core. Raymond Redfield, I challenge you to a game of chess. Winner becomes the new president of the WWCF effective immediately!"