[ Park Moondae's POV ]
With unanimous voting, Ryu Chungwoo was given the leadership position. It was an obvious outcome after everyone watched the 3rd episode, but there was still a strange power struggle for the position.
The teammates clapped and made comments about working hard together.
So far, it was a cheerful start. But I could feel the tension behind their smiling faces; after all, all of us managed to get past the fierce competition to come all the way here. The only two exceptions to this mood were Seungmin and Cha Eugene.
Cha Eugene, I think, understood the good mood as truly just a good mood. He was smiling to himself in a context that he understood alone.
Seungmin, on the other hand, was more quickwitted than he made himself to be. I knew he was aware of the tension, but he was in a decent mood for some reason. He was also smiling from beside me.
30% His animosity percentage lowered drastically from this morning.
After some more beguiling remarks were said by the other members, the MC began talking again.
"Everyone, did you have a chance to get to know your teammates?"
Echoes of "yes" came from the groups.
"Well then," the MC continued, "I will announce the theme for the second team match. Introducing... the 'Revisiting Hidden Masterpieces' project!"
He motioned to some clothed items behind him.
I nodded my head, knowing where this was heading.
"There are countless underrated masterpieces that haven't been able to gain much popularity for various reasons! You will be reinterpreting these songs and performing them in front of the original artists and the shareholders!"
Idol Inc. was definitely a bastard. In other words, they wanted us to make use of songs that were decent enough to be considered a hit. With that, they would save costs on songwriting and make money off the remakes.
While I thought this, the MC flamboyantly pulled the black cloth off the table and revealed random items. Supposedly, they're the cherished items of the original artists of songs we can choose from.
"You have five minutes to discuss with your group! The leader of each team will then engage in a race to grab the desired item!"
There was an immediate clamor as participants began to decide.
I felt weight against my head. To my side, Seungmin was resting his head against mine. Before I could ask what he wanted, I heard Lee Sejin A's unexpected voice.
"Hey Moondae, which item would you choose?"
"...I'm not sure," I chose to answer. "What about you?"
Seungmin leaned over my shoulder to listen in.
The child actor glanced at him awkwardly before saying, "That DVD over there is a limited edition, so it must be from a prominent artist."
Another unexpected voice came forward.
"Excuse me." It was Kim Raebin. "I was thinking of asking Chungwoo hyungnim to bring us the most expensive-looking item. What do you think about this?"
"Why is he asking me?"
I was conflicted by these strange conversations, but I nodded and answered honestly, "That sounds like a good strategy."
Kim Raebin seemed content with my answer. He rambled about his theory of how the more costly something is, the better the chances of the owner being a successful person.
He ran off to tell Ryu Chungwoo, who was standing by the racing line, about the plan.
Seungmin again bumped his head on mine.
"Everyone is asking hyung because you're so smart," he murmured in a low voice. On his face was a smile, so anyone who saw us talking would think it was just an ordinary conversation.
This punk somehow always knows what I'm thinking. As I thought, he's a lot smarter than he makes himself look. Does that have to do with his status abnormality of 'Sealed truths?"
Anyway, Ryu Chungwoo lived up to his name as a previous national archery team member--he was the first out of the other leaders to grab something.
"Guys," he said with a proud look, "this is a baseball signed by the player Ryu Wanbeom!"
Ryu Wanbeom was a famous hitter who made it to the Major League, so everyone was surprised to see such an important signature.
Cha Eugene immediately asked, "How did you know?"
"I watch baseball, so I recognized it right away," Chungwoo chuckled.
There was a good atmosphere amongst our team with the satisfaction of getting a good item.
But it didn't last long.
The owner of the baseball was revealed to be Lee Chanwoo, the vocalist of an idol band that no one knew of.
"Who is that?" Seungmin whispered close to my ear. Because he wasn't familiar with the entertainment world, he must have thought it was someone only he didn't know.
The owner suddenly declared, "The song I will entrust to you...It's <Burning Like the Sun>!"
Oh.
Great.
Everyone around me began to relax, saying they knew the song, and started to talk about the song with the artist. But I felt bitter inside.
I could already see the editing direction of our team. They would show this good vibe and immediately cut to two days later as a plot twist. The outlook of our team wasn't good.
And that was because that song wasn't suitable for an idol survival show at all.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
I'll be honest--the song <Burning Like the Sun> itself is great. As a typical 2000s rock band song, it's the anthem that plays at every baseball game when the idols throw the first pitch. When I was living as a data seller, I must have heard this song a hundred times.
But it's just an upbeat band song with a high-pitched key that doesn't even fit the cheerleaders' choreography.
In other words, arranging the song for a k-pop idol audition would be ridiculously hard.
"I need to pick a characteristic now. It'll be difficult to complete this without one."
Sitting against the wall during a ten-minute break, that's what I concluded.
At this point, this was my status window:
[ Name: Park Moondae ]
Level: 12
Title: None
Vocal: A
Dance: C+
Visual: B+
Charm: C
Characteristics: Infinite potential, I heard it's true (C), Look at me! (D)
!Status abnormality: Debut or die!
Remaining points: 1
There was also a pop-up window.
================================
[ Call of Fame! ]
You have successfully made an impression on 50,000 people!
Pick your rare trait <-- click!
================================
It's already been a couple of weeks since I received that pop-up. I got it after the first episode of Idol Inc. aired, and I ended up forgetting to use it. In fact, after the 3rd episode, I achieved the 100,000 people level and got points as my reward, which I used for my visuals stat.
I stared at the familiar roulette for a long time before clicking the button.
Thankfully, even though Seungmin was beside me, he didn't notice my actions. His long eyelashes were drooped down as if he were sleeping.
I focused back on the slowing roulette, which was landing on a silver slot.
"..."
================================
[ Trait obtained: Look at Me! (D) ]
People will pay a bit more attention to your actions.
================================
I wanted to curse the system out for giving me something I already had, but another pop-up appeared.
================================
[ ! Same trait found ]
Do you wish to combine 'Look at Me! (D)' (2)?
Combine <-- click!
================================
I pressed the button, and the system flashed a bright light.
================================
[ Combination successful! ]
Trait obtained: I Want to Be the Center (C)
People will pay quite a bit of attention to your actions
Charm stat will increase one level upon activation
================================
"...If it increases my stat by one, it might be good? Charm is the ability to stand out in front of the camera so..."
Before I could ponder it further, I saw Ryu Chungwoo approach me.
"Hey, Moondae*, I'm about to start our meeting soon. Is that okay with you?"
*Just a reminder, but everyone uses formal language with one another until they say it's okay to drop. Chungwoo doesn't have a title he needs to address Moon bc he's the older one, but he's still talking formally throughout!
He saw Seungmin dozing off and chuckled.
"Can you wake up Seungmin? I guess he's resting during break this time too. I'll bring the other guys over to the practice room."
"...Okay."
"So he doesn't just sleep near me, huh?"
I put a hand on Seungmin's shoulder and pushed gently.
"Seungmin, wake up."
He inhaled slowly like a childish whine before he plopped his head on my shoulder and started blinking.
20%. I suppose sleeping makes anyone feel better.
"I always end up sleeping when I'm with you," the black-haired boy muttered as he took his head off. "It's strange."
I stood up and waited for him to do the same.
"Do you usually not sleep during breaks?" I asked.
Seungmin shook his head and yawned, which was a rare sight. I think he only lets a yawn slip out when the cameras aren't rolling.
"I just close my eyes. Sleeping is different."
I nodded understandingly.
"So Ryu Chungwoo was wrong..."
The two of us walked to the practice room together.