Genius Idol’s Strategy to Conquer the Entertainment Industry

Chapter 3

[Check the character information.]

‘Character information’

A hologram-like information window popped up.

｜Independent Trainee｜On Raon

Level: 1   Experience: 00.00%

HP: 50/50   Fatigue: 20

Stamina: 10   Strength: 10   Agility: 10

Intelligence: 10   Wisdom: 10   Charm: 10

Luck: 10   Fame: 0

Remaining stat points: 0

“Oh, this is crap…”

After muttering an overall impression, I started looking at it more closely.

I didn’t know why HP was necessary in a game like this, let alone fatigue.

Seeing stats that were hard to look at from top to bottom made me feel utterly hopeless.

Above all, a charm of 10.

There was a reason I was less attractive.

After that, the system briefly informed me of the basics anyone who had played an RPG before would know.

It said that thinking or speaking keywords such as character information, skills, quests, etc., would create a window before my eyes.

Just in case, I also checked for convenient features for users like a mini map, inventory, and cash shop, but no matter how many terms I tried, there was no response, making me feel deflated.

Thus, the first quest was merely a process to confirm that this place was indeed inside a game.

And it was a lousy one at that.

“Logout! Please!”

[Logout has been denied.]

“This crappy game. Why is logout being denied? Why don’t you tell me why I’ve been possessed by such a game!”

Though I didn’t expect a response and spoke as if I were crazy, I got an answer.

[It has been confirmed that you have agreed to the following terms.]

“Terms?”

[Article 11 (■■ Service)

The user of this game is considered to have agreed to the use of the ■■ service.
Even if the same wavelength of ■■ is ■■, if it is confirmed that the terms have been agreed to, the service will commence.
Any disadvantages arising from this process are not the responsibility of the company…….]

A long string of detailed explanations followed below.

I didn’t know there were such trashy clauses, but what could I do now?

As I regretted my past mistakes while pulling out some innocent strands of hair, a message appeared saying the tutorial had ended.

[Tutorial has ended.]

[Quest completed!]

“What did I do to finish so…?”

[Did you think it was already over? Life is real; there is no tutorial. From now on, figure it out yourself. Good luck(^^)]

Why is this system so cheeky…?

I had a feeling I wouldn’t get along well with this system when the reward settlement began.

[A small amount of experience and cash has been given as quest rewards.]

[Level up!]

[Stat points are available for distribution.]

Several windows appeared in succession, not giving me a chance to invest all my stat points into my identity charm.

Notifications that were off until the end of the tutorial seemed to be coming all at once.

[Data transmission….]

[Data conflict warn….]

[User recognition fail….]

[User recognition re-initiat….]

[ERROR!]

[ERROR!]

[ERROR!]

[ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!]

Countless error windows appeared, turning my view red, then disappeared in an instant.

In the meantime, there were a few intact ones, but I didn’t have time to read them. Geez, that scared me.

A clean pop-up window appeared in front of me again.

[Sync completed]

[Because of incomplete sync, some stats have been reset.]

Cancel. It wasn’t intact.

Reset, really.

So, was that why my stats were so low?

[Error correction process activated]

[Please choose one ability to sync with the main body.]

[Recommended abilities: Korean, Charm]

Wait a minute. Does something like Korean count as a reset ability?

Was it because I couldn’t speak Korean that I couldn’t understand the high school student or the person on the phone earlier, or read the text?

If I couldn’t read or understand, I obviously couldn’t speak properly either. No wonder my pronunciation felt a bit off.

Isn’t this difficulty insane? What am I supposed to do if I can’t speak Korean while living in Korea?

Unable to muster the courage to relearn Korean from scratch at this age, I chose Korean with tears in my eyes.

Goodbye, charm. Goodbye, handsomeness.

[You have selected Korean!]

[Advanced Korean has been synced.]

Then, the warning sign in front of the current non-functional fountain read smoothly.

Yes. I am Korean!

I felt a sense of relief.

However, the system’s tyranny didn’t end there.

[Main quest arrived! ]

I didn’t know who named the quest, but they should be replaced quickly.

[▶ Quest description: Having completed the tutorial, you are about to start the first filming of the Idol survival program ‘Pick Your Heart 3’.

Pick Your Heart gathers 100 trainees and lets the public vote for 7, and combines votes and expert evaluations to debut 10 trainees in a cruel, cold, and provocative survival program.

You are set to participate as an independent trainee. The first filming is tomorrow morning. Make your presence known in the first evaluation. Although you are a newbie at level 2 with all stats at 10.

▶ Confirmed rewards: Attention from trainees and mentors, a small amount of experience, money, accommodation for four days, a suitcase with some clothes and necessities.

▶ Penalty for failure: In the tragic ending, you freeze to death in the cold winter with nowhere to go. (Failure and refusal are treated the same.)]

[Y/N]

“?”

I rubbed my eyes and looked again.

[▶ Penalty for failure: In the tragic ending, you freeze to death in the cold winter with nowhere to go. (Failure and refusal are treated the same.)]

“…….”

I lost my mind.

What kind of extreme Idol training game is this?

As I let out a sigh from deep within, a breath like dry ice smoke came out.

The hand I had shoved into my pocket felt numb, and my ears seemed like they’d snap off from the cold.

At this rate, I felt like I was going to be the first idiot to freeze to death on the first day of game possession, so I pressed the accept button with trembling hands.

I was shivering from the cold, not anger.

Really, because of the cold. Damn it.

* * *

Barely accepting reality, I decided to spend the night in a 24-hour unmanned cafe.

With the money I got from the tutorial quest rewards, I bought a hot chocolate from a vending machine-like coffee machine.

Holding a hot chocolate in hand and sitting in an uncomfortable chair, my situation felt truly miserable.

‘To whoever, whether it’s the game operator or God, please send me home. A weak game addict will die if exposed to the outside air for too long.’

But this wasn’t an exaggeration. Due to hitting my head too hard initially or being in the cold for too long, my HP had dropped to 30 in an instant from 20.

What kind of insane balance is this?

If HP reaches 0 in this game, do I die? Does an Idol training game give such a horrible death to the player?

Terrified, I distributed the stat points given by leveling up into stamina, strength, and agility, 2, 2, and 1, respectively.

As a result, my HP increased by a tiny bit.

It was still a pitiful number, where it felt like hitting my head somewhere would drop it to 0, resulting in game over.

I had no choice but to leave intelligence, wisdom, and charm alone for now.

I’ll be handsome like before someday. Hopefully.

Suddenly, I felt incredibly sad.

Shaking off the sadness quickly, I decided to search for the program with the same title and name as the game on my phone.

Pick Your Heart. Shortened to PickHeart.

In reality, PickHeart was already an overdone Idol survival program that had lost its charm.

It was a brutal program where viewers voted to rank the trainees, and those with low ranks were eliminated, debuting the remaining trainees as a group.

Even here, it was already the third season, a timing when viewers would be tired of Idol audition programs.

Perhaps to differentiate from the flood of other programs, PickHeart 3 had introduced ‘expert evaluation’ with a goal of self-producing idols, according to an article I found.

There weren’t detailed specifics, but it wasn’t that they wouldn’t consider votes at all.

‘A system perfectly suited for manipulation.’

A bit more searching revealed many people questioning the results of PickHeart seasons 1 and 2, alleging vote manipulation.

Even as a game, it had an unnecessarily realistic aspect.

‘This is a definite case.’

Thinking of my favorite who might have debuted if it weren’t for vote manipulation made me feel bitter.

Anyway, in the game’s 2017 Korea, no significant issues seemed to have arisen yet.

The male version of season 1 debuted as UPon and disbanded after a year and a half of activity, and the female version of season 2 debuted as yoUs and was set to disband at the end of this year. Both were very successful.

Undoubtedly, it was the result of grinding down the trainees who participated.

And I was going in as a dirt-poor independent trainee.

I sipped the hot chocolate, which was too hot to drink at first. Maybe if I got some sugar in, my brain would work better.

[Chocolate is right. Fatigue -5]

Only 5? How stingy.

[On second thought, it’s so sweet that you feel like spitting it out, and you feel nauseous. Fatigue +5]

“Mi-, my bad. Sorry.”

I immediately apologized, but the system didn’t return my fatigue. It even reapplied the profanity filter I had barely disabled.

Bastard. From now on, you are a Cystem.

Anyway, the sweetness made my brain start to work a bit.

It’s not like I’d go and say, ‘Play any song!’ spontaneously. There must be a scheduled song or something.

I thought of checking my only possession, the phone, again.

In my files, there was a single MP3 file named ‘PickHeartEvaluationSong’.

This must be it, I thought, and played it immediately.

“…….”

It was a song I’d never heard before.

Listening to the melody, it seemed more vocal-focused than dance. I liked the clear voice of the female singer and listened to the end, and a system window popped up.

[Song: Hello, world! – Would you like to learn it?]

[Y/N]

“Huh.”

Is this the possessor’s buff? Am I about to walk the superstar path now, not squatting miserably in a 24-hour unmanned cafe?

If my guess was correct, I was willing to call Cystem the system again.

With a hopeful heart, I pressed Y.