READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 5
Chapter 5
I looked at the microphone attached to my clothes with a renewed gaze. From now on, I would have to be careful with what I said.
Luckily, there were about two hours left before the filter was going to be removed.
… Is this really a relief?
I couldn’t tell where this possession had gone wrong.
Ten minutes later, the staff started calling out the names of the trainees, sometimes one or two, sometimes up to five at a time.
The trainees, whose names were called, left the waiting room with nervous expressions.
My turn was much later than I had expected.
It was very unsettling to think that they would give a late order to an individual trainee without money or connections for no reason, making it more likely for other trainees to notice me.
However, I felt a bit better after taking a brief nap.
After getting some sleep, I found myself consumed by an additional concern.
I seemed to have solved the song part, but what was I supposed to do about the dance?
I felt like I could memorize the dance if I watched a choreography video from start to finish, just like with the song.
The problem was that my phone, the only means to watch reference videos, had been confiscated.
‘I can’t just do nothing.’
In such situations, doing something and failing would be less embarrassing than doing nothing at all.
In fact, I didn’t remember enough dances to perform immediately, so my decision was quick.
After waiting for another twenty or thirty minutes, my turn finally came when only a few people were left except for me.
“Trainee On Raon, please get ready.”
The eyes of the trainees, who were sparsely seated, turned towards me as I stood up. I showed a slight smile and left the waiting room.
Following the staff’s guidance, I received a sticker name tag that said “Individual Trainee On Raon” in large letters and attached it to my clothes.
Instead of going in right away, I had to wait in a corridor with a wall covered with mirrors until the trainee who went in before me finished selecting their seat.
With the mirrors there, I thought I might as well practice dancing during the break.
I glanced at the camera installed above and danced the dance I had been recalling in my head while sitting in the waiting room.
“Pfft!”
A staff member outside the camera chuckled at my dance. I didn’t falter.
It had been so long since I had danced that it was a bit clumsy at first, but at some point, my elbow angles started to come alive.
[Choreography: Dancing Catallena – Registered on the Choreography List.](1)
[ – Achievement for Registering First Choreography Received.]
[Choreography List]
– Dancing Catalena: 87.95%
I had no idea why my understanding was so high from the start. It was the first time I had practiced it directly.
[Tip! Understanding is influenced by the player’s experience, aptitude, and wisdom.]
For once, the system was creepily kind.
Summarizing it, intelligence increased the probability of memorization, and wisdom quickly raised the understanding of a memorized dance or song.
Of course, there might be other additional functions of each stat that have not yet been revealed.
Lastly, if intelligence and wisdom were too low, memorization itself was impossible, right?
[A simple analysis has been conducted. Intelligence +1, Wisdom +1]
This was truly creepy, but thank you.
But can’t you raise my charm?
[Here you go. Charm +1]
Loyalty, loyalty.
A little later, while I was diligently practicing my dance, the staff who had been dying of laughter signaled for me to go in.
I bowed once to the audience, who showed an enthusiastic reaction and walked inside.
Given how long it had taken, there was definitely something going on inside.
‘For example, a battle for the top spot.’
As I entered the set with intense and dazzling red lights, a subtly tense atmosphere filled the air, as expected.
As I walked onto the stage, more than 90 trainees stood up and greeted me sporadically with, “Hello!”
“Hello.”
I also bowed and greeted them. I saw the trainees sitting down again, whispering to each other while looking at me.
The set was structured like a pyramid, with high-ranking seats placed higher up.
The throne-like first-place seat made of red velvet was at the highest point, and the seats for the 90th to 100th places were on the lowest level.
Apart from everything else, the heart-shaped backrests of the seats were somewhat burdensome. Especially the first-place seat.
At that moment, the electronic display that had been indicating I was an individual trainee changed.
What appeared next was my profile photo and name, and…
[On Raon – Predicted Rank: 100th]
It seemed to show the rank one expected for oneself.
Does that mean I’m 100th out of 100 people? Not 10, but 100?
This response was so humble it raised doubts about my willingness to participate.
Everyone started looking at me with eyes that seemed to ask, ‘What is this?’
‘Even if you look at it that way, I have nothing to say because it wasn’t me who did it.’
I crossed the pyramid set with a calm expression as if I hadn’t seen it.
Since the seats from 1st to 91st were all taken, I decided to sit in the 92nd seat. I didn’t have to sit in the 1st seat just to stand out…
[Quest Item: 92nd Seat
▶ It’s the 92nd seat. It looks uncomfortable. Fatigue +9 every hour.]
“……”
Are you kidding me? The filming would take at least half a day. If I sat here, wouldn’t I be carried out when it was over?
Just in case, I checked other seats, but all the seats in the 90s were the same. The seats in the 80s accumulated fatigue at 8 per hour.
This was practically the system subtly suggesting I should take the first place.
Surrendering to the system’s coercion, I went up the stairs, leaving behind the trainee sitting in the 91st seat.
As I walked up the central stairs without stopping until the end, the trainees murmured, “Ohhh.”
Some even checked the predicted rank of 100th still displayed on the screen again.
“He’s going.”
“Wow. He’s going to the 1st place.”
Some trainees stood up from their seats, preparing to watch me from a little distance.
Oh Hyunjin of True Entertainment, who was sitting in the 1st place seat, got up with a subtle smile as it became clear that I was heading towards him.
Even though sitting in the 1st place seat didn’t mean being 1st place, this guy’s polygon was no ordinary one. I meant he was sleekly handsome.
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
Oh Hyunjin and my faces were magnified on both sides of the electronic display.
While waiting endlessly earlier, the staff explained that all seats were on a first-come, first-served basis, except for the 1st place seat, which could be changed.
As long as both agreed, any method was fine.
Wait a minute, could someone like me, with no stats over 20, win at anything?
No matter how I thought about it, there seemed to be nothing.
No, there must be at least one thing. Come on, useless intelligence.
“How about a manly arm-wrestling match?”
But before I could come up with a suitable contest, Oh Hyunjin took the lead.
With a faint smile, Oh Hyunjin stretched his fist out in front of my face as he said so.
What? What? Whaaat?
A second later, laughter burst out among the trainees watching us.
“What’s with that hurt expression?”
“It’s almost like the world has abandoned him.”
“This is going to get a really sad BGM.”
“Ta-da-da-da… Ta-da… Ta-da…”
I glanced at the screen to see myself making a very tragic expression in the face of a personal crisis.
And at that moment.
[You have acquired the trait 《Innately Pitiful》.]
[《Innately Pitiful》 – You look so pitiful that even passing dogs will pity you. People will find you pitiable, endearing, and harmless.]
[Tip! Traits are generated by the player’s actions in various situations and activate randomly.]
I can’t believe my first trait is this. And why did they even put it in Chinese characters?
“Oh no. I’m tearing up.”
Are you serious?
“It’s funny but sad.”
“Totally. It’s heartbreaking but funny.”
Are you all happy with my misery?
Then I’m fine.
I didn’t care about traits without roots.
I was so focused after confirming the information about the first-place seat that my eyes were practically red.
[Quest Item: 1st Place Seat
▶ It’s the 1st place seat. The more burdensome it is, the more comfortable it is. Fatigue -10 every hour.]
Instead of adding fatigue, it reduced it. This was today’s must-have item to recover my accumulated fatigue from the night. That was mine!
After blinking once to clear my greedy eyes, I calmly rolled up my sleeves, showing my mushy arm with a strength of 12 to Oh Hyunjin.
“What are you doing?”
“Isn’t it like showing off your biceps?”
“But there’s nothing? Not even a hint of a biceps?”
Exactly. As if proving why my stamina, strength, and agility stats were 10, my thin arm with barely any attached flesh was soft, mushy, and wobbly.
It looked like freshly made rice cakes, without a trace of firm muscle.
“Let’s do this, arm wrestling.”
The expression on the screen made me look even more tragic.
No matter how hard I tried,
not to look pitiful, I couldn’t help but get teary-eyed thinking about my situation—no money, no home, no stamina.
The trainees watching us burst into laughter. In this place, I was the only one who was serious. Damn it.
“Ah… What to do…”
“Watching him just breaks my heart…”
“He’s so pitiful. Just pitiful.”
In the atmosphere that had somehow turned in my favor, Oh Hyunjin’s expression turned slightly sour for a moment.
Could he confidently sit in this seat after winning an arm-wrestling match against someone with such a shabby arm?
If he forced the arm-wrestling, he would likely be edited as a heartless jerk with no mercy.
I might gladly accept an honorable defeat that anyone could foresee, but what about the trainee Oh Hyunjin?
Why was my defeat honorable, but his victory wasn’t okay? I didn’t know. Because I said it. Because I said it.
Actually, I didn’t say it out loud but only thought it, but still.
“I’m ready. Step on me lightly.”
I offered my hand with even more serene eyes, and Oh Hyunjin flinched back as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have.
While the trainees, who didn’t understand my desperate struggle in this survival program, rolled on the floor laughing and crying.
[Running away not because of fear but because of disgust. Oh Hyunjin has lost his fighting spirit and gives up the contest.]
“Please sit.”
“Huh? You don’t have to do that.”
Out of courtesy, I awkwardly laughed and declined once.
“No, please sit.”
[Favorability and Recognition System Unlocked! (Unlock Condition: A change in favorability of 5 or more at once)]
[Oh Hyunjin doesn’t want to associate with you. Favorability -5 Current Favorability -36]
This wasn’t a dating simulation where I had to conquer everyone, so I didn’t care much about favorability, but why was his favorability like that?
If he lost 5 points, shouldn’t it be -5, not -36? Seriously, this game is so broken.
“Then, I’ll sit gratefully.”
Hiding my true feelings, I sat in the 1st place seat amid enthusiastic applause from the trainees.
Ding-dong, various notifications about favorability rising and falling from random people popped up.
As soon as I thought it was noisy because it seemed never-ending, the notifications disappeared. How convenient.
[
Why are you ashamed?
I’m seriously at a loss.
(1)The link for the song Orange Caramel – “까탈레나 (Catallena) Dance Practice Ver. (Mirrored)