Genius Idol’s Strategy to Conquer the Entertainment Industry

Chapter 7

Oh Hyun-jin, who had glanced at me, went up on stage.

“He’ll do quite well, won’t he?”

While Oh Hyun-jin briefly exchanged words with the mentor group and prepared for the stage, Kim Joon-woo, who had been nervously mumbling lyrics under his breath the whole time, asked.

If he went out of his way to say that, was Oh Hyun-jin a famous guy?

I wished I could see other people’s status windows too.

“Wouldn’t he?”

I didn’t know anything, but I could pretend I did.

“Oh, you don’t know?”

Was I found out?

“When the trainee On Raon first entered earlier, before he came out as an individual trainee, it said on the screen that he was from ‘True’ before.”

What?

My mind spun with this new piece of information.

Even though my currently miserable intelligence was constantly being mocked, I was still smart enough to solve every puzzle game with a fedora-wearing professor without any hints as a gifted child.

Of course, like most gifted children, I grew up to be just average.

“‘Former True. Former True…’”

There must have been more than a few trainees who switched agencies, but if they mentioned the former agency separately, it seemed like True was a major agency.

And according to the setting, the player character had come from there.

I was having so much fun learning about the past of my character, which I didn’t even know, that I felt like dying.

The entertainment industry was a place where saying the wrong thing could be catastrophic. Would it kill them to tell us these things from the start?

I didn’t forget to smile politely and thank Kim Joon-woo for the valuable information.

“I didn’t know. Thank you for telling me.”

“No problem.”

[Kim Joon-woo feels a slight affection for you. Affection +1 Current affection +3]

It seemed that the affection notification that rang earlier included Kim Joon-woo.

Anyway, now I understand.

The reason my entrance order was so late.

The reason Oh Hyun-jin’s affection level was a mess from the beginning.

The reason I was placed right after Oh Hyun-jin.

I could see the PD grinning widely, having captured this on camera, after I pulled that stunt for the top spot knowing none of this.

‘He’s good.’

On stage, Oh Hyun-jin was practically flying, with only a slight exaggeration.

Even though he was alone, the stage didn’t look empty, which hinted at his skill.

It wasn’t for nothing that a major agency let him go. This was a perfect lineup for a debut.

After about a minute and a half of Oh Hyun-jin’s performance, a notification like this popped up.

[You watched the stage of a completed trainee. Wisdom +1]

I had stolen the top spot from a guy like that….

I had a -36 affection level with a guy like that….

I didn’t know what had happened in the past, but it was clear that something had gone terribly wrong.

I didn’t expect much, but I hoped there was no terrible backstory for ‘On Raon’.

While I was worrying about that, the mentors were in the middle of praising.

“You did a great job on stage.”

“You’re good. Why haven’t you debuted yet? You don’t seem to need to be here.”

“You have great strength. Because of that, you dance very powerfully. I wonder if you can still dance like that in 5 or 10 years.”

The last comment was from Muk Hye-sung, the sharpest-looking mentor among them.

Wow, I definitely needed to learn how to start with praise and end with criticism like that.

After that, Muk Hye-sung continued with detailed and specific feedback.

I didn’t know how he managed to point out so much from that short stage. I guess you see as much as you know.

If someone with a soft mentality listened to those comments, it might be helpful, but it would also be painful for a while.

Perhaps because of this, Oh Hyun-jin’s face, coming down from the stage after being chosen by Han Ji-hee, was slightly stiff.

“Next trainee, please come up.”

Now it was my turn.

I went up on stage, receiving the routine applause from the trainees, and bowed at a right angle.

What is an idol? It’s about manners.

“Hello, I’m the individual trainee, On Raon! Please take care of me!”

“Your name is unique. Being Mr. On is unusual, but it’s On Raon forwards and backward.”

“I hear that a lot. It’s easy to remember, so I like it.”

I was suddenly grateful that my nickname was the bland ‘Raon’. If my nickname had been something like ‘Start_With_9’, or ‘Barking_Dog_At_Trolls’, it would have been embarrassing every time my name was called here.

Let’s be careful about our nicknames in case we get transported into games.

“You look great on camera.”

“Your eyes are pretty. Like a comic book character.”

Was this flattery reserved for the player, or did this unattractive face really look good on camera?

I turned my head to look at the screen where my face was being shown.

“No, if you turn like that, now you’re just showing the back of your head.”

The mentors and trainees laughed out loud at my foolish action.

Damn it. I needed to raise my intelligence quickly. This was all because my intelligence was only 11.

[Tip! The intelligence in the system functions independently of the player’s actual intelligence and operates as an autonomous ability. The same rule applies to certain abilities influenced by a soul from another dimension.]

Whatever that meant, telling me now was like saying I was stupid, right?

I quickly covered my face with both hands to hide it from crumpling in a rage induced by the system.

Hearing reactions like “cute” from here and there, it seemed like others thought I was just embarrassed about my foolishness.

Fine… Think whatever you want….

“And it says you were a trainee at True for three years.”

For three years? That meant I had been a trainee since at least 15. Longer than me.

“Since Oh Hyun-jin did so well earlier, our expectations are high for you too, On Raon.”

Better not. I’m about to be an embarrassment to True or Tree or whatever.

“Then we’ll see the performance you’ve prepared.”

The staff pulled the mic stand to the center and inserted the mic I was holding as if it had already been pre-arranged.

[Hello, world!: 76.31%]

‘Hello World’ was a song with a fast, refreshing melody that felt somewhat poignant and tender.

The lyrics expressed the excitement and strange fear of a child entering a new and fantastic world, coinciding with my current situation.

Of course, I wasn’t an innocent child but a thoroughly corrupted adult, and I was filled with anger rather than excitement, so I wasn’t sure if I could empathize with it properly.

The technical difficulty of the song wasn’t high, but if sung with emotion, it had the potential to earn extra points.

As the prelude I had listened to all night long flowed out, the surreal feeling that had blocked me from reality suddenly poured over me, cold and hot.

Then I realized that everyone was focused on me.

Wasn’t this what I had longed for as a child?

Damn it, my heart was racing.

‘… No. This is a game.’

As I forcefully stared at the names floating above the NPCs’ heads, my briefly shaken mind calmed down.

I lightly grasped the mic and sang the first verse.

The world fell into a brief slumber for us

I couldn’t tell, but

It dawned on me, seeing your face,

Finally, you’re smiling brightly

Having memorized it, I didn’t need to think about the lyrics to remember them all.

Not only that, I intuitively knew how to sing this song.

Even though it was our first meeting, I felt like I already knew you. We were so similar, like twins.

But we couldn’t stay together, and our brief encounter ended with a fleeting touch.

Your words spread out in a sky-blue hue, reaching me

Your eyes sparkle with loneliness

Let’s not let our emotions overflow.

Like special pebbles collected in a small glass bottle, like starlight gathered in a shimmering pond, let’s cherish them.

Embrace the precious dream you almost lost

Now, I’ll trust myself to you, and you can trust me

Let’s become stars and meet again

… It ended.

Maybe because it wasn’t a full song, it felt like it ended in a flash.

When the cool wind that had pleasantly ruffled my hair suddenly stopped, I felt a subtle sensation and bowed my head.

“Thank you.”

The trainees nodded and clapped. From their expressions, I could tell I did pretty well.

The mentors’ expressions weren’t bad either. Except for the cold and unreadable man Muk Hye-sung, who I could never read.

Was it thanks to the understanding level exceeding 70% after I muttered the lyrics to myself whenever I had a chance?

It was better than expected. Much better. I thought I would mess up, but I did well, and that made me feel bewildered instead.

If I achieved this with only about 76% understanding, what would it be like if I practiced more and reached 100%?

The increase slowed noticeably after passing 70%, so it wouldn’t be easy to hit 100%.

[Jenna has taken an interest in you, who performed her song excellently. Affection +10 Current affection +10]

Oh my god. Were you the original singer? I suddenly felt like I should be five times more respectful.

Thankfully, since the affection went up by 10, Jenna spoke in a cheerful voice.

“Impressive performance.”

“Thank you!”

Jenna simply said that and put the mic down.

Han Ji-hee, smiling, gave her an evaluation next.

“ First, there’s room for technical improvement. Quite a bit, actually. But because of that, it shows growth potential.”

Although I was familiar with the song and had a decent understanding level, it seemed my stats were low enough for such comments.

“It seems like you chose a song that fits your voice well. You definitely understood the song. You probably thought a lot about it. It’s difficult to perform this well in front of the original singer, so I want to praise you.”

Sorry. It’s all thanks to the system. I didn’t know she was the original singer until after I finished the song. It’s a game, so it’s natural not to be nervous.

Of course, I didn’t show any of this and just said thank you.

Anyway, it’s better than being criticized.

“The problem is you didn’t dance at all, so we can’t properly evaluate that.”

That’s true. I just stood there holding the mic and sang.

I didn’t want to break my concentration. In fact, while singing, I only thought about the song.

“But we can’t just skip it, right?”

The time had come.

[Dancing Catallena: 87.95%]

This Dancing Catalena was from a song described as one of the top girl group hits that left a significant mark in South Korea’s eccentric comedy genre.

The reason I knew this revolutionary dance was simple.

It was the dance I practiced hard to win the talent show at my first-year high school dance retreat.

Naturally shy since childhood, I initially refused to dance in front of the entire school.

However, I gave in to the obvious statement that my face guaranteed first place and the temptation of three spicy fried chickens.

I wasn’t even that close with those guys. I was a fool to fall for that.

What were three chickens? I should have at least gotten ten.

Selling my face for the paltry price of three seasoned chickens.

I regretted every moment I was a fool.