I Was Trying To Debut My Baby, But I Ended Up Debuting Instead

Chapter 13

The day proceeded similarly to the previous one. In the morning, there were vocal classes for each group.

In Class F, where there were more tone-deaf students than clumsy dancers, Hyesung sang decently well. Thanks to this, the vocal class passed without major scolding.

Hyesung diligently practiced the parts the trainer pointed out to improve, and as a result, she received a special reward: [Mission accomplished!]

[You have successfully followed the expert’s feedback for the first time. Your vocal stats have improved by ☆! Current vocal stat: ★★]

‘I would have accepted the dance instructor’s feedback too… Why aren’t my dance skills improving?’

It wasn’t that she didn’t accept the feedback from the dance class; it was just that her body didn’t follow her will, so she couldn’t perform the feedback she received.

‘Anyway, with 2 stars…’

It might not be enough to become a singer, but it seemed she finally surpassed the ‘average’ standard.

After lunch, they filmed self-appeal videos.

Since everyone had prepared the content of their appeal videos from the audition application stage, it seemed they passed without much difficulty.

“Hyesung, what did you do? Yeonwoo introduced herself briefly and spent the rest of the time making intense eye contact. She said the company told her to.”

‘That’s why she got scolded a bit. Though there were more positive reactions.’

“I just sincerely asked for support and worked hard…”

‘It doesn’t matter if such a video is buried. I’m more worried about the class evaluation broadcast that I messed up…’

In the afternoon, the schedule continued with dance classes followed by self-practice.

This time, Jade came in instead of Kang Min Gook, and seeing that Hyesung’s skills had slightly improved, Jade didn’t scold her too harshly even if she made mistakes.

“It seems like you’ve roughly grasped the choreography for the first verse, but can you complete it by the day after tomorrow?”

Since the re-evaluation was imminent, everyone would likely have to stay up all night.

‘It’s impossible to perfect this in just five days.’

In reality, it wasn’t even five days. Since they started in the evening of the first day, they had four days and a few hours. The evaluation criteria were to memorize and perform a new song and choreography, which they first encountered in that short period.

Hyesung continued practicing with the determination to stay up all night today.

After dinner, Kang Min Gook conducted a surprise inspection, and although Hyesung was slightly better than yesterday, she still got scolded.

‘I will complete this because of that man.’

She felt like crying out of frustration but held back her tears and repeated the missed movements.

‘Oh, right. I should use the Lucky Roulette!’

Fearing that a physical object like the brooch would pop out again, Hyesung pretended to go to the bathroom and quietly slipped out of the practice room.

“No one should come here.”

Hyesung looked around cautiously in a secluded part of the building and called up the status window.

[Use Lucky Roulette ticket?]

[Yes / No]

“Yes.”

[Spin the Lucky Wheel! Spin, spin!]

[Congratulations! You have won a ‘Lucky Roulette ticket’!]

“What?”

Using the Lucky Roulette ticket resulted in winning another Lucky Roulette ticket.

“Again.”

[Congratulations! You have won a ‘Lucky Roulette ticket’!]

“Again?”

It felt like scratching off a lottery ticket worth a thousand won and using the winning thousand won to buy another lottery ticket.

“Spin again.”

[Congratulations! You have won a ‘Lucky Roulette ticket’!]

“…Am I stuck in a loop? Again!”

[Congratulations! You have won a ‘Lucky Roulette ticket’!]

She was starting to get irritated by now.

“What are you doing, Four-leaf Clover? Again.”

Hyesung gritted her teeth and spun the roulette wheel.

[Congratulations! You have won ‘2 Lucky Roulette tickets’!]

“…Unbelievable.”

Hyesung took a deep breath to calm herself and spun the wheel again.

“Spin twice in a row.”

[Four-leaf Clover (Normal) activated!]

[Congratulations! You have won ‘Martial Arts Master’s Elixir (Normal)’!]

[Congratulations! You have won ‘Hidden Trait: ’!]

“Possession…?”

Regardless of whether it was good or bad, she doubted if this trait suited someone aiming to become an idol.

“The elixir was something I couldn’t buy earlier because I didn’t have enough points. Possession…”

The Four-leaf Clover must have activated at the right moment, enhancing her luck just before the roulette spun.

“Since it’s labeled ‘Hidden,’ it should be good, right?”

Hyesung was still haunted by the nightmare of .

“Let’s see the detailed information.”

[Martial Arts Master’s Elixir (Normal)]

[Description: Increases vitality and stamina recovery speed by 1.5 times and enhances concentration by 20%. Duration: 12 hours. Single-use.]

[Hidden Trait ]

[Possession a.k.a Divine Possession! Allows the user to imbue their stats with those of a designated target. Synchronization rate varies based on compatibility and stat differences between the user and the target.]

[Hidden traits can only be obtained from the roulette with a 0.381% chance and are of no rank. They can be used at the user’s discretion, and has a cooldown period of 180 days.]

“This… isn’t this really good?”

Hyesung’s eyes widened in excitement, swallowing her saliva. She looked like a thief who had discovered a treasure.

“I was worried I might have to perform some kind of ritual, but this is finally something useful.”

However, the cooldown period was 180 days. Once used, she couldn’t use it again until the program ended.

“I should save this for the competition. So, should I take the elixir now?”

Hyesung hesitated slightly.

“No, I’m not that tired yet, and I should save useful items as much as possible.”

She didn’t know when another useless item might appear and hinder her.

“What are you doing there?”

“Eek!”

As Hyesung was about to return to the practice room, someone suddenly spoke from behind. She turned around to see a trainee in turquoise clothes. A beginner-level trainee.

“I saw you talking to yourself, so I wondered what was going on.”

What’s with the casual speech? You’re just a kid. Hyesung found the trainee’s attitude slightly annoying.

“Just talking to myself. Well, goodbye.”

She was about to brush past the trainee when she grabbed her shoulder.

“Oh, sorry. I thought you were younger than me…”

“How old are you?”

“21. And you?”

I lived until I was 27. Kid. Hyesung couldn’t bring herself to say it.

“…19.”

“Then I’m older!”

The beginner-level trainee cheerfully put an arm around Hyesung’s shoulder. Despite Hyesung’s height of 165 cm, the trainee was much taller, making her look like a much younger sibling in her embrace.

‘Why are kids so tall these days… Oh, she’s that guy. The one from the modeling agency.’

She couldn’t recognize her at first because she looked worn out from practice and her tied hair had come loose, but she was quite a flashy trainee during the agency’s entrance.

Her name was Seongbin. With her tall height of 174 cm, distinct features, and especially her wide smile, she was an attractive trainee.

Seongbin made an impression during her entrance by wearing white suits with other trainees from the same agency and sweeping her long silver hair back, making her look like a figure from Greek or Roman mythology.

However, her skills didn’t match her charisma, which was a pity.

‘She’s worse than Lim Yae-in.’

Right after the class evaluation, Seongbin’s status window showed a negative vocal stat. Hyesung had been relieved to see that her own stats weren’t negative, thinking, “It’s possible to have a negative stat?”

In Supernova, which had five seasons, there were a few superstitions. One of them was that trainees with a single-syllable last name and a single-syllable first name would definitely debut.

There was only one single-syllable name per season, so the superstition had become almost prophetic. However, Seongbin was the first to break that rule by not debuting.

Conspiracy theorists speculated that it might have been influenced by Namgoong Seol, who had a two-syllable last name but a single-syllable first name.

Of course, that was before the apocalypse, and things could be different now. But looking at Seongbin’s negative vocal stat, Hyesung thought she probably wouldn’t make it this time either.

“Yes. Feel free to speak comfortably. I’m busy, so I’ll be going now, Seongbin.”

Expressing her indifference with her trademark vacant look, Hyesung tried to shake off Seongbin and head back, but her grip on her shoulder was firm.

“What, you knew my name?”

Seongbin said in an oddly excited voice.

What a bother. I’m really busy. Hyesung sighed inwardly.

“Your entrance was memorable.”

‘Who could forget someone who made such a grand entrance but had a negative vocal stat?’

“Oh, come on. That’s embarrassing. I remembered you from the class evaluation. That dance, I’d never seen anything like it in my life. That’s why I talked to you.”

Was this an insult? Was she saying she had never seen such a bizarre dance in her life? Hyesung was confused about whether she was using the noble lady speech from romance novels.

“…Yes, well. I see.”

“Why do you look like that? It’s true! That’s why I remembered your name and face and thought I should talk to you when I saw you.”

Seongbin seemed slightly flustered.

“Did someone say something?”

“You’re not mad, right?”

“I got an F grade because of that dance.”

“No, I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Anyway, even though you’re a ‘Beginner’ grade, I’m an F, so I need to practice a lot. I’ll be going now.”

With those words, Hyesung quickly fled back to the practice room.

“You expressed the song better than Strawberry Killer! Really!”

She heard Seongbin shout from behind as she ran away.

* * *

Back in the practice room, Hyesung pondered how to use the remaining time efficiently.

‘Judging by the atmosphere, it seems the trainees who will move up and those who will stay in F have been sorted.’

It seemed no one would move up to Ace yet. About five trainees seemed likely to move up to Middle or Basic. This included Na Yeonwoo.

Lim Yae-in would escape F, but unless she improved her vocal skills, she would only make it to Beginner.

Hyesung herself was still in a vague position regarding which class she would move to.

‘I registered the song as a chance this morning, and my proficiency is already at 21%.’

It hadn’t been six hours since she registered and practiced the song. With her vocal stat rising to 2 stars, her proficiency seemed to increase more easily as well.

On the other hand, her dance stat was still at 0.5 stars, and despite practicing for nearly 20 hours since yesterday afternoon, her proficiency was only at 12%.

‘To avoid being scolded by the instructors, I need at least 50%. Anything less will make me stand out even if I hide on stage.’

The schedule was very tight. After practicing all day tomorrow, the re-evaluation and signal song center selection would take place the day after tomorrow, followed by the first stage recording at M Space.

‘Who made this schedule so tight!’

Sitting on the floor, Hyesung was stressed out, pulling at her hair.

Her legs were tired from resting for a moment, but she felt an overwhelming pressure to not rest at all.

‘There are less than 30 hours of practice time left.’

She had overexerted herself yesterday, and she couldn’t afford to skip sleep entirely.

‘Should I take the elixir I got earlier today? It seems like a waste…’

She had to make a decision.