The Gates Opened on the First Day of Debut Chapter 11

Yoo Sung had many fans thanks to his handsome face and outstanding dancing and singing skills.

 

However, because he caused problems with other trainees every time he prepared for a team performance, he also had many anti-fans.

 

I had also teamed up with Yoo Sung a few times, and each time, Yoo Sung participated in team practice to a bare minimum and immersed himself in individual practice. 

 

‘The debut probability of Yoo Sung confirmed through over dozens of regressions is 60%.’ 

 

Considering Yoo Sung’s visuals, skills, and buzz, it wasn’t a high probability.

 

However, Yoo Sung had never once dropped out in the middle of any of the dozens of regressions.

 

And even though he participated minimally in team practices, he always delivered a perfect performance.

 

‘It means high risk, high return.’

 

I thought as I looked up at Yoo Sung.

 

“What are you looking at?”

 

“Huh? It’s nothing.”

 

Yoo Sung said, frowning as if displeased.

 

I thought to myself as I sat up.

 

‘He’s such a jerk…’

 

Yoo Sung’s personality couldn’t be called good even as a polished lie. 

 

A suspicious and sensitive personality.

 

But because he desperately wanted to debut, he knew how to hide his personality when the cameras were rolling.

 

‘Hmm…’

 

I rolled my eyes and scanned my surroundings.

 

There were no visible cameras.

 

“Why did you come here?”

 

I said, hanging a slight smile on my lips.

 

It hadn’t even been 12 hours since Yoo Sung grabbed my collar.

 

There’s no way the resentment from being forced to join the guild would have faded already.

 

At my question, Yoo Sung, who had kept his mouth shut tightly, tossed what he was holding in his hand.

 

“Huh?”

 

I reflexively caught what Yoo Sung threw.

 

A chill rose from my palm.

 

It was a cold bottle of water, seemingly just pulled from a vending machine.

 

“Drink it.”

 

“Uh… thanks.”

 

Why this all of a sudden?

 

I was curious, but I didn’t bother to ask. 

 

Because I felt like he wouldn’t answer me properly even if I asked.

 

“I’m going.”

 

“Are you going to the dorm?”

 

“Yeah, you shouldn’t overdo it and come up too.”

 

Yoo Sung worrying about me?

 

A little surprised, I widened my eyes and looked at Yoo Sung.

 

Seeing my reaction, Yoo Sung smirked and continued.

 

“Don’t drain all your energy today and act pathetic tomorrow.”

 

“Riiiight…”

 

It wasn’t a worry, he was putting me down.

 

Sighing inwardly, I quietly looked down at the water bottle Yoo Sung had given me.

 

“I’m going.”

 

“Ah, wait a minute.”

 

I pointed at the water bottle towards Yoo Sung and said.

 

“Thanks for this. I’ll drink it well.”

 

“…”

 

“I also want to go up and rest… mm, but because I’m still lacking a lot, I think I need to practice more. Don’t wait for me and sleep.” 

 

“Why would I wait for you?”

 

Yoo Sung let out a scoffing laugh as if he found it absurd, then turned around and left the practice room.

 

And right before leaving, he muttered toward me as if talking to himself.

 

“I have a pretty nasty personality.”

 

“What?”

 

“…Just keep that in mind.”

 

I stared blankly at the closed practice room door and thought.

 

‘So what?’

 

Even Okada probably knows that Yoo Sung has a nasty personality.

 

I’ve regressed dozens of times, but people’s minds are truly hard to understand.

 

I opened the cap of the water bottle Yoo Sung gave me and chugged it down.

 

“Ah, I feel alive.”

 

Having slept a little and even drinking cool water, my head became clear.

 

It was the perfect condition to start practicing again, but there was something I needed to check first.

 

I walked toward the filming equipment piled up in the corner of the practice room.

 

‘It should probably be there…’

 

I skillfully moved some of the piled-up filming equipment aside, bent down, and peered inside.

 

‘Found it.’

 

A single camera lens was gleaming from within.

 

I pretended not to see the camera and piled the equipment back up.

 

Yoo Sung thought there were no cameras, but that’s a thought you can only have if you don’t know PD Jang Hyuksoo well.

 

‘The only place on set that PD Jang Hyuksoo’s eyes can’t reach is probably the bathroom.’

 

I reviewed the words Yoo Sung had just said to me.

 

‘That rude tone… Jang Hyuksoo will love it.’

 

He definitely won’t edit it nicely. 

 

There’s a high chance he’ll make Yoo Sung the villain and me the victim being bullied by Yoo Sung.

 

At first glance, it might not seem like it would be disadvantageous to me, though it would be for Yoo Sung.

 

However…

 

‘I can’t let that happen.’

 

A victim character?

 

This is worse than becoming a villain.

 

A victim character is a double-edged sword.

 

People sympathize with victims.

 

It doesn’t mean sympathy is bad.

 

Sympathy can develop into favorability.

 

The problem is that people demand victim-like behavior from the victim. 

 

A victim must absolutely never upset anyone else’s feelings and must be morally perfect. 

 

If the victim no longer acts like a victim, people start attacking the victim.

 

‘I can’t just smash this either…’

 

A radical thought momentarily crossed my mind but I quickly erased it.

 

There was a regression where I truly went crazy, said “whatever,” and went around smashing everything…

 

Let’s not think about that.

 

It’s not a good memory anyway.

 

But it definitely relieved stress.

 

‘Then there’s only one way.’

 

Rapidly develop the relationship with Yoo Sung.

 

No, make it ‘look’ like it has developed.

 

The future plans were established step-by-step in my head. 

 

*    *    *

 

Time flew by like an arrow.

 

All day long, classes, practice, classes, practice…

 

Today was the day of the last dance and vocal classes before the 1st evaluation stage.

 

The dance class passed smoothly thanks to the positive trainer, but the vocal class was a bit different.

 

“Chowol, you’re… haah…”

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

“It doesn’t seem like you’re slacking off on practice, so why aren’t your vocals improving. Hmm?”

 

I really have no idea either.

 

It wasn’t that my skills weren’t improving, but the pace of improvement was too slow.

 

“Forget it, fine… work hard. If there’s anything you don’t know, come to me… haah.”

 

“Yes, thank you.”

 

The last lesson wrapped up.

 

After eating dinner, I headed straight to the practice room.

 

From the first day until today, for a whole week, I had never once slept in the dorm.

 

I practiced all night in the practice room, and when I felt I couldn’t hold out any longer, I covered myself with a blanket I brought from the dorm and took a catnap.

 

Entering the practice room, a familiar face welcomed me.

 

“Hyung! Y-you came?” 

 

“Did you enjoy your dinner?”

 

“Yes! Korean-style rolled omelet is delicious!”

 

“That’s a relief. Let’s practice.”

 

“Yes!”

 

It was Okada, who had become my practice room buddy at some point.

 

After I helped him a bit in the dance class on the first day, Okada stuck to me whenever he had the chance.

 

He kept chattering beside me in his clumsy Korean, and since I couldn’t exactly tell him to stop, I humored him appropriately, and now he followed me around everywhere like he was my lackey.

 

Since it turned out like this, I decided to use Okada as much as I could.

 

“Did you practice your pronunciation a lot?”

 

“Uh… I c-continue to do it, but….” 

 

“…It’s okay. I’ll help you.”

 

“Yes, thank you. Hyung!”

 

As we talked, naturally mixing Korean and Japanese, Okada’s Korean skills improved quickly.

 

However, his pronunciation was still very clumsy.

 

‘Okada ruined the stat evaluation stage because he was bad at Korean… and he even ruins the 1st evaluation stage, the theme song performance.’

 

It was a fact that hadn’t changed throughout dozens of regressions.

 

This regression, I helped him with his pronunciation practice, but looking at the current situation, it didn’t seem like much would change.

 

But now is not the time to worry about others.

 

“Hiro, can you check my dance?”

 

“Yes!”

 

Okada smiled confidently and sprang up from his seat.

 

I taught Okada Korean pronunciation, and Okada taught me dancing.

 

Honestly, it was a transaction where Okada was at a loss compared to me, but Okada didn’t seem to mind much. 

 

It wasn’t just that he didn’t care; Okada really liked it when I taught him pronunciation.

 

I couldn’t figure out why he liked it so much, though.

 

“Hoo…”

 

Three hours passed since practice started.

 

We kept practicing without even exchanging light small talk.

 

Eventually, with my stamina completely depleted, I collapsed onto the floor, panting.

 

“L-let’s rest for just 10 minutes…”

 

“Yeeees…”

 

“If it’s hard, you can just go back to your room and rest for today.”

 

“N-no! I’m going to practice more here!”

 

I smiled, implying he could do whatever he wanted.

 

Only then did Okada, looking relieved, sit on the floor like me and take a rest.

 

‘Status window.’

 

With the 1st evaluation one day away, I checked the status window for a final inspection.

 

[Basic Stats

Vocal: D+

Dance: D

Appearance: B+

Charm: B]

 

Although Dance rose from D- to D, considering the amount of practice, it hadn’t risen a lot either. 

 

‘What should I truly do.’ 

 

There are situations where the charm stat works and situations where it doesn’t.

 

For the stat evaluation stage, I changed my song choice to highlight the charm stat, but for the 1st evaluation stage’s theme song, vocal and dance stats were more important than the charm stat.

 

Because the theme song, HUNT THE STAGE, was a song that demanded a performance of a much higher level than Girl Story’s Look at me now. 

 

In the case of HUNT THE STAGE, if my vocals and dance are a mess but only my charm stat is high, I would definitely get cursed at for being a talentless guy who just flirts.

 

“Hyung? What are you doing?”

 

Just then, Okada, who was resting beside me, spoke up.

 

I just rolled my eyes and looked at Okada.

 

“Nothing. Just thinking.”

 

“Y-your face doesn’t look good.” 

 

“Ah… tomorrow is the first evaluation. That’s why.” 

 

Hearing my words, Okada’s eyes widened.

 

Okada kept his mouth shut as if thinking for a moment, then carefully let out his words one by one.

 

“Hyung. Don’t worry too much.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Hyung, you can debut. I will…”

 

Okada said, looking at me with serious eyes that felt like they would suck me in.

 

It wasn’t strange for the kind-hearted Okada to offer comfort to me when I was struggling.

 

But having practiced together, he must have seen all my skills; does he genuinely think I can debut?

 

Okada, who hesitated, opening and closing his lips, barely managed to finish his sentence.

 

“I will… work hard.”

 

What?

 

Hearing Okada’s words, it was so absurd I almost let out a scoffing laugh.

 

‘What are you going to work hard for.’

 

Looking at his eyes, it didn’t seem like empty words, but honestly, it wasn’t something that Okada working hard could fix.

 

Right then, an unfamiliar notification sound rang in my ears.

 

—Ding!

 

[The sub-quest progress status has changed.]

[Please check the sub-quest.]

 

‘What?’

 

Flustered, I immediately checked the sub-quest.

 

[Sub-quest: Recruit Companions

Description: Recruit companions for a successful debut.

Companion Recruitment Status (1/6)

Success Reward: Gate occurrence postponed (180 days)]

 

The companion recruitment status had changed from 0 to 1.

 

‘What on earth is this…?’

 

Before I could grasp the situation, a new window appeared before my eyes.

 

[You have cleared a Hidden Quest.]

[Hidden Quest: Recruit your first companion.

Reward: 1 Trait Draw Ticket]

 

This actually works? 

 

I let out a scoffing laugh and stared at the translucent window.