Chapter 9
“Hyung, should we practice more?”
“Ah, I’m going back to the dorm to rest.”
‘There are more innocent kids here than I expected.’
“Who’s going to the convenience store?”
“Me! I’ll go!”
The trainees from the same agencies mostly grouped and practiced, while a few headed outside.
In one corner of the practice room, the camera with its red recording light was still running.
‘Dancing is my biggest weakness right now, so I should focus on that first.’
I stood in front of the mirror and immersed myself in practicing the choreography for ‘Cheer Me On’.
Following everything I’d learned, I paid as much attention to the fundamentals as possible and let my body move with the rhythm.
‘The basics are always the most important part of anything.’
Before I knew it, my feet were burning, and the floor beneath me was soaked with sweat.
“Whew… Dancing really isn’t easy.”
‘My body just won’t move the way my brain wants it to.’
An overwhelming thirst suddenly hit me, and I looked up.
Sweeping back my sweat-soaked hair, I glanced around and realized the practice room was empty.
“How much time has passed?”
When I checked the clock on the wall, it was already approaching 9 PM.
‘I’ve already missed dinner.’
Grrr…
My stomach let out a sound that practically scraped the floor.
I’d already lost count of how many times it had growled.
“I’ll go drink some water.”
Eating dinner felt like a waste of time anyway.
‘It’s not like I’ve never skipped a meal before. Food isn’t what’s important right now.’
Thinking about where the water dispenser was in the hallway, I headed for the practice room door.
Click.
I turned the handle and swung the door open.
“Ah!!”
“Uwah!”
A boy wearing a cap pulled low over his face was standing right in front of it.
‘You scared me.’
“…”
“…You’re my roommate, right? What are you doing here?”
He always kept his head down in the dorm, so I wasn’t completely sure, but after hearing his voice, I recognized him.
He was the trainee who slept in the bunk above mine.
The gray-haired boy in the black leather jacket looked, in a word, like trouble.
‘He looks like he’d give people endless headaches.’
Gray strands of hair poked out from beneath his cap.
Combined with his upturned eyes, his appearance seemed cold and almost intimidating.
His sharp jawline and refined features gave him the classic delinquent look.
“…Yes, that’s right. I’m Seo Hayul. Um…”
His deep voice trailed off.
Hayul slowly raised the head he’d been keeping lowered.
“This!”
In his hand was a pink Heartping bread.
“…Huh?”
‘Heartping bread? What’s with this kid?’
The tips of his fingers trembled slightly. When our eyes met, he immediately looked away.
‘Why is he avoiding eye contact while offering me bread?’
“I thought… You hadn’t eaten and were just practicing. So… at least eat some bread before you continue.”
Hayul’s fingers trembled even more before he lowered his head again.
His exposed ears were bright red.
“Heartping…”
‘Surely he didn’t buy this because of my Heartping performance during self-introductions, right?’
Deciding I was overthinking it, I looked at the boy standing before me.
“I like Heartping too!”
His hand was shaking so badly that it looked like he might drop the bread at any moment, so I quickly took it.
“Ah, thanks.”
“Whew… Then good luck.”
Replying in a faint voice, Hayul immediately turned around and ran down the hallway.
“…?”
His gray hair disappeared around the corner moments later.
“What was that about?”
It felt like I’d just encountered a gray cat.
“I was hungry anyway. Perfect timing. I’ll eat it with some water.”
When I opened the Heartping bread package, a square Pputti-Pputti sticker popped out.
“I’ll give this back to him in the room.”
I slipped the sticker into my pocket and headed toward the water dispenser.
“This is the first time in my life I’ve received bread from another guy.”
For some reason, I felt like my thirst had eased a little.
☆☆☆
Time flew by, and before I knew it, the day of the theme song re-evaluation had arrived.
For the past ten days, I’d slept only three or four hours a day and devoted myself entirely to practice like a zombie.
At first, the staff worried I’d collapse and kept trying to stop me, but eventually they got used to it and even gave me a nickname.
Practice Machine, or something like that.
Still, looking at the results made all the lost sleep feel worthwhile.
‘Hey. Show me my status window.’
[Yes.]
—
[Status Window]
Cha Siwoo (20)
Appearance: A-
Singing: C+
Dance: D (UP)
Charm: B+
Stamina: B+
Ability: ???
Status: Paparazzi who regressed five years into the past.
Remaining Stat Points: +2
—
Ten days of blood-and-sweat effort had finally raised my dance stat by one level.
Based on everything I’d experienced so far, stat growth was much faster when an expert taught me rather than practicing alone.
And the person who’d contributed the most to my dance growth was my roommate.
“Has our gray cat arrived?”
“Siwoo hyung… Please stop calling me that!”
“Okay then, Hayul-nyang.”
“Ugh.”
Watching Hayul’s horrified reaction only made me want to tease him more.
“Your reactions are really entertaining.”
“Ah… Hyung! Seriously, stop!”
His cheeks turned red, and I couldn’t help laughing.
‘If I push him any further, he’ll probably sulk.’
After giving him the Pputti-Pputti sticker from the Heartping bread, we’d somehow started practicing together.
Since we were roommates and in the same grade tier, our schedules naturally overlapped.
More importantly, Hayul had been a trainee for three years and kept giving me feedback on my dancing, which steadily improved my skills.
Somehow, I’d ended up with both dance coaching and the B-rank alliance that Park Sugyeok had suggested.
‘What a good kid.’
Unlike his appearance, Seo Hayul was a shy, well-behaved teenager who liked Heartping.
I was enjoying the reactions of my gray cat when a staff member who had finished setting up cameras stepped onto the stage.
“The intermediate evaluation performance will begin in fifty minutes. Once you’ve finished makeup, please sit in your designated rank sections and wait.”
“Yes!”
Hayul and I headed to the makeup room.
The place was as chaotic as a battlefield.
The makeup artist I’d met before spotted me and immediately grabbed my wrist.
“Cha Siwoo!”
“Oh?! Hello!”
I bowed ninety degrees out of habit, and she smiled.
“Nice to see you. I’ve actually been waiting for you. Come over here.”
“Ah… Yes! Of course.”
Following her guidance, I sat in an empty chair.
“Just trust me, okay?”
“Of course. You did an amazing job last time. I trust you completely!”
“Siwoo, you really know how to talk. Fine! Today I’ll show you what real makeup looks like.”
“Yes! Thank you!”
The makeup artist immediately threw herself into the task with burning determination.
Her brush strokes were even more careful than before.
At the end, she applied some kind of sparkling cosmetic around my eyes.
Large glitter particles reflected the light, making the area shimmer.
“The highlight is the glitter shadow! Your eyes are your strongest feature, so I added a bold sparkling accent. Pretty, right?”
The bright face staring back at me from the mirror still felt unfamiliar.
‘Is that really me?’
The power of makeup was incredible.
“Yes, you’re really talented!”
“Oh my! You really do have a way with words. I’m glad you like it. Make sure you come back to me next time too!”
“Yes, thank you!”
After bowing again, I followed a staff member to the seating area for the B-rank trainees.
The trainees wearing Star Picking 5’s signature school uniforms sat in perfect posture according to rank.
‘I’m sitting here wearing a school uniform among actual kids…’
My conscience still stabbed at me occasionally, but there was nothing I could do.
It was time to get used to flashy makeup and school uniforms.
Suppressing the awkwardness, I looked around and spotted Hayul, who had already arrived.
‘Guess I’ll sit over there.’
As I approached the seat beside him, I felt a sharp gaze from the diagonal row.
‘…?’
Looking up, I saw Park Sugyeok glaring at me with nostrils flaring and eyes practically on fire.
‘What are you looking at?’
Since I was wearing a microphone, I mouthed the words silently.
Unable to contain his joy, Sugyeok immediately turned his head away.
‘What a shy guy.’
I finally sat beside Hayul.
Bright lights poured onto the stage.
The familiar opening music echoed through the speakers.
Just seeing Yoo Haein again after ten days instantly quieted the previously noisy venue.
“Trainees of Star Picking 5, it’s been a while. Have you all been doing well?”
“Yes!”
“Have you been practicing hard?”
“Of course!”
“Yes!”
Yoo Haein lifted her cue cards and began the opening remarks.
‘System.’
[Yes.]
The familiar translucent blue window appeared before my eyes.
I needed to spend my stat points before the evaluation started.
‘Let’s raise my stats.’
[Have you finally decided what to upgrade?]
‘Yeah. A real man goes all in.’
Although my singing and dance stats had naturally increased through ten days of training, they were still nowhere near enough to reach A-rank.
That made the decision easy.
‘Put everything into dance!’
If I were going to become an idol where dance and performance mattered most, I couldn’t keep being called a robot forever.
‘I need to raise my weakest stat to at least a decent baseline if I want a chance at A-rank.’
Besides, a Practice Machine trainee who couldn’t dance, suddenly showing dramatic improvement, would make for a great storyline.
And survival shows loved growth narratives.
[Applying all reward stat points to Dance.]
Ding.
—
[Status Window]
Cha Siwoo (20)
Appearance: A-
Singing: C+
Dance: C- (UP)
Charm: B+
Stamina: B+
Ability: ???
Status: Paparazzi who regressed five years into the past.
—
‘Now that’s much more respectable.’
Compared to where I’d started, the growth was dramatic.
‘I really do work hard, don’t I?’
“Now then, we will begin the official theme song rank evaluation.”
As Yoo Haein flipped to the next cue card and gestured, the black curtain covering the back of the stage slowly began to rise.
Rrrrrrr.
With the sound of heavy machinery, the curtain rolled upward toward the ceiling, revealing the figures hidden behind it one by one.
Under dazzling lights, the judges who had already been seated on stage waved to the trainees.
After the brief introductions concluded, Judge Park Chaeyoung picked up the microphone resting on the table.
“Trainees, you’ve worked hard practicing for the past ten days.”
The dance judge also raised his microphone.
“You’ve practiced hard, so I hope you show everything you’ve got on stage.”
Once all four judges had spoken, Yoo Haein flipped to the final cue card.
“The order for today’s evaluation will begin with the A-rank trainees.”
“…!”
The venue immediately erupted in surprise.
Up until now, every season of Star Picking has evaluated the lowest-ranked trainees first.
‘Why the sudden change?’
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