TMMIB!

34

“You’ve worked hard!”

In the evening, after finishing the choreography coaching with Jin Dasol and the original song’s guide recording.

“Hey, Chunyong hyung. Where are you going?”

“I’m not feeling well!”

I hurriedly threw myself into the bathroom inside the dormitory room.

Because.

Ppyong! Ppyong! Ppyong! Ppyololong!

This terrible sound started ringing nonstop at some point.

“What was that noise just now….”

“Whose ringtone is that, huh? Chu, Chunyong?”

As soon as the sound started, the trainees’ eyes looking at me seemed like something out of a dream. No matter how much I denied that it wasn’t the notification sound I set, it was no use.

They just looked at me as if to say, ‘So that’s your taste….’

“No, seriously… what’s with the ringtone?”

As I grumpily turned on the darkened phone screen, a flood of messages from X cascaded down.

– X: Hey hey, how was the skill effect?

– X: I’ve never seen <Dance to Overwhelm Opponent> myself, so I don’t know the effect well; usually, there are more vocal skills

– X: Do you feel that you’ve changed? Maybe you won’t notice much since your stats have gone up?

– X: Earlier, Joo An or In joo was totally red-faced LOL LOL LOL It’s so funny, really living up to their name

I rapidly tapped the screen with my fingers, filled with anger towards X and exhaustion from practice.

– Kim Chunyong: Now is not the time to care about skill effects or whatever.

– Kim Chunyong: I’ve told you nine times already.

– Kim Chunyong: Change the notification sound ;;

– Kim Chunyong: When are you really going to change it? I’m so embarrassed I could die.

After a brief pause, X replied with sentences that always irritated me.

– X: I’m not embarrassed, not my problem (Merong) (Merong)*

(T/N:Merong Merong is the Korean equivalent of neener neener AKA 😜)

“Damn it….”

Holding onto my hair in frustration, I finally took a deep breath, realizing that no amount of anger directed at X, who only existed on the screen, would be of any use.

Right. The only way to cut ties with this guy was to quickly rise to the top of K-pop.

And right now, there was something more important than deciding whether X lived or died.

“If my feeling is correct….”

Withmy heart racing, I pressed the ‘Status’ tab in the app.

My previous status was a mess.

Dance, singing, rap, and even appearance and charm were composed of numbers more pathetic than usual around this time.

But while performing the dance break in front of Kim Joo An, I felt something change.

A feeling as if rising from the very bottom.

[Status]

Name: Kim Chunyong (Survival Program Trainee)

Vocal: 52 (55) (Idol Trainee)

Rap: 50 (63) (Idol Trainee)

Dance: 70 (84) (Idol Sub Dancer)

Appearance: 71 (80) (Handsome Idol)

Charm: 55 (75) (Idol Trainee)

[Skills:]

Idol’s Aura (F)

Dance to Overwhelm Opponent (C)

Will of the 6th (F)

“As expected.”

While not quite back to my idol days’ stats, there were noticeable improvements.

Especially in dance.

[Dance: 70 (84) (Idol Sub Dancer)]

When I practiced alone in the studio, even increasing by 1 was difficult. And now, I even had the title of Idol Sub Dancer.

If I keep improving at this rate, I might perform close to my original stats on the final stage of <Targeting Star>.

Not that it was the peak of my career stats, but still.

I rubbed the part of the screen where <Dance to Overwhelm Opponent> was displayed.

If it weren’t for this, I wouldn’t have been able to pull off the dance break in one go.

No matter how hard I had practiced the choreography, after about 7 years, it was inevitably a bit hazy in my memory.

However, the moment Kim Joo An challenged me, wanting to be the center, somehow the dance break moves naturally surfaced in my mind.

Although I was angry at X, it was a fact that the skill I had acquired ultimately helped me.

As someone aiming to be the main dancer, securing the center position for the dance break was crucial.

Whether it was Kim Joo An’s provocation or anything else, I had no intention whatsoever of giving up my position easily.