Chapter 184:


    “Why is it zero?”


    I rubbed my eyes, thinking there was some error, but nothing changed.


    “Wait a minute… Where did all my points go?”


    I squinted my eyes and tilted my head in disbelief as a message popped up.


    [You cannot use the currency you have as ‘Cheon Ise (Lim Hyun-seong)’ because the service area is different.]


    What kind of logic is that? My head throbbed with pain.


    “Where does that make sense? I can share my fate skill, but I can’t share my currency?”


    [Currency sharing is not allowed for quest difficulty adjustment.]


    “Hmph.”They pped me with a huge trait score and then they pulled this? I wiped the sweat off my forehead and sighed.


    What would happen if I failed toplete the quest here? I felt a surge of anxiety, but the status window was silent.


    Why aren’t you answering me? I frowned and crossed my arms, staring at the status window that showed 0pt. Then, an envelope fell out of my pocket.


    “Oh, right.”


    It was the notice that the staff gave me before I left the audition hall.


    [‘My Idol Stage Season 2 Admission Notice’]


    It seemed like a bait to divert my attention from what really mattered.


    “So, what happens if I get eliminated in the first round?”


    Maybe they would make me restart. Or maybe they would erase my memory and send me back to reality without any information.


    As I was thinking of possible penalties, a message caught my eye.


    [Penalty for mission failure: ‘Eternal Wannabe’]


    “What did you say…?”


    The words that were never good together blinked and changed.


    [Penalty for mission failure: ‘Eter#$nal Wan(@#^na&%be[email protected]%


    ‘It’s a bit unsettling, but the only way to pass the first round is to do my best.’


    I unfolded the neatly folded letter inside the envelope. It had the instructions for entering the dorm, the filming schedule, and some other details.


    The check-in time was 9 a.m. tomorrow. I had to arrive at the set, the ◇◇ Training Center, by 7 a.m.


    ‘Where is the ◇◇ Training Center?’


    I took out my old smartphone from my pocket and searched for it. It was a youth hostel in the outskirts of Seoul, about 40 minutes away by car.


    ‘The facilities looked decent enough.’


    I didn’t know much about the first season of the girl idol project program since I didn’t watch it. But I heard that they renovated an old building and made it look morous, which became a hot topic. The same building was used by the male contestants in the second season.


    ‘Thanks to that, there were hearts, ribbons, and pink everywhere, making the male cast feel awkward on the show.’


    I didn’t care about the colors. I used a patchwork quilt with folk vige colors for 10 years without any problem as long as it was functional.


    As long as it was soft and I could sleep well, I didn’t mind if the bedding was pink or rainbow-colored.


    It was ufortable to live with other people, but any room I got assigned to would be better than this basement.


    ‘This… The mold is not the problem, but in the summer, water will really drip on my head while I sleep, right?’


    I needed to move in as soon as possible for my health. But how could I get there by 7 a.m.?


    Most of the contestants would use their parents’ help, but I had no choice but to take a taxi.


    What a pain. I read the letter carefully and luckily, they operated a shuttle bus from the station near the broadcasting station at around 6:20 a.m.


    I had to take the first bus in the morning to get there.


    After I finished searching for the transportation, I ate dinner with the ingredients left in the fridge.


    ‘…Why do I feel so empty?’


    I felt a bit regretful and wondered why. Then I realized that it had been a long time since I prepared a meal for one person at home.


    ‘When I ate with the kids, I always made enough for five people.’


    The soybean paste stew that I quickly made with tofu and potatoes was tasty enough, but I felt strangely unsatisfied.


    I should be used to eating alone. Why do I feel so weird after eating one meal by myself?


    Did I get old? Or did Cheon Ise, who couldn’t eat alone, influence me with his personality?


    I had a brief and unsolvable dilemma and then it disappeared.


    ‘I need to stop thinking and fall asleep quickly. That way, I can save some energy.’


    After I finished digesting my dinner with some simple stretching indoors, I got ready to go to bed.


    It was winter, but I could feel the dampness in the nket, the cold seeping from the corner of the wall. The smell of old wallpaper and mold was very familiar.


    ‘Wow… It’s been 20 years since I lived in a ce like this.’


    I felt like I had improved my life a lot. From being scolded for eating leftovers at the restaurant part-time job, to bing the CEO of a decentpany.


    I had no time to sigh at the achievements I made with persistence, and I ran towards the next goal. Then I suddenly became someone else.


    ‘Now that I’m a bit used to being that other person, they made me into a non-existent virtual Lim Hyun-seong.’


    Then I had no choice but to do what I had to do quietly again. As I always did.


    Even if it was unreasonable, hard, and frustrating enough to make me want to quit, I did my best.


    That was what defined me, whether I was Lim Hyun-seong or Cheon Ise, or Cheon Ise or Lim Hyun-seong.


    ‘I need to stop thinking and fall asleep quickly.’


    I fell asleep while looking at the stains on the ceiling that looked like patterns. It was past midnight.


    5 o’clock. As I opened my eyes to the rm I had set in advance, the morning of the people who started the day the earliest was beginning.


    ‘Ah, it’s cold.’


    I couldn’t just go bare-skinned, even though the pajamas, casual clothes, uniform, and equipment were all provided by the production team.


    I packed a simple toiletry kit, a towel, a change of clothes, a phone charger, and so on, and my backpack was full.


    Could I cook in themunal dining room there? It would be a good opportunity to appeal to the audience if I could, but the first elimination was based on internal evaluation, not external voting.


    I decided to focus on polishing my skills and strategy rather than trying to stand out, and quietly put down the cooking tools.


    I only brought the minimum luggage I would take when traveling, and when I arrived at the station near the broadcasting station, quite a lot of participants were waiting in line for the shuttle.


    [◇◇Training Center Shuttle Boarding ce]


    Maybe they were worried that extreme fans would follow or attract attention, but a neat sign was waiting for me, saying ‘My Idol Stage Shooting Site Shuttle’.


    Of course, none of the participants who were already affiliated with an agency were in sight.


    ‘Of course… They would move them individually for their safety.’


    The ones who were waiting in line here were mostly individual trainees who had no agency.


    ‘They all… Sorry to say this, but… They don’t look like anything special… Huh?’


    Among the faces that I hadn’t seen once in the 1st to 4th episodes, there was one person who stood out like a sore thumb.


    ‘Kang Yu-geon? Was he an individual trainee?’


    I was surprised and opened my eyes wide.


    The trainees’ original agencies were usually revealed only when they showed their prepared stages in the ranking battle that aired in the 1st and 2nd episodes.


    Therefore, if the participants who didn’t get a proper solo shot in the 1st and 2nd episodes weren’t revealed separately, it was impossible to tell whether they were individuals or from an agency.


    ‘If they had a solid affiliation, they would have been bombarded with publicity on SNS or their own channels even if they didn’t appear on the show, so usually everyone would know without hiding it.’


    It was quite surprising that a participant with Kang Yu-geon’s level of skill was an individual trainee.


    “…?”


    Was it because I stared at him in shock? Yu-geon, who was standing on the opposite side of the line that bent once, looked straight at me.


    ‘What… What do I do?’


    It was rude and weird to avoid his gaze, but it was also strange to keep looking at him like this.


    ‘I wish I could hide in a mouse hole.’


    As I awkwardly avoided his gaze, Yu-geon suddenly gave up his spot in front of me and walked towards me.


    ‘What, why are youing this way?’


    Did I look like I was picking a fight or something? I pretended to be dumb as I tensed up, and Yu-geon spoke to me.


    “Excuse me.”


    “Yes?”


    I was startled and answered, and the tension around me rose. I don’t know what it was, but it looked like he was in a fight. What’s going on before the show even starts? The same piercing eyes stabbed me in the back of my head.


    “You’re the 100th participant, right? The one who memorized the opening song’s choreography and lyrics in one go yesterday.”


    Oh, that’s why he looked at me like that. I thought he wasn’t at the audition hall, but he saw me through the screen or heard about me from someone else.


    “Oh, yes. That’s me.”


    As I answered in a slightly nervous voice, Yu-geon, who looked a little more flustered than I remembered, stared at me expressionlessly.


    Did he suspect that I had somehow gotten a leaked copy? The issue with the pre-contract that I had faced beforeing here shed through my mind.


    I couldn’t rx as I looked at his face for a moment.


    He asked me jokingly, with the same smile he had when we first met on the radio.


    “How do you learn the choreography so fast?”