Chapter 134

Chapter 134

First of all, I’d gotten a pop-up I’d never seen before right after the first day of the concert.

[A Successful Concert!]

You’ve impressed the majority of the audience!

Audience size: 13,120 (NEW!)

Proportion impressed: 96% (NEW!)

: Pick a hero trait ☜ Click!

I’d also completed an achievement called The First Concert. This meant I’d been able to level up for the first time in a while.

So this counts as a concert and not a performance? It seemed that one-off performances and exclusive concerts fell into different categories.

That’s a win for me. My status window had hit a lull in activity lately, and it was nice that I was seeing new gains. This was my first level-up in a while, in addition to a new trait draw. The concert turned out to be fruitful in a lot of ways.

And it was fun, too... It wasn’t the sort of fun that the average person often experiences and it left a strong impression on me. Even now, thinking back to the concert made me giddy. All the lights, the voices, the heat of the crowd, the emotions... I nearly let my feelings get the best of me again, but then remembered my own reaction on stage.

I cried like a baby. Then the words on my party hat came back to me as well.

Sh*t. We’d made the hats ourselves, and there had been no extras I could swap mine out for. What was more, it wouldn’t have been a good idea to look like a bad team player on W Live, so I’d had no choice but to wear it.

Never again. That stupid “cried two days in a row” title would fall to the next asshole who joked about it.

“Beer for you, Moondae?”

“Yes.” I took the can Chungwoo offered me and chugged it. It went down smoothly.

“Good work, everyone!”

“Phew. We’re just getting started on our promotional cycle, but it feels like it’s already over!” Big Sejin said.

“Technically speaking, it hasn’t started yet. Our album releases tomorrow,” Raebin offered.

“The music video hasn’t gone live yet, either... That’ll be in thirty minutes.”

“Wh-why don’t we w-watch it before we go to sleep?” Ahyeon suggested.

“Good idea!”

Everyone seemed excited. I realized I might have to film us on my phone for a second time that day.

It’ll be our reactions to watching the music video for the first time, so there’s nothing to lose from recording it. I fidgeted with my phone, the latest model and protected by a yellow puppy case, a replacement for my old, cheap one. This particular phone had been one of the gifts I’d received for my birthday and ran on a different operating system than I was used to. It had taken a while for me to adapt. I liked how many features it had, however, and I was grateful to have received it. I began to sweat, however, by the time my seventh cutting-edge smartphone had arrived.

I own three of this particular phone. Making sure the gifts themselves were not identifiable in the pictures, I’d taken photos of the presents sent by the fans and uploaded them to social media several times already. But there were more than just smartphones. I’d received nearly every electronic appliance and luxury product under the sun.

They’re too expensive. The total price I would have to one day repay the fans for made me dizzy. I couldn’t let this continue. I was too busy to use all of them anyway. It wasn’t possible to show them that I was using everything, and continuing to accept them would be selfish.

I’m not even going to sell the extras. If I tried and someone found out, I would be burned at the digital stake. And that aside, I couldn’t just sell the gifts fans had sent for me to use.

I should make an announcement or something to tell them they don’t need to send any more gifts. I would only be feeding the trolls if I was the only one who said such a thing, so I would have to bring up the subject with the other members as soon as we were paid—now wasn’t the right time. Everyone was getting drunk, and even if they agreed now, they were likely to regret it by the next day.

“How do you like your beer, twenty-year-olds?” Big Sejin asked.

“It’s bitter,” Eugene said.

“It’s not sweet at all, is it?” Rabin muttered.

“H-how about you try this?” Ahyeon said, offering his own drink to the two who were finally of legal drinking age.

“I like this one!” Eugene said.

“Th-that’s good! B-but don’t drink t-too much... Whoa!”

What a mess. I decided that filming our reaction wouldn’t be necessary. We needed at least three more years under our belt before we could show ourselves drunk to the fans.

“Got any recommendations, Moondae?” Big Sejin asked.

“Tell them to just drink soda.”

“No!” Eugene cried indignantly.

Okay, then. Just keep drinking and pass out later. I opened a new can and activated my trait draw on an impulse.

I’ll get a B-rank trait at the very least if it’s a hero trait draw. I hope I can get something useful. It would be good if I could get Energy Drink again so I could upgrade it. The now-familiar slot machine appeared, and a mix of gold and platinum tiles began to spin.

[Unshakeable Morale]

[Focus]

[Cutie]

[No Further Explanation Is Needed (...)]

[I Need Empathy]

[Energy Drink]

[...]

A few names I recognized, accompanied by some I wanted to give a wide berth, passed by. Then the machine stopped. There was a ding as one of the few platinum tiles appeared.

There was a burst of confetti to accompany the A-rank trait.

[Trait: International Student (A)]

- I understand what you mean.

: +200% to your ability to learn foreign languages

What in the world is this? It seems to have been made to cater to job seekers.

The ability to learn foreign languages? Why not just let me automatically know a new language? Not even the status window could create something out of nothing, it seemed.

Well, there goes any hope of having an A-rank trait. I was about to abandon the new trait with a bitter smile when I froze.

Hold on a second. I cast my mind back.

Imperturbable. I’d abandoned it as soon as I got it, and a scandal about my past had erupted immediately after.

Govern Those Tears. I’d discarded that one as well, only to cry at the concert.

F*ck. Don’t tell me the draw gives me the trait I need the most each time… The ominous feeling I’d been having for some time now suddenly seemed to be looming closer.

“Phew...”

I need to keep calm and think this through. Why would I need to learn a foreign language? The only reason would be if we were expanding our activities overseas. Unless I was about to be kidnapped and sold off to a fishing vessel, that was the only likely scenario for an idol like me.

It’s about time we attempted to go on tour, I guess. Given that we had debuted out of a Korean audition show, we didn’t have as many fans overseas as we did in the country, but we did have some. Gathering popularity within Korea seemed to naturally give rise to interest from foreign audiences as well. In addition, our Onyx cover had made a strong impression on foreign K-pop fans.

Maybe they like that sort of thing. I’d sold a few fancams to foreigners who used a translation app to communicate with me, and most of the ones they’d bought had been similar in concept—they’d been hip hop-based dance songs with a strong beat and a powerful on-stage performance.

We don’t really focus on that sort of vibe, though. There were no hard rules, of course, but if we wanted to secure a foreign audience as well, perhaps it would be worth trying a few singles along those lines. Be that as it may, it was reasonable to assume an overseas tour was coming within the year.

I don’t think I’ll need an ability like this even if that is the case, though. I could speak English as well as any Korean college graduate—that is, I could communicate somewhat. Besides, we already had a native speaker on the team, Cha Eugene.

“Let’s drink more!” Eugene was shouting.

“Slow down, Eugene. I think that’s enough for you,” Big Sejin said.

“Y-you had too much!” Ahyeon agreed.

I stared silently. He was the only native speaker, and Ahyeon was the only other person who’d studied overseas. Together, they couldn’t have made a worse duo when it came to public speaking.

This won’t do. I decided to yield to the system’s lead. I didn’t want a repeat of the situations that had followed discarding Imperturbable and Govern Those Tears. It would be much better if I spent some time brushing up on my English until I could get a new trait. This meant I needed to delete one of the three I already had. The choice was simple.

[Trait: Words of Persuasion (C) has been deleted!]

I’d never used the trait once since we’d debuted. It hadn’t been activated when I’d persuaded the former director or when I suggested that Ahyeon go to therapy.

It has the lowest rank, too, so this is the one I should discard. Things were different now compared to our Idol Inc. days, and the tightrope act of team assignments on an absurd survival program was no longer a threat.

I checked my status window again once I was done.

[Name: Park Moondae (Ryu Geonwu)]

Level: 16

Title: None

Singing: A+

Dancing: B

Physical attractiveness: A-

Charm: B

Traits: Infinite Potential, International Student (A), Energy Drink (B), Catch-All Ears (A)

Status abnormality: Receive an Award or Die

Points Remaining: 2

The first thing I noticed was that my dancing stat had leveled up from B- to B without my intervention.

Looks like all that practice paid off. This was the result of the grueling preparations we’d done for the end-of-year performances and the concert. I would appear quite skilled now, no matter who I performed next to. And as for the remaining two points, I wanted to spend one on singing. I would still have one extra point, and my rank would go up.

I’d love to know how much of a difference it makes to hit S-. But it also might be a good idea to increase the amount of A’s I had to three by investing both points in dancing or charm.

What should I do? I considered for a moment, then made my decision after remembering an upcoming item in our schedule.

This seems like the right choice. Someone patted me on the back the moment I’d finished spending my points.

“Park Moondae, have you seen this?”

“What?”

I turned, and Big Sejin held out his phone to me. It was a message in the Moon Rabbit group chat, which we’d formed during the third team battle of Idol Inc.

[Ha Iljoon: I heard the concert went well! Congrats (crying face emoji)! I’m sorry I couldn’t go even though you invited me!]

[Ha Iljoon: I debut in April, actually! I couldn’t go because I was busy preparing T_T. Hope to follow in your footsteps! (person bowing emoji)]

Ah. Goldie #1 is debuting. This doesn’t bear paying special attention to, though. Just text him congratulations.

“Oh, wait... You didn’t scroll down.”

After seeing my expression, Big Sejin swiped the screen with his finger, showing a new message.

[Ha Iljoon: But as you know, Wongil is also on my team. If you’re asked in any interviews about your relationship with him, could you tell them that everything was straightened out?]

[Ha Iljoon: You don’t have to say you’re close or anything.]

I see. It seemed Choi Wongil would be debuting with him. Since most of the TeSTAR members had experienced Choi Wongil’s terrible attitude and it had all been captured on the show, nasty interviewers were more than likely to ask pointed questions.

No wonder Goldie #1 was worried.

Big Sejin shrugged. “What do you think?”

I didn’t really think much of anything. Goldie #1 wasn’t an attention-seeker or an idiot, and so he’d suggested that we just say everything had been straightened out. Choi Wongil had probably seen the error of his ways, at least to the point of keeping his mouth shut, since he’d apologized to me on the steps of the broadcast station.

“It’s fine.”

“Yeah? I feel the same way, to be honest. I’ll send a reply, then.” Big Sejin laughed and typed into his phone.

[Me: Wow, you’re debuting! Congratulations! (star-struck emoji) Of course, we can say that in interviews! It’s not like we had a falling out or anything!]

“I’ll just say leave it at that. You should congratulate him, too!”

“Sure.”

“As for the others... Uh, I suppose they’ll send messages of their own when they sober up.”

“Probably.”

He was referring to Seon Ahyeon and Kim Raebin. It was obvious they would need to be informed later, but they looked a little busy drinking and trying to keep Cha Eugene in check.

“M-Moondae! W-want to join us?”

“No thanks...”

Ahyeon spoke to me as soon as our eyes met, with all the enthusiastic optimism of a pocket monster trainer. I would avoid his over-enthusiasm for the time being.

In the end, however, I ended up joining them and even indulging in some wine. I didn’t think any problems would arise from the current situation—at least not until I came across a trending video on WeTube that was uploaded right before our first comeback stage on a music show.

========================

[Recording #2 of Choi Wongil]

========================

Just reading the title, this was none of my business. That changed when I pressed play, however. It was just a black screen accompanied by an audio track, but the conversation sounded familiar.

No way... I scrolled down to the comments, where someone had been nice enough to transcribe everything that was said.

- I wrote down what I could make out:

Choi Wongil: What’s it like? To have the entire world at your fingertips?

(Possibly) Park Moondae: (Sighs)

No...

Why am I in this video?