Chapter 183:

Chapter 183:

I stood up straight and looked at the judges. The first one to grab the microphone was a famous choreographer and dance trainer.

“First of all, well done. This is a new song that you performed for the first time, and I think you did a great job with the choreography and the understanding. Were you focused on remembering the dance and the song the whole time?”

I was going to say something that wouldn’t sound too much like an excuse on my part. But since the result was good, he interpreted everything in a positive way, like a flip-flop. I felt bitter in my mouth.

“Ah, yes. That’s right. I wanted to show you my talent.”

“Following the choreography quickly and accurately is not something that anyone can do. Even if I asked a professional instructor to copy the dance, it would be hard to do it with just one demonstration. You should be confident, whether it’s because of your hard work or your natural talent. I almost misunderstood you. Thank you for showing your courage at the end, Lim Hyun-seong.”

And then the next turn was passed to a female idol in her twenties.

“Your vocals and tone are not really that impressive, to be honest. But considering that you sang live without any MR or echo, I think you are better than most of the current idols.”

That was obvious. I was one of those current idols.

It was supposed to be a compliment, but it was actually a criticism along with the evaluation. The audition was over.

“Thank you for your hard work. That’s it for today. See you at the filming site tomorrow.”

With the farewell of the male rapper in his thirties, I got the signal that I could leave. Did I pass? I bowed my head and left the audition hall.

Although I didn’t intend it, the dance instructor gave me a very burdensome look of interest and support until I left.

‘Well... I’m glad I looked good somehow...’

The problem was what to do next. I had to check my stats. As soon as I left the audition hall, I was met with the sharp glances of the other participants who were waiting in the waiting room.

What’s wrong? Did I do something wrong? I looked around with a nervous expression, and they all coughed or pretended to be busy and looked away.

‘What, so lame.’

They didn’t have the courage to pick a fight with me, but why did they look at me with such a hostile expression?

The ones who were going to debut were already decided, and I was just a quest filler.

So it wouldn’t help them to compete with me.

As I headed to the chair where I had left my coat, someone suddenly put his arm over my shoulder.

“Wow! I saw you on the screen and you were amazing. I can’t even remember the point dance, but you memorized it all in such a short time?”

What? I was startled and checked the face of the person who was arm-in-arm with me.

Of course, it was a face I had never seen before. I vaguely remembered seeing him pass by during the My Idol stage run.

There was a number 24 proudly attached to his chest. Below that was the name of his agency, Light Up ENT.

“Who are you...?”

When I asked without hiding my discomfort, he smiled with a cheerful expression.

His dark brown hair was fluffy and soft, and his face was full of mischief. He looked like he was in his second year of high school.

“Me? Are you curious about my name? I’m Park Jun-ki from Light Up Rookies. I’m in second grade, are you my hyung?”

Was I his hyung? I was speechless for a moment, and then, with perfect timing, the status window appeared.

[Name: Lim Hyun-seong (Cheon Ise) – Age 19]

I was his hyung. I nodded and answered vaguely.

“Uh... I think I’m your hyung, yeah...”

Then he grinned and put his arm over my shoulder again.

“Wow! I’m weak at dancing, so I’m really jealous of the participants who dance well. We’re going to live together from tomorrow, so I wanted to get to know you better. Is that okay?”

I was breathless by his cheerful demeanor, which had no weight or distance.

“Do you have to...?”

When I tried to subtly get out of his arms under my arm, as if I didn’t need it, he held me tighter.

“Don’t do that! You were really cool today! I wanted to ask you for help when the lessons start, you know?”

As he said that, his eyes sparkled. Oh... I knew this course very well. It gave me a headache.

There was one in Climax, and I thought there was one in Floss too...

‘But seeing him run off and do something I don’t know, it seems like this course is not it either.’

In other words, I just had to be in the top 70.

It shouldn’t be that hard... right?

I had been an active idol for half a year, after all.

As my confidence was fading, three buses passed by in front of me.

‘But where am I supposed to go now?’

I wasn’t Cheon Ise, so I couldn’t barge into the Cheon Soo Group mansion. I tried searching for Jo Young Food on the internet, but surprisingly, I couldn’t find any trace of it.

How could that be? I had so many franchises and I was a legend in the food industry. How could this make sense?

I couldn’t believe it, so I kept searching on my phone, but the result didn’t change.

‘...’

All the brands were replaced with similar trademarks.

‘So, in this world, I’m just a plain... 0X-year-old idol wannabe.’

And I didn’t have any family to look after me, nor any outstanding talent.

With such bad conditions, where was I supposed to sleep?

As I grumbled at the status window, a translucent window popped up again.

[TIP – ‘Im Hyun-seong’s residence is in XX street, XX, basement floor 1, Mapo-gu, Seoul.]

Oh.

Right. That’s how it was. I finally remembered where I spent the last of my teens.

A basement where water dripped from the window when it rained and the floor flooded.

I vaguely recalled that it was near Ahyeon-dong.

‘It’s been more than 20 years since then...’

I had been successful for a while and lived in a warm and comfortable house. Even as Cheon Ise, I had a good family and a nice home where I could stretch my legs.

I checked the public transportation route to the address that the status window gave me on the navigation app and got on the bus.

“...”

The place I arrived at after about 30 minutes by bus was, as expected, a shabby basement studio that matched the structure in my memory.

‘I’d rather... live in a new dormitory than this.’

It looked like a place where no one could live healthily, with a terrible visual. As I hesitated, a huge refrigerator that seemed to have been brought from a closed business caught my eye.

‘Right... I also used a big refrigerator back then. I got it from somewhere and worked hard to develop menus at home.’

It was a strange room where my dream of being a food entrepreneur and my goal of being an idol were mixed up.

Thanks to that, I realized that this was not reality, but an artificially created ‘environment’.

On the way, I checked the schedule that seemed to have been sent by the production team through a group message. It was to start the dormitory filming tomorrow, shoot the footage for the first round of elimination for two weeks, release it from October, and broadcast the remaining participants live from November.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the first round of elimination was based solely on internal evaluation and judgment.

I don’t need to fight for quantity to captivate the virtual viewers, do I?

As long as I don’t attract unnecessary aggro and get eliminated automatically, that’s fine... Anyway, it was worth a try.

Even if my base stats are low, I have the fate skill.

As long as I keep using the sound source playback, I can act as the main vocalist and push through with my cheat...

With such careless thought, I entered the service purchase window and had to doubt the number I saw.

[Available points – 0pt]

“...?”

Am I seeing things?

The number that I had never seen drop below 1,000pt had changed to a miserable 0.