Chapter 8: The Enemy Is Close (1)

“What’s with this sudden emergency summons?”

Late at night, just after dinner, Go Jeongeun grumbled as he returned to the dorm at Lee Hyunjae’s request.

“Sorry. It’s something really important.”

“So where’s this person with the ‘really important’ thing to say?”

His eyes were full of thinly veiled annoyance.

“He said to call him once Ji-won hyung gets here.”

“What, so we’re just supposed to wait around? Where’d he even go?”

“Um…”

“He went to practice.”

“Practice?? At this hour??”

Go Jeongeun muttered like he’d heard it all now.

“That’s it. I’m going over there right now.”

No! That’s not gonna work. This is hopeless. Completely hopeless!

I glared at my creaky limbs, my eyes filled with despair.

How—how could I be this untalented?

I had checked my stats and rushed straight to the practice room, but no matter what I tried, nothing worked.

“You can’t just give me the face and call it a day!!!”

[We can also adjust your appearance to exactly match your previous life!]

Aaaah! Then what’s the point of being reincarnated?! Don’t push me any further!

No matter how much I fought with this annoying system, nothing changed.

No matter what I did, my vocal cords could only produce F-tier singing, and my limbs moved like E-tier flailing.

I thought maybe dancing was my saving grace since the stat was slightly higher…

Wait—was I always this bad?

I was supposed to be practicing in front of the mirror, but it didn’t even resemble dancing anymore—I was already facing away, unable to bear the shame.

“Why… why won’t my upper and lower body move together?!”

My body was strangely at odds with itself, as if the top and bottom halves were two different governments.

Is this because I come from a divided country? Did my body have a civil war while I wasn’t looking?

How did I ever manage to walk and use my phone at the same time…

As I spaced out and stared blankly at the wall, random thoughts running wild, the system window popped up again.

Go away. I’m not in the mood to talk to you right now.

I waved my hand to shoo it away, but it stubbornly hovered right in front of my eyes.

“I said stop bothering me already!”

When I snapped, the system window refused to back down and expanded right in front of me.

[Would you like to use the ‘Random Box (Advanced)’?!!!]

[Y/N]

Oh, right. That thing.

It was the item I got after helping Manager Woo with his “awakening(?)”.

Come on now, why are you getting mad? Look at this—what kind of system in the world has more punctuation marks than actual words?

“That’s right! I got an item for helping Manager Woo! Let’s try using that!”

As I played it up, the system window instantly shrank down to a normal size, and a red ‘Y/N’ began blinking.

Tch, such a patient little thing.

‘Still, thank goodness.’

Yes, this is how it should be. The protagonist should get buffs like this.

Helping Manager Woo achieve his super evolution—turns out that was all foreshadowing!

Feeling a wave of relief, I kept my gaze on the ‘Y’ for a moment, and a golden box popped out with a pop!

[Opening the Random Box.]

[…]

[…]

“Please… Please…”

Just one broken skill, that’s all I ask.

Icons briefly representing the effects of different skills spun in circles.

Some looked like they’d improve vocals at a glance, others like they’d make you dance better even with one eye shut—those popped up more than once.

Give me that one… please give me that one…

[…]

[Open complete!]

[Skill acquired: ‘Your Tiny Guardian Spirit’!]

Huh? What? Tiny what now?

[Summoning guardian spirit.]

Guardian spirit?

I only had a second to wonder before a glowing orb of light appeared in front of me.

Guardian spirit… There are guardian spirits out there that act almost like constellations and give you tons of buffs just for having them around. So maybe… there’s still hope.

I waited with a shred of optimism.

[Guardian spirit summoning complete.]

[Please take care of it with love! ♡]

And then—

The bundle of light that had been gathering suddenly burst apart like shattered glass.

But… huh? Isn’t there something off with this explanation? I’m supposed to take care of it?

In the place where the light had disappeared—

“…? Me?”

A small, tiny, and precious-looking version of myself—more precisely, a floating mini Kim Haram—was hovering in midair.

Should I call it a fairy? A doll?

Either way, it looked just like me, only cuter, as if I had been turned into a character.

Bow.

It gave a polite greeting.

Smile.

It flashed a bright smile.

…Cute. So, what exactly can you do?

[<Skill Info>

• Skill Name: Your Tiny Guardian Spirit
• Rank: SS
• Effect: Mental and emotional stability

This tiny guardian spirit will always be one step behind you, cheering you on.A presence that always supports me—could this be… family?]

So in other words, it doesn’t do anything. It’s just… cute. What is this, ArtXst? Why did I pull a beautiful piece of trash?

Why is the rank so high?

“Sigh…“

While I was sighing, the little thing—maybe I should just call it my guardian spirit—scurried up to me and waved in a friendly gesture.

[Nice to meet you!]

Ah, so it speaks through the system window.

…Well. Being pretty and cute is a form of value in itself, I guess.

“Whatever. I was a fool to expect anything.”

I mean, it’s not like this beginner-tier system was ever going to give me something amazing.

Isn’t there anything I can do with the abilities I have?

Right now, all I really have is money… yeah, money.

“Should I bribe the judges? No… no, that’s not a fundamental solution… and it’s unethical too…”

It just didn’t sit right with me. I didn’t want to succeed by hurting someone else for no reason.

“Hmm…”

As I sat there thinking, the guardian spirit toddled off to stand in front of the mirror.

What is it planning?

After hopping in place a few times, it started bouncing its tiny arms and legs, dancing.

And then—

“What the heck, why is it so good?”

It started dancing perfectly—the very routine I had been practicing even before the item draw.

After moving around a bit like it was warming up, the guardian spirit glanced over at me.

[I will teach you the dance!]

…That’s actually useful? You’re going to teach me?

I let out a surprised chuckle—it didn’t sound like a bad idea.

Perfect timing, too. I had no way of asking Choi Woojin or Lee Hyunjae for help.

“I’ll call you Soram,” I said as I stood up.

The support spirit tilted its head, a question mark floating above it.

“You look just like Kim Haram but smaller. So, small Haram—Soram. Is that okay?”

Calling it “support spirit” all the time felt a bit off, you know?

Soram paused like it was thinking for a moment, then seemed delighted and flew over to hug my cheek.

[I like it! I’ll give you 5 praise points!]

Why are you giving me points?

[Since I’m Soram, that makes you Dae-ram, big Haram!]

Uh… what? That’s lame. I think I’ll stick with just being Haram, thanks.

Well, lame nicknames or not, this was still a much better setup than practicing alone.

“I’m counting on you.”

Yep, time to think positive. Be positive.

I had this strange feeling that things were going to go well. And then—

‘This kind of premonition is usually a death flag.’

My long-dormant reader instincts whispered to me.
Sure enough, not even a second later—another disaster came crashing in.

Bang—!!

Of course. That sounds about right. Or does it?

The door to the practice room suddenly slammed open with a sound like a bomb going off.

“KIM HARAM, WHERE ARE YOU!!!”

The person who caused the explosive sound stormed into the room with rage written all over his face.

Excuse me, who are you? I don’t know a person like you.

Behind the furious man, Lee Hyunjae stumbled in, clearly out of breath.

Oh good, Hyunjae-hyung, you’re here. Please, Mr. Stranger, go talk to him instead.

But my small prayer didn’t even reach the edge of heaven.
The stranger locked eyes with me—and marched over with heavy steps.

“You little punk!”

Before I could react, he closed the distance and grabbed me by the collar.

I mean, I expected hardship, sure—but I didn’t think it would be this aggressive. Wow, first time in my life someone’s grabbed me like this.

“Hey! Go Jung-eun!!”

Lee Hyunjae shouted, his voice booming.

Go Jung-eun…? That name’s kinda pretty for someone with such a shitty personality.

At some point, Soram popped into my field of vision and brought up a system window.

[<Character Information>
Name: Go Jeongeun
Age: 21
Position: Undecided
Traits:
– Bullies the Weak, Bows to the Strong (Rare / Active)
– Bus Passenger (Common / Active)
– Never in the Wrong (Common / Active)
View Detailed Stats and Info (Open)]

I see it. I can see exactly what kind of person this bastard is.

“Go Jeongeun, let go of him—right now!”

Lee Hyunjae, who had run over in a panic, pried Go Jeongeun’s hand off my collar.

“Why the hell are you yelling at me?! The problem is this jerk doing whatever the hell he wants!!”

Ugh, his voice is deafening. It echoes in my skull.

“Hey, Kim Haram!!”

You’re younger than me and still speaking informally? There is nothing I like about this guy.

“…What.”

My cold tone pierced the air. Go Jeongeun flinched for a moment but quickly regained his bluster.

“You bastard, what’s this bullshit about you leaving the company?!!”

“GO JEONGEUN!!!!!!”

Lee Hyunjae rushed between us and stood firm.

“I told you—listen to what Haram has to say first before going off like this! Are you out of your mind?!”

“Out of my mind?! How could I not be?! If that bastard leaves, we’re all dead! I stayed in this goddamn shithole because of him—him! And now what?!”

Because of the height difference, even with Hyunjae standing in between, Go Jeongeun’s glare was still locked onto me.

“Say something, damn it!! Say something, you little shit!!”

He shoved Hyunjae’s shoulder roughly, annoyed at being blocked.

“Ugh!”

Hyunjae lost his balance and stumbled toward me.

Go ahead. Try something else. Let’s see what happens next.

“And you! Be honest for once! You only came here banking on Haram to carry you to debut on the damn bus, didn’t you?! Fuck!”

Seriously, what is this guy’s problem? Can’t say a single sentence without dropping an f-bomb?

Even Lee Hyunjae seemed caught off guard by how far this was going and couldn’t get a word out.

Go Jeongeun kept spewing his rage.

“And now what? You’re leaving the company?! You irresponsible bastard!! Hey! Say something, goddamn it!!”

Just a little more. Yeah, just a little more—keep going.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with my life?! I staked everything on this shitty company because of you!!!”

There it is. That’s enough.

You mortgaged your life to this company. That’s what you’re saying, huh?

“Go Jeongeun, you really—!”

Lee Hyunjae straightened up again and tried to intervene.

I appreciate the thought, but it’s fine now, hyung.

“Go Jeongeun.”

He flinched at just hearing his name. You’re already spooked from that? What are you gonna do when it gets worse?

“Yeah?! You bastard! You kept your damn mouth shut for so long—at least say something, fuck!”

Always with the “fuck.” You really are a fucking piece of work.

“You wanna die?”

His pupils trembled wildly.

“Wha… what?! Did you just say what I think you said?!”

“How much did you get paid?”

That’s it. I’m not playing along with your shocked reactions anymore. Not interested in listening to your whiny voice that’s more like a puppy yipping over a missing pink dress.

“W-what are you—! Answer my question, you son of a bitch!!”

“I said—how much have you been paid?”

I gently moved Lee Hyunjae aside and stepped forward.

Sensing something was wrong, Go Jeongeun instinctively stepped back.

“…Ugh!”

But I simply stepped forward again—twice.

Showing that kind of mercy to a worm like you doesn’t cost me anything.

“How much has CEO Jo been feeding you under the table?”

In this story, the first villain I’m gonna take down…Is you, Go Jeongeun.