Chapter 10: Be the IDOL

This is bad. What am I going to do…

Completely ignoring my anxiety, the van cruised steadily toward the audition site.

“Ha…”

Manager Woo, who had shown up at the dorm right at noon and was now driving the van, glanced sideways at me.

“Hey, what’s up with that guy? Why does he look like that?”

That guy? Wow. That’s a bit much, Manager Woo.

“Uh… He came in pretty late last night. Maybe he’s just tired.”

Woojin, sitting in the front passenger seat, responded to the manager’s question.

“What? Today? At dawn? Doing what?”

Sigh…

When I didn’t answer and only sighed, Hyunjae, who was sitting beside me, spoke up instead.

“He was practicing. For today’s audition.”

“Practicing??”

This time, Manager Woo turned his whole head to stare at my face.

Could you please keep your eyes on the road, sir? I’ve got a bit of trauma from traffic accidents. Think you could dodge two dump trucks at once?

“What’s the big deal? He just had to do what he always does. Why the drama?”

“Well…”

I felt like I had to say something, so I opened my mouth—but the words wouldn’t come out.

How am I supposed to say, If I do what I always do, I’m screwed?

“…I guess I’ve just been feeling a little stiff lately, so I thought I’d do a quick run-through and… yeah. Haha.”

Woojin twisted his body around in his seat to peek at me through the gap.

“Hyung, seriously… You’re amazing.”

Then he turned back to the front and added, “I really should try harder too,” which made a heavy sense of guilt wash over me.

“No, really… I’m not that amazing…”

“No, hyung, you are. Seriously. You’ve got way more experience than us, and you’re already great at dancing and singing. But you still give it your all every time. I really think that’s incredible. Even as a guy, I can’t help but admire you. I was so shocked this morning—when I woke up, you were just coming back in. It really made me reflect on myself…”

Lee Jiwon… Please stop…

How can someone sound so calm and yet so noisy?

Feeling even more mentally exhausted, I opened the system window for no good reason.

[<Character – Detailed Stats and Info>

Name: Kim Haram (Seo Jimin)
Dance: E+
Vocal: F+
Visual: A
Charm: A~D
Luck: B+

Yo! Looks like your dance and vocal skills have improved quite a bit after meeting a good mentor.
Keep devoting yourself to practice! And don’t forget—the grace of a teacher is as vast as the sky!]

“Improved quite a bit”? Improved QUITE A BIT??

All I got was a tiny little “+” at the end of my ranks, and you’re calling that “quite a bit”?? I still can’t even bend my knees and stretch my arms at the same time, and you’re saying it’s “quuuuite a bit”??

I’m mad. I’m really mad. And on top of that…

‘Soram, is this you writing this?’

Flinch.

Soram, who had been sitting quietly on the seat armrest for some time, finally stirred.

So it was you.

Fine. The grace of a teacher is important.

‘It’s okay.’

He did teach me properly. It’s probably just my own nerves making me irrationally angry. Haha.

Ever since Soram was “born”(?), the system hadn’t been sending me messages separately, which I found odd—but it seems he’s taken over that role now.

‘Maybe… no, never mind.’

It wasn’t something that would change just by mulling over it right now.

What really mattered was the fact that—stats-wise—I was still worse off than Go Jeongeun……

I’d thought maybe I could make something work with my traits, but…

No obvious breakthrough there either.

[<Trait Info>

Trait Name: Born to Be Idol
Grade: Special
Status: Active
Effect:
You were born to be an idol.
When you are an idol, you shine brighter than anyone else.]

…This one’s vague too.

[<Trait Info>

Trait Name: Even a Fangirl Hits the Jackpot
Grade: Unique
Status: Active
Effect:
Fangirling is your life.
Your blood, sweat, and tears spent in your fandom journey have finally paid off.
All actions related to fandom now influence the user.
Usage Condition: Must be someone’s fan.]

This one too—way too vague and unhelpful.

How am I supposed to plan for the future with such wishy-washy explanations, huh? At the very least, can’t you give me something straightforward, like “Dance stat increases by two levels”?

‘Soram… huh?’

Little So-ram was scribbling something onto an even smaller notepad.

Ah, right. You’re saying you’ll do it that way next time?

“Yeah…”

May your tomorrow always be better than your today.

How am I supposed to pass…

At this rate, the others will all pass and I’ll be the only one to fail.

Is it money, after all? Should I try slipping an envelope to someone and hinting I’d appreciate some help…

Just then, Lee Hyun-jae spoke to me from beside.

“Harama.”

“Hm? Yes, hyung?”

“Are you really worried?”

Well, of course I’m extremely worried about my future. If I’m the only one who fails, that’d look so awkward.

“Yeah. I am a bit worried.”

“…I thought so.”

…Why is he reacting like that? Did he secretly watch me practicing? Has he found out I’m the weakest link in this whole universe?

Hyun-jae seemed to have made up his mind as he continued.

“Don’t worry too much. Everyone’s going to give it their all.”

Huh?

“…What?”

Caught off guard by his unexpected words, my thoughts and voice burst out almost at the same time.

That’s not the problem here.

“The others are all good. As long as they do what they usually do, there shouldn’t be a problem today.”

Choi Woo-jin chimed in right on cue.

“I’m not even worried about Hyun-jae hyung. Honestly, among us, he’s the best after Haram hyung.”

Hyun-jae gave a faint smile at that.

“Who knows how many more chances we’ll get like this in the future. So I’ll really do my best. Don’t worry too much. It’ll be fine.”

His eyes scanned from Woo-jin to me, then to Ji-won, and finally to Go Jeong-eun.

“Let’s go do well. Woo-jin, Ji-won… you too, Jeong-eun.”

Woo-jin and Ji-won responded in unison, cheerful as ever: “Yes!”

But why the hell is Go Jeong-eun included in this? I already cut ties with that jerk the moment we met.

“…What a load of crap.”

Look at that, just look at that. First thing out of his mouth is a curse—how charming.

And yet, Lee Hyunjae just smiled gently and let it slide. He’s a saint, seriously.

…At this point, maybe I should just go along with it too. I really don’t want to see Hyunjae squirm in embarrassment over a giant misunderstanding.

“I’m not worried.”

I gave a bright smile too.

“Let’s do our best out there. All of us.”

Ha… what am I even doing.

Later on, we made a brief stop at a salon to get light makeup done.

‘Is this really okay? We’re going to audition for a different company, you know?’

Woojin asked.

‘Yeah. It’s fine.’

In the end, it’s all coming out of my own pocket anyway. It’s fine. It’s all fine.

The audition venue we arrived at was, surprisingly—

“Whoa, there’s a ton of people here.”

—really packed.

What is this? I thought this show totally flopped? Why is it doing so well?

“Manager Woo?”

“Yeah?”

“There are a lot of people here.”

Didn’t you say they were the ones desperate and happily accepted our application? They don’t look desperate at all.

“Uh… yeah, you’re right.”

“…You didn’t pull any dirty tricks, did you?”

“What the hell are you talking about?! Hey! I hate stuff like that!”

[The trait <Ambition of Justice and Righteousness> of Woo Taeyoon howls!]

Ah, right. He’s that kind of person.

Okay, that checks out. I’ll let that slide.

‘Then what’s going on…?’

A large banner hanging on one side of the hall caught my eye.

[Welcome to Be the IDOL auditions!]

Be the IDOL.

No doubt about it.

The most infamous flop of an idol audition program I know of.

How bad was it?

No, I just wrote this because I was curious too.

Does anyone know what those guys are up to? Where are they, what are they doing?

I asked the question, so please give an answer.

— What’s that supposed to mean?
— How do you even do that?
— LMAO hahahahahahahahaha

It was pretty much like that—just total indifference, their name recognition completely shattered.

They were in that state someone once said is even worse for a celebrity than bad attention.

All I remember is:

— Weren’t they all failed idols without agencies?
— Yeah, that’s right.
— So where did they go?
— What even is that?
— Ah f*ck hahahahahahahaha

Yeah, that’s about it.

It was a program that only gathered people who had no agencies or were about to lose theirs.

Still, it seemed better than ending up at Herb Entertainment, and I thought our kids had potential, so we chose that option.

But with this many participants…

‘What if all our kids get eliminated…?’

“Haram?”

I was staring blankly at the hall when someone approached and spoke to me.

“Yes?”

“You are Haram, right? Long time no see.”

Wh… who are you?

As I hesitated in confusion, Manager Woo spoke first.

“You’re PD Jang Yeonju, right?”

“Oh, hello. Manager Woo? The one who called yesterday?”

“Yes. Haram was really thankful to you back during Idol Training Center.”

That was the name of the survival program where Kim Haram had previously made it into the debut group.

“Oh no, not at all… I’m the one who should be thankful to Haram.”

He gave me a tired smile and nodded in greeting.

“Well, I’m a bit busy right now, so I’ll get going. Haram, good luck!”

“Thank you.”

PD Jang Yeonju was about to walk away quickly, but paused as if something came to mind and turned back to us.

“Thanks for coming.”

Suddenly? I should’ve been the one saying thank you, so hearing that left me completely flustered.

After PD Jang walked off a bit, I looked back at Manager Woo.

“Manager Woo?”

“Yeah?”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

He seemed to catch on and shouted in frustration.

“Oh come on, I told you there’s nothing going on!”

Tch. Yeah, yeah. Got it.

[Woo Taeyoon’s trait <Ambitious Man of Justice> shows signs of change!!!
Ah, sorry. I won’t say anything. What kind of trait even is this…]

A little later, the first round of judging began, and Manager Woo left the room. It was a program made for contestants without agencies, so having a company rep inside would’ve been strange anyway.

I sat on the plastic chair according to the randomly assigned number tag—

I sat down on a plastic chair according to the randomly assigned number tag.

“Hey. It really is Kim Haram.”

“What the hell. Why is he even here?”

“Isn’t this basically seal-clubbing? He’s seriously shameless.”

I can hear everything, guys.

It’s not seal-clubbing… It’s not… I might be the weakest one here, okay?

Feeling a bit bitter, I looked around aimlessly—only to lock eyes with Lee Hyunjae.

With sparkling eyes, Hyunjae gave me his usual gentle smile and a thumbs-up.

But—

Hyunjae, your thumb is shaking like crazy?

You okay? Are you sure you’re allowed to shake that much?

What happened to that confident energy you showed in the car earlier?!

‘What’s the point of having a calm face if the rest of you is falling apart?’

Just as I thought that, Soram popped up a new system window in front of me.

[A new sub-quest has been generated.]
[Sub-Quest – “Stabilize”]

Objective: Help calm Lee Hyunjae’s nerves.
Reward: Random Box (Low-tier)
Failure Penalty: Hyunjae’s “Luck” will decrease.

Now you give me a quest?

When I was begging for any stat-repair quest yesterday, you didn’t lift a finger!

Ugh… I’ve got my own problems—how am I supposed to worry about someone else’s…

But the penalty was too cruel: lowering the luck of someone who already had terrible luck.

I couldn’t just do nothing. I turned to look at Hyunjae again.

Puh. Puh. Puh. Puh.

Hyunjae tilted his head, confused.

Puh. Puh. Puh. Puh.

‘You. Can. Do. This.’

Puh, puh, puh.

‘Figh. Ting.’

Then I clenched my fist tight.

Sorry. This is the best I can do right now.

Hyunjae must have picked up on what I meant, because his smile suddenly looked much more relaxed.

Ding—

[Sub-Quest – “Stabilize” completed.]
[You have obtained ‘Random Box (Low-tier)’.]

That worked? That actually calmed him down? What a ridiculously easy guy…

I let out an awkward smile and turned my head slightly.

‘What the heck.’

A few lines ahead, my eyes locked with Choi Woojin’s. It looked like he had been watching that whole little cheerleading act just now.

But… why is your lower lip jutting out like that? You want one too? Want me to go puh puh at you too?

Unfortunately, there was no time left to cheer Woojin up.

“WHAT THE F**K!!!”

A loud curse echoed through the huge hall, instantly pulling everyone’s attention forward.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU BASTARDS ARE DOING?!”

It was Go Jeongeun.

“What did I do wrong compared to the brat before me, huh?!”

He had started causing a scene—again.