"Just in case, should I try drawing four times?"
Since the system's prank might suddenly make me grab the back of my neck, I'd better save 2 points.
Baekya summoned his status window.
Lv.7 Baekya (Synchronizing)
Appearance: B
Vocal: A
Dance: C
Charisma: D
Stress: 9%
Title: Genius Idol (Inactive)
Passive: R
Charisma aside, that passive really made him choke up every time he saw it.
"This is so cheap, and I still became a genius idol."
Baekya clenched his teeth, making up his mind.
"What are you muttering to yourself? Sleep talking again?"
Yuyeon leaned close over the sprawled Baekya. Hearing the voice so near his face, Baekya, who had been focused on his calculations, was startled and flipped over.
"Ughk!"
The sound effect was loud.
"Puhahaha! Why do you get so scared, hyung? This is hilarious."
Yuyeon, who had been sitting quietly, doubled over laughing on the floor clutching his stomach. Embarrassed, Baekya's face flushed bright red.
He abruptly sat up, smacked Yuyeon's shoulder, and blew out his nose.
"You gave me goosebumps! At least give me a warning!"
"Wow... so cruel. Getting goosebumps from such a cute younger brother."
Yuyeon made a sulky, hurt expression. Of course, it was a joke, but Baekya often fell for it, so Yuyeon didn't stop pretending.
Their new roommate, who had just been with them a month, was a lot of fun to tease.
It was the day Baekya first moved into the dorm.
Actually, Baekya had no choice in roommates. He had to use the bed that a former member had used. Of course, he didn't really mind. He only had one question.
"Jihan, is there any basis for how the rooms were divided?"
"Why? Don't you like this room?"
"It's not that. It just feels like the tension is weirdly different."
Room 1 members were Jihan, Yuyeon, and Baekya. Room 2 had Minseong, Yulmu, and Cheong.
The temperature difference was like seeing heaven and hell. Naturally, this was heaven and the other was hell, because room 2 had two tireless runaway locomotives.
Like Nayulmu and Cheongcheong.
"We just drew straws, right, hyung?"
"Yeah. If you want to go to that room, I can talk to Minseong hyung..."
"No?! I really like this room."
Baekya quickly put his stuff on the empty bed.
Jihan looked at Baekya's few belongings and thought.
From the start, he had sensed Baekya was the type who felt burdened by attention and preferred quiet. He didn’t know how such a guy had decided to become an idol, but the new roommate didn't seem bad.
"He seems a bit slow, though."
Of course, Jihan's instinct was correct. For example.
"Ugh...!"
He almost tripped while walking half asleep.
"Stress is critical... and steadily rising."
He muttered to himself staring into space, probably stressed from the murderous schedule.
"Raising a sunfish is this hard!"
Who knows what kind of dream he was having. He sometimes talked in his sleep, but when asked, he answered diligently.
"...What are you raising? Where?"
"Ehh? What are you saying? I’m a sunfish..."
"…Sunfish?"
"Pfft, you're a sunfish, hyung? Why?"
"If you knew, you'd be in serious trouble."
At first, Jihan and Yuyeon thought it was just sleep talking and answered, but the conversation got weird. That was when they learned Baekya’s sleep habit.
What was more interesting was that he remembered everything after waking up.
"Sunfish, are you awake?"
Jihan's careless morning greeting made Baekya (the real sunfish/18) stop breathing.
His face went pale. Cheong, passing by, freaked out saying Baekya wasn’t breathing, and Yulmu ran over and slapped his back telling him to breathe. Only then did Baekya exhale.
"W-Why am I a sunfish!"
When embarrassed or startled, he stuttered badly.
Yuyeon, who came out late to the living room, asked if he didn’t remember his sleep talk, and only then did Baekya, realizing the situation, awkwardly pretended to remember the dream.
"Y-Yeah. I had a dream. A s-silly dream."
What’s worse, that whole day, he flinched at every word starting with “sun” (개, ‘gae’). Jihan and Yuyeon’s eyes sparkled with curiosity watching Baekya.
According to Cheong, Yuyeon was the ‘con artist,’ and according to Yulmu, Jihan was the ‘quiet lunatic.’ Baekya alone was unaware that everyone else knew he had really drawn the short straw of hell.
Early dawn in front of Days’ dorm.
A white Carnival pulled in, and a familiar face stepped out: Namkyung, the manager coming to pick up Days.
"Did I come too early?"
Today was an important music video shoot. He had hurried and arrived earlier than expected.
Beep beep beep beep—
The sound of the door lock disengaging, and the front door opened.
Checking the time, Namkyung thought it was okay to let them sleep a bit more and headed toward the living room. It was still early dawn, dark and hazy. But faint light from the living room showed someone was already up.
"Who's there?"
Entering the living room, he saw a faint back. Judging by the relatively small size, the owner was probably Baekya.
"Why aren't you still sleeping? You need more rest."
Namkyung approached with a slightly surprised face.
"Ah, Namkyung hyung? You came early."
"Somehow I ended up coming. Are you worried because it’s your first shoot?"
Baekya gave an awkward smile and scratched the back of his neck. Though his face was a little embarrassed, it was hidden in the darkness, so Namkyung didn’t see it. Taking it as a positive sign, he patted Baekya's shoulder.
"Just do as you practiced. You're doing well enough."
Feeling unexpectedly encouraged, Baekya felt guilty, as if he had deceived him.
‘I just got up early to do some skill draws...’
Of course, he was nervous about the shoot, but not as much as when drawing skills. He just tried to catch the time when everyone was asleep, so it was early dawn.
Since he was going to draw anyway, he wanted to use the chance before the day ended.
And the result was:
[Skill Acquired!]
[<Heartthrob Inducer (B)>, <Fluorescent Light (B)>, <Dance God King (C)>, <Stupefy (C)>]
He didn’t get what he aimed for, but there was some gain.
Lv.7 Baekya (Synchronizing)
Appearance: B
Vocal: A
Dance: C
Charisma: B
Stress: 10%
Title: Genius Idol (Inactive)
Passive: R
His charisma went up two steps.
Baekya glanced at his newly updated status window and smiled faintly. The new abilities <Heartthrob Inducer (B)> and <Dance God King (C)> replaced <Drunken on Me (D)> and <Dance Magician on Stage (C)>.
Here was the result of the recent draw:
<Heartthrob Inducer (B)>
: Makes the viewer’s heart go thump!
<Fluorescent Light (B)>
: Appearance like turning on 100 fluorescent lights.
<Dance God King (C)>
: A bewitching dance that mesmerizes people.
<Stupefy (C)>
: Makes the opponent lose their senses with deadly charm.
At first, reading the detailed descriptions, Baekya thought the two B-grade skills were related to appearance. Since they were the same grade and he was satisfied with his current skills, unless it was a top-tier skill, he didn't plan to change them.
But when equipping, he noticed <Heartthrob Inducer (B)> was under the charisma category. His eyes widened naturally.
This was an essential virtue every idol should have! It was true charisma far beyond just looking in the mirror and getting confidence.
‘Just by watching, it induces a heart thump…!’
It was a talent that could sufficiently cover his lacking dance skills.
‘As for the others...’
The <Fluorescent Light (B)> skill might make his face shine 100 times brighter the moment he chose it, and <Stupefy (C)> felt somewhat ominous.
What Baekya realized from experience was that the quests and skills faithfully matched the title they gave him. So it wasn’t hard to guess: there are many ways to make someone lose their mind.
‘Either by making them so happy they go crazy or the opposite.’
Getting stunned from shock wasn’t out of the question. And the grade was C. There was no need to hesitate over a higher grade skill.
Then the only thing left was a dance-related skill.
‘A bewitching dance that mesmerizes people...’
It gave him chills. Complete chills.
But Baekya had no other choice. It was better than a skill that just forced him to follow choreography like now.
After much thought, Baekya decided to change the skill. He hoped it was the right decision.