Chapter 10: Monthly Evaluation (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 10: Monthly Evaluation (1)
The days were busy enough with just practice, but there was so much else to take care of.
The most prominent task was the monthly evaluation. Conveniently, a new task related to the evaluation was assigned.
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[SYSTEM] A ‘New Task’ has been assigned.
▷ Establish a Monthly Evaluation Plan
▷ Reward: Experience Points (10)
[SYSTEM] A ‘New Task’ has been assigned.
▷ Obtain a passing grade in the monthly evaluation
▷ Reward: Experience Points (30)
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Obtaining a passing grade must be important. Even after the experience point adjustments, it offered a whopping 30 points.
More importantly, if I don't get a passing grade, it’s an immediate failure to achieve my KPI. Better get to planning properly.
UA’s evaluation factors consisted of two categories: vocal and dance. Recently, I had been focusing more on dance practice.
There were two main reasons for this.
First, while I could at least make an attempt at singing, I had never danced a single day in my life.
If you were given assignments for both Korean composition and German composition, the logical first step would be to buy a German vocabulary book.
I was at least more confident in memorizing lyrics than memorizing choreography.
Thus, I invested most of the early stages of my allotted practice time into dancing. Since I had successfully memorized the choreography, I had cleared the first hurdle.
Second, the number of vocal lessons I would receive before the monthly evaluation was scheduled to be fewer than the dance lessons.
This meant there would be fewer pieces of feedback to listen to and incorporate compared to dance.
In practice, even with the same number of sessions, I received less feedback in vocal lessons anyway.
'It’s better to properly master what I’ve been taught than to act out on my own with mediocre bravado.'
A rookie who perfectly executes the one thing they were taught is better than a rookie who was taught ten things but went off and watched something useless elsewhere, ruining all ten.
Furthermore, the problems identified in vocal lessons were, fortunately, still within a range I could handle on my own.
So, while I diversified my investments, I put a few more eggs in the dance basket.
My final goal was to drag up my weakest areas by the scruff of the neck and show that I could at least pull half my weight.
Once I established a direction, my efficiency improved as I could focus on dance practice.
Ultimately, all these plans were pointing toward one thing.
Position.
I was aiming for only one: Sub Vocal.
Spark’s vocals were quite solid. They were ambitiously planned by UA, a powerhouse known for its vocals.
The group’s position balance was also good.
In the vocal line, Park Ju-woo and Jeong Seong-bin held the center, while Choi Je-ho and Kang Gi-yeon anchored the dance line.
If Lee Cheong-hyeon, the rapper, had just handled the rap perfectly and only shown a cool image, everyone would have been at peace, but...
In reality, there were many ups and downs. This was because the vocal difficulty of the songs UA initially gave Spark was absolutely atrocious.
Whether they wanted to transform into a "small but strong" idol powerhouse through Spark or not, UA handed Spark a pile of songs that made you wonder, 'How are they supposed to sing this while dancing?'
≫ UA you sons of b*tches, do you have a grudge against the kids' vocal cords?
└ If I were them, I would've sued UA the moment I got three consecutive high notes across four songs as my "part."
Surprisingly, the brilliantly talented members of Spark managed to pull off those dolphin high notes and power dances every single time.
In the process, Lee Cheong-hyeon had to juggle four roles: songwriting, composing, rapping, and vocals. Jeong Seong-bin even developed vocal nodules.
Knowing that injuries were a possibility, the issue of positions had reached a potential conclusion in my mind.
'If I can take even a little bit of the vocal burden, the members won't have to play four roles at once.'
That was why I decided to prepare for the Sub Vocal position—to create a "breathing space" for the members.
Besides, that was the only area where I could actually be of help anyway.
Once I set my goal as "the member who fills in the vocals while standing out as little as possible," my tasks became clear.
I felt like I could reach the level of "a member who just fills in the vocals" with a bit of blood, sweat, and perhaps some tears.
Among the many songs Spark would sing in the future, there were bound to be parts within my vocal range.
It was a stroke of luck that there were only these two evaluation categories. If there had been something like fan service, I would have had to bite my tongue and hope to be reincarnated.
Wait, but seriously, why don't they test fan service? Isn't that a basic requirement for an idol?
I didn't know what kind of effect Spark’s fan service had, but I knew that the fans had desperately wanted it.
It wasn't that those guys were thick-skinned statues; they seemed to try in their own way, but objectively speaking, their attempts were so crude it was a waste of their handsome faces.
This was why Spark’s fan service failed, the fandom atmosphere soured, attention-seekers were drawn in, articles were published every day, and the kids ended up disbanding...
Thinking about it made my blood boil again. Deep breaths, deep breaths.
Anyway. The remaining task was to stand out as little as possible within the team.
Since a stiff "dead fish" twitching among sparkling idols couldn't help but stand out, I had to practice dancing like my life depended on it.
Once I reached this potential conclusion, the task to establish an evaluation plan was marked as complete.
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[SYSTEM] ‘Task’ has been completed.
▷ Reward: Experience Points (10) granted
▷ Cumulative Experience: 10
▷ Cumulative Points: 0
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Now, if I collected 90 more experience points, I could match my dance proficiency with my vocal proficiency.
The first milestone was right before my eyes.
Since moving out at twenty, I had lived alone for about seven years, excluding my time in the military.
Because of that, I had briefly forgotten a basic piece of etiquette.
When you have roommates, you have to match their sleep patterns.
Thanks to that, I had to pretend to sleep, something I never thought I'd have to do, while waiting for the others to drift off.
And around the time Choi Je-ho and Lee Cheong-hyeon stopped tossing and turning, I cautiously stepped out of the room.
The living room, past 1:00 AM, was dark and quiet.
I felt like turning on the lights would brighten the whole house too much, so I had no choice but to just turn on the laptop.
Fortunately, the agency had placed one in the dorm for video searching.
I wanted to use Web Cell, but unfortunately, the NS Program wasn't installed on the laptop.
I had a burning desire to submit a request for a license purchase.
'If I have to use this even one more time, I’m buying it with my own money.'
Resigned, I opened a spreadsheet and began entering items one by one.
Song title, lyrics memorization level, basics, and total score.
Next, I listed all the songs I knew under the song title column and cut out every song where I hadn't memorized at least 70% of the lyrics.
Since my time was limited, I planned to pour my resources into improving proficiency rather than memorizing lyrics.
Finally, based on the basics I learned in vocal class, I scored each song on how suitable it was for demonstrating those skills.
'I should think of methods other than just labor-intensive brainstorming.'
As I was typing with stiff eyes, feeling a familiar sense of stability, a hand appeared out of the darkness and tapped next to the laptop.
I looked up to see Jeong Seong-bin standing on the opposite side of the dining table, his eyes half-open.
Scared the life out of me. You’re pretty stealthy, aren't you?
"What is it?"
When I asked in a low voice, Jeong Seong-bin blinked and spoke.
"Sorry for disturbing you. But what are you doing, Hyung...?"
"Trying to pick a song for the evaluation. Do you need the living room?"
"No, it's not that... I just saw someone in the living room since it's so late."
Jeong Seong-bin’s voice and face were thick with sleepiness.
I checked the clock; it was already 3:00 AM.
I had no idea how time had passed so quickly.
Seriously, this damn world—prices and time, everything moves ahead without me.
"I'll finish up and head in soon. If you woke up, go back to bed. Today's deep sleep makes tomorrow's 180cm."
Despite getting nagged in the middle of the night, Jeong Seong-bin didn't go back immediately. He looked back and forth between me and the clock. Then, he pulled out the chair opposite me and sat down at the table.
"Do you have any candidates in mind?"
"Huh?"
"Song candidates."
Jeong Seong-bin asked while rubbing his eyes.
Surprisingly, it seemed Jeong Seong-bin was planning to stay in the living room for my sake, despite having just woken up.
I’d actually feel more comfortable alone.
However, no matter how many grudges I held against Spark, ignoring a person right in front of me was bad manners.
I showed Jeong Seong-bin the list of about seventy songs that had survived my fierce survival process.
"The scores... Ah, you marked them based on what the teacher said."
"Yeah. And I focused on songs that felt similar in range to the ones we did in class."
Jeong Seong-bin nodded occasionally at my explanation as he read the list. Then, he muttered in a voice that was clearly still half-asleep.
"I think I have an idea of what kind of songs you're looking for. Considering the range I heard in vocal class... I think you could sing this song too. Have you heard it before?"
"Are you trying to help me right now?"
"It might not be much help. But if you wanted to pick a song you already know because you're afraid of messing up the lyrics... how about this one?"
"..."
"The lyrics for the first and second verses of this song are almost identical. The lyrics are short, too."
I knew from the term "Sweet Seong-bin" that constantly appeared in their self-produced content that he had a kind personality.
But I had thought that was only relative compared to the other members.
Looking at the nodding Jeong Seong-bin, I briefly debated whether it would be better to just carry him back to his room.
Still, I meticulously wrote down his magic-like feedback.
After that, K-Pop star tutor Jeong Seong-bin continued to touch his lips while marking my candidates with circles or triangles, adding and removing songs until he narrowed it down to thirty. It seemed my batting average was about .410.
Even with guidelines, the speed at which Jeong Seong-bin outputted appropriate values under suddenly set conditions was extraordinary.
'Seong-bin Hyung is a total K-pop monster! He’s basically a karaoke veteran.'
'He even knows songs that came out before he was born.'
'Hyung, do you just eat and listen to music? Ah... you do just listen to music.'
'Then let's make Seong-bin's nickname "Karaoke Veteran"!'
Seeing it in person, I realized just how terrifying a "veteran" could be.
I suppose one had to be this much of an intellectual to survive in the harsh world of idols.
"I think it would be good to choose from these. What do you think, Hyung? Would a more recent song be better...?"
I could only interpret Jeong Seong-bin helping me as being based on pure goodwill.
Even if he tried to fleece me for helping, the only thing he could take from me was my organs.
Jeong Seong-bin’s character was something rarely seen in someone who danced and sang all day on only 4-5 hours of sleep and a low-calorie diet.
At least, it was impossible for me. Especially if I were eighteen, Jeong Seong-bin’s current age.
'I guess this is what it takes to be a leader,' I thought, inwardly impressed, when I locked eyes with him.
Perhaps he had woken up in the meantime, as Jeong Seong-bin’s eyes were sparkling.
I had seen a photo where those eyes reflected countless lightsticks. It was back when I was making a birthday advertisement to be hung at Gangnam Station, Exit 4.
"Hyung?"
"Oh, right. I'll listen to the ones you recommended and then decide. Thanks."
"It's nothing. Hang in there."
Though right now, those eyes only reflected a pitch-black kitchen and the dim light of a laptop.
I felt an impulse to ask Jeong Seong-bin, 'Why are you being so kind to a random clumsy person like me?'
But I held it back, fearing that if I didn't let him sleep now, he might not grow to his full potential height.
An idol's growth period is precious. I have to protect it.