Chapter 53
Chapter 53
“Moon-dae hyung as the leader?”
“Yes.”
At Gold 2’s questioning tone, Kim Rae-bin nodded seriously. Seeing his bewildered face, the reactions of my teammates during the second team match flashed through my mind.
Stop it.
I didn’t want to be assigned any more comedic screen time.
But before I could stop him, Kim Rae-bin continued steadfastly.
“First of all, he is calm, has a good eye for things, and takes good care of those around him.”
“Oh.”
Keun Se-jin was scratching his chin.
Beside him, Seon A-hyun was nodding his head vigorously.
“T-That’s right!”
Perhaps encouraged by the reaction, Kim Rae-bin began rattling off words like rapid-fire. It seemed he had become convinced by his own logic.
“Above all, I believe his quick judgment is his greatest strength as a leader. Given these qualities, I think he will demonstrate great capability in a situation that requires comprehensive creative work.”
“…I suppose that’s true.”
Swept up in the atmosphere, Gold 2 nodded with a dazed expression. Even Lee Se-jin was surprisingly quiet and well-behaved.
Is this actually working?
I watched the situation dubiously, then suddenly realized this was a decent opportunity.
Wouldn’t being the leader be good for getting footage that makes me look desperate?
It was the final stretch anyway; it was all or nothing.
I figured it wouldn’t hurt to take on the leader role, even if it meant a bit more work.
“I don’t mind doing it. Are you guys okay with that?”
“O-Of course!”
When Gold 2 shouted his answer, feeling self-conscious, the teammates laughed harmoniously.
I let out a small chuckle and wrapped up the situation.
“Then I’ll give it a try. I look forward to working with you.”
“Ooh~!”
“Congratulations~”
I received a round of applause and pinned on the leader badge. The letter ‘L’ glittered on the cheap metal.
Not bad.
Since Kim Rae-bin would handle the lyrics and Seon A-hyun would choreograph, there wasn’t much of a burden.
I just need to keep an eye on Lee Se-jin.
I only hoped that the ‘That sounds right’ trait, which I’d used a few times in the last team match and then forgotten about, would live up to its grade.
Ah, speaking of traits. I finally leveled up.
It was thanks to gathering my 1,000th practice point while practicing for the last team match.
I barely managed to level up by doing both singing and dancing.
Clicking my tongue, I summoned the status window for the first time in a while.
[Name: Park Moon-dae (Ryu Gun-woo)]
Level: 13
Title: None
Vocal: A
Dance: C+
Appearance: B+
Star Quality: B-
Traits: Infinite Potential, That sounds right (C), I want to be the center (C), Bacchus 500 (B)
!Status Effect: Death if Not Debut
Remaining Points: 1
I barely held back from putting that point into Dance.
It had been hell trying to keep up with the choreography modified by the Seon A-hyun and Keun Se-jin duo with a C+ stat.
I just want to make it clear that I came very close to breaking my plan of keeping one spare point in case the situation changed.
And there was one more thing I had saved.
[The Ripening of Fame!]
1,000,000 people have remembered your existence!
: Heroic Trait Gacha ☜ Click!
One million people.
It was a staggering number.
It finally felt real that the number of people who remembered Park Moon-dae’s name, face, and characteristics had grown to an astronomical figure.
Actually, it wasn’t that I wanted to save this gacha. I had achieved it during the ranking announcement and simply hadn’t had the mental leeway to deal with it until now.
Anyway, I’ll pull it now.
As I skillfully gestured toward the status window, a slot machine began to spin.
Then, it stopped on a silver slot.
[Trait: ‘Immovable Heart (B)’ acquired!]
The mind is not shaken by external impulses.
: Mental Shock -50%
Not bad.
It was a trait I needed now that I was the leader. It would help me not get angry. I was reasonably satisfied.
However, another pop-up appeared.
[You can only possess a total of 3 traits!]
[That sounds right (C)] ◀ Delete
[I want to be the center (C)]
[Bacchus 500 (B)]
[Immovable Heart (B) new!]
What?
Is this how they balance things?
Then again, for a game system, it would be strange to be able to keep an infinite number of traits.
Suppressing a sigh, I scanned the list of traits.
First, ‘Infinite Potential’ wasn’t there.
It can’t be deleted, and it seems it isn’t counted at all.
According to the pop-up, the limit was three traits. Since I currently had four traits including ‘Infinite Potential,’ that was likely the case.
Hmm.
After a moment of deliberation, I chose what to delete.
[Trait: Immovable Heart (B) has been deleted!]
It was a waste since I’d just gotten it, but it couldn’t be helped.
I already have uses for the others.
‘I want to be the center (C)’ was too good to throw away because it buffed my Star Quality stat. Even though its grade was lower than ‘Immovable Heart (B),’ it had a visible numerical effect.
And since I was the leader and on a team with Seon A-hyun again, it was too risky to discard ‘That sounds right (C).’
Furthermore, I had no intention of discarding ‘Bacchus 500 (B)’ no matter what else came up. It was essentially a health potion in an RPG. I had to keep it until the end.
Then that only leaves Immovable Heart.
It was a bit of a shame, but what could I do?
Besides, it wasn’t like I was particularly emotional to begin with, so it wasn’t a huge blow.
I’ll go with this.
As soon as I closed the status window, I heard excited voices around me.
“Captain Moon! So, what do we do first!”
“Leader Park! Captain Moon!”
“…….”
Wow, I already have nicknames.
I knew discarding Immovable Heart was the right call, but I had a feeling I’d regret it throughout this entire practice period.
Ignoring the rising sense of skepticism, I proceeded with the meeting.
“First, I think we should decide on a concept.”
And so, the final practice began.
A few days later, while Park Moon-dae was busy practicing for the final stage and playing a leader role he never asked for, Episode 11, which included the ranking announcement, aired to the public.
Park Moon-dae’s fans, of course, enjoyed the footage of Moon-dae meeting VTIC during the <Casting Call>.
In particular, after seeing Cheong-ryeo openly state in an interview that ‘all of his and Park Moon-dae’s answers were identical,’ even some VTIC fans joined in to enjoy the broadcast.
-Look at Moondeng getting shy after meeting Cheong-ryeo-nim [Video]
-Did you see Moondeng jump up in surprise when the VTIC member walked in? ㅠㅠ Aww, was our puppy surprised?
-No, but it’s so cute how Moon-dae leaves a comment for every photo he takes, and Cheong-ryeo is doing the exact same thing lol
└ Even the content of their comments is similar… Ha… Their chemistry is so good. I hope they do a variety show together later ㅠㅠ
└ No thanks. Don’t try to lump your ugly Moon-dae with VTIC.
└ I’m a Cheong-ryeo fan, please ignore them. That’s just a low-level troll. Moon-dae was so cute~
└ Okay, thank you ㅠㅠ
As the program entered its final stages, the fans, who had gained experience, showed that they were no longer easily shaken by typical trolls.
-Who was the contestant whose idol psychological test results were a perfect match with our leader just now?
└ Park Moon-dae (21, Main Vocal). Nickname is Moondeng-deng, he likes chicken feet. He’s a cute and hardworking contestant ㅠㅠ [Multiple Photos]
└ Ah, thank you. I’ll buy some of his stocks~ haha
└ Oh, thank you! Our first week is free. We’re having a chicken gifticon event if you verify your purchase ㅠㅠ [Link]
The warm atmosphere of sharing was shattered the moment Park Moon-dae’s ranking was announced.
-?
-Did they just call Moon-dae?
-6th place
-Crazy
-He dropped
-Is this for real?
Given Park Moon-dae’s current momentum, everyone had assumed he would naturally place 3rd or higher.
After a brief moment of denying reality in confusion, the fans were soon filled with rage.
It was rage directed at themselves.
-Lol this is ridiculous. Is Moon-dae in a position to be like this?
-He creates a legend with every stage and new fans are flooding in, but he drops? Lol. Ha….
-I mean, the stock itself only ever goes up with good news, so why the hell did his rank drop? lol This is the fans’ fault for being lazy. Moon-dae did nothing wrong.
-Aside from the evil editing at the start, what controversy does he have? Does he lack skill? Is his face bad?… None of the above. You can see he’s good at everything and puts in so much effort, it shouldn’t be like this.
-It’s already annoying enough hearing those ‘desperation-detectors’ talking nonsense lol I’m going crazy.
This atmosphere did not subside even in the early hours after the broadcast ended. Instead, it became more composed.
-I can’t sleep.
-In reality, Keun Se-jin overtook him. There was a temporary spike in stock sell-offs because of the rumors, but if you exclude that, the rankings would be swapped?
-So you’re saying Moon-dae is actually 7th?
-I’m honestly speechless.
-To be honest, this stage wasn’t one where his rank should have dropped. If anything, it should have skyrocketed.
-Even though Moon-dae is in the main vocal position, his fancam views and likes combined were 4th. This situation makes no sense.
-Did you see what the other contestants’ shareholders were doing? We were the only ones trusting the stock and playing it safe.
And all these opinions converged into one.
-If it keeps going like this, Moon-dae might get eliminated. Let’s wake up.
Thus, in the dawn just before sunrise.
Park Moon-dae’s fan sites were all ablaze.
Only one thought was etched into their minds.
‘We’ll show them something!’
“The outside air is so fresh.”
I stepped out of the filming set for the first time in a while. Beside me, Keun Se-jin muttered in an unusually gloomy voice.
Has it been a week?
Due to sudden maintenance issues with the dorms and filming sets, the contestants unexpectedly received a short two-day break.
It was ten days before the final and three days before the next broadcast.
In the week before the final, <Idol Inc.> aired a broadcast in the form of a talk show with the surviving contestants instead of a regular episode.
Of course, that was also live.
It was a relief to have some time to rest, even if it was short. I was a bit worried about the amount of practice, but I figured I’d work myself to death in three days anyway.
“Moon-dae, are you going to A-hyun’s house again?”
“Y-Yes!”
I ended up imposing on Seon A-hyun again for the break.
I don’t want to do anything.
Playing the leader… consumed more calories than I expected.
I immediately followed Seon A-hyun. He said his parents were coming to pick him up again.
“Hyung!”
From behind, I heard the voice I’d been hearing every day for the past few days.
“Yeah, what is it?”
“If you don’t have any special schedule for the next two days, would you like to go see the advertisements the fans put up for you this time?”
“Hmm.”
I wanted to say no immediately. But out of courtesy, I found myself at a loss for words.
It is about time I went to see them.
They spent money to put them up, so it would be discouraging if the person himself didn’t even verify them.
But I wanted to go alone.
However, if I refused and went alone, my relationship with Kim Rae-bin would sour.
This isn’t some dating sim…….
It was a bit absurd, but there was no helping it.
“Sure. Let’s go.”
“…! Yes!”
Kim Rae-bin nodded with an excited expression. Then he took out his smartphone and started working on something diligently.
“The route to see the most advertisements effectively… how about something like this?”
I looked at the screen Kim Rae-bin held out.
A drawing appeared with lines drawn over a subway map.
It seemed he had traced a travel route over a map marking the stations where my ads were placed.
Sure enough, the text at the bottom read…
[Park Moon-dae Subway Ads Latest Ver. (27 Stations)]
“…….”
Twenty-seven?
Every single one of them was neatly circled in areas with high foot traffic.
Is this… even possible?
It wasn’t like a VTIC global fundraising birthday ad; was it possible for one person to be in 27 stations?
Keun Se-jin, who was looking at his own phone next to me, slapped my back.
“Hey, you have one more than Cha Yu-jin! Subway ads! You’re number one!”
“Oh… Hyung, congratulations.”
“…….”
Just what on earth happened during the week I was practicing?