Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: The Tremendous Effect of Mind Control
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The effect of mind control was tremendous!
Thinking back to how I lost the ADC position, leading to a reversal defeat in the promotion match, still made my blood pressure spike—even waking me up in the middle of the night with eyes wide open.
Ah, just thinking about it pisses me off again!
I fumed.
"……!"
Ban Yo-han flinched the moment our eyes met. The team members watching me from behind had similar reactions.
I ignored them all and focused solely on my task.
'Feeling, feeling. Let's capture the feeling.'
My hand wrapped around Ban Yo-han's unusually long neck—not too harshly, but sticky and addictive, like a poison you couldn't escape once hooked.
"Whoa, people are changing right before our eyes?"
I heard someone say that after finishing the short killing part.
But when I checked Kim Se-jong, Song Jung-hwan, and Han Da-hoon's individual favorability levels, they were all still negative.
Not as abysmal as Oh Hyun-jin and the True Entertainment trainees, but at this point, I had to wonder if their favorability started in the negatives by default.
For now, I tucked their favorability statuses into a corner of my mind and spoke to Ban Yo-han, who'd just endured having his neck grabbed by all six of us.
"Hyung, good work."
"Yo-han hyung, thanks."
"No big deal. I learned a lot too."
His fake humility was starting to feel almost respectable.
Anyway, Ban Yo-han smiled amiably and wrapped things up.
"Alright, time to vote? On three, point to the person you want as center with your fingers."
"Sounds good."
"If there's a tie, the tied people will revote."
"Got it."
"One, two, three!"
Cheers and disappointments crossed paths.
Oh Hyun-jin got my vote, Song Jung-hwan's, and Ji Yeon-woo's for 3 votes. I got Ban Yo-han, Kim Se-jong, and Han Da-hoon's for 3 votes. Ji Yeon-woo got Oh Hyun-jin's for 1 vote.
"Hyun-jin and Ra-on, revote. You two, close your eyes and bow your heads."
Oh Hyun-jin and I followed Ban Yo-han's instructions, lowering our heads and closing our eyes.
"One, two, three."
Silence hung in the air.
"You can look up now."
Ban Yo-han wore a meaningful smile. He looked like a villain delighted that things were going according to plan.
That guy really seems fun.
"Our team's center is…!"
"…On Ra-on trainee!"
"One vote difference."
"Ra-on, congrats."
Kim Se-jong attached a center sticker to my clothes.
It was a pink heart-shaped sticker with a shiny yellow glitter effect.
I received the team's obligatory applause and bowed politely.
"Thank you. I'll do my best."
I really had to. Slacking after getting center would make me look like total trash.
Part distribution went smoothly, aside from the subtle power struggle between Ji Yeon-woo and Oh Hyun-jin for main vocal.
For the record, Ji Yeon-woo, who was positioned as a vocalist, claimed main vocal after strong lobbying.
Choreography practice followed under Oh Hyun-jin's lead, since he knew it already.
And Oh Hyun-jin was tearing into me like he was avenging the #1 chair incident—or venting frustration over not getting center.
"Hold up. Ra-on, your steps are in the wrong order."
…He'd clearly said he didn't want to deal with me.
I had no idea why he'd already forgotten that and was showering me with this burdensome attention.
It wasn't just once or twice; he kept interrupting, making the team glance my way constantly.
If this aired, regardless of facts, I could be edited as the hopeless screw-up.
It wasn't a huge mistake worth halting the first day of following the choreo, but who cared about that for the broadcasters?
They'd love framing a slacker killing the center vibe.
Did that bastard know the consequences, or was he clueless?
'Not my problem.'
Whether he knew and was screwing me over or not, the result was the same. He was just a jerk to me either way.
Knowing that, I couldn't keep letting him jerk me around.
Now that I'd snagged center, erasing Oh Hyun-jin's presence on stage might be tough at my low level, but…
Whatever it took, I'd nail it so brilliantly he'd regret missing center every time he saw my face.
That was when the quest arrived.
<Protect the Center's Pride ①>
📍 Description: If they diss me, I'll diss back harder. Show that clueless punk invading the system's turf who's boss. First, master the choreography within the time limit. (Time Limit: 1 hour)
🎁 Confirmed Reward: Experience, Stat Points +5
⚠️ Failure Penalty: ???
It was a quest so baffling I didn't know where to start being dumbfounded. Why are you the crazy one dissing me?
But on the other hand, my shut-in gamer instincts screamed.
'This is one of those rare honey-reward quests in trash games!'
Plus, with the ①, there'd be more to squeeze out after this one.
From the moment it auto-accepted, a holographic timer spun in the corner of my vision.
No time to waste. My luck wasn't great, and with a 3:30 song, one hour meant at most 17 plays.
Before Oh Hyun-jin could meddle more, I took the initiative.
"I'll review the video and memorize the choreo again then."
"Think you can just by watching?"
Would I say I couldn't? Turns out this guy's even more twisted than Ban Yo-han.
"He did the same with Heart Attack practice. He says he can, so let's give him a bit."
Ban Yo-han, who'd shocked the team by memorizing choreo and lyrics in record time, backed me up.
Kim Se-jong, who'd subtly lost leader duties to Oh Hyun-jin, nodded eagerly.
"Ask for help if it's tough."
I smiled to avoid seeming offended and nodded.
Grabbing the tablet, I sat against the wall. One camera followed me.
Our team practicing together on one side, me isolated on the other—perfect for subtitles like 'Trainee On Ra-on, obsessed with video instead of practice.'
So I kept my expression focused, not slack, adding small gestures now and then to look diligently immersed as I replayed the stage video.
And honestly, studying this hard would help later anyway, so no half-assing just for memorization.
I was using practice time to watch, after all. This was practice.
I absorbed Muk Hye-seong's gaze work, expressions, dance lines, and breathing from the video.
Thank goodness for modern tech— the broadcaster's YouTube had individual focus cams for everyone.
"Whoa……."
The more I watched, the more amazed I was.
From the video's perspective, Muk Hye-seong seemed the best among Chronicle members.
The other members weren't lacking either, of course.
Three of five were main-vocal level, no glaring dance holes.
But Muk Hye-seong… had that unique star quality.
How does he hit notes so cleanly while dancing like that? He's over 30—joints okay? Must be the munchkin mentor trope in the game.'
When the system asked if I wanted to attempt memorizing, I frantically mashed Y to replay from the start.
That was when it happened.
All the vague movements, paths, timings swirling in my head suddenly organized crystal-clear.
Under Dancing Catalena and Heart Attack in the Choreography List, TOXIC appeared new. Mastery at about 15%.
<Protect the Center's Pride ①>
🎁 Confirmed Reward:Stat Points +5, Experience granted.
I even leveled up, bumping unallocated stat points to 10 total.
Dump them all into Charm and…
"Your expression says you nailed it."
Ban Yo-han, catching his breath on the floor during break, noticed my blissed-out face plotting Charm investment and spoke up.
I missed the timing to hit the floating stat button.
This guy's one of the sharper NPCs; he might spot something off in my behavior.
I closed the info window first and replied.
"Yeah. Wanna see?"
"Huh?"
"Sometimes you gotta do what you hate."
So shut up and watch.
Before Ban Yo-han could nitpick, I hummed the song and danced from start to finish.
Midway, other team members wandered over to watch.
"……How was it?"
"Whoa. Nailed it."
"More specific."
"No one here dances it more accurately than you."
…He wasn't the type to praise so straightforwardly. Still felt good.
Anyway, my choreo was at least 'accurate' now.
I didn't know how great Oh Hyun-jin was, but no more petty nitpicks.
"……."
My eyes met Oh Hyun-jin's, who'd been watching from the front.
He stared like I was a stranger. Not the first time, actually.
Was the skill gap that huge pre- and post-mastery?
I didn't think it made me look like a whole different person.
"Way… better."
"Right?"
"Worried you couldn't keep up. Glad you're good."
"I've got basics from the company. This much is nothing."
I puffed my chest confidently—then an alert popped up.
Whoa. What? Did I say something wrong? Three years at True, right?
True was a solid major agency from what I heard—unlike my trash ex-company that deserved to be gutted; they taught basics properly.
…All just my guess based on On Ra-on's backstory I didn't fully know, so caution was key.
But was there really anything suspicious in what I said?
Ban Yo-han before, and every time an NPC 'suspects,' my heart drops.
God forbid if the NPCs learned I wasn't On Raon but On Ha-je—what penalty then? No clue.
Lifelike NPCs, a game system with seeming self-awareness, this 'On Raon' mirroring me somehow.
What the hell was this damned game, and what awaited me?
I truly had no idea.