Chapter 10
Chapter 10
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Even as a Villain, I Want to Debut
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It was around 2 a.m. when Lee Hae-won and I turned off the practice room lights and stepped out.
'...Has it really gotten this late already?'
I'd braced myself to pull an all-nighter, but honestly, I hadn't expected it to drag on this long.
As we left the main building and walked under the streetlights, Lee Hae-won, who had been walking beside me, suddenly stopped.
"What's up?"
When I turned around, he was staring up at the night sky.
"There are so many stars out."
Sure enough, just as he said, the night sky above was twinkling with countless stars.
For the record, back in my old life, you could hardly see any stars where I lived. I was always too busy to even glance at the sky anyway.
'Feels like I'm having all these new experiences since coming here.'
With that thought, I started walking again, but then Lee Hae-won's voice came from beside me.
"Won-woo. You really worked hard today. Let's keep fighting tomorrow, yeah?"
He looked exhausted, but his voice was brighter than before.
'Guess he's perked up a bit.'
The words I'd said in the practice room must have helped, even if just a little.
By the time we got back to the dorm, the other two were fast asleep. I crept in quietly so as not to wake them and slipped into bed.
Lying there, I stared up at the familiar ceiling.
'Managed to get through another day somehow.'
I closed my eyes to the sound of crickets chirping outside the window.
I must have been dead tired, because I fell asleep almost the moment my head hit the pillow.
Breakfast started with shoving hard bread and cereal into my mouth.
The cafeteria was full of trainees like me, looking a bit hollow-eyed as they ate.
'Eh, still manageable for now.'
I was tired, sure, but I figured I could handle it.
True to the original story's setup of Do Won-woo as a hard worker, my body was holding up decently even under this brutal practice schedule.
'I'd pulled all-nighters studying all the time back home, so this is nothing.'
As I ate, I heard giggling from around me.
'What the...?'
I looked up and saw Na Jae-hyun walking over from across the room.
Na Jae-hyun was wearing a T-shirt painted with the words "Let's Just Wing It."
'Don't come over here.'
My body recoiled on instinct.
'...Please don't.'
Maybe it was that ridiculous shirt, but trainees kept sneaking glances and snickering as he passed by.
Thud.
Despite my desperate internal prayers for him to stay away, Na Jae-hyun plunked his tray down right in front of me.
"Mind if I join you, Won-woo hyung?"
Is it really okay to show up wearing "Let's Just Wing It" in front of someone who pulled an all-nighter?
The thought crossed my mind, but I reluctantly nodded and went back to eating.
"What time did you guys get in last night?"
"Around 2 a.m."
"Whoa, you practiced forever. I tried waiting up for you, but you took too long, so we just crashed first."
I knew that already.
They'd both been out cold like dead mice when we got back.
"Oh? There's Hae-won hyung."
Just then, Na Jae-hyun spotted Lee Hae-won walking over from afar and waved.
"Hyung! Over here!"
Lee Hae-won was shuffling toward us, eyes half-open in a sleepy daze.
"You look beat."
"Yeeaaah..."
Lee Hae-won sat down next to me and ate his cereal in such a daze it was hard to tell if it was going in his mouth or his nose.
For someone like him, who'd lived a laid-back life in the countryside strumming a guitar like a grasshopper, this must all be pretty new. He'd probably never pushed himself this hard before.
Meanwhile, Na Jae-hyun across from us watched us with curious fascination.
"How do you even practice like that?"
"Just endless reps, that's all."
"Whoa, you guys are seriously inspiring."
Is it right to say that while wearing a "Let's Just Wing It" shirt?
Anyway, chatting with Na Jae-hyun got me curious about something.
We unaffiliated trainees just repeated choreography endlessly, but what about those with agencies? Did they have special methods?
"How do you practice?"
Na Jae-hyun shrugged at my question.
"Pretty much the same."
Guess not. So it's just grind till you drop, huh.
I resigned myself and was about to keep eating when Na Jae-hyun spoke up.
"Oh, we do have one thing."
"What?"
"During training, we sang while running on the treadmill."
Treadmill?
"Trainer said if your breathing gives out while dancing and singing, the quality tanks. So he made us sing on the treadmill. After a few runs, I definitely felt my lung capacity improve."
That's a solid tip.
"Thanks."
"No biggie."
Singing on a treadmill. I'll have to remember that. I finished my meal.
Back to the hellish training session.
'Hey, you missed every detail there.'
'You know your beat's off from everyone else's, right?'
'Get it together. Straighten up.'
"Haa..."
The dance training ended with Raise tearing into us nonstop, just like always.
The other trainees were starting to look at me with pity now. Their eyes screamed, What did he do to get on the master's bad side like that?
'Beats me. No idea why he's singling me out.'
Raise kept saying I got a grade way above my skill level.
Seemed like he planned to drag me down to D or even F if I bombed the real evaluation.
Of course, I got it. I was lacking.
'Makes sense. How could I catch up to years of practice in a short time? I'm not even expecting that—just hoping for some improvement...'
That was when it happened.
I opened the stat window to check how much my Dance had gone up.
'From C- to around C+...'
Not a dramatic jump, but proof that all the grinding had paid off.
'Finally got this one.'
I'd already picked up Vocal Beginner, but Dance hadn't triggered yet. Wondered when it would.
Just as I was checking the title, a barrage of system alerts chimed in rapid succession.
Collecting those titles must've unlocked new systems.
'Quest and Inventory tabs now?'
I opened the system window, and sure enough, new tabs for Quest and Inventory appeared.
There was a red notification badge next to the paper airplane icon—looked like a quest had arrived.
Help a Trainee (0/1)
🎁 Reward: 1 Fate Lottery Ticket
The first quest was unexpected.
'Help a trainee?'
I scanned the quest window. No specifics on who or how, so it seemed like I had to pick a trainee who looked like they needed help and assist them on my own.
'...But who am I to help anyone?'
I glanced down at the demotion candidate badge pinned to my chest.
I'm the worst one here—who's helping who? If anything, I need the help.
A 50-pointer offering to tutor a 70-pointer wouldn't fly in the real world either.
'Not necessarily. Help doesn't have to be technical. Could be mental support.'
But was I good at pep talks? Hardly.
'Or maybe just grabbing water or something counts?'
No clue, but I'd have to try.
'Anyone around who needs a hand...'
Scanning the room, I spotted a trainee sweating buckets in front of the mirror, dancing his heart out. It was extra Kang In-hyeok.
He had zero screen time in this episode, but the guy was grinding like crazy. Clear determination to rank up.
'...He looks on the verge of collapse.'
Kang In-hyeok was drenched like he'd just showered.
Figuring he needed help, I grabbed a water bottle and approached.
"Hey, you okay?"
He paused mid-dance and turned.
"Here, drink this while you practice."
"Huh?"
He looked flustered by my sudden kindness.
The face of someone wondering why this stranger—who we'd never even talked to—was acting nice.
'It's for the quest, sorry.'
"...Thanks."
The bewilderment faded quick; he took the bottle and chugged it.
"Water's everywhere here—drink up more often. What if you pass out?"
"Yeah, will do."
He set the bottle down and dove back into practice.
This guy's definitely got high walls. Not the type to become friends after a few words like Lee Hae-won or Na Jae-hyun.
'Makes sense. Real friendships don't form that easily.'
That was when—
The alert chimed, and the completion window popped up.
First quest down, and pretty easy too.
'Let's see what I got.'
I opened Inventory, and there was the Fate Lottery Ticket. Using it probably gives items or something.
'No idea what'll come out, but let's use it.'
I tapped the system window.
I hit yes, and a huge gift box on the window shook dramatically.
'Please be something good.'
With flashy effects, the box opened.
'What's this?'
I checked the description.
'Oh, nice.'
If it restores even part of the protagonist's reset internal energy, my skills should look sharper than now.
No matter what, gain's a gain—no loss.
I took a deep breath and tapped yes.
The bead in my inventory glowed, and I felt something flow into my body.
50% recovery on Dance internal energy, huh.
'Halfway there. Sucks it's not 100%, but better than nothing...'
Right then, a sudden pain made my body curl up involuntarily.
'Ugh, what the—'
My head throbbed like it was splitting, ringing filled my ears, and countless memories flooded my mind.
'This is...'
Do Won-woo's memories.
Hours upon hours in the practice room overnight, dancing till his body broke in that cramped space—they unfolded in my head as vividly as if it were yesterday.
The brief hints of his efforts in the story were beyond anything I'd imagined.
"...Ah."
When my senses returned, tears were welling up unbidden.
'What... why now...'
Maybe because those years of Do Won-woo's grind now felt so real to me.
I hurriedly tried to fix my expression, but that's when my eyes met Kang In-hyeok's as he turned around.
He looked flustered seeing me.
"Dude. Are you crying?"
I shook my head fast.
But his words had already drawn every trainee's gaze my way.
"Won-woo, what's wrong?"
"You okay?"
"Hey, why are you crying? What happened?"
They panicked but weren't shocked—more like it made sense.
After all I'd taken from Raise, them thinking tears were natural wasn't surprising. Some had even side-eyed me for not crying sooner.
'I get you're worried, but...'
I hadn't even said it was practice stress, yet they acted like they knew exactly why.
Honestly, was this cry-worthy? Sure, I'd just absorbed years of his memories at once, but why were they acting like it was obvious?
'No way they're crying along just because I am. Tears aren't contagious like coughs.'
As I wiped my eyes in a hurry—
"What's going on?"
The door opened, and Raise walked in.
"Why's the vibe like this?"
The trainees crowding me scattered at his entrance.
Raise scanned the room, spotted me, and frowned as he pieced it together.
"You crying or something?"
"......"
I hung my head.
Last thing I wanted was to cry in front of him.
"Trainee Do Won-woo."
"Yes."
"Crying solves nothing."
'Harsh.'
Even a hardass usually offers a crumb of comfort when someone's breaking down.
Especially after ripping into them repeatedly—you'd think it'd tug at the heartstrings a bit.
But Raise showed no mercy, cry or no cry.
"Use that time to practice more."
As he turned away, something ignited inside me.
'Fine. More practice it is.'
To avoid this crap, I had to climb the ranks.
Low grade meant bottom-barrel treatment, no way around it.
But one thing had changed: Do Won-woo's internal energy was partially restored.
'I'll prove all those years weren't wasted.'
With that vow, I clenched my fist tight.