Chapter 53

If I can't debut, I'll get a disease that will kill me 053

“Is Moondae the leader?”

“Yes.”

At Gold 2’s question, Kim Raebin nodded seriously. His face, which looked ridiculous, reminded me of the reaction of the team members during the second team battle.

‘Stop it.’

I don’t want to be given any more comedic roles.

But Kim Raebin continued without giving me a chance to stop him.

“First, he is calm, has good judgment, and takes good care of his surroundings.”

“Oh.”

Daesejin was stroking his chin.

Seon Ah-hyun, standing beside him, nodded vigorously.

“Y-Yeah, that’s right!”

Encouraged by the reaction, Kim Raebin started to speak rapidly, as if he was moved by his own logic.

“Most importantly, his ability to make quick judgments is the best quality a leader can have. From these aspects, I think he will show great ability in situations that require comprehensive creativity.”

“...That’s true.”

Caught up in the atmosphere, Gold 2 nodded with a dazed look. Daesejin, surprisingly, remained quiet and well-behaved.

‘Did this work?’

I observed the situation with a wry expression and then realized it was a good opportunity.

‘If I’m the leader, I can seem desperate and get a good role, right?’

It’s the final round, so it’s all or nothing.

It might be good to try being the leader once, even if it means some hard work.

“I don’t mind. Are you guys okay with it?”

“Y-Yes!”

Gold 2, feeling pressured, answered quickly, and the team members laughed in a friendly manner.

I smiled and wrapped up the situation.

“Then I’ll do it. Please take care of me.”

“Oh~!”

“Congratulations~”

I received applause and put on the leader badge. The cheap metal badge had an ‘L’ that sparkled.

‘Not bad.’

Kim Raebin will write the lyrics, and Seon Ah-hyun will choreograph, so there’s no big burden.

‘I just need to be careful with Daesejin.’

I hope the ‘It makes sense when I hear it’ trait, which I used a few times and then forgot during the last team battle, will be worth its grade this time.

Oh, speaking of traits. I finally leveled up.

Thanks to collecting the 1,000th practice points during the last team battle practice.

‘I barely leveled up by doing both singing and dancing.’

I clicked my tongue and called up my status screen for the first time in a while.

[Name: Park Moondae (Ryu Geonwoo)]

Level: 13

Title: None

Vocal: A

Dance: C+

Appearance: B+

Talent: B-

Trait: Infinite Potential, It makes sense when I hear it (C), I want to be the center (C), Bacchus 500 (B)

!Status Abnormality: Death if not debuting

Remaining Points: 1

‘I barely refrained from putting a point into dance.’

Following the C+ dance ability, it was hell to follow the choreography modified by Seon Ah-hyun and Daesejin.

I almost broke my plan to keep one extra point in case the situation changes.

And I have one more thing left.

[Maturation of Fame!]

1,000,000 people remember your existence!

: Draw a hero trait ☜ Click!

‘One million people.’

It’s a spine-chilling number.

The fact that so many people remember Park Moondae’s name, face, and characteristics is truly overwhelming.

Actually, I didn’t leave this draw on purpose. I just didn’t have time to think about it during the ranking announcement.

Anyway, I’m going to do this now.

With a familiar glance at the status screen, the slot machine started to spin.

And it stopped at a silver box.

[Trait: ‘Unshakable Mind (B)’ acquired!]

The mind is not swayed by external impulses.

: Mental shock -50%

‘Not bad.’

It’s a trait needed in the situation of becoming a leader. It will help me stay calm. I was reasonably satisfied.

But another popup appeared.

[You can only have a total of 3 traits!]

[It makes sense when I hear it (C)] ◀ Delete

[I want to be the center (C)]

[Bacchus 500 (B)]

[Unshakable Mind (B) new!]

What?

‘Is this how they balance it?’

Well, if it’s a game system, it would be strange to be able to keep an unlimited number of traits.

I sighed and scanned the trait list.

First, ‘Infinite Potential’ is not there.

‘It can’t be deleted and doesn’t count at all, it seems.’

According to the current popup, I can have 3 traits. But I had 4 traits, including ‘Infinite Potential,’ so this is probably correct.

‘Hmm.’

I thought for a moment and chose what to delete.

[Trait: Unshakable Mind (B) has been deleted!]

It’s a bit of a waste, but there’s nothing I can do.

‘The others already have their uses.’

‘I want to be the center (C)’ corrects the talent stat, so it’s a shame to discard it. It’s a lower grade than ‘Unshakable Mind (B),’ but it has a visible numerical effect.

And as a leader, especially since I’m in a team with Seon Ah-hyun again, it’s risky to discard ‘It makes sense when I hear it (C).’

Moreover, I won’t discard ‘Bacchus 500 (B)’ unless something really good comes up. It’s like a health potion in an RPG. I need to keep it until the end.

‘So, only Unshakable Mind is left.’

It’s a bit of a waste, but what can I do?

I’m not that emotionally full anyway, so it’s not a big loss.

‘I’ll go with this.’

As soon as I closed the status screen, I heard excited voices around me.

“Leader Moondae! What should we do first?”

“Leader Park! Leader Moondae!”

“...”

Wow, they already have nicknames for me.

Deleting Unshakable Mind was the right decision, but I have a feeling I’ll regret it throughout this practice.

I ignored the rising doubt and started the meeting.

“First, let’s decide on the concept.”

Final practice began like that.

* * *

A few days later, while Park Moondae was unexpectedly taking on the role of leader and focusing on the final stage practice, the 11th episode, which included the ranking announcement, was broadcast.

Park Moondae’s fans, of course, found the ‘Casting Call’ segment where Moondae met VTIC amusing.

Especially when Cheongrye said in the interview that all her answers matched Park Moondae’s, even some VTIC fans joined in and enjoyed the broadcast enthusiastically.

- Moondae is so shy after meeting Cheongrye [video]

- Did you see Moondae jump up when VTIC came in? 😭 Aww, our Moondae was so surprised?

- Moondae’s comments are so cute every time he picks someone, and Cheongrye is doing the same thing 😂

└ Even the content of the comments is similar... Ah... They have good chemistry. I hope they do a variety show together someday 😭

└ No, no, where are you rubbing VTIC’s name in?

└ I’m a Cheongrye fan, ignore this low-level provocation. Moondae was so cute~

└ Thank you 😭

As the program entered its later stages, the fans, who had gained some experience, showed that they were not easily swayed by minor provocations.

- Who is the participant who completely matched the idol psychology test with our leader?

└ Park Moondae (21, main vocalist), nickname Moon-dang, loves chicken feet. He’s cute and always works hard 😭 [several photos]

└ Thank you. I’ll buy some stock~ 😄

└ Wow, thank you. Our stock is free for one week. If you buy and verify, there’s a chicken gifticon event ongoing 😭 [link]

The warm sharing atmosphere was broken when Park Moondae’s ranking was announced.

-?

- Did they just call Moondae?

- 6th place

- What the...

- He dropped

- Is this real?

Given Park Moondae’s current momentum, everyone expected him to be at least in the top 3.

For a moment, the fans were in denial, but soon they were filled with anger.

Anger at themselves.

- Haha, this is ridiculous. Is this really Moondae’s situation?

- He’s been making legendary performances every time, and the influx is overwhelming, yet he’s dropping 😂

- No, every time the stock has all kinds of good news, but the ranking drops? 😂 This is the fans’ fault. Moondae did nothing wrong.

- What controversy did he have besides the early villain role? Is his skill lacking? Is his face not good? None of that. He’s really good at everything and it’s obvious he cares. This can’t be right.

- It’s already annoying enough that the desperate fans are making a fuss 😂 I’m going crazy.

The atmosphere did not calm down even in the early morning after the broadcast. Instead, it became more composed.

- I can’t sleep.

- In fact, Daesejin 1st place was overturned. The stock selling temporarily increased due to the rumor, but if you exclude that, the ranking changes?

- So, Moondae was originally 7th?

- I’m speechless.

- Honestly, this stage wasn’t one that would drop his ranking. If it had skyrocketed, that would be different.

- Even as a main vocalist, Moondae’s individual camera views and likes combined were 4th. This is an unreasonable situation.

- Look at what other participants’ shareholders are doing. We’ve been relying on the stock and holding back.

And all these opinions converged into one.

- If we keep this up, Moondae might drop. We need to get our act together.

Thus, in the early morning just before dawn.

Park Moondae’s fan sites were burning with activity.

One thing was stuck in their minds.

‘We need to show something!’

* * *

“The air outside is clear.”

It had been a while since I went outside the filming set. Daesejin, who was rarely serious, mumbled beside me.

‘Has it been a week?’

Due to the sudden issue of renovating the dorm and the filming set, the participants unexpectedly got a short two-day break.

Ten days until the final, four days until the next broadcast.

‘Idol Stock Company’ aired a talk show with the surviving participants instead of the regular broadcast the week before the final.

Of course, it was also a live broadcast.

It was fortunate to have a short break, even though I was a bit worried about the practice volume. But I’ll figure it out in the next four days.

“Is Moondae staying at Ah-hyun’s place again?”

“Y-Yeah!”

During the break, I had to rely on Seon Ah-hyun again.

‘I don’t want to do anything.’

Being a leader... it’s more calorie-consuming than I thought.

I immediately followed Seon Ah-hyun. His parents were picking us up again.

“Bro!”

The voice I heard every day for the past few days called out from behind.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Do you have any special schedule for the two days? If not, would you like to go see the ads the fans put up for you this time?”

“Hmm.”

I want to say no immediately. But I couldn’t find the words.

‘It’s a good time to go see them.’

If they spent money to put them up and I don’t even verify them, they’ll be disappointed.

But I want to go alone.

However, if I refuse and go alone, my relationship with Kim Raebin will suffer.

‘This isn’t even a romance novel...’

It was absurd, but I had no choice.

“Sure. Let’s go.”

“...! Yes!”

Kim Raebin nodded excitedly and started working on his smartphone.

“The most efficient route to see the most ads... How about this?”

I looked at the screen Kim Raebin showed me.

A map with a line drawn over the subway routes appeared.

It seemed to be a map showing the stations where my ads were placed, with the movement route added.

Sure enough, at the bottom, there was a related phrase...

[Park Moondae Subway Ads Latest ver (27 stations)]

“...”

27 stations?

Each one was marked with a circle, all in high-traffic areas.

‘Is this... possible?’

It’s not like it’s a global VTIC fundraising birthday ad. Is it possible to have ads in 27 stations alone?

Daesejin, who was looking at his own smartphone, patted my back.

“Hey, you have one more than Cha Yujin! Subway ads! You’re number one!”

“Oh... Bro, congratulations.”

“...”

What happened during the week of practice?