"Yuha-hyung, step!"
"...!"
I forced strength into the foot that had almost tangled and stopped moving. The teammates who had been matching the choreography to the music halted along with me.
"Yuha, you okay?"
"Hyung, are you alright?"
Because Do Ji-hyuk and Cheon Se-rim asked with worried faces, I quietly nodded while wiping the sweat running down my face.
I had been continuing the moves, but at the moment my strength loosened and my foot touched the floor, I couldn't finish properly.
Thankfully, just before I could fall, Cheon Se-rim noticed and warned me, letting me push strength into my leg at the last moment—but I almost crashed straight onto the floor.
Had things gone even slightly wrong, I would've twisted an ankle or gotten injured.
'…Ha.'
I shook my head hard enough that my brain rattled. I knew it wouldn't drive away the heavy fatigue blanketing my whole body, but if it could help me stay focused, I had to try anything.
It's barely been a day since the debuff took effect.
After finishing dawn practice alone and doing group practice, I'd been thinking.
'Feels like I'm back to the early regression.'
My stats now were incomparable to my regression's beginning.
But thanks to the side effects of the Boong-Boong Drink—crushing fatigue over my whole body and a sluggish mind—my practice efficiency refused to rise.
Just like the early regression days, when nothing I did could raise my stats properly.
"…Phew."
Through the dull ache running through my body, I barely straightened my back. All last night I'd learned the choreography and refined the details, but despite the terrible exhaustion, I ended up pulling an all-nighter.
To be exact, "I couldn't fall asleep" was more accurate. Even with my eyelids drooping from fatigue, my mind stayed unusually awake.
'…I probably won't be able to sleep until the mission ends.'
The Boong-Boong Drink's side effect labeled "Sleepless Night" was both a debuff and a kind of buff. No matter the pain and exhaustion sinking into my body, it forced my mind to stay awake and my body to keep moving.
But even if my mind was forcibly awake, I couldn't stop my body from growing dull and tired. The longer it went on, the worse my practice efficiency got.
"Hyung, are you sure you're okay? Wanna take a break?"
"…Then I'll go refresh myself a bit. Sorry."
"Go ahead, Yuha."
I left the practice room and headed straight for the restroom. Once I confirmed no one else was inside—
"Status window."
I called up the system again.
For a simple reason.
'Let's use Luck.'
I'd realized there was no way I could endure the second mission like this.
Under poor condition and sleeplessness, nothing I did would raise my stats. My efficiency was already at rock bottom, and pushing further was impossible.
Judging by how Yoo Chan-hee and Hwang Yeong-oh kept giving me disapproving looks, the rest of the team had probably noticed something was wrong too.
My condition would only get worse with time. In the end, the only thing I could rely on now was the system.
'Give me the sickness, then give me the cure… then give me the sickness again… It never stops, huh.'
Thinking that, I stared at the glowing Luck stat. Thanks to the reward from the last ranking announcement, I currently had 30 Luck.
Meaning I could spin the roulette twice.
'…I don't know if I'll get what I really need in just two tries.'
Even so, I'd at least get something that could help me push through.
One way or another, the system's final goal was to debut me. It wouldn't let me drop out just because of poor condition.
'Maybe… the whole point of all this was to make me spin the Luck Roulette again.'
Considering how abruptly the Boong-Boong Drink's side effect hit, that suspicion wasn't unreasonable. But whatever the system intended, I had no choice but to follow it.
I took a deep breath, used 20 points to buy two random tickets, and immediately hit "Use."
Ding-dong!
"...?"
Once again, I was faced with Luck's inexplicable will.
***
"...."
"...Hm."
That night, after drawing an unexpected result from Luck, I stepped back into the practice room—and ran into someone I hadn't expected.
The guy who instantly scrunched up his face the moment he saw me, not even bothering to hide his expression now that the cameras were off.
"…I'll practice over there."
"Ah, sure."
It was Yoo Chan-hee.
Acting like he absolutely didn't want to face me, Yoo Chan-hee grabbed his lyric sheet and went to the far corner of the room. Then, as if he wanted to cut off the possibility of any conversation entirely, he put in his earphones and glared holes into his lyrics.
'If he's avoiding me, that just makes things easier for me.'
Thinking that, I put on my music and began copying rap lines.
It wasn't like I'd never practiced rap before, but as someone who'd been pursuing the main vocal position, I didn't even have my own style yet.
So the first thing I needed to do was listen to as many tracks as possible and get a feel for how different styles built their rap-making.
'…Well, at least I've got plenty of time.'
I absentmindedly loosened my throat, which no longer hurt at all.
'The backlash is scary, but the effect is incredible.'
I let out a quiet sigh, thinking of one of the Luck items I'd drawn earlier.
『Woohwangcheongsimhwan (7 pieces)』
For an unshakable mind, delayed fatigue, and a painless body—a painkiller.
※Fatigue does not disappear.
Please control your usage according to your fatigue level.
A new item given almost as charity, as if telling me to just push through this mission.
In the end, it was a painkiller that made me forget the pain, with a warning that if I didn't manage my fatigue properly, a much worse backlash awaited later. But it wasn't like I could choose not to use it.
'…Like it says, I just have to endure until the training camp ends.'
Only five days of camp were left. After that, I'd be at home anyway—whether I collapsed or not didn't matter. I just needed to hold out for now.
"…Ha."
While practicing to get the lyrics I'd written with Do Ji-hyuk to stick in my mouth, my pronunciation tangled again, and I stopped. The more I practiced, the worse my tongue seemed to stumble.
'…I think I really need help.'
Writing the lyrics based on the storyline we'd planned wasn't hard. As the sub-rapper, Do Ji-hyuk and I had already figured out the flow, the tag-in and tag-out structure, and even practiced the formation and movement for the choreography.
The problem was the rap itself.
I had the lyrics we'd written, but the rap kept tangling in my mouth, making it difficult to spit the words out with clear diction.
Since I'd been given what was basically a penalty— the reverse position— I wasn't aiming to create a "legendary" moment on this stage.
But I did at least need my rap to be audible. If the audience couldn't hear it at all, there was no point in being on stage.
I was thinking that as I continued practicing—
"Ah!"
At the irritated voice coming from the corner of the practice room, I tilted my head and glanced over. Yoo Chan-hee, who had been practicing vocalization, had tossed his lyric sheet as if he'd lost his temper.
"…What are you looking at?"
Sensing my gaze, Yoo Chan-hee snapped at me. I answered calmly.
"…Mm, you seemed to be struggling."
"…That has nothing to do with you, trainee Yuha."
"It's not unrelated. We're on the same team."
"...."
Yoo Chan-hee closed his mouth, as if he couldn't think of a retort, then turned his head away without another word. I clicked my tongue as I watched him huffing to himself with an expression that gave away nothing.
'He plans to be like this until the mission ends, huh.'
I didn't care if he ignored me personally. But if that attitude showed on camera, it would hurt both of us.
'Well… at least he's not openly picking a fight anymore.'
It seemed he'd decided to treat me like I was invisible. He still glared at me with obvious resentment whenever our eyes met, but at least he watched what he said. That was… progress, in its own way.
'…What's his problem, really.'
I removed my earphones and let out a sigh. Honestly, I would've preferred he took advantage of the cameras being off and just tried to start a fight— at least that would be straightforward.
But Yoo Chan-hee refused to speak to me unless it was to complain, and since he had zero intention of conversing, there wasn't much I could do either.
I was stewing in that frustration again when—
'…Come to think of it, I can use that, can't I?'
I suddenly remembered the other "Luck" item I had drawn earlier that day.
『Insight Eye (Permanent Item)』
The hidden abilities, inner thoughts, and current state of your teammates.
The administrator's eye that reveals everything without concealment.
※ Automatically equips to the user's eyes.
The description made its effect hard to guess— another one of those Luck items.
Since I'd never desperately wanted to know someone's inner feelings, I thought it was useless when I pulled it.
'…But maybe it can tell me what's going on with him.'
When I really thought about it, there were exactly two people whose true thoughts I wanted to know. And one of them was him.
'I won't hear anything from his mouth until the survival show is over. But letting this go without knowing… something feels off.'
It wasn't simply because I was from KRM Entertainment and he was from DIO Entertainment, the rival agency he kept mentioning.
His hostility ran far deeper than something that shallow.
Meaning, there had to be another reason. But since he refused to speak to me at all, we'd keep this unproductive tension all the way to the end of the mission if nothing changed.
I couldn't predict what the Insight Eye would show me— but there was no reason not to try it. Even a hint of understanding could affect how I handled him moving forward.
I looked over at Yoo Chan-hee, who had turned his back to me and was practicing vocalization again while facing the wall. I fixed my gaze on him.
Then—
"...!"
Just like when I summoned my own status window, a faint system window appeared above him.
『Yoo Chan-hee』
Detailed Traits
Specialty (Rap): A- (Vocal C)
Specialty (Dance): B+
Charm (Appearance): B+
Charm (Atmosphere): C+
Talent (Expressiveness): A-
Talent (Focus): B+
Stamina (Body): A
Stamina (Mind): B
Buffs: (Locked)
Status: Self-reproach (viewable)
'…That's… surprisingly high.'
I admired the sight of his status window. Compared to mine, his grades were remarkably balanced and high.
I'd never directly compared with other trainees, but he was definitely among the top tier of all participants in
Then, I noticed one stat that was significantly lower than the others— and that single detail forced me to reevaluate him.
'He's… way more hardworking than I thought.'
Because I realized he had already overcome his stats once before.
Yoo Chan-hee's vocal stat was C. And during the "Look" re-evaluation, all rap trainees—regardless of rap skill—had to be evaluated as vocalists. Many trainees couldn't avoid a class drop because of that.
But among them, Yoo Chan-hee alone had managed to rise from Class B to Class A.
Meaning: despite having a low vocal stat, he forced himself up to Class A purely through practice.
It was impossible not to admire that.
'Forcing yourself to match an unfitting vocal range… that's not easy.'
Even with training and technique, raising pitch beyond your natural range requires relentless, grueling practice.
We only had five days to prepare for that re-evaluation. There are countless people who can't raise a single note even after months— so the fact that he pulled it off in five days meant he poured everything he had into it.
But now, his status showed the word "Self-reproach." No pride, no arrogance— nothing like his usual demeanor.
"...."
I stared at the "Viewable" tag next to his status. It shimmered lightly, as if urging me to press it.
I didn't bother resisting my curiosity.
And the moment I focused on that button—
[Do I… not have talent?]
"...!"
A clear, whisper-like voice echoed in my ear.
Yoo Chan-hee's true thoughts.
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