Rayen's vision of the floor suddenly shortened. Accepting his fate, he could only close his eyes.
'What the hell. I can't believe this is how it ends.'
He was a promising band vocalist. They had just held their first-ever concert overseas, and he was about to enjoy the rewards of its revenue.
Yet, he died before all of that.
And now, he's on his way to dying again, just because his sense of direction would disappear whenever music is playing.
Incredible.
'What a life...'
As Rayen reminisced about his past life and lamented his failure in this second life, he continued to wait for his body to slam on the floor. However, something happened in a flash.
A scene played in his mind.
In that scene, he was also in the air, but the difference was that there was a voice.
"What do you do if you make a mistake mid-performance?"
The voice echoed inside his mind as though it was speaking to him, but he also instinctively knew that this voice was just talking to himself.
"Do an adlib!"
Suddenly, Rayen's body felt lighter. Without even thinking about it, his body had already twisted itself backward, somersaulting in the air.
"Whoa!"
"How did that happen?"
"Deym!"
Before Rayen could even realize it himself, he had landed on his two feet, his eyes wide in surprise.
'Huh? Did I just do a backflip?'
Rayen had no time to contemplate. The music was still ongoing. However, it seemed as though someone was controlling his body, and he continued to dance flawlessly.
After a few more steps, the music finally halted. Rayen struck the final ending pose. Everyone in the lobby stared right at Rayen, their eyes staring wide at him. Rayen also stared at them with a similar expression.
"Hah! What do you think?! That wasn't a mistake at all! It was my intention to fall all along!"
The mysterious voice in his mind celebrated with a cocky tone.
Rayen blinked. They blinked.
'What... just happened? Did I just do something unprecedented?'
As everyone stood still and stared at each other in confusion, the numbers on the screen also changed.
Everyone turned their attention toward it.
[7]
Rayen could only stare blankly at the numbers, unable to process them for a moment.
"Ehem. Ehem. Congratulations, Participant Rayen. You passed."
"I... passed?"
"Yes, yes. Now, please go down the stage."
An invisible force seemed to tug him off the stage toward the area where the participants who had passed like him were standing. As soon as he stepped out of it, the entire lobby darkened again, and the spotlight of doom descended on the other participants.
Now that Rayen was no longer the target of this spotlight of doom, the entire scene seemed to be far away from him. When he looked at the terrified expressions of the participants, it seemed like what he was watching was just a horror movie.
"Congratulations, Mr. Adrift's Vocalist," Glasses Guy greeted, waking him out of his reverie.
"... Thanks."
Rayen continued to walk wobbly and stood beside Glasses Guy and the others.
Finally, he let out a sigh of relief.
'I passed...'
Just as Rayen tried to settle himself, he realized what Glasses Guy had just called him. His head glanced back at the guy.
"You know me?" Rayen asked Glasses Guy.
Glasses Guy adjusted his glasses and smiled. "Of course, I know you. I hear you every day."
"... Every day?"
Glasses Guy's smile grew wider without responding.
'Ah... Must be my fan.'
"Your singing is incredible as always," Glasses Guy complimented.
"... Thanks."
Feeling slightly awkward, Rayen turned to look in another direction, but before the awkwardness could even dissipate, he heard the sound of muffled laughter beside him.
"That was hilarious, by the way," Glasses Guy said. "I should have filmed you dancing that way."
"....."
"Then I could tell my lovely little sister that you suck at dancing," Glasses Guy continued.
When Rayen turned his head back to glare at him, he could see under the darkness just how red Glasses Guy's face was from trying to hold back his laughter.
The corners of Rayen's mouth twitched.
What fan? This guy seems to be one of his antis!
"How bad can you be at dancing when you can even mess up that song?" Glasses Guy said, still laughing.
Rayen also noticed the other participants beside them laugh silently at his words.
"What's so funny?" Rayen said with gritted teeth.
The other participants waved their hands and tried to hide their faces.
"... S-Sorry, hahaha..."
"....."
'These guys...'
Their nerves have surely calmed down a lot, huh?
A few moments later, they finally stopped laughing. Rayen's face had long turned dark, but the laughter in Glasses Guy's eyes remained.
Glasses Guy stretched out his hands. "I'm Adrian. Why don't we be friends?"
"Friends?" Rayen squinted his eyes at him.
Adrian smiled, but Rayen took it as a smirk.
"You don't want to? I see. Since you're so famous, you might not want someone like me as a friend. I understand."
Rayen was rendered speechless.
'He's really pissing me off.'
The audition continued. The area where Rayen stood rarely welcomed other participants, but the number of participants below the stage dwindled one by one.
When the last participant finished performing and dissipated, Rayen had already lost count of how many scenes of someone disappearing they had witnessed already.
Somehow, Rayen's wobbly legs had already stabilized throughout the duration of the audition. The scene didn't tug on any reactions from him anymore.
Once the auditions concluded, the light in the lobby returned. The stage and the monitors all disappeared, leaving only the speakers behind.
Out of fifty participants, only ten people had passed. The rest had turned into dust, leaving the crowded lobby earlier sparse of life.
"Congratulations to all those who passed~" Plotter said. "Worthy ones, you have gained the chance to gain a second life! Always treasure this chance and continue to improve yourselves."
However, no one celebrated their luck. Instead, they all just stared at the cubic monitor blankly, including Rayen.
Plotter continued.
"There would be more batches of participants who would be undergoing auditions for the next two days. Meanwhile, you can spend these two days however you like."
He paused.
"Now, please follow the arrows on your feet."
Everyone looked down and found glowing red arrows pointing them to the elevator. The ten participants followed it as instructed.
When they entered the elevator, Plotter spoke again through the speakers inside.
"Above this floor, you would be able to find other facilities. Feel free to use it whenever. But I know that you're all tired, so I will take you directly to your quarters."
The 6th floor was automatically chosen without anyone touching the control panel. Rayen felt the elevator move up. A few seconds later, the movement stopped and the elevator's door opened.
"Welcome to the dorm floor. Now, please. If you would look at your devices."
Everyone turned to their phones as instructed. Exactly at that moment, a collective sound of dings bounced off the walls as the ten participants received a notification.
Rayen tapped on it as a new window popped out on his screen.
[You've been assigned to room 601. Use your device as a pass key.]
With their rooms assigned, the ten people stepped out of the elevator. Before the doors closed, however, the distorted voice bid them goodbye.
"You can now head to your quarters. See you in two days~"
Immediately, the doors closed, prompting them to sigh in relief.
They're finally out of its sight. Probably.
Rayen's shoulders slumped upon relaxing. He also scanned the corridor they were in and found the number 601 near the entrance. Approaching the door, he stared at it for a while.
He will be living here from now on.
Just then, a shadow loomed from beside him. Rayen turned his head and found an eyesore.
"What?" Rayen asked, annoyed.
"What what?" Adrian asked in return.
Rayen's brows furrowed. "Why are you in front of my room?"
"Your room?" Adrian raised one of his brows before his face lit up in realization. "Oh... Well, hi, roommate."
With that, Adrian hovered his phone toward the scanner.
Beep.
"Welcome, Participant Adrian."
Before Rayen could even fully register what happened, Adrian had already gone inside the room.