Gowon
Appearance Lv.77
Vocals Lv.25
Dance Lv.46
(Inactive) -
(Inactive) -
(Inactive) -
Current Status: ■■■■.......
Current MAX LEVEL: 80
What the hell was this now?
I looked back at Gowon. Feeling my gaze, he blinked his long eyelashes and met my eyes. When I said nothing, he tilted his head in confusion.
A face rated seventy-seven out of eighty... It wasn’t wrong. His vocal ability was also roughly around the level I had assessed.
I crooked my index finger, signaling for Gowon to come closer. He looked intensely wary, but he still did as he was told.
“......?”
I grabbed his face and squashed it up and down like rice-cake dough. His large eyes narrowed into slits, while his nostrils and upper lip were pushed upward.
Gowon
Appearance Lv.55 (▼22)
Vocals Lv.25
Dance Lv.46
(Inactive) -
(Inactive) -
(Inactive) -
Current Status: Wh, ■■, are ■■■ ■■?
Current MAX LEVEL: 80
This new type of window looked exactly like a character-development screen from a game. It even updated its information in real time.
I was so busy staring at the window that I failed to notice Gowon’s pupils trembling.
“Hanje, why are you bullying the kid?”
Someone rescued Gowon, whose face had become rice-cake dough in my grip.
Gowon
Appearance Lv.78 (▲23)
What? Why did his level go up instead of merely returning to normal?
When I looked at Gowon’s face again, his pale cheeks had reddened, probably because my grip had hurt, and the corners of his eyes were slightly wet. Tears from a beautiful man were worth one whole level.
“Oh, the chart rankings are out!”
An hour had already passed since the songs were released. That meant it was time for their positions to appear on the charts.
“...Did he enter the charts?”
After the anxious question came the answer.
“He did! And not just barely—he’s near the very top!”
The division head office erupted into noise once again. I craned my neck forward too.
“What rank? Hurry up and tell us!”
“<DRIFT> is number ten on HOT 200! And <Unlimited(∞)> is... number three! Aaaah! It entered TOP 200 too! It’s number 180!”
Hmm. Not bad.
Calling it merely “not bad” was honestly stingy. For a debut, it was an incredible achievement.
“It’ll rise to the very top of the HOT rankings by the end of today, right?”
“Who cares about HOT? The TOP ranking needs to rise.”
“You don’t understand because you’re Young Ace. These days, for a boy-group song—and a rookie’s song at that—to rank this high is a miracle!”
Amid the uproar—
<A Senior Paving the Road to Glory> Part 2
Establish yourself as a K-pop singer.
Stage 2 Objective: Reach the Top 10 of the CPCE Public Reputation Index
Q2-1. Toward Completing Music Show Promotions
The highlight of an album release is appearing on music shows and meeting the fans.
Successfully complete the promotional cycle on public and terrestrial music shows.
Success: “Gowon’s” Vocals and Dance MAX LEVEL will increase
Failure: Quest Scenario forced termination
Time Limit: 527h 59m 38s (D-22)
Part 2 Additional Penalty – Cha Yensu’s permanent retirement from the entertainment industry
...Fuck....
The damned threats never ended.
Now that Stage One was done threatening the life of Young Ace’s eldest member, it had moved on to the second eldest, who was the same age as him.
Still, now that the biggest fire had been put out, at least it wasn’t death.
Apparently, this damned development simulator intended to keep going a little longer. As though it were demanding that I repay everything I had gained through its Quest Scenarios.
“Gowon, is there any chance your music show promotions could fail?”
“Why would you say something so ominous right in front of him?”
“They won’t fail.”
Another employee scolded me for the question, but Gowon answered sullenly without backing down.
“They absolutely won’t.”
Considering how hard he practiced, it made sense for him to be confident.
Then again... the songs were already finished, so what was I supposed to do to help him on music shows? Was this basically an automatic quest?
At that moment, more text appeared below.
Completion Requirement: Music show appearances (0/15)
Gowon’s promotional period was three weeks. The time limit roughly matched it.
There were currently five music shows in total: three on the major terrestrial networks and two on cable channels.
That meant he would have to appear on every single one to reach fifteen performances.
The problem was... one of them belonged to the broadcaster that had aired <Debut Chart! 100>. The broadcaster that had lost Gowon, its first-place trainee, right out from under its nose....
There was no way it would feel kindly toward Gowon after he debuted through K-Dom.
“Brother, which music shows did you book him for?!”
“The three terrestrial networks and Channel M.”
As expected, Rnet was missing from Kwon Taeyoung’s answer.
“What about Rnet?”
“He wouldn’t be welcomed there even if he went. There’s no need to force it.”
“Can’t we somehow squeeze him in anyway?”
“We can.”
“Really? How?”
“We ask whether they’d also like Young Ace to stop appearing there during our next comeback.”
“...Wow. That’s aggressive.”
Whenever people said Baek Hanje occasionally talked like a lunatic, I felt unfairly accused. I had learned all of this from my brothers.
“Why are you suddenly bringing up Rnet?”
“The more stages, the better, right? And kids grow through hardship, don’t they?”
“.......”
I worked my lips before finally saying it.
“I have a feeling.”
“It’s been a while since you pulled out that ‘feeling’ excuse.”
“What, Hanje? Did you receive a divine revelation while we weren’t looking?”
Gowon, who had been silently listening to the conversation, also slid his gaze toward me. He still looked sullen over having his face kneaded, but he apparently couldn’t overcome his curiosity.
“Ever since he was young, he’d sometimes insist that he had a feeling about something and demand that we do exactly what he said.”
“Nothing bad ever happened because you listened to me.”
In truth, my “feelings” had only been excuses I made up whenever I needed to clear a quest.
Whenever I insisted like this, Kwon Taeyoung would eventually pretend to give in. That hadn’t changed even now.
“Well, let’s leave it at that.... Gowon’s opinion matters most when it comes to his music show appearances. Things may get uncomfortable if you go to Rnet. What do you want to do?”
“I’m fine with that.”
Pleased that he had done something admirable for once, I quickly patted him on the back.
“Then go, kid. They say hardship in youth is worth seeking out.”
“...Yes. I’ll go.”
And so, amid complaints that “Baek Hanje has become a complete old man!” Gowon’s fifteen music show appearances were confirmed.
The unexpected addition would mean arguing with Rnet for a while, but that was Kwon Taeyoung’s problem.
He was in for a stretch of hellish prerecordings, rehearsals, and live broadcasts.... Still, gritting his teeth and enduring it would be good for him too.
“Do well.”
“Yes.”
Gowon turned his head away indifferently, but his grip tightened around his phone.
***
“That turn there—yeah, that one. When you lift your chin. Through the camera, your expression looks dead. Glare like you’re about to devour someone. All right, let’s go again from the beginning.”
“Yes.”
Getting through one stage wasn’t the end of it. Adjustments continued even after his first performance.
Gowon hadn’t even managed to calm his ragged breathing, yet he immediately took his position again without complaint. The dance trainer looked satisfied.
“You don’t see kids like this these days.”
“.......”
The trainer pushed people to their absolute limits, enough to exhaust even Gowon, who had excellent stamina. Even after promotions began, he kept Gowon practicing right up to the point before it would interfere with his schedule.
The music Gowon had heard thousands of times started playing through the speakers again. Eight counts after the bass began, he turned forward and pushed his way through the dancers. Once the intense introductory choreography ended, the lyrics would begin.
Bzzzt— Bzzzt—
But a vibrating noise mixed with the music.
Gowon stopped moving too. As he halted the dance and ran toward a side table, the music was turned off. Gowon picked up his ringing phone.
“Family?”
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
“Well, it can’t be helped. Go ahead.”
He bowed to the trainer, whose expression had instantly turned displeased, and hurried out of the practice room.
Gowon had set custom alerts for exactly six people: Grandma, Grandpa, his younger sister in high school, his younger brother in elementary school, his manager, and Director Kwon Taeyoung.
Gowon came from what was commonly called a grandparent-headed household.
Trainees and rookie idols usually had restrictions placed on their phone use. However, the agency knew that Gowon served as his family’s guardian, so they had made an exception for him.
The caller was his younger brother. Gowon leaned against the wall and answered.
“Yeah, Suhyeon. Is something wrong—”
—Brother! You know, there are tons of girls in my class who are your fans! Park Haram, Han Seoi, and....
“Ah... I’m grateful to your friends. Is that why you called?”
So nothing had happened.
He had already relaxed halfway when he saw that the caller wasn’t his younger sister, Sua.
—Can’t I tell them you’re my brother?
“...Later. I’m a little embarrassed right now. Wouldn’t it be cooler to go, ‘Surprise!’ after I appear on TV more and become famous?”
—I guess....
Gowon remembered the attention that had poured onto the trainees during <Debut Chart>.
Trainees who became popular early and drew hostility from multiple fandoms had every detail of their families and old social media accounts dug up.
Fortunately, Gowon had never experienced anything like that. Considering that he had ranked first, it was a little strange, but after seeing other trainees suffer actual stalking, he had decided to regard it as a miracle and be grateful.
He had also become even more cautious himself. He didn’t want his entire private life exposed like theirs and his siblings harmed because of it.
—Brother, then in exchange for keeping it secret....
“Yeah.”
—The kids were bragging that jumbo shrimp pizza is really good. But I’m the only one who hasn’t tried it. I think Grandma, Grandpa, and our sister would like it too....
So this was the real reason for the call.
Gowon rubbed the corner of his eye.
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