He had seized a first-place trophy with his debut song. There could not have been a more successful start.
Honestly, both Kwon Taeyoung and I had suffered disastrous debuts, so we were getting a little vicarious satisfaction from watching Gowon. Of course, Taeyoung also had his own achievement and joy as the head of Division Five.
“Ah, now I can’t wait to go to work tomorrow.”
“Brother, did you hit your head?”
“There’s an executive meeting tomorrow, and Executive Director Choi will be there.”
Oh, news of Gowon’s first music-show win would be the first item on the agenda.
“Turn on a live broadcast in the Young Ace group chat when you get to the meeting.”
I knew better than anyone how elegantly my brother could scrape away at someone’s nerves when an opportunity like this came along.
“Well. Aside from that, Gowon should gain some confidence too.”
“Ah, right. He’s strangely lacking in confidence.”
Maybe it was more like he only pretended to be tough on the outside.
Q2-1. Toward Completing Music Show Promotions
Cleared
Completion Requirement: Music show appearances (15/15)
Good. That ended safely.
Q2-2. Achieve First Place on a Music Show
Completion Requirement – Win first place on a music show
Success: Inactive slot unlocked
Failure: Quest Scenario forced termination
Q2-2. Achieve First Place on a Music Show
Cleared
Completion Requirement – Win first place on a music show
Huh.
Apparently, the next quest had been to win first place.
I had somehow finished two quests while sitting still. Then again, we had spent three whole weeks on this, so it made sense.
You helped overcome the crisis in an excellent manner.
Junior’s Respect has increased, allowing one new slot to be added.
...What? He didn’t seem to respect me that much.
One of the following slots will be opened.
[Mental Strength], [Recognition], [Stamina]
The moment Kwon Taeyoung and I finished talking about Gowon’s mental state, these options appeared.
Yes. What he needed right now was mental strength. Mental strength.
As long as Gowon’s mental health was properly managed, his growth potential would soar. It would be ideal if I could look at his status window and take care of him whenever the numbers seemed strange.
I selected Mental Strength without hesitation.
The slot will be assigned randomly.
Ah, no.
Baek Hanje had truly, truly terrible luck with random draws.
“Brother, hold my hand.”
“Ask Cha Yensu for that kind of thing.”
“Come on, hold it! Hurry!”
“Was it that when a younger sibling is born, the older child starts acting like a baby...?”
Even as he stared at me as though wondering what the hell this fully grown man he had practically raised was doing, Kwon Taeyoung reluctantly held out his hand.
He could complain all he wanted. Right now, I needed to steal luck from anyone I could. If I challenged this with my own luck, I would end up looking at a stamina examination chart for the most useless bastard on earth.
Please, please!
The roulette spun with a rapid flutter and landed on—
[Stamina]
“Ah, Brother!”
“Why are you getting mad at me?”
I flung his hand away without a shred of regret.
Applying HBN’s new slot.
Gowon
Appearance Lv.98
Vocals Lv.55
Dance Lv.79
Stamina 77%
(Inactive) -
(Inactive) -
Current Status: ㅠㅠ...
Current MAX LEVEL: 100
Stamina was displayed as a percentage rather than a level. It seemed to show how much energy he currently had left.
He did an early-morning prerecording and the live broadcast, and he still has seventy-seven percent left? Isn’t he a monster...?
And perhaps because it was such a simple emotion, the black censorship squares had disappeared, leaving Gowon’s current status completely visible.
...What the hell? Is he still crying?
Finally, perhaps because this had become a turning point in his growth, his maximum level had increased.
And the moment the limit on his Appearance rose, it shot straight up close to the maximum level....
Anyway, the next quest should appear now.
During the brief delay, I examined his status.
Since one of the three—Stamina, Mental Strength, or Recognition—had been chosen at random, the two inactive slots were probably reserved for Mental Strength and Recognition.
Gowon
Current Status: ■!
The current status that had been shedding huge teardrops like an emoji changed.
Well, look at that. Guess he finally stopped crying.
Should I send him a congratulatory message as encouragement from his senior?
Just as I was entertaining that idle thought—
Gowon
Stamina 68% (▼9)
......What?
Gowon
Stamina 55% (▼13)
Gowon
Stamina 47% (▼8)
Gowon
Stamina 37% (▼10)
Even after performing stage after stage since dawn, he had only used twenty-three percent of his stamina. Now it suddenly began plummeting.
“...Brother, Gowon is—”
“Wait.”
Just then, Kwon Taeyoung’s phone began ringing loudly. Its built-in default ringtone sounded unusually ominous today.
“Yeah, Jonghyeok.”
—Taeyoung, Gowon suddenly grabbed his knee and collapsed!
I had been pressed right beside Kwon Taeyoung from the moment he answered, so I could hear Chief Manager Park’s panicked voice too.
“Was he injured onstage?”
—No. He definitely walked back to the waiting room just fine. Well, he was crying hard enough to choke, but....
“How is he? Is it serious?”
—I don’t know. He can’t say anything and just has his head hanging down... He’s not the kind of kid who tells you how badly he hurts even when he’s in pain, so I’m losing my mind here.
Even then, the stamina number in front of me kept falling.
“Brother, take Gowon to the hospital right now!”
Shouting was not enough, so I snatched Kwon Taeyoung’s phone toward me. Kwon Taeyoung narrowed one eye, but soon sighed as though giving up.
“I know for a fact that something’s wrong with him, so go now!”
—No, I want to, but Gowon has another schedule immediately after this.
“That’s not what matters right now!”
Gowon
Stamina 20% (▼17)
His stamina had plunged from seventy-seven percent all the way down to this.
“...It would be best to have him examined, as Hanje said. This is the first time Gowon has ever done this, isn’t it?”
—Director, that’s not necessary.
Then I heard a hoarse voice threaded with pain.
—I’m fine. It settles down if I leave it alone. There won’t be any problem going to the schedule. I’m sorry for causing trouble....
“Ha.”
This was exactly why I had wanted to unlock Mental Strength.
No, considering the current situation, should I be grateful I could see his stamina instead?
“Hey, what did I tell you? Wasn’t it just last week that I said your body was an asset and an investment?”
—Senior....
“Go quietly to the hospital unless you seriously want me to beat the shit out of you.”
—.......
“Jonghyeok, don’t listen to him. Just take him to the hospital.”
—Gowon, let’s get in the car. Even Hanje is saying so.
—I’m really fine, ngh...!
Gowon
Stamina 17% (▼3)
Fine, my ass. I knew things had been going too smoothly.
Watching Gowon was teaching me that a child accustomed to enduring everything was harder to deal with than one who threw himself on the floor and whined.
“Brother, let’s go to the hospital too.”
At least his promotions had already ended. We needed to determine the cause for certain so it would not interfere with his next activities....
“It’s growing pains.”
“.......”
“There are a fair number of cases where growing pains continue into adulthood. He has also recently done a great deal of activity that placed strain on his knees, so the pain seems to have hit him more severely.”
“.......”
His face, still covered in eye-catching stage makeup that had smeared after he sobbed from the emotion of winning first place, turned bright red. Surrounded by the division head, the chief manager, the road manager, and an extremely senior artist, he dropped his head.
“I told you I was fine.”
Gowon sounded tearful for an entirely different reason now.
Gowon
Current Status: ㅜ///ㅜ!!
...Status window. Stamina.
Gowon
Stamina 80%
“.......”
Well, he had not been lying.
He would race around at full speed, suddenly collapse, then recover completely in no time.
“Are you sure he’s twenty and not a two-year-old baby?”
“I am not.”
I thought I had muttered it to myself, but Gowon immediately whipped his head around and objected. Wasn’t that itself proof he was a baby?
“Gowon, can you still go to your schedule?”
“Ah, yes. Of course I can.”
If they started preparing now, he could arrive just barely on time. Gowon decided to leave directly from the hospital.
“Director, and... Senior. I’ll be going now. Goodbye.”
As he bowed and left, his gaze somehow seemed... no, he looked extremely dissatisfied.
Then a new notification window appeared.
Q2-3. Consistent Growth Is the Shortcut to Your Goal
A break has arrived.
But you cannot simply rest forever.
A rookie singer still has a long road ahead.
Raise your abilities and be reborn as the perfect idol.
Requirement: Reach Vocals and Dance Lv.100
Success: MAX LEVEL increase (100→120)
Failure: Comeback Scenario cannot be initiated; Quest Scenario forced termination.
Time Limit: 718h 56m 30s (D-30)
...Ha. This time I even have to water him and raise him?
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter