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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: A Sleepless Night
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“…Why?”
“It’s too hard… I want to rest for a bit.”
“I know everyone’s tired, but let’s get up and practice. We’ll feel more energized if we do it together.”
“Hye-sung, while you were sitting and meditating, we kept practicing. Let’s just rest for a little.”
“Fine. Let’s rest for just ten minutes, then we’ll sync up.”
*Tsk. These kids are slacking off.*
Hye-sung continued practicing the choreography with the few who hadn’t taken a break.
“What’s going on? How is she suddenly not making any mistakes?”
“Hye-sung, what did you do?”
*Oops. I should have danced a little worse. I was too precise.*
“Huh? I don’t know. It just sort of happened?”
After mumbling a vague excuse to the trainees who were giving her strange looks for dancing the entire song without a single mistake, Hye-sung got the resting trainees back on their feet to continue practicing. Just then, Na Yeon-woo returned from the vocal room.
“Oh? You were all practicing together?”
“Yeon-woo! I’m dead tired! You’re the class leader, but Yoon Hye-sung keeps working us to the bone~!”
“Hye-sung Eonni did?”
That was strange. Hye-sung Eonni wasn’t that kind of person. She should have her hands full just working on her own parts. Na Yeon-woo looked utterly puzzled.
“No! Everyone said they were going to pull an all-nighter, but they keep trying to take breaks. If we don’t want to get scolded tomorrow, we really can’t sleep tonight.”
“You have a point, but we’re not machines~!”
“You probably have tons of energy now because you were just plopped on the floor resting earlier.”
A few of them seemed unhappy about the mandatory group practice.
*These kids… I was just trying to help them out since I’m already at 99%, but they’re making such a fuss.*
Seeing the weak willpower of some of the trainees, she thought that they weren’t in F Class for no reason.
“If you don’t want to do it, then don’t. If you want to get chewed out by the instructors tomorrow and stay stuck in F Class, then go ahead and rest. I’m going to practice all night. Yeon-woo, come here.”
Hye-sung intentionally made a few mistakes in the choreography as she continued the group practice with the trainees who hadn’t stopped, including Na Yeon-woo.
Spurred on by the sight, some of the trainees who had wanted to rest quietly rejoined the formation.
*Looks like they’ve finally come to their senses.*
After pushing through practice until 2 AM, everyone’s stamina was depleted, and they collapsed again.
“By the way, where’s Rurika?”
Hye-sung asked while scanning the trainees’ proficiency levels. Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen Rurika since the group practice started.
“Oh, she said she was feeling sick after lunch. I think she took some medicine and is resting in the dorm.”
“Really? I hope it’s not serious.”
“She said she’d come to the practice room when she felt better. Maybe she fell asleep?”
They wouldn’t blame the class leader for Rurika falling behind because she was the only one who couldn’t practice, right? Even after hearing Rurika was sick, Hye-sung was worried Na Yeon-woo would get scolded.
*…Could she be really sick?*
But still, hearing that she was sick weighed on her mind.
“I’m going to go check on Rurika.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“Me too.”
“Me too.”
Na Yeon-woo, Im Ye-in, and one other trainee who shared a room with Rurika replied one after another.
“No, it’s fine. You all rest here for a bit. I’ll go by myself.”
Hye-sung quickly left the practice room before anyone could follow.
* * *
*When I checked earlier, Yeon-woo’s dance proficiency was just over 50%. Im Ye-in seemed to be around the same level.*
She hadn’t checked their singing proficiency, but she expected both of them to be lower than her.
*Im Ye-in probably hasn’t even reached 10%. She’s in big trouble too.*
On her way to the dorms, she peeked through the windows of the other classes’ practice rooms. In the Ace Class, most of the trainees already seemed to have a dance proficiency of 70%. They would surely reach 80% by tomorrow.
*You need to be at that level to move up to the Ace Class.*
Having already achieved 99% in the choreography, Hye-sung was worried about where Na Yeon-woo would end up.
The Basic Class seemed likely, but for someone given the role of the F Class’s teacher, moving up to Basic just didn’t have enough impact. She had to make it to the Ace Class, no matter what.
*Isn’t there a way to pull Yeon-woo up dramatically, just like me…?*
While she was lost in thought, she arrived at the room where Rurika was resting.
“It’s Hye-sung. I’m coming in.”
Hye-sung carefully opened the door and entered the room. With all the lights off, the room was quiet.
“Is she asleep?”
Rurika was lying on the top bunk of the left bed, still as death. Hye-sung turned on the lamp by the opposite bed and checked on her.
“Ugh…”
Rurika stirred, as if woken by the presence in the room.
“Ah, sorry. Did I wake you?”
“…Hye-sung.”
Rurika, who had been tossing and turning under the covers, sat up. Her hair was plastered to her face with cold sweat.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you? Are you really sick?”
“…I have no strength, ugh.”
From what she said, Rurika had gone to the bathroom more than ten times since dinner and was lying down from exhaustion. With a slight fever and a headache, it didn’t seem like a simple stomachache.
“We can’t just leave you like this. Let’s ask them to take you to a hospital. Can you get up?”
“Yeah…”
Hye-sung helped Rurika to the production staff’s room. As soon as the staff saw Rurika’s condition, they asked why they hadn’t been told sooner and rushed her to the emergency room.
Later, she heard that Rurika had stress-induced enteritis and was only able to return to the dorms after sunrise.
After taking Rurika to the production staff, Hye-sung returned to the practice room, and they practiced for a while longer. As it neared 4 AM, most of the trainees went back to the dorms again.
5 AM. The only trainees left in the F Class practice room were Yoon Hye-sung, Na Yeon-woo, Im Ye-in, and two others. Only five of them remained.
“If we go wash up now, we can probably get about an hour of sleep.”
“Isn’t that the same as not sleeping at all?”
“Still, to your body, getting an hour of sleep is different from getting none at all.”
To avoid being completely drained during the morning vocal lesson, they all agreed to rest their bodies for an hour.
“Alright, dismissed! See you in the morning.”
* * *
“You didn’t come back last night?”
Leaning casually against the bed ladder, Han Young-won asked Hye-sung, who was changing her clothes.
“I did. I came in after 5.”
“I didn’t hear you showering.”
“Ah, I came back so late, I used the communal showers because I didn’t want to wake you guys up.”
“Oh? I see.”
But didn’t she say she sleeps with earplugs? Why is she asking about this? Hye-sung tilted her head, puzzled.
“Hye-sung must be exhausted.”
Lee Ju-ha came over and pressed a vitamin ampoule and a nutritional drink against Hye-sung’s cheeks. It was an expensive set of drinks that sold for 7,500 won at the pharmacy.
“Drink this after you eat.”
“Wow, thank you so much.”
*Her personality really is top-notch. I don’t know why she didn’t debut. It’d be perfect if she debuted with my Yeon-woo.*
“Young-won Eonni gave it to you.”
“Young-won Eonni did?”
“I think she was worried because she thought you stayed in the practice room all night. Right, Eonni?”
“Not really. I just gave it to you because I had it.”
Han Young-won gestured with her chin toward an open suitcase on the floor. One entire side was filled with nutritional drinks and fatigue recovery tonics.
“Gasp. That’s a lot…”
There were whole boxes of Kwi-up and Gilu-kom.
*That alone must be worth over 300,000 won!*
Hye-sung, who rarely bought expensive nutritional drinks even when she was exhausted from her office job because she was saving money for Na Yeon-woo, gulped.
“Let me know if you need more. I have another suitcase.”
Hearing those words, Hye-sung began to see Han Young-won as a benevolent Buddha.
“Thank you. Thank you so much. For sharing something so precious… Something so expensive…”
Seeing Hye-sung on the verge of bowing deeply, hands clasped in gratitude, Han Young-won backed away, muttering, “Hey, what’s wrong with her?”
In the morning, there was another vocal lesson. Rurika was still feeling unwell and couldn’t participate.
Aside from that, it seemed the day would pass much like the one before, but then Im Ye-in was harshly scolded by the vocal trainer, Yoo Jung-ah.
“Ye-in, just because your position is dance, are you going to keep singing like this? This program is for finding singers. The re-evaluation is tomorrow, does it make any sense that you still can’t hit a single note correctly? How many times have you been off-key from the very first note!”
Yoo Jung-ah, who had also been a vocal trainer last season, was known for her gentle and encouraging teaching style rather than being harsh, so this was the first time anyone had seen her so angry. Thanks to that, the atmosphere in the class turned ice-cold.
“This isn’t just for Ye-in, everyone listen up. You’ve all been focusing only on your dancing, haven’t you? You seem to think singing is just about making some noise, but you’re dead wrong. If you can’t even sing this poorly while standing still, do you think you can sing live while dancing? Forget the re-evaluation, what are you going to do for the recording and the actual performance, huh?”
Yoo Jung-ah looked at the frozen trainees, let out a sigh, and placed her hands back on the keyboard.
“Yeon-woo. Get ready.”
Looking extremely nervous, Na Yeon-woo clutched the lyric sheet tightly with both hands.
“Why is your voice so quiet? I can’t hear you. Again.”
Yoo Jung-ah said in a subdued voice.
“Yeon-woo. Open your mouth wider. Project your voice!”
Na Yeon-woo ended up getting scolded without even managing to sing the chorus properly.
“Next, Hye-sung.”
“Yes…”
Last night, she had been so busy leading the F Class trainees in group practice with Na Yeon-woo that she hadn’t practiced her vocals properly. She might have been a little complacent because she already knew the song.
*Sigh… I’m going to get scolded too.*
Her current singing proficiency was barely over 30%.
[Lucky Four-Leaf Clover (Normal) has been activated!]
“I’ll take all of your heart~ The one who’ll shine the brightest, I’ve decided it’s me~”
Hye-sung sang the chorus plainly, stripping away all technique. Perhaps thanks to the four-leaf clover, she made no mistakes. But it wasn’t a good performance either. It was just… unremarkable.
“Yes! That’s the kind of volume I’m looking for.”
Yoo Jung-ah said, taking her hands off the keyboard. It was the first time she had shown a gentle expression today.
*Is this the clover’s effect? Or… was that actually good?*
“Like Hye-sung, sing it simply and at least hit the right notes. Don’t try to add weird techniques when you can’t even sing properly.”
She wasn’t saying it was good, by any means. She was setting a minimum standard. The meaning was to sing in a way that wouldn’t stand out, so their voices could blend in with the higher-ranked trainees.
*Right. This is F Class, after all.*
Hye-sung, who had been momentarily surprised thinking she had done well, finally understood. This was F Class, so it was only natural that the expectations were different from the other classes.
* * *
Having witnessed Na Yeon-woo getting scolded from the front row that morning, Hye-sung grew anxious, feeling she had to help her quickly.
*I came up with an idea yesterday, but I’m not sure if it’ll work.*
The idea was to use while practicing vocals together with Na Yeon-woo.
Since Na Yeon-woo would also be repeating the practice when time turned back, she was curious if the experience would accumulate for her too.
*Status Window. Can I apply Rewind to other people?*
[Can only be applied to the user. Your Delusion Power is too low to expand the range of application.]
*At what level can I apply it to others?*
[Delusion Power must be 4 or higher.]
There was no way of knowing how long it would take to reach 4. It could be a few hours, or it could take a month.
*So it won’t work after all.*
She couldn’t use it because her Delusion Power was too low, but rapidly improving someone else’s skills in a short time was risky in many ways.
The target would inevitably become suspicious when they realized their skills didn’t improve while practicing alone. Of course, using it little by little over multiple sessions could be a good method.
*Is there no other way?*
