Skills could be improved gradually.
But if we couldn’t catch the viewers’ attention from the beginning, we wouldn’t be able to get votes.
Later, if I suddenly became handsome, I might also get caught up in a plastic surgery controversy.
In the beginning, my parts might be very short. If that were the case, when would I get to show off my tiny little talent?
Being handsome was definitely the best.
… That’s what the agency bastards used to say, making my ears hurt. Thinking about it now, they were really shitty.
Although I didn’t fully agree with that, I decided to improve my charm after a rather rational thought process.
“Hey, don’t sleep while walking. Wake up.”
By the way, I was the kind of person who could think rationally even when I was asleep.
“Our room is this way. Room 312.”
Ban Yohan grabbed my clothes without consideration and pulled me in the opposite direction of where I was going.
Ah, we’ve arrived at our dormitory.
Right now, we were checking our room assignment and going up the stairs to the dormitory.
I thought I might get into an accident on the stairs, so I slapped my cheeks with both hands and blinked my eyes several times consciously.
Ban Yohan looked at me strangely, but my cloudy and muddy consciousness somewhat cleared up.
When I opened the door to room 312, I saw five suitcases lined up near the entrance.
Mine was a bit smaller than the others, but thankfully, my luggage was handled well, as I saw my name tag on one of the suitcases.
Having arrived earlier than us, Jing Xiao and Nagase Ritsu were standing awkwardly apart. They turned pale when they saw us entering the room.
“Ah, hello.”
“Hello….”
Their voices exchanging greetings were so weak, probably because they were so tired.
“Wow, beds. Wow.”
“Get a grip on your soul.”
I took off my shoes and lay down flat on the floor.
A bed was beside me, but I couldn’t dirty the sacred bed with my body covered in sweat and other impurities.
“Did you hear the announcement earlier?”
“I heard it, but I don’t remember. What did it say?”
“Change your clothes and wait. Then come to the cafeteria when your room is called during the broadcast.”
Kim Junwu came in and answered instead.
Me, Ban Yohan, Kim Junwu, Jing Xiao, Nagase Ritsu.
The five of us were assigned to share the same room during this training camp.
Come to think of it, we were all part of Hyeseong’s group. They must have grouped us together intentionally.
“Wow, there’s a camera.”
“There’s one here too.”
“We’re gonna be filmed. How do we change clothes?”
“We’ll have to wriggle under the covers or go to the bathroom to change, I guess.”
While I was half-asleep on the floor, Kim Junwu and Ban Yohan discovered cameras installed in the corners of the room and murmured.
Be careful with your words and actions.
While resolving to do so, I tried to catch some sleep, but then Ban Yohan blurted out a cheerful laugh and a terrible remark.
“Alright. Let’s have Raon sleep on the floor with a blanket.”
“What?”
“Can I use the bottom bunk?”
“Sure. I want to use the top bunk.”
“Excuse me?”
“Ritsu, do you want the bottom or the top bunk?”
“Either one is fine with me.”
“Well, I’m not fine with it.”
Jing Xiao, who could speak Korean well enough to have a casual conversation, eagerly said he wanted the top bunk, and I realized I couldn’t change public opinion.
Having quickly accepted the reality, I chose to crawl to the nearest camera and reveal the misdeeds of these ungrateful bastards.
++++++++++
“Everyone, are you watching? I’ve been abandoned. I helped my hyungs and Xiao so diligently earlier, but they didn’t know how to be grateful or repay the kindness. They left this good-hearted dongsaeng on the floor. What can I do? I, who am kind, just have to endure. PD, please be sure to show this in the broadcast later. I beg you.”
Having watched me, Kim Junwu silently drew closer, draping his arm over my shoulder as I finished speaking.
“Raon, you know that hyung cherishes you, right?”
“Hmph. It’s already too late.”
I tried to shake off Kim Junwu, who smelled of sweat since he hadn’t showered, but failed because my strength stat was insufficient. Damn.
It was only after struggling that I could barely remove the sticky Kim Junwu from my back.
It would have been nice if Ban Yohan and the other two hadn’t looked at me with pity.
Anyway, after that difficult ordeal, I opened the wardrobe.
A row of yellow sweatshirts, like the vests we had worn during practice in the studio earlier, hung neatly in the wardrobe.
“Wow, it’s completely chick color.”
“Twit, twit.”
Why were they like that?
It was clear that Ban Yohan had the same thought when he remarked,
“Junwu-hyung, you look like a sick chick.”
“This kid’s words are subtly harsh.”
I picked out a sweatshirt that looked about the right size.
“I’m going to shower.”
Since the broadcast had been calling in order the rooms that were on the second floor, our turn was still far off.
In the meantime, I intended to take a quick shower with hot water.
“We’ll lay out your blanket nicely.”
If there were no cameras here, if I weren’t a trainee, I would have proudly shown my middle finger to that disgusting guy.
But I couldn’t cause a scandal about my character on the first day of possession.
Hold on. Good fortune comes to those who endure.
Ignoring the playful Ban Yohan and Kim Junwu, I took out a transparent pouch containing shower supplies and a change of clothes from my carry-on and headed to the shared shower room.
“Hello.”
“…Hi.”
I greeted Seo Mungyeol, who had brought similar items with him, and we entered the shower room together.
The shower room was divided by partitions, but it was clean and quiet since no one had used it yet.
Nice.
I ignored Seo Mungyeol as he looked around the shower room and entered the nearest stall. I closed the curtain.
A moment later, the sound of the curtain closing once more could be heard.
I put my sweaty clothes on a shelf and showered, generously pouring the hot water. My whole body, stiff from a grueling long day, relaxed.
[You had a satisfying shower.
Fatigue -30]
Even after finishing my shower, I couldn’t bear to turn off the hot water, and I wasted it for a while before reluctantly closing the faucet with a lingering touch. Only then did I realize something.
Damn. I don’t have a towel.
I thought about just wiping off the water with my clothes, but I didn’t want to do such an unseemly thing when I was feeling comfortable and satisfied for the first time since entering the game.
Even though I was a game addict, I was a perfect person who always took a refreshing shower daily in the bathroom connected to my room.
As always, I made various fatal poses while looking in the mirror, and sure enough, the face that used to bring about self-love that rivaled that of Narcissus was nowhere to be found.
It was replaced by an immature-looking guy, making me feel bitter.
Life is like a dream that lasts one night…
Then, I heard someone pulling back a curtain and leaving a stall.
I couldn’t see his face behind the curtain, but I could confirm that it was Seo Mungyeol from the name floating above his head.
While listening to the sound of slippers hitting the floor, a sudden thought crossed my mind, and I blurted out.
“Gyeol-hyung! Can I borrow a towel, please? I forgot to bring mine…”
The shower room was designed to echo, so I assumed he heard my request.
However, there was no reply.
Did he just leave?
I decided to wait a little longer, just in case.
Standing still in the damp shower room with the window open in the middle of winter was cold, so I turned on the hot water again.
Someone entered the shower room, hung a towel over the partition, and left.
It was Seo Mungyeol. The world was still worth living in.
“Thank you!”
The difference in character between Ban Yohan and him, who chased me to the bottom even though we were from the same agency, was like night and day.
It was like looking at my past self, who had good looks and personality.
While Ban Yohan had a bright, flower-like appearance, Seo Mungyeol had a dry expression, which gave him a somewhat sensitive and sharp impression.
I was doubtful if someone like him, a person who barely exchanged greetings when entering the shower room, would help me, but once again, you shouldn’t judge a person by their appearance.
After drying and changing into new clothes, I returned to the room, and four people anxiously lying on the floor spotted me and got up.
“Did they not call us yet?”
I thought they might have gone to eat since it took some time during my shower, but thankfully, they seemed to have waited.
I shook the remaining water off my head and placed the towel on one side. The guys looked at me incredulously, and each said one thing.
“How could we leave without you?”
“Of course, we waited for you.”
“Ah, right. We were waiting to go together.”
“We are not that heartless. We were called earlier, but we waited for you.”
…There’s no way the world could be this warm.
After the unexpected kindness from Seo Mungyeol and the continuous fresh shocks from these guys, Kim Junwu carefully asked me, gauging my reaction.
“You’re not really mad, right?”
Ah, right. This was a game. A game, a game.
As I repeated that addictive word in my head, I quickly accepted their overtly friendly behavior.
I smiled gladly and said no. I explained to them that I had lost track of time as I was taking a shower.
Everyone sighed with relief and started chattering about how hungry they were.
Wow, I really can’t adapt.
We went down to the restaurant on the first floor, and since we arrived late, we could only get a small portion of pork stir-fry and rice. We sat down at an empty table.
“I know we all know each other, but do you want to go over our ages while we eat?”
“Sure, let’s do that.”
“Ah, Ritsu…Yohan-hyung, can you translate for him?”
“Alright.”
Ban Yohan, who no one could tell why he decided to be an idol with those specs, fluently translated Kim Junwu’s words to Nagase Ritsu in Japanese.
Nagase Ritsu gave an ok sign with his hand.
During that time, my beginner Japanese skill proficiency increased smoothly.
“I think I’m the oldest here, 22 years old.”
Kim Junwu was 22, Ban Yohan was 21, Nagase Ritsu was 20, I was 18, and Jing Xiao was 17.
Having stated his age, Kim Junwu proposed.
“Let’s just drop formalities?”
“Shall we?”
“I’ve already dropped them.”
“You… well…”
“You, what?”
[Trainees in Room 312 acknowledge you as the top insider in this area.
Charm +1]
I’m glad Charm increased, but why did I feel so uneasy and unconvinced?
Maybe it’s because the title of “insider” was attached to a genuine introvert like me, but I was not that outgoing, you know.
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