The Gates Opened on the First Day of Debut - Chapter 68

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Gate Burst Open on My Debut Day (68)
The rumor that Han Theo had gotten in through connections—that he was a parachute hire—tangled my thoughts into knots.
The fact that it had even reached Kim Junwoo’s ears meant it carried a certain degree of credibility.
But there was a problem more pressing than whether the rumor was true or false.
‘Why now, of all times?’
Why was I hearing a rumor I’d never once caught wind of during dozens of regressions?
“Kim Chowol, what do you think?”
“Huh?”
I was furrowing my brow in thought when I heard someone call my name.
It was Han Theo, sitting directly across from me.
“About our song.”
Han Theo pointed at the Tablet as he spoke.
The song we’d worked on for a full day straight was playing through the Tablet’s speaker.
“Ah… it sounds good.”
Focus. I need to focus.
I pushed away the memory of my conversation with Kim Junwoo and concentrated on the song.
‘The Stage concept and theme we’d chosen together was none other than… the fall of a god.’
It was a bit juvenile and cringey, but that was precisely what made this concept and theme so compelling.
“The classical sampling turned out better than expected?”
To express the concept and theme, we’d chosen to sample the melodies and sounds of classical music.
The first classical piece we sampled was Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem—the tears of the damned.
It depicted the tears shed by sinners as they received their punishment on the day of final judgment.
The sacred yet somehow desolate and mournful melody and sound suited the overall concept and theme of the song perfectly.
‘The second classical piece we sampled was O Fortuna from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.’
It was a piece often used to express an irresistible, colossal force and terror.
It captured the tragic circumstances and emotions of a god who resists falling yet inevitably must fall.
After confirming the sampling, I asked my teammates a question.
“Who chose this?”
“Me.”
Han Theo raised his hand as he answered.
The moment I saw Han Theo’s face, Kim Junwoo’s voice—which I’d barely managed to forget—echoed in my ears once more.
‘There’s a rumor that one of the PDs on Our Program took money and inserted Han Theo as a trainee.’
‘In other words… he was pushed in through connections.’
Having barely shaken off Kim Junwoo’s voice, I smiled gently and spoke to Han Theo.
“You chose well. The arrangement was excellent too.”
Han Theo nodded with an expression I couldn’t quite read.
But was it just my imagination that he seemed to be in a better mood than usual?
In any case, returning to the main point—sampling classical songs could easily become juvenile and cringey if done wrong.
But this was something that could be more than solved by pushing through with overwhelming vocals and dance.
“I think the first verse would sound good if we mixed falsetto and chest voice, don’t you think?”
Jung Yoo-yeol, sitting beside me, couldn’t hide his excited expression as he continued.
“We could add some ad-libs. Or we could go with a choir-like feel. For the highlight section… you know what belting is, right? It’s a vocal technique where you produce high notes with your natural voice. If we sing it with belting, it’ll sound truly grand.”
“Hmm… that sounds good. Let me jot that down for now. We can try singing it later.”
“Right? I knew you’d understand something like this, Kim Chowol.”
Jung Yoo-yeol smiled contentedly and wrote down what we’d just discussed on an A4 sheet.
“I’ve been thinking about the choreography for the highlight section… what if we add a move where we jump high and then drop to our knees to express the image of wings breaking and falling?”
After Jung Yoo-yeol, it was Lee Hyun-soo’s turn.
“I think it would work well to add some floor work movements to the intro. Oh, floor work is when…”
Lee Hyun-soo demonstrated the choreography he’d envisioned directly.
Bending his knees and lowering his body, Lee Hyun-soo smoothly rolled across the floor in a circle before rising back up.
“It’s a contemporary dance movement that uses the floor. There are actually many other movements, but… we don’t have time right now, so I’ll show you next time. And for the pre-chorus, I think it would look cooler if we used ticking. Oh, ticking is when…”
Lee Hyun-soo poured out ideas about what choreography would work well, rambling on enthusiastically.
I understood to some extent thanks to my experience as a returnee, but the other team members seemed to barely comprehend what he was saying.
“That sounds good. Let’s try putting in everything we can.”
“R, really?”
Lee Hyun-soo’s eyes sparkled as he looked at me.
I stared blankly at the A4 sheet filled with Jung Yoo-yeol and Lee Hyun-soo’s ideas before opening my mouth.
“So now…”
“Now?”
“Let’s go eat.”
By the time we’d finished discussing various things about the Stage, evening had long since passed.
The team members, belatedly checking the time, began gathering their things and standing up.
“Hyung, Kim Chowol hyung.”
As I was organizing the A4 sheet so the other team couldn’t see it, Okada quietly approached and tugged at my sleeve.
“What?”
“Will it be okay…?”
“What?”
“The, the choreography and the song.”
I immediately understood what Okada meant.
The difficulty of the choreography and vocals seemed to be weighing on her.
“It’ll be fine. Have confidence.”
“Yes…”
“If it gets difficult, we can just practice together again. Like we did during the theme song evaluation.”
“Yes!”
When I mentioned the theme song evaluation, Okada’s expression brightened.
The experience of overcoming hardship and adversity had a way of becoming a source of strength time and again, just like now.
‘And with Okada’s stats, there shouldn’t be a problem.’
The real problem… is me.
I deliberately pushed for a unique and distinctive concept and theme.
On top of that, I sampled a classical song and pushed the difficulty of both the vocals and choreography to the limit.
As a result, I had created a song and choreography that my current stats simply couldn’t handle.
‘It’s time to use my items and traits.’
I had an S-rank item selection voucher and a gacha ticket I’d received from clearing a hidden quest previously.
I checked my status window.
[Sub Quest: Recruit Allies
Description: Recruit allies for a successful debut.
Ally Recruitment Progress (5/6)
Success Reward: Gate Occurrence Suspended (180 days)]
[1. Okada Hiro (Rank: B+)(Status Window Viewable)
2. Yoo Sung (Rank: S-)(Status Window Viewable)
3. Seo Ijae (Rank: B)(Status Window Viewable)
4. Jung Yoo-yeol (Rank: A)(Status Window Viewable)
5. Kang Hae-soo (Rank: A-)(Status Window Viewable)
6. ―]
[Hidden Quest Cleared.]
[Hidden Quest: Recruit Five Allies.
Reward: Trait Gacha Ticket (A) x1]
I’d received the A-rank trait gacha ticket when I achieved 100% trust with Kang Hae-soo after the second mock match ended with his walk-off home run.
‘The truth is, I don’t know yet what item will come from the selection voucher or what trait will come from the gacha ticket.’
But at this critical moment where debuting in first place was on the line, I didn’t want to compromise the Stage quality because of my own limitations.
And even if the item and trait that came out weren’t particularly helpful for the Stage….
‘I’m confident in my effort.’
I squeezed my eyes shut and offered a brief prayer.
I didn’t have any faith to speak of, and I had no intention of developing any in the future, but….
Still, I gathered as much reverence as I could muster and murmured silently.
‘Use item selection voucher.’
The status window appeared.
But it was slightly different from the status window I usually saw.
The S-rank item selection voucher, just like the item selection vouchers I’d used before, allowed me to choose one of three items.
The first and second items were ordinary.
But the third item shimmered with a golden glow from its name all the way through its description.
As if beckoning me to choose it.
[Acquired Item: Stat Growth Certificate
Rank: S
Description: You can raise one stat by 2 tiers.]
This was…!
It was the item I’d drawn from the gacha ticket after clearing my first hidden quest.
I’d been able to safely pass the stat evaluation Stage thanks to the Stat Growth Certificate.
‘There’s no need to even look at the others. One is A-rank and the other is A+-rank, but… they don’t seem immediately necessary.’
Without hesitating over the other items, I carefully selected the shimmering golden Stat Growth Certificate.
‘Let me see… what are my current stats?’
I immediately checked my current stats to use them right away.
[Basic Stats
Vocal: D+
Dance: D
Appearance: A-
Charm: B]
Which stat should I choose to raise?
Until now, I’d scraped by through crises using items and traits, but it was time to finally boost my fundamental stats like Vocal or Dance.
I couldn’t live as a D-rank forever.
‘But choosing just one is so difficult…’
Vocal? Or Dance?
Or should I go with Charm again this time?
‘I’ll decide after spinning the trait draw.’
Unable to make an immediate decision, I postponed it and resolved to think about it later.
‘Using the Trait Draw Ticket.’
A familiar spinning wheel appeared before my eyes.
But it was slightly different from the wheel for the B-rank item draw ticket.
‘There’s no black, only silver and gold sections? There’s almost no bronze or rainbow, but they do exist.’
Considering that gold meant S-rank, silver meant A-rank, and bronze meant B-rank, it meant the minimum was B-rank.
The fortunate thing was that the bronze section was so narrow that the probability of getting B-rank was virtually nonexistent.
‘I hope gold comes up, gold.’
I wasn’t even hoping for rainbow.
I didn’t even know what rank rainbow was supposed to be.
A rank higher than S?
Was it something like SSS-rank or EX-rank?
―Whirrrr.
The wheel began spinning before I could even mentally prepare myself.
‘Gold, silver, silver, silver, bronze, then gold again…’
I stared intently at the section the arrow at the top of the wheel was pointing to.
The rapidly spinning wheel gradually began to slow down.
‘Huh…?’
And it stopped on a section I hadn’t anticipated at all.
[You have used the Trait Draw Ticket.]
[Acquired Item: Mediocrity That Cannot Become Genius
Rank: EX
Description: Training Efficiency increased by 1000%]
EX-rank…?
For the first time, I had drawn a rainbow-colored, EX-rank trait.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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