The Gates Opened on the First Day of Debut - Chapter 69

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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 (69)
My shock at drawing an EX-grade trait faded quickly.
Soon enough, the trait’s name and description came into focus.
‘A mediocrity who can never become a genius… what does that mean? No, that’s not really important.’
What mattered was the absurd trait effect: a 1000% increase in practice efficiency.
I recalled the dozens of regressions I’d been trapped in, unable to escape.
In the early stages of regression, no amount of practice improved my skills.
I’d nearly broken down countless times, but I refused to give up and kept pushing forward.
‘Things began to change gradually once my regressions reached double digits.’
I could finally produce vocal ranges that had been unreachable no matter how much I practiced.
The choreography I could never keep up with—my body began to remember it.
Endless practice and effort were finally bearing fruit.
‘With this trait… I can recover my reset stats much faster than expected.’
I recalled my reset stats from when the Main Quest had opened.
[Basic Stats
Vocal: S 〉 D+
Dance: A+ 〉 D-
Appearance: A 〉 B+
Charm: S- 〉 C+]
Even now, thinking about it made me dizzy.
All those hard-earned stats, reset in an instant.
But now that I had an EX-grade trait, it didn’t matter.
‘EX-grade trait… a mediocrity who can never become a genius.’
Suddenly, it struck me that the trait’s name described me perfectly.
I had no talent for dance or vocals, no striking appearance or charm, but….
‘I’m confident in practice and effort.’
I barely managed to calm my excitedly racing heart and steeled my resolve.
* * *
“Han Theo, can we talk for a moment before we eat?”
I stopped Han Theo as he headed to the Cafeteria with the rest of the team.
Han Theo paused and nodded.
“Sure.”
I led Han Theo to the Hallway, a short distance away from the Vending Machine.
It was an awkward spot, but there were no cameras, making it good for conversation.
Han Theo tilted his head and asked.
“Why?”
“Well….”
My mind was cluttered and I had so many questions, but I couldn’t seem to open my mouth easily.
‘Should I even be asking Han Theo about the parachute casting in the first place?’
Kim Junwoo’s words kept nagging at me, so I’d called Han Theo over for now.
But when I tried to bring up the parachute drop, I kept hesitating.
If Han Theo hadn’t been on our team, I wouldn’t have worried this much.
But regardless of my feelings, Han Theo was now part of our team, and I needed to prepare before any problems surfaced.
There was almost nothing I could do as a mere trainee….
“Which entertainment agency did you say you were from?”
“Loud Sound.”
Han Theo answered with an expression suggesting he didn’t understand why I was asking.
In truth, I naturally already knew which agency Han Theo belonged to.
‘Loud Sound… a small entertainment agency. Their roster consists of just one mid-tier actor with low recognition and some rookie actors.’
A sense of discord suddenly brushed through my mind.
‘Wait… a small entertainment agency? Why would they have the connections to push Han Theo through a favor? Or rather, do they even have the capability to do so?’
The idol survival audition program that Jang Hyuk-soo produced was so competitive that even applicants from mid-tier agencies got filtered out at the document screening stage.
Favors were something only agencies with connections and networks could pull off. Loud Sound was too small an agency to have even that.
Of course, it was possible they selected Han Theo based on his visuals and skills.
But… if that were the case, there would be no reason for the parachute drop talk to come up in the first place.
“Is there anything difficult going on lately?”
I asked gently, thinking I might probe Han Theo for information.
Honestly, I thought if I coaxed him a bit, I could get him to talk.
I still didn’t know what Han Theo was thinking, but it was clear he didn’t dislike me.
‘During the last team match, he was willing to give up the center position, and this time he approached me first to be on the same team.’
No one volunteers to be on the same team as someone they dislike.
At least it was certain that Han Theo wanted to become closer to me.
“Difficult….”
Han Theo, lost in thought, trailed off and paused.
An awkward silence hung in the air for a moment.
Then, completely unexpected words flowed from Han Theo’s lips.
“Are we… friends?”
“Huh?”
“Are we friends?”
“What….”
What was he suddenly saying?
I was so taken aback that I couldn’t say anything.
‘Is he saying this because he knows there’s no camera around? But still… what’s the reason for saying something like that?’
But Han Theo continued steadily, regardless of my confusion.
“Are you and I… close enough to say things like this?”
Han Theo tilted his head to the side as he asked.
I wanted to know what he was thinking, but I couldn’t read his expression at all.
“Hey, aren’t you going to eat?”
As I stood there speechless and at a loss, a voice of salvation came from afar.
It was Okada.
“R-right… I should eat. Theo, you eat too. Sorry for taking up your time.”
I turned away from Han Theo and stuck myself right next to Okada.
‘A tactical retreat.’
I nodded along appropriately to Okada’s cheerful chatter as we headed toward the Cafeteria.
* * *
I was so shaken by what Han Theo had said that I couldn’t tell if the food was going into my mouth or my nose.
‘I mean… he might not think of us as friends.’
We weren’t really that close anyway.
But did he really need to react so sharply to a simple, conventional question about whether anything was troubling him?
Besides, Han Theo didn’t even know there were no cameras where we’d been talking.
Even if he was the Female PD’s pick, he couldn’t be so ignorant of broadcasting that he’d say something that would give Jang Hyuk-soo ammunition to criticize him….
‘Ugh… I don’t know, I just don’t know.’
Han Theo didn’t talk much, and his expressions barely changed, so I could never tell what he was thinking.
Yoo Sung, who reacted honestly to every touch, was far easier to deal with.
‘I’ll think about the Han Theo problem later.’
There were more pressing issues piling up in front of me like mountains.
For instance… what song to perform for the special cover Stage.
‘A Nexus song would be good.’
If I did a Nexus song, the visuals wouldn’t be bad.
A junior performing a cover of a senior’s song from their fifteenth year of debut.
And a senior who guides such a junior while properly showcasing their own skills.
Isn’t that a heartwarming senior-junior relationship just to watch?
‘The problem is, there aren’t as many suitable Nexus songs as I thought.’
Like most male Idol songs and choreography, Nexus had many songs with intense sound and impressive synchronized group dances.
I could manage the singing somehow, but the real problem was bringing out the group choreography.
There were only two of us participating in the cover Stage—me and Kim Junwoo.
Songs with impressive group choreography would definitely look awkward unless I completely reworked the dance.
But I didn’t have enough time to rework the choreography.
‘Wait. Wasn’t there one Nexus song with a lot of pair choreography?’
As I went through Nexus’s songs one by one, a certain song flashed through my mind.
‘I remember now. PUPPET. How could I have completely forgotten about that?’
PUPPET was released after one of Nexus’s members left due to some unfortunate incident.
Though the member count had dropped from five to four, the remaining members didn’t give up.
‘Since we’ve become an even number, let’s try something that can only be done with an even number.’
PUPPET always had two members in the center.
The core of the Stage was the pair choreography where one person played the puppet and the other played the puppeteer controlling the puppet.
But this song had a fatal problem.
‘This was seriously insanely difficult.’
I think my subconscious excluded it from my options because it was too hard.
The reason PUPPET was so difficult was simple.
A member left Nexus, and the group went through a hiatus lasting over a year.
People said Nexus would never return.
At that time, there had been no successful comeback cases of idol groups that had lost members.
“I spent all day checking reactions online. At first, there was so much hate that it broke my heart… but later, when even the hate stopped coming, it hurt even more. The fact that people were gradually forgetting about us was unbearably painful. That’s when I realized that hate comments were better than silence.”
So the members of Nexus steeled themselves and prepared PUPPET.
Even when people around them warned that it was too difficult and wouldn’t work, they paid no attention and charged forward like a runaway locomotive.
PUPPET’s initial performance was lackluster, but it began gaining buzz through its high-quality stages.
Eventually, just a week after the comeback, it entered the upper ranks of music charts and achieved a successful return with a number-one performance on music shows.
‘PUPPET is good, but… can I really pull it off?’
I set down my spoon and deliberated for a moment before reaching a decision faster than expected.
‘Let’s do it. Just do it. What’s the problem?’
Since I’d already drawn an EX-grade trait, I might as well squeeze every bit of value from it.
I can sleep when I’m dead anyway.
Having made my decision, I organized my spoon and chopsticks as I spoke.
“Let’s go now.”
“You’re done eating? There’s still so much left….”
Okada looked at my tray with concern.
My tray still had most of the rice and side dishes I’d received.
“I just don’t have an appetite. Don’t worry about it. Besides, dieting is good for me, right?”
I reassured Okada and cleared my tray.
On the way back to the Practice Room.
“Kim Chowol.”
Han Theo, who had parted ways with me vaguely in the Hallway, called out and stopped me.
“Huh? Yeah?”
I turned around in surprise, and Han Theo’s eyes darted around as he opened his mouth.
“Can we talk for a bit….”
“Oh, yeah. Let’s talk for a moment. You go in first.”
I sent Okada ahead and went back to the Hallway where we’d parted earlier.
A place without cameras.
Han Theo stood before me in silence for a long time.
He seemed to be gathering his thoughts.
“Did I say something weird again?”
“Huh?”
“I’m sorry.”
Han Theo, leaning his back against the wall, suddenly splashed his face roughly with dry hands.
I wasn’t expecting an apology from Han Theo, so I couldn’t say anything as I processed the situation.
“I’m just… not good at this.”
“What, what are you…?”
Han Theo avoided my gaze with an uncertain expression.
I swallowed hard and waited for Han Theo’s answer.
“…Korean.”
I stood frozen, my mouth agape in shock.
Han Theo couldn’t do what?

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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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