The S-Rank Paparazzi Reincarnates as an Idol - Chapter 7

—————

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

—————

Chapter 7
Ding.
[Stat Window]
Kim Sun-yu (23)
Appearance: B
Singing: B-
Dancing: A-
Charisma: B-
Stamina: B-
Ability: ???
Traits: 5 years into idol career
‘Wow. These stats are practically perfect.’
[Quite different from a certain someone, isn’t it?]
‘Shut it.’
The stage presence of this veteran, whose stats were filled entirely with A’s and B’s, was exceptional.
‘Not that I have room to talk, but isn’t this borderline cheating too?’
The moment the one-minute timer ended, the song stopped.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Applause erupted from among the trainees, their faces etched with awe.
The judges, wearing satisfied smiles, picked up their microphones.
“Kim Sun-yu.”
Kim Sun-yu, breathing slightly heavily, flashed another eye-smile.
“Yes.”
“Veterans with idol experience really are on another level.”
“Your vocal control was clean, and your dancing, eye contact, and facial expressions were all flawless.”
“…!”
“Kim Sun-yu’s rating is….”
Kim Sun-yu, smiling with ease, met the judges’ gaze directly.
“A-rank.”
“Thank you!”
Kim Sun-yu bowed respectfully to the judges, and his turn came to an end.
‘Honestly, the veteran deserved that A-rank.’
After that, an endless stream of trainees continued their introductions.
“You’re quite talented.”
‘This one will get caught up in a gambling scandal in three years.’
“Impressive.”
‘This one got ruined by school violence allegations.’
Conscious of the camera constantly zooming in, I swallowed the words I truly wanted to say and maintained a professional smile.
I’d become nothing but an applause bot, forcing my trembling lips upward as much as I could.
“You have quite an appealing presence.”
‘How many hours has he been laughing? Watching a hundred trainees showcase their talents is exhausting enough.’
An opaque blue window abruptly materialized.
[Cha Si-woo, do you have a character problem?]
‘Me? It’s not me—it’s them who have the character problem.’
Enduring as best I could while thinking back to my paparazzi days, I clapped along, and by then most of the trainees had already finished their evaluations.
“Trainee Cha Si-woo, please prepare to come up.”
Only when my turn came last was my name called.
“Yes!”
As I stood up from my seat, sharp gazes pierced toward me from all around.
‘These bastards. They’re wary.’
Having been threatened with death so many times in my past, these kinds of glares felt almost endearing.
When our eyes met, some trainees quickly averted their gaze, while others stared openly with hostility.
I flashed a professional smile at the hostile trainee and waited below the stage following the Staff Member’s guidance.
‘My whole body feels stiff from sitting so long.’
I loosened my rigid muscles with stretches while watching the trainee being evaluated on stage.
The trainee before me had forgotten the lyrics and, flustered, was now shedding tears like drops of bird droppings.
“Sob… I’m sorry.”
“Yes. Trainee Hong Ryu-han, you are E-rank.”
The Judge, who had been staring at the trainee with cold, lifeless eyes, announced the next evaluation.
‘Merciless indeed.’
As I stepped on the metal stairs and climbed onto the stage, the hot lights blazed brilliantly.
Due to the lengthy evaluation process, the Judges’ faces were filled with exhaustion.
“Hello. I’m Cha Si-woo, an independent trainee, and I’m twenty years old.”
Every time I said I was five years younger, my conscience still pricked me.
After bowing ninety degrees and lifting my head, the Judges’ previously dull eyes suddenly came alive.
‘Where have I seen this scene before?’
“Trainee Cha Si-woo. Looking at your self-introduction, it says you’ve never joined an Entertainment Agency before?”
“That’s correct, never once.”
“How long have you been preparing as a trainee?”
“About a month.”
The flustered Judge asked again.
“Pardon?”
‘To be precise, it’s been two weeks.’
“My trainee period is roughly about a month.”
“…Ah! Your trainee period is remarkably short—practically ordinary person level. But you passed the first audition? That’s impressive?”
“I was fortunate.”
“Your answers are humble too. What do you think is your greatest charm?”
‘Hmm… what would be the model answer?’
I was pondering for a moment.
Ding.
[Choose one of three answers to the question.]
A. A handsome face like a prince. I think I passed the first round because of my good looks.
B. Tee-hee. (wink) It’s my adorable, cutesy way of speaking and expression >__<"
"…"
"…!"
'Damn System!!!'
A sudden silence fell over the Filming Location.
"Snicker···."
"Ahem. Ha.ha.ha. We saw your cute aegyo well, Cha Si-woo."
"So we have another aegyo-filled trainee here. Then shall we see the self-introduction performance you prepared?"
"…Yes."
'I'll kill the System someday.'
I desperately tried to suppress the embarrassing heat rising from within.
'Mind control. Focus.'
Ding-dang-dong ping-ping-ping!
The moment the backing track of my prepared song began, the judges' pupils visibly trembled.
I swayed my body slightly to match the excessively bright and cheerful opening of a familiar cartoon theme song.
I'm going to be a princess~
A heart-ping for me!!!
It was a princess-themed cartoon theme song that was hugely popular among children around this time.
Due to its enormous popularity, it was the number one gift children wanted to receive, causing such a shortage that parents' wallets were emptied—the theme song of a massively popular cartoon.
Since it was a bright cartoon theme song, the vocal range was quite high, but it turned out to be within my capabilities.
Above all, it was more of a rhythmic dance that even kindergarteners could do.
'Even I with D-rank dancing can learn this in a day!'
Heart-ping love-ping-ping-ping!
At this timing, I instinctively felt I should throw hearts.
'What? Why am I thinking like this…?'
Following my instincts, I made heart shapes with my fingers and sent them out with winks to all the judges.
'Is it because my charm stat increased?'
I didn't hesitate at this embarrassing action I would never normally do.
The judges' expressions froze as they received the hearts.
Finally, as the timer passed one minute, the cheerful song stopped.
'Phew… One minute was brutal.'
I wiped the sweat trickling down my forehead with the back of my hand.
A frozen silence hung over the Filming Location.
Only after about three seconds did applause erupt.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
The Judge with a dazed expression quickly regained composure and picked up the microphone.
"Cha Si-woo."
"Yes."
"You really have incredible talent."
"Thank you."
All those all-nighters of practice had paid off.
"You look like a cold-hearted beauty, but you're full of charm—such a refreshing contrast."
"It was absurd at first, but your talent overflows, and your voice is genuinely excellent."
My B-grade sensibility self-introduction fell like rain on judges exhausted from auditions, landing perfectly.
"The unexpected concept and Stage performance—I'm looking forward to seeing more from you."
As praise poured in beyond my expectations, my lips curved upward naturally.
The Quest will succeed, won't it?
The choreographer Judge, who had been wearing an ambiguous expression, soon picked up the microphone.
"Since it's movement rather than actual dance, the dance portion is a bit unclear…"
Staff Members pointed at their watches toward the choreographer, who reluctantly nodded.
"The Stage itself is decent enough."
My prediction was correct.
"Your strategy is solid. The self-introduction mission is a one-minute Stage where you must showcase your charm. You selected your song well to match your capabilities."
This Stage had a strict one-minute rule.
I never expected the Judges, who were evaluating a hundred trainees, would bend the rules or extend filming time just to verify one trainee's dancing ability.
The Judges exchanged opinions rapidly before nodding.
"We'll announce your rating."
Tense music blared through the speakers.
"Cha Si-woo's rating is…"
…
"B-rank."
I did it!
"Thank you!"
I bowed ninety degrees toward the Judge's Seat.
Ding.
A translucent blue window appeared alongside the familiar notification sound.
[Congratulations. Sub-Quest (3): 'Receive a B-rank in your self-introduction'. Quest completed successfully.]
Yes!
[Would you like to receive your reward?]
Of course.
[You receive +2 stat points as a reward. Select the stat you wish to increase.]
'Which should I improve first? My dance, which has a ridiculously low grade? Or should I play it safe with singing?'
Following the Staff Member's directions, I returned to my seat and sat down.
Yu Hae-in's voice resonated across the Stage.
"Trainees, thank you all for your hard work. That one-minute self-introduction was overflowing with talent, and it was quite entertaining to watch. The one-minute self-introduction videos we filmed today will be uploaded to both the homepage and YouTube later."
"…!"
"…. What do I do!"
'The broadcast station people still do whatever they want.'
It was already notorious at Star picking that they proceeded at their own discretion without advance notice.
Among the trainees who had successfully completed their self-introductions and those who had failed, emotions were mixed.
Yu Hae-in, having flipped through his cue cards, continued speaking.
"The total grade results for 100 trainees are as follows: A-grade 15 people, B-grade 20 people, C-grade 38 people, D-grade 12 people, E-grade 15 people. Everyone worked hard."
The trainees who received A-grades were smiling brightly, while those who received E-grades looked dejected.
"Since we've warmed up, let me tell you about the next survival mission. First, shall we listen to the music?"
A trendy instrumental flowed through the speakers, and a familiar song began to play.
It was the theme song of Star picking5, which had been a massive hit at the time.
"The song you just heard is 'Cheer me on,' the representative theme song for this survival competition."
Riding on its enormous popularity, it had topped every music chart and played everywhere. Even I, with little interest in music, had been forced to listen to this quite familiar song.
"From now on, practice the theme song and show a high-quality stage performance at the filming two weeks from now. By the way, the stage filmed that day will air on TX Net's music broadcast."
"…!"
At Yu Hae-in's words, the Filming Location erupted in commotion.
"So we're doing the theme song stage again."
"We have to cover the choreography and song in just two weeks···!"
"We're appearing on TX Net's music broadcast before even debuting?!"
The camera was zooming in on the shocked faces of the trainees.
Looking at the worried expressions of the trainees, two weeks was clearly not a generous timeframe.
"Don't be shocked just yet. The grade differentiation needs to have meaning, right?"
"…!"
"A-grade trainees will receive benefits. Your stage position will be at the front, and you'll perform while receiving solo shots. Additionally, A-grade trainees will be given exclusive filming rights for a MimeTalk Challenge video, which will later be uploaded to SNS."
'So they're going to shower the A-grade trainees with advantages from the start.'
Relatively speaking, A-grade trainees performing at the very front of a stage with 100 people going up simultaneously had an extremely high probability of being exposed to the camera.
"The theme song stage will be filmed in a V-formation. Behind the A-grade trainees, the filming will proceed in order of B, C, D, and E-grades."
In other words, E-grade trainees might not even have their faces appear on camera once.
As the murmuring grew louder, Yu Hae-in, flipping through his cue cards, smiled.
"This would make lower-grade trainees unhappy, right? So we've prepared something. In ten days, there will be a grade re-evaluation for the theme song stage."
'This is an opportunity to reverse my grade, isn't it?'

—————

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

—————