Chapter 15

Chapter 15

“Oh, those devils….”

Jing Xiao grumbled as he poked at his stir-fried pork with his chopsticks for breakfast.

Even though he didn’t understand the words, Nagase Ritsu seemed to grasp the meaning from the tone and nodded in agreement with a sullen expression.

Kim Junwoo and I successfully scared the trainees early in the morning under the pretense of waking them up.

The two foreign trainees flailed their arms and kicked in all directions, pushing us away while panicking.

In contrast, Ban Yohan, who had just woken up, stared at us with sleepy eyes and asked indifferently.

“Was it fun?”

Kim Junwoo sheepishly climbed down from the bed, embarrassed by the reaction, but I was certain Ban Yohan was quite startled, thanks to the system.

[Ban Yo-han hates pointless pranks. Affection -5, current affection +13]

Most notably, his affection dropped by 5 points in one go.

Compared to Jing Xiao and Nagase Ritsu, whose affection levels remained unchanged, there was a significant fluctuation.

On the outside, Ban Yohan’s expression was as calm as ever, making me wonder if I should apologize or not.

Should I? For something like this? To an NPC in a game? Even if it means feeling slightly embarrassed? It seemed like the right thing to do, but wasn’t it making a mountain out of a molehill? Although it seemed the molehill had already formed.

Then, just like in the morning, I caught Kim Junwoo’s gaze, realizing we were thinking the same thing.

“If we scared you a lot, we’re sorry.”

“Sorry.”

The apologies came out immediately. Relationships could easily go downhill over trivial and subtle matters.

Our sudden apology while eating tasteless and small portions of food made the victims of our prank exchange glances.

Jing Xiao, who started to chuckle, waved his hand.

“Why apologize for that?”

“[It’s okay. Just be careful tomorrow morning.]”

“Yeah. Look forward to tomorrow morning.”

When Ban Yohan said that, we tried to appease them by giving them a portion of our meager stir-fried pork.

Their affection increased. When we gave them more kimchi, it increased again. Truly, food was the best way to earn affection.

Living harmoniously was essential in a crazy program that exploits the trainees’ desperate relationships.

A trashy program, a garbage game.

Even amidst this, I thought about hiding in a familiar room, playing games to the point where I could find anything blindfolded.

After that minor, nerve-wracking incident, we went to the practice room just in time for the assembly.

With over 30 trainees gathered at once, the spacious practice room seemed packed.

“Attention, please!”

Kim Junwoo, holding the class president sticker, spoke up from the front. How he ended up with that role, I didn’t know.

“Everyone! Before we start practicing, we need to elect a class president. Even though the term is less than three days, it would be great if the person representing our class could perform the role well.”

It was quiet. Having thirty-two energetic young men gathered, and so silent, was no easy feat.

“……”

Usually, this meant taking on a minor inconvenience.

Especially not being a leader of a small group, but of over 30 people.

‘With so many people, surely someone desperate for airtime would step up.’

At that moment, Ban Yohan raised his hand.

I suddenly felt uneasy. It seemed like I should forcibly drag him down and shut his mouth.

That expression was certainly not for self-nomination.

And I had annoyed him both last night and this morning.

Sweating profusely, Kim Junwoo, who was struggling to proceed without any volunteers, noticed Ban Yohan and called out his name with a relieved expression.

“Yes. Trainee Ban Yohan.”

“I want to nominate Trainee On Raon.”

See?

“If you could also share the reason for your nomination, that would be great.”

“Though Trainee On Raon is quite young, as you all know, he is very considerate and always helps others sincerely, making him a perfect candidate for class president.”

The trainees’ gazes turned toward me.

It felt like they were half-convinced by Ban Yo-han’s brief yet convincing argument, akin to a teacher’s pet from school.

The other half probably thought, ‘Anyone but me.’

I shook my head vigorously.

“Absolutely not. I’m not outstanding enough to represent the class!”

“He’s even humble. I highly recommend him.”

I thought the brief animosity from yesterday’s interview had dissipated, but he must have been angry again due to this morning’s events.

Didn’t he say he wouldn’t entrust the future to me?

[With 27 votes in favor, 0 against, and 5 abstentions, the player is elected as the class president.]

In the end, along with this notification, a red class president sticker was attached to my chest.

The trainees clapped cheerfully.

With the camera light on, I managed my expression by smiling awkwardly.

Wow, this is great.

“Let’s start with warm-up exercises!”

The staff told us to do warm-up exercises together, so we did.

Whether it was the same national gymnastics routine from high school, I didn’t know, but the trainees followed along well with the national gymnastics exercises I unconsciously remembered from my high school days.

Then practice began.

‘This is a mess.’

The trainees who had come to the practice room and practiced for an hour or two yesterday were somewhat better off.

First of all, except for the miraculously clumsy Jing Xiao, the members of Room 312, including myself, managed to dance decently until the end.

Even Nagase Ritsu, who had received harsh criticism from the mentors during the evaluation, seemed to have been motivated by watching Ban Yohan and my practice last night, as he was managing to dance at a slow tempo.

However, more than half of the other trainees were honestly at a level that was hard to watch without hurting the eyes.

‘What was all the effort I put into teaching? No, showing you yesterday for? Was I the only one who understood while you guys didn’t? I’m not asking you to master up to the second verse, but at least get through half of the first verse. Why did you all reset?’

While I was standing there in a bit of a daze, a quest appeared without warning.

[Emergency Quest Triggered! <Listen to the Class President and Your Rank Will Go Up Even While Sleeping>]

[▶ Quest Description: You have become the class president of the inferior class with prime support. As the class president, you are witnessing a shocking sight. At this rate, the Hyesung Class will inevitably remain the inferior class. As the class president, ensure that no trainee in the Hyesung Class receives an F grade.

▶ Guaranteed Rewards: Trust from the Hyesung Class trainees and mentors, a modest amount of experience points, Wisdom +10

▶ Penalty for Failure: Wisdom -10, ???]

[Do you accept?]

[Y/N]

I filtered through the nonsense in the quest description and checked the penalties first.

The question mark was a bit concerning, but there didn’t seem to be any major issues.

Even though losing wisdom would sting, it was my highest stat at the moment.

Since this was an emergency quest and not a main quest, the likelihood of the hidden penalty being as extreme as death was low.

However, the weaker the penalty, the more modest the reward.

It was beneficial to have, but it didn’t seem worth the anticipated hard work.

How was I supposed to prevent these guys from getting an F? Who knew how bad their singing would be?

Nevertheless, unable to resist the Korean gamer instinct of complaining about the lack of content after consuming newly updated content in three days, I decided to take on this quest with minimal rewards and penalties.

And now, 15 minutes later, I was being crushed under the catastrophe I had brought upon myself.

‘The more I look, the more seriously I see how new and unfamiliar this is….’

[Passing Trainees 10/32]

Seeing this displayed in the quest window meant that there were only 10 trainees in here who were at least deserving of a D grade.

It was understandable. They hadn’t practiced.

Yeah, it’s expected they can’t do it. If they could master the choreography in one day, they wouldn’t be in the inferior class.

‘The evaluation is the day after tomorrow, so if I push them hard for the next two days, they should at least get a D, right?’

Judging it unreasonable to perform at the original speed, the practice room was playing music at about 0.75 times the speed.

Leaving the trainees who were at least doing something to the music, I abruptly dragged those sitting in the corner watching the choreography videos into practice.

Fortunately, I had not only memorized the choreography but also understood it to some extent, allowing me to give more detailed and clear advice than yesterday.

Of course, some trainees felt even more disheartened by the noticeable skill gap after one night and hesitated.

I coaxed and soothed those trainees, too.

“The mentors prefer trainees who try hard even if they’re not good rather than those who don’t do anything. You saw it yesterday. We were terrible, but we didn’t get scolded too harshly. Let’s take it slow and do what we can.”

“… Okay.”

It was almost time for Muk Hyesung to come for the lesson.

I went outside to loosen up my throat, which felt scratchy from talking a lot before the lesson.

I was drinking water from the water dispenser when Ban Yohan followed me, blowing on a paper cup to shape it, and spoke.

“Aren’t you overdoing it?”

“What?”

“This is an individual competition.”

Even though he spoke briefly because of the camera that might be filming us even now, he certainly had more to say.

For instance, ‘Is there any benefit to you in helping others so hard?’

You might not know, but this is a quest for me.

“It’s good if everyone does well.”

“Really?”

[Ban Yohan thinks you’re a naïve person who doesn’t know the ways of the world. Ban Yohan’s affection +2, current affection +15]

I smiled as if I hadn’t seen his inner thoughts.

“Let’s go in.”

“Okay.”

At the far end of the hallway, Muk Hyesung was approaching.

Ban Yohan and I returned to the practice room before Muk Hyesung and informed the trainees who were practicing or sitting around that he was coming.

Thanks to that, all the trainees were standing in neat lines before Muk Hyesung arrived.

The practice room had a glass wall facing the hallway, making it easy to see inside from the outside.

Muk Hyesung, who glanced at us before entering, opened the door with two men following behind who seemed to be assistant dancers.

Even though he wasn’t especially dressed up, he exuded a celebrity aura.

“Hello!”

“Did you practice a lot?”

“Yes!”

“Then, let’s see the first verse.”

“Yes!”

Muk Hyesung replaced the small talk by asking if we practiced a lot and gestured to the staff to play the music.