LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 57
Chapter 57
**Burning System?**
True to the meaning of ‘burning’, a small flame-shaped icon appeared in a corner of my view.
After all the lessons ended, I pressed it quietly when I was alone.
The icon disappeared, and instead, a system guide message appeared before my eyes.
[Tip! Every 10 levels, you can designate a burning stat. The stat designated as the burning stat will have its increase rate doubled in all cases.]
[Tip! Additional stats designated as burning stats can be invested in with points.]
[Tip! Additional stats refer to stats like willpower, intuition, and acting ability, excluding the basic initial stats such as stamina, strength, and intelligence. Unless designated as burning stats, additional stats cannot be invested with stat points.]
Until now, I had been so busy raising stats like charm and stamina that I didn’t even know additional stats couldn’t be invested with points.
[Tip! You can register up to 3 burning stats simultaneously. Duplicate registration, such as designating the same stat twice, is not possible. When you reach level 40, if you designate a fourth burning stat, you must delete one of the previously registered stats.]
[Please choose your burning stat (10Lv).]
I decided without hesitation.
‘Charm. Definitely charm.’
[Charm has been designated as the burning stat.]
Then, a small flame-shaped icon appeared next to the charm section in my information window.
Taking the momentum, I invested all the stat points I received from leveling up into charm.
“Oh.”
As expected, even though I invested 5 points, the stat increased by 10.
Turning the pages of a book one by one, like flipping them quickly with my thumb, the stat increased twice as fast as usual, giving me a small thrill.
I still had no idea how much I had to raise my charm to match my original face, but it was a good thing nonetheless.
* * *
Even after the lessons, our team continued to practice peacefully.
During the short training camp period, we played a few mini-games for the broadcast, like the chicken fight or the romance protagonist selection contest from the last camp, and soon the last day arrived.
“Wow, that was really tough.”
Waiting on the first floor with our suitcases before sunrise, it looked like a gathering of zombies.
At that moment, a trainee I knew called me over secretly and whispered as if sharing a secret.
“Hey, did you hear? Jung Min almost fainted yesterday.”
Jung Min was in the third year of middle school and was the youngest among the remaining trainees, often receiving a lot of affection.
Hearing the shocking news that such a kid almost fainted, I widened my eyes, putting away my phone, which I was using to pass the time by playing a game.
“Really? It’s my first time hearing that. Is he okay?”
“The PD made sure his team members didn’t say anything. I just heard about it too.”
“PD Jo In-soo?”
“No, it seemed like another female PD, but what’s the difference?”
I stood on tiptoe to find Jung Min.
Sure enough, Jung Min was sitting weakly on the one sofa, looking unusually pale.
In that state, it would undoubtedly affect the competition. I was worried.
But it soon became clear that I wasn’t in a position to worry about others.
The end of the training camp meant…
I had to find a new place to stay.
Ban Yo-han and Seo Moon-gyeol came over, suggesting I stay with them again, but I declined due to the system’s warning.
‘Someone else will take me in.’
That was a naive thought.
By the time the sun was high and my stomach growled every three seconds, there was no kind-hearted person in sight offering me a meal and a comfortable place to sleep.
‘It seems like I’ll really sleep on the street today.’
Finding solace in the fact that it was warm, so I didn’t have to worry about freezing to death overnight, I checked my bank balance.
I had saved about 300,000 won from various small quest rewards.
It was thanks to my frugality, not even buying a can of soda carelessly.
When was the next training camp starting?
It seemed like it was in about two weeks.
If I found a cheap place to stay, I might be able to get by until the next camp.
But what about food? Summer clothes? After the next camp?
My thoughts wandered to the point where I considered using the 300,000 won for travel expenses to visit the address on the back of my student ID.
[Sudden Quest Triggered!]
[▶ Quest Description: Unable to forget the glory of the past, you dreamt of someone appearing and saying, ‘Let’s go home together.’ Truly, it was a futile dream.
As you know, in this harsh world, it’s extremely rare for someone to suddenly tell you to come to their house.
If someone does say that, they are either incredibly kind-hearted or hiding some ulterior motive.
The generous system will graciously grant you a place to stay, so the humble player should kneel and accept it.]
[Do you accept? (Accepting will trigger Quest II.)]
[Y/N]
What is this? It feels like finding a ray of light while a heavy cat steps on my face and then sits on it again.
Anyway, I accepted the quest with trembling hands.
Because I am a rational person who doesn’t let emotions sway me.
[Daily Quest Triggered!]
[▶ Quest Description: Details are omitted. Complete the quest conditions. The conditions are as follows.
1) Read books at the nearby library until closing time
2) Write a book report (handwritten, at least two A4 pages, illustrations allowed up to half a page)
If any condition is not met by 8 PM, the quest will automatically fail.
▶ Confirmed Reward: Accommodation from 8 PM to 8 AM
▶ Penalty for Failure: Sleeping in a park with insects (a mat will be provided.)
The quest resets daily at 8 AM.]
From that day on, I spent busy days performing the daily quests given by the system.
As if the relatively easy conditions of the first day were just a taste, from the second day onwards, the daily quests were neither too difficult nor too easy.
When a task seemed a bit easy, they added two or three more missions, making the time tight.
It was an impeccable difficulty adjustment.
Thanks to this, every day, until the guesthouse owner confirmed my deposit, I had to tremble with the fear of homelessness.
By now, my face was somewhat recognizable, and if I ended up sleeping rough, someone might post a photo on some community site with the title, “Clueless Pick Heart trainee sleeping at a 24-hour cafe.”
My life was so tough that when we gathered at Rui Jian Entertainment, Jing Xiao’s agency, for practice, the kids joked that my face had become half its original size.
It hadn’t even been a week since the end of the training camp.
“Why don’t you stop by our dorm today and have a meal with Ji-woo hyung?”
Maybe it was obvious that I had been eating only two very sparse meals a day, trying to save my dwindling funds.
Seo Moon-gyeol spoke with a tone full of concern as practice was about to end.
Honestly, I was really, truly, entirely tempted.
But I had to refuse the invitation with tears in my eyes.
I had barely managed to forget the taste of Ji-woo’s amazing cooking by eating the cost-effective meals at the training camp. If I tasted Kang Ji-woo’s cooking again, I felt like I’d never be able to escape its allure.
Ah, just thinking about the beef hotpot I had then made my mouth water.
* * *
The trainees, who had been focused on their final rehearsals, returned home or to their dorms and turned on the Music Box channel broadcasting Pick Heart on TV.
Today was the day the first ranking announcement episode would air.
It was difficult to fill an entire episode with just the ranking announcement footage, so additional content like the chicken fight, male protagonist selection contest, and Pick Your Friend that were filmed earlier would also be broadcast.
– Jo In-soo, if there’s no screen time for Si-jeu today, I’m storming the main office. Do it right.
– I already feel attached to the kids. I hope they all make itㅠㅠㅠ
Since it was the first ranking announcement, the viewers’ anxiety and expectations were at their peak.
Even the few employees and trainees of Seed Entertainment gathered, eating grilled chicken instead of fried, waiting for the commercials to end.
“I wonder how many seconds our kids will get today.”
To the question of CEO Ban Ga-eul, who had long been detached about screen time, the employees who were busy eating the chicken she had bought began to voice their predictions.
“I think they’ll get a total of 10 seconds.”
“Including nano cuts?”
“Including those… shouldn’t it be at least 30 seconds?”
“Since we can’t count every single frame, let’s just count the cuts where their faces appear fully. Faces bigger than a palm.”
“Sounds good. Then I say 7 seconds.”
“I say 15 seconds.”
Except for the recruitment of Gwon Gyeo-ul and the trainee bullying incident, the small company had run without major ups and downs, fostering an ideal, horizontal atmosphere. Even with the CEO present, the mood was quite relaxed.
Gyun Seong-ha, who had declared he wouldn’t eat but succumbed to the mouthwatering smell after 15 minutes and picked up a piece of chicken with his chopsticks, added his guess.
“But hyungs were in the top ranks. I don’t think they’ll cut the acceptance speeches. I’ll bet 30 seconds and a cola. If I win, just let me have a sip of that.”
“Hey, it’s annoying how detailed you are. Just eat this. And no cola.”
Ban Yo-han, who had been fiddling with his phone with a slightly stiff face, stuffed a piece of pickled radish into Gyun Seong-ha’s mouth.