LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 16
Chapter 16
[If you pay the price, you can temporarily expand the range of the effect.]
‘What’s the price? You said it couldn’t be my lifespan. Is it converting skill points again? If that’s it, I’m willing to pay.’
[You can accumulate karma.]
‘Accumulate karma?’
[By accumulating karma, you can expand the range of the effect.]
[
[Price: 1 karma point.]
‘…….’
This was dangerous. The price was too high. Hyesung fell into deep thought.
‘But without this, there’s no way to get Yeonwoo into the ace position immediately.’
In the class evaluation, she had taken on the role of class president in the failing F grade, helping other trainees and reclaiming her spot in the re-evaluation, thus rising to the ace position.
Such an impact was necessary to make a favorable impression early on.
Moreover, the center position for the first performance, which Hyesung had longed for, would give Na Yeonwoo the confidence to raise her hand proudly. She had to send her to the top tier without fail.
‘I’ll pay the price. Expand the range for one more person. Do it.’
[Price payment successful. Karma +1]
[The range of
‘Na Yeonwoo.’
[Na Yeonwoo. Registration complete.]
Hyesung couldn’t overcome her trauma of rewinding time, which made her feel nauseous, but she was prepared to sacrifice herself for Na Yeonwoo.
“Yeonwoo, come with me to the vocal practice room.”
“Just the two of us?”
“Yes, together.”
“Hey, Hyesung, let us join too.”
“Me too. Hyesung unnie is the only one who didn’t get scolded today. Since Yeonwoo helped us with dance practice yesterday, Hyesung unnie should help us with vocal practice today.”
As Hyesung tried to leave with Na Yeonwoo, the trainees from F class got up and followed them.
“Wait, wait. I need to practice too, so I’ll help you when we get back. Just give me an hour.”
“What? You’re taking Yeonwoo with you.”
“Yeonwoo stayed up for two days helping me. Yeongbin, please understand. I’ll help you when we get back.”
“Alright, come back quickly.”
“We’ll do individual practice until then, Hyesung.”
“Okay, see you soon.”
Although she could only help for an hour, Hyesung planned to use about five hours with the rewinding.
‘I’ll sing once and rewind five times, repeating so Yeonwoo doesn’t notice anything strange.’
Sitting on the floor of the cramped vocal practice room, the two of them slowly sang while holding the lyrics sheet.
“Yeonwoo, you can sing louder.”
“Ah, okay.”
“Don’t swallow your voice even if you go off-key, just let it out.”
Hyesung, who had just barely passed the average standard, tried her best to teach Na Yeonwoo what she had learned and felt.
After one full song and rewinding, Na Yeonwoo went off-key five times in a row.
After two full songs and rewinding, the errors were slightly less.
After ten full songs and rewinding, she finally sang the fifth song without going off-key.
Though it took a total of fifty attempts, Na Yeonwoo felt it took less than thirty minutes.
“Unnie! I think I’m improving, right?”
“Yes, you’re doing well. Just a bit more and you’ll be much better.”
With Hyesung grinding through it, Na Yeonwoo managed to practice for five hours in one hour, gaining confidence in her singing compared to the morning.
“With you helping me, I feel like I’m improving much faster than when I practice alone.”
Na Yeonwoo beamed, her eyes twinkling.
It had been a long time since Hyesung had seen such a bright smile. She usually saw her tense and stiff since coming to the training camp, but seeing her smile like that made Hyesung feel proud.
‘…I hope your life is filled with nothing but smiles.’
Hyesung felt like she could endure anything, even falling into hell from accumulating karma, if it meant Na Yeonwoo could be happy.
“Shall we go back to the practice room now? We promised to practice together…….”
“Yes.”
Hyesung glanced upward. She could see both her and Na Yeonwoo’s proficiency.
‘Since she’s included as a target, I can see her exact proficiency.’
[Temporary Skill Target: Na Yeonwoo]
[Singing Chance! (Proficiency 28.3%)]
Hyesung’s proficiency was approaching 50%.
* * *
“Hey, everyone. Confidence is half the battle. Why are you holding your voices back? You should project them. Are you all feeling down because you’re in F grade? That won’t do.”
“Hyesung, like this? Your gaze~! I’ll take it all in~!”
“Except for you, Yae-in unnie. It might be better if you toned down your confidence a bit.”
“Why me? Why only me?”
“Unnie, you should hold your voice back a bit. Your pitch is all over the place, and your voice is so loud it makes it sound even worse.”
“Got it……”
Lim Yae-in showed a rare dejected expression.
Hyesung taught them everything she could, just like she did with Na Yeonwoo, but she couldn’t use the rewind for everyone, so their mistakes weren’t corrected as quickly as Na Yeonwoo’s.
“Still, it seems like we’re improving.”
“Confidence really is half the battle.”
“We need to prepare for the dance lesson too, so let’s finish up practice quickly. Who wants to go all out in the vocal room?”
Whether it was due to a collective placebo effect, they seemed to be improving compared to the disastrous morning session. Like tiny sprouts breaking through, they began to see the hope of escaping from F grade.
‘It’s almost time for dance class.’
Since reaching 99% proficiency in Chance’s choreography the previous day, Hyesung no longer feared dance lessons.
Although her dance stat was only 1.5 stars, barely average, she still couldn’t dance well. If she learned new choreography, she would inevitably struggle again.
But until the re-evaluation and M Space stage recording, there wouldn’t be any need to learn new songs and choreography, so she could take lessons without fear of scolding or criticism for a while.
Soon, Kang Min Gook and Jade entered together. Entering at the same time meant they would push hard today because of the re-evaluation tomorrow.
“Class president, stand in the front row.”
“Those who got scolded yesterday, stand in the front too.”
‘I can do it without mistakes now, guys.’
Despite this, Hyesung deliberately held back, dancing just enough to avoid major scolding. Showing sudden improvement was out of the question. Even dancing a bit loosely, the trainers seemed surprised.
“Wow, Yoon Hyesung! So, what’s the new term you kids use these days? Sleepless and studious? Anyway, I heard you practiced all night and you’ve improved a lot.”
Kang Min Gook spoke casually.
“Who stayed up all night with you?”
Jade asked while looking through some papers.
“Hyesung unnie, Yeonwoo, me, Lim Yae-in unnie, and Lee Minkyeong unnie, the five of us.”
Kim Woori, who was with them last night, quickly answered.
“Rurika couldn’t practice because she went to the emergency room, and Yeongbin, until what time did you stay?”
“I was there until three……”
Jade tilted her head and brushed back her long hair.
“Why didn’t you stay longer with Hyesung’s group?”
“I’m sorry……”
Yoo Yeongbin was one of the three trainees, along with Rurika and Hyesung, who were always the worst.
“I’m not criticizing, just asking.”
Jade said, but Kang Min Gook immediately pressured Yoo Yeongbin.
“But going to bed early despite knowing your skills are lacking means you’re confident, right? I don’t think that’s the case.”
“……”
Yoo Yeongbin couldn’t say anything and lowered her head.
‘The atmosphere is icy again.’
Hyesung let out a small sigh. She couldn’t be happy about escaping scolding herself when the whole class was under pressure.
After the suffocating dance class ended, Hyesung whispered something into Na Yeonwoo’s ear.
“Oh, that’s a good idea. I’ll tell them.”
Na Yeonwoo cupped her hands to her mouth and called out to the class.
“Everyone~ Let’s do choreography practice together from eleven. We’ll practice until two, but today, let’s all stay until five.”
Since the class president had spoken, everyone agreed.
Some trainees quickly moved to the vocal room, while others stayed in the practice room with earphones for dance practice.
“Yawwn. Yeonwoo, let’s go to the vocal room again.”
Hyesung yawned widely and said with sleepy eyes.
They planned to increase their singing proficiency to 50% in the vocal room and then return to the practice room to simultaneously improve their singing and choreography proficiency with dance live.
“Should we practice longer this time?”
Na Yeonwoo seemed eager to focus more on her lacking vocal practice compared to dance.
The two headed to the vocal room and practiced the same way they did during the day: singing once completely and then rewinding five times.
Hyesung was nervous that Na Yeonwoo might find it strange how quickly her lacking vocals were stabilizing, but it was a needless worry.
“Wow, practicing with you really speeds up my progress. It’s amazing. Do we have good compatibility?”
Na Yeonwoo scratched her head with a pen cap and said. She really seemed to think so.
‘It’s not compatibility, it’s that I love you enough to endure the nausea of rewinding time. I’ll endure anything for you, even worse things.’
Yeonwoo, I’ll do anything for you. Hyesung nodded with a self-sacrificial smile.
“What’s your elemental sign in fortune-telling?”
“Huh? Fortune-telling?”
Na Yeonwoo seemed to interpret Hyesung’s nod as agreement that they had good compatibility.
“My element is earth. Do you have strong earth energy?”
“…I don’t really know about that. Haha.”
Hyesung was startled to realize her princess believed in such mystical statistics. She laughed awkwardly and redirected the conversation back to practice.
When they emerged from the vocal room, Na Yeonwoo’s and Hyesung’s singing proficiencies had reached 50% and 70%, respectively.
Though they had spent three hours, Hyesung had endured fifteen hours alone, feeling mentally exhausted.
She desperately wanted to rest now that her proficiency was beyond the middle grade, but she held back for Yeonwoo’s sake.
‘Just a little more for Yeonwoo.’
During their dance live practice in the practice room, Hyesung reduced the rewinds to twice per song.
After one complete song, she rewound twice. Rewinding five times here would be too noticeable.
‘Finally, Yeonwoo’s choreography proficiency has surpassed 70%. After tonight, she’ll catch up to the ace tier…!’
Her joy was short-lived as Hyesung steadied her swaying body.
Na Yeonwoo was equally exhausted, not having slept more than four hours over the past two days. If they stayed up again, Hyesung might really collapse.
‘It’s hard, but just a little more.’
It was 11 PM. The scattered F class trainees gathered in the center of the practice room.
“Is everyone here?”
Hyesung clapped her hands like a salesman, standing in the front row.
“Hyesung, do you want to move to the back this time?”
Lim Yae-in asked.
“Me?”
“Yes, we’re going to rotate rows, but those who haven’t fully memorized the moves should stand in the front. You can watch from the back.”
This kind of treatment was new, making Hyesung feel strange.
“Okay.”
Class President Na Yeonwoo stood in the center of the front row, and Lim Yae-in and Hyesung moved to the back.
While standing in the front, she hadn’t been able to pay attention to the others’ movements because she was trying not to be too accurate. Now, from the back, she could see the mistakes more clearly.
They kept rotating rows and practicing over and over until it was almost 2 AM.
‘…I really can’t do this anymore. I’m too tired. Should I just go to bed? No, just endure today. Just today.’