Chapter 9

‘Me first… well, I expected that.’

It was exactly the development I had predicted.

Even in the original story, Do Wonwoo sang first, and then Lee Haewon performed right after him so they could be compared directly.

Thinking about it now, I realized just how many times Do Wonwoo had been compared to Lee Haewon.

Honestly, it was an environment where he almost could not avoid going crazy.

‘Still, since my rank changed to C, I thought the order might change a little. But I’m still singing first.’

“Could you try singing this part?”

I looked down at the lyrics sheet.

The killing part gradually climbed higher in pitch.

For trainees with naturally high vocal ranges, it was probably an advantageous section.

But not for me.

My range simply was not high enough to comfortably handle it.

‘If my voice cracks here, this is going to be humiliating.’

After clearing my throat, I sang with the most confident expression I could manage.

― I fly up, up, up

After I finished the high note, the masters exchanged glances.

In the tense atmosphere, Shin Suyeol spoke first.

“Hmm, not bad.”

Whew, thank goodness.

I quietly sighed in relief and lowered my head.

‘That came out better than my actual skill level.’

There was a reason I got lucky.

[The One Who Changed Fate]
Luck +15%

It was because I had equipped the title The One Who Changed Fate, which increased my luck stat.

“Well, it’s okay. But I only said ‘not bad.’ It’s not at the level where I’d call it amazing.”

Shin Suyeol spoke like he was warning me not to relax too early.

“You need to polish it more before it becomes a truly good sound. A high note that really sticks in people’s ears and hearts.”

He was right.

Thanks to the increased luck, I barely managed to hit the note cleanly, but it was nowhere near impressive enough to make people go “wow.”

Honestly, if I had not equipped the title, I probably would not even have managed this much.

Thinking about it that way, this really was an area where I needed to improve through actual effort.

After all, I could not depend on the system forever.

“Alright, next, trainee Lee Haewon!”

“Yes!”

Lee Haewon answered confidently.

Well, of course he would do well.

The masters clearly asked him because they expected him to.

According to the story settings, Lee Haewon’s vocals were already solid from the start. Only his dancing was weak.

Under everyone’s expectant gazes, Lee Haewon opened his mouth confidently.

Then he tilted his head to the side and pushed out the high note.

― I fly up, up, up!

Instead of gasps of admiration, silence filled the room.

‘His voice cracked….’

Lee Haewon froze completely with his head still tilted sideways.

The shock looked huge.

“Trainee Lee Haewon?”

“…….”

“Uh… trainee Lee Haewon?”

Eventually, unable to watch anymore, I grabbed his head and physically turned it forward.

“Hmm, is your throat not in good condition today?”

“…Yes. I think so.”

“You did fine earlier, so why all of a sudden? Alright then, next trainee.”

As the attention moved on to the next person, Lee Haewon lowered his head deeply.

I did not know what to say to comfort him, so I silently patted his back instead.

* * *

Only after filming ended could we finally return to the dorms.

Completely drained, I headed into the room thinking I should shower first.

That was when I noticed Lee Haewon already lying on the bed.

“You’re sleeping already?”

Lee Haewon was wrapped tightly inside his blanket without saying a word.

Messing up the lyrics earlier had been one thing, but it looked like the voice crack completely destroyed his mentality.

Honestly, it made sense.

Today, he had experienced a level of bad luck he had probably never faced in his entire life.

‘I kind of feel bad.’

Technically it was not my fault.

But it was still true that his misfortune started after I changed fate.

At that moment, I heard sniffling noises coming from under the blanket.

‘Wait… is he crying?’

Kwon Hakjin walked over beside Lee Haewon, who was hidden under the blanket trembling slightly.

Then he whispered quietly to me.

“Why’s Haewon crying? Is it because of the voice crack earlier?”

“Yes. I think so.”

The protagonist who, according to the original story, only cried during debut and at his first concert was now crying like the world had ended.

“It’s okay, Haewon. It wasn’t even the real evaluation. They just made you try it for practice. Stuff like that happens.”

Kwon Hakjin comforted him while lightly patting the lump sticking out from under the blanket.

He probably thought he was patting Lee Haewon’s shoulder or back.

But—

“Wah! That startled me!”

The blanket suddenly slid down, revealing half of Lee Haewon’s face.

Judging by his expression, Kwon Hakjin had apparently smacked him somewhere painful instead.

“Sorry. I didn’t know your face was there.”

“It’s okay, hyung.”

With swollen eyes, Lee Haewon muttered that he should wash his face before heading into the bathroom.

The door closed behind him, leaving a short silence.

Both of us stared toward the bathroom for a moment before continuing the conversation.

“Haewon looks like he’s having a really hard time, huh?”

“Yes… probably.”

“He’s talented too. Watching him struggle like that honestly hurts me.”

Right then, I sensed movement beside us.

Turning around, I saw Na Jaehyun standing there after changing out of his training clothes into casual wear.

He was still wearing the same fish-shaped bun T-shirt from earlier.

‘I still can’t believe he spent 49,000 won on that.’

“Cool, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you.”

After greeting us, Na Jaehyun climbed toward his bed—

Clunk, bang!

“Ah.”

He accidentally hit the bed frame, causing the rock sitting on top to fall.

Seeing that, Na Jaehyun quickly climbed back down.

“My Greenie.”

It was a scene from the original story.

Basically, Na Jaehyun accidentally dropped his pet rock under the bed, and the protagonist helped him retrieve it.

But right now, the protagonist who was supposed to help was busy crying in the bathroom.

“What do we do?”

Na Jaehyun lay flat on the floor and stretched his arm under the bed, but it was useless.

“Can’t reach it?”

“No.”

“Move over, I’ll try.”

Kwon Hakjin tried helping too, but failed.

The problem was that the rock had rolled surprisingly deep underneath.

“The bed’s too heavy. I don’t think we can move it sideways.”

Even if we somehow moved it, the beds were packed too closely together to create enough space.

Na Jaehyun stood in front of the bed panicking helplessly.

“My Greenie….”

Watching Na Jaehyun wander around the bed wearing that ridiculous fish-bun shirt made my mind slowly go blank.

‘What kind of novel even is this?’

Originally, the protagonist was supposed to bring a mop from the hallway and use it to retrieve the rock, gaining Na Jaehyun’s affection.

But since the protagonist still was not leaving the bathroom, I reluctantly stepped forward instead.

“I’ll go get the mop.”

When I returned with the mop from the hallway, Na Jaehyun was still standing there looking devastated.

Kwon Hakjin leaned against the wall with an expression that clearly said, What is even happening right now?

I gave him a look saying I felt exactly the same before crouching down on the floor.

I pushed the mop under the bed and slowly dragged the rock forward.

Eventually, it rolled close enough for me to grab it by hand.

“I got it.”

“Thank you, hyung!”

Na Jaehyun tightly hugged the rock while thanking me.

“Yeah.”

I wanted to say it was nothing, but honestly, I felt weirdly exhausted afterward.

At that moment, a system window appeared before my eyes.

[Na Jaehyun’s affection has increased.]
[Title Acquired: “Na Jaehyun’s Friend”]

I blinked slowly.

‘Just because I picked up a rock for him… we’re friends now?’

When I turned around, I saw Na Jaehyun staring at me with sparkling eyes.

“Hyung, let’s get along well from now on!”

‘Uh… right….’

I had no idea what to say, so I simply nodded and returned to my seat.

It still felt unbelievable.

The guy who spent his entire school life without a single friend had somehow already made two friends.

* * *

As soon as morning arrived, we were gathered in the practice room before I even had time to warm up my throat.

Waiting for us there was Vocal Master Shin Suyeol.

We lined up in a row and sang one by one.

“What’s with the lack of confidence?”

Shin Suyeol frowned unhappily while criticizing the trainees.

The closer my turn got, the heavier my shoulders felt.

“Wonwoo, sing.”

Before I realized it, it was my turn.

Compared to the other trainees, my skill level was still lacking.

But I heard that in survival shows, working hard sincerely was important too, so I sang with full voice instead of holding back.

“Hmm, not bad.”

“Thank you.”

Because I had equipped The One Who Changed Fate, my luck stat was currently increased.

That was why the sound coming out now was similar to yesterday’s unexpectedly decent result.

“But like I said before, Wonwoo still needs to work harder. You clearly need more practice. You know that yourself too, right?”

I nodded.

Thanks to the title effect, I no longer sounded terrible.

But the problem was that I still did not sound genuinely good either.

I was just… average.

That was the exact tragedy of C rank.

Neither good nor bad.

For the first time in my life, after spending years only receiving A grades, I finally understood the sadness of being average.

Still, at least I was not getting completely destroyed for hopeless vocals like the original Do Wonwoo.

That alone was comforting.

“We’ll now begin dance training.”

After vocal training ended, Dance Master Raise entered the room.

Especially since Raise clearly disliked me, his eyes were cold from the start.

“Show me.”

The music started, and only the sound of footsteps striking the floor filled the practice room.

Since we had barely started practicing, everyone’s dancing was naturally awkward.

Still, I had already memorized the choreography from start to finish.

Even if my body could not keep up with what my brain remembered, I still forced myself to perform every movement.

“…Ha.”

But no matter how hard I tried, Raise already seemed to have completely targeted me.

“Our trainee Do Wonwoo….”

Raise let out a short laugh.

Anyone could tell it was mocking.

“You’re struggling a lot, aren’t you?”

The trainees all glanced nervously at me.

“Maybe your tricks worked during the rank evaluation, but eventually there are moments where tricks stop working. Like right now.”

Originally, Raise was supposed to focus most of his criticism on the protagonist, Lee Haewon.

But for some reason, he was only picking on me.

In the story, Raise acted that way because he had a certain affection for the protagonist.

But whether he felt anything similar toward me… that was impossible to know.

“In the end, everything gets exposed. Your real skill level.”

Raise continued criticizing me.

“Compared to the other C-rank trainees, you’re clearly the awkwardest one here. You know that, right?”

“…Yes. I know. It’s something I need to improve through more effort.”

As someone who had never once been criticized by teachers during school, this situation felt incredibly unfamiliar.

Scrape.

Suddenly, Raise stood up from his chair and walked toward me.

While everyone looked confused, he pulled something out from his pocket.

A red demotion candidate badge.

Tap.

Raise personally pinned the badge onto my chest before returning to his seat.

‘Wait… wasn’t only the protagonist supposed to get this?’

In the original story, nobody in C rank except the protagonist received a demotion candidate badge.

Which meant I had now been added to the story.

‘…Fine. I’ll just stay up all night practicing.’

At this point, if my skills did not improve before the final evaluation, getting demoted was only a matter of time.

So the only option left was to work myself to death.

* * *

“Five, six, seven, eight!”

After training ended, the trainees were given free practice time.

Comparing myself to the others in the mirror, I finally understood exactly what Raise meant when he said I looked the most awkward.

‘I just don’t have enough experience.’

Even though I inherited Do Wonwoo’s stats after possessing him, my “experience level” had reset to zero.

The system literally displayed it that way.

Even if two people had the same stats, the quality of their performance still depended heavily on experience.

For example, even if someone naturally talented reached B rank in only four months, a trainee who had trained for an entire year at the same rank would still perform differently because their experience level was higher.

‘Basically, it’s just the difference in accumulated experience.’

That was why, even at the same rank, I looked worse than the others who had trained longer.

‘Comparing a nerd who only recently started singing and dancing to trainees who’ve been doing this for years is ridiculous in the first place….’

Still, there was no time to complain.

The world was unfair from the beginning.

Some people started at zero while others started at ten, but everyone still competed under the same rules.

And if you lost, the responsibility belonged entirely to you.

‘So stop complaining.’

* * *

After hours of practice left my entire body soaked in sweat, I finally sat down in the corner of the practice room for a short break.

Seeing that, Lee Haewon quietly came over and sat beside me.

“I’m tired.”

“Yeah.”

According to the original story, Lee Haewon was also bad at dancing at the beginning, just like me.

The reason he got C rank in the first place was because his singing carried him.

So, just like me, Lee Haewon was also wearing a demotion candidate badge.

‘Honestly, both of us look pretty miserable right now.’

For some reason, I felt a strange sense of connection with this guy who was completely different from me.

“Sorry about yesterday.”

Suddenly, Lee Haewon apologized out of nowhere.

Confused, I looked at him, and he hesitated before answering.

“Yesterday… I think I made the room atmosphere weird by crying.”

‘That’s what he’s apologizing for?’

Seriously?

“You don’t need to apologize. Honestly, anyone would’ve wanted to cry after messing up the lyrics and then having a voice crack right after.”

Though, realistically, I probably still would not have actually cried.

“Wonwoo.”

“Yeah?”

“…I don’t want to get demoted.”

Lee Haewon curled up slightly and buried his face into his knees while looking at me.

“…Me neither.”

If your rank dropped, your screen time in the signal song video dropped too.

And less screen time meant fewer chances to show yourself.

“I don’t know what our final ranks will be, but I hope both of us get good results.”

I nodded.

At some point, we had started relying on each other.

Honestly, we had no choice.

We were the only two people in C rank wearing those miserable demotion candidate badges.

“You’ll be able to move up.”

I said that while looking directly at Lee Haewon.

‘Because in the novel, Lee Haewon eventually works hard and gets promoted to B rank.’

“…Why do you think that?”

But after all the repeated bad luck lately, Lee Haewon seemed to have started doubting himself.

Originally, after getting promoted, he was supposed to become the center of B team.

That would eventually bring him even more attention than Han Leejae, the center of A team, causing his popularity to explode.

‘And yet the protagonist who’s supposed to do all that is sitting here like this.’

Lee Haewon looked completely discouraged.

At this rate, even maintaining his rank looked difficult, let alone ranking up.

Of course, none of that was technically my problem.

I had no obligation to take care of the protagonist.

“…Why do you think that?”

But for some reason, I could not just sit there watching him look so defeated.

“Because I think I can do it.”

“…Huh?”

“If I can do it, and other people can do it too, then there’s no reason you can’t do it either. Right?”

I looked straight at Lee Haewon and continued.

“So let’s climb together.”

The moment I said that, light slowly returned to Lee Haewon’s darkened eyes.