After becoming a trainee once again, Jun followed the time schedule without missing a single day of practice. Daily, he has to wake up at 4 A.M in the morning and go for a 5km daily run to complete the daily mission. At first, it used to give him, 1 point for every 1 km but as his fitness improved, now, he receives, 2 mission points every 5 km. Still, he never stopped as it became a habit.Then, he hit the Gym at 6 o"clock and after breakfast, Jun practice for an hour and then, sleeps aside in the training room for a couple of hours in the free time as he has very little time to sleep. Because he didn"t get any missions that improve his dancing skill, Jun had no choice but to continuously practice.
After spending time at the agency until 11 o"clock in the evening, he returns to home by 12 in the midnight, and then have to wake up at 4 to continue his routine. At first, he thought of just moving into the dorm as it will save him a couple of hours but after remembering that his mother is alone and she will eventually be alone after his debut, he wasn"t able to move out and somehow tried to manage everything in time.
Six months later, March monthly evaluation at Echo;
In the training room 4, on the second floor, Seven trainees stood before the four Judges, Pok Tae-Hee, an executive director, who oversees the trainees" monthly evaluations, and auditions. The other three are the coaches, who are a.s.signed for the 4 batch. Nam Chon Shin, dancing coach; Kim Woo-Jin, the vocal coach; and Kim Seong-Hoon, the rapping coach;
"Kang Minsu, let"s start with you. Step forward." As the 18-year-old, the trainee who was waiting for Debut for almost a year stepped forward and begin to perform the rap, Tam Hyonu, a 23-year-old trainee, the eldest one in the group was feeling nervous as he was sure that he was about to get fired.
Meanwhile, Jun was blankly staring at his stats, which were improved in this past six months and then, looked at the side missions. As he spoke in his mind, "Aria, show me Character menu and mission progress," a screen appeared before him.
Name: Han Sung-Jun
Stage name: N/A
t.i.tle: Echo Trainee
Age: 20 years, 9 months, 14 days
Attributes:
Strength: 8/10
Appearance: 8/10
Talent:
Music: 9/10
Dance: 6/10
Literary: 5/10
Luck: 6/10
Available Talent points: 0
Available Mission points: 920
Missions:
Main: Become an Idol.
Description: Now that you"re a trainee at the Echo, it"s time for the next step. Work hard and debut through a group.
Rewards: 1000 Mission points, 1 talent point;
Side:
1. Work out your Body.
Description: An idol need a great physical body. Go to the gym daily and work out to improve your fitness and manage to get six-pack abs.
Rewards: 200 Mission points, 1 strength, and 0.5-inch height;
Mission Progress: 89.7% completed.
2. Improve your Dancing Skills.
Description: Idol with mediocre dancing skills, won"t reach the top. Practice hard for1000 hours.
Rewards: 150 Mission points, Talent in Dance increases by 1;
Mission Progress: 73.5%
Looking at his stats, Jun nodded in satisfaction as he was able to improve in the past six months while wondering what would happen when he pa.s.sed 10 points. After all, he knew that his level is nowhere near the top idols and thought, "it would be nice if I can see other people"s stats."
"Han Sung-Jun, your turn, now. Step forward." As he was called, Jun stepped forward and looked at the judges. While the rapping coach Seong-Hoon stayed silent as Jun was a vocalist, Chon Shin opened his mouth, "first, let"s see your dance."
Random music was played in the background. Jun closed his eyes and nodded lightly for a while and then, started to dance after picking up the beat and rhythm of the music.
Two minutes later, he shook his head with a sigh in a disappointment, "your dancing is good with no mistakes and you sure improved than you were 6 months earlier. But if I consider last month"s evaluation, your skill didn"t improve much. You still take too much time to get into the rhythm."
As Jun nodded, the vocal coach Woo-jin played the music. Just within a few seconds, Jun immediately discovered the song and began to sing the part. Three minutes later, Woo-jin nodded with a smile on his face as Jun finished with no mistakes.
Then, he said, "ok, sing a song of your choice without music."
At first, Jun thought of an original, he had in mind, but then, since he as criticized last time for singing an original as it is an evaluation to evaluate not only his vocal skill but also lyrics too. After considering carefully, he opened his mouth, singing the song that was sung in the recent episode of King of Masked singer, which he perfected a few weeks ago.
"I"m really, very foolish
I know of no one other than you
You"re looking at someone else
Yet you have no idea of my
feelings like this;
I won"t be in your days
I won"t be in the memories either,
however
Only you, I looked only at you
And the tears keep coming;
As I watch you walking the past,
I"m still happy
Even though you still don"t know my heart
I should stop this and go;
oh, oooooo...
I really want to see the day
I"m withstanding the pain each day
"I love you" displaying on my lips
Alone once again, crying for you
Alone once again, missing for you
Baby, I love you, I"m waiting for you."
After finishing the song, as the trainees and the other judges, especially Woo-jin can"t help but amazed, Tae-Hee smiled and said, "Han Sung-Jun, tell me one truth, seriously." "Yes?" As everyone was wondering what she wants to ask, she asked, "did you have some sort of obsession with love songs?"
"Eh?" as Jun was surprised at her question, she continued with a laugh, "you sang an original love song, "I miss you" during your audition, then in November evaluation, you sang "I don"t love you" song, and then in December, "I"ll wait for you". In the last month, you sang an original, which I remember the t.i.tle is "I can"t live without you" and now, you sang, "Because I"m Stupid," another love song.
Then, Woojin commented, "Taehee sunbae, you forgot one more important thing. All of these are tragic love songs too." As she nodded, Jun embarra.s.sedly replied, "it was really a coincidence." Woojin laughed as he spoke, "It doesn"t matter. Your vocals are improved slightly again. There"s nothing that I can say except it was amazing. The only thing you really have to focus on is..." Taehee continued his sentence, "Dance. Ok, lastly, show your performance, you"ve prepared."
Jun nodded and gave them the USB, which have the song he had prepared. As it was plugged and the music played, Jun performed the trendy song, while singing and dancing at the same time. After the performance is completed, they nodded with satisfaction.
Later, after all of their evaluations are over, Taehee spoke, "good job, everyone. All of you improved considerably. Tam Hyonu, overall, your improvements are the least. Nevertheless, you did improve, so, no complaints over there. And everyone, there"s only 2 months till the yearly evaluation, where all the trainees of different groups along with the staff, will watch your performance. So, you should work hard. Understand?" "Yes," As everyone answered as they understood, the four judges left the room, leaving the trainees alone.
After they went away, Jun thought, "my dancing level will be improved tremendously once I complete the mission. Hmm, Still need to practice 265 hours. Two months, huh? Ok, there"s enough time. I wonder whether they"ll think of my debut if I show my best performance."
`