17 Little Fame
A week had passed since his first day as a trainee. And his days were filled with activities, he was busy every day of the week.
He had no free time at all.
But he didn't mind that at all, he actually liked it a lot. He had made a lot of friends, both in school and in the JYP complex.
One could say that there never was a time when he was bored. And if he wasn't talking or doing activities with his friends, then he was doing the things he enjoyed most, like dancing or singing.
Some parts of the learning process regarding subjects in school like languages were a bit burdensome though, since he basically outstripped the majority of teachers in terms of proficiency in Korean and English.
He had to thank his intelligence for that.
He caught on to things a lot quicker than usual, his memory was also a lot better. It wasn't even close to photographic memory, but it was still better.
He also had his past life to account for, so they both were a piece of cake.
But those weren't the only languages he needed to learn. He had to learn basic Chinese and Japanese as well. But it was easy to catch on. And if he really needed to learn one of those languages in a rush, he could just create a skill for it.
His skill points were valuable though, so he couldn't spend them recklessly.
He had also finally made his first debut in something, which resulted in the start of his career.
It was modelling.
Since he was one of the best looking trainees....
No wait, since he was one of the best looking men in all of Asia, it was inevitable.
His first task was to display clothing and some accessoires for a few average brands, nothing super well-known. It was his first time after all, it would've been a bit weird if he inmediately got requested to become a model for a clothing brand like KYE or Hyein Seo. (~)
He would only appear in a few magazines and in some articles on the internet.
But his looks would get him far, he knew that
His first shoot was quite akward at first, he wasn't used to making various poses or keeping a natural face in front of the camera at all.
The photographers were quite unhappy with him because of it, since they had to correct him almost every minute. It was very clear that he was inexperienced.
Luckily, his system had gone and saved the day at just the right time.
[ Ding! ]
[ Skill creation initialized! ]
[ Due to repeated actions in a particular manner, a skill is formed! ]
[ New Skill: Modelling! ]
[ Since the user has created a skill due to practice for the first time, 10 SP is awarded! ]
He instantly put those 10 SP in modelling.
He, and the camera men instantly noticed the effect of his investment, bits and pieces of information about modelling flew into his brain at the time and were even embedded into his muscle memory.
It made him look like an experienced model, one who had been through a few shoots already.
He still made some small mistakes, but not ones nearly as obvious as before.
The photographers kept praising him that he was doing good, and they were all smiles after that.
The System was truly a gift from god. He couldn't wait to see what more it could do in the future.
Right now, he was now basically waiting for the article to be posted onto the internet. It would be his first time appearing in something like that, so he was absolutely stoked.
*Brrrinnng* (SFX for phone ringing sound)
*Brrrinnggg*
"Ohh, is it who I think it is?"
He grabbed his phone and looked at the screen,
Incoming call: Sehun Chingu (~)
"Annyeong Sehun-a"
"Annyeong Minjae-ya, how did it go?"
He had told him about his modelling activities already, he was too excited not to.
"It went great, they were very satisfied"
"How could they not be..."
While they were talking, Jaemin kept refreshing the internet website he was supposed to appear on.
And after a while...
"SEHUN I APPEARED!"
"WAAAHHHHH I SEE IT TOO, YOU LOOK SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD"
"I KNOW RIGHT?!"
Sehun was as excited as Jaemin was about his first debut in modelling. Even Jaemin himself thought he looked amazing in those pictures, it was sure to gain some attention.
He would check again next week, to see what reaction the people had on him.
They both really wanted to meet up, but they had their schedules that they couldn't neglect.
They could see each other enough on school though, so it wasn't that bad.
There was also something else that had happened in the past week, during his training. His skill levels in singing, dancing, acting and even cooking had gone up due to repeated uses of them. But for some of the skills....
He had hit a bottleneck.
This had happened....
[ Ding! ]
[ Skill: Singing and daning cannot be upgraded any further! ]
[ Creating quest... ]
[ Ding! ]
[ Main Quest: Break the restraint! ]
{ User has to find out himself, to try and figure it out how to go past one's limits. The System has given the user a hint to help. Hint: "Lacking in one, failing the second" }
[ Reward: 30 AP, 30 SP ]
Singing and dancing both stopped at 50 points, it looked like that was his first bottleneck he had to overcome.
He wondered why that didn't occur when he had upgraded his appearance, since that even went above 100...
He had to think.
He couldn't be distracted at the moment, so he deciced to stop talking with Sehun and focus more on his current dilemma.
"Sehun chingu, i'm going to hang up now, see ya!"
"Ok, Later bro!"
He walked to the music studio, where some of the trainees practice to create music. A piano, a guitar and many other instruments were there.
Making music inspires him, so whenever he can't figure something out, he would just play the piano. A skill for playing both the piano and guitar had already showed up, since he played them both quite often.
"So, I can't upgrade it anymore."
"That hint though, lacking in one, failing the second. What does it mean?"
He started playing on the piano, a very famous song on top of that.
It was River Flows in You from Yiruma.
Sad songs helped him become more creative than other songs, and this was one of his favorites as well. It doesn't exist yet, but he wouldn't claim it to be his either.
He just didn't feel like it.
"Lacking in one....."
"Failing the second..."
He made full use of his 21 intelligence to try and come up with a solution.
"I really should upgrade my intelligence more..."
"The hint means I haven't met the requirements for them, I realise that."
"But what in the world am I missing?"
He kept on playing and playing....
In the blink of an eye, it was already past midnight. And it was only then, when Jaemin realised his mistake.
He kept thinking about the way he just played.
It sounded pretty much perfect, but he indeed thought he was lacking compared to Yiruma himself, by quite a huge margin.
If Yiruma's playing was compared to a painting, then he would be a beautiful forest. He himself though, would only be a grassland.
It was like he couldn't convey his message through the song.
"Wait...."
"Conveying something...."
"I got it!"
"So that was it all along huh."
"It's actually spirit and charisma"
It was indeed that way.
You can play any instrument well, but can you convey your feelings through them? That when one listents to your song, he knows your pain, your happiness, your grief or your love? And can you express that through your actions?
The majority of songs are love songs, and they are mostly about break ups.
And if it is a good artist or singer, he would be able to let others know what kind off experience he had at the time.
But he couldn't do that, yet.
His look on music was too bland, he had been ignorant and oblivious to music itself.
So lacking in one, failing the second means, that when one is lacking in a supportive attribute/skill of that main attribute/skill, he couldn't upgrade it anymore.
It was actually something like equivalent exchange....
[ Ding! ]
[ Quest Completed! ]
[ Rewarded: 30 AP, 30 SP ]
[ Two hidden attributes: Spirit and Charisma unlocked! ]
He invested in both of those attributes, including some in his intelligence and flexibility as well. He also put all his SP in acting, since it had to catch up to his other skills.
And also because he would very soon try and make his debut in acting as well.
His status now finally looked somewhat decent:
========================
[ Kim Min-jae ]
[ Male ]
- Attributes -
Body Fitness: 40 (10)
Willpower: 20 (10)
Flexibility: 25 (10)
Intelligence: 25 (10)
Health: 20 (10)
Appearance: MAX (10)
Charisma: 20 (10)
Spirit: 15 (10
Available attribute points: 0
- Skills -
Dancing: 50 (10)
Acting: 47 (10)
Singing: 50 (10)
Modelling: 16 (10)
- Misc -
Playing Piano: 28 (10)
Playing Guitar: 25 (10)
Available skill points: 0
========================
