Chapter 11: Dancing and Singing

I sighed out of exhaustion and wiped my sweat in a dazed and tired state. 

Despite the air conditioner, as expected. I can't suddenly turn up the air conditioner because the temperature will rise or fall unpredictably.

'I wish I was in a tropical country right now..' I collapsed on the floor and tried to catch my breath when I received a notification regarding my levels.

[Congratulations!]

[Visual↑ Level up! (A+ → S) ]

[Stamina↑ Level up! (D+ → C-)]

I looked at the system notification in a daze before continuing slumping on the ground "… If you see me that pitiful, rank up my Dancing and Rap system"

[You know I can't do that player 'Hoon Youngjae'(＝△＝||||)]

'Dancing and rap… I'm going to die because of it.' 

Singing isn't that hard. I just need to hit the right notes and sing with my pronunciation clear however, what happens when you need to pronounce the words clearly while staying with the beat? It's simply hell. Especially with dancing. God… I'm only practicing the basics but why is it so hard? I know how to dance but my body just doesn't follow the way I want it to.

'I guess this is one of the backlash of becoming a regressor…You can't just do what you want to do with your original body'

I sighed then slapped my face ambitiously not ready to give up. "We can't give up Hoon Youngjae! We have too much to lose!" 

'Imagine dying knowing you have 100 billion won in your bank account.'

[Let's go power of capitalism!! (/>♡<) ]< p>

I got up and started practicing again and again for hours non-stop.

3 days passed by with this continuous routine; wake up, practice, eat, practice, eat, sleep. It may not be hell for Idol trainees, but it was for me. But the system gladly took the initiative to provide emotional support as it continued to cheer me on with various cheers for example:

[Go player 'Hoon Youngjae'! (／^▽ ^)／]

[Keep up with the momentum!]

[Don't lose hope!]

[Yeop Chunghee will be so proud of you! (⊇≧▽≦⊆)]

'… Why do you keep mentioning that guy every time?' 

I have a strong feeling that my system may be a fujoshi…

'Well as long as they won't force me to do that again' I subconsciously shuddered thinking of wearing clothes that just scream an atmosphere of me being cute or lovely. 'Honestly, I'd rather go topless.'

I continued dancing with the rhythm of the song, striding across the living room as I moved my hips with the beat. 

'My back is killing me' I smiled through the pain and continued dancing. Thankfully, the style I was practicing for is Hip-Hop not ballet because the pain would be even worse than this.

'Plus, my main style back then was Hip-Hop.'

'Forever' consisted of 5 members all with respective roles. I was crowned at that time as the leader and main dancer of the Forever group.

'I think it's because I dance better than the other members at that time but who knows… It could be a different story.'

I tried remembering how I usually danced at that time. Powerful and exaggerated movements are the key to Hip-hop and many people know this. But the problem lies in following the movement and moving your body.

'I need to listen carefully.. Timing, with rhythm, bringing out the emotions to the dance and-' "Ack!" 

[Congratulations! You have upgraded Dance! (C- → B-)]

Because of the sudden system notification, I accidentally tripped over my foot and fell to the floor facing face flat causing a loud thud to be heard.

"System." I said while my head was still buried on the floor.

[Yes player? QwQ]

"Know the atmosphere next time before you interrupt me" 

[Yes player…(ToT)>]

I got up from my seat and placed an ice pack on my face. 'Well, at least my dance got upgraded… But at what cost?'

I decided to wipe my tears away and open my status window. "[Status window]"

[Name: Hoon Youngjae

Title: Regressor

Lvl: 0

Dance: B-

Vocal: C+

Rap D+

Visual: S

Charm (Facial expression and Aegyo): C-

Stamina: D+

Talents: 

Great Concentration (A) 

Endless Possibilities (S) 

Caregiver (C) 

Guide (A) 

Truth (D)]

'… Should I train my face instead? The levels of each skill are so uneven especially Visual and Charm. As expected. I'm meant to be an ice prince.' I nodded at my logical statement as the system looked at me on the side secretly judging my appearance and overall me.

"… Stop looking at me like that." 

[What do you mean player? ^^;]

"…" I sighed before waving my status window away. "Show me my current progress on the quest system."

[Understood! (^▽^)]

[Main Scenario: Main quest!

Details: You who have been living a miserable life ever since you started to stray from your parent's shadows have an opportunity to start again! Through the main quests, you will be able to live your life to the fullest, encounter dangers but also save yourself from them, and be able to change your fate!

Task: Upgrade the ranks of the following:

Dance (C-) [Done!]

Singing (C+) [In progress]

Rap (D+) [In progress]

Time limit: 49:53:05

Reward: The Gacha system will be unlocked.

Failure: Dance, Singing, and Rap ranks will be demoted]

"Oh yeah. I didn't look at the reward before since I was already focused on practicing before. I remember I read a novel where the main character becomes an idol and uses the Gacha system to dominate the entertainment industry…."

My voice slowly trailed off as I slowly realized that I could've just used the Gacha system and used my luck to upgrade my rap, dance, and vocal skills.

"… system."

[Yes player? (＾＾;)]

"… no, never mind" I sighed heavily out of frustration. Getting mad at this thing is not worth it. So, what if I complain? I bet it'll be like when I complained to Motherboard, no questions will be answered but more questions will be raised.

I went to the room with games and soundtracks "Let's try singing high notes now Hoon Youngjae."

And for that I need…

"The legendary song 'Heartbeat'" 

I smiled while looking at the karaoke version on MeTube. This song has so many high notes that even professionals have a hard time singing it, especially that bridge.

I sat down on the gaming chair my parents bought for me and drank a cup of cold water first. 

[Player…are you sure this is okay?] The system said worriedly in my ears. If I were to attempt this now, and forget about losing my voice for a week, I would fail the mission.

"High risk, high reward" I smiled. 'Forever' was known for having amazing singers and we were rather known for our vocals during my time.

'Plus, if I manage to do this, I wonder how high the upgrade of my vocal would be.' I'm not sure whether the difficulty of the performance will affect my final grade but seeing as how my Dance leveled up by 3 times…

"I guess it's worth of shot" I mumbled.

During dance practice, I was mastering a K-pop song called 'Drunk and in a Daze' It required difficult dance steps and when the system probably saw that I was no longer improving, it gave me a B- which is still good but as a main dancer, it was a failure.

'Even after all that imagining..' I sighed then put on my headphones and listened to the song very carefully. I don't have enough time to repeat this song for a second time because I need to quickly proceed to practice rap

"Never put my love out on the line"

"Never said yes to the right guy"

"Never had never had trouble getting what I want"

"But when it comes to you I'm never good enough~"

I tapped my pen on the table with the beat while also listening very carefully to how the singer sang the song.

'Good pronunciation is needed.' I took quick notes in my head as I continued to listen.

When it got to the high notes, however, I stopped tapping my pen on the table and instead listened to the singer's breathing. Breathing is extremely crucial when you're building up the notes. You don't want it to sound like a tire's screech or too low because you ran out of breath.

I listened carefully while also repeating the part and copying the singer's breathing and singing multiple times. Although it was only humming, I got the gist of it. So, after finishing and making myself aware of those parts, I moved on and continued listening to the song. 

By the time I was finished, two hours had already passed by, and I knew I needed to start recording.

There were recording and editing apps on the computer, so I didn't need to download those and headed straight for the microphone connected to the computer.

I made sure to drink another cold glass of water again to loosen my muscles up.

[Player….are you sure about this?]

"Don't worry about me system," I said in a clear voice and started recording and singing.

"I'm burning close to the sun"

"And I burst into flaaames"

"You make glow"

"But I cover up won't let it show"

"So, I'm putting defenses up"

"Because I don't want to fall in love"

"If I did that, I think I'll have a heart attaaccck~

I think I'll have a heart attack~

Ohh~ I think I'll have a heart attack~"

After my whole performance, I stopped recording and sat on my chair. Although I pushed myself way out of my comfort zone, I was satisfied at the end.

"T-that was tiring…" I said with relief. My voice was slightly hoarse but that was to be expected. After all, I sang a song originally sang by a female so as a man, this was almost an impossible feat to achieve especially when I didn't lower the original keys of the song.

A system notification then appeared with confetti all around it.

[Congratulations! You have successfully upgraded your Vocal to S+!! Please keep up the hard work!]

"Eh? I did what now?" That was unexpected. I expected it to raise up to at least A or B but S? 

'Looks like the system does include and think about how hard performing was the performance too huh? Looks like my guess was correct.' 

"Hmmn.. speaking of which, system do you think I should upload this version of me singing in MeTube while we're at it?" If I got a grade S+ in Vocals because of this then shouldn't it sound good? I'm not gonna hear myself sing this though.

[I think that's a good idea Host! Many people would want to get tutored by you if that's case! ^▽^]

"Ah…right. Being a mentor." I almost forgot about that. There's been so many things going on at the same time, so I almost forgot about it. But thankfully, the system looks like it didn't notice that I forgot about it, so I guess that's good.

"Mn. Let's upload this on MeTube for now and we'll see next week" I set up a new account on MeTube and uploaded the video there. I didn't bother setting up a profile picture and also just wrote 'Hoon Youngjae' as the account's name. 

Truth be told, I don't think anyone is going to view my video, especially looking at an unedited thumbnail of me drinking water, I doubt anyone's gonna click on this video.