Chapter 17 – Friends Suffer Together

"Come on, my brother. If your friend is going crazy, why don't you join him? You said you were like brothers, like? Show him that you are a man."

"Are you crazy?! There is no way I will join!"

"Why not? If you enter, you will have a chance to be an idol too! Be grateful! This former failed idol wants to support you!"

"I don't want to join! And what the hell do you mean by a former failed idol?! You never entered any audition, right? You're just a student, like us!"

"It's because I didn't enter any audition that I failed as an idol! You have a chance now, so take it! For me! Do it for me, brother!"

She grabbed his arm and shook him back and forth. She was surprisingly strong. Sam struggled to break free.

"No! I'm not doing this!"

"My friend, listen to me." Tom patted Sam's shoulder, making him to look at him in disgust due to his soft tone.

"What?"

"If you managed to pass this qualifier, imagine how girls in our campus will react. They will be all over you. And if we passed the first round and got chosen as final selection, it means we could have even more of them. You get what I mean, right?"

Hearing that, Sam's expression changed. He stopped struggling. Sarah looked confused, but she was ignored.

The man only thought about the troublesome stuff and never the benefit of just 'entering' and 'easily passing' the qualifier. He looked at Tom as if he was a genius.

"I know that you haven't gone crazy, bro. It turns out you have a good plan in mind."

"That's right. I never go crazy. And the reason why I want to become an idol isn't because of the girls. I have my own reasons."

"Yes, I understand. I know that you have your own plans. I don't care about it. I only care about myself."

Tom grinned and nodded.

"Well, I thought that you would think that way."

Sam smiled back at him.

They shook hands, leaving Sarah confused.

"So, I will train both of you?" She muttered.

***

After all of their classes were over, just an hour after lunch, the trio went to the nearby karaoke. Tom secretly used <Voice Manipulation> to some degree to make his voice pleasant to hear, but not changing too much to the point it was different from his natural one.

The room had a large screen in front of the sofa and two microphones were placed on a small table. Sarah looked at them and sighed.

"Okay, you two. Try to sing."

"Alright." Sam was spirited. "You watch me, sis. I will show you how amazing I am. Set the song to 'All of Me'"

Sarah looked at the song list and picked the song for her brother. The song started, and Sam took the mic.

"Ohh, yeah! I love your curves and all your edges...! All your perfect imperfections..."

He began singing, but his voice was out of tune and he was out of breath after three seconds. Sarah stared at him, stunned by his performance. In a bad way.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

She shouted at him.

"Singing. What else?"

Sam said innocently, making his sister grab her head.

"No, this isn't singing! Next!"

She turned to Tom who was next.

"You try it. I want to hear what you can do."

"Okay. Please give me the mic. And the song to Racing into the Night."

"Are you a weeb?"

"No. I like to listen to J-Pop."

"Whatever. Just sing."

Tom nodded. He took the mic and waited for the song to start. When it did, he began to sing. To put it simply...

"ENOUGH!"

It was worse than Sam that Sarah literally screamed at him.

"How is that possible?! How could someone be this bad at singing?!"

Tom shrugged.

"I told you I can't sing."

"You lied to me! Why didn't you tell me earlier that you are this bad?!"

"I didn't lie to you. I really can't sing. I also told you that I want to join an idol audition. I thought you could help me."

"You should have said you wanted to be a professional singer instead of an idol! I bet your voice will shock the world." Words filled with sarcasm came out from her mouth. "How could I fix it? Are you serious about joining the audition?"

"Yes, I'm very serious."

Sarah sighed.

"Alright. I will see what I can do. It will be a miracle if I can make you pass the qualifier stage though. With your average face, sorry that's the fact, you will need to be good at singing and dancing to pass."

"I trust you. Do your best."

Besides, he would have a handsome face when he joined. All he needed was to sing decently, enough not to make people rip their ears from listening to him.

"You better be grateful, my brother. I will teach you two for free."

"Thank you very much, my sister. I am grateful for your generosity." Sam bowed deeply as he thanked her. "I will award you with my pudding."

"Why don't you award me with something other than your pudding?"

"It's the only thing I have that you want."

"How about money?"

"Do you think your poor brother has money?"

"Fair enough. Well, your pudding will do."

Sarah smiled brightly, and Sam sighed. She turned to Tom.

"You will also pay me."

"What for?"

"For your training. Introduce me to a hot man or whatever."

Tom blinked.

"Um... Alright?"

That was pretty easy, even. He could just create a perfect guy for Sarah.

'Let's use <Appraisal > on her first.'

─Ding!

─Appraisal Result

Name: Sarah Carson

Age: 19

Race: Human

Condition: Menstruation

Personality: Fiery, Ditzy, Genius, Masochist

Titles: Genius Student, Former Failed Idol, Little Sister

'Ah, she's on period right now. And Sam, your sister is a masochist!'

Tom noticed a small detail about her condition. It seemed like the system could tell his target was currently menstruating.

'That's why she's so wild.'