Chapter 81

Chapter 81

Kang Hyun-Sung and I were off to a good start. This appeared to be a Would You Rather Balance game by the questions they posed to us, and both Kang Hyun-Sung and I replied without a hint of hesitation.

“Winning first place in a lottery vs. Everyone around me and I have a long, healthy life!”

“Everyone around me and I have a long, healthy life.”

“Everyone around me and I have a long, healthy life.”

Kang Hyun-Sung and I matched pretty well. Afterward, the balance game continued for a while.

“Teleportation vs. Transfiguration!”

“Teleportation.”

“Teleportation.”

“250 per month for a job you liked vs. 1,000 per month for a job you detested.”

“1,000 for a job I detested.”

“1,000 for a job I detested.”

“Working late till night on Friday vs. Coming to work early morning on Monday.”

“Working late till night on Friday.”

“Working late till night on Friday.”

***

At the tenth question, I began to feel that something was strange. How could we choose the same answer this many times? Even the producers looked at us doubtfully, as if they were wondering if we had planned this beforehand. But we didn’t even have the time to discuss a plan, and there was no point in scheming for a game of this level.

Furthermore, if we had actually schemed something, we would’ve shown some kind of rule like picking only right or left answers or chosen answers in a pattern like two answers on the left, and then one answer on the right.

Yet, these rules would’ve easily been discovered, and Kang Hyun-Sung and I chose our answers with no order. Thus, I trusted that the broadcasting crew must have known we used no underhanded tricks.

Yet, what continued to happen was so unbelievable that it looked as if we had fabricated the whole thing. We spat out the same answer for the eighteenth time, and upon the nineteenth question, the broadcasting crew changed their sketchbooks like they were going to use their last hidden card.

“Cat vs. Dog!”

It was the dilemma of the century. Kang Hyun-Sung and I, who had been answering without hesitation until now, stopped to think for the first time.

“Dog.”

“Cat.”

In the end, we finally gave different answers. I chose ‘dog’ while Kang Hyun-Sung chose ‘cat’.

“Yeees!”

“They finally got different answers!”

“Wow! It sure took a long time.”

The broadcasting crew looked so glad to see our failure that we didn’t know how to respond. Eventually, the broadcasting crew smiled awkwardly and apologized to us for getting too invested in the game. Then, I turned around and joined the rest of my group members. Our current score was 18.

‘But the way people look at us is strange.’ My members especially looked betrayed.

“Booo! You traitor!” Dong-Joon was the first to express his dissatisfaction.

“You sure get along well with the other team, Mr. Bong Tae-Yoon.”

“Are you sad that you are with Siren instead of Only One?”

“Maybe our current team arrangement was Tae-Yoon’s plan all along.”

My members treated me like a traitor just because I got many questions right with Kang Hyun-Sung. Perhaps, I needed to worry about them kicking me out of Siren if they saw me performing with Only One later. But in the end, I simply shrugged off my group members’ teasing, and that made them act even more fiercely. Our interaction created a comedic scene that made everyone in our surroundings roar with laughter.

“Okay, then! Let’s continue the game with the other teams!”

“I know pretty much all the recent songs, really,” he told me.

“That’s good.”

I simply nodded to Park Young-Ho’s words and thought about my Insight ability. I could only use Insight once a day but I wondered if I could lengthen the time I used it. Since I had control over the ability now, perhaps, I could also increase its use time. I also felt myself becoming more and more used to the sensation of the ability. Thus, I thought it wouldn’t be difficult to lengthen its time a bit right now.

“Okay! Let’s start our random play dance!”

The game began when we stepped forward. People were eliminated if they made the wrong dance move and just one person needed to survive each time. Matching the time the music came out, I used my Insight ability—very long and powerfully this time.

***

Park Young-Ho wanted to punch his past self who had bragged confidently to Tae-Yoon about his random dance skills. It was as if he had bragged to a pro gamer that he was good at games and a pro athlete that he was good at sports. As soon as the random play dance began, the air changed when Bong Tae-Yoon moved as the center. This was the first time Park Young-Ho had seen such a powerful and skilled random play dance.

The enjoyment of watching random play dance was seeing players have a slight lag before beginning their dance and showing viewers a feeling of awkwardness and nervousness the players also felt. Yet, there was not a moment of hesitation or awkwardness in Tae-Yoon’s movements. He was simply perfect, magnificent, and inspiring.

—You are my heart’s SHOOTING STAR—!

—My heart goes thump, thump—!

He even perfectly danced to a girl group’s song that was released ten years ago in perfect sync. His dance moves, expressions, and gestures seemed to have exactly copied from the performance of the original singers. In the end, Park Young-Ho himself gave up on the game and backed away. Eventually, the only one remaining on top of the stage was Bong Tae-Yoon. All the broadcasting crew was staring at Tae-Yoon in the same sense of shock and admiration.

A faint, feverish passion flowed out of Tae-Yoon’s eyes. It was as if he was a master who became one with dance.

***

“Mr. Tae-Yoon, stop!”

Because I used my Insight ability, all my senses were concentrated on dancing. I was only able to break out from that fixation from the producing director’s call, and I quickly canceled my Insight.

Whoosh! I felt a strong sense of dizziness then and fell on one knee.

“Uhh!” Boom. I managed to endure by putting great force into my legs and clenched my teeth to bear the headache. I bowed my head to cover my face from the cameras and swallowed back my pain.

“Hahahaha!”

“Wow, that was amazing!”

“Everyone, clap!”

“That was just...”

“That was the best I’ve seen someone do a random play dance.”

“Did your legs go out as a result?”

As I struggled against the afterpain of using Insight, people clapped and cheered for me. It seemed people thought I had been too focused on my dancing that I lost my balance and staggered instead of falling in pain.

‘...Now that I think about it, I’m the only one on the stage.’ It seemed I made history in this random play dance without even realizing it. That hadn’t been my intention but when I saw Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon stare at me in shock, it felt good.

‘Sucks for them,’ I thought. They probably had thought they would be the main characters of this game before I suddenly appeared and took the spotlight off them. Seeing their expressions, I felt no regret for using my Insight ability for a long time. The only drawback I had was that my head hurt and it burdened my body a bit.

“First place goes to Mr. Tae-Yoon! It was truly an amazing performance!” Park Soo-Chul announced that our team won again. Since we won a total of two games out of three, we ended up in first place. It felt like I had worked too hard on these games even though that hadn’t been my intention.

“Good work.” Kang Hyun-Sung approached me and patted my back. I felt a bit annoyed that he touched me without permission, but what I heard next immediately improved my mood again.

[A surprise mission]

I usually wasn’t happy about these surprise missions, but it was different this time.

[Go hide in a bathroom stall before anyone else comes during break time.]

[Upon success, you will gain Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon’s weaknesses.]

[Upon failure, Siren members’ stress level rises.]

The system was finally helping me for the first time today. The words ‘gain Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon’s weaknesses’ clearly rang in my head, and I thought, ‘Yeah, this is what I expected a system would do.’

For the first time since I went back in the past, I felt like I had regressed.