Chapter 44
I did my best to play the games prepared by the production crew of The Showcase. Being PepCola’s advertising model had enough ripple effect to reverse the latter flow of The Showcase 2. Therefore, if we won this advertisement deal, we might not only pose a serious rival to Only One but become the main characters of The Showcase 2. At least within the program, we would be able to gain enough popularity to equally compete with Only One. Thus, we needed to win this deal no matter what.
So I pretended to be crazy and ate a lemon while using my brain 200% to listen and guess songs by their introduction. While I was playing the second game, the Insight ability luckily came out, and I was able to lead the game by almost monopolizing the points.
If It was a melody that I had heard once in my life, the Insight ability checked every nerve in my brain and found the title and singer. It was a very successful game, except that the production crew and the other cast looked at me like a monster. I told the other members that for the third game, Food Fight, we should use it as our rest time.
“Since we won both games, why don’t we catch our breaths during Food Fight?”
“Yeah, let’s enjoy a meal instead of playing games for that round.”
“Who has the most upset stomach among us? I think everyone’s stomachs are ruined by eating lemons earlier.”
“Can I eat? Since a while back, I feel like my gastric juice is about to come back up.”
“Yeah, go ahead, Yeon-Hoon.”
After discussing with the members, Yeon-Hoon went up as the Food Fight competitor and enjoyed his meal before coming back down. The menu was an American hot dog, which could be called a classic in food fighting competitions, and Yeon-Hoon came down after eating just one hot dog.
“That was so delicious!”
“So lucky.”
“I’m definitely going to eat hot dogs after today’s shooting.”
While exchanging light conversations with the members, I continued to look around the studio with my eyes. It was to check Park Young-Ho’s condition and to observe the yellow-haired man’s movements. For now, there was no big problem.
Although it was annoying that he kept secretly taking pictures of the studio without the production crew knowing, that was not something that posed an immediate problem. However, I couldn’t lower my guard because the system gave me a surprise mission.
‘I wonder what’s going to pop out.’ I had once taken the mission lightly, and Yeon-Hoon almost got hit by a flowerpot. The first could be a mistake, but not the second time. There was definitely going to be an accident today. I took a deep breath and calmed my anxiety. Then I concentrated on the shooting again.
While I was waiting for the accident to appear, the host announced, “Bleshu takes the third game! Then let’s now start the fourth game. Since we just ate, let’s move a little. We’ll be vaulting!”
As expected, I set an accident flag just by thinking about it. A physical game immediately came up, and it was even a game called vaulting, which was perfect for accidents. I looked at Park Young-Ho and the yellow-haired man. Both of their expressions didn’t change much. Park Young-Ho seemed a little worried, but he didn’t seem to think too much about it.
“Let me explain the rules of the game. This is a game in which five players from each team come out and take turns jumping over the vault.” The rules were as follows—five players from each group were sent out. Frankly, except for the six-member group Luminin, everyone was a five-member group, so virtually, everyone had to come out.
Anyway, five people had to take turns jumping over the vault. If I jumped over 9 levels, another member had to jump over 10 levels, and someone else had to jump over 11 levels. If a member failed to jump over, their respective group was eliminated, and the surviving groups continued the game by adding more levels. In the end, this game was meaningless for one person to do well, since even if a member could jump over 9 levels, the game ended when the next member couldn’t jump over 10 levels.
‘But Park Young-Ho’s order could be pushed back as much as possible.’ To minimize the burden on Park Young-Ho, Only One would probably delay his order as much as possible by placing him in the furthest back or front.
“Then please raise the vault!” In line with Kim Young-Jin’s signal, the production team installed a wooden vault and soft mat.
“Wow.”
“This kind of feels like high school.”
“I think I jumped over a vault when I was doing physical education, but I don’t know if my body remembers.”
Watching the vault being installed, the members exchanged conversations like this.
“Tae-Yoon, are you good at vaulting?” Yeon-Hoon looked up at me and asked.
“No.” Honestly, I was not good at sports. I just did gym workouts or bare-handed exercises. I was terrible at exercises that involved using the whole body, like vaulting.
‘But will it be possible for this body?’ Since I was back in my 19-years-old body, it felt like I could strangely do well this time. The feeling of going from 24 years old to 19 years old was exhilarating. I was surprised every day by how strong and good this body was.
Of course, 24 years old was not old at all, but I had locked myself in my room for five years, only writing my novel, and had zero social life, so my body used to be at the bottom 1 percent of my age group. I woke up groaning every morning, wrote one episode, and didn’t do anything else the rest of the day. After living with such a poor body, I had nothing to be afraid of after returning to my 19-year-old body.
“Which group will go first?” When the vault installation was over, Kim Young-Jin looked around us and asked.
“We’ll go first.” The first person to raise their hand was Bleshu. “We’ll go second.” Second place was OnebyOne.
“We’ll go third.” Luminin was going third.
“We’ll go forth.” After discussing it with my members, I raised my hand for the fourth position. I purposely aimed for this order as I thought going in front or behind Only One would be the best to watch over Park Young-Ho’s condition.
“Then Only One will naturally be the last. Then let’s play the vault game in this order.”
The vault game progressed at a strangely calm pace.
The first round was set to 10 levels.
“Bleshu, success!”
“OnebyOne, success!”
“Luminin, success!”
“Siren, success!”
“Only One, success!”
Everyone succeeded easily with no troubles. In the first place, we were all idols who exercised every day. In other words, our body was specialized in physical activities. Since we were also all young, everyone succeeded in jumping over 11 levels and 12 levels after that. However, I thought it felt a bit high from the 13th level and soon enough—
“Ohhhh! Ah! Bleshu! Narrowly passes!”
“OnebyOne, success!”
“Ah! Luminin, unfortunately, failed.”
“Siren, success!”
“Only One, success!”
The number of people who reached their limits slowly began to come out.
But more importantly, I thought, ‘Park Young-Ho looks a bit stressed.’ His turn was just around the corner. Only One knew that Park Young-Ho’s ankle was hurt and had pushed his order to the furthest back as they probably didn’t think the game would go all the way to the fifth member.
But unexpectedly, everyone jumped well over the vault. I stared at Park Young-Ho and the yellow-haired man alternately. It felt like I was holding a ticking time bomb in my arms that I didn’t know when it was going to explode. If it was going to explode, I hoped it would explode quickly. I had a headache, thinking that the game might continue to progress like this. At that moment, Kang Hyun-Sung entered my field of vision.
‘What is he doing?’ Kang Hyun-Sung approached Park Young-Ho and whispered something in his ear, but Park Young-Ho shook his head and jumped from his seat. Judging by their movements, it seemed as if Kang Hyun-Sung had asked if his ankle was all right, and Park Young-Ho must have replied that he was fine.
‘Hmm. Why did he have to say he was all right...’ He should just rest if he were hurt. Then Kang Hyun-Sung turned his eyes away from Park Young-Ho and looked at me. The two of us exchanged glances and turned our heads at the same time. Just in time, another level was added to the vault for a total of 14 levels. Now, not only did it feel very high, but there was overwhelming pressure, wondering if it was even possible to jump over it.
“Ugh, can you do it?” Yeon-Hoon hugged my arms and asked.
Dong-Jun seemed to have found that humorous and also hugged my arms and said the same thing, “Tae-Yoon, do you think you can do it~”
It felt like I was a tree with two cicadas clinging on me. I shook my body to get rid of the cicadas.
“Wow, but 14 levels is really high.”
“It won’t be easy.”
It was a height that even Do-Seung and Woon, who had the best physical abilities, were quite nervous about, and the other groups were also in the same boat.
“Ahhh! Unfortunately, Bleshu is out!”
Bleshu was eliminated.
“OnebyOne~ahhh! OnebyOne is also out.”
OnebyOne was also eliminated. Since Luminin dropped out at 13 levels, it was my turn now. Our team decided the order by age, so it was now my turn to jump.
“Can you do it?”
“I’ll jump over it and come back.” I warmed up lightly and stood in front of the vault. Then I began to draw a mental image that I could jump over this vault. I didn’t know why, but I thought I could do this. With a light heart, I flew my body.
“Siren! Success for 14 levels! The maknae has great athletic ability.”
As expected, a 19-year-old’s body was amazing, and that was how we became the first group to succeed 14 levels. After jumping the vault, I returned to my seat and waited for Only One’s turn.
‘What?’ Then I saw that yellow-haired man sneak out his phone, making an unpleasant smile. Looking at the location of the camera, he was filming Park Young-Ho of Only One.
‘What the hell is that bastard doing?’ The yellow-haired man must have noticed Park Young-Ho hurt his ankle. I didn’t know how he noticed, but this was ominous. When I was wondering if I should tell the production crew about Park Young-Ho’s condition again—
“Wait!” One of the production crew’s writers, who seemed to be quite experienced, entered the studio. It was Kim Min-Young, who came to film a video of our dorm before.
“Mr. Young-Ho, is your ankle okay?” Kim Min-Young asked about Park Young-Ho’s condition and eased my frustration. I hoped that she would take Park Young-Ho out of the shooting.
All Park Young-Ho needed to say was one word—no.
However, he said, “Yes, it’s fine.” That guy was seriously not helping.
Kim Min-Young asked one more time out of politeness, and Park Young-Ho replied cheerfully, “I really am fine!”
“...All right, but please don’t overdo it. First, please put another mat here!”
The other members of Only One shook their heads in disapproval, but they couldn’t stop him because of how cheerful and bright Young-Ho was. Frankly, I only thought of this as a very dangerous situation because I knew there was going to be an accident for sure. If it weren’t for that, I would have just thought he was working hard despite his injury and wouldn’t think too much of it. In the end, contrary to my wishes—
Park Young-Ho stood in front of the vault. I fell into a dilemma. Should I catch the hidden cameraman after telling the writer? Or save Park Young-Ho first? However, I didn’t even have time to ponder about it as he began running. 14 levels was not something that could be attempted with an ankle injury. Was it because he overextended himself while not fully realizing his physical condition?
The moment Park Young-Ho rose in the air, his body did not rise in a straight line but slightly tilted. It was then I knew for sure that there was going to be an accident, and it was going to be a big accident. It was not going to end with the vaulting platform collapsing as the production staff was holding the vault from the bottom.
However, even if the levels didn’t collapse, the height was too high. Even if the floor was covered with mats, the height at which he was falling was high enough for him to get hurt. In particular, it was clear that Park Young-Ho would receive a major injury from falling with an ankle injury.
“Uhhhh!”
“Kyahhh!”
Some of the crew began to scream as they sensed the incoming danger of the accident. I ran forward without realizing it. Was it because my body was already ready? I was able to jump out faster than expected. I wished Insight would be activated at this moment, but it didn’t come out at such a critical time.
‘Damn it!’ If I went now, I might get hurt too. However, I couldn’t stand still. If this really became a big accident and spread on the internet and Park Young-Ho really dropped out—The Showcase 2 would be doomed.
‘Do-Seung...!’ And this would mean that we wouldn’t reach 100,000 album sales in the first week. I couldn’t lose Do-Seung twice. This was not a matter of whether I could do this or not; I needed to do this at all costs. Before Park Young-Ho fell, I managed to reach him. Were the heavens helping me?
“Uaghhhhh!”
“I got...you!”
I managed to catch him while he was falling and screaming his head off. Since I was holding an adult man falling from the air, it definitely put a strain on my body. Therefore, I didn’t force myself to hold him up with my strength but kneeled on the mat and supported Park Young-Ho’s weight instead.
Gasp!
Sigh.
As a result, Park Young-Ho and I were able to end this matter without serious injuries.
“Ahhhhhh!”
“Tae-Yoon!”
“Young-Ho!”
After I saved Park Young-Ho, people began calling our names from all sides. I didn’t pay any attention to them and looked down at Park Young-Ho in my arms. Park Young-Ho seemed to be very shocked as surprise, fear, and relief passed through his big eyes. At the same time, a familiar voice rang out in my ears.
[Mission accomplished.]
[You’ve stopped Park Young Ho from leaving Only One.]
[As a reward, you will gain some control of Insight.]
I succeeded. I was going to take it easy now when—
Swooosh!
“Hmph!” A strange and foreign feeling spread throughout my body.
[Sixth sense has been formed.]
[Beware as there could be temporary pain.]
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om