I Was Trying To Debut My Baby, But I Ended Up Debuting Instead

Chapter 14

‘Hey status window, isn’t there a chamber for time and spirit or something? It’d be great if you could lock me up there. I could practice for a few days and come out in less than an hour.’

[Correction. The correct expression is the Chamber of Spirit and Time.]

‘What? Does that mean it exists?’

[It doesn’t, but the correct expression is the Chamber of Spirit and Time.]

‘Damn it, are you kidding me?’

[Kidding No. 2.]

‘Are you crazy? …Fine. If it doesn’t exist, just disappear.’

Yeah, such things only exist in comics. No matter how much dreams and reality had been reversed and she had rejuvenated to 19 years old, such things wouldn’t exist.

Hyesung taped up her joints, which were trembling like an old tractor, and resumed practice.

“Ah, I feel like I’m going to die.”

“Agree. I really feel like I’m going to die.”

As midnight approached, everyone began to struggle. A few hours ago, the trainees, who were full of energy and declared they would stay up all night, were now scattered on the practice room floor along with empty water bottles.

“Hey, why is Hyesung unnie like that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she’s so exhausted she’s lost her mind. She was here the latest last night.”

The trainees from F class whispered as they watched Hyesung, who was sitting in the corner in a lotus position.

Her posture was strange for someone meditating to recharge; her head was tilted, and her face was pointed towards the air in a bizarre manner.

‘If you vividly dream, it will come true… The law of attraction exists… Connect to the field of infinite possibilities…….’

Hyesung wasn’t meditating but daydreaming.

Daydreaming was a habit Hyesung always had when she faced a mental crisis, which, put nicely, was mind control, but in a bad way, it was mental victory, running a happiness circuit.

‘If you vividly dream, it will come true… The law of attraction exists… Connect to the field of infinite possibilities…….’

Hyesung intermittently repeated the core contents of self-development books, believing that what she had been thinking about would come true.

In her vivid imagination, scenes of her surprising Jade and Kang Min Gook in the re-evaluation, being praised by Minty, and reuniting with Na Yeonwoo in the Ace class were unfolding in her mind.

‘Mind control is a method used by medalist athletes. This isn’t daydreaming but mind control. Anyway, dreams do come true. Go Korea! Go us! Earthlings, accept our energy. Clang clang.’

Only after her delusions went beyond the Earth did Hyesung finally return to reality.

“Unnie. Are you okay?”

Na Yeonwoo had squatted next to Hyesung and was looking at her worriedly.

“I’m fine. More importantly, Yeonwoo, you’re already an Ace.”

“What?”

Na Yeonwoo, puzzled by the random comment, asked again with wide eyes. Then she pressed her forehead against Hyesung’s and said,

“No fever.”

‘Oh my gosh! I saw her up close just now, ah, my heart hurts…!’

Na Yeonwoo was worried that Hyesung might be sick from saying nonsense, but Hyesung was more moved by seeing her favorite person’s face from 3cm away.

‘Crazy. This is crazy. I have to write this in my diary. What’s in Yeonwoo’s eyes, the Pleiades Cluster or something? They’re shining brighter than my future. Even though she’s sweaty and dirty from practicing, she’s glowing like a hundred fluorescent lights are on. Her nose is so high I’m tired of talking about it. Her aura is refreshing itself. My eyes feel cooler. She’s just a human summer. Her bangs and eyebrows are so well-shaped. How can this baby statue be so perfect? She’s so kind too… I want to see more.’

“Unnie… why are you looking at me like that? Your gaze is strange. Are you not feeling well?”

“…My heart.”

“What? Your heart?”

Na Yeonwoo’s face turned pale in an instant.

Hyesung, who had been heart-struck by Na Yeonwoo’s face, had said something weird, making Yeonwoo think she was seriously ill.

“What should we do! Shouldn’t you go to the hospital?”

“No, no! It’s just because of esophagitis…! And my stomach feels a bit sore. It happens sometimes when I’m stressed. It’s okay, it’s nothing serious.”

It was a total lie. Hyesung, who couldn’t handle spicy food and had an alcohol tolerance of one can of fizzy beer, had never had esophagitis or gastritis. She just blurted out a common chronic illness among modern Koreans to reassure Na Yeonwoo.

“But it still hurts, doesn’t it? What should we do… Should I get you some medicine?”

“Uh?”

“There should be some emergency medicine. I’ll get it.”

“Uh, thanks……”

Unable to refuse, Hyesung gulped down the liquid stomach medicine Na Yeonwoo brought.

“Unnie, rest until the medicine takes effect. I’m going to the vocal room.”

“Okay.”

‘Our angel baby is so pure and kind, how will she survive in this harsh world? I hope the world is kinder to Yeonwoo…….’

Since she was pretending to be sick and resting anyway, Hyesung slipped back into her world of delusions.

Following her previous fantasy, this time, she imagined Na Yeonwoo’s name being called in the debut group during the final.

‘So touching…….’

Seeing Na Yeonwoo dramatically overcome hardships and make it to the debut group brought tears to Hyesung’s eyes. To reiterate, this was all in her imagination.

[Additional stat Delusion up! +1]

‘……What.’

Just as she was feeling the emotional afterglow, the status window’s notification threatened to ruin the mood.

[Title ‘Delusional Molecule’ acquired.]

Hyesung, who had momentarily forgotten the existence of additional stats due to her dance obsession, snapped back to reality as if cold water had been poured on her.

‘Ah… right, there was something like this. Delusion and karma. Are you crazy, Hyesung? If your karma exceeds 5, you’ll die. No, you’ll be trapped in a place where you’ll wish you were dead!’

Fortunately, her karma was still at 1.

‘I really shouldn’t do anything rash. It’s best to avoid getting involved with other trainees as much as possible.’

[Exclusive skill for the title ‘Delusional Molecule’ acquired.]

‘What is that!’

The title ‘Delusional Molecule’ didn’t sound good, but having an exclusive skill might mean it was a good thing? Hyesung rolled her eyes, unsure.

‘What’s delusion stat, and how did it increase? Explain.’

[Delusion Stat: A unique stat for the user Yoon Hyesung. The delusion stat increases each time the delusion circuit is activated and the gauge is filled.]

[The more vividly you experience delusions indistinguishable from reality and the broader the range, the faster the gauge fills. Each time the delusion stat increases, you acquire a title and can use exclusive skills.]

In summary, the more she immersed herself in vivid delusions, the more her delusion stat would increase.

‘This is something I’m really good at.’

[Exclusive skill for the title ‘Delusional Molecule’ allows rewinding to the starting point after a series of movements.]

[For example, after completing a dance routine once, you can use the skill to rewind to the start of the routine. Time and stamina are maintained as they were at the start, but experience accumulates.]

‘…This is amazing. I don’t need the Chamber of Spirit and Time anymore. I want to try this skill now.’

Feeling as if she had suddenly gained infinite time, Hyesung eagerly prepared to use the skill with eyes wide open.

* * *

After using and repeating 10 times.

‘I can do this without the skill.’

After 30 repetitions.

‘Wow. I don’t even feel tired.’

After 50 repetitions.

‘This is getting boring…….’

After 100 repetitions.

‘…….’

At the 100th repetition, Hyesung became thoughtless, mechanically repeating the dance. She no longer noticed whether the repetitions were being counted.

After how much time had passed, she began to feel mentally exhausted even though her body wasn’t tired because her stamina returned to the starting point each time.

‘This must be how Sisyphus felt.’

She felt a kinship with Sisyphus, who was condemned to eternally push a huge boulder up a hill in the underworld.

It felt like she had spent billions of years. Her mental strength was reaching its limit.

‘Where am I? Who am I? Why am I doing this?’

The moment she was about to give up, wondering why she had to do this, her dance proficiency level had increased remarkably.

[Dance Chance! (Proficiency 99%) achieved!]

[ usage time 14,367 minutes 38 seconds]

The time spent repeating with was nearly ten days.

‘99%……!’

Seeing the number in front of her eyes, she snapped back to reality. It was disappointing not to reach 100%, but 99% was a sufficiently high level.

Hyesung thought the result was worth all the hardship. However, the thought of doing it again was unbearable.

‘…I can’t use this skill for a while.’

She was so traumatized that the mere thought of rewinding made her want to vomit.

[Yoon Hyesung (19 years old / Female)]

Visual ★★☆

Vocal ★★

Dance ★☆↑

Star Quality ☆

While increasing her dance proficiency, her dance stat rose by one star.

‘I thought it would go up a bit more…….’

Hyesung had expected her dance stat to rise to two stars, so she was a little disappointed. It seemed that continuing to practice the same song wouldn’t improve her further.

“I’m exhausted. My brain feels like it’s going to explode. I need to rest for 10 minutes.”

Mentally exhausted, Hyesung plopped down on the spot.

“You only did it once, unnie.”

A trainee nearby commented. Even though she had repeated it countless times, it looked like she had done it once and collapsed.

“I did it over 4,000 times. In another dimension.”

“What is that?”

“It’s something that exists.”

‘Just focus on your practice, child. Your proficiency is at 30%.’

Having spent ten days in the same place repeating and achieving 99%, Hyesung could now roughly gauge the proficiency levels of other trainees just by glancing at them.

‘Seeing their condition, few of them have surpassed 50%. I’m a novice amateur, so it’s understandable, but they’re trainees. Shouldn’t they have made some progress by the second day?’

Suddenly, perhaps because her proficiency level had increased, Hyesung wasn’t satisfied with the other trainees’ progress. Seeing them exhausted and scattered around after just passing midnight made it worse.

‘If this continues, Yeonwoo will be scolded by the instructor tomorrow for not training the others properly.’

“Everyone, let’s get up.”

Hyesung clapped her hands like a peddler in the center of the practice room, calling everyone to attention.