NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4
Chapter 4
“What?”
“That, name tag…”
The young girl who had just called Hyesung with a loud voice now spoke in a half-whispered, polite tone, quite unlike before.
Following the direction of the girl’s gaze, Hyesung saw a piece of paper with “Na Yeonwoo” written on it dangling from her coat hem. It seemed she hadn’t noticed it after sitting on it.
“Oh, it looks like a finished participant accidentally left it behind…”
“Ah… thank you.”
Hyesung removed the paper name tag and thanked her with a slight smile.
With the name tag reading “Na Yeonwoo” and the girl’s somewhat familiar face, Hyesung started to piece together the situation.
‘Oh, is this a dream? Okay, okay.’
Hyesung exited the waiting room and headed for a distant restroom, thinking it would be better if no one was around.
Closing the bathroom stall door, Hyesung bent her fingers back until they almost broke.
It was obvious she was in a dream, but she needed to perform a reality check. If this was a dream, something impossible in reality would happen.
As expected, her wrist joint bent easily like jelly, and her fingers pierced through her arm. Naturally, there was no pain.
‘Confirmed it’s a dream. What should I do now? Yeonwoo seems to have already finished. Is she still here? I want to see my baby’s face.’
It seemed the background of this dream was the preliminary audition site before the broadcast of Supernova Project Season 5. Hyesung remembered the name of the girl who had just spoken to her.
‘Kim Daon… right. She was the youngest participant. She wasn’t a particularly standout trainee, but she appeared on camera quite a bit until she was eliminated since she was the youngest.’
Although it was a bit absurd that she was a participant herself, Hyesung thought it didn’t matter since it was a lucid dream where she could do as she pleased.
Just as she was about to leave the restroom to find Na Yeonwoo, a translucent blue window appeared in front of her.
[You have been caught in the whims of Fortuna, the goddess of luck and destiny. Welcome to the dream world managed by System Morpheus.]
‘What is this?’
[Do you accept that your dream will now become reality?]
[Yes / No]
‘This is a bit unsettling. This is the first time this has happened in a lucid dream…’
What would happen if she pressed yes? What if she didn’t? Hyesung released the doorknob and sat softly on the toilet lid.
‘If I choose yes, will the background change again? That can’t happen.’
[Bee-]
A warning sound beeped as if urging Hyesung.
[Warning. If you do not accept within 100 seconds, you will automatically wake up from the dream and return to reality.]
‘Warning? What will you do if you warn me, hologram? This is my dream, disappear. I need to see Yeonwoo’s face.’
Hyesung waved her hand in the air.
‘Why isn’t it disappearing?’
[Bee-!]
‘Ah, it’s noisy. Be quiet.’
[Beee-!!]
‘Why are you doing this, really!’
[Warning. The countdown will start now. Morpheus’s protection will be nullified. You will not be able to overlay the dream with reality. The opportunity to debut Na Yeonwoo will disappear. 100… 99…]
‘What? What are you talking about! Wait! Stop, stop!’
[…97… 96…]
‘Ah, why isn’t it stopping!’
Why couldn’t she control the dream? Hyesung started to get anxious.
‘This is the first time this has happened.’
So maybe it wasn’t just a lucid dream… Hyesung’s eyes widened as a preposterous thought quickly flashed through her mind.
“Is it really that? Really? Am I crazy?”
The thought escaped her lips out of shock and disbelief.
‘What should I do? But what if it’s really that? If not, it’ll be embarrassing…’
While she blushed at the thought of being wrong, the countdown continued.
‘What to do…’
Should she accept or not? Caught in inner conflict, Hyesung finally made up her mind and nodded.
‘I’m a woman who does what she decides. Watch out, world. I’ll debut my baby.’
Just as she was about to press the accept button, Hyesung paused and stopped her hand in mid-air.
‘Wait a second…’
In this dream, wasn’t she also a participant? Hyesung broke into a sweat.
To help Na Yeonwoo, she needed to rank high enough to survive alongside her. It would be best to go to the finals together.
‘Is that possible? With my age and skills?’
Facing this realistic problem, she hesitated to press the button, and as if waiting for this moment, another window appeared.
Ding.
[A gift has arrived from the system, impressed by the ‘Mother’s Heart’ that brought ‘my baby’ into reality. Please check the contents and press accept or decline.]
‘A gift?’
A gift was always welcome. But although Yeonwoo was her baby, the term ‘Mother’s Heart’ made her feel sorry for Yeonwoo’s real mother.
‘Let’s open it first. It better not be something weird.’
Hyesung hurried to check the contents.
[Starter Pack Hero Buff (Normal)]
[Accepting this will improve all stats by half a star (☆).]
[Yoon Hyesung (27 years old/Female)]
Visual ★☆ -> ★★
Vocal (-) -> ☆
Dance (-) -> ☆
Star Quality (-) -> ☆
[Do you accept the gift?]
[Accept / Decline]
‘Excuse me. What’s with those hyphens?’
Was it indicating zero points? Three consecutive zeros seemed too harsh. Hyesung grumbled.
The star ratings for stats were also annoyingly simplistic.
‘The name “Hero Buff” makes it seem grand, but the effect looks weak. And exactly how much is half a star?’
[…….]
‘Isn’t it a rule that it should tell you right away when you ask something in your mind? Is it different since this is another world in a dream?’
But if raising the stats by half a star was F-grade, it would be very low. The potential low-level stats made Hyesung’s face twist like a crushed sweet red bean bun.
‘Show me the grade chart. Not stars, but a straightforward conversion chart.’
[…….]
‘Status window. Show me the stats converted to ABCDF grades.’
[Stat Grade Chart]
★★★★★★ 6 stars = SS
★★★★★☆ 5.5 stars = S+
★★★★★ 5 stars = S
★★★★☆ 4.5 stars = A+
★★★★ 4 stars = A
★★★☆ 3.5 stars = B+
★★★ 3 stars = B
★★☆ 2.5 stars = B-
★★ 2 stars = C+
★☆ 1.5 stars = C
★ 1 star = C-
☆ 0.5 stars = D
(-) 0 stars = F
Seeing the intuitive grade chart appear in front of her, Hyesung’s face relaxed back to normal.
‘If you say it once, it should just pop up. What is this, it’s worse than a broken voice recognition AI speaker… Anyway, half a star is really a hopeless stat.’
Hyesung sighed.
‘I’m not tone-deaf, though.’
She had never thought she couldn’t sing, so she thought she would at least be average. But being raised to only half a star?
In ABCDF grades, that was a D. She had never received such low grades in school. At this rate, she might get eliminated in the first round before she could help Na Yeonwoo.
‘This is hopeless.’
[Do you accept the gift?]
[Accept / Decline]
‘Accept. Thanks for the half star, you jerks.’
[You have accepted the gift. As an additional reward for accepting the first gift, the skill
[The user’s (Yoon Hyesung/27 years old) physical and document age will revert to 19 years old. People will perceive you as 19.]
[Your visual has improved by a star! Current visual ★★☆]
‘Is this a joke? Becoming younger improves my visual stats. What, are old people not allowed? I’m still young at 27… Besides, I was 25 when Season 5 was filmed.’
[Do you accept that your dream will now become reality?]
[Yes / No]
Hyesung pressed the yes button, but no visible changes occurred.
‘What, no special effects like being sucked into somewhere?’
Just as she tilted her head in confusion, a quest window appeared.
[Main Quest
[Chapter 1. Participate in ‘Supernova Project Season 5 Sailing to Dream’ where Na Yeonwoo is competing, support her secretly, and pass the first ranking announcement together!]
[Accept / Decline]
‘Of course, accept. This is why I’m here.’
[※Note. Using reality manipulation skills or excessively interfering with other trainees’ fates will accumulate karma. If your karma exceeds 5, the quest fails. (No retries)]
“What?”
Along with Hyesung’s dumbfounded exclamation, another piece of information was unlocked.
[Additional Stats]
Imagination 1
Karma 1
[(Help) Do not accumulate karma. If your karma exceeds 5, penalties will occur. You will be trapped between the boundary of reality and dreams.]
[Penalty duration: Until the end of this universe.]
“What the hell…”
The absurd help message left Hyesung momentarily dazed.
‘What is imagination, and why is my karma already at 1? What did I do to accumulate karma already?’
Perhaps exchanging the dream for reality was considered an act of accumulating karma. That seemed plausible.
‘They should have told me beforehand. The penalty is too harsh… It’s better to die.’
‘Until the end of this universe’ meant being trapped somewhere for an almost eternal time.
‘…I just need to avoid accumulating karma.’
Though she didn’t know exactly what level of excessive interference meant, she thought she just needed to help others notice Na Yeonwoo’s good qualities.
‘Let’s not get scared from the start. I’m a woman who does what she decides.’
Hyesung nodded firmly, determined.
‘Anyway, the immediate problem is solved. I was scared I’d have to watch the audition on TV with my haggard face after a week of consecutive overtime.’
Her current visual was 2.5 stars. She wasn’t sure exactly what level that was, but it didn’t seem bad.
‘All other stats are 0.5 stars… Since I lack basic skills, it might take less time to improve one grade initially.’
Yoon Hyesung was a woman who believed that “face comes first” in being an idol. However, if she were to become an idol herself, she fantasized about aiming for the main vocalist role, despite having no real talent for it. Thus, it was an unfounded fantasy.
‘Being tone-deaf is unacceptable in K-pop. My goal for class evaluation is to avoid being called tone-deaf and to place around 50th quietly. I don’t want to attract attention in a weird way.’
With her current stats, she would likely get the lowest grade in class evaluations. It would be challenging to show significant improvement in a few days, so she would have to accept that humbly.
‘To support Yeonwoo, I need to survive in the long run. I might improve faster than expected since I haven’t tried yet. Maybe the system didn’t know me well, giving me three zeros. Yeah, that’s it.’
As Hyesung was lost in fantasies about gradually improving her skills through self-control, the bathroom door shook violently.