"However…"
As soon as he heard the word, Jun felt that JYP will now point out faults.
Jun calmly looked at him to note them down in his head.
Making a serious face, JYP said, "Yuju-ssi, I don't see any improvement compared to the past performances. Your performances are consistently at the same level. Are you just satisfied with your current level?"
Yuju looked down in disappointment. She doesn't know what to reply to him. In her mind, she was satisfied with her performance, and that is enough for this round.
A brief silence filled the room for a while as JYP continued by addressing everyone, "All of you are here intending to become an idol or a singer. If you are good, then, you could indeed debut like hundreds of others.
However, one can't become a star if they don't constantly work hard and try to improve themselves every day."
Returning his gaze back to the duo on the stage, this time, he said Jun, "Sungjun-ssi, I only have one issue with your performance."
Jun wondered whether it is an unpolished rapping imitation. Other than that, Jun couldn't see any faults in his performance.
Just like he suspected, JYP talked about his rap. "It's your rapping style. Your technique is quite similar to Shin Ok Cheol's. At first, I thought it was just your style but now I realized that you picked his style on purpose. Why did you pick Outsider's rap style of all the rappers?"
Jun nodded and explained, "I never rapped before. So, I was quite bad at it. I like Outsider sunbae-nim's style and I found that I'm very comfortable with it. So, I started trying to imitate his style."
"And that's where the problem lies." JYP then turned to YG, "Hyung, as a mentor, you should have stopped him doing that."
As YG just smiled in return, JYP continued to speak to Jun, "you are indeed a talented vocalist who truly shine in something like Ballads.
Trying to rap is fine but imitating the style of a person who was especially known for his speed rapping, the more you practice and polish it, the more your vocal techniques will be messed up.
It is best for you to change the style to something else. The rest is your choice. Other than that, everything's good."
Despite JYP's strict evaluation, he still gave a 23 for the team while giving a full score to Jun and 20 to Yuju.
In the end, with 397 team-score, 402 personal-score, and 10 bonus-score for extra hard work, Jun ended up at the first spot once again with a solid lead over 30 points.
*Ding! You completed the Emergency Quest, reclaiming the top seat. Go to Quest details to receive the reward.
This is the quest he received earlier morning once the evaluations began.
While they were returning, Jun remembered how Yuju seemed down after receiving only 372 personal-score as the mentors were affected by JYP's remark.
He took out his mobile phone and opened KakaoTalk app, but then, seeing Daniel sitting beside him, he kept back it in his pocket, and later, when he reached the dorm, he finally opened their private chat room.
There aren't many messages in it except for a couple of them.
After thinking for a while, he started typing and sent it to her.
Star-Jun: Despite how the evaluation turns out in the end, in my opinion, you did great. In fact, you worked harder than me for our team performance. If it isn't for your ideas of whether it's outfit or choreography, we would have probably gotten a lower score. Anyway, the weekly score isn't important, the end goal is more important. So, don't think much of it and cheer up.
After sending a long message to her, Jun put his mobile phone. Since they might not see each other frequently like before, he no longer thought about her and placed his attention on the Character stats and Quest board.
Name: Han Sung-Jun
Stage name: Jun
Birthday: June 5th, 1997
Age: 20 years, 5 months, 24 days
Height: 184 cm (6'0")
Weight: 74.4 kg
Strength: 8.08
Appearance: 7.9
Talent: Max
Vocals: 8.42
Rap: 5.8
Dance: 6.3
Songwriting: 5.1
Free talent/attribute points: 0
Credits: 340
Skills:
Rap God (Level-1): Temporarily enhances rapping skill to the maximum level for five minutes. CD: 24 hours
Quest Board:
Daily Quest:
Quest 1: Run for 10 kilometers. (0% progress)
Reward: 0.02 strength points
Quest 2: Practice Rap for 2 hours in total (10% progress)
Reward: 0.1 Rap points
Emergency Quest: Reclaim the top seat. (Completed)
Description: Due to the mistake of others, the host faced an unfair judgment and as a result, the host dropped to second place. The host must work hard and reclaim the top seat.
Rewards: 0.5 free Attribute points, 100 credits, and one random skill.
*RECEIVE*
Jun clicked on it, immediately.
*Ding! 0.5 free Attribute points have been added to the character.
*Ding! 100 credits have been added to the character.
*Ding! Inspection skill has been added to the character. Please check your Skill Tab.
Inspection (Level-1): Inspect a person to find out their details like name, talents, skill points, etc...
Next Level- 100 Credits
"Hmm, this seems to be a good skill. Let's see…"
Jun slowly turned his head and look at Shonwu who was busy playing COD on his mobile phone.
Jun clicked on the skill and activated it to test its usefulness.
A screen appeared before him with details.
Name: Son Hyunwoo
????
Except for the name, the rest is just filled with question marks.
Jun closed it down, thinking that it might useful when he level it up more but for now, as he has too less amount of credits, he thought of leveling it up later.
After a while, he received a message from Yuju saying thank you. As there's no other message from her, Jun also didn't send any following message to her and took a nap.
The following morning, as usual, everyone gathered on the fourth floor at 6 o'clock, waiting for YG to announce the list.
"Hyung, do you think you'll perform solo this time?" Daniel asked him slowly.
Jun shrugged his shoulders, "It doesn't matter what I think though."
Daniel was taken aback by his reply for a second but then, he nodded as he understood the meaning behind it. "Yes, I guess."
Soon, YG arrived with a list in his hand. He had a smile on his face as if he was happy about something.
A moment later, Daniel and Jun looked at each other in surprise.