12:46 A.M., 8th Jan 2018;
The door to the second floor of the A-Block was firmly shut and locked from inside.
Surrounded by the Arcade gaming machines, Jun was kneeling on the floor with a bible in his hand. He was engrossed in praying.
"Our father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen."
In his past life, Jun grew up in the church as an orphan. So, he turned out to be a bit religious.
He has no parents or relatives, has an average appearance, not much talent in singing, dancing, except for piano and studies. He was a fan of once but never was lucky to even get selected for the fan meet.
He wasn't also lucky with his love life, he dated a girl in high school but broke up due to college admissions, he dated another woman in his twenties but it only lasted one year because she was a bit materialistic and he doesn't earn much.
And when he died and transmigrated into a person, getting several things that he wished, Jun really thought that he was loved by God/Jesus Christ above others. His devotion only increased further, ignoring the logic about the presence of most scientific existence of the system named Aria that merged with his soul.
Being religious, Jun wasn't comfortable with not attending the Sunday. Although the church only teaches that missing the Sunday deliberately without a serious reason is a mortal sin, Jun went on to apologize to God for not attending it and got stuck in a place.
He portrayed himself as a selfish being for prioritizing his material gains and apologized once again.
Two staff members, who are keeping an eye on the screens from the control room, could only shake their heads as they couldn't understand Jun's behavior.
For the past couple of days, they saw Jun pray during midnight. It was already weird to them but Jun's current actions appeared even more ridiculous to them.
Little did they know, Jun didn't come with this idea right now…
In his past life, the church father told him that 12 A.M. to 3 A.M. is the most spiritually active period of the day. According to him, midnight prayer strengthens spirit man, faith, gives the upper hand in spiritual warfare, brings supernatural encounters with God through the holy spirit and Angels, and most importantly, midnight prayer gives you a good time to hear warnings from God without distractions.
Jun had yet to see any result but he just continued to follow it anyway. After all, what's wrong with following his faith? The worst thing that can happen because of these midnight prayers is the wastage of an hour. Jun felt like he won't lose anything either way.
Finishing his prayer, Jun left the playroom and returned to the bedroom and sleep until the next day morning.
He woke up at 6 o'clock and went to Gym to complete his daily quest of running 10 kilometers.
Considering how he was spending almost his entire time at central block, Jun was running seriously at 16 km/hr. It was the maximum limit where his body can handle it stably. Any more high speed, Jun wouldn't sustain on the treadmill much longer.
*Ding! You completed the daily quest 1. Your strength is increased by 0.02 points.
His t-shirt was completely drenched in sweat and his legs were feeling a little bit weak but they were fine after a while.
After finishing his shower, Jun came downstairs. Daniel was once again stuck to television. Jun felt as if this dongsaeng was addicted to television after being deprived of it for eight weeks.
2017 KBS Drama Awards show was being re-aired on KBS2, at the moment.
It started at around 5 o'clock and air until 8:40.
"Euigeon-ah, do you like drama shows?" Jun asked him as he reached the bottom of the stairs.
Daniel realized that Jun is here. "Ah, Hyung. Good morning." "Morning."
"Nothing. Just wanted to see how many awards Goblin received." After clarifying his actions, he asked, "What's the menu today?"
"The temperature is cold, so, I'm thinking of kimchi stew. Along with it, some egg rolls, and chicken porridge." Jun answered it casually as he went into the kitchen and wore an apron before taking out the vessels and ingredients one by one.
After two consecutive days of serving breakfast, Jun officially became the chef of the dorm who makes breakfast for them in the morning and snacks at around 11 o'clock in the evening.
Almost half an hour later, everyone gathered in the living room while Jun is the middle of cooking stew.
"Hyung, will it take more time?" Vernon came downstairs after the heavy practice feeling sleepy.
"Probably 5-7 minutes more." While the stew is cooking on the side, Jun was busy making Omelet rolls (Tamagoyaki).
Vernon nodded and continued to wait, along with the others.
His attitude towards Jun changed a lot in just two days.
The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Although this quote majorly applies to women regarding love, still, overall, if a man is satisfied with the meal, if not erase, at least it can also reduce his bitter feelings towards the one that made it. That's what happened here too. After eating Jun's food and how sincere Jun is, towards the preparations of the dishes, he acknowledged that Jun is better than them as a dorm leader. If it was him, he wouldn't bother. Not to mention, Jun volunteered for the mixed duo and ended up with a rapper.
While everyone is having breakfast with pleasant expressions on their faces, a staff member entered the A-Block.
Jun stood up from the seat and went towards him, taking a pen drive.
"What is it, Hyung?" Daniel asked him.
"It looked like we are going to receive another task," Jun replied while returning to the dining table.
"Let's look at it right away." Vernon grabbed it from him and went towards the television.
Jun didn't stop him either. He was conscious of the cameras. So, he wouldn't want to give a reason for the management to take off the bonus score.
As the video message from Lee Seung-gi played, everyone's attention was on the screen.
"Good morning, contestants. Here's the task for all of you, today. At 2 p.m., the first contest for bonus points will begin at the central block. It is mandatory to attend but is entirely voluntary to participate in the contest."
"Contest?" Everyone's face turned serious.
Seung-gi continued, "The theme of the contest is foreign. You can sing any song as long as it doesn't have any Korean words. Oh, and also, you need to sing without music. 50 bonus points are at stake. Good luck."
The video message ends, leaving a surprised expression on everyone's face. It wasn't just Jun, but even in the rest of the blocks, the same video message is played and everyone was surprised by the sudden announcement.
The evaluation date is only three days away and most of them are still at a stage where they need more practice. But, now, should they need to stop all other activities and focus on this contest?
Some of them, specifically from C and D-Blocks gave up the contest from the start as they were lacking confidence about winning. It holds especially true for C-Block, where there's Jun, holding the flag at the front, almost eternally.
"Okay, let's do this way." As the leader, Jun formulated a plan after confirming everyone is participating. "This time is Jongho's practice time. We'll use it as ours and adjust it after the contest is over. I'll also ditch our practice session and prepare for the song.
Let's take ten minutes each, to choose our song from the system and prepare the lyrics. After that, we just need to worry about not breaking the main rule of entering the training space together."
Nearly forty minutes later, Jun was sitting before the computer and opened the folder named foreign. It showed new folders of different languages. English, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, French, German, and Italian.
"Ugh, seriously? Just how much effort they put into this program. None of the contestants wouldn't even sing in these languages, save for a couple. Well, me too. What to choose, English or Japanese? Most people would probably choose English. So, Japanese, it is..."
He clicked on the folder and opened a huge list of songs and albums. "Hmm... Should I choose Taemin's Sayonara? I'm familiar with the composition. So, it will be easier even if I sing without music.
Nah, I couldn't show my talent on camera, if that's the case. Let's choose another, something the others wouldn't expect."
A couple of minutes later;
"Let's go with Bluebird."