"It's been a long day without you, my friend
And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
We've come a long way from where we began
Oh, I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
When I see you again
When I see you again (yeah, uh)
See you again (yeah, yeah, yeah)"
****
"Woah," Daniel clapped with smiles as Jun ended the song and removed the music sheet.
"Okay, my third performance is done. Now, we only need to decide on our final duo song to finish our free concert." Jun purposely emphasized it as a free concert as he felt that busking is unnecessary and ridiculous when all the episodes of Treasure Campus aren't aired.
As for getting used to the live audience, he might get tense because of a sheer crowd but once he started singing, he wouldn't mess up unless it is on purpose. It's a feature like the toxic removal that came with the system.
Back when the CEO suggested it, Jun couldn't just say no to her as it seemed like he was arrogant.
To make sure he can instill confidence in the management, Jun took it seriously and intended to finish this in one shot.
But, to do that, Jun knew that his vocals needed to reach 9 points, which is the peak that an artist can hope to achieve. Only Jun was privileged enough to reach even a higher one to completely dominate the music industry.
To achieve it, Jun had to spend his free attribute points that he intended to save until he reach 9.5. The only other way to increase his stat quickly is to go through the Lottery system, which is available every week.
Even though he won the language skill from it, he was hesitating all this time to gamble on it with his 6 luck points. Luck can't be increased by free attribute points. The last time it increased on its own after he took first place at the Opening ceremony of the Treasure Campus program.
He didn't know the criteria and Aria, the system tells him to upgrade to know about it.
And the upgrade of the system can only happen in two ways. One is through the upgrade crystal, which is received from Emergency Quests or Main Quests and the other is to just grind the quests until they accumulate a certain number like experience in games and the system upgrades itself to rank-2.
During bedtime, Jun thought for a while and decided to wait for five days. His current vocal stat is around 8.81 and there are 5 days to go. Gaining 0.04 per day through sole practice is impossible but he thought he could try enough to get closer to the number and use the remaining required points on vocals.
The next day, after routine exercise, making breakfast, and packing lunch, everyone left for the headquarters.
The four of them practiced for their solo performances until lunchtime.
After washing his face, Jun returned to the training room and joined the others to eat the homemade lunch.
As Suga was eating in silence, Hanbin opened the topic that everyone is ignoring for the past three days, "Yoongi-yah, today is already Wednesday. We have yet to start our group practice. You remember it, right?"
Suga nodded as he chewed the broccoli piece, "I know."
As he didn't give any further explanation, Jun and the other three stared at him in silence for a brief amount of time before resuming their lunch, believing that Suga had a plan.
As Jun's debut date is getting near, he put less attention on group evaluation.
Another day passed away with no development on group practice.
Hanbin confronted him during the evening practice as Suga sat in a corner and became busy with writing some lyrics.
It was then Suga informed that they have many opportunities on group evaluations but Jun and Daniel would have to prepare for busking. If the both of them mess it up, they'll embarrass themselves in the public and it might delay Jun's debut date too.
Jun was a little bit touched as Suga was thinking for them but he felt that it would have been better if there's some sort of communication between them.
Just by thinking oneself and without relaying to the teammates, it would only create confusion.
It is Friday morning and everyone was done with their solo practices. Jun and Daniel were also finally finished with their rehearsals.
Then, the group finally started their rigorous practice session.
Suga's leadership was different from Hanbin's.
When Hanbin is the leader, he will perfect all the choreography, then, he will lead the other three members in practice until everything gets right.
On the other hand, Suga's strategy is more like creating parts differently, and finally, they assemble the parts to create the object.
When they heard it, Daniel really felt like shouting at him for not telling it earlier and wasting the time. After all, if they need to individually practice the choreography and then, work on the formation after perfecting the moves, they would have done it long ago.
But, a few moments later, he finally realized that he was the one who wasted time by waiting. While he was too absorbed in preparing for the busking, Hanbin informed that he practiced and finished the choreo without waiting for Suga's parts distribution. He practiced all the moves that are possible in every formation and planned to filter after his positions are confirmed.
It's because Daniel took the word leadership seriously and thought that he should start practice only after the parts distribution.
Jun didn't think much of the situation and started to practice dance. Thankfully for him, H.O.T.'s Hope is something that's etched in his mind through the past Jun's memories for the song is considered the national anthem for kpop.
Almost everyone who went through the trainee phase would probably hear and practice the song. So, it was no worry to either Daniel or Jun, although, for someone like Suga, who came from the underground hip hop scene, it will trouble him.
For Jun, the only thing that needed to be practiced in the group choreography actually turned out to have simple moves. He didn't waste time in opening the dance practice video, only to be surprised once again.
Jun assumed that Suga probably took into consideration while dragging it until Friday as the song can be mastered in just 6 hours of practice.
Once again, Jun realized the communication error. Either way, he was confident that Suga isn't leader material. So, he didn't think too much about his ways and practiced.
By Friday evening, the four of them completed the choreography as well as memorized the lyrics.
The next day was spent in rehearsals of every performance.
It was Saturday evening and they returned to the dorm with tired expressions. After having dinner, everyone left went to sleep without having any talk.
In his room, Jun couldn't get sleep for he was thinking about making an important decision.
Looking at the holographic screen, he mumbled to himself, "8.87. Just 0.13 left to go. What are you so thinking deeply for, Jun? It's only been a few months since you started to do quests and look at now. Your vocals have improved like 2 points. The other stats were also improved very much. There are still many years left. Why save it for the future? It's not like they will increase like interest."
He let out a long sigh as he was forced to do this and made the decision to distribute the free attribute points.
He clicked + beside Appearance three times, increasing it from 8.4 to 8.7. And then, he clicked on vocal stat, increasing it by 0.2 points, using all the free attribute points.
In an instant, the notification arrived as he expected.
*Ding!