"Oh, there are new features!"
Rayen's attention was caught by Yeo Haru's excited words. He had long dismissed that Mini Plotter on his screen, thinking that it was annoying. It didn't even speak with its voice at all, but he could still imagine Plotter's cheeky voice.
'Miss me, my ass.'
Observing the interface for its difference, Rayen instantly saw it. Under his display picture, there were three new stats on his status window now. And the Singing stat also changed to Vocals.
[Vocals: S
Dance: D+
Visual: B+
Production: C+
Team: D-]
Rayen's face became bitter after seeing his stagnant progress with his dance stat. Over the past few days, even with that Dance Fertilizer booster, it's still stuck with its D+ grade.
'Why the hell are you so hard to rank up?!'
Mini Plotter's face immediately popped out on his screen as a new window did. It waved, a text bubble hovered on its head with a string of text gradually being displayed.
'Did you also become mute after the update?'
"Over the past few days, we had been working on completely analyzing your stats. I hope you are satisfied with it!"
'No, I'm not.'
"Before, we only assessed you with your singing and dancing skills. But based on deep analyzations of your souls, we had determined the grades of your other skills."
The dialogue continued without Plotter's voice.
"We've revised the Singing skill and put it under the Vocals along with Rapping. The Dance skill is still the same. And we've added the data about your Visuals, Production and Team skills."
Mini Plotter's words made Rayen look at his grades once again, but on a second look, he wanted to cry. His Dance and Team skills were too pitiful.
Well, at least he could see there were three '+' symbols on the list. If he didn't look at the letters beside the symbols, he wouldn't feel bitter about it. Thinking that way, the status window finally looked good to his eyes.
'Just think positive!'
He chuckled wryly by himself.
Still wallowing on his self deprecations, Plotter let out another string of text above his head.
"You're on your way on ranking up your Dancing Stat! How about taking a mission?"
Rayen's eyes twinkled at the words. At last, a useful prompt!
With this new mission, Mini Plotter now looked pleasant in Rayen's eyes.
[You have a new mission! Do you want to see it?]
Rayen tapped the Yes button, frowning as he kept reading the contents.
[Skill Ranking Mission
Mission: Memorize the whole choreography of your first round song.
Deadline: 3 days
Penalty for Failure: 24 hours practice room session]
'There's a penalty, but there's no reward?'
Wanting to decline this unfair mission, but seeing no Decline button, Rayen had no other choice but to accept. The pleasant aura around Mini Plotter had long dispersed from his vision.
Rayen let down his phone and sighed. They hadn't even decided their parts, so how could they have a choreography now? Without a choreography, there's nothing for him to memorize at all! Yet the time limit was just three days.
'This is so unfair!'
Also, seeing the penalty, his whole body shuddered. Even though he wasn't certain if he what he thought was right, just imagining the hellish dancing session in that empty room, he paled in fright.
'I don't want to meet that woman again!'
But even even without this ranking mission, he would meet that woman again to re-do his unfinished training routine.
'Still, I don't want to meet that woman so soon!'
Shaking his head at the thought, Rayen wanted to do something now.
"Guys, let's decide the parts now."
He had to hurry them, or else he would have no choice but to see that damn woman again!
Surprised by Rayen's eagerness, Yeo Haru turned even more energetic. He stopped exploring the newly updated system and addressed everyone.
"Can you all show me your stats now?"
Those words dampened Rayen's eagerness.
'I forgot about that!'
Yeo Haru smiled at Rayen, extending his hand.
"Uh... You know, stats shouldn't determine our roles in this group," Rayen tried to reason out. "We should try to divide our parts based on the person's ability!"
Everyone agreed in unison.
Liam also said a few more words as if to support Rayen. "Right. Besides how would we decide the parts without a proper arrangement of the song? Do we intend to just sing and dance it as is?"
"Personally, I don't think it's appealing for a dance song," one member added.
He was the one that Rayen thought familiar.
"So, before we look at each member's stats, let's work on arranging the song for now," another one added while fixing his hair.
'This person had been fixing his hair and clothes for a while now. Should I give him a mirror?'
There was a contemplating look on Yeo Haru's face, but in the end, he still agreed. He might be a camera hogger, but he's still reasonable!
"Then, how should we arrange it?" Yeo Haru asked. "I'll be honest. My production skills aren't that high, so whoever has good production stat should take charge."
Yeo Haru still wasn't satisfied, thinking that he came off as weak, and added some more words. "But I do have an idea. I'd like to add a dance break before the end of the song."
Recalling Yeo Haru's words earlier, Rayen could sense his hidden intention. This guy just wanted to show off during the dance break! But as if not noticing Yeo Haru's silent urging, Liam ignored him.
"Let's listen for the song first."
"Okay," the entire group agreed.
Yeo Haru grumbled inwardly but still played the song.
As a certified masterpiece, just the piano solo alone could catch the six members' attention. Then came the ethereal and emotional voice of the female vocalist of Soulrise.
"Why do I feel like I'm alive
When I'm with you?"
Listening more to the intro, Liam had an idea.
He briefly looked at Rayen before saying, "I think this part would be good as is even without lowering the key. The main vocalist should try to reach it."
Yeo Haru also turned to Rayen with sparkling eyes. "Hurry, Brother. I want to hear your voice again!"