So that's why his Life Book points kept increasing. Madame Sophie really did as she said. She aired part of his introduction video as an advertisement for their newly launched cactus chips product.
That product was just thought on a whim, but somehow, Madame Sophie was able to find a lone company already producing this kind of chip somewhere in the world and bought it through some legal means.
'Entities are scary...'
If they want something, just one call away, they could get it. But maybe, that was just the case for Madame Sophie.
After a series of events he didn't know how to explain, the product was quickly launched on South Korea and other countries where idol culture was deeply recognized. Both the product and the commercial were able to launch at the same time as the first episode of Idol:Revive's open broadcast.
His commercial of dancing badly quickly became a meme, and people bought Cracktusss wherever they could find it. Vallenci's brand also added to the allure.
Even some people with not-so-good intentions were interested in trying it out just to say something negative. After all, a widely-recognized brand was expanding their influence.
What could a luxury and clothing company know about the food industry? They even used an unknown person to advertise their product.
Of course, not everyone thought that way. Others just came in for the fun. The dancing cactus were cute, the song was catchy, and eating a cactus as chips was really too unusual for some people, so why not try the product?
All this commotion happened in just a day after watching a certain idol survival show last night...
After seeing his meme, Rayen found and read recently posted reviews of Cracktusss scattered around the internet. His other teammates also did the same. Even though Rayen wanted to stop them, he couldn't.
And so, Rayen earned a new nickname within his team.
"So, Crunchy Bro will be our main vocalist. That's final, okay?"
Everyone nodded except Rayen. How did Yeo Haru even come up with such a lame nickname?
"Producer Bro will be our Main Rapper, and I will be the Main Dancer and Lead Vocalist. You guys..."
Yeo Haru looked at the remaining three members and effortlessly assigned them their parts based on their stats. Binh became the sub-vocalist, Minho was the other dancer and Renjiro was the sub-rapper.
Rayen was actually surprised at Liam's stats. From C-, his vocal skills had already leveled up to B. He was even faster than Rayen who still had a dance booster.
The three members with sub positions also accepted it because compared to the others, their skills was truly lacking, with all of their skills ranging on C. However, to appease them, Yeo Haru gave them a bit more parts.
Even though Yeo Haru sometimes acted shamelessly before the cameras, for a leader, he was quite competent.
Yesterday, Rayen thought that Yeo Haru would selfishly grab more parts for himself to shine, assigning the killer parts only for himself. But unexpectedly, he gave Rayen and Liam the bridge part and shared the chorus with everyone.
Clapping his hands, Yeo Haru concluded the assignment of parts.
"Okay, let's learn the choreography."
After assigning their parts at the afternoon practice yesterday, Yeo Haru, being quite skilled in this aspect, had already finished coming up on a choreography for the whole song. It only took him less than a day coming up with something.
He had already taught the initial formation, so they proceeded with the dance steps. Yeo Haru demonstrated each step for the intro with rigid motions, which Rayen easily learned. But as they approached the chorus of the song, Rayen couldn't keep up anymore.
"Crunchy Bro, your arm is in the wrong position."
Yeo Haru corrected the way his arm was lifted after seeing it on the mirror.
"Crunchy Bro, your foot shouldn't be there!"
With difficulty, Yeo Haru tried adjusting Rayen's stiff leg on the floor.
"Aiyaa! You should move with emotions, Crunchy Bro."
Finishing the song, Yeo Haru stopped it from replaying and scolded Rayen for the nth time.
Rayen bitterly looked at Yeo Haru. After being scolded, and at the same time, called "Crunchy Bro" so many times, he didn't even know which annoyed him more—his nickname or the fact that the steps were so hard.
'Damn Yeo Haru.'
"Crunchy Bro—"
"Stop calling me that way!" Rayen snapped.
Liam also said a few words. "If you keep calling him Crunchy Bro, he'll probably walk out."
"Oh, sorry," Yeo Haru said nonchallantly.
He was disappointed with Rayen, which is why he was making fun of him. Still, he refrained himself after annoying Rayen enough. It wouldn't be good if the audience noticed his disdain.
Although Yeo Haru kept his promise, after him, Binh was the one who took over calling Rayen by that nickname.
As they were doing another practice run with both the vocals and choreography, Binh accidentally called him by that nickname.
"Uh... Crunchy Bro, can you teach me how to sing this part?"
Binh received no reply. He lifted his head from the lyric sheet with a puzzled look, only to see Rayen silently glaring at him.
Liam once again said something.
"What would you feel if someone call you Mr. Yummy?"
Binh's face immediately reddened at Liam's words. Seemingly recalling something, he awkwardly apologized to Rayen and hid his face.
"Hehe... Sorry, Brother. Don't call me Mr. Yummy."
'Why would I call you Mr. Yummy? You don't look yummy at all.'
Rayen blinked, unable to fathom what was going on. At this point, he was already tired of complaining. This was what he feared the most. Yeo Haru's respect for him had already ended after they watched everything, and now the others also followed along.
However, after Rayen kept silent, Liam would speak on his behalf. Was he trying to be his spokesperson?
Finishing another run, Yeo Haru's gaze lingered on Rayen before sighing and calling for a break. The others wearily slumped on the ground, breathing heavily.
The choreography was too hard. Sometimes they had to suddenly fall down and get up in a second. Others had to twist their bodies too much according to Yeo Haru's instructions.
They were too exhausted, but Rayen didn't stop.
When everyone was thinking of getting lunch, he replayed the song and watched the video of their practice.
Yeo Haru noticed him.
"You won't eat?"
Rayen shook his head.
"Go on without me," smiling, Rayen explained. "I know I'm not too good of a dancer, so I'll try practicing more."
Hearing that, Yeo Haru's deadpan eyes gained their brightness. He looked at Rayen with the same respect as before. If talents betrays a person, that person should just work harder to compensate for it.
With that thought, Yeo Haru eyed his other three members, including Binh, Renjiro and Minho, but didn't speak.
Unlike these three, this brother was really a good member.
"Brother Singer, good luck!" Binh and the others cheered, ignoring Yeo Haru's gaze.
'I don't know what you're thinking about, but I just need to memorize this hellish choreography you just made.'
Rayen's smile didn't fade even after Yeo Haru and the others left the studio. Liam briefly glanced at Rayen but didn't offer any words.
After two days of observation, Rayen could feel that Liam wasn't avoiding him as much as before. Although he wasn't striking up any conversations with Rayen, he would rebuke people that made fun of him.
Weird. Really weird.
Rayen stopped thinking about his friend's behavior for a moment and focused on the important thing.
Today was only the second day of his ranking mission, but he planned to memorize their song's choreography today because it was the day his dance booster will end.
[Dance: D+ (Dancer Fertilizer in effect. 18:32:55 time remaining)]
Even though it had failed him too many times, it also saved him quite a few times. This time, he was betting on it again. After all, not doing so would be dumb. He wouldn't let this Dance Fertilizer's few remaining hours in waste.
So he continued practicing even after his teammates came back and they resumed their practice. Receiving Yeo Haru's respect again, he even brought Rayen lunch from the cafeteria.
The day passed with Rayen memorizing the whole choreography. The Dance Fertilizer sometimes tried to help him, sometimes not.
If he could, he would try to protest to Plotter to increase this damn fertilizer's potency.
When the night came, his teammates left him again with looks of admiration.
Rayen repeated the same routine: watch the video, imitate the dance steps, watch the video again, and repeat.
Not noticing the time, it was already near midnight when Rayen felt hunger.
Coincidentally, the dance studio's door swung open, revealing Yeo Haru with a bunch of snacks.
"Brother, you're still practicing?"
Rayen nodded. Yeo Haru threw him a granola bar and ate one himself. After catching the bar, Rayen reluctantly paused the song and sat down to eat.
With bitter hard work, Rayen had almost memorized the choreography, and still had one more day. Although it was tough, compared to being in that suffocating practice room with a woman eyeing his every steps, this was better. Also, this ranking mission didn't seem so impossible anymore.
It was thanks to Liam and Yeo Haru completing their tasks quickly.
"Why are you here?" Biting on the granola bar, Rayen asked Yeo Haru.
"Oh, I was going to practice too."
Rayen nodded and quickly finished the bar. Yeo Haru threw him another one, and they both ate happily together. Grateful for the snack, Rayen's opinion of this guy rose again.
"Actually, before going to bed, I had a new idea," Yeo Haru said. "So I headed to the dance studio to try and practice it."
Rayen froze.
"What idea?"
Yeo Haru flashed a radiant smile and bit into his granola bar before responding.
"I came up with another choreography!"