"Have you all woken up?"
No one still answered Plotter, but this strange fellow didn't really care if they responded or not. He had already told them what he wanted, so it's up to them if they listened.
"Now then, let's proceed with the next segment," Plotter said with a smile.
Another bout of buzzing conversation resounded in the entire dance studio. No one had informed them of the next segment.
On his seat, chills ran down Rayen's spine. Knowing Plotter's sinister streak, and adding in his role as the show's writer, Rayen could immediately smell something bad happening.
'This person is really up to no good.'
"Okay, guys." Plotter clapped, and everyone was immediately pulled up from their seats.
The seats also dispersed like they were just mere illusions.
"Let's get the camera rolling again!" Smiling at the crowd, he continued. "I suppose you're all going to give us good faces now, right?"
Rayen noticed the cameras turn toward them immediately, red dots lighting up on their lenses, signaling that the recording had begun.
"Then, let me explain what's the next segment. Today, we will be filming an episode for the private broadcast."
As soon as his words ended, the projector screen, which had already dimmed earlier, came back to life again. On it, the mechanics for the private broadcast were shown.
At the same time, a mechanical voice spoke. "During this segment, there will be no elimination."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw and heard those words. At first, they thought they'd be thrown into another unprepared performance. Now, they could at least rest easy that no one would disappear for the mean time.
"You will be divided into two groups based on the status of your two aspects. Your group will depend on which one of your aspects is lower than the other."
'So, am I gonna be flocked together with people who are bad at dancing?'
"The challenge you will be facing will vary from each group."
Just then, a multicolored line appeared at the center of the dance studio's floor, dividing the room into two. A logo of a mic and shoes also appeared, plastered on the floor.
"Please go to the area where your respective groups are. Those who have lower dance stats should go to the area where the shoe logo is. Those who have lower stats on singing should go to where the microphone logo is."
Rayen followed as instructed and went to the shoe logo area. When he scanned the people who had entered the same area as him, he noticed Adrian waving.
Rayen's lips twitched, wanting to ignore the writer who had mocked his dancing.
'Why is he here again, ah?'
"Hello, we're on the same team."
"What team? No one said we're on the same team."
Adrian only chuckled. "True."
When everyone had settled down to their respective groups, the mechanical voice continued speaking.
"Now, everyone. Let's begin."
Before even Rayen could contemplate the voice's words, everything in Rayen's vision disappeared. He found himself in a cramped and empty room, with only a monitor embedded in the wall before him.
'Teleportation?'
Rayen was so confused as to what had just happened.
"Participant, you are given four hours. Complete the set of routines that will be shown to you. The routine will switch once we consider that you have already mastered the routine. Good luck!"
'What?'
Suddenly, the monitor displayed a countdown without further explaining.
"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5..."
Panicking, Rayen shouted at the monitor. "Please explain to me what's happening!"
But no one answered him. The countdown only continued counting until it finally hit zero.
As the number on the screen disappeared, a woman appeared wearing an exercise outfit.
"Before we jump into dancing, we should warm up our body first. Follow me." Turning her head from side to side, she continued to explain. "We will only focus on your neck first. Keep your shoulders and arms down."
Rayen reluctantly followed as the woman counted the repetitions. On his face was a deep scowl as he turned his head on the side, unable to interpret what was going on.
"One-two, three-four, five, six, seven, eight. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Okay, another set."
'This is kind of easy...'
That's what Rayen thought at first. Yet an hour later, he was already heaving and breathless.
'What kind of demon made this?!'
The regimen was easy at the start. After the warm-up came the fundamental steps in dancing. Back when he was in high school, these things were also taught to them. It was so easy that even for a beginner like him, he could follow without breaking a sweat.
Not until the fifth routine came did Rayen want to curse out the woman on the screen. He had repeated the move several times, but every time, the woman would stop whenever he made a mistake.
It's just like she had numerous eyes in this room!
"Repeat from the start."
"No, ah!!! I don't want to do it anymore!"
Rayen wanted to stop, but he couldn't. Even if he would just attempt to sit down, a screeching sound would be heard from the monitor's speakers as though trying to make his ears bleed.
An hour later, Rayen begged again. "I can't... Ha... Ha... breathe anymore!"
Yet the woman only coldly stared at him.
"Repeat."
Feeling his anger rising up, he shouted. "You're killing your participants!"
"We can just revive you repeatedly as long as your seed is intact."
The woman demonstrated the routine again, which Rayen breathlessly followed. His vision was already blurring, and his eyes were burning from his sweat.
At this point, he really just wanted to disappear.
...
On a certain room, the four sponsors had gathered while watching Rayen's situation on the screen. His struggles and whining was so clear to everyone in the room.
"Isn't this too much?" Sophie asked.
Yuzuka also agreed with her words. And when Miles saw Yuzuka nodding in agreement, this youth without any motivation also followed along. Only Grandma Sponsor was silent.
Suddenly, the door to the room opened and a slightly tanned man walked in. His gaze immediately landed on the live stream they were watching.
Noticing the man's arrival, Sophie immediately complained.
"You're late, Harjun!"
"Filipino time," the man succinctly replied.
"I'm also one, but I'm not always late like you!"
He ignored Sophie's ramblings and focused on watching Rayen on the screen, whose soul was already on the verge of flying out of his body after repeating the same routine five times.
"He's really so bad at it." Harjun then looked at the four sponsors before asking, "How many more routines does he have to do?"
"Out of forty, he's got twenty-four more. He only has two more hours remaining."
Harjun laughed and crossed his arms.
'Two more hours, yet he's already dying. Tsk.'