"Time's up."
The moment those words were spoken, Rayen found himself out of the empty room. There was no longer a screen in front of him and a demonic woman watching his every moves.
'Phew...'
Participants after participants also appeared out of thin air. They sprawled on the ground, beaten and battered. Some had no consciousness, some looked like exhausted zombies, and a few, like Rayen, still had a bit of energy left.
Rayen also spotted Adrian among the crowd on the dance area. While the others looked as though their souls were on the verge of flying out of their bodies, this fellow — although he looked exhausted too, but his weariness only added to his allure.
Noticing Rayen's gaze, the writer made his way toward him. Beads of sweat were flowing from his forehead, glimmering under the dance studio's lights. His lips were also red from the increased blood flow.
'Tsk. How come this guy looked different than the rest of us?'
"You look good as new," Adrian said.
Scrunching his face, Rayen retorted. "What new? I nearly died again."
Clap. Clap. Clap.
"Now, now. You guys did a good job!"
The participants immediately turned their heads toward the source of the sound. Plotter ascended the makeshift podium, clapping with every step up the stairs. He addressed the exhausted participants, both from the dance and vocal areas.
"You really showed us good faces back there."
As he chuckled, the projection on the screen immediately displayed the participants struggling in their own respective rooms. Rayen even saw himself gasping for air, begging the woman on the screen.
Adrian patted Rayen on his shoulder and refrained from mocking his roommate further. Rayen only nudged his hand in silent rebuke.
"Do you know?" Plotter continued.
'Here it comes again...'
"Only 9 of you passed the challenge."
Out of thirty-four, only nine had passed. Rayen looked around the entire room, but he couldn't determine who among the participants had succeeded.
He was sure that he hadn't passed though.
Rayen turned to the writer beside him. "Did you finish it?"
Adrian shook his head. "No. I needed to do four more."
'Lucky you... I needed to finish twelve more sets.'
Rayen didn't voice out his words and instead focused on Plotter on the podium.
He was worried about the punishment, but the round was just too brutal. It's only barely possible for anyone to finish 40 sets of 6 minutes routine in 4 hours unless they already memorized it in one go! Even if the practice segment was included to that 6 minutes, it still wasn't enough for someone like him.
'Those who managed to finish it must be a monster.'
"Hehe, do you want to know who these people are?"
Everyone did feel like that, but due to exhaustion, they couldn't be bothered to respond.
Seeing that no one had any enthusiasm to interact with him, Plotter only continued speaking.
"Heh. Then I will announce those who finished it."
Nine names popped out on the screen.
[Dance Group
Zbigniew
Iris
Ara]
'Mr. Big News passed too. Well, he does have a big body... He must be really resilient.'
But it's not just resilience. Those who finished the dance routine had to have good body coordination, good memory to retain the steps on their minds, and more. Rayen didn't want to think of skills he didn't possess anymore.
'It will just shatter my pride...'
Plotter clapped again. "Congratulations to those who passed."
Rayen also scanned the names of those people who finished in the vocal group.
[Vocal Group
Yeo Haru
Ren
Jay
Patricia
KLi
Kayla]
'I wonder what gruesome routine they did...'
He observed the people on the opposite group and found them massaging their throats and coughing. Most had red, teary eyes from pushing their voices to the limit.
He also saw the rank 1 kid, who seemed to be on the verge of breaking his neck from massaging it too roughly.
'His name wasn't on the list... Is he someone like me? When singing skills rained upon the world, he was probably also sleeping.'
Well, the training itself was hell. As a vocalist himself, Rayen would probably cry after singing for four hours too. And it seemed like Jiji didn't receive his sponsors' grace unlike Rayen.
"All of you who passed will be able to proceed to the next segment." Plotter explained. "As for those who didn't pass..."
The atmosphere immediately became tense. Even Rayen's palm became somewhat sweaty.
Here comes the moment...
Plotter, with his creepy smile widening more, proceeded to speak.
"You won't be given screen time for the next private broadcast."
'Oh, that's still acceptable.'
Everyone sighed in relief after hearing the punishment. It was even a good thing! They wouldn't have to join another gruesome training.
Not satisfied with their reactions, Plotter sent them another wake up call.
"... Because all of you who weren't able to finish their own routines will have to repeat it again behind the scenes."
Everyone stiffened on the spot. Their feelings of rejoicing entirely disappeared.
Rayen was also screaming inside him.
'I have to do that again?!!!!'
Recalling the scenes he had just experienced, he couldn't help but shudder.
"Well, all of you failed, so you have to keep up to those who passed if you wanted to rejoin the broadcast."
As the participants seemed to have forgotten the importance of screen time, Plotter dropped another bomb.
"Do not forget. This private broadcast is meant for the Entities—your sponsors," he said with a knowing smile. "Your current ones could let go of you if they think you're not worthy at all. If your sponsors decreased lower than three, you're out."
Rayen stared at the air while thinking.
'So if we can't rejoin the broadcast, they might think we're not improving at all and that we're not worthy of spending their precious lifespans...'
"And of course, not just because they could let go of you that you have to work harder to rejoin the broadcast. By being on the limelight, you could possibly gain additional sponsors. More sponsors, more resources, and the less likely you'll be out."
"But when you redo your routines, because you're not included in the broadcast, your sponsors won't be able to help you."
That means it will be harder...
'I really don't want to do it again...'
The image of the woman flashed passed on Rayen's mind again. Shivers ran down his spine, and he felt his sweat turning colder.
"But what if on the next private broadcasts, no one passed the challenge?" Someone from the crowd asked.
"Good question!" Plotter's head bobbed up and down in excitement because of the unexpected cooperation from the participants. "If that ever happens, then all of you will be punished."
Everyone, including those who had passed the first segment stiffened.
"If you all got held back, then we have no choice but to show another interesting element, right? If not, our ratings will plummet!"
Having had enough teasing them, Plotter switched to the next topic.
"Well, of course, the private broadcast isn't the only way you could showcase yourself."
Everyone lifted up their heads on Plotter's words. Their eyes, which had turned gloomy earlier, now gleamed with hope.
"If you also do well on the open broadcast and the public rankings, then your sponsors will be reluctant to let go of you."
The Plotter in front of them finally said something good instead of mocking them!
"So, do your best for the public rounds, everyone!"
Renewed with vigor, the participants started standing up from the floor and stared at Plotter. The cameras' red lights had also stopped after Plotter uttered those words.
The private broadcast had ended.
"Well, the next open broadcast filming will not be now since you all look like zombies."
Well, technically they are zombies... They rose up from the dead, after all.
"Rest and fix yourself up. We will film again tomorrow~"
With a snap, they were all teleported back to their dorms. In the air, Plotter's voice lingered.
"This is a consolation for all of you so you needn't walk back. Hehe."