| Episode 41. Health Management Is Also a Skill (2)
‘If there’s a system that raises my stats, wouldn’t there also be one that restores my stamina?’
I chewed on the jjolmyeon that I couldn’t taste at all, as if my nose were stuffed, and thought.
If you could artificially enhance a person’s physical functions, a similar function should be possible too.
The system couldn’t not know how much blood, sweat, and tear-soaked practice was required to become an idol.
The way the system awarded points and the processes it used were thoroughly focused on raising an idol capable of debuting.
So there must also be a mechanism prepared for when an idol faced a situation where they couldn’t digest the amount of practice required due to physical limitations or encountered a difficult problem.
It had brought a perfectly healthy living person to the past with their memories intact; it must have prepared at least that much of a countermeasure.
I forced myself to finish the jjolmyeon while waiting for the system to appear, and sure enough, the silent system made its entrance.
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[SYSTEM] An ‘Additional Overtime Support Service’ is notified to ‘Eul.’
▷ If you wish for additional overtime but feel that physical limitations are hindering KPI achievement, we provide support to ensure smooth additional overtime.
▷ Fatigue is reduced by 20 simultaneously with the commencement of the support service, and the deducted fatigue is returned to ‘Eul’ upon termination of the support service.
▷ The commencement and termination times of the service can be designated by ‘Eul.’
▷ If the service is used for an extended period, if fatigue accumulates excessively, if the temporarily deducted fatigue exceeds a certain level, or for various other reasons, physical side effects may appear.
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It was exactly the function I needed.
Compared to the ‘Violation of Confidentiality’ that was said to lead to death at worst, side effects weren’t even worth worrying about.
At least there was no mention of possibly dying here.
After the service explanation appeared, the familiar résumé came out.
This time, however, an entry called ‘Cumulative Fatigue’ had been added below ‘Cumulative Experience.’
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.
.
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— Attendance Management: 18/20
— Adaptability Within Organization: 10/20
Cumulative Experience: 0
Cumulative Fatigue: 40%
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Perhaps thanks to taking medicine, the cumulative fatigue wasn’t very high. If 20% was deducted from this, I would probably be almost back to normal.
Without hesitation, I imagined pressing the service commencement button.
Then the system window lit up brightly again.
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Cumulative Fatigue: 20% (Overtime Support Service in effect)
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The fatigue value dropped simultaneously with the service commencement.
The effect was certain too. The fever completely subsided, and my stiff shoulders felt like they had loosened.
“Hyung, is that jjolmyeon that delicious?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“No, it’s just your complexion suddenly got better after eating jjolmyeon.”
“Did they sprinkle protein on the jjolmyeon or something?”
Whether my complexion had actually improved or not, I Cheonghyeon and Choi Jeho spouted nonsense about my face.
“I didn’t know you had such admirable thoughts about putting protein in food too, Choi Jeho. I’ll take note when I make toast.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Despite my considerate kindness, Choi Jeho just got angry. Someone played along with him and he got completely full of himself.
Come to think of it…I can just adjust things because I have the system, but what about them? Could they suddenly collapse?
Looking at these guys who had eaten only low-sodium, low-calorie foods for even longer than I had, a sinister thought briefly flashed through my mind.
Their vascular health might be better than mine, but at this point, malnutrition was inevitably a concern.
Just recently, hadn’t Gang Giyeon been caught after hiding his ankle injury and dancing hard?
If UA checked each member’s health condition one by one and recommended weight loss or practice accordingly, I wouldn’t have needed to go this far.
But expecting such things in the idol market where the entirety of feedback was “lose as much weight as possible and practice as hard as you can” was absurd.
With a just-in-case mindset, I asked the guys.
“Do you guys get health checkups?”
“We get them at school every year.”
Gang Giyeon, an active high school student, answered.
“I mean other than just measuring height and weight. Ah, don’t tell me you guys got veneers too?”
“I didn’t. As far as I know, none of us did.”
“I heard a lot of people get them when they’re trainees….”
Jeong Seongbin and Park Juu spoke in turn. It was a relief that everyone’s oral condition was good.
The group being so taciturn meant there were more than one or two areas that needed attention. It made me wonder if I should install a confession box or something in the dorm.
Wasn’t the national health screening eligibility age 20 and above? I’d probably need to take the group to get basic measurements checked at the gym soon.
I was about to fall into thoughts of scheduling employee health checkups at Hanpyeong Industries when I Cheonghyeon asked me.
“Why the sudden talk about health checkups?”
“Just because. I’m saying this just in case, but take care of your own bodies. Your body is your greatest asset. Got it?”
“You hear that, Ganggyeon?”
“What about me.”
“Iwol-hyung is telling us to take care of Giyeonie’s ankle!”
“Is that what you heard?”
I spoke as clear as day, but he had a real gift for understanding it like a muddled mess.
That wasn’t exactly my intention, but as long as he got the message somehow.
Saying all this when I was the one using my condition as an excuse to skip practice was the funniest thing of all.
I forced myself to cleanly finish the jjolmyeon that felt stiff to the point of being dry. I didn’t forget to clean up the empty bowl either.
* * *
“Everyone, what was the content we were filming today?”
“‘Let Us Introduce Our Members!’”
With cheerful answers, we clapped enthusiastically.
Today’s final schedule was a self-produced content shoot.
Considering UA’s tendency to be unable to properly push the group even after debut, this was the self-produced content—planned by Gim Iwol, directed by Gim Iwol, and sponsored by UA—that we had been filming even before debut.
‘When the company suggested going completely no-makeup since we were pre-debut, I nearly fainted.’
Regardless of whether we took good care of ourselves or not, it was problematic to film a video that fans would watch without showing even that level of sincerity.
Looking at the lives they film later, they even film themselves removing makeup, so what. Bare faces could be revealed then; that was plenty enough.
“We filmed the profile photoshoot last time, right? Those photos are finally out!”
This meant the final version of the debut album title track concept photos—the ones that would be registered as profile photos on portal sites for a while—had come out.
Unfortunately, I heard that several members, including I Cheonghyeon, didn’t photograph well, so the retouching took quite a while.
‘I briefly wondered if I should go in as support staff after hearing the news.’
If I laid my hands on the mouse, the kids would turn into sparkling, shalala princelings, so I ended up dropping the idea.
I suppose subway ads are made by grinding and polishing people’s faces down.
Anyway, to commemorate the release of our long-awaited first profile photos, we decided to film content introducing each other while looking at the photos.
This was because I had strongly pushed for it under the reasoning that it was perfect for showing so-called “intimate sides.”
If I made them introduce themselves, they’d be too embarrassed to speak for even a minute, so having someone else introduce them was the better option.
In Korean society, where modesty is a virtue, praising others is easier than self-promotion.
Since they were becoming idols, they would have to get used to showing themselves, but for now, I planned to embrace them with the mindset that it was fortunate enough if they didn’t run away before debut.
“We decided to write and introduce the next person in age order, but who should present first?”
“I think the leader should go first.”
“Me…?!”
“Yes, you.”
At my words, Jeong Seongbin was startled.
Jeong Seongbin had to spend seven years with these damn taciturn guys.
If he was going to play the role of leader with them, practicing doing everything first wasn’t a bad idea.
“Take your time preparing. Since it’s self-produced content, we can catch the editing points in quite a bit of detail anyway.”
I gave Jeong Seongbin time to prepare and neatly organized the materials in front of me.
They had decided to make each other’s profiles in their own unique styles.
Not just writing the content themselves, but creating visual materials too.
‘Th-then do we have to make panels like the ones on TV broadcasts ourselves?’
‘I don’t expect something that professional. If you really want to make it on a board, search for foam board. You can search for woodrock too.’
The clumsier it was, the more it evoked the image of real students who had worried over it and prepared it themselves. The editing could just be done with professional skill.
‘The point is to find an explanation method familiar to you guys. Write in a notebook you carry to school, or draw in a practice notebook. Just make sure anyone can tell you did your best.’
I said I’d embrace them, but that didn’t mean I had no intention of letting them experience promotion.
Since they were fated to enter the great era of self-PR, it was much better to make mistakes in small, not-so-cute self-produced content than on TV broadcasts.
Whether convinced by my words or not, the guys had been groaning with their heads buried in their hands at the dorm for the past few days without complaining. It was a great attitude.
“Then I’ll go first! I organized it with cue cards like this.”
Whether he had finished preparing himself or not, Jeong Seongbin pulled out a bundle of small yellow papers cut like music show scripts. Then I Cheonghyeon asked.
“Hyung, do you usually use those?”
“I started using them to practice scripts after we decided to film self-produced content….”
Jeong Seongbin smiled awkwardly. The flustered I Cheonghyeon gave Jeong Seongbin, who was listlessly flipping through the cards, two thumbs up.
Jeong Seongbin’s prepared ‘5 Questions 5 Answers About Same-Aged Friend Juu’ was quite substantial.
Jeong Seongbin’s introduction consisted of content that exactly matched the wholesome, trivial-yet-image-safe introductions I had requested.
Roughly….
“What was Juu’s childhood dream?”
“Didn’t you say he originally prepared to become a singer?”
“His dream when he was much younger. Like kindergarten age?”
“The answer, dinosaur!”
“A confident challenge is commendable, but it’s the wrong answer!”
…These were the kinds of questions.
For reference, the answer was a shooting star.
He had wanted to make a wish upon a shooting star, but since he never saw one, he wanted to become a shooting star himself. No one could guess it, so Park Juu had revealed it himself.
After that, the member introductions proceeded smoothly.
Park Juu, who often left notes on post-its, had come with a whiteboard covered in post-its with words and reasons that came to mind when thinking of I Cheonghyeon.
An impressive expression was “Prince of the Forest.”
“Did you make me a prince because I’m handsome?”
“It’s more like Sleeping Beauty…. Cheonghyeon, that’s you. The sleeping prince of the forest.”
“He really doesn’t wake up once he falls asleep.”
I Cheonghyeon had drawn something called “Collection of Algorithms for Quick and Easy Understanding of Gang Giyeon’s Personality” on paper.
In four different types, no less.
“Isn’t that your composition notebook?”
“Ha… The inspiration came too urgently, so I couldn’t help it.”
We all admired the divine bit of organization that looked like it had copied Gang Giyeon's brain circuits wholesale.
Especially the part that said “He likes it when you take interest in the games he’s playing!” was quite useful. It was a presentation that showcased their friendship.
Next, it was Gang Giyeon’s turn to introduce me.
‘Did he write it like a practice routine breakdown? I don’t do anything else.’
Contrary to my lack of expectations, Gang Giyeon’s expression was a bit more solemn than usual.
Rustling as he pulled it out, Gang Giyeon revealed a large white sheet of paper.
Looking at the large table drawn on it, my prediction seemed correct….
‘What the hell is that.’
I doubted my eyes for a moment.
That is, after seeing the phrase neatly written next to my name.
“Then I will introduce Iwol-hyung.”
This was something I couldn’t let slide. I immediately raised my hand and asked.
“I have a question. Why is the terrifying phrase ‘Decent Ruffian’ written next to my name?”
A ruffian.
What the hell did I even do!