Chapter 22: A Pat on the Head, One Chance Only

“So we’re competing in the 60-meter sprint, ssireum, and the 400-meter relay, right?”
“Yes. You know it well. None of the events we’re in are especially dangerous, so there’s no need to take it that seriously.”

Woo-young didn’t answer right away. He looked like he was thinking about something, his expression unusually serious. Eun-chan watched him, wondering what could possibly be on his mind, when Woo-young finally spoke.

“Eun-chan hyung, if it feels like too much, please say you can’t do it right away.”
“Huh?”

Eun-chan raised his eyebrows.

“You can’t slow down in the 60-meter sprint, so they put up safety barriers. You run it several times including the preliminaries, and you could get hurt. Getting cursed out for backing out lasts a moment, but an injury lasts way longer. You can’t even compare the two.”
“But how do you know all that?”
“I watched a broadcast before.”
“Oh. A broadcast.”

Eun-chan had asked because Woo-young didn’t seem to know much about the Idol Athletics Championships—something even trainees usually knew—yet he somehow knew details like this. The realization left Eun-chan oddly deflated.

“But you didn’t answer my question,” Woo-young added.
“Well, I mean… uh….”

He wasn’t wrong, but this wasn’t such a simple issue.

From Woo-young’s perspective, it might look unnecessary, but idols didn’t participate in this event for no reason. Of course, there were some who genuinely loved sports and joined enthusiastically, but still.

One reason idols participated in the Idol Athletics Championships was fear of retaliation from PDs, but another was to attract viewers watching the broadcast—or fans attending the recording—and turn them into their own fans.

People fell into fandoms in all sorts of ways. No idol could predict that exact moment. Sometimes the thing you expected to hook people got no reaction at all, while an entirely unexpected point became the trigger. The Idol Athletics Championships greatly increased the chances of that happening.

“You understand, right?” Woo-young pressed.

Eun-chan answered with a nod.

There was no need to explain everything right now. It was something Woo-young would come to understand naturally later. From a certain perspective, Woo-young wasn’t wrong either. Taking care of one’s own body mattered.

In the end, all Eun-chan did was pat Woo-young lightly on the back and tell him not to worry.

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t affect album preparations, so don’t stress too much.”

At Eun-chan’s added reassurance, Woo-young looked like he wanted to say something, his lips parting slightly, but that was all.

After returning to the waiting room and checking their hair and makeup, there was still time left. As Eun-chan sat there absentmindedly swaying, a system window appeared in his vision.

[Mission Activated! Check Quest: Y/N]

He’d been wondering when it would pop up, but only now?
Eun-chan stared at the system window for a moment. Not knowing what kind of quest it would be, he hesitated to press yes right away. But there was no alternative. When he selected Y, the contents of the window changed.

[Quest
Target: Jung Min-yu
Receive a head pat.
※Must succeed in one attempt.
※You must not directly ask for it.]

“…?”

Eun-chan reread the system window several times, unsure if what he was seeing was real.

But it was.

This easy and obvious?

If he succeeded, Jung Min-yu’s stats would immediately rank up by one, and one out of Eun-chan’s five mission counts would be cleared. The reward was so generous that he’d naturally assumed the quest itself would be extremely difficult.

But this was ridiculously easy. Practically a freebie.

No—except the target was Jung Min-yu.

Eun-chan shook his head lightly. Min-yu was the team’s eldest, but to put it nicely, he had a quirky side, and to put it bluntly, he could be downright fourth-dimensional. Eun-chan couldn’t afford to let his guard down.

And it had to be done in a single attempt, without directly saying anything. If he underestimated it, he could fail.

Eun-chan dismissed the system window and casually approached Jung Min-yu.

Min-yu was talking with Ryu Seo-oh. Eun-chan sat down beside him and leaned his head against Min-yu’s shoulder.

“Hm? Eun-chan? What’s wrong?”

Without answering, Eun-chan rubbed his head lightly against Min-yu’s shoulder.

Seo-oh looked over with a why-is-he-doing-that expression, and Min-yu also looked a little confused, but soon he laughed out loud.

“Aww, what’s wrong, Eun-chan? Were you bored all by yourself?”

When Min-yu reacted by slipping a hand under Eun-chan’s chin as if to scratch it lightly, Eun-chan felt a surge of panic. This would fail. Failing such an easy mission—was that even possible?

Thinking of the words “one chance,” Eun-chan lifted his head, dodged Min-yu’s hand, and at the same time bent forward quickly, pushing his head right under Min-yu’s palm. He checked the system window immediately, but there was no reaction. That meant the single attempt hadn’t been counted yet.

If this much effort still didn’t work, that would be downright unfair.

He shook his head gently beneath Min-yu’s hand.

Min-yu looked flustered for a second, then let out an “Ah, come on,” and patted Eun-chan’s head.

Show it. Pop up already. Say it’s a success.

As if responding to his plea, the notification window appeared.

[Quest Success. Check your reward.]

Done.

The moment his objective was achieved, Eun-chan straightened up and sat upright.

“Whoa, you startled me. What was that?”
“Oh—no, it’s nothing. Please continue your conversation.”
“Eun-chan, what was that all of a sudden?”
“It’s nothing. Really. I’m done with my business.”

Bowing slightly as he backed away, Eun-chan waved at the two pairs of eyes staring at him. After exchanging puzzled looks, the two eventually returned to their conversation.

Eun-chan dragged a chair to a corner and sat down.

His heart was pounding with anticipation.

He opened the reward window.

[Quest Success.
Reward granted to target <Jung Min-yu>.
Vocal Ability +1 Rank.]

So it went to vocals.

Eun-chan pressed his lips together.

A part of him wondered if skills could really be raised this easily. Curious whether it had truly been applied, he decided to check Jung Min-yu’s status window. Looking at the status window of a teammate he worked with—not someone from another group—made him feel oddly uncomfortable.

Quantifying someone’s abilities felt intrusive. Still, it was worth confirming.

Eun-chan read the translucent status window hovering above Jung Min-yu’s head.

[Name: Jung Min-yu
Star Power: B
Vocal Ability: A
Performance: B
Appearance: B
Mentality: A
Traits: Sturdy Baobab Tree (Reliable pillar for those around him / B), Brimming Rice Bowl (Mental strength unaffected by comparison / A) Active / Flashing ■■■ (A) Inactive.]

Checking a fellow member’s status window really didn’t sit well with him. It felt like secretly peeking at someone’s report card without their knowledge.

Min-yu’s traits were incredible. He truly seemed like someone born to be a leader. It was impressive.

One of the traits was marked inactive, but Eun-chan couldn’t tell what it was exactly.

If it was inactive, did that mean there was a way to activate it? That would be nice. He didn’t know what kind of stat it was, but the rank was high, which made it all the more regrettable.

He glanced around to see if another notification would appear, but nothing happened. He even called out internally a few times, but there was no response.

There was no way the system would display something unnecessary. When the time came, it would probably give him a quest or something to activate it. With that conclusion, Eun-chan decided not to dwell on it.

Overall, Jung Min-yu’s stats seemed solidly mid to upper-mid.

Eun-chan had decided not to judge his members based on their status windows, but it was hard to stop thoughts from forming naturally.

“…Hm…?”

As he continued to look at Min-yu’s window, Eun-chan noticed something odd.

If the base was B+ before adjustment, shouldn’t it have become A+ after the rank-up, you crook?

Eun-chan scowled without realizing it.

The moment he did, the vocal stat on Min-yu’s window changed from A to A+. Seeing it happen with his own eyes, Eun-chan froze, then erupted with fury.

Are you kidding me? If I hadn’t objected, it would’ve stayed at A? Are you insane? This is how sloppily you run things?

Cursing internally, Eun-chan shook his head.

Forget it. It’s not like another notification will pop up just because I complain—he thought, and at that exact moment, a notification window sprang up.

It popped up?!

Startled, Eun-chan quickly scanned the contents.

[Sorry.]

…Are you actually insane?

Is this manual? The system isn’t automatic, it’s manual? Then where’s my extra compensation?

This time, though, the status window stayed quiet. Eun-chan took a slow breath and calmed himself down.

Just as he thought there was no way such a demand would be granted, another system window appeared.

[System Error Compensation.
As compensation, a temporary increase to the Luck stat will be applied until 00:00 tonight.
We apologize for the inconvenience.]