Chapter 49: Mirror of Doppelgangers Part 2

Just as Roy stretched his right leg forward, he looked over in surprise at the person approaching him.

It was Yoo Juwon, his roommate.

“Would it be okay if I watched your singing and dancing from here? I honestly don’t remember any of it…”

Yoo Juwon gave a sheepish smile, his cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.

Roy hesitated for a moment before nodding.

After all, they weren’t in a closed practice room but in the middle of a set.

Even if Yoo Juwon didn’t ask, just a few glances would’ve been enough to see everything.

The fact that he still asked for permission probably meant it weighed on his conscience not to.

Roy, aside from the two trainees from the same agency, wasn’t especially close with most of the other participants—except for Lee Hajun, Han Jihoo, and Kim Jaemin.

Song Doyoon had left a strong impression on Roy, but not in a good way.

Rather than wanting to get close to him, Roy preferred to keep his distance.

He still couldn’t forget the intense look in Doyoon’s eyes when he sprayed that water gun.

If Roy survived the next ranking announcement, he’d be spending a lot more time on set.

It wouldn’t hurt to build rapport with the others.

Besides, Yoo Juwon was also one of the victims who hadn’t been able to sleep all night—just like Roy.

A strange sense of camaraderie formed between them.

“Thank you!”

When Roy readily agreed, Yoo Juwon loudly thanked him and gave a deep bow.

Seeing him bow so respectfully, Roy, Lee Hajun, and Kim Chan reflexively bowed back, looking almost like they were performing a formal greeting ceremony.

“Us too…”

“Can I watch as well?”

Following Yoo Juwon’s lead, several other nearby trainees who had been hesitating also stepped forward to ask Roy.

Kim Chan and Lee Hajun looked around in surprise, then turned to Roy.

“Sure. Feel free to watch all you want.”

Roy didn’t refuse this time either.

In the blink of an eye, most of the Gold Team members had formed a loose circle around Roy.

***

[Are you sure you’re okay with this, Hero?]

“Pii.” (’I think they’re all watching me?’)

Roy could hear Earth and Ber’s voices echoing in his mind, but he focused on recalling the song and choreography.

“Do it what you want.”

Roy sang the first line as he extended his right leg and moved his hand in a graceful motion—one that resembled a dance pose.

But as the trainees watched, they wore confused expressions.

“I think… that’s kind of how it went…?”

No one said the rest out loud, but their awkward smiles said enough.

“Stars in your mind and make the world shiny.”

Regardless of how the others looked at him, Roy poured all his focus into bringing the movements from his mind into reality.

The choreography, soft yet precise, came out clumsy in Roy’s movements.

Given Roy’s current dance rank, it was nearly impossible to perfectly recreate what he had seen after just one viewing.

“In a world where darkness has fallen, what lets us hold on to hope is…”

Though his dancing was rough, his singing—the lyrics and pitch—was accurate.

Some of the trainees looked impressed for a moment, then quickly focused as they tried to memorize the lyrics and movements.

The ticking countdown and the building pressure made everyone’s hearts race with tension.

“Let’s fill the world you and I will create with brilliant stars.”

As the song reached its climax, everyone stared with their mouths hanging open.

“That’s at least a high C in the third octave…”

“Can someone really hit those notes without their voice cracking while dancing?”

Especially the trainees who weren’t confident in singing turned pale.

Watching it on stage, the pitch seemed high—but now that they had to sing it themselves, the realization hit even harder.

“Only one in the world you and I.”

While the others were spiraling into anxiety, Roy finished the final note and pose, gasping for air.

Even though he had only tried to reproduce what he remembered, there were many parts he hadn’t been able to do properly.

Still, the choreography was difficult enough to leave him breathless.

The graceful yet controlled moves required far more muscle engagement than they appeared to.

And the deceptively simple footwork involved nonstop stepping with no breaks.

Coupled with the song’s difficulty, trying to sing and dance at the same time drained stamina much faster.

“How… are we supposed to memorize this…?”

One trainee muttered, and everyone else nodded solemnly in agreement.

Still, they tried to remember Roy’s singing and dancing as they began to swing their arms and legs in mimicry.

While they had thought Roy’s moves looked clumsy, once they tried it themselves, their limbs flailed like jellyfish.

“So you move your right hand like this, and the left foot goes…”

Among the group, Kim Chan managed to replicate Roy’s movements the most accurately.

Lee Hajun watched Kim Chan and used his performance to recall both the lyrics and the choreography.

[Hero, at least you memorized the lyrics and choreography, so you’ll be fine.]

‘…Are you trying to say I’m bad without saying it directly?’

[Gasp, I’d never do that!]

Despite denying it, Earth’s voice was clearly shaking.

Roy glanced over at Kim Chan, replaying his own movements in his head.

‘Just to catch up to the tips of Kim Chan’s toes, I probably need at least an A+ dance rating.’

Even though they were doing the same moves, the impression they gave was completely different—as if it were a different dance altogether.

At this moment, Roy couldn’t even use Earth’s virtual training.

He had no choice but to rely on his raw ability when he got on stage.

[Hehehe.]

‘Where did you even learn to laugh like that?’

“Beep—” (Contractor, I just got chills.)

Ber, who had been perched atop Roy’s head for a while now, gave a visible shiver.

[This is a moment where Earth’s ability is absolutely essential.]

Before Earth even finished speaking, a flashy, over-the-top window popped up in front of Roy.

[Sudden Mission. You’ve been handed an impossible task! With your current skills, your dance and singing are embarrassingly subpar!]

Roy’s eyes locked onto the word “embarrassingly.”

He clenched his fists quietly.

He was doing his best to sing and dance, but Earth’s evaluation was brutally honest.

[As a special opportunity, we’re offering you a sudden mission!]

He wanted to reject it on principle, regardless of what the reward was.

But if there was even the slightest chance to show a better performance, he had to take it.

In this world, once something was broadcasted, it was permanently fossilized online.

It was terrifying.

Clips from his audition were still floating around the internet, broken into countless memes.

Roy didn’t want to add another dark chapter to his ever-growing cringe compilation.

[Within 30 minutes, get five contestants to say “thank you”! Your reward will be the “Plausible Aura” effect, which lasts for half a day!]

‘Plausible aura, huh…’

There were always people who looked cooler even while doing the same moves.

Roy, at his current level, was still busy keeping up with the choreography—he hadn’t yet found a way to add his own color or rhythm to it.

His gaze landed on Kim Chan, whose movements were now far more stable than before.

Watching Kim Chan made Roy instinctively let out a soft sigh of admiration.

It wasn’t for nothing that Roy aspired to catch up to Kim Chan’s level, even if just by a toe.

His eyes then drifted toward Lee Doha.

While Kim Chan was certainly impressive, Lee Doha’s dancing stood out even among the entire cast of the survival program.

He was one of the top few, hands down.

Roy knew better than anyone that Lee Doha’s first-place ranking in the initial evaluation wasn’t just luck.

Lee Doha might seem airheaded most of the time, but the moment he danced, he transformed into the brightest star in the world.

‘Looks like I don’t have to worry about him.’

Even from a distance, Lee Doha was nailing every move.

A crowd had gathered around him, just as large as the group gathered around Roy.

“You’re struggling with the choreography, right? Let’s go over it together. I’m not perfect, but I at least memorized all the moves properly.”

Unable to stand still, Roy approached a contestant nearby who was flailing through the routine.

The contestant’s dance skills seemed similar to or worse than Roy’s.

He was sweating bullets as he moved every limb.

“Really? That would be a huge help. Thank you so much!”

Apparently surprised that Roy had offered help directly, the contestant’s face lit up.

It was like someone had handed him a flashlight in a dark tunnel.

“Then me too…!”

“Come on over.”

Roy needed to hear “thank you” from five contestants to complete the mission.

Since not everyone would necessarily say the words, he had to help more than five people just to be sure.

“I think I can handle up to six people at once.”

Kim Chan was too focused on his own dancing to ask for help, and Lee Hajun was barely managing to follow Kim Chan’s moves.

Lee Hajun didn’t look like he had the mental space to even hum the song.

It seemed like he was going to concentrate solely on the choreography, since it would be too hard to memorize both the song and the dance within the time limit.

Some of the hesitant contestants began approaching Roy.

One of them even bowed deeply.

“Thank you so much!”

[Sudden Mission Progress: 1/5]

A status window appeared above the contestant’s head.

A gentle smile formed on Roy’s lips.

He hadn’t even taught anything yet, but just being thanked made him feel a wave of affection.

“Earlier, I showed the moves at full speed with the song, but this time I’ll go over them at half speed.”

“You’re seriously amazing…”

Though Roy’s movements were still a bit clumsy, the fact that he had memorized almost the entire routine after seeing it once was no small feat.

***

After one contestant praised Roy, the others started raising their thumbs at him too.

‘Guess just helping them with moves doesn’t count.’

When the mission progress didn’t update, Roy realized he needed to hear actual words of thanks.

He kept moving.

“I’ll sing along too, so try singing while you dance. It’ll help more.”

“Thank you!”

[Sudden Mission Progress: 2/5]

Now that a second person had thanked him, he only needed three more.

Roy continued singing slowly and deliberately while demonstrating the choreography.

The contestants gathered around him mimicked his moves, ramping up their efforts.

Time left until stage practice was being shown in real-time and was steadily ticking down.

“But…”

Just as the practice seemed to be going smoothly, one contestant suddenly raised his right hand—and the flow was abruptly interrupted.