'Been so bored lately...'
Sophie let out a yawn before being led into a room with the other Entities. She looked around and surveyed the whole surroundings, finding so familiar faces in the crowd.
'Eh... So many people?'
She clicked her tongue inwardly before hearing soone call her out.
"Sophie!"
She turned her head towards the voice and found one of her friends sitting among the high ranking Binders from the main office. Sophie's feet walked along the floor, taking her ti leisurely.
It was still sowhat early before the show starts.
"You ca too?" Sophie asked, settling herself beside her Binder friend.
Her friend nodded a bit exaggeratedly, seemingly excited. "Hmm. Afterall, the Director said she will treat to buffalo wings if I attended and vouched for soone."
Sophie laughed. "You only ca for buffalo wings? Isn't the Director a bit stingy? Do you even know what this event is for?"
"I do. Director actually offered more, but it doesn't matter. A buffalo wing is more important than years of my soul's lifespan! At most, I can just live one less lifeti. What do I do with a long lifespan if I can't have buffalo wings?"
Sophie was stumped with her friend's words. She had been living multiple lives repeatedly that she was becoming bored lately. Even her job was the sa from all of those lifetis!
Perhaps one of the reason she was becoming less enthusiastic lately was because she had no hobby and only focused on her job.
She should probably follow so of her friend's way of living.
'Ah, life... How simple it is to be happy with just buffalo wings.'
Sophie finally stopped making fun of her friend inside her mind. All the Entities that were invited had already arrived and filled the room.
She thought quite a few people had accepted the invitation despite its high demands but low compensation.
Well, it wouldn't hurt if they did not sponsor anyone. It might even be a good thing as they could pass ti with sothing interesting to watch.
Sophie's eyes wandered towards the black screen that had yet to turn on when a few black clothed people with staff mber tags entered the room.
They handed over a black device to each of the Entities who've co to watch.
She examined the thing curiously upon receiving it. It was pitch black and handy with only two white buttons drawn with 'x' and 'o' symbols.
One of the staff mbers walked towards a round podium and started to explain.
"Use this device to inform us of your decision. Press 'o' if you want to sponsor the participant and 'x' if you don't. Please rember that if you choose to sponsor soone, a petal will likely be taken from you. Choose wisely."
Sophie rested the device on her lap while listening to the staff mber. Her mind couldn't help but wander around, thinking that the staff mber was talking too much. Everything the staff mber said aside from the black device usage was already explained inside the invitation letter they received.
'Boring... When will it start?'
Sophie's mind was lost in thought the whole ti that she didn't even notice the staff mber walking away.
The lights went off, the screen brightening all of a sudden. Sophie finally reeled her mind back in.
A man's voice was overheard from the speakers, filling the whole room. The buzzing of people gradually beca quiet.
"I was a mber of a famous band called Adrift... back when I was alive."
The face of the man finally appeared in the screen, sitting on a stool while reminiscing the past with a wry smile. His black eyes were gleaming with confusion, seemingly at a loss that everything had ended.
A lancholic piano ensemble started playing as the man's voice continued.
"I had two friends who were so dedicated into music... They were so enthusiastic with making a band and just brought along because of my voice. At first, I thought of it as annoying. Now... I kind'a miss it."
Upon hearing the man's recollection, Sophie recalled the band that was ntioned. She knew about it, but didn't know its mbers well.
'A mber died?' Sophie thought. The band was actually really famous in the country she was assigned to, so it was a bit odd that she didn't hear news about a mber dying.
Along with the cries of cheers and collective applausing sound effects, the man's figure sitting on the stool faded into the darkness, his lancholic smile faded along with him.
His last words echoed around the room.
"I want to stand onstage again..."
A brief silence ensued until a spotlight turned on, signifying the opening of the stage. Under the light was a white-clothed man, a stark contrast to the darkness of the room he was in. He was covering his face and slouching over as if crying.
The cara zood in, focusing on the covered face. Beneath his hands, Sophie could still catch a glimpse of the man's plump red lips opening. Her hair began to stand on its end when an angelic voice entered her ears. Her back abruptly straightened as a shiver travelled throughout her spine.
"Ahhh... Where did I go wrong?
I couldn't help but plead,
Please let go back.
Let go back to you."
The voice sang heart-wrenchingly, as though he had lost sothing. Sophie fixed her gaze on the man who had slowly lowered his hands covering his face wrinkled in pain. His eyes was in a daze, staring into nothingness.
'Who is this guy? Why didn't I know him before?'
Sophie's eyes wandered to the bottom–left corner of the screen where the na of the participant was written.
'Rayen.'
Without realizing it, her lips had already turned into a wide smile. Her heart was beating wildly as if she had finally found sothing worthwhile in life.
With every words that Rayen sang, his high-pitched voice would tug at the strings inside her chest. She didn't know if she felt happy, or nervous, or sad. She wasn't sure what she was really feeling, but one thing was for sure... She felt alive.
'I definitely have to make sure this guy pass,' Sophie thought.
...
As Rayen continued to sing, his chest felt too heavy. The last note he tried to reach left a burning sensation on him.
There was only one thought in his mind: 'I have to pass this audition.'
Actually, he was covering his face not because he was too imrsed with the painful feeling of the song, but because he was frustratingly grumbling inwards.
Before he could even try to calm himself, the song had already started, and he hadn't changed his posture yet. He really wanted to cry!
The Dance fertilizer that mini Plotter had gifted him turned out to be of little use for him right now.
After the tutorial ended, the tir in his waiting room finally started ticking. He only had 7 hours to practice.
He hadn't absorbed much from the Dance Fertilizer yet. He thought its effects would be miraculous and instantaneous, turned out it wasn't. It required practice to grasp the choreographer's epiphany, and from there, emulate it until he could glean ideas and increase his stats.
'That damn Plotter didn't tell it worked like that! How will I dance?!'
The item was far more useful in the long run to gradually increase his dance stat. But right now, what he needed was to pass the audition! How could he think about the future if he didn't even know if he had one?
Rayen racked his brain, but he could only think of one solution. He opted for the most practical thod he could think of. Just blow the sponsors—whoever they were—with his singing. He could just dance minimally.
'I've made a living by singing. I will live by singing!'
Rayen continued to sing his song. He had written it before he died and never had a chance to release it.
He had been wondering what he should sing for the audition after the tutorial ended, when so of the functions on his phone had returned, including the browser.
So he opened it to try surfing the internet, and it surprisingly connected. He was able to confirm that he wasn't in so unknown world.
He searched and searched, but he couldn't find what he wanted. Most of the songs he knew were ballad and rock. Well, also a bit of country songs...
He even went to his old cloud account and only found an unreleased song.
'I can't dance a ballad song, right?'
He skipped it and looked for another one. But before the performance, he realized that the Dance Fertilizer didn't work as he imagined. So he rembered that unreleased song and decided to just sing it.
Perhaps it was destiny that it hadn't been released, so it could make its debut in this place.
While Rayen sang, he suddenly had an epiphany. 'It might be good if I move my body like this.'
However, he didn't follow his instincts and just stood there rigidly as a statue. The image in his mind didn't sit well with him.
'The choreographer must like cheesy moves!'
But at the last part of the song, his body instinctively moved, turning and reaching into the air, grasping it. Gradually moving the hands that grabbed into the air until it was near his face, Rayen stared at it longingly.
His body wriggling as if he had lost all strength and crumbled to the ground, sprawling out on the floor while uttering the last lines of his song.
"I wanted to hold onto you..."
Rayen breathed heavily, his face already turning red. Silently feeling embarrassed, he tightly clenched his fist to resist hiding his face.
He couldn't suppress himself and just did that cheesy choreo!
As the music ended and the spotlight faded, his nervousness reached its peak. Already forgetting the embarrassnt from before, he remained on the ground.
He didn't have the energy to stand up as his heart beat loudly from exhaustion and nervousness. His eyes were closed, mind racing inwardly, praying.
'Please let hold onto my life...'
When a dinging sound entered his ears, he slowly lifted his head and stared at a monitor which was the only thing in the room aside from the mirror wall. But there was nothing on it.
"Uh, Participant Rayen?" A voice suddenly spoke.
Breathing still not at ease, Rayen struggled to reply. "Y-Yes?"
"Won't you dance too?"
"....."
'Can I not?'
Why did he still have to dance? Aren't those dance moves enough for them?
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