“Why isn’t the director coming out?”
“Ugh, it’s cold. This is so annoying.”
The idol trainee groups from the Teen Guild, each grouped in threes or fours by their affiliation, huddled together, blocking the wind and fiddling with the hand warrs they held.
The Royal Club and Haenampa’s hastily prepared program was about to fail miserably, which was unfortunate, but the trainees, dressed in thin clothes for the chilly late autumn weather, also felt sorry for themselves.
While becoming an idol ant fighting a fierce competition, right now, the battle against the cold was the bigger issue.
The trainees, who had been stomping their feet to shake off the cold, noticed sothing and lifted their heads.
They had been about to complain about how late the director was and beg for tteokbokki, using their charms to win over the director, but all those thoughts vanished.
The directors, who looked as if their life expectancy had been shortened by several years, stepped out with faces drained of all energy.
In particular, Kwak Do-jeong, the head of Taebaek Entertainnt, looked so aged and exhausted that his hair had turned completely white.
“Director! What happened to your face?!”
“Did those bastards do this?”
“What happened to the caras and recorders? Are they really done for now?”
The Teen Guild trainees, who had been envious of the quick fa Haenampa trainees had gained through their strong presence, began to gossip about them.
“Shut your mouth, NOW!!”
“...D-Director?”
“Go back inside. We’re attending that program.”
The directors recalled the threats made by Ha Eung Eung and the boss.
“If you’re confident, you can just go back. But if you want to die in your sleep tonight without knowing why, that’s fine.”
“Do you know that ‘Beungun Chakgol’ can be used from a distance through Sword Qi Blood Point?”
They didn’t want to experience that horrible pain in secret, only to die from shock, with no cause of death properly explained, before their funeral was held.
They contacted the agency, risking their lives, and insisted that another Teen Guild had broken their promise. They confird their participation in the competition program.
The dia, which had mocked the Royal Club and Haenampa’s competition program, found themselves in a ridiculous situation. It was only natural that the relationship between the disgraced dia and Teen Guild grew distant.
The program began.
The Next Generation Star Awakener Selection Competition.
Nurous candidates stepped onto the stage to test their dance and singing abilities.
In an ordinary idol competition, being good at dancing and singing could already give a significant advantage, but Star Awakener was different.
The basic requirent was to be an Awakener.
Their combat abilities were also evaluated.
That’s why trainees from other guilds primarily focused on raising trainees with higher Awakener levels, aiming to score high in the combat portion.
“Don’t worry, teacher! I may have switched from being an idol trainee to an Awakener trainee, but I can still do the basics of dancing and singing! I’ve trained all my kids, so they’ll definitely perform at least the minimum!”
[Who are you?]
“Ahh, you don’t rember my na? It’s Kim Hanna! I quit the Awakener Academy and have been training under you ever since!”
[I rember you. The trainee who works hard.]
“You rembered! I’m really working hard! I’ve been learning CAD while working as staff, and I even teach my seniors various things…”
Kim Hanna, who managed everything around her as if shouting “I’m responsible for my kids,” was the one with the bobbed hair.
She had switched from being an idol trainee to an Awakener trainee, and thanks to being a Haenampa disciple and staff mber, she was participating in the Star Awakener competition.
“So, did you really know that kid’s na?”
[Don’t ask.]
Since she couldn’t say she knew, it seed she didn’t.
The boss let out a small chuckle.
“Her diligence doesn’t seem bad.”
[It’s useless if she can’t awaken her inner energy though.]
“I know the inner energy you speak of is similar to an Awakener’s magic but a different concept. Inner energy is much more refined magic.”
When comparing the sa amount of inner energy and magic, inner energy’s efficiency will never be beaten by magic.
“But don’t you think it’s too greedy to force power from soone who can’t even stand at the starting point?”
In fact, very few disciples manage to awaken their inner energy on their own.
Even after awakening, there’s no telling what problems may arise from natural blessings or curses, which is why Ha Eung Eung has to watch carefully.
‘It’s been about 9 months since Haenampa was founded, but we’ve only got three, including A-young, who’ve awakened their inner energy. The level of awakening is just too low.’
The trainees could not help but feel anxious.
Everyone knew that once they succeeded in awakening their inner energy, they would beco stronger, but the difficulty of awakening was so extre that their fingers began to feel numb.
Other Awakener trainees would imdiately succeed in awakening once they killed monsters.
But they still had to repeat breath exercises resembling ditation, trying desperately to grasp even a handful of inner energy.
Kim Hanna was also one of those disciples who was chased by such anxiety, participating in the competition program.
“I’ll tell you in advance, if you enter the competition, you will level up your Awakener rank.”
Han Chae-rin said that, due to the nature of the program, leveling up was inevitable.
If they participated in the competition and leveled up, obtaining high-purity inner energy would be nearly impossible.
What would grow would be their identity as an Awakener with many side effects, rather than the martial artist with high-purity inner energy displaying strong martial prowess.
‘But that’s after passing the preliminary round.’
The first round of judging.
Basic skill verification.
In this judging, they check how well the trainees possess both the qualities of an entertainer and an Awakener, as required for Star Awakeners, through dance, singing, and virtual reality mock battles.
Entertainer trainees, who were only used to dancing and singing, sotis ruined the battle portion and cried, while Awakener trainees who had only trained for battle created frowns with dance moves resembling basic exercises and horrible singing.
To put it simply, it was a ss overall.
The general public participants were even worse.
“By the stream~ a tadpole, just one~”
Pfft!
“Hey, that one’s got the vibe of a codian.”
The judges’ conversation made the boss chuckle.
“Wow, with this level, our organization’s kids could seriously compete.”
[You’re very confident.]
“Not just the voice girls, but other mbers of the organization who participated in the competition have done various part-ti jobs to earn their organization activity fees.”
From event mascot dancing to performing monster roles in special effects films at amusent parks.
Hearing the list of part-ti jobs the Black Warrior Corps mbers usually did, it brought back mories of how weak rogue factions used to do all sorts of odd jobs.
‘Unlike orthodox or dark factions that control areas with strong martial arts and extort protection fees, rogue factions always had it tough.’
Trying to cut down on any expenses, they often jumped into business ventures and failed.
Then, sotis, they would unexpectedly discover talents they didn’t know they had, developing their own techniques or delving into voodoo.
They even invaded the martial arts world using specialized techniques, like the Poison King’s Sect or the Blood Sect.
Like the Black Warrior Corps, after getting thoroughly defeated, they either rged or hid deeper into the shadows.
The result was almost always disastrous.
Even the most successful, the Blood Sect, had failed, and the end of rogue factions like the Five Kings’ Sect was equally tragic.
“Number 37 has stable singing ability. I’ll give her 7 points.”
“Her diction is neat, which is a major strength. I’ll give her 8 points.”
[It seems like she could learn inner energy. I’ll give her 7 points.]
In this martial arts world, things were as expected, but Haenampa’s Black Warrior Corps trainees were flying high in the competition hall.
“Number 37, a forr voice actor trainee, I like her. We’ll have to watch her combat ability more closely.”
“I like Number 54, the three-year event mascot dancer with impressive dancing skills.”
“Number 66, the visual queen from the art academy model part-ti job? Haenampa has so unexpected talents.”
The judges praised Haenampa trainees, all of whom were forr mbers of the Black Warrior Corps.
It was only natural that Ha Eung Eung, sitting in the special judge’s seat, was becoming increasingly sulky.
The boss, sitting next to her, couldn’t stop smiling.
‘It would be great if one of the trainees among our disciples could stand out soon.’
The commotion started when Han Chae-rin, who had tried to tone down the reporters’ attention, took the bait.
At first, there was little interest, but now, comparing the boss’s trainees with those of the Teen Guild, who had stable singing and dancing abilities, Haenampa’s trainees were starting to feel uncomfortable.
‘This is why sports teams and entertainnt groups are built. It’s as frustrating as hearing news that my disciples are being beaten.’
The competitive spirit was provoked.
What are our kids lacking? Why should Haenampa lose to those kinds of people?
The sight of the directors, who had been trembling from the aftereffects of painless torture just monts ago, now watching their trainees proudly only made the anger rise.
“Contestant Number 100, Kim Hanna!”
“Oh, this girl is pretty cheerful, isn’t she?”
“She’s not bad at dancing either. She has talent.”
Then, Kim Hanna, the Haenampa disciple, was praised by the judges.
She wasn’t a forr Black Warrior Corps mber, but had trained exclusively under Ha Eung Eung, making her a true Haenampa disciple.
Seeing this disciple’s excellent performance, which saved her face, Ha Eung Eung made a decision.
‘I need to boost my kids’ recognition through ga broadcasts.’
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