If you look at the world into two categories – winners and losers – Dokgo Miro would definitely classify herself as a loser.
Evidence of that would be her acquired camera phobia since the third grade of her elementary school.
Even though she was an aspiring idol, she continues to be elusive to cameras.
So although a good opportunity has come to her, her fear of cameras continues to pull her down.
Unlike in the beginning, the staffs are now fairer in dealing with her, but her performance still wasn’t the best.
‘I should’ve overcome my fear of cameras before this opportunity came to me. I’m about to lose… I’m the only one to blame!’
Dokgo Miro didn’t blame her underprivileged upbringing and the unfortunate generation she was born in.
The path toward achieving one’s dreams is never leveled.
Just like the Hallyu Wave star player who has been criticized by Korean netizens, and yet entered the overseas film industry and achieved their dream after playing minor roles.
And just like how the violinist Kwon Jein was supported and acknowledged by everyone, she lost all her family members during the Great Britain Attack.
Nevertheless, they stood their ground and achieved their dreams.
‘The same goes for me and the death match I’m about to enter. There isn’t one contestant on Playlist who doesn’t have their own story.’
Dokgo Miro’s opponent in the death match was the streamer ‘BJ Soybean’ who was also someone who faces challenges without losing against adversity.
At the time of the Seokchon Lake incident.
He lost to a viewer of his stream, so he had to go alone to a theme park run by the Namgungmulsan as a penalty.
As soon as the top team targeting Seokchon Lake’s underwater labyrinth was wiped out and enemies flooded in, he was attacked live on stream while he was chatting with his viewers.
After being seriously injured and fainting, he wasn’t able to stop the broadcast anymore.
The stream recorded the tragedy that took place inside the theme park live.
Because of the incident, the management closed his broadcasting channel, and the streamer was heavily criticized by the public.
‘He can’t handle being a player,’ was the main opinion of the public.
They criticized him for simply broadcasting the tragedy, despite being a player and having the ability to help.
‘BJ Soybean is a player, but he only has little energy wave and ability. He’s not really that strong.’
That streamer player is at the bottom of the list of players when it comes to strength and ability.
The malicious comments toward him didn’t stop.
Still, he didn’t give up on being a streamer.
He posted an apology video and started a new channel where he resumed his activities,
He literally went back to zero.
His theme and content range from his daily life to self-written songs about otherworldly attacks and enemies.
He moved back and forth between singing about reality and the otherworldy, raising awareness and giving people survival strategies.
Over the years, he resurfaced as a popular streamer.
Although his occasional self-composed songs weren’t very popular, his content related to otherworld attacks and the latest information about it received positive reviews from viewers.
He jokingly says that he joined the audition program just to promote his channel, but the passion he puts into his own songs was no joke.
‘…Can I win against him?’
BJ Soybean, the streamer who rose from the dead and became a popular streamer again.
And then there’s Dokgo Miro.
An aspiring idol who refuses to go to school and is neglecting her camera phobia.
It’s already clear to her that she’s the loser in this situation.
Her videos of herself singing the song for the mission weren’t satisfactory no matter how many times she tries to film them.
She has to submit the video by tomorrow, and Dokgo Miro said she’d take the video herself since the video taken by the VJ was no good.
And now.
“Because I want to help the King.”
A suspicious proposal from the suspicious vice president.
* * *
After hearing what I said, Dokgo Miro stared at me silently.
“…”
At some point, she was able to take out an item card.
She held it in her hand.
I don’t know if she’s seriously considering taking out an item card and going for my head when there’s a CCTV recording us.
She put the item card back in her pocket after glancing at the uniform that I was wearing.
“Why?”
“S-so, the King of Back Alleys is…”
“Go straight to the point. Why do you want to help me?”
The King doesn’t like beating around the bush.
“You helped a lot of elementary kids.”
“Did you live in Eungwang District too? Which elementary school did you go to?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
I have never set foot in Eungwang District before I entered Eungwang High.
Of course, I didn’t attend an elementary school in Eungwang District.
But I had a lot of playable characters that live in Eungwang District.
Many of them would’ve lived a peaceful school life thanks to Dokgo Miro’s help.
In fact, I would’ve helped her even if she didn’t do all that, but I don’t think she’d accept my help if I didn’t reveal that I know who she was.
“I’m not from Eungwang District, but I have a lot of acquaintances who are. And not to mention, you saved my classmates once.”
Dokgo Miro started contemplating.
“…I’ll hear you out. What’s your suggestion?”
“It’s faster to just show you.”
She hesitated a little, but she nodded in the end.
* * *
In front of the school gate.
This area usually becomes quiet after classes.
All the students have either left the school, or they’re staying in a building far from the school gate to do their club activities.
But today, there was a group of people moving busily in front of the main gate.
They were the kids from Class Zero who are setting up a temporary stage.
Saeum of April used his flight skills to carry around some luggage and install the decorations made by Min Geurin and Song Daesok.
Kwon Lena was tuning her violin with Mok Wooram, and Maeng Hyodon was carrying a folding chair in front of the stage.
Dokgo Miro, who saw the scene from afar, asked me with a heavy tone.
“Hey. Are you planning on making me do busking right now?”
“Yep.”
“Are you crazy? Don’t you know how many recording devices are installed here?!”
“I switched them all off. Look.”
Dokgo Miro looked around us with her sharp eyes.
And then, she looked puzzled.
“You really did. Everything is really turned off.”
“Yeah. And everyone in our class won’t use one.”
I asked Hwang Jiho to do that in advance.
I also asked my classmates if they wanted to help Dokgo Miro, and they agreed with no hesitation.
“Don’t you know that the assistant PD from last time really got on Chairman Lee’s nerves? Are we allowed to do this in front of the main gate?”
There’s no problem at all.
Because the person who’s behind the stage and connecting the amplifier to the generator is Chairman Lee himself.
“I got permission?”
“From Chairman Lee?”
“Yep.”
“Really? If we get scolded later on, I’m telling on you. Tell me now if you’re lying.”
“It’s fine. If anything happens, just mention my name to Chairman Lee.”
That jerk smiled and said it would be fun to do this, so there isn’t any problem at all.
Dokgo Miro has deep ties to Hani, so he’s showing a favorable attitude toward her.
“…But why are we doing this in front of the main gate?”
“Well, ‘cos you can’t really show what you’ve got inside the school.”
“So why here? There’s a lot of other places to do busking.”
“You should appeal that you’re a student of Eungwang High.”
The most notable asset of Dokgo Miro was that she’s an “active student of Eungwang High” and “the youngest among the contenders.”
At the age of 17, Dokgo Miro was the youngest contestant, and it’s also a positive point that she’s an active student at Eungwang High.
In the show, that fact was always brought up.
The show also makes emphasis of the junior-senior relationship between her and Yeom Junyeol, and they often have scenes together.
Dokgo Miro seemed to be upset that her educational background was one of the biggest things that she can appeal to the public, but she seemed to understand my point.
“You’re okay with having people around, right? You looked at ease last time when we were with our classmates.”
“…But there’s no point if we can’t film it.”
As expected, she doesn’t have a problem with people watching her.
In our generation, recording devices are everywhere, and people can take videos at any time with their own devices.
That’s why she could hardly ever show her trues skills to anyone.
“Then there’s no problem.”
“What do you mean there’s no problem? The number of views on the uploaded video will decide the winner of the death match.”
“I’ll make it so that you can showcase all your skills in this death match.”
Dokgo Miro looked as if she wanted to say “I hope that’s possible.”
After a few moments, Kim Yuri waved at us and called us over.
“Miro! Euishin! Over here!”
Kim Yuri, who was installing the microphone stand, waved her hand.
She ran toward Dokgo Miro with a friendly smile.
“Miro, you know the mission song that you’re going to sing? I prepared MRs for each version, but Wooram strongly recommended a live violin accompaniment by Kwon Lena. Let’s practice some versions.”
“O-oh… Oh?”
Before she knew it, Dokgo Miro had her hand in Kim Yuri’s and she was led up to the stage.
She stood on the not-so-organized stage and held onto the mic.
When all the other kids were looking at Dokgo Miro, I activated my light skill.
<Light skill ‘Player Identity’ activated.>
Just as I practiced, I invoked that character’s ability.
“Lena-nim! Let’s get started!”
“I wish you stop calling me that…”
Lena protested in a small voice, but Mok Wooram just smiled with a pleasing face and put his hand on the electronic keyboard.
Mok Wooram played the piano like a master, and his playing accompanied Kwon Lena’s violin performance.
“W-wait, I’m not ready yet…”
Dokgo Miro hasn’t adapted to the situation yet, but Mok Wooram began to play already.
Soon, the intro of the mission song resonated.
The death match mission song was a drama OST that conquered the music charts last year.
Several singers in various genres made covers including ballads, jazz, and even R&B.
Mok Wooram and Kwon Lena are playing the ballad version.
Dokgo Miro was flustered, but soon grabbed the standing microphone and took a deep breath.
Perhaps it’s because she knows that there aren’t recording devices around and there were only her classmates watching her, her expression looked much more relaxed and stable than what’s being seen on Playlist.
After the intro, Dokgo Miro prepared to sing.
“Wow…!”
Saeum of April, who had just appeared near the stage after flying around, exclaimed and covered his mouth.
Dokgo Miro was singing the song perfectly with the background of the piano and violin.
There was nothing lacking in her voice’s volume, her tone, her breathing technique, and the emotions that she was conveying.
When I sensed that Dokgo Miro wasn’t wary of any cameras anymore, I started to use my skill.
‘This one’s supposed to be a practice…!’
I wondered if a better version could top what’s currently being performed by them.
The violin and piano performance, though still a bit clumsy, perfectly accompanied the beautiful song that Dokgo Miro was singing.
The students who were just about to leave school stopped in their tracks and stared in awe as they watched Dokgo Miro’s performance.
As if she was excited at the thought that she was singing perfectly at the moment, Dokgo Miro was able to reach a high note beautifully.
Wooow!
By the time the performance ended, there were about twenty people, including my classmates, who were watching her.
Dokgo Miro smiled brightly as she received the simple applause and cheers.
“How cool.”
Hwang Jiho also applauded and gave such a comment.
“Jo Euishin, come here once you’re done filming. It was really perfect.”
Although Hwang Jiho doesn’t know exactly where I was, he spoke to me as he looked around.
Fwaaa!
The playable character who’s currently Sung Gukeon’s senior aide and bodyguard was the one I used.
I used the light skill of ‘Invincible Jeon Muyeong’ which was ‘Time Without Shadow’.
When I suddenly appeared in front of Dokgo Miro and said ‘I filmed it,’ she looked completely shocked.
Once I captured the close-up of Dokgo Miro’s surprised face, I stopped recording.
