Chapter 16: Blind Geon in [Cap-Teen-Vating]

[Temporary Blindness].

It's a debuff; a curse.

The moment it was applied on Geon, his sense of seeing immediately disappeared.

He sees nothing-- it was as if he had no eyes.

It was irritating.

The new [System Window] is trash.

Geon sighed.

But who was he again?

An elite from the fallen organization [Family].

A former gangster.

A, "product", trained from the most basic survival techniques, to the hardest fighting moves.

He had experienced fighting allies and enemies with all of his senses blocked many times before.

A small smirk formed on his lips.

The [System Window] he had back when he was still a member of [Family], was like a double-edged sword.

The rewards it gave were all of the highest qualities of skills, knowledges, and objects.

On the other hand, Geon would get the most gruesome, hardest, and painful punishments whenever he failed to reach the old [System Window]'s standards.

But what is this?

The new [System Window] turned out to be just a baby if compared to the old one.

The rewards it gave before were all unimportant, while the punishment it gave to Geon just now, was easy to conquer.

'Fucker.' Geon smirked to himself.

Ding!

He heard the sound of a floating screen popping out from the air, but he wasn't able to know what it contained.

After all, he couldn't see anything.

'What could it be?' Geon asked internally.

Just then...

"Now, I'm going to tell you what group you belong into based on your ranking. Reminders, this is only the beginning. Don't be discouraged if the quality of the group you got did not reach your expectation. You have plenty of enough time to improve and rank up." Kang Sejin started.

"There will be 5 groups in total. The highest-valued group is called [5 Stars], while the lowest is [1 Star]." He continued.

"Trainees ranked from 1st to 10th will be the members of the group [5 Stars]." Kang Sejin revealed with a calm expression, his words earned mixed reactions from the trainees.

"Oh my goodness!"

"What do I do now?"

"[5 Star] only have 10 members?"

"Maybe the lower the quality of the group, the higher the quantity of its members...?"

"Rank 11th to 26th will belong to the group [4 Stars]. Trainees ranked 27th to 47th will be placed in the group 3rd group which is the [3 Stars]." Kang Sejin continued.

"I'm dead."

"I'm saved... Huhu..."

"Mom, I'm sorry!"

The cameramen never failed to capture the reactions of each trainees.

There were even some cameras put on some parts of the huge statue of the half-opened books where the trainees' seat were placed.

"The group [4 Stars] will composed of trainees ranked 48th to 73th." The whole studio went silent at Kang Sejin's words.

"The ranks I didn't mention would all go to the group [1 Star]."

Boom!

The trainees felt a pang in their hearts.

Those ranked from 74th to 87 either cried, or spaced out.

Trainees ranked in higher levels either felt a huge weight in their shoulders, or felt happiness in their hearts.

Some of the middle-ranked trainees were relieved, while became more determined to debut.

And Geon?

Song Jeongin, who looked numb as ever, took a glace at the littke tuna.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he tried to process the sight in front of him.

Geon was nodding his head at Kang Sejin's words as if he was really listening.

But his said otherwise.

Song Jeongin's confusion just deepened the longer he stared at Geon.

This trainee was unfocused!

He acted as if he was paying attention to Kang Sejin's lines when in reality, he was just staring at the right side of the stage.

'What is he looking at?' Song Jeongin thought as he followed the direction of Geon's gaze.

The little tuna was staring at nothing in particular.

'Is he spacing out?' Song Jeongin thought.

"Here's the visual version of what I said." A simple chart flashed on the huge screen behind Kang Sejin.

[Rank 1-10: [5 Stars] (10 Trainees)

Rank 11-26: [4 Stars] (15 Trainees)

Rank 27-47: [3 Stars] (20 Trainees)

Rank 48-73: [2 Stars] (25 Trainees)

Rank 74-87 [1 Star] (13 Trainees)]

"As you look at these, I'll explain more about [Cap-Teen-Vating]." Kang Sejin went back to being friendly and cheerful.

But his eyes glinted with an unexplainable coldness.

"[Cap-Teen-Vating] is a survival show hosted by one of the two greatest companies in the entertainment industry; [Arkhe Entertainment] and [KNet]. It was designed to bring life to countless trainees' dreams from different agencies. Its 1st Season was planned to have 12 episodes. Agencies who were willing to send their trainees to participate were welcomed-- even the individual trainees. [Cap-Teen-Vating]'s goal is to debut a 7-member group that will last for 2 years and five months." Kang Sejin explained.

"I really wish I could debut..."

"This is actually a great way to promote."

"I'm ready!"

"Sususu, blah blah blah blah..."

The trainees quietly discussed with each other.

"[Cap-Teen-Vating]'s major theme is..." Kang Sejin made an 'L' on each of his hands using his thumbs and index finger.

He did the 'taking-a-picture' post in front of the trainees.

"Camera...?"

"Picture-taking?"

"Models?"

"Camera." Kang Sejin completed his sentence.

The trainees started to gossip with each other again.

"You participated into this survival show to captivate the people-- to make them your fans. You show them how captivating a teenager like you. How your skills and charms age like fine wine. All of these will be showed in [Cap-Teen-Vating]." Kang Sejin smiled at the camera in front of him.

'As if.' Geon snorted in his mind.

'I'm pretty sure that this survival show would be filled with nothing but dramas, and tensions.' He betted.

"I will tell you the second theme of [Cap-Teen-Vating]." Kang Sejin's words earned gasps and whispers from the trainees.

"There's a second theme?"

"Bro, is that normal or not?"

"The second theme of this survival show is..." A live picture of a simple-looking book appeared on the huge screen behind Kang Sejin.

"A book?"

"Stories?"

'These fuckers really know marketing.' Geon cursed internally.

Ding!

He heard that sound again.

'Fuck!' Geon cursed in irritation.

He couldn't see what was written on the floating screen that had just arrived.

'The audacity...'