"Encore! Encore! Encore!"
The fans below the stage screamed repeatedly. Yet, before Rayen could even raise his hands and open his mouth to respond, a sudden gunshot reverberated in the entire venue.
Bang!
Everything went black.
When he woke up again, the first thing he saw wasn't the familiar crowd nor the familiar concert venue. The only thing before him was a strange modern jukebox.
The corners of the jukebox were shining in different colors, and on its screen, there was a line written:
[Please select a song to sing.]
The words seemed to be inviting him.
"... Where am I?"
With a frown, he tried to look around, but when he moved his head, a blinding pain suddenly assaulted him. He staggered, almost falling to the floor. Fortunately, a table caught him, preventing him from hurting himself.
"O-Oww..." he groaned while massaging his head.
When the pain faded, Rayen moved his head again. He had learned his mistake earlier and only slowly moved it. At the same time, his hand touched something cold and flat. After looking down to see what it was, he found his phone.
Quickly, he grabbed it.
'I should call the manager...'
Rayen unlocked his phone with his fingerprint, but his brows quickly furrowed.
'Where are the apps? Is this really even my phone?'
With a quick turnover, he determined that it was the same brand and design as his. Besides, if it wasn't his, why would it even turn on using his fingerprints?
Almost everything inside it had been wiped out, including his apps and contacts. Aside from a single app icon called Idol:Revive on the home screen and the basic default applications, nothing else could be found at all.
Now, he had no idea how to even call his manager. There was also no reception inside this room to connect to the internet.
After a while of scowling, Rayen also realized something else.
'Wait... Argh! My games!'
His heart totally broke. During his busy career as a main vocalist of a very busy rising band, one of his hobbies was playing mobile games. He could entertain himself whenever, wherever, which his bandmates often complained about. But now, everything is gone.
'Don't tell me they deleted it!!!'
Incensed, Rayen stood up and examined the room he was in. It was stark white.
Aside from the jukebox, the table, and his phone, there was nothing else in here, so his eyes eventually fell toward the jukebox again.
The same text still hovered in its monitor.
[Please select a song to sing.]
'Where the hell am I? Are they pulling a prank on me?'
But deleting all the data in his phone was too much for a prank!
Although Rayen wanted to curse out, he still maintained his composure, a skill he learned during his time as a rising celebrity.
Rayen turned toward the only objects in this room. There might be some clues hidden in these things.
He approached the jukebox and examined it with a scowl. Just then, he spotted a small hole at the center of its roof.
'As expected...'
There was a camera.
Rayen crossed his arms and stared straight at the camera.
As though the people behind this ruse sensed that they'd been found out, a distorted voice suddenly sounded from the jukebox.
"Ehem. Ehem. Participant Rayen, please select a song to sing."
"Sing?" Rayen raised one of his brows.
'They even used a voice changer, huh?'
"Yes, yes. Please sing," the voice said with an ingratiating tone.
Rayen pursed his lips.
'You think I'll play along with your games?'
However, after a few moments of more thinking, he sighed inwardly.
'If I don't do it, I might be labeled as uncooperative. But what the hell is this prank? A vocalist being asked to sing, really? Can't they be more creative?'
After taking the microphone hanging at the side of the jukebox, Rayen stared at the screen again. A long list of songs had already replaced the message prompting him to select a song.
He browsed through the list with his eyes and finally selected one.
It was his own song.
The music immediately played after being selected. Rayen raised the microphone to his lips, and as the song began, he opened his mouth, singing exactly on cue.
"Say my name.
Say that it's me~"
When Rayen finished singing, he wasn't even out of breath. He stared at the screen, waiting for its verdict.
The verdict also didn't disappoint him.
"Congratulations, you're a great singer~" the distorted voice said along with the sound of applause.
'Of course, that's how I make my living.'
Rayen looked at the jukebox as if its praise was beneath him.
Its cheers were also not over yet. As the applause faded in the background, the distorted voice announced his grade, its tone overly friendly.
"Tentententen~"
[Vocals: S]
'It's not numerical?'
Rayen expected that he might get at least 95 if not 100, but his expectations were actually off the mark.
'What's with this scoring system?'
Nevertheless, his grade still satisfied him.
In games, S was definitely the highest rank there was — if the developer was not some sort of psycho and added more S and plus to it.
'So, is this done?'
Knowing that he didn't make a blunder for himself during this prank, Rayen grew relaxed. However, it seemed like the prank wasn't yet over.
[Please select a song to rap.]
"Huh? Rap?"
The corners of Rayen's mouth twitched as he gazed at the camera.
'You think I can't rap?'
Without a second delay, Rayen once again chose another song. This time, he chose a different artist's song and rapped it with all his might.
His mouth moved like a machine gun without even a second beat late. He also never seemed to run out of breath and continued to roll his tongue until he reached the end of the song.
Once again, when he finished, he glanced at the camera victoriously.
'How's that?'
"You're also a great rapper~" The sound of applause came right after the compliment.
Rayen was greatly satisfied with it.
Yet, when the score was shown, the smile on his lips disappeared.
[Rap: B-]
'Only B-? Are you joking with me?'
How was it only a B-?
'I'm pretty sure I did well rapping that song.'
"Can I go again?" Rayen asked.
"Go ahead."
Upon getting permission, Rayen chose the same rap song again and sang it with all his might. Yet, the result was still the same.
[Rap: B-]
"Your jukebox seems to be malfunctioning," Rayen complained.
"No, it's working fine."
The corners of Rayen's mouth twitched.
'So, what you're saying is that my rapping skills are only worth a B-?'
That sounded like an insult!
'No, I can't accept this insult.'
Just as Rayen was about to go for another rapping round, the words on the screen changed again.
[Please select a song to dance.]
Reading this, Rayen froze in place, his expression instantly stiffening.
"... They've finally shown their true colors," he whispered to himself.
Then, right under the camera's gaze, Rayen turned around.
"Uh, Participant Rayen, where are you going?" the distorted voice asked, utterly confused by Rayen's actions.
But Rayen ignored the question and walked away. His hands scanned the white walls, looking for the door out.
"Participant Rayen?" the distorted voice called again.
However, Rayen only continued to ignore it.
Who the hell wants to dance?!
'I knew it! This must really be some kind of prank! First, you lure me into displaying my talents, but then you suddenly slap me with my own weakness! They want to ruin my image!'
Rayen complained in his mind while ignoring the voice calling for him.
'How despicable!'
They must have been waiting for this chance to come all along. But he wasn't some fool to do it. If he did, his entire career might go down!
After all, he couldn't dance!
Actually, the term "couldn't dance" was seemingly not enough of a description for his dancing skills. If his dancing was broadcast on the internet, for sure, he might be labeled as the godly singer who couldn't dance.
[ADRIFT's Rayen: 100% singer, 0% dancer!]
Not only that. His bandmates would surely make this joke run for an entire year.
Rayen shook his head to disperse these thoughts.
'Never. Never. I'm going out of this place!'
As he said that, he continued looking for the door. It might be somewhere. There might be some mechanisms hidden somewhere in this wall just like that hidden camera.
His hands felt for some buttons on the wall, but he found nothing.
Just then...
Screeeeech!
Rayen covered his ears as soon as that sound filled the whole room and pierced his eardrums. While on the verge of staggering, he glanced back at the jukebox where the sound was coming from.
A few moments later, the sound finally stopped. However, Rayen's head was already spinning from the pain.
'My ears...'
Glaring at the jukebox, he waited for the distorted voice to speak again. Yet, the voice that spoke next was different.
"Participant Rayen."
Unlike the distorted voice, the tone of this one was sharper, and it clearly belonged to a woman.
The woman's voice continued, "Are you going to select a song, or do you want me to make you disappear?"