The scene stupefied everyone. No one was able to move for a while, not until the spotlight of doom moved to choose its next target.
The spotlight was just like a reaper's scythe. Whoever falls under it will be ended.
At last, after a few seconds, the scythe pointed to another participant. The participant's knees buckled in fear and collapsed on the floor.
"S-Spare me... I don't want to disappear," he murmured.
He was not far from Rayen who stood still at his place.
Just then, the guy with the glasses beside Rayen spoke. "If you don't get up now, you will really disappear."
The scared sacrifice turned his head toward him, his face was almost on the verge of tearing up. He looked pitiful as hell, but there was no one else in this room who could help him.
While the two stared at each other, the sacrifice was able to gather his courage and stand up. Slowly, he went up the stage under the gaze of everyone in the lobby.
"Format?" Plotter asked.
"S-Separate."
Afterwards, he chose the song he would sing first.
As expected, due to anxiety, his voice kept trembling, and he was unable to hold his song well. The moment he made a mistake and his voice cracked, his face went as white as a sheet.
That was the beginning of his even more terrible performance. His facial expressions never recovered even after his dance performance started. On stage, it looked like the audience needed to deliver him a toilet, fearing that he might suddenly puke.
After the heart-rending performance, Rayen's attention, as well as the others', shifted toward the screen.
One.
"N-NOOO—!"
His screams were abruptly cut as his entire body disappeared from everyone's sight. With just one blink, there were no more signs of him ever standing onstage.
Afterwards, three more participants were sent to the reaper's platform. But just like the first two, they failed to acquire at least three sponsorships. The scene of their disappearance was deeply engraved on Rayen's mind.
'I really need to do something now.'
As the spotlight stopped on the fifth performer, Rayen focused once again to figure out how to use the Dance Fertilizer in his hand.
Scanning it with the camera didn't do anything. He also couldn't install any other scanner without internet reception at all.
Then, the only option would be to open that strange application called Idol:Revive.
Rayen tapped it with his fingers, but it didn't launch right away.
[Gathering data...]
By the time the fifth performer failed, the app was still stuck at the loading page.
Five out of fifty people in the lobby had already performed, and five over fifty had also disappeared.
"Next."
As soon as Plotter spoke, the lights all turned off except for the spotlight of doom. With grim expressions and bated breaths, everyone's eyes followed the light as it swept through the crowd.
One second later, it stopped above the guy with glasses beside Rayen. Despite the pale light of doom hanging above him, he remained calm.
"Hmm... So it's my turn."
After stepping forward, he removed his glasses with his hand. Just then, the people around Rayen gasped as they stared at the guy whose glasses had been removed.
"Oh my..."
"Whoa..."
'What's wrong with them?'
Soon after, the guy with glasses climbed onto the stage. Rayen was now able to witness what the others did before. He couldn't believe what he saw, though.
'... Are they even the same person?'
Back when Rayen stood face to face with him while he still had his glasses on, he definitely looked like he had been chucked out of the sun's reach. Yet, this person before them clearly had a different demeanor. Now, he seemed like a fruit freshly plucked from its tree, ready to be served on the market.
"Yum..." Rayen heard someone say among the crowd.
The corners of Rayen's mouth twitched.
'Is this what you call the legendary magical girl transformation? Oh, he's a guy. So, magical boy?'
"Format," the distorted voice asked.
With a charming smile, Glasses Guy answered, "Simultaneous."
Immediately after he chose the song he would perform, he struck a confident starting pose. Then, before everyone, he winked.
Mental attack: launched!
"Ack!" One female participant staggered and clutched her chest.
"You, my lady
Whenever you're with me..."
Once he turned to another direction, he sent another attack.
"Whaa..."
Double kill!
"Oops, I'm sorry
My heart is going faulty"
Whenever and wherever he turned around, he would launch several attacks, sending the hearts of every female in the lobby racing. It was as if his gaze could induce a heart attack.
By the time the performance ended, every girl had already melted to the floor. Rayen watched as the guy proudly concluded his massacre while putting his glasses back.
Instantly, his demeanor changed back to its former state.
'This is definitely witchcraft.'
Glasses guy stared at the screen and waited for the results of his performance.
[6]
"Pass."
The guy smirked and left the stage in victory.
'He actually passed...'
He was the first participant to ever pass the audition stage.
As he made his way to the area reserved for the participants who passed, the other guys in the room stared blankly at him, and then at the girls who had collapsed on the floor. And as if they found the light, they shifted their determined gazes back to the ceiling, waiting for the spotlight of doom to land on them with newfound hope.
The next performer was another male participant. After stepping onto the stage, he boldly declared his format and song choice.
Using the same strategy, the performer sang and danced simultaneously. At the same time, he would gaze everywhere and send a wink in that direction. The performer even leveled it up by biting his lips.
When the performer turned to Rayen with swollen red lips from the continuous biting, the corners of Rayen's mouth twitched.
"....."
He looked away, unable to take in the sight anymore.
Surprisingly, the guy did pass with three sponsorships.
'Was the strategy really that effective?'
Thinking like this, the next performer also tried it, leveling the performance up another notch by adding some body roll.
And then, he passed.
'... It's truly effective.'
Were the sponsors behind the screen that thirsty for this kind of show?
However, the next performer proved them wrong. After leveling the performance by adding a twerk, they still failed. Well, how could he not fail when he did it with such an ugly face?
But because of this, the rising atmosphere stalled and returned to its previous tense state.
'Did they get tired of that trope?'
Once again, the light of doom descended on the heads of the remaining participants that haven't performed yet.
Rayen checked his phone, but it was still stuck on the loading page.
Eventually, the spotlight stopped. Everyone's gaze turned toward the person the spotlight landed on. At the same time, the phone in Rayen's hand vibrated.
[Data gathering complete. Status Window launching...]
Meanwhile, Rayen stared at it and then looked above him, where he was almost blinded by the light.