Gradually, Rayen let go of his ears.
'What did I just hear?'
As though the voice read what was on his mind, it repeated its words. "Dance or disappear?"
"... Isn't this prank a bit too stupid?"
'What do they even mean by dance or disappear? Like hell they could—'
But before Rayen could even finish his thoughts, he heard the woman snap her fingers. Then, the lower half of his body suddenly turned translucent.
"I'm going to count to ten. If you don't move, you will disappear completely."
Rayen's eyes widened as he glanced at the shining jukebox in the corner.
"Ten, nine, eight..."
The color of its light changed every second.
'Wait! What the hell is happening?!'
Looking down again, his eyes repeatedly blinked to ensure that he wasn't seeing things. However, no matter how much he did it, the lower half of his body was still nowhere to be found. He literally wasn't seeing his lower body!
"... Five, four..."
The translucence visibly spread upwards, almost reaching his torso.
'If the count reached zero, what would happen? Will I really disappear?'
This thought sent a chill down his spine.
"W-Wait! Stop! Alright, I'll dance!"
Immediately, the woman stopped counting. "Do it."
As soon as her words reached Rayen's ears, the state of his body returned to normal. He looked down and found his lower body intact again.
His knees buckled in fear and he almost fell on the floor, but he caught himself by leaning on the wall.
'What the...'
Rayen stared at the jukebox once more, goosebumps rising on his skin.
'Is this not a prank? If not, then... it could only be one thing.'
Thinking so, Rayen raised his hand and slapped himself, but the stinging pain was sharp and clear.
"... What are you doing?" the woman's voice asked.
"Is this... not a dream?"
"This isn't a dream."
"B-But..."
Rayen kept staring at the jukebox, his cheek still burning in pain — a reminder that he truly wasn't in a dream.
"When are you going to move? Do you want me to count again?" the woman threatened.
Rayen's heart jumped in fear.
Fortunately, the distorted voice spoke too. "Uh, Director... Don't scare away the participants, please."
"Hmph," she snorted and did not speak more, leaving the distorted voice to guide Rayen.
"Participant Rayen, please proceed with the assessment."
It took Rayen a while to move. Walking toward the jukebox, he glowered at the hateful yet scary words on the screen.
[Please select a song to dance.]
He gritted his teeth as he scrolled through the list of songs. Finally, his fingers tapped on a song with a title that was the most familiar to him.
[Now playing: Chocolate Cake]
Immediately, the music played from the speakers of the jukebox. The screen also changed. Instead of showing the lyrics of the song, animated stickmen showed the steps for him.
'What's this? Must Dance?'
Despite his internal struggles, Rayen still followed the steps shown on the screen. However, after just the first step, he already made a blunder.
When he saw that the stick man raised its right hand, Rayen followed his instinct and raised his left.
Beeeep!
The screen showed a large red 'x', covering the entirety of it, as though telling Rayen of his incompetence.
'Eeek! I'm sorry!'
Rayen continued moving despite his fear, correcting his posture. However, it was too late. This caused another large 'x' on the screen.
When the stickman swayed its hip, Rayen was just about to raise his arm. When the stickman raised its arm, he was just about to sway his hips. Thankfully, he was able to follow the stickman in turning its body around.
The moves were repeated, simple and beginner-friendly, but the only step Rayen was able to follow correctly was the part when the stickman turned around.
After one minute, the song finally ended. However, Rayen also felt like his existence was on the verge of ending.
'If somebody else saw me like this...'
He really wouldn't know what to do.
'My career would be in shambles...'
Just as he was thinking this, the sound of applause came from the jukebox.
"Yey~ you finished dancing."
Once again, the corners of Rayen's mouth twitched.
'Are they celebrating that I finally stopped dancing?'
Of course, he didn't get any answer to his question. Instead, the scene on the screen changed, showing him his grade.
[Dancing: D]
"....."
Well, it's not that he expected anything about it, but he still couldn't help gulping in nervousness.
Now that he scored this low, will he get any punishment?
Rayen stared straight at the screen and waited for its verdict. His palms were wet with sweat as he clenched them into a fist.
However, his expectations were wrong when, in the blink of an eye, the screen changed to a different interface. The jukebox earlier had suddenly turned into a slot machine.
"One of your skills reached the expert zone! Tap to claim your prize."
'Prize?'
Rayen blinked in confusion, but he still did what it asked.
'I hope it's not something like dying all of a sudden.'
The slot machine rolled rapidly before finally settling on three identical images: a sack. At the center of the sack, there was a drawing of a plant inside a shoe.
[Congratulations, you won a Dance Fertilizer!]
Just as when he was wondering what the hell a Dance Fertilizer was, an object suddenly appeared in front of him — a parchment. His pupils constricted as the parchment landed on his palm. The exact image on the slot machine was printed on its surface, and under it was a bunch of words.
Rayen read it.
[Dance Fertilizer: The Overseer of Scribes found an interesting page from a life book of a famous choreographer who had an epiphany about the art of dancing. The Overseer copied the page, ground it to dust, and mixed it with a special compost.
Effect:
• Fertile Ground - Dance experience gain ×2
• Choreographer's Epiphany - Using it on a Seed will make the Seed experience the same epiphany the famous choreographer had. It's up to the Seed's capability to absorb the nutrients!
Duration: 7 days
Type: Consumable (Booster)
Price: 10,000 MC]
'What the hell is this?'
Despite reading its description, Rayen was confused. The words seemed understandable on their own, but when put together, it was hard to comprehend. Just like math equations.
'If I use this, will my dance immediately improve?'
The first effect seems to say otherwise,. It seemed like it's for his long-term growth instead of an immediate improvement.
Of course, any improvement is welcome for Rayen. Why would he be choosy with the state of his current dance skills?
But the second one...
'What's even a Seed? What does the epiphany do to it?'
Also, he didn't know how to use it. Since it was said to be a fertilizer, why was he even given this page instead of a sack?
And what the hell is with this place? Why did he suddenly end up here?
'Was I kidnapped?'
There were too many questions in his mind, yet, he was afraid to ask. What if he asked the wrong question and the impatient woman suddenly made him disappear?
"You have completed the assessment, Participant Rayen. Please head out to the main lobby."
The moment the distorted voice said that, Rayen heard metal clanging behind him. Glancing in its direction, he saw the white wall parting, paving a path out of this cramped room.
There's finally an exit.
Rayen glanced at the jukebox once more. However, its light had already dimmed. It seemed like the owner of the voice was no longer watching him.
With that, he walked out of the room. What welcomed him was a spacious lobby with an unmanned front desk standing at the corner. Rayen glanced around, examining his surroundings.
Just then, another door appeared on his right side. Rayen turned in its direction and was greeted by another man whose eyes were covered in dark circles as if he hadn't slept in a month.
The two's eyes met.
With a curious gaze, the man adjusted his glasses as he stared at Rayen. "'Sup?"
Rayen did not respond. At the same time, a door appeared again, this time, opposite their direction. The two glanced at it, but then, another door popped out. Then another one. Side by side, multiple doors simultaneously opened, revealing other people on the other side of the wall.
Men and women, adults and children all stared at each other. A total of 50 people stood around the lobby.
When there was no space left on the wall for any door to appear, a cubic screen suddenly came down from the ceiling, accompanied by more speakers. Rayen shifted his attention toward it, where a person was currently being projected on its four surfaces.
"Welcome, welcome~" the person greeted with the familiar distorted voice. "I'm today's host. You can call me Mr. Plotter!"
He introduced himself as a mister, but what a shame, he was a total beauty. Although his face was androgynous, he still could have easily passed as a girl.
However, it wasn't all a shame. Even though he had a charming face, his expression wasn't charming at all. His large eyes held a contemptuous glint and his lips were raised into a creepy grin. He wore weird clothes too.
Plotter's grin grew wider. "Are you ready for the next segment?"