CHAPTER 29: THERE’S A TRAINEE WHO DOESN’T WANT TO BE AN IDOL

Joshua denounced Luther harshly: "I deserved the beating already, and now you’re scolding me too!"

As he spoke, he shook his head violently, raising both hands to pry Luther’s away from his hair. But against Luther, his strength was nothing more than a kitten’s scratch, which only made Luther rub even harder.

Ultimately, things returned to their routine: "I’m sorry, I was just joking! You’re hurting me, I’m still a patient, you know! If you keep rubbing like that, I’ll go bald!"

Only then did Luther let go of Joshua’s hair, casually remarking, "You won’t go bald. You’ve got plenty of hair."

Joshua huffed coldly, muttering, "I want to go home, okay?"

Luther looked at him seriously and said, "You had a fever all day and night. You almost kicked the bucket, do you even realize that? I wonder how you danced on stage with that leg."

"There won’t be a next time." Joshua clasped Luther’s hand, lowering his head slightly as he said softly.

Luther’s eye twitched. "Don’t act spoiled!"

Joshua: "..."

He immediately leaned against Luther, pressing his whole body onto him. Tilting his head up to meet Luther’s gaze, he pursed his lips, raised his brows slightly, and his eyes shimmered faintly with tears.

Luther’s jaw dropped. Cute... no, impossible. A guy couldn’t be pretty. Yet Joshua was obviously cute. Yes—Joshua was different.

Joshua suddenly jabbed Luther in the side and sneered, "Ha, stupid Luther!"

Luther: "... you’re not cute at all!"

He clutched his stomach—though it didn’t hurt—but he always put on that act in front of Joshua.

Joshua pouted, refusing to pay him any attention.

In the end, Joshua still completed the discharge procedure. The doctor prescribed medicine, warned him not to run or jump, to be careful of infections and such, and only then let him go.

Watching Joshua hobble on crutches, Luther frowned and said, "I could carry you, it’d be faster."

Joshua shook his head. "No need."

Luther began boasting about his "achievement": "And you dare say you don’t need it. You have no idea how fast I was running that day—it felt as if I joined the Olympics, the gold medal would definitely be mine!"

Joshua ignored Luther’s bragging; he was talking to Nine.

[This place is pretty good. I haven’t considered the price yet, but the security and services are convenient. We can temporarily rent this before you manage to buy a villa.] Nine said seriously.

Joshua couldn’t help but laugh. "You’ve already thought about buying a villa?"

Nine sounded a little excited: [The mission is complete. With the amount of parallel you currently have, buying a villa is no problem, but I want to live in Castle!]

Joshua: "...feels like becoming a billionaire at seventeen will kill me."

Nine teased: [No need to get too worked up.]

No, Joshua felt like Nine was the one getting worked up.

Joshua and Luther separated and sat in the car. Joshua took the chance to scroll through his phone, while Nine kept talking nonstop:

[Your performance last time was outstanding. Many people adore you. I’m sure you have a full chance to crush Leonard! Although the situation was tense, you managed and handled your expressions perfectly! The fans didn’t notice anything unusual and were utterly captivated by you!]

After a pause, he added: [And that last part you spun around, and sprang up—absolutely insane! Someone with your talent shouldn’t be locked away at home, letting yourself look all sloppy like that!]

Nine asked, though it sounded more like a provoking remark.

Joshua lowered his eyes and spoke softly: "Some things happened that made me feel life isn’t meaningful..."

Nine felt something was off, but seeing Joshua’s sad expression, he quickly changed the subject: [Alright, the system sent alerts continuously while you were in a coma. Check your Personal Panel!]

Joshua nodded and opened his Personal Panel. Inside, he saw that the second mission had already been completed. At the same time, a pop-up appeared before him:

[Confirm using All-rounder x1? Yes or No?]

Joshua chose Yes without hesitation.

Immediately, his information panel transformed and appeared before his eyes:

[Personal Panel

Name: Joshua Adonis

Age: 17

Height: 173

Sing: B (80/160)

Dance: A (20/320)

Rap: C (0/80)

Visual: ???]

Nine raised his voice: [Keep practicing, you’ll get even better!]

Joshua nodded, the corner of his mouth curling slightly. "I definitely will."

[Fame points: 6780]

His fame points continued to rise hour by hour, sometimes fast, sometimes slow.

Joshua couldn’t help but murmur, "That’s a lot..." He felt as if all the fame points had turned into parallel lines in his eyes—so many...

[It’s fine. At the end of the month, I’ll withdraw 50%, and then it’ll be less. That’s why you need to work hard.] Nine said casually.

Joshua raised an eyebrow. "You didn’t mention this at first."

Nine chuckled coldly: [Well, at that time you hadn’t earned any points yet, I didn’t want to pressure you!]

Joshua said nothing.

At that moment, another pop-up appeared before him:

[To activate the next mission and receive additional rewards, please answer the following question!

In Room 202, a trainee doesn’t want to be an idol. Who is it?

Time limit: 10 days]

Joshua stared at the question, his gaze deep and contemplative.

A trainee... who doesn’t want to become an idol?

"Buddy, we’re here."

The taxi had stopped. Joshua paid and got out.

For now, he put the mission aside—he needed a break. Joshua looked at the apartment building before him and thought to himself.

[Hey, do you even know how to spend money?]

Nine suddenly shouted, watching Joshua constantly place orders in the Store.

As mentioned, the Store had everything, even regular items at a 1:1 rep price like outside.

Joshua couldn’t conveniently go out to buy things, so he happily placed orders online.

Hearing Nine yell from the side, he quietly muttered: "He’s just worried I’ll spend too much and not have much left to withdraw at the end of the month."

Nine: [...] he snorted coldly.

Joshua continued, "Besides, everything I buy is essential. Do you want me to suffer? If I’m miserable, I won’t have the energy—and without energy, I can’t complete missions!"

Nine felt this was not right—after all, Joshua shouldn’t be like this.

Joshua said, "If the system had a concept of marriage, then you definitely wouldn’t get a wife!"

Nine: [Buy whatever you want!]

With that, Nine immediately ran off to browse the web, determined to ignore Joshua.

But after scrolling through over a hundred images of anime girls with thick thighs and cup H chests, he was still furious!

[The Wolf Doesn’t Eat Meat]: I’m just managing spending rationally, and he says I’m afraid he’ll spend all his money! And then he says I’ll never get a wife! So infuriating!

[I hate veggies]: Is that the Wolf’s roommate?

[Love is X]: Usually, people who say things like this will end up loving you—or already do!

[Today eat curry]: Ever since Foby, X sees love everywhere, huh? She should change her name.

Nine thought that this person was quite right, but also felt X was right too—after all, he’s so perfect, it’s understandable that Joshua would be unintentionally moved.

No matter how Joshua and Nine bickered, time passed quickly and the time had come for Shining Path to announce the rankings and decide who would leave and stay!