[Hey, are you okay? Don't you dare die on me. I told you — if you can't do it, don't overdo it. I can't save you. This medicine is for weight loss, not resurrection...]
Nine began nagging again, and even Joshua's weak breaths were forced back to life by it.
He forced himself up, enduring the trembling in his legs, and said quietly, "I'm not dead."
Besides, though tired, he had been running with breaks—he wasn't completely unable to move.
Finally, Joshua dragged himself to a noodle shop. Ignoring the stares, fully aware of how filthy and disheveled he must look, he quickly finished a bowl and returned to his tiny rented room.
The room smelled musty; even after a quick tidy, it still carried a long-standing, hard-to-wash odor.
"Nine, can't you do some magic or something? Like snap your fingers and make everything clean?" Joshua suggested.
[I'm an Idol System, not a cleaning system! What an insult!]
Joshua laughed. "Sorry about that."
Nine felt Joshua wasn't sincere, but couldn't prove it.
Joshua flopped onto the only mattress in the room. It looked ancient—the original color unrecognizable—but it didn't matter. For the first time, his mood was unbelievably good.
Only now did everything feel real... a new world, not tied down on a laboratory table. He could run, breathe fresh air!
Nine looked at the stupid grin on Joshua's face and once more doubted his host's intelligence score.
But that's fine—the more useless the host, the bigger the buff it would become, and the dear readers would see who the real protagonist truly was!
Unaware of Nine's inner thoughts, Joshua pulled a vial-like bottle from his pocket. Inside was a colorless, odorless liquid — the product of his day's work.
He swallowed instinctively.
He didn't fully trust Nine either; Nine's motives were vague. But he'd come this far and wanted to live — to live well.
Joshua shut his eyes and downed the whole vial in one gulp.
Gulp!
One second, two, three...
The air remained strangely still. A few seconds later, Joshua asked suspiciously, "Why isn't anything happening?"
Nine, sighing, replied: "Everything needs time. Go to sleep."
Joshua: "..." thinking it was a scam.
His skepticism must have shown plainly on his chubby face, because Nine immediately shrieked: [Are you doubting me? Are you doubting me?! We're teammates on the same ship — don't you know what trust is?! You're not worthy of me, you faithless, ungrateful traitor!]
Joshua: "... so, do I have to become an actor later on?"
[ Cough, of course you do. You'll need to earn as much fame as possible—the more famous, the better. ]
Joshua finally understood why Nine liked acting so much. Nine wanted to do the missions even more than he did—if only it had a human body instead of just being a system.
That night was definitely a sleepless one.
Joshua wasn't used to this new body yet and was too excited. Luckily, Nine assumed his excitement came from suddenly activating the system and went on an endless narcissistic rant about himself.
The first rays of sunlight filtered through the narrow vent. Joshua opened his eyes groggily—then instantly recoiled in horror at his own state. A foul stench hit him so hard he nearly vomited on the spot.
He looked down to see his arms and legs covered in some strange black substance, reeking as if out of a novel scene.
Frowning, he hurried into the bathroom.
Wiping the steam off the mirror, Joshua saw his reflection clearly—and was stunned. Half the fat on his body had been stripped away overnight.
The young man in the mirror was still a bit chubby, but nowhere near the off-putting sight from the day before.
[ Well? Pretty impressive. Just keep completing missions and there'll be even more surprises. ]
Nine's voice suddenly rang out.
But Joshua was focused on something else. "Wait... are you spying on me showering?"
Nine: [ ! ]
[ Who do you think you are?! Who'd want to spy on you showering? There's nothing but fat! I like pretty girls, pretty girls, you hear me?! ]
Nine had always longed for beautiful girls to scream for it. Besides, from the neck down, Joshua's body was censored in mosaic, so even if it wanted to, it couldn't see anything. Not that it wanted to look in the first place!
"Actually, it's fine if you do. We're both men anyway," Joshua said casually.
This time, however, Nine wasn't so agreeable:
[Even between men, you should be cautious! Especially since you'll be an idol—keep your body safe! No nudity! If your idol career goes down the drain, this whole world might as well collapse with you!]
Joshua: "Alright then, I'll only go nude for you."
Nine's nagging cut off instantly. Joshua didn't care; he enjoyed the sudden peace.
His body felt incredibly light compared to yesterday—like he had truly been reborn.
He searched for information about this world online, only to be shocked. The political systems, nations, and structures were the same as those in his old world.
A single continent, divided into countries and territories just as before.
He was in the Kingdom of Celestia, the central and most significant territory of the continent.
At this time, the entertainment industry was buzzing in preparation for a national program—not only creating waves in Celestia but also gaining international attention.
[ Shining Path, a survival show produced by CM Broadcasting in collaboration with the Atius Group and backed by multiple investors. It will officially launch on April 15, just two days from now. Don't worry. I have already applied for you! ]
Nine suddenly popped up with a barrage of words that made Joshua jump: "You applied to me? When exactly did that happen?"
[Right when I got here. Don't worry. I edited your photo a little, and the rest of the sections are all polished. I knew this was the only show you'd be looking for anyway, so I submitted it for you to save time. And don't worry about not getting accepted—shows like this usually don't have enough trainees. Plus, they'll pick people who bring topics for the show. A chubby guy who dreams of becoming an idol—heavens, what a hot topic! They probably already have anti-fans lined up for you!]
Joshua: "..." Was that even human speech? Then again, Nine wasn't human.
"Show me the application," Joshua said.
[Don't you want to see the Personal Panel first? After you completed your first side mission, we unlocked the panel that shows all your personal stats!]
Until now, Nine hadn't mentioned anything like that—the side mission only stated there wouldn't be punishment for failing. As Nine said, the more actively he completed missions, the more surprises awaited him.
"Fine, let's look at both at the same time."
Five minutes later, Joshua deeply regretted that Nine didn't have a physical body—otherwise, he could've vented his anger properly instead of bottling it up like this!
"You wrote that I can Sing, Dance, and Rap?! Do you m some kind of all-round idol?! Want to hear me sing, you wretched thing?!"
But Nine wasn't backing down either: [Who would've thought you were this bad, Sing—Grade F--! Do you know why there are two minus signs? Because the system doesn't have a Grade G!]
Both of them were furious enough at each other to choke.
Joshua never expected Nine to exaggerate his talents that much in the application, while Nine never expected Joshua's Personal Panel to contain stats so utterly atrocious!
[Personal Panel
Name: Joshua Adonis
Age: 17
Height: 173
Sing: F--
Dance: A
Rap: F
Visual: ???]
Nine felt like its head was about to catch fire—though it didn't even have a head. Just look at this! Among all the required stats, only Dance was remotely presentable. It was even better than expected; usually, an average person's Dance would only be at grade E or F. But Sing? Everyone could at least hum a tune or two, yet here was someone with a Sing grade of F, with two minus signs! Absolutely insane!