I Became An Idol To Pay Off My Debt

I entered the coin karaoke room and immediately put in 2,000 won to choose 4 songs.

After a moment of contemplation…

“Alright, let’s go with this one.”

[Downpour and You – Rumble Piranha]

I picked a song I used to love singing in my past life.

♩♩♪♬-.

-Now that you’re here…, I miss you~

With a calm piano prelude, the serene vocals began…

♪♬♪♬-!!

The song raced toward its climax.

-Nowwwww it’s all good love, or whatever!!

A passionate performance that made my palms sweaty.

“Gasp…, gasp….”

I finished the song, wiped the sweat from my neck, and, filled with a little bit of hope, checked the score.

[Ba Ba Ba Bam-! 42 points! A bit disappointing, isn’t it?!]

“…Is that out of 50?”

I denied reality and reserved the next song.

[Re:Zero-kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu – Girl World]

A classic hit from a girl group that ruled an era.

♪♪♪♬-! ♪♪♬♬-!

-I want to convey it~ sad times~

The song began with a bright intro.

-I love you you, just like this feeling~

The catchy chorus made listeners shake their shoulders as I finished singing.

And the score was…

[Ba Ba Ba Bam-! 51 points! Not bad! It’s okay not to sing well!]

…A slight increase, almost like cruel hope.

“…Am I still improving, at least?”

With a threadlike hope, I decided to try singing the third song.

This time, I recorded it with my smartphone so I could hear my voice.

And I chose…

“…Alright, this will do.”

[No Thanks – Yoon Jong-kat]

A karaoke staple.

This song had a lower key and difficulty than others, so I should do better.

It was also a song I sang relentlessly whenever I went to karaoke in my past life, giving me some confidence.

-I don’t like it loving you when love starts~~

I poured my heartfelt emotions into the song.

Had I ever been so immersed in pitch and rhythm in my life? I felt like I had lived just to sing this song.

And…

[Ba Ba Ba Bam-! 37 points! You’re not thinking of becoming a singer, are you? Wake up!]

“……”

…For the first time across all my lives, I got a score in the 30s.

“W-What was that…?”

With a shocking score, I shivered as I picked up my phone to check the recording.

When the recording played back, what came out of the speaker was…

-You how~~~~~~~~ beautiful~ you are~

‘Is that the voice of the neighborhood gang leader?’

…It was an oddly familiar voice.

“Haah…”

Having completely grasped my level through the recording, I sighed and tossed my smartphone on the sofa.

‘Why am I disappointed? …I already knew….’

The second reason I gave up on the entertainment industry despite this appearance.

That’s right.

I can’t sing. Not even close.

‘But I don’t think it was this bad in my past life….’

For some reason, my new body, Ha Ye-rin’s singing ability was on a destructive level that went beyond being bad.

Since I couldn’t act out various expressions, I gave up on being an actress.

And because I couldn’t sing at all, I also gave up on being an idol.

“No matter how much they say idol singing skills aren’t that important nowadays, come on…”

With this level of singing ability, I might gain fame for my looks, but the moment I sing a line, I’d be buried in criticism, no doubt.

“Haah…, what should I do…”

There isn’t much time left until my first live broadcast at the Idol Academy.

If I wanted to show a somewhat decent side there, I had to show something at least modest from Na Ah Ah, but with these skills, I’d only face public humiliation.

‘…Should I just embrace the humiliation?’

That thought crossed my mind for a moment, but then I remembered the 200 million won debt my family owed.

And…

‘From now on, call me Boss. You’re part of our family now too.’

Kang Hyung-man’s last words were lingering in my mind.

‘Family… he called me family…’

Maybe it was because I didn’t have anyone to call family in both my past and current lives.

The word ‘family’ made my heart ache.

So there I was, pondering for a while in the coin karaoke with one song left…

“…Alright, let’s give it a shot.”

…In the end, I made my decision.

First, I aimed to show a good side, if not make the debut team, at the upcoming Na Ah Ah event.

Of course, turning my neighborhood gang member vocal cords into something like a normal person’s wasn’t exactly easy to do in a short time.

After a moment’s hesitation, I muttered…

“…Status Window.”

It was a line that felt like something out of a web novel.

And then….

BAM-!

…A translucent window that only I could see appeared.

I realized I could see the status window since I was very young.

Right after I realized I had been reincarnated, calling out “status window” for fun had actually made it appear.

I gazed at the status window, which I hadn’t seen in a while.

[Name: Ha Ye-rin]

[Age: 19]

[Trait: None]

[Physical Detailed Stats]
[Intelligence Detailed Stats]
[Artistic Detailed Stats]
[Remaining Stats: 95]

By the way, if I go into the physical detailed stats, it shows like this.

[Physical Detailed Stats]
(Arm Muscle: 71)
(Torso Muscle: 70)
(Lower Body Muscle: 67)
(Dynamic Vision: 78)
(Flexibility: 87)
(Stamina: 93)
…

It seems like the max for stats is 100, and considering 50 is average, my physical capabilities are quite impressive.

“Must be because I worked a lot at part-time jobs, huh?”

I bent my arms inward and struck a pose. My arms felt thin but there was solid muscle inside. My abdomen felt a faint hint of abs…

Swipe-.

I looked at my reflection in the karaoke room tiles, checking my body overall.

I’m 172 cm tall, which is on the taller side for a girl, and my head size was , no joke, about the size of a big adult man’s fist.

Of course, my proportions were crazy, and my skin, given how much I had suffered, was remarkably clean.

My body shape was, as mentioned, lean muscular, with a slim waist. And my chest was…

Squish.

“…It’s been a while since I felt this, and it’s pretty big now.”

With all the right places in the right place, I possessed the body of a heavenly goddess.

But the highlight of my physique was undoubtedly my facial features.

They looked as if the gods had made special efforts to mold them, resembling a beautifully crafted doll.

“Yeah, my body is not the problem. The issue is the artistic detailed stats, though…”

I sighed and clicked on the artistic detailed stats.

[Artistic Detailed Stats]
(Appearance: 100+)
(Vocal Ability: 12)
(Acting Skill: 18)
(Dance: 67)
…

The first thing that caught my eye was my appearance. I didn’t know why appearance was in artistic stats, but it was indeed as I expected, and the rest…

“…Is dreadful.”

…Yes, it was dreadful.

What good is having an appearance of 100 when my vocal ability is 12 and acting skill is 18?

“This pretty much says ‘don’t even think about being an entertainer’…”

Looking at just my inherent stats, I’m at a level where I should never dream of being an entertainer.

But…

[Remaining Stats: 95]

I had remaining stats left.

I hadn’t touched any of my remaining stats in my entire life.

Collecting the residual stats that had accumulated for 19 years at 5 a year had resulted in 95.

‘…This is a dilemma.’

To be honest, I initially planned to pour all my remaining stats into intelligence stat when I entered high school, to facilitate getting into a prestigious university.

However, after starting high school, my family fell into financial trouble, and I barely had time to study – so I thought it pointless to only pump up a stat, ultimately giving up on that.

Still, my plan was to invest in intelligence stats again in my third year to aim for the college entrance exam…

‘…Alright, I’ve made up my mind.’

After a moment of consideration, I decided to invest my points into artistic stats instead of intelligence stats.

Of course, if I invested in artistic stats here, it would be tough for me to find time to study, given my lack of proper coursework.

But what good is entering a prestigious university?

Just because I get in, it doesn’t mean my life changes instantly.

I’d have to finish four years of studies and then face the tough job market waiting on the other side.

During that long time…

‘Dad, Mom would probably pull on my pant leg…’

Studying during the day, working part-time at night to earn tuition, then coming back home to handle piled-up housework…

…It’s absolutely exhausting.

Rather than that, I might as well stake my hopes on the risky but great opportunity of becoming an idol.

‘Compensating for the lacking artistic stats with the remaining stats.’

I would succeed just enough to pay back the 200 million won debt and build up some seed money as an idol.

After that, I could decide whether to continue being an idol or find another job.

Finally, having made my mind up, I moved my fingers toward the artistic detailed stats.

Naturally, my finger was headed for the dreadfully low vocal ability of 12.

But just before my finger could touch it…

“…Wait a minute.”

My gaze landed on a stat below vocal ability.

It was the dance stat.

“I haven’t thought much about it until now, but… my dance stat is pretty high, isn’t it?”

With a 67 in dance, it’s not the highest, but definitely decent.

Of course, I couldn’t forgo investing points in vocal ability with that dismal 12.

But… since the dance stat was higher than I expected, I started contemplating how to distribute the points.

“Hm…”

I briefly searched for current idol trends on my smartphone.

And then…

“…Okay, I’ve decided.”

With a careful touch, I began to distribute the remaining stats.

Push-, push.

This was actually my first time allocating stats.

Despite clicking the stats, I didn’t feel any particular change in my body.

‘There’s no way nothing’s changing, right…?’

With a nibble of anxiety, I picked up the mic for the last song remaining.

And…

“……!”

I could feel immediate changes.

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