Du du du du du du du
I live my life without caring why
Without being shy
Woah~
Ari was making progress by brute-forcing the song, line by line.
Now, he had somehow made it past the first and second verses with no odd pitch issues, and his raspy voice was holding up.
It didn't sound good, but! He was making it through the song! Without choking!
Even the system had quieted down and seemed to be observing quietly.
As he was rounding out the chorus leading to the final verse
BANG BANG BANG BANG!
"Delivery! I have your stuff!!!!"
Somebody began banging on the side door.
The items he had ordered were being delivered.
After collecting the items, Ari sat down and tried to recall the good feeling he had before being interrupted, and sang the song.
Each day is filled with woes.
And yet my dream grows
B̶e̸c̷a̴u̷s̸e̶ ̶I̶'̶m̸ ̵a̵ ̸f̶r̴e̶a̸k̵
"Cough- no, not like that. One more time."
Live without caring
All of my days are filled with daring
Loneliness can't hu- cough cough-
"Once more."
Cough- cough-
"Again-"
I'm a freak
My dreams will gro-cough
Despite trying more than 10 times, he kept failing.
After sipping water and checking the time, Ari decided to change tactics.
Operation pour more stats into Vocals 2.0 - Begin!
He quickly changed into the clothes and shoes he had ordered, tied the key to his wrist, and went outside to jog a 5k in the evening heat to gain another stat point.
All the while trying to sing.
Although he wasn't in amazing shape, he was confident that he could finish in less than an hour, and he might as well start practicing for the marathon that a concert was supposed to be.
After carefully locking the door, he went jogging around Koreatown, passing by the bathhouse and other stores before circling back repeatedly while watching the blue window interface in front of his eyes.
[Run 5 km a day for 1 day - (4.1/5 km)]
At this point, he had stopped singing and was focused on putting one foot in front of the other.
His breathing was harsh and his eyes were stinging from sweat.
As he approached the church for the final loop, Ari felt lightheaded and his legs were jelly, but he kept pushing through for the last little bit.
[Run 5 km a day for 1 day - (4.8/5 km)]
[Run 5 km a day for 1 day - (4.9/5 km)]
[Run 5 km a day for 1 day - (5.1/5 km)]
Finished!
Finally!
Glaring at the extra .1km that had snuck in there, Ari immediately entered the hallway bathroom and dunked his head under the sink to cool off.
This…this was tiring!
He definitely didn't want to do this again. But-
[Ding!]
[Congratulations on completing a Repeat Mission]
[Run 5 km a day for 1 day - Complete]
[Reward 1 stat point!]
[Run 5 km a day for 1 day - has been removed from the Repeat Missions Board]
Like sweet honey, a reward came that made him think about his dear 10k, 50k, and 100k.
Maybe running wasn't that bad? It made you healthy, right?
Healthy heart and lungs = long life?
More stats = 10k money at least?
His shaking legs said otherwise, but…
…at the very least, he would aim for the 10-day accomplishment and get that stat point first.
[Where would you like to put the stat point?]
"Add to vocals, please."
[Vocals + 1]
[Vocals: D -> D+]
As the point went, Ari stood in the church bathroom observing his bruised and battered face in the mirror.
Truthfully, he looked like a freak right now, with all those bruises and injuries on his face.
He could understand why people had crossed the street as he had been running.
But the more he sang the song, the more he really felt the lyrics.
He was a freak who did his own thing, making the best of any situation, and trying to come out on top.
Even now, he was trying his best despite the crazy changes that had happened to him in the past 24 hours.
Dying.
A crazy game-like system that affected his body and threatened to kill him if he didn't make a contract with it.
Accepting help and living quarters from strangers he had just met today.
Trying to become a singer and hoping to punch the guy who killed him straight in the mouth.
It was a freaky situation.
And he was the freak living it and trying to make it work.
Meeting his own sea green eyes in the mirror, Ari smiled mischievously before closing his eyes and singing with all of his strength, pouring his very emotion into the lyrics that resonated with him.
Each day is filled with woes
And yet my dream grows
Because I'm a freak
I won't change my nature
Because I'm a freak
I won't give into sorrow
Because I'm a freak
Fighting hard for tomorrow
Because I'm a freak~
As the last note rang out-
[Congratulations.]
[50 thousand tries later. You finally made it.]
[Wow.]
Finally, finally, he finally succeeded in singing the song!
Even the dismal words from the system couldn't bring him down, and Ari couldn't help but jump around excitedly before trying to cartwheel through the hallway.
As he misjudged his leg's position in relation to the wall-
SLAM!
His foot slammed straight into the hard wall, and he collapsed on the floor, clutching his foot while cursing quietly.
"Owwwwwwww!! Ow! Ow! Ow!"
[Sigh.]
[...Truly, I don't want to give you the reward for this mission, especially when you just proved that you are, in fact, a dummy. But-]
[Ding!]
[Don't Be A Dummy! Use Your Brain A Little! - Sing through a song that is longer than 3 minutes without missing a lyric or getting out of pitch! - Complete!]
[Current Rewards: 1 Stat point]
[Where would you like to put the stat point? Dancing perhaps? That cartwheel was...abysmal to say the least, and maybe it might help you avoid bashing the wall next time since your eyes clearly don't work.]
"Add it to vocals." Ari bit out while clutching his aching foot.
Note to self.
No cartwheels in the hallway until the dance stat goes up.
[Vocals + 1]
[Vocals: D+ -> C-]
"Phew. Finally out of the failing class in one stat at least. If only I could repeat that mission again, that would be perfect."
And as if the system were waiting, it sent out a message.
[Don't be a dummy! Use your brain a little, added to the Repeat Missions along with its derivatives.]
[Repeat Missions]
[ Running out of breath while performing? Not on my watch! - Run 5 km a day for 10 days - Reward 1 stat point]
...
[Don't Be A Dummy! Use Your Brain A Little! - Sing 10 songs that are at least 3 minutes long without missing a lyric or getting out of pitch! (can sing the same song repeatedly) Reward - 1 Stat Point]
[Don't Be A Dummy! Use Your Brain A Little! - Sing 100 songs that are at least 3 minutes long without missing a lyric or getting out of pitch! (can sing the same song repeatedly) Reward - 1 Stat Point]
…..
Seeing the newly added repeat missions, Ari began running calculations in his head.
Freak was a 3-minute song.
If he practiced the song and did it perfectly each time he sang it, he would be done in 6 hours and knock out two repeat missions for two extra stat points.
Then the rest of the time could be used to try the dance missions for stat points.
Which meant…no sleep.
Resigning himself to a sleepless night, Ari went to the cleaning closet that Steven Choi had pointed him to and took out the supplies he used earlier.
Since he was to be the new janitor and would be up all night, he might as well make a good first impression.
They said cleanliness was next to godliness. Since this was a church, he would make it the cleanest place ever.
Singing to himself as he walked through the hallways, Ari began his detailed cleaning session.
******************
Priest Steven Choi was having a problem.
At his mother, Granny Choi's, insistence, he took in a young boy as the new janitor of his church.
The boy's bruises showed that he was having issues, and after finding out that he was homeless, he truly didn't mind taking him in as long as he didn't cause any problems.
The issue was that after he left, his neighborhood watch app kept getting notifications about people reporting the fact that a ghost was haunting the church.
They could hear its cursed growling and shrieking as it proclaimed its freakiness through some kind of ritual song.
Someone had even gone to record the sound and flickering lights and sent him the video, and he could see a shadowy silhouette of a person climbing up the window at 3 a.m. while shrieking about being a freak.
A bit creeped out, Steven Choi headed to the church four hours early, his mind fully made up, to warn the boy about wasting electricity, making weird noises at night, and climbing up the windows and walls.
But when Steven Choi opened the front door of the church.
⊹ ࣪ ˖⋆.˚⟡ ࣪⊹ ࣪ ˖⋆.˚⟡ ࣪⊹ ࣪ ˖⋆.˚⟡ ࣪ ˖⊹ ࣪ ˖⋆.˚⟡ ࣪⊹ ࣪ ˖ S H I N I N G ˖ ࣪ ⟡˚.⋆˖ ࣪ ⊹ ⟡˚.⋆˖ ࣪ ⊹⟡˚.⋆˖ ࣪ ⊹ ⟡˚.⋆˖ ࣪ ⊹
He was almost blinded by how clean it was.
The windows were sparkling like laser-cut diamonds.
Every door knob was polished until it glistened like chrome.
The white lights reflected against the gleaming floor, almost blinding him.
The wood of the pews was polished and shining, and there was not a speck of dirt to be found anywhere.
As he walked, he could smell the refreshing scent of lemon.
He felt as if the cleaning fairy had visited at night.
As Steven Choi walked through the halls to his office, he heard singing coming from one of the bathrooms.
Although it wasn't the best voice he had ever heard, it certainly wasn't bad enough to be called demonic, and it sure didn't sound like the video he had been sent.
Were the neighborhood kids playing a prank?
Since he was curious and thought it was Ari, Steven Choi boldly opened the public bathroom door to thank him for his hard work.
Instead, what he saw was a young boy with bruises all over his body putting white and black makeup on his face.
At the moment, the boy was using red lipstick to paint his lips as he sang.
"I'm a freak~ oh yeah~" Ari suddenly stopped singing as he caught sight of him.
Ariel: "...…"
Steven Choi: "...."
The two individuals caught in yet another awkward situation quietly stared at each other.