Chapter 14. Talent Show (1)
Assistant Instructor Joo Yong-hyuk pointed at the poster and said,
“If you win here, you’ll get a one-night, two-day reward leave certificate that you can use later when you’re assigned to your unit. So prepare well.”
At the words reward leave, the recruits’ eyes sparkled.
“Sir, is that true?”
“Of course, you brats. I’m a training instructor — you think I’d lie to you about something like that?”
“Instructor! I have a question!”
Suddenly, Seo-hwan raised his hand and shouted.
Joo clicked his tongue and scolded him for his attitude.
“Hey, did I tell you to state your name and serial number before asking questions or not?”
“Trainee number 44, Kang Seo-hwan! I have a question, sir!”
“Alright. I’m letting it slide because it’s me, but if it were Corporal Park Gil-young, you’d already be doing push-ups. I get that you’re happy since the night march is over, but don’t forget — you haven’t graduated yet. Stay sharp.”
“Yes, sir!”
He was right.
We were still recruits in basic training.
If we slacked off, we might end up punished — just like the instructor warned.
No harm in being careful.
“So, what’s your question?”
“For this ‘Night of the Training Center’ event — do we have to participate individually?”
“No, you can form a team. But the team can’t have more than three people.”
“Then if three people win, how does the reward work? Don’t tell me only one of them gets the leave?”
“Each of the three gets the same one-night, two-day reward leave. That’s why we set the team limit at three.”
“Aha!”
So even if you won solo, you’d only get one leave pass — not three.
That meant forming a team didn’t multiply the reward.
You might think a team is better, but this is a talent show, not a sports match.
More members don’t guarantee a better result.
Sometimes, it’s better to perform solo and make an impact.
It’s the same with singers — sometimes a solo artist is more popular than an idol group.
After hearing the instructor’s explanation, Seo-hwan looked deep in thought.
“Why? You thinking of joining?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you even have a talent to show on stage?”
“Not really.”
“Then how are you going to join?”
“Well…”
His eyes turned toward me.
“You’ll come up with something, right?”
“Me? Out of nowhere?”
“Yeah. You’re going to apply for the event anyway, right?”
I had no idea what he was talking about.
“No, I’m not. I wasn’t planning to.”
“What? Why not?”
“That’s what I should be asking you. Why are you so sure I’d join?”
“Because there’s a reward leave involved. You go all out whenever there’s a reward on the line.”
Not wrong.
Sure, I cared about reward leave — but also because of the quests connected to earning 10 billion won.
Still, this time I wasn’t motivated.
The biggest reason: no quest.
And besides—
“Even if we join, we won’t win.”
“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Because the winners are already decided.”
I looked across at the barracks opposite ours.
The recruits there were buzzing with excitement — their instructor must have told them the same news.
Among them, one guy stood out, showing off his high notes.
“See that trainee over there?”
“Who?”
“Number 200.”
“Oh, that one? He’s famous! Tall, good-looking. I heard he worked as a model before enlistment.”
“Not a model.”
I corrected the rumor.
“He’s a boy group idol member.”
“What? An idol? Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“No way… really? I don’t recognize him though.”
“He’s not from a famous group.”
To be exact — a no-name group.
But even so, he’s a professional singer and dancer.
Naturally, his skills are far beyond any normal person’s.
And from what I remembered, that trainee number 200 actually won the contest.
“No matter how good we are, we can’t beat a pro.”
“Damn… I can’t believe there’s an idol in our unit.”
In a uniform, you can’t tell who’s who.
That’s the magic of the army.
Still, Seo-hwan wasn’t ready to give up.
“Hey, you never know who’ll win until you try! You can’t judge before competing.”
“Come on, you already know how it’ll end. Between you and trainee 200, who’s taller?”
“This isn’t about height!”
He protested fiercely.
Neither of us were short, but compared to number 200, we looked smaller — in every way.
“Anyway, let’s just try. Nothing to lose, right?”
“You want that leave that badly?”
“Of course! Even one day out of this hellhole — I’d sell my soul to the de— okay, maybe not that far.”
“Obviously not.”
Even I agreed — a reward leave is precious to a soldier.
But still…
“I don’t want to waste time and energy on something with near-zero chance.”
No need to see it to know.
Even if I tried my best, I couldn’t outperform a professional idol’s stage.
And besides—
“I’ll get a reward leave anyway — as the best trainee.”
That was the real reason.
My score was clearly higher than Han Kang-tae’s, the usual pick for best trainee.
“Just means I worked hard enough to beat the usual favorite.”
At first, I was a bit nervous.
But with 1 billion won on the line, I couldn’t slack off.
And thanks to all my knowledge about the army, aiming for “Best Trainee” wasn’t hard.
So now, if someone asked me to also aim for “Talent Show Winner”?
Not interested.
Not at all.
Unless… there was a quest.
“…Wait.”
A thought struck me.
I knew of four quest types: Normal, Rare, Special, and Legendary.
But I had once discovered a hidden fifth type — Hidden Quests.
Unlike the others, these didn’t appear in advance.
“No way… Could there be a hidden quest tied to the Night of the Training Center?”
I quickly checked my system window — nothing.
Hidden quests couldn’t be seen until triggered.
Meanwhile, Seo-hwan looked at me in confusion.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
To him, I probably looked like I was just waving my arms in the air.
“There’s… something like this.”
Based on past patterns, major events in the army almost always had quests attached.
So the fact that there wasn’t one yet meant—
“Maybe this time it’s a Hidden Quest.”
That would explain why nothing appeared on the system window.
Still, signing up blindly for an unconfirmed hidden quest felt risky.
“Man… this is tricky.”
It wasn’t “Night of the Training Center” — it was “Night of Endless Thinking.”
The deadline for registering was only two days away.
All participants had to be confirmed by the weekend.
As I expected, trainee number 200 had already formed a team and signed up.
Once the rumor spread that he was a real idol, the number of participants dropped sharply.
Some even withdrew after signing up.
Everyone was thinking the same thing —
“Why embarrass yourself when the winner’s already decided?”
But one person still refused to give up: Seo-hwan.
“How can we win this?”
“Hold on. Did you just say we?”
He looked at me like I was the weird one.
“You, me, and Joon. The three of us — that’s the plan, right?”
“When did that become a plan?”
“We’re comrades, man. Live together, die together — that’s what brothers-in-arms do.”
“I don’t see why I should suffer just because my comrade chooses to.”
Sure, “comradeship” is a big word in the army, but this wasn’t the time to use it.
Even last night, before sleeping, I couldn’t decide whether to sign up.
“If there’s no hidden quest, I’ll just feel like an idiot…”
It wasn’t an easy decision.
Seo-hwan poked my side.
“Just close your eyes and go for it. Even if we lose, it’s not the end of the world. Isn’t taking on challenges what being a soldier is about, huh?”
“That ‘soldier spirit’ again…”
One of my least favorite phrases here.
Still… he wasn’t wrong.
And who knows?
If the hidden quest’s condition was “Participate in the Night of the Training Center,” then…
Even if I didn’t win — just getting on stage might earn me thousands, maybe even millions.
That thought sealed my decision.
“Alright, let’s do it!”
