The evening sky was painted in shades of bruised orange and deep purple, but Seongjii couldn't care less about the aesthetics. His mind was a chaotic mess of anxiety.
"What am I going to do tomorrow, Araya?!" Seongjii groaned, pacing the sidewalk. "Zoe wants to see my moves! She literally said—'Think of it as an audition!'"
Araya, floating casually beside him with her hands behind her head, just grinned. "Heh... you'll be fine. Chill, mortal. It's just moving your body to a beat. Even a monkey can do it."
"Fine?! Tomorrow I'll become a walking national embarrassment!" Seongjii hissed, his voice cracking. [Internal Monologue: My aura is going to crash to minus infinity. I can already see the headlines: 'High Schooler dies of cringe while attempting to dance'. All thanks to this blue brat!]
Araya smirked, nudging him with her elbow. "Oh, come on! I just gave you a chance to get closer to your crush. Imagine if you win that competition... Zoe might actually fall for you~"
Seongjii froze. "F-fall for me?"
"Exactly, dumbass. High school romance 101."
Seongjii's ears turned bright red. He sighed, looking at his feet. "Still... I can't dance to save my life. My limbs don't communicate with my brain."
"Then we practice tonight. Social media tutorials exist for a reason! Use that expensive phone of yours for something other than games."
Nighttime. Seongjii's room.
The sounds of "Thud!", "Slip!", and "Bang!" echoed through the thin walls. Seongjii was awkwardly trying to mimic a K-pop star on his screen, looking more like a glitching NPC than a dancer.
Araya was literally rolling on the bed, clutching her stomach as she laughed hysterically. "Bruhhh—are you dancing or auditioning for a comedy show?! Are you trying to summon a demon with those moves? 🤣"
Seongjii stopped, panting, his face burning with shame. "Laugh all you want... this is serious for me!"
He slumped into the corner of his room, his spirit broken. [Internal Monologue: It's hopeless. I'm a lost cause. I have the rhythm of a brick.]
Araya wiped a tear of laughter from her eye, her expression shifting to a mischievous glint. "Or... maybe not."
Seongjii looked up, a tiny spark of hope in his eyes. "What do you mean?"
"Wish for it! Just like your perfect body wish. Say the words—'I wish to become a perfect dancer!' Easy fix. You'll be the next MJ by tomorrow morning."
Seongjii hesitated. Then, he shook his head firmly. "No way. I'm not wasting one of my limited wishes on something as specific as dancing. That's shortsighted."
Araya mocked him, crossing her arms. "Oh really? Mr. PS5-wisher? That wasn't specific? That wasn't silly?"
"That was... an essential lifestyle upgrade!" Seongjii defended himself.
"Sure, sure. Then get ready to destroy your reputation tomorrow. Good luck, superstar~" She yawned, stretching her translucent arms before floating toward her lamp. "It's late. I'm going to sleep. Don't wake me up unless the house is on fire."
"Yeah, yeah... good night," Seongjii grumbled.
Silence filled the room, but Seongjii's mind was racing at a hundred miles per hour. He lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.
'There's gotta be another way... something smarter. If I wish for 'dancing', I only get dancing. But what if...'
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open. A bolt of realization hit him so hard he sat upright.
"That's it! Copying!" he whispered, his heart hammering against his ribs. "If I can't learn it, I'll just... mirror it."
He scrambled out of bed and rushed toward Araya's lamp, tapping the cold metal repeatedly. "Araya! Wake up! Emergency! Wake up!"
Araya spiraled out of the lamp, looking half-asleep and incredibly annoyed. "Who the hell wakes a genie at midnight? Did you see a spider? Oh... it's you again."
"Araya, I'm ready," Seongjii said, his voice steady and serious. "I'm making my next wish."
Araya blinked, a sleepy smirk forming on her face. "Lemme guess... you changed your mind? You want to be a 'Dance God' now? Finally realized you're hopeless?"
Seongjii grinned confidently, a look in his eyes that Araya hadn't seen before. "No. My wish is much better than that."
Araya raised an eyebrow, her curiosity finally piqued. "Better?"
"I wish for the ability to perfectly copy and retain any physical skill I observe—dance, sports, martial arts, anything! Give me 'Mastery by Observation'!"
The air in the room seemed to turn cold for a split second. Araya's eyes widened, her sleepy haze vanishing instantly. She stared at Seongjii as if seeing him for the first time.
"Mastery by Observation?!" she breathed out, stunned. "Mortal... you're not just asking for a fish, you're asking for the whole damn ocean. Where do you even come up with these ideas?!"
Araya's lamp began to glow with an intense, blinding blue light. She let out a soft laugh, her fingers glowing with ancient magic.
"Wish granted, Seongjii. But be careful... seeing everything means you can never look away."
[Caption: And thus... a new kind of chaos is about to begin.]
To be continued...…